Title: Extensions in dynamic models of happiness: effect of memory

Authors: S. Sepehr Tabatabaei; Mohammad Javad Yazdanpanah; Sajad Jafari; Julien Clinton Sprott

Addresses: Electrical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran 15875-4413, Iran ' Control and Intelligent Processing Center of Excellence, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran 14395-515, Iran ' Biomedical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran 15875-4413, Iran ' Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA

Abstract: Due to its more dynamical richness, fractional calculus is used to derive a dynamic model of happiness in response to real life events and under different mental conditions. Previous models are extended by using fractional derivatives whose order may vary in time. This extension helps to describe memory-dependent behaviours. Since the proposed model is an extension of the former models, it includes all of their merits. As simulations show, the new model can be utilised to describe the effect of short-term memory on happiness when memory decays or is lost suddenly, similar to what happens in electroconvulsive therapy.

Keywords: dynamic modelling; happiness; fractional calculus; variable order dynamics; memory effect; electro-convulsive therapy; ECT; simulation; short-term memory.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHD.2014.066120

International Journal of Happiness and Development, 2014 Vol.1 No.4, pp.344 - 356

Received: 04 May 2013
Accepted: 10 Sep 2013
Published online: 13 Dec 2014 *

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