Behavioral diversity seen in biological systems is, at the most basic level, driven by interactions between physical materials and their environment. In this context we are interested in falling paper systems, specifically the V-shaped falling paper (VSFP) system that exhibits a set of discrete falling behaviors across the morphological parameter space. Our previous work has investigated how morphology influences dominant falling behaviors in the VSFP system. In this article we build on this analysis to investigate the nature of behavioral transitions in the same system. First, we investigate stochastic behavior transitions. We demonstrate how morphology influences the likelihood of different transitions, with certain morphologies leading to a wide range of possible paths through the behavior-space. Second, we investigate deterministic transitions. To investigate behaviors over longer time periods than available in falling experiments we introduce a new experimental platform. We demonstrate how we can induce behavior transitions by modulating the energy input to the system. Certain behavior transitions are found to be irreversible, exhibiting a form of hysteresis, while others are fully reversible. Certain morphologies are shown to behave like simplistic sequential logic circuits, indicating that the system has a form of memory encoded into the morphology–environment interactions. Investigating the limits of how morphology–environment interactions induce non-trivial behaviors is a key step for the design of embodied artificial life-forms.

生物系统中的行为多样性在最基本的层面上是由物理材料与其环境之间的相互作用驱动的。在这种情况下，我们对落纸系统感兴趣，特别是 V 形落纸 (VSFP) 系统，该系统在形态参数空间中表现出一组离散的落下行为。我们之前的工作研究了形态如何影响 VSFP 系统中的主导跌倒行为。在本文中，我们在此分析的基础上研究同一系统中行为转变的本质。首先，我们研究随机行为转变。我们展示了形态如何影响不同转变的可能性，某些形态会导致行为空间中的各种可能路径。其次，我们研究确定性转变。为了研究比跌倒实验更长的时间段内的行为，我们引入了一个新的实验平台。我们演示了如何通过调节系统的能量输入来诱导行为转变。某些行为转变被发现是不可逆的，表现出某种形式的滞后性，而另一些则是完全可逆的。某些形态表现得像简单的顺序逻辑电路，表明系统具有一种编码到形态与环境相互作用中的记忆形式。研究形态与环境相互作用如何引发非平凡行为的局限性是设计具身人工生命形式的关键一步。