Brain Structure
This is a map of creatures typical brain lobes. | |
This is a plan of creatures typical brain, along with connections. |
Lobes and Their Neurons |
|
Lobe
Number and Name |
Neuron
Number and Description |
00 Perception |
00 - Pain 01 - Need for pleasure 02 - Hunger 03 - Coldness 04 - Hotness 05 - Tiredness 06 - Sleepiness 07 - Loneliness 08 - Crowded 09 - Fear 0A - Boredom 0B - Anger 0C - Sex drive 0D - Not allocated 0E - Not allocated 0F - Not allocated 10 - Quiescent 11 - Activate1 It 12 - Activate2 It 13 - Deactivate It 04 - Approach It 05 - Retreat From It 06 - Get It 07 - Drop It 08 - Say What You Need 09 - Rest 0A - Go West 0B - Go East 0C - Eat 0D - Not allocated 0E - Not allocated 0F - Not allocated 10 - I've been patted 11 - I've been slapped 12 - I've bumped a wall 13 - I am near a wall 14 - I am in a vehicle 15 - User has spoken 16 - Creature has spoken 17 - Own kind has spoken 18 - Audible event 19 - Visible event 1A - It is approaching 1B - It is retreating 1C - It is near to me 1D - It is Active 1E - It is an object 1F - It is a creature 20 - It is my sibling 21 - It is my parent 22 - It is my child 23 - It is opposite sex 24 - Not allocated 25 - Not allocated 26 - Not allocated 27 - Not allocated 28 - Not allocated 29 - Not allocated 2A - Not allocated 2B - Not allocated 2C - Not allocated 2D - Not allocated 2E - Not allocated 2F - Not allocated 30 - Self 31 - Hand 32 - Lift Call Button 33 - Waterfall 34 - Herb 35 - Egg 36 - Food 37 - Drink 38 - Vendor 39 - Music 3A - Animal 3B - Fire 3C - Relax (shower/clock) 3D - Toy 3E - Bigtoy 3F - Weed 40 - Not allocated 41 - Not allocated 42 - Not allocated 43 - Not allocated 44 - Not allocated 45 - Not allocated 46 - Not allocated 47 - Not allocated 48 - Not allocated 49 - Not allocated 4A - Mover 4B - Lift 4C - Computer 4D - Film 4E - Cannon 4F - Not allocated 50 - Not allocated 51 - Not allocated 52 - Not allocated 53 - Not allocated 54 - Norn 55 - Grendel 56 - Ettin 57 - Shee 58 - Not allocated 59 - Not allocated 5A - Not allocated 5B - Not allocated 5C - Not allocated 5D - Not allocated 5E - Not allocated 5F - Not allocated |
01 Drive |
00 - Pain 01 - Need for pleasure 02 - Hunger 03 - Coldness 04 - Hotness 05 - Tiredness 06 - Sleepiness 07 - Loneliness 08 - Crowded 09 - Fear 0A - Boredom 0B - Anger 0C - Sex drive 0D - Not allocated 0E - Not allocated 0F - Not allocated |
02 |
00 - Self 01 - Hand 02 - Lift Call Button 03 - Waterfall 04 - Herb 05 - Egg 06 - Food 07 - Drink 08 - Vendor 09 - Music 0A - Animal 0B - Fire 0C - Relax (shower/clock) 0D - Toy 0E - Bigtoy 0F - Weed 10 - Not allocated (incubator) 11 - Not allocated 12 - Not allocated 13 - Not allocated 14 - Not allocated 15 - Not allocated 16 -Not allocated 17 - Not allocated 18 - Not allocated 19 - Not allocated 1A - Mover 1B - Lift 1C - Computer 1D - Film 1E - Cannon 1F - Not allocated 20 - Not allocated 21 - Not allocated 22 - Not allocated 23 - Not allocated 24 - Norn 25 - Grendel 26 - Ettin 27 - Shee |
03 Verb |
00 - Quiescent
(stay) 01 - Push (Activate 1) 02 - Pull (Activate 2) 03 - Stop (Deactivate) 04 - Come (Approach) 05 - Run (Retreat) 06 - Get 07 - Drop 08 - What 09 - Rest 0A - West 0B - East 0C - Eat 0D - Not allocated 0E - Not allocated 0F - Not allocated |
04 |
00 - Self 01 - Hand 02 - Lift Call Button 03 - Waterfall 04 - Herb 05 - Egg 06 - Food 07 - Drink 08 - Vendor 09 - Music 0A - Animal 0B - Fire 0C - Relax (shower/clock) 0D - Toy 0E - Bigtoy 0F - Weed 10 - Not allocated (incubator) 11 - Not allocated 12 - Not allocated 13 - Not allocated 14 - Not allocated 15 - Not allocated 16 -Not allocated 17 - Not allocated 18 - Not allocated 19 - Not allocated 1A - Mover 1B - Lift 1C - Computer 1D - Film 1E - Cannon 1F - Not allocated 20 - Not allocated 21 - Not allocated 22 - Not allocated 23 - Not allocated 24 - Norn 25 - Grendel 26 - Ettin 27 - Shee |
05 General sensory |
00 - I've been patted 01 - I've been slapped 02 - I've bumped a wall 03 - I am near a wall 04 - I am in a vehicle 05 - User has spoken 06 - Creature has spoken 07 - Own kind has spoken 08 - Audible event 09 - Visible event 0A - It is approaching 0B - It is retreating 0C - It is near to me 0D - It is Active 0E - It is an object 0F - It is a creature 10 - It is my sibling 11 - It is my parent 12 - It is my child 13 - It is opposite sex 14 - Not allocated 15 - Not allocated 16 - Not allocated 17 - Not allocated 18 - Not allocated 19 - Not allocated 1A - Not allocated 1B - Not allocated 1C - Not allocated 1D - Not allocated 1E - Not allocated 1F - Not allocated |
06 |
00 - Quiescent
(stay) 01 - Push (Activate 1) 02 - Pull (Activate 2) 03 - Stop (Deactivate) 04 - Come (Approach) 05 - Run (Retreat) 06 - Get 07 - Drop 08 - What 09 - Rest 0A - West 0B - East 0C - Eat 0D - Not allocated 0E - Not allocated 0F - Not allocated |
07 Attention |
00 - Self 01 - Hand 02 - Lift Call Button 03 - Waterfall 04 - Herb 05 - Egg 06 - Food 07 - Drink 08 - Vendor 09 - Music 0A - Animal 0B - Fire 0C - Relax (shower/clock) 0D - Toy 0E - Bigtoy 0F - Weed 10 - Not allocated (incubator) 11 - Not allocated 12 - Not allocated 13 - Not allocated 14 - Not allocated 15 - Not allocated 16 -Not allocated 17 - Not allocated 18 - Not allocated 19 - Not allocated 1A - Mover 1B - Lift 1C - Computer 1D - Film 1E - Cannon 1F - Not allocated 20 - Not allocated 21 - Not allocated 22 - Not allocated 23 - Not allocated 24 - Norn 25 - Grendel 26 - Ettin 27 - Shee |
08 Concept |
639 neurons of mysterious function |
Norns' brains are divided into seven lobes. These are groups of Neurons with similar properties. Each lobe connects to the outside world via sensory organs or motor organs (muscles, etc.), or makes connections to one or more other brain lobes.
These five lobes receive data from the creature's senses, such as vision, hearing and
touch.
Certain kinds of data go to certain sensory lobes, (drive, verb and
noun lobes)
where they become
involved in specialized brain activity.
The Drive Lobe receives information from the creatures biochemistry (the drive chemicals)
The Verb and Noun lobes deal with the information in the words spoken by the user.
The Stimulus Source Lobe takes note of which object is the
source of the stimulation acting upon the norn.
For example if a grendel slaps
the norn, the source of the "slap" stimulus is the grendel. Information about the source
of a sound or movement goes to a lobes concerned with
directing the creature's Attention.
As its name suggests, the General Sensory lobe is the primary device for sorting sensory data.
Much of this low-level activity is 'subconscious,' however, much of the data is also collated and sent to the large General Sensory Lobe feeding Concept Space where a creature's main perceptive and memory mechanisms reside.
By far the largest region of a norn's brain is used to store memories of the events that occur over its lifetime.
This region is called Concept Space, and seems to be involved in the collation and organization of a norn's perceptions and experiences. We know that the neurons in this region are very mobile, and are constantly reconnecting themselves to the main sensory lobe in response to new experiences.
Artificial stimulation of these neurons can trigger outward behavior, but it is not certain what the relationship is between a given neuron and the behavior it produces.
This small region of highly dendritic (many input fibers) neurons receives impulses from Concept Space and seems to be implicated in the forming of decisions about a course of action.
Sufficient stimulation of a given decision neuron always invokes a single action, for example one decision cell seems to control a creature's desire to approach the object he is attentive to.
This lobe controls the creature's attention, and is fairly straightforward.
Signals enter this region whenever a nearby object makes a sound, or is seen to move, and the object which makes the most fuss over a period of time is likely to be the one which the creature focuses on.
This lobe also seems to be involved in goal-directed behavior, such as the seeking out of food when hungry, however this mechanism is not well understood.
The Norn brain consists of a number of brain
lobes made up of connecting together with dendrites. The lobes are each a grid of
squares, where each square on the grid is a
neuron. Neurons are basically placeholders - they store information
that the game engine then interprets.
Dendrites link neurons in different brain lobes together, carrying
information between them in one way only.
Some dendrites are static for
the entire Norn's life. Other dendrites are motile, although they
always connect between the same two lobes.
These movable dendrites have
connections that can be strengthened or weakened, and when a dendrite
connection becomes very weak, the dendrite wanders off and reconnects
elsewhere. Therefore, this can be used to store memories of important
and not so important events in the Norn's life.