Trends in Cognitive Sciences最新文献

Traditional risk communication emphasizes the probability of possible outcomes but neglects other crucial dimensions of risks. We propose a taxonomy of risk information and illustrate how simulated experience can convey overlooked aspects. We conclude with a research agenda to advance the theory and practice of risk communication across domains.

Pharmacological agents theorized to modulate fear extinction could enhance treatments for anxiety and trauma-related disorders, but fear conditioning and treatment studies testing these agents often yield null or conflicting results. We review principles of extinction learning relevant to the design of studies that test pharmacological enhancements of extinction. We then critically review the methodologies of existing studies for three pharmacological agents [d-cycloserine (DCS), glucocorticoids (GCs), and L-DOPA] with respect to key learning principles. While each agent has promising support in rodent models, many human studies are not designed to adequately detect an agent's effects on extinction learning. We provide specific recommendations, informed by these learning principles, for future study designs that may clarify whether, how, and under what conditions agents impact extinction.

Brain and body are fundamentally intertwined. A recent study from Cazettes et al. reveals how latent decision variables in the mouse brain can be read out from facial expressions. This shows how covert cognitive computations 'leak' into the periphery, and opens new opportunities for tracking cognitive processes through bodily measurements.

Understanding reward processing is essential for comprehending human behavior, from motivation and learning to affective disorders and addiction. Most research assumes a global sensitivity to reward, overlooking specific sensitivities to different stimuli. However, recent studies have revealed variability in music reward sensitivity, including healthy individuals with specific musical anhedonia - an impaired ability to derive pleasure from music despite intact responses to other rewards. This review explores individual differences in music reward and potential causes of musical anhedonia. We propose a brain model suggesting that reward experiences depend on both the overall functioning of the reward system and specific perceptual-reward network interactions. Finally, we discuss how this model and methodologies from music research can be applied to other rewarding stimuli.

Over the last decade, new research has shown how human collectives can develop technologies that no single individual could discover on their own. However, this research often overlooks how technology can become so complex that individuals cannot operate it on their own. At this level of technological complexity, distributing cognition is a necessary process for reducing cognitive load on individuals. Yet distributing cognition also imposes coordination costs as technological systems become larger and the individuals in these systems become more specialized. We describe a sprawling set of cultural innovations that facilitate cognitive distribution by reducing cognitive load, reducing coordination costs, or doing both. Preliminary evidence suggests that these cultural innovations co-evolve with technological complexity.

While fear memories tend to generalize, extinction learning is more context-dependent. Recent results from representational similarity analyses indicate that neural representations of extinction contexts are more distinct than context representations during fear acquisition. This suggests that they resemble episodic memories, with possible consequences for prevailing taxonomies of memory systems.

Humans possess a remarkable ability to form sophisticated multi-step plans even in complex environments. In this review article, we consider efforts that attempt to characterize the mechanisms underlying human planning using a computational framework, primarily focusing on methods that search a tree of possible solutions. These studies range from experimental probes for heuristics that people employ while thinking ahead to normative models for reducing the computational costs of planning. Additionally, we examine the recent successes of artificial intelligence in the domain of planning and how these innovations can be applied to better understand human sequential decision-making. As examples, we highlight this approach in two tasks that require planning many steps into the future, namely 4-in-a-row and chess.

Perceptual experience depends on recurrent interactions between lower and higher cortices. One theory, predictive coding, posits that feedback from higher to lower brain regions decreases neuronal activity predicted by higher-level representations. Despite the widespread adoption of predictive coding in neuroscience, the correspondence to neurophysiological findings in sensory cortices remains elusive. Here, we review how the canonical patterns of intra- and inter-cortical interactions that occur during perception and shifts of attention deviate from those predicted by predictive coding. We argue that these circuit interactions are better captured by alternative theories, which we summarize under the umbrella term BELIEF. We review how BELIEF theories account for the inter-areal interactions during attentive perception.