Intrinsically Motivated Learning Systems: An Overview

Abstract. This chapter introduces the field of intrinsically motivated learning systems and illustrates the content, objectives, and organization of the book. The chapter first expands the concept of intrinsic motiva-tions, then introduces a taxonomy of three classes of intrinsic-motivation mechanisms (based on predictors, on novelty detection, and on compe-tence), and finally introduces and reviews the various contributions of the book. The contributions are organized in six parts. The contribu-tions of the first part provide general overviews on the concept of in-trinsic motivations, the possible mechanisms that may implement them, and the functions that they can play. The contributions of the second, third, and fourth part focus on the three classes of the aforementioned intrinsic-motivation mechanisms. The contributions of the fifth part dis-cuss mechanisms that are complementary to intrinsic motivations. The contributions of the sixth part introduce tools and experimental fram-works that can be used to investigate intrinsic motivations