[alife] Modlling Natural Action Selection: Book announcement

[Anil Seth]

We are delighted to announce publication of a major new edited 
collection, *Modelling Natural Action Selection*, published by Cambridge 
University Press on 10 November 2011 in the UK and Europe with USA 
release to follow shortly.  The book is edited by Anil Seth, Tony 
Prescott, and Joanna Bryson.

Action selection is the task of doing the right thing at the right time. 
It requires the assessment of available alternatives, executing those 
most appropriate, and resolving conflicts among competing goals and 
possibilities. Using advanced computational modelling, this book 
explores cutting-edge research into action selection in nature from a 
wide range of disciplines, from neuroscience to behavioural ecology, and 
even political science. It delivers new insights into both detailed and 
systems-level attributes of natural intelligence and demonstrates 
advances in methodological practice. Contributions from leading 
researchers cover issues including whether biological action selection 
is optimal, neural substrates for action selection in the vertebrate 
brain, perceptual selection in decision making, and interactions between 
group and individual action selection. This first integrated review of 
action selection in nature contains a balance of review and original 
research material, consolidating current knowledge into a valuable 
reference for researchers while illustrating potential paths for future 
studies.

Contributors:  Peter M. Todd, Anil K. Seth, Joanna J. Bryson, Tony J. 
Prescott, Alasdair I. Houston, John M. McNamara, Mark D. Steer, 
Frederick L. Crabbe, Rafal Bogacz, Marius Usher, Jiaxiang Zhang, James 
L. McClelland, Max Berniker, Kunlin Wei, Konrad Kording, Eddy J. 
Davelaar, James C. Houk, Paul Cisek, Thomas E. Hazy, Michael J. Frank, 
Randall C. O'Reilly, Matthew M. Botvinick, Yael Niv, Andrew Barto, Mark 
D. Humphries, Kevin N. Gurney, Anouk Scheres, Scott J. Sherman, Tom 
Stafford, Jonathan M. Chambers, Yasushi Ando, Hagen Lehmann, Russell A. 
Hill, Brian S. Logan, William I. Sellers, Julian Zappala, Michael Laver, 
Ernest Sergenti, Michel Schilperoord, James A. R. Marshall, Anna 
Dornhaus, Robert Planqué, Tim Kovacs, Nigel R. Franks, Sean A. Rands, 
Richard A. Pettifor, J. Marcus Rowcliffe, Guy Cowlishaw

Plesae visit www.cambridge.org/9781107000490 for more information and to 
order.  The book is also available from Amazon as hardcopy and in Kindle 
form.

Anil Seth, University of Sussex
Tony Prescott, University of Sheffield
Joanna Bryson, University of Bath

-- 
Anil K. Seth, D.Phil.
Co-Director, Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science
School of Informatics, University of Sussex,
Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QJ, UK
W: www.anilseth.com, T: +44 1273 678549,