scholarly journals Numerosity, Abstraction, and the Emergence of Symbolic Thinking

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick L. Coolidge ◽  
Karenleigh A. Overmann
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Human Infant ◽  
Intraparietal Sulcus ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Level Of Abstraction ◽  
Parietal Lobes ◽  
Symbolic Thinking

In this paper we tentatively propose that one of the feral cognitive bases for modern symbolic thinking may be numerosity, that is, the ability to appreciate and understand numbers. We proffer that numerosity appears to be an inherently abstractive process, which is supported by numerous human infant and monkey studies. We also review studies that demonstrate that the neurological substrate for numerosity is primarily the intraparietal sulcus of the parietal lobes, the angular and supramarginal gyri in the inferior parietal lobes, and areas of the prefrontal cortex. We also speculate that the lower level of abstraction involved in numerosity may serve as a basis for higher-level symbolic thinking, such as number and letter symbolism and sequencing. We further speculate that these two levels of abstraction may give rise to highly sophisticated characteristics of modern human language, such as analogizing and metaphorizing.

Clash of signs: Putting bilingualism back into language evolution

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Samuel
Keyword(s):  
Language Evolution ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
The Real ◽  
Multiple Languages

Research and thinking into the cognitive aspects of language evolution has usually attempted to account for how the capacity for learning even one modern human language developed. Bilingualism has perhaps been thought of as something to think about only once the ‘real’ puzzle of monolingualism is solved, but this would assume in turn (and without evidence) that bilingualism evolved after monolingualism. All typically-developing children (and adults) are capable of learning multiple languages, and the majority of modern humans are at least bilingual. In this paper I ask whether by skipping bilingualism out of language evolution we have missed a trick. I propose that exposure to synonymous signs, such as food and alarm calls, are a necessary precondition for the abstracting away of sound from referent. In support of this possibility is evidence that modern day bilingual children are better at breaking this ‘word magic’ spell. More generally, language evolution should be viewed through the lens of bilingualism, as this is the end state we are attempting to explain.

Language and life history: A new perspective on the development and evolution of human language

2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Locke ◽  
Barry Bogin
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Adult Development ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Juvenile Period ◽  
Development Of Language ◽  
New Perspective

It has long been claimed that Homo sapiens is the only species that has language, but only recently has it been recognized that humans also have an unusual pattern of growth and development. Social mammals have two stages of pre-adult development: infancy and juvenility. Humans have two additional prolonged and pronounced life history stages: childhood, an interval of four years extending between infancy and the juvenile period that follows, and adolescence, a stage of about eight years that stretches from juvenility to adulthood. We begin by reviewing the primary biological and linguistic changes occurring in each of the four pre-adult ontogenetic stages in human life history. Then we attempt to trace the evolution of childhood and juvenility in our hominin ancestors. We propose that several different forms of selection applied in infancy and childhood; and that, in adolescence, elaborated vocal behaviors played a role in courtship and intrasexual competition, enhancing fitness and ultimately integrating performative and pragmatic skills with linguistic knowledge in a broad faculty of language. A theoretical consequence of our proposal is that fossil evidence of the uniquely human stages may be used, with other findings, to date the emergence of language. If important aspects of language cannot appear until sexual maturity, as we propose, then a second consequence is that the development of language requires the whole of modern human ontogeny. Our life history model thus offers new ways of investigating, and thinking about, the evolution, development, and ultimately the nature of human language.

scholarly journals Uncovering the spatio-temporal dynamics of value-based decision-making in the human brain: a combined fMRI–EEG study

2014 ◽  
Vol 369 (1655) ◽  
pp. 20130473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Larsen ◽  
John P. O'Doherty
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
Binary Choice ◽  
Intraparietal Sulcus ◽  
Trial Onset ◽  
Eeg Data ◽  
Spatio Temporal

While there is a growing body of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) evidence implicating a corpus of brain regions in value-based decision-making in humans, the limited temporal resolution of fMRI cannot address the relative temporal precedence of different brain regions in decision-making. To address this question, we adopted a computational model-based approach to electroencephalography (EEG) data acquired during a simple binary choice task. fMRI data were also acquired from the same participants for source localization. Post-decision value signals emerged 200 ms post-stimulus in a predominantly posterior source in the vicinity of the intraparietal sulcus and posterior temporal lobe cortex, alongside a weaker anterior locus. The signal then shifted to a predominantly anterior locus 850 ms following the trial onset, localized to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and lateral prefrontal cortex. Comparison signals between unchosen and chosen options emerged late in the trial at 1050 ms in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, suggesting that such comparison signals may not be directly associated with the decision itself but rather may play a role in post-decision action selection. Taken together, these results provide us new insights into the temporal dynamics of decision-making in the brain, suggesting that for a simple binary choice task, decisions may be encoded predominantly in posterior areas such as intraparietal sulcus, before shifting anteriorly.

Validation of Function Pruning Rules Through Similarity at Three Levels of Abstraction

2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin W. Caldwell ◽  
Gregory M. Mocko
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Clustering Algorithm ◽  
Controlled Vocabulary ◽  
Design Activity ◽  
Conceptual Level ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Similarity Metric ◽  
Level Of Abstraction ◽  
Design By Analogy ◽  
Function Models

Function modeling is often used in the conceptual design phase as an approach to capture a form-independent purpose of a product. Previous research uses a repository of reverse-engineered function models to support conceptual-based design tools, such as similarity and design-by-analogy. These models, however, are created at a different level of abstraction than models created in conceptual design for new products. In this paper, a set of pruning rules is developed to generate an abstract, conceptual-level model from a reverse-engineered function model. The conceptual-level models are compared to two additional levels of abstraction that are available in a design repository. The abstract models developed through the pruning rules are tested using a similarity metric to understand their usefulness in conceptual design. The similarity of 128 products is computed using the Functional Basis controlled vocabulary and a matrix-based similarity metric at each level of abstraction. A matrix-based clustering algorithm is then applied to the similarity results to identify groups of similar products. A subset of these products is studied to further compare the three levels of abstraction and to validate the pruning rules. It is shown that the pruning rules are able to convert reverse-engineered function models to conceptual-level models, better supporting design-by-analogy, a conceptual-stage design activity.

Abstraction As a Configuration Design Methodology

1993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary L. Snavely ◽  
Panos Y. Papalambros
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Configuration Design ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Level Of Abstraction ◽  
Abstraction Levels

Abstract Configuration design can be thought of as a process of generating artifacts by assembling pre-defined components. This paper introduces a method for reducing the size of configuration problems by abstracting components to higher levels of abstraction. At higher abstraction levels, less important detail is temporarily ignored, and each component represents a family of lower-level components. Configuration is then performed at the highest level, explicitly enumerating all configurations at that level. Any complete configuration at the highest level is recursively instantiated to lower levels. At the same time, any incomplete configuration at the highest level is eliminated, thereby eliminating all possible lower-level instantiations of that configuration. In this manner, all configurations of components at the lowest level of abstraction are implicitly enumerated.

Flame: A Manufacturability Evaluator for Use at Different Levels of Abstraction

1995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse D. Peplinski ◽  
Patrick N. Koch ◽  
Janet K. Allen ◽  
Farrokh Mistree
Keyword(s):  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Computer Tool ◽  
Time Line ◽  
Design For Manufacture ◽  
Level Of Abstraction ◽  
Solution Scheme ◽  
Selection Decision ◽  
Manufacturing Alternatives ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract How can design for manufacture be implemented very early on a design time-line, for example, when only the function is known? Our response is embodied in an approach to design for manufacture at the function level of abstraction based on the notion of design using available assets. In this paper we focus on the solution scheme and computer implementation of our approach to design for manufacture. Our solution scheme takes the form of a Heuristic Selection Decision Support Problem, and our computer tool is called FLAME: the Function Level of Abstraction Manufacturability Evaluator. We use this tool to identify, evaluate and select potential manufacturing alternatives for products modeled at the function level of abstraction. We illustrate some of its uses by exploring the selection of manufacturing processes and materials for a component from a design of an aircraft evacuation system, although our focus is on the method rather than on the results per se.

Skulls That Speak

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Balzeau
Keyword(s):  
Human Population ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Population History ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Human Skull

Antoine Balzeau critically reviews a recent paper by Hugo Reyes-Centeno, Katerina Harvati, and Gerhard Jäger, “Tracking Modern Human Population History from Linguistic and Cranial Phenotype” that argues for a link between the development of human language and the evolving shape of the human skull.

scholarly journals Neural representations of honesty predict future trust behavior

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriele Bellucci ◽  
Felix Molter ◽  
Soyoung Q. Park
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Multivariate Analyses ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Intraparietal Sulcus ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Brain Signals ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal

AbstractTheoretical accounts propose honesty as a central determinant of trustworthiness impressions and trusting behavior. However, behavioral and neural evidence on the relationships between honesty and trust is missing. Here, combining a novel paradigm that successfully induces trustworthiness impressions with functional MRI and multivariate analyses, we demonstrate that honesty-based trustworthiness is represented in the posterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and intraparietal sulcus. Crucially, brain signals in these regions predict individual trust in a subsequent social interaction with the same partner. Honesty recruited the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), and stronger functional connectivity between the VMPFC and temporoparietal junction during honesty encoding was associated with higher trust in the subsequent interaction. These results suggest that honesty signals in the VMPFC are integrated into trustworthiness beliefs to inform present and future social behaviors. These findings improve our understanding of the neural representations of an individual’s social character that guide behaviors during interpersonal interactions.

Dorsal Prefrontal Cortex

2021 ◽  
pp. 191-235
Author(s):  
Richard E. Passingham
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Frontal Eye Field ◽  
Intraparietal Sulcus ◽  
Order Information ◽  
Shape Information ◽  
Eye Field ◽  
Orbital Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Ventral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Premotor Areas

The dorsal prefrontal (PF) cortex generates and plans the goals or targets for foveal search and manual foraging. The goals are conditional on the relative recency of prior events and actions, and the connections of areas 9/46 and 46 explain how these areas can support the ability to generate the next goal. Area 9/46 can generate sequences of eye movements because it has visuospatial inputs from the cortex in the intraparietal sulcus and outputs to the frontal eye field and superior colliculus. Area 46 can generate sequences of hand and arm movements because it has inputs from the inferior parietal areas PFG and SII and outputs to the forelimb regions of the premotor areas and thence to the motor cortex. Both areas get timing and order information indirectly from the parietal cortex and hippocampus, and colour and shape information from the ventral prefrontal cortex. Inputs from the orbital prefrontal cortex enable both areas to integrate generate goals in accordance with current needs.

SUPPORTING AGENT-ORIENTED MODELLING WITH UML

2002 ◽  
Vol 12 (06) ◽  
pp. 605-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
FEDERICO BERGENTI ◽  
AGOSTINO POGGI
Keyword(s):  
Software Engineering ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Uml Profile ◽  
Code Generator ◽  
Agent Platform ◽  
Level Of Abstraction ◽  
Agent Oriented Software Engineering ◽  
Development Framework ◽  
Interacting Agents ◽  
Multi Agent

Software engineering relies on the possibility of describing a system at different levels of abstraction. Agent-oriented software engineering introduces a new level of abstraction, that we called agent level, to allow the architect modelling a system in terms of interacting agents. This level of abstraction is not supported by an accepted set of tools and notations yet, even if a number of proposals are available. This paper introduces: (i) An UML-based notation capable of modelling a system at the agent level and (ii) A development framework, called ParADE, exploiting such a notation. The notation we propose is formalized in terms of a UML profile and it supports the realisation of artefacts modelling two basic concepts of the agent level, i.e., the architecture of the multi-agent system and the ontology followed by agents. The choice of formalising our notation in terms of a UML profile allows using it with any off-the-shelf CASE tool. The ParADE framework takes advantage of this choice by providing a code generator capable of producing skeletons of FIPA-compliant agents from XMI files of agent-oriented models. The developer is requested to complete the generated skeletons exploiting the services that ParADE and the underlying agent platform provide.

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