Predicting the Future with a Scale-Invariant Temporal Memory for the Past

In recent years, it has become clear that the brain maintains a temporal memory of recent events stretching far into the past. This letter presents a neutrally inspired algorithm to use a scale-invariant temporal representation of the past to predict a scale-invariant future. The result is a scale-invariant estimate of future events as a function of the time at which they are expected to occur. The algorithm is time-local, with credit assigned to the present event by observing how it affects the prediction of the future. To illustrate the potential utility of this approach, we test the model on simultaneous renewal processes with different timescales. The algorithm scales well on these problems despite the fact that the number of states needed to describe them as a Markov process grows exponentially.

Can Masked Emotion-Laden Words Prime Emotion-Label Words? An ERP Test on the Mediated Account

The present event-related potential (ERP) study explored whether masked emotion-laden words could facilitate the processing of both emotion-label words and emotion-laden words in a valence judgment task. The results revealed that emotion-laden words as primes failed to influence target emotion-label word processing, whereas emotion-laden words facilitated target emotion-laden words in the congruent condition. Specifically, decreased late positivity complex (LPC) was elicited by emotion-laden words primed by emotion-laden words of the same valence than those primed by emotion-laden words of different valence. Nevertheless, no difference was observed for emotion-label words as targets. These findings supported the mediated account that claimed emotion-laden words engendered emotion via the mediation of emotion-label words and hypothesized that emotion-laden words could not prime emotion-label words in the masked priming paradigm. Moreover, this study provided additional evidence showing the distinction between emotion-laden words and emotion-label words.

An Unofficial Account of the Beginnings of VLBI Polarimetry: From Jodrell Bank to the Event Horizon Telescope

I offer a brief and personal history of the development of polarization sensitive observations with widely separated antennas. The story starts at Jodrell Bank in the late 1960s with a 24 km baseline radio linked (but not phase stable) interferometer and reaches to the present Event Horizon Telescope (with global span and independent atomic clocks) which has just published an image of the linearly polarized radiation surrounding the black hole shadow of M87*. I was privileged to be witness to many of the developments along the way, either as an instigator, a bystander, or an unindicted co-conspirator. I am most interested in the technical developments that enabled these increasingly sophisticated observations, and in the ideas that advanced the data analysis and imaging.

Spatiotemporal context modulates encoding and retrieval of overlapping events

Overlap between events can lead to interference due to a tradeoff between encoding the present event and retrieving the past event. Temporal context information -- 'when' something occurred, a defining feature of episodic memory -- can cue retrieval of a past event. However, the influence of temporal overlap, or proximity in time, on the mechanisms of interference are unclear. Here, by identifying brain states using scalp electroencephalography (EEG) from male and female human subjects, we show the extent to which temporal overlap promotes interference and induces retrieval. In this experiment, subjects were explicitly directed to either encode the present event or retrieve a past, overlapping event while perceptual input was held constant. We find that the degree of temporal overlap between events leads to selective interference. Specifically, greater temporal overlap between two events leads to impaired memory for the past event selectively when the top-down goal is to encode the present event. Using pattern classification analyses to measure neural evidence for a retrieval state, we find that greater temporal overlap leads to automatic retrieval of a past event, independent of top-down goals. Critically, the retrieval evidence we observe likely reflects a general retrieval mode, rather than retrieval success or effort. Collectively, our findings provide insight into the role of temporal overlap on interference and memory formation.

The Moods of the Historical Time: “New Renaissance” of V. Bibikhin and “Historical Anxiety” of P. Ricoeur

The article offers a comparative study of the concepts of “historical mood” in the works of V.V. Bibikhin and P. Ricoeur. The efficiency of the comparative study can be founded by the common intellectual context, the common influence of such authors as Aristotle, Augustine, M. Heidegger, on P. Ricoeur and V.V. Bibikhin. It is also important to note that both philosophers combine the perspectives of the phenomenological method, historical hermeneutics and they both turn to the ontology of understanding. The article shows how the paradoxical nature of time leads to difficulties in interpreting the historical time, and explains the conceptual findings, that were proposed by Bibikhin and Ricoeur to overcome this paradox. Whereas Bibikhin prefers to comprehend time as the time of the present event, i.e. time-kairos or pora (in Russian), Ricoeur follows the logic of retrospective analysis of the time-narrative. Still, the time paradox can be solved by the appeal to the a priori perfectum (Bibikhin) or the time of memory (Ricoeur). Then it is explained how the phenomenon of the colouredness of the historical time is rooted in some fundamental mood: for Bibikhin it is joy and indignation, while for Ricoeur — anxiety and hope. The proposed analysis of the concepts of pora (in Russian), kairos, patina of time, new Renaissance, colour of time (Bibikhin) and intrigue, historical mood, historical anxiety, truth}, hope (Ricoeur) leads to the question that the fundamental philosophical task — as long as philosophy is associated with the striving for the truth — is to understand the historical time of the present.

Artificial Intelligence on Future Aspects

As Artificial Intelligence(AI) is emerging in this century,it can be seen as it is going to take most of the humans’ tasks soon.Artificial Intelligence is widely used in all the fields whether it is medical field,research field,automatic vehicle system,Business models of market,weather forecasting and much more.If the future prospects of AI to be highlighted, then the main focus are on how AI will impact on lifestyle of people and how will our society and industries going to change.In this research paper,the AI growth and its applications will be highlighted in three phases.In the first phase the past events of AI and its growth is discussed,the second phase covers the present event and applications of AI and in the last phase,the future(after 10 years) aspects and its applications will be highlighted.As the world is growing in the fast pace and the information technology field is shaping every context of market and research.

Graded Visual Consciousness During the Attentional Blink

One of the ongoing debates about visual consciousness is whether it can be considered as an all-or-none or a graded phenomenon. This may depend on the experimental paradigm and the task used to investigate this question. The present event-related potential study (N = 32) focuses on the attentional blink paradigm for which so far only little and mixed evidence is available. Detection of T2 face targets during the attentional blink was assessed via an objective accuracy measure (reporting the faces’ gender), subjective visibility on a perceptual awareness scale (PAS) as well as event-related potentials time-locked to T2 onset (components P1, N1, N2, and P3). The behavioral results indicate a graded rather than an all-or-none pattern of visual awareness. Corresponding graded differences in the N1, N2, and P3 components were observed for the comparison of visibility levels. These findings suggest that conscious perception during the attentional blink can occur in a graded fashion.

The neural and cognitive time course of intention reasoning: Electrophysiological evidence from ERPs

Intention is a typical mental state in the theory of mind. However, to date, there have been theoretical debates on the conceptual structure of intention. The neural and cognitive time course of intention reasoning remains unclear. The present event-related potential (ERP) study had two purposes: first, to investigate the neural correlates of intention reasoning based on a differentiated conceptual structure distinguishing desire and intention; second, to investigate the neural basis of intention reasoning for different agents. Thus, we compared the neural activity elicited by intention reasoning for self and for others when the intention matched or mismatched the desire of the agent. The results revealed that three ERP components distinguished among different types of intention reasoning. A negative-going ERP deflection with right frontal distribution between 400 and 500 ms might reflect the cognitive conflict involved in intention reasoning, a right frontal late positive component might be associated with the categorisation of agents, and a centro-parietal late slow wave might indicate the conceptual mental operations associated with decoupling mechanisms in intention processing. These findings implied the neural and cognitive time course of intention reasoning and provided neural evidence for the differentiated conception of intention.

Processing pronominal pointing signs in German Sign Language: Neurophysiological evidence for the first mention effect

While the first mention bias has been well investigated in spoken languages, little is known about the presence of a similar bias in sign languages. In sign languages, pronominal pointing signs are directed towards referential locations in the ipsilateral and contralateral area of the signing space usually associated with referents in previous contexts. The present event-related potential study investigates the presence of a first mention effect during pronoun resolution in German Sign Language. We present participants with sentence sets containing two referents in the first sentence and a pronominal sign at the beginning of the second sentence directed to the ipsilateral or contralateral area of the signing space. Results show an N400 component for contralateral compared to ipsilateral pronominal signs suggesting increased processing costs associated with the second referent assigned to the contralateral area. Thus, the current study provides evidence for a first mention effect highlighting its modality independent nature.

Neural dynamics of monetary and social reward processing in social anhedonia

Being characterized by reduced pleasure from social interaction, social anhedonia constitutes a transdiagnostic marker for various psychiatric disorders. However, the neural portrait of social anhedonia remains elusive because of heterogeneities of reward type and reward dynamics in previous studies. The present event-related potential study investigated neural dynamics in response to monetary and social rewards in social anhedonia. Event-related potential responses were examined when a high social anhedonia (HSA, N = 23) group and a low social anhedonia (LSA, N = 26) group were anticipating and consuming social and monetary rewards. LSA but not HSA participants showed an increased stimulus-preceding negativity (anticipatory phase) and and increased reward positivity (consummatory phase) for monetary as compared with social rewards. This group difference could spring from an increased relevance of social rewards or a general decline in affective responding due to a potential association between social anhedonia and depression. Our findings provide preliminary evidence for neural aberrations of the reward system in social anhedonia, which is contingent upon reward type and reward dynamics.