---
title: "The Dynamics of Action Selection"
authors:
  - "Pattie Maes"
doi: ""
url: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1989/159"
pdf: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1989/0159.pdf"
venue: "Proceedings of the Eleventh International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence"
year: 1989
pages: "991-996"
track: "Planning, Scheduling, Reasoning About Actions"
keywords:
---

# The Dynamics of Action Selection

Pattie Maes

*Proceedings of the Eleventh International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence*, pages 991-996.

## Abstract

The paper addresses the problem of action selection for an autonomous agent. An autonomous agent is viewed as a collection of "competence modules". The hypothesis that is put forward is that rational action selection can be modeled as an emergent property of an activation/inhibition dynamics among these modules. Results of a computer simulation are discussed and a first step towards a qualitative theory is presented. The advantages and disadvantages of this nonhierarchical, distributed form of control of action over the classical, programmed, centralized method are studied.