MODEL OF VERTEBRATE CENTRAL COMMAND SYSTEM

This paper is based on the hypothesis that the reticular formation (RF) is the structure invertebrates that commits an animal to one mode of behavior or another. Examples of modes are sleep, eat, drink, fight, flee and mate. There are never more than about 25 such modes for any given animal, and if properly interpreted, they are mutually exclusive. The problem of the RF is how, in a fraction of a second, its million or more neurons are able to reach a workable consensus as to the proper mode of total commitment. The RF neurology, which is essentially constant from frog to man, is reviewed on the assumption that it provides the main clues. In particular, the RF Golgi anatomy of the Scheibels, which reveals RF circuit patterns, is caricatured to produce a computer simulation model, S-RETIC. The design of S-RETIC and its satisfactory simulation are described. The model consists of a dozen probabilistic hybrid computer modules linked together with jumpers of different lengths to form an anastomotic array. This array is neither serial nor parallel. An enhanced S-RETIC, STC-RETIC, has also been simulated, and in addition to rolling from mode to mode as a proper function of its 84 binary inputs, it is capable of habituation, conditioning, extinction, generalization, and limited trialand-error discrimination. An enriched version of STC-RETIC is discussed which is designed to operate asynchronously and show appropriate endogenously influenced behavior. The place of an RF model in the functional organization of a complete android robot is outlined. © 1969, Academic Press Inc. (London) Limited. All rights reserved.