scholarly journals Individual believes about temporal continuity explain perceptual biases

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Glasauer ◽  
Zhuanghua Shi

Perceptual biases vary considerably between individuals. In the framework of probabilistic perception, these variations are commonly attributed to differences in sensory noise, which determines reliance on internal priors, and thus the size of biases. However, sensory noise is not the only determinant of perceptual outcomes: internal generative models, which express our believes about how stimuli are generated in the world, play a decisive role. These believes are mirrored in the types of explanatory models, static or iterative, offered in the literature. While static models are based on the assumption that consecutive stimuli are independent, iterative models presume some temporal continuity. Here we compare experimental results for time and distance estimation with model predictions and propose that interindividual differences cannot be explained by individual levels of sensory noise alone, but that differences in biases such as central tendency and serial dependence are based on individual believes expressed by different generative models.

2019 ◽  
Vol 132 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guido Baltussen ◽  
Sjoerd van Bekkum ◽  
Zhi Da

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joerg Fingerhut

This paper argues that the still-emerging paradigm of situated cognition requires a more systematic perspective on media to capture the enculturation of the human mind. By virtue of being media, cultural artifacts present central experiential models of the world for our embodied minds to latch onto. The paper identifies references to external media within embodied, extended, enactive, and predictive approaches to cognition, which remain underdeveloped in terms of the profound impact that media have on our mind. To grasp this impact, I propose an enactive account of media that is based on expansive habits as media-structured, embodied ways of bringing forth meaning and new domains of values. We apply such habits, for instance, when seeing a picture or perceiving a movie. They become established through a process of reciprocal adaptation between media artifacts and organisms and define the range of viable actions within such a media ecology. Within an artifactual habit, we then become attuned to a specific media work (e.g., a TV series, a picture, a text, or even a city) that engages us. Both the plurality of habits and the dynamical adjustments within a habit require a more flexible neural architecture than is addressed by classical cognitive neuroscience. To detail how neural and media processes interlock, I will introduce the concept of neuromediality and discuss radical predictive processing accounts that could contribute to the externalization of the mind by treating media themselves as generative models of the world. After a short primer on general media theory, I discuss media examples in three domains: pictures and moving images; digital media; architecture and the built environment. This discussion demonstrates the need for a new cognitive media theory based on enactive artifactual habits—one that will help us gain perspective on the continuous re-mediation of our mind.


BIOMATH ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 1612141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nofe Al-Asuoad ◽  
Libin Rong ◽  
Sadoof Alaswad ◽  
Meir Shillor

The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) has been identified in 2012 and since then outbreaks have been reported in various localities in the Middle East and in other parts of the world. To help predict the possible dynamics of MERS, as well as ways to contain it, this paper develops a mathematical model for the disease. It has a compartmental structure similar to SARS models and is in the form of a coupled system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs). The model predictions are fitted to data from the outbreaks in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) during 2013-2016. The results reveal that MERS will eventually be contained in the city. However, the containment time and the severity of the outbreaks depend crucially on the contact coefficients and the isolation rate constant. When randomness is added to the model coefficients, the simulations show that the model is sensitive to the scaled contact rate among people and to the isolation rate. The model is analyzed using stability theory for ODEs and indicates that when using only isolation, the endemic steady state is locally stable and attracting. Numerical simulations with parameters estimated from the city of Riyadh illustrate the analytical results and the model behavior, which may have important implications for the disease containment in the city. Indeed, the model highlights the importance of isolation of infected individuals and may be used to assess other control measures. The model is general and may be used to analyze outbreaks in other parts of the Middle East and other areas.


2013 ◽  
pp. 21-27
Author(s):  
L. Zelisko

Solving complex spiritual problems of modern life leads us to rethinking its higher meanings, absolute values, essences. Philosophical and cultural worldview, as the supreme form of knowledge and comprehension of the existence of the world and man, now directs the study of the root causes, the essential foundations of the world order, the disclosure of the deep meaning of what is happening to the world, society, culture and man, focuses on the creation of universal explanatory models of things, its individual components. Philosophical and cultural reflection as analytical means of cognition involves the ability to go beyond the real spheres of being and deduces the general cultural categories of the world of thought, such as being and non-being, God and soul, time and eternity, spirit and matter, death and immortality, etc. It is in the sense of reflexive activity of philosophical and cultural consciousness that it is possible to consider any phenomenon of being not in itself, but through the prism of the space of deep cultural meanings, which testifies to the metaphysical nature of culture, which is connected with the world of higher, absolute meanings and entities. In cultural studies, there is a tremendous experience with genesis and historical development of socio-cultural life, in particular, religious and philosophical culture.


The world has increased its demand for assistive technology (AT). There are a lot of researches and developments going on with respect to AT. Among the AT devices which are being developed, the need for a reliable and less expensive device which serves as an assistance for a visually challenged person is in serious demand all around the world. We, therefore, intend to provide a solution for this by constructing a device that has the capability to detect the obstacles within a given range for a visually challenged person and alerting the person about the obstacles. This involves various components like a camera for image detection, an ultrasonic distance sensor for distance estimation and a vibration motor which works on the principle of Haptic feedback and rotates with varied intensities depending on how far the obstacle is from the user. This paper presents a model which is a part of the footwear of the user and hence, no additional device is required to hold onto for assistance. The model involves the use of a microcontroller, a camera, to dynamically perceive the obstacles and a haptic feedback system to alert the person about the same. The camera dynamically acquires the real time video footage which is further processed by the microcontroller to detect the obstacles. Simultaneously, one more algorithm is being executed to estimate the distance with the help of an ultrasonic distance sensor. Depending on the distance, the frequency of the vibration motor, which acts as the output for notifying the user about the obstacle, is varied (haptic feedback). With this system, a visually challenged person will be able to avoid the obstacles successfully without the use of any additional device.


Author(s):  
Yumiko Inukai

James contends that the rejection of conjunctive relations in experience leads Hume to the empirically groundless notion of discrete elements of experience, which James takes as the critical point that differentiates his empiricism from Hume’s. In this chapter, I argue that James is not right about this: Hume not only allows but employs experienced conjunctive relations in his explanations for the generation of our naturally held beliefs about the self and the world. There are indeed striking similarities between their accounts: they both use the relations of resemblance, temporal continuity, constancy, coherence, and regularity, and the self. Also, objects are constructed out of basic elements in their systems—pure experience and perceptions, respectively. Although collapsing the inner and outer worlds of the subject and object into one world (of pure experience for James and of perceptions for Hume) may seem unintuitive, this is exactly what allows them to preserve our ordinary sense of our experiences of objects.


Author(s):  
Rachel Elior

Mysticism is one of the central sources of inspiration of religious thought. It is an attempt to decode the mystery of divine existence by penetrating to the depths of consciousness through language, memory, myth, and symbolism. By offering an alternative perspective on the world that gives expression to yearnings for freedom and change, mysticism engenders new modes of authority and leadership; as such it plays a decisive role in moulding religious and social history. For all these reasons, the mystical corpus deserves study and discussion in the framework of cultural criticism and research. This book is a lyrical exposition of the Jewish mystical phenomenon. Its purpose is to present the meanings of the mystical works as they were perceived by their creators and readers. At the same time, it contextualizes them within the boundaries of the religion, culture, language, and spiritual and historical circumstances in which the destiny of the Jewish people has evolved. The book conveys the richness of the mystical experience in discovering the infinity of meaning embedded in the sacred text and explains the multivalent symbols. It illustrates the varieties of the mystical experience from antiquity to the twentieth century. The translations of texts communicate the mystical experiences vividly and make it easy for the reader to understand how the book uses them to explain the relationship between the revealed world and the hidden world and between the mystical world and the traditional religious world, with all the social and religious tensions this has caused.


Author(s):  
Andrea Mariuzzo

This chapter discusses the importance of the ‘national-patriotic’ symbology and expressive codes for all the competitors in the Italian political arena during the Cold War. In the struggle between pro-Soviet and anti-Communist fronts, both sides used Italian national myths and iconic unifying symbols, such as the image of Garibaldi, in order to present themselves as the ‘true’ Fatherland against their competitors, identified as the ‘fifth column’ and the ‘servants’ of ‘foreign imperialists’. However, after the disaster of fascist expansionism and the horrors of a war nobody wanted to repeat, in any case the claim of a renovated decisive role in the world could not be presented according to the words of militaristic nationalism. It was rather conjured with the promotion of peace against the menace of a new invasion and a subsequent global conflict.


2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Anneli Kõvamees

Andrei Ivanov (b. 1971) is the most well known Estonian Russianlanguage writer who has won many literary awards in Estonia and Russia. His prose and position in the literary field of Estonia has initiated the discussion about the exact definition of Estonian literature and the status of the Estonian Russian-language literature. Due to Ivanov’s prose, the world of Estonian Russians has become more visible for the Estonian audience. He also gives a piercing look into the modern society and offers a different perspective on the world; these are some of the reasons of his popularity. The article focuses on the analysis of the reception of Ivanov’s prose published in Estonian. The vast majority of Ivanov’s prose has been translated into Estonian: Путешествие Ханумана на Лолланд, Харбинские мотыльки, Бизар, Исповедь лунатика, Горсть праха, Печатный шар Расмуса Хансена, Мой датский дядюшка and Зола. The author has entered the Estonian cultural field through translations, it may be said that he has been found in translations. Ivanov’s books are bestsellers and widely discussed in newspapers, blogs and in the literary magazines. The position of Estonian Russian literature has shifted from the periphery into the spotlight and the works by Ivanov have played a decisive role in that process. The article focuses on the analysis of the reception of Ivanov’s prose published in Estonian. The articles published in the Estonian language and concentrating on his prose (both in newspapers and in the literary magazines) are under observation. What topics have been discussed? Which aspects of Ivanov’s prose have attracted the attention of the critics?


2014 ◽  
Vol 54 (12) ◽  
pp. 2052 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis O. Tedeschi ◽  
Luigi F. L. Cavalcanti ◽  
Mozart A. Fonseca ◽  
Mario Herrero ◽  
Phillip K. Thornton

The contemporary concern about anthropogenic release of greenhouse gas (GHG) into the environment and the contribution of livestock to this phenomenon have sparked animal scientists’ interest in predicting methane (CH4) emissions by ruminants. We contend that improving the adequacy of mathematical nutrition model estimates of production of meat and milk is a sine qua non condition to reliably determine ruminants’ worldwide contribution to GHG. Focusing on milk production, we address six basic nutrition models or feeding standards (mostly empirical systems) and five complex nutrition models (mostly mechanistic systems), describe their key characteristics, and highlight their similarities and differences. We also present derivative systems. We compiled a database of milk production information from 37 published studies from six regions of the world, totalling 173 data points: 19 for Africa, 45 for Asia, 16 for Europe, 12 for Latin America, 44 for North America and 37 for Oceania. Four models were used to predict milk production in lactating dairy cows, and the adequacy of their predictions was measured against the observed milk production from our database. Even though these mathematical nutrition models shared similar assumptions and calculations, they have different conceptual and structural foundations inherent to their intended purposes. A direct comparison among these models was further complicated by the different models requiring unique inputs that are very often not available, and the low reliability of the inputs prevents an unbiased assessment of the model predictions. Very few studies have collected the necessary information to run more mechanistic systems, and users have to rely on standard information to populate many model inputs. Study effect was a critical source of variation that limited our ability to conclusively evaluate the models’ applicability under different scenarios of production around the world. Only after study variation was removed from the database did the adequacy of the model predictions of milk production improved, but deficiencies still existed. On the basis of these analyses, we conclude that not all models were suitable for predicting milk production and that simpler systems might be more resilient to variations in studies and production conditions around the world. Improving the predictability of milk production by mathematical nutrition models is a prerequisite to further development of systems that can effectively and correctly estimate the contribution of ruminants to GHG emissions and their true share of the global warming event.


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