{"title":"Analyzing composability in a sparse encoding model of memorization and association","authors":"J. Beal, T. F. Knight","doi":"10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640826","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640826","url":null,"abstract":"A key question in neuroscience is how memorization and association are supported by the mammalian cortex. One possible model, proposed by Valiant, uses sparse encodings in a sparse random graph, but the composability of operations in this model (e.g. an association triggering another association) has not previously been evaluated. We evaluate composability by measuring the size of ldquoitemsrdquo produced by memorization and the propagation of signals through the ldquocircuitsrdquo created by memorization and association. While the association operation is sound, the memorization operation produces ldquoitemsrdquo with unstable size and produces circuits that are extremely sensitive to noise. We therefore amend the model, introducing an association stage into memorization. The amended model preserves and strengthens the sparse encoding hypothesis and invites further characterization of properties such as capacity and interference.","PeriodicalId":366099,"journal":{"name":"2008 7th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning","volume":"60 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131443750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Motor system’s role in grounding, receptive field development, and shape recognition","authors":"Y. Choe, Huei-Fang Yang, Navendu Misra","doi":"10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640807","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640807","url":null,"abstract":"Vision is basically a sensory modality, so it is no surprise that the investigation into the brainpsilas visual functions has been focused on its sensory aspect. Thus, questions like (1) how can external geometric properties represented in internal states of the visual system be grounded, (2) how do the visual cortical receptive fields (RFs) form, and (3) how can visual shapes be recognized have all been addressed within the framework of sensory information processing. However, this view is being challenged on multiple fronts, with an increasing emphasis on the motor aspect of visual function. In this paper, we will review works that implicate the important role of motor function in vision, and discuss our latest results touching upon the issues of grounding, RF development, and shape recognition. Our main findings are that (1) motor primitives play a fundamental role in grounding, (2) RF learning can be biased and enhanced by the motor system, and (3) shape recognition is easier with motor-based representations than with sensor-based representations. The insights we gained here will help us better understand visual cortical function. Also, we expect the motor-oriented view of visual cortical function to be generalizable to other sensory cortices such as somatosensory and auditory cortices.","PeriodicalId":366099,"journal":{"name":"2008 7th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning","volume":"100 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134074055","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Caregiver’s sensorimotor magnets lead infant’s vowel acquisition through auto mirroring","authors":"H. Ishihara, Y. Yoshikawa, K. Miura, M. Asada","doi":"10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640804","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640804","url":null,"abstract":"Mother-infant vocal communication is a sort of mystery of human cognitive development since they can communicate although their body structures and therefore their utterable areas are different. This paper proposes a method that aids unconscious guidance in mutual imitation for infant development based on a biasing element with two different kinds of modules. The first is based on the normal magnet effect in perceiving heard vocal sounds as the listenerpsilas own vowels (perceptual magnet) and also includes another magnet effect for imitating vocal sounds that resemble the imitatorpsilas vowels (articulatory magnet). The second is based on what we call ldquoauto mirroring bias,rdquo by which the heard vowel is much closer to the expected vowel because the otherpsilas utterance is an imitation of the listenerpsilas own utterance. Computer simulation results of mother-infant interaction show the validity of the proposed bias. Finally future issues are discussed.","PeriodicalId":366099,"journal":{"name":"2008 7th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning","volume":"38 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117269419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Inferring narrative and intention from playground games","authors":"C. Crick, B. Scassellati","doi":"10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640798","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640798","url":null,"abstract":"We present a system which observes humans participating in various playground games and infers their goals and intentions through detecting and analyzing their spatiotemporal activity in relation to one another, and then builds a coherent narrative out of the succession of these intentional states. We show that these narratives capture a great deal of essential information about the observed social roles, types of activity and game rules by demonstrating the systempsilas ability to correctly recognize and group together different runs of the same game, while differentiating them from other games. Furthermore, the system can use the narratives it constructs to learn and theorize about novel observations, allowing it to guess at the rules governing the games it watches. For example, after watching several different games, the system figures out on its own that Tag-like games require close physical proximity in order for the role of ldquoitrdquo to swap from one person to another. Thus a rich and layered trove of social, intentional and cultural information can be drawn out of extremely impoverished and low-context trajectory data.","PeriodicalId":366099,"journal":{"name":"2008 7th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130919696","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dynamic field theory of sequential action: A model and its implementation on an embodied agent","authors":"Yulia Sandamirskaya, G. Schoner","doi":"10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640818","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640818","url":null,"abstract":"How sequences of actions are learned, remembered, and generated is a core problem of cognition. Despite considerable theoretical work on serial order, it typically remains unexamined how physical agents may direct sequential actions at the environment within which they are embedded. Situated physical agents face a key problem - the need to accommodate variable amounts of time it takes to terminate each individual action within the sequence. Here we examine how Dynamic Field Theory (DFT), a neuronally grounded dynamical systems approach to embodied cognition, may address sequence learning and sequence generation. To demonstrate that the proposed DFT solution works with real and potentially noisy sensory systems as well as with real physical action systems, we implement the approach on a simple autonomous robot. We demonstrate how the robot acquires sequences from experiencing the associated sensory information and how the robot generates sequences based on visual information from its environment using low-level visual features.","PeriodicalId":366099,"journal":{"name":"2008 7th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133792962","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Homeostatic development of dynamic neural fields","authors":"Claudius Gläser, F. Joublin, C. Goerick","doi":"10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640816","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640816","url":null,"abstract":"Dynamic neural field theory has become a popular technique for modeling the spatio-temporal evolution of activity within the cortex. When using neural fields the right balance between excitation and inhibition within the field is crucial for a stable operation. Finding this balance is a severe problem, particularly in face of experience-driven changes of synaptic strengths. Homeostatic plasticity, where the objective function for each unit is to reach some target firing rate, seems to counteract this problem. Here we present a recurrent neural network model composed of excitatory and inhibitory units which can self-organize via a learning regime incorporating Hebbian plasticity, homeostatic synaptic scaling, and self-regulatory changes in the intrinsic excitability of neurons. Furthermore, we do not define a neural field topology by a fixed lateral connectivity; rather we learn lateral connections as well.","PeriodicalId":366099,"journal":{"name":"2008 7th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning","volume":"139 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133309641","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Detecting the functional similarities between tools using a hierarchical representation of outcomes","authors":"J. Sinapov, A. Stoytchev","doi":"10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640811","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640811","url":null,"abstract":"The ability to reason about multiple tools and their functional similarities is a prerequisite for intelligent tool use. This paper presents a model which allows a robot to detect the similarity between tools based on the environmental outcomes observed with each tool. To do this, the robot incrementally learns an adaptive hierarchical representation (i.e., a taxonomy) for the types of environmental changes that it can induce and detect with each tool. Using the learned taxonomies, the robot can infer the similarity between different tools based on the types of outcomes they produce. The results show that the robot is able to learn accurate outcome models for six different tools. In addition, the robot was able to detect the similarity between tools using the learned outcome models.","PeriodicalId":366099,"journal":{"name":"2008 7th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning","volume":"257 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132593961","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Modeling the development of causality and occlusion perception in infants","authors":"Arthur Franz, J. Triesch","doi":"10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640825","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640825","url":null,"abstract":"Developmental researchers investigate many pieces of infants’ physical knowledge, e.g. the perception of causality, occlusion or object permanence, but a theoretical framework that would unify all these pieces, account for the most basic phenomena and make testable predictions has not been provided yet. Here we make an attempt to unify and explain the emergence of causality and occlusion perception and its development in infancy using a simple artificial neural network that derives its representations from simplified motion detector and disparity cells as found in the primary visual cortex. The network accounts simultaneously for two experiments on causality and occlusion perception and develops a representation of object permanence during training. It also makes detailed testable predictions for the course of development and provides an account of how change occurs. We conclude that many aspects of physical knowledge can probably be learned from the statistical regularities of our environment while only few assumptions are needed.","PeriodicalId":366099,"journal":{"name":"2008 7th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127042852","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Neuromodulation and time-dependent plasticity in a model of foraging behavior","authors":"J. Krichmar","doi":"10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640824","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640824","url":null,"abstract":"In foraging behavior, where an animal searches for food caches, it is imperative for the animal to remember the locations and routes to these caches. An important consideration is the means by which the organism takes the appropriate actions to lead it to a goal that satisfies a particular need. We introduce a time-dependent plasticity rule that biases movement in a particular direction by developing asymmetric neuronal receptive fields through experience. The model contains hippocampal areas that respond differentially to locations in space, frontal cortex areas that respond to different salient cues from the environment, and neuromodulators that respond to rewards and costs. This model suggests a means by which neuromodulated time-dependent plasticity in the frontal cortex can facilitate action selection. It also suggests how these neuronal responses may lead to successful performance in a foraging task.","PeriodicalId":366099,"journal":{"name":"2008 7th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127160259","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How thinking in pictures can explain many characteristic behaviors of autism","authors":"M. Kunda, A. Goel","doi":"10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640847","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DEVLRN.2008.4640847","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we develop a cognitive account of autism centered around a reliance on pictorial representations. First, we put forth the hypothesis that individuals with autism ldquothink in pictures,rdquo and we discuss supporting empirical evidence from several independent behavioral and neuroimaging studies, each of which shows a strong bias towards visual representations and activity. Second, we show that Thinking in Pictures has significant potential for explaining many behavioral characteristics of autism, as they are defined by the DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria.","PeriodicalId":366099,"journal":{"name":"2008 7th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning","volume":"57 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115151457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}