scholarly journals Flexible Path Planning Through Vicarious Trial and Error

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey L. Krichmar ◽  
Nicholas A. Ketz ◽  
Praveen K. Pilly ◽  
Andrea Soltoggio

AbstractFlexible planning is necessary for reaching goals and adapting when conditions change. We introduce a biologically plausible path planning model that learns its environment, rapidly adapts to change, and plans efficient routes to goals. Unlike prior models of hippocampal replay, our model addresses the decision-making process when faced with uncertainty. We tested the model in simulations of human and rodent navigation in mazes. Like the human and rat, the model was able to generate novel shortcuts, and take detours when familiar routes were blocked. Similar to rodent hippocampus recordings, the neural activity of the model resembles neural correlates of Vicarious Trial and Error (VTE) during early learning or during uncertain conditions. Similar to rodent studies, after learning, the neural activity resembles forward replay or preplay predicting a future route, and VTE activity decreases. We suggest that VTE, in addition to weighing possible outcomes, is a way in which an organism may gather information for future use.

Author(s):  
Lidiya Derbenyova

The article focuses on the problems of translation in the field of hermeneutics, understood as a methodology in the activity of an interpreter, the doctrine of the interpretation of texts, as a component of the transmission of information in a communicative aspect. The relevance of the study is caused by the special attention of modern linguistics to the under-researched issues of hermeneutics related to the problems of transmission of foreign language text semantics in translation. The process of translation in the aspect of hermeneutics is regarded as the optimum search and decision-making process, which corresponds to a specific set of functional criteria of translation, which can take many divergent forms. The translator carries out a number of specific translation activities: the choice of linguistic means and means of expression in the translation language, replacement and compensation of nonequivalent units. The search for the optimal solution itself is carried out using the “trial and error” method. The translator always acts as an interpreter. Within the boundaries of a individual utterance, it must be mentally reconstructed as conceptual situations, the mentally linguistic actions of the author, which are verbalized in this text.


2014 ◽  
Vol 369 (1641) ◽  
pp. 20130211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randolph Blake ◽  
Jan Brascamp ◽  
David J. Heeger

This essay critically examines the extent to which binocular rivalry can provide important clues about the neural correlates of conscious visual perception. Our ideas are presented within the framework of four questions about the use of rivalry for this purpose: (i) what constitutes an adequate comparison condition for gauging rivalry's impact on awareness, (ii) how can one distinguish abolished awareness from inattention, (iii) when one obtains unequivocal evidence for a causal link between a fluctuating measure of neural activity and fluctuating perceptual states during rivalry, will it generalize to other stimulus conditions and perceptual phenomena and (iv) does such evidence necessarily indicate that this neural activity constitutes a neural correlate of consciousness? While arriving at sceptical answers to these four questions, the essay nonetheless offers some ideas about how a more nuanced utilization of binocular rivalry may still provide fundamental insights about neural dynamics, and glimpses of at least some of the ingredients comprising neural correlates of consciousness, including those involved in perceptual decision-making.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-139
Author(s):  
Naoki Asakawa

Due to changes in the global industrial structure, the number of employees in the manufacturing industry has decreased in developed countries. One of solutions to this situation offered in Industry 4.0 is “the utilization of robots and AI as alternatives to skilled workers.” This solution has been applied to various operations conventionally performed by skilled workers and has yielded consistent results. A skilled worker has two skills, namely, “physical operation skill” and “decision making skill,” which correspond to the utilization of robots and AI, respectively. Conventionally, robots have simply played back programs they were taught. However, owing to feedback technologies using force, position, or various other sensors, robots have come to be able to perform smart operations. In some of these, the capabilities of robots exceed those of human workers. For example, while humans are highly adaptive to various operations, it is difficult for them to maintain a constant force or position for long periods of time. Generally, humans make decisions about operations according to their experience, and this experience is gained from many instances of trial and error. Now, the trial-and-error learning of AI has become significantly superior to that of humans in terms of both number and speed. As a result, many systems can find operational strategies or answers much faster than humans can. This special issue features papers on robot hands, path planning, kinematics, and AI. Papers related to robot hands present an actuator using new principles, new movements, and the realization of the precise sense of the human hand. Papers related to path planning present path generation on the basis of CAD data, path generation using image processing, automatic path generation on the basis of environmental information, and the prediction of error and correction. Path generation using VR technology and error compensation using an AI technique are also presented. A paper related to kinematics presents the analysis and evaluation of a new mechanism with the aim of new applications in the field of machining. In closing, I would like to thank the authors, reviewers, and editors, without whose hard work and earnest cooperation this issue could not have been completed and presented.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chisa Ota ◽  
Tamami Nakano

AbstractBeauty filters, while often employed for retouching photos to appear more attractive on social media, when used in excess cause images to give a distorted impression. The neural mechanisms underlying this change in facial attractiveness according to beauty retouching level remain unknown. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging in women as they viewed photos of their own face or unknown faces that had been retouched at three levels: no, mild, and extreme. The activity in the nucleus accumbens (NA) exhibited a positive correlation with facial attractiveness, whereas amygdala activity showed a negative correlation with attractiveness. Even though the participants rated others’ faces as more attractive than their own, the NA showed increased activity only for their mildly retouched own face and the amygdala exhibited greater activation in the others’ faces condition than the own face condition. Moreover, amygdala activity was greater for extremely retouched faces than for unretouched or mildly retouched faces for both conditions. Frontotemporal and cortical midline areas showed greater activation for one’s own than others’ faces, but such self-related activation was absent when extremely retouched. These results suggest that neural activity dynamically switches between the NA and amygdala according to perceived attractiveness of one’s face.


2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 832-841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda K. Robinson ◽  
Judith Reinhard ◽  
Jason B. Mattingley

Sensory information is initially registered within anatomically and functionally segregated brain networks but is also integrated across modalities in higher cortical areas. Although considerable research has focused on uncovering the neural correlates of multisensory integration for the modalities of vision, audition, and touch, much less attention has been devoted to understanding interactions between vision and olfaction in humans. In this study, we asked how odors affect neural activity evoked by images of familiar visual objects associated with characteristic smells. We employed scalp-recorded EEG to measure visual ERPs evoked by briefly presented pictures of familiar objects, such as an orange, mint leaves, or a rose. During presentation of each visual stimulus, participants inhaled either a matching odor, a nonmatching odor, or plain air. The N1 component of the visual ERP was significantly enhanced for matching odors in women, but not in men. This is consistent with evidence that women are superior in detecting, discriminating, and identifying odors and that they have a higher gray matter concentration in olfactory areas of the OFC. We conclude that early visual processing is influenced by olfactory cues because of associations between odors and the objects that emit them, and that these associations are stronger in women than in men.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anye Liu ◽  
Cheng Wang ◽  
Yuqi Wei ◽  
Mengqing Sun

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