A cognitive and neural model for adaptive emotion reading by mirroring preparation states and Hebbian learning Action editor: Gregg Oden Tibor Bosse a,⇑ , Zulfiqar A. Memon a,b , Jan Treur a a Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Artificial Intelligence, De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands b Sukkur Institute of Business Administration (Sukkur IBA), Airport Road Sukkur, Sindh, Pakistan Received 22 April 2010; received in revised form 16 September 2010; accepted 17 October 2010 Abstract Two types of modelling approaches exist to reading an observed person’s emotions: with or without making use of the observing per- son’s own emotions. This paper focuses on an integrated approach that combines both types of approaches in an adaptive manner. The proposed models were inspired by recent advances in neurological context. Both a neural model and a more abstracted cognitive model are presented. In the first place emotion reading is modelled involving (preparatory) mirroring of body states of the observed person within the observing person. This involves a recursive body loop: a converging positive feedback loop based on reciprocal causation between preparations for body states and emotions felt. Here emotion reading involves the person’s own body states and emotions in reading somebody else’s emotions: first the same feeling is developed by mirroring, and after feeling the emotion, it is imputed to the other person. In the second place, as an extension an adaptive process is modelled based on Hebbian learning of a direct connection between a sensed stimulus concerning another agent’s body state (e.g., face expression) and an emotion imputation state. After this Heb- bian learning process the emotion is imputed to the other agent before it is actually felt, or even without it is felt. Both the mirroring and Hebbian learning processes first have been modelled at a neural level, and next, in a more abstracted form at a cognitive level. By means of an interpretation mapping the paper shows the relation between the obtained cognitive model and the neurological model. In addition to specifications of both models and the interpretation mapping, simulation results are shown, and automated verification of relevant emerging properties is discussed. Ó 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction From an evolutionary perspective, mindreading (or hav- ing a Theory of Mind) in humans and some other kinds of animals has developed for a number of aspects, for exam- ple, intention, attention, emotion, knowing (e.g., Baron- Cohen, 1995; Bogdan, 1997; Dennett, 1987; Goldman, 2006; Goldman & Sripada, 2004; Malle, Moses, & Bald- win, 2001). Two philosophical perspectives on having a Theory of Mind are Simulation Theory and Theory Theory (cf. Goldman, 2006). In the first perspective it is assumed that mindreading takes place by using the facilities involv- ing the person’s own cognitive states that are counterparts of the cognitive states attributed to the other person. For example, the state of feeling pain oneself is used in the pro- cess to determine whether the other person has pain. The second perspective is based on reasoning using knowledge about relationships between cognitive states and observed behaviour. For example, in Bosse, Memon, and Treur (2007a, 2007b, in press), mindreading concerning another person’s beliefs, desires and intentions was addressed from a Theory Theory perspective, and in Memon and Treur (2008), mindreading of emotions was addressed from a Simulation Theory perspective, where a person’s own 1389-0417/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.cogsys.2010.10.003 ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: tbosse@few.vu.nl (T. Bosse), zamemon@few.vu.nl (Z.A. Memon), treur@few.vu.nl (J. Treur). URLs: http://www.few.vu.nl/~tbosse (T. Bosse), http://www.few.vu.nl/ ~zamemon (Z.A. Memon), http://www.few.vu.nl/~treur (J. Treur). www.elsevier.com/locate/cogsys Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Cognitive Systems Research xxx (2010) xxx–xxx Please cite this article in press as: Bosse, T., et al. A cognitive and neural model for adaptive emotion reading by mirroring prepara- tion states and Hebbian learning. Cognitive Systems Research (2010), doi:10.1016/j.cogsys.2010.10.003