Quo vadis, planning?

Deep meta-learning is the driving force behind advances in contemporary AI research, and a promising theory of flexible cognition in natural intelligence. We agree with Binz et al. that many supposedly "model-based" behaviours may be better explained by meta-learning than by classical models.

Space as a scaffold for rotational generalisation of abstract concepts.

Learning invariances allows us to generalise. In the visual modality, invariant representations allow us to recognise objects despite translations or rotations in physical space. However, how we learn the invariances that allow us to generalise abstract patterns of sensory data ('concepts') is a longstanding puzzle.

The channel capacity of multilevel linguistic features constrains speech comprehension.

Humans are expert at processing speech but how this feat is accomplished remains a major question in cognitive neuroscience. Capitalizing on the concept of channel capacity, we developed a unified measurement framework to investigate the respective influence of seven acoustic and linguistic features on speech comprehension, encompassing acoustic, sub-lexical, lexical and supra-lexical levels of description. We show that comprehension is independently impacted by all these features, but at varying degrees and with a clear dominance of the syllabic rate.

Multisensory correlation computations in the human brain identified by a time-resolved encoding model.

Neural mechanisms that arbitrate between integrating and segregating multisensory information are essential for complex scene analysis and for the resolution of the multisensory correspondence problem. However, these mechanisms and their dynamics remain largely unknown, partly because classical models of multisensory integration are static. Here, we used the Multisensory Correlation Detector, a model that provides a good explanatory power for human behavior while incorporating dynamic computations.

Does auditory deprivation impairs statistical learning in the auditory modality?

Early sensory deprivation allows assessing the extent of reorganisation of cognitive functions, well beyond sensory processing. As such, it is a good model to explore the links between sensory experience and cognitive functions. One of these functions, statistical learning - the ability to extract and use regularities present in the environment - is suspected to be impaired in prelingually deaf children with a cochlear implant.

Frequency Selectivity of Persistent Cortical Oscillatory Responses to Auditory Rhythmic Stimulation.

Cortical oscillations have been proposed to play a functional role in speech and music perception, attentional selection, and working memory, via the mechanism of neural entrainment. One of the properties of neural entrainment that is often taken for granted is that its modulatory effect on ongoing oscillations outlasts rhythmic stimulation. We tested the existence of this phenomenon by studying cortical neural oscillations during and after presentation of melodic stimuli in a passive perception paradigm.

Training-induced plasticity enables visualizing sounds with a visual-to-auditory conversion device.

Sensory substitution devices aim at restoring visual functions by converting visual information into auditory or tactile stimuli. Although these devices show promise in the range of behavioral abilities they allow, the processes underlying their use remain underspecified. In particular, while an initial debate focused on the visual versus auditory or tactile nature of sensory substitution, since over a decade, the idea that it reflects a mixture of both has emerged.

Musical Expertise Is Associated with Improved Neural Statistical Learning in the Auditory Domain.

Unlabelled: It is poorly known whether musical training is associated with improvements in general cognitive abilities, such as statistical learning (SL). In standard SL paradigms, musicians have shown better performances than nonmusicians. However, this advantage could be due to differences in auditory discrimination, in memory or truly in the ability to learn sequence statistics.

Rhythmic Abilities of Children With Hearing Loss.

Objectives: Children with hearing loss (HL), in spite of early cochlear implantation, often struggle considerably with language acquisition. Previous research has shown a benefit of rhythmic training on linguistic skills in children with HL, suggesting that improving rhythmic capacities could help attenuating language difficulties. However, little is known about general rhythmic skills of children with HL and how they relate to speech perception.

Musical Training for Auditory Rehabilitation in Hearing Loss.

Despite the overall success of cochlear implantation, language outcomes remain suboptimal and subject to large inter-individual variability. Early auditory rehabilitation techniques have mostly focused on low-level sensory abilities. However, a new body of literature suggests that cognitive operations are critical for auditory perception remediation.

Rhythmic Training Improves Temporal Anticipation and Adaptation Abilities in Children With Hearing Loss During Verbal Interaction.

Purpose In this study, we investigate temporal adaptation capacities of children with normal hearing and children with cochlear implants and/or hearing aids during verbal exchange. We also address the question of the efficiency of a rhythmic training on temporal adaptation during speech interaction in children with hearing loss. Method We recorded electroencephalogram data in children while they named pictures delivered on a screen, in alternation with a virtual partner.

Individual Differences in Sensory Substitution.

Sensory substitution devices were developed in the context of perceptual rehabilitation and they aim at compensating one or several functions of a deficient sensory modality by converting stimuli that are normally accessed through this deficient sensory modality into stimuli accessible by another sensory modality. For instance, they can convert visual information into sounds or tactile stimuli. In this article, we review those studies that investigated the individual differences at the behavioural, neural, and phenomenological levels when using a sensory substitution device.