Introduction

The human brain has evolved under the constraint of survival in complex dynamic situations. It makes fast and reliable decisions based on internal representations of the environment. Whereas neural mechanisms involved in the internal representation of space are becoming known, entire spatiotemporal cognition remains a challenge. Growing experimental evidence suggests that brain mechanisms devoted to spatial cognition may also participate in spatiotemporal information processing.

Objectives

The time compaction hypothesis postulates that the brain represents both static and dynamic situations as purely static maps. Such an internal reduction of the external complexity allows humans to process time-changing situations in real-time efficiently. According to time compaction, there may be a deep inner similarity between the representation of conventional static and dynamic visual stimuli. Here, we test the hypothesis and report the first experimental evidence of time compaction in humans.

Methods

We engaged human subjects in a discrimination-learning task consisting in the classification of static and dynamic visual stimuli. When there was a hidden correspondence between static and dynamic stimuli due to time compaction, the learning performance was expected to be modulated. We studied such a modulation experimentally and by a computational model.

Results

The collected data validated the predicted learning modulation and confirmed that time compaction is a salient cognitive strategy adopted by the human brain to process time-changing situations. Mathematical modelling supported the finding. We also revealed that men are more prone to exploit time compaction in accordance with the context of the hypothesis as a cognitive basis for survival.

Conclusions

The static internal representation of dynamic situations is a human cognitive mechanism involved in decision-making and strategy planning to cope with time-changing environments. The finding opens a new venue to understand how humans efficiently interact with our dynamic world and thrive in nature.

中文翻译：

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动态情况的静态内部表示揭示了人类认知中的时间压缩

介绍

人脑是在复杂动态环境中生存的约束下进化而来的。它根据环境的内部表示做出快速可靠的决策。尽管参与空间内部表征的神经机制正在为人所知，但整个时空认知仍然是一个挑战。越来越多的实验证据表明，致力于空间认知的大脑机制也可能参与时空信息处理。

目标

时间压缩假设假设大脑将静态和动态情况都表示为纯静态地图。这种外部复杂性的内部减少使人类能够有效地实时处理时间变化的情况。根据时间压缩，传统的静态和动态视觉刺激的表示之间可能存在深层的内在相似性。在这里，我们检验了这个假设并报告了人类时间压缩的第一个实验证据。

方法

我们让人类受试者参与一项歧视学习任务，该任务包括静态和动态视觉刺激的分类。当由于时间压缩而在静态和动态刺激之间存在隐藏的对应关系时，预计学习性能会受到调节。我们通过实验和计算模型研究了这种调制。

结果

收集的数据验证了预测的学习调制，并证实时间压缩是人脑处理时间变化情况的一种显着认知策略。数学模型支持了这一发现。我们还发现，男性更倾向于根据假设的背景利用时间压缩作为生存的认知基础。

结论

动态情境的静态内部表征是人类参与决策和战略规划以应对时变环境的认知机制。这一发现开辟了一个新的场所，可以了解人类如何有效地与我们充满活力的世界互动并在大自然中茁壮成长。