Project acronym CDAC
Project "The role of consciousness in adaptive behavior: A combined empirical, computational and robot based approach"
Researcher (PI) Paulus Franciscus Maria Joseph Verschure
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSIDAD POMPEU FABRA
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH4, ERC-2013-ADG
Summary "Understanding the nature of consciousness is one of the grand outstanding scientific challenges and two of its features stand out: consciousness is defined as the construction of one coherent scene but this scene is experienced with a delay relative to the action of the agent and not necessarily the cause of actions and thoughts. Did evolution render solutions to the challenge of survival that includes epiphenomenal processes? The Conscious Distributed Adaptive Control (CDAC) project aims at resolving this paradox by using a multi-disciplinary approach to show the functional role of consciousness in adaptive behaviour, to identify its underlying neuronal principles and to construct a neuromorphic robot based real-time conscious architecture. CDAC proposes that the shift from surviving in a physical world to one that is dominated by intentional agents requires radically different control architectures combining parallel and distributed control loops to assure real-time operation together with a second level of control that assures coherence through sequential coherent representation of self and the task domain, i.e. consciousness. This conscious scene is driving dedicated credit assignment and planning beyond the immediately given information. CDAC advances a comprehensive framework progressing beyond the state of the art and will be realized using system level models of a conscious architecture, detailed computational studies of its underlying neuronal substrate focusing, empirical validation with a humanoid robot and stroke patients and the advancement of beyond state of the art tools appropriate to the complexity of its objectives. The CDAC project directly addresses one of the main outstanding questions in science: the function and genesis of consciousness and will advance our understanding of mind and brain, provide radically new neurorehabilitation technologies and contribute to realizing a new generation of robots with advanced social competence."
Summary
"Understanding the nature of consciousness is one of the grand outstanding scientific challenges and two of its features stand out: consciousness is defined as the construction of one coherent scene but this scene is experienced with a delay relative to the action of the agent and not necessarily the cause of actions and thoughts. Did evolution render solutions to the challenge of survival that includes epiphenomenal processes? The Conscious Distributed Adaptive Control (CDAC) project aims at resolving this paradox by using a multi-disciplinary approach to show the functional role of consciousness in adaptive behaviour, to identify its underlying neuronal principles and to construct a neuromorphic robot based real-time conscious architecture. CDAC proposes that the shift from surviving in a physical world to one that is dominated by intentional agents requires radically different control architectures combining parallel and distributed control loops to assure real-time operation together with a second level of control that assures coherence through sequential coherent representation of self and the task domain, i.e. consciousness. This conscious scene is driving dedicated credit assignment and planning beyond the immediately given information. CDAC advances a comprehensive framework progressing beyond the state of the art and will be realized using system level models of a conscious architecture, detailed computational studies of its underlying neuronal substrate focusing, empirical validation with a humanoid robot and stroke patients and the advancement of beyond state of the art tools appropriate to the complexity of its objectives. The CDAC project directly addresses one of the main outstanding questions in science: the function and genesis of consciousness and will advance our understanding of mind and brain, provide radically new neurorehabilitation technologies and contribute to realizing a new generation of robots with advanced social competence."
Max ERC Funding
2 469 268 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-02-01, End date: 2019-01-31
Project acronym ContentMAP
Project Contentotopic mapping: the topographical organization of object knowledge in the brain
Researcher (PI) Jorge ALMEIDA
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSIDADE DE COIMBRA
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2018-STG
Summary Our ability to recognize an object amongst many others is one of the most important features of the human mind. However, object recognition requires tremendous computational effort, as we need to solve a complex and recursive environment with ease and proficiency. This challenging feat is dependent on the implementation of an effective organization of knowledge in the brain. In ContentMAP I will put forth a novel understanding of how object knowledge is organized in the brain, by proposing that this knowledge is topographically laid out in the cortical surface according to object-related dimensions that code for different types of representational content – I will call this contentotopic mapping. To study this fine-grain topography, I will use a combination of fMRI, behavioral, and neuromodulation approaches. I will first obtain patterns of neural and cognitive similarity between objects, and from these extract object-related dimensions using a dimensionality reduction technique. I will then parametrically manipulate these dimensions with an innovative use of a visual field mapping technique, and test how functional selectivity changes across the cortical surface according to an object’s score on a target dimension. Moreover, I will test the tuning function of these contentotopic maps. Finally, to mirror the complexity of implementing a high-dimensional manifold onto a 2D cortical sheet, I will aggregate the topographies for the different dimensions into a composite map, and develop an encoding model to predict neural signatures for each object. To sum up, ContentMAP will have a dramatic impact in the cognitive sciences by describing how the stuff of concepts is represented in the brain, and providing a complete description of how fine-grain representations and functional selectivity within high-level complex processes are topographically implemented.
Summary
Our ability to recognize an object amongst many others is one of the most important features of the human mind. However, object recognition requires tremendous computational effort, as we need to solve a complex and recursive environment with ease and proficiency. This challenging feat is dependent on the implementation of an effective organization of knowledge in the brain. In ContentMAP I will put forth a novel understanding of how object knowledge is organized in the brain, by proposing that this knowledge is topographically laid out in the cortical surface according to object-related dimensions that code for different types of representational content – I will call this contentotopic mapping. To study this fine-grain topography, I will use a combination of fMRI, behavioral, and neuromodulation approaches. I will first obtain patterns of neural and cognitive similarity between objects, and from these extract object-related dimensions using a dimensionality reduction technique. I will then parametrically manipulate these dimensions with an innovative use of a visual field mapping technique, and test how functional selectivity changes across the cortical surface according to an object’s score on a target dimension. Moreover, I will test the tuning function of these contentotopic maps. Finally, to mirror the complexity of implementing a high-dimensional manifold onto a 2D cortical sheet, I will aggregate the topographies for the different dimensions into a composite map, and develop an encoding model to predict neural signatures for each object. To sum up, ContentMAP will have a dramatic impact in the cognitive sciences by describing how the stuff of concepts is represented in the brain, and providing a complete description of how fine-grain representations and functional selectivity within high-level complex processes are topographically implemented.
Max ERC Funding
1 816 004 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-02-01, End date: 2024-01-31
Project acronym ReadCalibration
Project Phonemic representations in speech perception and production: Recalibration by readingacquisition
Researcher (PI) Clara, Dominique, Sylvie Martin
Host Institution (HI) BCBL BASQUE CENTER ON COGNITION BRAIN AND LANGUAGE
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH4, ERC-2018-COG
Summary The main goal of this project is to demonstrate that reading acquisition (RA) drastically reshapes our phonemic inventory, and to investigate the time-course and fine-grained properties of this recalibration. The main innovative and ground-breaking aspect of this project is the merging of two research fields, (1) reading acquisition and (2) phonemic recalibration, together with a deep and extensive exploration of the (3) perception-production link, which results in a new research line that pushes the boundaries of our understanding of the complex interactions between auditory and visual language perception and production.
We will demonstrate that phonemic representations (PRs) become more stable (less dispersed) during the process of learning to read, and that this recalibration varies according to the grapheme-phoneme conversion rules of the reading system. We will explore such recalibration by means of the first cross-linguistic longitudinal study examining the position and dispersion of PRs, both in perception and production of phonemes and words. Secondly, we will explore how recalibration develops when RA is impaired as is the case in dyslexic children –informing the research field on (4) dyslexia– and when pre-reading PRs are unstable as is the case in deaf children with cochlear implants –informing the research field on (5) deafness. Finally, the research will also be extended to PR recalibration during RA in a second language –informing the research on (6) bilingualism.
This proposal provides the first systematic investigation of phonemic recalibration during literacy acquisition, and will provide important insight for pragmatic research and theoretical accounts of language perception and production and phonemic recalibration. This project will also have major implications for the clinical field (theories and remediation of dyslexia and deafness) and for social policies and education (bilingualism, spoken and written language teaching).
Summary
The main goal of this project is to demonstrate that reading acquisition (RA) drastically reshapes our phonemic inventory, and to investigate the time-course and fine-grained properties of this recalibration. The main innovative and ground-breaking aspect of this project is the merging of two research fields, (1) reading acquisition and (2) phonemic recalibration, together with a deep and extensive exploration of the (3) perception-production link, which results in a new research line that pushes the boundaries of our understanding of the complex interactions between auditory and visual language perception and production.
We will demonstrate that phonemic representations (PRs) become more stable (less dispersed) during the process of learning to read, and that this recalibration varies according to the grapheme-phoneme conversion rules of the reading system. We will explore such recalibration by means of the first cross-linguistic longitudinal study examining the position and dispersion of PRs, both in perception and production of phonemes and words. Secondly, we will explore how recalibration develops when RA is impaired as is the case in dyslexic children –informing the research field on (4) dyslexia– and when pre-reading PRs are unstable as is the case in deaf children with cochlear implants –informing the research field on (5) deafness. Finally, the research will also be extended to PR recalibration during RA in a second language –informing the research on (6) bilingualism.
This proposal provides the first systematic investigation of phonemic recalibration during literacy acquisition, and will provide important insight for pragmatic research and theoretical accounts of language perception and production and phonemic recalibration. This project will also have major implications for the clinical field (theories and remediation of dyslexia and deafness) and for social policies and education (bilingualism, spoken and written language teaching).
Max ERC Funding
1 875 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-10-01, End date: 2024-09-30
