Hollebrandse, Rik (2026) COMPARING DUAL ROUTE AND MULTIPLE ROUTES MODELS OF VISUAL EMOTIONAL PROCESSING IN ACT-R. Bachelor's Thesis, Artificial Intelligence.
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Abstract
Understanding how emotional information is processed in the brain remains a challenge in cognitive neuroscience. Competing theories propose either a fast subcortical “dual-route” pathway to the amygdala or a distributed “multiple-routes” theory involving cortical and subcortical interactions. In this project, these theories are evaluated using computational cognitive modeling and fMRI data. Two ACT-R models were constructed to simulate performance on the Hariri emotional matching task, representing a dual route and a multiple route processing architecture. Both models successfully reproduced the behavioral finding that emotional faces are processed faster than emotionally influenced scenes. Model-predicted neural activity was generated by convolving ACT-R module activations with a hemodynamic response function and compared qualitatively to human fMRI data from the Human Connectome Project using a region-of-interest analysis. While both models accounted for behavioral effects, the observed fMRI patterns showed over- lapping activation across perceptual and control regions, slightly favoring the multiple route theory. These results illustrate the potential of computational modeling for linking theory and fMRI data, while also highlighting that the temporal limitations of fMRI constrain its ability to differentiate between competing models of emotional processing. Keywords: ACT-R, fMRI, emotion processing, model-based fMRI, ROI analysis, dual route vs multiple routes
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor's Thesis) |
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| Supervisor name: | Sibert, C.L. |
| Degree programme: | Artificial Intelligence |
| Thesis type: | Bachelor's Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Jul 2026 13:58 |
| Last Modified: | 08 Jul 2026 13:58 |
| URI: | https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/37400 |
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