J. H. Koeslag, P. T. Saunders. J. A. Wessels
A major unresolved physiological problem is how the rate of hepatic glucose production is increased to match the increased rate of glucose utilization during exercise without
a change in arterial blood glucose level. A homeostat with such capabilities is said to have infinite gain. Daisyworld is an imaginary planet orbiting a variable star. The only life is black and white daisies. Black daisies retain heat, slightly warming the planet; white daisies cool it. When the two types of daisies grow best at slightly different temperatures, variations in solar luminosity (over a wide range) cause the ratio of white:black daisies to vary in a manner that keeps the planetary temperature constant. This model therefore achieves infinite gain by having two opposing but interdependent controllers. Here we suggest that the pancreatic islet &alfa;- and β- cells might act as black and white daisies. For the analogy to apply, glucagon and insulin must not only have opposing effects on the blood sugar concentration, but the secretion of the one has, at some quantum level, to be at the expense of the other. Electrical coupling between heterocellular groups of alfa- and beta-cells within the pancreatic islets suggests that this might indeed be the case. &alfa;-Cell activity must, furthermore, promote secretory activity in other alfa-cells; similarly with β-cells. This is probably mediated via pancreastatin and γ-amino butyric acid (GABA) which are paracrinically co-secreted with glucagon and insulin, respectively. &alfa;-Cell activity spreads (at the expense of beta-cell activity) when the blood glucose level is below set
point, while β-cell activity progressively replaces &alfa;-cell activity above set point. At set point changes in the ratio of &alfa;:β-cell activity are inhibited.
more
Roland S. Johansson
When we use our digits to manipulate objects the applied fingertip forces and
torques tangential to the grip surfaces are a result of complex muscle activity. These
patterns are acquired during our ontogenetic development and we select them
according to the manipulative intent. But the basic force coordination expressed in
these patterns has to be tuned to the physical properties of the current object, e.g. shape, surface friction and weight. This takes place primarily by parametric adjustments of the force output based on internal models of the target object, i.e. implicit memory systems that represent critical object properties. From visual or haptic information we identify objects and automatically retrieve the relevant models. These models are then used to adapt the motor commands prior to their execution. The formation of models and their swift updating with changes in object properties depend, however, on signals from tactile sensors in the fingertips.
more
Dimiter G. Chakalov
Seventy years ago, Erwin Schrödinger showed that quantum mechanics can not be reconciled with special theory of relativity. We still do not have a relativistic quantum theory of measurement. Statements like "(T)he "collapse" is not a phenomenon that propagates in spacetime: it occurs in the Hilbert space used for the quantum formalism" (A. Peres and D.R. Terno, quant-ph/0106079) does not help a bit for solving the measurement (macro-objectification) problem. The problem is that we have to include the human brain. But what is the problem with the physics of brain?
more
Erik Hollnagel, Johan Karlsson, Thomas Magnusson, Ulrika Taube
Driving requires a combination of open-loop and closed-loop control. The open-loop control is affected by the quality of visual input, and therefore constrained during driving at night. This study investigated the effects of a Visual Enhancement System during simulated night driving conditions. It was hypothesised that the VES would improve the driver’s control, hence the quality of driving. 40 Ss drove about 120 km on a simulated Swedish road with and without a VES. At the time of writing, the experiments have just finished. Data analysis will focus on derived measures that correspond to the driver’s degree of control.
more
Robin Burgess-Limerick
"Control of Self-Motion" discusses the ways in which information is used to control self-motion, and how such information might be obtained
more
Betsy Mason
Married men who spend time with their wives and kids have lower testosterone levels than bachelors. The discovery suggests that having less of the hormone could play a part in encouraging men to devote their energies to the family rather than looking for another partner.
more
more
Henning U. Voss
Using a simple nonlinear filter, it is possible to shift arbitrarily complex wave forms produced by systems with a delayed feedback backwards in time. Physically, this corresponds to a seemingly noncausal transmission of signals. Filter chains allow
for signals travelling against the coupling direction of the chain. These apparent paradoxes are resolved, and possible physical implications are discussed.
more
Mildred L G Shaw, Brian R Gaines
Personal construct psychology is a theory of individual and group psychological and social processes that takes a constructivist position in modeling human knowledge but bases this on a positivist scientific position that characterizes conceptual structures in axiomatic terms. It provides a fundamental framework for both theoretical and applied studies of knowledge acquisition and representation. This paper presents Kelly's original intuitions underlying personal construct psychology and links these to its foundational role in cognitive and computational knowledge representation.
more
W. B. Dress
Robert Rosen’s modeling relation, originally conceived as a conceptual device for clarifying the relationship between natural systems and structures created for understanding such systems, is presented as an epistemological method that not only subsumes the scientific method but extends to all of human intellectual activity where the acquisition and exploration of knowledge is of concern. As Rosen himself emphasized, the scientific method is a particular instance of a modeling relation. It is suggested that the possession of a concrete, ‘working’ model of the scientific method enables an understanding of the scientific process that volumes of philosophy have not been able provide. This viewpoint extends Rosen’s seminal work in the biology of complex systems (organisms) to touch on the problems of thought and consciousness itself.
When used as a tool for thinking, certain paradoxes and intellectual conflicts are seen to evaporate when mapped onto the modeling relation as a whole. Additionally, the modeling relation used in this manner is seen to provide a method, extending Karl Popper’s falsification criterion, for distinguishing between science and pseudo science, while not restricting speculative and creative thought. Going beyond the modeling relation as a tool for thought, a simple deconstruction and metaphor are presented that lead to a suggestion of and a possible path for developing a mathematics of thinking and consciousness.
more
This is the phenomena whereby a progressively more severe disease, or earlier age of onset is encountered as the disease is transmitted through successive generation.
It has been reported in: Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, Huntington's Disease
more
Within a market of extreme competition, branding seems to be emerging as the new focus of marketing, PR, design, and strategic planning. A brand is a model of success. In this sense, a brand is an anticipation: A future state - generically called success - affects the current state of design, advertisement, and corporate communication. Thus the development of branding tools and methods will have to involve anticipatory procedures.
more
Dr. Robert Rosen
This article is a foundational work in the field of anticipation. Its author defines anticipation as a characteristic feature of biological systems. He advances the model of anticipation as being a simulation of real events, although is faster time. Simulated anticipation allows humans to generate predictive models that refine the implementation of something before it actually takes place. This article is an essential cornerstone of the anticipation field.
more
Dr. Robert Rosen
Robert Rosen makes a distinction between entailment in living systems and the functioning of machines. This distinction is from his book, Life Itself, a foundational
text for understanding anticipation as a characteristic of the living.
more
Sara Abdulla
Why can some people get themselves up at a certain time without an alarm clock? Or why, on the one day of the month that you could get the lie-in you so desperately need, do you find yourself wide awake at 6.45 as if it were a working day? And why is it that being prematurely woken can leave you feeling jumpy, even if you've slept enough?
more
Judith Rosen
This Paper is a transcript of a videotaped interview of Dr. Robert Rosen made in July, 1997, in Rochester, New York, U.S.A.
more
L. Adleman
Dr. Leonard M. Adleman, a computer scientist and mathematician at the University of Southern California, was trying to solve a problem that had been confounding mathematicians for some time. In devising his strategy for solving the problem, he decided to turn away from the computer, because it solves problems only in a sequential order. He turned instead to biology. Unlike computers, DNA is a self-replicating structure that operates in parallel to itself. This difference allowed Adleman to approach his problem in a fundamentally different way. And it worked.
more
Michael Arbib
In this article Michael Arbib, from the USC Brain Project, puts forth his hypothesis about the evolution of language through imitation. Arbib's 'Mirror System' hypothesis maintains that sign language was the precursor to spoken language in humans. The article offers the reader a compelling context for contemplating the role of anticipation in the development of communication.
more
W. Brian Arthur, Steven Durlauf, David A. Lane
This volume, represents the proceedings of an August, 1996 workshop sponsored by the SFI Economics Program. The intention of this workshop was to take stock, to ask: What has a complexity perspective contributed to economics in the past decade? The authors of the essays in this volume do not share a single, coherent vision. Instead, there is a family resemblance, based upon an interrelated set of themes that together constitute the current meaning of the complexity perspective in economics.
more
Gisa Aschersleben
Under conditions in which the temporal structure of events (e.g., a sequence of tones) is predictable, performing movements in synchrony with this sequence of events (e.g., dancing) is an easy task. A rather simplified version of this task is studied in the sensorimotor synchronization paradigm.
Participants are instructed to synchronize their finger taps with an isochronous sequence of signals (e.g., clicks). Although this is an easy task, a systematic error is observed: Taps usually precede clicks by several tens of milliseconds. Different models have been proposed to account for this effect ("negative asynchrony" or "synchronization error"). One group of explanations is based on the idea that synchrony is established at the level of central representations (and not at the level of external events), and that the timing of an action is determined by the (anticipated) action effect. These assumptions are tested by manipulating the amount of sensory feedback available from the tap as well as its temporal characteristics. This article presents an overview of these representational models and the empirical evidence supporting them. It also discusses other accounts briefly in the light of further evidence.
more
Eric Astor
One of the most dificult problems in the design of autonomous agents is not only how to make them behave rationally from some point of view, but how to make them stay rational when the environment is subject to change. This paper refers to the important abilities of an autonomous planning agent.
more
Marco Atzori, Saobo Lei, D. Ieuan P. Evans, Patrick O. Kanold, Emily Phillips-Tansey , Orinthal McIntyre and Chris J. McBain
Sound features are blended together en route to the central nervous system before being discriminated for further processing by the cortical synaptic network. The mechanisms underlying this synaptic processing, however, are largely unexplored. Intracortical processing of the auditory signal was investigated by simultaneously recording from pairs of connected principal neurons in layer II/III in slices from A1 auditory cortex. Physiological patterns of stimulation in the presynaptic cell revealed two populations of postsynaptic events that differed in mean amplitude, failure rate, kinetics and short-term plasticity. In contrast, transmission between layer II/III pyramidal neurons in barrel cortex were uniformly of large amplitude and high success (release) probability (P r ). These unique features of auditory cortical transmission may provide two distinct mechanisms for discerning and separating transient from stationary features of the auditory signal at an early stage of cortical processing.
more
Anticipation-based medicine reports on progress in anticipatory disease detection. M. Pamela Griffin and J.Randall Moorman (University of Virginia), in collaboration with Medical Automation Systems, Charlottesville, Virginia came up with a method to analyze change in newborn´s heartbeat patterns. This serves as a predictor for neonatal and sepsis-like illness before the onset of sepsis (major cause of infant mortality).
Researchers at the University of Erlangen (Germany) examined change in the ability to differentiate odors and discovered this to be an early indicator of Parkinson´s disease.
Anticipation based early diagnostics, focused on predictors, is an area of fast growth. Risk adjusted treatment methods based on predictors improve recommending procedures in heart disease treatment as well as in orthopedic surgery.
more
Denise Baden
Libet aims to show that voluntary acts are preceded by readiness potentials (RPs), and that the conscious intention to act occurs after the preparations to act have already been put in motion.
more
Johanna Bayer
Who or what is beautiful? Both scientists and laymen have been interested in this question for ages. But only in the last 30 years did we experience systematical research of beauty. The researchers of what is “attractive” - most of them psychologists, anthropologists, and behaviourists - achieved some remarkable results up to now. All these different findings have one thing in common: facial attractiveness depends much more on the biology of a person than on fashion, culture, and zeitgeist.
more
Mario Beauregard, H. Chertkow, D. Bub, S. Murtha, R. Dixon , A. Evans
Viewing of single words produces a cognitively complex mental state in which anticipation, emotional responses, visual perceptual analysis, and activation of orthographic representations are all occurring. Previous PET studies have produced conflicting results, perhaps due to the conflation of these separate processes or the presence of subtle differences in stimulus material and methodology. A PET study of 10 normal individuals was carried out using the bolus H215O intravenous injection technique to examine components of processing of passively viewed words.
more
P. J. Beek, C. E. Peper, A. Daffertshofer
Although the Haken-Kelso-Bunz (HKB) model was originally formulated to account for phase transitions in bimanual movements, it evolved, through experimentation and conceptual elaboration, into a fundamental formal construct for the experimental study of rhythmically coordinated movements in general. The model consists of two levels of formalization: a potential defining the stability properties of relative phase and a system of coupled limit cycle oscillators defining the individual limb movements and their interactions. Whereas the empirical validity of the potential is well established, the validity of the formalization in terms of coupled oscillators is questionable, both with regard to the assumption that individual limb movements are limit cycle oscillators with (only) two active degrees of freedom and with regard to the postulated coupling. To remedy these limitations a more elaborate system of coupled oscillators is outlined, comprising two coupled limit cycle oscillators at the neural level, each of which is coupled to a linearly damped oscillator, representing the end-effectors.
more
John S. Bell
The demonstration of von Neumann and others, that quantum mechanics does not permit a hidden variable interpretation, are reconsidered. It is shown that their essential axioms are unreasonable. It is urged that in further examnination of this problem an interesting axiom would be that mutually distant systems are independent of one another.
more
Joseph Berkovitz
A common line of argument for the impossibility of closed causal loops is that they would involve causal paradoxes. The ususal reply is that such loops impose heavy consistency constrains on the nature of causal connections in them; constrains that are overlooked by the impossibility arguments. Hugh Mellor has maintained that arguments for the possibility of causal loops also overlook some constraints, wich are related to the chances that causes give to their effects. And he argues that a consideration of these constraints demonstrates that causal loops are impossible. I consider Mellors argument and more generally the nature of chance in causal loops. I argue that Mellor's line of reasoning may still be of interest to those who maintain that causes determine the chances of their effects; for it raises some unresolved questions about the nature of chance in causal loops.
more
Michael J. Berry II, Iman H. Brivanlou, Thomas A. Jordan, Markus Meister
A flash of light evokes neural activity in the brain with a delay of 30±100 milliseconds, much of which is due to the slow process of visual transduction in photoreceptors. A moving object can cover a considerable distance in this time, and should therefore be seen noticeably behind its actual location. As this conflicts with everyday experience, it has been suggested that the visual cortex uses the delayed visual data from the eye to extrapolate the trajectory of a moving object, so that it is perceived at its actual location. Here we report that such anticipation of moving stimuli begins in the retina. A moving bar elicits a moving wave of spiking activity in the population of retinal ganglion cells. Rather than lagging behind the visual image, the population activity travels near the leading edge of the moving bar. This response is observed over a wide range of speeds and apparently compensates for the visual response latency. We show how this anticipation follows from known mechanisms of retinal processing.
more
Aude Billard
This is a site about two prototypes of highly interactive doll-type robots. They are humanoid in shape and functionality and are capable of simple interactions with humans. The robots mirror the movements of a human demonstrator and communicate with it.
more
Aude Billard, Maja Mataric
Neuroscientists and psychologists find a common interest in the study of imitation, which provides a means for analyzing the similarities and differences between humans and other animal cognition. In order to better understand the leap between the different levels of imitation in animals, from mimicry to "true" imitation, there is a need for better models of the neural mechanisms underlying the phenomenon. This work aims to contribute to research in this direction by proposing a connectionist model of motor skill imitation.
more
Sarah-J. Blakemore, Chris D. Frith, Daniel M. Wolpert
The authors used H2 15 O PET to examine neural responses to parametrically varied degrees of discrepancy between the predicted and actual sensory consequences of movement. Subjects used their right hand to move a robotic arm. The motion of this robotic arm determined the position of a second foam-tipped robotic arm, which made contact with the subject's left palm. Using this robotic interface, computer controlled delays were introduced between the movement of the right hand and the tactile stimulation on the left. Activity in the right lateral cerebellar cortex showed a positive correlation with delay. These results suggest the cerebellum is involved in signalling the sensory discrepancy between the predicted and actual sensory consequences of movements.
more
Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Geraint Rees, Chris D. Frith
Humans are readily able to distinguish expected and unexpected sensory events. Wheter a single mechanism underlies this ability is unknown. The most common type of expected sensoy events are those generated as a consequence of self-generated actions. Using H2 O15 PET, we studied brain responses to such predictable sensory events (tones) and to similar unpredictable events and especially how the processing of predictable sensory events is modified by the context of a causative self-generated action. Increases in activity when the tones were unpredictable were seen in the inferior and bilateraly, the right parahippocampal gyrus and right parietal cortex. We observed an interaction between the predictability of stimuli and self-generated actions in several areas, including the medial cingulate cortex, left insula, dorsomedial thalamus, superior colliculus and right inferior temporal cortex. This modulation of activity associated with stimulus predictability in the context of self-generated actions impies that these areas may be involved in self-monitoring processes. Detection of expected stimuli and the detection of the sensory consequences of self-generated actions appear to be functionally distinct processes, and are carried out in different cortical areas. These observations support approaches to cognition that postulate the existence of a self-monitoring system.
more
Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Jean Decety
Humans have an inherent tendency to infer other people´s intentions from their actions. Here we review psychophysical and functional neuroimaging evidence that biological motion is processed as a special category, from which we automatically infer mental states such as intention. The mechanism underlying the attribution of intentions to actions might rely on simulating the observed action and mapping it onto representations of our own intentions. There is accumulating neurophysiological evidence to support a role for action simulation in the brain.
more
Sarah J. Blakemore, Susan J. Goodbody, Daniel M. Wolpert
During self-generated movement it is postulated that an efference copy of the descending motor command, in conjunction with an internal model of both the motor system and environment, enables us to predict the consequences of our own actions . Such a prediction is evident in the precise anticipatory modulation of grip force seen when one hand pushes on an object gripped in the other hand. Here we show that self-generation is not in itself sufficient for such a prediction. We used two robots to simulate virtual objects held in one hand and acted on by the other. Precise predictive grip force modulation of the restraining hand was highly dependent on the sensory feedback to the hand producing the load. The results show that predictive modulation requires not only that the movement is self-generated, but also that the efference copy and sensory feedback are consistent with a specific context; in this case, the
manipulation of a single object. We propose a novel computational mechanism whereby the CNS uses multiple internal models, each corresponding to a different sensorimotor context, to estimate the probability that the motor system is acting within each context.
more
Alexander Bogomolny
Chaos Theory is an emerging field concerned with examining the patters arising from chaotic systems. Seemingly random patterns often contain a certain orderliness that becomes visible once you understand how to look for them. Fractal geometry is the most famous example of Chaos Theory. Mathematicians discovered that when certain equations were represented visually and reiterated in an endless cycle, shapes emerged that perpetuated themselves. These forms, made famous by the Mandelbrot and Julia sets, offer a sensual reference point for a field that is closely associated with the concept of anticipation. An important componant of Chaos Theory is the order in which events happen.
more
Samuel Bowles, Herbert Gintis
Humans are often generous, but cooperation unravels when others take advantage of them. Many people punish such ‘free riders’, even if they do not benefit personally, and this ‘altruistic punishment’ sustains cooperation.
more
Jeanne Braha
Martha McClintock, just finished her junior year at Wellesley, was attending a conference where it was mentioned that rats in captivity together tended to ovulate simultaneously. McClintock noted that she had observed this pattern amongst her dormmates. Suddenly, she had a senior thesis topic and wound up publishing her results in Nature during her first year of graduate school.
McClintock´s work attracted much more attention than the average undergraduate research project because of its implications: she postulated that pheromones, airborne chemical signals released by humans from skin glands into the environment that have an affect on the physiology or behavior of other members of the same species, were the catalyst for the synchronization of ovulatory cycles. Her initial hypothesis was that roommates´ cycles would have the highest correlation, because they had the strongest shared air space. However, the studies she did at Wellesley showed that good friends had the closest timing, after 3 to 4 months together.
more
A. R. Braun, A. Guillemin, L. Hosey and M. Varga
In order to identify brain regions that play an essential role in the production of discourse, H215O-PET scans were acquired during spontaneous generation of autobiographical narratives in English and in American Sign Language in hearing subjects who were native users of both. We compared languages that differ maximally in their mode of expression yet share the same core linguistic properties in order to differentiate the stages of discourse production: differences between the languages should reflect later, modality-dependent stages of phonological encoding and articulation; congruencies are more likely to reveal the anatomy of earlier modality-independent stages of conceptualization and lexical access.
more
Barry Brown
As pregnancy changes a woman´s body, it produces higher levels of certain hormones to help her prepare for the baby - and now a canadian study has found men undergo hormonal changes during their partners´ pregnancies, too.
more
Etienne Burdet, Rieko Osu, David W. Franklin,Theodore E. Milner, Mitsuo Kawato
To manipulate objects or to use tools we must compensate for any forces arising from interaction with the physical environment. Recent studies indicate that this compensation is achieved by learning an internal model of the dynamics, that is, a neural representation of the relation between motor command and movement. In these studies interaction with the physical environment was stable, but many common tasks are intrinsically unstable. For example, keeping a screwdriver in the slot of a screw is unstable because excessive force parallel to the slot can cause the screwdriver to slip and because misdirected force can cause loss of contact between the screwdriver and the screw.
Stability may be dependent on the control of mechanical impedance in the human arm because mechanical impedance can generate forces which resist destabilizing motion. Here we examined arm movements in an unstable dynamic environment created by a robotic interface. Our results show that humans learn to stabilize unstable dynamics using the skilful and energy-efficient strategy of selective control of impedance geometry.
more
Martin V. Butz
Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002
more
Martin V. Butz, Joachim Hoffmann
Animal Behavior in an
Anticipatory Learning Classifier System, in Adaptive Behavior, 2003
more
Martin V. Butz, David E. Goldberg, Wolfgang Stolzmann
in Natural Computing, vol. 1, 2002, 427-467.
more
New technologies emerge in higher numbers than ever. The rate of obsolescence keeps increasing. Therefore, technology assessment is becoming as important as technological development. Many methodologies are applied today, but almost none qualifies as adequate. Anticipation is a very good candidate for assessing how technological innovation will eventually fare.
more
George Cardas
Golden Mean forms the mathematical proportions nature uses to shape leaves and sea shells, insects and people, hurricanes and galaxies. This is a collection of photographs showing the Golden Section.
more
Katrina Carlsson, Predrag Petrovic, Stefan Skare, Karl Magnus Petersson, Martin Ingvar
Predictions of the near future can optimize the accuracy and speed of sensory processing as well as of behavioral responses. Previous experience and contextual cues are essential elements in the generation of a subjective prediction. Using blocked fMRI paradigm, we investigated the pattern of neural activation in anticipation of a sensory stimulus and during the processing of the somatosensory stimulus itself. Tickling was chosen as the somatosensory stimulus rather than simple touch in order to increase the probability to get a high degree of anticipation. The location and nature of the stimulus were well defined to the subject. The state of anticipation was initiated by attributing an uncertainty regarding the time of stimulus onset. The network of activation and deactivation during anticipation of the expected stimulus was similar to that engaged during the actual sensory stimulation. The areas that were activated during both states included the contralateral primary sensory cortex, bilateral areas in the inferior parietal lobules, the putative area SII, the right anterior cingulate cortex and areas in the right prefrontal cortex. Similarity, common decreases were observed in areas of sensorimotor cortex located outside the area representing the target of stimulus, i.e., areas that process information which is irrelevant to the attended process. The overlapping pattern of change, during the somatosensory stimulation and the anticipation, furthers the idea that predictions are subserved by a neuronal network similar to that which subserves the processing of actual sensory input. Moreover, this study indicates that activation of primary somatosensory cortex can be obtained without intra-modal sensory input. These findings suggest that anticipation may invoke a tonic top-down regulation of neural activity.
more
Mauritzio Corbetta
Using a novel approach to imaging, researchers have discovered that thinking about moving objects pre-activates areas of the brain's motion detection system before any moving objects appear. These areas would hold our expectations on-line as we prepare to cross a busy street, return a tennis serve or catch a falling child.
(This is an HTML-Version of a Powerpoint presentation.)
more
Maurizio Corbetta, J. Michelle Kincade, John M. Ollinger, Marc P. McAvoy, Gordon L.
Shulman
Human ability to attend to visual stimuli based on their spatial locations requires the parietal cortex. One hypothesis maintains that parietal cortex controls the voluntary orienting of attention toward a location of interest. Another hypothesis emphasizes its role in reorienting attention toward visual targets appearing at unattended locations. Here, using event-related functional magnetic resonance (ER-fMRI), the authors show that distinct parietal regions mediated these different attentional processes. Cortical activation occurred primarily in the intraparietal sulcus when a location was attended before visual-target presentation, but in the right temporoparietal junction when the target was detected, particularly at an unattended location.
more
C. M. Craig, D. Delay, M. A. Grealy, D.N. Lee
Actions that involve making contact with surfaces often demand perceptual regulation of the impact - for example, of feet with ground when walking or of bat with ball when hitting. Here we investigate how this control of impact is achieved in golf putting, where control of the clubhead motion at ball impact is paramount in ensuring that the ball will travel the required distance. Our results from ten professional golfers indicate that the clubhead motion is spatially scaled and perceptually regulated by coupling it onto an intrinsic guide generated in the nervous system.
more
John G. Cramer
In the last few years, however, a few theoretical physicists have been muscling in on the time travel game. The first assault was mounted by a group of general relativity theorists led by Kip Thorne of CalTech. Thorne's group demonstrated how space-time wormholes could be stabilized and used for trans-time communication and time travel. This column describes the latest physics foray into the time travel business, which has come from the direction of quantum mechanics.
more
John G. Cramer
The purpose of this paper is to point out a dichotomy, a binary distinction that can be made among models dealing with the problem of the arrow of time. Here by "arrow of time" we refer to the intrinsic and evident macroscopic asymmetry between the past and the future. The "arrow of time problem" concerns the origins of the macroscopic asymmetry and the general absence of a similar microscopic asymmetry.
more
John G. Cramer
EPR experiments demonstrate that standard quantum mechanics exhibits the property of nonlocality, the enforcement of correlations between separated parts of an entangled quantum systems across spacelike separations. Nonlocality will be clarified using the transactional interpretation of quantum mechanics, and the possibility of superluminal effects (e.g., faster-than-light communication) from nonlocality and non-linear quantum mechanics will be examined.
more
Evaldo M. F. Curado
The author presents some recent developments concerning general aspects of the thermodynamical formalism. Through simple arguments, the exhibits some basic entropies that have most of the thermodynamic properties of the Shannon entropy. Their stabilities are also analysed, and several points concerning nonextensive thermodynamics are discussed.
more
Ruth Czarnecki
The study of neurobiology has long involved the actions and interactions among neurons and their synapses. Changes in concentrations of various ions carry impulses to and from the central nervous system and are responsible for all the information processed by the nervous system as a whole. This has been the prominent theory for many years, but, now, there is a new one to be reckoned with; the Quantum Brain Theory (QBT).
more
Jeff Hawkins, developer of the Palm Pilot and Handspring, applied anticipatory procedures - auto-associative memory - in his handwriting recognition software. His claim that autoassociative memories help in make predictions about the input led to a pattern recognizer software supporting hand-printed character recognition. Future fault tolerant applications in the area of human activity characterized by lots of attention to patterns and few motor skills (such as security surveillance) can be expected.
more
Paul Davidsson
A linearly anticipatory agent architecture for learning in multi-agent systems is presented. It integrates low-level reaction with high-level deliberation by embedding an ordinary reactive system based on situation-action rules, called the Reactor, in an anticipatory agent, forming a layered hybrid architecture.
more
Paul Davidsson, Eric Astor, Bertil Ekdahl
This paper presents a new framework for autonomous agents that is based on the concept of anticipatory systems. It is a hybrid approach that synthesizes low-level reactive behavior and high-level symbolic reasoning. According to this framework, an agent, i.e. an anticipatory agent, consists of three main entities: a reactive system, a world model, and a meta-level component. The world model should, in addition to the description of the agent's environment, also include a description of the reactive part of the agent. The basic idea is that the meta-level component makes use of the world model to make predictions of future states. These predictions are then used by the meta-level to guide the agent's behaviour on a high level, whereas the low-level behaviour is controlled by the reactive component.
more
Evgeny Demidov
"The Game of Life" is a classic concept in the field of science. It posits that when life is surrounded by death, from the cellular level on up, the living body seeks to distance itself from death and reposition itself in a healthier environment. This comes from the idea that when a cell is surrounded by other cells that are dead or dying, it too will begin to die. This source is a simulation of "The Game of Life" with basic mathematical explanations of how the game works.
more
Mingzhou Ding, Yanqing Chen, J. A. Scott Kelso
Human rhythmic activities are variable. Cycle-to-cycle fluctuations form the behavioral observable. Traditional analysis focuses on statistical measures such as mean and variance. In this article we show that, by treating the fluctuations as a time series, one can apply techniques such as power spectra and rescaled range analysis to gain insight into the mechanisms underlying the remarkable abilities of humans to perform a variety of rhythmic movements, from maintaining memorized temporal patterns to anticipating and timing their movements to predictable sensory stimuli.
more
Daniel M. Dubois
This paper deals with an introduction to computing anticipatory systems starting with Robert Rosen's definition of anticipatory systems. Firstly, the internalist and externalist aspects of anticipation will be explained at an intuitive point of view. Secondly, the concepts of incursion and hyperincursion are proposed to model anticipatory systems. Thirdly, a simple example of a computing anticipatory system will be simulated on computer from an incursive harmonic oscillator. This oscillator includes an anticipatory model of itself in view of computing its successive states.
more
Daniel M. Dubois
This paper will firstly review a new theoretical basis for modelling neural Boolean networks by non-linear digital equations. With integer numbers, these digital equations are Heaviside Fixed Functions in the framework of the Threshold Logic. These can represent non-linear neurons which can be split very easily into a set of McCulloch and Pitts formal neurons with hidden neurons. It is demonstrated that any Boolean tables can be very easily represented by such neural networks where the weights are always either an activation weight +1or an inhibition weight -1, with integer threshold. A fundamental problem in neural systems is the design of memory. This paper will present new memory neural systems based on hyperincursive neurons, that is neurons with multiple output states for the same input, instead of synaptic weights. Finally, a differential equation of membrane neural potential is used as a model of a brain, the incursive, that is the implicit recursive, computation of which gives rise to non-locality effects.
more
Daniel M. Dubois
This paper deals with computational derivation of the Klein-Gordon quantum relativist equation and the Schrödinger quantum equation with forward and backward space-time shifts. The first part introduces forward and backward derivatives for discrete and continuous systems. Generalized complex discrete and continuous derivatives are deduced. In the second part, we apply these forward and backward derivatives to the harmonic oscillator. The third part deduces the Klein-Gordon equation from the space-time complex continuous derivatives. These derivatives take into account forward-backward space-time shifts related to a phase velocity u. Without time shift, the Schrödinger equation is deduced in part four. This quantum equation is interpreted as a Burgers fluid with a complex momentum in relation to the Bohm-Hiley quantum potential concept. Finally a time-dependent Schrödinger equation for a free particle in a constant potential is simulated. The quantum particle looks like an oscillator with two frequencies.
more
Enzo Mumolo (Universita di Trieste) reported on ways to minimize data retrieval time through anticipatory positioning of the hard disk arm. Once patterns of data use are analyzed, an anticipatory procedure places the HD drive arm in areas of likely frequent retrieval. A continuum of optimization algorithms have been derived, featuring different prediction performance and, hence, different complexities. Trace driven simulations have shown that relative seek time reduction from about 11% to 23% for a workstation workload can be obtained using anticipatory movements.( Results reported in a Symposium on Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems, 1998)
more
Prof. Dr. I. Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Prof. Dr. K. Grammer
Current main research aspect is the automatic detection and description
of human beatuy with digital image analysis.
more
A. Einstein, B. Podolski, N. Rosen
In a complete theory, there is an element corresponding to each element of reality. A sufficient condition for the reality of a physical quantity is the possibility of predicting it with certainty, without disturbing the system. In quantum mechanics, in the case of two physical quantities described by non-commuting operators, the knowledge of one precludes the knowledge of he other. Then either (1) the description of reality given by the wave function in quantum mechanics is not complete or (2) these two quantities cannot have simultaneous reality. Consideration of the problem of making predictions concerning a system on the basis of measurements made on another system that had previously interacted with it leads to the result that if (1) is false then (2) is also false.
more
Bertil Ekdahl, Paul Davidsson, Eric Astor
This paper presents a novel approach to the problem of designing autonomous agents that is based on the idea of anticipatory systems. An anticipatory system has a model of itself and of the relevant part of its environment and will use this model to predict the future. The predictions are then utilised to determine the agent´s behaviour, i.e. it lets future states affect its present states.
more
Ralf Engbert, Ralf Th. Krampe, Jürgen Kurths, Reinhold Kliegl
The control of human hand movements is investigated in a simple synchronization task.
We propose and analyze a stochastic model based on nonlinear error correction; a mechanism which implies the existence of unstable periodic orbits. This prediction is tested in an experiment with human subjects. We find that our experimental data are in good agreement with numerical simulations of our theoretical model. These results suggest that feedback control of the human motor systems shows nonlinear behavior.
more
Ralf Engbert , Ralf Th. Krampe, Jürgen Kurths, Reinhold Kliegl
The control of human hand movements is investigated in a simple synchronization task. We propose and analyze a stochastic model based on nonlinear error correction; a mechanism which implies the existence of unstable periodic orbits. This prediction is tested in an experiment with human subjects. We find that our experimental data are in good agreement with numerical simulations of our theoretical model. These results suggest that feedback control of the human motor systems shows nonlinear behavior.
more
Andreas K. Engel, Pascal Fries, Wolf Singer
Classical theories of sensory processing view the brain as a passive, stimulus-driven device. By contrast, more recent approaches emphasize the constructive nature of perception, viewing it as an active and highly selective process. Indeed, there is ample evidence that the processing of stimuli is controlled by top–down influences that strongly shape the intrinsic dynamics of thalamocortical networks and constantly create predictions about forthcoming sensory events. We discuss recent experiments indicating that such predictions might be embodied in the temporal structure of both stimulus-evoked and ongoing activity, and that synchronous oscillations are particularly important in this process. Coherence among subthreshold membrane potential fluctuations could be exploited to express selective functional relationships during states of expectancy or attention, and these dynamic patterns could allow the grouping and selection of distributed neuronal responses for further processing.
more
Nancy Etcoff
In Brazil, Avon ladies outnumber army soldiers. U.S. consumers spend more on beauty supplies than education and social services combined. Harvard University psychologist Etcoff contends that these trends do not stem from media influences or unabashed narcissism but from our will to survive. In considering across cultures and history ideals of beauty that incorporate scarring, painting, and padding of the body, Etcoff formulates a thesis that binds physical attractiveness to our evolutionary roots and the survival of our genes. In Etcoff's view, such concepts of beauty are founded in natural selection. She sites research indicating that infants come equipped with the ability to discern good looks and presents a host of equally provocative ideas on the subject.
more
Project in cooperation with PKA, Essen
Video monitoring is intended to deter theft. But once a crime is committed, the thieves tend to destroy evidence, including the videocamera and tape. An anticipatory dimension to camera surveillance could be achieved through continuous on-line mirroring of data. This will not only safeguard data from destruction, but also aid in identifying felons through access to the on-line data.
more
Ernst Fehr, Simon Gächter
Human cooperation is an evolutionary puzzle. Unlike other creatures, people frequently cooperate with genetically unrelated strangers, often in large groups, with people they will never meet again, and when reputation gains are small or absent. These patterns of cooperation cannot be explained by the nepotistic motives associated with the evolutionary theory of kin selection and the selfish motives associated with signalling theory or the theory of reciprocal altruism. Here we show experimentally that the
altruistic punishment of defectors is a key motive for the explanation of cooperation. Altruistic punishment means that individuals punish, although the punishment is costly for them and yields no material gain. We show that cooperation flourishes if altruistic
punishment is possible, and breaks down if it is ruled out. The evidence indicates that negative emotions towards defectors are the proximate mechanism behind altruistic punishment. These results suggest that future study of the evolution of human cooperation should include a strong focus on explaining altruistic punishment.
more
Eva M. Finney, Ione Fine, Karen R. Dobkins
Previous brain imaging studies have demonstrated responses to tactile and auditory stimuli in visual cortex of blind subjects,suggesting that removal of one sensory modality leads to neural reorganization of the remaining modalities 1–3 . To investigate whether similar “cross-modal” plasticity occurs in human auditory cortex, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure visually evoked activity in auditory areas of both early-deafened and hearing individuals. Here we find that deaf subjects exhibit activation in a region of the right auditory cortex, corresponding to Brodmann´s areas 42 and 22, as well as in area 41 (primary auditory cortex), demonstrating that early deafness results in the processing of visual stimuli in auditory cortex.
more
J. Randall Flanagan, Alan M. Wing
The authors investigated the issue of whether the central nervous system makes use of an internal model of the motor apparatus in planning and controlling arm movements. In particular, they tested the ability of subjects to predict different hand-held loads by examining grip force adjustments used to stabilize the load in the hand during arm movements.
more
Grace Fong, Brian Knutson, Charles Adams, Daniel Hommer
Reward processing includes both appetitive and consummatory stages. Comparative studies suggest that ventral striatal dopamine is more robustly released during reward anticipation than during reward consumption (1). In past FMRI studies, the authors observed reward-proportional ventral striatal activation during anticipation of monetary rewards (2). In this study, they examined whether reward feedback would also elicit ventral striatal activity or recruit other prefrontal brain areas implicated in reward processing such as the orbitofrontal cortex.
more
Thord Fransson, Sven Jakobsson, Patrick Johansson, Cecilia Kullberg, Johann Lind, Adrian Vallin
Long stretches of sea and desert often interrupt the migration routes of small songbirds, whose fat reserves must be restored before these can be crossed as they provide no opportunity for refuelling. To investigate whether magnetic cues might enable inexperienced migratory birds to recognize a region where they need to replenish their body fat, we caught and held thrush nightingales (Luscinia luscinia) in Sweden just before their first migration and exposed them to a magnetic field simulating that at a migratory stopover in northern Egypt, before the Sahara Desert.
We found that this magnetic field stimulated the birds to extend their fat-deposition period, indicating that magnetic cues may help small migratory birds to confront large ecological barriers.
more
Several research centers around the world are developing self-repair functions. The future state of "disrepair" in a material from which products of all kinds are made triggers anticipatory processes of material self-healing and even self-repair of simple devices. Moreover, considering the self-repair function of the living, a new generation of products, combining the artificial and the natural are conceived. The lounge chair designed by J. M. Massaud is made out of technopolymer containing animal protein. Due to its composition the material is able to self-repair slight damage to the material of the surface.
more
Michela Gallagher, Robert W. McMahan, Geoffrey Schoenbaum
Clinical evidence indicates that damage to ventromedial prefrontal cortex disrupts goal-directed actions that are guided by motivational and emotional factors. As a consequence, patients with such damage characteristically engage in maladaptive behaviors. Other research has shown that neurons in the corresponding orbital region of prefrontal cortex in laboratory animals encode information regarding the incentive properties of goals or expected events. The present study investigates the effect of neurotoxic orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) lesions in the rat on responses that are normally influenced by associations between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and the incentive value of reinforcement.
more
Vittorio Gallese
Our capacity to deal with the “external world” is constituted by the possibility of modifying the world by means of our actions; by the possibility of representing the world as an objective reality; and by the possibility of experiencing phenomenally this same objective reality, from a situated, self-conscious perspective. It is tempting to address these different articulations of the sense of “being related to the world”, of our intentional relation to the world, by using different languages, different methods of investigations, perhaps even different ontologies.
In the present paper the author starts to explore the possibility of reconciling some of these different articulations of intentionality from a neurobiological perspective.
more
Vittorio Gallese
The main aim of my arguments will be to show that, far from being exclusively dependent upon mentalistic/linguistic abilities, the capacity for understanding others as intentional agents is deeply grounded in the relational nature of action. Action is relational, and the relation holds both between the agent and the object target of the action (see Gallese, 2000b), as between the agent of the action and his/her observer (see below). Agency constitutes a key issue for the understanding of intersubjectivity and for explaining how individuals can interpret their social world. This account of intersubjectivity, founded on the empirical findings of neuroscientific investigation, will be discussed and put in relation with a classical tenet of phenomenology: empathy. I will provide an “enlarged” account of empathy that will be defined by means of a new conceptual tool: the shared manifold of intersubjectivity.
more
Vittorio Gallese, Alvin Goldman
In the present article we will propose that humans´ mind-reading abilities rely on the capacity to adopt a simulation routine. This capacity might have evolved from an action execution/observation matching system whose neural correlate is represented by a class of neurons recently discovered in the macaque monkey premotor cortex: mirror neurons (MNs).
more
M.S. Gazzaniga, J.S. Altman (eds.)
The Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) workshops were initiated by Michel Cuenod (Secretary-General, HFSPO) with the support of the Board of Trustees and the Council of Scientists. The workshops, held in English, are organized at the HFSPO office in Strasbourg on specific scientific topics of particular timeliness in the two fields of research covered by HFSP: brain functions and biological functions at the molecular level. The guiding principles are general significance and novelty of the topic, treatment by leading experts, emphasis on discussion, and broad international, intercontinental
and interdisciplinary representation. There is no general audience but the reports, edited by the organizers, present the issues discussed in a format attractive to specialists, post-doctoral trainees and students. The present report is based on a meeting held in Strasbourg from November 12–14, 1997.
more
Tom Gilmore
In this artcile, Tom Gilmore offers an accessible yet substantive explanation of da Vinci's "Golden Section." He introduces the concepts of the Golden Section, the importance of Phi, and the Fibonacci Series. The reader can gain a basic understanding of the numbers hidden in both the natural and man-made wonders of the world.
more
Malcolm Gladwell
There are thousands of people who have played in the National Hockey League over the years, but there has been only one Wayne Gretzky. Thousands of cellists play professionally all over the world, but very few will ever earn comparison with Yo-Yo Ma. People like Gretzky or Ma or Charlie Wilson all have an affinity for translating thought into action. They're what we might call physical geniuses. But what makes them so good at what they do?
more
Malcolm Gladwell
This gripping article from The New Yorker examines how people form first impressions of other people based on gut-reaction and instinct. Somthing allows us to anticipate what we think is their true character based on little or no information. A look, a glance, sometimes not even a word, and we have formed an irreversible first impression. What allows us to make these kinds of snap-decisions? How do we manage to make an accurate assesment so quickly? These and other questions are explored in this piece.
more
Malcolm Gladwell
Written with a non-technical audience in mind, this article explores the phenomenon of failure: how it is defined, who seccumbs to it, and why it happens. Focusing on the performance of sports figures, the article offers numerous contextual examples of failure and its after affects.
more
Malcolm Gladwell
How much of our life is determined by the events between birth and the age of three? There are scientists, psychologists, and doctors who believe this to be the most critical formative period in human life. As the theory goes, people are permenantly hard-wired according to the physical, emotional, and educational input they encounter during the first three years of life. Understanding the affect that environment has on a child would allow parents to affect their baby's development by anticipating the affect external input has on it.
more
Amit Goswami
In 1935, three physicists, Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen criticized quantum mechanics claiming that if it were a complete model of reality, then nonlocal interactions between objects had to exist. Since that was deemed inconsistent with the theory of relativity, quantum mechanics had to be either wrong or at least incomplete. This critique is known as the Einstein-Podolosky-Rosen (EPR) paradox.
Bell prepared the theoretical groundwork for experimental tests of EPR nonlocality and Aspect et al. experimentally verified that a nonlocal correlation between objects indeed occurs once these objects have interacted.
There is now evidence that EPR correlation occurs between human brains.
more
Peter Graf, Bob Uttl
Prospective memory is required for many aspects of everyday cognition, its breakdown
may be as debilitating as impairments in retrospective memory, and yet, the former has
received relatively little attention by memory researchers. This article outlines a strategy
for changing the fortunes of prospective memory, for guiding new research to shore up
the claim that prospective memory is a distinct aspect of cognition, and to obtain evidence for clear performance dissociations between prospective memory and other memory functions.
We begin by identifying the unique requirements of prospective memory tasks and by
dividing memory’s prospective functions into subdomains that are analogous to divisions in retrospective memory (e.g., short- versus long-term memory). We focus on one prospective function, called prospective memory proper; we define this function in the spirit of James (1890) as requiring that we are aware of a plan, of which meanwhile we have not been thinking, with the additional consciousness that we made the plan earlier. We give an operational definition of prospective memory proper and specify how it differs from explicit and implicit retrospective memory and how it might be empirically assessed.
more
Karl Grammer, Randy Thornhill, Astrid Jütte, Anja Rikowski, Gudrun Ronzal and Bernhard Fink
These pages review the current research situation in beauty research as I see it, and make some suggestions for future research directions. The pages are purely experimental. So do not expect something completely perfect. The following presentation is based on a talk by Karl Grammer at the Mindship Foundation in Copenhagen, Denmark, in the summer of 1996. The beauties above are purely synthetical. They are automorphed from 10American females and 10 Japanese with a program developed by us which can create prototypes, analyze skin surfaces, symmetry and the complexity of almost any stimulus. Currently it is used for the analysis of human faces and figures.
more
John Gribbin
The "central mystery" of quantum physics just got more mysterious. Experimenters from the United States and Austria have got together to provide a new demonstration of how light going through a "double slit" experiment seems to know before it sets out in its journey exactly what kind of traps have been set for it along the way.
more
M. Pamela Griffin, J. Randall Moorman,
Neonatal Sepsis is a catastrophic and fatal illness that affects newborn babies. This article details the efforts of researchers to make earlier diagnoses and develop more effective therapies.
more
Dr. Scott White
Structural polymers are susceptible to damage in the form of cracks, which form deep within the structure where detection is difficult and repair is almost impossible. Regardless of the application, once cracks have formed within polymeric materials, the integrity of the structure is significantly compromised. In this paper a structural polymeric material with the ability to autonomically heal cracks is presented.
more
Michael Hasselmo, Bradley P. Wyble
Free recall and recognition are simulated in a network model of the hippocampal formation, incorporating simplified simulations of neurons, synaptic connections, and the effects of acetylcholine. Simulations focus on modeling the effects of the acetylcholine receptor blocker scopolamine on human memory. Systemic administration of scopolamine is modeled by blockade of the cellular effects of acetylcholine in the model, resulting in memory impairments replicating data from studies on human subjects. This blockade of cholinergic effects impairs the encoding of new input patterns (as measured by delayed free recall), but does not impair the delayed free recall of input patterns learned before the blockade. The impairment is selective to the free recall but not the recognition of items encoded under the influence of scopolamine. In the model, scopolamine blocks strengthening of recurrent connections in region CA3 to form attractor states for new items (encoding impaired) but allows recurrent excitation to drive the network into previously stored attractor states (retrieval spared). Neuron populations representing items (individual
words) have weaker recurrent connections than neuron populations representing experimental context. When scopolamine further weakens the strength of recurrent connections it selectively prevents the subsequent reactivation of item attractor states by context input (impaired free recall) without impairing the subsequent reactivation of context attractor states by item input (spared recognition). This asymmetry in the strength of attractor states also allows simulation of the list-strength effect for free recall but not recognition. Simulation of a paired associate learning paradigm predicts that scopolamine should greatly enhance proactive interference due to retrieval of previously encoded associations during storage of new associations.
more
Mark Haw
Humans are better at ball games than robots because they can solve complex equations instinctively.
more
Jörg Heitkötter, David Beasley
If you are scientifically or mathematically-minded and looking to jump into the dizzying world of Evolutionary Algorithms, Classifier Systems, and Genetic Programming, this is your chance. Here you can learn about gray codes, fuzzy systems, and artificial neural networks. Find the links to anticipation. Go! Do it now!!
more
Joachim Hoffmann
Die Funktion von Antizipationen in der menschlichen Verhaltenssteuerung und Wahrnehmung. (Anticipation and cognition: The function of anticipations in human behavioral control and perception). Goettingen, Germany: Hogrefe, 1993
more
Anthony J. Hornof, David E. Kieras
This research presents cognitive models of a person selecting an item from a familiar, ordered, pull-down menu. The models assert that people make an initial eye and hand movement to an anticipated target location without waiting for the menu to appear.
more
Hiroshi Imamizu, Satoru Miyauchi, Tomoe Tamada, Yuka Sasaki, Ryousuke Takino, Benno Pütz, Toshinori Yoshioka, Mitsuo Kawato
Theories of motor control postulate that the brain uses internal models of the body to control movements accurately. Internal models are neural representations of how, for instance, the arm would respond to a neural command, given its current position
and velocity. Previous studies have shown that the cerebellar cortex can acquire internal models through motor learning. Because the human cerebellum is involved in higher cognitive function as well as in motor control, we propose a coherent computational theory in which the phylogenetically newer part of the cerebellum similarly acquires internal models of objects in the external world. While human subjects learned to use a new tool (a computer mouse with a novel rotational transformation), cerebellar activity was measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging. As predicted by our theory, two types of activity were observed. One was spread over wide areas of the cerebellum and was precisely proportional to the error signal that guides the acquisition of internal models during learning. The other was confined to the area near the posterior superior fissure and remained even after learning, when the error levels had been equalized, thus probably reflecting an acquired internal model of the new tool.
more
Richard B. Ivry, Thomas C. Richardson
We consider the psychological and neurological mechanisms involved in timed behaviors, motor or perceptual tasks that emphasize the temporal relationship between successive events. Two general models for representing temporal information
are described. In one model, temporal information is based on the oscillatory activity of an endogenous pacemaker; in the other model, temporal information is interval-based with distinct elements devoted to representing different intervals. We incorporate the interval hypothesis into a process model, the multiple timer model, to account for the timing and coordination of repetitive movements. The model accounts for the patterns of temporal stability observed within each effector and offers a novel account of between-effector coordination. Finally, we consider how timing and temporal coordination may be instantiated in the nervous system.
more
Brian David Josephson
"What are the mysterious interconnections that we find both in the sub-atomic world of quantum physics, and in the world of human experience: phenomena such as telepathy, now well established in the laboratory? We seem to be linked to each other and to the world by mechanisms that science still hardly understands. This is immensely significant, and we can hardly begin to understand the many implications of these links."
more
Christian Julia
Mental act of consisting of predicting the intentions of the adversary. In karate it is called "Sakki", i.e. sensing the willingness of an attack directed against oneself.
more
Amy Junod
Though they may not be as recognizable as the sight of a bulging belly, men´s bodies undergo physiological changes during their partners´ pregnancies, researchers say, especially if the men live with their expecting partners.
Men who live with pregnant women experience a dip in their testosterone levels before the baby is born, and a rise in the amount of prolactin in their bodies, a 1999 study indicates. Prolactin is the hormone that triggers milk production in pregnant women. Anne Storey, a psychology professor at Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland, suggests that these changes make men more prone to care for their pregnant partners and the newborn child.
more
George Kelly
“A person´s processes are psychologically channelized by the way in which he anticipates events.”
more
Vincent Kenny
This paper is addressed to those people who need some help in surviving Christmas given that they experience the entire event as oppressive, bleak and alienating rather than as a 'time of good cheer'. The paper analyses human desire in its impossibility, and derives several practical suggestions for how to make a difference in one's ways of approaching [yet again] the doomed event, so that by January one has generated some important human, personal novelty.
more
Didier Keymeulen, Masaya Iwata, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Tetsuya, Higuchi
This article describes the navigation task for a real mobile robot and its implementation on evolvable hardware. The robot must track a colored ball, while avoiding obstacles in an environment that is unknown and dynamic.
more
A. Knoll , J. Zhang
In the first part of the paper, we reflect on some research issues related to humanoid robots and their applications. Scientific challenges are categorised and briefly reviewed. In the second part, we describe some work that may help to interface humanoids more closely to the human world: multimodal dialog structures between humans and humanoids. A real-world setup that has been used extensively over the last years is presented along with a sample dialogue. A brief outlook on further research concludes the paper.
more
Alois Knoll, Thomas Christaller
Ten to fifteen years ago the term "robot" was connected either with real free-programmable handling-automats lacking any kind of intelligence, or with fictional humanoids, whose intelligence made human intelligence look like a transitional stage of evolution. The gap between the two worlds seemed irreconcilable, but now the representation of the situation is more sophisticated.
more
Brian Knutson Charles Adams, Grace Fong, Jonathan Walker, Daniel Hommer
In previous work, the authors observed activation of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) during anticipation of monetary reward but not punishment [1]. In this study they used a parametric design to replicate and extend that work by examining not only whether the NAcc would respond during reward anticipation, but also whether NAcc activity would scale to anticipated reward magnitude. They also compared NAcc activity during anticipation of incentives with that of a dorsal striatal control region, the Caudate (Caud).
more
H. Koenig
This site contains Information on Conway's Game of Life cellular automata. Included are catalogs of known objects in various classes, object constructions, glider collisions, Herschel track components, oscillator rotors and inductor components, and other information. The Game of Life is a 2-D cellular automata, first introduced in Martin Gardner's Mathematical Gamescolumn in the October 1970 issue of Scientific American.
more
George F. Koob, Michel Le Moal
Understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of addiction requires an integration of basic neuroscience with social psychology, experimental psychology, and psychiatry. Addiction is presented as a cycle of spiralling dysregulation of brain reward systems that progressively increases, resulting in compulsive drug use and a loss of control over drug-taking. Sensitization and counteradaptation are hypothesized to contribute to this hedonic homeostatic dysregulation, and the neurobiological mechanisms involved, such as the mesolimbic dopamine system, opioid peptidergic systems, and brain and hormonal stress systems, are beginning to be characterized. This framework provides a realistic approach to identifying the neurobiological factors that produce vulnerability to addiction and to relapse in individuals with a history of addiction.
more
Tetsuo Koyama, Yusuke Zn Tanaka, Akichika Mikami
Since the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is known to be involved both in nociception and in anticipation that precedes the avoidance of aversive stimuli, the linking of these functions may be processed in the ACC. To test this hypothesis, we recorded single neuronal activities in the ACC of a macaque monkey while it was performing a pain-avoidance task and examined them with nociceptive cutaneous electric stimuli (ES). Thirty-six neurons responded in anticipation of the ES. Of these, 22 neurons were tested with the ES and 11 responded. These neurons could be those that are involved both in nociception and in pain anticipation that precedes the avoidance of noxious stimuli.
(Full text subject to charges)
more
Ralf Th. Krampe, Ralf Engbert, and Reinhold Kliegl
more
Ralf T. Krampe, Ralf Engbert, and Reinhold Kliegl
We investigate age- and expertise-related individual differences in component processes of rhythmic timing. To this end we apply analysis of covariance structure and symbolic dynamics to time series obtained from performances of two bimanual rhythm tasks at different tempos. Results show similar effects for peripheral motor implementation and timekeeper execution in young and older amateur pianists. Older participants show specific problems with temporal sequencing processes (specification of different target intervals). Expert pianists show lower variability in both motor implementation and timekeeper execution and they accommodate to the sequencing demands of different tempos by selectively relying on integrated or parallel timing. We argue that the observed timing control characteristics reflect individuals’ adaptations to internal processing limitations and performance constraints.
more
Ralf Th. Krampe, Ralf Engbert, Reinhold Kliegl
more
Ralf T. Krampe, Ralf Engbert, Reinhold Kliegl
We investigate age- and expertise-related individual differences in component processes of rhythmic timing. To this end we apply analysis of covariance structure and symbolic dynamics to time series obtained from performances of two bimanual rhythm tasks at different tempos. Results show similar effects for peripheral motor implementation and timekeeper execution in young and older amateur pianists. Older participants show specific problems with temporal sequencing processes (specification of different target intervals). Expert pianists show lower variability in both motor implementation and timekeeper execution and they accommodate to the sequencing demands of different tempos by selectively relying on integrated or parallel timing. We argue that the observed timing control characteristics reflect individuals' adaptations to internal processing limitations and performance constraints.
more
Kalevi Kull
Organism is a text to itself since it requires reading and re-presentation of its own structures for its existence, e.g., for growth and reparation. It also uses reading of its memory when functioning. This defines an organism as a self-reading text. Anticipation is a property which primarily appears in autocatalytic cycles. For textual autocatalytic systems, anticipation could be represented as a sign.
more
Joel Kurtzman
This is the script of an interview with W. Brian Arthur published in "Strategy & Business."
more
John E. Laird
The complexity of AI characters in computer games is continually improving; however they still fall short of human players. In this paper we describe an AI bot for the game Quake II that tries to incorporate some of those missing capabilities. This bot is distinguished by its ability to build its own map as it explores a level, use a wide variety of tactics based on its internal map, and in some cases, anticipate its opponent's actions.
more
John E. Laird
The artificial intelligence (AI) components of computer games often appear to be very complex, possibly having abilities beyond the state of the art in computer generated forces. In this paper we study the similarities and differences between AIs for computer games and computer generated forces (CGFs). We contrast the goals of AIs and CGFs, their behavioral requirements, and the underlying resources available for developing and fielding them, with an eye to how they impact the complexity of their behaviors.
more
John Lasseter
This paper describes the basic principles of traditional 2D hand drawn animation and their application to 3D computer animation. After describing how these principles evolved, the individual principles are detailed addressing their meanings in 2D hand drawn animation and their application to 3D computer animation. This should demonstrate the importance of these principles to quality 3D computer animation.
more
Annick Ledebt, Blandine Bril, Yvon Breniore
This study analyses the anticipatory postural adjustments during the gait initiation process in children aged 2.5, 4, 6 and 8 years. The results showed that even if anticipatory behaviour was present in 2.5-year-old children, it is only later that the child is able of more accurate tuning of feed-forward control, probably due to better control of the overall postural adjustments.
more
Michael van Lent, John Laird, Josh Buckman, Joe Hartford, Steve Houchard, Kurt Steinkraus, Russ Tedrake
The Soar/Games project (van Lent and Laird 1999) at the University of Michigan Artificial Intelligence Lab has developed an interface between Soar and the commercial computer games Quake II and Descent 3.
Soar serves as an inference engine for the intelligent agent in the games.
more
Benjamin Libet, Anthony Freeman, & J. K. B. Sutherland, Editors
Many scientists and philosophers claim that everything in the physical world (including all our own actions) is predetermined. On this view, no one is responsible for anything they do, so punishment is an inappropriate response to crime. The Volitional Brain looks at the evidence from science, psychology, and philosophy and debates these issues from the standpoint of both "sceptics" and "libertarians."
more
Vic Lindal
Developed by Volleyball Coach Vic Lindal, End Point Visualization is believed to give a final push to move a game from mediocre to sensational. Every good athlete that has become a great athlete believes that success came, not because of physical attributes or skill but because of mental conditioning. This great program, designed for success regardless of sport, my be a key to success.
more
C. Lindsey, D. C. Braun
Images of an active region on the far side of the sun were derived by applying seismic holography to recent helioseismic observations from space. Synoptic seismic imaging of far-side solar activity will now allow anticipation of the appearance of large active regions more than a week ahead of their arrival on the east solar limb.
more
Gavin Kenneth MacGregor
A rectangle who's proportions are based on The Golden Section is said to look most pleasing. This and it's other magical properties are said here.
more
Ian Main
The recent earthquake in Colombia has once again illustrated to the general public the inability of science to predict such natural catastrophes. Despite the significant global effort that has gone into the investigation of the nucleation process of earthquakes, such events still seem to strike suddenly and without obvious warning. Not all natural catastrophes are so apparently unpredictable, however.
more
Charles C. Mann
Jeff Hawkins, creator of the PalmPilot, has other, much larger ambitions. He wants to figure out how the brain does its thing. Charles C. Mann, a frequent contributor to Technology Review, started his interview with Hawkins by asking why he quit graduate school.
more
Teresa Marrin, Rosalind W. Picard
The Conductor´s Jacket is a wearable physiological monitoring system that has been built into the clothing of an orchestral conductor; it was designed to provide a testbed for the study of emotional expression as it relates to musical performance. The sensors in the jacket were chosen because they have been shown to give strong indications of emotional state; they have been used before in different studies to capture physiological signals from the surface of the skin[7,8]. The Conductor´s Jacket has recently been used to gather data during several orchestral rehearsals with a professional conductor in Boston. This paper presents our initial results, which support certain hypotheses about the ways in which human beings modulate their own physiology in order to communicate affective information.
The data we collected supports four major features in the standard conducting technique: that the left hand should be used to add emphasis and extra expressive information, that page turns are done in such a way as to purposefully not attract attention or convey musical information, that the amount of force used in performing a beat gesture indicates the volume and articulation with which that note should be played, and that a conductor´s breathing reflects important information about phrase lengths and interpretation. We also found some surprising results, including several instances where the muscles went limp right before a major event, which suggests that the sudden absence of information has been encoded to signal a “heads-up” to the players in anticipation of an important future event.
more
Polly Matzinger
The human immune system protects us from disease in many ways. But how does it work? How does it distinguish the biological elements that are safe from the those that are dangerous? This article puts forth a new theory about how the immune system identitfies what it needs to attack. What guides the immune system in the identification of foreign bodies before an attack occurs? The article is probably best suited for those with an intermediate knowledge of biology or above.
more
Mike May
John F. Putz, a mathematician at Alma College, became intrigued with the notion that Motzart may have composed his piano sonatas using an ancient tool called the "golden section." This ratio states that when a line is separated into two parts, the ratio between the smallest piece and the largest piece is equal to that between the larget piece and the whole. Many people claim that this is the "perfect" ratio. The article explores in basic mathematical terms whether Putz's theory was accurate.
more
John McCrone
BENJAMIN LIBET'S HALF SECOND. Reluctantly, neuroscientists were being forced to give up their simple computationalview of the brain. But one startling finding of the 1960s should already have given pause for thought. Indeed, even the work of the very first psychologists - 19th Century researchers like Helmhotz and Wundt - should have been a warning. Because consciousness seems instant and effortless, it is tempting to assume it is actually so. But careful reaction time experiments had already suggested that awareness develops slowly and in stages. Then a San Francisco researcher, Benjamin Libet, stuck stimulating electrodes in people's heads during brain surgery and showed that it seemed to take a full half second for a person to evolve a state of consciousness for a new experience. The time it takes to settle a fully-tuned spread of neural representation means that we must constantly run half a second behind reality -although for some reason we never notice the fact. The critical response to Libet's experiments over the following 30 years tells much about why science has struggled so hard to find the right path to an understanding of the human mind.
more
J. McIntyre, M. Zago, A. Berthoz, F. Lacquaniti
How does the nervous system synchronize movements to catch a falling ball? According to one theory, only sensory information is used to estimate time-to-contact (TTC) with an approaching object; alternatively, implicit knowledge about physics may come into play. Here we show that astronauts initiated catching movements earlier in 0 g than in 1 g, which demonstrates that the brain uses an internal model of gravity to supplement sensory information when estimating TTC.
more
Franz Mechsner, Dirk Kerzel, Günter Knoblich, Wolfgang Prinz
Periodic bimanual movements are often the focus of studies of the basic organizational principles of human actions. In such movements there is a typical spontaneous tendency towards mirror symmetry. Even involuntary slips from asymmetrical movement patterns into symmetry occur, but not vice versa. Traditionally, this phenomenon has been interpreted as a tendency towards co-activation of homologous muscles, probably originating in motoric neuronal structures. Here we provide evidence contrary to this widespread assumption.
more
Warren H. Meck, Aimee M. Benson
The ability of organisms to time and coordinate temporal sequences of events and to select particular aspects of their internal and external environments to which they will attend is vital to the organism's ability to adapt to the world around them. Numerous psychological theories have been proposed that describe how organisms might accomplish such stimulus selection and represent discrete temporal events as well as rhythm production. In addition, a large number of studies have demonstrated that damage to the frontostriatal circuitry appears to compromise the ability of organisms to successfully shift attention and behavior to adapt to changing temporal contexts. This suggests that frontostriatal circuitry is involved in the ability to make such shifts and to process temporal intervals. A selective review is accomplished in this article which focuses upon the specific neural mechanisms that may be involved in interval timing and set shifting. It is concluded that prefrontal cortex, substantia nigra pars compacta, pedunculopontine nucleus, and the direct and indirect pathways from the caudate to the thalamus may provide the neuroanatomical and neurophysiological substrates that underlie the organism's ability to shift its attention from one temporal context to another.
more
D. C. Mikulecky
The following relational model is an adaptation of Rosen`s Metabolism-Repair {M,R} model of the organism which incorporates a small amount of additional detail regarding the anabolic/catabolic homeostatic cycle.
more
Donald C. Mikulecky
The question "What is life?" has been around for some time. There is an impressive list of great minds that tackled the question. In spite of this, it has never been answered in any definitive way. Robert Rosen, a student of Nicholas Rashevsky and a product of the Mathematical Biology program at the University of Chicago, started one line of research that grappled with the question in the late 1950's. It is worth examining the progression, which led Bob Rosen to realize that he was dealing with a poorly posed question and that when rephrased, the question had an earthshaking answer - not so much due to its information content but more so due to the process by which it was answered. This process and its revelatory ramifications are the subject of this review.
more
Don Mikulecky
In this paper the author explains that relational diagrams are an outgrowth of the simpler, less abstract input/output drawings of systems theory.
more
Manfred Milinski, Dirk Semmann, Hans-Jürgen Krambeck
The problem of sustaining a public resource that everybody is free to overuse the "tragedy of the commons" emerges in many social dilemmas, such as our inability to sustain the global climate. Public goods experiments, which are used to study this type of problem, usually confirm that the collective benefit will not be produced. Because individuals and countries often participate in several social games simultaneously, the interaction of these games may provide a sophisticated way by which to maintain the public resource. Indirect reciprocity "give and you shall receive", is built on reputation and can sustain a high level of cooperation, as shown by game theorists. Here we show, through alternating rounds of public goods and indirect reciprocity games, that the need to maintain reputation for indirect reciprocity maintains contributions to the public good at an unexpectedly high level. But if rounds of indirect reciprocation are not expected, then contributions to the public good drop quickly to zero. Alternating the games leads to higher profits for all players. As reputation may be a currency that is valid in many social games, our approach could be used to test social dilemmas for their solubility.
more
Nelson Minar, Roger Burkhart , Chris Langton, Manor Askenazi
Swarm is a multi-agent software platform for the simulation of complex adaptive systems. In the Swarm system the basic unit of simulation is the swarm, a collection of agents executing a schedule of actions. Swarm supports hierarchical modeling approaches whereby agents can be composed of swarms of other agents in nested structures. Swarm provides object oriented libraries of reusable components for building models and analyzing, displaying, and controlling experiments on those models. Swarm is currently available as a beta version in full, free source code form. It requires the GNU C Compiler, Unix, and X Windows.
more
Alison Motluk
Imagine you had cells in your brain that could read other people's minds. Well, you do. And they could be the key to human language, empathy, even society, says Alison Motluk
more
Susan Murtha, Howard Chertkow, Mario Beauregard, Alan Evans
A PET study of 10 normal males was carried out using the bolus H215O intravenous injection technique to examine the effects of picture naming and semantic judgment on blood flow. In a series of conditions, subjects (1) passively viewed flashing plus signs, (2) noted the occurrence of abstract patterns, (3) named animal pictures, or (4) carried out a semantic judgment on animal pictures. Anticipatory scans were carried out after the subjects were presented with the instructions but before they began the cognitive task, as they were passively viewing plus signs. Our results serve to clarify a number of current controversies regarding the neural substrate of picture naming.
more
Mihai Nadin
Anticipation lies at the foundation of the entire cognitive activity of the human being. Moreover, through anticipation, we humans gain insight into what keeps our world together as a coherent whole whose future states stand in correlation to the present state as minds grasp it. Minds exist only in relation to other minds; they are instantiations of co-relations.
more
Mihai Nadin
Chaos is actually order, but of less obvious nature. This order corresponds to sequence cause and effect, i.e. it is of deterministic nature. The term 'anticipation' implies some dynamic processes which are non-deterministic.
more
Mihai Nadin
This identification of minds as having only a relational existence is critical insofar as it suggests transcending the model that describes the operations of the mind according to its distinct functions and adopting a model based on dynamic relations. We can learn about the mind only by considering interaction among minds. In an even more pointed formulation: To know the mind means to know how minds interact.
more
Mihai Nadin
The title of the paper is meant to submit the hypothesis that such processes are relate