scholarly journals Direct Approach or Detour: A Comparative Model of Inhibition and Neural Ensemble Size in Behavior Selection

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trond A. Tjøstheim ◽  
Birger Johansson ◽  
Christian Balkenius
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Comparative Psychology ◽  
Direct Approach ◽  
Ensemble Size ◽  
Approach And Avoidance ◽  
Neural Ensemble ◽  
Natural Geometry ◽  
Neural Populations

Organisms must cope with different risk/reward landscapes in their ecological niche. Hence, species have evolved behavior and cognitive processes to optimally balance approach and avoidance. Navigation through space, including taking detours, appears also to be an essential element of consciousness. Such processes allow organisms to negotiate predation risk and natural geometry that obstruct foraging. One aspect of this is the ability to inhibit a direct approach toward a reward. Using an adaptation of the well-known detour paradigm in comparative psychology, but in a virtual world, we simulate how different neural configurations of inhibitive processes can yield behavior that approximates characteristics of different species. Results from simulations may help elucidate how evolutionary adaptation can shape inhibitive processing in particular and behavioral selection in general. More specifically, results indicate that both the level of inhibition that an organism can exert and the size of neural populations dedicated to inhibition contribute to successful detour navigation. According to our results, both factors help to facilitate detour behavior, but the latter (i.e., larger neural populations) appears to specifically reduce behavioral variation.

scholarly journals Assessment and Learning in the Virtual World: Tasks, Taxonomies and Teaching for Real

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Vallance ◽  
Stewart M. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Cognitive Activity ◽  
Face Validity ◽  
Cognitive Domain ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Learning Development ◽  
Use Of Assessment

Many educational institutions make use of assessment schemes based on an ordered hierarchy of cognitive activity, where the judgments of educators on the learning progress of students are expressed using marks or grades. These have high face-validity because they appear to represent intuitively sound descriptions of learning development. The language found in many such assessment structures and their protocols reflects the hierarchy within a revised Bloom's Taxonomy where, in the cognitive domain, evaluation and synthesis is regarded as superior to analysis or application, which are themselves rewarded above memory or understanding. Virtual worlds provide an opportunity to explore new educational contexts for analyzing and measuring cognitive processes that support learning. The present research used the Second Life virtual world as a medium for remotely located students to communicate in the collaborative construction and programming of robots. Iterative tasks were used to explore several neo-Bloomian cognitive processes and knowledge dimensions. Analysis of 60 hours of video from classroom activity, transcribed data and in-world interaction suggests that the hierarchy of descriptors and associated ratings that are used within assessment schemes based on neo-Bloomian taxonomies may not accurately correspond to the 'higher order' cognitive ability development of students.

scholarly journals Grist and mills: on the cultural origins of cultural learning

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1599) ◽  
pp. 2181-2191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilia Heyes
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Comparative Psychology ◽  
Cultural Learning ◽  
Ample Evidence ◽  
Cumulative Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Origins

Cumulative cultural evolution is what ‘makes us odd’; our capacity to learn facts and techniques from others, and to refine them over generations, plays a major role in making human minds and lives radically different from those of other animals. In this article, I discuss cognitive processes that are known collectively as ‘cultural learning’ because they enable cumulative cultural evolution. These cognitive processes include reading, social learning, imitation, teaching, social motivation and theory of mind. Taking the first of these three types of cultural learning as examples, I ask whether and to what extent these cognitive processes have been adapted genetically or culturally to enable cumulative cultural evolution. I find that recent empirical work in comparative psychology, developmental psychology and cognitive neuroscience provides surprisingly little evidence of genetic adaptation, and ample evidence of cultural adaptation. This raises the possibility that it is not only ‘grist’ but also ‘mills’ that are culturally inherited; through social interaction in the course of development, we not only acquire facts about the world and how to deal with it (grist), we also build the cognitive processes that make ‘fact inheritance’ possible (mills).

Approaching the familiar: On the ability of mere exposure to direct approach and avoidance behavior

2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 383-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaiah F. Jones ◽  
Steven G. Young ◽  
Heather M. Claypool
Keyword(s):  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
Mere Exposure ◽  
Direct Approach ◽  
Approach And Avoidance

scholarly journals Evolutionary Preconditions for the Use of Tools from the Perspective of Animal and Human Self-Reflection

2021 ◽  
pp. 136-146
Author(s):  
Ivan Hvatov
Keyword(s):  
Embodied Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Comparative Psychology ◽  
Physical Characteristics ◽  
The Body ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
The Subject

Currently, the subject of the use of tools by animals is avidly explored in comparative psychology and evolution psychology. It is believed that the use of tools, if determined by instincts, is an evidence of complex cognitive processes in the animal, in particular, thinking. The abi­lity to use and make tools was discovered in primates, a number of mammals, birds and even invertebrates. However, the abovementioned animals show an already formed complex ability to use tools. Evolutionary preconditions and factors leading to emergence of the ability to use tools as a part of mental phylogenesis are understudied. The author of the paper offers a novel approach to exploring the preconditions for the use of tools based on the concept of self-reflection of animals and human as well as embodied cognition. According to the approach developed, the proto-tool is the body of the animal, which physical characteristics initially serve as an obstacle in achieving the goal of various activities; only afterwards, the animal recognizes its body as an opportunity, a means of affecting the environment.

scholarly journals Effects of neural ensemble size and composition on the decoding of attention in primate lateral prefrontal cortex

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. 611
Author(s):  
Lyndon Duong ◽  
Matthew Leavitt ◽  
Sebastien Tremblay ◽  
Adam Sachs ◽  
Julio Martinez-Trujillo
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Ensemble Size ◽  
Lateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Neural Ensemble

Animal Learning and Cognition

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Beran
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Numerical Cognition ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Comparative Psychology ◽  
Mental Time Travel ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Capacities ◽  
Knowledge States ◽  
Nonhuman Animals

Comparative psychology is the study of behavior and cognition across species. In recent decades, much of this research has focused on cognitive capacities that are well studied in humans. This approach provides comparative perspectives on the evolution of these cognitive capacities. Although in many areas humans shows distinct aspects of various cognitive processes, it is clear that for most major topics in human cognition, important and illustrative data are available from studies with other animals. Moreover, these areas of investigation increasingly show continuities between the behavior of other species and human behavior. Several of these cognitive processes, including concept and category learning, numerical cognition, memory, mental time travel and prospective cognition, metacognition, and language learning, highlight these continuities and demonstrate the richness of mental lives in other animals. Nonhuman animals can discriminate between categories of perceptual and conceptual classes, they can form concepts, and they can use those concepts to guide decision making and choice behavior. Other species can engage in rudimentary numerical cognition, and more importantly share with humans certain core quantitative abilities for the approximate representation of magnitude and number. Nonhuman animals share many phenomena of memory that are well-recognized in humans, and in some cases may even share the capacity to mentally re-experience the past and to anticipate and plan for the future. In some cases, some species may even reflect on their own knowledge states, memory accessibility, and perceptual acuity as they make metacognitive judgments. And, studies of animal communication provided the basis for intensive assessments of language-like behavior in certain species. Taken together, these results argue much more for continuity than discontinuity. This should not be seen as a challenge to the uniqueness of human minds, but rather as a way to better understand how we became the species we are through the process of evolution.

scholarly journals Visor de Realidad Aumentada en Museos (RAM) para Exposiciones Situadas en Entornos Cerrados

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariano Flores Gutiérrez ◽  
Tomás Rufete Martínez ◽  
José Macanás Vidal ◽  
Juan Martínez García ◽  
Carlos María López Martínez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Image Processing ◽  
Augmented Reality ◽  
Real World ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Interactive System ◽  
Control Techniques ◽  
Camera Perspective ◽  
Position And Orientation

<p>Augmented reality has been increasingly used for the last 10 years. Real and virtual world combination supported by this technology has made augmented reality become an essential element for computer generated data integration in real-world. Museum augmented Reality Viewfinder is an interactive system that allows visitors to overlay computer generate contents onto sites and archaeological exhibitions in real time. As the person move the camera around, the position and orientation of the camera perspective is tracked, allowing the overlaid material to remain tied to the physical world. This paper describes concept, architecture and technology inside the Museum augmented Reality Viewfinder, image processing, rendering and PTZ control techniques are also detailed.</p>

scholarly journals Measuring disorganized speech in schizophrenia: automated analysis explains variance in cognitive deficits beyond clinician-rated scales

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 440-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. S. Minor ◽  
J. A. Willits ◽  
M. P. Marggraf ◽  
M. N. Jones ◽  
P. H. Lysaker
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Automated Analysis ◽  
Essential Information ◽  
Trained Staff ◽  
Disorganized Speech ◽  
Poor Cognition

AbstractBackgroundConveying information cohesively is an essential element of communication that is disrupted in schizophrenia. These disruptions are typically expressed through disorganized symptoms, which have been linked to neurocognitive, social cognitive, and metacognitive deficits. Automated analysis can objectively assess disorganization within sentences, between sentences, and across paragraphs by comparing explicit communication to a large text corpus.MethodLittle work in schizophrenia has tested: (1) links between disorganized symptoms measured via automated analysis and neurocognition, social cognition, or metacognition; and (2) if automated analysis explains incremental variance in cognitive processes beyond clinician-rated scales. Disorganization was measured in schizophrenia (n = 81) with Coh-Metrix 3.0, an automated program that calculates basic and complex language indices. Trained staff also assessed neurocognition, social cognition, metacognition, and clinician-rated disorganization.ResultsFindings showed that all three cognitive processes were significantly associated with at least one automated index of disorganization. When automated analysis was compared with a clinician-rated scale, it accounted for significant variance in neurocognition and metacognition beyond the clinician-rated measure. When combined, these two methods explained 28–31% of the variance in neurocognition, social cognition, and metacognition.ConclusionsThis study illustrated how automated analysis can highlight the specific role of disorganization in neurocognition, social cognition, and metacognition. Generally, those with poor cognition also displayed more disorganization in their speech—making it difficult for listeners to process essential information needed to tie the speaker's ideas together. Our findings showcase how implementing a mixed-methods approach in schizophrenia can explain substantial variance in cognitive processes.

scholarly journals Two opposing hippocampus to prefrontal cortex pathways for the control of approach and avoidance behavior

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Candela Sánchez-Bellot ◽  
Andrew F. MacAskill
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
Pyramidal Neurons ◽  
Ventral Hippocampus ◽  
Inhibitory Interneurons ◽  
Approach And Avoidance ◽  
Parallel Circuits ◽  
Neural Populations ◽  
Fast Spiking ◽  
Approach Avoidance

SUMMARYThe decision to either approach or avoid a potentially threatening environment is thought to rely upon complex connectivity between heterogenous neural populations in the ventral hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (PFC). However, how this circuitry can flexibly promote both approach or avoidance at different times has remained elusive. Here, we show that the projection to PFC is composed of two parallel circuits located in the superficial or deep hippocampal pyramidal layers. These circuits have unique upstream and downstream connectivity, and are differentially active during approach and avoidance behavior. The superficial population is preferentially connected to widespread PFC inhibitory interneurons, and its activation promotes exploration; while the deep circuit is connected to PFC pyramidal neurons and fast spiking interneurons, and its activation promotes avoidance. Together this provides a mechanism for regulation of behavior during approach avoidance conflict: through two specialized, parallel circuits that allow bidirectional hippocampal control of PFC.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document