A Connectionist model of Planning via Back-chaining Search

A connectionist model for emergent planning behavior is proposed. The model demonstrates that a simple planning schema, acting in concert with two general purpose cognitive functionalities, namely, episodic memory and perception, can solve a restricted class of planning problems by backchaining from the goal to the current state. In spite of its simple structure, the schema can search for and execute plans involving multiple steps. We discuss how this simple model can be extended into a more powerful and expressive planning system by incorporating additional control and memory structures.