Neuroscience

[This review is intended solely for my personal learning] Paper Info DOI: 10.1101/2024.11.17.623979 Title: Predicting whole-brain neural dynamics from prefrontal cortex fNIRS signal during movie-watching Authors: Shan Gao, Ryleigh Nash, Shannon Burns, Yuan Chang Leong Prior Knowledge Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) offers a more accessible alternative to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) but is limited by shallow cortical penetration. Prior research has demonstrated potential in predicting deep-brain fMRI signals from fNIRS data through linear predictive models trained on simultaneous fMRI and fNIRS measurements. ...

[This review is intended solely for my personal learning] Paper Info DOI: 10.1111/tops.12404 Title: The Flatland Fallacy: Moving Beyond Low–Dimensional Thinking Authors: Eshin Jolly, Luke J. Chang Prior Knowledge Psychological and cognitive sciences have long relied on simplified, low-dimensional models to explain complex human behavior. While these models provide theoretical clarity and empirical tractability, they often fail to capture the full intricacy of psychological phenomena. The reliance on two-factor or low-dimensional frameworks—such as dual-process theories of cognition—raises concerns about scientific oversimplification. ...

[This review is intended solely for my personal learning] Paper Info DOI: 10.1177/17456916231200177 Title: The Emerging Science of Interacting Minds Authors: Thalia Wheatley, Mark A. Thornton, Arjen Stolk, and Luke J. Chang Prior Knowledge Historically, psychology has focused on the individual, often isolating cognitive processes within a single brain. However, social interaction is fundamental to human cognition, development, and collective behavior. While past research in social psychology and neuroscience has explored elements of interaction, methodological constraints have limited empirical studies that directly analyze interaction dynamics. ...

[This review is intended solely for my personal learning] Paper Info arXiv:2309.01660 Title: Unveiling Theory of Mind in Large Language Models: A Parallel to Single Neurons in the Human Brain Author: Mohsen Jamali and Ziv M. Williams and Jing Cai Prior Knowledge Theory of Mind (ToM): A complex cognitive capacity related to our conscious mind and mental state that allows us to infer another’s beliefs and perspective. Through ToM, human can create intricate mental representations of other agents and realize that others may have beliefs that’s different from our own or the objective reality. True- and False-belief Task True-belief task: assesses whether someone understands that some other people’s believes is correctly aligned with reality. False-belief task: assesses whether someone understands that some other people’s believes is not correctly aligned with reality. (ex: belief diverges from reality after a change to the environment that one did not witness.) A critical test for ToM is the false belief task. Both tasks are evaluated by providing the participant a scenario and asking the participant “fact questions” and “belief questions”, which are about the reality and the belief of some character in the scenario respectively. These tasks are designed to test if the individual can attribute mental states (including potentially false beliefs) to others in general. ToM in the human brain Human brain imaging studies have provided substantial evidence for the brain network that supports our ToM ability, including the temporalparietal junction, superior temporal sulcus and the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) ...