2020 - A year in review

There was no way of knowing at about the onrushing train of 2020 would bring. 

From manifestations of systemic racism to w worldwide level pandemic and deadly flu-like disease, this has been a year with a series of rolling disasters. 

And, as human nature often shows, in the midst of the tragedies there was courage, there was grace, there was sacrifice, there was hope—there were people faced with the very worst rising up to be their very best. 

A short video for a collective memory of 2020.

Children may experience ‘Social Cravings’ from prolonged isolation

Many children have grown especially lonely during this pandemic and quarantine days. There is much still need to learn about loneliness, the brain, and mental health, however scientists know that youth needs socialization for healthy development. 

Moreover, loneliness is associated with clinical depression and anxiety, even if manifestations only are seen months later. Although the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are unknown, experts have urged clinicians should prepare to confront the mental health consequences of children who are separated from friends and family they had bonds with outside of their household.

Learn more reading this article

Human brains like happy endings — and that can lead to bad decisions

People prefer experiences that end on a positive note over ones that start out well but end poorly ... even if sometimes that gets in the way of making smart decisions. 

Human bias for happy endings stems from activity in the brain’s reward system, accordingly to results reported October 19 in Journal of Neuroscience. 

Researchers scanned the brains of 27 men while they watched a screen showing virtual coins falling into two pots. The bigger the coin’s size, the higher its value. Larger and larger coins fell into one pot, while the coins falling into the other pot started out large and then got smaller. People who correctly guessed which pot contained the most money had more activity in the amygdala, an almond-shaped structure in each hemisphere that processes emotion. Greater activation in an area called the anterior insula predicted incorrect choices: people picked the pots that seemed to hold more money simply because bigger and bigger coins fell into them. In other words, the happy ending bias overrode an accurate calculation of the pot’s value.

More at 

https://www.jneurosci.org/content/40/46/8938

Are generational differences a myth?

In the article The Myth of Generational Differences in the Workplace, researcher Jennifer J. Deal argues that working-age generations value the same thing. 

Everyone wants a good relationship with supervisors, are cautious of change, appreciate feedback and work the number of hours that corresponds to their role in the organization. 

This researcher argues that differences between generations have much more to have to do with dealing with the extent of authority between generations, especially in families and at work.

So, for myths and reality, here is a great article  resulting from a 5-Year Study that seams to reveals the truth about what each generation wants in the workplace (It's Not What You Think)  The article mentions that in this large study conducted by the Hay Group,  differences that were found between generations have more to do with the stage of development of employees, as opposed to their generation.

Again about Cognitive Science in the Era of AI

In May 2020 I had the pleasure of writing about Cognitive Science in the Era of Artificial Intelligence in article published by Observador.

Cognitive computing has expanded horizons, covering various characteristics of cognition supporting cognitive science interdisciplinary domains of scientific study of the human reasoning, emotions, language, perception, attention, and memory. However, artificial intelligence (AI) is to explore the design of computers and software that would fit for intelligent behavior. 

The reconciliation of cognitive science and AI offers a profound comprehension of human cognition (human intelligence) and communication and some examples clear demonstrate why Cognitive Science is significant for AI:

1. The study of the brain is an important asset for every company, particularly education, psychology, and research. Educational companies embrace innovation to train better and they could utilize AI adequately if it comprehends the necessities of the students better.

2. Engineering and medicine tools and devices should be better prepared to check the adaptation of the human brain and disentangle it for them. For instance, automated cars likewise should be structured in a manner people can see how to function them.

3. HR can utilize cognitive science to improve efficiency levels in people and develop them to the best of their latent capacity. Any field that interacts with people should have a comprehension of the mental and emotional processes in human beings.

4. Banking experts giving automated financing services would likewise need to have an extraordinary comprehension of the human mind and how to engage them. The devices controlled by AI offered by them should be simple for individuals to utilize.

5. Customized features in the ease of use of Apps need to pose the correct questions to comprehend client inclinations and how to give it to them. For instance, personalized shopping experiences, social media face detection, social media showing related content, etc.

Not coincidentally, this is an extract of a very interesting entry at https://www.analyticsinsight.net/cognitive-science-future-ai/

Gut feelings are real feelings

             

The autonomic nervous system acts largely unconsciously and regulates body functions such as 

 - blood pressure

 - heart and breathing rates

 - body temperature

 - digestion

 - metabolism 

 - balance of water and electrolytes 

 - production of body fluids (saliva, sweat, and tears)

 - urination and defecation

 - dexual response

Neuroanatomy shows that this system encompasses nerve fibers transmitting information from the body towards the brain as shown in image. 

Most people are familiar with the fight-flight-or-freeze system, the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system, characterized by ramping up adrenaline; the 10th cranial nerve, the long nerve named vagus after its vagabond or “wandering” nature, connects to every organ from the neck down (except for the adrenal glands) and to the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system, that tell the body to chill out by releasing acetylcholine. 

Stephen Porges (director of the Brain-Body Center at University of Illinois) Polyvagal theory claims humans to have physical reactions associated with facial expressions and emotions making this to have many implications for the study of stress, emotion, and social behavior. It suggests the vagus nerve to serve to identify the relationship between visceral experiences and the vagus nerve's parasympathetic system control, the latter known as rest-and-digest system, responsible for controlling the mood, digestion, immune response and cardiovascular activity. The long reaching tendrils from the vagus act and wire to activate human organs to release vasopressin, prolactin, oxytocin and other hormones. hormones that regulate heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and improve relaxation, communication and bonding.


The Polyvagal theory explains 3 different human states: social engagement, fight/flight, and freeze, elicited by perception, biological and nervous system responses to how we perceive the environment. 

As more and more the Polyvagal theory sounds exciting and fascinating explanation of how body handles stress, ventral vagal status is where one wants to be and thus, the question that pops-up is ... can the activity of the vagus nerve be enhanced?  Wrap-up of actions that seem to pave that way:

1) Exercise: Movement is a powerful way to improve vagal tone, to be more connected and to enhance the sense of happiness. Making exercise and activities a big part of a healthy life.

2) Deep, slow breathing: Diaphragmatic breathing, that is, full expansion of abdomen is key to slow breath with a long exhale. Start with a tempo of 3 seconds in and 3 seconds out, and then begin to lengthen exhalation since the slower the exhale the more stimulation to the vagus nerve.

3) Chanting, singing, humming, and gargling: the muscles of the vocal cords are connected to the vagus nerve as these are ways to improve vagal tone and increase heart rate variability, a sign of a healthy nervous system.

4) Cold exposure: cold exposure activates cholinergic neurons that are part of the vagus nerve pathways, and it stimulates the vagus nerve. Cold showers are the easiest way to integrate this into your life.

5) Massage: regular massage and techniques like foot reflexology also stimulate the vagus nerve. 

6) Meditation: a great way to improve vagal tone, decrease stress response, and improve mindfulness awareness over time.

7) Omega-3’s: great foods that can help with improving vagal tone, overall mental health, and cognitive decline if there is any. 

8) Probiotics: lactobacillus and bifidobacterium, directly related to the gut-brain connection as it relates to mood, anxiety, and depression, are directly linked to the vagus nerve as well, and can improve the vagal tone and stimulation.

9) Socializing and laughing: last but not the least, make sure that despite the current circumstances in the world, you’re connecting with people, socialize and laugh, and enjoy life as much as possible.

Living (and surviving) pandemic days

Since mid March, “self-quarantine”, “social distancing”, and ”working from home” are expressions that form part of the COVID-19 pandemic multitude of unique and new challenges.

Unfortunately, in most countries around the world, all of these became forced necessity rather than an individual choice, representing new experiences of the circumstances in which we work and live. The so called "new-normal" is totally unusual for the majority of us, with all routines changed, causing anxiety and stress whilst demanding for daily resources to discover and adapt to new ways to work, live and communicate.

It’s a weird old world we’re living now, isn’t it?  Think back to the start of 2020, who could have guessed or even described the situation if not only a science fiction writer?

Is this what life will be like for the next 2 years? How will we be able to sustain and overcome all he impact in our mental health and well-being? With no way to find out, the key to live and survive seems to be acceptance of how life has changed with a continuous exercise of empathy. 

What I have (re)learned by now 

• It is OK to miss the "old ways" and what "I have lost"; this has helped to acknowledge the challenges and difficulties 

• The relevance of staying informed but not alarmed; it is crucial to get information from reputable sources and to focus attention on the local and on the things and actions we can control

• How key is to create new routines; home-based gym, yoga, meditation etc and to assure that distancing is not disconnecting by keeping online with family, friends and colleagues... 

• Put down in words some thoughts and feelings; maybe they will turn out good stories when looking back after COVID-19 has passed

• Keep being grateful and maintain the "strong" attitude; keeping strong for me means "dressing" body and mind with the right frame as I do not believe that finding motivation while in pyjamas the entire day is a good option

• Joy is found in small things (like completing a 1500 pieces puzzle); it does not depend from “major” events

• Give myself a break; these are extraordinary times and, between working from home, homeschooling the kids, continuous food preparation and more, much more, there are days when there's no energy left, and that's OK. Go outside and just breath.

 

Deep Learning Cognition

AI refers to simulating human intelligence processes by machines, which demands learning from constantly changing data, reasoning to make sense of data and self-mechanisms to make decisions.

Since human intelligence is rooted in sensing & learning from the environment, consequently full AI requires simulating human senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch), simulate learning and processing of data (machine and deep learning) and simulation of human responses (robotics).



In  this keynote, Yoshua Bengio summarizes three key points when ‘looking forward’ to what "deep learning cognition" requires:
- a world model which meta-learns causal effects in abstract space of causal variables
- necessity to acquire knowledge and encourage exploratory behavior
- bridge the gap between system 1 and system 2 ways of thinking, with old neural networks and consciousness reasoning

Understanding what happens when you breath (and how to apply in stress management)

Oxygen is the most important element to human life - far more important than food and water as we can go for days without those, however, can’t go more than a few minutes without air.

Automatic breathing has respiratory centers located on the upper brainstem (sometimes termed the lower brain, along with the cerebellum), a brain region controlling many involuntary and metabolic functions. Breathing is controlled by the autonomic nervous system, which is is made up of 2 divisions:

• the sympathetic nervous system which stimulates the body’s fight-or-flight response, and 
• the parasympathetic nervous system which relaxes the body after stimulation

with two systems parallel processes:

• inhaling, when the diaphragm moves down and the volume in the thoracic cavity increases, lungs filling with air and compressing the walls of the heart which in turn restricts blood flow going into and out of the heart. To compensate, our heart rate increases, stimulating our fight-or-flight response. To inhale energizes and expands us.

• exhaling, when the diaphragm moves up and the volume in the thoracic cavity decreases, lungs empty the air inside which relaxes the body, grounding and stabilizing us.

There are different ways to breathe —in the way, style, and pace  - in which can have a dramatic impact on the state of the mind and body.  

Shallow breathing doesn’t give the body enough oxygen to function properly and such consistently type of breathing  increases stagnant air, residue, and pollutants accumulated in the lungs, leading to low energy and toxic buildup. Deep breathing, on the other hand, support healthier lungs ensuring oxygen to move through the blood and all cells, detoxifying, energizing, nourishing along the way. Chest breathing, uses secondary muscles of the upper chest and is designed for use in situations of great exertion, such as a sprint or race. Stressful situations typically meme this type of breathing, with tight shoulder and neck muscles, headaches and other magnified symptoms. Diaphragmatic breathing, coming from the body's dominant breathing muscle — the diaphragm - is the effective and efficient type of breathing, leading to feelings of relaxation instead of tightness. For many of us, this deep diaphragmatic breathing seems unnatural, however that is the right way, since shallow "chest breathing"  which in turn seems normal, will increases tension and anxiety, limiting the diaphragm's range of motion, because the lowest lowest part of the lungs doesn't get a full share of oxygenated air and a deep abdominal breathing, that encourages full oxygen exchange — that is, the beneficial trade of incoming oxygen for outgoing carbon dioxide. Not surprisingly, it can slow the heartbeat and lower or stabilize blood pressure.

A good reading from Harvard Medical School  about relaxation techniques and breath control helps quell errant stress response.

Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Computing; understanding the differences

AI and Cognitive Computing imply the broad concept about computers being capable of performing functions that human are used to perform and thus, they are often used as interchangeable terms. However, there are significant differences between AI and Cognitive Computing, that more and more are relevant to understand by everyone and , especially, by the people whose work may fall or act in the intersection of the two.


Artificial Intelligence refers to the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines - and such processes include learning from constantly changing data, reasoning to make sense of data and, self-mechanisms to make decisions. Since human intelligence is rooted in sensing the environment (*), learning from the environment and processing the information from the environment, the aim of AI is, consequently, to simulate human senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch), simulate the learning and processing of data (machine and deep learning) and simulate the human responses (robotics).
AI applications have been developed around problem-solving, game playing, natural language processing, speech recognition, image processing, automatic programming, and, of course, robotics.


Cognitive Computing refers to individual technologies that perform specific tasks that facilitate human intelligence. Some of these have been around since the beginning of the internet, boosted in more recent years by breakthroughs in technology and computing power, making those technologies getting better and better at using data and algorithms to understand and simulate reasoning and human behavior. Cognitive computing applications include speech recognition, sentiment analysis, face detection, risk assessment, and fraud detection.

In summary, AI augments human thinking to solve complex problems and Cognitive Computing focuses on mimicking human behavior and reasoning to solve complex problems. In other words, Cognitive Computing tries to replicate how humans would solve problems while AI seeks to create new ways to solve problems that can potentially be better than humans.

AI is not intended to mimic human thoughts and processes but to solve a problem through the best possible algorithm. Cognitive Computing is not responsible for making the decision for humans but to supplement information for humans to make decisions.

The similarities and interchangeability in the use of these terms come foremost from the similar technologies behind both, that include machine learning, deep learning, NLP, neural networks, etc. 

And a final note: people do not fear Cognitive Computing as it is focused in supplementing human decision making - the fear is about AI systems being able to displace human decisions and functions.

Video - What is Artificial Intelligence

Video - What is Cognitive Computing

(* environment = where data comes from)

Happiness versus Meaning in times of quarantine

Starting with the central question "Is there more to life than being happy?", this talks explores the difference between being happy and having meaning in life. While many psychologists define happiness as a state of comfort and ease, some other consider meaning to be something else, something deeper. 

Martin Seligman says meaning comes from belonging to and serving something beyond yourself and from developing the best within you. He says culture is obsessed with happiness and considers that seeking meaning is the more a fulfilling path. 

So, about happiness vs meaning in live, here is a short Ted Talk worth of reviewing in times of quarantine. 

And "suddenly", a pandemic changes our world

The novel coronavirus and its desease COVID-19 pandemic is impacting every nation on Earth.

At the of 2019, Chinese authorities alert WHO about pneumonia-like cases in Wuhan with numbers increasingly growing every day; by the 3rd week of January 2020, Wuhan was closed in complete shut-down. The week after, the death toll from the coronavirus surpassed the toll from the SARS epidemic back in 2002/3. And, by the 2nd week of March, the total countries affected were 121 with +150k cases globally and ... the planet changed into complete lock-down, a reality never seen or lived before.

This video shows the timeline of some of the most significant moments during the novel coronavirus outbreak. 

Previous SARS and MERS viruses outbreaks are still in our memory; also deadly they were far from to be so easily spread; the level of devastation that COVID-19 disease registers is largely because it is so easily transmitted. 

Whether the deadly nature and rapid transmission of this new virus or the life-changing events deriving from the disease, by mid March 2020 everyone single soul  on Planet Earth felt like never before. Throughout history, nothing has killed more human beings than infectious diseases and Covid-19 shows how vulnerable we remain.

This is a BBC must read article about humankind and the history of pandemics, to learn about all that has happened and maybe from where we all an learn.  

Fake it 'tlil you make it - does your body language shapes who you are?

Amy Cuddy’s research on body language presentation at TED on 2012, focused on research that shows how body language can change other people’s perceptions — and perhaps even our own body chemistry.

If we know that our minds change our bodies, it is also true that our bodies change our minds?  - it is the "Fake it 'til you make it" aphorism suggesting that by imitating confidence, competence, and an optimistic mindset, a person can realize those qualities in their real life.

This is one of the most viewed TED talks  and also most debated. 

Coaching, Mentoring, Counselling, Consulting; when to select what

According to ICF, coaching is partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. The coach is an expert at coaching, not necessarily a subject matter expert of the client’s coaching topic and the coach’s domain is future oriented (what does the client want?) and then coaching the client to get there.

A mentor is a wise and trusted guide and advisor; a sort of "teacher" that shares and passes experience, wisdom, skills and knowledge while bringing the “mentee” up the ranks. Mentoring is then definied as a relationship between two individuals of varying experience, where the more experienced one seeks to enhance the less experienced in personal and professional growth. 

Consulting involves expert knowledge and advice given from professionals to other professionals and/or companies. A consultant is an expert that is called for technical advice and opinion because it is seen as a relied resource that understand the problem and its potential solutions. 

The ICF and EMCC are exceptionally mindful of creating a delineation between coaching and counseling. Credentialing is strictly outlined to avoid a coach performing counseling instead of coaching. While coaching can be therapeutic, it is not therapy and every client should be made aware of this.

Read more here at EMCC site

Using Clifton Strengths Assessment to discover and develop talents

The Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment was created under the leadership of educational psychologist Donald Clifton, that wanted to identify the skills of the best of the best of the best, and to capitalize on them. 

The Gallup Organization, known for its polls and employee selection research, developed numerous semi-structured interviews to identify talent that could be enhanced and used to pursue positive outcomes in work and school - in the 1990's, under the leadership of Donald Clifton, Gallup developed StrengthsFinder with the objective of measuring personal talent.

The StrengthsFinder assessment helps identify the areas where a person (or team) have the greatest potential for building strength by measuring recurring patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior. Knowing this information is a starting point for a leadership that is build and developed to help individuals, teams and organizations leveraging their talents.

The assessment works upon 177 pairs of “potential” self-descriptors listed and placed as if they are anchoring polar ends of a continuum. These descriptors are pinned on 34 themes and 4 domains (Executing Domain, Influencing Domain, Relationship Building Domain and Strategic Thinking Domain).   By completing the Clifton StrengthsFinder,  the immediate results  are delivered including your Top 5 signature themes.

More about Clifton StrengthsFinder here.