Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “CYBERNETICS”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,639 records · Page 91Linked to original sources
PubMed2005

Computational analysis in vitro: dynamics and plasticity of a neuro-robotic system.

When the brain interacts with the environment it constantly adapts by representing the environment in a form that is called an internal model. The neurobiological basis for internal models is provided by the connectivity and the dynamical properties of neurons. Thus, the interactions between neural tissues and external devices provide a fundamental means for investigating the connectivity and dynamical properties of neural populations. We developed this idea, suggested in the 1980s by Valentino Braitenberg, for investigating and representing the dynamical behavior of neuronal populations in the brainstem of the lamprey. The brainstem was maintained in vitro and connected in a closed loop with two types of artificial device: (a) a simulated dynamical system and (b) a small mobile robot. In both cases, the device was controlled by recorded extracellular signals and its output was translated into electrical stimuli delivered to the neural system. The goal of the first study was to estimate the dynamical dimension of neural preparation in a single-input/single-output configuration. The dynamical dimension is the number of state variables that together with the applied input determine the output of a system. The results indicate that while this neural system has significant dynamical properties, its effective complexity, as established by the dynamical dimension, is rather moderate. In the second study, we considered a more specific situation, in which the same portion of the nervous system controls a robotic device in a two-input/two-output configuration. We fitted the input-output data from the neuro-robotic preparation to neural network models having different internal dynamics and we observed the generalization error of each model. Consistent with the first study, this second experiment showed that a simple recurrent dynamical model was able to capture the behavior of the hybrid system. This experimental and computational framework provides the means for investigating neural plasticity and internal representations in the context of brain-machine interfaces.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Validating biorobotic models.

Some issues in neuroscience can be addressed by building robot models of biological sensorimotor systems. What we can conclude from building models or simulations, however, is determined by a number of factors in addition to the central hypothesis we intend to test. These include the way in which the hypothesis is represented and implemented in simulation, how the simulation output is interpreted, how it is compared to the behaviour of the biological system, and the conditions under which it is tested. These issues will be illustrated by discussing a series of robot models of cricket phonotaxis behaviour.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Three-dimensional virtual environments for cybertherapy: a psychosocial approach to effective usability.

The present study is to be considered in the framework of the VEPSY UPDATED project, whose main objective is to prove the technical and clinical viability of using virtual reality therapy (VRT) in clinical psychology by means of portable and shared VR systems. This contribution illustrates the attempt to elaborate a new psychosocial model of usability evaluation analysis, allowing general definitions in the context of the project, by considering areas of VR not yet completely explored from the usability point of view. The theoretical background is based upon an ethnometodological approach, a perspective that gives evidence of how people, in specific social situations, are able to solve complex tasks producing shared meanings and achieving their goals during the interactions, in order to make their actions understandable and successful.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Cyberpsychology: a human-interaction perspective based on cognitive modeling.

This paper argues for the relevance of cognitive modeling and cognitive architectures to cyberpsychology. From a human-computer interaction point of view, cognitive modeling can have benefits both for theory and model building, and for the design and evaluation of sociotechnical systems usability. Cognitive modeling research applied to human-computer interaction has two complimentary objectives: (1) to develop theories and computational models of human interactive behavior with information and collaborative technologies, and (2) to use the computational models as building blocks for the design, implementation, and evaluation of interactive technologies. From the perspective of building theories and models, cognitive modeling offers the possibility to anchor cyberpsychology theories and models into cognitive architectures. From the perspective of the design and evaluation of socio-technical systems, cognitive models can provide the basis for simulated users, which can play an important role in usability testing. As an example of application of cognitive modeling to technology design, the paper presents a simulation of interactive behavior with five different adaptive menu algorithms: random, fixed, stacked, frequency based, and activation based. Results of the simulation indicate that fixed menu positions seem to offer the best support for classification like tasks such as filing e-mails. This research is part of the Human-Computer Interaction, and the Broadband Visual Communication research programs at the National Research Council of Canada, in collaboration with the Carleton Cognitive Modeling Lab at Carleton University.

Cognition↗
PubMed2004

Overcoming the Confucian psychological barrier in government cyberspace.

The Confucian tradition still dictates the behavior of many people in East Asian countries such as South Korea. Even in e-mail communication, people try their best to show signs of respect which is required by the Confucian tradition. This psychological barrier can be detrimental to the development of democracy as people are educated not to challenge opinions of elders or bosses. After a long military dictatorship, South Korea has emerged as a newly democratized nation where the Confucian tradition is less emphasized. However, this tradition dies hard, and citizens are still afraid of offending government officials who have the power to affect lives of citizens. In light of creating a more democratic society, the e-government project has been implemented, and one of the features of cyber-government is to give citizens a place in cyberspace to express their concerns. Even though citizens have to use their real names, it is found that those who wrote messages in the bulletin board of the city of Seoul government's web pages tend not to use terms that are often used in e-mails for the purpose of expressing respect. A survey was conducted, and results show that people were able to overcome the Confucian psychological barrier in government cyberspace. Self-efficacy is proposed to explain this phenomenon.

Communication↗
PubMed2004

Addictive consumption of avatars in cyberspace.

Avatars are a unique cyber product that hold much potential to be a market success because they provide consumers with various psychological benefits such as anonymous personalization and an artificial sense of well-being in cyberspace. However, due to the very nature of avatars, consumer psychology, and the way that they are marketed to teenage consumers, avatars may also pose considerable threat to unsuspecting teenagers through addictive consumption and associated negative social consequences causing harm to the teenagers and the general public. This study deals with Korean teenagers' addiction to avatar consumption. Korean teenagers can be very stressed due to the pressure to excel in school. Addictive avatar consumption is thought to be a behavior that might reduce stress. An empirical study was conducted to elucidate this claim. Self-control theory is suggested as an explanation for addictive consumption of avatars.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Minimalism context-aware displays.

Despite the rapid development of cyber technologies, today we still have very limited attention and communication bandwidth to process the increasing information flow. The goal of the study is to develop a context-aware filter to match the information load with particular needs and capacities. The functions include bandwidth-resolution trade-off and user context modeling. From the empirical lab studies, it is found that the resolution of images can be reduced in order of magnitude if the viewer knows that he/she is looking for particular features. The adaptive display queue is optimized with real-time operational conditions and user's inquiry history. Instead of measuring operator's behavior directly, ubiquitous computing models are developed to anticipate user's behavior from the operational environment data. A case study of the video stream monitoring for transit security is discussed in the paper. In addition, the author addresses the future direction of coherent human-machine vision systems.

Awareness↗
PubMed2006

The control system for the Honda humanoid robot.

To avoid tipping over either during walking or on standing up, humans will first push down hard on the ground with a part of the sole of the foot. Then, when the tipping force can no longer be resisted, a change in body position or an extra step (stepping out) may be required to stabilise the posture. Our biped robot's control system attempts to reproduce and execute the same postural control operations carried out by humans. In this article, we present the history of robot development at Honda, fundamental dynamics for robots and the principles of posture control.

Artificial Intelligence↗
PubMed2003

Information, knowledge and the future of machines.

This wide-ranging survey considers the future of machines in terms of information, complexity and the growth of knowledge shared amongst agents. Mechanical and human agents are compared and contrasted, and it is argued that, for the foreseeable future, their roles will be complementary. The future development of machines is examined in terms of unions of human and machine agency evolving as part of economic activity. Limits to, and threats posed by, the continuing evolution of such a society of agency are considered.

Artificial Intelligence↗
PubMed2003

Introduction. Information, knowledge and technology.

Technology is the sum of the ways in which social groups manipulate order in the world to achieve their ends. It enables our active engagement with the world. Technology is central to our present well-being and vital for our future survival. As such it needs a coherent world view, a conceptual framework which will enable the fundamental problems that it poses for society to be approached in an illuminating way. Furthermore, such an approach, while remaining convincing, must not be overwhelmed by an ever-increasing welter of specialization and diversity of application. It is the purpose of the set of papers presented here to examine some key aspects of such a conceptual framework; not in the sense of offering a fully worked out philosophy of technology--that would be a huge and complex undertaking--but rather by considering some key topics. Subsidiary aims are to survey important relevant areas, to identify key sources that can provide access points for further study, and to consider some possible future developments. Major, coherent domains of activity are characterized by a few, fundamental, extensively used and essentially unifying concepts. Technology is such a domain, and its fundamental concepts are information, knowledge and agency. The following sections give a synoptic overview of the material presented in this theme issue, and set it within a wider context.

Artificial Intelligence↗