environmental feedback
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F1000Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Stefan T. Arold

Longstanding scientific efforts have been dedicated to answer why and how our particular intelligence is generated by our brain but not by the brain of other species. However, surprisingly little effort has been made to ask why no other species ever developed an intelligence similar to ours. Here, I explore this question based on genetic and paleontologic evidence. Contrary to the established view, this review suggests that the developmental hurdles alone are not high enough to explain the uniqueness of human intelligence (HI). As an additional explanation I propose that HI is normally not retained by natural selection, because it is, under most conditions, an intrinsically unfavourable trait. This unfavourableness, however, cannot be explained by physical constraints alone; rather, it may also be rooted in the same emotional and social complexity that is necessary for the development of HI. Thus, a major obstacle towards HI may not be solely the development of the required physical assets, but also to cope with harmful individual, social and environmental feedback intrinsically associated with this trait.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Grauer ◽  
Falko Schmidt ◽  
Jesús Pineda ◽  
Benjamin Midtvedt ◽  
Hartmut Löwen ◽  
...  

AbstractActive matter comprises self-driven units, such as bacteria and synthetic microswimmers, that can spontaneously form complex patterns and assemble into functional microdevices. These processes are possible thanks to the out-of-equilibrium nature of active-matter systems, fueled by a one-way free-energy flow from the environment into the system. Here, we take the next step in the evolution of active matter by realizing a two-way coupling between active particles and their environment, where active particles act back on the environment giving rise to the formation of superstructures. In experiments and simulations we observe that, under light-illumination, colloidal particles and their near-critical environment create mutually-coupled co-evolving structures. These structures unify in the form of active superstructures featuring a droplet shape and a colloidal engine inducing self-propulsion. We call them active droploids—a portmanteau of droplet and colloids. Our results provide a pathway to create active superstructures through environmental feedback.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel A. Moore ◽  
Davide Martinetti ◽  
E. Keith Bigg ◽  
Brent C. Christner ◽  
Cindy E. Morris

2021 ◽  
Vol 121 ◽  
pp. 68-77
Author(s):  
Meghna N Marjadi ◽  
Lauren Drakopulos ◽  
Lian W. Guo ◽  
J. Zachary Koehn ◽  
Sarita V. Panchang ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Stephen Grossberg

Visual and auditory processes represent sensory information, but do not evaluate its importance for survival or success. Interactions between perceptual/cognitive and evaluative reinforcement/emotional/motivational mechanisms accomplish this. Cognitive-emotional resonances support conscious feelings, knowing their source, and controlling motivation and responses to acquire valued goals. Also explained is how emotions may affect behavior without being conscious, and how learning adaptively times actions to achieve desired goals. Breakdowns in cognitive-emotional resonances can cause symptoms of mental disorders such as depression, autism, schizophrenia, and ADHD, including explanations of how affective meanings fail to organize behavior when this happens. Historic trends in the understanding of cognition and emotion are summarized, including work of Chomsky and Skinner. Brain circuits of conditioned reinforcer learning and incentive motivational learning are modeled, including the inverted-U in conditioning as a function of interstimulus interval, secondary conditioning, and attentional blocking and unblocking. How humans and animals act as minimal adaptive predictors is explained using the CogEM model’s interactions between sensory cortices, amygdala, and orbitofrontal cortex. Cognitive-emotional properties solve phylogenetically ancient Synchronization and Persistence Problems using circuits that are conserved between mollusks and humans. Avalanche command circuits for learning arbitrary sequences of sensory-motor acts, dating back to crustacea, increase their sensitivity to environmental feedback as they morph over phylogeny into mammalian cognitive and emotional circuits. Antagonistic rebounds drive affective extinction. READ circuits model how life-long learning occurs without associative saturation or passive forgetting. Affective memories of opponent emotions like fear vs. relief can then persist until they are disconfirmed by environmental feedback.


2021 ◽  
Vol 397 ◽  
pp. 125963
Author(s):  
Jinhua Zhao ◽  
Xianjia Wang ◽  
Lei Niu ◽  
Cuiling Gu

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole E. Carey ◽  
Paul Bardunias ◽  
Radhika Nagpal ◽  
Justin Werfel

Many species of termites build large, structurally complex mounds, and the mechanisms behind this coordinated construction have been a longstanding topic of investigation. Recent work has suggested that humidity may play a key role in the mound expansion of savannah-dwelling Macrotermes species: termites preferentially deposit soil on the mound surface at the boundary of the high-humidity region characteristic of the mound interior, implying a coordination mechanism through environmental feedback where addition of wet soil influences the humidity profile and vice versa. Here we test this potential mechanism physically using a robotic system. Local humidity measurements provide a cue for material deposition. As the analogue of the termite's deposition of wet soil and corresponding local increase in humidity, the robot drips water onto an absorbent substrate as it moves. Results show that the robot extends a semi-enclosed area outward when air is undisturbed, but closes it off when air is disturbed by an external fan, consistent with termite building activity in still vs. windy conditions. This result demonstrates an example of adaptive construction patterns arising from the proposed coordination mechanism, and supports the hypothesis that such a mechanism operates in termites.


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