Prediction Errors and Attention in the Presence and Absence of Feedback

ABSTRACT— Contemporary theories of learning typically assume that learning is driven by prediction errors—in other words, that we learn more when our predictions turn out to be incorrect than we do when our predictions are correct. Results from the recording of electrical brain activity suggest one mechanism by which this might happen; we seem to direct visual attention toward the likely causes of previous prediction errors. This can happen very rapidly—within less than 200 milliseconds of the error-causing object being presented. It is tempting to infer that if learning is driven by prediction errors, then little can be learned in the absence of feedback. Such a conclusion is unwarranted. In fact, the substantial learning that is sometimes the result of simple exposure to objects can also be explained by processes of directing attention toward the likely causes of previous prediction errors.     

干扰子的激活、抑制及其加工时程

针对有关干扰子激活和抑制加工的时程研究存在的分歧,采用干扰效应和负启动效应双指标,探讨不同知觉负载水平下干扰子的激活和抑制及其加工时程问题。结果显示：在同一实验条件下采用干扰效应和负启动效应双指标可将干扰子加工过程分离为激活和抑制两个阶段;激活加工时程发生在选择性注意早期,抑制加工时程发生在选择性注意的早期至中期之间。这一结果与Lavie等的推测及认知神经科学研究成果均有异同。     

The dynamic infrastructure of mind—A hypothesis and some of its applications

A mechanism underlying the computational properties of the cognitive architecture is construed based on a minimal list of operational clusters. This general processing mechanism constitutes the dynamic infrastructure of mind (DIM). DIM consists in categories of mental operations foundational for learning that contain inborn components called inner operations, which are self-developing in the interaction mind-environment. Within the DIM paradigm, the input cognitive systems are not domain specific or core-knowledge specific, they are operational specific and capable of further developments that become domain specific while experiencing the environment. Arguments for this construal come from three sources: literature review, data collected through classroom observations, and a four-year experimental study of teaching and learning mathematics in primary grades. The outcomes of that experiment led to a methodology of learning based on activating the operational infrastructure of mind, which enhances students' flexibility of thinking and predicts the capacity to solve creatively a variety of problems.     

听觉警报失聪的认知因素

无意失聪是指当人们集中精神做事时,会忽略非预期的听觉刺激。这种现象在现实生活中普遍存在,它对航空和交通安全构成巨大威胁。研究者们发现高知觉和高认知负荷条件下个体会因认知资源有限导致无意失聪,且随着负荷增加,被忽略的听觉刺激诱发的早期（N100）和晚期（P300）神经活动有所减弱。这表明非预期听觉刺激可以进入晚期加工阶段,但其能否被感知可能取决于与工作记忆相关的额顶网络的抑制控制程度。而工作记忆容量及其负荷与无意失聪关系的现有研究结果之间还存在不一致性。未来研究可以将其范式和理论拓展到其他安全生产领域,并运用认知训练等方式规避无意失聪,从而减少人因失误。     

The role of exemplar distribution in infants'' differentiation of categories

Three experiments investigated how the frequency of exposure to particular exemplars influenced 10-month-old infants' differentiation of land and sea animals in an object-examining task. In Experiments 1 and 2, one category exemplar was presented more frequently than the others during familiarization (i.e., that exemplar was presented on 6 of 12 familiarization trials, and 3 other exemplars were each presented on 2 familiarization trials). For half of the infants, the frequent exemplar was similar to other category exemplars (e.g., a zebra if the familiarization category was land animals), and for half the frequent exemplar was not similar to many other category exemplars (e.g., a rabbit). Infants who frequently experienced the similar exemplar formed an exclusive category, and differentiated land and sea animals. Infants who frequently experienced a dissimilar exemplar, in contrast, formed an inclusive category, and failed to differentiate between land and sea animals. In Experiment 3, infants received frequent experience with a set of similar or dissimilar exemplars, and the same pattern was observed. Thus, 10-month-old infants are sensitive to the distribution of the exemplars to which they are exposed, and they form different category boundaries depending on that distribution.     

An empirical look at the Defence Mechanism Test (DMT) Stimulus effects

Based on a sample of non-clinical subjects (N=74) the study examines the Defence Mechanism Test (DMT) by focusing on when perceptual distortions, called ‘signs of defence’ in DMT terminology, occur (distribution in exposure duration), which part of the picture is involved (distribution in localisation), and which ‘signs’ go together (using correlation and factor analyses). The results disclosed that the occurrence of perceptual distortions (‘signs of defence’) was related to exposure duration (some ‘defences’ are more frequent at brief exposures, some others at longer exposure durations), and to localisation on the picture. The location of misperceptions to the central person (hero) or the peripheral person (pp) of the picture was the major explanatory principle for the distribution of ‘signs’ on factors. Rather than capturing psychodynamic defence mechanisms, which is the theoretical basis of the test, the analyses imply that the DMT seems to measure misperceptions which are a function of the localisation of persons on the stimulus picture and of exposure durations.     

Reactions to DMT as related to psychotic and borderline personality organization

Thirty-one inpatients in a psychiatric clinic were assessed with DMT and the Structural Interview. In order to assemble every relevant reaction that an individual might have to a percept-genesis, 130 DMT variables were formed. The results were first subjected to a quality control of the DMT-scores and then subjected to partial least squares in latent variables (PLS) discriminant analysis. The analysis showed that it is possible to separate patients with psychotic PO (PPO) from those with borderline PO (BPO) by means of the 130 variables. The BPO group is characterized by aggressive manifestations, sensitivity to threat, identity lability and various transformations of the Hero gestalt. The PPO group, on the other hand, is characterized by high threshold values for perception, lack of identity, denial and repression of the peripheral person at a late-phase level. There are other perceptual reactions that are important predictors of PO than the defence categories of the manual. These perceptual reactions do not correspond to the traditional psychodynamic defence mechanisms. Our conclusion is that principal component analysis (PCA) and PLS are useful methods of finding discriminating patterns of perceptual reactions to the DMT for patients with different PO.     

关于早期知觉过程中注意资源分配权重的实验研究

本研究将早期知觉过程中分配的资源比例理解为权重。实验采用中心提示法,探讨了字母、数字、图形和颜色四种刺激特征的早期识别过程中资源分配权重问题。结果发现：（１）颜色不易受到提示的影响,而其它三个特征则受提示的影响较大;（２）在弱提示位置上,对数字的识别比对字母和图形的识别要难,而在强提示位置上,则相差不大。说明这四种刺激特征的注意权重在知觉加工的初始阶段是不同的;这种“不同”是早期知觉过程中刺激因素与注意资源分配之间相互作用的结果。     

Bias and Accuracy of Children's Perceptions of Peer Acceptance: Prospective Associations with Depressive Symptoms

Are depressive symptoms in middle childhood associated with more or less realistic social self-perceptions? At the beginning and end of the school year, children in grades 3 through 5 (n=667) rated how much they liked their classmates, predicted the acceptance ratings they would receive from each of their classmates, and completed self-report measures of perceived acceptance and depressive symptoms. Accuracy of perceived acceptance was indexed by the mean difference between pairs of predicted and received ratings (absolute values). Standardized residual scores created by regressing self-reported perceived acceptance (either predicted ratings or children's responses to a questionnaire measure of perceived peer acceptance) onto peer acceptance ratings formed two measures of bias. Bi-directional associations were found for accuracy of perceived acceptance and depressive symptoms; inaccurate perceptions predicted increases in depressive symptoms and depressive symptoms predicted decreased accuracy. Neither measure of bias predicted changes in depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms predicted increases in negatively biased perceptions as assessed via questionnaire.     

Socio-cognitive,expertise-based and appearance-based accounts of the other-‘race’ effect in face perception: A label-based systematic review of neuroimaging results

Two competing theories explain the other-‘race’ effect (ORE) either by greater perceptual expertise to same-‘race’ (SR) faces or by social categorization of other-‘race’ (OR) faces at the expense of individuation. To assess expertise and categorization contributions to the ORE, a promising—yet overlooked—approach is comparing activations for different other-‘races’. We present a label-based systematic review of neuroimaging studies reporting increased activity in response to OR faces (African, Caucasian, or Asian) when compared with the SR of participants. Hypothetically, while common activations would reflect general aspects of OR perception, ‘race’-preferential ones would represent effects of ‘race’-specific visual appearance. We find that several studies report activation of occipito-temporal and midcingulate areas in response to faces across different other-‘races’, presumably due to high demand on the visual system and category processing. Another area reported in response to all OR faces, the caudate nucleus, suggests the involvement of socio-affective processes and behavioural regulation. Overall, our results support hybrid models—both expertise and social categorization contribute to the ORE, but they provide little evidence for reduced motivation to process OR faces. Additionally, we identify areas preferentially responding to specific OR faces, reflecting effects of visual appearance.