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Chris Chatham is a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University.

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Computational Modeling:

Performance Improves with Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation

Artificial IntelligenceComparative PsychologyComputational Modeling ] 

Stimulating the brain with high frequency electrical noise can supersede the beneficial effects observed from transcranial direct current stimulation, either anodal or cathodal (as well as those observed from sham stimulation), in perceptual learning, as newly reported by Fertonani, Pirully...

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Attractors All the Way Up: Metastability, Rostrocaudal Hierarchies, and Synaptic Facilitation

BPR BPRCognitive NeuroscienceComputational Modeling ] 

In their wonderful Neuroimage article, Braun & Mattia present a comprehensive introduction to the possible neuronal implementations and cognitive sequelae of a particular dynamical phenomenon: the attractor state. In another excellent paper, just recently out in Frontiers, Itskov, Hansel and...

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Novelty May Dynamically Rearrange The Prefrontal Hierarchy

BPR BPRCognitive NeuroscienceComputational Modeling ] 

Owing to the low signal-to-noise ratio of functional magnetic resonance imaging, it is difficult to get a good estimate of neural activity elicited by task novelty: by the time one has collected enough trials for a good estimate, the task...

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Neural Mechanisms Giving Rise to Diffuse-to-Focal and Local-to-Distributed Developmental Shifts

Artificial IntelligenceCognitive NeuroscienceComputational ModelingDevelopmental Psychology ] 

Two seemingly contradictory trends characterize brain development during childhood and adolescence: Diffuse to focal: a shift from relatively diffuse recruitment of neural regions to more focal and specific patterns of activity, whether in terms of the number of regions recruited,...

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SyNAPSE: In Pusuit of The Cognitive Platform

Artificial IntelligenceComputational Modeling ] 

"What we're seeking is not just one algorithm or one cool new trick - we're seeking a platform technology. In other words, we're not seeking the entirety of a collection of point solutions, what we're seeking is a platform technology...

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Two varieities of reinforcement learning: Striatal & Prefrontal/Parietal?

Artificial IntelligenceCognitive NeuroscienceComputational Modeling ] 

Recent work has leveraged increasingly sophisticated computational models of neural processing as a way of predicting the BOLD response on a trial-by-trial basis. The core idea behind much of this work is that reinforcement learning is a good model for...

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Destination: Computational Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

Artificial IntelligenceCognitive NeuroscienceComputational ModelingDevelopmental Psychology ] 

How can we enhance perception, learning, memory, and cognitive control? For this we need a rigorous integration of neurobiological development with cognitive change - that is, a computational developmental cognitive neuroscience.

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Hierarchical Prefrontal Control: Exception Proves the Rule?

Artificial IntelligenceCognitive NeuroscienceComputational Modeling ] 

Thanks to an ingenious mistake, researchers functionally reverse the apparent organization of prefrontal cortex in a way predicted by theory.

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Parallel Search in Rule Space Enabled By Prefrontal Hierarchies

Artificial IntelligenceCognitive NeuroscienceComputational Modeling ] 

Difficulty-based explanations of hierarchical prefrontal recruitment are ruled-out in Badre et al's 2010 Neuron paper. They also highlight how a prefrontal circuit could support "parallel search" in discovering rules to govern behavior.

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Load-balancing of goals in the prefrontal cortex (aka, why you want a third hemisphere)

Cognitive NeuroscienceComputational Modeling ] 

One idea is that the brain might divvy up responsibility for tracking these goals & rewards between the hemispheres; but this simple division of labor smells like lots of ridiculous and outdated asymmetry theories. And that's why I'm dumbfounded.

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