Is the amygdala a production system? Robert L. West Institute of Cognitive Science, Dept of Psychology Carleton University

Emotion and Reason

Emotion Irrational Sub Symbolic Unconscious process Qualia = Feeling Bottom up Reason Rational Symbolic Conscious process Qualia = Knowing Top down

The Amygdala Fits the two systems picture well or does it??? Amygdala

Neuroscience of murder and aggression

Amygdala functional correlations Classical/Operant conditioning (particularly with fear) Memory cueing and consolidation (via Hippocampus) Decision making (Somatic Markers) Perception (Blind Sight, Fast path) Social (Faces, Emotions, Highjacking) Motor reactions (particularly with fear) Lots of clinical correlations

two seperate systems Descartes Error Antonio Damasio Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman The Emotional Brain Joseph Ledoux

integrated system Fast path found in mice but not in primates Lots of functional and anatomical connections between amygdala and other areas No anatomical distinction between cognition and emotion No evidence somatic markers are somatic Lots of evidence the amygdala responds to symbolic threat See Pessoa & Adlophs (2010) Multiple Waves Model

Somatic is meaningless Somatic markers means non symbolic (not sub symbolic) Based on a narrow definition of “symbol” Newell definition: Symbol = distal access ACT-R: distal access = buffer = neural connections May be two systems, but not somatic

ACT-R issues Can emotion be modeled with the tools already in ACT-R? Does the amygdala system function as a seperate production system and if so what are the limitations and consequences especially regarding control and timing (the bottleneck)? To what extent is emotion sub-symbolic/bio- chemical/paramater-based and to what extent is it symbolic/chunk-based/vector-based? How does emotion interact with chunks in DM?

act-r can already do everything the amygdala does Learning - Rescorla-Wagner Memories - create and reinforce Reacts to perceptual inputs Direct motor responses Change focus Somatic markers - use chunks with Blending

Two Systems in act-r Amygdala = production system Faster production time simulates fast path Access to buffers Ability to direct modules Ability to interupt motor module Buffer for emotional states Repeatedly adds to memory (consolidation) Somatic markers - blending and spreading activation

integrated system in act-r Iterative approach - What minimally needs to be added to get amygdala functionality Alarms can be modeled in ACT-R by using high utility productions Alarm Buffer - connections from the amygdala Parallel Alarm Monitor - the amygdala Use productions but not a production system No sense of context (no access to other buffers or DM retrievals)

parallel alarm monitor Basil Ganglia goal buffer imaginal buffer Amygdala PerceptionMotor DM buffer alarm buffer faster

Conclusion Although popular, the two systems view is not well supported neurally or experimentally ACT-R already has everything to model the Amygdala We need to treat emotion as information We need more research Unexpected interuptions, DM memory effects, Emotional learning