Maurice Grinberg | New Bulgarian University (original) (raw)

Papers by Maurice Grinberg

Italian Workshop on Neural Nets, Aug 15, 2011

Abstract. This paper describes a new approximate implementation of Spreading Activation (SA) for ... more Abstract. This paper describes a new approximate implementation of Spreading Activation (SA) for knowledge selection in very large datasets. SA is used to prime relevant knowledge domains and reduce considerably the graph queried and therefore the query time. The method is based on the representation of the dataset as a sparse matrix of integers and the application on the corresponding graph of fast path searching algorithm which counts the number of times a node is reached following independent paths. The algorithm is ...

Italian Workshop on Neural Nets, Jul 24, 2009

Abstract. This paper introduces a recently proposed hybrid cognitive model, called TRIPLE focusin... more Abstract. This paper introduces a recently proposed hybrid cognitive model, called TRIPLE focusing on its connectionist aspects. They are demonstrated on a series of schematic and realistic examples of analogy based retrieval from memory. The model integrates three modules which run in parallel: serial reasoning, connectionist and emotion engines. The serial reasoning engine deals with the current task, processes perceptual input, plans and performs actions, and synchronizes the activity the other two engines. Its special feature is ...

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2010

The paper explores the disjunction effect in the Prisoner's dilemma game using behavioral experim... more The paper explores the disjunction effect in the Prisoner's dilemma game using behavioral experiments with eyemovement recordings. An experiment was designed to explore the complexity hypothesis about the appearance of the disjunction effect. The results show that in games with payoffs which are simpler to perceive and compare, the disjunction effect disappears, while it is present when more complex payoffs are used. In a second experiment, the participants were told that the moves of the computer opponent had been made before the game session. This manipulation led again to the disappearance of the disjunction effect even. We interpret this result as a suppressing of a possible quasi-magic reasoning by stressing the fact that participants' own moves cannot influence the move of the opponent. The results from the experiments point to information processing complexity as a major factor for the disjunction effect contrary to the conclusions in some previous research.

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2009

Two experiments are reported. The first shows incomplete transfer of explicit categorical learnin... more Two experiments are reported. The first shows incomplete transfer of explicit categorical learning at a distance of 4.5 degrees of visual angle and the second is a control experiment with a non-learning task. The results suggest that some early visual plasticity takes place even in a simple, explicit categorical learning task. We claim that perceptual learning is a much more common phenomenon than believed before and that it plays an important role in everyday tasks including higher-level learning.

Cognitive Science, 2014

The role of Simpson's paradox effects on cooperation in one-shot intra-and inter-group Prisoner's... more The role of Simpson's paradox effects on cooperation in one-shot intra-and inter-group Prisoner's Dilemma games is explored. Three experimental conditions are considered in a between-subject design-a group that plays games only within the group (intra-group condition), a group that plays games only with members of the other group (inter-group condition), and a group which plays a combination of intra-group and inter-group games (mixed condition). It was found that cooperation in the intra-group games in the mixed condition is higher than cooperation in the intra-group pure condition which can be an effect of the Simpson's paradox effect. The results are discussed in the light of the earlier findings of Chater, Vlaev, & Grinberg (2008) where similar results were obtained in a different context.

Nuclear Physics, Jun 1, 1994

The fragmentation of two-phonon components in the structure of the low-lying states in 13sBa, 14'... more The fragmentation of two-phonon components in the structure of the low-lying states in 13sBa, 14'Ce, 142Nd and 144 Sm is investigated in the framework of the quasiparticle-phonon model. The level energies and the transitions relevant to the members of quadrupole-octupole and octupole-octupole two-phonon multiplets are calculated and compared to experiment in the case of '%4rn. For the other N = 82 nuclei considered in the paper, predictions are given. The two-phonon character of the first l-state is confirmed on the basis of calculations including a large one-, two-and three-phonon basis. A B(E1; 1; + g.s.) value of the order of 10M3 W.U. is obtained taking into account the influence of the giant dipole resonance. Several El, E2 and E3 transitions are calculated which give additional information on the properties of the two-phonon states in the N = 82 region.

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2009

A model relating eye-movements and decision making is proposed focused on the iterated prisoner's... more A model relating eye-movements and decision making is proposed focused on the iterated prisoner's dilemma game. Its main aim is to model previous experiments with eye-tracking recordings which show that participants attend to only a small part of the game payoff information. The model presented generates eye-movements based on two main mechanisms. The first takes into account the importance of the information attended with respect to the decision making process and while the second takes into account the variability of the information attended. The model is a discrete dynamical system which integrates learned selective attention with move choice. The model is found to reproduce fairly well the sensitivity to the payoff structure of the game and the attendance to payoffs found in experiments with human subjects. These results seem to be a promising first step in explaining the impact of partial and selective information acquisition in the prisoner's dilemma.

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2005

Eye-tracking recordings were used to explore the choice process in playing the iterated Prisoner'... more Eye-tracking recordings were used to explore the choice process in playing the iterated Prisoner's dilemma. This is a novel approach in studying the cognitive processes in game playing. The information acquisition patterns of two groups of subjects, identified on the basis of their playing behavior, were compared. The subjects from the first group paid more attention to the game payoffs and showed a strong dependence on their relative magnitudes. The subjects from the second group paid less attention to the payoff matrix but spent more time considering the opponent moves. These results show that the analysis of eye movement can give valuable information about the processes of decision making.

Nature Human Behaviour

In the version of this article initially published, the ORCiDs for Biljana Gjoneska and Biljana J... more In the version of this article initially published, the ORCiDs for Biljana Gjoneska and Biljana Jokić were interchanged. Further, the location for affiliation 92 was incorrect and has been corrected to read:

The present study explores moral judgment in COVID-19 related moral dilemma situations involving ... more The present study explores moral judgment in COVID-19 related moral dilemma situations involving allocation of ventilators with conflicting allocation principles. Utilitarian triage criteria like the chance of recovery or longer life expectancy are opposed to egalitarian procedures like random allocation and 'first come, first served'. In the first part of the experiment, participants are presented with three hypothetical situations in which there are two patients admitted to a hospital in a critical state needing a ventilator but only one is available. The conditions about the patients are described and several triage procedures are suggested and rated by participants. Separately, participants rated their agreement with several triage principles. The result shows a clear preference for utilitarian allocation principles. The random allocation principle receives the lowest ratings. The 'first come, first served' correlates with the belief in fate score hinting that th...

The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health inform... more The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health information effectively to the global public. Given that subtle differences in information framing can have meaningful effects on behavior, behavioral science research highlights a pressing question: Is it more effective to frame COVID-19 health messages in terms of potential losses (e.g., “If you do not practice these steps, you can endanger yourself and others”) or potential gains (e.g., “If you practice these steps, you can protect yourself and others”)? Collecting data in 48 languages from 15,929 participants in 84 countries, we experimentally tested the effects of message framing on COVID-19-related judgments, intentions, and feelings. Loss- (vs. gain-) framed messages increased self-reported anxiety among participants cross-nationally with little-to-no impact on policy attitudes, behavioral intentions, or information seeking relevant to pandemic risks. These results were consistent acros...

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a gl... more Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e. a controlling message) compared to no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly-internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared to the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence aut...

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. L... more The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion regulation strategy which modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries/regions (N = 21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vs. both control conditions) had consistent effects in reducing negative emotions and increasing positive emotions across different measures. Reconstrual and repurposing had similar effects. Importantly, planned exploratory analyses indicated that reappraisal interventions did not reduce intentions to practice preventive health behaviours. The findings demonstrate the viab...

Mind & Language, 2018

Since at least Hume and Kant, philosophers working on the nature of aesthetic judgment have gener... more Since at least Hume and Kant, philosophers working on the nature of aesthetic judgment have generally agreed that common sense does not treat aesthetic judgments in the same way as typical expressions of subjective preferences—rather, it endows them with intersubjective validity, the property of being right or wrong regardless of disagreement. Moreover, this apparent intersubjective validity has been taken to constitute one of the main explananda for philosophical accounts of aesthetic judgment. But is it really the case that most people spontaneously treat aesthetic judgments as having intersubjective validity? In this paper, we report the results of a cross‐cultural study with over 2,000 respondents spanning 19 countries. Despite significant geographical variations, these results suggest that most people do not treat their own aesthetic judgments as having intersubjective validity. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for theories of aesthetic judgment and th...

Nuclear Physics A, 1995

Excited states of 124Te were measured with the transfer reactions 123Te(d,p)124Te, 125Te(d,t)124T... more Excited states of 124Te were measured with the transfer reactions 123Te(d,p)124Te, 125Te(d,t)124Te and 123Sb(3He,d)124Te and with the inelastic scattering reaction ZUTe(p,p')lUTe at the Tandem Accelerator in Munich. Levels were obtained up to 3.5 MeV with energy resolutions of 3-6 keV. The lUTe(3,,3/)124Te reaction was studied at the S-DALINAC accelerator in Darmstadt for bremsstrahlung endpoint energies Eo = 3.5 and 5 MeV. The 123Te(n,T)lUTe reaction with thermal neutrons was investigated in Riga and in Dubna including ~,-~, coincidences. In Dubna the special method of sum coincidences was applied, analyzing the "Y-3' cascades to the ground state and the first 2 + level. Based on these experiments a level scheme was constructed with states up to 4.5 MeV which is assumed to be complete up to 3 MeV for angular momenta J< 4h. A quasiparticle-phonon model calculation with a configuration space of up to three-phonon coupling permits a good description for many of the low-energy states. Transition probabilities, E2/M1 mixing ratios and branching ratios between these levels are generally well described. The quantitative reproduction indicates a two-phonon quadrupole-octupole coupled 1-structure of the states most strongly excited in the (~,, T') reaction. The 2-member of the 2 + ®2 + ®3 i-septuplet is identified in the unusual decay cascade following thermal neutron capture. A candidate for a 2 + state with mixed symmetry structure is proposed.

The main features of an integrated Computer Assisted Training (CAT) system design and deployment ... more The main features of an integrated Computer Assisted Training (CAT) system design and deployment methodology, developed in the WELKOM project, are summarized and discussed. The two main dimensions of the methodology – educational efficiency and usability – are presented with a focus on the latter. Selected results from usability and learning style testing during the application of the methodology in the development of three different CAT systems in three different educational contexts (a factory, a SAP training company and an university) are presented and the results are discussed with regard to their impact on the implementation process and to the applicability of the integrated methodology as a whole.

Italian Workshop on Neural Nets, Aug 15, 2011

Abstract. This paper describes a new approximate implementation of Spreading Activation (SA) for ... more Abstract. This paper describes a new approximate implementation of Spreading Activation (SA) for knowledge selection in very large datasets. SA is used to prime relevant knowledge domains and reduce considerably the graph queried and therefore the query time. The method is based on the representation of the dataset as a sparse matrix of integers and the application on the corresponding graph of fast path searching algorithm which counts the number of times a node is reached following independent paths. The algorithm is ...

Italian Workshop on Neural Nets, Jul 24, 2009

Abstract. This paper introduces a recently proposed hybrid cognitive model, called TRIPLE focusin... more Abstract. This paper introduces a recently proposed hybrid cognitive model, called TRIPLE focusing on its connectionist aspects. They are demonstrated on a series of schematic and realistic examples of analogy based retrieval from memory. The model integrates three modules which run in parallel: serial reasoning, connectionist and emotion engines. The serial reasoning engine deals with the current task, processes perceptual input, plans and performs actions, and synchronizes the activity the other two engines. Its special feature is ...

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2010

The paper explores the disjunction effect in the Prisoner's dilemma game using behavioral experim... more The paper explores the disjunction effect in the Prisoner's dilemma game using behavioral experiments with eyemovement recordings. An experiment was designed to explore the complexity hypothesis about the appearance of the disjunction effect. The results show that in games with payoffs which are simpler to perceive and compare, the disjunction effect disappears, while it is present when more complex payoffs are used. In a second experiment, the participants were told that the moves of the computer opponent had been made before the game session. This manipulation led again to the disappearance of the disjunction effect even. We interpret this result as a suppressing of a possible quasi-magic reasoning by stressing the fact that participants' own moves cannot influence the move of the opponent. The results from the experiments point to information processing complexity as a major factor for the disjunction effect contrary to the conclusions in some previous research.

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2009

Two experiments are reported. The first shows incomplete transfer of explicit categorical learnin... more Two experiments are reported. The first shows incomplete transfer of explicit categorical learning at a distance of 4.5 degrees of visual angle and the second is a control experiment with a non-learning task. The results suggest that some early visual plasticity takes place even in a simple, explicit categorical learning task. We claim that perceptual learning is a much more common phenomenon than believed before and that it plays an important role in everyday tasks including higher-level learning.

Cognitive Science, 2014

The role of Simpson's paradox effects on cooperation in one-shot intra-and inter-group Prisoner's... more The role of Simpson's paradox effects on cooperation in one-shot intra-and inter-group Prisoner's Dilemma games is explored. Three experimental conditions are considered in a between-subject design-a group that plays games only within the group (intra-group condition), a group that plays games only with members of the other group (inter-group condition), and a group which plays a combination of intra-group and inter-group games (mixed condition). It was found that cooperation in the intra-group games in the mixed condition is higher than cooperation in the intra-group pure condition which can be an effect of the Simpson's paradox effect. The results are discussed in the light of the earlier findings of Chater, Vlaev, & Grinberg (2008) where similar results were obtained in a different context.

Nuclear Physics, Jun 1, 1994

The fragmentation of two-phonon components in the structure of the low-lying states in 13sBa, 14'... more The fragmentation of two-phonon components in the structure of the low-lying states in 13sBa, 14'Ce, 142Nd and 144 Sm is investigated in the framework of the quasiparticle-phonon model. The level energies and the transitions relevant to the members of quadrupole-octupole and octupole-octupole two-phonon multiplets are calculated and compared to experiment in the case of '%4rn. For the other N = 82 nuclei considered in the paper, predictions are given. The two-phonon character of the first l-state is confirmed on the basis of calculations including a large one-, two-and three-phonon basis. A B(E1; 1; + g.s.) value of the order of 10M3 W.U. is obtained taking into account the influence of the giant dipole resonance. Several El, E2 and E3 transitions are calculated which give additional information on the properties of the two-phonon states in the N = 82 region.

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2009

A model relating eye-movements and decision making is proposed focused on the iterated prisoner's... more A model relating eye-movements and decision making is proposed focused on the iterated prisoner's dilemma game. Its main aim is to model previous experiments with eye-tracking recordings which show that participants attend to only a small part of the game payoff information. The model presented generates eye-movements based on two main mechanisms. The first takes into account the importance of the information attended with respect to the decision making process and while the second takes into account the variability of the information attended. The model is a discrete dynamical system which integrates learned selective attention with move choice. The model is found to reproduce fairly well the sensitivity to the payoff structure of the game and the attendance to payoffs found in experiments with human subjects. These results seem to be a promising first step in explaining the impact of partial and selective information acquisition in the prisoner's dilemma.

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2005

Eye-tracking recordings were used to explore the choice process in playing the iterated Prisoner'... more Eye-tracking recordings were used to explore the choice process in playing the iterated Prisoner's dilemma. This is a novel approach in studying the cognitive processes in game playing. The information acquisition patterns of two groups of subjects, identified on the basis of their playing behavior, were compared. The subjects from the first group paid more attention to the game payoffs and showed a strong dependence on their relative magnitudes. The subjects from the second group paid less attention to the payoff matrix but spent more time considering the opponent moves. These results show that the analysis of eye movement can give valuable information about the processes of decision making.

Nature Human Behaviour

In the version of this article initially published, the ORCiDs for Biljana Gjoneska and Biljana J... more In the version of this article initially published, the ORCiDs for Biljana Gjoneska and Biljana Jokić were interchanged. Further, the location for affiliation 92 was incorrect and has been corrected to read:

The present study explores moral judgment in COVID-19 related moral dilemma situations involving ... more The present study explores moral judgment in COVID-19 related moral dilemma situations involving allocation of ventilators with conflicting allocation principles. Utilitarian triage criteria like the chance of recovery or longer life expectancy are opposed to egalitarian procedures like random allocation and 'first come, first served'. In the first part of the experiment, participants are presented with three hypothetical situations in which there are two patients admitted to a hospital in a critical state needing a ventilator but only one is available. The conditions about the patients are described and several triage procedures are suggested and rated by participants. Separately, participants rated their agreement with several triage principles. The result shows a clear preference for utilitarian allocation principles. The random allocation principle receives the lowest ratings. The 'first come, first served' correlates with the belief in fate score hinting that th...

The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health inform... more The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health information effectively to the global public. Given that subtle differences in information framing can have meaningful effects on behavior, behavioral science research highlights a pressing question: Is it more effective to frame COVID-19 health messages in terms of potential losses (e.g., “If you do not practice these steps, you can endanger yourself and others”) or potential gains (e.g., “If you practice these steps, you can protect yourself and others”)? Collecting data in 48 languages from 15,929 participants in 84 countries, we experimentally tested the effects of message framing on COVID-19-related judgments, intentions, and feelings. Loss- (vs. gain-) framed messages increased self-reported anxiety among participants cross-nationally with little-to-no impact on policy attitudes, behavioral intentions, or information seeking relevant to pandemic risks. These results were consistent acros...

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a gl... more Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e. a controlling message) compared to no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly-internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared to the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence aut...

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. L... more The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion regulation strategy which modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries/regions (N = 21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vs. both control conditions) had consistent effects in reducing negative emotions and increasing positive emotions across different measures. Reconstrual and repurposing had similar effects. Importantly, planned exploratory analyses indicated that reappraisal interventions did not reduce intentions to practice preventive health behaviours. The findings demonstrate the viab...

Mind & Language, 2018

Since at least Hume and Kant, philosophers working on the nature of aesthetic judgment have gener... more Since at least Hume and Kant, philosophers working on the nature of aesthetic judgment have generally agreed that common sense does not treat aesthetic judgments in the same way as typical expressions of subjective preferences—rather, it endows them with intersubjective validity, the property of being right or wrong regardless of disagreement. Moreover, this apparent intersubjective validity has been taken to constitute one of the main explananda for philosophical accounts of aesthetic judgment. But is it really the case that most people spontaneously treat aesthetic judgments as having intersubjective validity? In this paper, we report the results of a cross‐cultural study with over 2,000 respondents spanning 19 countries. Despite significant geographical variations, these results suggest that most people do not treat their own aesthetic judgments as having intersubjective validity. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for theories of aesthetic judgment and th...

Nuclear Physics A, 1995

Excited states of 124Te were measured with the transfer reactions 123Te(d,p)124Te, 125Te(d,t)124T... more Excited states of 124Te were measured with the transfer reactions 123Te(d,p)124Te, 125Te(d,t)124Te and 123Sb(3He,d)124Te and with the inelastic scattering reaction ZUTe(p,p')lUTe at the Tandem Accelerator in Munich. Levels were obtained up to 3.5 MeV with energy resolutions of 3-6 keV. The lUTe(3,,3/)124Te reaction was studied at the S-DALINAC accelerator in Darmstadt for bremsstrahlung endpoint energies Eo = 3.5 and 5 MeV. The 123Te(n,T)lUTe reaction with thermal neutrons was investigated in Riga and in Dubna including ~,-~, coincidences. In Dubna the special method of sum coincidences was applied, analyzing the "Y-3' cascades to the ground state and the first 2 + level. Based on these experiments a level scheme was constructed with states up to 4.5 MeV which is assumed to be complete up to 3 MeV for angular momenta J< 4h. A quasiparticle-phonon model calculation with a configuration space of up to three-phonon coupling permits a good description for many of the low-energy states. Transition probabilities, E2/M1 mixing ratios and branching ratios between these levels are generally well described. The quantitative reproduction indicates a two-phonon quadrupole-octupole coupled 1-structure of the states most strongly excited in the (~,, T') reaction. The 2-member of the 2 + ®2 + ®3 i-septuplet is identified in the unusual decay cascade following thermal neutron capture. A candidate for a 2 + state with mixed symmetry structure is proposed.

The main features of an integrated Computer Assisted Training (CAT) system design and deployment ... more The main features of an integrated Computer Assisted Training (CAT) system design and deployment methodology, developed in the WELKOM project, are summarized and discussed. The two main dimensions of the methodology – educational efficiency and usability – are presented with a focus on the latter. Selected results from usability and learning style testing during the application of the methodology in the development of three different CAT systems in three different educational contexts (a factory, a SAP training company and an university) are presented and the results are discussed with regard to their impact on the implementation process and to the applicability of the integrated methodology as a whole.