Brain and mind operational architectonics and man-made “machine” consciousness

To build a true conscious robot requires that a robot’s “brain” be capable of supporting the phenomenal consciousness as human’s brain enjoys. Operational Architectonics framework through exploration of the temporal structure of information flow and inter-area interactions within the network of functional neuronal populations [by examining topographic sharp transition processes in the scalp electroencephalogram (EEG) on the millisecond scale] reveals and describes the EEG architecture which is analogous to the architecture of the phenomenal world. This suggests that the task of creating the “machine” consciousness would require a machine implementation that can support the kind of hierarchical architecture found in EEG.

How Can Experts See the Invisible? Reply to Bilalić and Gobet

Experts in all fields are able to see what is invisible to others. Experts are also able to see what is visible to all—and this is explored by Bilalić and Gobet. We question the method of normalizing all subjects in an experimental condition, and asking experts to behave as if they were novices. We claim that method leads Bilalić and Gobet to a nonsequitur .     

ACCULTURATION INDICES AS A MEANS OF CONFIRMING CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

The acculturation of subjects from culture A to culture B can take three forms: the more acculturated subjects may make responses that are similar to the responses made by subjects from culture B (accommodation), they may go beyond B's position (overshooting), and they may move in the opposite direction from the position of the members of culture B (ethnic affirmation). The paper presents three sets of data concerning elements of subjective culture (role perceptions, behavioral intentions, and stereotypes), with subjects speaking Spanish and residing in the U.S. who are at three levels of acculturation. The data show that role perceptions and behavioral intentions are characterized mostly by accommodation, while stereotypes are characterized mostly by ethnic affirmation. A theoretical explanation of this pattern of results is that elements of subjective culture are linked to overt behavior both directly and indirectly. As members of culture A acculturate to culture B, their behavior becomes similar to the behavior of members of culture B. Those elements of subjective culture that are directly linked with this behavior change; however, those elements that are not directly linked do not change or even show ethnic affirmation. Testing of this theoretical formulation will require additional research. L'acculturation de sujets d'une culture A à une culture B peut prendre trois formes: Les sujets les plus acculturés peuvent donner des réponses qui sont semblables aux réponses données par des sujets de la culture B (accommodation), ils peuvent aller au-delà de la position de la culture B (surpassement) et ils peuvent aller dans une direction opposée de celle des membres de la culture B (affirmation ethnique). Cet article présente trois groupes de données qui concernent des éléments de culture subjective (perception des rôles, intentions comportementales et stéréotypes), avec des sujets hispanophones résidant aux Etats-Unis et des trois niveaux d'acculturation. Les données montrent que les perceptions de rôle et les intentions comportementales sont caractérisées surtout par l'accommodation tandis que les stéréotypes sont caractérisées surtout par l'affirmation ethnique. Une explication possible de ces résultats est que des éléments de culture subjective sont liés directement et indirectement au comportement ouvert. Le comportement de membres d'une culture A acculturés à une culture B devient similaire au comportement des membres de cette culture B. Les éléments de culture subjective qui sont directement liés à ce comportement changent; cependant les éléments qui ne lui sont pas liés restent inchangés ou présentent měme une affirmation ethnique. Des recherches supplémentaires seront nécessaires pour tester cette formulation théorique.     

Cross-modal interactions in the perception of musical performance

We investigate the dynamics of sensory integration for perceiving musical performance, a complex natural behavior. Thirty musically trained participants saw, heard, or both saw and heard, performances by two clarinetists. All participants used a sliding potentiometer to make continuous judgments of tension (a measure correlated with emotional response) and continuous judgments of phrasing (a measure correlated with perceived musical structure) as performances were presented. The data analysis sought to reveal relations between the sensory modalities (vision and audition) and to quantify the effect of seeing the performances on participants' overall subjective experience of the music. In addition to traditional statistics, functional data analysis techniques were employed to analyze time-varying aspects of the data. The auditory and visual channels were found to convey similar experiences of phrasing but different experiences of tension through much of the performances. We found that visual information served both to augment and to reduce the experience of tension at different points in the musical piece (as revealed by functional linear modeling and functional significance testing). In addition, the musicians' movements served to extend the sense of phrasing, to cue the beginning of new phrases, to indicate musical interpretation, and to anticipate changes in emotional content. Evidence for an interaction effect suggests that there may exist an emergent quality when musical performances are both seen and heard. The investigation augments knowledge of human communicative processes spanning language and music, and involving multiple modalities of emotion and information transfer.     

Transgenic mice expressing a truncated form of CREB-binding protein (CBP) exhibit deficits in hippocampal synaptic plasticity and memory storage

Deletions, translocations, or point mutations in the CREB-binding protein (CBP) gene have been associated with Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome; a human developmental disorder characterized by retarded growth and reduced mental function. To examine the role of CBP in memory, transgenic mice were generated in which the CaMKII alpha promoter drives expression of an inhibitory truncated CBP protein in forebrain neurons. Examination of hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP), a form of synaptic plasticity thought to underlie memory storage, revealed significantly reduced late-phase LTP induced by dopamine-regulated potentiation in hippocampal slices from CBP transgenic mice. However, four-train induced late-phase LTP is normal. Behaviorally, CBP transgenic mice exhibited memory deficits in spatial learning in the Morris water maze and deficits in long-term memory for contextual fear conditioning, two hippocampus-dependent tasks. Together, these results demonstrate that CBP is involved in specific forms of hippocampal synaptic plasticity and hippocampus-dependent long-term memory formation.     

Innovation across cultures: Connecting leadership,identification, and creative behavior in organizations

Innovation is considered essential for today's organizations to survive and thrive. Researchers have also stressed the importance of leadership as a driver of followers' innovative work behavior (FIB). Yet, despite a large amount of research, three areas remain understudied: (a) The relative importance of different forms of leadership for FIB; (b) the mechanisms through which leadership impacts FIB; and (c) the degree to which relationships between leadership and FIB are generalizable across cultures. To address these lacunae, we propose an integrated model connecting four types of positive leadership behaviors, two types of identification (as mediating variables), and FIB. We tested our model in a global data set comprising responses of N = 7,225 participants from 23 countries, grouped into nine cultural clusters. Our results indicate that perceived LMX quality was the strongest relative predictor of FIB. Furthermore, the relationships between both perceived LMX quality and identity leadership with FIB were mediated by social identification. The indirect effect of LMX on FIB via social identification was stable across clusters, whereas the indirect effects of the other forms of leadership on FIB via social identification were stronger in countries high versus low on collectivism. Power distance did not influence the relations.