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'Cingular' brain strategy for attack and defense
Attack value was associated with the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), defense value with the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC), and the difference in value with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Credit: RIKEN
We often make quick strategic decisions to attack an opponent or defend our position, yet how we make them is not well understood. Now, researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan have pinpointed specific brain regions related to this process by examining neural activity in people playing shogi, a Japanese form of chess. Published in Nature Neuroscience, the study shows that two different regions within the cingulate cortex -- one toward the front of the brain and the other toward the back -- separately encode the values of defensive and offensive strategies.
Like a tennis player who makes split-second decisions to either approach the net or back up, decisions to attack or defend are often made before we can evaluate all our options. Continuing their research into how our brains guide intuitive thinking, the team led by Keiji Tanaka investigated these types of rapid strategic decisions using functional magnetic resonance imaging. As this technique requires people to be still, the team focused on shogi -- a game that also has moves that can be clearly categorized as offensive or defensive -- and measured brain activity while high-level amateur players quickly decided the optimal strategy -- attack or defend -- after viewing specific board configurations.
As an experimental control, half the time players were told to attack or defend, and did not have to make the decision themselves. Instead, they were asked to choose the best possible move from a short list. This manipulation allowed researchers to separate brain activity related to decisions about what move to make from those related to which strategy to take.
They found that three brain regions were more engaged when choosing the optimal strategy than when choosing the best move once a strategy was given. Tanaka notes, "We were surprised that the brain activity in two regions depended on which strategy was chosen. Choosing to attack," he added, "was associated with greater activity in posterior cingulate cortex, while choosing to defend was associated with activity in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex." They also found that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was equally active for both strategies.
Further statistical analysis showed that the activity in these regions was actually related to the offensive and defensive strategy values of the board configurations, not simply the ultimate decision to attack or defend. When researchers calculated the value of attacking or defending in each case, they found that the amount of activity in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex correlated with the defense value and that activity in the posterior cingulate cortex simultaneously correlated with the attack value. They also found that dorsolateral prefrontal cortical activity correlated with the difference between attack and defense values, indicating a possible role in comparing these values and directing the ultimate decision.
Researchers next looked at how well the players performed. They found that people were much better at choosing the optimal strategy than they were at choosing the best move, and that making the strategic decisions took considerably less time.
The quickness and accuracy of strategic decisions, and the correlation of brain activity with attack/defend values indicate that when high-level amateur shogi players choose to go on the offensive or defensive, they do so in response to a heightened perceptual awareness of the pieces on the board -- their intuition -- and not after reasoning out the best moves. Tanaka reflects that, "Understanding the neural basis for these types of strategic decisions can help researchers develop better models for intuitive thinking. This knowledge could have several applications, such as guiding decision-making in sophisticated artificial intelligence."
Story Source:
The above story is based on materials provided by RIKEN. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference:
- Xiaohong Wan, Kang Cheng, Keiji Tanaka. Neural encoding of opposing strategy values in anterior and posterior cingulate cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 2015; DOI: 10.1038/nn.3999
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150420111453.htm
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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