5,605 research outputs found
Modeling Option and Strategy Choices with Connectionist Networks: Towards an Integrative Model of Automatic and Deliberate Decision Making
We claim that understanding human decisions requires that both automatic and deliberate processes be considered. First, we sketch the qualitative differences between two hypothetical processing systems, an automatic and a deliberate system. Second, we show the potential that connectionism offers for modeling processes of decision making and discuss some empirical evidence. Specifically, we posit that the integration of information and the application of a selection rule are governed by the automatic system. The deliberate system is assumed to be responsible for information search, inferences and the modification of the network that the automatic processes act on. Third, we critically evaluate the multiple-strategy approach to decision making. We introduce the basic assumption of an integrative approach stating that individuals apply an all-purpose rule for decisions but use different strategies for information search. Fourth, we develop a connectionist framework that explains the interaction between automatic and deliberate processes and is able to account for choices both at the option and at the strategy level.System 1, Intuition, Reasoning, Control, Routines, Connectionist Model, Parallel Constraint Satisfaction
Solving constraint-satisfaction problems with distributed neocortical-like neuronal networks
Finding actions that satisfy the constraints imposed by both external inputs
and internal representations is central to decision making. We demonstrate that
some important classes of constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) can be solved
by networks composed of homogeneous cooperative-competitive modules that have
connectivity similar to motifs observed in the superficial layers of neocortex.
The winner-take-all modules are sparsely coupled by programming neurons that
embed the constraints onto the otherwise homogeneous modular computational
substrate. We show rules that embed any instance of the CSPs planar four-color
graph coloring, maximum independent set, and Sudoku on this substrate, and
provide mathematical proofs that guarantee these graph coloring problems will
convergence to a solution. The network is composed of non-saturating linear
threshold neurons. Their lack of right saturation allows the overall network to
explore the problem space driven through the unstable dynamics generated by
recurrent excitation. The direction of exploration is steered by the constraint
neurons. While many problems can be solved using only linear inhibitory
constraints, network performance on hard problems benefits significantly when
these negative constraints are implemented by non-linear multiplicative
inhibition. Overall, our results demonstrate the importance of instability
rather than stability in network computation, and also offer insight into the
computational role of dual inhibitory mechanisms in neural circuits.Comment: Accepted manuscript, in press, Neural Computation (2018
Extending Machine Language Models toward Human-Level Language Understanding
Language is central to human intelligence. We review recent break- throughs in machine language processing and consider what re- mains to be achieved. Recent approaches rely on domain general principles of learning and representation captured in artificial neu- ral networks. Most current models, however, focus too closely on language itself. In humans, language is part of a larger system for acquiring, representing, and communicating about objects and sit- uations in the physical and social world, and future machine lan- guage models should emulate such a system. We describe exist- ing machine models linking language to concrete situations, and point toward extensions to address more abstract cases. Human language processing exploits complementary learning systems, in- cluding a deep neural network-like learning system that learns grad- ually as machine systems do, as well as a fast-learning system that supports learning new information quickly. Adding such a system to machine language models will be an important further step toward truly human-like language understanding
Does signal reduction imply predictive coding in models of spoken word recognition?
Published online: 14 April 2021Pervasive behavioral and neural evidence for predictive processing has led to claims that language processing depends upon
predictive coding. Formally, predictive coding is a computational mechanism where only deviations from top-down expectations
are passed between levels of representation. In many cognitive neuroscience studies, a reduction of signal for expected inputs is
taken as being diagnostic of predictive coding. In the present work, we show that despite not explicitly implementing prediction,
the TRACE model of speech perception exhibits this putative hallmark of predictive coding, with reductions in total lexical
activation, total lexical feedback, and total phoneme activation when the input conforms to expectations. These findings may
indicate that interactive activation is functionally equivalent or approximant to predictive coding or that caution is warranted in
interpreting neural signal reduction as diagnostic of predictive coding.This researchwas supported by NSF 1754284, NSF IGERT
1144399, and NSF NRT 1747486 (PI: J.S.M.). This research was also
supported in part by the Basque Government through the BERC 2018-
2021program, and by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación through
BCBL Severo Ochoa excellenceaccreditation SEV-2015-0490. S.L.
was supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Precis of neuroconstructivism: how the brain constructs cognition
Neuroconstructivism: How the Brain Constructs Cognition proposes a unifying framework for the study of cognitive development that brings together (1) constructivism (which views development as the progressive elaboration of increasingly complex structures), (2) cognitive neuroscience (which aims to understand the neural mechanisms underlying behavior), and (3) computational modeling (which proposes formal and explicit specifications of information processing). The guiding principle of our approach is context dependence, within and (in contrast to Marr [1982]) between levels of organization. We propose that three mechanisms guide the emergence of representations: competition, cooperation, and chronotopy; which themselves allow for two central processes: proactivity and progressive specialization. We suggest that the main outcome of development is partial representations, distributed across distinct functional circuits. This framework is derived by examining development at the level of single neurons, brain systems, and whole organisms. We use the terms encellment, embrainment, and embodiment to describe the higher-level contextual influences that act at each of these levels of organization. To illustrate these mechanisms in operation we provide case studies in early visual perception, infant habituation, phonological development, and object representations in infancy. Three further case studies are concerned with interactions between levels of explanation: social development, atypical development and within that, developmental dyslexia. We conclude that cognitive development arises from a dynamic, contextual change in embodied neural structures leading to partial representations across multiple brain regions and timescales, in response to proactively specified physical and social environment
Referential precedents in spoken language comprehension: a review and meta-analysis
Listeners’ interpretations of referring expressions are influenced by referential
precedents—temporary conventions established in a discourse that associate linguistic
expressions with referents. A number of psycholinguistic studies have investigated how
much precedent effects depend on beliefs about the speaker’s perspective versus more
egocentric, domain-general processes. We review and provide a meta-analysis of
visual-world eyetracking studies of precedent use, focusing on three principal effects: (1) a
same speaker advantage for maintained precedents; (2) a different speaker advantage for
broken precedents; and (3) an overall main effect of precedents. Despite inconsistent claims
in the literature, our combined analysis reveals surprisingly consistent evidence supporting
the existence of all three effects, but with different temporal profiles. These findings carry
important implications for existing theoretical explanations of precedent use, and challenge
explanations based solely on the use of information about speakers’ perspectives
Robust Lexically Mediated Compensation for Coarticulation: Christmash Time Is Here Again
First published: 20 April 2021A long-standing question in cognitive science is how high-level knowledge is integrated with sensory
input. For example, listeners can leverage lexical knowledge to interpret an ambiguous speech
sound, but do such effects reflect direct top-down influences on perception or merely postperceptual
biases? A critical test case in the domain of spoken word recognition is lexically mediated compensation
for coarticulation (LCfC). Previous LCfC studies have shown that a lexically restored context
phoneme (e.g., /s/ in Christma#) can alter the perceived place of articulation of a subsequent target
phoneme (e.g., the initial phoneme of a stimulus from a tapes-capes continuum), consistent with the
influence of an unambiguous context phoneme in the same position. Because this phoneme-to-phoneme
compensation for coarticulation is considered sublexical, scientists agree that evidence for LCfC would
constitute strong support for top–down interaction. However, results from previous LCfC studies have
been inconsistent, and positive effects have often been small. Here, we conducted extensive piloting of
stimuli prior to testing for LCfC. Specifically, we ensured that context items elicited robust phoneme
restoration (e.g., that the final phoneme of Christma# was reliably identified as /s/) and that unambiguous
context-final segments (e.g., a clear /s/ at the end of Christmas) drove reliable compensation for
coarticulation for a subsequent target phoneme.We observed robust LCfC in a well-powered, preregistered
experiment with these pretested items (N = 40) as well as in a direct replication study (N = 40).
These results provide strong evidence in favor of computational models of spoken word recognition
that include top–down feedback
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