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Dynamics of the knowledge instinct: Effects of incoherence on the cognitive system
Abstract
We successfully replicated a study about aesthetic emotions in a different socio-cultural environment. The present results suggest that incoherence is a strong inhibitor for aesthetic chills and verify a positive correlation between pleasure and meaning. These results allow for a scientific study of aesthetic emotions as it is now possible for the experimenter to have two groups of subjects, both exposed to the same stimulation, one group experiencing measurable aesthetic emotions whereas the other does not. We review the literature on the problem of both positive and negative psychogenic shivering and relate this phenomenon to the instinct of knowledge. We discuss the implications of our findings, stress the importance of studying the psychological and physiological effects of incoherence on the central nervous system, introduce a series of hypotheses to be tested in further research and conclude with a plausible explanation for the relation between temperature and cognition in humans.
... Schoeller and Perlovsky have put forward a theory of chills as a satiation of an internal drive for knowledge 26,41 . Chills would thus correspond to a sudden acceleration of learning [42][43][44][45] described formally in terms of an event when the rate of change of a learning function tends towards zero 26,37,39,41 . This account is coherent with current accounts of emotional valence in terms of error dynamics 46,47 . ...
... This account is coherent with current accounts of emotional valence in terms of error dynamics 46,47 . Crucially, and even though their prevalence across human populations is still an open question, psychogenic shivers seem to present a high degree of universality, making them a useful somatic marker for affective neuroscience in light of their myriad emotional links 38,43,44,48,49 . ...
Previous studies on aesthetic chills (i.e., psychogenic shivers) demonstrate their positive effects on stress, pleasure, and social cognition. We tested whether we could artificially enhance this emotion and its downstream effects by intervening on its somatic markers using wearable technology. We built a device generating cold and vibrotactile sensations down the spine of subjects in temporal conjunction with a chill-eliciting audiovisual stimulus, enhancing the somatosensation of cold underlying aesthetic chills. Results suggest that participants wearing the device experienced significantly more chills, and chills of greater intensity. Further, these subjects reported sharing the feelings expressed in the stimulus to a greater degree, and felt more pleasure during the experience. These preliminary results demonstrate that emotion prosthetics and somatosensory interfaces offer new possibilities of modulating human emotions from the bottom-up (body to mind). Future challenges will include testing the device on a larger sample and diversifying the type of stimuli to account for negatively valenced chills and intercultural differences. Interoceptive technologies offer a new paradigm for affective neuroscience, allowing controlled intervention on conscious feelings and their downstream effects on higher-order cognition.
... Le présent article détaille les résultats d'une étude exploratoire concernant le phénomène des frissons esthétique chez l'homme. Ces données s'inscrivent dans le cadre d'une série de recherches menée au cours des trois dernières années sur le continent européen (voir Schoeller, 2015a(voir Schoeller, , 2015bSchoeller & Perlovsky, 2016 ;Schoeller, Eskinazi, & Garreau, 2017). Bien que les présentes données ne permettent pas directement de l'opérationnaliser, l'hypothèse de travail guidant ces recherches est que les émotions esthétiques correspondent à une satisfaction de la curiosité naturelle (Schoeller, 2017a). ...
... Tous les participants sont répartis de faç on aléatoire dans deux groupes chacun exposé à une amorce différente. Le premier groupe est exposé à une amorce cohérente et le second groupe à une amorce incohérente (pour plus de renseignements, voir le détail de cette expérience dans Schoeller & Perlovsky, 2016 ;Schoeller et al., 2017). Cette partie de l'expérience n'intéresse pas directement le présent article. ...
Résumé
Cette étude porte sur le problème des émotions esthétiques et celui des frissons esthétiques en particulier. Nous avons demandé à 30 sujets de décrire une structure narrative (film, théâtre, roman) élicitant des frissons, ainsi que la phénoménologie de l’expérience esthétique. Un certain nombre de redondances non aléatoires sont observables. Les stimuli élicitant des frissons positifs dans notre population ont pour la plupart une très forte dimension sensorielle et leurs propriétés particulières sont souvent des preuves d’altruisme, des considérations existentielles très générales, des moments de recueillement et de concentration sur soi, des situations de solidarité et de communion (famille, couple, amis) ou à l’opposé de séparation violente (famille, couple, ami). En règle générale, lorsqu’il s’agit d’évènements réels (et non de scènes de fiction dans un film ou un roman), les sujets décrivent des situations où ils sont en sécurité, où ils ont confiance dans l’environnement.
... Hence, in addition to providing novel insights into how pleasure comes about in the mind and brain, an understanding of the neural process supporting AC could lead to nonpharmacological substitutes for dopaminergic-related illnesses, as suggested by the recent findings suggesting that CS seem to improve reward learning (Jain et al., 2023a, b) and maladaptive cognitions in anhedonic depression (Schoeller et al., 2023a, b, c, d). CS include music (Blood & Zatorre, 2001;de Fleurian & Pearce, 2021), films (Schoeller et al., 2022;Schoeller, Eskinazi et al., 2018a;Schoeller & Perlovsky, 2016), stories (Schoeller & Perlovsky, 2015), poetry or speech (Wassiliwizky et al., 2017;Wassiliwizky & Menninghaus, 2021), scientific practice (Schoeller, 2015a), and religious and secular rituals (Schoeller, 2015a). In this short perspective, we review the neural mechanisms of chills and reward (Section "Neural mechanisms of aesthetic chills and reward") and relate them to the notion of precision encoding in the framework of predictive coding (section "Dopamine and precision encoding in aesthetic chills"). ...
The phenomenon of aesthetic chills—shivers and goosebumps associated with either rewarding or threatening stimuli—offers a unique window into the brain basis of conscious reward because of their universal nature and simultaneous subjective and physical counterparts. Elucidating the neural mechanisms underlying aesthetic chills can reveal fundamental insights about emotion, consciousness, and the embodied mind. What is the precise timing and mechanism of bodily feedback in emotional experience? How are conscious feelings and motivations generated from interoceptive predictions? What is the role of uncertainty and precision signaling in shaping emotions? How does the brain distinguish and balance processing of rewards versus threats? We review neuroimaging evidence and highlight key questions for understanding how bodily sensations shape conscious feelings. This research stands to advance models of brain-body interactions shaping affect and may lead to novel nonpharmacological interventions for disorders of motivation and pleasure.
... Instincts are intricate behavioral patterns that extend to the inexplicable, serving as one of the driving forces compelling individuals forward, propelling them toward achievement. Instincts are the subject of diverse modern research (Friesen & Cresswell, 2017;Rubinsten, 2016;Schoeller et al., 2018). However, this still leaves a key question: where do human drives, the subject of Szondi's research, fit into this framework? ...
The article is written based on lectures and scientific research of Academician Oleg Maltsev. His scientific approach is based on the criteria of objectivity and impartiality, therefore, before the subject of research was outlined — its purpose, task definition, determination of the order and structure of the experimental-practical part, testing and validation of scientific discoveries, practical and tactical models and other aspects, that will be presented to the reader in this article, in the first place, primary sources were analyzed that define the constructive material and the systematic presentation of the doctrine and principles of fate-analysis as a science, as well as its historical value and academic affiliation.
... Hence, in addition to providing novel insights into how pleasure comes about in the mind and brain, an understanding of the neural process supporting AC could lead to nonpharmacological substitutes for dopaminergic-related illnesses, as suggested by the recent findings suggesting that CS seem to improve reward learning (Jain et al., 2023a, b) and maladaptive cognitions in anhedonic depression (Schoeller et al., 2023a, b, c, d). CS include music (Blood & Zatorre, 2001;de Fleurian & Pearce, 2021), films (Schoeller et al., 2022;Schoeller, Eskinazi et al., 2018a;Schoeller & Perlovsky, 2016), stories (Schoeller & Perlovsky, 2015), poetry or speech (Wassiliwizky et al., 2017;Wassiliwizky & Menninghaus, 2021), scientific practice (Schoeller, 2015a), and religious and secular rituals (Schoeller, 2015a). In this short perspective, we review the neural mechanisms of chills and reward (Section "Neural mechanisms of aesthetic chills and reward") and relate them to the notion of precision encoding in the framework of predictive coding (section "Dopamine and precision encoding in aesthetic chills"). ...
The phenomenon of aesthetic chills—shivers and goosebumps associated with either rewarding or threatening stimuli—offers a unique window into the brain basis of conscious reward due to their universal nature and simultaneous subjective and physical counterparts. Elucidating the neural mechanisms underlying aesthetic chills can reveal fundamental insights about emotion, consciousness, and the embodied mind. What is the precise timing and mechanism of bodily feedback in emotional experience? How are conscious feelings and motivations generated from interoceptive predictions? What is the role of uncertainty and precision signaling in shaping emotions? How does the brain distinguish and balance processing of rewards versus threats? Here we review neuroimaging evidence and highlight key questions for understanding how bodily sensations shape conscious feelings of pleasure and meaning. This research stands to advance models of brain-body interactions shaping affect and may lead to novel non-pharmacological interventions for disorders of motivation and pleasure.
... When the core body temperature drops, the shivering reflex is triggered to maintain homeostasis [1] [2] [3] [4]. ...
... Chen [24] proposed that knowledge system is a new theoretical research field in the humanities and social sciences, the author analyzed the influence of Western knowledge and its knowledge system on China, discussed the evolution of knowledge concept in the history of thought and the anxiety consciousness of literature and art research, and proposed a strategy of value reconstruction in knowledge production and literature knowledge construction. Schoeller et al. [25] successfully replicated a study on aesthetic emotions in different socio-cultural environment, in the paper, the authors reviewed literatures about both positive and negative psychogenic shivering and related this phenomenon to the instinct of knowledge, and they gave a plausible explanation for the relation between temperature and cognition in humans. ...
For students, it’s an important but difficult thing to form a discipline knowledge system based on the sequence of cognition, and they would need teachers’ assistance for that. Therefore, how to arrange the scattered knowledge points in a sequence that conforms to the law of cognition, construct a complete discipline knowledge system, and help students attain, familiarize, absorb, and internalize the new knowledge in a scientific way are urgent issues to be solved for educationalists. To attempt to solve these questions, in a research background that the smart education has been applied and promoted widely, this paper took the finance discipline as an example to study the representation and construction of discipline knowledge system based on cognitive sequence. At first, this paper took a Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) based on complex rules as the Cognitive Sequence Relationship (CSR) construction algorithm for correcting contradictions in the CSR of knowledge points in the finance discipline knowledge system, gave the structure of the model for inferring the CSR of knowledge points in the finance discipline knowledge system, and adjusted the existing logical inference rules. Then, when building the CSR for the target discipline, this paper introduced a momentum factor σ into the network model to solve problems such as network oscillation and slow convergence. After that, the established finance discipline knowledge system was corrected to ensure that the old and new knowledge in the system could keep balance, and a fragment in the finance discipline knowledge dataset was introduced as an example. At last, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm was verified by the experimental results.
... Those difficulties explain the scarce literature focusing on the influence of knowledge dynamics on the decision making process. Even if some authors indicate the influence of emotional knowledge on the decision making [9,[39][40][41], they do not consider the connection between emotional knowledge and knowledge dynamics, and that between knowledge dynamics and decision making. ...
The purpose of this paper is to present a bibliometric analysis of the literature, focusing on knowledge dynamics in managerial decision making. The motivation of our research is based on the new theory of knowledge fields and knowledge dynamics and its influence on decision making in business and management. The methodology used is based on a bibliometric analysis performed with the specialized software VOSviewer. The analysis graphically presents a series of semantic clusters which show the co-citation distances between different concepts related to the search expressions used like "knowledge dynamics", "managerial decision", and "decision making". As a database, we used the papers published in journals indexed in Web of Science. The outcomes of our analysis are some graphical representations of semantic clusters for the expressions "knowledge dynamics" and "managerial decision making", and a series of tables with the content analysis of the clusters and some other data concerning publications and authors. The findings demonstrate that there is a consistent link between knowledge dynamics and the managerial decision making process. The contribution of the paper comes from the fact that it is a first bibliometric analysis of the correlations between knowledge dynamics and managerial decision making as reflected in papers indexed in Web of Science. Also, the analysis includes for the first time the topic of entropic knowledge dynamics as reflected in papers indexed in Web of Science.
... Change in the rate at which error is being resolved manifests for humans as emotional valence-we feel good when error is being reduced at a better than expected rate, and we feel bad when error is unexpectedly on the rise (Joffily and Coricelli, 2013;Schoeller, 2015Schoeller, , 2017Schoeller and Perlovsky, 2016;Schoeller et al., 2017;Van de Cruys, 2017;Kiverstein et al., 2019;Perlovsky and Schoeller, 2019;Wilkinson et al., 2019;Nave et al., 2020). Valence systems provide the agent with a domain general controller capable of tracking changes in error managements and adjusting precision expectations relative to those changes (Kiverstein et al., 2019;Hesp et al., 2021). ...
In order to interact seamlessly with robots, users must infer the causes of a robot’s behavior–and be confident about that inference (and its predictions). Hence, trust is a necessary condition for human-robot collaboration (HRC). However, and despite its crucial role, it is still largely unknown how trust emerges, develops, and supports human relationship to technological systems. In the following paper we review the literature on trust, human-robot interaction, HRC, and human interaction at large. Early models of trust suggest that it is a trade-off between benevolence and competence; while studies of human to human interaction emphasize the role of shared behavior and mutual knowledge in the gradual building of trust. We go on to introduce a model of trust as an agent’ best explanation for reliable sensory exchange with an extended motor plant or partner. This model is based on the cognitive neuroscience of active inference and suggests that, in the context of HRC, trust can be casted in terms of virtual control over an artificial agent. Interactive feedback is a necessary condition to the extension of the trustor’s perception-action cycle. This model has important implications for understanding human-robot interaction and collaboration–as it allows the traditional determinants of human trust, such as the benevolence and competence attributed to the trustee, to be defined in terms of hierarchical active inference, while vulnerability can be described in terms of information exchange and empowerment. Furthermore, this model emphasizes the role of user feedback during HRC and suggests that boredom and surprise may be used in personalized interactions as markers for under and over-reliance on the system. The description of trust as a sense of virtual control offers a crucial step toward grounding human factors in cognitive neuroscience and improving the design of human-centered technology. Furthermore, we examine the role of shared behavior in the genesis of trust, especially in the context of dyadic collaboration, suggesting important consequences for the acceptability and design of human-robot collaborative systems.
... Teams have been interested in measuring (Kim et al., 2014), controlling (Jain, Horowitz and Schoeller), or incorporating PS in VR Riecke, 2017, 2018;). An important questions, currently beyond measurement, is whether the amount of heat related to specific emotions can be predicted effectively (Schoeller et al., 2018a), that is whether the psychogenic shivers serves any evolutionary function (Tihanyi et al., 2018). Progress toward answering this question could help better understand the neural networks underlying human social emotions and their biological importance in humans (Dunbar, 2009). ...
Recent technological advances coupled with progress in brain and psychological sciences allow the controlled induction and regulation of human psychophysiological states. These progresses often aim toward the goal of developing human-machine interfaces to improve human factors such as mental health, human relations, well-being and empathy. In this short article, we present some of such devices with a particular emphasis on technology aiming to foster empathic abilities in humans; that is, our ability to care, understand and help our fellow human beings. In order to discuss any possible use for such devices in a clinical setting, we start by outlining definitions for the terms used in the article, and present three devices designed with the goal of modulating empathy in humans.
Chills are a psychophysiological response that can be experienced when listening to music. They have been of particular interest in scientific research on music because of their association with emotion and pleasure. However, with the literature doubling in size since the last review on the subject, it has become increasingly difficult to gain a broad and integrated understanding of the empirical and theoretical research on music-evoked chills (MECs). Notably, crucial questions remain about the criteria that are necessary and sufficient to characterize MECs. In this article, we systematically review the literature on MECs to reconcile diverging opinions and empirical findings on their psychological nature, and to develop a preliminary model that provides a robust framework for future hypothesis-driven research. We explore the context behind current research on MECs, discuss how they relate to emotional and esthetic responses, assess current empirical measures and paradigms, summarize their physiological and neural correlates, categorize their possible stimulus-driven elicitors, examine how they are affected by individual differences, and evaluate theoretical perspectives about their potential evolutionary causes. We conclude by providing a preliminary model of MECs that suggests different pathways for the experience of MECs, a dataset listing pieces of music reported to elicit MECs in the reviewed literature, and a set of open issues, hypotheses, and recommended approaches for future research.
Historically, multiple theories have posited an active, causal role for perceived bodily states in the creation of human emotion. Recent evidence for embodied cognition, i.e. the role of the entire body in cognition, and support for models positing a key role of bodily homeostasis in the creation of consciousness, i.e. active inference, call for the test of causal rather than correlational links between changes in bodily state and changes in affective state. The controlled stimulation of body signals underlying human emotions and the constant feedback loop between actual and expected sensations during interoceptive processing allows for intervention on higher cognitive functioning. Somatosensory interfaces and emotion prosthesis modulating body perception and human emotions through interoceptive illusions offer new experimental and clinical tools for affective neuroscience. Here, we review challenges in the affective and interoceptive neurosciences, in the light of these novel technologies designed to open avenues for applied research and clinical intervention.
What is common among Newtonian mechanics, statistical physics, thermodynamics, quantum physics, the theory of relativity, astrophysics and the theory of superstrings? All these areas of physics have in common a methodology, which is discussed in the first few lines of the review. Is a physics of the mind possible? Is it possible to describe how a mind adapts in real time to changes in the physical world through a theory based on a few basic laws? From perception and elementary cognition to emotions and abstract ideas allowing high-level cognition and executive functioning, at nearly all levels of study, the mind shows variability and uncertainties. Is it possible to turn psychology and neuroscience into so-called "hard" sciences? This review discusses several established first principles for the description of mind and their mathematical formulations. A mathematical model of mind is derived from these principles. This model includes mechanisms of instincts, emotions, behavior, cognition, concepts, language, intuitions, and imagination. We clarify fundamental notions such as the opposition between the conscious and the unconscious, the knowledge instinct and aesthetic emotions, as well as humans' universal abilities for symbols and meaning. In particular, the review discusses in length evolutionary and cognitive functions of aesthetic emotions and musical emotions. Several theoretical predictions are derived from the model, some of which have been experimentally confirmed. These empirical results are summarized and we introduce new theoretical developments. Several unsolved theoretical problems are proposed, as well as new experimental challenges for future research.
It is a common experience-and well established experimentally-that music can engage us emotionally in a compelling manner. The mechanisms underlying these experiences are receiving increasing scrutiny. However, the extent to which other domains of aesthetic experience can similarly elicit strong emotions is unknown. Using psychophysiology, neuroimaging, and behavioral responses, we show that recited poetry can act as a powerful stimulus for eliciting peak emotional responses, including chills and objectively measurable goosebumps that engage the primary reward circuitry. Importantly, while these responses to poetry are largely analogous to those found our music, their neural underpinnings show important differences, specifically with regard to the crucial role of the nucleus accumbens. We also go beyond replicating previous music-related studies by showing that peak aesthetic pleasure can co-occur with physiological markers of negative affect. Finally, the distribution of chills across the trajectory of poems provides insight into compositional principles of poetry.
This psychophysiological study is the first to examine the relationship between emotional tears and emotional piloerection (i.e., goosebumps). Although both phenomena have been related to peak states of being moved, details about their temporal occurrence and the associated levels of physiological arousal have remained unknown. In our study, we used emotionally powerful film scenes that were self-selected by participants. Our findings show that even within peak moments of emotional arousal, a gradation of intensity is possible. The overlap of tears and goosebumps signifies a maximal climax within peak moments. On the side of the stimulus, we found that displays of prosocial behavior play a crucial role in the elicitation of tears and goosebumps. Finally, based on the results of a formal film analysis of the tears-eliciting clips provided by our participants, as compared to randomly extracted, equally long control clips from the same films, we show how the technical and artistic making of the clips was optimized for the display of social interaction and emotional expressions.
This article reviews thermodynamic relationships in the brain in an attempt to consolidate current research in systems neuroscience. The present synthesis supports proposals that thermodynamic information in the brain can be quantified to an appreciable degree of objectivity, that many qualitative properties of information in systems of the brain can be inferred by observing changes in thermodynamic quantities, and that many features of the brain’s anatomy and architecture illustrate relatively simple information-energy relationships. The brain may provide a unique window into the relationship between energy and information.
This article addresses the relation between aesthetic emotions, knowledge-acquisition, and meaning-making. We briefly review theoretical foundations and present experimental data related to aesthetic chills. These results suggest that aesthetic chills are inhibited by exposing the subject to an incoherent prime prior to the chill-eliciting stimulation and that a meaningful prime makes the aesthetic experience more pleasurable than a neutral or an incoherent one. Aesthetic chills induced by narrative structures seem to be related to the pinnacle of the story, to have a significant calming effect and subjects describe a strong empathy for the characters. We discuss the relation between meaning-making and aesthetic emotions at the psychological, physiological, narratological, and mathematical levels and propose a series of hypotheses to be tested in future research.
Aesthetic chills occur in artistic, scientific and religious context. We introduce a theoretical framework relating them to humans’ vital need for cognition. We discuss the implications of such a framework and the plausibility of our hypothesis. Numerous references to chills are introduced (quotes from, inter alios, artists, physicists and mathematicians).
We clarify the relation between the perception of narratives and aesthetic emotions by relating them to mechanisms of knowledge-acquisition. Stories elicit emotions by diverging from expectations one may formulate on the basis of their properties. The greater the divergence, the stronger the emotion. Models of emotions, expectations, and knowledge-acquisition are briefly presented. We relate them to research pertaining to narrative structures and provide a mathematical description for aesthetic emotions. We conclude by underlining the fundamental role played by aesthetic emotions in the workings of the human mind.
Curiosity is a basic element of our cognition, but its biological function, mechanisms, and neural underpinning remain poorly understood. It is nonetheless a motivator for learning, influential in decision-making, and crucial for healthy development. One factor limiting our understanding of it is the lack of a widely agreed upon delineation of what is and is not curiosity. Another factor is the dearth of standardized laboratory tasks that manipulate curiosity in the lab. Despite these barriers, recent years have seen a major growth of interest in both the neuroscience and psychology of curiosity. In this Perspective, we advocate for the importance of the field, provide a selective overview of its current state, and describe tasks that are used to study curiosity and information-seeking. We propose that, rather than worry about defining curiosity, it is more helpful to consider the motivations for information-seeking behavior and to study it in its ethological context.
Psychogenic fever reflects a phenomenon where core body temperature is high (up to 41°C) or low-grade high (37-38°C) during either acute or chronic stress. Underlying mechanisms are distinct from infection-induced fever and involve the central and sympathetic nervous systems. Psychogenic fever appears a complex psychological, physiological and endocrinological phenomenon.
Psychogenic fever is a stress-related, psychosomatic disease especially seen in young women. Some patients develop extremely high core body temperature (Tc) (up to 41°C) when they are exposed to emotional events, whereas others show persistent low-grade high Tc (37-38°C) during situations of chronic stress. The mechanism for psychogenic fever is not yet fully understood. However, clinical case reports demonstrate that psychogenic fever is not attenuated by antipyretic drugs, but by psychotropic drugs that display anxiolytic and sedative properties, or by resolving patients' difficulties via natural means or psychotherapy. Animal studies have demonstrated that psychological stress increases Tc via mechanisms distinct from infectious fever (which requires proinflammatory mediators) and that the sympathetic nervous system, particularly β3-adrenoceptor-mediated non-shivering thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue, plays an important role in the development of psychological stress-induced hyperthermia. Acute psychological stress induces a transient, monophasic increase in Tc. In contrast, repeated stress induces anticipatory hyperthermia, reduces diurnal changes in Tc, or slightly increases Tc throughout the day. Chronically stressed animals also display an enhanced hyperthermic response to a novel stress, while past fearful experiences induce conditioned hyperthermia to the fear context. The high Tc that psychogenic fever patients develop may be a complex of these diverse kinds of hyperthermic responses.
Previous studies have shown that a cardiac signature of emotionality (referred to as EK, which can be computed from the standard 12 lead electrocardiogram, ECG), predicts inter-individual differences in the tendency to experience and express positive emotion. Here, we investigated whether EK values can be transiently modulated during stimulation with participant-selected music pieces and film scenes that elicit strongly positive emotion.
The phenomenon of aesthetic chills, as indicated by measurable piloerection on the forearm, was used to accurately locate moments of peak emotional responses during stimulation. From 58 healthy participants, continuous EK values, heart rate, and respiratory frequency were recorded during stimulation with film scenes and music pieces, and were related to the aesthetic chills. EK values, as well as heart rate, increased significantly during moments of peak positive emotion accompanied by piloerection.
These results are the first to provide evidence for an influence of momentary psychological state on a cardiac signature of emotional personality (as reflected in EK values). The possibility to modulate ECG amplitude signatures via stimulation with emotionally significant music pieces and film scenes opens up new perspectives for the use of emotional peak experiences in the therapy of disorders characterized by flattened emotionality, such as depression or schizoid personality disorder.
The emotional state of being moved, though frequently referred to in both classical rhetoric and current language use, is far from established as a well-defined psychological construct. In a series of three studies, we investigated eliciting scenarios, emotional ingredients, appraisal patterns, feeling qualities, and the affective signature of being moved and related emotional states. The great majority of the eliciting scenarios can be assigned to significant relationship and critical life events (especially death, birth, marriage, separation, and reunion). Sadness and joy turned out to be the two preeminent emotions involved in episodes of being moved. Both the sad and the joyful variants of being moved showed a coactivation of positive and negative affect and can thus be ranked among the mixed emotions. Moreover, being moved, while featuring only low-to-mid arousal levels, was experienced as an emotional state of high intensity; this applied to responses to fictional artworks no less than to own-lif
Music is a universal feature of human cultures, and it has both fascinated and troubled many researchers. In this paper we show through the dictator game (DG) that an individual’s listening to preferred “chill-inducing” music may promote altruistic behavior that extends beyond the bounds of kin selection or reciprocal altruism. Participants were 22 undergraduate and postgraduate students who were divided into two groups, the in-group and the out-group, and they acted as dictators. The dictators listened to their own preferred “chill-inducing” music, to music they disliked, or to silence, and then played the DG. In this hypothetical experiment, the dictators were given real money (which they did not keep) and were asked to distribute it to the recipients, who were presented as stylized images of men and women displayed on a computer screen. The dictators played the DG both before and after listening to the music. Both male and female dictators gave more money after listening to their preferred music and less after listening to the music they disliked, whereas silence had no effect on the allocated amounts. The group to which the recipient belonged did not influence these trends. The results suggest that listening to preferred “chill-inducing” music promotes altruistic behavior.
This study explored the organization of the semantic field and the conceptual structure of moving experiences by investigating German-language expressions referring to the emotional state of being moved. We used present and past participles of eight psychological verbs as primes in a free word-association task, as these grammatical forms place their conceptual focus on the eliciting situation and on the felt emotional state, respectively. By applying a taxonomy of basic knowledge types and computing the Cognitive Salience Index, we identified joy and sadness as key emotional ingredients of being moved, and significant life events and art experiences as main elicitors of this emotional state. Metric multidimensional scaling analyses of the semantic field revealed that the core terms designate a cluster of emotional states characterized by low degrees of arousal and slightly positive valence, the latter due to a nearly balanced representation of positive and negative elements in the conceptual structure of being moved.
En vue l'enseignement des régulations aux biologistes Michel Cabanac et Mauricio Russek présentent dans cet ouvrage une iconographie originale fondée sur l'analogue entre le débit d'énergie traversant un être vivant et le débit d'eau traversant un réservoir. Le recours à l'image leur permet d'éviter le langage mathématique auquel les biologistes sont habituellement réfractaires.
Cette façon nouvelle d'enseigner les régulations en biologie tant par la forme que par les concepts s'est révélée extrêmement efficace auprès des étudiants en médecine et en biologie.
L 'analyse des systèmes telle qu'utilisée dans l'ouvrage peut aussi être avantageusement appliquée à tous les systèmes dynamiques ouverts, qu'ils soient biologiques, sociaux ou économiques. Elle ouvre alors à la recherche des hypothèses nouvelles
Music has a unique power to elicit moments of intense emotional and psychophysiological response. These moments – termed “chills,” “thrills”, “frissons,” etc. – are subjects of introspection and philosophical debate, as well as scientific study in music perception and cognition. The present article integrates the existing multidisciplinary literature in an attempt to define a comprehensive, testable, and ecologically valid model of transcendent psychophysiological moments in music.
In a previous study we demonstrated that listening to a pleasant music while performing an academic test helped students to overcome stress, to devote more time to more stressful and more complicated task and the grades were higher. Yet, there remained ambiguities as for the causes of the higher test performance of these students: do they perform better because they hear music during their examinations, or would they perform better anyway because they are more gifted/motivated? This motivated the current study as a preliminary step toward that general question: Do students who like/perform music have better grades than the others? Our results confirmed this hypothesis: students studying music have better grades in all subjects.
Debates on the origins of consonance and dissonance in music have a long history. While some scientists argue that consonance judgments are an acquired competence based on exposure to the musical-system-specific knowledge of a particular culture, others favor a biological explanation for the observed preference for consonance. Here we provide experimental confirmation that this preference plays an adaptive role in human cognition: it reduces cognitive interference. The results of our experiment reveal that exposure to a Mozart minuet mitigates interference, whereas, conversely, when the music is modified to consist of mostly dissonant intervals the interference effect is intensified.
New mathematical and cognitive theories of the mind are connected to psychological theories of aesthetics. I briefly summarize recent revolutionary advancements toward understanding the mind, due to new methods of neuroimaging studies of the brain and new mathematical theories modeling the brain–mind. These new theories describe abilities for concepts, emotions, instincts, imagination, adaptation, and learning. I consider the operation of these mechanisms in the mind hierarchy. I concentrate on the emotions of satisfaction or dissatisfaction related to understanding or misunderstanding of the surrounding world. These emotions are usually below the threshold of conscious registration at lower levels (of object perception). I discuss why, and in what sense, these emotions are aesthetic, I relate them to appraisal emotions, and I argue that at higher levels of abstract cognition these emotions are related to the perception of art. The contents of cognitive representations at the top of the mind hierarchy are analyzed, and aesthetic appraisal emotions at these highest levels are related to emotions of the beautiful. I emphasize that aesthetic emotions, so important in art, are not specific to art but to cognition at the highest levels of the mind hierarchy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Debates on the origin and function of music have a long history. While some scientists argue that music itself plays no adaptive role in human evolution, others suggest that music clearly has an evolutionary role, and point to music's universality. A recent hypothesis suggested that a fundamental function of music has been to help mitigating cognitive dissonance, which is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting cognitions simultaneously. It usually leads to devaluation of conflicting knowledge. Here we provide experimental confirmation of this hypothesis using a classical paradigm known to create cognitive dissonance. Results of our experiment reveal that the exposure to Mozart's music exerted a strongly positive influence upon the performance of young children and served as basis by which they were enabled to reconcile the cognitive dissonance.
We digitally synthesized versions of the sound of a sharp object scraping across a slate surface (which mimics the sound of
fingernails scraping across a blackboard) to determine whether spectral content or amplitude contour contributed to its obnoxious
quality. Using magnitude estimation, listeners rated each synthesized sound’s unpleasantness. Contrary to intuition, removal
of low, but not of high, frequencies lessened the sound’s unpleasantness. Manipulations of the signal amplitude had no significant
impact on listeners’ unpleasantness estimates. Evidently, low-frequency spectral factors contribute primarily to the discomfort
associated with this sound.
We examined the content universe, factor structure, affective composition, elicitors, trait antecedents, and consequences of "the chills." In Study 1, participants described what it means to get the chills. A second sample sorted all references to physical sensations based on similarity. Cluster analysis identified 4 lower order clusters (goosebumps, tingling, coldness, shivers) and 2 higher order clusters ("goosetingles," "coldshivers"). In Study 2, factor analysis of questionnaire data supported a model with lower and higher order factors that corresponded to the Study 1 clusters. Goosetingles and coldshivers were predicted by approach-related traits (e.g., extraversion) and avoidance-related traits (e.g., neuroticism), respectively. In Study 3, analysis of narrative data replicated the goosetingles-coldshivers structure. Relative to coldshivers, goosetingles involved greater awe, surprise, and enjoyment and less disgust, fear, and sadness. In Study 4, analysis of diary data extended the goosetingles-coldshivers structure to between- and within-person levels of analysis. Goosetingles involved positive affects and was elicited by approach-related stimuli, whereas coldshivers involved negative affects and was elicited by avoidance-related stimuli. In Study 5, manipulation of exposure to self-actualization and self-annihilation elicited goosetingles and coldshivers, respectively. Goosetingles and coldshivers had positive and negative effects, respectively, on interpersonal closeness. In sum, diverse forms of evidence converge to indicate that the chills encompasses distinct approach- and avoidance-related constructs. Failure to distinguish these constructs explains null and inconsistent findings in the nascent literature. Goosetingles and coldshivers are posited to serve the function of signaling that an event in the environment is pertinent to one's most deep-seated hopes or fears.
Eighty-three music listeners completed a questionnaire in which thev provided information about the occurrence of a range of physical reactions while listening to music. Shivers down the spine, laughter, tears and lump in the throat were reported by over 80(% of respondents. Respondents were asked to locate specific musical passages that reliably evoked such responses. Structural analysis of these passages showed that tears were most reliablN evoked by passages containing sequences and appogiaturas, while shivers were most reliably evoked by passages containing new or unexpected harmonies. The data generally support theoretical approaches to elmotion based on confirmations and violations of expectancv.
This paper draws attention to a powerful human motive that has not yet been incorporated into economics: the desire to make sense of our immediate experience, our life, and our world. We propose that evolution has produced a ‘drive for sense-making’ which motivates people to gather, attend to, and process information in a fashion that augments, and complements, autonomous sense-making. A large fraction of autonomous cognitive processes are devoted to making sense of the information we acquire: and they do this by seeking simple descriptions of the world. In some situations, however, autonomous information processing alone is inadequate to transform disparate information into simple representations, in which case, we argue, the drive for sense-making directs our attention and can lead us to seek out additional information. We propose a theoretical model of sense-making and of how it is traded off against other goals. We show that the drive for sense-making can help to make sense of a wide range of disparate phenomena, including curiosity, boredom, ‘flow’, confirmation bias and information avoidance, esthetics (both in art and in science), why we care about others’ beliefs, the importance of narrative and the role of ‘the good life’ in human decision making.
The transition from the Middle Paleolithic to the Upper Paleolithic is considered one of the major revolutions in the prehistory of humankind. Explanations of the observable archaeological phenomena in Eurasia, or the lack of such evidence in other regions, include biological arguments (the role of Cro-Magnons and the demise of the Neanderthals), as well as cultural-technological, and environmental arguments. The paper discusses issues of terminological ambiguities, chronological and geographical aspects of change, the emergence of what is viewed as the arch-types of modem forager societies, and the hotly debated and loaded issue of modem behavior. Finally, the various causes for the Upper Paleolithic revolution are enumerated, from the biological through the technocultural that relies on the analogy with the Neolithic revolution.
Award-winning science writer Steven Mithen explores how an understanding of our ancestors and their development can illuminate our brains and behaviour today How do our minds work? When did language and religious beliefs first emerge? Why was there a cultural explosion of art and creativity with the arrival of modern humans? This ground-breaking book brings the insight of archaeology to our understanding of the development and history of the human mind, combining them with ideas from evolutionary psychology in a brilliant and provocative synthesis.
Intelligent animals devote much time and energy to exploring and obtaining information, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. We review recent developments on this topic that have emerged from the traditionally separate fields of machine learning, eye movements in natural behavior, and studies of curiosity in psychology and neuroscience. These studies show that exploration may be guided by a family of mechanisms that range from automatic biases toward novelty or surprise to systematic searches for learning progress and information gain in curiosity-driven behavior. In addition, eye movements reflect visual information searching in multiple conditions and are amenable for cellular-level investigations. This suggests that the oculomotor system is an excellent model system for understanding information-sampling mechanisms.
We investigated the possible changes in body temperature, heart frequency, and blood pressure in 22 residents sitting for the yearly exam at the Specialty School of Psychiatry at Pisa University. All subjects were then evaluated 2 or 3 weeks later, in calm situations. In a subgroup, a specific plasmatic diazepam binding inhibitor (BBIA), previously described, was also measured. The results showed that all subjects underwent significant stress-related changes in the parameters studied, which suggest the involvement of different mechanisms in preexam stress.
• FOR the preparation of the present excellent translation of my Beitrage zur Analyse der Empfindungen I am under profound obligations to The Open Court Publishing Company. Not a little of the progress of psychology is owing to the strenuous efforts which the promoters of the science have made to find the main explanation of its problems in the principle of association and these investigations have received a fresh impulse from the results of neural anatomy and neural physiology. I am of opinion however, that the idea advanced in the present work, agreeably to which as many physico-chemical neural processes are to be assumed as there are distinguishable qualities of sensation, is also possessed of heuristic value, and that there is reasonable hope that at some future time it, too, will receive elucidation from the side of physiological chemistry. Although I can lay no claim whatever to the title of physiologist, and still less to that of philosopher, yet I venture to hope that the work thus undertaken, purely from a strong desire for self-enlightenment, by a physicist unconstrained by the conventional barriers of the specialist, may not be entirely without value for others also, even though I may not be everywhere in the right. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
• FOR the preparation of the present excellent translation of my Beitrage zur Analyse der Empfindungen I am under profound obligations to The Open Court Publishing Company. Not a little of the progress of psychology is owing to the strenuous efforts which the promoters of the science have made to find the main explanation of its problems in the principle of association and these investigations have received a fresh impulse from the results of neural anatomy and neural physiology. I am of opinion however, that the idea advanced in the present work, agreeably to which as many physico-chemical neural processes are to be assumed as there are distinguishable qualities of sensation, is also possessed of heuristic value, and that there is reasonable hope that at some future time it, too, will receive elucidation from the side of physiological chemistry. Although I can lay no claim whatever to the title of physiologist, and still less to that of philosopher, yet I venture to hope that the work thus undertaken, purely from a strong desire for self-enlightenment, by a physicist unconstrained by the conventional barriers of the specialist, may not be entirely without value for others also, even though I may not be everywhere in the right. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In this paper we present a prototype approach to awe. We suggest that two appraisals are central and are present in all clear cases of awe: perceived vastness, and a need for accommodation, defined as an inability to assimilate an experience into current mental structures. Five additional appraisals account for variation in the hedonic tone of awe experiences: threat, beauty, exceptional ability, virtue, and the supernatural. We derive this perspective from a review of what has been written about awe in religion, philosophy, sociology, and psychology, and then we apply this perspective to an analysis of awe and related states such as admiration, elevation, and the epiphanic experience.
Descriptions of music and visual art peak experiences obtained from persons were content analyzed and factor analyzed. The peak experience accounts for mirrored conflicts in aesthetic norms and suggests a greater role for individual differences in aesthetic theories. (Author)
Human Evolution, Paleolithic archaeology
This is a collection of reprints, abstracts, letters and extracts from stenographic records of Pavlov's seminars. The subject matter ranges from problems of neural factors in blood circulation and the physiology of digestion to comments on physiology and psychiatry. There is a 4-page bibliography and a 32-page introduction by Kh. S. Koshtoyants. 3 portraits of Pavlov are reproduced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Key Words Middle Paleolithic, modern humans s Abstract The transition from the Middle Paleolithic to the Upper Paleolithic is considered one of the major revolutions in the prehistory of humankind. Expla-nations of the observable archaeological phenomena in Eurasia, or the lack of such evidence in other regions, include biological arguments (the role of Cro-Magnons and the demise of the Neanderthals), as well as cultural-technological, and environmental arguments. The paper discusses issues of terminological ambiguities, chronological and geographical aspects of change, the emergence of what is viewed as the arch-types of modern forager societies, and the hotly debated and loaded issue of modern behavior. Finally, the various causes for the Upper Paleolithic revolution are enumerated, from the biological through the technocultural that relies on the analogy with the Neolithic revolution. OPENING REMARKS Paleolithic archaeology primarily addresses issues of stratigraphy, chronology, object assemblage analysis for defining cultural entities and adaptive strategies, examination of faunal and vegetal components, and site formation processes. Inves-tigations often culminate in a coarse-grained reconstruction of prehistoric lifeways within an evolutionary context. Modern research stresses the necessity of establish-ing regional sequences and their Pleistocene and Holocene paleo-ecological con-ditions. Radiometric dates facilitate chronological correlations and the integration of the findings into a continent-wide record. For the Upper Paleolithic, the period under discussion, the combination of radiocarbon, thermoluminescence, and elec-tron spin resonance dating techniques (Wagner 1998) assisted investigators during the past decade in constructing a reasonably coherent global chronology. Large standard deviations in thermoluminescence and electron spin resonance readings, as well as ambiguities concerning the calibration of 14C dates at the range of 40–30 thousand years ago (Ka) (Beck et al. 2001), make it difficult to establish the precise onset of the Upper Paleolithic revolution. However, with the current rapid progress in the use of these techniques one expects much better resolutions in the next decade. The dates in this paper are quoted as B.P. uncalibrated unless otherwise specified.
This is the first study to investigate the short-term effects of high population density on captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Subjects of the study were 45 chimpanzees living in five different groups at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center. The groups were observed under two conditions: 1) when they had access to both the indoor and outdoor sections of their enclosures; 2) during cold days when they were locked into the indoor runs, which reduced the available space by more than half. Under the high-density condition, allogrooming and submissive greetings decreased, but juvenile play increased. Remarkably, the rate of various forms of agonistic behavior, such as aggression, bluff charge, bluff display, and hooting, occurred less frequently under the high-density condition. This general decrease in adult social activity, including agonistic behavior, can be interpreted as an inhibition strategy to reduce opportunities for conflict when interindividual distances are reduced. This strategy is probably effective only in the short run, however. Behavioral indicators of anxiety, such as rough scratching and yawning, showed elevated rates, suggesting increased social tension under the high-density condition. Am. J. Primatol. 41:213–228, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Aesthetic chills are transient emotional responses to music or other experiences of beauty. Item 188 of the Revised NEO Personality
Inventory (NEO-PI-R) asks respondents if they have experienced these chills, and in American samples it is one of the best
definers of Openness to Experience, one of the five basic personality factors. As part of the NEO-PI-R, the item has been
translated into over 40 languages, and an examination of back-translations suggests that the phenomenon can be expressed in
all the languages examined. Data from the Personality Profiles of Cultures Project show that Item 188 is one of the best definers
of Openness in most of the 51 cultures examined. Aesthetic chills appear to be a universal emotional experience, although
the functions they serve and the mechanisms that account for them remain to be discovered.
This study, based on 687 hr of focal observations, aims to describe overall patterns of the sexual behavior of the adult male
chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains, to compare the results with previous reports, and to explain the variations between studies.
Genital inspection of cycling females by adult males was eight times as frequent as that of lactating females, and twice as
frequent as that of pregnant females. Inspection of the genitals of cycling females increased dramatically 7–10 days before
the onset of maximal swelling and gradually decreased as the day of ovulation approached. Adult males likely obtained information
on the attractivity of females by inspecting their genitals. Mating was usually initiated by male courtship and followed by
pelvic thrusts in a dorsoventral posture, performed on, rather than above, the ground, which continued for 7 s. on average,
and was typically followed by female squeaking and darting from the male, or by the male grooming the female. Higher-ranking
males mated with females in the peri-ovulatory period more frequently than did lower-ranking males. In particular, two alpha
males mated with such females more often than did any other adult males. A male who interfered with a mating pair was dominant
over the mating male in other agonistic contexts. The duration of intromission was correlated with neither dominance rank
nor age. However, when an adult male declined in rank from alpha in 1991 to third in 1992, he showed a significantly shorter
duration of intromission. This indicates that for a particular male, the alpha rank guaranteed longer duration of intromission.
Allies of alpha males tended to mate with peri-ovulatory females more frequently than expected from their low dominance ranks.
The number of mating partners was not correlated with male dominance rank, but was sometimes negatively correlated with male
age. Females were significantly more likely to emit a copulatory squeak when mating with younger, rather than older, adult
males. Male dominance rank and the rate of female copulatory squeaking were not correlated. Weaning infants regularly interfered
with their mothers' mating. Occasionally, unrelated adolescent males and rarely females pushed themselves in between copulating
adults. Female choice was indicated when they performed a “penis erection check” or took the initiative in courtship, or on
the other hand showed strong reluctance to mate with particular males. Young adult males more often received erection checks
than did prime males, while none of the three old adult males did. Courtship initiated by estrous females was not directed
to two of the oldest males, the exception of which was the alpha male. The oldest males, except for the alpha, were consistently
avoided by many estrous females, both young and old. In response to female reluctance, males behaved violently, however, this
was not effective, because other more dominant males came to rescue the female. Neither courtship nor mating was seen between
mature sons and their mothers, nor between brothers and sisters.
Music modifies moods and emotions by interacting with brain mechanisms that remain to be identified. One powerful emotional effect induced by music is a shivery, gooseflesh type of skin sensation (commonly called "chills" or "thrills"), which may reflect the brain's ability to extract specific kinds of emotional meaning from music. A large survey indicated that college-age students typically prefer to label this phenomenon as "chills" rather than "thrills," but many mistakenly believe that happiness in music is more influential in evoking the response than sadness. A series of correlational studies analyzing the subjective experience of chills in groups of students listening to a variety of musical pieces indicated that chills are related to the perceived emotional content of various selections, with much stronger relations to perceived sadness than happiness. As a group, females report feeling more chills than males do. Because feelings of sadness typically arise from the severance of established social bonds, there may exist basic neurochemical similarities between the chilling emotions evoked by music and those engendered by social loss. Further study of the "chill" response should help clarify how music interacts with a specific emotional process of the normal human brain.
It is argued that computing machines inevitably involve devices which perform logical functions that do not have a single-valued inverse. This logical irreversibility is associated with physical irreversibility and requires a minimal heat generation, per machine cycle, typically of the order of kT for each irreversible function. This dissipation serves the purpose of standardizing signals and making them independent of their exact logical history. Two simple, but representative, models of bistable devices are subjected to a more detailed analysis of switching kinetics to yield the relationship between speed and energy dissipation, and to estimate the effects of errors induced by thermal fluctuations.
A maximum likelihood artificial neural system (MLANS) has been designed for problems which require an adaptive estimation of metrics in classification spaces. Examples of such problems are an XOR problem and most classification problems with multiple classes having complicated classifier boundaries. The metric estimation has the capability of achieving flexible classifier boundary shapes using a simple architecture without hidden layers. This neural network learns much more efficiently than other neural networks or classification algorithms, and it approaches the theoretical bounds on adaptive efficiency according to the Cramer-Rao theorem. It also provides for optimal fusing of all the available information, such as a priori and real-time information coming from a variety of sensors of the same or different types, and utilizes fuzzy classification variables to provide for the efficient utilization of incomplete or erroneous data, including numeric and symbolic data.This paper describes the neural network and presents examples of its performances in unsupervised, partially supervised, and environment-interrogation modes. We discuss the Cramer-Rao theory as it relates to neural networks, the relevance of the MLANS to biological and other neural networks, and issues for future work.
Approximately half of those surveyed experience characteristic tingling sensations (thrills) when exposed to emotionally arousing stimuli. Music was especially effective as a stimulus. Thrills evoked by music were quantitated according to self-reports on frequency, intensity, and duration. In preliminary experiments with naloxone, an opiate receptor antagonist, thrills were attenuated in some subjects.