Collective Intelligence Laboratory                                          

Psychological Services  

(Laboratory of Prof. Sulis,

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences,

Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour,

McMaster University)      


Current Projects

Process Algebra and Collective Intelligence Architecture

Modeling of diversity and evolutionary phenomena: diagonal evolution, EVS-approach, etc.

Functional ensemble of temperament (neurochemical model) and psychiatric taxonomies

Psychosemantic study of connections between meaning attribution and age, gender and temperament.

Documentary projects

Psychological Services

Educational activity
Organisational Activity
Staff and contacts

Current Projects

Project name: Process Algebra and Collective Intelligence Architecture

 

The purpose of the Collective Intelligence Laboratory is to study the dynamics, capabilities, limitations and applications of systems composed of embodied, strongly situated, weakly coupled agents interacting without hierarchical control. These topics are currently known as computational psychiatry and mathematical modeling in psychology. Systems studied in our Lab range from social organisms, through social insect colonies and on to societies and economic systems. Methodologies include computer simulations, especially cellular automata and graphical dynamical systems, formal theoretical modeling and analysis, and observation of natural systems. Applications to parallel processing algorithms , neural representation, functional differentiation in biological development and psychotherapeutics are also under investigation.

 

 

Directions of the project:


Development of formal models of collective intelligence.

Study of transient induced global response synchronization (TIGoRS) in complex systems.

Application of TIGoRS to the design of parallel processing algorithms and neural representation.

Study of intrinsic linguistic behavior in complex systems.

Study of collective intelligence as a model for a dynamic unconscious.

Study of symbol sign relationships and communication in biological systems

Relevant Publications of the lab on this project:

Books

Sulis, W. and Combs, A. (eds.) (1996) Nonlinear Dynamics in Human Behavior. Singapore: World Scientific

Trofimova I.N., Budanov V.G. (eds.) (1997). Synergetics and Psychology. Texts. Volume 1. Methodological questions. Moscow. MSSU. (in Russian).

Trofimova I.N. (ed.) (1999). Synergetics and Psychology. Texts. Volume 2. Social Processes. Moscow. Yanus. (in Russian).

Sulis W., Trofimova I. (Eds.) (2001) Nonlinear Dynamics in Life and Social Sciences. IOS Press, Amsterdam.

Trofimova I., Rand J., Nation J., Sulis W. (Eds.) (2003) Formal descriptions of developing systems. Kluwer Press, Amsterdam.

Shendyapin V., Trofimova I., Arshinov V. (2003) Synergetics and Psychology. Texts. Volume 3. Cognitive Processes. Moscow. CogitoPress. (in Russian).

Sulis, W. Archetypal Dynamics. Manuscript in progress.

Trofimova I.N. Diversity in Natural Systems. Manuscript in progress.

Articles:

Sulis, W.(1992) Tempered Neural Networks. Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks 1992.

Sulis, W. (1993) Emergent Computation in Tempered Neural Networks 1: Dynamical Automata. Proceedings of the WCNN'93.

Sulis, W. (1993) Emergent Computation in Tempered Neural Networks 2: Computation Theory. Proceedings of the WCNN'93.

Sulis, W. (1993) Naturally Occurring Computational Systems. World Futures 39(4) 225-241

Sulis, W. (1995) Naturally Occurring Computational Systems. In Chaos Theory In Psychology and the Life Sciences. R. Robertson, A. Combs (eds). 103-122. Lawrence Erbaum. New York

Sulis, W. (1995) Driven Cellular Automata. In 1993 Lectures on Complex Systems. Lecture Volume VI in the Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity. 565-578. Addison-Wesley

Sulis, W. (1995) Causality in Naturally Occurring Computational Systems. World Futures 44 (2- 3) 129-148

Sulis, W. (1995) Driven Cellular Automata, Adaptation, and the Binding Problem. In Advances in Artificial Life, Lectures Notes in Artificial Intelligence 929. F. Moran, A. Moreno, JJ Merelo, P Chacon (eds.). 824-840. Springer-Verlag. New York

Sulis, W. (1996) A Formal Framework for the Study of Collective Intelligence. 5th Conference on Artificial Life, Kyoto, Japan.

Sulis, W. (1996) TIGoRS and Neural Codes. In Nonlinear Dynamics in Human Behavior, W. Sulis and A. Combs (Eds.) Singapore: World Scientific

Sulis, W. (1997) Fundamentals of Collective Intelligence. Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Science, 1(1), 30-65.

Sulis, W. (1997) TIGoRS and Neural Codes. In Nonlinear Dynamics in Human Behaviour, W. Sulis and A. Combs (Eds.) Singapore: World Scientific.

Sulis, W. (1997) Collective Intelligence as a Model for the Unconscious. Psychological Perspectives, 35, Spring, 64-93.

Sulis, W. (1997) Collective Intelligence. In: Trofimova I.N., Budanov V.G. (eds.) (1997). Synergetics and Psychology. Texts. Volume 1. Methodological questions. Moscow. MSSU Press.

Sulis W. (1997) Tigors and Neural Codes. In: M.A.Basin, S.V. Charitonov (Eds.). Synergetics and Psychology. Sanct-Petersburg: SPBUVK.

Sulis, W. (1998) Dynamical Systems in Psychology: Linguistic Approaches. In The Complex Matters of Mind and Brain, F.Orsucci (ed.), 33-58. Singapore, World Scientific.

Sulis, W. (1998) TIGoRS as an Associative Memory in Complex Systems. Complex Systems. Proceedings of International Conference. Oxford Press.

Sulis, W. (1998) Dynamical systems in psychobiology. In Chaos, Fractals, Models, F.M. Guindani and G. Salvadori (eds.). Pavia, Italy: Italian University Press.

Sulis W. (1999) Archetypal Dynamics. Internet World Congress on Biomedical Sciences.

Sulis W. (1999) A Formal Theory of Colletive Intelligence. In: W.Tschacher, J.P.Dauwalder (Eds.) Dynamics, Synergetics, Autonomous Agents. Singapore: World Scientific.

Sulis W. (1999) Collective Intelligence. In: Trofimova I.N. (Ed.) (2000). Synergetics and Psychology. Texts. Volume 2. Social Processes. Moscow. Yanus Press. (in Russian). Pp.38-64.

Sulis W. Information representation in neural and complex systems. In : Sulis W., Trofimova I. (Eds.) (2000) Nonlinear Dynamics in Life and Social Sciences. IOS Press, Amsterdam.

Sulis W., Gupta A. Nonlinear dynamics in psychiatry. In: Sulis W., Trofimova I. (Eds.) (2000) Nonlinear Dynamics in Life and Social Sciences. IOS Press, Amsterdam.

Sulis W. (2001) A formal theory of collective intelligence. In: Szuba, T. Computational Collective Intelligence. Wiley Book Series on Parallel and Distributed Computing.

Sulis W. (2001) Collective intelligence as a model for the unconscious. In: Szuba, T. Computational Collective Intelligence. Wiley Book Series on Parallel and Distributed Computing.

Sulis, W. (2002) Archetypal Dynamics and Emergence. In Nation J., Trofimova I., Rand J., Sulis W. (Eds.) (2002) Formal Descriptions of Developing Systems. Kluwer Press.

Sulis W. (2003) Effect TIGoRS in stimuli recognition. In: Arshinov V., Shendyapin V., Trofimova I. (Eds.) Synergetics and Psychology. Texts. Volume 3. Cognitive Processes. Moscow. Yanus Press. (in Russian).

Sulis, W. (2004) Archetypal Dynamical Systems and Semantic Frames in Vertical and Horizontal Emergence. Emergence: Complexity and Organizations, 6(3).

Sulis, W. (2007) Archetypal Dynamical Systems and Semantic Frames in Vertical and Horizontal Emergence in Cilliers, P (Ed.) (2007) Thinking Complexity. Complexity and Philosophy Vol. 1, ISCE Publishing.

Sulis, W. (2008) Stochastic phase decoupling in dynamical networks. Nonlinear dynamics, psychology, and life science. 12(4) 327-358

Sulis, W. (2009) Collective intelligence: Observations and models. In S. Guastello, M. Koopmans, D. Pincus (Eds.) Chaos and complexity in psychology. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. (pp. 41-72)

Sulis, W. (2010) Archetypal dynamics, emergent situations and the reality game. Nonlinear dynamics, psychology, and life sciences. 14(3) 209-238.

Sulis, W. (2012) Causal Tapestries for Psychology and Physics. Nonlinear dynamics, psychology, and life sciences, 16(2), 113-136.

Sulis, W. (2014) A Process Model of Quantum Mechanics. Journal of Modern Physics. DOI: 10.4236/jmp.2014.516176

Sulis, W. (2016) A Process Algebra Model of QED. Journal of Physics. 701 (1) 012032

Sulis, W. (2016) Synchronization, TIGoRS, and Information Flow in Complex Systems: Disposiitonal Cellular Automata. Nonlinear Dynamics in Psychology and Life Sciences 20(2) 293-317

Sulis, W. (2016) Transient Induced Global Response Synchronization. International Journal of Design & Nature and Environment, 11(4) 712-21

Sulis, W. (2017) Completing Quantum Mechanics. In K. Sienicki, Quantum Mechanics Interpretations. Open Academic Press 350-421

Sulis, W, (2017) A Process Algebra Approach to Quantum Electrodynamics: Physics from the Top Up. In: R. Martinez (ed.) Complex Systems: Theory and Applications. Nova Publishing

Sulis, W. (2017) A Process Algebra Approach to Quantum Electrodynamics. International Journal of Theoretical Physics. DOI 10.1007/s10773-017-3366-y

10.Sulis, W. (2017) Modeling stochastic complexity in complex adaptive systems: Non-Kolmogorov probability and the process algebra approach. Nonlinear Dynamics in Psychology and Life Sciences, 21(4) 407-440

Sulis, W. (2019) Transients as the basis for information flow in complex adaptive systems. Entropy, 21(1) 94 DOI: 10.3390/e21010094

Sulis, W. (2019) Fractals transcendant: Bridging the transpersonal chasm. In A Fractal Epistemology for a Scientific Psychology: Bridging the Personal with the Transpersonal. Friedman, H., Wolfe, K. (Eds.(To appear).

Sulis, W. (2019) Lessons from collective intelligence. In Chaos Theory in the Social Sciences, Elliot, E., Kiel, D. (Eds.) (To appear)

 

 

Project name: Modeling of Diversity and Evolutionary phenomena: diagonal evolution, EVS-approach, etc.

 

Diagonal evolution: see:

 

Trofimova, I. (2011) Are men evolutionarily wired to love the "Easy" buttons? Nature Neuroscience Preceding, 5562 http://precedings.nature.com/documents/5562/version/1

Trofimova, I. (2015) Do psychological sex differences reflect evolutionary bi-sexual partitioning? American Journal of Psychology, 128(4) 485-514 DOI:10.5406/amerjpsyc.128.4.0485, PMID:26721176 PDF

Trofimova, I. (2016) Phenomena of Functional Differentiation (FD) and Fractal Functionality (FF). International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics, 11, 4, 508-521. Wessex Institute of Technology Press: UK. DOI: 10.2495/DNE-V11-N4-508-521

Trofimova I. (2017) Functional constructivism: in search of formal descriptors. Nonlinear Dynamics in Psychology, 21/4, 441-474. .PDF doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.32098.43205 

 

EVS modeling

 

Consideration of multi-element systems, be it brain or body of a subject, groups of subject or organizations, leads to a necessity of formal analysis of an interaction between the elements. Random graph theory (Palmer, 1985), percolation models (Grimmett, 1989), cellular automata (Burks, 1970), random boolean networks (the best review is Arbib, 1995) self-organized criticality (Bak, Tang, Wiesenfeld, 1987), or the Kauffman model (Kauffman, 1993) all constitute populations of interacting agents. Most models however consider formal populations with identical elements or possessing only a small diversity of types, strategies or rules. Also agents of some of these models interacted only locally (cellular automata, networks), or the connections, once established, are fixed, as are the vertices (percolation model, random graph model) that simulates equilibrium conditions.

A set of models that we developed in collaboration with Alexey Potapov and Nicolay Mitin from Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics (Russia) we called Ensembles with Variable Structures (EVS). EVS modeling is devoted to a study of the role of factors, such as diversity, size and sociability of a population, on its self-organization and group dynamics. The EVS are based on a spin glass algorithm, extended to a higher diversity of interacting agents with a flexible structure of connections, where agents possess an abstract set of characteristics, and seek to form connections with other agents according to the degree of compatibility between these characteristics. In addition to that our models use resource related characteristics. In the majority of EVS models each agent receives some resource or spends some resource at each time step. We consider the concept of resource broadly: it could refer to energy, matter, chemical elements, time, information, money, service, emotional exchange, and so on. EVS uses this concept in order to simulate a principle of openness of natural systems and the dissipation of energy or other resources.

  Briefly the main properties of EVS models are:

o   Similarity with cellular automata, as the characteristics of each element are discrete numbers, and evolution occurs in discrete time;

o   Non-locality of connections between agents.

o   Population has a diversity of elements, defined via some parameters or vectors.

o   Agents randomly check other agents in the matter of compatibility.

o   The number of connections to be checked/established is limited by the parameter of sociability.

o   The structure of connections between elements is very dynamic and stochastic.

o   Mutual agreement principle: connections between agents appear only when both agents `agree` to establish it, and if one agent wants to terminate it, the connection breaks.

o   Each agent receives and spends some resource at each time step, allowing the simulation of resource flow through the agent and through the system.

EVS modeling did show that…

n  …one doesn’t need to have stable components or even links between them in order to have a visible and consistent structure. To show that in mid-1990s we proposed modeling with Ensembles of Variable Structures (EVS), to observe the emergence of structures even while the connections between elements were highly stochastic and volatile. Refs:

Trofimova, I., Potapov, A., Sulis, W. (1998) Collective Effects On Individual Behaviour: Three Questions In The Search For Universality. International Journal of Chaos Theory and Applications. V.3, N.1-2. Pp.53-63.

Trofimova I. (2000) Principles, concepts and phenomena of Ensembles with Variable Structure. In: Sulis W., Trofimova I. (Eds.) Nonlinear Dynamics in Life and Social Sciences. IOS Press, Amsterdam. See .DOC

 

n  … diversity of agents within populations and their interconnectivity ("sociability") - these two formal characteristics of populations compete and suppress each other, and this competing dynamics drives the evolution of distributions. Refs:

Trofimova I. & Mitin N. (2002) Self-organization and resource exchange in EVS modeling. Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences, 6, 4, 351-562. See .PDF

Trofimova I. (2003) Sociability, diversity and compatibility in developing systems: EVS approach. In: Nation J., Trofimova I., Rand J., Sulis W. (Eds.) Formal Descriptions of Developing Systems. Kluwer Press. Pp. 231-248. See .DOC

n  …it is possible to have formal codes for "functions on the flow of resources" within sets of diverse elements. Refs: Trofimova I. (1999). Functional Differentiation in Developmental Systems. In: Bar-Yam Y. (Ed.) Unifying Themes in Complex Systems. Perseus Press. Pp.557-567.

 

Relevant Publications of the lab on this project:

Books

Trofimova I.N., Mitin N.A., Potapov A.B., Malinetzky G.G. (1997)Description of Ensembles with Variable Structure. New Models of Mathematical Psychology. Preprint N 34 of KIAM RAS. (in Russian).

Trofimova I.N. (Ed.) (2000). Synergetics and Psychology. Texts. Volume 2. Social Processes. Moscow. Yanus Press. (in Russian).

Sulis W., Trofimova I. (Eds.) (2000) Nonlinear Dynamics in Life and Social Sciences. IOS Press, Amsterdam.

Trofimova I., Rand J., Nation J., Sulis W. (Eds.) (2003) Formal descriptions of developing systems. Kluwer Press, Amsterdam.

Shendyapin V., Trofimova I., Arshinov V. (2003) Synergetics and Psychology. Texts. Volume 3. Cognitive Processes. Moscow. CogitoPress. (in Russian).

Trofimova I. Diversity in Natural Systems. Manuscript in progress.

 

Articles:

Trofimova I.N. Strategies of behavior as stable characteristics of individuality // Nature of Psyche. Perm. 1994. (in Russian)

Trofimova I.N. Evolutionary determination of individual differences // Individuality in the modern world. Smolensk. 1994. P.76-81. (in Russian)

Trofimova I.N. Universal principles of evolution as the foundation for analysis of human nature // Philosophical researches, N 3 1995. P.5-23. (in Russian)

Trofimova I.N. Parameters of behavioral strategies and style characteristics // Human styles: structure and functions. Ed.A.V.Libin. Moscow. Smisl, 1996. (in Russian)

Trofimova I.N. Individual differences from the point of view of the evolutionary approach // Questions of psychology, N 1 - 1996. (in Russian)

Trofimova I. (1997) Individual differences: in search of universal characteristics. In: M.A.Basin, S.V. Charitonov (Eds.). Synergetics and Psychology. Sanct-Petersburg. (In Russian).

Malinetzky G.G, Mitin N.A., Potapov A.B., Trofimova I.N. (1997). Individual differences: in search of universal characteristics// Informatics in science and education. Reports of the Conference. Moscow (in Russian).

Trofimova I.N. Analysis of behavioral strategies using cellular automaton models. Abstracts of International Psychological Congress. Montreal, 16-21 August 1996. Canada.

Trofimova I.N. (1997) Precursors of the Synergetic Approach in Psychology // Synergetics and Psychology. Texts. Volume 1. Methodological questions. Moscow. MSSU (in Russian).

Trofimova I. (1999). Functional Differentiation in Developmental Systems. In: Bar-Yam Y. (Ed.) Unifying Themes in Complex Systems. Perseus Press. Pp.557-567.

Trofimova I. (1998). From living systems to synergetic models and back. In: Synergetics. Proceedings of a workshop. Vol. 1. Moscow, MSU Press, pp.69-80 (In Russian).

Trofimova I.N., Potapov A.B. (1998) The definition of parameters for measurement in psychology. In: F.M. Guindani & G. Salvadori (Eds.) "Chaos, Models, Fractals". Italian University Press. Pavia, Italy. Pp.472-478.

Trofimova I. Potapov, A., Sulis, W. (1998) Collective Effects on Individual Behavior: In search of Universality. International Journal of Chaos Theory and Applications. V.3, N.1-2. Pp.53-63.

Trofimova I. (1999) Modeling Of The Environmental Contribution To The Genesis Of Psychiatric Illness. Papers of the International Internet Congress.

Trofimova I. (2000) Modeling of social behavior. In: Trofimova I.N. (Ed.) (2000). Synergetics and Psychology. Texts. Volume 2. Social Processes. Moscow. Yanus Press. (in Russian). Pp. 133-142.

Trofimova I. (2000) Universals and specifics in psychology. In: Sulis W., Trofimova I. (Eds.) Nonlinear Dynamics in Life and Social Sciences. IOS Press, Amsterdam.

Trofimova I. (2001) Principles, concepts and phenomena of Ensembles with Variable Structure. In: Sulis W., Trofimova I. (Eds.) Nonlinear Dynamics in Life and Social Sciences. IOS Press, Amsterdam. Pp. 217-231.

Trofimova I. (2003) Sociability, diversity and compatibility in developing systems: EVS approach. In: Nation J., Trofimova I., Rand J., Sulis W. (Eds.) Formal Descriptions of Developing Systems. Kluwer Press. Pp. 231-248.

Trofimova I. & Mitin N. (2002) Self-organization and resource exchange in EVS modeling. Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences, 6, 4, 351-562.

 

Project name: FET framework for temperament (click here for more details) and psychiatric taxonomies

 

The Functional Ensemble of Temperament (FET) model suggests that:

 

§  ...the structure of adult temperament (biologically based individual differences) cannot and should not be presented as 3-5 independent dimensions. She offers the "Functional Ensemble of Temperament" model consisting of 12 components, which reflect the regulation of behaviour in four perspectives of functional tasks: dynamical aspects of tasks (energetic, integration- and orientation-related), probabilistic (known task vs. uncertain), activity-specific (physical vs. verbal-social vs. mental) and emotional amplifier of dynamical aspects. Her model is a derivative of Rusalov's STQ model.

References:

Rusalov, V.M. & Trofimova, I.N. (2007) The Structure of temperament and its measurement. PSP: Psychological Services Press, Toronto.

Trofimova, I. (2009) Exploration of the benefits of an activity-specific test of temperament. Psychological Reports, 105, 643-658. See PDF

Trofimova, I. (2010) Questioning the "general arousal" models. Open Behavioral Science and Psychology, 4, 1-8. DOI: 10.2174/1874230001004010001 http://bentham-open.com/contents/pdf/TOBSJ/TOBSJ-4-1.pdf

Trofimova, I. (2010). An investigation into differences between the structure of temperament and the structure of personality. American Journal of Psychology. 123, 4, 467-480. DOI: 10.5406/amerjpsyc.123.4.0467 PDF

Trofimova, I. & Sulis W. (2010). The lability of behavior as a marker of comorbid depression and anxiety. Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology, 1, 3, 190-199. DOI: 10.4236/abb.2010.13027. See PDF

Trofimova, I. & Sulis W. (2011). Is temperament activity-specific? Validation of the Structure of Temperament Questionnaire - Compact (STQ-77). International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 11(3), 389-400. PDF

Rusalov, V.M., Trofimova, I.N. (2011). Representation of psychological types in various models of temperament (О представленности типов психической деятельности в различныхмоделях темперамента). Psychological Journal, 32, 3, 74-84. PDF

Trofimova, I. (2016) The interlocking between functional aspects of activities and a neurochemical model of adult temperament. In: Arnold, M. C (Ed.) Temperaments: Individual Differences, Social and Environmental Influences and Impact on Quality of Life. Nova Science Publishers, Inc., NY. pp.77-147

Trofimova, I. & Christiansen, J. (2016) Coupling of temperament traits with mental illness in four age groups. Psychological Reports, 118, 2. DOI 10.1177/0033294116639430. PDF

Trofimova, I. & Robbins, T.W. (2016) Temperament and arousal systems: a new synthesis of differential psychology and functional neurochemistry. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 64, 382–402. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.03.008. PDF

Trofimova, I. & Sulis W. (2016a). Benefits of distinguishing between physical and social-verbal aspects of behaviour: an example of generalized anxiety. Frontiers in Psychology, 7:338. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00338 PDF

Trofimova, I. & Sulis, W. (2016b). A study of the coupling of FET temperament traits with Major Depression. Frontiers in Psychology, 7: 1848. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01848. PDF

Trofimova, I. & Sulis W. (2018). There is more to mental illness than just negative affect: comprehensive temperament profiles in depression and anxiety. BMC Psychiatry. 18: 125. Doi: 10.1186/s12888-018-1695-x

Trofimova, I. (2018). Functionality vs dimensionality in psychological taxonomies, and a puzzle of emotional valence. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Biology, 373 (1744), doi: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0167.

Sulis, W. (2018) Assessing the continuum between temperament and affective illness: psychiatric and mathematical perspective. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Biology, 373, 1744, doi:10.1098/rstb.2017.0168

Uher, J., Trofimova, I., Sulis, W., Netter, P., Pessoa, L., Posner, M., Rothbart, M., Rusalov, V., Petersen, I., Schmidt, L. Diversity in action: Exchange of perspectives and reflections on taxonomies of individual differences. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Biology. 373 (1744) doi: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0172

Trofimova, I. (2019). An overlap between mental abilities and temperament traits. In: McFarland, D. (Ed.) General and specific mental abilities. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Pp. 176-225. ISBN-13: 978-1-5275-3310-3. 

Trofimova, I. (2019). An overlap between mental abilities and temperament traits. In: McFarland, D. (Ed.) General and specific mental abilities. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 176-225.

Trofimova, I. (2020). Contingent tunes of neurochemical ensembles in the norm and pathology: can we see the patterns? Neuropsychobiology.

 

A neurochemistry-based model of the structure of temperament FET ("Functional Ensemble of Temperament") that was implemented in the Compact Structure of Temperament Questionnaire (see forms testing here):

 

Situation of:

 emergency  complexity

 

Dynamical aspects of an action with a function to...

    to orient/select       to initiate/mobilize       to sustain an action

 

Sensitivity to reinforces:

Speed of integration

Endurance

low -►

higher--►

Probabilistic

(Mental) tuning

Sensitivity to Probabilities

Plasticity

Intellectual Endurance

 

lower --►

Social-verbal

Empathy

sensitivity to others

Social Tempo

Social Endurance

 

Physical-motor

Deterministic

Sensitivity to (seek for) sensations

Physical Tempo

Physical Endurance

high -►

high --►

Emotional

    Amplifier

Neuroticism

sensitivity to novelty

Impulsivity

(dispositional) Satisfaction

 

        ... The Big Five model of personality reflects the nature of the lexical material that it is based upon. Language possesses a strong sociability bias, reflective of its role in socialization. Language thus has more personal descriptors related to affiliation and sociability than other descriptors of individual differences. Moreover, there is a strong negativity bias of emotionality and as a consequence there are more words related to negative than to positive emotions. These two biases affect the content of lexical descriptors of individual differences. As the result, the largest factors in lexical approach models (Extraversion and Neuroticism) as artefacts of the sociability bias of language and the negativity bias of emotionality, and do not reflect the structure of consistent individual differences. Moreover, many personality and temperament models miss important distinctions between traits related to social, mental and physical activities.

 

References:

Trofimova, I. (2010) Questioning the "general arousal" models. Open Behavioral Science and Psychology, 4, 1-8. DOI: 10.2174/1874230001004010001 http://bentham-open.com/contents/pdf/TOBSJ/TOBSJ-4-1.pdf

Trofimova, I. (2014) Observer bias: how temperament matters in semantic perception of lexical material. PLOS ONE, 9(1): e85677. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0085677, http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0085677

Trofimova, I. (2016) The interlocking between functional aspects of activities and a neurochemical model of adult temperament. In: Arnold, M. C (Ed.) Temperaments: Individual Differences, Social and Environmental Influences and Impact on Quality of Life. Nova Science Publishers, Inc., NY, pp. 77-147

Trofimova, I., Robbins, T., Sulis, W., Uher, J. (2018) Taxonomies of psychological individual differences: biological perspectives on millennia-long challenges. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Biology. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0152

 

  ...Neurotransmitter systems regulating temperament traits work in overlapping teams and have functional specializations reflecting the functional aspects of tasks that people have to deal with. These systems are strongly interdependent, contingent on each other's state and have feedback relationships. For this reason our neurochemical model of temperament is called Functional Ensemble of Temperament (FET). This FET model also hypothesises classification of mental disorders in terms of more or less structured symptoms reflecting functional aspects of behaviour, instead of a variety of empirically-derived descriptors as in the DSM (not shown here). The FET proposes the following interplay between the neurotransmitter systems:

 

Functional aspects:

Behavior. orientation to.. (NE+...)

Integration aspects (DA+...)

Energetic aspects

(5-HT, ACh +...)

Probabilistic/ > analytic aspects

to learning probabilities, PRO

NE+ACh+Glu, DA

Plasticity vs. rigidity,

PL

DA+ACh, 5-HT, GABA

Intellectual Endurance, ERI

ACh+NE, 5-HT

Social-verbal

to others: Empathy,

EMP

NE+OXY, VSP

Social Tempo,

TMS

DA+ Estr, OXY

Social Endurance,

ERS

5-HT+Estr, H, OXY

Physical-motor

(>deterministic)

to sensations,

SS

NE+αAR+ NP/SubP

Motor Tempo,

TMM

DA+GABA, A, NP

Motor Endurance

ERM,

5-HT+ORE, H, NP

Emotional amplifier

Neuroticism, NEU

KOR→NE-HPA

KOR > MOR

Impulsivity,

IMP

DOR(DA, MOR)>KOR

Satisfaction, SLF

MOR→(5-HT, DA)

MOR > KOR

 

References:

 

Trofimova, I. (2016) The interlocking between functional aspects of activities and a neurochemical model of adult temperament. In: Arnold, M. C (Ed.) Temperaments: Individual Differences, Social and Environmental Influences and Impact on Quality of Life. Nova Science Publishers, Inc., NY pp. 77-147

Trofimova, I. & Robbins, T.W. (2016) Temperament and arousal systems: a new synthesis of differential psychology and functional neurochemistry. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 64, 382-402. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.03.008. PDF

Trofimova, I. (2018) Functionality vs dimensionality in psychological taxonomies, and a puzzle of emotional valence. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Biology, 373, 1744, doi: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0167.

Trofimova, I. (2019). An overlap between mental abilities and temperament traits. In: McFarland, D. (Ed.) General and specific mental abilities. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 176-225.

Trofimova, I. (2020). Contingent tunes of neurochemical ensembles in the norm and pathology: can we see the patterns? Neuropsychobiology.

 

You-tube videos on the FET model:

Presentation of the FET model at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden (in English)

Presentation of the FET model at the World Congress of Mental Health (in Russian)

Neuroscience of Polymathy: Interview with Irina Trofimova at the Annual Creativity Conference 2019

 

·        ...depression and anxiety have a significant impact on dynamical (speed of integration of an action) aspects of activity (tempo, plasticity and impulse control), compromising the responsiveness of behavior through an increase in rigidity and impulsivity. Depression and anxiety appear to be associated mostly with aspects of physical activity and less with intellectual or verbal activity:

 

References:

 

Trofimova, I. & Sulis W. (2010). The lability of behavior as a marker of comorbid depression and anxiety. Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology, 1, 3, 190-199. DOI: 10.4236/abb.2010.13027 See PDF

Trofimova, I. & Christiansen, J. (2016) Coupling of temperament traits with mental illness in four age groups. Psychological Reports, 118, 2. DOI 10.1177/0033294116639430. PDF

Trofimova, I. & Robbins, T.W. (2016) Temperament and arousal systems: a new synthesis of differential psychology and functional neurochemistry. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 64, 382–402. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.03.008. PDF

Trofimova, I. & Sulis W. (2016a). Benefits of distinguishing between physical and social-verbal aspects of behaviour: an example of generalized anxiety. Frontiers in Psychology, 7:338. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00338 PDF

Trofimova, I. & Sulis, W. (2016b). A study of the coupling of FET temperament traits with Major Depression. Frontiers in Psychology, 7: 1848. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01848. PDF

Trofimova, I. & Sulis W. (2018). There is more to mental illness than just negative affect: comprehensive temperament profiles in depression and anxiety. BMC Psychiatry. 18: 125. Doi=doi.org/10.1186/s12888-018-1695-x

 

·        ... the way how people attribute meaning to events and objects partially depends on the state of their body, and capacities to handle these events ("projection through capacities"). Our studies showed that sex and temperament (biologically based traits) have specific influence on human semantic perception. Refs:

 

References:

Trofimova I.N. (1997) Interconnections of characteristics of temperament with some peculiarities of cognitive activity of human // Voprosi psychologii, N 1, 74-82.

Trofimova, I. (1999) How people of different age, sex and temperament estimate the world. Psychological Reports, 85/2, 533-552. See PDF.

Trofimova, I. (2011) Are men evolutionarily wired to love the "Easy" buttons? Nature Neuroscience Preceding, 5562 http://precedings.nature.com/documents/5562/version/1

Trofimova, I. (2012) Understanding misunderstanding: a study of sex differences in meaning attribution. Psychological Research. DOI: 10.1007/s00426-012-0462-8. See PDF

Trofimova, I. (2014) Observer bias: how temperament matters in semantic perception of lexical material. PLOS ONE, 9(1): e85677. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0085677, http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0085677

 

·        ...based on the experimental results, there might be a "middle age - middle sex" phenomenon: sex differences in verbal tempo and physical endurance are more pronounced during youth, fading at the end of the young adulthood. We argued that sex differences in these two types of abilities might be "a matter of age", and should not be attributed to gender in general.

 

References:

Trofimova, I. (2013) A study of the dynamics of sex differences in adulthood. International Journal of Psychology, 48 (6), 1230-1236. DOI: 10.1080/00207594.2012.756981 See PDF

 

·        …based on the experimental results, men have a tendency to favour mechanical and sensational concepts more than women, and women favour more fluid and routine concepts than men.

 

References:

Trofimova, I. (2011) Who is in charge of Science: men view "Time" as more fixed, "Reality" as less real, and "Order" as less ordered. Cognitive Systems Research, 15-16, 50-56.Doi:10.1016/j.cogsys.2011.07.001. See PDF

 

Project name: Psychosemantic studies of connections between meaning attribution and age, gender and temperament

 

While people's common association with psychology is as a study of brain function, one cannot derive the content of thinking or assign meaning to objects from brain activity only. Especially it is true for such psychological applications, as resolving conflicts and recruiting staff within organizations, managing business communication, counseling family problems, developing educational plans and methods, helping people to cope with tragic events, making recommendations regarding a choice of profession or just predicting people's choices.

 

A modern direction in cognitive psychology - psychosemantics, which studies how people assign meaning to objects and situations. Psychosemantic techniques originated in the USA forty years ago and became popular in Europe since then. They were able to predict preferences in customer behavior or public choices.

 

Our psychosemantic studies showed that:

 

§  … the way how people attribute meaning to events and objects partially depends on the state of their body, and capacities to handle these events ("projection through capacities"). Our studies showed that sex and temperament (biologically based traits) have specific influence on human semantic perception. Refs:

Trofimova I.N. (1997) Interconnections of characteristics of temperament with some peculiarities of cognitive activity of human // Questions of psychology, N 1, 74-82. (in Russian).

Trofimova, I. (1999) How people of different age, sex and temperament estimate the world. Psychological Reports. N 85/2, pp.533-552. See DOC.

Trofimova, I. (2011) Are men evolutionarily wired to love the "Easy" buttons? Nature Neuroscience Preceding, 5562 http://precedings.nature.com/documents/5562/version/1

Trofimova, I. (2012) Understanding misunderstanding: a study of sex differences in meaning attribution. Psychological Research. See PDF

Trofimova, I. (2014) Observer bias: how temperament matters in verbal semantic perception. PLoS One.

 

§  …the language of math and physics, invented originally by men, has a mechanical engineering bias and therefore is not very suitable for life and social sciences. Refs:

Trofimova, I. (2011) Who is in charge of Science: men view "Time" as more fixed, "Reality" as less real, and "Order" as less ordered. Cognitive Systems Research, 15-16, 50-56. Doi:10.1016/j.cogsys.2011.07.001. See PDF

 

§  …following Geodakyan’s Evolutionary Theory of Sex (ETS): ETS suggested that sex division is a systemic division of species into two (variational and conservational) partitions of a species. We used ETS as an evolutionary "take" on sex differences in meaning attribution observed in our studies and suggested the presence of strong systemic factors which support psychopathy in men. These factors support the male-prevalent tendency for irrelevance/redundancy pruning, which allows the male sex to be in charge of dealing with overall diversity and variation, both in the sense of expanding its boundaries and of eliminating the excess of variation, while the female sex is in charge of securing, conserving the ways of the species’s functioning, which proved to guarantee the desired outcomes. Refs:

Trofimova, I. (2011) Are men evolutionarily wired to love the "Easy" buttons? Nature Neuroscience Preceding, 5562 http://precedings.nature.com/documents/5562/version/1

 

Educational activity

 

Workshops:

 

From temperament to psychiatric illness: neuropsychology of underlying systems. Workshop at the Annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, Toronto, Canada, May 18, 2015

 

Between temperament and mental disorders: assessing the continuum. Workshop at the Annual meeting of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, Vancouver, Canada, October 3, 2015

 

Between temperament and mental disorders: assessing the continuum. Workshop at the Annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, USA, August 4, 2017

 

Between temperament and mental disorders: assessing the continuum. Workshop at the Occasional Temperament Conference, Murcia, Spain, May 23, 2018

 

Between temperament and mental disorders: assessing the continuum. Workshop in the Department of Psychology, Marburg University, Germany. June 4, 2018

 

Between temperament and mental disorders: assessing the continuum. Workshop at the International Congress of Applied Psychology, Montreal, Canada, June 25, 2018

 

Molecular and bio-markers in psychological diversity: between psychological traits and psychiatric disorders. World Congress of Biological Psychiatry, Vancouver, Canada, June 3, 2019.


Between Temperament and Mental Disorders: Psychobiology of Consistent Behavioral Patterns. Webinar CE course of the American Psychological Association. October 1, 2020, Online.


Courses:

McMaster Univeristy: Teaching the courses:

N 735 "Dynamical Systems I: Nonlinear Systems Theory",

N 736 "Dynamical Systems II: Ergodic Theory",

N 737 "Dynamical Systems III: Complex Systems Theory",

"Foundations of collective intelligence".

Moscow Physico-Technical Institute: Teaching the course Modeling in Psychology.

 

Supervising students:

 

1995-1996 - graduate thesis supervision "Mobility versus Stasis", Dianne Miller - McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

1996-1997 - graduate thesis supervision, Denis Koslov, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

1997-1988 - graduate thesis supervision "Universality in Social Dynamics Models", Dianne Miller, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

1998-1999 - undergraduate thesis supervision "Semantic Space Modeling", Doreen Au, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

1998-1999 - undergraduate thesis supervision "Ergodic Theoretic Analysis of Human Locomotion", Miranda Sim, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2000-2001 . - undergraduate thesis supervision "Nonlinear Dynamics in Psychiatry", Arun Gupta, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2000-2001 - undergraduate thesis supervision "Collective Intelligence in Social Systems", Tasleem Murji, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2002-2003 - undergraduate thesis supervision "Semantic Perception and Sex Differences Among Canadian University Students", Kristine Espiritu, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2002-2003 - undergraduate thesis supervision "Semantic Space of Different Gender and Emotionality", Samira Patel, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2002-2003 - undergraduate thesis supervision "Gender and Cultural differences of Semantic Space of Canadian Students", Chandrima Bandyopadhyay, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2003-2004 - undergraduate thesis supervision "Quality of Life and use of antidepressants", Melissa Devlan, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2003-2004 - undergraduate thesis supervision "Quality of Life and use of antidepressants", Claudia Tomantsger, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2004-2005 - independent study course supervision "Collective Intelligence", Marie Drosos, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2004-2005 - undergraduate thesis supervision "Study of network dynamics in models of social interactions", Leah Hockney, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2005-2006 - undergraduate thesis supervision "Rule Coupled Order-Disorder Effects in RGDS", Pamela Kwok, McMaster University, Department of Psychology

2005-2006 - undergraduate thesis supervision "Comparison of meaning attribution in Indian and Canadian cultures". Vanita Marques, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2005-2006 - undergraduate thesis supervision, "Comparison of meaning attribution in Urdu and Canadian cultures". Ambreen Tahir, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2006-2007 - undergraduate thesis supervision, "Comparison of meaning attribution in Chinese and Canadian cultures". Wen-Wen Iris, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2006-2007 - undergraduate thesis supervision "Emergence in Psychology", Patricia Marcoccia, McMaster University, Department of Psychology

2006-2007 - undergraduate thesis supervision "Collective Intelligence" Michael Sanderson, McMaster University, Department of Psychology

2007-2008 - undergraduate reading course, "Adaptation of the STQ-77 to Chinese", Wen Hou (Niko), McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2007-2008 - undergraduate thesis supervision, "Validation of the Impulsivity and Empathy scales of the STQ-77", Jennifer Bossio, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2008-2009 - undergraduate independent study course, "Adaptation of the STQ-77 to Chinese", Russel Lu, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2009-2010 - undergraduate thesis supervision "Consciousness", Luxi Li, McMaster University, Department of Psychology

2010-2011 - undergraduate independent study course, "Adaptation of the STQ-77 to Dari", Surab Khogiani, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2011-2012 - undergraduate independent study course, "Psychophysiology of Individual Differences", Polly Cheng, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2011-2012 - indergraduate independent study course, "Collective Intelligence", Titus Timotin, McMaster University, Department of Psychology

2012-2013 - undergraduate thesis supervision, Torianne Ipema, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2018-2019 - undergraduate independent study course HTH SCI 3H03, Pei Rui Ren, McMaster University, Department of Psychology

2019-2020 - undergraduate independent study course PNB 4Q03, Jennifer Reed, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

2020-2021 - undergraduate independent study course PNB 4Q03, Anastasia Gaykalova, McMaster University, Department of Psychology.

 

Organisational Activity

Organisation of the Modeling Journal Club in Psychology Department (1993-1996). Faculty and graduate students of the department participated in sessions of this club, discussing neural networks, artificial life and other modeling approaches.

 Presentation of the Laboratory at international scientific meetings. For last seven years we gave a total more than 60 such presentations and invited lectures.

Organisation the Modeling Journal Club in Psychology Department (1993-1996). Faculty and graduate students of the department participated in sessions of this club, discussing neural networks, artificial life and other modeling approaches.

Presentation of the Laboratory at international scientific meetings. For last seven years we gave a total more than 60 such presentations and invited lectures.

Organization of NATO Advanced Study Institute "Nonlinear Dynamics in Life and Social Sciences", Moscow, 2000

Organization of NATO Advanced Research Workshop "Formal Descriptions of Developing Systems", Honolulu, Hawaii, 2002

Conducting international scientific activity: Dr.Sulis was a president of the international Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and Life Sciences during 1996-1998, and now is head of international relations in this society.
Dr.Trofimova has been president of the Russian Synergetic Society since 1995.

 

Staff and contacts

Big and sincere thanks to our volunteers Ms. Saloumeh Madani, Ms. Rupasri Chowdur, Mr. Anson Poon, and to our students!!!

 

Dr. William Sulis, B.Sc., M.D., M.A., FRCP, Ph.D. (mathematics), Ph.D. (theoretical physics), Director

Tel: (905) 772-7218,

Fax: (905) 529-6225

E-mail: sulisw@mcmaster.ca

Home Page: http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/cilab/sulisw/sulis.html

 

Dr. Irina Trofimova, M.Sc., Ph.D., licensed Clinical Psychologist, Senior Researcher

Tel: (905) 527 0129,

Fax: (866) 410-6766

E-mail: trofimi@mcmaster.ca
Home Page: http://www.fhs.mcmaster.ca/cilab/ira/ira.html