scholarly journals Advancing Research on Cognitive Processes in Social and Personality Psychology

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 413-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Johnson ◽  
Christopher J. Hopwood ◽  
Joseph Cesario ◽  
Timothy J. Pleskac
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Formal Model ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
Gambling Task ◽  
Drift Diffusion Model ◽  
Drift Diffusion ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Personality Research ◽  
First Person Shooter

We provide a primer on a hierarchical extension of the drift diffusion model (DDM). This formal model of decisions is frequently used in the cognitive sciences but infrequently used in social and personality research. Recent advances in model estimation have overcome issues that previously made the hierarchical DDM impractical to implement. Using examples from two paradigms, the first-person shooter task and the flash gambling task, we demonstrate that the hierarchical DDM can provide novel insights into cognitive processes underlying decisions. Finally, we compare the DDM to dual-process models of decision-making. We hope this primer will provide researchers a new tool for investigating psychological processes.

scholarly journals Reward-driven changes in striatal pathway competition shape evidence evaluation in decision-making

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Dunovan ◽  
Catalina Vich ◽  
Matthew Clapp ◽  
Timothy Verstynen ◽  
Jonathan Rubin
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Diffusion Model ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Drift Diffusion Model ◽  
Indirect Pathway ◽  
Drift Diffusion ◽  
Pathway Activity ◽  
Evidence Accumulation

AbstractCortico-basal-ganglia-thalamic (CBGT) networks are critical for adaptive decision-making, yet how changes to circuit-level properties impact cognitive algorithms remains unclear. Here we explore how dopaminergic plasticity at corticostriatal synapses alters competition between striatal pathways, impacting the evidence accumulation process during decision-making. Spike-timing dependent plasticity simulations showed that dopaminergic feedback based on rewards modified the ratio of direct and indirect corticostriatal weights within opposing action channels. Using the learned weight ratios in a full spiking CBGT network model, we simulated neural dynamics and decision outcomes in a reward-driven decision task and fit them with a drift diffusion model. Fits revealed that the rate of evidence accumulation varied with inter-channel differences in direct pathway activity while boundary height varied with overall indirect pathway activity. This multi-level modeling approach demonstrates how complementary learning and decision computations can emerge from corticostriatal plasticity.Author summaryCognitive process models such as reinforcement learning (RL) and the drift diffusion model (DDM) have helped to elucidate the basic algorithms underlying error-corrective learning and the evaluation of accumulating decision evidence leading up to a choice. While these relatively abstract models help to guide experimental and theoretical probes into associated phenomena, they remain uninformative about the actual physical mechanics by which learning and decision algorithms are carried out in a neurobiological substrate during adaptive choice behavior. Here we present an “upwards mapping” approach to bridging neural and cognitive models of value-based decision-making, showing how dopaminergic feedback alters the network-level dynamics of cortico-basal-ganglia-thalamic (CBGT) pathways during learning to bias behavioral choice towards more rewarding actions. By mapping “up” the levels of analysis, this approach yields specific predictions about aspects of neuronal activity that map to the quantities appearing in the cognitive decision-making framework.

The Cognitive Process of Comprehension

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 44-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingxu Wang ◽  
Davrondzhon Gafurov
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Intelligent Systems ◽  
Cognitive Process ◽  
Process Algebra ◽  
Formal Model ◽  
Reference Model ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Abstract Thought ◽  
Comprehension Process ◽  
The Brain

Comprehension is an ability to understand the meaning of a concept or an action. Comprehension is an important intelligent power of abstract thought and reasoning of humans or intelligent systems. It is highly curious to explore the internal process of comprehension in the brain and to explain its basic mechanisms in cognitive informatics and computational intelligence. This paper presents a formal model of the cognitive process of comprehension. The mechanism and process of comprehension are systematically explained with its conceptual, mathematical, and process models based on the Layered Reference Model of the Brain (LRMB) and the Object-Attribute-Relation (OAR) model for internal knowledge representation. Contemporary denotational mathematics such as concept algebra and Real-Time Process Algebra (RTPA) are adopted in order to formally describe the comprehension process and its interaction with other cognitive processes of the brain.

Passion’s Slave?

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reinout W. Wiers ◽  
Matt Field ◽  
Alan W. Stacy
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
Limited Capacity ◽  
State Variables ◽  
Psychoactive Substances ◽  
Process Perspective ◽  
Impulsive Processes ◽  
Reflective Processes

This chapter reviews the literature on cognitive processes in substance use disorders from a dual-process perspective. In dual-process models, behavior is viewed as the joint outcome of “impulsive” and “reflective” processes. Reflective processes rely on a single limited capacity mechanism and can be depleted, resulting in a stronger influence of impulsive processes. Recent studies confirmed this, both for state variables (e.g., reduced moderation of impulses after acute alcohol) and for trait variables (stronger prediction of addictive and related behaviors by impulsive processes in individuals with relatively weak executive control processes). In addiction, the balance between impulsive and reflective processes can become (further) disturbed as a result of the effects of the psychoactive substances on the cognitive processes involved. This is related to the notion of reduced “willpower,” traditionally at the heart of definitions of addiction. A model on the cognitive processes involved in addiction is presented, along with implications for interventions.

Cognition in the Courts

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eileen Braman
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Legal Reasoning ◽  
Motivated Reasoning ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
Judicial Decision ◽  
Judicial Decision Making ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
Fact Finding

This chapter critically evaluates how experiments are used to study cognitive processes involved in legal reasoning. Looking at research on legal presumptions, heuristic processing, and various types of bias in judicial decision-making, the analysis considers how experiments with judges, lay participants, and other legally trained populations have contributed to our understanding of the psychological processes involved in fact-finding and legal decision-making. It explores how behavioral economics, dual process models, cultural cognition, and motivated reasoning frameworks have been used to inform experimental research. The chapter concludes with a discussion of what findings add to our normative understanding of issues like accuracy and neutrality in decision-making and a call to better integrate knowledge gained through experimental methods across disciplinary boundaries.

Identifying Feigned Cognitive Impairment: Investigating the Utility of Diffusion Model Analyses

Assessment ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 107319112096231
Author(s):  
Elad Omer ◽  
Tomer Elbaum ◽  
Yoram Braw
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Diffusion Model ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Forced Choice ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Performance Validity ◽  
Drift Diffusion Model ◽  
Drift Diffusion ◽  
Choice Performance ◽  
Feigned Cognitive Impairment

Forced-choice performance validity tests are routinely used for the detection of feigned cognitive impairment. The drift diffusion model deconstructs performance into distinct cognitive processes using accuracy and response time measures. It thereby offers a unique approach for gaining insight into examinees’ speed-accuracy trade-offs and the cognitive processes that underlie their performance. The current study is the first to perform such analyses using a well-established forced-choice performance validity test. To achieve this aim, archival data of healthy participants, either simulating cognitive impairment in the Word Memory Test or performing it to the best of their ability, were analyzed using the EZ-diffusion model ( N = 198). The groups differed in the three model parameters, with drift rate emerging as the best predictor of group membership. These findings provide initial evidence for the usefulness of the drift diffusion model in clarifying the cognitive processes underlying feigned cognitive impairment and encourage further research.

An Introduction to Implicit Attitudes in Political Science Research

2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (03) ◽  
pp. 525-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksander Ksiazkiewicz ◽  
James Hedrick
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
Implicit Processes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Dual Process Models

During the past two decades, mounting evidence suggests that much of human social cognition occurs without deliberate effort and largely outside conscious awareness. Dual-process models, which distinguish explicit (conscious, slow, effortful) cognitive processes from implicit (often unconscious, fast, effortless) cognitive processes, “form the dominant paradigm [of social cognition research] for the past 20 years or more” (Evans 2008). Although these advances in social cognition research have begun to be integrated into models of political cognition over the past decade (e.g., Kim, Taber, and Lodge 2010; Lodge and Taber 2013; see Nosek, Graham, and Hawkins 2010 for a review), and are beginning to influence other disciplines like communication (see Hefner et al. 2011), the role of implicit processes in outcomes commonly studied by political scientists deserves more attention. This symposium aims to showcase the diverse set of subject areas within political science to which dual-process models have been and can be applied. We hope that this symposium is a springboard for those who are considering bringing a dual-process approach into their own research by providing an overview of relevant literatures and methods.

scholarly journals Evaluative conditioning as memory-based judgment

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Stahl ◽  
Frederik Aust
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Future Development ◽  
Formal Model ◽  
Evaluative Conditioning ◽  
Present Approach ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
Memory Model ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Attitude Learning

The article proposes a view of evaluative conditioning (EC) as resulting from judgments based on learning instances stored in memory. It is based on the formal episodic memory model MINERVA 2. Additional assumptions specify how the information retrieved from memory is used to inform specific evaluative dependent measures. The present approach goes beyond previous accounts in that it uses a well-specified formal model of episodic memory; it is however more limited in scope as it aims at explaining EC phenomena that do not involve reasoning processes. The article illustrates how the memory-based-judgment view accounts for several empirical findings in the EC literature that are often discussed as evidence for dual-process models of attitude learning. It sketches novel predictions, discusses limitations of the present approach, and identifies challenges and opportunities for its future development.

Measuring Automatic Cognition: Advancing Dual-Process Research in Sociology

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 308-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Miles ◽  
Raphaël Charron-Chénier ◽  
Cyrus Schleifer
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Forced Choice ◽  
Process Research ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
Sociological Practice ◽  
Dual Process Models ◽  
Empirical Performance

Dual-process models are increasingly popular in sociology as a framework for theorizing the role of automatic cognition in shaping social behavior. However, empirical studies using dual-process models often rely on ad hoc measures such as forced-choice surveys, observation, and interviews whose relationships to underlying cognitive processes are not fully established. In this article, we advance dual-process research in sociology by (1) proposing criteria for measuring automatic cognition, and (2) assessing the empirical performance of two popular measures of automatic cognition developed by psychologists. We compare the ability of the Brief Implicit Association Test (BIAT), the Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP), and traditional forced-choice measures to predict process-pure estimates of automatic influences on individuals’ behavior during a survey task. Results from three studies focusing on politics, morality, and racial attitudes suggest the AMP provides the most valid and consistent measure of automatic cognitive processes. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for sociological practice.

scholarly journals Evaluative Conditioning as Memory-Based Judgment

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Stahl ◽  
Frederik Aust
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Future Development ◽  
Formal Model ◽  
Evaluative Conditioning ◽  
Present Approach ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
Memory Model ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Attitude Learning

The article proposes a view of evaluative conditioning (EC) as resulting from judgments based on learning instances stored in memory. It is based on the formal episodic memory model MINERVA 2. Additional assumptions specify how the information retrieved from memory is used to inform specific evaluative dependent measures. The present approach goes beyond previous accounts in that it uses a well-specified formal model of episodic memory; it is however more limited in scope as it aims to explain EC phenomena that do not involve reasoning processes. The article illustrates how the memory-based-judgment view accounts for several empirical findings in the EC literature that are often discussed as evidence for dual-process models of attitude learning. It sketches novel predictions, discusses limitations of the present approach, and identifies challenges and opportunities for its future development.

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