scholarly journals Collective Memory: Transposing Pavlov’s Experiment to Robot Swarms

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 2632
Author(s):  
Alexandre Campo ◽  
Stamatios C. Nicolis ◽  
Jean-Louis Deneubourg

Remembering information is a fundamental aspect of cognition present in numerous natural systems. It allows adaptation of the behavior as a function of previously encountered situations. For instance, many living organisms use memory to recall if a given situation incurred a penalty or a reward and rely on that information to avoid or reproduce that situation. In groups, memory is commonly studied in the case where individual members are themselves capable of learning and a few of them hold pieces of information that can be later retrieved for the benefits of the group. Here, we investigate how a group may display memory when the individual members have reactive behaviors and can not learn any information. The well known conditioning experiments of Pavlov illustrate how single animals can memorize stimuli associated with a reward and later trigger a related behavioral response even in the absence of reward. To study and demonstrate collective memory in artificial systems, we get inspiration from the Pavlov experiments and propose a setup tailored for testing our robotic swarm. We devised a novel behavior based on the fundamental process of aggregation with which robots exhibit collective memory. We show that the group is capable of encoding, storing, and retrieving information that is not present at the level of the individuals.

Comunicar ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (35) ◽  
pp. 25-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel Clarembeaux

Film education in the digital age should be based on three closely-related and complementary fundamentals: to see, to analyze and to make films with young people; three basics that must interact and support each other. The concept of creative analysis could be the glue the binds this subject together, making it coherent and efficient for educational purposes. If cinema is an art, it is above all the art of memory, both individual and collective. This article suggests that we can join the pedagogy of film education to the citizen’s desire to perpetuate memory and preserve cultural heritage. The author describes various types of films to prove this hypothesis, and at the same time indicates the economic and cultural dimension of the media. The essay starts with an approach to film education in the digital age. Later, it analyzes certain aspects of films of memory, referring specifically to the typology of standpoints of film-makers and the treatment of their sources. Lastly, there is a reflection on the convergence of the concept of creative analysis, promoted by film education, and the production of videos by young people dedicated to the individual or collective memory. This convergence matches European Union proposals concerning the production and creation of audiovisual media from this viewpoint. La educación para el cine en la era digital debería apoyarse en tres polos complementarios y estrechamente asociados: ver, analizar y hacer películas con jóvenes. Estos tres polos han de potenciarse mutuamente. El concepto de análisis creativo podría ser la argamasa que diera coherencia y eficiencia al dispositivo educativo. Si el cine es un arte, es sobre todo el arte de la memoria, tanto colectiva como individual. Este artículo sugiere que es posible hacer converger la pedagogía de la educación cinematográfica y la voluntad ciudadana de perpetuar la memoria, al tiempo que se protege el patrimonio cultural. El autor propone una serie de películas para ilustrar estos planteamientos, que ponen de relieve la dimensión económica y cultural de los medios de comunicación, respondiendo en esta convergencia a las más recientes directrices de la Unión Europea sobre creación y producción, desde esta perspectiva, de medios audiovisuales. El trabajo se inicia con una aproximación a la educación para el cine en la era digital. Posteriormente se recogen algunas singularidades de las «películas de la memoria», aludiendo concretamente a la tipología de los puntos de vista de los realizadores y al tratamiento de sus fuentes. Por último, se refleja el encuentro entre el concepto de «análisis creativo», fomentado por la educación cinematográfica, y la realización de videogramas hechos por jóvenes y dedicados a la memoria individual o colectiva.


Author(s):  
Laila Niedre ◽  
Gunta Ošeniece

The purpose of this article is to reveal the Latvian cultural space of the 1930s, how it appears in present-day reminiscences of Baltic Germans, people with German heritage residing in Latvia, or their descendants. The data consists of extended interviews recorded as a part of the Latvian Academy of Culture project “Latvija – Heimatland” (2017–2019). One of the project objectives is to register and explore the reminiscences of this social group. The article analyses the accounts of 22 people residing in Latvia and 14 in Germany. These are accounts of events experienced either by themselves or their family members. It covers a time when the community of Latvians and Germans residing in Latvia was polarised by national interests, and the decade ended with Baltic Germans emigrating, followed by the Soviet occupation of Latvia. The Latvian cultural space of the 1930s is indirectly described by quotes from the respondents that relate to the resettlement in 1939 (Umsiedlung in German). The reminiscences illuminate cultural space components such as social practices, symbols, languages, and their use, traditions, and cuisine. The individual memories of Baltic Germans and their descendants significantly contribute to how the Latvian cultural space of the 1930s is already seen through collective memory, which includes monuments, written work, and art. They outline the lifestyle of this specific minority group, diversity of cultures, and interaction between them in Latvia, as well as a theme of Latvia as the lost motherland.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greco Hernández ◽  
Christopher G. Proud ◽  
Thomas Preiss ◽  
Armen Parsyan

Diversity is one of the most remarkable features of living organisms. Current assessments of eukaryote biodiversity reaches 1.5 million species, but the true figure could be several times that number. Diversity is ingrained in all stages and echelons of life, namely, the occupancy of ecological niches, behavioral patterns, body plans and organismal complexity, as well as metabolic needs and genetics. In this review, we will discuss that diversity also exists in a key biochemical process, translation, across eukaryotes. Translation is a fundamental process for all forms of life, and the basic components and mechanisms of translation in eukaryotes have been largely established upon the study of traditional, so-called model organisms. By using modern genome-wide, high-throughput technologies, recent studies of many nonmodel eukaryotes have unveiled a surprising diversity in the configuration of the translation apparatus across eukaryotes, showing that this apparatus is far from being evolutionarily static. For some of the components of this machinery, functional differences between different species have also been found. The recent research reviewed in this article highlights the molecular and functional diversification the translational machinery has undergone during eukaryotic evolution. A better understanding of all aspects of organismal diversity is key to a more profound knowledge of life.


Author(s):  
Jaroslava Rajchlová ◽  
Anna Fedorová ◽  
Kristina Somerlíková ◽  
Libor Grega

Business acquisition constitutes a fundamental aspect of business environment formation. Our research has focused on assessment of impact of capital acquisition on the economic condition of the company. Therefore, the second research level has been initiated, focusing on the individual assessment of the single companies to identify allocation of synergy between consolidated units and parent companies in the Czech Republic. For our research, taking into consideration availability of data and subsequent explanatory value of the results, we will consider synergistic effect as presented in the Ansoff’s concept. Consolidated financial statements of totally 719 groups of accounting entities – business concerns in the Czech Republic has been studied in the research. A composite indicator, as the modern tool for comparison and evaluation of development of entities, has been selected to compare individual economic indicators of parent companies and group of their companies. We believe that developed arguments allow us to formulate conclusion that capital acquisitions, resulting in the years 2008–2013 in the obligation to compile consolidated financial statement, have brought positive financial synergistic effects in majority of cases, and we can rank them among successful business activities.


2016 ◽  
pp. 162-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakob Lothe

‘Narrative, Testimony, Fiction: The Challenge of Not Forgetting the Holocaust’, written by Jakob Lothe, explores the individual unconscious and its relationship to collective memory. In his essay, Lothe posits the interrelation between memory and forgetting as emblematic of Holocaust testimonies and fictional narratives, and serves to remind us of the epiphenomenal relationships to be found, and cultivated, across survivor literature.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikki Milne ◽  
Chanelle Louwen ◽  
Dianne Reidlinger ◽  
Jo Bishop ◽  
Megan Dalton ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Behaviour can be defined as the internally coordinated responses (actions or inactions) of whole living organisms (individuals or groups) to internal and/or external stimuli, excluding responses more easily understood as developmental changes. Unlike personality traits, that are thought to be biologically consistent, behaviour, through the application of cognition and reasoning is open to change across time and circumstance, although most humans will display preferred ways of behaving. The objective of this study was to: i) identify the behaviour styles of physiotherapy students and investigate if there is a relationship (predictive or otherwise) between students’ unique behaviour patterns and their clinical placement grades and; ii) examine if this relationship differs when student’s in a Master’s level program as well as student’s in a Bachelor’s level program are explored separately. Methods This cross-sectional study with 132 (F = 78, M = 54) physiotherapy students was conducted across two Australian university settings. Measures included Everything DiSC Workplace profile, Assessment of Physiotherapy Practice (APP). Results Physiotherapy students (n = 133) profiled the following ways: Dominance (D) style n = 20 (15%), Influence (i) style n = 33 (25%), Steadiness (S) style n = 36 (27%) and Conscientiousness (C) n = 44 (33%). Students with the individual DiSC styles of i and Conscientiousness / Steadiness (CS) were in the lowest APP quartile for clinical grades and the D style was in the highest quartile. Binary logistic regressions revealed students with an i DiSC style had 3.96 times higher odds, and students with a CS DiSC style had 4.34 times higher odds, of failing a clinical placement. When explored independently, the same trend remained for Master’s level students. Bachelor’s level students with DiSC styles of S and C had failed placements, however these styles were not significantly associated with failure (DiSC S Style: Exp(B) 1.667, p = 0.713 (CI: 0.109 to 25.433), DiSC C Style: Exp(B) 11.00, p = 0.097 (CI: 0.646 to 187.166)). Conclusion Physiotherapy students with DiSC styles i and CS appear to be more likely to fail physiotherapy clinical placements. Further research with larger undergraduate samples is required to establish if relations differ for undergraduate versus postgraduate students.


Insects ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Bos ◽  
Viljami Kankaanpää-Kukkonen ◽  
Dalial Freitak ◽  
Dimitri Stucki ◽  
Liselotte Sundström

Eusocial insects, such as ants, have access to complex disease defenses both at the individual, and at the colony level. However, different species may be exposed to different diseases, and/or deploy different methods of coping with disease. Here, we studied and compared survival after fungal exposure in 12 species of ants, all of which inhabit similar habitats. We exposed the ants to two entomopathogenic fungi (Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium brunneum), and measured how exposure to these fungi influenced survival. We furthermore recorded hygienic behaviors, such as autogrooming, allogrooming and trophallaxis, during the days after exposure. We found strong differences in autogrooming behavior between the species, but none of the study species performed extensive allogrooming or trophallaxis under the experimental conditions. Furthermore, we discuss the possible importance of the metapleural gland, and how the secondary loss of this gland in the genus Camponotus could favor a stronger behavioral response against pathogen threats.


2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuria Nadal-Burgues ◽  
Eduard Bonet

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present new aspects of the tension between creativity and productivity and improve the understanding on how research can be developed in very restricted environments, such as the context of an organization managed using the methods of Project Management. And more generally, it introduces the rhetoric of judgment as a fundamental aspect involved in the development and specification of projects. Design/methodology/approach – The theoretical approach is based on the phenomenological theory of human intentional action developed by Alfred Schutz, in which the notion of mental project is more flexible than that of project management. In it the concepts of subaction and repeated action are considered a combination of similar actions already performed. The Kantian notion of judgment is introduced to outline self-persuasion as a fundamental source of creativity. Findings – The introduction of an extended notion of project and routine involving judgment expands the rational, generic and technical notion of project management. And the rhetorical aspect of judgment, at the individual level, establishes the possibility to deliver unexpected outcomes that are considered creative. Originality/value – The proposed notions of project and routines mediated through the rhetoric of judgment present theoretical and practical progress in the subject of managing projects.


2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 358-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ned A. Dochtermann ◽  
C. M. Gienger

Abstract Understanding how population sizes vary over time is a key aspect of ecological research. Unfortunately, our understanding of population dynamics has historically been based on an assumption that individuals are identical with homogenous life-history properties. This assumption is certainly false for most natural systems, raising the question of what role individual variation plays in the dynamics of populations. While there has been an increase of interest regarding the effects of within population variation on the dynamics of single populations, there has been little study of the effects of differences in within population variation on patterns observed across populations. We found that life-history differences (clutch size) among individuals explained the majority of the variation observed in the degree to which population sizes of eastern fence lizards Sceloporus undulatus fluctuated. This finding suggests that differences across populations cannot be understood without an examination of differences at the level of a system rather than at the level of the individual [Current Zoology 58 (2): 358–362, 2012].


2009 ◽  
Vol 106 (37) ◽  
pp. 15567-15572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aparna Baskaran ◽  
M. Cristina Marchetti

Unicellular living organisms, such as bacteria and algae, propel themselves through a medium via cyclic strokes involving the motion of cilia and flagella. Dense populations of such “active particles” or “swimmers” exhibit a rich collective behavior at large scales. Starting with a minimal physical model of a stroke-averaged swimmer in a fluid, we derive a continuum description of a suspension of active organisms that incorporates fluid-mediated, long-range hydrodynamic interactions among the swimmers. Our work demonstrates that hydrodynamic interactions provide a simple, generic origin for several nonequilibrium phenomena predicted or observed in the literature. The continuum model derived here does not depend on the microscopic physical model of the individual swimmer. The details of the large-scale physics do, however, differ for “shakers” (particles that are active but not self-propelled, such as melanocytes) and “movers” (self-propelled particles), “pushers” (most bacteria) and “pullers” (algae like Chlamydomonas). Our work provides a classification of the large-scale behavior of all these systems.


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