Magnus S. Magnusson

Discovering hidden time patterns in behavior: T-patterns and their detection.

This article deals with the definition and detection of particular kinds of temporal patterns in behavior, which are sometimes obvious or well known, but other times difficult to detect, either directly or with standard statistical methods. Characteristics of well-known behavior patterns were abstracted and combined in order to define a scale-independent, hierarchical time pattern type, called aT-pattern. A corresponding detection algorithm was developed and implemented in a computer program, called Theme. The proposed pattern typology and detection algorithm are based on the definition and detection of a particular relationship between pairs of events in a time series, called acritical interval relation. The proposed bottom-up, level-by-level (or breadth-first) search algorithm is based on a binary tree of such relations. The algorithm first detects simpler patterns. Then, more complex and complete patterns evolve through the connection of simpler ones, pattern completeness competition, and pattern selection. Interindividual T-patterns in a quarter-hour interaction between two children are presented, showing that complex hidden T-patterns may be found by Theme in such behavioral streams. Finally, implications for studies of complexity, self-organization, and dynamic patterns are discussed.

Temporal pattern analysis and its applicability in sport: an explanation and exemplar data

Quantitative analysis of sports performance has been shown to produce information that coaches can use within the coaching process to enhance performance. Traditional methods for quantifying sport performances are limited in their capacity to describe the complex interactions of events that occur within a performance over time. In this paper, we outline a new approach to the analysis of time-based event records and real-time behaviour records on sport performance known as T-pattern detection. The relevant elements of the T-pattern detection process are explained and exemplar data from the analysis of 13 soccer matches are presented to highlight the potential of this form of analysis. The results from soccer suggest that it is possible to identify new profiles for both individuals and teams based on the analysis of temporal behavioural patterns detected within the performances.

THE COURTSHIP DANCE: PATTERNS OF NONVERBAL SYNCHRONIZATION IN OPPOSITE-SEX ENCOUNTERS

This study examines the existence of behavioral correlates of synchronization on different levels of analysis and methods. We were unable to demonstrate a relation between synchronization defined in terms of movement echo or position mirroring and subjective experience of pleasure and interest in opposite-sex encounters. Significant results were found for a phenomenon we describe as hierarchically patterned synchronization. These patterns were identified with the help of a newly developed search algorithm. If a female is interested in a male, highly complex patterns of behavior with a constant time structure emerge. The patterns are pair-specific and independent from behavioral content. This rhythmic structure of interactions is discussed in functional terms of human courtship.

Hidden Real-Time Patterns in Intra- and Inter-Individual Behavior: Description and Detection

It is widely believed that human interaction is much more regular than has yet been detected. What kinds of hidden regularities exist is, however, unsettled. In this paper a structural hypothesis is proposed where each continuous human interaction is seen as the performance of a set of a particular type of temporal patterns. Some of these repeated intra- and inter-individual real-time behavior patterns may be mutually exclusive in time while others may overlap in various ways. Perceptual limitations making such patterns hidden to the naked eye are illustrated. A computerized detection method and illustrative empirical findings from various types of face-to-face interactions in children and adults are presented. The specially developed pattern detection and analysis software, THEME, is also shortly described.

Temporal structure of the rat's behavior in elevated plus maze test.

Aim of the research was to evaluate, by means of quantitative and multivariate temporal pattern analyses, the behavior of Wistar rat in elevated plus maze (EPM) test. On the basis of an ethogram encompassing 24 behavioral elements, quantitative results showed that 130.14 ± 8.01 behavioral elements occurred in central platform and in closed arms (protected zones), whereas 88.62 ± 6.04 occurred in open arms (unprotected zones). Percent distribution was characterized by a prevalence of sniffing, walking and vertical exploration. Analysis of minute-by-minute duration evidenced a decrease for time spent in open arms and central platform and an increase for time spent in closed arms. As to multivariate t-pattern analysis, 126 different temporal patterns were detected. Behavioral stripes, summarizing distribution of such t-patterns along time, showed that several t-patterns were not homogeneously distributed along the test observational period: t-patterns encompassing behavioral events occurring prevalently in central platform-open arms were observed during the first minutes, whereas t-patterns structured on the basis of events occurring mainly in central platform-closed arms were detected during the last minutes. Therefore, during the observation in elevated plus maze, rats behavior undergoes significant rearrangements of its temporal features. Present research demonstrates, for the first time, the existence of complex and significantly timed behavioral sequences in the activity of Wistar rats tested in elevated plus maze. Application of t-pattern analysis can provide useful tools to characterize the behavioral dynamics of anxiety-related rodent behavior and differentiate the effect of various anxioselective substances.

T-pattern analysis for the study of temporal structure of animal and human behavior: A comprehensive review

A basic tenet in the realm of modern behavioral sciences is that behavior consists of patterns in time. For this reason, investigations of behavior deal with sequences that are not easily perceivable by the unaided observer. This problem calls for improved means of detection, data handling and analysis. This review focuses on the analysis of the temporal structure of behavior carried out by means of a multivariate approach known as T-pattern analysis. Using this technique, recurring sequences of behavioral events, usually hard to detect, can be unveiled and carefully described. T-pattern analysis has been successfully applied in the study of various aspects of human or animal behavior such as behavioral modifications in neuro-psychiatric diseases, route-tracing stereotypy in mice, interaction between human subjects and animal or artificial agents, hormonal-behavioral interactions, patterns of behavior associated with emesis and, in our laboratories, exploration and anxiety-related behaviors in rodents. After describing the theory and concepts of T-pattern analysis, this review will focus on the application of the analysis to the study of the temporal characteristics of behavior in different species from rodents to human beings. This work could represent a useful background for researchers who intend to employ such a refined multivariate approach to the study of behavior.

Behavioral Patterns Associated with Chemotherapy-Induced Emesis: A Potential Signature for Nausea in Musk Shrews

Nausea and vomiting are common symptoms in patients with many diseases, including cancer and its treatments. Although the neurological basis of vomiting is reasonably well known, an understanding of the physiology of nausea is lacking. The primary barrier to mechanistic research on the nausea system is the lack of an animal model. Indeed investigating the effects of anti-nausea drugs in pre-clinical models is difficult because the primary readout is often emesis. It is known that animals show a behavioral profile of sickness, associated with reduced feeding and movement, and possibly these general measures are signs of nausea. Studies attempting to relate the occurrence of additional behaviors to emesis have produced mixed results. Here we applied a statistical method, temporal pattern (t-pattern) analysis, to determine patterns of behavior associated with emesis. Musk shrews were injected with the chemotherapy agent cisplatin (a gold standard in emesis research) to induce acute (<24 h) and delayed (>24 h) emesis. Emesis and other behaviors were coded and tracked from video files. T-pattern analysis revealed hundreds of non-random patterns of behavior associated with emesis, including sniffing, changes in body contraction, and locomotion. There was little evidence that locomotion was inhibited by the occurrence of emesis. Eating, drinking, and other larger body movements including rearing, grooming, and body rotation, were significantly less common in emesis-related behavioral patterns in real versus randomized data. These results lend preliminary evidence for the expression of emesis-related behavioral patterns, including reduced ingestive behavior, grooming, and exploratory behaviors. In summary, this statistical approach to behavioral analysis in a pre-clinical emesis research model could be used to assess the more global effects and limitations of drugs used to control nausea and its potential correlates, including reduced feeding and activity levels.

The importance of temporal structure in analyzing schizophrenic behavior: some theoretical and diagnostic implications

THEME, a new method for analyzing the temporal structure of responding on a two-choice task, is described. This method reveals the time relationships (temporal patterns) between all response events, even those not occurring in direct sequence. It selects those temporal patterns that are significantly different (p < 0.0001) from the patterns found in a random Poisson distribution of the same events. The method was applied to data from Lyon et al. (1986) in which n = 17 outpatient schizophrenics were compared with n = 17 age-, sex-, and education-matched normal control subjects. Results revealed that responding of schizophrenic outpatients, in comparison to control subjects, had a larger number of significant temporal patterns, more different types of patterns, and more branching (connectivity) of patterns at a higher level. The latter indicates a higher degree of internal structure. These results are not predicted by standard (DSM-III-R) diagnostic procedures, but are in agreement with studies of two-choice behavior in schizophrenia based on the Lyon-Robbins (1975) theory of behavioral change, which has possible relationship to dopamine/acetylcholine imbalance in the brain. Diagnostic procedures in schizophrenia might benefit from tests oriented toward these findings, which are also consistent with Bleulers original descriptions of schizophrenic symptomatology.

Temporal patterns analysis of rat behavior in hole-board.

The aim of present research was to analyze the temporal structure of rodents anxiety-related behavior in hole-board apparatus (HB). Fifteen male Wistar rats were tested for 10 min. Video files, collected for each subject, were coded by means of a software coder and event log files generated for each subject. To assess temporal relationships among behavioral events, log files were processed by means of a t-pattern analysis. 14 two-element t-patterns, four t-patterns encompassing 3 events and 2 t-patterns encompassing 4 and 5 events respectively were revealed. It was demonstrated that rat behavior in HB was mainly structured on the basis of the temporal patterning among exploratory events; these ones were the most structured t-patterns detected and appeared mainly during the first 5 min of exploration, while grooming t-patterns were present prevalently after the fifth minute. Specific t-pattern parameters, such as overall occurrences and mean duration of each given t-pattern in each subject, were also studied. Present research: (a) reports for the first time that some behavioral events occur sequentially and with significant constraints on the interval lengths separating them; (b) presents the temporal flows of some behavioral elements through multimodal behavioral vectors; (c) could also be used to improve HB test reliability and its ability to detect even small induced behavioral changes.

Emotional change process in resolving self-criticism during experiential treatment of depression

Abstract Objective: This study tested emotion-focused therapy (EFT) theory assumptions concerning optimal emotion schematic processing during experiential psychotherapies. Emotion schematic change was investigated in the particular problem context of resolving self-criticism, an emotion schematic vulnerability to depression identified across all major psychotherapy theories. Method: The sample was nine highly self-critical depressed clients who received experiential treatment (n = 5 resolved while n = 4 did not resolve their self-criticism by termination). Emotion episodes (EEs) were exhaustively sampled from five sessions across three therapy phases (early, working phase, and termination) for each client. All their EEs across therapy were coded using a process measure called the Classification of Affective-Meaning States. Three complementary analytic procedures were used to examine emotion schematic changes within and across phases of therapy: graphical/descriptive, linear mixed modelling, and THEME sequential pattern analysis. Results: Convergent evidence from these analyses supported EFT theory. Good resolvers of self-criticism decreased expression of secondary emotions and increased expression of primary adaptive emotions. Good resolvers also exhibited more sequences of EEs consistent with transformation of secondary and maladaptive emotions to adaptive emotions. Future directions of this research are discussed.