Activity during Learning and the Nonlinear Differentiation of Experience.

Walter Freeman's work emphasises the role of individual activity and intentionality as opposed to the traditional stimulus-reaction view and the machine metaphor. The results of our computer modeling studies suggest the nonlinear dynamics of experience emerging from perception-action cycles. We consider the perception-action cycle as a behavioral continuum of anticipated outcomes of actions. Neuroscientific research shows that each behavioral act is based on the activity of behaviorally specialized neurons distributed across the brain. Active learning during individual development leads to an increasing differentiation of the structure of individual experience through the formation of such groups of behaviorally specialized neurons. We consider the differentiation of individual experience as a nonlinear process which is implemented at different levels, and argue that consciousness and emotion can be described as dynamic characteristics prominent at the most and least differentiated systemic levels, correspondingly.

Neuronal metabolism in learning and memory: The anticipatory activity perspective.

Current research on the molecular mechanisms of learning and memory is based on the "stimulus-response" paradigm, in which the neural circuits connecting environmental events with behavioral responses are strengthened. By contrast, cognitive and systems neuroscience emphasize the intrinsic activity of the brain that integrates information, establishes anticipatory actions, executes adaptive actions, and assesses the outcome via regulatory feedback mechanisms. We believe that the difference in the perspectives of systems and molecular studies is a major roadblock to further progress toward understanding the mechanisms of learning and memory. Here, we briefly overview the current studies in molecular mechanisms of learning and memory and propose that studying the predictive properties of neuronal metabolism will significantly advance our knowledge of how intrinsic, predictive activity of neurons shapes a new learning event. We further suggest that predictive metabolic changes in the brain may also take place in non-neuronal cells, including those of peripheral tissues. Finally, we present a path forward toward more in-depth studies of the role of cell metabolism in learning and memory.

Analytic and Holistic Thinkers: Differences in the Dynamics of Heart Rate Complexity When Solving a Cognitive Task in Field-Dependent and Field-Independent Conditions.

Analytic and holistic thinking styles are known to be associated with individual differences in various aspects of behavior and brain activity. In this study, we tested a hypothesis that differences in thinking styles may also be manifested at the level of neuro-visceral coordination. Heart rate variability (HRV) was compared between analytic and holistic thinkers at rest, during a simple motor choice reaction time task and when solving cognitive choice reaction time tasks in conditions with varying instructions contrasting the role of the field when evaluating objects. Participants (N = 52) with analytic and holistic thinking styles were equally successful at solving the cognitive tasks but response times were longer in the analytic group, compared to the holistic group. Heart rate complexity, as measured by sample entropy, was higher in the analytic group during the cognitive tasks but did not differ from the holistic group at rest or during the simple motor task. Analytic participants had longer response times and higher heart rate complexity when evaluating objects in relation to the field than when evaluating objects irrespective to the field. No difference in response times or heart rate complexity between tasks was observed in the holistic group. Our findings demonstrate that differences in individual behavior, including those related to holistic and analytic thinking styles, can be reflected not only in brain activity, as shown previously using fMRI and EEG methods, but also at the level of neuro-visceral coordination, as manifested in heart rate complexity.

Nonlinear relationship between emotional valence and brain activity: evidence of separate negative and positive valence dimensions.

Emotion plays a significant role in goal-directed behavior, yet its neural basis is yet poorly understood. In several psychological models the cardinal dimensions that characterize the emotion space are considered to be valence and arousal. Here 3T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to reveal brain areas that show valence- and arousal-dependent blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal responses. Seventeen healthy adults viewed pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) for brief 100 ms periods in a block design paradigm. In many brain regions BOLD signals correlated significantly positively with valence ratings of unpleasant pictures. Interestingly, partly in the same regions but also in several other regions BOLD signals correlated negatively with valence ratings of pleasant pictures. Therefore, there were several areas where the correlation across all pictures was of inverted U-shape. Such correlations were found bilaterally in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) extending to anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and insula. Self-rated arousal of those pictures which were evaluated to be unpleasant correlated with BOLD signal in the ACC, whereas for pleasant pictures arousal correlated positively with the BOLD signal strength in the right substantia innominata. We interpret our results to suggest a major division of brain mechanisms underlying affective behavior to those evaluating stimuli to be pleasant or unpleasant. This is consistent with the basic division of behavior to approach and withdrawal, where differentiation of hostile and hospitable stimuli is crucial.

Complexity of heart rate variability during moral judgement of actions and omissions.

Recent research strongly supports the idea that cardiac activity is involved in the organisation of behaviour, including social behaviour and social cognition. The aim of this work was to explore the complexity of heart rate variability, as measured by permutation entropy, while individuals were making moral judgements about harmful actions and omissions. Participants (N = 58, 50% women, age 21-52 years old) were presented with a set of moral dilemmas describing situations when sacrificing one person resulted in saving five other people. In line with previous studies, our participants consistently judged harmful actions as less permissible than equivalently harmful omissions (phenomenon known as the "omission bias"). Importantly, the response times were significantly longer and permutation entropy of the heart rate was higher when participants were evaluating harmful omissions, as compared to harmful actions. These results may be viewed as a psychophysiological manifestation of differences in causal attribution between actions and omissions. We discuss the obtained results from the positions of the system-evolutionary theory and propose that heart rate variability reflects complexity of the dynamics of neurovisceral activity within the organism-environment interactions, including their social aspects. This complexity can be described in terms of entropy and our work demonstrates the potential of permutation entropy as a tool of analyzing heart rate variability in relation to current behaviour and observed cognitive processes.

Reaction to norm transgressions and Islamization threat in culturally tight and loose contexts: a cross-cultural comparison of Germany versus Russia.

Prior research shows that North Americans and Western Europeans react to threats with defensive strategies based on behavioral approach vs. inhibition systems (BAS/BIS)-i.e., a desire to approach a goal or to avoid a threat. In the present research, we explored whether this phenomenon is more pronounced in tight cultures (e.g., Germany) as compared to loose cultures (e.g., Russia), testing how Germans and Russians respond to societal threats. We expected that due to the higher levels of cultural tightness, Germans would show stronger defensive reactions to threats than Russians. Additionally, we investigated the role of need for tightness (i.e., need for strict regulation of social order) in threat management processes. In Study 1, Germans recalling violations of societal norms produced stronger rightward bias on the line bisection task than Russians, indicative of greater BAS activation in Germans than in Russians. In Study 2, we used frontal alpha asymmetry, providing the first cross-cultural test of BIS-BAS reactions utilizing neuronal markers. In this study, presentation of societal threat in a video portraying Islamic immigration as a large-scale violation of social norms led to higher BIS activation among Germans than among Russians, if their need for tightness was high. We discuss the role of tightness, need for tightness, and type of threat for cross-cultural particularities of threat-induced motivational shifts.

Regression II. Development through regression.

As shown in our previous paper ('Regression I. Experimental approaches to regression', JAP, 65, 2, 345-65), the common mechanism of regression can be described as reversible dedifferentiation, which is understood as a relative increase of the proportion of low-differentiated (older) systems in actualized experience. Experimental data show that regression following disease (chronic tension headache) is followed by adaptation and an increase in system differentiation in that experience domain which contains systems responsible for that adaptation. The results of mathematical modelling support the idea that reversible dedifferentiation can be one of the mechanisms for increasing the effectiveness of adaptation through learning. Reversible dedifferentiation, which is phenomenologically described as regression, is a general mechanism for restructuring the organism-environment interactions in situations where behaviours that were effective in the past become ineffective. Reversible dedifferentiation has evolved as a component of adaptation when new behaviours are formed and large-scale modifications in the existing behaviours are required in the face of changes in the external and/or internal environment. Thus, the authors believe that this article provides evidence for Jung's view that regression is not only a 'return' to past forms of thinking, affects and behaviour, but that regressive processes provide a significant impetus for psychological growth and development.

Comme nous l'avons montré dans notre article précédent (« Régression I. Les approches expérimentales de la régression ¼), le mécanisme propre à la régression peut être décrit en tant que dé-différentiation réversible, ce que l'on peut comprendre comme une hausse relative de la proportion de systèmes peu différentiés (plus vieux) dans l'expérience actualisée. Les données expérimentales montrent que la régression suite à une maladie (mal de tête de tension chronique) est suivie par une adaptation et un accroissement dans la différentiation des systèmes dans le domaine d'expérience qui contient les systèmes responsables de cette adaptation. Les résultats de la modélisation mathématique soutiennent l'idée que la dé-différentiation réversible peut être l'un des mécanismes pour accroitre l'efficacité de l'adaptation par l'apprentissage. La dé-différentiation réversible, qui est décrite phénoménologiquement comme régression, est un mécanisme général pour restructurer les interactions organisme-environnement dans des situations où les comportements qui fonctionnaient par le passé sont devenus inefficaces. La dé-différentiation réversible a évolué comme un élément de l'adaptation quand de nouveaux comportements se développent et que des changements dans l'environnement extérieur ou intérieur requièrent des modifications à grande échelle dans les comportements existants. Ainsi, les auteurs pensent que cet article apporte un soutien à la perspective de Jung selon laquelle la régression n'est pas seulement un « retour ¼ à des formes anciennes de fonctionnement, d'affects et de comportement, mais que les processus régressifs fournissent un élan significatif pour la croissance et le développement psychologiques.

Como hemos mostrado en nuestros trabajos previos ('Regresión I. Abordajes experimentales hacia la regresión'), el mecanismo común de la regresión puede ser descripto como desdiferenciación reversible, el cual es comprendido como un relativo incremento en la proporción de sistemas de baja-diferenciación en la experiencia actual. Data experimental muestra que la regresión luego de una enfermedad (tensión de cabeza crónica) es seguida por la adaptación y por un incremento en la diferenciación de sistemas en aquel dominio de la experiencia, que contiene sistemas responsables para tal adaptación. Los resultados del modelo matemático sostienen la idea de que la desdiferenciación reversible puede ser uno de los mecanismos para incrementar la efectividad de la adaptación a través del aprendizaje. La desdiferenciación reversible, la cual fenomenológicamente se describe como regresión, es un mecanismo general para restructurar las interacciones entre el organismo y el medio ambiente, en situaciones en las que las conductas que eran efectivas en el pasado se vuelven ineficaces. La desdiferenciación reversible ha evolucionado como un componente de la adaptación cuando se forman nuevas conductas y se requieren modificaciones a gran escala en las conductas existentes frente a los cambios en el medio ambiente externo y/o interno. Así, los autores consideran que el artículo proporciona evidencia a la perspectiva de Jung sobre la regresión, no solamente como un 'retorno' a formas de pensar, sentir y actuar del pasado sino que los procesos regresivos proveen un estímulo significativo para el desarrollo y el crecimiento psicológico.

Regression I. Experimental approaches to regression.

The concept of regression is considered with an emphasis on the differences between the positions of Freud and Jung regarding its significance. The paper discusses the results of experimental analyses of individual experience dynamics (from gene expression changes and impulse neuronal activity in animals to prosocial behaviour in healthy humans at different ages, and humans in chronic pain) in those situations where regression occurs: stress, disease, learning, highly emotional states and alcohol intoxication. Common mechanisms of regression in all these situations are proposed. The mechanisms of regression can be described as reversible dedifferentiation, which is understood as a relative increase of the representation of low-differentiated (older) systems in the actualized experience. In all of the cases of dedifferentiation mentioned above, the complexity of the systemic organization of behaviour significantly decreases.

Le concept de régression est étudié en mettant l'accent sur les différences entre les positions de Freud et celles de Jung concernant sa portée. L'article discute les résultats des analyses expérimentales de dynamiques de l'expérience individuelle (de changements dans l'expression des gènes et de l'activité des réflexes neuronaux chez les animaux aux comportements pro-sociaux chez des humains en bonne santé et à des âges de vie divers, et chez des humains en situation de souffrance chronique) dans ces situations où se produit la régression: le stress, la maladie, l'apprentissage, les états hautement émotionnels et l'intoxication par l'alcool. Les mécanismes communs de régression dans toutes ces situations sont présentés. Les mécanismes de régression peuvent être décrits en tant que dé-différentiation réversible, ce qui est interprété comme un accroissement relatif de la représentation de systèmes peu-différenciés (plus vieux) dans l'expérience actualisée. Dans tous les cas de dé-différentiation mentionnés plus haut, la complexité de l'organisation systémique du comportement décroit de manière significative.

Se considera el concepto de regresión, con énfasis en las diferencias entre Freud y Jung en lo que concierne a su significado. El trabajo desarrolla los resultados de análisis experimentales sobre dinámicas experienciales individuales (desde cambios en la expresión genética y actividad neuronal en animales a conductas prosociales en humanos saludables en diferentes edades, y humanos en dolor crónico) en aquellas situaciones donde la regresión ocurre: estrés, enfermedad, aprendizaje, estados altamente emocionales e intoxicación alcohólica. Se proponen mecanismos comunes de regresión en todas estas situaciones. Los mecanismos de regresión pueden describirse como de-diferenciación reversible, la cual es comprendida como un incremento relativo de la representación de sistemas de baja-diferenciación (antiguos) en la experiencia actualizada. En todos los casos de de-diferenciación mencionados anteriormente, la complejidad de la organización sistemática de conducta decrece significativamente.

Neuronal Bases of Systemic Organization of Behavior.

Despite the years of studies in the field of systems neuroscience, functions of neural circuits and behavior-related systems are still not entirely clear. The systems description of brain activity has recently been associated with cognitive concepts, e.g. a cognitive map, reconstructed via place-cell activity analysis and the like, and a cognitive schema, modeled in consolidation research. The issue we find of importance is that a cognitive unit reconstructed in neuroscience research is mainly formulated in terms of environment. In other words, the individual experience is considered as a model or reflection of the outside world and usually lacks a biological meaning, such as describing a given part of the world for the individual. In this chapter, we present the idea of a cognitive component that serves as a model of behavioral interaction with environment, rather than a model of the environment itself. This intangible difference entails the need in substantial revision of several well-known phenomena, including the long-term potentiation.The principal questions developed here are how the cognitive units appear and change upon learning and performance, and how the links between them create the whole structure of individual experience. We argue that a clear distinction between processes that provide the emergence of new components and those underlying the retrieval and/or changes in the existing ones is necessary in learning and memory research. We then describe a view on learning and corresponding neuronal activity analysis that may help set this distinction.

A drama movie activates brains of holistic and analytical thinkers differentially.

People socialized in different cultures differ in their thinking styles. Eastern-culture people view objects more holistically by taking context into account, whereas Western-culture people view objects more analytically by focusing on them at the expense of context. Here we studied whether participants, who have different thinking styles but live within the same culture, exhibit differential brain activity when viewing a drama movie. A total of 26 Finnish participants, who were divided into holistic and analytical thinkers based on self-report questionnaire scores, watched a shortened drama movie during functional magnetic resonance imaging. We compared intersubject correlation (ISC) of brain hemodynamic activity of holistic vs analytical participants across the movie viewings. Holistic thinkers showed significant ISC in more extensive cortical areas than analytical thinkers, suggesting that they perceived the movie in a more similar fashion. Significantly higher ISC was observed in holistic thinkers in occipital, prefrontal and temporal cortices. In analytical thinkers, significant ISC was observed in right-hemisphere fusiform gyrus, temporoparietal junction and frontal cortex. Since these results were obtained in participants with similar cultural background, they are less prone to confounds by other possible cultural differences. Overall, our results show how brain activity in holistic vs analytical participants differs when viewing the same drama movie.

Effect of emotional context in auditory-cortex processing.

We examined how emotional context influences processing of emotionally neutral acoustic stimuli in the human auditory cortex. Nine subjects performed a simple discrimination task. In the positive-emotional trials correct performance was awarded with money, whereas in the negative-emotional trials, correct performance resulted in avoidance of the loss of money. Auditory stimuli were identical in both trial types. An event-related brain potential (ERP) N100 deflection, generated in the auditory cortex, was significantly larger in the negative as compared to the positive-emotional trials. This result demonstrates that emotional context influences early sensory-specific cortical processing. In addition, we found some evidence in favor of assumption that processing of positive visual feedback was faster in negative-emotional trials. This was reflected in the tendency for the latency of visual ERPs to be shorter in the latter case. We suggest that our results indicate that the systemic organization at all stages of deployment of behavior depends on emotional context. Dynamics of learning the discrimination task was also dependent on emotional context.

Mental Reactivation and Pleasantness Judgment of Experience Related to Vision, Hearing, Skin Sensations, Taste and Olfaction.

Language acquisition is based on our knowledge about the world and forms through multiple sensory-motor interactions with the environment. We link the properties of individual experience formed at different stages of ontogeny with the phased development of sensory modalities and with the acquisition of words describing the appropriate forms of sensitivity. To test whether early-formed experience related to skin sensations, olfaction and taste differs from later-formed experience related to vision and hearing, we asked Russian-speaking participants to categorize or to assess the pleasantness of experience mentally reactivated by sense-related adjectives found in common dictionaries. It was found that categorizing adjectives in relation to vision, hearing and skin sensations took longer than categorizing adjectives in relation to olfaction and taste. In addition, experience described by adjectives predominantly related to vision, hearing and skin sensations took more time for the pleasantness judgment and generated less intense emotions than that described by adjectives predominantly related to olfaction and taste. Interestingly the dynamics of skin resistance corresponded to the intensity and pleasantness of reported emotions. We also found that sense-related experience described by early-acquired adjectives took less time for the pleasantness judgment and generated more intense and more positive emotions than that described by later-acquired adjectives. Correlations were found between the time of the pleasantness judgment of experience, intensity and pleasantness of reported emotions, age of acquisition, frequency, imageability and length of sense-related adjectives. All in all these findings support the hypothesis that early-formed experience is less differentiated than later-formed experience.

Sociocultural Influences on Moral Judgments: East-West, Male-Female, and Young-Old.

Gender, age, and culturally specific beliefs are often considered relevant to observed variation in social interactions. At present, however, the scientific literature is mixed with respect to the significance of these factors in guiding moral judgments. In this study, we explore the role of each of these factors in moral judgment by presenting the results of a web-based study of Eastern (i.e., Russia) and Western (i.e., USA, UK, Canada) subjects, male and female, and young and old. Participants (n = 659) responded to hypothetical moral scenarios describing situations where sacrificing one life resulted in saving five others. Though men and women from both types of cultures judged (1) harms caused by action as less permissible than harms caused by omission, (2) means-based harms as less permissible than side-effects, and (3) harms caused by contact as less permissible than by non-contact, men in both cultures delivered more utilitarian judgments (save the five, sacrifice one) than women. Moreover, men from Western cultures were more utilitarian than Russian men, with no differences observed for women. In both cultures, older participants delivered less utilitarian judgments than younger participants. These results suggest that certain core principles may mediate moral judgments across different societies, implying some degree of universality, while also allowing a limited range of variation due to sociocultural factors.

Emotion and consciousness: ends of a continuum.

We suggest a united concept of consciousness and emotion, based on the systemic cognitive neuroscience perspective regarding organisms as active and goal-directed. We criticize the idea that consciousness and emotion are psychological phenomena having quite different neurophysiological mechanisms. We argue that both characterize a unified systemic organization of behavior, but at different levels. All systems act to achieve intended behavioral results in interaction with their environment. Differentiation of this interaction increases during individual development. Any behavioral act is a simultaneous realization of systems ranking from the least to the most differentiated. We argue that consciousness and emotion are dynamic systemic characteristics that are prominent at the most and least differentiated systemic levels, correspondingly. These levels are created during development. Our theory is based on both theoretical and empirical research and provides a solid framework for experimental work.

Expression of c-Fos in the rat retrosplenial cortex during instrumental re-learning of appetitive bar-pressing depends on the number of stages of previous training.

Learning is known to be accompanied by induction of c-Fos expression in cortical neurons. However, not all neurons are involved in this process. What the c-Fos expression pattern depends on is still unknown. In the present work we studied whether and to what degree previous animal experience about Task 1 (the first phase of an instrumental learning) influenced neuronal c-Fos expression in the retrosplenial cortex during acquisition of Task 2 (the second phase of an instrumental learning). Animals were progressively shaped across days to bar-press for food at the left side of the experimental chamber (Task 1). This appetitive bar-pressing behavior was shaped by nine stages ("9 stages" group), five stages ("5 stages" group) or one intermediate stage ("1 stage" group). After all animals acquired the first skill and practiced it for five days, the bar and feeder on the left, familiar side of the chamber were inactivated, and the animals were allowed to learn a similar instrumental task at the opposite side of the chamber using another pair of a bar and a feeder (Task 2). The highest number of c-Fos positive neurons was found in the retrosplenial cortex of "1 stage" animals as compared to the other groups. The number of c-Fos positive neurons in "5 stages" group animals was significantly lower than in "1 stage" animals and significantly higher than in "9 stages" animals. The number of c-Fos positive neurons in the cortex of "9 stages" animals was significantly higher than in home caged control animals. At the same time, there were no significant differences between groups in such behavioral variables as the number of entrees into the feeder or bar zones during Task 2 learning. Our results suggest that c-Fos expression in the retrosplenial cortex during Task 2 acquisition was influenced by the previous learning history.