Jerald D. Kralik

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology | KAIST · Department of Bio and Brain Engineering

Understanding the balance between symmetry and asymmetry in animal nervous systems is crucial for unraveling the complexities of neural architectures and their functions. Previous studies have primarily focused on morphological symmetry, such as neuron placement, leaving the symmetry in the functional architecture largely unexplored. The current st...

One of the next steps outlined by [1] in their roadmap toward artificial general intelligence (AGI) is to “refine the list of specific competency areas” in human cognition, providing the keys to human intelligence, ultimately unlocking general intelligence. To that end, here, and in a companion paper [2], I advance toward a more comprehensive list...

Human-level artificial general intelligence is one of the grandest challenges in science. All evidence should therefore be brought to bear. Here, I summarize highly relevant work from comparative psychology, human intelligence, and developmental psychology. The comparative research points to a set of abilities proposed to separate humans from other...

In [1], Adams et al. chart a roadmap toward the grand AI vision, with human-level (or greater) intelligence as destination. To that end, in this and a companion paper [2], I take one of the next steps they outline, to “refine the list of specific competency areas” in human cognition. It is argued that we should move toward a comprehensive list of a...

To understand, predict, and help correct each other’s actions we need to maintain accurate, up-to-date knowledge of people, and communication is a critical means by which we gather and disseminate this information. Yet the conditions under which we communication social information remain unclear. Testing hypotheses generated from our theoretical fr...

Humans organize sequences of events into a single overall experience, and evaluate the aggregated experience as a whole, such as a generally pleasant dinner, movie, or trip. However, such evaluations are potentially computationally taxing, and so our brains must employ heuristics (i.e., approximations). For example, the peak-end rule hypothesis sug...

The basic cognitive architecture of our brain is still unknown. However, scientists have found evidence for existence of distinct behavioral control systems shared by humans and nonhumans. Inspired by the problem solving systems of the behavioral control in the primate brain, a hierarchical computational model is presented. We focus on the integrat...

Our decisions have a temporally distributed order, and different choice orders (e.g., choosing preferred items first or last) can lead to vastly different experiences. We previously found two dominant strategies (favorite-first and favorite-last) in a preference-based serial choice setting (the ‘sushi problem’). However, it remains unclear why thes...

Apologizing is an effective interpersonal conflict resolution strategy, but whether, and if so how, organizations should issue public apologies after crises remains less clear. To assuage the fear of possible crisis reoccurrence, public apologies may be effective when they provide a comprehensive account of what happened and clarify actions taken b...

Real-life decisions often require a comparison of multi-attribute options with various benefits and costs, and the evaluation of each option depends partly on the others in the choice set (i.e., the choice context). Although reinforcement learning models have successfully described choice behavior, how to account for multi-attribute information whe...

Communicating with the public after corporate crises is often necessary, yet little evidence provides guidance. To address this, our theoretical and content analyses of public apologies revealed 12 key content elements. From these, we developed a basic apology, and tested its effectiveness alone, and with additional content. In two experiments invo...

This paper provides a starting point for the development of metacognition in a common model of cognition. It identifies significant theoretical work on metacognition from multiple disciplines that the authors believe worthy of consideration. After first defining cognition and metacognition, we outline three general categories of metacognition, prov...

This paper provides a starting point for the development of metacognition in a common model of cognition. It identifies significant theoretical work on metacognition from multiple disciplines that the authors believe worthy of consideration. After first defining cognition and metacognition, we outline three general categories of metacognition, prov...

Causal reasoning is a principal higher-cognitive ability of humans, however, much remains unknown, including (a) the type (systematic versus intermixed) and order (inductive-then-deductive or vice versa) of experience that best achieves causal-chain extraction; (b) how inferences generalize to novel problems, especially with one-shot experience; an...

Communication is a powerful means to disseminate social information, and gossip is an effective way of obtaining updated information about others. However, without a comprehensive theoretical framework of social communication, it is difficult to predict a priori when and why social information will be disseminated. There are general theories of hum...

Determining the fundamental cognitive abilities underlying human high-level cognition remains elusive. An examination of the main activities of our first Homo sapiens ancestors offers a normative approach. Because shelter building was critical for a nomadic hunter-gatherer and required comprehension and manipulation of the knowledge for predicting,...

Abstraction allows us to discern regularities beyond the specific instances we encounter. It also promotes creative problem-solving by enabling us to consider unconventional problem solutions. However, the mechanisms by which this occurs are not well understood. Because it is often difficult to isolate human high-level cognitive processes, we utili...

Suicide attempters have been found to be impaired in decision-making; however, their specific biases in evaluating uncertain outcomes remain unclear. Here we tested the hypothesis that suicidal behavior is associated with heightened aversion to risk and loss, which might produce negative predictions about uncertain future events. Forty-five depress...

To contribute to the development of a standard model of mind and brain, I present the general model I have been developing based on an interdisciplinary review of the literature. More specifically, I hope to show that evolutionary considerations are necessary to produce an accurate model of the mind as a whole. The basic architecture consists of th...

The nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell lies anatomically at a critical intersection within the brain’s reward system circuitry, however, its role in voluntary choice behavior remains unclear. Rats with electrolytic lesions in the NAc shell were tested in a novel foraging paradigm. Over a continuous two-week period they freely chose among four nutritiona...

Social interaction is a fundamental part of our daily lives; however, exactly how our brains use social cues to determine whether to cooperate without being exploited remains unclear. In this study, we used an electroencephalography (EEG) hyperscanning approach to investigate the effect of face-to-face contact on the brain mechanisms underlying the...

The brain has evolved different approaches to solve problems, but the mechanisms that determine which approach to take remain unclear. One possibility is that control progresses from simpler processes, such as associative learning, to more complex ones, such as relational reasoning, when the simpler ones prove inadequate. Alternatively, control cou...

Creativity represents the pinnacle of higher-level cognition, but exactly how it is achieved remains poorly understood, especially when simultaneously facing the opposing challenge of intractable complexity. The aims of the current study were (a) to examine how the brain may achieve the dual goals of creativity and complexity reduction, and (b) to...

Determining the fundamental architectural design of complex nervous systems will lead to significant medical and technological advances. Yet it remains unclear how nervous systems evolved highly efficient networks with near optimal sharing of pathways that yet produce multiple distinct behaviors to reach the organism’s goals. To determine this, the...

An example of a directed circular wiring diagram. (A) Adjacency matrix of an example network. (B) Schematic graph drawing of the example network focused on the connections of the node 3. (C) Directed circular wiring diagram. (TIF)

Mean D, Str, AW, C, E, and B values for the intact network consisting of all 279 neurons. Bar plots indicate the results of each measure by neuronal types (All: entire 279 neurons; S: 88 sensory neurons; I: 82 interneurons; and M: 109 motor neurons). Error bars represent standard error of the mean. *: P < 0.05, **: P < 0.01, ***: P < 0.001. Interne...

Adjacency matrix of the reachability results. The color of an element aij depicts the possibility of reachability by network types: i.e., gap junction, chemical synapse, and full networks (pink: the full network only, black: impossible reachability, and white: possible reachability for all networks). (TIF)

Top 50 neurons for vulnerability measures. (XLSX)

Network properties and vulnerability results for the intact network and the attacked networks for neurons. (XLSX)

Top 240 synapses for vulnerability measures. (XLSX)

Directed circular wiring diagram. Link colors show the weights of each connection (light grey: 1–5, grey: 6–10, green: 11–15, blue: 16–20, orange: 21–25, pink: 26–30, and red: over 30). The colors of the names of neurons indicate their neuronal types (sensory neuron: red; interneuron: green; and motor neuron: blue). The lengths of the segments of t...

Mean D, Str, and AW values for all 279 neurons considering directions of the synapses for the intact network. Directional information is indicated as input (in) and output (out). The ratio of the out to the in value (ratio) is also plotted. Bar plots indicate the results of each measure by neuronal types (All: entire 279 neurons; S: 88 sensory neur...

Network properties and vulnerability results for the intact network and the attacked networks for synapses. (XLSX)

Supporting information for “Vulnerability-based critical neurons, synapses, and pathways in the Caenorhabditis elegans connectome”. (DOCX)

An example of an undirected circular wiring diagram. (A) Adjacency matrix of an example network. (B) Schematic graph drawing of the example network. (C) Undirected circular wiring diagram. (TIF)

Directed circular wiring diagram sorted by somatic location. Link colors show the weights of each connection (light grey: 1–5, grey: 6–10, green: 11–15, blue: 16–20, orange: 21–25, pink: 26–30, and red: over 30). The colors of the names of neurons indicate their neuronal types (sensory neuron: red; interneuron: green; and motor neuron: blue). The l...

Synaptic connection schemes of the critical neurons whose functions are not known. (A) AVHL and (B) DVC. Biological functions were divided into four categories: (1) blue: body movement or locomotion; (2) red: pioneering, growth, and neuronal development; (3) green: chemical reactions or information integration; (4) gray: unknown function. The numbe...

A fundamental understanding of behavior requires predicting when and what an individual will choose. However, the actual temporal and sequential dynamics of successive choices made among multiple alternatives remain unclear. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that there is a general bursting property in both the timing and sequential pa...

In everyday life, we regularly choose among multiple items serially such as playing music in a playlist or determining priorities in a to-do list. However, our behavioral strategy to determine the order of choice is poorly understood. Here we defined 'the sushi problem' as how we serially choose multiple items of different degrees of preference whe...

Rhesus monkeys have been shown to prefer risky over safe options in experiential decision-making tasks. These findings might be due, however, to specific contextual factors, such as small amounts of fluid reward and minimal costs for risk-taking. To better understand the factors affecting decision-making under risk in rhesus monkeys, we tested mult...

Human preferences depend on whether a chosen outcome appears to be a loss or a gain compared with what had been expected, i.e., in comparison to a reference point. Because reference dependence has such a strong influence on human decision-making, it is important to uncover its origins, which will in turn help delineate the underlying mechanisms. It...

ANIMALS TYPICALLY MUST MAKE A NUMBER OF SUCCESSIVE CHOICES TO ACHIEVE A GOAL: e.g., eating multiple food items before becoming satiated. However, it is unclear whether choosing the best first or saving the best for last represents the best choice strategy to maximize overall reward. Specifically, since outcomes can be evaluated prospectively (with...

The underlying mechanisms giving rise to insightful problem solving are largely unknown, although models have been proposed that suggest phases of incubation, restructuring, and insight. Here, we propose a single computational mechanism that models the dynamics of structuring percepts to create an internal belief representation and subsequent restr...

To succeed in a dynamically changing world, animals need to predict their environments. Humans, in fact, exhibit such a strong desire for consistency that one of the most well-established findings in social psychology is the effort people make to maintain consistency among their beliefs, attitudes, and behavior. However, displeasure with unpredicta...

Background and purpose: For many years survival and neurological functionality of patients were the main outcome measures after treatment of intracranial aneurysms. But, the variable outcomes of patients operated on in a delayed fashion or before the aneurysm rupture indicate that more precise measures are needed for assessment of not only the neu...

The human mind is built for approximations. When considering the value of a large aggregate of different items, for example, we typically do not summate the many individual values. Instead, we appear to form an immediate impression of the likeability of the option based on the average quality of the full collection, which is easier to evaluate and...

For many years, neurosurgeons and neurointerventionalists have been focused on the neurological functionality of the patients as a main measure assessing the effects of treatment of intracranial aneurysms. But, individual experience, sporadic series of patients operated in a delayed fashion, as well as the patients operated before an aneurysm ruptu...

Decision making is one of the principal cognitive processes underlying goal-directed behaviour and thus there is justifiably strong interest in modeling it. However, many of these models have yet to be tested outside of the laboratory. At the same time, field work would benefit from the use of experimental methods developed in the laboratory to det...

Abstracting generalities from concrete experience allows the application of acquired knowledge to novel situations, a hallmark of primate cognition. Abstraction may also enable some animals to overcome prepotent biases, by allowing them to treat prepotent stimuli and responses more flexibly. The aim of the current study was to determine whether rhe...

A primary challenge of agent-based policy learning in complex and uncertain environments is escalating computational complexity with the size of the task space (action choices and world states) and the number of agents. Nonetheless, there is ample evidence in the natural world that high-functioning social mammals learn to solve complex problems wit...

In humans, the order of receiving sequential rewards can significantly influence the overall subjective utility of an outcome. For example, people subjectively rate receiving a large reward by itself significantly higher than receiving the same large reward followed by a smaller one (Do, Rupert, & Wolford, 2008). This result is called the peak-end...

This paper addresses the inherent complexity in coordinating learned behavioral strategies of multiple agents working towards a common goal. Because of the interactions among the agents, a primary challenge of policy learning is escalating computational complexity with increasing number of agents and the size of the task space (including action cho...

Multi-agent systems are becoming more popular in a variety of problem domains that benefit from increased parallelism, system robustness, and scalability, ranging from search and rescue to investment management. Multi-agent systems analysis studies how multiple agents coordinate with each other to maximize some team goal or individual best reward....

The use of multi-agent reinforcement learning is growing because of it's ability to scale in complexity and its lack of need for knowledge of the state and other agents. Chimpanzee hunting behavior is a suitable complex and interesting model for which multi-agent reinforcement learning is appropriate. Chimpanzee hunting strategies vary in both use...

In the area of autonomous multi-robot cooperation, much emphasis has been placed on how to coordinate individual robot behaviors in order to achieve an optimal solution to task completion as a team. This paper presents an approach to cooperative multi-robot reinforcement learning based on a hybrid state space representation of the environment to ac...

In motor and sensory areas of cortex, neuronal activity often depends on the location of a movement target or a sensory stimulus, with each neuron tuned to a single part of space called a preferred direction (when motor) or a receptive field (when sensory). As we previously reported, some neurons in the monkey prefrontal cortex are tuned to two par...

Monkeys with lesions of the orbital prefrontal cortex (PFo) are impaired on behavioral tasks that require the ability to respond flexibly to changes in reward contingency (e.g., object reversal learning and extinction). These and related findings in rodents and humans have led to the suggestion that PFo is critical for the inhibitory control needed...

Previously we have shown that the kinematic parameters of reaching movements can be extracted from the activity of cortical ensembles. Here we used cortical ensemble activity to predict electromyographic (EMG) signals of four arm muscles in New World monkeys. The overall shape of the EMG envelope was predicted, as well as trial-to-trial variations...

To reinvestigate whether macaque monkeys could learn the reversed-contingency task, we trained six rhesus monkeys on the problem. On each trial, the monkeys chose between one and four pieces of the same food item. If a monkey selected four pieces of food, it received one instead; choice of one piece of food led to the receipt of four. All of the mo...

When presented with a choice between 1 and 3 pieces of food in a type of reversed contingency task, 4 cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) consistently chose the 3 pieces of food and received nothing, even though the choice of 1 piece would have yielded 3. However, in a task in which the tamarins received the 1 piece of food when they chose it, a...

A great deal of research on the prefrontal cortex (PF), especially in nonhuman primates, has focused on the theory that it functions predominantly in the maintenance of short-term memories, and neurophysiologists have often interpreted PF's delay-period activity in the context of this theory. Neuroimaging results, however, suggest that PF's functio...

Activity Early Versus Late in the Delay Period A table of tuning indexes is given at the top for each of the cell classes (plotted in the bottom part of the figure), combinations of those classes, and other groups of cells as described in the left column. These population averages are divided into two groups of columns, those on the left showing da...

Rasters and Histograms from a Representative Memory Cell The activity matrix is the same as in Figure 3B, measured in the 800 ms prior to the trigger stimulus. Format as in Figure S1. (95 KB PPT).

Activity Early Versus Late in the Delay Period Same PFdl neuron as in Figure S1, in the format of Figure S5. The red boxes show the measured period for the cell's preferred location in both (A) and (B). (156 KB PPT).

Rasters and Histograms from Two Representative Hybrid Cells The activity matrix in (A) is the same as in Figure 3C, part a; the one in (B) is the same as in Figure 3C, part b. Format as in Figure S1. (151 KB PPT).

Activity Early Versus Late in the Delay Period Same PFdl neuron as in Figure 2. The activity matrix in (C) comes from the data in (A), and the matrix in (D) comes from the data in (B), in the format of Figure 2C. In (A), the red boxes enclose the measured period for the preferred location, 800 ms prior to the beginning of the circle's movement (200...

Rasters and Histograms from a Representative Attention Cell The activity matrix is the same as in Figure 3A, measured in the 800 ms immediately prior to the trigger signal. This neuron is not the same as that illustrated in Figure 2. Beneath the activity matrix, the rasters and histograms for each attended and remembered location are displayed in t...

Neuron-Dropping Curves for the Two Monkeys Combined Format as in Figure 7A–7D. (46 KB PPT).

A paradigm is described for recording the activity of single cortical neurons from awake, behaving macaque monkeys. Its unique features include high-density microwire arrays and multichannel instrumentation. Three adult rhesus monkeys received microwire array implants, totaling 96-704 microwires per subject, in up to five cortical areas, sometimes...

To explore the relationship between problem solving and inhibitory control, the authors present 4 experiments on cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) using a reverse-reward contingency task. In Experiment 1, 1 group of tamarins was given a choice between a small and a large quantity of food. Whichever quantity the tamarins reached for first, they...