Franziska Bröker, Lori L Holt, Brett D Roads, Peter Dayan, Bradley C Love
{"title":"Demystifying unsupervised learning: how it helps and hurts.","authors":"Franziska Bröker, Lori L Holt, Brett D Roads, Peter Dayan, Bradley C Love","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.09.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.09.005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Humans and machines rarely have access to explicit external feedback or supervision, yet manage to learn. Most modern machine learning systems succeed because they benefit from unsupervised data. Humans are also expected to benefit and yet, mysteriously, empirical results are mixed. Does unsupervised learning help humans or not? Here, we argue that the mixed results are not conflicting answers to this question, but reflect that humans self-reinforce their predictions in the absence of supervision, which can help or hurt depending on whether predictions and task align. We use this framework to synthesize empirical results across various domains to clarify when unsupervised learning will help or hurt. This provides new insights into the fundamentals of learning with implications for instruction and lifelong learning.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"974-986"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142367187","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 process of gendering: gender as a verb.","authors":"Ashley E Martin, Michael L Slepian","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.09.004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.09.004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Gender is important to the social and cognitive sciences, as evidenced by hundreds of meta-analyses, thousands of studies, and millions of datapoints that examine how gender (as an independent variable) shapes cognition and behavior. In this expansive literature, gender is often understood as a noun - a social category that separates 'men' from 'women'. However, gender can also be studied and understood as a verb - a cognitive process used to conceptually divide both human and non-human entities by masculinity and femininity. In this review, we outline the cognitive process of gendering and propose a framework to understand gender as a verb that enables a better understanding of how gender operates, why it is important, and how it can change.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142559214","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":"Whole-to-part development in language creation.","authors":"Susan Goldin-Meadow, Inbal Arnon","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.09.015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.09.015","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Children approach language by learning parts and constructing wholes. But they can also first learn wholes and then discover parts. We demonstrate this understudied yet impactful process in children creating language without input. Whole-to-part learning thus need not be driven by hard-to-segment input and is a bias that children bring to language.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142548557","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 control modulates pain.","authors":"Marie Habermann, Andreas Strube, Christian Büchel","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.09.014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.09.014","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Pain, an indicator of potential tissue damage, ideally falls under individual control. Although previous work shows a trend towards reduced pain in contexts where pain is controllable, there is a large variability across studies that is probably related to different aspects of control. We therefore outline a taxonomy of different aspects of control relevant to pain, sketch how control over pain can be integrated into a Bayesian pain model, and suggest changes in expectations and their precision as potential mechanisms. We also highlight confounding cognitive factors, particularly predictability, that emphasize the necessity for careful experimental designs. Finally, we describe the neurobiological underpinnings of how control affects pain processing in studies using different types of control, and highlight the roles of the anterior insula, middle frontal gyrus (MFG), and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC).</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142511617","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":"Spatial communication systems and action.","authors":"Kenny R Coventry, Holger Diessel","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.10.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.10.002","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Spatial cognition is fundamental to our species. One might therefore expect that spatial communication systems would have evolved to make common distinctions. However, many have argued that spatial communication systems exhibit considerable cross-linguistic diversity, challenging the view that space structures language. We review recent work on spatial communication that merits revisiting the relationship between language and space. We provide a framework that places action as the driver of spatial communication systems across languages, in which spatial demonstratives - the earliest spatial terms - play a fundamental role in honing attention and theory of mind capacities that are crucial for language and cognition more broadly. We discuss how demonstratives emerged early in language evolution to serve a combination of spatial, social, and functional needs.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142511619","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}
Marjorie Rhodes, Susan A Gelman, Sarah-Jane Leslie
{"title":"How generic language shapes the development of social thought.","authors":"Marjorie Rhodes, Susan A Gelman, Sarah-Jane Leslie","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.09.012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.09.012","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Generic language, that is, language that refers to a category as an abstract whole (e.g., 'Girls like pink') rather than specific individuals (e.g., 'This girl likes pink'), is a common means by which children learn about social kinds. Here, we propose that children interpret generics as signaling that their referenced categories are natural, objective, and have distinctive features, and, thus, in the social domain, that such language affects children's beliefs about the social world in ways that extend far beyond the content they explicitly communicate. On this account, even generics expressing uncontentious content (e.g., 'Girls are great at math') can lead children to think of categories as defining fundamentally distinct kinds of people and contribute to the development of stereotypes and other problematic social phenomena.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142511618","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}
Martin Vinck, Cem Uran, Jarrod R Dowdall, Brian Rummell, Andres Canales-Johnson
{"title":"Large-scale interactions in predictive processing: oscillatory versus transient dynamics.","authors":"Martin Vinck, Cem Uran, Jarrod R Dowdall, Brian Rummell, Andres Canales-Johnson","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.09.013","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.09.013","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>How do the two main types of neural dynamics, aperiodic transients and oscillations, contribute to the interactions between feedforward (FF) and feedback (FB) pathways in sensory inference and predictive processing? We discuss three theoretical perspectives. First, we critically evaluate the theory that gamma and alpha/beta rhythms play a role in classic hierarchical predictive coding (HPC) by mediating FF and FB communication, respectively. Second, we outline an alternative functional model in which rapid sensory inference is mediated by aperiodic transients, whereas oscillations contribute to the stabilization of neural representations over time and plasticity processes. Third, we propose that the strong dependence of oscillations on predictability can be explained based on a biologically plausible alternative to classic HPC, namely dendritic HPC.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7616854/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142478970","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":"How does the quality space come to be?","authors":"Krzysztof Dołęga, Inès Mentec, Axel Cleeremans","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.10.007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.10.007","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142644860","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":"Using precision approaches to improve brain-behavior prediction.","authors":"Hyejin J Lee, Ally Dworetsky, Nathan Labora, Caterina Gratton","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.09.007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.09.007","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Predicting individual behavioral traits from brain idiosyncrasies has broad practical implications, yet predictions vary widely. This constraint may be driven by a combination of signal and noise in both brain and behavioral variables. Here, we expand on this idea, highlighting the potential of extended sampling 'precision' studies. First, we discuss their relevance to improving the reliability of individualized estimates by minimizing measurement noise. Second, we review how targeted within-subject experiments, when combined with individualized analysis or modeling frameworks, can maximize signal. These improvements in signal-to-noise facilitated by precision designs can help boost prediction studies. We close by discussing the integration of precision approaches with large-sample consortia studies to leverage the advantages of both.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142478971","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":"Understanding the qualitative nature of human consciousness.","authors":"Chen Song","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.10.005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.10.005","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142644874","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}