From #Animbehav2023 conference
Dogs process happy human faces in the right temporal cortex
My beloved dogs, Odín and #Kun-kun, thrive in the charming city of Budapest because Hungarians have a special fondness for dogs, always showing them a smile.
We studied the dog brain's response to emotional human faces, starting with happiness.
New study uncovers how a unique, fast synapse keeps us from falling
Rice bioengineers and applied physicists, together with and colleagues at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois Chicago, have unlocked the mechanism of the fastest synapses in the human body. A previously hidden mechanism in the inner ear that helps mammals balance via the fastest-known signal in the brain, and researchers from Rice University, the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois Chicago have modeled a hidden mechanism in the inner ear that helps mammals balance via the fastest-known signal in the brain.
I keep saying journalists should leave Twitter and use Mastodon, which is better for them in every way. At TechDirt I've posted a somewhat lengthy why-and-how: https://www.techdirt.com/2023/01/04/journalists-and-others-should-leave-twitter-heres-how-they-can-get-started/
This is one of the most baffling illusions I’ve ever seen.
https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2014/09/02/why-do-the-dots-disappear/
The neuromodulatory arousal system imbues the nervous system with the flexibility and robustness required to facilitate adaptive behaviour. While there are well understood mechanisms linking dopamine, noradrenaline and acetylcholine to distinct behavioural states, similar conclusions have not been a …
People judge humans & machines using two different moral philosophies: Machines by outcomes & humans by intentions.
A new working paper on why.
People are known to judge artificial intelligence using a utilitarian moral philosophy and humans using a moral philosophy emphasizing perceived intentions. But why do people judge humans and machines differently? Psychology suggests that people may have different mind perception models of humans and machines, and thus, will treat human-like robots more similarly to the way they treat humans. Here we present a randomized experiment where we manipulated people's perception of machine agency (e.g., ability to plan, act) and experience (e.g., ability to feel) to explore whether people judge machines that are perceived to be more similar to humans along these two dimensions more similarly to the way they judge humans. We find that people's judgments of machines become more similar to that of humans when they perceive machines as having more agency but not more experience. Our findings indicate that people's use of different moral philosophies to judge humans and machines can be explained by a progression of mind perception models where the perception of agency plays a prominent role. These findings add to the body of evidence suggesting that people's judgment of machines becomes more similar to that of humans motivating further work on dimensions modulating people's judgment of human and machine actions.
Interesting discussion on #ResearchAssessment
'Machine learning, #metrics and merit: the future of research assessment'
With a summary of the recent report: 'Harnessing the Metric Tide: indicators, infrastructures & priorities for UK responsible research assessment.'
Panels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7TfNREqDJE
Report: https://rori.figshare.com/articles/report/Harnessing_the_Metric_Tide/21701624
Laura V. Cuaya
Dan Gillmor
Kim Scheinberg
CLaE
Esther Plomp