Synchronization and fractal scaling as foundations for cognitive control

Amon, Mary Jean; Pavlov, Olivia C.; Holden, John G.

doi:10.1016/j.cogsys.2018.04.010

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Our findings are consistent with and extend research demonstrating properties of synergies within individuals and, more recently, among dyads during joint action and cognitive tasks (Amon, ; Amon, Pavlov, & Holden, ; Black et al, ; Fusaroli & Tylén, ; Kelso et al, ; Ramenzoni et al, ). Specifically, this study provides preliminary support that groups of people can organize with each other and with features of the task environment to produce significant degrees of system‐level regularity.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Beyond Dyadic Coordination: Multimodal Behavioral Irregularity in Triads Predicts Facets of Collaborative Problem Solving

2019

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We hypothesize that effective collaboration is facilitated when individuals and environmental components form a synergy where they work together and regulate one another to produce stable patterns of behavior, or regularity, as well as adaptively reorganize to form new behaviors, or irregularity. We tested this hypothesis in a study with 32 triads who collaboratively solved a challenging visual computer programming task for 20 min following an introductory warm‐up phase. Multidimensional recurrence quantification analysis was used to examine fine‐grained (i.e., every 10 s) collective patterns of regularity across team members' speech rate, body movement, and team interaction with the shared user interface. We found that teams exhibited significant patterns of regularity as compared to shuffled baselines, but there were no systematic trends in regularity across time. We also found that periods of regularity were associated with a reduction in overall behavior. Notably, the production of irregular behavior predicted expert‐coded metrics of collaborative activity, such as teams' ability to construct shared knowledge and effectively negotiate and coordinate execution of solutions, net of overall behavioral production and behavioral self‐similarity. Our findings support the theory that groups can interact to form interpersonal synergies and indicate that information about system‐level dynamics is a viable way to understand and predict effective collaborative processes.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Beyond Dyadic Coordination: Multimodal Behavioral Irregularity in Triads Predicts Facets of Collaborative Problem Solving

2019

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“…By contrast, oscillatory theory predicts the emergence of spontaneous oscillatory entrainment that is distributed across separate individuals and consistent with the details of oscillatory dynamics, the HKB model, and interpersonal coordination findings (e.g., Marsh et al, 2009 ; Amon et al, 2018 ). The propensity for entrainment in informationally coupled oscillatory systems is well established (e.g., Huygens, 1673/1986 ).…”

Section: Distributed Cognitionsupporting

confidence: 70%

“…In addition to supplying a plausible explanation for the basis of sequential effects in response time, the study outcomes also contribute to a broader narrative on the role of oscillatory dynamics in cognitive performance. Previous studies established that participants spontaneously entrain to oscillatory patterns in the timing and structure of elementary detection and production tasks such as simple response time, temporal estimation, and manual tracking (e.g., Peper et al, 1995 ; Holden et al, 2011 ; Amon et al, 2018 ; Jagacinski and Flach, 2018 ). The discovery that oscillatory dynamics play foundational roles in sequential effects and are leveraged by participants to accommodate task requirements implies an oscillatory etiology for 1/ƒ scaling in response time measurements: stochastic entrainment across the many time scales of change in physiological, cognitive, bodily, and environmental circumstances ( Kello et al, 2007 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The oscillatory hypothesis implicates entrainment dynamics as foundations for controlling performances that may subsequently be leveraged via intentions and experience (e.g., instructions and learning) to accomplish and maintain goal-directed activities ( Van Orden and Holden, 2002 ; Amon et al, 2018 ). Thus, entrainment predicts that oscillatory factors may spur the kinds of changes that are eventually reflected and amplified in learning studies, for instance (e.g., Mitra et al, 1998 ).…”

Section: The Transition From Repetition To Alternation Dominancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This article proposes and tests a novel hypothesis that coupled oscillator dynamics explain sequential effects in response time. It is motivated by two recent discoveries; response time performances express a capacity for oscillatory entrainment and they also entail 1/ƒ scaling – a stochastic version of oscillatory synchronization (e.g., see, Kello et al, 2007 ; Amon et al, 2018 ). Since oscillatory dynamics also govern human locomotion, these reports imply that cognition and action are more closely intertwined than previously assumed.…”

Section: Introduction and Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Farey Trees Explain Sequential Effects in Choice Response Time

2021

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The latencies of successive two-alternative, forced-choice response times display intricately patterned sequential effects, or dependencies. They vary as a function of particular trial-histories, and in terms of the order and identity of previously presented stimuli and registered responses. This article tests a novel hypothesis that sequential effects are governed by dynamic principles, such as those entailed by a discrete sine-circle map adaptation of the Haken Kelso Bunz (HKB) bimanual coordination model. The model explained the sequential effects expressed in two classic sequential dependency data sets. It explained the rise of a repetition advantage, the acceleration of repeated affirmative responses, in tasks with faster paces. Likewise, the model successfully predicted an alternation advantage, the acceleration of interleaved affirmative and negative responses, when a task’s pace slows and becomes more variable. Detailed analyses of five studies established oscillatory influences on sequential effects in the context of balanced and biased trial presentation rates, variable pacing, progressive and differential cognitive loads, and dyadic performance. Overall, the empirical patterns revealed lawful oscillatory constraints governing sequential effects in the time-course and accuracy of performance across a broad continuum of recognition and decision activities.

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