Representational Brains & Phenotypes
Empirical and artificial models of neurobehavioral complexity
Representational Brains and Phenotypes (RB&P) is a research group developing empirical and artificial models of neurobehavioral complexity. The group studies how brains, bodies, and environments give rise to representation, behavior, and adaptive intelligence — bringing together computational neuroscience, developmental biology, and cybernetics.
RB&P was founded by Dr. Bradly Alicea in association with the DevoWorm project at the Orthogonal Research and Education Laboratory (OREL), and has hosted Google Summer of Code cohorts and contributors since 2018.
For more information, a full set of software and publication information see the working group website at Representational Brains and Phenotypes site.
Interest Areas
Developmental Neurosimulation: Allostasis Machines, Meta-Brain Models, and Agentive Systems. Growth and Form: computational critical periods; morphogenesis, proprioception, and soft materials. Cybernetics and Complexity: feedback loops, philosophy of science, and dynamical systems analysis. Cultural Computational Modeling: quantification of culture and contextual geometric structures.
Education and Training
The group supports open-science training through Google Summer of Code, the Saturday Morning NeuroSim seminar series, and a Brains, Behavior, and Complexity curriculum.
Projects
Reimagining Cybernetics
Developomental-AI
Dev-AI: Developmental approaches and components squared with machine learning and computation
PhASiC
Physical Intelligence, Augmentation Systems, and Complexity
BraGenBrain
Braitenberg Vehicles Genetic Algorithms Simulation of Neural Development
Modeling Neural Development with Braitenberg Vehicles
Evolving embodied neural networks in Braitenberg vehicles to study brain development and connectome motifs
Spatial Cognition & Virtual Reality
Exploring how virtual environments reshape spatial cognition, cognitive mapping, and philosophical questions about realism
Publications
A 'good' regulator may provide a world model for intelligent systems
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A
The Augmentation of Intelligent Agents for Human-Machine Superperformance
OSF Preprints
Alicea reviews 'The Open Dynamics of Braitenberg Vehicles' by Hotton and Yoshimi
CogNet / MIT Press
Developmental Neurosimulation as a Route to Embodied Morphogenetic-inspired Intelligence
Embodied Intelligence 2024 (Self-Organized Systems track)
Navigating Reality: Exploring Spatial Cognition, Virtual Environments, and Philosophical Implications
Embodied Intelligence 2024 (Morphological Computation track)
The Augmentation of Intelligent Agents for Human-Machine Superperformance
Studies in Computational Intelligence, 1243, 44–51
A Brief History of Cybernetic Imperatives and Behavior
PsyArXiv
Continual Developmental Neurosimulation Using Embodied Computational Agents
IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 1321, 012013
LLAMOSC Framework: LLM/ABM Hybrid Models
OREL Medium
A Primer on Gibsonian Information
arXiv:2403.18829
Alicea reviews "The Open Dynamics of Braitenberg Vehicles" by Hotton and Yoshimi
Embodied Cognitive Morphogenesis as a Route to Intelligent Systems
Royal Society Interface Focus, 20220067
Super-performance: sampling, planning, and ecological information
Studies in Computational Intelligence, 1130, 33–40
Braitenberg Vehicles as Developmental Neurosimulation
Artificial Life, 28(3), 1–27
Flipping the Switch on Local Exploration: Genetic Algorithms with Reversals
Proceedings of the Conference on Intelligence Systems
Gibsonian Information: A New Approach to Quantitative Information
Studies in Computational Intelligence, 1032, 15–19
Intelligence Offloading and the Neurosimulation of Developmental Agents
IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 1292, 012019 (International Workshop on Embodied Intelligence)
Layers, Folds, and Semi-Neuronal Information Processing
Procedia Computer Science, 213, 443–452
Meta-brain Models: Biologically-inspired Cognitive Agents
Proceedings of the Embodied Intelligence Workshop, 20
Terminology & Taxonomy: of Agent-Environment Analyses & Recent Work at Orthogonal Research and Education Lab
International Conference on Embodied Intelligence 2022
Cultural, Emotional, and Associative Traits to Determine Literary Inclination
PsyArXiv
Cultural Affinity through Associative Machine Learning and Behavioral Computation
International Conference on Computing, Communication, Control and Automation (ICCUBEA)
Meta-brain Computational Models for Representing Cultural Diversity
Brain.tc (Twitter conference)
Origins of the Embryo: Self-organization through Cybernetic Regulation
BioSystems, 173, 73–82
Playing Games with Ideas: When Epistemology Pays Off
Journal of Brief Ideas
The Foundations of Control and Cognition: The Every Good Regulator Theorem
Figshare
Contextual and Structural Representations of Market-mediated Economic Value
arXiv:1403.7021
Contextual Geometric Structures: Modeling the Fundamental Components of Cultural Behavior
Proceedings of Artificial Life, 13, 147–154
Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCS) May Describe Evolvable Frontiers in Natural Populations
arXiv:1101.6071
Members
Venues
Where this group's work has appeared.