Leveraging hierarchical semantic‐emotional memory in emotional conversation generation

Handling emotions in human‐computer dialogues has emerged as a challenging task which requires artificial intelligence systems to generate emotional responses by jointly perceiving the emotion involved in the input posts and incorporating it into the gener-ation of semantically coherent and emotionally reasonable responses.However,most previous works generate emotional responses solely from input posts,which do not take full advantage of the training corpus and suffer from generating generic responses.In this study,we introduce a hierarchical semantic‐emotional memory module for emotional conversation generation(called HSEMEC),which can learn abstract semantic conver-sation patterns and emotional information from the large training corpus.The learnt semantic and emotional knowledge helps to enrich the post representation and assist the emotional conversation generation.Comprehensive experiments on a large real‐world conversation corpus show that HSEMEC can outperform the strong baselines on both automatic and manual evaluation.For reproducibility,we release the code and data publicly at:https://github.com/siat‐nlp/HSEMEC‐code‐data.

Effects of Neonatal Tactile Stimulation and Maternal Separation on the Anxiety and the Emotional Memory in Adult Female Rats

We investigated the long-lasting effects of early postnatal tactile stimulation （TS） and maternal separation （MS） on the emotional behaviors of adult female rats. A split-litter design was introduced to remove confusing factors such as maternal disturbance. Pups of the non-tactile stimulation （NTS） group did not receive any handling. Pups subjected to the TS treatment were handled and marked for approximately 30 s daily from postnatal days （PND） 2 - 9 or from PND 10 - 17. Pups subjected to the MS treatment were handled and marked in the same way as the TS pups and then individually placed in a cup with familiar nest bedding for 1 h daily. At the age of 3 months, female rats with different neonatal experiences were employed in the light/dark box test and the one-trial passive avoidance response. Both PND 2 - 9 TS and PND 10 - 17 TS groups exhibited more time spent in the illuminated chamber of the light/dark box, and longer step-through latencies in the passive avoidance response when compared to the NTS group, indicating that early life TS treatment reduced novelty-induced anxious emotion and facilitated the retention of emotional memory in adult female rats. No significant effects were found on any behavioral measures between the MS groups and the TS groups, suggesting that neonatal short-time MS treatment was not intensive enough to alter the emotional behaviors, at least in female rats. Infantile age was not an effective factor for these measures. This result supports the hypothesis that neonatal tactile stimulation and maternal separation lead to different effects on the neural development of postnatal pups.

Trajectory optimization of a reentry vehicle based on artificial emotion memory optimization

The trajectory optimization of an unpowered reentry vehicle via artificial emotion memory optimization(AEMO)is discussed.Firstly,reentry dynamics are established based on multiple constraints and parameterized control variables with finite dimensions are designed.If the constraint is not satisfied,a distance measure and an adaptive penalty function are used to address this scenario.Secondly,AEMO is introduced to solve the trajectory optimization problem.Based on the theories of biology and cognition,the trial solutions based on emotional memory are established.Three search strategies are designed for realizing the random search of trial solutions and for avoiding becoming trapped in a local minimum.The states of the trial solutions are determined according to the rules of memory enhancement and forgetting.As the iterations proceed,the trial solutions with poor quality will gradually be forgotten.Therefore,the number of trial solutions is decreased,and the convergence of the algorithm is accelerated.Finally,a numerical simulation is conducted,and the results demonstrate that the path and terminal constraints are satisfied and the method can realize satisfactory performance.

Effects of subconvulsive electrical stimulation to the hippocampus on emotionality and spatial learning and memory in rats

Objective To observe the effects of repeated subconvulsive electrical stimuli to the hippocampus on the emotional behavior and spatial learning and memory ability in rats.Methods One hundred and eight male Wistar rats were randomized into 3 groups. Animals in group SE (n = 42) were given subconvulsive electrical stimulation to the hippocampus through a constant pulsating current of 100 μA with an intratrain frequency of 25 Hz, pulse duration of 1 millisecond, train duration of 10 seconds and interstimulus interval of 7 minutes, 8 times a day, for 5 days. In the electrode control group or CE group (n = 33), animals were implanted with an electrode in the hippocampus, but were not stimulated. Group NC (n =33) animals received no electrode or any stimulation. The emotional behavior of experimental rats was examined by activity in an unfamiliar open field and resistance to capture from the open field, while the spatial learning and memory ability was measured during training in a Morris water maze.Results The stimulated rats tested 1 month after the last round of stimulation displayed substantial decreases in open field activity (scale: 10. 4±2. 3, P<0. 05) and increases in resistance to capture (scale: 2. 85±0. 56, P < 0. 01 ). The amount of time for rats in group SE to find the platform (latency) as a measurement for spatial bias was prolonged (29±7) seconds after 15 trials in the water maze, P<0. 05). The experimental rats swam aimlessly in all four pool quadrants during the probe trial in the Morris water maze.Conclusions Following repeated subconvulsive electrical stimuli to the hippocampus, rats displayed long-lasting significant abnormalities in emotional behavior, increased anxiety and defensiveness, enhanced ease to and delayed habituation to startlement, transitory spatial learning and memory disorder, which parallels many of the symptoms in posttraumatic stress disorder patients.

From Suffering to Satisfaction in Method Acting

We analyze the success of Konstantin Stanislavski＇s method of emotion memory in Western acting schools. We propose a path that, counter-intuitively, connects the emotional distress related to this method with an attachment to it. A chain of psychological steps explains this dynamic： the delegation of power from the actor to the director, emotional suffering during the training, rise of feelings within the dyad, and eventually rise of satisfaction. Our argument draws especially on interdisciplinary research on athlete-coach relationships in sports psychology while also suggesting wider application to educational psychology and psychotherapy.

Grand Research Plan for Neural Circuits of Emotion and Memory-Current status of neural circuit studies in China

During recent years, major advances have been made in neuroscience, i.e., asynchronous release, three-dimensional structural data sets, saliency maps, magnesium in brain research, and new functional roles of long non-coding RNAs. Especially, the development of optogenetic technology provides access to important information about relevant neural circuits by allowing the activation of specific neurons in awake mammals and directly observing the resulting behavior. The Grand Research Plan for Neural Circuits of Emotion and Memory was launched by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. It takes emotion and memory as its main objects, making the best use of cutting-edge technologies from medical science, life science and information science. In this paper, we outline the current status of neural circuit studies in China and the technologies and methodologies being applied, as well as studies related to the impairments of emotion and memory. In this phase, we are making efforts to repair the current deficiencies by making adjustments, mainly involving four aspects of core scientific issues to investigate these circuits at multiple levels. Five research directions have been taken to solve important scientific problems while the Grand Research Plan is implemented. Future research into this area will be multimodal, incorporating a range of methods and sciences into each project. Addressing these issues will ensure a bright future, major discoveries, and a higher level of treatment for all affected by debilitating brain illnesses.