Mental problems gave early humans an edge - life - 07 November 2011 - New Scientist

Mental problems gave early humans an edge - life - 07 November 2011 - New Scientist

Compilado AZyNE 31-10

Dynamical modeling of collective behavior from pigeon flight data: flock cohesion and dispersion, arXiv

Excerpt: Several models of flocking have been promoted based on simulations with qualitatively naturalistic behavior. In this paper we provide the first direct application of computational modeling methods to infer flocking behavior from experimental field data. We show that this approach is able to infer general rules for interaction, or lack of interaction, among members of a flock or, more generally, any community. Using experimental field measurements of homing pigeons in flight we demonstrate the existence of a basic distance dependent attraction/repulsion relationship and show that this rule is sufficient to explain collective behavior observed in nature.
See Also: Hierarchical group dynamics in pigeon flocks

• Source: Dynamical modeling of collective behavior from pigeon flight data: flock cohesion and dispersion, Graciano Dieck Kattas, Xiao-Ke Xu and Michael Small, arXiv:1110.1739, 2011/10/8

Stuart Kauffman - The End Of A Physics Worldview: Heraclitus and the Watershed of Life, NECSI

Excerpt: At the dawn of Western philosophy and science, some 2,700 years ago, Heraclitus, declared that, "the world bubbles forth." There is, in this fragment of thought, a natural magic, a creativity beyond the entailing laws of modern physics. I believe Heraclitus was right about the evolution of the biosphere and human life. We live beyond entailing law in a natural magic we co-create.

• Source: Stuart Kauffman - The End Of A Physics Worldview: Heraclitus and the Watershed of Life, NECSI Seminar, 2011/10/19
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Bombings, beheadings? Stats show a peaceful world, Physorg.com

Excerpt: Yes, thousands of people have died in bloody unrest from Africa to Pakistan, while terrorists plot bombings and kidnappings. Wars drag on in Iraq and Afghanistan. In peaceful Norway, a man massacred 69 youths in July. In Mexico, headless bodies turn up, victims of drug cartels. This month eight people died in a shooting in a California hair salon.
Yet, historically, we've never had it this peaceful.
That's the thesis of three new books, including one by prominent Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker. Statistics reveal dramatic reductions in war deaths, family violence, racism, rape, murder and all sorts of mayhem.

• Source: Bombings, beheadings? Stats show a peaceful world, Seth Borenstein, Physorg.com, 2011/10/22

Evolution of Networks for Body Plan Patterning; Interplay of Modularity, Robustness and Evolvability, PLoS Comput Biol

Excerpt: An important question in evolutionary developmental biology is how the complex organisms we see around us have evolved, and how this complexity is encoded in their DNA. An often heard statement is that the gene regulatory networks underlying developmental processes are modular; that is, different functions are carried out by largely independent network parts. It is argued that this network modularity allows both for robust functioning and evolutionary tinkering, and that selection thus produces modular networks. Here we use a simulation model for the evolution of animal body plan patterning to investigate these ideas. (…)

• Source: Evolution of Networks for Body Plan Patterning; Interplay of Modularity, Robustness and Evolvability, Kirsten H. ten Tusscher, Paulien Hogeweg, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002208, PLoS Comput Biol 7(10): e1002208, 2011/10/6

10 Unsolved Mysteries, Scientific American

Excerpt: 1. How Did Life Begin?
2. How Do Molecules Form?
3. How Does the Environment Influence Our Genes?
4. How Does the Brain Think and Form Memories?
5. How Many Elements Exist?
6. Can Computers Be Made Out of Carbon?
7. How Do We Tap More Solar Energy?
8. What Is the Best Way to Make Biofuels?
9. Can We Devise New Ways to Create Drugs?
10. Can We Continuously Monitor Our Own Chemistry?

• Source: 10 Unsolved Mysteries, Philip Ball, Scientific American, 2011/10

What we learned from 5 million books, TED.com

About this talk: Have you played with Google Labs' Ngram Viewer? It's an addicting tool that lets you search for words and ideas in a database of 5 million books from across centuries. Erez Lieberman Aiden and Jean-Baptiste Michel show us how it works, and a few of the surprising things we can learn from 500 billion words.

• Source: What we learned from 5 million books, TED.com, 2011/09

Change and Aging Senescence as an Adaptation, PLoS ONE

Excerpt: Understanding why we age is a long-lived open problem in evolutionary biology. Aging is prejudicial to the individual, and evolutionary forces should prevent it, but many species show signs of senescence as individuals age. Here, I will propose a model for aging based on assumptions that are compatible with evolutionary theory.

• Source: Change and Aging Senescence as an Adaptation, Martins ACR, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0024328, PLoS ONE 6(9): e24328, September 2011

Diurnal and Seasonal Mood Vary with Work, Sleep, and Daylength Across Diverse Cultures, Science

Abstract: We identified individual-level diurnal and seasonal mood rhythms in cultures across the globe, using data from millions of public Twitter messages. We found that individuals awaken in a good mood that deteriorates as the day progresses�"which is consistent with the effects of sleep and circadian rhythm�"and that seasonal change in baseline positive affect varies with change in daylength. People are happier on weekends, but the morning peak in positive affect is delayed by 2 hours, which suggests that people awaken later on weekends.

• Source: Diurnal and Seasonal Mood Vary with Work, Sleep, and Daylength Across Diverse Cultures, Scott A. Golder, Michael W. Macy, DOI: 10.1126/science.1202775, Science Vol. 333 no. 6051 pp. 1878-1881, 2011/09/30

Neutrality in evolutionary algorithms… What do we know?, Evolving Systems

Abstract: Over the last years, the effects of neutrality have attracted the attention of many researchers in the Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) community. A mutation from one gene to another is considered as neutral if this modification does not affect the phenotype. This article provides a general overview on the work carried out on neutrality in EAs. Using as a framework the origin of neutrality and its study in different paradigms of EAs (e.g., Genetic Algorithms, Genetic Programming), we discuss the most significant works and findings on this topic. This work points towards open issues, which we belive the community needs to address.

• Source: Neutrality in evolutionary algorithms… What do we know?, Edgar Galván-López, Riccardo Poli, Ahmed Kattan, Michael O’Neill and Anthony Brabazon, DOI: 10.1007/s12530-011-9030-5, Evolving Systems Volume 2, Number 3, 145-163, 2011/09

A Geometric Approach to Complexity, SFI Working Papers

Abstract: We develop a geometric approach to complexity based on the principle that complexity requires interactions at different scales of description. Complex systems are more than the sum of their parts of any size, and not just more than the sum of their elements. Using information geometry, we therefore analyze the decomposition of a system in terms of an interaction hierarchy. In mathematical terms, we present a theory of complexity measures for finite random fields using the geometric framework of hierarchies of exponential families. Within our framework, previously proposed complexity measures find their natural place and gain a new interpretation.

• Source: A Geometric Approach to Complexity, Nihat Ay, Eckehard Olbrich, Nils Bertschinger, Jürgen Jost, DOI: SFI-WP 11-08-039, SFI Working Papers

Lee Cronin: Making matter come alive, TED.com

About this talk: Before life existed on Earth, there was just matter, inorganic dead "stuff." How improbable is it that life arose? And -- could it use a different type of chemistry? Using an elegant definition of life (anything that can evolve), chemist Lee Cronin is exploring this question by attempting to create a fully inorganic cell using a "Lego kit" of inorganic molecules -- no carbon -- that can assemble, replicate and compete.

• Source: Lee Cronin: Making matter come alive, TED.com, 2011/09
• VIDEO - Watch this talk

Edward Tenner: Unintended consequences, TED.com

About this talk: Every new invention changes the world -- in ways both intentional and unexpected. Historian Edward Tenner tells stories that illustrate the under-appreciated gap between our ability to innovate and our ability to foresee the consequences.

• Source: Edward Tenner: Unintended consequences, TED.com, 2011/09
• VIDEO - Watch this talk

Compilado AZyNE 20-08

Harnessed: How Language and Music Mimicked Nature and Transformed Ape to Man, BenBella Books

Summary: Cognitive scientist Changizi demonstrates that human speech has been very specifically "designed" to harness the sounds of nature, sounds we've evolved over millions of years to readily understand. Long before humans evolved, mammals have learned to interpret the sounds of nature to understand both threats and opportunities. Our speech-regardless of language-is very clearly based on the sounds of nature. Even more fascinating, Changizi shows that music itself is based on natural sounds. Music-seemingly one of the most human of inventions-is literally built on sounds and patterns of sound that have existed since the beginning of time.

• Source: Harnessed: How Language and Music Mimicked Nature and Transformed Ape to Man, Mark Changizi, BenBella Books, 2011/08/02

Nest Inheritance Is the Missing Source of Direct Fitness in a Primitively Eusocial Insect, Science

Abstract: Animals that cooperate with nonrelatives represent a challenge to inclusive fitness theory, unless cooperative behavior is shown to provide direct fitness benefits. Inheritance of breeding resources could provide such benefits, but this route to cooperation has been little investigated in the social insects. We show that nest inheritance can explain the presence of unrelated helpers in a classic social insect model, the primitively eusocial wasp Polistes dominulus. We found that subordinate helpers produced more direct offspring than lone breeders, some while still subordinate but most after inheriting the dominant position. Thus, while indirect fitness obtained through helping relatives has been the dominant paradigm for understanding eusociality in insects, direct fitness is vital to explain cooperation in P. dominulus.

• Source: Nest Inheritance Is the Missing Source of Direct Fitness in a Primitively Eusocial Insect, Ellouise Leadbeater, Jonathan M. Carruthers, Jonathan P. Green, Neil S. Rosser, Jeremy Field, DOI: 10.1126/science.1205140, Science Vol. 333 no. 6044 pp. 874-876, 2011/08/12

The ten grand challenges of synthetic life, Systems and Synthetic Biology

Abstract: The construction of artificial life is one of the main scientific challenges of the Synthetic Biology era. Advances in DNA synthesis and a better understanding of regulatory processes make the goal of constructing the first artificial cell a realistic possibility. This would be both a fundamental scientific milestone and a starting point of a vast range of applications, from biofuel production to drug design. However, several major issues might hamper the objective of achieving an artificial cell. From the bottom-up to the selection-based strategies, this work encompasses the ten grand challenges synthetic biologists will have to be aware of in order to cope with the task of creating life in the lab.

• Source: The ten grand challenges of synthetic life, Manuel Porcar, Antoine Danchin, Victor de Lorenzo, Vitor A. dos Santos, Natalio Krasnogor, Steen Rasmussen and Andrés Moya, DOI: 10.1007/s11693-011-9084-5, Systems and Synthetic Biology, Online First, 2011/08/05

Compilado AZyNE 20-07

Ten Simple Rules for Building and Maintaining a Scientific Reputation, PLoS Comput Biol

Excerpt: Rule 1: Think Before You Act
Rule 2: Do Not Ignore Criticism
Rule 3: Do Not Ignore People
Rule 4: Diligently Check Everything You Publish and Take Publishing Seriously
Rule 5: Always Declare Conflicts of Interest
Rule 6: Do Your Share for the CommunityRule
Rule 7: Do Not Commit to Tasks You Cannot Complete
Rule 8: Do Not Write Poor Reviews of Grants and Papers
Rule 9: Do Not Write References for People Who Do Not Deserve It
Rule 10: Never Plagiarize or Doctor Your Data

• Source: Ten Simple Rules for Building and Maintaining a Scientific Reputation, Philip E. Bourne, Virginia Barbour, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002108, PLoS Comput Biol 7(6): e1002108., 2011/06/30

A Universe of Galaxies, Science

Excerpt: It wasn't until the 1920s that astronomers realized that there were other galaxies in the universe besides our own. (...) Nowadays there is no doubt that the universe extends well beyond the confines of the Milky Way and that our galaxy is just one among many. Telescopes much more powerful than those used by Hubble have produced ever-larger and more comprehensive surveys of galaxies. The detailed understanding of our galaxy has also evolved dramatically.

• Source: A Universe of Galaxies, Maria Cruz, Robert Coontz, DOI: 10.1126/science.333.6039.169, Science Vol. 333 no. 6039 p. 169, 2011/07/08

Running with the Red Queen: Host-Parasite Coevolution Selects for Biparental Sex, Science

Abstract: Most organisms reproduce through outcrossing, even though it comes with substantial costs. The Red Queen hypothesis proposes that selection from coevolving pathogens facilitates the persistence of outcrossing despite these costs. We used experimental coevolution to test the Red Queen hypothesis and found that coevolution with a bacterial pathogen (Serratia marcescens) resulted in significantly more outcrossing in mixed mating experimental populations of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Furthermore, we found that coevolution with the pathogen rapidly drove obligately selfing populations to extinction, whereas outcrossing populations persisted through reciprocal coevolution. Thus, consistent with the Red Queen hypothesis, coevolving pathogens can select for biparental sex.

• Source: Running with the Red Queen: Host-Parasite Coevolution Selects for Biparental Sex, Levi T. Morran, Olivia G. Schmidt, Ian A. Gelarden, Raymond C. Parrish II, Curtis M. Lively, DOI: 10.1126/science.1206360, Science Vol. 333 no. 6039 pp. 216-218, 2011/07/08

Compilado AZyNE 30-03

Co-Residence Patterns in Hunter-Gatherer Societies Show Unique Human Social Structure, Science

Abstract: Contemporary humans exhibit spectacular biological success derived from cumulative culture and cooperation. The origins of these traits may be related to our ancestral group structure. Because humans lived as foragers for 95% of our species’ history, we analyzed co-residence patterns among 32 present-day foraging societies (total n = 5067 individuals, mean experienced band size = 28.2 adults). We found that hunter-gatherers display a unique social structure where (i) either sex may disperse or remain in their natal group, (ii) adult brothers and sisters often co-reside, and (iii) most individuals in residential groups are genetically unrelated. These patterns produce large interaction networks of unrelated adults and suggest that inclusive fitness cannot explain extensive cooperation in hunter-gatherer bands. However, large social networks may help to explain why humans evolved capacities for social learning that resulted in cumulative culture.

• Source: Co-Residence Patterns in Hunter-Gatherer Societies Show Unique Human Social Structure, Kim R. Hill, Robert S. Walker, Miran Božičević, James Eder, Thomas Headland, Barry Hewlett, A. Magdalena Hurtado, Frank Marlowe, Polly Wiessner, and Brian Wood, DOI: 10.1126/science.1199071, Science Vol. 331 no. 6022 pp. 1286-1289, 2011/03/11

Danny Hillis: Understanding cancer through proteomics, TED.com

About this talk: Danny Hills makes a case for the next frontier of cancer research: proteomics, the study of proteins in the body. As Hillis explains it, genomics shows us a list of the ingredients of the body -- while proteomics shows us what those ingredients produce. Understanding what's going on in your body at the protein level may lead to a new understanding of how cancer happens.

• Source: Danny Hillis: Understanding cancer through proteomics, TED.com, 2011/03
• VIDEO - Watch this talk

Deb Roy: The birth of a word, TED.com

About this talk: MIT researcher Deb Roy wanted to understand how his infant son learned language -- so he wired up his house with videocameras to catch every moment (with exceptions) of his son's life, then parsed 90,000 hours of home video to watch "gaaaa" slowly turn into "water." Astonishing, data-rich research with deep implications for how we learn.

• Source: Deb Roy: The birth of a word, TED.com, 2011/03
• VIDEO - Watch this talk

Has the Earth’s sixth mass extinction already arrived?, Nature

Abstract: Palaeontologists characterize mass extinctions as times when the Earth loses more than three-quarters of its species in a geologically short interval, as has happened only five times in the past 540 million years or so. Biologists now suggest that a sixth mass extinction may be under way, given the known species losses over the past few centuries and millennia. Here we review how differences between fossil and modern data and the addition of recently available palaeontological information influence our understanding of the current extinction crisis. Our results confirm that current extinction rates are higher than would be expected from the fossil record, highlighting the need for effective conservation measures.

• Source: Has the Earth’s sixth mass extinction already arrived?, Anthony D. Barnosky, Nicholas Matzke, Susumu Tomiya, Guinevere O. U. Wogan, Brian Swartz, Tiago B. Quental, Charles Marshall, Jenny L. McGuire, Emily L. Lindsey, Kaitlin C. Maguire, Ben Mersey & Elizabeth A. Ferrer, DOI: 10.1038/nature09678, Nature 471, 51�"57, 2011/03/03

Nonlinear deterministic equations in biological evolution, arXiv

Abstract: We review models of biological evolution in which the population frequency changes deterministically with time. If the population is self-replicating, although the equations for simple prototypes can be linearised, nonlinear equations arise in many complex situations. For sexual populations, even in the simplest setting, the equations are necessarily nonlinear due to the mixing of the parental genetic material. The solutions of such nonlinear equations display interesting features such as multiple equilibria and phase transitions. We mainly discuss those models for which an analytical understanding of such nonlinear equations is available.

• Source: Nonlinear deterministic equations in biological evolution, Kavita Jain and Sarada Seetharaman, arXiv:1103.0097, 2011/03/01

Selection for smaller brains in Holocene human evolution, arXiv

Abstract: Background: Human populations during the last 10,000 years have undergone rapid decreases in average brain size as measured by endocranial volume or as estimated from linear measurements of the cranium. A null hypothesis to explain the evolution of brain size is that reductions result from genetic correlation of brain size with body mass or stature.
Results: The absolute change of endocranial volume in the study samples was significantly greater than would be predicted from observed changes in body mass or stature.
Conclusions: The evolution of smaller brains in many recent human populations must have resulted from selection upon brain size itself or on other features more highly correlated with brain size than are gross body dimensions. This selection may have resulted from energetic or nutritional demands in Holocene populations, or to life history constraints on brain development.

• Source: Selection for smaller brains in Holocene human evolution, John Hawks, arXiv:1102.5604, 2011/02/28

Compilado AZyNE 29-01

The Newest Synthesis: Understanding the Interplay of Evolutionary and Ecological Dynamics, Science

Excerpt: The effect of ecological change on evolution has long been a focus of scientific research. The reverse�"how evolutionary dynamics affect ecological traits�"has only recently captured our attention, however, with the realization that evolution can occur over ecological time scales. This newly highlighted causal direction and the implied feedback loop�"eco-evolutionary dynamics�"is invigorating both ecologists and evolutionists and blurring the distinction between them.

• Source: The Newest Synthesis: Understanding the Interplay of Evolutionary and Ecological Dynamics, Thomas W. Schoener, DOI: 10.1126/science.1193954, Science Vol. 331 no. 6016 pp. 426-429, 2011/01/28

Swarm intelligence in plant roots, Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Excerpt: (...) swarm intelligence occurs when two or more individuals independently, or at least partly independently, acquire information that is processed through social interactions and is used to solve a cognitive problem in a way that would be impossible for isolated individuals. We propose at least one example of swarm intelligence in plants: coordination of individual roots in complex root systems.

• Source: Swarm intelligence in plant roots, František Baluška, Simcha Lev-Yadun, Stefano Mancuso, DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2010.09.003, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Volume 25, Issue 12, 682-683, 2010/12

Primitive agriculture in a social amoeba, Nature

Excerpt: Here we show that the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum has a primitive farming symbiosis that includes dispersal and prudent harvesting of the crop. About one-third of wild-collected clones engage in husbandry of bacteria. Instead of consuming all bacteria in their patch, they stop feeding early and incorporate bacteria into their fruiting bodies. They then carry bacteria during spore dispersal and can seed a new food crop, which is a major advantage if edible bacteria are lacking at the new site.

• Source: Primitive agriculture in a social amoeba, Debra A. Brock, Tracy E. Douglas, David C. Queller & Joan E. Strassmann, DOI: 10.1038/nature09668, Nature 469, 393�"396, 2011/01/19

Infectious moods: How bugs control your mind, New Scientist

Excerpt: Now it seems the immune system, and infections that stimulate it, can influence our moods, memory and ability to learn. Some strange behaviours, such as obsessive compulsive disorder, may be triggered by infections, and the immune system may even shape our basic personalities, such as how anxious or impulsive we are.

• Source: Infectious moods: How bugs control your mind, New Scientist, 2011/01/12

Morphological change in machines accelerates the evolution of robust behavior, PNAS

Excerpt: Most animals exhibit significant neurological and morphological change throughout their lifetime. No robots to date, however, grow new morphological structure while behaving. This is due to technological limitations but also because it is unclear that morphological change provides a benefit to the acquisition of robust behavior in machines. Here I show that in evolving populations of simulated robots, if robots grow from anguilliform into legged robots during their lifetime in the early stages of evolution, and the anguilliform body plan is gradually lost during later stages of evolution, gaits are evolved for the final, legged form of the robot more rapidly�"and the evolved gaits are more robust�"compared to evolving populations of legged robots that do not transition through the anguilliform body plan.

• Source: Morphological change in machines accelerates the evolution of robust behavior, Josh Bongard, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1015390108, PNAS Published online before print, 2011/01/10
• VIDEO - A typical gait discovered for the hexapod when it experiences ontogenetic and topological change: It transitions from the legless form into an upright legged form over its lifetime.

Complexity through Recombination: From Chemistry to Biology, Entropy

Abstract: Recombination is a common event in nature, with examples in physics, chemistry, and biology. This process is characterized by the spontaneous reorganization of structural units to form new entities. Upon reorganization, the complexity of the overall system can change. In particular the components of the system can now experience a new response to externally applied selection criteria, such that the evolutionary trajectory of the system is altered. The link between chemical and biological forms of recombination is explored. (...) The results underscore the importance of recombination in the origins of life on the Earth and its subsequent evolutionary divergence.

• Source: Complexity through Recombination: From Chemistry to Biology, Niles Lehman et al., DOI: 10.3390/e13010017, Entropy, vol. 13, issue 1, pages 17-37, 2011/01/01

Mating strategies in primates: A game theoretical approach to infanticide, Journal of Theoretical Biology

Excerpt: Infanticide by newly immigrated or newly dominant males is reported among a variety of taxa, such as birds, rodents, carnivores and primates. Here we present a game theoretical model to explain the presence and prevalence of infanticide in primate groups. We have formulated a three-player game involving two males and one female and show that the strategies of infanticide on the males' part and polyandrous mating on the females' part emerge as Nash equilibria that are stable under certain conditions [...] These conclusions are confirmed by observations in the wild. These conclusions are confirmed by observations in the wild.

• Source: Mating strategies in primates: A game theoretical approach to infanticide, Lyon JE, Pandit SA, van Schaik CP, Pradhan GR, DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2011.01.005, Journal of Theoretical Biology, in Press, January 2011

Peer review: Trial by Twitter, Nature

Summary: Blogs and tweets are ripping papers apart within days of publication, leaving researchers unsure how to react.

• Source: Peer review: Trial by Twitter, Apoorva Mandavilli, DOI: 10.1038/469286a, Nature 469, 286-287, 2011/01/19

Compilado AZyNE 24-01

Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books, Science

Abstract: We constructed a corpus of digitized texts containing about 4% of all books ever printed. Analysis of this corpus enables us to investigate cultural trends quantitatively. We survey the vast terrain of ‘culturomics,’ focusing on linguistic and cultural phenomena that were reflected in the English language between 1800 and 2000. We show how this approach can provide insights about fields as diverse as lexicography, the evolution of grammar, collective memory, the adoption of technology, the pursuit of fame, censorship, and historical epidemiology. Culturomics extends the boundaries of rigorous quantitative inquiry to a wide array of new phenomena spanning the social sciences and the humanities.

• Source: Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books, Jean-Baptiste Michel, Yuan Kui Shen, Aviva Presser Aiden, Adrian Veres, Matthew K. Gray, The Google Books Team, Joseph P. Pickett, Dale Hoiberg, Dan Clancy, Peter Norvig, Jon Orwant, Steven Pinker, Martin A. Nowak, and Erez Lieberman Aiden, DOI: 10.1126/science.1199644, Science Vol. 331 no. 6014 pp. 176-182, 2011/01/14

Amber Case: We are all cyborgs now, TED.com

About this talk: Technology is evolving us, says Amber Case, as we become a screen-staring, button-clicking new version of homo sapiens. We now rely on "external brains" (cell phones and computers) to communicate, remember, even live out secondary lives. But will these machines ultimately connect or conquer us? Case offers surprising insight into our cyborg selves.

• Source: Amber Case: We are all cyborgs now, TED.com, 2011/01

The AHA! Experience: Creativity Through Emergent Binding in Neural Networks, Cognitive Science

Abstract: Many kinds of creativity result from combination of mental representations. This paper provides a computational account of how creative thinking can arise from combining neural patterns into ones that are potentially novel and useful. We defend the hypothesis that such combinations arise from mechanisms that bind together neural activity by a process of convolution, a mathematical operation that interweaves structures. We describe computer simulations that show the feasibility of using convolution to produce emergent patterns of neural activity that can support cognitive and emotional processes underlying human creativity.

• Source: The AHA! Experience: Creativity Through Emergent Binding in Neural Networks, Paul Thagard, Terrence C. Stewart, DOI: 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2010.01142.x, Cognitive Science Volume 35, Issue 1, pages 1�"33, January/February 2011, 2011/01-02