# behav: two distinct attentional priorities guide exploratory and exploitative gaze in parallel

<< Gaze is directed to visual objects that are informative, reward-predictive, or novel. These gaze preferences may reflect the parallel influence of two separable attention systems: Exploratory attention prioritizing uncertainty and exploitative attention prioritizing learned information about reward. >>

<< (AA) tested this hypothesis in nonhuman primates learning feature-based attention to objects that had either previously learned reward associations or were novel. The reward history of features slowed down learning by attracting fixations of non-rewarded distractors that were previously targets. This reward history bias persisted in fixations used to choose objects even after choice accuracy stabilized. In contrast, fixational sampling that preceded a choice showed negligible history biases that were overcome quickly in favor of wider exploratory sampling. >>

<< Quantifying the exploratory value object features with a Parallel Belief States model of attention confirmed that exploratory fixational sampling was unaffected by reward history, while exploitative fixations that committed to a decision showed persistent target history biases. These findings suggest that gaze is guided by two separable attentional priorities in parallel. Exploratory attention prioritizes uncertain items and instantiates information sampling, while exploitative attentional priority guides gaze to current and previously goal-relevant features. >>

Xuan Wen, Alireza Seyed Hassani, et al. Two Distinct Attentional Priorities Guide Exploratory and Exploitative Gaze in Parallel. biorxiv.org. Sep 20, 2025.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.20.677503v1

Also: brain, behav, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: brain, behavior, cognition, attentional control, information seeking,  exploratory-- exploitative attentions.

# gst: soliton dynamics over a disordered topography

AA << report on the dynamics of a soliton propagating on the surface of a fluid in a 4-m-long canal with a random or periodic bottom topography. Using a full space-and-time resolved wave field measurement, (They) evidence, for the first time experimentally, how the soliton is affected by the disorder, in the context of Anderson localization, and how localization depends on nonlinearity. >>

<< For weak soliton amplitudes, the localization length is found in quantitative agreement with a linear shallow-water theory. For higher amplitudes, this spatial attenuation of the soliton amplitude is found to be enhanced. >>

<< Behind the leading soliton slowed down by the topography, different experimentally unreported dynamics occur: fission into backward and forward nondispersive pulses for the periodic case, and scattering into dispersive waves for the random case. >>

Guillaume Ricard, Eric Falcon. Soliton Dynamics over a Disordered Topography. Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 264002. Dec 27, 2024.

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.264002

Also: soliton, waves, disorder, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: gst, soliton, waves, disorder

# gst: predict the wetting of the wedge; why do the teapots always drip?

<<  The "teapot effect" has been threatening spotless white tablecloths for ages: if a liquid is poured out of a teapot too slowly, then the flow of liquid sometimes does not detach itself from the teapot, finding its way into the cup, but dribbles down at the outside of the teapot. >>

<< This phenomenon has been studied scientifically for decades—now a research team at TU Wien has succeeded in describing the "teapot effect" completely and in detail with an elaborate theoretical analysis and numerous experiments: An interplay of different forces keeps a tiny amount of liquid directly at the edge, and this is sufficient to redirect the flow of liquid under certain conditions. >>

<< Although this is a very common and seemingly simple effect, it is remarkably difficult to explain it exactly within the framework of fluid mechanics,  (..) We have now succeeded for the first time in providing a complete theoretical explanation of why this drop forms and why the underside of the edge always remains wetted, >>  Bernhard Scheichl.

<< The sharp edge on the underside of the teapot beak plays the most important role: a drop forms, the area directly below the edge always remains wet. The size of this drop depends on the speed at which the liquid flows out of the teapot. If the speed is lower than a critical threshold, this drop can direct the entire flow around the edge and dribbles down on the outside wall of the teapot. >>

<< The mathematics behind it is complicated—it is an interplay of inertia, viscous and capillary forces. The inertial force ensures that the fluid tends to maintain its original direction, while the capillary forces slow the fluid down right at the beak. The interaction of these forces is the basis of the teapot effect. However, the capillary forces ensure that the effect only starts at a very specific contact angle between the wall and the liquid surface. The smaller this angle is or the more hydrophilic (i.e. wettable) the material of the teapot is, the more the detachment of the liquid from the teapot is slowed down. >>

<< Interestingly, the strength of gravity in relation to the other forces that occur does not play a decisive role. Gravity merely determines the direction in which the jet is directed, but its strength is not decisive for the teapot effect. The teapot effect would therefore also be observed when drinking tea on a moon base, but not on a space station with no gravity at all. >>️

Why teapots always drip. Vienna University of Technology. Nov 08, 2021

https://phys.org/news/2021-11-teapots.html

Scheichl, B., Bowles, R., & Pasias, G. (2021). Developed liquid film passing a smoothed and wedge-shaped trailing edge: Small-scale analysis and the ‘teapot effect’ at large Reynolds numbers. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 926, A25. doi: 10.1017/jfm.2021.612. Sep 8, 2021. 

http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2021.612

keywords: gst, teapot effect, interfacial flows, thin films, boundary layers, Reynolds number, viscosity, viscous–inviscid interaction 

# gst: like a bowl of worms, but with two behavioral regimes

AA << have observed strand motion in a polymer melt that contradicts the idea of independent motion. >>️

<< According to the results of new neutron scattering experiments, polymer molecules in plastics move in ways that aren’t captured by commonly used models. >>

<< Melt a plastic, and its constituent molecules, known as polymers, wiggle around. Experts typically describe polymer motion using the so-called tube model, which imagines plastics as a tangle of polymer strands—think a bowlful of worms. The model assumes that each strand moves independently within a virtual tube.  >>️

<< Monitoring the center of mass motion of the short strands, they observed two behavior regimes. For short translational distances, the motion of the short strands slowed as they grew apart. For longer distances, when the center of mass of the strands reached a size on the order of the diameter of the virtual tube, the speed at which the short strands moved stopped slowing down and instead matched that of diffusion. (..) the motions of short strands were tied to those of neighboring strands at short distances, differing from a standard assumption of the tube model. This cooperative motion may come from interactions between the segments, beyond simple local friction. >>️️

Sophia Chen. The Weird Wiggle of Polymers. Physics 14, s56. May 4, 2021.

https://physics.aps.org/articles/v14/s56    

Zamponi M., Kruteva M., et al. Cooperative Chain Dynamics of Tracer Chains in Highly Entangled Polyethylene Melts. Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 187801. May 4,  2021.

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.187801

# phys: to move (momentarily) in and out of existence by extracting something from nothing

<< According to Einstein, nothing can travel faster than light in vacuum. Because of this, it is usually assumed that the Cherenkov emission cannot occur in vacuum. But according to quantum theory, the vacuum itself is packed full of "virtual particles", which move momentarily in and out of existence. These ghostly particles are usually not observable but, in the presence of extremely strong electric and magnetic fields, they can turn the vacuum into an optical medium where the speed of light is slowed down so that high velocity charged particles can emit Cherenkov gamma rays. This is totally unexpected in a vacuum. >>

Extracting something from nothing: A bright glow from empty space.
University of Strathclyde. Apr 25, 2019.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-04/uos-esf042519.php

Alexander J. Macleod, Adam Noble, Dino A. Jaroszynski. Cherenkov Radiation from the Quantum Vacuum.  Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 161601 Apr 24,  2019.

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.161601