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Recognition of multiunit neural signals.

An essential step in studying nerve cell interaction during information processing is the extracellular microelectrode recording of the electrical activity of groups of adjacent cells. The recording usually contains the superposition of the spike trains produced by a number of neurons in the vicinity of the electrode. It is therefore necessary to correctly classify the signals generated by these different neurons. This paper considers this problem, and a new classification scheme is developed, which does not require human supervision. A learning stage is first applied on the beginning portion of the recording to estimate the typical spike shapes of the different neurons. As for the classification stage, a method is developed, which specifically considers the case when spikes overlap temporally. The method minimizes the probability of error, taking into account the statistical properties of the discharges of the neurons. The method is tested on a real recording as well as on synthetic data.

Action Potentials

Combining exemplar-based category representations and connectionist learning rules.

Adaptive network and exemplar-similarity models were compared on their ability to predict category learning and transfer data. An exemplar-based network (Kruschke, 1990a, 1990b, 1992) that combines key aspects of both modeling approaches was also tested. The exemplar-based network incorporates an exemplar-based category representation in which exemplars become associated to categories through the same error-driven, interactive learning rules that are assumed in standard adaptive networks. Experiment 1, which partially replicated and extended the probabilistic classification learning paradigm of Gluck and Bower (1988a), demonstrated the importance of an error-driven learning rule. Experiment 2, which extended the classification learning paradigm of Medin and Schaffer (1978) that discriminated between exemplar and prototype models, demonstrated the importance of an exemplar-based category representation. Only the exemplar-based network accounted for all the major qualitative phenomena; it also achieved good quantitative predictions of the learning and transfer data in both experiments.

Concept Formation

Learning impairment in the radial-arm maze following prolonged cannabis treatment in rats.

Chronic oral administration of cannabis extract to rats (daily delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol dose 20 mg/kg) was examined in three experiments for its residual effect on radial-arm maze learning following a 1-month drug-free period. Learning a simple eight-arm maze was significantly impaired in rats treated for either 6 months (Experiment I) or 3 months (Experiment II) with the drug. In Experiment III, animals that received the extract for 3 months exhibited significant learning deficits on a much more difficult 12-arm radial maze. The results demonstrate that the deleterious effects of cannabis on radial-arm maze learning are probably due to a tendency toward increased vigilance and perseveration, possibly combined with an impaired utilization of spatial cues.

Animals

[Influence of the probability of the random performance of an acquired reaction on the rate of the formation of an instrumental reflex].

Instrumental reflex formation in rats takes place more rapidly at high probability of random performance of instrumental reaction to light; however, it does not depend on the frequency of correct responses positive reinforcements (from 50 to 100%). In case of low probability, the learning process sharply slows down at 50% reinforcement of correct responses in comparison with 100% one.

Animals

Learned helplessness as conditioned inattention to the target stimulus.

Learned helplessness theory explains the impaired performance that follows exposure to uncontrollable outcomes by assuming learned expectation of response-outcome independence that is transferred between tasks. Recent evidence has shown that introducing a second neutral stimulus, contingent on the offset of the uncontrollable stimulus, removes the subsequent interference. This finding has been claimed to support the view that the interference is a result of conditioned inattention rather than of the expectation of response-outcome independence. These conflicting explanations were examined in a series of four experiments that varied induction procedures (passive exposure or inescapability) and stimulus quality (aversive or nonaversive). All four experiments found the predicted interference, but only one, in which passive exposure was combined with an aversive stimulus, obtained results supporting the conditioned inattention hypothesis. We conclude that learned helplessness probably involves more than a single mechanism and that the passive exposure procedure may not be appropriate for demonstrating genuine helplessness deficits.

Adult

A unified framework for connectionist systems.

Pattern classification using connectionist (i.e., neural network) models is viewed within a statistical framework. A connectionist network's subjective beliefs about its statistical environment are derived. This belief structure is the network's "subjective" probability distribution. Stimulus classification is interpreted as computing the "most probable" response for a given stimulus with respect to the subjective probability distribution. Given the subjective probability distribution, learning algorithms can be analyzed and designed using maximum likelihood estimation techniques, and statistical tests can be developed to evaluate and compare network architectures. The framework is applicable to many connectionist networks including those of Hopfield (1982, 1984), Cohen and Grossberg (1983), Anderson et al. (1977), and Rumelhart et al. (1986b).

Animals

Deviation in cerebral excitability: possible clinical implications.

Schizophrenia, a chemical signaling disorder in the brain, is also a deteriorating neurological disorder. The deficit in cerebral excitability, and associated reduced synaptic density, imply a risk of cortical breakdown of circuitry accompanied by an insufficient fill-in mechanism, and persistent silent spots, but no total loss of function, only dysfunction. This is subjectively experienced as deficiencies of cognition, perception and sensorimotor phenomena depending upon localization and connections of the disconnected circuitry. Considering the adversity inherent in this neural network, both the fast Hebbian pre-post form of learning and the slow pre-modulatory coincidence form of learning are probably impaired. The use of Feed Back Loops which usually govern our behaviour might also be impaired. In addition, we have to consider the daily problem of insufficient drive and motivation. Manic depressive psychosis, a chemical signaling disorder in the brain, is a true functional psychosis. The raised excitatory drive and raised synaptic density imply raised risk of uncoupling of circadian rhythms via the direct glutamatergic input to the suprachiasmatic nucleus of hypothalamus (SCN). This episodic brain stem dysfunction illustrates how a deficit in inhibition renders the brain unstable. The requirements of the fast Hebbian form of learning should easily be met, and neither should the slow forms of learning present a problem in networks characterized by excessive density.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Cerebral Cortex

A movement pattern generator model using artificial neural networks.

Artificial neural networks (ANN's) allow a new approach to biological modeling. The main applications of ANN's have been geared towards the modeling of the association and learning mechanisms of the brain; only a few researchers have explored them for motor control. The fact that ANN's are based on biological systems indicates their potential application for a biological act such as locomotion. Towards this goal, we have developed a "movement pattern generator," using an ANN for generating periodic movement trajectories. This model is based on the concept of "central pattern generators." Jordan's sequential network, which is capable of learning sequences of patterns, was modified and used to generate several bipedal trajectories (or gaits), coded in task space, at different frequencies. The network model successfully learned all of the trajectories presented to it. The model has many attractive properties such as limit cycle behavior, generalization of trajectories and frequencies, phase maintenance, and fault tolerance. The movement pattern generator model is potentially applicable for improved understanding of animal locomotion and for use in legged robots and rehabilitation medicine.

Animals

Young children's understanding of random phenomena.

2 experiments on the development of the understanding of random phenomena are reported. Of interest was whether children understand the characteristic uncertainty in the physical nature of random phenomena as well as the unpredictability of outcomes. Children were asked, for both a random and a determined phenomenon, whether they knew what its next outcome would be and why. In Experiment 1, 4-, 5-, and 7-year-olds correctly differentiated their responses to the question of outcome predictability; the 2 older groups also mentioned appropriate characteristics of the random mechanism in explaining why they did not know what its outcome would be. Although 3-year-olds did not differentiate the random and determined phenomena, neither did they treat both phenomena as predictable. This latter result is inconsistent with Piaget and Inhelder's characterization of an early stage of development. Experiment 2 was designed to control for the possibility that children in Experiment 1 learned how to respond on the basis of pretest experience with the 2 different phenomena. 5- and 7-year-olds performed at a comparable level to the same-aged children in Experiment 1. Results suggest an earlier understanding of random phenomena than previously has been reported and support results in the literature indicating an early understanding of causality.

Child

[Discrete dynamic systems: the effect of perceptual structuring on composition and transfer of knowledge about operating sequences].

This paper reports two experiments in which we explored the impact of perceptual grouping of elements on the organization and use of knowledge about how to operate a device. Experiment 1 explored the effects of different perceptual display regions on the creation of chunks when sequences of inputs had to be reproduced. The effects of regions were not homogeneous, but rather their influence depended on interactions between different modalities and learning conditions. Experiment 2 investigated the influence of grouping-induced composition of knowledge elements on the transfer of sequential knowledge. Two different learning criteria were used in the acquisition phase to manipulate the degree of composition of knowledge elements. In the transfer phase, subjects could transfer (1) the whole sequence of one region, (2) two partial sequences of adjacent regions, or (3) single components. It was found that regional invariance and immediate succession of components were both important for transfer performance. These results suggests that the temporal order of regions is important for the organization and use of sequential knowledge, and not the grouping of elements by itself.

Adult

On the status of nonconscious processes in human cognition: comment on Reber.

Two issues are discussed. The first one pertains to the generality of the nonconscious learning processes and their somewhat paradoxical status in cognitive psychology. We argue that the ability of the human cognitive system to nonconsciously acquire complex knowledge structures is one of its elementary and indispensable properties. Moreover, the existence of this ability constitutes one of the necessary metatheoretical assumptions of contemporary cognitive psychology. Nevertheless, the contemporary cognitive psychology literature often implies that it is only one of many controversial and unusual phenomena. The second issue pertains to the distinction between the so-called primitive unconscious and the sophisticated unconscious as proposed by Reber (1989).

Concept Formation

Hypothalamic neuropeptides and memory.

Vasopressin and oxytocin exert pronounced effects on behavior by a direct action on the brain. A single injection of vasopressin results in a long-term inhibition of extinction of a conditioned avoidance response suggesting that vasopressin triggers a long-term effect on the maintenance of a learned response, probably by facilitation of memory processes. In addition vasopressin improves passive avoidance behavior, facilitates retention of sexually motivated T-maze choice behavior in male rats, delays extinction of an appetitive discrimination task, affects approach behavior to an imprinting stimulus in ducklings, delays the postcastration decline in copulatory behavior in male rats, prevents or reverses amnesia induced by electroconvulsive shock, CO2 inhalation, pentylenetetrazol or puromycin. The majority of these effects may be explained by stimulatory influences of vasopressin on memory processes. Generally oxytocin exerts effects which are opposite to those of vasopressin and it has been suggested that oxytocin may be an amnesic neuropeptide. Evidence has been obtained that endogenous vasopressin and oxytocin play a physiological role in brain processes related to memory. Various limbic system structures seem to act as the anatomical substrate for the behavioral effects of vasopressin and different neurotransmitter systems seem to be involved. It is postulated that in case vasopressin affects retrieval processes the site of action is located in the amygdala and the dentate gyrus of the hippocampal complex with dopamine and serotonin as the respective neurotransmitter systems involved.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals

Risk for alcoholism, antisocial behavior, and response perseveration.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the existence of an association between alcoholism and antisocial personality (ASP). The present study tested two hypotheses: First, that nonalcoholic men with a multigenerational familial history (MGH) of alcoholism would play more cards on a card task that has been shown previously to differentiate antisocial populations from normals and, second, that MGH subjects would display more evidence of ASP on two personality questionnaires: The Self-Report Psychopathy scale and the Socialization scale of the California Psychological Inventory. A total of 28 subjects (14 MGH and 14 family history negative for alcoholism [FH-]) were employed in this study. MGH subjects played significantly more cards during the card task than did FH- subjects. However, the two groups did not differ on the ASP questionnaires. The possibility that a subtle frontal-lobe deficit, rather than ASP per se, underlies the poorer performance of the MGH males is discussed.

Adult

Reasoning from memory: a lifespan inquiry into the necessity of remembering when reasoning about class inclusion.

In the current experiment, we evaluated the relationship between reasoning and remembering across the lifespan (10-, 13-, 15-, 23-, and 67-year-olds) using color and number class-inclusion tasks. Subjects made judgments when memory load or information load was either high or low. Reading latency, choice latency, and choice accuracy data were collected and analyzed using formal models that partitioned memory and reasoning as well as type of reasoning strategy. The results showed that: (1) study skills, as indexed by reading latency, were sophisticated across the lifespan; (2) the difference between color and number choice latencies increased with age; (3) reasonably consistent effects were obtained as a function of increasing memory load, with the quality of both reasoning and remembering being adversely affected; (4) different effects were obtained at each age as a function of increasing information load; and (5) the major developmental trend across the lifespan was a tradeoff between class-inclusion and subclass-subclass forms of reasoning. A number of extant theoretical approaches were discussed, none of which were able to account for variations in class-inclusion performance across the lifespan. What was clear, however, was that memory-reasoning dependencies must be incorporated into any comprehensive theory of cognitive development across the lifespan.

Adolescent

Mental representation and hypothetico-deductive reasoning: the case of the THOG problem.

This article reports three experiments that deal with the source of the difficulty of Wason's (1977) THOG problem. The solution of this problem demands both the postulation of hypotheses and a combinatorial analysis of their consequences. Experiment 1 showed that the generation of the hypotheses is not in itself sufficient to solve the problem. Experiment 2 showed that a version presenting a plausible context for separating the level of data from that of hypotheses produced a better performance than both the original abstract version and a thematic version lacking the plausible context separating the levels. Experiment 3 gave evidence that this context can produce facilitation even with the geometric material of the classic version. This experiment also showed that a pictorial presentation of data and a verbal presentation of hypotheses affect performance negatively. The results demonstrate the role of problem representation in problem solving, and, in particular, the role of homogeneity in representing data and hypotheses in hypothetico-deductive reasoning.

Adult

Children and chess expertise: the role of calibration.

Three studies of calibration are reported. Calibration refers to the accuracy with which one can predict one's own performance. In the first study child chess players, non-chess playing parents, and statistics students were asked to predict chances of winning chess games against hypothetical opponents. These subjective probabilities were compared to the actual probabilities, based on the Elo rating system. Better players' predictions were better calibrated. Confidence and ratings are negatively correlated, indicating that with lower ratings, players re overconfident. Skilled child players' predictions were better calibrated than any of the adults'. In the second study subjects were asked to estimate chances of winning in conjunctive situations, e.g., winning all the rounds in a tournament. Again, better child players were more accurate in their predictions and more accurate than adults. In the third study, child players were asked to predict their chances of winning in a non-chess domain after hearing a hypothetical win/loss history. Higher-rated players' predictions were again better calibrated, even though the domain was outside their expertise. The motivational and cognitive implications of calibration are discussed.

Achievement