Technically, the glass is always full :)

Dual ... A keyword for modeling the brain

Dual representation
Dual working
Dual neurons
Dual ....
These days it seems Brain modelers are more interested in using dual things in their models and interestingly by using this word, they have got good results.
Here are some examples of some works around the world:

• USA: Professor Ron Sun's cognitive architecture, He's used dual representation of the brain to build a cognitive modeling software, CLARION. He was so successful in creating creativity in hardware(one of my two last posts was about this.)
  

• Turkey: Professor A. Khashman's published an article recently (A Khashman - Neural Networks, Dec 2010 - Elsevier). He's used a novel emotional dual neural network architecture in face recognition and he got much better results than other models.
  

• Iran: Professor Majid Nili AhmadAbadi: Recently, In AmirKabir cognitive science seminars he talked about good results comes by combining two models and used a dual... I searched the article he talked about but I didn't find it. This article seems to be another successful dual model he works on.
  

I've searched the net to find a theory about what exactly this dual is, and I found Dual-Coding theory.
Maybe the parallel nature of processes in the brain and the relation between different parts of the brain makes this dual works well.
Maybe triplex, foursome, quintuplet, .... works better, betterer,bettererer,... :)

keep evolving

We've all heard of Moore's Law, which states that the number of transistors placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years. Well, since this issue covers human computation, let's have a look at our own biological hardware. How are we doing compared to a previous model? Keep evolving, folks...

—James Stanier

Human Creativity in hardwares

You can't imagine how much I was excited when I saw this in ACM tech news. The title of this, is:

New Psychology Theory Enables Computers To Mimic Human Creativity at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute



Could you imagine a computer which is able to answer questions need creativity?
like this question:

A dealer in antique coins gets an offer to buy a beautiful bronze coin. The coin has an emperor’s head on one side and the date “544 B.C.” stamped on the other. The dealer examines the coin, but instead of buying it, he calls the police. Why?

Ron Sun and Sèbastien Hèlie in their recent paper (appeared in the July edition of Psychological Review) introduced “Explicit-Implicit Interaction Theory,”
Sun has developed CLARION computer program(like a cognitive system) based on this theory.
Comparing the performance of the CLARION model with results from previous human trials – including tests involving the coin question was amazing:

Clarion, answered these kinds of questions with a great accuracy correctly in several aspects of problem solving.

The researchers say the theory, which explains how humans solve problems creatively, could provide a blueprint to building AI systems that perform tasks like humans.

If you remember, one of my recent posts was about moral judgment: "killing one to save five". ClARION is a very useful software for simulating these kind of tasks, I can't wait to see the results. I am eager to know how much CLARION's moral judgment is like ours.

You can see the RPI news about this, here.

:) wireless technology and the future of birds

it's a bit freaky with this wireless technology!

killing 1 to save 5?

Would you kill 1 to save 5?
Assume there are 2 railroads, five workers are working on line 1 and one worker is working on line 2.
suddenly a train ()()()() appears on line 1, This train definitely will kill 5 workers on line 1. You are watching this in a control room, you can direct the train to line 2 by pushing a button.
pushing the button means killing the worker on line 2 and saving 5 workers on line 1.
What would you do?

line1 =()()()()======1=2=3=4=5====
....................\\................................
line2 ===============1========


Nowadays scientists are simulating the process of making these kind of decisions on computers.(actually different versions of this question)
It looks interesting. Doesn't it?
I will post more about these simulations later.

The McGurk Effect

Interesting! Brain change sounds to what he/she likes(eyes have seen). it is called McGurk effect: