Marcel Just
Encyclopedia
Marcel Just is D. O. Hebb Professor
of Psychology
at Carnegie Mellon University
. His research uses brain imaging (fMRI) in high-level cognitive tasks to study the neuroarchitecture of cognition
. Just's areas of expertise include psycholinguistics
, object recognition
, and autism
, with particular attention to cognitive and neural substrates. Just co-directs the Brain Imaging Research Center and is a member of the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition at CMU.
are conducting research on "thought identification
" using fMRI. Using machine learning
techniques, they have been able to identify patterns of brain activation that are reliably associated to the concept of different objects. These signature patterns could be generalized across different participants, so that the authors were able to correctly identify which object a participant was thinking of by analyzing the corresponding brain activation.
A demo of their system
was shown on CBS
during 60 Minutes
.
are known for the underconnectivity hypothesis of autism, which posits that autism is marked by underfunctioning high-level neural connections and synchronization, along with an excess of low-level processes. Evidence for this theory has been found in functional neuroimaging
studies on autistic individuals and by a brain wave
study that suggested that adults with ASD have local overconnectivity in the cortex
and weak functional connections between the frontal lobe
and the rest of the cortex.
, a cognitive architecture specifies how different cortical regions of the brain collaborate to perform specific tasks. 4CAPS model have been used to explain behavioral and brain imaging data in different experimental tasks.
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
at Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
. His research uses brain imaging (fMRI) in high-level cognitive tasks to study the neuroarchitecture of cognition
Cognition
In science, cognition refers to mental processes. These processes include attention, remembering, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions. Cognition is studied in various disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science...
. Just's areas of expertise include psycholinguistics
Psycholinguistics
Psycholinguistics or psychology of language is the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable humans to acquire, use, comprehend and produce language. Initial forays into psycholinguistics were largely philosophical ventures, due mainly to a lack of cohesive data on how the...
, object recognition
Object recognition
Object recognition in computer vision is the task of finding a given object in an image or video sequence. Humans recognize a multitude of objects in images with little effort, despite the fact that the image of the objects may vary somewhat in different view points, in many different sizes / scale...
, and autism
Autism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
, with particular attention to cognitive and neural substrates. Just co-directs the Brain Imaging Research Center and is a member of the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition at CMU.
Mind reading
Marcel Just, Tom Mitchell, and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
are conducting research on "thought identification
Thought identification
Thought identification refers to the empirically verified use of technology to, in some sense, read people's minds. Recent research using Neuroimaging has provided some early demonstrations of the technology's potential to recognize high-order patterns in the brain...
" using fMRI. Using machine learning
Machine learning
Machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, is a scientific discipline concerned with the design and development of algorithms that allow computers to evolve behaviors based on empirical data, such as from sensor data or databases...
techniques, they have been able to identify patterns of brain activation that are reliably associated to the concept of different objects. These signature patterns could be generalized across different participants, so that the authors were able to correctly identify which object a participant was thinking of by analyzing the corresponding brain activation.
A demo of their system
Brain-computer interface
A brain–computer interface , sometimes called a direct neural interface or a brain–machine interface , is a direct communication pathway between the brain and an external device...
was shown on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
during 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
.
Autism and the underconnectivity hypothesis
Just and Nancy MinshewNancy Minshew
Nancy Minshew is a Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at the University of Pittsburgh. She directs the Center of Excellence in Autism Research and is an internationally known expert in the cognitive, neurological, and genetic bases of autism. Minshew was trained as a behavioral child...
are known for the underconnectivity hypothesis of autism, which posits that autism is marked by underfunctioning high-level neural connections and synchronization, along with an excess of low-level processes. Evidence for this theory has been found in functional neuroimaging
Functional neuroimaging
Functional neuroimaging is the use of neuroimaging technology to measure an aspect of brain function, often with a view to understanding the relationship between activity in certain brain areas and specific mental functions...
studies on autistic individuals and by a brain wave
Brain wave
* Brain Wave, a science fiction novel by Poul Anderson* a neural oscillation* a layman term for the electric fields measured by Electroencephalography...
study that suggested that adults with ASD have local overconnectivity in the cortex
Cerebral cortex
The cerebral cortex is a sheet of neural tissue that is outermost to the cerebrum of the mammalian brain. It plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language, and consciousness. It is constituted of up to six horizontal layers, each of which has a different...
and weak functional connections between the frontal lobe
Frontal lobe
The frontal lobe is an area in the brain of humans and other mammals, located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere and positioned anterior to the parietal lobe and superior and anterior to the temporal lobes...
and the rest of the cortex.
Computational cognitive modeling
Marcel Just also developed 4CAPS4CAPS
4CAPS is a cognitive architecture developed by Marcel A. Just and Sashank Varma at Carnegie Mellon University . It is the successor of the CAPS and 3CAPS cognitive architectures....
, a cognitive architecture specifies how different cortical regions of the brain collaborate to perform specific tasks. 4CAPS model have been used to explain behavioral and brain imaging data in different experimental tasks.