Articles

Permanent link for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/2022/152

Browse

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 12 of 12
  • Item
    Connecting a connectome to behavior: An ensemble of neuroanatomical models of C. elegans klinotaxis
    (PLOS Computational Biology, 2013-02) Izquierdo, Eduardo J.; Beer, Randall D.
    Increased efforts in the assembly and analysis of connectome data are providing new insights into the principles underlying the connectivity of neural circuits. However, despite these considerable advances in connectomics, neuroanatomical data must be integrated with neurophysiological and behavioral data in order to obtain a complete picture of neural function. Due to its nearly complete wiring diagram and large behavioral repertoire, the nematode worm Caenorhaditis elegans is an ideal organism in which to explore in detail this link between neural connectivity and behavior. In this paper, we develop a neuroanatomically-grounded model of salt klinotaxis, a form of chemotaxis in which changes in orientation are directed towards the source through gradual continual adjustments. We identify a minimal klinotaxis circuit by systematically searching the C. elegans connectome for pathways linking chemosensory neurons to neck motor neurons, and prune the resulting network based on both experimental considerations and several simplifying assumptions. We then use an evolutionary algorithm to find possible values for the unknown electrophsyiological parameters in the network such that the behavioral performance of the entire model is optimized to match that of the animal. Multiple runs of the evolutionary algorithm produce an ensemble of such models. We analyze in some detail the mechanisms by which one of the best evolved circuits operates and characterize the similarities and differences between this mechanism and other solutions in the ensemble. Finally, we propose a series of experiments to determine which of these alternatives the worm may be using.
  • Item
    Conceptual discontinuity involves recycling old processes in new domains
    (Cambridge University Press, 2011) Landy, David; Allen, Colin; Anderson, Michael
    We dispute Carey's assumption that distinct core cognitive processes employ domain-specific input analyzers to construct proprietary representations. We give reasons to believe that conceptual systems co-opt core components for new domains. Domain boundaries, as well as boundaries between perceptual–motor and conceptual cognitive resources may be useful abstractions, but do not appear to reflect constraints respected by brains and cognitive systems.
  • Item
    A simple test of vocal individual recognition in wild meerkats
    (Royal Society Publishing, 2011-10-12) Manser, Marta B.; Allen, Colin; Townsend, Simon W.
    Individual recognition is thought to be a crucial ability facilitating the evolution of animal societies. Given its central importance, much research has addressed the extent of this capacity across the animal kingdom. Recognition of individuals vocally has received particular attention due, in part, to the insights it provides regarding the cognitive processes that underlie this skill. While much work has focused on vocal individual recognition in primates, there is currently very little data showing comparable skills in non-primate mammals under natural conditions. This may be because non-primate mammal societies do not provide obvious contexts in which vocal individual recognition can be rigorously tested. We addressed this gap in understanding by designing an experimental paradigm to test for individual recognition in meerkats (Suricata suricatta) without having to rely on naturally occurring social contexts. Results suggest that when confronted with a physically impossible scenario—the presence of the same conspecific meerkat in two different places—subjects responded more strongly than during the control, a physically possible setup. We argue that this provides the first clear evidence for vocal individual recognition in wild non-primate mammals and hope that this novel experimental design will allow more systematic cross-species comparisons of individual recognition under natural settings.
  • Item
    Fish Cognition and Consciousness
    (Springer, 2011-12-11) Allen, Colin
    Questions about fish consciousness and cognition are receiving increasing attention. In this paper, I explain why one must be careful to avoid drawing conclusions too hastily about this hugely diverse set of species.
  • Item
    Wise machines?
    (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2011) Allen, Colin; Wallach, Wendell
    Purpose – In spite of highly publicized competitions where computers have prevailed over humans, the intelligence of computer systems still remains quite limited in comparison to that of humans. Present day computers provide plenty of information but lack wisdom. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether reliance on computers with limited intelligence might undermine the quality of the education students receive. Design/methodology/approach – Using a conceptual approach, the authors take the performance of IBMʼs Watson computer against human quiz competitors as a starting point to explore how society, and especially education, might change in the future when everyone has access to desktop technology to access information. They explore the issue of placing excessive trust in such machines without the capacity to evaluate the quality and reliability of the information provided. Findings – The authors find that the day when computing machines surpass human intelligence is much further in the future than predicted by some forecasters. Addressing the problem of dependency on information technology, they envisage a technical solution - wiser machines which not only return the search results, but also help make them comprehensible - but find that although it is relatively simple to engineer knowledge distribution and access, it is more difficult to engineer wisdom. Practical implications – Creating computers that are wise will be difficult, but educating students to be wise in the age of computers may also be quite difficult. For the future, one might explore the development of computer tools that demonstrate sensitivity to alternative answers to difficult questions, different courses of action, and their own limitations. For the present, one will need to train students to appreciate the limitations inherent in the technologies on which they have become dependent. Originality/value – Critical thinking, innovation, and wisdom require skills beyond the kinds of answers computers give now or are likely to provide in the coming decade.
  • Item
    Consciousness And Ethics: Artificially Conscious Moral Agents
    (World Scientific Publishing Co., 2011-06) Franklin, Stan; Allen, Colin; Wallach, Wendell
    What roles or functions does consciousness fulfill in the making of moral decisions? Will artificial agents capable of making appropriate decisions in morally charged situations require machine consciousness? Should the capacity to make moral decisions be considered an attribute essential for being designated a fully conscious agent? Research on the prospects for developing machines capable of making moral decisions and research on machine consciousness have developed as independent fields of inquiry. Yet there is significant overlap. Both fields are likely to progress through the instantiation of systems with artificial general intelligence (AGI). Certainly special classes of moral decision making will require attributes of consciousness such as being able to empathize with the pain and suffering of others. But in this article we will propose that consciousness also plays a functional role in making most if not all moral decisions. Work by the authors of this article with LIDA, a computational and conceptual model of human cognition, will help illustrate how consciousness can be understood to serve a very broad role in the making of all decisions including moral decisions.
  • Item
    How "weak" mindreaders inherited the earth
    (Cambridge University Press, 2009-04-23) Buckner, Cameron; Shriver, Adam; Crowley, Stephen; Allen, Colin
    Carruthers argues that an integrated faculty of metarepresentation evolved for mindreading and was later exapted for metacognition. A more consistent application of his approach would regard metarepresentation in mindreading with the same skeptical rigor, concluding that the “faculty” may have been entirely exapted. Given this result, the usefulness of Carruthers' line-drawing exercise is called into question.
  • Item
    Working the Crowd: Design principles and early lessons from the social-semantic web.
    (CEUR Workshop, 2009) Allen, Colin; Niepert, Mathias; Buckner, Cameron
    The Indiana Philosophy Ontology (InPhO)project is presented as one of the first social-semantic web endeavors which aims to bootstrap feedback from users unskilled in ontology design into a precise representation of a specific domain. Our approach combines statistical text processing methods with expert feedback and logic programming approaches to create a dynamic semantic representation of the discipline of philosophy. We describe the basic principles and initial experimental results of our system.
  • Item
    Effects of Rat Sex Differences and Lighting on Locomotor Exploration of a Circular Open Field with Free-Standing Central Corners and Without Peripheral Walls
    (Elsevier, 2008) Timberlake, William; Alstott, Jeff
    A typical open field consists of a square enclosure, bounded by four straight walls joined by identical corners. For decades behavioral researchers have used the open center and more sheltered perimeter of such fields to examine the effects of drugs, sex differences, and illumination on the behavioral expression of fear and anxiety. The present study used a circular field to “reverse” the security of different areas, providing a center sheltered by six free-standing corners and an open perimeter to re-examine the functional relation of open field behavior to experience, sex differences and lighting. Across six daily exposures, males in both the light and dark rapidly increased their preference for the center. Females in the light developed a similar pattern, though more slowly; females in the dark continued to spend the great majority of their time in the open periphery, including the edge of the field. The behavior of all groups, but especially the dark females, strongly supports the continued importance of environmental assessment in open field behavior.
  • Item
    Emergent Processes in Group Behavior
    (Wiley-Blackwell, 2008-02) Goldstone, Robert L
    Just as networks of neurons create structured thoughts beyond the ken of any individual neuron, so people spontaneously organize themselves into groups to create emergent organizations that no individual may intend, comprehend, or even perceive. Recent technological advances have provided us with unprecedented opportunities for conducting controlled, laboratory experiments on human collective behavior. We describe two experimental paradigms where we attempt to build predictive bridges between the beliefs, goals, and cognitive capacities of individuals and group-level patterns, showing how the members of a group dynamically allocate themselves to resources, and how innovations are spread in a social network. Agent-based computational models have provided useful explanatory and predictive accounts. Together, the models and experiments point to tradeoffs between exploration and exploitation, compromises between individuals using their own innovations and innovations obtained from their peers, and the emergence of group-level organizations such as population waves, bandwagon effects, and spontaneous specialization.
  • Item
    The import and export of Cognitive Science
    (Wiley-Blackwell, 2006) Goldstone, Robert L.; Leydesdorff, Loet; Goldstone, Robert
    From its inception, a large part of the motivation for Cognitive Science has been the need for an interdisciplinary journal for the study of minds and intelligent systems. In the inaugural editorial for the journal, Allan Collins (1977) wrote “Current journals are fragmented along old disciplinary lines, so there is no common place for workers who approach these problems from different disciplines to talk to each other” (p. 1). The interdisciplinarity of the journal has served a valuable cross-fertilization function for those who read the journal to discover articles written for and by practitioners across a wide range of fields. The challenges of building and understanding intelligent systems are sufficiently large that they will most likely require the skills of psychologists, computer scientists, philosophers, educators, neuroscientists, and linguists collaborating and coordinating their efforts.