Cognitive Neuroscience

This chapter aims to present mental representations by seven audiovisual specialists on Sirena, the antagonist of a noir fictional story in a multilinear interactive short film script. To this end, a reception study was created with in-depth interviews with specialists after reading the script to discuss its several aspects. This approach is of qualitative character. The study was conducted between June and October 2015 in São Paulo, Brazil. It is possible to perceive that participants have interpreted the character differently in spite of its consistent build. We could verify that the mental representation of the antagonist was aided by the world-view and experience of each interviewed specialist, which has led to unique readings of the character.

- Le principe de criticalité auto-organisée des réseaux neuronaux, de Bak, permet d'expliquer le fonctionnment de la prise de décision juridique sous la forme de la jurisprudence. (Revisé le 150712, pour tenir compte de la confirmation de Bak par Shew et al.)
- Bak's principle of self-organized criticality of brain networks is a valid explanation for the functioning of legal decision-making as case-law. (Revised 150712, to account for confirmation of Bak by Shew et al.)

There has been general consensus that initial word learning during early infancy is a slow and time-consuming process that requires very frequent exposure, whereas later in development, infants are able to quickly learn a novel word for a novel meaning. From the perspective of memory maturation, this shift in behavioral development might represent a shift from slow procedural to fast declarative memory formation. Alternatively, it might be caused by the maturation of specific brain structures within the declarative memory system that may support lexical mapping from the very first. Here, we used the neurophysiological method of ERPs to watch the brain activity of 6-month-old infants, when repeatedly presented with object–word pairs in a cross-modal learning paradigm. We report first evidence that infants as young as 6 months are able to associate objects and words after only very few exposures. A memory test 1 day later showed that infants did not fully forget this newly acquired kn...

Among all of the stimuli surrounding us, food is arguably the most rewarding for the essential role it plays in our survival. In previous visual recognition research, it has already been demonstrated that the brain not only differentiates edible stimuli from non-edible stimuli but also is endowed with the ability to detect foods' idiosyncratic properties such as energy content. Given the contribution of the cooked

In tonal music, continuous acoustic waveforms are mapped onto discrete, hierarchically arranged, internal representations of pitch. To examine the neural dynamics underlying this transformation, we presented male and female human listeners with tones embedded within a Western tonal context while recording their cortical activity using magnetoencephalography. Machine learning classifiers were then trained to decode different tones from their underlying neural activation patterns at each peristimulus time sample, providing a dynamic measure of their dissimilarity in cortex. Comparing the time-varying dissimilarity between tones with the predictions of acoustic and perceptual models, we observed a temporal evolution in the brain's representational structure. Whereas initial dissimilar-ities mirrored their fundamental-frequency separation, dissimilarities beyond 200 ms reflected the perceptual status of each tone within the tonal hierarchy of Western music. These effects occurred regardless of stimulus regularities within the context or whether listeners were engaged in a task requiring explicit pitch analysis. Lastly, patterns of cortical activity that discriminated between tones became increasingly stable in time as the information coded by those patterns transitioned from low-to-high level properties. Current results reveal the dynamics with which the complex perceptual structure of Western tonal music emerges in cortex at the timescale of an individual tone.

Para elaborarmos um working paper com uma hipótese de trabalho na área de ESTUDOS DA CONSCIÊNCIA e neurociências quântico-holográfica e IA , precisamos primeiramente estabelecer alguns parâmetros fundamentais: 1-Apreender com detalhes os dados da teoria holonômica do Pribram, e os desenvolvimentos quântico-holográficos do Schempp que foram responsáveis pelo surgimento da ressonância magnética. A partir dessas teorizações e da compreensão do modo tecnológico como os aparelhos de RM se concretizaram talvez possamos desenvolver e efetivar de modo concreto (instantiation) uma nova maneira de se criar a IA, com base nos conceitos de dendrons e psychons de Sir John Eccles que são os elementos fundamentais da funcionalidade do modelo das redes neurais quantum-holográficas. Este conceito depende da matemática do Fourier e do Gabor criador da holografia nos anos 40 que desenvolveu um quantum de informação – o logon, hoje mais conhecido como wavelet-comprimindo as ondas sinusoidais o máximo possível sem que se perdesse a inteligibilidade, de modo a poder transmitir mensagens comprimidas através do Cabo Transatlântico. Usou a mesma matemática que o Heisenberg (Teoria da Matriz-S) usou no desenvolvimento da mecânica quântica, donde ter denominado sua função de quantum de informação.

Humans have a special ability to recognize human faces that transcends and is separate from the usual discrimination abilities of the visual system. Schizophrenia patients are known to have an impaired ability to recognize facial affect, a deficit that may stem from a more profound problem of face identification and perception. The special skill of detecting human faces relies upon numerous capabilities, including gestalt perception, "filling-in", and proper gaze scanning, facilities that recent research has shown to be deficient in schizophrenia patients. We therefore hypothesized that schizophrenia patients have a deficit in their perception and structural analysis of human faces that will manifest in their difficulty in detecting faces hidden within neutral pictures. We tested the ability of 35 schizophrenia patients and 32 healthy controls at detecting hidden human faces and animals or animal faces hidden within eight pictures. Overall, the patients recognized fewer items compared to controls, however, it was specifically the human faces in which this difference was significant, suggesting that schizophrenic patients have a specific deficit in their human face recognition system.

Qualia are defined as subjective or private feelings associated with sensory and other experiences. This article argues that private feelings might be expressed by or in a personal brain and discusses possible neurobiological implications. Four issues are considered: 1) Functional dualism implies that mental functions are realized as emergent properties of the brain. In practice, functional dualism is compatible with both substance dualism and pan-psychism. 2) The (adult) human brain is the product of biological and environmental processes, including cultural infl uences, and is individually unique. Part of the cerebral neuronal processing is molded by individual memories and previous experiences. 3) Biological processes underlying the realization of qualia, including neural activities, escape conscious control. The temporal expression of qualia is in part consciously channeled by, for instance, actual situations and cultural habits. 4) Neuroscientifi c explanations refer to general principles of nature, rather than to individual phenomena. Hence, future neurobiological approaches might aim to identify which neuronal processes are involved in qualia and how. It seems illusory to explain each quale.

This paper introduces a new model of artificial cognitive architecture for intelligent systems, the Neuromodulating Cognitive Architecture (NEUCOGAR). The model is biomimetically inspired and adapts the neuromodulators role of human brains into computational environments. This way we aim at achieving more efficient Artificial Intelligence solutions based on the biological inspiration of the deep functioning of human brain, which is highly emotional. The analysis of new data obtained from neurology, psychology philosophy and anthropology allows us to generate a mapping of monoamine neuromodulators and to apply it to computational system parameters. Artificial cognitive systems can then better perform complex tasks (regarding information selection and discrimination, attention, innovation, creativity,…) as well as engaging in affordable emotional relationships with human users.

The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of multidisciplinary pulmonary rehabilitation program on cognitive function in COPD patients, adjusting for potential confounders (gender, age, tobacco consumption, and educational level). In this prospective study, 34 COPD patients were submitted to neuropsychological testing before and after a 3-month pulmonary rehabilitation program. A control group with 18 healthy subjects of similar age, sex, and educational status was used to compare the cognitive function of COPD patients and healthy subjects at baseline. The association between the rehabilitation and change on th scores of cognitive variables, adjusted for each covariate, was estimated by means of linear random-intercept regression models. At baseline, the COPD patients had worse cognitive function with regard to verbal learning, memory, subjective organization, and verbal processing in comparison to the healthy volunteers. The improvement in cognitive performance by the COPD patients was evidenced even after adjusting for the sociodemographic factors that could potentially interfere on cognitive function. Male gender and age less than 65 years old were associated to higher scores in verbal learning and memory at baseline and after the rehabilitation program. The clinical approach to COPD-induced cognitive dysfunction should include participation in pulmonary rehabilitation programs. There were gender- and age-related differences in cognitive scores that persisted after rehabilitation.

Previous research has demonstrated age-related decline in spatial navigation skills. However, spatial navigation is a complex ability that requires the integration of many component processes that may show differential susceptibility to aging. In particular, successful navigation depends on the accurate computation of distance and direction from self-generated movements through the environment, known as path integration. In the present study, we utilized virtual environments (VE) to investigate age-related differences in participants’ ability to determine linear distances, angular rotations, and angular displacement exclusively from visual input. Results indicated that for shorter lengths, distances can be gauged from visual input alone with relative equivalence between older and younger participants. As distances increased, however, older individuals were less accurate. There were no age differences in estimating angular rotations. Requiring simultaneous integration of distance and rotation (in a triangle completion homing task) resulted in robust age-differences independent of the absolute amount of displacement. For older adults, accuracy in the triangle completion task was highly related to their rotation accuracy while returning to the point of origin, and less so to their distance accuracy. This study demonstrated age-related deficits in the ability to perform visual return-to-origin tasks and suggests one way in which elderly navigation performance may be compromised.

"On the difference between significant and non-significant effects. Note: link to R and Excel resources for comparing correlations: http://seriousstats.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/comparing-correlations/"

Abstract: Cannabis is a federally controlled substance, it’s very familiar to many but its neurobiological substrates are not well-characterized. In the brain, most areas prevalently having cannabinoid receptors have been associated with behavioral control and cognitive effects due to cannabinoids. Study over the last several decades suggested cannabinoids (CBs) exert copious oftentimes opposite effects on countless neuronal receptors and processes. In fact, owing to this plethora of effects, it’s still cryptic how CBs trigger neuronal circuits. Cannabis use has been revealed to cause cognitive deficits from basic motor coordination to more complex executive functions, for example, the aptitude to plan, organize, make choices, solve glitches, remember, and control emotions as well as behavior. Numerous factors like age of onset and duration of cannabis use regulate the severity of the difficulties. People with the cannabis-linked deficiency in executive functions have been found to ...

Individuals may differ systematically in their applied decision strategies, which has critical implications for decision neuroscience but is yet scarcely studied. Our study's main focus was therefore to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying compensatory versus noncompensatory strategies in risky choice. Here, we compared people using a compensatory expected value maximization with people using a simplified noncompensatory loss-minimizing choice strategy. To this end, we used a two-choice paradigm including a set of "simple" items (e.g., simple condition), in which one option was superior on all attributes, and a set of "conflict" items, in which one option was superior on one attribute but inferior on other attributes. A binomial mixture analysis of the decisions elicited by these items differentiated between decision-makers using either a compensatory or a noncompensatory strategy. Behavioral differences were particularly pronounced in the conflict co...

Abstract 1. A satisfactory explanation of nightmares remains elusive. Theorists since Freud have speculated on mechanisms that produce nightmares, but no single, widely accepted explanation has emerged (see Nielsen & Levin, 2007b; Levin & Nielsen, 2007). This continuing uncertainty stems, in part, from the fact that nightmares, like dreams more generally, are expressions of human emotional memory--which itself is a complex and intransigent phenomenon. The inner workings of emotional memory have yet to be ...

A critical review of Wittgenstein's 'On Certainty' which he wrote in 1950-51 and was first published in 1969. Most of the review is spent presenting a modern framework for philosophy (the descriptive psychology of higher order thought) and positioning the work of Wittgenstein and John Searle in this framework and relative to the work of others. It is suggested that this book can be regarded as the foundation stone of psychology and philosophy as it was the first to describe the two systems of thought and shows how our unshakable grasp of the world derives from our innate axiomatic System 1, and how this interacts with System 2. It was a revolution in epistemology since it showed that our actions rest not on judgements but on innate undoubtable axioms leading directly to action. I situate the work of Wittgenstein and Searle in the framework of the two systems of thought prominent in thinking and decision research, employing a new table of intentionality and new dual syste...

Recent years have seen huge advancements in the methods available and used in neuroscience employing EEG or MEG. However, the standard approach is to average a large number of trials for experimentally defined conditions in order to reduce intertrial-variability, i.e. treating it as a source of "noise". Yet it is now more and more accepted that trial-to-trial fluctuations bear functional significance, reflecting fluctuations of "brain states" that predispose perception and action. Such effects are often revealed in a pre-stimulus period, when comparing response variability to an invariant stimulus. However such offline analyses are disadvantageous as they are correlational by drawing conclusions in a posthoc-manner and stimulus presentation is random with respect to the feature of interest. A more direct test is to trigger stimulus presentation when the relevant feature is present. The current paper introduces ConSole (CONstance System for OnLine Eeg), a software...

Comúnmente se asume que la descreencia en Dios es el resultado, inequívoco y exclusivo, del análisis lógico-racional, en contraposición a la creencia en Dios, que se asume como asociada a las emociones, el aprendizaje, la imitación sociocultural, y la intuición. Como muchas asunciones inmediatas, que no han sido contrastadas científicamente, esto es un error. En este artículo se exponen recientes investigaciones sobre la composición cognitiva de la descreencia en Dios, que convergen en mostrar que (de manera muy similar a la creencia en Dios), la irreligiosidad, el agnosticismo, y el ateísmo, también dependen de la imitación sociocultural y las emociones, que éstas pueden ser más relevantes que la iluminación lógico-racional, y que, incluso, la propia creencia en Dios y el pensamiento mágico, pueden esconderse inconscientemente en una persona que verbalmente se autodeclara atea.

Objectives: The incidence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in menopausal women is one of the main health care concerns. MetS clusters are related to an imbalance in pro-and anti-inflammatory adipokines such as secreted frizzledÀrelated protein 5 (SFRP5) and wingless-type mammary tumor virus integration site family, member 5A (WNT5A). WNT5A induces an inflammatory state to induce insulin resistance and further patho-logic consequences. Recent strategies to prevent progression of MetS to diabetes have focused on conservative treatments such as exercise and herbal medicine. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanistic effects of cotreatment with cinnamon extract and 12-wk high-intensity endurance training on MetS components considering the non-canonical WNT5A signaling. Method: Thirty-two female ovariectomized Wistar rats were divided into the following four groups (n = 8/ group): exercise (Ova+Exe), cinnamon extract (Ova+Cin), exercise with cinnamon extract (Ova+Exe+Cin) and saline (Ova+Sal). One group of rats undergoing surgery without removal of the ovaries was considered as a sham. After 3 mo of experimental intervention, waist circumference, serum concentrations of glucose, insulin , lipid profile, tumor necrosis factor-a, WNT5A, and SFRP5 were measured. Results: Data showed a significant reduction in serum glucose, low-density lipoprotein, homeostasis model assessment estimate of insulin resistance, and tumor necrosis factor-a, but an increase in SFRP5 level in Ova +Exe, Ova+Cin and Ova +Exe+Cin groups compared with Ova+Sal group (P < 0.05). Serum WNT5A significantly was reduced only in Ova+Exe+Cin group (P = 0.02). Conclusion: The present study indicated that high-endurance training combined with aqueous cinnamon extract supplementation for 12 wk more efficiently alleviated insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunctions via reduction in noncanonical WNT signaling in ovariectomized rats.

Optimal control models of biological movements introduce external task factors to specify the pace of movements. Here, we present the dual to the principle of optimality based on a conserved quantity, called “drive”, that represents the influence of internal motivation level on movement pace. Optimal control and drive conservation provide equivalent descriptions for the regularities observed within individual movements. For regularities across movements, drive conservation predicts a previously unidentified scaling law between the overall size and speed of various self-paced hand movements in the absence of any external tasks, which we confirmed with psychophysical experiments. Drive can be interpreted as a high-level control variable that sets the overall pace of movements and may be represented in the brain as the tonic levels of neuromodulators that control the level of internal motivation, thus providing insights into how internal states affect biological motor control.

Il testo si interroga sulla nozione e sullo statuto del discorso letterario soprattutto in relazione alle nuove scritture che emergono sulla Rete. Più in generale il saggetto propone una visione allargata del campo letterario fino al punto di suggerire che si pratica più letteratura di quando si pratichi la non letteratura.

Recent studies have shown that (1) the global precedence effects in processing the hierarchically organized stimulus can be attenuated by eliminating the low spatial frequencies contained in the stimulus and (2) the human magnocellular pathway is responsible for processing low spatial frequencies and the pathway can be attenuated by imposing a red background on the stimulus. In the present study, a reaction-time experiment was conducted to examine the effect of background color of the stimulus to the processing of the hierarchically organized stimulus. The result showed that although the control condition (a green background) produced a prototypical asymmetric global interference, a red background that was equiluminant to the green background produced a symmetrical interference. It was concluded that the human magnocellular pathway is at least partially responsible in producing the global precedence effects.