This paper describes how agents can learn an internal model of the world structurally by focusing on the problem of behavior-based articulation. We develop an on-line learning scheme -- the so-called mixture of recurrent neural net (RNN) experts -- in which a set of RNN modules becomes self-organized as experts on multiple levels in order to account for the different categories of sensory-motor flow which the robot experiences. Autonomous switching of activated modules in the lower level actually represents the articulation of the sensory-motor flow. In the meanwhile, a set of RNNs in the higher level competes to learn the sequences of module switching in the lower level, by which articulation at a further more abstract level can be achieved. The proposed scheme was examined through simulation experiments involving the navigation learning problem. Our dynamical systems analysis clarified the mechanism of the articulation; the possible correspondence between the articulation...

This paper describes how agents can learn an internal model of the world structurally by focusing on the problem of behavior-based articulation. We develop an on-line learning scheme { the so-called mixture of recurrent neural net (RNN) experts { in which a set of RNN modules becomes self-organized as experts on multiple levels in order to account for the di erent categories of sensory-motor ow which the robot experiences. Autonomous switching of activated modules in the lower level actually represents the articulation of the sensory-motor ow. In the meanwhile, a set of RNNs in the higher level competes to learn the sequences of module switching in the lower level, by which articulation at a further more abstract level can be achieved. The proposed scheme was examined through simulation experiments involving the navigation learning problem. Our dynamical systems analysis clari ed the mechanism of the articulation; the possible correspondence between the articulation mechanism and the attention switching mechanism in thalamo-cortical loops is discussed.