Findings In Cognitive Neuroscience Research Articles

Influencia de la psicología milliana en la teoría económica: problemática asociada al caso particular del comportamiento altruista

Altruism is an universal experience and kind of behavior that has been studied by economists. However, the assump-tions frequently accepted about psychological foundations of human nature in utilitarian doctrines, as it’s the case of Economics, have caused several problems that make difficult to formulate a general theory of altruism. That is main-ly because utilitarian altruism is not really altruism. We explain the psychological theory that link James & John S. Mill utilitarian doctrines, and show how it’s principal contents, and theoretical problems dealed with altruism, appear again replicated in modern neoclassical models, as Gary S. Becker’s, that explain altruism by means of more devel-oped formal analysis. We propose the need for updating utilitarian tradition on altruism, taking into account the cur-rent findings in cognitive neuroscience. Curiously, these findings connect brain running with the theoretical assump-tions considered by Adam Smith, and the psychology of sympathy tradition.

Understanding the Neuromechanisms of Consumer Behavior in Advertising Industry

The objective is to acknowledge the relevance of the unconsciousness in the consumers’ behavior by providing a new point of view based on the innovative findings of cognitive neuroscience. This paper highlights recent studies on emotion, and memory, focusing on their implication in the advertising process. The intention of this paper is to open our eyes to new scientific findings that may well mean a new way of understanding how advertising works, giving a new value to the role of emotion and consciousness. The 21st century gives us the opportunity to look once more at the perspective of incorporating validated scientific contributions based on the new discoveries about brain functioning. This article will build bridges between these scientific results and current advertising practice in a way that allows us to introduce a new point of view which redefines the influence of emotions and its role in the processes of memory, attention, reasoning and decision-making.

Functional connectivity constrains the category-related organization of human ventral occipitotemporal cortex.

One of the most robust and oft-replicated findings in cognitive neuroscience is that several spatially distinct, functionally dissociable ventral occipitotemporal cortex (VOTC) regions respond preferentially to different categories of concrete entities. However, the determinants of this category-related organization remain to be fully determined. One recent proposal is that privileged connectivity of these VOTC regions with other regions that store and/or process category-relevant properties may be a major contributing factor. To test this hypothesis, we used a multicategory functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) localizer to individually define category-related brain regions of interest (ROIs) in a large group of subjects (n = 33). We then used these ROIs in resting-state functional connectivity MRI analyses to explore spontaneous functional connectivity among these regions. We demonstrate that during rest, distinct category-preferential VOTC regions show differentially stronger functional connectivity with other regions that have congruent category-preference, as defined by the functional localizer. Importantly, a "tool"-preferential region in the left medial fusiform gyrus showed differentially stronger functional connectivity with other left lateralized cortical regions associated with perceiving and knowing about common tools-posterior middle temporal gyrus (involved in perception of nonbiological motion), lateral parietal cortex (critical for reaching, grasping, manipulating), and ventral premotor cortex (involved in storing/executing motor programs)-relative to other category-related regions in VOTC of both the right and left hemisphere. Our findings support the claim that privileged connectivity with other cortical regions that store and/or process category-relevant properties constrains the category-related organization of VOTC.

Security implications and governance of cognitive neuroscience.

In recent years, significant efforts have been made toward elucidating the potential of the human brain. Spanning fields as disparate as psychology, biomedicine, computer science, mathematics, electrical engineering, and chemistry, research venturing into the growing domains of cognitive neuroscience and brain research has become fundamentally interdisciplinary. Among the most interesting and consequential applications to international security are the military and defense community's interests in the potential of cognitive neuroscience findings and technologies. In the United States, multiple governmental agencies are actively pursuing such endeavors, including the Department of Defense, which has invested over $3 billion in the last decade to conduct research on defense-related innovations. This study explores governance and security issues surrounding cognitive neuroscience research with regard to potential security-related applications and reports scientists' views on the role of researchers in these areas through a survey of over 200 active cognitive neuroscientists.

Morality for skeptics? Morality for Humans Ethical Understanding from the Perspective of Cognitive Science Mark Johnson University of Chicago Press, 2014. 273 pp.

Morality for skeptics? <b>Morality for Humans</b> Ethical Understanding from the Perspective of Cognitive Science <i>Mark Johnson</i> University of Chicago Press, 2014. 273 pp.

Acknowledging awareness: informing families of individual research results for patients in the vegetative state

Recent findings in cognitive neuroscience have revealed that some patients previously diagnosed as being in a vegetative state may retain some degree of covert awareness. However, it is unclear whether...

Temporal unpredictability of a stimulus sequence affects brain activation differently depending on cognitive task demands

Within cognitive neuroscience, in nearly every experimental setting, subjects are presented with stimuli that appear at either constant or variable points in time, referred to as interstimulus intervals (ISIs). These temporal patterns differ in the degree to which an exact stimulus onset may be predicted. We investigated whether this experimental feature affects brain and behavior, and whether the impact is modulated by the cognitive demands of a task. Subjects (N=26) were assessed via fMRI while solving three different tasks under either temporally predictable (constant ISI) or unpredictable (variable ISI) conditions. The tasks differed with regard to demands on working memory and response uncertainty. Compared to constant ISIs, variable (i.e., less predictable) ISIs led to a general increase in reaction time and in right amygdala activation. Depending on the cognitive demands required by the specific task, the left amygdala, the parietal cortex, the supplementary motor area, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex were engaged as well. The results indicate that the temporal structure in a stimulus sequence affects both overt and covert behaviors. Implicit temporal uncertainty increases activation in several brain regions depending on cognitive demands. Thus, an often-overlooked basic design feature, the application of constant or variable ISIs, may contribute to heterogeneity in cognitive neuroscience findings.

Not all "distractor" tags are created equal: using a search asymmetry to dissociate the inter-trial effects caused by different forms of distractors.

In a typical pop-out task, there is one target and a varying number of distractor stimuli. Now imagine a target-absent display in the context of a pop-out task: all items are identical, and it is decidedly easy to conclude that all items in the display are distractors, precisely because there is no target to select on that display. One may be tempted to say that, as far as the attention system is concerned, these two types of distractors are the same: target-present distractors and target-absent distractors. The present study proposes that this is actually not the case. Target-absent distractors can sometimes produce inter-trial effects that their close-cousins, the target-present distractors, cannot. We used a letters/numbers categorical oddball task to demonstrate this difference. The results are interpreted in the context of recent findings in cognitive neuroscience as well as cognitive modeling.

A fine-grained analysis of the effects of negative evidence with and without metalinguistic information in language development

The current study compared the effectiveness of computer-delivered task-essential practice coupled with feedback consisting of (1) negative evidence with metalinguistic information (NE+MI) or (2) negative evidence without metalinguistic information (NE–MI) in promoting absolute beginners’ ( n = 58) initial learning of aspects of Latin morphosyntax. This study measured language development on a variety of dependent measures (three comprehension-based tests and one production test), assessing both changes in accuracy and reaction time as well as examining effects on trained (old) vs. untrained (new) items. Although participants under both conditions improved in accuracy and reaction time on all measures, on immediate post-tests, participants receiving metalinguistic information outperformed those who did not. However, this advantage had largely dissipated by the time of the delayed tests. Performance on untrained items also suggests an advantage for metalinguistic feedback on system learning and on transfer of skills from comprehension-based practice to production. Furthermore, we argue, based on findings in cognitive neuroscience, that greater maintenance of gains in accuracy as well as evidence of some faster processing by participants not exposed to metalinguistic information may reflect qualitatively different learning processes at work: more explicit learning in the [NE+MI] group and more implicit learning in the [NE–MI] group (Li, 2010).

An architecture for observational learning and decision making based on internal models

We present a cognitive architecture whose main constituents are allowed to grow through a situated experience in the world. Such an architectural growth is bootstrapped from a minimal initial knowledge and the architecture itself is built around the biologically-inspired notion of internal models. The key idea, supported by findings in cognitive neuroscience, is that the same internal models used in overt goal-directed action execution can be covertly re-enacted in simulation to provide a unifying explanation to a number of apparently unrelated individual and social phenomena, such as state estimation, action and intention understanding, imitation learning and mindreading. Thus, rather than reasoning over abstract symbols, we rely on the biologically plausible processes firmly grounded in the actual sensorimotor experience of the agent. The article describes how such internal models are learned in the first place, either through individual experience or by observing and imitating other skilled agents, and how they are used in action planning and execution. Furthermore, we explain how the architecture continuously adapts its internal agency and how increasingly complex cognitive phenomena, such as continuous learning, prediction and anticipation, result from an interplay of simpler principles. We describe an early evaluation of our approach in a classical AI problem-solving domain: the Sokoban puzzle.

认知语言学心理真实性与解释自然性探源&lt;br&gt;An Exploration of the Sources of Psychological Reality and Natural Interpretation of Cognitive Linguistics

论文系统地深入探讨了认知语言学心理真实性和解释自然性的源头问题。二者实现的理论前提是认知语言学承认经验知识是人类语言知识的一部分。在此前提下，成熟深厚的认知心理学基础和认知神经科学的发现使认知语言学具有无与伦比的心理真实性，其实质就是感知运动经验在神经网络的内在化；积极吸收认知科学研究成果的体验哲学，以认知下意识为突破口，从概念、思维和真理三个层面论述了体验的核心地位。位于认知下意识的语言各个层面都是体验性的，故对于既是体验者又是使用者而言的语言解释是非常自然的，感同身受。眼体合一的生理事实和体验哲学的认知科学基础决定了心理真实性和解释自然性不可分割。The present paper explores the sources of psychological reality and natural interpretation of cognitive linguistics systematically and thoroughly. The authors think that the two merits come into being under the theoretical prerequisite that cognitive linguistics acknowledges life experiences as a part of human language knowledge. Under the precondition, the mature and profound theoretical foundations in the field of cognitive psychology and the findings of cognitive neuroscience lead to incomparable psychological reality, whose nature is the internalized sensorimotor experiences in the neuro-network of human brain. Embodied philosophy, which has extensively absorbed the achievements of cognitive science, has substantially demonstrated that embodiment plays a central role on the levels of concept, mind and truth by choosing cognitive unconscious as a primary breakthrough. Because all levels of language located in cognitive unconscious are embodied, language interpretation is as natural as the way we feel individually and practically in life, since we are both life experiencers and language users. It is concluded that psychological reality cannot be separated from natural interpretation, which is determined by the physiological fact that human eyes and brain are uniquely combined and the fact that the embodied philosophy is supported by numerous accomplishments of cognitive science studies.

A new paradigm for the learning of a second or foreign language: the neurolinguistic approach

This article considers the contribution of research in neuroscience to resolving the question of how to develop communication skills in a second language in an institutional setting. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate how the findings of cognitive neuroscience can assist educators to understand the complexity of learning and, as a result, to develop more effective instructional practices. The article begins with a brief description of the two options for the learning of French as a second language currently offered in the Canadian school system and the deficiencies inherent in these programs for a country attempting to foster English-French bilingualism in its anglophone citizens. Secondly, the paradigm underlying the core French option, based on cognitive psychology, is examined and its limitations are discussed. The remainder of the article presents the Neurolinguistic Approach (NLA) as developed by the authors, explaining its bases in cognitive neuroscience, the ensuing five major principles of the approach, with the pedagogical consequences that each one entails. Reference is then made to two classroom applications of the NLA: intensive French implemented widely in Canada and another adaptation implanted in China. After comparing the approach briefly with French immersion, limitations of the NLA are presented, and the article concludes with some directions for future research. The positive results of the practical applications of the NLA indicate the important contribution research in cognitive neuroscience can make to improving learning in a classroom situation.

The Fallacy of a “Task-Negative” Network

In a neuroimaging study of goal-directed cognition, brain activity will be significantly greater than baseline in a frontoparietal “task-positive” network (TPN). Further, a number of regions will be deactivated in the cinguloparietal “task-negative” network (TNN), or default network. Although this generic statement characterizes many findings in cognitive neuroscience, these network labels are imprecise at best, and also transmit a profound misconception about the functional role of the default network in cognition. The dichotomization of “task-positive” and “task-negative” functional networks perpetuates the notion that the default network is not engaged in active cognitive processes. On the contrary, recent studies challenge this circumscribed view, demonstrating that: (1) the TPN comprises at least two functionally and anatomically distinct networks that play very different roles in cognition; and (2) the TNN (i.e., the default network) is not “task-negative” per se, but rather, is often engaged during goal-directed cognition, depending on the nature of the task. Further, (3) recent work demonstrates that components of these networks flexibly interact with one another based on task demands. These interactions raise important questions with respect to the role of the default network in goal-directed cognition and challenge the veracity and utility of a “TPN vs. TNN” distinction.

Introduction to the Special Section on theory and data in categorization: Integrating computational, behavioral, and cognitive neuroscience approaches.

This special section brings together behavioral, computational, mathematical, and neuroimaging approaches to understand the processes underlying category learning. Over the past decade, there has been growing convergence in research on categorization, with computational-mathematical models influencing the interpretation of brain imaging and neuropsychological data, and with cognitive neuroscience findings influencing the development and refinement of models. Classic debates between single-system and multiple-memory-system theories have become more nuanced and focused. Multiple brain areas and cognitive processes contribute to categorization, but theories differ markedly in whether and when those neurocognitive components are recruited for different aspects of categorization. The articles in this special section approach this issue from several diverse angles.

Public Understanding of Cognitive Neuroscience Research Findings: Trying to Peer Beyond Enchanted Glass

This article considers the appeal of cognitive neuroscience research to the general public within the context of the deep puzzles involved in using our minds to understand how our minds work. It offers a few promising examples of findings that illuminate the ways of the mind and reveal these workings to be counter‐intuitive with our subjective experience. However, this promise is tempered by the powerful role that perception, attention, and cognition play in how we reason about evidence. It argues that the interplay between what we believe about the nature of our minds and what the findings suggest constitutes a primary challenge in encouraging public understanding of cognitive neuroscience findings.

Psychopathology, trauma and delinquency: subtypes of aggression and their relevance for understanding young offenders.

ObjectiveTo examine the implications of an ontology of aggressive behavior which divides aggression into reactive, affective, defensive, impulsive (RADI) or "emotionally hot"; and planned, instrumental, predatory (PIP) or "emotionally cold." Recent epidemiological, criminological, clinical and neuroscience studies converge to support a connection between emotional and trauma related psychopathology and disturbances in the emotions, self-regulation and aggressive behavior which has important implications for diagnosis and treatment, especially for delinquent populations.MethodSelective review of preclinical and clinical studies in normal, clinical and delinquent populations.ResultsIn delinquent populations we observe an increase in psychopathology, and especially trauma related psychopathology which impacts emotions and self-regulation in a manner that hotly emotionally charged acts of aggression become more likely. The identification of these disturbances can be supported by findings in cognitive neuroscience. These hot aggressive acts can be delineated from planned or emotionally cold aggression.ConclusionOur findings support a typology of diagnostic labels for disruptive behaviors, such as conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, as it appears that these acts of hot emotional aggression are a legitimate target for psychopharmacological and other trauma specific interventions. The identification of this subtype of disruptive behavior disorders leads to more specific clinical interventions which in turn promise to improve hitherto unimpressive treatment outcomes of delinquents and patients with disruptive behavior.

Commentary: The Need for a Deeper Exploration and Conceptual Understanding: The Critical Role of Creativity and Collaboration in Real-World Learning

In this interview, author and professor R. Keith Sawyer describes the importance of and interconnections among creativity, collaboration, and the science of learning. He explains that the older paradigm of schooling from 50 years ago where rote learning was predominant is no longer relevant in a knowledge-based society. We now have to prepare students for jobs that require adaptability, flexibility, and creativity. He endorses an approach to education that fosters a deeper conceptual understanding, especially through collaborative creativity. He maintains that true innovation usually comes from a collaboration of individuals rather than a single, brilliant insight. Finally, he comments on recent findings in cognitive neuroscience.

Perceiving pain in others: Validation of a dual processing model

Accurate perception of another person’s painful distress would appear to be accomplished through sensitivity to both automatic (unintentional, reflexive) and controlled (intentional, purposive) behavioural expression. We examined whether observers would construe diverse behavioural cues as falling within these domains, consistent with cognitive neuroscience findings describing activation of both automatic and controlled neuroregulatory processes. Using online survey methodology, 308 research participants rated behavioural cues as “goal directed vs. non–goal directed,” “conscious vs. unconscious,” “uncontrolled vs. controlled,” “fast vs. slow,” “intentional (deliberate) vs. unintentional,” “stimulus driven (obligatory) vs. self driven,” and “requiring contemplation vs. not requiring contemplation.” The behavioural cues were the 39 items provided by the PROMIS pain behaviour bank [27], constructed to be representative of the diverse possibilities for pain expression. Inter-item correlations among rating scales provided evidence of sufficient internal consistency justifying a single score on an automatic/controlled dimension (excluding the inconsistent fast vs. slow scale). An initial exploratory factor analysis on 151 participant data sets yielded factors consistent with “controlled” and “automatic” actions, as well as behaviours characterized as “ambiguous.” A confirmatory factor analysis using the remaining 151 data sets replicated EFA findings, supporting theoretical predictions that observers would distinguish immediate, reflexive, and spontaneous reactions (primarily facial expression and paralinguistic features of speech) from purposeful and controlled expression (verbal behaviour, instrumental behaviour requiring ongoing, integrated responses). There are implicit dispositions to organize cues signaling pain in others into the well-defined categories predicted by dual process theory. People reliably organize cues signaling pain in others into well-defined categories that represent a distinction between automatic and controlled pain behaviour.

Can Cognitive Neuroscience Ground a Science of Learning?

In this article, I review recent findings in cognitive neuroscience in learning, particularly in the learning of mathematics and of reading. I argue that while cognitive neuroscience is in its infancy as a field, theories of learning will need to incorporate and account for this growing body of empirical data.

How and Why Psychiatrists Should Use Imaging Methods

Abstract From the perspective of a clinical psychiatrist, the extensive research in the field of imaging methods seems to have brought virtually no relevant information to practice (except for differential diagnoses of organic mental disorders). Mental disorders have not been shown to have a correlate detectable with common methods used in other branches of clinical medicine; neither do they provide access to subjective contents, i.e., they do not allow us to “read” our patients’ thoughts or emotions, as popularized, particularly, by science fiction writers. However, imaging methods do have a significant role to play in psychiatry. Along with cognitive neuroscience findings, they allow us to understand the origin of certain psychopathological phenomena and formulate specific therapeutic approaches that can be used to influence them; together with findings from histopathology and animal studies, they allow us to assess the neuropathology of mental illnesses and assess the effectiveness of treatment modalities. imaging techniques allow us to determine which parts of the brain are connected with a particular psychopathology, which in turn allows treatment selection to be focused on the anatomical and biological targets, linked to the psychopathology, thus offering benefits to the patient. Methods are beginning to appear which, using various brain imaging and multidimensional classification techniques, allow us (with increasing sensitivity and specificity) to determine which group an assessed subject belongs. This last feature is of greatest interest in clinical practice as it may be helpful with the diagnosis (i.e., whether the image of the brain corresponds to the healthy population or the suspected disorder) or in prediction (e.g. based on response to treatment, what are the probable courses for the illness, etc.). Thus, although mental illnesses are not accompanied by specific changes in the brain perceptible to the naked eye, if we ask clinically relevant questions, imaging methods provide us with important answers. This is why psychiatrists themselves should become knowledgeable and comfortable with imaging methods.