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Tomasello R, Carriere M, Pulvermüller F. The impact of early and late blindness on language and verbal working memory: A brain-constrained neural model. Neuropsychologia 2024; 196:108816. [PMID: 38331022 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108816] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2023] [Revised: 01/26/2024] [Accepted: 02/04/2024] [Indexed: 02/10/2024]
Abstract
Neural circuits related to language exhibit a remarkable ability to reorganize and adapt in response to visual deprivation. Particularly, early and late blindness induce distinct neuroplastic changes in the visual cortex, repurposing it for language and semantic processing. Interestingly, these functional changes provoke a unique cognitive advantage - enhanced verbal working memory, particularly in early blindness. Yet, the underlying neuromechanisms and the impact on language and memory-related circuits remain not fully understood. Here, we applied a brain-constrained neural network mimicking the structural and functional features of the frontotemporal-occipital cortices, to model conceptual acquisition in early and late blindness. The results revealed differential expansion of conceptual-related neural circuits into deprived visual areas depending on the timing of visual loss, which is most prominent in early blindness. This neural recruitment is fundamentally governed by the biological principles of neural circuit expansion and the absence of uncorrelated sensory input. Critically, the degree of these changes is constrained by the availability of neural matter previously allocated to visual experiences, as in the case of late blindness. Moreover, we shed light on the implication of visual deprivation on the neural underpinnings of verbal working memory, revealing longer reverberatory neural activity in 'blind models' as compared to the sighted ones. These findings provide a better understanding of the interplay between visual deprivations, neuroplasticity, language processing and verbal working memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rosario Tomasello
- Brain Language Laboratory, Department of Philosophy and Humanities, WE4 Freie Universität Berlin, 14195, Berlin, Germany; Cluster of Excellence' Matters of Activity. Image Space Material', Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, 10099, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Maxime Carriere
- Brain Language Laboratory, Department of Philosophy and Humanities, WE4 Freie Universität Berlin, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Friedemann Pulvermüller
- Brain Language Laboratory, Department of Philosophy and Humanities, WE4 Freie Universität Berlin, 14195, Berlin, Germany; Cluster of Excellence' Matters of Activity. Image Space Material', Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, 10099, Berlin, Germany; Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, 10117, Berlin, Germany; Einstein Center for Neurosciences, 10117, Berlin, Germany
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2
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Colas JT, O’Doherty JP, Grafton ST. Active reinforcement learning versus action bias and hysteresis: control with a mixture of experts and nonexperts. PLoS Comput Biol 2024; 20:e1011950. [PMID: 38552190 PMCID: PMC10980507 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Active reinforcement learning enables dynamic prediction and control, where one should not only maximize rewards but also minimize costs such as of inference, decisions, actions, and time. For an embodied agent such as a human, decisions are also shaped by physical aspects of actions. Beyond the effects of reward outcomes on learning processes, to what extent can modeling of behavior in a reinforcement-learning task be complicated by other sources of variance in sequential action choices? What of the effects of action bias (for actions per se) and action hysteresis determined by the history of actions chosen previously? The present study addressed these questions with incremental assembly of models for the sequential choice data from a task with hierarchical structure for additional complexity in learning. With systematic comparison and falsification of computational models, human choices were tested for signatures of parallel modules representing not only an enhanced form of generalized reinforcement learning but also action bias and hysteresis. We found evidence for substantial differences in bias and hysteresis across participants-even comparable in magnitude to the individual differences in learning. Individuals who did not learn well revealed the greatest biases, but those who did learn accurately were also significantly biased. The direction of hysteresis varied among individuals as repetition or, more commonly, alternation biases persisting from multiple previous actions. Considering that these actions were button presses with trivial motor demands, the idiosyncratic forces biasing sequences of action choices were robust enough to suggest ubiquity across individuals and across tasks requiring various actions. In light of how bias and hysteresis function as a heuristic for efficient control that adapts to uncertainty or low motivation by minimizing the cost of effort, these phenomena broaden the consilient theory of a mixture of experts to encompass a mixture of expert and nonexpert controllers of behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaron T. Colas
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, United States of America
- Computation and Neural Systems Program, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, United States of America
| | - John P. O’Doherty
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, United States of America
- Computation and Neural Systems Program, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, United States of America
| | - Scott T. Grafton
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
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Pezzulo G, Parr T, Cisek P, Clark A, Friston K. Generating meaning: active inference and the scope and limits of passive AI. Trends Cogn Sci 2024; 28:97-112. [PMID: 37973519 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.10.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2023] [Revised: 10/03/2023] [Accepted: 10/05/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
Prominent accounts of sentient behavior depict brains as generative models of organismic interaction with the world, evincing intriguing similarities with current advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI). However, because they contend with the control of purposive, life-sustaining sensorimotor interactions, the generative models of living organisms are inextricably anchored to the body and world. Unlike the passive models learned by generative AI systems, they must capture and control the sensory consequences of action. This allows embodied agents to intervene upon their worlds in ways that constantly put their best models to the test, thus providing a solid bedrock that is - we argue - essential to the development of genuine understanding. We review the resulting implications and consider future directions for generative AI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni Pezzulo
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy.
| | - Thomas Parr
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford
| | - Paul Cisek
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
| | - Andy Clark
- Department of Philosophy, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK; Department of Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK; Department of Philosophy, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Karl Friston
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK; VERSES AI Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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4
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Proietti R, Pezzulo G, Tessari A. An active inference model of hierarchical action understanding, learning and imitation. Phys Life Rev 2023; 46:92-118. [PMID: 37354642 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2023.05.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2023] [Accepted: 05/31/2023] [Indexed: 06/26/2023]
Abstract
We advance a novel active inference model of the cognitive processing that underlies the acquisition of a hierarchical action repertoire and its use for observation, understanding and imitation. We illustrate the model in four simulations of a tennis learner who observes a teacher performing tennis shots, forms hierarchical representations of the observed actions, and imitates them. Our simulations show that the agent's oculomotor activity implements an active information sampling strategy that permits inferring the kinematic aspects of the observed movement, which lie at the lowest level of the action hierarchy. In turn, this low-level kinematic inference supports higher-level inferences about deeper aspects of the observed actions: proximal goals and intentions. Finally, the inferred action representations can steer imitative responses, but interfere with the execution of different actions. Our simulations show that hierarchical active inference provides a unified account of action observation, understanding, learning and imitation and helps explain the neurobiological underpinnings of visuomotor cognition, including the multiple routes for action understanding in the dorsal and ventral streams and mirror mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Giovanni Pezzulo
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy.
| | - Alessia Tessari
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Italy; Alma Mater Research Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
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Holistic Functioning from a Developmental Perspective: A New Synthesis with a Focus on a Multi-tiered System Support Structure. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 2023; 26:343-361. [PMID: 36826703 DOI: 10.1007/s10567-023-00428-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/02/2023] [Indexed: 02/25/2023]
Abstract
While research in specific academic disciplines has individually advanced knowledge and practice for promoting multiple aspects of health and well-being in children and adolescents, still missing is an understanding of the interconnectedness of many critical aspects of development and how to intentionally weave these factors to advance a more holistic approach. The need for a more holistic and inclusive approach to child and adolescent development is increasingly evident to promote long-term health and well-being as the overall percentage of children, adolescents, and adults who suffer from mental health disorders is increasing. To address this issue, our authorship team consists of researchers in the areas of developmental psychology, neuroscience, motor development, exercise science, and mental health. The collective ideas outlined in this paper are aligned to address the need to remove disciplinary-specific boundaries and elucidate synergistic linkages across multiple research domains that support holistic development and lifespan health and wellness. We propose a conceptual framework that comprehensively addresses the integration of physical, cognitive, psychological, social, and emotional domains of child and adolescent development. In addition, we also provide a holistic preventative approach that is aligned with a contemporary intervention structure (i.e., Multi-tiered Systems of Support) to promote, from a developmental perspective, positive trajectories of health and well-being across childhood and adolescence.
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6
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Schneider H. An analogical inductive solution to the grounding problem. COGN SYST RES 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogsys.2022.10.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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7
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Gubenko A, Houssemand C. Alternative Object Use in Adults and Children: Embodied Cognitive Bases of Creativity. Front Psychol 2022; 13:893420. [PMID: 36118496 PMCID: PMC9480609 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.893420] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2022] [Accepted: 05/31/2022] [Indexed: 12/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Why does one need creativity? On a personal level, improvisation with available resources is needed for online coping with unforeseen environmental stimuli when existing knowledge and apparent action strategies do not work. On a cultural level, the exploitation of existing cultural means and norms for the deliberate production of novel and valuable artifacts is a basis for cultural and technological development and extension of human action possibilities across various domains. It is less clear, however, how creativity develops and how exactly one arrives at generating new action possibilities and producing multiple alternative action strategies using familiar objects. In this theoretical paper, we first consider existing accounts of the creative process in the Alternative Uses Task and then present an alternative interpretation, drawing on sociocultural views and an embodied cognition approach. We explore similarities between the psychological processes underlying the generation of new uses in the Alternative Uses Task and children’s pretend play. We discuss possible cognitive mechanisms and speculate how the generation of new action possibilities for common objects in pretend play can be related to adults’ ability to generate new action strategies associated with object use. Implications for creativity development in humans and embodied artificial agents are discussed.
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Valenzo D, Ciria A, Schillaci G, Lara B. Grounding Context in Embodied Cognitive Robotics. Front Neurorobot 2022; 16:843108. [PMID: 35812785 PMCID: PMC9262126 DOI: 10.3389/fnbot.2022.843108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2021] [Accepted: 05/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Biological agents are context-dependent systems that exhibit behavioral flexibility. The internal and external information agents process, their actions, and emotions are all grounded in the context within which they are situated. However, in the field of cognitive robotics, the concept of context is far from being clear with most studies making little to no reference to it. The aim of this paper is to provide an interpretation of the notion of context and its core elements based on different studies in natural agents, and how these core contextual elements have been modeled in cognitive robotics, to introduce a new hypothesis about the interactions between these contextual elements. Here, global context is categorized as agent-related, environmental, and task-related context. The interaction of their core elements, allows agents to first select self-relevant tasks depending on their current needs, or for learning and mastering their environment through exploration. Second, to perform a task and continuously monitor its performance. Third, to abandon a task in case its execution is not going as expected. Here, the monitoring of prediction error, the difference between sensorimotor predictions and incoming sensory information, is at the core of behavioral flexibility during situated action cycles. Additionally, monitoring prediction error dynamics and its comparison with the expected reduction rate should indicate the agent its overall performance on executing the task. Sensitivity to performance evokes emotions that function as the driving element for autonomous behavior which, at the same time, depends on the processing of the interacting core elements. Taking all these into account, an interactionist model of contexts and their core elements is proposed. The model is embodied, affective, and situated, by means of the processing of the agent-related and environmental core contextual elements. Additionally, it is grounded in the processing of the task-related context and the associated situated action cycles during task execution. Finally, the model proposed here aims to guide how artificial agents should process the core contextual elements of the agent-related and environmental context to give rise to the task-related context, allowing agents to autonomously select a task, its planning, execution, and monitoring for behavioral flexibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diana Valenzo
- Laboratorio de Robótica Cognitiva, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Alejandra Ciria
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
| | | | - Bruno Lara
- Laboratorio de Robótica Cognitiva, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
- *Correspondence: Bruno Lara
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Li AY, Fukuda K, Barense MD. Independent features form integrated objects: Using a novel shape-color “conjunction task” to reconstruct memory resolution for multiple object features simultaneously. Cognition 2022; 223:105024. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2021] [Revised: 12/17/2021] [Accepted: 01/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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11
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Denervaud S, Christensen AP, Kenett YN, Beaty RE. Education shapes the structure of semantic memory and impacts creative thinking. NPJ SCIENCE OF LEARNING 2021; 6:35. [PMID: 34887430 PMCID: PMC8660875 DOI: 10.1038/s41539-021-00113-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2021] [Accepted: 10/27/2021] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Education is central to the acquisition of knowledge, such as when children learn new concepts. It is unknown, however, whether educational differences impact not only what concepts children learn, but how those concepts come to be represented in semantic memory-a system that supports higher cognitive functions, such as creative thinking. Here we leverage computational network science tools to study hidden knowledge structures of 67 Swiss schoolchildren from two distinct educational backgrounds-Montessori and traditional, matched on socioeconomic factors and nonverbal intelligence-to examine how educational experience shape semantic memory and creative thinking. We find that children experiencing Montessori education show a more flexible semantic network structure (high connectivity/short paths between concepts, less modularity) alongside higher scores on creative thinking tests. The findings indicate that education impacts how children represent concepts in semantic memory and suggest that different educational experiences can affect higher cognitive functions, including creative thinking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Solange Denervaud
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), University of Lausanne (UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
- Center for Biomedical Imaging (CIBM), Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | | | - Yoed N Kenett
- Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - Roger E Beaty
- Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
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12
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Fischer MH, Glenberg AM, Moeller K, Shaki S. Grounding (fairly) complex numerical knowledge: an educational example. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2021; 86:2389-2397. [PMID: 34757438 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-021-01577-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
In this article, we contextualize and discuss an on-line contribution to this special issue in which a video-recorded lecture demonstrates the teaching of an abstract mathematical concept, namely regression to the mean. We first motivate the pertinence of this example from the perspective of embodied cognition. Then, we identify mechanisms of teaching that reflect embodied cognitive practices, such as the concreteness fading approach. Rather than a comprehensive review of multiple extensive literatures, this article provides the interested reader with several sources or entries into those literatures.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Arthur M Glenberg
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287-1104, USA.
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
- Universidad de Salamanca, INICO, Salamanca, Spain.
| | - Korbinian Moeller
- Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
- Leibniz-Institut Für Wissensmedien, Tübingen, Germany
- LEAD Graduate School and Research Network, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Individual Development and Adaptive Education for Children at Risk Center, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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13
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Separation/connection procedures: From cleansing behavior to numerical cognition. Behav Brain Sci 2021; 44:e5. [PMID: 33599596 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x20000461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Lee and Schwarz (L&S) suggest that separation is the grounded procedure underlying cleansing effects in different psychological domains. Here, we interpret L&S's account from a hierarchical view of cognition that considers the influence of physical properties and sensorimotor constraints on mental representations. This approach allows theoretical integration and generalization of L&S's account to the domain of formal quantitative reasoning.
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14
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Falandays JB, Spevack S, Pärnamets P, Spivey M. Decision-Making in the Human-Machine Interface. Front Psychol 2021; 12:624111. [PMID: 33643152 PMCID: PMC7905315 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.624111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Accepted: 01/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
If our choices make us who we are, then what does that mean when these choices are made in the human-machine interface? Developing a clear understanding of how human decision making is influenced by automated systems in the environment is critical because, as human-machine interfaces and assistive robotics become even more ubiquitous in everyday life, many daily decisions will be an emergent result of the interactions between the human and the machine – not stemming solely from the human. For example, choices can be influenced by the relative locations and motor costs of the response options, as well as by the timing of the response prompts. In drift diffusion model simulations of response-prompt timing manipulations, we find that it is only relatively equibiased choices that will be successfully influenced by this kind of perturbation. However, with drift diffusion model simulations of motor cost manipulations, we find that even relatively biased choices can still show some influence of the perturbation. We report the results of a two-alternative forced-choice experiment with a computer mouse modified to have a subtle velocity bias in a pre-determined direction for each trial, inducing an increased motor cost to move the cursor away from the pre-designated target direction. With queries that have each been normed in advance to be equibiased in people’s preferences, the participant will often begin their mouse movement before their cognitive choice has been finalized, and the directional bias in the mouse velocity exerts a small but significant influence on their final choice. With queries that are not equibiased, a similar influence is observed. By exploring the synergies that are developed between humans and machines and tracking their temporal dynamics, this work aims to provide insight into our evolving decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Benjamin Falandays
- Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced, Merced, CA, United States
| | | | - Philip Pärnamets
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, United States.,Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden
| | - Michael Spivey
- Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced, Merced, CA, United States
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15
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Todesco S, Chao T, Schmid L, Thiessen KA, Schütz CG. Changes in Loss Sensitivity During Treatment in Concurrent Disorders Inpatients: A Computational Model Approach to Assessing Risky Decision-Making. Front Psychiatry 2021; 12:794014. [PMID: 35153861 PMCID: PMC8831914 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.794014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2021] [Accepted: 12/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Recent studies have employed computational modeling to characterize deficits in aspects of decision-making not otherwise detected using traditional behavioral task outcomes. While prospect utility-based modeling has shown to differentiate decision-making patterns between users of different drugs, its relevance in the context of treatment has yet to be examined. This study investigated model-based decision-making as it relates to treatment outcome in inpatients with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. METHODS 50 patients (Mage = 38.5, SD = 11.4; 16F) completed the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT) within 2 weeks of admission (baseline) and 6 months into treatment (follow-up), and 50 controls (Mage = 31.9, SD = 10.0; 25F) completed CGT under a single outpatient session. We evaluated 4 traditional CGT outputs and 5 decisional processes derived from the Cumulative Model. Psychiatric diagnoses and discharge data were retrieved from patient health records. RESULTS Groups were similar in age, sex, and premorbid IQ. Differences in years of education were included as covariates across all group comparisons. All patients had ≥1 mental health diagnosis, with 80% having >1 substance use disorder. On the CGT, patients showed greater Deliberation Time and Delay Aversion than controls. Estimated model parameters revealed higher Delayed Reward Discounting, and lower Probability Distortion and Loss Sensitivity in patients relative to controls. From baseline to follow-up, patients (n = 24) showed a decrease in model-derived Loss Sensitivity and Color Choice Bias. Lastly, poorer Quality of Decision-Making and Choice Consistency, and greater Color Choice Bias independently predicted higher likelihood of treatment dropout, while none were significant in relation to treatment length of stay. CONCLUSION This is the first study to assess a computational model of decision-making in the context of treatment for concurrent disorders. Patients were more impulsive and slower to deliberate choice than controls. While both traditional and computational outcomes predicted treatment adherence in patients, findings suggest computational methods are able to capture treatment-sensitive aspects of decision-making not accessible via traditional methods. Further research is needed to confirm findings as well as investigate the relationship between model-based decision-making and post-treatment outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefanie Todesco
- Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Mental Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Thomas Chao
- Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Mental Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Laura Schmid
- Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Mental Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Karina A Thiessen
- Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Mental Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Christian G Schütz
- Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Mental Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.,BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services Research Institute, Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), Vancouver, BC, Canada
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16
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Beni MD. An Algorithmic Metaphysics of Self-Patterns. Front Psychol 2020; 11:607917. [PMID: 33362668 PMCID: PMC7758732 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.607917] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2020] [Accepted: 11/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The paper draws on an algorithmic criterion to demonstrate that the self (as initially described in Shaun Gallagher’s a pattern theory of self) is a composite, scattered, and patterned object. It also addresses the question of extendedness of the self-pattern. Based on the criteria drawn from algorithmic complexity, I argue that although the self-pattern possesses a genuinely extended aspect (and in this sense, the self-pattern is minimally extended) the self-pattern and its environment do not constitute a genuine composite object.
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Affiliation(s)
- Majid D Beni
- Department of Philosophy, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
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17
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The Brain’s Asymmetric Frequency Tuning: Asymmetric Behavior Originates from Asymmetric Perception. Symmetry (Basel) 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/sym12122083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
To construct a coherent multi-modal percept, vertebrate brains extract low-level features (such as spatial and temporal frequencies) from incoming sensory signals. However, because frequency processing is lateralized with the right hemisphere favouring low frequencies while the left favours higher frequencies, this introduces asymmetries between the hemispheres. Here, we describe how this lateralization shapes the development of several cognitive domains, ranging from visuo-spatial and numerical cognition to language, social cognition, and even aesthetic appreciation, and leads to the emergence of asymmetries in behaviour. We discuss the neuropsychological and educational implications of these emergent asymmetries and suggest future research approaches.
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18
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Budaev S, Kristiansen TS, Giske J, Eliassen S. Computational animal welfare: towards cognitive architecture models of animal sentience, emotion and wellbeing. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2020; 7:201886. [PMID: 33489298 PMCID: PMC7813262 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.201886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2020] [Accepted: 12/04/2020] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
To understand animal wellbeing, we need to consider subjective phenomena and sentience. This is challenging, since these properties are private and cannot be observed directly. Certain motivations, emotions and related internal states can be inferred in animals through experiments that involve choice, learning, generalization and decision-making. Yet, even though there is significant progress in elucidating the neurobiology of human consciousness, animal consciousness is still a mystery. We propose that computational animal welfare science emerges at the intersection of animal behaviour, welfare and computational cognition. By using ideas from cognitive science, we develop a functional and generic definition of subjective phenomena as any process or state of the organism that exists from the first-person perspective and cannot be isolated from the animal subject. We then outline a general cognitive architecture to model simple forms of subjective processes and sentience. This includes evolutionary adaptation which contains top-down attention modulation, predictive processing and subjective simulation by re-entrant (recursive) computations. Thereafter, we show how this approach uses major characteristics of the subjective experience: elementary self-awareness, global workspace and qualia with unity and continuity. This provides a formal framework for process-based modelling of animal needs, subjective states, sentience and wellbeing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sergey Budaev
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, PO Box 7803, 5020 Bergen, Norway
| | - Tore S. Kristiansen
- Research Group Animal Welfare, Institute of Marine Research, PO Box 1870, 5817 Bergen, Norway
| | - Jarl Giske
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, PO Box 7803, 5020 Bergen, Norway
| | - Sigrunn Eliassen
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, PO Box 7803, 5020 Bergen, Norway
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Searching for Models for Psychological Science: A Possible Contribution of Simulation. Integr Psychol Behav Sci 2020; 54:701-709. [PMID: 32418157 DOI: 10.1007/s12124-020-09539-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
The problem of the theoretical precariousness of psychology requires defining, at an epistemological level, its concepts and languages and the use of models for finding core concepts and building more or less 'hard' theories. After reviewing some main aims and models of psychology, and comparing them with those of other sciences, the commentary deals with the possibility of simulating life as a tool for building evolutionary psychological models. In particular, evolutionary and developmental robotics and the evo-devo models can simulate the simultaneous adaptation effects of the phylogenetic and ontogenetic development of the embodied mind in response to the characteristics of the environment. The simulation using Artificial Intelligence and robotics could contribute significantly to the definition, experimentation, and validation of the models that make up the theories of psychology in its different domains, enhancing the interdisciplinarity with other sciences that study the same objects. Further studies, both epistemological and empirical, are suggested to confirm whether this evo-devo approach can be integrated with "evolutionary psychology" and contribute to a unifying meta-theory of psychological science.
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Felisatti A, Laubrock J, Shaki S, Fischer MH. A biological foundation for spatial-numerical associations: the brain's asymmetric frequency tuning. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2020; 1477:44-53. [PMID: 32645221 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.14418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2020] [Revised: 05/22/2020] [Accepted: 06/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
"Left" and "right" coordinates control our spatial behavior and even influence abstract thoughts. For number concepts, horizontal spatial-numerical associations (SNAs) have been widely documented: we associate few with left and many with right. Importantly, increments are universally coded on the right side even in preverbal humans and nonhuman animals, thus questioning the fundamental role of directional cultural habits, such as reading or finger counting. Here, we propose a biological, nonnumerical mechanism for the origin of SNAs on the basis of asymmetric tuning of animal brains for different spatial frequencies (SFs). The resulting selective visual processing predicts both universal SNAs and their context-dependence. We support our proposal by analyzing the stimuli used to document SNAs in newborns for their SF content. As predicted, the SFs contained in visual patterns with few versus many elements preferentially engage right versus left brain hemispheres, respectively, thus predicting left-versus rightward behavioral biases. Our "brain's asymmetric frequency tuning" hypothesis explains the perceptual origin of horizontal SNAs for nonsymbolic visual numerosities and might be extensible to the auditory domain.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jochen Laubrock
- Department of Psychology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.,Department of Psychology, Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane, Neuruppin, Germany
| | - Samuel Shaki
- Department of Behavioral Sciences and Psychology, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
| | - Martin H Fischer
- Department of Psychology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
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21
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Schilling M, Rohlfing KJ, Vogt P, Yu C, Spranger M. Guest Editorial Special Issue on Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Mechanisms of Language Learning. IEEE Trans Cogn Dev Syst 2020; 12:134-138. [PMID: 33209987 PMCID: PMC7671580 DOI: 10.1109/tcds.2020.2991470] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Malte Schilling
- Neuroinformatics Group Faculty of Technology Bielefeld university D-33501 Bielefeld, Germany; Sony Computer Science Laboratories Inc. Tokyo 141-0022, Japan
| | - Katharina J Rohlfing
- Department of German Studies and Comparative Literature Studies Paderborn University D-33098 Paderborn, Germany
| | - Paul Vogt
- Department of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence Tilburg university 5037 AB Tilburg, The Netherlands
| | - Chen Yu
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences Indiana university Bloomington, IN 47405 USA
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22
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Vaughn Becker D, Neuberg SL. Archetypes Reconsidered as Emergent Outcomes of Cognitive Complexity and Evolved Motivational Systems. PSYCHOLOGICAL INQUIRY 2019. [DOI: 10.1080/1047840x.2019.1614795] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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23
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Fischer MH, Shaki S. Number concepts: abstract and embodied. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 373:rstb.2017.0125. [PMID: 29914993 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/08/2018] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Numerical knowledge, including number concepts and arithmetic procedures, seems to be a clear-cut case for abstract symbol manipulation. Yet, evidence from perceptual and motor behaviour reveals that natural number knowledge and simple arithmetic also remain closely associated with modal experiences. Following a review of behavioural, animal and neuroscience studies of number processing, we propose a revised understanding of psychological number concepts as grounded in physical constraints, embodied in experience and situated through task-specific intentions. The idea that number concepts occupy a range of positions on the continuum between abstract and modal conceptual knowledge also accounts for systematic heuristics and biases in mental arithmetic, thus inviting psycho-logical approaches to the study of the mathematical mind.This article is part of the theme issue 'Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin H Fischer
- Division of Cognitive Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24-25, House 14, 14476 Potsdam OT Golm, Germany .,Department of Behavioral Sciences, Ariel University, Ariel 40700, Israel
| | - Samuel Shaki
- Department of Behavioral Sciences, Ariel University, Ariel 40700, Israel
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24
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Scorolli C. Re-enacting the Bodily Self on Stage: Embodied Cognition Meets Psychoanalysis. Front Psychol 2019; 10:492. [PMID: 31024371 PMCID: PMC6460994 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00492] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2018] [Accepted: 02/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The embodied approach to cognition consists in a range of theoretical proposals sharing the idea that our concepts are constitutively shaped by the physical and social constraints of our body and environment. Still far from a mutually enriching interplay, in recent years embodied and psychoanalytic approaches are converging on similar constructs as the ones of intersubjectivity, bodily self, and affective quality of verbal communication. Some efforts to cope with the sentient subject were already present in classical cognitivism: having expunged desires and conflicts from the cognitive harmony, bodily emotions re-emerged but only as a noisy dynamic friction. In contrast, the new, neural, embodied cognitive science with its focus on bodily effects/affects has enabled a dialogue between neuro-cognitive perspectives and clinic-psychological ones, through shared conceptual frameworks. I will address crucial issues that should be faced on this reconciling path. With reference to two kinds of contemporary addictions - internet addiction disorder and eating disorders - I will introduce a possible therapeutic approach that is built upon the core role of the acting-sentient bodily self in a dynamic-social and affective environment. In Psychoanalytic Psychodrama, the spontaneous re-enactment of a past (socially and physically constrained) experience is actualized by means of the other, the Auxiliary Ego. This allows homeostatic and social-emotional affects, i.e., drives and instincts, to be re-experienced by the agent, the Protagonist, in a safe scenario. The director-psychoanalyst smoothly traces back this simulation to the motivated, and constrained, early proximal embodied interactions with significant others, and to the related instinctual conflicting aims. The psychoanalytic reframing of classical psychodrama does not merely exploit its original cathartic function, rather stands out for exploring the interpersonal constitution of the self, through an actual "re-somatization" of psychoanalytic therapy. Unspoken/unspeakable feelings pop up on stage: the strength of this treatment mainly rests on re-establishing the priority of the embodied Self over the narrative Self. By pointing out the possible conflicts between these two selves, this method can broaden the embodied cognition perspective. The psychodramatic approach will be briefly discussed in light of connectionist models, to finally address linguistic and methodological pivotal issues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Scorolli
- Department of Philosophy and Communication Studies, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
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25
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Hoemann K, Barrett LF. Concepts dissolve artificial boundaries in the study of emotion and cognition, uniting body, brain, and mind. Cogn Emot 2019; 33:67-76. [PMID: 30336722 PMCID: PMC6399041 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2018.1535428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2018] [Revised: 09/17/2018] [Accepted: 10/09/2018] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Theories of emotion have often maintained artificial boundaries: for instance, that cognition and emotion are separable, and that an emotion concept is separable from the emotional events that comprise its category (e.g. "fear" is distinct from instances of fear). Over the past several years, research has dissolved these artificial boundaries, suggesting instead that conceptual construction is a domain-general process-a process by which the brain makes meaning of the world. The brain constructs emotion concepts, but also cognitions and perceptions, all in the service of guiding action. In this view, concepts are multimodal constructions, dynamically prepared from a set of highly variable instances. This approach obviates old questions (e.g. how does cognition regulate emotion?) but generates new ones (e.g. how does a brain learn emotion concepts?). In this paper, we review this constructionist, predictive coding account of emotion, considering its implications for health and well-being, culture and development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katie Hoemann
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Lisa Feldman Barrett
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
- Massachusetts General Hospital/Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, USA
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26
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Jung KI, Park MH, Park B, Kim SY, Kim YO, Kim BN, Park S, Song CH. Cerebellar Gray Matter Volume, Executive Function, and Insomnia: Gender Differences in Adolescents. Sci Rep 2019; 9:855. [PMID: 30696877 PMCID: PMC6351545 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-37154-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2018] [Accepted: 11/30/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
The cerebellum is an important region responsible for adolescent cognitive function and sleep, and their correlation is expected to show different patterns depending on age and gender. We examined the regional cerebellar gray matter volume (GMV), executive function (EF) and insomnia symptoms to identify their correlation and gender differences in adolescents. Data for a total of 55 subjects' (M = 31, F = 24, 14.80 ± 1.39 years old) were analyzed. The correlations between cerebellar regional GMV and Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST) subcategories showed that EF was better with larger GMV both in males and females. Far more overall correlations with cerebellar regions were observed in boys, with corresponding correlation strength being higher, and differences in localization were also observed in contrast to girls. Larger cerebellar GMV corresponded to better EF in adolescents. Insomnia did not influence the correlations between cerebellar regional GMV and EF, but more severe insomnia in boys correlated to smaller GMV in the right flocculonodular lobe. These results might implicate that the adolescent cerebellum is involved differently in EF dependent on gender.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyu-In Jung
- Department of Psychiatry, St. Paul's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Min-Hyeon Park
- Department of Psychiatry, St. Paul's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
| | - Bumhee Park
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Republic of Korea. .,Office of Biostatistics, Ajou Research Institute for Innovative Medicine, Ajou University Medical Center, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
| | - Shin-Young Kim
- Department of Psychiatry, St. Paul's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Yae On Kim
- Department of Psychiatry, St. Paul's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Bung-Nyun Kim
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Subin Park
- Department of Research Planning, National Center for Mental Health, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Chan-Hee Song
- Department of Family Medicine, Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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27
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Abstract
To be successful, the research agenda for a novel control view of cognition should foresee more detailed, computationally specified process models of cognitive operations including higher cognition. These models should cover all domains of cognition, including those cognitive abilities that can be characterized as online interactive loops and detached forms of cognition that depend on internally generated neuronal processing.
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28
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Quadt L. Commentary: First-Order Embodiment, Second-Order Embodiment, Third-Order Embodiment. Front Psychol 2018; 9:445. [PMID: 29670560 PMCID: PMC5893834 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00445] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2018] [Accepted: 03/16/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Lisa Quadt
- Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
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29
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Pezzulo G, Iodice P, Barca L, Chausse P, Monceau S, Mermillod M. Increased heart rate after exercise facilitates the processing of fearful but not disgusted faces. Sci Rep 2018; 8:398. [PMID: 29321533 PMCID: PMC5762722 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-18761-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2017] [Accepted: 12/05/2017] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Embodied theories of emotion assume that emotional processing is grounded in bodily and affective processes. Accordingly, the perception of an emotion re-enacts congruent sensory and affective states; and conversely, bodily states congruent with a specific emotion facilitate emotional processing. This study tests whether the ability to process facial expressions (faces having a neutral expression, expressing fear, or disgust) can be influenced by making the participants’ body state congruent with the expressed emotion (e.g., high heart rate in the case of faces expressing fear). We designed a task requiring participants to categorize pictures of male and female faces that either had a neutral expression (neutral), or expressed emotions whose linkage with high heart rate is strong (fear) or significantly weaker or absent (disgust). Critically, participants were tested in two conditions: with experimentally induced high heart rate (Exercise) and with normal heart rate (Normal). Participants processed fearful faces (but not disgusted or neutral faces) faster when they were in the Exercise condition than in the Normal condition. These results support the idea that an emotionally congruent body state facilitates the automatic processing of emotionally-charged stimuli and this effect is emotion-specific rather than due to generic factors such as arousal.
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Affiliation(s)
- G Pezzulo
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, CNR, Via S. Martino della Battaglia, 44, 00185, Rome, Italy.
| | - P Iodice
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, CNR, Via S. Martino della Battaglia, 44, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - L Barca
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, CNR, Via S. Martino della Battaglia, 44, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - P Chausse
- Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, LAPSCO, F-63000, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - S Monceau
- Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, LAPSCO, F-63000, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - M Mermillod
- Université Grenoble Alpes, LPNC, F-38040, Grenoble & CNRS, LPNC UMR 5105, F-38040, Grenoble, France.,Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
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30
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Olier JS, Barakova E, Regazzoni C, Rauterberg M. Re-framing the characteristics of concepts and their relation to learning and cognition in artificial agents. COGN SYST RES 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogsys.2017.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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31
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32
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33
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Roy A. The Theory of Localist Representation and of a Purely Abstract Cognitive System: The Evidence from Cortical Columns, Category Cells, and Multisensory Neurons. Front Psychol 2017; 8:186. [PMID: 28261127 PMCID: PMC5311062 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2016] [Accepted: 01/30/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The debate about representation in the brain and the nature of the cognitive system has been going on for decades now. This paper examines the neurophysiological evidence, primarily from single cell recordings, to get a better perspective on both the issues. After an initial review of some basic concepts, the paper reviews the data from single cell recordings - in cortical columns and of category-selective and multisensory neurons. In neuroscience, columns in the neocortex (cortical columns) are understood to be a basic functional/computational unit. The paper reviews the fundamental discoveries about the columnar organization and finds that it reveals a massively parallel search mechanism. This columnar organization could be the most extensive neurophysiological evidence for the widespread use of localist representation in the brain. The paper also reviews studies of category-selective cells. The evidence for category-selective cells reveals that localist representation is also used to encode complex abstract concepts at the highest levels of processing in the brain. A third major issue is the nature of the cognitive system in the brain and whether there is a form that is purely abstract and encoded by single cells. To provide evidence for a single-cell based purely abstract cognitive system, the paper reviews some of the findings related to multisensory cells. It appears that there is widespread usage of multisensory cells in the brain in the same areas where sensory processing takes place. Plus there is evidence for abstract modality invariant cells at higher levels of cortical processing. Overall, that reveals the existence of a purely abstract cognitive system in the brain. The paper also argues that since there is no evidence for dense distributed representation and since sparse representation is actually used to encode memories, there is actually no evidence for distributed representation in the brain. Overall, it appears that, at an abstract level, the brain is a massively parallel, distributed computing system that is symbolic. The paper also explains how grounded cognition and other theories of the brain are fully compatible with localist representation and a purely abstract cognitive system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Asim Roy
- Department of Information Systems, Arizona State University, TempeAZ, USA
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34
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Schilling M, Cruse H. ReaCog, a Minimal Cognitive Controller Based on Recruitment of Reactive Systems. Front Neurorobot 2017; 11:3. [PMID: 28194106 PMCID: PMC5276858 DOI: 10.3389/fnbot.2017.00003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2016] [Accepted: 01/11/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
It has often been stated that for a neuronal system to become a cognitive one, it has to be large enough. In contrast, we argue that a basic property of a cognitive system, namely the ability to plan ahead, can already be fulfilled by small neuronal systems. As a proof of concept, we propose an artificial neural network, termed reaCog, that, first, is able to deal with a specific domain of behavior (six-legged-walking). Second, we show how a minor expansion of this system enables the system to plan ahead and deploy existing behavioral elements in novel contexts in order to solve current problems. To this end, the system invents new solutions that are not possible for the reactive network. Rather these solutions result from new combinations of given memory elements. This faculty does not rely on a dedicated system being more or less independent of the reactive basis, but results from exploitation of the reactive basis by recruiting the lower-level control structures in a way that motor planning becomes possible as an internal simulation relying on internal representation being grounded in embodied experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Malte Schilling
- Center of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology, Bielefeld University Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Holk Cruse
- Department of Biological Cybernetics and Theoretical Biology, Bielefeld University Bielefeld, Germany
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35
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Smart P. Situating Machine Intelligence Within the Cognitive Ecology of the Internet. Minds Mach (Dordr) 2017; 27:357-380. [PMID: 32025100 PMCID: PMC6979684 DOI: 10.1007/s11023-016-9416-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2016] [Accepted: 12/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
The Internet is an important focus of attention for the philosophy of mind and cognitive science communities. This is partly because the Internet serves as an important part of the material environment in which a broad array of human cognitive and epistemic activities are situated. The Internet can thus be seen as an important part of the ‘cognitive ecology’ that helps to shape, support and (on occasion) realize aspects of human cognizing. Much of the previous philosophical work in this area has sought to analyze the cognitive significance of the Internet from the perspective of human cognition. There has, as such, been little effort to assess the cognitive significance of the Internet from the perspective of ‘machine cognition’. This is unfortunate, because the Internet is likely to exert a significant influence on the shape of machine intelligence. The present paper attempts to evaluate the extent to which the Internet serves as a form of cognitive ecology for synthetic (machine-based) forms of intelligence. In particular, the phenomenon of Internet-situated machine intelligence is analyzed from the perspective of a number of approaches that are typically subsumed under the heading of situated cognition. These include extended, embedded, scaffolded and embodied approaches to cognition. For each of these approaches, the Internet is shown to be of potential relevance to the development and operation of machine-based cognitive capabilities. Such insights help us to appreciate the role of the Internet in advancing the current state-of-the-art in machine intelligence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Smart
- Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ UK
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36
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Abstract
All organisms must integrate cognition, emotion, and motivation to guide action toward valuable (goal) states, as described by active inference. Within this framework, cognition, emotion, and motivation interact through the (Bayesian) fusion of exteroceptive, proprioceptive, and interoceptive signals, the precision-weighting of prediction errors, and the "affective tuning" of neuronal representations. Crucially, misregulation of these processes may have profound psychopathological consequences.
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37
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Ziemke T. The body of knowledge: On the role of the living body in grounding embodied cognition. Biosystems 2016; 148:4-11. [PMID: 27543133 DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2016.08.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2016] [Accepted: 08/09/2016] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Embodied cognition is a hot topic in both cognitive science and AI, despite the fact that there still is relatively little consensus regarding what exactly constitutes 'embodiment'. While most embodied AI and cognitive robotics research views the body as the physical/sensorimotor interface that allows to ground computational cognitive processes in sensorimotor interactions with the environment, more biologically-based notions of embodied cognition emphasize the fundamental role that the living body - and more specifically its homeostatic/allostatic self-regulation - plays in grounding both sensorimotor interactions and embodied cognitive processes. Adopting the latter position - a multi-tiered affectively embodied view of cognition in living systems - it is further argued that modeling organisms as layered networks of bodily self-regulation mechanisms can make significant contributions to our scientific understanding of embodied cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom Ziemke
- Interaction Lab, School of Informatics, University of Skövde, 54128 Skövde, Sweden; Cognition & Interaction Lab, Human-Centered Systems Division, Department of Computer & Information Science, Linköping University, 58183 Linköping, Sweden.
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38
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On the neurocognitive origins of human tool use : A critical review of neuroimaging data. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2016; 64:421-37. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.03.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 88] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2015] [Revised: 03/04/2016] [Accepted: 03/09/2016] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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39
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Escobar-Juárez E, Schillaci G, Hermosillo-Valadez J, Lara-Guzmán B. A Self-Organized Internal Models Architecture for Coding Sensory–Motor Schemes. Front Robot AI 2016. [DOI: 10.3389/frobt.2016.00022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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40
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Billing EA, Svensson H, Lowe R, Ziemke T. Finding Your Way from the Bed to the Kitchen: Reenacting and Recombining Sensorimotor Episodes Learned from Human Demonstration. Front Robot AI 2016. [DOI: 10.3389/frobt.2016.00009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
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41
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Domijan D, Šetić M. Resonant Dynamics of Grounded Cognition: Explanation of Behavioral and Neuroimaging Data Using the ART Neural Network. Front Psychol 2016; 7:139. [PMID: 26903933 PMCID: PMC4749698 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2015] [Accepted: 01/26/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Research on grounded cognition suggests that the processing of a word or concept reactivates the perceptual representations that are associated with the referent object. The objective of this work is to demonstrate how behavioral and functional neuroimaging data on grounded cognition can be understood as different manifestations of the same cortical circuit designed to achieve stable category learning, as proposed by the adaptive resonance theory (ART). We showed that the ART neural network provides a mechanistic explanation of why reaction times in behavioral studies depend on the expectation or attentional priming created by the word meaning (Richter and Zwaan, 2009). A mismatch between top-down expectation and bottom-up sensory data activates an orienting subsystem that slows execution of the current task. Furthermore, we simulated the data from functional neuroimaging studies of color knowledge retrieval that showed anterior shift (Chao and Martin, 1999; Thompson-Schill, 2003) and an overlap effect (Simmons et al., 2007; Hsu et al., 2011) in the left fusiform gyrus. We explain the anterior effect as a result of the partial activation of different components of the same ART circuit in the condition of passive viewing. Conversely, a demanding perceptual task requires activation of the whole ART circuit. This condition is reflected in the fMRI image as an overlap between cortical activation during perceptual and conceptual processing. We conclude that the ART neural network is able to explain how the brain grounds symbols in perception via perceptual simulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dražen Domijan
- Laboratory for Experimental Psychology, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka Rijeka, Croatia
| | - Mia Šetić
- Psychology Research Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Croatia Zagreb, Croatia
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42
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Hald LA, de Nooijer J, van Gog T, Bekkering H. Optimizing Word Learning via Links to Perceptual and Motoric Experience. EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s10648-015-9334-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Pezzulo G, Verschure PFMJ, Balkenius C, Pennartz CMA. The principles of goal-directed decision-making: from neural mechanisms to computation and robotics. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2015; 369:rstb.2013.0470. [PMID: 25267813 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2013.0470] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni Pezzulo
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy
| | - Paul F M J Verschure
- University Pompeu Fabra and Catalan Institute of Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Cyriel M A Pennartz
- Faculty of Science, Department Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Research Priority Program Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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44
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How do you hold your mouse? Tracking the compatibility effect between hand posture and stimulus size. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2014; 79:928-38. [PMID: 25349026 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-014-0622-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2014] [Accepted: 10/10/2014] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
In keeping with the idea that observing objects activates possible motor responses, several experiments revealed compatibility effects between the hand postures used to report a choice and some characteristics of the stimuli. The real-time dynamics of such compatibility effects are currently unknown. We tracked the time course of a categorization experiment requiring subjects to categorize as natural or artifact figures of big and small objects. Participants reported their choice using either a big mouse (requiring a power grip: a hand posture compatible with the grasping of big objects) or a small mouse (requiring a precision grip: a hand posture compatible with the grasping of small objects). We found a compatibility effect between the grip required by the mouse and the grip elicited by objects, even if it was irrelevant to the task. In a following experiment with the same paradigm, lexical stimuli failed to reproduce the same effect. Nevertheless, a compatibility effect mediated by the target-word category (artificial vs. natural) was observed. We discuss the results in the context of affordance effects literature and grounded theories of cognition.
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Catenacci Volpi N, Quinton JC, Pezzulo G. How active perception and attractor dynamics shape perceptual categorization: a computational model. Neural Netw 2014; 60:1-16. [PMID: 25105744 DOI: 10.1016/j.neunet.2014.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2013] [Revised: 06/21/2014] [Accepted: 06/22/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
We propose a computational model of perceptual categorization that fuses elements of grounded and sensorimotor theories of cognition with dynamic models of decision-making. We assume that category information consists in anticipated patterns of agent-environment interactions that can be elicited through overt or covert (simulated) eye movements, object manipulation, etc. This information is firstly encoded when category information is acquired, and then re-enacted during perceptual categorization. The perceptual categorization consists in a dynamic competition between attractors that encode the sensorimotor patterns typical of each category; action prediction success counts as "evidence" for a given category and contributes to falling into the corresponding attractor. The evidence accumulation process is guided by an active perception loop, and the active exploration of objects (e.g., visual exploration) aims at eliciting expected sensorimotor patterns that count as evidence for the object category. We present a computational model incorporating these elements and describing action prediction, active perception, and attractor dynamics as key elements of perceptual categorizations. We test the model in three simulated perceptual categorization tasks, and we discuss its relevance for grounded and sensorimotor theories of cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicola Catenacci Volpi
- School of Computer Science, Adaptive Systems Research Group University of Hertfordshire, Collage Lane Campus, College Ln, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL10 9AB, United Kingdom.
| | - Jean Charles Quinton
- Clermont University, Blaise Pascal University, Pascal Institute, BP 10448, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France; CNRS, UMR 6602, Pascal Institute, F-63171 Aubiere, France.
| | - Giovanni Pezzulo
- Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione - CNR, Via S. Martino della Battaglia, 44 - 00185 Rome, Italy.
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46
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Communication, concepts and grounding. Neural Netw 2014; 62:112-7. [PMID: 25096266 DOI: 10.1016/j.neunet.2014.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2014] [Revised: 05/30/2014] [Accepted: 07/09/2014] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
This article discusses the relation between communication and conceptual grounding. In the brain, neurons, circuits and brain areas are involved in the representation of a concept, grounding it in perception and action. In terms of grounding we can distinguish between communication within the brain and communication between humans or between humans and machines. In the first form of communication, a concept is activated by sensory input. Due to grounding, the information provided by this communication is not just determined by the sensory input but also by the outgoing connection structure of the conceptual representation, which is based on previous experiences and actions. The second form of communication, that between humans or between humans and machines, is influenced by the first form. In particular, a more successful interpersonal communication might require forms of situated cognition and interaction in which the entire representations of grounded concepts are involved.
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Keebler JR, Wiltshire TJ, Smith DC, Fiore SM, Bedwell JS. Shifting the paradigm of music instruction: implications of embodiment stemming from an augmented reality guitar learning system. Front Psychol 2014; 5:471. [PMID: 24999334 PMCID: PMC4034341 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2013] [Accepted: 05/01/2014] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Musical instruction often includes materials that can act as a barrier to learning. New technologies using augmented reality may aid in reducing the initial difficulties involved in learning music by lowering these barriers characteristic of traditional instructional materials. Therefore, this set of studies examined a novel augmented reality guitar learning system (i.e., the Fretlight® guitar) in regards to current theories of embodied music cognition. Specifically, we examined the effects of using this system in comparison to a standard instructional material (i.e., diagrams). First, we review major theories related to musical embodiment and specify a niche within this research space we call embodied music technology for learning. Following, we explicate two parallel experiments that were conducted to address the learning effects of this system. Experiment 1 examined short-term learning effects within one experimental session, while Experiment 2 examined both short-term and long-term effects across two sessions spaced at a 2-week interval. Analyses demonstrated that, for many of our dependent variables, all participants increased in performance across time. Further, the Fretlight® condition consistently led to significantly better outcomes via interactive effects, including significantly better long term retention for the learned information across a 2 week time interval. These results are discussed in the context of embodied cognition theory as it relates to music. Potential limitations and avenues for future research are described.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph R Keebler
- Training Research and Applied Cognitive Engineering Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Wichita State University Wichita, KS, USA
| | - Travis J Wiltshire
- Cognitive Sciences Laboratory, Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central Florida Orlando, FL, USA
| | - Dustin C Smith
- Training Research and Applied Cognitive Engineering Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Wichita State University Wichita, KS, USA
| | - Stephen M Fiore
- Cognitive Sciences Laboratory, Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central Florida Orlando, FL, USA ; Department of Philosophy, University of Central Florida Orlando, FL, USA
| | - Jeffrey S Bedwell
- Psychophysiology of Mental Illness Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Central Florida Orlando, FL, USA
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48
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Popa LS, Hewitt AL, Ebner TJ. The cerebellum for jocks and nerds alike. Front Syst Neurosci 2014; 8:113. [PMID: 24987338 PMCID: PMC4060457 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2014.00113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2014] [Accepted: 05/27/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Historically the cerebellum has been implicated in the control of movement. However, the cerebellum's role in non-motor functions, including cognitive and emotional processes, has also received increasing attention. Starting from the premise that the uniform architecture of the cerebellum underlies a common mode of information processing, this review examines recent electrophysiological findings on the motor signals encoded in the cerebellar cortex and then relates these signals to observations in the non-motor domain. Simple spike firing of individual Purkinje cells encodes performance errors, both predicting upcoming errors as well as providing feedback about those errors. Further, this dual temporal encoding of prediction and feedback involves a change in the sign of the simple spike modulation. Therefore, Purkinje cell simple spike firing both predicts and responds to feedback about a specific parameter, consistent with computing sensory prediction errors in which the predictions about the consequences of a motor command are compared with the feedback resulting from the motor command execution. These new findings are in contrast with the historical view that complex spikes encode errors. Evaluation of the kinematic coding in the simple spike discharge shows the same dual temporal encoding, suggesting this is a common mode of signal processing in the cerebellar cortex. Decoding analyses show the considerable accuracy of the predictions provided by Purkinje cells across a range of times. Further, individual Purkinje cells encode linearly and independently a multitude of signals, both kinematic and performance errors. Therefore, the cerebellar cortex's capacity to make associations across different sensory, motor and non-motor signals is large. The results from studying how Purkinje cells encode movement signals suggest that the cerebellar cortex circuitry can support associative learning, sequencing, working memory, and forward internal models in non-motor domains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurentiu S Popa
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Angela L Hewitt
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Timothy J Ebner
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN, USA
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Badets A, Osiurak F. A goal-based mechanism for delayed motor intention: considerations from motor skills, tool use and action memory. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2014; 79:345-60. [PMID: 24913016 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-014-0581-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2014] [Accepted: 06/02/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Thinking about our behaviors for a future recall like playing a piano sonata during the next weekend (i.e., delayed motor intention) should engage at some level sensorimotor-based representations. Theoretically, such representations can be stored through both an action- and a goal-based mechanism. An action-based mechanism is related to the specific motor sequence of fingers like the key presses on the piano, and a goal-based mechanism is related to the musical tones generated by the key presses. From these considerations, the present article tries to explore whether the cognitive nature of delayed motor intention is more based on an action or goal mechanism. We reviewed empirical evidence and theoretical accounts of different domains such as motor skills, tool use, and action memory supporting the idea that such delayed motor intentions are rather represented through a goal-based mechanism. The specific role of this goal-based mechanism is to envision the future in an implementation-neutral mode to flexibly and efficiently retrieve an adapted action to environmental constraints. This goal-based account offers an interesting alternative to reshape the classical models about the representations of delayed motor intention. We also discuss how this account can be applied to practical activities in daily life situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arnaud Badets
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l'Apprentissage, CeRCA, CNRS UMR-7295, MSHS. Bât A5, 5, rue Théodore Lefebvre, 86000, Poitiers, France,
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50
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Kent C, Guest D, Adelman JS, Lamberts K. Stochastic accumulation of feature information in perception and memory. Front Psychol 2014; 5:412. [PMID: 24860530 PMCID: PMC4026707 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2014] [Accepted: 04/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
It is now well established that the time course of perceptual processing influences the first second or so of performance in a wide variety of cognitive tasks. Over the last 20 years, there has been a shift from modeling the speed at which a display is processed, to modeling the speed at which different features of the display are perceived and formalizing how this perceptual information is used in decision making. The first of these models (Lamberts, 1995) was implemented to fit the time course of performance in a speeded perceptual categorization task and assumed a simple stochastic accumulation of feature information. Subsequently, similar approaches have been used to model performance in a range of cognitive tasks including identification, absolute identification, perceptual matching, recognition, visual search, and word processing, again assuming a simple stochastic accumulation of feature information from both the stimulus and representations held in memory. These models are typically fit to data from signal-to-respond experiments whereby the effects of stimulus exposure duration on performance are examined, but response times (RTs) and RT distributions have also been modeled. In this article, we review this approach and explore the insights it has provided about the interplay between perceptual processing, memory retrieval, and decision making in a variety of tasks. In so doing, we highlight how such approaches can continue to usefully contribute to our understanding of cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Kent
- Bristol Tactile Action and Perception Lab, School of Experimental Psychology, University of BristolBristol, UK
| | - Duncan Guest
- Division of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nottingham Trent UniversityNottingham, UK
| | | | - Koen Lamberts
- Vice-Chancellor’s Department, University of YorkYork, UK
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