Sophisticated Learning: A novel algorithm for active learning during model-based planning

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Hodson, Rowan, Bassett, Bruce, van Hoof, Charel, Rosman, Benjamin, Solms, Mark, Shock, Jonathan P., Smith, Ryan
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2023
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author Hodson, Rowan
Bassett, Bruce
van Hoof, Charel
Rosman, Benjamin
Solms, Mark
Shock, Jonathan P.
Smith, Ryan
author_facet Hodson, Rowan
Bassett, Bruce
van Hoof, Charel
Rosman, Benjamin
Solms, Mark
Shock, Jonathan P.
Smith, Ryan
contents We introduce Sophisticated Learning (SL), a planning-to-learn algorithm that embeds active parameter learning inside the Sophisticated Inference (SI) tree-search framework of Active Inference. Unlike SI -- which optimizes beliefs about hidden states -- SL also updates beliefs about model parameters within each simulated branch, enabling counterfactual reasoning about how future observations would improve subsequent planning. We compared SL with Bayes-adaptive Reinforcement Learning (BARL) agents as well as with its parent algorithm, SI. Using a biologically inspired seasonal foraging task in which resources shift probabilistically over a 10x10 grid, we designed experiments that forced agents to balance probabilistic reward harvesting against information gathering. In early trials, where rapid learning is vital, SL agents survive, on average, 8.2% longer than SI and 35% longer than Bayes-adaptive Reinforcement Learning. While both SL and SI showed equal convergence performance, SL reached this convergence 40% faster than SI. Additionally, SL showed robust out-performance of other algorithms in altered environment configurations. Our results show that incorporating active learning into multi-step planning materially improves decision making under radical uncertainty, and reinforces the broader utility of Active Inference for modeling biologically relevant behavior.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2308_08029
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Sophisticated Learning: A novel algorithm for active learning during model-based planning
Hodson, Rowan
Bassett, Bruce
van Hoof, Charel
Rosman, Benjamin
Solms, Mark
Shock, Jonathan P.
Smith, Ryan
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Neurons and Cognition
We introduce Sophisticated Learning (SL), a planning-to-learn algorithm that embeds active parameter learning inside the Sophisticated Inference (SI) tree-search framework of Active Inference. Unlike SI -- which optimizes beliefs about hidden states -- SL also updates beliefs about model parameters within each simulated branch, enabling counterfactual reasoning about how future observations would improve subsequent planning. We compared SL with Bayes-adaptive Reinforcement Learning (BARL) agents as well as with its parent algorithm, SI. Using a biologically inspired seasonal foraging task in which resources shift probabilistically over a 10x10 grid, we designed experiments that forced agents to balance probabilistic reward harvesting against information gathering. In early trials, where rapid learning is vital, SL agents survive, on average, 8.2% longer than SI and 35% longer than Bayes-adaptive Reinforcement Learning. While both SL and SI showed equal convergence performance, SL reached this convergence 40% faster than SI. Additionally, SL showed robust out-performance of other algorithms in altered environment configurations. Our results show that incorporating active learning into multi-step planning materially improves decision making under radical uncertainty, and reinforces the broader utility of Active Inference for modeling biologically relevant behavior.
title Sophisticated Learning: A novel algorithm for active learning during model-based planning
topic Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Neurons and Cognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.08029