scholarly journals Automatic integration of numerical formats examined with frequency-tagged EEG

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mila Marinova ◽  
Carrie Georges ◽  
Mathieu Guillaume ◽  
Bert Reynvoet ◽  
Christine Schiltz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Integration ◽  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Deviant Stimulus ◽  
Numerical Information ◽  
Number Words ◽  
Automatic Integration ◽  
First Time

AbstractHow humans integrate and abstract numerical information across different formats is one of the most debated questions in human cognition. We addressed the neuronal signatures of the numerical integration using an EEG technique tagged at the frequency of visual stimulation. In an oddball design, participants were stimulated with standard sequences of numbers (< 5) depicted in single (digits, dots, number words) or mixed notation (dots—digits, number words—dots, digits—number words), presented at 10 Hz. Periodically, a deviant stimulus (> 5) was inserted at 1.25 Hz. We observed significant oddball amplitudes for all single notations, showing for the first time using this EEG technique, that the magnitude information is spontaneously and unintentionally abstracted, irrespectively of the numerical format. Significant amplitudes were also observed for digits—number words and number words—dots, but not for digits—dots, suggesting an automatic integration across some numerical formats. These results imply that direct and indirect neuro-cognitive links exist across the different numerical formats.

scholarly journals How Counting Leads to Children’s First Representations of Exact, Large Numbers

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara W. Sarnecka ◽  
Meghan C. Goldman ◽  
Emily B. Slusser
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Successor Function ◽  
Number Words ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Individual Number ◽  
The Individual ◽  
First Time ◽  
Exact Equality

Young children initially learn to ‘count’ without understanding either what counting means, or what numerical quantities the individual number words pick out. Over a period of many months, children assign progressively more sophisticated meanings to the number words, linking them to discrete objects, to quantification, to numerosity, and so on. Eventually, children come to understand the logic of counting. Along with this knowledge comes an implicit understanding of the successor function, as well as of the principle of equinumerosity, or exact equality between sets. Thus, when children arrive at a mature understanding of counting, they have (for the first time in their lives) a way of mentally representing exact, large numbers.

scholarly journals Shared resources between visual attention and visual working memory are allocated through rhythmic sampling

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elio Balestrieri ◽  
Luca Ronconi ◽  
David Melcher
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Time Windows ◽  
Detection Task ◽  
Detection Performance ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Attentional Resources ◽  
Oscillatory Pattern

AbstractAttention and Visual Working Memory (VWM) are among the most theoretically detailed and empirically tested constructs in human cognition. Nevertheless, the nature of the interrelation between selective attention and VWM still presents a fundamental controversy: do they rely on the same cognitive resources or not? The present study aims at disentangling this issue by capitalizing on recent evidence showing that attention is a rhythmic phenomenon, oscillating over short time windows. Using a dual-task approach, we combined a classic VWM task with a detection task in which we densely sampled detection performance during the time between the memory and the test array. Our results show that an increment in VWM load was related to a worse detection of near threshold visual stimuli and, importantly, to the presence of an oscillatory pattern in detection performance at ∼5 Hz. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the frequency of this sampling rhythm changes according to the strategic allocation of attentional resources to either the VWM or the detection task. This pattern of results is consistent with a central sampling attentional rhythm which allocates shared attentional resources both to the flow of external visual stimulation and also to the internal maintenance of visual information.

scholarly journals Thinking Fast and Slow: A CBR Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Srashti Kaurav ◽  
Devi Ganesan ◽  
Deepak P ◽  
Sutanu Chakraborti
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Case Based Reasoning ◽  
Machine Learning Model ◽  
Intuitive Decision Making ◽  
Thinking Process ◽  
Real World Datasets ◽  
First Time ◽  
Fast Decision

In a path-breaking work, Kahneman characterized human cognition as a result of two modes of operation, Fast Thinking and Slow Thinking. Fast thinking involves quick, intuitive decision making and slow thinking is deliberative conscious reasoning. In this paper, for the first time, we draw parallels between this dichotomous model of human cognition and decision making in Case-based Reasoning (CBR). We observe that fast thinking can be operationalized computationally as the fast decision making by a trained machine learning model, or a parsimonious CBR system that uses few attributes. On the other hand, a full-fledged CBR system may be seen as similar to the slow thinking process. We operationalize such computational models of fast and slow thinking and switching strategies, as Models 1 and 2. Further, we explore the adaptation process in CBR as a slow thinking manifestation, leading to Model 3. Through an extensive set of experiments on real-world datasets, we show that such realizations of fast and slow thinking are useful in practice, leading to improved accuracies in decision-making tasks.

Language in Cognition

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Carruthers
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Zone Of Proximal Development ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Proximal Development ◽  
Number Words ◽  
Complex Arithmetic ◽  
Language And Thought ◽  
The Many ◽  
Overt Speech

The article discusses the ways in which natural language might be implicated in human cognition. The Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky developed his ideas on the interrelations between language and thought, both in the course of child development and in mature human cognition. One of Vygostky's ideas concerned the ways in which the language deployed by adults can scaffold children's development, yielding what he called a ‘zone of proximal development’. He argued that what children can achieve alone and unaided is not a true reflection of their understanding. Vygotsky focused on the overt speech of children, arguing that it plays an important role in problem solving, partly by serving to focus their attention, and partly through repetition and rehearsal of adult guidance. Clark draws attention to the many ways in which language is used to support human cognition, ranging from shopping lists and post-it notes, to the mental rehearsal of remembered instructions and mnemonics, to the performance of complex arithmetic calculations on pieces of paper. Researchers have claimed that animals and pre-verbal infants possess a capacity for exact small-number judgment and comparison, for numbers up to three or four. There is also some evidence that natural language number-words might be constitutive of adult possession and deployment of exact number concepts, in addition to being developmentally necessary for their acquisition.

scholarly journals The neuronal basis for consciousness

1998 ◽  
Vol 353 (1377) ◽  
pp. 1841-1849 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
R. Llinás ◽  
U. Ribary ◽  
D. Contreras ◽  
C. Pedroarena
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Basic Assumption ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Neuronal Organization ◽  
Global Function ◽  
Loop Function ◽  
Functional States ◽  
The Rich ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Brain

Attempting to understand how the brain, as a whole, might be organized seems, for the first time, to be a serious topic of inquiry. One aspect of its neuronal organization that seems particularly central to global function is the rich thalamocortical interconnectivity, and most particularly the reciprocal nature of the thalamocortical neuronal loop function. Moreover, the interaction between the specific and non-specific thalamic loops suggests that rather than a gate into the brain, the thalamus represents a hub from which any site in the cortex can communicate with any other such site or sites. The goal of this paper is to explore the basic assumption that large–scale, temporal coincidence of specific and non–specific thalamic activity generates the functional states that characterize human cognition.

What Can Illusory Conjunctions Reveal About Synaesthetic Bindings?

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (3-5) ◽  
pp. 235-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Arend ◽  
Avishai Henik
Keyword(s):  
Visual System ◽  
Visual Experience ◽  
Focus Of Attention ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Numerical Distance ◽  
Binding Process ◽  
Level Of Confidence ◽  
Illusory Conjunctions ◽  
First Time ◽  
Normal Cognition

The visual system successfully binds the shapes and colours of objects; therefore, our visual experience regarding the objects around us is coherent. However, this binding process can break down when attention is diverted, producing illusory conjunctions (ICs); for example, when presented with a red 2 and a green 5, the observer may report a green 2 and a red 5. The strongest observation of binding in human cognition is found in synaesthesia. In grapheme–colour synaesthesia, linguistic stimuli (e.g., letters or numbers) are strongly associated with colours. It is debatable whether these highly stable bindings constitute a form of early binding that occurs outside the focus of attention. We examined for the first time the occurrence of ICs in grapheme–colour synaesthesia. Experiment 1 replicated our previous finding, showing the effects of numerical distance on ICs (Arend et al., Psychon. Bull. Rev. 2013, 20, 1181–1186). Participants viewed a display containing two centrally presented letters and two coloured numbers and were asked to report: (1) whether the letters were same/different, (2) the colour of the larger number, and (3) the level of confidence concerning the colour of the number. Experiment 2 used a modified version of this task. Synaesthetes () and controls () viewed number–colour pairs that were congruent or incongruent with that of the synaesthetic association. Grapheme–colour synaesthesia significantly affected ICs on incongruent but not on congruent trials. Our findings strongly support the notion that shape and colour are free-floating features in synaesthesia, similar to what is observed in normal cognition.

scholarly journals Numerical Congruency Effect in the Sentence-Picture Verification Task

2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 159-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mia Šetić ◽  
Dražen Domijan
Keyword(s):  
Congruency Effect ◽  
The Other ◽  
Number Word ◽  
Perceptual Representation ◽  
Symbol Grounding ◽  
Verification Task ◽  
Numerical Information ◽  
Number Words ◽  
Other Hand

Abstract. In two experiments, we showed that irrelevant numerical information influenced the speed of sentence-picture verification. Participants were asked to verify whether the concept mentioned in a sentence matched the object presented in a subsequent picture. Concurrently, the number word attached to the concept in the sentence and the quantity of objects presented in the picture were manipulated (numerical congruency). The number of objects varied from one to four. In Experiment 1, participants read statements such as three dogs. In Experiment 2, they read sentences such as three dogs were wandering in the street. In both experiments, the verification speed revealed the interaction between response and numerical congruency. The verification times for concept-object match were faster when there was also numerical congruence (compared with incongruence) between the number word and quantity. On the other hand, there was no difference between numerical congruence and incongruence when the concept and object mismatched. The results are interpreted as evidence for the symbol grounding of number words in perceptual representation of small quantities, that is, quantities falling in the subitization range.

scholarly journals How we reason about innateness: the role of Dualism and Essentialism

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris Berent ◽  
Melanie Platt ◽  
Gwendolyn M. Sandoboe
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Core Knowledge ◽  
Living Things ◽  
Two Systems ◽  
Innate Ideas ◽  
Cognitive Traits ◽  
First Time

Few questions are as controversial as the origins of knowledge. Here, we examine whether reasoning about innate ideas is shaped by systematic cognitive biases. Previous research suggests that humans possess core knowledge systems that distinguish minds and matter (Dualism), and they assign living things an immutable material essence (Essentialism). These two systems collide in reasoning about cognitive nativism. If, in naïve psychology (a) cognitive traits are immaterial (per Dualism), whereas (b) innate traits must be material (per Essentialism), then (c) cognitive traits cannot be innate. Experiments 1-8 support each of these three hypotheses. These results show for the first time that reasoning about innateness is causally linked to the perceived immateriality of cognitive traits and the materiality of innate traits. While our findings (from adults) cannot ascertain the origin of these biases, they do open up the possibility that our difficulties to reason about innate ideas might be grounded deep within human cognition itself.

ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS ABOUT A HORIZONTAL ELECTRIC WIRE SOURCE OF ARBITRARY LENGTH

Geophysics ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 1019-1022 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Kauahikaua
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Integration ◽  
Electromagnetic Fields ◽  
Electric Fields ◽  
Finite Length ◽  
Field Component ◽  
Field Equations ◽  
Arbitrary Length ◽  
Complete Field ◽  
The Wire ◽  
First Time

The electromagnetic fields about an electric wire source of an arbitrary finite length are usually calculated by numerical integration of the dipole field equations along the length of the wire (Scriba, 1974; Anderson, 1974). However, many of the required integrals for the fields over a multilayered half‐space can be solved analytically. The integrations may also be extended to solve for the fields about an infinitely long wire source. In so doing, it becomes clear which portions of each field component are produced by the wire and which are produced by its grounded ends. Although the horizontal electric fields of a finite wire source have been derived previously (Sunde, 1949), the complete field equations for a finite‐length wire appear here for the first time in explicit form.

scholarly journals Cross-Format Integration of Auditory Number Words and Visual-Arabic Digits: An ERP Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Finke ◽  
Ferenc Kemény ◽  
Francina J. Clayton ◽  
Chiara Banfi ◽  
Anna F. Steiner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Number Processing ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Number Word ◽  
Numerical Identity ◽  
Numerical Information ◽  
Number Words ◽  
Semantic Access ◽  
Arabic Digits

Converting visual-Arabic digits to auditory number words and vice versa is seemingly effortless for adults. However, it is still unclear whether this process takes place automatically and whether accessing the underlying magnitude representation is necessary during this process. In two event-related potential (ERP) experiments, adults were presented with identical (e.g., “one” and 1) or non-identical (e.g., “one” and 9) number pairs, either unimodally (two visual-Arabic digits) or cross-format (an auditory number word and a visual-Arabic digit). In Experiment 1 (N=17), active task demands required numerical judgments, whereas this was not the case in Experiment 2 (N=19). We found pronounced early ERP markers of numerical identity unimodally in both experiments. In the cross-format conditions, however, we only observed late neural correlates of identity and only if the task required semantic number processing (Experiment 1). These findings suggest that unimodal pairs of digits are automatically integrated, whereas cross-format integration of numerical information occurs more slowly and involves semantic access.

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