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Temporal dynamics of Cognitive processes: Case studies on Sequence learning and Affective adaptation of emotionsAuthor: Sneha Kummetha Date: 2018-12-11 Report no: IIIT/TH/2018/98 Advisor:Bapi Raju Surampudi AbstractThis thesis aims to investigate different aspects of timing in Sequence Learning and Adaptation to certain emotional responses. Sequencing and processing of emotions are fundamental to human behaviour and hence are important fields to explore. To investigate the influence of temporal factors in Sequence learning, we conducted a behavioural study using the paradigm of Serial Reaction Time (SRT) task and introduced delay in presentation of successive stimuli, referred to as Response-to-Stimulus Interval (RSI). By varying the RSI between suc- cessive elements of a sequence over a few temporal windows, we attempted to explore what effects this systematic varying of the RSI would have on the sequence learning process. We have also con- ducted post-experimental debriefing sessions to see if such learning is implicit or explicit. The SRT task requires the participants to simply respond to a stimulus that appears on the screen by clicking a key corresponding to the location at which it appeared. Reaction times were recorded for all the stimuli and reduction in this would imply learning. Statistical analysis of the reaction time data showed that learning did not get impaired in the various temporal groups despite delays experienced due to vari- able RSI. Post-experimental results showed that the knowledge acquired in smaller RSIs was implicit while for larger RSIs it was explicit. The results are in general agreement with the existing literature with fixed RSIs and hence we can conclude from the empirical study that varying RSIs do not impair sequence learning and that the sequential knowledge might have become explicit with larger RSIs. Ad- ditionally, we proposed a biologically realistic computational model in the form of a simple recurrent neural network (SRN) to obtain a functional account of the empirical findings. The proposed model has spatial representation of time for incorporating RSI in the neural network. The model illustrates how explicit learning could emerge due to a longer temporal window between stimuli that could potentially give insights into the mechanisms of sequence learning in variable RSI conditions. In the second part of the thesis, we investigated the duration aspect of timing. Specifically, how different kinds of emotional reactions last for different duration. For this, we conducted an empirical study with a sad and self-relevant stimulus and compared the results to a sad but not-so-self-relevant stimulus. We found that the emotional reaction in the current study lasted longer because it is perhaps difficult for human beings to adapt to an emotional response when they can relate to the stimulus that elicited the emotion. The emotional intensity and its duration are thus determined by two factors, the self-relevance of the affective stimulus and how well or poorly understood the stimulus is to the person experiencing it. The greater the self-relevance and poorer the understanding, the stronger the emotion and longer will be its duration. We also describe a preliminary study conducted to collect Physiological data as an attempt to strengthen this observation. The thesis ends with a summary of the work and a general discussion of the findings. Limitations and future work have also been discussed. Full thesis: pdf Centre for Cognitive Science |
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