Cognitive Science Research Research Articles

Natural morphological computation as foundation of learning to learn in humans, other living organisms, and intelligent machines

The emerging contemporary natural philosophy provides a common ground for the integrative view of the natural, the artificial, and the human-social knowledge and practices. Learning process is central for acquiring, maintaining, and managing knowledge, both theoretical and practical. This paper explores the relationships between the present advances in understanding of learning in the sciences of the artificial (deep learning, robotics), natural sciences (neuroscience, cognitive science, biology), and philosophy (philosophy of computing, philosophy of mind, natural philosophy). The question is, what at this stage of the development the inspiration from nature, specifically its computational models such as info-computation through morphological computing, can contribute to machine learning and artificial intelligence, and how much on the other hand models and experiments in machine learning and robotics can motivate, justify, and inform research in computational cognitive science, neurosciences, and computing nature. We propose that one contribution can be understanding of the mechanisms of ‘learning to learn’, as a step towards deep learning with symbolic layer of computation/information processing in a framework linking connectionism with symbolism. As all natural systems possessing intelligence are cognitive systems, we describe the evolutionary arguments for the necessity of learning to learn for a system to reach humanlevel intelligence through evolution and development. The paper thus presents a contribution to the epistemology of the contemporary philosophy of nature.

거울 뉴런과 문학 2: 쿳시의 『엘리자베스 코스텔로』에 나타난 공감의 인지신경과학과 그 윤리적 함의

For all ages, sympathy has been emphasized as the source of human morality, sociality, and culture. The science of sympathy made a breakthrough when the Giacomo Rizzolatti team in Italy revealed that humans have mirror neuron system, a neural mechanism that enables us to read other people’s minds and feel sympathy. Through neuroscientific research on “mirror neuron,” which is a neural basis of sympathy, and cognitive scientific research that explains the work of the mind as “embodied” cognition, this paper aims to examine the principles of sympathy and its ethical implications in J. M. Coetzee’s Elizabeth Costello (2003). Costello, the main character in this work, suggests “sympathetic imagination” as the source of our ethical behavior and asserts that there are no limits to it. However, the fact that (the silenced or animal) others do not have (human) languages symbolizes in itself an absolute limit to sympathetic imagination. This limitation suggests the limitation in rational reasoning. It reflects a cognitive neuroscientific perspective: Human beings’ autonomous ability of reasoning, which western classical philosophy emphasized as an element that distinguishes humans from animals, has, in fact, developed as a form of animalistic reason based on physical ability-in other words, the reason is something generated and refined through sensory and motor systems of the human brain and body. In this work, Costello can only sympathize with the pains of others through “embodied” language and “embodied” experience. In short, Elizabeth Costello proved the possibility and usefulness of cognitive neuroscience in literary interpretation by manifesting the leap of sympathetic imagination through an unconscious pathway called mirror neuron and its ethical potential.

How and Why We Should Argue with Angry Uncle: A Defense of Fact Dumping and Consistency Checking

ABSTRACT How should we talk to Angry Uncle, or attempt to persuade any very ignorant audience? This paper discusses several strategies, including fact dumping, consistency checking, pandering, and just being friendly. It defends the continued value of fact dumping and consistency checking despite skeptical doubts rooted in recent cognitive science literature about their strategic efficacy. Pandering and friendliness often fail to confront our audience with epistemic resistance and so face serious limitations as means of responding to ignorance. Any reasonable view of how to talk to Angry Uncles must also consider how to meet relevant moral standards, such as showing respect for ourselves, our audience, and important social causes. Without some fact dumping and consistency checking, pandering and friendliness often fail to meet these standards. All in all, the various modes work best together, and it would be a mistake to conclude from unfavorable cognitive science research that we should avoid fact dumping and consistency checking in Angry Uncle exchanges.

Tormented by sinful thoughts in seventeenth-century England

ABSTRACT In seventeenth-century England, many religiously devout people believed they had an obligation to immediately stifle any sinful thought that entered their minds. As some prominent clerics during the time period recognised, however, the effort to subdue unwelcome thoughts often can increase the thoughts. Indeed, recent cognitive science research bears out the counterintuitive phenomenon that trying to suppress an undesired thought can boomerang. With this in mind, just how effective was the endeavour in seventeenth-century England to purify thoughts? The paper argues that it was frequently counterproductive. The paper also explores a disagreement among mental health professionals, historians, and literary scholars regarding how to interpret the numerous seventeenth-century English autobiographical descriptions of tormenting, uncontrollable sinful thoughts. For instance, were the ungovernable blasphemous thoughts that Pilgrim's Progress author John Bunyan (1628-1688) recounted experiencing the product of a bodily illness equivalent to obsessive-compulsive disorder? The question presents methodological challenges.

COGNITIVE RISKS

ABSTRACT Decision science have begun to enter the lexicon of risk professionals as the concepts from Prospect Theory become popular in media outlets who increasingly warn about the risk of human biases. Decision-making under uncertainty, popularized by Dan Kahneman, Amos Tversky, Paul Slovic, Herbert Simon and other economists, is more than an examination of human biases. Prospect Theory is a reexamination of the theory of choice and the causes of violations of utility theory that has blossomed into a broad and diverse body of research in behavioral and cognitive science. This paper is an outline for a proposed draft of a cognitive risk framework that will be developed to incorporate behavioral and cognitive science into an enterprise risk framework for cybersecurity and enterprise risk governance. Herbert Simon coined the term “Bounded Rationality” in his seminal book of the same name. “Broadly stated, the task is to replace the global rationality of economic man with the kind of rational behavior that is compatible with the access to information and the computational capacities that are actually possessed by organisms, including man, in the kinds of environments in which such organisms exist” (Simon 1955a: 99). Before the development of modern of PCs and even more powerful machine learning algorithms, Simon foresaw the opportunity at the intersection of human decision-making and technology. Since Simon, other economists and researchers have broaden insights from a multidisciplinary offering of academic studies into applied behavioral science. Notwithstanding these advances, only a few scientists have developed decision science solutions at scale at the enterprise level. Machine learning and other forms of artificial intelligence will require new rules of engagement and governance controls to ensure that bias and ethical use standards have been put in place. Data, the newest commodity in all digital strategies, must be better organized and structured in organizations to allow for efficacious information workflows needed to power organizations to higher performance. And lastly, the role of humans working with and alongside machines as decision-support tools are in the early stage of deployment. The research for the book, Cognitive Risks, will examine the last frontier in risk management – the role of human actors in a business environment that is transitioning to digital products and services. A new level of awareness is needed in a digital environment that differs from the physical world. We know this because of the advent of misinformation that now permeates the Internet. Nation states and Dark Web criminals have weaponized trust in the Internet through misinformation campaigns in social media sites by using behavioral science, or more specifically, cognitive hacks to change our behavior when surfing the web. These attacks are low cost and very effective because most observers are not aware of cognitive risks. There are many variations of “cognitive hacks” and “cognitive risks” which will be explained in detail in the book. Dimitry Kiselev, director general of Russia’s state-controlled Rossiyua Segodnya media conglomerate, “Objectivity is a myth which is proposed and imposed on us.” Today, thanks to the Internet and social media, the manipulation of our perception of the world is taking place on previously unimaginable scales of time, space and intentionality. Cognitive hacks and cognitive risks are part of a new lexicon of risks we must learn. Cognitive risks are commonly referred to as heuristic behavior. Heuristics is any approach to problem solving or self-discovery that employs a practical method that is not guaranteed to be optimal, perfect, or rational, but is nevertheless sufficient for reaching an immediate, short-term goal or approximation. Where finding an optimal solution is impossible or impractical, heuristic methods can be used to speed up the process of finding a satisfactory solution. Heuristics can be mental shortcuts that ease the cognitive load of making a decision. Large swaths of the economy have already misjudged the potential, and the threats, of digital transformation. The questions explored in this paper and the subsequent book, Cognitive Risks, that will follow is why? Why do some leaders see opportunity when others only see problems? Why has the retail industry been blindsided by firms like Amazon, Google, Apple, and so many others? The research for the book will also include an exhaustive review of how applied behavioral science can be used to enhance organizational performance, risk management and cybersecurity in all organizations. Few, if any studies to date, have combined a multidisciplinary approach to enterprise risk management and organizational performance. This will be the first study that builds on a 2020 study of advancements in enterprise risk and board governance to provide a comprehensive analysis of methods and processes to apply behavioral science to address a range of risks facing organizations as they transition to a digital economy.

Precedent phenomena of the contemporary russian and spanish mass media as cognitive structures of a linguistic identity

The present study is important since precedent phenomena, transmitting both traditional and newly created cultural values, are more widely represented in the mass media language. The paper suggests a cognitive approach aimed at identifying the role of knowledge (linguistic, non-linguistic, individual) in forming the precedent unit meaning, being the primary object of research in cognitive science. Examples of universal precedent names (Napoleon, Cinderella, Don Quixote, Adam) suggest that they store culturally valued (thematized) and implicit knowledge shared by communicants. Studying the binary structures (designator/designatum) of a concept defines the development dynamics of the precedent name’s meaning, relevant changes in structure of the core components of meaning, desemantization of the precedent name. Different Russian and Spanish interpretations show that prevailing content varies, and the language meaning of an invariant of universal precedent names reflects not the reality as such but the cognitive structures of a linguistic identity of a particular society.

Reduction of electromagnetic interferences in measurements of fast-changing air velocity fluctuations by means of hot-wire anemometer

Air flow velocity measurements are the key issues in examining the condition and progress of mine ventilation process. In addition to standard measurements carried out in the stock exploitation process, it is necessary to conduct cognitive scientific research in this area. One of the important issues here is the measurement of fast-changing fluctuations of air velocity, enabling the knowledge of the spectral structure of the tested flow. Hot-wire anemometers are used for such measurements both in laboratories and in industrial conditions. A frequent metrological problem is the presence in the measuring area of a high level electromagnetic interference (EMI) from electrical networks and devices. Due to the metrological properties of hot-wire anemometers, such as high gain and wide frequency bandwidth, measuring signal in the presence of electromagnetic interferences may be subject to strong disturbances. Therefore, it is necessary to develop methods for reducing or eliminating these disturbances. The article presents such a new method based on the use of an additional induction loop in the anemometric sensor for compensation or reduction of interferences.

‘To have been always what I am – and so changed from what I was’: Beckett's Female Subject Formation and the Problem of Becoming

The call for a new notion of personhood that goes beyond one's cognitive functions and a new account of human agency has gained interest with the impact of contemporary research in cognitive science over the last few decades. This paper aims to show that examining Beckett's female subject formation allows us to map out not only our changed perception of self, but also the changing patterns of reception of his works over time in relation to the issue of female agency. While Beckett's male subjects in his early novels are often preoccupied with their own journey to find a solipsistic world in their quest for their authentic self, his drama concerns his characters’ affective experience, namely how they live to go on. This paper, thus, will show that what Beckett perceives as gender difference plays a crucial role in his portrayal of personhood that is closely interconnected with other people and external artefacts, as well as his theatricality as a mode of perception that brackets moments of action and our affective experience of time.

Stochastic modeling of Lévy-like human eye movements.

The standard model of visual search dynamics is Brownian motion. However, recent research in cognitive science reveals that standard diffusion processes seem not to be the appropriate models of human looking behavior. In particular, experimental results confirm that the superdiffusive Lévy-type dynamics appears in this context. In this paper, we analyze the diffusive properties of human eye movement in a language comprehension task. We propose a model that is a combination of a Markov chain with a finite number of states and a Lévy walk. Our model fits well the experimental data and allows one to investigate the properties of the visual search dynamics using numerical simulations.

Enacting the aesthetic: A model for raw cognitive dynamics

One challenge faced by aesthetics is the development of an account able to trace out the continuities and discontinuities between general experience and aesthetic experiences. Regarding this issue, in this paper, I present an enactive model of some raw cognitive dynamics that might drive the progressive emergence of aesthetic experiences from the stream of general experience. The framework is based on specific aspects of John Dewey’s pragmatist philosophy and embodied aesthetic theories, while also taking into account research in ecological psychology, cognitive sciences, and dynamic systems theory. The model focuses on dynamically relevant nodes at the pre-reflective and the reflective side of experience that would work as nested rhythmic constraints at different cognitive timescales with the potential to shunt experiences toward the aesthetic in everyday situations. My proposal constitutes a way to explore aesthetic experiences from an enactive perspective that regards them as transformative events in which cognitive processes entrain and are entrained by changes taking place in the environment, the brain, and the body.

Mitochondrial Functioning and the Relations among Health, Cognition, and Aging: Where Cell Biology Meets Cognitive Science.

Cognitive scientists have determined that there is a set of mechanisms common to all sensory, perceptual, and cognitive abilities and correlated with age- and disease-related declines in cognition. These mechanisms also contribute to the development and functional coherence of the large-scale brain networks that support complex forms of cognition. At the same time, these brain and cognitive patterns are correlated with myriad health outcomes, indicating that at least some of the underlying mechanisms are common to all biological systems. Mitochondrial functions, including cellular energy production and control of oxidative stress, among others, are well situated to explain the relations among the brain, cognition, and health. Here, I provide an overview of the relations among cognitive abilities, associated brain networks, and the importance of mitochondrial energy production for their functioning. These are then linked to the relations between cognition, health, and aging. The discussion closes with implications for better integrating research in cognitive science and cell biology in the context of developing more sensitive measures of age- and disease-related declines in cognition.

Naturalizing Critical Thinking: Consequences for Education, Blueprint for Future Research in Cognitive Science

While very popular in public discourse about education, critical thinking education is still a work in progress. Two key conditions for successfully addressing critical thinking education are lacking: (a) the availability of a clear, specific, and operational definition, and (b) a deeper understanding of the natural cognitive bases of critical thinking. We, therefore, propose a theoretical framework for critical thinking education, grounded on a cognitive approach. Starting from a restrictive characterization of critical thinking—defined as the capacity of evaluating the epistemic quality of information, and of calibrating one's confidence in relationship to it—we identify specific mechanisms subserving critical thinking that are present in early human development. We refer to these mechanisms as the natural building blocks of critical thinking. On this naturalistic ground, effective educational strategies can be envisaged that both harness the natural building blocks of critical thinking and help overcome its shortcomings.

Conceptualizing change in organizational cognition

PurposeSecchi and Cowley (2016, 2018) propose a Radical approach to Organizational Cognition (ROC) as a way of studying cognitive processes in organizations. What distinguishes ROC from the established research on Organizational Cognition is that it remains faithful to radical, anti-representationalist principles of contemporary cognitive science. However, it is imperative for proponents of ROC to legitimize their approach by considering how it differs from the established research approach of Distributed Cognition (DCog). DCog is a potential contender to ROC in that it not only counters classical approaches to cognition but also provides valuable insights into cognition in organizational settings.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopts a conceptual/theoretical approach that expands Secchi and Cowley's introduction of ROC.FindingsThe paper shows that DCog research presupposes a task-specification requirement, which entails that cognitive tasks are well-defined. Consequently, DCog research neglects cases of organizational becoming where tasks cannot be clearly demarcated for the or are well-known to the organization. This is the case with the introduction of novel tasks or technical devices. Moreover, the paper elaborates on ROC's 3M model by linking it with insights from the literature on organizational change. Thus, it explores how organizing can be explored as an emergent phenomenon that involves micro, meso and macro domain dynamics, which are shaped by synoptic and performative changes.Originality/valueThe present paper explores new grounds for ROC by not only expanding on its core model but also showing its potential for informing organizational theory and radical cognitive science research.

Levering adult learning principles into a residency core curriculum.

Levering adult learning principles into a residency core curriculum.

Integrated Physicality and the Absence of God: Spiritual Technologies in Theological Context

AbstractWhy do some people effortlessly experience God and others do not, no matter how much they may desire to? In the Christian tradition, there are different answers to this question. Some have seen this as a result of the Fall, election, or as Sarah Coakley argues, the result of God’s ‘dark intimacy’. Could the fact that human experiences turn out to be, at least partly, within our own control help us choose among these theories of the hiddenness of God, or even pose an alternative account? Human experience and belief are embodied and as such are conditioned by intentional practices: for example, in daily prayer, liturgy, ritual, and charismatic activities. Research in cognitive science of religion and neurobiology suggests that the brain is essentially malleable, constantly changing in response to lived experience. This article argues for the possibility of using scientifically‐informed tools to work with psychological and neurobiological realities to provide a deeper understanding of the cooperative, participatory nature of our embodied human engagement with Divine presence and absence.

Beyond Words/Signs: DHH Learners' Spatial Reasoning in Mathematics as Embodied Cognition.

Spatial reasoning is critical across the STEM disciplines. Examining deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children's spatial reasoning in mathematics, particularly geometry, as an embodied phenomenon opens new possibilities for deaf education. The authors inquire into the embodied processes and forms of DHH learners' spatial reasoning, considering how such knowledge can expand access and conceptual opportunities for both DHH and hearing learners. The article focuses on the spatial reasoning of two grade 1 hard of hearing children as they complete a geometric task with a hearing peer in a mainstream classroom. Informed by research in cognitive science, mathematics, and the fields of deaf and general education, the authors explicate key spatial subcomponent processes of deconstructing and constructing as the children produce 2D and 3D figures. The findings of this qualitative study provide considerations for future research and pedagogy in both deaf and general education.

Liberté et Cognition. Une autre voie est possible. Introduction

Freedom & Cognition. Another Way is Possible. The question of the relationship between freedom and determinism has been one of the most debated topics in philosophy since antiquity. In recent decades, investigations in the sciences of cognition and neurosciences have greatly revived the debate on free will by studying, for example, decision-making, volition, the feeling of agency or even metacognition. These studies have generated important exchanges between philosophers and scientists and this 75th issue of Intellectica is a continuation of these exchanges. Contributions to the issue come from both philosophers and neuroscientists. They offer a wide variety of positions on freedom and responsibility, the societal issues that this generates, and give rise to a number of avenues for discussion with cognitive sciences. One of the important questions raised in this issue is whether the knowledge brought to us today by cognitive science research can help us increase our freedom. This issue is also an opportunity to take stock of the current state of philosophical debates on free will. Finally, this issue is also an opportunity to shed light on the Spinozist notion of free necessity, and to compare it in more detail with the literature on free will and with knowledge resulting from work in the field of cognitive sciences.

STEM education: A tale of two paradigms

AbstractHigher education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines has been in a turbulent period for several decades. Pressures for reform include declining STEM student enrollments, high attrition rates from STEM curricula, and the rise of powerful alternative teaching strategies shown by cognitive science and educational research to promote learning and curricular retention better than traditional teaching methods do. In addition, research has shown that online and face‐to‐face courses on average produce comparable learning outcomes, and hybrid courses that combine the best features of both are more effective than either face‐to‐face or online courses by themselves.Motivated by these and other pressures, many faculty members have adopted the new teaching methods, and distance education had become widespread well before the 2020 coronavirus pandemic forced most educators at all levels to teach online. As might be expected, however, many faculty members and administrators have resisted change, arguing that the traditional approach has always worked well and needs no major revision. Before the pandemic, most STEM courses were still being taught using the traditional methods, and many course instructors are eager to return to them.These different responses to calls for education reform have led to heated debates among university instructors and administrators regarding how STEM curricula and courses should be designed, delivered, and assessed, and the role technology should play in all three functions. This essay outlines two competing paradigms on each of these issues—the traditional paradigm, which has long dominated STEM education, and the emerging paradigm, which has become increasingly common in the last 30 years but is still not predominant at most universities and colleges. The essay concludes with speculation about the eventual outcome of the competition.

How humans behave with emerging technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic?

How humans behave with emerging technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic?

EEG-based Identification of Evidence Accumulation Stages in Decision-Making.

Dating back to the 19th century, the discovery of processing stages has been of great interest to researchers in cognitive science. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the validity of a recently developed method, hidden semi-Markov model multivariate pattern analysis (HsMM-MVPA), for discovering stages directly from EEG data, in contrast to classical reaction-time-based methods. To test the validity of stages discovered with the HsMM-MVPA method, we applied it to two relatively simple tasks where the interpretation of processing stages is straightforward. In these visual discrimination EEG data experiments, perceptual processing and decision difficulty were manipulated. The HsMM-MVPA revealed that participants progressed through five cognitive processing stages while performing these tasks. The brain activation of one of those stages was dependent on perceptual processing, whereas the brain activation and the duration of two other stages were dependent on decision difficulty. In addition, evidence accumulation models (EAMs) were used to assess to what extent the results of HsMM-MVPA are comparable to standard reaction-time-based methods. Consistent with the HsMM-MVPA results, EAMs showed that nondecision time varied with perceptual difficulty and drift rate varied with decision difficulty. Moreover, nondecision and decision time of the EAMs correlated highly with the first two and last three stages of the HsMM-MVPA, respectively, indicating that the HsMM-MVPA gives a more detailed description of stages discovered with this more classical method. The results demonstrate that cognitive stages can be robustly inferred with the HsMM-MVPA.