Curiosity-driven recommendation strategy for adaptive learning via deep reinforcement learning

The design of recommendation strategies in the adaptive learning systems focuses on utilizing currently available information to provide learners with individual-specific learning instructions. As a critical motivate for human behaviours, curiosity is essentially the drive to explore knowledge and seek information. In a psychologically inspired view, we propose a curiosity-driven recommendation policy within the reinforcement learning framework, allowing for an efficient and enjoyable personalized learning path. Specifically, a curiosity reward from a well-designed predictive model is generated to model one's familiarity with the knowledge space. Given such curiosity rewards, we apply the actor–critic method to approximate the policy directly through neural networks. Numerical analyses with a large continuous knowledge state space and concrete learning scenarios are provided to further demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method.     

Barriers and Facilitators to Implementing Attachment-based Family Therapy into a Child Welfare Setting: A Qualitative Process Evaluation

Child welfare systems (CWSs) worldwide show increased interest in adopting empirically informed clinical strategies to increase treatment effectiveness. Many empirically supported treatments (ESTs) exist, but little is known about EST implementation barriers and facilitators in CWS. This study explored CWS providers’ experiences of implementing attachment-based family therapy (ABFT) in home-based services of the Flemish CWS (in Belgium). Sixteen CWS providers (twelve counselors and four supervisors) involved in three home-based services were interviewed. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) was used to guide collection, coding, and analysis of interview data. Findings revealed that implementation success was related to ABFT's fit with the CWS's mission, philosophy, and existing practices. CWS providers’ belief in the compatibility between ABFT and CWS increased investment in implementation efforts and persistence to overcome challenges and setbacks. Some barriers pertained to the learning of ABFT and some barriers pertained to systems level challenges such as lack of leadership and support, poor coordination with referral sources and other youth care partners, and lack of policy support. For successful expansion of ESTs into CWS settings, various barriers at multiple systemic levels need to be addressed.     

Do higher-class individuals feel more entitled? The role of system-justifying belief

ABSTRACT

Sense of entitlement can be defined as a pervasive sense that one deserves more and is entitled to more than others. Two studies examined the relationship between social class and sense of entitlement and how this relationship is moderated by system-justifying belief (SJB) in China. In Study 1, we conducted a survey among adults (N = 669) with results showing that social class was positively correlated with sense of entitlement for those endorsing SJB, but negatively correlated with sense of entitlement for those opposing SJB. In Study 2, we conducted an experiment among undergraduates (N = 128) with both social class and SJB being primed and the results replicated the pattern: the positive effect of primed higher social class on pay entitlement existed only for those primed with high SJB, and was dampened for those primed with low SJB. Therefore, higher-class individuals do not necessarily feel more entitled, and SJB may play an important role in shaping their sense of entitlement.     

儒家的修身思想体系探微

儒家文化中的“修身”思想作为一种底蕴深厚的文化现象,本身具有完备的理论体系。这个体系以“人性论”为思想基础,以“仁”为核心,以“礼”为判断标准,以“修己”为基本模式,以“博学”、“正己”、“尚义”、“中和”、“多思”、“慎独”、“重节”、“重行”为主要内容,以立“圣人之德”为最高精神境界,形成了既有坚实的思想基础、又有丰富的实际内容的文化体系。     

Glutamate receptors in the medial geniculate nucleus are necessary for expression and extinction of conditioned fear in rats

Auditory fear conditioning requires anatomical projections from the medial geniculate nucleus (MGN) of the thalamus to the amygdala. Several lines of work indicate that the MGN is a critical sensory relay for auditory information during conditioning, but is not itself involved in the encoding of long-term fear memories. In the present experiments, we examined whether the MGN plays a similar role in the extinction of conditioned fear. Twenty-four hours after Pavlovian fear conditioning, rats received bilateral intra-thalamic infusions of either with NBQX (an AMPA receptor antagonist; Experiment 1) or MK-801 (an NMDA receptor antagonist; Experiment 1), anisomycin (a protein synthesis inhibitor; Experiment 2) or U0126 (a MEK inhibitor; Experiment 3) immediately prior to an extinction session in a novel context. The next day rats received a tone test in a drug-free state to assess their extinction memory; freezing served as an index of fear. Glutamate receptor antagonism prevented both the expression and extinction of conditioned fear. In contrast, neither anisomycin nor U0126 affected extinction. These results suggest that the MGN is a critical sensory relay for auditory information during extinction training, but is not itself a site of plasticity underlying the formation of the extinction memory.     

镜像神经元系统的研究回顾及展望

镜像神经元系统的发现使得研究者从一个较为统一的神经机制层面了解人类多个层次的社会认知活动。在猕猴大脑F5区发现的镜像神经元可以在抽象的层面上帮助猕猴理解他人行为的意图。利用脑成像技术,研究发现人类的镜像神经元系统能够匹配外界的知觉表征和内在的动作表征从而通过“居身模仿”这一过程来进行模仿、语言理解、理解他人的意图及情绪这些重要的社会认知活动。另外,镜像神经元系统在社会交往中也起着重要作用,最后,就镜像神经元系统在心理理论中的作用、了解自我-他人问题和镜像神经元系统的关系、动机、经验等因素对镜像神经元系统活动的调控等问题对未来的研究方向进行了展望     

MINDING QUANTA AND COSMOLOGY

The revolution in science inaugurated by quantum physics has made us aware of the role of observation in the construction of data. Eugene Wigner remarked that in quantum physics we no longer have observables (invariants), only observations. Tongue in cheek, I asked him whether that meant that quantum physics is really psychology, expecting a gruff reply to my sassiness. Instead, Wigner beamed understanding and replied "Yes, yes, that's exactly correct." David Bohm pointed out that were we to look at the cosmos without the lenses of our telescopes we would see a hologram. I extend Bohm's insight to the lens in the optics of the eye. The receptor processes of the ear and skin work in a similar fashion. Without these lenses and lenslike operations all of our perceptions would be entangled as in a hologram. Furthermore, the retina absorbs quanta of radiation so that quantum physics uses the very perceptions that become formed by it. In turn, higher-order brain systems send signals to the sensory receptors so that what we perceive is often as much a result of earlier rather than just immediate experience. This influence from inside out becomes especially relevant to our interpretation of how we experience the contents and bounds of cosmology that come to us by way of radiation.     

Formative Evaluation of a Tabletop Display Meant to Orient Casual Conversation

In this paper, we introduce a novel type of persuasive system aimed at orienting a group conversation in a casual setting. The system is based on a tabletop display complemented by a limited speech recognition system (a word spotter). It affects group behavior indirectly by presenting on the shared interface contextually appropriate visual material in a way reminiscent of the tradition of advertising: attention-catching, evocative, and cognitively stimulating. The system is meant to be used in the context of a museum visit. The purpose is to influence a group of friends so that they discuss their museum experience, while sitting at the museum café after the visit. Results show the system in the current version has a moderate effect on group behavior and provide indications for promising improvements.     

Marmosets as a next-generation model of comparative cognition

Common marmosets have traditionally been used in fields such as comparative psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and ethology, and as animal models of human disease research because of their relatively small body size, high reproductive rate, similar breeding system characteristics to those of humans, high dependency on vocal communication, and behavioral effects from drug administration that resemble those of humans. Although the animal has proved to be quite advantageous in animal model research in comparison to rodents, and has specific ecological and evolutionary characteristics that are worthy of exploration, few attempts have been made until recently to combine both types of approach. Thus, supported by neuroscientific methodologies that have recently been developed using this species, the authors suggest that the evolutionary origins of cognitive and social functions common to or differentiated in primates, could be uncovered through research that explores the behavioral and neural bases of cognition in the marmosets.     

Reduced approach motivation following nonreward: Extension of the BIS/BAS scales

The current study describes the development and validation of a new subscale to be used with the BIS/BAS scales (Carver & White, 1994). This subscale measures lowered approach motivation following nonreward. Factor analysis of the new subscale was carried out within a sample of 308 University students, test–retest reliability was established within a sample of 62 individuals, and construct validity was explored in a sample of 86 individuals by comparing scores on the new subscale with those on an existing self-report measure of apathy and on a behavioural measure of persistence. Reliability and validity of the new frustrative nonreward responsiveness subscale was found to be adequate within the populations studied. The findings are discussed in relation to theoretical accounts of BAS and BIS sensitivity.