Interpolation and Extrapolation in Human Behavior and Neural Networks

Unlike most artificial systems, the brain is able to face situations that it has not learned or even encountered before. This ability is not in general echoed by the properties of most neural networks. Here, we show that neural computation based on least-square error learning between populations of intensitycoded neurons can explain interpolation and extrapolation capacities of the nervous system in sensorimotor and cognitive tasks. We present simulations for function learning experiments, auditory-visual behavior, and visuomotor transformations. The results suggest that induction in human behavior, be it sensorimotor or cognitive, could arise from a common neural associative mechanism.

[1]  Douglas L Medin,et al.  The Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Volume 30 , 1993 .

[2]  Emmanuel Guigon,et al.  Computing with Populations of Monotonically Tuned Neurons , 2003, Neural Computation.

[3]  Felice L. Bedford,et al.  Constraints on learning new mappings between perceptual dimensions , 1989 .

[4]  M. McDaniel,et al.  Extrapolation: the sine qua non for abstraction in function learning. , 1997, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[5]  J. Soechting,et al.  Somatosensory cortical activity in relation to arm posture: nonuniform spatial tuning. , 1996, Journal of neurophysiology.

[6]  W. A. Wagenaar,et al.  Misperception of exponential growth , 1975 .

[7]  S. Squatrito,et al.  Gaze field properties of eye position neurones in areas MST and 7a of the macaque monkey , 1996, Visual Neuroscience.

[8]  B. Brehmer.  Hypotheses about relations between scaled variables in the learning of probabilistic inference tasks , 1974 .

[9]  J. Kruschke,et al.  ALCOVE: an exemplar-based connectionist model of category learning. , 1992, Psychological review.

[10]  D. Wolpert,et al.  Evidence for an eye-centered spherical representation of the visuomotor map. , 1999, Journal of neurophysiology.

[11]  Felice L. Bedford,et al.  Perceptual and cognitive spatial learning. , 1993, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[12]  Leda Cosmides,et al.  The Latest on the Best Essays on Evolution and Optimality---- , 2005 .

[13]  A. Georgopoulos.  Current issues in directional motor control , 1995, Trends in Neurosciences.

[14]  Michael I. Jordan,et al.  Computational Structure of coordinate transformations: A generalization study , 1994, NIPS.

[15]  D. Scott.  Perceptual learning. , 1974, Queen's nursing journal.

[16]  J. Kruschke,et al.  Rules and exemplars in category learning. , 1998, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[17]  Zoubin Ghahramani,et al.  Modular decomposition in visuomotor learning , 1997, Nature.

[18]  T. Ebner,et al.  Neuronal specification of direction and distance during reaching movements in the superior precentral premotor area and primary motor cortex of monkeys. , 1993, Journal of neurophysiology.

[19]  M. McDaniel,et al.  The conceptual basis of function learning and extrapolation: Comparison of rule-based and associative-based models , 2005, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[20]  J. Kalaska,et al.  Covariation of primate dorsal premotor cell activity with direction and amplitude during a memorized-delay reaching task. , 2000, Journal of neurophysiology.

[21]  N I Durlach,et al.  Adapting to supernormal auditory localization cues. II. Constraints on adaptation of mean response. , 1998, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[22]  Emmanuel Guigon,et al.  A Neural Model of Perceptual-Motor Alignment , 2002, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[23]  Clifton Schor,et al.  Spatial aspects of vertical phoria adaptation , 1993, Vision Research.

[24]  R. Nosofsky.  Attention, similarity, and the identification-categorization relationship. , 1986, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[25]  D. Meyer,et al.  Function learning: induction of continuous stimulus-response relations. , 1991, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[26]  J. Carroll.  FUNCTIONAL LEARNING: THE LEARNING OF CONTINUOUS FUNCTIONAL MAPPINGS RELATING STIMULUS AND RESPONSE CONTINUA , 1963 .

[27]  Michael I. Jordan,et al.  Generalization to Local Remappings of the Visuomotor Coordinate Transformation , 1996, The Journal of Neuroscience.