Cynthia S. Q. Siew

Salvatore Citraro, Edith Haim, Alessandra Carini et al.

We introduce SpreadPy as a Python library for simulating spreading activation in cognitive single-layer and multiplex networks. Our tool is designed to perform numerical simulations testing structure-function relationships in cognitive processes. By comparing simulation results with grounded theories in knowledge modelling, SpreadPy enables systematic investigations of how activation dynamics reflect cognitive, psychological and clinical phenomena. We demonstrate the library's utility through three case studies: (1) Spreading activation on associative knowledge networks distinguishes students with high versus low math anxiety, revealing anxiety-related structural differences in conceptual organization; (2) Simulations of a creativity task show that activation trajectories vary with task difficulty, exposing how cognitive load modulates lexical access; (3) In individuals with aphasia, simulated activation patterns on lexical networks correlate with empirical error types (semantic vs. phonological) during picture-naming tasks, linking network structure to clinical impairments. SpreadPy's flexible framework allows researchers to model these processes using empirically derived or theoretical networks, providing mechanistic insights into individual differences and cognitive impairments. The library is openly available, supporting reproducible research in psychology, neuroscience, and education research.

Edith Haim, Lars van den Bergh, Cynthia S. Q. Siew et al.

Understanding attitudes towards STEM means quantifying the cognitive and emotional ways in which individuals, and potentially large language models too, conceptualise such subjects. This study uses behavioural forma mentis networks (BFMNs) to investigate the STEM-focused mindset, i.e. ways of associating and perceiving ideas, of 177 human participants and 177 artificial humans simulated by GPT-3.5. Participants were split in 3 groups - trainees, experts and academics - to compare the influence of expertise level on their mindset. The results revealed that human forma mentis networks exhibited significantly higher clustering coefficients compared to GPT-3.5, indicating that human mindsets displayed a tendency to form and close triads of conceptual associations while recollecting STEM ideas. Human experts, in particular, demonstrated robust clustering coefficients, reflecting better integration of STEM concepts into their cognitive networks. In contrast, GPT-3.5 produced sparser mindsets. Furthermore, both human and GPT mindsets framed mathematics in neutral or positive terms, differently from STEM high schoolers, researchers and other large language models sampled in other works. This research contributes to understanding how mindset structure can provide cognitive insights about memory structure and machine limitations.