Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Concepts and Prototypes

Concepts and Prototypes

The human nervous system handles vast amounts of information by translating sensory stimuli into neural impulses, which the brain processes, creating thoughts expressed through language or stored as memories. The brain also synthesizes information from emotions and memories, which significantly influence thoughts and behaviors. This intricate process creates a comprehensive mental picture.
The brain organizes this information using concepts, which are mental categories grouping linguistic data,...

Gestalt Principles of Perception

Gestalt Principles of Perception

Gestalt principles provide a framework for understanding how humans perceive objects as unified wholes within their context. These principles are essential in explaining the cognitive processes that make sense of complex visual stimuli by organizing them into coherent groups. One fundamental principle is proximity, which posits that objects located close to each other are perceived as a collective group. For instance, when dots are positioned near one another, the visual system interprets them...

High-Level and Low-Level Awareness

High-Level and Low-Level Awareness

Controlled processes in human consciousness represent high-alert mental states where individuals deliberately focus their attention on achieving specific goals. Controlled processes can be seen in situations like mastering new technology, where a person might become so absorbed that they ignore surrounding distractions. Such processes involve selective attention, requiring one to concentrate on particular elements of experience while disregarding others. These are governed by executive...

Structuralism

Structuralism

Structuralism, an early psychological theory developed by Wilhelm Wundt and his student Edward Bradford Titchener, sought to dissect the human mind into its most fundamental components. Wundt's groundbreaking work in his laboratory set the stage for Titchener to define structuralism's goal as cataloging the "atoms" of the mind—sensations, images, and feelings—akin to how chemists identify elements of matter.
Titchener's approach to structuralism was unique. He...

Storage

Storage

A schema is a mental framework that helps individuals organize and interpret information. Schemata, formed from previous experiences, influence how we process new information: how we encode it, the inferences we make, and how we retrieve it. For instance, a schema for what a typical classroom looks like might include desks, a teacher's desk, a whiteboard, and students in such an environment. This expectation helps us quickly understand and navigate new classrooms without needing to analyze...

Multicompartment Models: Overview

Multicompartment Models: Overview

Multicompartment models are mathematical constructs that depict how drugs are distributed and eliminated within the body. They segment the body into several compartments, symbolizing various physiological or anatomical areas connected through drug transfer processes such as absorption, metabolism, distribution, and elimination.
These models offer a more comprehensive representation of drug behavior in the body than one-compartment models. They accommodate the complexity of drug distribution,...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same journal

Cultural Influences on Name Agreement: A Set of 237 Standardized Photographs of French Speakers in Quebec and France.

Journal of cognition·2026

Same journal

Is Prospective Memory Monitoring Governed by Dual Processes of Initiating a Retrieval Mode and Checking for Targets? A Conceptual Replication and Extension of Guynn (2003).

Journal of cognition·2026

Same journal

Competing Biases in Real-Time Sentence Processing.

Journal of cognition·2026

Same journal

Imaginative Thought.

Journal of cognition·2026

Same journal

Orthographic Neighbourhood Size Effects in Chinese Character Recognition: Small, Inconsistent, and Theoretically Ambiguous.

Journal of cognition·2026

Same journal

The Role of Different Thoughts in Tacit Coordination and Its Malleability by Interventions.

Journal of cognition·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 12, 2025

Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation

Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation

Published on: March 1, 2017

Grounding Mental Representations in a Virtual Multi-Level Functional Framework.

Pierre Bonzon¹

¹University of Lausanne, Faculty of Economics, Dept of Information Systems, CH.

Journal of Cognition

|January 26, 2023

Summary

This study proposes a unified framework for understanding reactive and flexible behaviors by linking neurological and informational functionalities. Associative memory may be sufficient for grounding cognitive capacities, evolving from basic reflexes.

Keywords:

associative memory cognitive development mental representation representational contents representational vehicle virtual machine

More Related Videos

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain

Published on: October 13, 2023

Author Spotlight: Enhancing Neurorehabilitation Through EEG, Motor Imagery, and Virtual Reality

Author Spotlight: Enhancing Neurorehabilitation Through EEG, Motor Imagery, and Virtual Reality

Published on: May 10, 2024

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Aug 12, 2025

Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation

Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation

Published on: March 1, 2017

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain

Published on: October 13, 2023

Author Spotlight: Enhancing Neurorehabilitation Through EEG, Motor Imagery, and Virtual Reality

Author Spotlight: Enhancing Neurorehabilitation Through EEG, Motor Imagery, and Virtual Reality

Published on: May 10, 2024

Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Computational Psychology
Developmental Psychology

Background:

Contrasting theories of learning: stimulus-response (reactive) vs. mental states (flexible behaviors).
Disciplinary divide between neuroscientists (low-level processes) and cognitive psychologists (high-level structures).

Purpose of the Study:

To clarify the relationship between reactive and flexible behaviors through a unified framework.
To model the emergence of mental representations in early cognitive development.

Main Methods:

Defining abstract neurological and informational functionalities independently.
Developing a virtual interface to relate these functionalities.
Modeling the first stage of Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

Main Results:

Demonstrated the emergence of mental representations of object displacements.
Identified associative memory as the neural correlate for this emergence.
Proposed that associative memory can ground cognitive capacities.

Conclusions:

A unified framework can bridge the gap between low-level neural processes and high-level cognitive functions.
Associative memory is a foundational mechanism for cognitive development and learning.
Further research needed to explore extensions for higher-level representations like beliefs.