RT Journal Article
T1 Static internal representation of dynamic situations reveals time compaction in human cognition
A1 Villacorta-Atienza, José Antonio
A1 Calvo Tapia, Carlos
A1 Díez-Hermano, Sergio
A1 Sánchez Jiménez, Abel
A1 Lobov, Sergei
A1 Krilova, Nadia
A1 Murciano Cespedosa, Antonio
A1 López-Tolsa, Gabriela E.
A1 Pellón, Ricardo
A1 Makarov Slizneva, Valeriy
AB Introduction: The human brain has evolved under the constraint of survival in complex dynamic situations. It makes fast and reliable decisions based on internal representations of the environment. Whereas neural mechanisms involved in the internal representation of space are becoming known, entire spatiotemporal cognition remains a challenge. Growing experimental evidence suggests that brain mechanisms devoted to spatial cognition may also participate in spatiotemporal information processing. Objectives: The time compaction hypothesis postulates that the brain represents both static and dynamic situations as purely static maps. Such an internal reduction of the external complexity allows humans to process time-changing situations in real-time efficiently. According to time compaction, there may be a deep inner similarity between the representation of conventional static and dynamic visual stimuli. Here, we test the hypothesis and report the first experimental evidence of time compaction in humans.Methods: We engaged human subjects in a discrimination-learning task consisting in the classification of static and dynamic visual stimuli. When there was a hidden correspondence between static and dynamic stimuli due to time compaction, the learning performance was expected to be modulated. We studied such a modulation experimentally and by a computational model.Results: The collected data validated the predicted learning modulation and confirmed that time compaction is a salient cognitive strategy adopted by the human brain to process time-changing situations. Mathematical modelling supported the finding. We also revealed that men are more prone to exploit time compaction in accordance with the context of the hypothesis as a cognitive basis for survival. Conclusions: The static internal representation of dynamic situations is a human cognitive mechanism involved in decision-making and strategy planning to cope with time-changing environments. The finding opens a new venue to understand how humans efficiently interact with our dynamic world and thrive in nature.
PB Elsevier
SN 2090-1232
YR 2020
FD 2020-08-14
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/8214
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/8214
LA eng
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN)
NO Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (MECD)
NO Russian Science Foundation
NO Fundación La Caixa
NO CNCT-Mexican Government
DS Docta Complutense
RD 2 oct 2024