Engineering the brain

2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-77
Author(s):  
Daniel Durstewitz
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Biological Networks ◽  
Literal Translation ◽  
Target Article ◽  
Cognitive Problems ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Self Organizing

The target article presents a stimulating account for some of the most challenging issues in cognitive neuroscience. The theory solves in neural terms cognitive problems beyond the scope of previous models. But in many aspects the neural implementation is a quite literal translation of symbolic descriptions and therefore still lacks some of the truly self-organizing properties characteristic of biological networks.

Dreaming and the brain: Toward a cognitive neuroscience of conscious states

2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 793-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Allan Hobson ◽  
Edward F. Pace-Schott ◽  
Robert Stickgold
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Rem Sleep ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Nrem Sleep ◽  
Dimensional Model ◽  
Three Dimensional Model ◽  
Brain Physiology ◽  
Neurophysiological Studies ◽  
The Brain

Sleep researchers in different disciplines disagree about how fully dreaming can be explained in terms of brain physiology. Debate has focused on whether REM sleep dreaming is qualitatively different from nonREM (NREM) sleep and waking. A review of psychophysiological studies shows clear quantitative differences between REM and NREM mentation and between REM and waking mentation. Recent neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies also differentiate REM, NREM, and waking in features with phenomenological implications. Both evidence and theory suggest that there are isomorphisms between the phenomenology and the physiology of dreams. We present a three-dimensional model with specific examples from normally and abnormally changing conscious states.

Knowledge by default

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Predictive Coding ◽  
Plausible Account ◽  
Target Article ◽  
Analysis By Synthesis

Abstract The target article presents strong empirical evidence that knowledge is basic. However, it offers an unsatisfactory account of what makes knowledge basic. Some current ideas in cognitive neuroscience – predictive coding and analysis by synthesis – point to a more plausible account that better explains the evidence.

Spatial Relations

2019 ◽  
pp. 179-216
Author(s):  
David Kemmerer
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Spatial Relations ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Linguistic Representation ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Brain

Ever since the 1980s, research on the cross-linguistic representation of spatial relations has burgeoned. Surprisingly, however, very little of this work has had any impact on cognitive neuroscience, and most researchers who study the cortical underpinnings of concrete conceptual knowledge have ignored spatial relations completely, preferring to focus on objects and actions instead. Due to this rather stark asymmetry, this chapter has a different organization than the previous two. The first section focuses entirely on cross-linguistic similarities and differences in the grammatical-semantic representation of three main types of spatial relations: topological, projective, and deictic. Then the last section addresses a number of neuroscientific issues, including a review of what has been learned so far about the implementation of these kinds of concepts in the brain, and a discussion of how the typological literature can both inspire and guide future research in this important but relatively neglected area of inquiry.

Awareness of Employee Stress Response: How Employers Can Mitigate Workplace Burnout and Workplace Depression

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 78-82
Author(s):  
Tony Deblauwe
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Leadership Management ◽  
Social Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Prosocial Behaviours ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Effective Conditions

By examining the science behind leadership, management practices and how they relate to social cognitive neuroscience, we can understand how to target the most effective conditions for preventing workplace burnout and workplace depression. This process begins with the ability of managers to recognise and react responsively to create a culture of trust within the organisation, and identify and promote prosocial behaviours to prevent feelings of disengagement and displacement. This review discusses how one’s ability to inspire employees is particularly important, because followers with low self-concepts are drawn to a highly personalised vision. Through the promotion of the brain chemical, oxytocin, the material presents eight building blocks to promote a culture of trust, while mitigating the factors associated with workplace burnout and workplace depression.

scholarly journals Physiological units and behavioral elements: Dynamic brains relate to dynamic behavior

2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 406-407
Author(s):  
Andreas Keil ◽  
Thomas Elbert
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Behavior ◽  
Adaptive Behavior ◽  
Experimental Designs ◽  
Target Article ◽  
The Brain

Nunez is to be applauded for putting forward a theoretical brain model. In order to improve any model it needs to be experimentally testable. The model presented in the target article suffers from insufficient clarity as to how new experimental designs could be derived. This is a consequence of neglecting the purpose of the brain, which is to produce effective and adaptive behavior. It might be possible to overcome this drawback by including Hebb-based modeling.

scholarly journals Sensorimotor brain dynamics reflect architectural affordances

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (29) ◽  
pp. 14769-14778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zakaria Djebbara ◽  
Lars Brorson Fich ◽  
Laura Petrini ◽  
Klaus Gramann
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Physical Structure ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Head Mounted Displays ◽  
Actual Movement ◽  
Imaging Approach ◽  
Essential Function ◽  
The Brain

Anticipating meaningful actions in the environment is an essential function of the brain. Such predictive mechanisms originate from the motor system and allow for inferring actions from environmental affordances, and the potential to act within a specific environment. Using architecture, we provide a unique perspective on the ongoing debate in cognitive neuroscience and philosophy on whether cognition depends on movement or is decoupled from our physical structure. To investigate cognitive processes associated with architectural affordances, we used a mobile brain/body imaging approach recording brain activity synchronized to head-mounted displays. Participants perceived and acted on virtual transitions ranging from nonpassable to easily passable. We found that early sensory brain activity, on revealing the environment and before actual movement, differed as a function of affordances. In addition, movement through transitions was preceded by a motor-related negative component that also depended on affordances. Our results suggest that potential actions afforded by an environment influence perception.

scholarly journals What does the interactive brain hypothesis mean for social neuroscience? A dialogue

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1693) ◽  
pp. 20150379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanne De Jaegher ◽  
Ezequiel Di Paolo ◽  
Ralph Adolphs
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Dynamical Systems ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Social Neuroscience ◽  
Phenomenological Philosophy ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Directions ◽  
The Brain ◽  
And Robotics

A recent framework inspired by phenomenological philosophy, dynamical systems theory, embodied cognition and robotics has proposed the interactive brain hypothesis (IBH). Whereas mainstream social neuroscience views social cognition as arising solely from events in the brain, the IBH argues that social cognition requires, in addition, causal relations between the brain and the social environment. We discuss, in turn, the foundational claims for the IBH in its strongest form; classical views of cognition that can be raised against the IBH; a defence of the IBH in the light of these arguments; and a response to this. Our goal is to initiate a dialogue between cognitive neuroscience and enactive views of social cognition. We conclude by suggesting some new directions and emphases that social neuroscience might take.

Blackboards in the brain

2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-81
Author(s):  
Ralph-Axel Müller
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Recurrent Neural Networks ◽  
Temporal Coherence ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Blackboard Model ◽  
The Brain

Although van der Velde's de Kamps's (vdV&dK) attempt to put syntactic processing into a broader context of combinatorial cognition is promising, their coverage of neuroscientific evidence is disappointing. Neither their case against binding by temporal coherence nor their arguments against recurrent neural networks are compelling. As an alternative, vdV&dK propose a blackboard model that is based on the assumption of special processors (e.g., lexical versus grammatical), but evidence from the cognitive neuroscience of language, which is, overall, less than supportive of such special processors, is not considered. As a consequence, vdV&dK's may be a clever model of syntactic processing, but it remains unclear how much we can learn from it with regard to biologically based human language.

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