The complex relationship between structural and functional connectivity, as measured by noninvasive imaging of the human brain, poses many unresolved challenges and open questions. Here, we apply ...analytic measures of network communication to the structural connectivity of the human brain and explore the capacity of these measures to predict resting-state functional connectivity across three independently acquired datasets. We focus on the layout of shortest paths across the network and on two communication measures—search information and path transitivity—which account for how these paths are embedded in the rest of the network. Search information is an existing measure of information needed to access or trace shortest paths; we introduce path transitivity to measure the density of local detours along the shortest path. We find that both search information and path transitivity predict the strength of functional connectivity among both connected and unconnected node pairs. They do so at levels that match or significantly exceed path length measures, Euclidean distance, as well as computational models of neural dynamics. This capacity suggests that dynamic couplings due to interactions among neural elements in brain networks are substantially influenced by the broader network context adjacent to the shortest communication pathways.
Bayesian Persuasion Kamenica, Emir; Gentzkow, Matthew
The American economic review,
10/2011, Letnik:
101, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
When is it possible for one person to persuade another to change her action? We consider a symmetric information model where a sender chooses a signal to reveal to a receiver, who then takes a ...noncontractible action that affects the welfare of both players. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a signal that strictly benefits the sender. We characterize sender-optimal signals. We examine comparative statics with respect to the alignment of the sender's and the receiver's preferences. Finally, we apply our results to persuasion by litigators, lobbyists, and salespeople.
Communication between gray matter regions underpins all facets of brain function. We study inter-areal communication in the human brain using intracranial EEG recordings, acquired following 29,055 ...single-pulse direct electrical stimulations in a total of 550 individuals across 20 medical centers (average of 87 ± 37 electrode contacts per subject). We found that network communication models—computed on structural connectivity inferred from diffusion MRI—can explain the causal propagation of focal stimuli, measured at millisecond timescales. Building on this finding, we show that a parsimonious statistical model comprising structural, functional, and spatial factors can accurately and robustly predict cortex-wide effects of brain stimulation (R2=46% in data from held-out medical centers). Our work contributes toward the biological validation of concepts in network neuroscience and provides insight into how connectome topology shapes polysynaptic inter-areal signaling. We anticipate that our findings will have implications for research on neural communication and the design of brain stimulation paradigms.
•We analyze the propagation of focal, direct electrical stimulation in the human brain•Network communication models explain electrical pulse transmission across the cortex•Measures of network diffusion more explanatory than transmission via shortest paths•Machine-learning model predicts the effects of brain stimulation in held-out samples
Seguin et al. use a large dataset of direct electrical stimulation to empirically study the propagation of electrical pulses across the entire human brain at high-spatiotemporal resolution. The authors show that models of network communication computed on the human connectome, inferred non-invasively from MRI, can explain causal, millisecond-resolution and cortex-wide neural signal transmission.
Assessing what to address in science communication de Bruin, Wändi Bruine; Bostrom, Ann
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS,
08/2013, Letnik:
110, Številka:
Supplement 3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
As members of a democratic society, individuals face complex decisions about whether to support climate change mitigation, vaccinations, genetically modified food, nanotechnology, geoengineering, and ...so on. To inform people's decisions and public debate, scientific experts at government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and other organizations aim to provide understandable and scientifically accurate communication materials. Such communications aim to improve people's understanding of the decision-relevant issues, and if needed, promote behavior change. Unfortunately, existing communications sometimes fail when scientific experts lack information about what people need to know to make more informed decisions or what wording people use to describe relevant concepts. We provide an introduction for scientific experts about how to use mental models research with intended audience members to inform their communication efforts. Specifically, we describe how to conduct interviews to characterize people's decision-relevant beliefs or mental models of the topic under consideration, identify gaps and misconceptions in their knowledge, and reveal their preferred wording. We also describe methods for designing follow-up surveys with larger samples to examine the prevalence of beliefs as well as the relationships of beliefs with behaviors. Finally, we discuss how findings from these interviews and surveys can be used to design communications that effectively address gaps and misconceptions in people's mental models in wording that they understand. We present applications to different scientific domains, showing that this approach leads to communications that improve recipients' understanding and ability to make informed decisions.
sciences of science communication Fischhoff, Baruch
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS,
08/2013, Letnik:
110, Številka:
Supplement 3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The May 2012 Sackler Colloquium on “The Science of Science Communication” brought together scientists with research to communicate and scientists whose research could facilitate that communication. ...The latter include decision scientists who can identify the scientific results that an audience needs to know, from among all of the scientific results that it would be nice to know; behavioral scientists who can design ways to convey those results and then evaluate the success of those attempts; and social scientists who can create the channels needed for trustworthy communications. This overview offers an introduction to these communication sciences and their roles in science-based communication programs.
Remodelling communication Genosko, Gary
Remodelling communication,
c2012, 20130715, 2012, 2012-12-31, 2013-07-15, 20120101
eBook
Providing a dynamic, forward-looking reorientation towards a new universe of reference, Remodelling Communication makes a significant, productive contribution to communication theory.
Scholars have variously described different models of science communication over the past 20 years. However, there has been little assessment of theorised models against science communication ...practice. This article compares 515 science engagement activities recorded in a 2012 Australian audit against the theorised characteristics of the three dominant models of deficit, dialogue and participation. Most engagement activities had objectives that reflected a mix of deficit and dialogue activities. Despite increases in scientific controversies like climate change, there appears to be a paucity of participatory activities in Australia. Those that do exist are mostly about people being involved with science through activities like citizen science. These participatory activities appear to coexist with and perhaps even depend on deficit activities. Science communication scholars could develop their models by examining the full range of objectives for engagement found in practice and by recognising that any engagement will likely include a mix of approaches.
Scientific debates in modern societies often blur the lines between the science that is being debated and the political, moral, and legal implications that come with its societal applications. This ...manuscript traces the origins of this phenomenon to professional norms within the scientific discipline and to the nature and complexities of modern science and offers an expanded model of science communication that takes into account the political contexts in which science communication takes place. In a second step, it explores what we know from empirical work in political communication, public opinion research, and communication research about the dynamics that determine how issues are debated and attitudes are formed in political environments. Finally, it discusses how and why it will be increasingly important for science communicators to draw from these different literatures to ensure that the voice of the scientific community is heard in the broader societal debates surrounding science.
We investigate coordination strategies in integrating distributed work. In the context of Business Process Offshoring (BPO), we analyze survey data from 126 offshored processes to understand both the ...sources of difficulty in integrating distributed work as well as how organizations overcome these difficulties. We find that interdependence between offshored and onshore processes can lower offshored process performance, and investing in coordination mechanisms can ameliorate the performance impact of interdependence. In particular, we outline a distinctive set of coordination mechanisms that rely on tacit coordination—and theoretically articulate and empirically show that tacit coordination mechanisms are distinct from the well-known duo of coordination strategies: building communication channels or modularizing processes to minimize the need for communication. We discuss implications for the study of coordination in organizations.
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