scholarly journals Specific cognitive signatures of information seeking in controllable environments

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Rouault ◽  
Aurélien Weiss ◽  
Junseok K. Lee ◽  
Jules Bouté ◽  
Jan Drugowitsch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Information Seeking ◽  
Computational Modelling ◽  
Uncertain Environments ◽  
Alternative Strategies ◽  
Current Strategy ◽  
Subjective Uncertainty ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Adaptive Decision Making ◽  
Instrumental Control

AbstractIn uncertain environments, seeking information about the accuracy of alternative strategies is essential for adapting behavior to changes in task contingencies. However, information seeking often co-occurs with changes-of-mind about the perceived accuracy of the current strategy, making it difficult to isolate its specific mechanisms. Here we leveraged the fact that genuine information seeking requires instrumental control to study its cognitive signatures in an adaptive decision-making task tested with and without control. We found that changes-of-mind occurring in controllable environments require more evidence against the current strategy, are associated with reduced confidence, but are nevertheless more likely to be confirmed on the next decision. Computational modelling explained these effects of information seeking through a decrease in the perceived volatility of controllable environments, resulting in stronger and more prolonged effects of changes-of-mind on cognition and behavior. Together, these findings explain the high degree of subjective uncertainty associated with information seeking.

Supporting Young Children’s Development of Executive Function Through Early Mathematics

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-199
Author(s):  
Christina Mulcahy ◽  
Crystal A. Day Hess ◽  
Douglas H. Clements ◽  
Jasmine R. Ernst ◽  
Sarah E. Pan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Mathematics Achievement ◽  
Mathematics Teaching ◽  
Early Childhood Teachers ◽  
Academic Skills ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Alternative Strategies ◽  
Early Mathematics ◽  
General Skills ◽  
And Behavior

Early childhood teachers face competing instructional priorities to support specific academic skills and general skills that underlie learning, such as executive function (EF) skills that allow children to control their own thinking and behavior. As the evidence shows, EF skills predict later mathematics achievement, and early mathematics predicts later EF. These relations between mathematics and EF suggest high-quality mathematics teaching has a dual benefit: Teachers can promote children’s math and EF competencies by embedding support for EF in high-quality mathematics activities. Children benefit when guided to reflect on solutions and alternative strategies, and teachers benefit from guidance on how to support both math and EF. Finally, research on teachers developing both domains can inform educational policy.

scholarly journals Neural Circuitry of Information Seeking

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ethan Bromberg-Martin ◽  
Ilya E. Monosov
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Neural Circuitry ◽  
Uncertain Environments ◽  
Information Preferences ◽  
Motivated Behavior ◽  
Uncertain Future ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Primary Reward ◽  
Do So

Humans and animals navigate uncertain environments by seeking information about the future. Remarkably, we often seek information even when it has no instrumental value for aiding our decisions – as if the information is a source of value in its own right. In recent years, there has been a flourishing of research into these non-instrumental information preferences and their implementation in the brain. Individuals value information about uncertain future rewards, and do so for multiple reasons, including valuing resolution of uncertainty and overweighting desirable information. The brain motivates this information seeking by tapping into some of the same circuitry as primary rewards like food and water. However, it also employs cortex and basal ganglia circuitry that predicts and values information as distinct from primary reward. Uncovering how these circuits cooperate will be fundamental to understanding information seeking and motivated behavior as a whole, in our increasingly complex and information-rich world.

scholarly journals Neuro-inspired Framework for Cognitive Manufacturing Control

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioan Dumitrache ◽  
Simona Iuliana Caramihai ◽  
Dragos Constantin Popescu ◽  
Mihnea Alexandru Moisescu ◽  
Ioan Stefan Sacala
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Intelligent Manufacturing ◽  
Smart Manufacturing ◽  
Software Modeling ◽  
Manufacturing Enterprises ◽  
Data Flows ◽  
New Vision ◽  
Generation Mechanisms ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
High Degree

There are currently certain categories of manufacturing enterprises whose structure, organization and operating context have an extremely high degree of complexity, especially due to the way in which their various components interact and influence each other. For them, a series of paradigms have been developed, including intelligent manufacturing, smart manufacturing, cognitive manufacturing; which are based equally on information and knowledge management, management and interpretation of data flows and problem solving approaches. This work presents a new vision regarding the evolution of the future enterprise based on concepts and attributes acquired from the field of biology. Our approach addresses in a systemic manner the structural, functional, and behavioral aspects of the enterprise, seen as a complex dynamic system. In this article we are proposing an architecture and management methodology based on the human brain, where the problem solving is achieved by Perception – Memory – Learning and Behavior Generation mechanisms. In order to support the design of such an architecture and to allow a faster learning process, a software modeling and simulation platform was developed and is briefly presented.

scholarly journals Progress in the rational design of an AIDS vaccine

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1579) ◽  
pp. 2759-2765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary J. Nabel ◽  
Peter D. Kwong ◽  
John R. Mascola
Keyword(s):  
Structural Biology ◽  
Neutralizing Antibodies ◽  
Rational Design ◽  
Computational Modelling ◽  
Effective Vaccine ◽  
Aids Vaccine ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Hiv 1 ◽  
Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1

Human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) has a high degree of genetic and antigenic diversity that has impeded the development of an effective vaccine using traditional methods. We are attempting to develop an AIDS vaccine by employing strategies that include structural biology and computational modelling, in an effort to develop immunogens capable of eliciting neutralizing antibodies of the requisite breadth and potency against circulating strains of HIV-1.

Studying Web Search Engines from a User Perspective

2012 ◽  
pp. 411-437
Author(s):  
Stéphane Chaudiron ◽  
Madjid Ihadjadene
Keyword(s):  
Search Engines ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Web Search ◽  
Information Access ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
User Perspective ◽  
Web Search Engines ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
Concept Of Information ◽  
And Behavior

This chapter shows that the wider use of Web search engines, reconsidering the theoretical and methodological frameworks to grasp new information practices. Beginning with an overview of the recent challenges implied by the dynamic nature of the Web, this chapter then traces the information behavior related concepts in order to present the different approaches from the user perspective. The authors pay special attention to the concept of “information practice” and other related concepts such as “use”, “activity”, and “behavior” largely used in the literature but not always strictly defined. The authors provide an overview of user-oriented studies that are meaningful to understand the different contexts of use of electronic information access systems, focusing on five approaches: the system-oriented approaches, the theories of information seeking, the cognitive and psychological approaches, the management science approaches, and the marketing approaches. Future directions of work are then shaped, including social searching and the ethical, cultural, and political dimensions of Web search engines. The authors conclude considering the importance of Critical theory to better understand the role of Web Search engines in our modern society.

Reflections on the Role of Control in Meditation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deane H. Shapiro
Keyword(s):  
Belief Systems ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Western Psychology ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Being There ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Instrumental Control

Spiritual, religious, and secular traditions emphasize the importance of control over one’s thoughts, feelings and behavior, and the relevance of meditation in achieving this control. Meditation practices, in particular, can be understood as one strategy amongst others for achieving self-regulation. While the main focus in Western psychology has been on active instrumental control, other traditions have emphasized the importance of a more accepting/yielding mode of control. This chapter distinguishes between different forms of control and how some of these may be enhanced by meditation practices. While over-control and passive resignation can have negative consequences for a person’s well-being, there is evidence for the beneficial role of the active/assertive and positive accepting/yielding modes of control. Selecting the most appropriate meditation strategy for a particular person is dependent upon a wide range of factors, including the person’s control profile, their sensory orientation, and their belief systems. The chapter concludes with the description of the author’s personal journey in exploring meditation and theories and practices of control—and a note of gratitude.

scholarly journals The Total Synthesis of Proposed Immunoactive Glycolipids from S. Pneumoniae and a Re-evaluation of Their Immunological Activity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyed Iraj Sadraei ◽  
Greg Yousif ◽  
S. Maryamdokht Taimoory ◽  
Emmanuel Igbokwe ◽  
Samaneh Mehri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
T Cell ◽  
Total Synthesis ◽  
T Cell Receptor ◽  
Mammalian Species ◽  
White Blood Cells ◽  
Computational Modelling ◽  
Cell Receptor ◽  
Binary Complex ◽  
Inkt Cells ◽  
High Degree

<p>Invariant natural killer T cells (iNKT), a subclass of white blood cells, are responsible for the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines which induce a systemic immune response. They are distinctive in having an invariant T-cell receptor that recognizes glycolipid antigens presented by the class I major histocompatibility complex-related protein CD1d, which is conserved across multiple mammalian species in a class of proteins well-renowned for their high degree of polymorphism. This receptor’s first identified antigen is the potent KRN7000, a glycosphingolipid isolated from bacteria that were found on a Japanese marine sponge. The corresponding terrestrial antigen remained unidentified until quite recently, when diacylglycerol-containing glycolipids, reported to activate iNKT cells, were isolated from <i>Streptococcus pneumoniae</i>. We report the total synthesis and immunological re-evaluation of these two glycolipids. The compounds are unable to activate iNKT cells. Computational modelling shows that these ligands, while being capable of interacting with the CD1d receptor, create a different surface for the binary complex that makes formation of the ternary complex with the iNKT T-cell receptor difficult. Together these results suggest that the reported activity might have been due to an impurity in the original isolated sample, and highlights the importance of taking care when reporting biological activity from isolated natural products.<b></b></p>

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