Neural correlates of implied motion

Current views of the visual system assume that the primate brain analyses form and motion along largely independent pathways; they provide no insight into why form is sometimes interpreted as motion. In a series of psychophysical and electrophysiological experiments in humans and macaques, here we show that some form information is processed in the prototypical motion areas of the superior temporal sulcus (STS). First, we show that STS cells respond to dynamic Glass patterns, which contain no coherent motion but suggest a path of motion. Second, we show that when motion signals conflict with form signals suggesting a different path of motion, both humans and monkeys perceive motion in a compromised direction. This compromise also has a correlate in the responses of STS cells, which alter their direction preferences in the presence of conflicting implied motion information. We conclude that cells in the prototypical motion areas in the dorsal visual cortex process form that implies motion. Estimating motion by combining motion cues with form cues may be a strategy to deal with the complexities of motion perception in our natural environment.     

通过二元熔体的偏析因子计算三元合金的表面张力

通过两次利用理想二元合金熔体的偏析因子,并考虑两个因子间的相互作用关系来计算三元合金的表面张力。针对Cu-Fe-Ni三元熔体,将其与热力学计算值比较,得到一个简单的模型,该模型能够便利、可靠地预测不同温度下、不同成分的Cu-Fe-Ni三元体系的表面张力。     

Neural correlates of perceptual motion coherence.

The motions of overlapping contours in a visual scene may arise from the physical motion(s) of either a single or multiple surface(s). A central problem facing the visual motion system is that of assigning the most likely interpretation. The rules underlying this perceptual decision can be explored using a visual stimulus formed by superimposing two moving gratings. The resultant percept is either that of a single coherently moving 'plaid pattern' (coherent motion) or of the two component gratings sliding noncoherently across one another (noncoherent motion). When plaid patterns are configured to mimic one transparent grating overlying another, the percept of noncoherent motion dominates. We now report that neurons in the visual cortex of rhesus monkeys exhibit changes in direction tuning that parallel this perceptual phenomenon: sensitivity to the motions of the component gratings is enhanced under conditions that favour the perception of noncoherent motion. These results challenge models of cortical visual processing that fail to take into account the contribution of figural image segmentation cues to the analysis of visual motion.     

Neural correlates of mental rehearsal in dorsal premotor cortex

Behavioural and imaging studies suggest that when humans mentally rehearse a familiar action they execute some of the same neural operations used during overt motor performance. Similarly, neural activation is present during action observation in many of the same brain regions normally used for performance, including premotor cortex. Here we present behavioural evidence that monkeys also engage in mental rehearsal during the observation of sensory events associated with a well-learned motor task. Furthermore, most task-related neurons in dorsal premotor cortex exhibit the same activity patterns during observation as during performance, even during an instructed-delay period before any actual observed motion. This activity might be a single-neuron correlate of covert mental rehearsal.     

Neural correlates of decision variables in parietal cortex.

Decision theory proposes that humans and animals decide what to do in a given situation by assessing the relative value of each possible response. This assessment can be computed, in part, from the probability that each action will result in a gain and the magnitude of the gain expected. Here we show that the gain (or reward) a monkey can expect to realize from an eye-movement response modulates the activity of neurons in the lateral intraparietal area, an area of primate cortex that is thought to transform visual signals into eye-movement commands. We also show that the activity of these neurons is sensitive to the probability that a particular response will result in a gain. When animals can choose freely between two alternative responses, the choices subjects make and neuronal activation in this area are both correlated with the relative amount of gain that the animal can expect from each response. Our data indicate that a decision-theoretic model may provide a powerful new framework for studying the neural processes that intervene between sensation and action.     

Neural correlates, computation and behavioural impact of decision confidence

Humans and other animals must often make decisions on the basis of imperfect evidence. Statisticians use measures such as P values to assign degrees of confidence to propositions, but little is known about how the brain computes confidence estimates about decisions. We explored this issue using behavioural analysis and neural recordings in rats in combination with computational modelling. Subjects were trained to perform an odour categorization task that allowed decision confidence to be manipulated by varying the distance of the test stimulus to the category boundary. To understand how confidence could be computed along with the choice itself, using standard models of decision-making, we defined a simple measure that quantified the quality of the evidence contributing to a particular decision. Here we show that the firing rates of many single neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex match closely to the predictions of confidence models and cannot be readily explained by alternative mechanisms, such as learning stimulus-outcome associations. Moreover, when tested using a delayed reward version of the task, we found that rats' willingness to wait for rewards increased with confidence, as predicted by the theoretical model. These results indicate that confidence estimates, previously suggested to require 'metacognition' and conscious awareness are available even in the rodent brain, can be computed with relatively simple operations, and can drive adaptive behaviour. We suggest that confidence estimation may be a fundamental and ubiquitous component of decision-making.     

Neural correlates of familiarity and conceptual fluency are dissociable at encoding

Familiarity and conceptual fluency belong to explicit and implicit memory respectively. Since familiar- ity and conceptual fluency co-occur at certain circum- stances and share some similarities, it is difficult to distinguish them. By using ERPs, in present study, we sought to differentiate the Dm effects, the differential neural activities due to later memory performances, of familiarity and conceptual fluency at encoding. We used ancient pictographic characters as stimuli, which were categorized as high or low meaningfulness based on the subjective ratings. In Experiment 1, conceptual fluency was observed to be induced exclusively by the repetition of relative meaningful items. In Experiment 2, Dm effects of familiarity and conceptual fluency were observed, respec- tively. In addition, the distribution of conceptual fluency Dm effects was found to be more posterior than that of familiarity Dm effects. These findings provide the disso- ciation of familiarity and conceptual fluency at encoding and further support the distinction between explicit and implicit memory.     

Fe3Al合金表面偏析的Monte Carlo模拟研究

应用改进分析型EAM理论和Monte Carlo方法模拟研究了温度从700～1 400 K时Fe3Al合金（100）和（110）面的表面成分和剖面成分分布情况,发现在合金不同的表面方向,Al在表面偏析,Fe在次表面偏析,剖面成分呈振荡分布.在（100）方向,模拟发现Fe3Al合金高温时发生有序-无序转变.在（110）方向发现温度较高时计算的表面Al含量比实验测量值低,温度较低时计算结果与实验结果符合得很好.     

Neural correlates of short-term perceptual learning in orientation discrimination indexed by event-related potentials

The current work investigated the neural correlates of visual perceptual learning in grating orientation discrimination by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) from human adults. Subjects were trained with a discrimination task of grating orientation in three consecutive training sessions within 2 h. While reaction times (RTs) were shortened gradually across training sessions, the N1 was decreased and the P2 was increased over the parietal and occipital areas. A broadly distributed P3 was increased along with more practices. In addition, the time course of learning reflected in the P2 and P3 amplitudes was in line with the changes of reaction times and exhibited a stable level during later training. The impli- cations of these results to the neural mechanisms subserving perceptual learning were discussed.     

用关联规则方法挖掘保险业务数据中的投资风险规则

如何找出保险业务数据中有关投保和理赔的规律是保险公司能否提高盈利的至关重要的问题。关联规则发现是数据挖掘技术的一种简单又很实用的方法。文章首先介绍了关联规则的定义以及关联规则的 4个属性 :可信度、支持度、期望可信度和作用度。然后讲述了如何用 SGI公司的数据挖掘工具 Mineset在保险业务数据中发现关联规则 ,从而得出一些对保险公司起指导作用的控制投资风险的规则。关联规则还可广泛用于银行、电信、商业等其它领域     

Maternal inhibition of hepatitis B surface antigen gene expression in transgenic mice correlates with de novo methylation

Differential modifications of the genome during gametogenesis result in a functional difference between the paternal and maternal genomes at the moment of fertilization. A possible cause of this imprinting is the methylation of DNA. The insertion of foreign DNA into transgenic mice allows the tagging of regions that are differentially methylated during gametogenesis. We describe here a transgenic mouse strain in which the expression of the hepatitis B surface antigen gene is irreversibly repressed following its passage through the female germ line. This inhibition is accompanied by the methylation of all the HpaII and HhaI sites within the foreign gene, which we have shown to be integrated into a site on chromosome 13. The irreversibility reported here contrasts with what is found with other transgenic mice sequences which are reversibly methylated after passage through the male or female germ line, though in both cases methylation appears to be important in the imprinting process.     

Model prediction of the effect of in-mold electromagnetic stirring on negative segregation under bloom surface

Aiming at the problem of negative segregation under a bloom surface, a coupling macrosegregation model considering electromagnetic field, flow, heat, and solute transport was established based on the volume average method to study the effect of in-mold electromagnetic stirring(M-EMS) on the negative segregation under the bloom surface. In the model, the influence of dendrite structure on the flow and solute transport was described by the change of permeability. The model was validated by the magnetic induction intensity of M-EMS and carbon segregation experiment. The results show that the solute C in the solidified shell in the turbulent zone of the bloom undergoes two negative segregations, whereby the first is caused by nozzle jet, and the second by the M-EMS. The severities of the negative segregation caused by M-EMS at different currents and frequencies are also different, and the larger the current is, or the smaller the frequency is, the more serious will be the negative segregation.With the M-EMS, the solute C distribution in the liquid phase of the bloom is more uniform, but the mass fraction of C in the liquid phase is higher than that without M-EMS.     

O和CO吸附对NixCu1-x(100)表面偏析的影响

应用计算机编程构造出了存在和不存在表面偏析的无序二元合金NixCu1-x(x=0.4)(100)表面的原子集团模型,然后按覆盖度θ=0.5,构造出了O和CO吸附后的原子集团模型,应用Recursion方法计算了O和CO在NixCu1-x无序二元合金(100)表面吸附的总结构能及Ni、Cu原子在表面的环境敏感镶嵌能.由此得出:1)O吸附在NixCu1-x(x=0.4)(100)表面比CO吸附在该表面更稳定;2)O和CO的吸附抑制了Cu在表面富集,且这种作用主要表现在表面一层.     

Neuronal synchrony does not correlate with motion coherence in cortical area MT

Natural visual scenes are cluttered with multiple objects whose individual features must somehow be selectively linked (or 'bound') if perception is to coincide with reality. Recent neurophysiological evidence supports a 'binding-by-synchrony' hypothesis: neurons excited by features of the same object fire synchronously, while neurons excited by features of different objects do not. Moving plaid patterns offer a straightforward means to test this idea. By appropriate manipulations of apparent transparency, the component gratings of a plaid pattern can be seen as parts of a single coherently moving surface or as two non-coherently moving surfaces. We examined directional tuning and synchrony of area-MT neurons in awake, fixating primates in response to perceptually coherent and non-coherent plaid patterns. Here we show that directional tuning correlated highly with perceptual coherence, which is consistent with an earlier study. Although we found stimulus-dependent synchrony, coherent plaids elicited significantly less synchrony than did non-coherent plaids. Our data therefore do not support the binding-by-synchrony hypothesis as applied to this class of motion stimuli in area MT.     

挖掘典型的语言值关联规则

通过给定的最小支持率和最小信任度来挖掘语言值关联规则往往会得到很多规则,因此用户很难获得真正关注的语言值关联规则．本文提出一种挖掘典型语言值关联规则的算法,此算法将挖掘得到的语言值关联规则按照相同的后件进行分组,然后对每个分组中的语言值关联规则根据规则之间的不相似性进行聚类．最后从每个类中挑选出代表类原型的语言值关联规则作为典型的语言值关联规则．典型的语言值关联规则是语言值关联规则集合中最具有代表意义的规则．     

Tissue P systems with parallel rules on channels

A new variant of P systems as an improvement of the original design is introduced. The P systems here allow parallelism in rules application on synapses (or links, channels), rendering the systems more efficient. We describe the execution mechanism of our P systems, make analysis on its computation power, and illustrate the running by an example.     

Novel differential evolution algorithm with spatial evolution rules

In order to reduce the pressure of parameter selection and avoid trapping into the local opti-mum, a novel differential evolution ( DE) algorithm without crossover rate is proposed.Through em-bedding cellular automata into the DE algorithm, those interactions among vectors are restricted within cellular structure of neighbors while the cell own evolution, which may be used to balance the tradeoff between exploration and exploitation and then tune the selection pressure.And further more, the orthogonal crossover without crossover rate is used instead of the binomial crossover, which can maintain the population diversity and accelerate the convergence rate.Experimental stud-ies are carried out on a suite of 7 bound-constrained numerical benchmark functions.The results show that the proposed algorithm has better capability of maintaining the population diversity and fas-ter convergence than the classical differential evolution and several classic differential evolution vari-ants.     

Tissue P systems with parallel rules on channels

A new variant of P systems as an improvement of the original design is introduced. The P systems here allow parallelism in rules application on synapses (or links, channels), rendering the systems more efficient. We describe the execution mechanism of our P systems, make analysis on its computation power, and illustrate the running by an example.