scholarly journals Sustained visual priming effects can emerge from attentional oscillation and temporal expectation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muzhi Wang ◽  
Yan Huang ◽  
Huan Luo ◽  
Hang Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Computational Model ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Temporal Expectation ◽  
Visual Priming ◽  
Future Events ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Active Preparation

AbstractPriming refers to the influence that a previously encountered object exerts on future responses to similar objects. For many years, visual priming has been known as a facilitation and sometimes an inhibition effect that lasts for an extended period of time. It contrasts with the recent finding of an oscillated priming effect where facilitation and inhibition alternate over time periodically. Here we developed a computational model of visual priming that combines rhythmic sampling of the environment (attentional oscillation) with active preparation for future events (temporal expectation). Counterintuitively, it shows both the sustained and oscillated priming effects can emerge from an interaction between attentional oscillation and temporal expectation. The interaction also leads to novel predictions such as the change of visual priming effects with temporal expectation and attentional oscillation. Reanalysis of two published datasets and the results of two new experiments of visual priming tasks with male and female human participants provide support for the model’s relevance to human behavior. More generally, our model offers a new perspective that may unify the increasing findings of behavioral and neural oscillations with the classic findings in visual perception and attention.Significance StatementThere is increasing behavioral and neural evidence that visual attention is a periodic process that sequentially samples different alternatives in the theta frequency range. It contrasts with the classic findings of sustained facilitatory or inhibitory attention effects. How can an oscillatory perceptual process give rise to sustained attention effects? Here we make this connection by proposing a computational model for a “fruit fly” visual priming task and showing both the sustained and oscillated priming effects can have the same origin: an interaction between rhythmic sampling of the environment and active preparation for future events. One unique contribution of our model is to predict how temporal contexts affects priming. It also opens up the possibility of reinterpreting other attention-related classic phenomena.

scholarly journals Sustained Visual Priming Effects Can Emerge from Attentional Oscillation and Temporal Expectation

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (18) ◽  
pp. 3657-3674
Author(s):  
Muzhi Wang ◽  
Yan Huang ◽  
Huan Luo ◽  
Hang Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Priming Effects ◽  
Temporal Expectation ◽  
Visual Priming

scholarly journals An Analysis of Ibn-Khaldun’s Theory in light of Covid-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 15-21
Author(s):  
Mohammed Musallem Binham Alameri ◽  
◽  
Khawlah M. AL- Tkhayneh
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Ibn Khaldun ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Natural Factors ◽  
Current Events ◽  
Future Events ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
The Impact

This argumentative paper presents a new perspective on Ibn-khaldun’s theory of social change in light of Covid-19. It argues that when examining the theory, it can be found that it makes an association between social change and natural factors, such as epidemics and human factors, such as government changes. The target theory which is explored in this study is the cyclical theory of Ibn-khaldun. This study adopts the former theory in order to analyze the effects of Covid-19 on the Arab-Islamic society, and how this theory was able to predict many of the current events and possible future events using social and historical approaches. The paper consists of four parts as follows: First, an overview of Ibn-khaldun’s theory of social change and its philosophy is provided. Second, the role of human factors in social change according to Ibn-khaldun is explored. Third, natural factors affecting social change according to Ibn-khaldun are discussed. Finally, the impact of Covid-19 on our way of life in relation to Ibn-khaldun’s theory of social change is examined.

A computational model for measuring discourse complexity

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 690-712 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun Sun ◽  
Wenxin Xiong
Keyword(s):  
Computational Model ◽  
Discourse Structure ◽  
Structure Theory ◽  
Dependency Tree ◽  
Discourse Relations ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Discourse Units ◽  
Syntactic Dependency ◽  
Regular Patterns ◽  
Quantitative Approaches

In past studies, the few quantitative approaches to discourse structure were mostly confined to the presentation of the frequency of discourse relations. However, quantitative approaches should take into account both hierarchical and relational layers in the discourse structure. This study considers these factors and addresses the issue of how discourse relations and discourse units are related. It draws upon the available corpora of discourse structure (rhetorical structure theory-discourse treebank (RST-DT)) from a new perspective. Since an RST tree can be converted into a syntactic dependency tree, the data extracted from the RST-DT can be useful for calculating the discourse distance in much the same way as syntactic dependency distance is calculated. Discourse distance is also applicable to measuring the depth of the human processing of discourse. Furthermore, the data derived from the RST-DT are also easily converted into network data. This study finds that discourse structure has its discourse distance minimum and each type of RST relations has its range of discourse distance. The frequency distribution of discourse data basically follows the power law on several levels, while a network approach reveals how discourse units are arranged spatially in regular patterns. The two methods are mutually complementary in revealing the interaction between discourse relations and discourse units in a comprehensive manner, as well as in revealing how people process and comprehend discourse dynamically. Accordingly, we propose merging the two methods so as to yield a computational model for assessing discourse complexity and comprehension.

Playfulness and Older Adults: Implications for Quality of Life

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-171
Author(s):  
Yvette C. Saliba ◽  
Sejal M. Barden
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Subjective Age ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
New Perspective

Changes in health, relationships, support systems, and social identity are inevitable throughout the life span. Therefore, research focused on mitigating the negative effects of changes due to aging while also improving quality of life (QoL) is warranted. As such, the aim of the current research study was to examine the extent to which subjective age, playfulness, and depression predict QoL among adults over the age of 55. Adults (N = 1,315) who were 55 and older were surveyed both face to face and online. Standard multiple regression was utilized, and results identified a statistically significant model with depression predicting the largest unique contribution. Playfulness predicted a small, statistically significant contribution, while subjective age did not statistically contribute to the prediction. Implications provide a new perspective on variables associated with quality of life and older adults.

scholarly journals Sandplay Therapy Performed by Telepsychotherapy: Going Beyond the Limits of Face-to-Face Psychotherapy in the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-173
Author(s):  
Byungho Jung
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Symptoms ◽  
Psychological Treatment ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Clinical Situation ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Sandplay Therapy ◽  
Safe Alternative ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Anxiety Depression

As COVID-19 spreads internationally for an extended period of time, millions of people around the world are suffering from psychological symptoms such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, and loss, and the role of psychotherapy is growing more than ever. However, in the current situation where anxiety about infection is widespread, the form of face-to-face psychotherapy has become another factor that induces infection anxiety. The limitation of this existing psychotherapy leads us to think of alternatives that can reflect the rapidly changing clinical situation in different ways during the ongoing coronavirus period. Telepsychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy that has been practiced for distant clients for a long time and can be a safe alternative psychotherapy method for both clients and analysts in the pandemic era. Although some analytic psychotherapists have negative views on telepsychotherapy, the change in the psychological treatment environment caused by COVID-19 leads to a new perspective on telepsychotherapy. The subjects of anxiety, depression, and death that people are experiencing because of the coronavirus pandemic come to us as archetypal shadow. The symbols unfolded in sandplay therapy direct our gaze to the inner world of human beings during this pandemic period and make us look at the unintegrated archetypal figure in the deep conscious. This paper aims to examine the therapeutic meaning and value of sandplay therapy that is performed according to the method of telepsychotherapy by analyzing the case of changed clinical situation due to the pandemic.

Marx in Motion

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Nail
Keyword(s):  
Global Climate ◽  
Ecological Crisis ◽  
First Century ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Labor Theory Of Value ◽  
Labor Theory ◽  
Theory Of Value ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
First Time

Socialism is back, and with it comes a renewed interest in Marx’s critique of capitalism. After the 2008 financial crash, international book sales of Capital exploded for the first time in decades. In a world of rising income inequality, right-wing nationalisms, and global climate change, people are looking to the father of modern socialism for answers. This book has been written to help those returning to Marx get answers to their pressing questions about the nature of wealth, ecological crisis, gender inequality, colonialism, migration, and the possibility of socialism. This book also offers readers a new perspective on several major ideas in Marx’s work. It argues that Marx, contrary to conventional wisdom, did not think history was deterministic or that reality could be reduced to classical materialism. Marx was not an anthropocentric humanist, nor did he have a labor theory of value. The unique contribution of this book is that it begins with Marx’s earliest and most neglected book on ancient naturalism in order to show its lasting methodological effect on his “process materialism,” defined by the primacy of motion. This “kinetic Marxism” offers a new way to reread Capital that bears directly on a number of contemporary issues. This also makes Marx in Motion the first book to offer a new materialist reading of Marx. The result is a fresh new view on the important theories of primitive accumulation, metabolism, value, fetishism, dialectics, and the possibility of a kinetic communism for the twenty-first century.

scholarly journals Meta-heuristic search methods for big data analytics and visualization of frequently changed patterns

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Israel Edem Agbehadji
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Computational Model ◽  
Half Life ◽  
Data Analytics ◽  
Heuristic Algorithms ◽  
Mathematical Formulation ◽  
Big Data Analytics ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Underlying Assumption

Throughout the world, data plays a prominent role in making decisions relevant to the socio-economic growth of organizations. As organizations grow, they tend to use diverse technologies or platforms to collect data and make data readily available for quick decision-making. These technologies have resulted in exponential growth of data whereby the problem of managing this data in a limited time interval increases in complexity, starting from the preprocessing stage to the visualization stage. Apart from the issue of managing the huge growth of data, finding a suitable method to manage certain aspects of this frequently changed data has been overlooked. These frequent changes in data form the topic of interest of this thesis. Consequently, there is a need to develop a framework both to manage big data at different stages of processing, from preprocessing to visualization, and to handle frequently changed data. The need to develop such a framework arises because traditional methods/algorithms are limited to finding frequent patterns of frequently occurring items while overlooking frequently changed data, which has a numeric and time dimension that can provide interesting business insights. Additionally, traditional visualization methods are challenged with performance scalability and response time. This thesis looked at resolving this limitation by using a meta-heuristic/bio-inspired algorithm that is modelled based on observation of the behavior and characteristics of two different animals, namely the kestrel and the dung beetle. The motivation behind the use of these animals is their ability to explore, exploit and adapt to different situations in their natural environment. The development of the computational model and testing with actual data were formulated as a six-step procedure. Based on the six steps, the proposed computational model was evaluated against selected comparative algorithms, namely BAT, WSA-MP, PSO, Firefly and ACO. The main findings on optimal value/results suggest that, in handling frequently changed data during the data preprocessing, pattern discovery and visualization stages, the proposed computational models performed optimally against the comparative meta-heuristic algorithms on test datasets. Further statistical tests, using the Wilcoxon signed rank test, were conducted on optimal results from the comparative meta-heuristic algorithms. The basis for using the statistical procedure was to select the best choice of algorithm without making any underlying assumption on accuracy of results from the comparative meta-heuristic algorithms. Theoretically, the study contributes to enhancing frequency of item frameworks by including time and numeric dimensions of item occurrence. Practically, the contribution of the study lies in its finding frequently changed patterns in big data analytics. Additionally, the concept of half-life of substances/trails was applied as part of the computational model, and this also forms part of the unique contribution of this thesis. The half-life constitutes the lifetime of interestingness of recent patterns that were discovered. In summary, this thesis is about the mathematical formulation of animal behavior and characteristics into an implementable big data management algorithm and its application to frequently changed patterns.

scholarly journals Most sleep does not serve a vital function: Evidence from Drosophila melanogaster

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. eaau9253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quentin Geissmann ◽  
Esteban J. Beckwith ◽  
Giorgio F. Gilestro
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Video Tracking ◽  
Sleep Restriction ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Vital Function ◽  
High Throughput Analysis ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Open Question

Sleep appears to be a universally conserved phenomenon among the animal kingdom, but whether this notable evolutionary conservation underlies a basic vital function is still an open question. Using a machine learning–based video-tracking technology, we conducted a detailed high-throughput analysis of sleep in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, coupled with a lifelong chronic and specific sleep restriction. Our results show that some wild-type flies are virtually sleepless in baseline conditions and that complete, forced sleep restriction is not necessarily a lethal treatment in wild-type D. melanogaster. We also show that circadian drive, and not homeostatic regulation, is the main contributor to sleep pressure in flies. These results offer a new perspective on the biological role of sleep in Drosophila and, potentially, in other species.

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