scholarly journals Out of the blue: understanding abrupt and wayward transitions in thought using probability and predictive processing

2020 ◽  
Vol 376 (1817) ◽  
pp. 20190692
Author(s):  
Caitlin Mills ◽  
Andre Zamani ◽  
Rebecca White ◽  
Kalina Christoff
Keyword(s):  
Mental States ◽  
Predictive Processing ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Probability Metrics ◽  
External Stimulation ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Mental Experience ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Different Types ◽  
To Come

Thoughts that appear to come to us ‘out of the blue’ or ‘out of nowhere’ are a familiar aspect of mental experience. Such thoughts tend to elicit feelings of surprise and spontaneity. Although we are beginning to understand the neural processes that underlie the arising of such thoughts, little is known about what accounts for their peculiar phenomenology. Here, we focus on one central aspect of this phenomenology—the experience of surprise at their occurrence, as it relates to internal probabilistic predictions regarding mental states. We introduce a distinction between two phenomenologically different types of transitions in thought content: (i) abrupt transitions , which occur at surprising times but lead to unsurprising thought content, and (ii) wayward transitions , which occur at surprising times and also lead to surprising thought content. We examine these two types of transitions using a novel approach that combines probabilistic and predictive processing concepts and principles. We employ two different probability metrics—transition and occurrence probability—to characterize and differentiate between abrupt and wayward transitions. We close by discussing some potentially beneficial ways in which these two kinds of transitions in thought content may contribute to mental function, and how they may be implemented at the neural level. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Offline perception: voluntary and spontaneous perceptual experiences without matching external stimulation’.

scholarly journals Comparing the phenomenological qualities of stimulus-independent thought, stimulus-dependent thought and dreams using experience sampling

2020 ◽  
Vol 376 (1817) ◽  
pp. 20190694 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Gross ◽  
A. P. Smith ◽  
Y. M. Graveline ◽  
R. E. Beaty ◽  
J. W. Schooler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
External Environment ◽  
Experience Sampling ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Sampling Procedure ◽  
Mental Activity ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Measured Variable ◽  
External Stimulation ◽  
Considerable Portion ◽  
Independent Thought

Humans spend a considerable portion of their lives engaged in ‘stimulus-independent thoughts' (SIT), or mental activity that occurs independently of input from the immediate external environment. Although such SITs are, by definition, different from thoughts that are driven by stimuli in one's external environment (i.e. stimulus-dependent thoughts; SDTs), at times, the phenomenology of these two types of thought appears to be deceptively similar. But how similar are they? We address this question by comparing the content of two types of SIT (dreaming and waking SITs) with the content of SDTs. In this 7 day, smartphone-based experience-sampling procedure, participants were intermittently probed during the day and night to indicate whether their current thoughts were stimulus dependent or stimulus independent. They then responded to content-based items indexing the qualitative aspects of their experience (e.g. My thoughts were jumping from topic to topic). Results indicate substantial distinctiveness between these three types of thought: significant differences between at least two of the three mental states were found across every measured variable. Implications are discussed. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Offline perception: voluntary and spontaneous perceptual experiences without matching external stimulation’.

CRIMINAL LAW IN PROTECTION OF HEALTH FROM THE ABUSE OF DRUGS IN SERBIA

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 1939-1946
Author(s):  
Miodrag Simović ◽  
Dragan Jovašević ◽  
Marina M. Simović
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Individual State ◽  
Criminal Sanctions ◽  
Criminal Offenses ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Republic ◽  
To Come ◽  
Practical Sense

Based on international standards adopted within the framework and under the Organisation of the United Nations, all national legislations recognise several different types and forms of criminal acts regarding misuse of narcotics. It is the matter of various activities of unauthorized production, traffic and other forms of inciting or enabling others to come into possession of narcotics for immediate use, which seriously endangers the health and life.Depending on the needs of each individual state, the distinction is made between the offenses, for the perpetrators are given different types and measures of penalties and other criminal sanctions. A similar situation exists in the Republic of Serbia.The paper analyzes the system of criminal offenses in various types and forms of manifestation in the theoretical and practical sense for whose offenders that are prescribed serious criminal sanctions.

The Impact of Mental States on Semi-autonomous Driving Takeover Performance: A Systematic Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 1372-1376
Author(s):  
Gaojian Huang ◽  
Christine Petersen ◽  
Brandon J. Pitts
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Autonomous Driving ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Manual Control ◽  
Monitoring Systems ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Impact

Semi-autonomous vehicles still require drivers to occasionally resume manual control. However, drivers of these vehicles may have different mental states. For example, drivers may be engaged in non-driving related tasks or may exhibit mind wandering behavior. Also, monitoring monotonous driving environments can result in passive fatigue. Given the potential for different types of mental states to negatively affect takeover performance, it will be critical to highlight how mental states affect semi-autonomous takeover. A systematic review was conducted to synthesize the literature on mental states (such as distraction, fatigue, emotion) and takeover performance. This review focuses specifically on five fatigue studies. Overall, studies were too few to observe consistent findings, but some suggest that response times to takeover alerts and post-takeover performance may be affected by fatigue. Ultimately, this review may help researchers improve and develop real-time mental states monitoring systems for a wide range of application domains.

Fuzzified time-frequency method for identification and localization of power system faults

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Pullabhatla Srikanth ◽  
Chiranjib Koley
Keyword(s):  
Power System ◽  
High Accuracy ◽  
Fuzzy Decision ◽  
Frequency Method ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
S Transform ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Power System Faults ◽  
Frequency Magnitude

In this work, different types of power system faults at various distances have been identified using a novel approach based on Discrete S-Transform clubbed with a Fuzzy decision box. The area under the maximum values of the dilated Gaussian windows in the time-frequency domain has been used as the critical input values to the fuzzy machine. In this work, IEEE-9 and IEEE-14 bus systems have been considered as the test systems for validating the proposed methodology for identification and localization of Power System Faults. The proposed algorithm can identify different power system faults like Asymmetrical Phase Faults, Asymmetrical Ground Faults, and Symmetrical Phase faults, occurring at 20% to 80% of the transmission line. The study reveals that the variation in distance and type of fault creates a change in time-frequency magnitude in a unique pattern. The method can identify and locate the faulted bus with high accuracy in comparison to SVM.

scholarly journals Emotions and Cognitions. Fourteenth-Century Discussions on the Passions of the Soul

Vivarium ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominik Perler
Keyword(s):  
Functional Analysis ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Complex Phenomenon ◽  
Emotional Conflict ◽  
Cognitive Component ◽  
Cognitive Components ◽  
Different Types ◽  
William Ockham ◽  
Intellectual Level

AbstractMedieval philosophers clearly recognized that emotions are not simply "raw feelings" but complex mental states that include cognitive components. They analyzed these components both on the sensory and on the intellectual level, paying particular attention to the different types of cognition that are involved. This paper focuses on William Ockham and Adam Wodeham, two fourteenth-century authors who presented a detailed account of "sensory passions" and "volitional passions". It intends to show that these two philosophers provided both a structural and a functional analysis of emotions, i.e., they explained the various elements constituting emotions and delineated the causal relations between these elements. Ockham as well as Wodeham emphasized that "sensory passions" are not only based upon cognitions but include a cognitive component and are therefore intentional. In addition, they pointed out that "volitional passions" are based upon a conceptualization and an evaluation of given objects. This cognitivist approach to emotions enabled them to explain the complex phenomenon of emotional conflict, a phenomenon that has its origin in the co-presence of various emotions that involve conflicting evaluations.

scholarly journals Cosmogonies and mythopoesis in the Balkans and beyond

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 87-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florentina Badalanova Geller
Keyword(s):  
Oral Tradition ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Different Types ◽  
To Come ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Devil

Cosmogonies and mythopoesis in the Balkans and beyondCompared and contrasted in this article are three different types of accounts dealing with the cosmogonic and eschatological themes employed in Slavonic and Balkan oral tradition, para-Biblical literature and modern poetry. The focus of analysis is the cluster of motifs attested in the creation narrative of the apocryphal Legend of the Sea of Tiberias. Two versions are examined: the South-Slavonic one discovered in 1845 by V. Grigorovich in the Monastery of Slepche, and the 18th century Russian account from MS № 21.11.3 (fols. 3a–5b) from the Archaeographic Department of the Library of the Academy of Sciences [Библиотека Академии наук, Рукописный отдел] in St. Petersburg, composed most probably by an Old Believer; this manuscript is published here for the first time. Folklore counterparts of the apocryphal Legend of the Sea of Tiberias are treated, with special emphasis on the oral narratives from the Bulgarian diaspora in Bessarabia (God and the Devil Create the World Amicably but then Fall Out). Finally, a poem of the 20th century Bulgarian intellectual Pencho Slaveykov [Пенчо Славейков] from his anthology “On the Island of the Blessed” is discussed; the poem, entitled How God willed the Earth to come to be and what did Satanail do after that? was designated by Slaveykov himself as “a legend of the Bogomils”, and blended within his lyrics are dualistic themes and motifs attested in vernacular Christianity, with the hallmark of Haeresis Bulgarica. Kosmogonie i mitopoetyki na Bałkanach i nie tylkoW artykule zostały porównane trzy typy narracji zawierających wątki kosmogoniczne i eschatologiczne, które funkcjonują w słowiańskiej i bałkańskiej tradycji ustnej, literaturze parabiblijnej oraz poezji doby modernizmu. Przedmiotem uwagi stała się grupa motywów poświadczonych w narracji o stworzeniu, znanej z Legendy o Morzu Tyberiadzkim. Analizom poddane zostały dwie wersje: południowosłowiańska, odkryta w 1845 roku przez W. Grigorowicza w Monastyrze w Slepče, oraz ruska – z XVIII wieku, znajdująca się w kodeksie MS № 21.11.3 (fols. 3a–5b), przechowywanym w Oddziale Rękopisów Biblioteki Akademii Nauk w Sankt Petersburgu – skomponowana najprawdopodobniej w środowisku staroobrzędowców (rękopis ten jest tu publikowany po raz pierwszy). Następnie przeprowadzona została analiza odpowiedników folklorystycznych apokryficznej Legendy o Morzu Tyberiadzkim, ze szczegól­nym uwzględnieniem narracji ustnych funkcjonujących w bułgarskiej diasporze w Besarabii (Bóg i Diabeł tworzą świat w przyjaźni ale potem stają się wrogami). Na końcu został poddany interpretacji poemat z XX wieku autorstwa bułgarskiego modernisty Penczo Sławejkowa [Пенчо Славейков] z antologii Na wyspie błogosławionych [На острова на блажените]; poemat ten, zatytułowany Jak Bóg zezwolił, aby powstała ziemia i co potem uczynił Satanael?, został nazwany przez samego autora „legendą Bogomiłów”, i skompilowany w jego tekstach z dualistycznymi motywami występującymi w chrześcijaństwie tego regionu, a rozpoznawa­nymi jako haeresis bulgarica.

Letters to the Editor

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-166
Author(s):  
Lewis A. Barness
Keyword(s):  
Caloric Intake ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Letters To The Editor ◽  
Upper Limits ◽  
Different Types ◽  
To Come

I think that both this letter and the preceding one emphasize some of the dilemmas that the Committee on Nutrition went through in trying to come to agreement on the recommendations of the onset of supplemental foods. First, I would not quarrel with the caloric intake, nor the weight of the 2-month-old infant. The caloric intake may be considered on the upper limits for this age group. Second, I certainly do agree that most children do well with many different types of varieties of feeding, so far as we can tell.

The Network-Extended Mind

2010 ◽  
pp. 191-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul R. Smart ◽  
Paula C. Engelbrecht ◽  
Dave Braines ◽  
Michael Strub ◽  
Cheryl Giammanco
Keyword(s):  
Extended Mind ◽  
Extended Cognition ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Traditional View ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cognitive Systems ◽  
Network Systems ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Network Technologies ◽  
Near Future

Whereas the traditional view in cognitive science has been to view mind and cognition as something that is the result of essentially inner, neural processes, the extended cognition perspective claims that at least some human mental states and processes stem from complex webs of causal influence involving extra-neural resources, most notably the resources of our social and technological environments. In this chapter the authors explore the possibility that contemporary and near-future network systems are poised to extend and perhaps transform our human cognitive potential. They also examine the extent to which the information and network sciences are relevant to their understanding of various forms of cognitive extension, particularly with respect to the formation, maintenance and functioning of extended cognitive systems in network-enabled environments. Their claim is that the information and network sciences are relevant on two counts: firstly, they support an understanding of the mechanisms underpinning socially- and technologically-mediated forms of cognitive extension; secondly, they serve to guide and inform engineering efforts that strive to enhance and expand our cognitive capabilities. The authors discuss the relevance and applicability of these conclusions to current and future research exploring the contribution of network technologies to military coalition operations.

Mental Changes in Cardiac Disease

1930 ◽  
Vol 76 (315) ◽  
pp. 632-640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander George Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Present State ◽  
Cardiac Disease ◽  
Mental Disease ◽  
Rare Complication ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Mental Change ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Circulatory Apparatus ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Points Of View

Mental change in cardiac disease, though a rare complication, is a subject that can be properly and usefully discussed at a meeting of psychiatrists at which physicians are asked to take part. For while the physician may be able to assess accurately the physical defect in the circulatory apparatus, he is trained only in a rough-and-ready way to interpret different types of character, and the way in which they react to disease, and is liable to go astray in his interpretation of mental states. There is also this advantage—that in the present state of uncertainty as to the physical basis of mental disease we cannot look at the subject from too many points of view.

scholarly journals Content-based Dissociation of Hippocampal Involvement in Prediction

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 527-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Kok ◽  
Lindsay I. Rait ◽  
Nicholas B. Turk-Browne
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Predictive Processing ◽  
Auditory Cues ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Visual Objects ◽  
Complex Shapes ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Abstract Shapes

Recent work suggests that a key function of the hippocampus is to predict the future. This is thought to depend on its ability to bind inputs over time and space and to retrieve upcoming or missing inputs based on partial cues. In line with this, previous research has revealed prediction-related signals in the hippocampus for complex visual objects, such as fractals and abstract shapes. Implicit in such accounts is that these computations in the hippocampus reflect domain-general processes that apply across different types and modalities of stimuli. An alternative is that the hippocampus plays a more domain-specific role in predictive processing, with the type of stimuli being predicted determining its involvement. To investigate this, we compared hippocampal responses to auditory cues predicting abstract shapes (Experiment 1) versus oriented gratings (Experiment 2). We measured brain activity in male and female human participants using high-resolution fMRI, in combination with inverted encoding models to reconstruct shape and orientation information. Our results revealed that expectations about shape and orientation evoked distinct representations in the hippocampus. For complex shapes, the hippocampus represented which shape was expected, potentially serving as a source of top–down predictions. In contrast, for simple gratings, the hippocampus represented only unexpected orientations, more reminiscent of a prediction error. We discuss several potential explanations for this content-based dissociation in hippocampal function, concluding that the computational role of the hippocampus in predictive processing may depend on the nature and complexity of stimuli.

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