{"title":"The causal structure and computational value of narratives.","authors":"Janice Chen, Aaron M Bornstein","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.04.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.04.003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Many human behavioral and brain imaging studies have used narratively structured stimuli (e.g., written, audio, or audiovisual stories) to better emulate real-world experience in the laboratory. However, narratives are a special class of real-world experience, largely defined by their causal connections across time. Much contemporary neuroscience research does not consider this key property. We review behavioral and neuroscientific work that speaks to how causal structure shapes comprehension of and memory for narratives. We further draw connections between this work and reinforcement learning, highlighting how narratives help link causes to outcomes in complex environments. By incorporating the plausibility of causal connections between classes of actions and outcomes, reinforcement learning models may become more ecologically valid, while simultaneously elucidating the value of narratives.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"769-781"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11305923/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140908560","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Helpless infants are learning a foundation model.","authors":"Rhodri Cusack, Marc'Aurelio Ranzato, Christine J Charvet","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.05.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.05.001","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Humans have a protracted postnatal helplessness period, typically attributed to human-specific maternal constraints causing an early birth when the brain is highly immature. By aligning neurodevelopmental events across species, however, it has been found that humans are not born with especially immature brains compared with animal species with a shorter helpless period. Consistent with this, the rapidly growing field of infant neuroimaging has found that brain connectivity and functional activation at birth share many similarities with the mature brain. Inspired by machine learning, where deep neural networks also benefit from a 'helpless period' of pre-training, we propose that human infants are learning a foundation model: a set of fundamental representations that underpin later cognition with high performance and rapid generalisation.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"726-738"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11310914/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141263353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Daniela Becker, Erik Bijleveld, Senne Braem, Kerstin Fröber, Felix J Götz, Tali Kleiman, Anita Körner, Roland Pfister, Andrea M F Reiter, Blair Saunders, Iris K Schneider, Alexander Soutschek, Henk van Steenbergen, David Dignath
{"title":"An integrative framework of conflict and control.","authors":"Daniela Becker, Erik Bijleveld, Senne Braem, Kerstin Fröber, Felix J Götz, Tali Kleiman, Anita Körner, Roland Pfister, Andrea M F Reiter, Blair Saunders, Iris K Schneider, Alexander Soutschek, Henk van Steenbergen, David Dignath","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.07.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.07.002","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>People regularly encounter various types of conflict. Here, we ask if, and, if so, how, different types of conflict, from lab-based Stroop conflicts to everyday-life self-control or moral conflicts, are related to one other. We present a framework that assumes that action-goal representations are hierarchically organized, ranging from concrete actions to abstract goals. The framework's key assumption is that conflicts involving more abstract goals (e.g., self-control/moral conflict) are embedded in a more complex action space; thus, to resolve such conflicts, people need to consider more associated goals and actions. We discuss how differences in complexity impact conflict resolution mechanisms and the costs/benefits of resolving conflicts. Altogether, we offer a new way to conceptualize and analyze conflict regulation across different domains.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":"28 8","pages":"757-768"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141903364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How childhood social isolation causes social dysfunction: deprivation or mismatch?","authors":"Michael B Leventhal, Hirofumi Morishita","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.05.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.05.005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>There is a major gap in our understanding of how childhood social isolation causes adult social dysfunction. To stimulate future developmental mechanistic studies, we present two conceptual models which highlight that isolation can disrupt developmental events that are concurrent (social deprivation model) or subsequent (developmental mismatch model) to adverse experience.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"699-701"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141263356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The cardiac cycle modulates learning-related interoception.","authors":"Miriam S Nokia, Weiyong Xu, Jan Wikgren","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.05.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.05.007","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Behavior is guided by the compatibility of expectations based on past experience and the outcome. In a recent study, Fouragnan and colleagues report that absolute prediction error (PE)-related heart-evoked potentials (HEPs) differ according to the cardiac cycle phase at outcome, and that the magnitude of this effect positively correlates with reward learning in healthy adults.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"691-692"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141176747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The convergence between defence and care in mammals.","authors":"Joana B Vieira, Andreas Olsson","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.04.011","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.04.011","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The motivations to protect oneself and others have often been seen as conflicting. Here, we discuss recent evidence that self-defensive mechanisms may in fact be recruited to enable the helping of others. In some instances, the defensive response to a threat may even be more decisive in promoting helping than the response to a conspecific's distress (as predicted by empathy-altruism models). In light of this evidence, we propose that neural mechanisms implicated in self-defence may have been repurposed through evolution to enable the protection of others, and that defence and care may be convergent rather than conflicting functions. Finally, we present and discuss a working model of the shared brain mechanisms implicated in defence of both self and others.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"714-725"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140945935","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Brain-body states embody complex temporal dynamics.","authors":"Daniel S Kluger, Micah G Allen, Joachim Gross","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.05.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.05.003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We propose a computational framework for high-dimensional brain-body states as transient embodiments of nested internal and external dynamics governed by interoception. Unifying recent theoretical work, we suggest ways to reduce arbitrary state complexity to an observable number of features in order to accurately predict and intervene in pathological trajectories.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"695-698"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141180592","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Practicing cooperative skills shapes brain-wide networks.","authors":"Haozhou Jiang, Julia Sliwa","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.04.009","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.04.009","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Humans and other primates skillfully navigate the complex cognitive interplay of cooperative behaviors. However, the neural resources we rely on to do so are poorly understood. Franch et al. found that neuronal activity in a visual-frontal domain general cortical network is shaped during the training of a cooperative behavior to highlight relevant sensory inputs.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"590-592"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140856719","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Salient distractor processing: inhibition following attentional capture.","authors":"Benchi Wang, Jan Theeuwes","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.04.015","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.04.015","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Salient objects often capture attention in a purely exogenous way, followed by inhibition of their locations after a period. Yet, the neural circuits underlying the exogenous attention remain underspecified. Seidel Malkinson et al. explore this by uncovering large-scale cortical gradients associated with exogenous attention within the human cortex.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"593-594"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140945932","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Standing out: an atypical salience account of creativity.","authors":"Madeleine E Gross, Jonathan W Schooler","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.04.013","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.04.013","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Creativity often entails gaining a novel perspective, yet it remains uncertain how this is accomplished. Atypical salience processing may foster creative thinking by prioritizing putatively irrelevant information, thereby broadening the material accessible for idea generation and inhibiting attentional fixedness; in essence, motivating creative individuals to incorporate information that others overlook.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"597-599"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141288880","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}