In living bodies, specific molecular recognition triggers various kinds of autonomous behaviors. To artificially reconstruct one such distinct phenomenon, an autonomous shrinking and subsequent reswelling of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAM) having a beta-cyclodextrin (CD) pendant group was induced by a specific signal of a guest molecule for CD, 8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonic acid. The autonomous phenomenon is realized as a consequence of mutual influences between the pNIPAM main chain as actuator and the CD moiety as sensor. The mutual communications were found to have quite different dependence on the length of the spacer connecting pNIPAM and CD; a long spacer hinders the communication from CD to pNIPAM, whereas a short spacer does not. However, the reverse communication from pNIPAM to CD is maintained even with long spacers, possibly because of the pNIPAM main chain spatially close to the CD moiety. This knowledge is useful for the design of highly functional polymeric materials conjugating sensors and actuators.