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From: stevens@prodigal.psych.rochester.edu (Greg Stevens)
Subject: Re: Simulating emotion
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Date: Sat, 24 Dec 94 18:14:33 GMT
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In <3dhh69$tt5@news.imssys.com> jimk01@imssys.imssys.com (Jim Kennedy) writes:


>Emotion seems to me to be a local cause/effect of global dynamics.
>If you were simulating a dynamic social system, emotion would be a
>parameter that would control the distance between elements.  Positive
>emotions represent a tendency to shorten the distance, negative
>emotions --> elements separate.  Also, the sharing of emotions
>strengthens the attraction between individuals, and v.v.

The work that I'm currently working on has to do with computational simulations
of certain "emotional" processes -- specifically, attachment and separation
between individuals -- based on formal models of underlying physiological
mechanisms that are correlated with psycho-social emotions (such as the
opioid and noradrenergic systems) and their fluctuations as correlated with
certain kinds of attachment behaviors.  So far we have a gemeral simple model
that brings forth, based on premises about neurophysiological action and
the correlation between these and psychosocial effects, certain obvious
characteristics like certain predictions about under what conditions people
will tend to be responsive to one anothers' attachment needs, when they
will be able to calm one another, etc.

But I'm not sure if this is the kind of "simulation of emotion" you are
talking about.

Greg Stevens

steven@prodigal.psych.rochester.edu

>JimK
