Below every paper are TOP 100 most-occuring words in that paper and their color is based on LDA topic model with k = 7.
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A Dream Model: Reactivation and Re-encoding Mechanisms for Sleep-dependent Memory Consolidation
George Kachergis, Roy de Kleijn, Bernhard Hommel
George Kachergis, Roy de Kleijn, Bernhard Hommel
We humans spend almost a third of our lives asleep, and there is
mounting evidence that sleep not only maintains, but actually improves many of
our cognitive functions. Memory consolidation–the process of crystallizing
and integrating memories into knowledge and skills–is particularly
benefitted by sleep. We survey the evidence that sleep aids memory consolidation
in various declarative and implicit memory tasks and review the basic
neurophysiological structure of sleep with a focus on understanding what neural
systems are involved. Drawing on machine learning research, we discuss why it
might be useful for humans–and robots, perhaps–to have such an
offline period for processing, even though humans are clearly capable of learning
incrementally, online. Finally, we propose and simulate two mechanisms for use in
computational memory models to accomplish sleep-based consolidation via either or
both 1) re-encoding knowledge representations and 2) reactivating and
strengthening recent memories.
[learning, evidence, time, early, improved, task, training] [implicit, experience, simply, version, survey, work, missing] [sleep, memory, rem, consolidation, declarative, episodic, incremental, hippocampus, replay, trace, batch, dream, hippocampal, reactivation, store, matching, occurs, specific, dreaming, bob, deprivation, ingrid, gsys, context] [knowledge, stage, procedural, require, thought, night, high, online, performance] [computational, large, proposed, amount, order, mechanism, random, word, semantic, existing, list, build] [model, updating, well, modeling, hypothesis, data, probability, empirical, based] [feature, brain, neural, process, motor, stored, current, activity, cortex, allows]
Solving the knowledge-behavior gap: Numerical cognition explains age-related changes in fairness
Nadia Chernyak, Beth Sandham, Paul Harris, Sara Cordes
Nadia Chernyak, Beth Sandham, Paul Harris, Sara Cordes
Young children share fairly and expect others to do the same. Yet
little is known about the underlying cognitive mechanisms that support fairness.
Across two experiments, we investigated whether children’s numerical
competencies are linked with their sharing behavior. Preschoolers (aged 2.5-5.5)
participated in either third-party (Experiment 1) or first-party (Experiment 2)
resource allocation tasks. Children’s numerical competence was then
assessed using the Give-N-Task (Sarnecka & Carey, 2008; Wynn, 1990). Numerical
competence – specifically knowledge of the cardinal principle explained
age-related changes in fair sharing in both the third- and first-party contexts.
These results suggest that an understanding of the cardinal principle serves as
an important mechanism for fair sharing behavior.
[age, trial, child, type, task, tested, response, journal, test, developmental, presented, looked] [experiment, understanding, cognition, cognitive, work, social, motivated, mediated, explained, possibility, excluded, told] [share, context, gender, shared, experimental, error, consistently] [sharing, fair, knowledge, numerical, fairly, young, cardinal, resource, fairness, number, counting, subset, puppet, ability, understand, continued, cardinality, dfs, asked, generous, recipient, recognize, division, preschool, video, boston, mediation, additional, museum, question, interested, equivalence, dinosaur] [principle, mechanism, table, order] [distribution, model, predicted, behavior, prior, likelihood, find, set, range, determine, norm] [figure]
Gesture reveals spatial analogies during complex relational reasoning
Kensy Cooperrider, Dedre Gentner, Susan Goldin-Meadow
Kensy Cooperrider, Dedre Gentner, Susan Goldin-Meadow
How do people think about complex relational phenomena like the
behavior of the stock market? Here we hypothesize that people reason about such
phenomena in part by creating spatial analogies, and we explore this possibility
by examining people’s spontaneous gestures. Participants read a written
lesson describing positive and negative feedback systems and then explained the
key differences between them. Though the lesson was highly abstract and free of
concrete imagery, participants produced spatial gestures in abundance during
their explanations. These spatial gestures, despite being fundamentally abstract,
showed clear regularities and often built off of each other to form larger
spatial models of relational structure—that is, spatial analogies.
Importantly, the spatial richness and systematicity revealed in
participants’ gestures was largely divorced from spatial language. These
results provide evidence for the spontaneous use of spatial analogy during
complex relational reasoning.
[relational, complex, analogy, evidence, type, time, learning, task, visuospatial, gentner, analogical] [people, causal, factor, cognitive, negative, positive, reasoning, participant, work, representational, possibility, established, described, understanding, mental, seed, mechanical, explain, key, consistent, explained, divorced] [spatial, gesture, language, reference, produced, depicted, describing, sort, spontaneous, produce, highly, remains] [change, feedback, lesson, analyzed, study, larger, understand, investigated, usa, example] [abstract, relation, sorting, concrete, considered, increase] [observed, set, behavior, model, call] [system, represent, space, involved, movement, multiple, left, focus, represented, process, role]
What Determines Human Certainty?
Louis Marti, Steven Piantadosi, Francis Mollica, Celeste Kidd
Louis Marti, Steven Piantadosi, Francis Mollica, Celeste Kidd
Previous work on concept learning has focused on how concepts are
acquired, without addressing metacognitive aspects of this process. An important
part of concept learning from a learner's perspective is knowing subjectively
when a new concept has been effectively learned. Here, we investigate learners'
certainty in a classic Boolean concept-learning task. We collected certainty
judgements during the concept-learning task from 552 participants on Amazon
Mechanical Turk. We compare different models of certainty in order to determine
exactly what learners' subjective certainty judgments encode. Our results suggest
that learners' certainty is best explained by local accuracy rather than
plausible alternatives such as total entropy or the maximum a posteriori
hypothesis of an idealized Bayesian learner. This result suggests that certainty
predominately reflects learners' performance and feedback, rather than any
metacognition about the inferential task they are solving.
[accuracy, learning, trial, task, novel, predictor, evidence, condition, tested, rule, indicating, second, learner, compare] [participant, low, sense, cognitive, explained, psychological, simply, consistent] [map, highly, previous, feldman] [concept, performance, correct, feedback, high, number, study, metacognitive, practice, three] [local, large, small, entropy, predicate, table, measure, order, analysis, include, word, reflect, complexity] [certainty, model, log, subjective, total, hypothesis, ideal, xor, likelihood, boolean, red, uncertainty, best, fit, well, idealized, maximum, data, objective, reflects, memorization, guess, observed, simple, bayesian, prior, spanned, true, theory, increasing, confidence] [current, human, figure, poor, visual]
Desirable difficulties in the development of active inquiry skills
George Kachergis, Marjorie Rhodes, Todd Gureckis
George Kachergis, Marjorie Rhodes, Todd Gureckis
This study explores developmental changes in the ability to ask
informative questions. We hypothesized an intrinsic link between the ability to
update beliefs in light of evidence and the ability to ask informative questions.
Four- to ten-year-old children played an iPad game asking them to identify a
hidden bug. Learners could either ask about individual bugs, or make a series of
feature queries (e.g., "Does the bug have antennae?") that could more efficiently
narrow the hypothesis space. The task display either helped children integrate
evidence with the hypothesis space or required them to do so. Although we found
that helping children update their beliefs improved some aspects of their active
inquiry behavior, those that updated their own beliefs asked questions that were
more context-sensitive and thus informative. The results show how making a task
more difficult may actually improve children’s active inquiry skills, thus
illustrating a type of desirable difficulty.
[condition, exemplar, age, bug, type, older, evidence, task, identify, younger, learning, developmental, slower, eliminated] [consistent, cognitive, work, false, anova, scientific] [informative, main, error, manipulated, select] [active, group, number, required, young, study, science, greater, difficulty, feedback, ability, asked, question, desirable, answer, difficult, lower] [random, structure, abstract, efficient, quality] [hypothesis, query, manual, update, eig, inquiry, button, round, updating, expected, remaining, gain, search, higher, game, efficiently, randomly, median, making, eliminate, selected, find, queried, scanning, played, simulated, qualitative, lead] [feature, figure, hidden, space, automatic, fewer, body, press]
Linguistic Signatures of Cognitive Processes during Writing
Laura Allen, Cecile Perret, Danielle McNamara
Laura Allen, Cecile Perret, Danielle McNamara
The relationship between working memory capacity and writing
ability was examined via a linguistic analysis of student essays. Undergraduate
students (n = 108) wrote timed, prompt-based essays and completed a battery of
cognitive assessments. The surface- and discourse-level linguistic features of
students’ essays were then analyzed using natural language processing
tools. The results indicated that WM capacity was related to surface-level, but
not discourse-level features of student essays. Additionally, the results suggest
that these relationships were attenuated for students with high inferencing
skills, as opposed to those with lower inferencing skills.
[journal, evidence, complex, processing, test] [capacity, cognitive, inference, low, intentional, relationship, understanding] [linguistic, memory, language, calculated, previous, degree] [ability, working, high, educational, knowledge, study, conducted, investigate, student, number, strategy] [writing, text, word, inferencing, cohesion, incidence, frequency, essay, logical, relate, quality, reading, lexical, semantic, verb, minimum, lsa, subordinating, analysis, calculate, polysemy, natural, comprehension, table, discourse, sentence, hypernymy, examine] [individual, higher, log, measured, model, selected, regression] [multiple, component, overlap, role, process, motion, current]
Balancing Structural and Temporal Constraints in Multitasking Contexts
Dario Salvucci, Tuomo Kujala
Dario Salvucci, Tuomo Kujala
Recent research has shown that when people multitask, both the
subtask structure and the temporal constraints of the component tasks strongly
influence people’s task-switching behavior. In this paper, we propose an
integrated theoretical account and associated computational model that aims to
quantify how people balance structural and temporal constraints in everyday
multitasking. We validate the theory using data from an empirical study in which
drivers performed a visual-search task while navigating a driving environment.
Through examination of illustrative protocols from the model and human drivers as
well as the overall fit on the aggregate glance data, we explore the implications
of the theory and model for time-critical multitasking domains.
[task, time, switch, showing, finding] [temporal, cognitive, people, person, account, influence, generally, focused, work, relationship, road] [item] [balance, example, number, better, chi, equal, three, lower] [structural, complete, computational, structure, theoretical, continuation, earlier, completion, analysis, includes, graph] [model, search, behavior, button, aggregate, individual, function, total, point, prior, increasing, data, reward, well, theory, empirical, hierarchy, consider] [urgency, subtask, driving, glance, figure, switching, human, press, driver, multitasking, action, continuing, duration, visual, protocol, current, kujala, associated, subtasks, focus, define, process, illustrated, environment, continues, balancing]
Do additional features help or harm during category learning? An exploration of the curse of dimensionality in human learners
Wai Keen Vong, Andrew Hendrickson, Amy Perfors, Daniel Navarro
Wai Keen Vong, Andrew Hendrickson, Amy Perfors, Daniel Navarro
How does the number of features impact category learning? One view
suggests additional features create a “curse of dimensionality” -
where having more features causes the size of the search space to explode such
that learning becomes increasingly challenging. The opposing view suggests
additional features provides additional information which should be beneficial.
Previous research exploring this issue has produced conflicting results: some
finding additional features are helpful (Hoffman & Murphy, 2006) or harmful
(Minda & Smith, 2001; Edgell et al., 1996). Here we investigate the possibility
that category structure may explain this apparent discrepancy – more
features are useful in categories with family resemblance structure, but are not
in rule-based categories. We find while the impact of having many features
depends on category structure, which can be explained by a single unified model
that attends to a single feature on any given trial and uses that information to
make judgments.
[category, learning, testing, naive, family, rule, curse, trial, diagnosticity, accuracy, resemblance, block, suggests, learned, label, minda, classification, condition, stimulus, second, learn, journal, grow] [people, diagnostic, experiment, psychological] [experimental, previous, main, occurs] [performance, additional, number, three, hybrid, better, improve, correct, impact, hurt, high, differ] [structure, natural, large, small, manipulating, determining] [model, hypothesis, predictive, bayes, intermediate, prediction, full, qualitative, increasing, data, set, predicted, binary, based, capture, paper, find, proportion, amoeba, consider, selected, search, making, probability, perfectly] [feature, dimensionality, human, figure, single, current, space, defined, interaction]
A model of conditional probability judgment
Fintan Costello, Paul Watts
Fintan Costello, Paul Watts
A standard view in cognitive psychology is that people estimate
probabilities using heuristics that do not follow probability theory. We
describe a model of probability estimation where people do follow probability
theory in estimation, but are subject to random error or noise. This model
predicts that people's conditional probability estimates will agree closely with
probability theory for certain noise-cancelling expressions, but deviate from
probability theory for other expressions. We describe an experiment which
strongly confirms these predictions, suggesting that people estimate conditional
probabilities in a way that follows standard probability theory, but is subject
to the biasing effects of random noise.
[block, pair, chance, half, standard, evidence] [event, people, conditional, reasoning, close, agreement, experiment, positive, systematic, correction, psychology, reason, cognitive, psychological, hold] [item, instance, occurs, expect, bonferroni, calculated, error, degree, describe, memory] [sum, counting, number, equal, equation, required, correct] [random, read, table, bias, subject, frequency, direct, occurrence] [probability, theory, model, average, hpe, estimate, expected, individual, predicts, predicted, sample, noise, follow, correlation, set, assume, weather, flag, randomly, symmetrically, observed, dividing, requirement, ireland, range, probabilistic, heuristic, fell, estimated, exclusive, vary] [identity, distributed, multiple, view, expression, process]
When does passive learning improve the effectiveness of active learning?
Kyle MacDonald, Mike Frank
Kyle MacDonald, Mike Frank
Much of what we learn comes from a mix of information that we
select (active) and information that we receive (passive). But which type of
training is better for different kinds of learning problems? Here, we explore
this question by comparing different sequences of active/passive training in an
abstract concept learning task. First, we replicate the active learning advantage
from Markant & Gureckis (2014) (Experiments 1a and 1b). Then, we provide a test
of whether experiencing active learning first or passive learning first improves
the effectiveness of concept learning (Experiment 2). Across both experiments,
active training led to better learning of the target concept, but "passive-first"
learners were more accurate than "active-first" learners and more efficient than
"active-only" learners. These findings broaden our understanding of when
different sequences of active/passive learning are more effective, suggesting
that for certain problems active exploration can be enhanced with prior passive
experience.
[learning, training, category, accuracy, block, test, condition, classification, task, evidence, time, advantage, type, replication, receiving, size, learn, trial, indicate, finding, boundary, replicate, reliable, reported, explore, suggesting, completed, target, radius, second] [experiment, people, antenna, work, understanding, discussion] [channel, main] [active, passive, better, performance, gureckis, markant, concept, linear, identical, yoked, exact, study, science] [quality, distance, abstract, direct, increase, computed] [sample, fit, higher, sampling, generated, model, predicting, prior, randomly, exploration, data, generate, logistic, point] [original, interaction, performed, figure, selection, current, design, angle]
The mismeasurement of mind: How neuropsychological testing creates a false picture of cognitive aging
Michael Ramscar, Ching Chu Sun, Peter Hendrix, Harald Baayen
Michael Ramscar, Ching Chu Sun, Peter Hendrix, Harald Baayen
Age-related declines in scores on neuropsychological tests are
widely believed to reveal that human cognitive capacities decline across the
lifespan. In a computational simulation, we show how the behavioral patterns
observed in Paired Associate Learning (PAL), a particularly sensitive measures of
age-related performance change (Rabbitt & Lowe, 2000), are predicted by the
models used to formalize associative learning processes in other areas of
behavioral and neuroscientific research. The simulation further predicts that
manipulating language exposure will reproduce the experience-related performance
differences erroneously attributed to age-related decline in age-matched adults.
Consistent with this, older bilinguals outperformed native speakers in a German
PAL test, an advantage that increased with age. These analyses and results show
that age-related PAL performance changes reflect the predictable effects of
learning on the associability of test items, and indicate that failing to control
for these effects is distorting our understanding of cognitive and brain
development in adulthood.
[pal, learning, test, older, vocabulary, age, decline, cue, journal, presented, jury, ramscar, lifespan, paired, response, increased, meaningless, evidence, adult, aging, eagle, declining, development, task] [cognitive, experience, consistent, influence, understanding, psychological, appear, negative, sensitive] [language, german, associative, native, background, lexicon, harder, memory, meaningful] [performance, young, change, blocking, asked, correct, worse, better] [word, association, frequency, associate, chinese, reflect, analysis] [theory, data, predicted, simulation, prior, predicts, model] [figure, neuropsychological, behavioral, current, interaction, reveal, pattern, performed, human]
When are representations of causal events quantum versus classical?
James Yearsley, Jennifer Trueblood, Emmanuel Pothos
James Yearsley, Jennifer Trueblood, Emmanuel Pothos
Throughout our lives, we are faced with a variety of causal
reasoning problems. Arguably, the most successful models of causal reasoning,
Causal Graphical Models (CGMs), perform well in some situations, but there is
considerable variation in how well they are able to account for data, both across
scenarios and between individuals. We propose a model of causal reasoning based
on quantum probability (QP) theory that accounts for behavior in situations where
CGMs fail. Whether QP or classical models are appropriate depends on the
representation of events constructed by the reasoner. We describe an experiment
that suggests the representation of events can change with experience to become
more classical, and that the representation constructed can vary between
individuals, in a way that correlates with a simple measure of cognitive ability,
The Cognitive Reflection Task.
[block, test, novel, complex, learned] [crt, causal, reasoning, low, cognitive, experience, judgment, experiment, initial, told, including, reason, victoria, participant, lake, cognition, equally, event] [memory, clearly] [three, high, group, number, score, performance, asked, question, answer, better, reflection, difference] [order, amount, animal, turn, analysis, constructed] [classical, quantum, model, compatible, probability, bayesian, inverse, incompatible, shrimp, dic, theory, fallacy, based, behavior, well, individual, decision, successful, vary, bayes, set, state, projection, bottom, function, choice] [feature, representation, figure, body, represented, space, human, medium, associated, weight, top]
Systematic feature variation underlies adults’ and children’s use of in and on
Kristen Johannes, Colin Wilson, Barbara Landau
Kristen Johannes, Colin Wilson, Barbara Landau
The spatial prepositions in and on apply to a wide range of
containment and support relations, making exhaustive definitions difficult.
Theories differ in whether they endorse geometric or functional properties and
how these properties are related to meaning and use. We directly examine the
roles of geometric and functional information in adults’ and
children’s use of in and on by developing a large sample of relations
situated within a small gradable geometric and functional feature space. We
propose that variation in features across items is systematically related to the
use of in and on and demonstrate that feature-language relationships change
across development: adults’ expression use is sensitive to both geometric
and functional features, while children’s use varies only according to
geometric features.
[adult, child, position, task, match, early, suggesting, completed, evidence, reliably] [rating, relationship, cognitive, low, rated, wide, sensitive, scale, mapping, described] [geometric, support, containment, spatial, functional, object, locational, variation, enclosure, contact, vertical, item, language, description, ground, garrod, term, empty, gradable, degree, describe, highly, encode, coded] [control, high, group, hypothesized, provided, volume, study, knowledge] [surface, table, english, large] [predicted, probabilistic, sample, propose, set, range, predict, binary, based, individual, higher, model] [feature, figure, space, location, move, expression, top]
Modeling Triage Decision Making
J. Isaiah Harbison, Alan Mishler, Thomas Wallsten
J. Isaiah Harbison, Alan Mishler, Thomas Wallsten
With the ever increasing amount of information available, the
ability to prioritize the most relevant items for full processing is increasingly
necessary to maintain expertise in a domain. As a result, accurate triage
decisions--initial decisions about the relevance of a given article, book, or
talk in order to determine whether to pursue that information further--are very
important. In the present paper, we present a model of triage decision making
that includes both an information search component to determine reading strategy
and a decision making component to make the final decision. We apply the model to
human relevance ratings as well as binary decisions of relevance for a set of
emails.
[evidence, time, response, target, reaction, rule, processing, general, tested] [relevance, participant, relevant, relationship, negative, judgment, rating, experiment] [distractor, incremental, item] [strategy, three, magnitude, additional, number, sum] [triage, topic, email, skim, paragraph, random, word, amount, text, reading, document, sentence, walk, order, article, table, confident, running, read] [decision, search, model, making, threshold, stopping, skimming, correlation, data, rate, pmi, binary, confidence, return, predicted, set, state, terminated, function, expected, maker, probability, well, gain, enron, terminate, patch, collected, determine, distribution] [process, figure, current, human, responding, movement, component]
Temporal Structure Modulates ERP Correlates of Visual Sequential Learning
Kimberly Ross, Christopher Conway
Kimberly Ross, Christopher Conway
Sequential learning (SL) refers to the ability to learn the
temporal and ordinal patterns of one’s environment. The current study
examines the effects of synchronous and asynchronous temporal patterns on visual
sequential learning. We hypothesize that entrainment allows for better processing
of the ordinal structure of sequential events. Twenty healthy adult participants
performed two versions (synchronous and asynchronous) of a visual sequential
learning paradigm while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Reaction
time data demonstrated that learning occurred in both temporal conditions. On the
other hand, the mean ERP amplitudes between 350 and 750ms post-predictor onset in
the posterior regions of interest revealed that learning of the statistical
contingencies between stimuli was disrupted for the asynchronous temporal
condition but intact for the synchronous condition. These neurophysiological data
suggest that the brain processes regular and irregular timing events differently,
with statistical learning of ordinal patterns being improved by a synchronous
temporal structure.
[learning, half, synchronous, condition, task, erp, processing, asynchronous, statistical, predictor, second, sequential, target, timing, erps, reaction, time, regularity, sequence, presentation, auditory, block, explore, attention, journal, indicating, stimulus, type, revealed, improved, jost, predictability, metrical, repeated, entrainment, reported] [temporal, implicit, future, cognitive, psychological, version, participant] [filler, consciousness, main, experimental, language] [three, ordinal, circle, study, conducted, larger, better, ability, high, attending] [regular, structure] [posterior, data, well, expected, varying, theory] [visual, figure, process, brain, interaction, left, interest, current, net, component, allows]
Knowledge and use of price distributions by populations and individuals
Timothy Lew, Edward Vul
Timothy Lew, Edward Vul
How much do individuals, compared to the population, know about
the distribution of values in the world? Participants reported the prices of
consumer goods such as watches and belts and we compared how accurately
individuals vs. the overall population knew the mean and dispersion of prices.
Although individuals and the population both knew objects’ average prices
and relative standard deviations, the population was more sensitive to the
absolute standard deviation of prices. In a second experiment, we examined
whether individuals’ impoverished distribution knowledge impairs their
ability to interpret advertisements. Consistent with people using Bayesian
inference, the higher an object’s actual price dispersion, the more
participants relied on advertisements; however, this effect is considerably
smaller than a simple proportional offset, suggesting again that individuals
underestimate dispersion. Thus, despite having a sense of the distribution of
real world quantities, individuals tend to know only a fraction of the world
distribution.
[standard, compared, indicate, presented, reported, category, session, indicating, suggesting, novel] [people, positive, experiment, negative, inference, participant, cognitive, despite, influence, guessed, consistent, examined] [object, rely, baking, highly, modifier, varied, calculated, accompanied] [knowledge, slope, ability, absolute, better, limited, smaller, linear] [variance, random, correlated, distributional, heavily, accurately, greatly] [price, dispersion, confidence, average, true, population, distribution, knew, infer, advertisement, model, individual, deviation, interval, regression, everyday, well, range, determine, log, pragmatic, full, prior, percentile, estimate, guess, calibrated, relied, bayesian, estimated, set, behavior, impoverished] [interaction, figure, multiple, represent, grey]
Benefiting from Being Alike: Interindividual Skill Differences Predict Collective Benefit in Joint Object Control
Basil Wahn, Laura Schmitz, Peter König, Günther Knoblich
Basil Wahn, Laura Schmitz, Peter König, Günther Knoblich
When two individuals perform a task together, they combine their
individual skills to achieve a joint goal. Previous research has shown that
interindividual skill differences predict a group’s collective benefit in
joint perceptual decision-making. In the present study, we tested whether this
relationship also holds for other task domains, using a dynamic object control
task in which two participants each controlled either the vertical or horizontal
movement direction of an object. Our findings demonstrate that the difference in
individuals’ skill levels was highly predictive of the dyad’s
collective benefit. Differences in individuals’ subjective ratings of task
difficulty reflected skill differences and thus also turned out to be a predictor
of collective benefit. Generally, collective benefit was modulated by spatial
task demands. Overall, the present study shows that previous findings in joint
decision-making can be extended to dynamic motor tasks such as joint object
control.
[task, target, type, condition, indicate, predictor, phase, test, tested, facilitate] [participant, cognitive, experiment, rating] [spatial, object, perceptual, vertical, experimental, previous, main, university] [collective, benefit, contribution, performance, control, skill, interindividual, cursor, better, dist, difficulty, member, difference, study, bahrami, larger, group, ratio, circle, three, external, lower, contributed, science, skillful, precise, coarse] [approach, relative, measure, quality] [individual, predict, predicted, subjective, well, correlation, jointly, data, higher] [joint, dyad, controlled, movement, figure, dynamic, action, horizontal, separately, assigning, left, motor, european, angle, moving, central, start, performed, interaction, germany]
Towards a Cognitively Realistic Representation of Word Associations
Ivana Kajic, Jan Gosmann, Terrence Stewart, Thomas Wennekers, Chris Eliasmith
Ivana Kajic, Jan Gosmann, Terrence Stewart, Thomas Wennekers, Chris Eliasmith
The ability to associate words is an important cognitive skill. In
this
study we investigate different methods for representing word associations
in the brain, using the Remote Associates Test (RAT) as a task. We explore
representations derived from free association norms and statistical n-gram
data. Although n-gram representations yield better performance on the test,
a closer match with the human performance is obtained with representations
derived from free associations. We propose that word association strengths
derived from free associations play an important role in the process of RAT
solving. Furthermore, we show that this model can be implemented in spiking
neurons, and estimate the number of biologically realistic neurons that
would suffice for an accurate representation.
[cue, test, second, statistical, processing, time, compound, target] [cognitive, work, analytical, psychological] [memory, language, latent, implemented, recall, associative] [free, solution, performance, problem, solving, group, correct, number, three, study, better, solve, reduction, sum, insight] [word, association, rat, vector, fan, analysis, semantic, google, approach, sym, remote, derived, fire, ngsym, symmetric, asym, creative, svd, similarity, producing] [data, model, set, asymmetric, based, probability, best, method, predict, allow, realistic, find, preferred] [human, matrix, representation, neural, top, spiking, representing, figure, represent, network, neuron, output, dimensionality, process, biologically]
Vector Space Semantic Models Predict Subjective Probability Judgments for Real-World Events
Sudeep Bhatia
Sudeep Bhatia
We examine how people judge the probabilities of real-world
events, such as natural disasters in different countries. We find that the
associations between the words and phrases that constitute these events, as
assessed by vector space semantic models, strongly correlate with the
probabilities assigned to these events by participants. Thus, for example, the
semantic proximity of “earthquake” and “Japan” accurately
predicts judgments regarding the probability of an earthquake in Japan. Our
results suggest that the mechanisms and representations at play in language are
also active in high-level domains, such as judgment and decision making, and that
existing insights regarding these representations can be used to make precise,
quantitative, a priori predictions regarding the probability estimates of
individuals.
[processing] [people, event, judgment, participant, psychological, bank, assigned, judge, famous, united, fact, described] [highly, associative, language, linguistic] [linear, study, knowledge, academy, asked, number, involving, logarithmic, japan] [word, semantic, vector, association, natural, cosine, distance, approach, analysis, similarity, nobel, mikolov, google, involve, turn, popular, large, considered, table] [probability, predict, average, earthquake, model, logistic, subjective, assign, paper, find, decision, fit, note, provide, consider, predicting, making, data, winning, estimate, attempt, fitting, linda, set, state, everyday] [space, released]
Noisy Parameters in Risky Choice
Sudeep Bhatia, Graham Loomes
Sudeep Bhatia, Graham Loomes
We examine the effect of variability in model parameters on the
predictions of expected utility theory and cumulative prospect theory, two of the
most influential choice models in decision making research. We find that
zero-mean and symmetrically distributed noise in the underlying parameters of
these models can systematically distort choice probabilities, leading to false
conclusions. Likewise, differences in choice proportions across decision makers
might be due to differences in the amount of noise affecting underlying
parameters rather than to differences in actual parameter values. Our results
suggest that care and caution are needed when trying to infer the underlying
preferences of decision makers, or the effects of psychological, biological,
economic, and demographic variables on these preferences.
[modal, chance, deterministic, time, journal, pair] [suppose, case, account, psychological] [variability, offering, term] [high, seeking, equivalent] [small, typically, approach, amount, reflect, considered, random] [choice, decision, noise, probability, fechnerian, risk, expected, risky, underlying, gamble, parameter, utility, stochastic, preference, choosing, obtaining, model, function, eut, theory, luce, xiv, prospect, weighting, choose, tendency, yiii, observed, varying, option, range, consider, data, point, xiii, overweighting, cpt, making, safe, modelling, higher, economic, assumed, payoff, maker, chooses, noisy, vary, paper, chosen, xii] [figure, central, behavioral, pattern, distributed, represents, represented]
The Influence of Language-specific Auditory Cues on the Learnability of Center-embedded Recursion
Jun Lai, Chiara de Jong, Dingguo Gao, Ren Huang, Emiel Krahmer, Jan Sprenger
Jun Lai, Chiara de Jong, Dingguo Gao, Ren Huang, Emiel Krahmer, Jan Sprenger
The learnability of center-embedded recursive structures has
attracted much attention. However, previous studies adopted the artificial
grammar learning paradigm and did not apply natural language stimuli.
Accordingly, we attempt to tighten the link between artificial language learning
and natural language acquisition in the auditory modality, by enriching our
learning environment with phonological cues that occur in natural language,
namely, spoken information, in particular, Chinese tones. In a grammaticality
judgment task, we examined the syntactical processing by participants from
different language backgrounds. Through the cross-language comparison between
Chinese and Dutch native speakers, we aim to test the influence of
language-specific phonological cues on processing complex linguistic structures.
The results showed that tones had a more beneficial learning effect on Chinese
than on Dutch participants. When participants learned a new language, they were
likely to bring their own language routines implicitly from the familiar native
language into processing the unfamiliar one.
[learning, artificial, auditory, tonal, processing, test, modality, statistical, complex, ungrammatical, target, repeated, second, pitch, half, accuracy, journal, chance, learned, segmentation, grammaticality, training, syllable, tone, recorded, presented, sun] [cognitive, influence, consistent] [language, dutch, native, phonological, previous, tilburg, listening, grammatical, memory, main, learnability, speech, linguistic, listener, netherlands, society, centerembedded] [study, science, three, number, performance, impact, annual] [chinese, natural, recursive, unique, word, grammar, small, syntactic, english, recursion, structure, syntactical, amount, complexity, acquisition, helped, large] [higher, prior, set, conference] [figure, current, performed, hierarchical, visual, input, focus]
U-INVITE: Estimating Individual Semantic Networks from Fluency Data
Jeffrey Zemla, Yoed Kenett, Kwang-Sung Jun, Joseph Austerweil
Jeffrey Zemla, Yoed Kenett, Kwang-Sung Jun, Joseph Austerweil
Semantic networks have been used extensively in psychology to
describe how humans organize facts and knowledge in memory. Numerous methods have
been proposed to construct semantic networks using data from memory retrieval
tasks, such as the semantic fluency task (listing items in a category). However
these methods typically generate group-level networks, and sometimes require a
very large amount of participant data. We present a novel computational method
for estimating an individual’s semantic network using semantic fluency data
that requires very little data. We establish its efficacy by examining the
semantic relatedness of associations estimated by the model.
[response, compared, time, category, task, statistical, novel, starting, reported] [cognitive, psychological, false, reconstructed, participant, psychology] [memory, item, retrieval] [number, procedure, three, additional, toy, difference] [semantic, fluency, random, walk, list, invite, irt, censored, beagle, removed, edge, jun, mth, unweighted, order, examine, irts, node, structure, uncensored, clustering, similarity, toggle, weighted, censoring, absorbed, incorporating, proposed, computational, large, amount] [model, method, data, estimate, generated, expected, probability, estimated, estimating, denotes, average, search, generate, individual, parameter, cost, higher, function, assume, total] [network, human, process, original, figure, switching, fewer, weight, transition, multiple]
Conversational expectations account for apparent limits on theory of mind use
Robert X.d. Hawkins, Noah Goodman
Robert X.d. Hawkins, Noah Goodman
Theory of mind is a powerful cognitive ability: by the age of six,
people are capable of accurately reasoning about others' beliefs and desires. An
influential series of language understanding experiments by Keysar and
colleagues, however, showed that adults systematically failed to take a speaker's
beliefs into account, revealing limitations on theory of mind. In this paper we
argue that these apparent failures are in fact successes. Through a minimal pair
of replications comparing scripted vs. unscripted speakers, we show that critical
utterances used by Keysar and colleagues are uncooperative: they are less
informative than what a speaker would actually produce in that situation. When we
allow participants to naturally interact, we find that listener expectations are
justified and errors are reduced. This ironically shows that apparent failures of
theory of mind are in fact attributable to sophisticated expectations about
speaker behavior---that is, to theory of mind.
[target, condition, time, baseline, label, replication, reported, suggests, half] [experiment, social, fact, participant, roll, understanding, including, percentage, account, recruited, mechanical, common] [error, distractor, keysar, item, speaker, experimental, scripted, informative, director, matcher, object, referring, fitness, listener, tape, produce, web, cassette, language, informativity, confederate, utterance, unscripted, attempted, filler, cell, visible, unconstrained] [mind, better, instruction, precise, additional, difficult, correct] [random, relative, table, window] [theory, fit, total, making, tendency, decision, model, set, behavior, pragmatic, provide, data, find, amazon] [hidden, critical, occluded, move, original, figure, apparent, role]
Simpler structure for more informative words: a longitudinal study
Uriel Cohen Priva, Emily Gleason
Uriel Cohen Priva, Emily Gleason
As new concepts and discoveries accumulate over time, the amount
of information available to speakers increases as well. One would expect that an
utterance today would be more informative than an utterance 100 years ago (basing
information on surprisal; Shannon 1948), given the increase in technology and
scientific discoveries. This prediction, however, is at odds with recent theories
regarding information in human language use, which suggest that speakers maintain
a somewhat constant information rate over time. Using the Google Ngram corpus
(Michel et al. 2011), we show for multiple languages that changes in lexical
information (a unigram model) are actually negatively correlated with changes in
structural information (a trigram model), supporting recent proposals on
information theoretic constraints.
[time, journal, size, complex, year, predictability, suggesting] [negative, negatively, relationship, positively] [language, american, informative, speech, van, context, memory, expect, previous, brown, affect, utterance, linguistic] [number, change, cohen, study, provided, observing, controlling, material, subset, knowledge, reduction, published] [entropy, trigram, unigram, word, english, structural, unique, residual, lexical, corpus, correlated, google, syntactic, unigrams, ngram, frequency, british, amount, increase, rise, soup, complexity, raining, acceptable, aerial, today, levy, efficient, random] [rate, log, probability, total, data, model, correlation, sample, individual, hypothesis, predict, estimate, prediction, predicted, collected, higher] [figure, duration, controlled, theoretic]
Facilitating Spatial Task Learning in Interactive Multimedia Environments While Accounting for Individual Differences and Task Difficulty
Dar-Wei Chen, Richard Catrambone
Dar-Wei Chen, Richard Catrambone
Two experiments examined the effects of interactive tutorial
features (compared to “passive” features) on learning spatial tasks,
an area seldom explored in interactivity research. Experiment 1 results indicated
that for simple spatial tasks, interactive tutorials hindered learning for
participants of higher spatial ability but improved learning for lower-ability
participants. This interaction can be explained by “compensation,”
the notion that people of higher ability can compensate for poor external support
(passive tutorials) while people of lower ability need the better support. It is
likely that the increased cognitive load of interactivity (Kalyuga, 2007)
hindered high-spatial participants on a relatively easy task. In Experiment 2,
task difficulty was increased, and the results revealed that the interactive
tutorial produced better learning than the passive tutorial, regardless of
spatial abilities. With the relatively difficult task, the benefits of
interactivity became clearer because most people actually needed the interactive
features despite the associated cognitive load.
[learning, task, condition, cross, time, learn, learner, type] [experiment, people, multimedia, cognitive, mental, yellow, understanding, positive, discussion, examined, assigned, low] [spatial, van, support, main, matching] [interactive, interactivity, tutorial, ability, passive, cube, control, better, online, assessment, study, score, knowledge, difficult, educational, tier, video, college, creating, mse, high, allowed, needed, external, lower, easy, compensate, difference, encouraged, material, easily, difficulty, place, instructional, performance, achievement, create] [edge, complete, table] [individual, correlation, scoring, higher] [user, figure, interaction, corner, move, involves, performed, feature, scheme]
A Neural Dynamic Model Parses Object-Oriented Actions
Mathis Richter, Jonas Lins, Gregor Schoener
Mathis Richter, Jonas Lins, Gregor Schoener
Parsing actions entails that relations between objects are
discovered. A pervasively neural account of this process requires that
fundamental problems are solved: the neural pointer problem, the binding problem,
and the problem of generating discrete processing steps from time-continuous
neural processes. We present a prototypical solution to these problems in a
neural dynamic model that comprises dynamic neural fields holding representations
close to sensorimotor surfaces as well as dynamic nodes holding discrete,
language-like representations. Making the connection between these two types of
representations enables the model to parse actions as well as ground movement
phrases - all based on real visual input. We demonstrate how the dynamic neural
processes autonomously generate the processing steps required to parse or ground
object-oriented action.
[target, attention, relational, processing, attentional, time, selective, continuous, formed] [account, cognitive, yellow, frame] [spatial, reference, object, color, ground, language, intention, production, university, memory, map] [discrete, video, operator] [phrase, node, oxford, parsing, organization, computational] [model, red, based, behavior, theory, higher, requires, emerge, generate] [neural, field, dynamic, activation, process, architecture, feature, input, grounding, visual, perception, dft, movement, representation, represented, multiple, binding, moving, left, defined, peak, framework, interaction, embodied, action, represents, space, projected, motion, scene, allows, weight, steerable, user, project, sensorimotor, coordinate, location, output]
Contextual Events and Their Role in a Two-Choice Joint Simon Task
Steve Croker, J. Scott Jordan, Daniel Schloesser, Vincent Cialdella, Alex Dayer
Steve Croker, J. Scott Jordan, Daniel Schloesser, Vincent Cialdella, Alex Dayer
We examined the effects of individual versus joint action on a
Simon task using motion tracking to explore the implicit cognitive dynamics
underlying responses. In both individual and joint conditions, participants were
slower to respond, and were differentially attracted to the distracter response
location, when the spatial component of the stimulus was incompatible with the
response location. When two people completed similar two choice tasks together,
the results were not statistically different from the individual condition, even
though the magnitude of the stimulus-response compatibility effect was slightly
larger. Neither was there an increased effect when the partner had no
stimulus-response conflict to resolve. We found no evidence for an action
conflict when the responses of the two partners were different. These data imply
that the literature regarding the Joint Simon task is still in the process of
determining the relevant events that interact with and support joint action.
[response, task, condition, stimulus, conflict, spatially, completed, target, mouse, rule, trajectory, presented, standard, trial, increased, evidence, alongside] [participant, cognitive, indicated] [spatial, color, distracter, confederate, error, expect, basic, referential] [difference, larger, greater, study, correct, addition, engaged, differentially] [direct] [individual, data, incompatible, maximum, compatible, green, deviation, button, red] [left, joint, simon, respond, direction, partner, croker, rts, figure, pointing, tapping, responded, location, action, motion, ring, movement, interaction, compatibility, tracking, responding, sebanz, hand, component, attracted, coding, longer, rightdirection, reach]
A Framework for Evaluating Speech Representations
Caitlin Richter, Naomi Feldman, Harini Salgado, Aren Jansen
Caitlin Richter, Naomi Feldman, Harini Salgado, Aren Jansen
Listeners track distributions of speech sounds along perceptual
dimensions. We introduce a method for evaluating hypotheses about what those
dimensions are, using a cognitive model whose prior distribution is estimated
directly from speech recordings. We use this method to evaluate two speaker
normalization algorithms against human data. Simulations show that
representations that are normalized across speakers predict human discrimination
data better than unnormalized representations, consistent with previous research.
Results further reveal differences across normalization methods in how well each
predicts human data. This work provides a framework for evaluating hypothesized
representations of speech and lays the groundwork for testing models of speech
perception on natural speech recordings from ecologically valid settings.
[categorization, tested, exemplar, stimulus, statistical, target, test, advantage] [cognitive, consistent, work, front] [speech, vtln, speaker, normalization, discrimination, perceptual, mfccs, acoustic, vowel, dialect, normalized, mfcc, female, formant, gender, divergence, vocal, tract, unnormalized, male, nsp, previous, phonetic, production, directly, implemented, variability, error] [high, effective, performance] [corpus, computed, similarity, distance] [model, distribution, prior, data, likelihood, method, predict, evaluating, set, higher, log, estimated, probability, provide, fit, posterior, sample] [human, perception, feature, signal, figure, input, dimensionality, represented, representation, automatic, corresponding, mcmurray, allows]
Biases and Benefits of Number Lines and Pie Charts in Proportion Representation
Michelle Hurst, Charlotta Relander, Sara Cordes
Michelle Hurst, Charlotta Relander, Sara Cordes
In two experiments, we investigate how adults think about
proportion across different symbolic and spatial representations in a comparison
task (Experiment 1) and a translation task (Experiment 2). Both experiments show
response patterns suggesting that decimal notation provides a symbolic advantage
in precision when representing numerical magnitude, whereas fraction notation
does not. In addition, pie charts may show some advantages above number lines
when translating between representations. Lastly, our findings suggest that the
translation between number lines and fractions may be particularly error-prone.
We discuss what these performance patterns suggest in terms of how adults
represent proportional information across these different formats and some
potential avenues through which these advantages and disadvantages may arise,
suggesting new questions for future work.
[task, presented, suggesting, journal, response, continuous, advantage, type, finding, suggests, trial, block, repeated] [experiment, distinct, anova, indicated, investigating, participant, representational] [spatial, main, experimental] [number, pie, decimal, fraction, ratio, magnitude, symbolic, involving, proportional, partial, symbol, chart, notation, comparison, translating, performance, larger, avg, numerical, smaller, comparing, circle, better, accurate, strategy, correct, largest, included, discrete, instruction, boston, investigate, college, precision, difficult, format, hurst, provided, approximate] [large, small, order, translation, bias, table] [proportion, data, rational] [representation, represented, involved, representing, screen, represent, pattern, left]
Critical Features of Joint Actions that Signal Human Interaction
Tianmin Shu, Steven Thurman, Dawn Chen, Song-Chun Zhu, Hongjing Lu
Tianmin Shu, Steven Thurman, Dawn Chen, Song-Chun Zhu, Hongjing Lu
We examined the visual perception of joint actions, in which two
individuals coordinate their body movements in space and time to achieve a joint
goal. Animations of interacting action pairs (partners in human interactions) and
non-interacting action pairs (individual actors sampled from different
interaction sequences) were shown in the experiment. Participants were asked to
rate how likely the two actors were interacting. The rating data were then
analyzed using multidimensional scaling to recover a two-dimensional
psychological space for representing joint actions. A descriptive model based on
ordinal logit regression with a sparseness constraint was developed to account
for human judgments by identifying critical features that signal joint actions.
We found that identification of joint actions could be accomplished by assessing
inter-actor correlations between motion features derived from body movements of
individual actions. These critical features may enable rapid detection of
meaningful inter-personal interactions in complex scenes.
[dimension, type, pair, evidence, training, attention, journal, time] [social, rating, temporal, person, psychological, drink, variable, biological, experiment, frame] [meaningful, argue, van, spatial] [interactivity, high] [entropy, order, derived] [model, correlation, rank, set, based, capture, individual, data, average, selected, true] [joint, action, human, interaction, motion, arm, feature, actor, critical, body, visual, interacting, figure, space, limb, coordinated, ranking, matrix, salsa, play, threaten, shake, touching, moving, left, wrestle, dance, movement, leg, developed, whip, perception, fitted, achieve, catch, input, pull, defined, walking]
Are There Hidden Costs to Teaching Mathematics with Incorrect Examples?
Min Kyung Hong, Darren J. Yeo, Bethany Rittle-Johnson, Lisa K. Fazio
Min Kyung Hong, Darren J. Yeo, Bethany Rittle-Johnson, Lisa K. Fazio
This study aims to address potential costs of using incorrect
worked examples in teaching mathematics. While such practice has been shown to be
effective in educational research, previous findings in the memory literature
suggest that exposure to an incorrect solution may lead students to later believe
that it is correct due to increased familiarity. We designed a two-session
experiment with 1-week delay in which students studied correct and incorrect
worked out examples. We found only small changes in students’ ability to
successfully distinguish between correct and incorrect solutions over time.
Students did rate the previously studied incorrect examples as being more correct
after the 1-wk delay, but this did not affect their correctness ratings of new
correct and incorrect worked examples or their problem solving accuracy. We
conclude that the unique nature of mathematical problem solving may protect
students from the dangers of using incorrect worked examples.
[learning, journal, repeated, presented, forgetting, test, time, learn, accuracy, novel, phase, task, learned] [rated, truth, rating, source, event, experiment, psychology, false, delay, cognitive, social, examined] [memory, delayed, remember, distinguish, experimental, error, studied, studying, specific, filler] [incorrect, correct, worked, solution, problem, study, solving, difference, correctness, knowledge, illusory, feedback, ability, change, example, solve, mathematics, solved, vanderbilt, asked, week, forget, appleton, peabody, educational, help, place, college, procedure, department, usa, answered, mse, instructional, answer] [order, analysis, examine, small, reflect] [probability, rate, prior, true] [figure, human, design]
The comprehension of English Garden-path sentences by Mandarin and Korean learners of English as a second language
Zhiying Qian
Zhiying Qian
The present study investigated the relative contributions of verb
bias and plausibility in sentence processing in native English speakers and L2
learners. Ten direct-object-biased and ten sentential-complement-biased verbs
were used in Experiment 1 to construct 80 items containing embedded clauses in
ambiguous and unambiguous versions. Verb bias and complementizer cues were each
sufficient for native speakers for disambiguation, but both had to be present for
L1-Mandarin learners. Both higher and lower proficiency L1-Mandarin learners
could use verb bias cues but only higher proficiency L1-Korean learners could do
so (Lee, Lu, & Garnsey, 2013), suggesting that L1 word order (Mandarin SVO;
Korean SOV) influences how quickly L2 learners learn word-order-dependent cues
about L2 structures. Experiment 2 showed that neither native speakers nor L2
learners (L1-Mandarin & L1-Korean) used plausibility cues, replicating previous
findings in English and challenging the claim that L2 learners rely primarily on
lexical-semantic cues during on-line sentence processing.
[cue, slower, learn, second, processing, accuracy, journal, age, time, revealed] [experiment, summarized, rated, lee, scientist] [native, language, object, ambiguity, main, rely, previous, memory, university] [group, lower, question, difference, study, hard] [verb, bias, ambiguous, proficiency, plausibility, complementizer, reading, english, direct, unambiguous, noun, disambiguating, read, sentence, embedded, table, word, syntactic, clause, comprehension, residual, club, frequency, understood, upcoming, plausible, subject, ticket, order, korean, mandarin, article, applied, admitted, structure, implausible, efficient, heavily] [higher, agent, based, true] [interaction, region, figure, pattern]
Choice adaptation to increasing and decreasing event probabilities
Samuel Cheyette, Emmanouil Konstantinidis, Jason Harman, Cleotilde Gonzalez
Samuel Cheyette, Emmanouil Konstantinidis, Jason Harman, Cleotilde Gonzalez
A constant element of our modern environment is change. In
decision-making research however, very little is known about how people make
choices in dynamic environments. We report the results of an experiment where
participants were asked to choose between two options: a dynamic and risky option
that resulted in either a high or a low outcome, and a stationary and safe option
that resulted in a medium outcome. The probability of the high outcome in the
risky option decreased or increased linearly over the course of the task while
the probability of the medium outcome stayed the same throughout. We find that
adaptation to change is related to the direction of that change, and that the way
people adapt to changing probabilities relates to their willingness to explore
available options. A cognitive model based on Instance-Based Learning Theory
reproduces the behavioral patterns.
[condition, half, repeated, learning, trial, second, compared, early, time, paradigm, test] [people, cognitive, experience, psychological, experiment, low, result] [adaptation, memory, adapt, instance, experimental, select] [change, changing, high, better, study, course, difference, investigated, three] [frequent, panel] [option, decreasing, risky, model, increasing, probability, safe, outcome, choice, observed, stationary, average, decision, ibl, higher, function, gradual, data, proportion, adapting, rare, binary, rakow, gonzalez, behavior, maximizing, rate, recency, reflects, continual, making, stayed, observe, preference, noise, selecting] [dynamic, human, figure, environment, direction, left, activation, represents, associated]
Factors Influencing Categorization Strategy in Visual Category Learning
Sujith Thomas, Harish Karnick
Sujith Thomas, Harish Karnick
Studies in visual category learning show that participants use
different category generalization strategies. Some studies report a preference
for a rule-based strategy, while others report a preference for a
similarity-based strategy. We conducted category learning experiments in which we
varied three variables - family resemblance of a category, saliency of the
defining rule and presentation of transfer stimulus after a delay. Our results
show that these factors influence the choice of category generalization strategy.
Our study offers a possible explanation for the divergent results in the
literature.
[category, saliency, rule, defining, type, target, stimulus, family, categorization, learning, resemblance, time, presented, training, generalization, response, identify, datapoints, testing, trial, dimension, polygon, presentation, lab, ith, quantify, boundary, pth] [experiment, participant, false, common, explain, cognitive, influence] [color, contrast, experimental, separate, memory, varied, calculated, thomas] [transfer, strategy, study, equation, difference, report, number, three, high, science, feedback, observational, linear, correctly] [entropy, minimum, abstract, divergent] [true, preferred, maximum, regression, model, choice, multinomial, preference, generated, data, correlation, average, randomly, range, distribution, decide] [figure, feature, visual]
Simulating Developmental Changes in Noun Richness through Performance-limited Distributional Analysis
Daniel Freudenthal, Julian Pine, Gary Jones, Fernand Gobet
Daniel Freudenthal, Julian Pine, Gary Jones, Fernand Gobet
In this paper we examine how a mechanism that learns word classes
from distributional information can contribute to the simulation of child
language. Using a novel measure of noun richness, it is shown that the ratio of
nouns to verbs in young children’s speech is considerably higher than in
adult speech. Simulations with MOSAIC show that this effect can be partially (but
not completely) explained by an utterance-final bias in learning. The remainder
of the effect is explained by the early emergence of a productive noun category,
which can be learned through distributional analysis.
[early, child, developmental, learning, accuracy, category, advantage, reported, novel, increased] [work, cognitive, basis, framing, explained, fact, consistent] [utterance, context, language, speech, grammatical, emergence, building] [number, high, young] [noun, richness, analysis, distributional, mosaic, mechanism, word, freudenthal, table, mlu, redington, verb, bias, frequent, lexical, productivity, rote, approach, increase, productive, relative, substitution, large, length, tend, similarity, linked, manchester, preceding, expressed, mintz, corpus, plausible, build, simulating, jaccard, inclusion, distributionally, developmentally] [data, model, provide, fit, average, individual, well, generated] [output, input, classified, decrease, focus]
A Computational Exploration of Problem-Solving Strategies and Gaze Behaviors on the Block Design Task
Maithilee Kunda, Mohamed El Banani, James Rehg
Maithilee Kunda, Mohamed El Banani, James Rehg
The block design task, a standardized test of nonverbal reasoning,
is often used to characterize atypical patterns of cognition in individuals with
developmental or neurological conditions. Many studies suggest that, in addition
to looking at quantitative differences in block design speed or accuracy,
observing qualitative differences in individuals' problem-solving strategies can
provide valuable information about a person's cognition. However, it can be
difficult to tie theories at the level of problem-solving strategy to predictions
at the level of externally observable behaviors such as gaze shifts and patterns
of errors. We present a computational architecture that is used to compare
different models of problem-solving on the block design task and to generate
detailed behavioral predictions for each different strategy. We describe the
results of three different modeling experiments and discuss how these results
provide greater insight into the analysis of gaze behavior and error patterns on
the block design task.
[block, target, task, test, time, standard, size, match, development, age] [mental, cognitive, bank, clinical, work, including, experiment, participant, scale, understanding] [module, perceptual, specific, spatial, memory, error] [performance, strategy, solve, solving, number, guided, lower] [construction, computational, similarity, random, table, detailed, analysis, form] [model, search, threshold, qualitative, intelligence, well, simulated, provide, simulation, individual, modeling] [design, visual, gaze, image, architecture, current, face, area, environment, neuropsychological, hand, figure, level, transition, stored, quantitative, human, single, imagery, diagonal, placing, nonverbal, behavioral]
Causal Action: A Fundamental Constraint on Perception of Bodily Movements
Yujia Peng, Steven Thurman, Hongjing Lu
Yujia Peng, Steven Thurman, Hongjing Lu
Human actions are more than mere body movements. In contrast to
other dynamic events in the natural world, human actions involve mental processes
that enable willful bodily movements. We reported two experiments to demonstrate
that human observers spontaneously assign the role of cause to relative limb
movements, and the role of effect to body motion (i.e., the position changes of
the body center of mass) when observing actions of others. Experiment 1 showed
that this causal action constraint impacts people’s impression on the
naturalness of observed actions. Experiment 2a/b revealed that the causal
constraint guides the integration of different motion cues within a relational
schema. We developed an ideal observer model to rule out the possibility that
these effects resulted from the learning of statistical regularity in action
stimuli. These findings demonstrate that causal relations concerning bodily
movements play an important role in perceiving and understanding actions.
[condition, position, presented, time, revealed, sequence, indicating, stimulus, task, evidence] [causal, temporal, experiment, asymmetry, psychological, key, perceived, biological, cover, causality, people, understanding, preceded, rating, shifted, person, physical, work, story, judged, common, sensitive] [matched, object, experimental] [dot, change, magnitude, study, included, video] [relative, relation, natural, large] [observer, model, observed, ideal, proportion, based, agent, assign] [body, motion, limb, action, human, offset, figure, posture, role, perception, ahead, naturalness, lag, visual, walking, movement, bodily, direction, moving, actor, corresponding, binding, constraint, forward, gps, center, uneven, environment, involved, interaction, perceiving, laser]
A Robust Implementation of Episodic Memory for a Cognitive Architecture
David Menager, Dongkyu Choi
David Menager, Dongkyu Choi
The ability to remember events plays an important role in human
life. People can replay past events in their heads and often make decisions based
on the retrieved information. In this paper, we describe a novel extension to a
cognitive architecture, ICARUS, that enables it to store, organize, generalize,
and retrieve episodic traces that can help the agent in a variety of manners.
After discussing previous work on the related topic, we review ICARUS and explain
the new extension to the architecture in detail. Then we discuss four
architectural implications of the new capability and list some future work before
we conclude.
[generalization, cue, time, generalized, block, match, journal, generalize, learn, learning, general] [cognitive, situation, work, explain, experience, person, distinct, discussion, event, future, robot, inserted, notion] [episodic, memory, carus, retrieval, remembering, knowing, matching, impasse, describe, perceptual, module, rainbow, soar, cache, architectural, sibling, named, modified, buffer] [concept, knowledge, ability, number, skill, three] [table, order, semantic, frequency, mechanism, computational, similarity, predicate, amount, glass] [agent, tree, search, state, based, true, provide] [episode, architecture, current, process, system, figure, encoding, stored, goal, review, level, representation, human, resolution, box, represent, environment, automatic]
A Deep Siamese Neural Network Learns the Human-Perceived Similarity Structure of Facial Expressions Without Explicit Categories
Sanjeev Jagannatha Rao, Yufei Wang, Garrison Cottrell
Sanjeev Jagannatha Rao, Yufei Wang, Garrison Cottrell
In previous work, we showed that a simple neurocomputational model
{The Model, or TM) trained on the Ekman & Friesen Pictures of Facial Affect
(POFA) dataset to categorize the images into the six basic expressions can
account for wide array of data (albeit from a single study) on facial expression
processing. The model demonstrated categorical perception of facial expressions,
as well as the so-called facial expression circumplex. Here, we extend this work
by 1) using a new dataset, NimsStims, that is much larger than POFA, and is not
as tightly controlled for the correct Facial Action Units; 2) using a completely
different neural network architecture, a Siamese Neural Network (SNN) that maps
two faces through twin networks into a 2D similarity space; and 3) training the
network only implicitly, based on a teaching signal that pairs of faces are in
either in the same or different categories.
[training, learning, category, suggests, size, categorical, classify, journal, generalize, presented, stimulus, second, learn] [emotion, consistent, low, angry, work, anger, happy, distinct, inherent] [basic, university, dissimilar] [three, reduction, number, usa, science] [similarity, structure, order, large] [model, data, loss, set, function, probability, ordering, well, point, reflects] [facial, network, siamese, neural, figure, convolutional, expression, layer, representation, fear, input, trained, perception, dimensional, surprise, circumplex, dailey, face, disgust, human, deep, fully, internal, computer, dataset, dimensionality, nimstim, space, connected, fine, evolved, developed, multidimensional, supposed, closer, image, train]
The Influence of Reputation Concerns and Social Biases on Children’s Sharing Behavior
Haleh Yazdi, David Barner, Gail Heyman
Haleh Yazdi, David Barner, Gail Heyman
The present research builds on prior work on the social-contextual
nature of children’s generosity by systematically examining both observer
effects and whether the recipient is an in-group or out-group member. Although
previous research has examined these factors independently, no study to date has
examined them in conjunction. We also extend prior research by including both
measures of sharing behavior and children’s evaluations of sharing
scenarios, and by investigating a larger sample (N=164) with a broader age range
than is typical of prior research (5- to 9-year-olds). We found that, across the
entire age range tested, children were generous when observed and gave more to
in-group members than out-group members, and that there was no interaction
between these effects. We also found that children’s own sharing behavior
predicted their evaluations of sharing scenarios, with children rating in-group
sharing as "nicer" than out-group sharing.
[child, condition, task, status, journal, target, developmental, predictor, age, older, younger, categorization] [social, intergroup, evaluation, examined, presence, told, desire, relationship, behave, public, work, including, absence, motivated, psychology, personality, expectation, future, sensitive, participant, scenario, neutral] [manipulated, gender, expect, basic, previous, shared, occurs, audience] [sharing, group, resource, allocation, reputation, young, recipient, versus, differ, donated, included, member, generous, minimal, fairness, study, prosocial, giver, nicer, heyman, equal, sticker] [random] [observer, model, behavior, potential, cooperative, full, consider, prior, green, orange, data, observed] [interaction, human, figure, identity]
Blink durations reflect mind wandering during reading
Stephanie Huette, Ariel Mathis, Art Graesser
Stephanie Huette, Ariel Mathis, Art Graesser
Mind wandering is a prevalent but highly subjective phenomenon
that is difficult to measure. Typically studies use probes at random points
throughout at study that pop in and ask participants “Are you mind
wandering” where they indicate yes or no, and then resume the study. This
study investigated a method of extracting eye blinks from raw eye tracking data
while participants were reading texts that varied in degree of engagingness on a
similar topic. Blink durations were found to increase for less engaging texts.
We hypothesize eye blink durations may increase with mind wandering and discuss
implications for mind wandering research.
[task, blank, continuous, processing, indicating] [experiment, participant, work, thinking, psychological, cognitive, psychology, low, future, detection, missing] [default, degree, directly, listening, varied, language] [mind, wandering, blink, study, engaging, difficult, three, tobii, measurement, difficulty, external, high, bar, blinking, international, intelligent, help, wander, course] [text, reading, mode, engagement, track, induce, increase, reflect, order, read, measure, linked, engagingness, subsequent] [data, individual, state, prior, varying, observe, well, loss, function, boring, average, planning, observed] [eye, network, duration, current, screen, brain, process, focus, space, tracking, reveal]
Unifying Conflicting Perspectives in Group Activities: Roles of Minority Individuals
Kazuhisa Miwa, Yugo Hayashi, Hitoshi Terai
Kazuhisa Miwa, Yugo Hayashi, Hitoshi Terai
For drawing higher-level perspectives in group activities,
resolving conflicts among group members is crucial. We investigated group
activities with four members wherein one member had a different perspective from
the other three. Four members engaged in a rule discovery task in which they were
required to unify conflicts for the solution. Through two experiments, we
investigated two hypotheses: 1) Innovative high-level perspectives are more
likely to emerge from a minority individual than from the majority of group
members, 2) Group members on the majority side might tend to have more egocentric
perspectives than an individual on the minority side. Both hypotheses were
supported.
[regularity, conflict, task, presented, journal, condition, finding, pair, rule, stimulus, sequence, arrangement, monitor, reversal] [experiment, black, white, indicated, understanding, result, social, asymmetry, team, deliberate] [background, experimental, color, egocentric, produce, previous, main, twenty, identification] [group, minority, majority, reversed, perspective, drew, incorrect, number, correct, three, problem, performance, square, correctly, questionnaire, unifying, innovative, stage, difference, example, engaged, member, investigated, required, understand] [table, understood, post, tend] [individual, distribution, discovery, emerge, total, intermediate, hypothesis] [figure, side, pattern, interaction, current, role, consisting, fixation, symmetry]
Preferring the Mighty to the Meek: Toddlers prefer Superior to Subordinate Individuals.
Ashley J. Thomas, Meline Abramyan, Angela Lukowski, Lotte Thomsen, Barbara W. Sarnecka
Ashley J. Thomas, Meline Abramyan, Angela Lukowski, Lotte Thomsen, Barbara W. Sarnecka
Every human society includes social
hierarchies—relationships between individuals and groups of unequal rank or
status. Recent research has shown that even preverbal infants represent
hierarchical relationships, expecting larger agents and agents from larger groups
to win dominance contests. However, to successfully navigate social hierarchies,
infants must also integrate information about social rank into their own
behavior, such as when deciding which individuals to approach and which to avoid.
Here we demonstrate that two-year-old children (ages 21-31 months) preferred
novel dominant agents to subordinates. That is, by the age of 21 months, toddlers
not only use phylogenetically stable cues to predict the winner of dominance
contests, they also like the dominant agents better. This finding suggests that
young children use their ability to infer relative rank to selectively approach
dominant individuals.
[child, sequence, dominance, avoid, novel, testing, suggests, statistical, familiarization, time, repeated, room, second, compare] [social, experiment, prefer, black, positive, cognitive, stable, strong, experience, psychological] [expect, university, retrieved, null, evolution, plaza] [puppet, moved, stage, experimenter, study, hispanic, crossed, board, department, bowed, ability, curtain, contributed, win, preverbal, academy, ranked, three, procedure, attached, larger] [relative, approach, form] [rank, preference, choice, individual, choosing, data, hierarchy, preferred, choose, behavior, model, alternative, distribution, chose] [dominant, human, goal, parent, figure, side, view, reaching, interaction]
Hysteresis in Processing of Perceptual Ambiguity on Three Different Timescales
Marieke van Rooij, Harald Atmanspacher, Jürgen Kornmeier
Marieke van Rooij, Harald Atmanspacher, Jürgen Kornmeier
Sensory information is a priori incomplete and ambiguous. Our
perceptual system has to make predictions about the sources of the sensory
information, based on concepts from perceptual memory in order to create stable
and reliable percepts. We presented ambiguous and disambiguated lattice stimuli
(variants of the Necker cube) in order to measure a hysteresis effects in visual
perception. Fifteen healthy participants observed two periods of ordered
sequences of lattices with increasing and decreasing ambiguity and indicated
their percepts, in two experimental conditions with different starting stimuli of
the ordered sequence. We compared the stimulus parameters at the perceptual
reversal between conditions and periods and found significant differences between
conditions and periods, indicating memory contributions to perceptual outcomes on
three different time scales from milliseconds over seconds up to lifetime memory.
Our results demonstrate the fruitful application of physical concepts like
hysteresis and complementarity to visual perception.
[stimulus, hysteresis, lattice, sfrb, sflt, pflt, response, pfrb, time, second, reversal, necker, luminance, condition, presented, samb, disambiguated, continuous, inflection, nrev, presentation, indicating, type, kornmeier, quantify, indicate, disambiguation, journal, occurred, occur, half, ndiff] [series, influence, history, experiment, long, medical, front] [perceptual, memory, ambiguity, experimental, university, context, percept] [three, reflecting, study, difference, fifteen, science] [ambiguous, order, aggregated, interpretation, measure, quality] [parameter, increasing, decreasing, probability, intermediate, bottom, varying, observation] [perception, figure, period, sensory, left, visual, view, apparent, fully, behaviour, top, system, critical, morphing]
Social Cues Modulate Cognitive Status of Discourse Referents
Kara Hawthorne, Anja Arnhold, Emily Sullivan, Juhani Järvikivi
Kara Hawthorne, Anja Arnhold, Emily Sullivan, Juhani Järvikivi
We use visual world eye-tracking to test if a speaker’s eye
gaze to a potential antecedent modulates the listener’s interpretation of
an ambiguous pronoun. Participants listened to stories that included an ambiguous
pronoun, such as “The dolphin kisses the goldfish… He….”
During the pre-pronominal context, an onscreen narrator gazed at one of the two
characters. As expected, participants looked more at the subject character
overall. However, this was modulated by the narrator’s eye gaze and the
amount of time the participant spent looking at the gaze cue. For trials in which
participants attended to the narrator’s eye gaze for > 500ms,
participants were significantly more likely to interpret the pronoun as referring
to the object if the narrator had previously looked at the object. Results
suggest that eye gaze – a social cue – can temper even strong
linguistic/cognitive biases in pronoun resolution, such as the
subject/first-mention bias.
[time, attention, looked, cue, evidence, response, appeared, tested, presented, fixed, recorded] [participant, social, cognitive, long, character, salience, experiment, story] [object, referent, context, linguistic, van, referring, university, language, experimental, speaker, memory, affect, intercept, listener, previous, mixed] [department, linear, included, study] [narrator, pronoun, subject, gazed, ambiguous, discourse, earlier, sentence, dolphin, animal, goldfish, short, table, offline, onset, probe, gazedatrole, interpret, interpretation, mentioned, bias, earlierattentntonarr] [potential, model, proportion, data, full] [gaze, eye, visual, action, role, resolution, location, interaction, figure, attended, image, forward, longer]
A neurocomputational model of the effect of learned labels on infants’ object representations
Arthur Capelier-Mourguy, Katherine Twomey, Gert Westermann
Arthur Capelier-Mourguy, Katherine Twomey, Gert Westermann
The effect of labels on nonlinguistic representations is the focus
of substantial debate in the developmental literature. A recent empirical study
(Twomey & Westermann, under review) suggested that labels are incorporated into
object representations, such that infants respond differently to objects for
which they know a label relative to unlabeled objects. However, these empirical
data cannot differentiate between two recent theories of integrated label-object
representations, one of which assumes labels are features of object
representations, and one which assumes labels are represented separately, but
become closely associated with learning. We address this issue using a
neurocomputational (autoencoder) model to instantiate both theoretical
approaches. Simulation data support an account in which labels are features of
objects, with the same representational status as the objects’ visual and
haptic characteristics.
[label, westermann, time, category, familiarization, presented, compound, status, mareschal, learned, laf, developmental, learning, training, categorization, trial, stimulus, journal, development, consisted, shape, early, condition, twomey, infant, decreased, unlabeled, task, presentation] [account, work, cognitive, relationship, presence, united, absence, issue] [object, language, perceptual, communicative, error, affect, experimental, support, memory, mismatch, rapidly, university] [haptic, number, study, difference] [computational] [model, empirical, data, assumes, capture, total] [input, visual, current, representation, output, figure, labeled, network, represented, neurocomputational, play, neural, overlap, encoded, architecture, activation, integrated, view, represent, wooden, associated, feature, hidden]
Intentionality and the Role of Labels in Categorization
Felix Gervits, Megan Johanson, Anna Papafragou
Felix Gervits, Megan Johanson, Anna Papafragou
Language has been shown to influence the ability to form
categories. Here we investigate whether linguistic labels are privileged compared
to other types of cues (e.g., numbers or symbols), and whether labels exert their
effects regardless of whether they are introduced intentionally. In a
categorization task, we found that adults were more likely to use labels to
determine category boundaries compared to numbers or symbols, and that these
effects persisted in all intentionality manipulations. These findings suggest
that labels have a powerful effect on categorization compared to other cues; most
strikingly, labels (but not other cues) are used during categorization even when
people are specifically asked to ignore them. These results provide novel support
for the position that labels indicate category membership.
[category, categorization, novel, presented, cue, intentionality, compared, condition, label, attention, position, target, task, accidental, trial, learning, child, journal, perceptually, intentionally, adult, powerful, facilitate, lupyan, appeared, treat, verbal, chance] [people, intentional, psychological, serve, kind, representational, cognitive, neutral, influence, formation] [perceptual, linguistic, object, experimental, support, language, privileged, highly, context, shared, salient, communicative, specific, introduced] [study, performance, three, group, symbolic, asked, mark] [ambiguous, form, unambiguous, similarity, natural, conceptual] [set, sample, randomly, function] [role, figure, image, visual, top, nonverbal]
Constraining the Search Space in Cross-Situational Word Learning: Different Models Make Different Predictions
Giovanni Cassani, Robert Grimm, Steven Gillis, Walter Daelemans
Giovanni Cassani, Robert Grimm, Steven Gillis, Walter Daelemans
We test the predictions of different computational models of
cross-situational word learning that have been proposed in the literature by
comparing their behavior to that of young children and adults in the word
learning task conducted by Ramscar, Dye, and Klein (2013). Our experimental
results show that a Hebbian learner and a model that relies on hypothesis testing
fail to account for the behavioral data obtained from both populations. Ruling
out such accounts might help reducing the search space and better focus on the
most relevant aspects of the problem, in order to disentangle the mechanisms used
during language acquisition to map words and referents in a highly noisy
environment.
[learning, evidence, learner, obja, presented, label, dax, objb, objc, klein, pid, hebbian, learn, htm, trial, discriminative, cue, task, psychol, crosssituational, occurred, trueswell, training, time, test, learned, reported, compare] [account, mapping, evaluate, case, cognitive, consistent, experiment] [object, referent, encountered, retrieve, retrieved, language, occurs, updated, consistently, map] [three, correct, provided, study, help] [word, association, order, computational, ndl, proposed, mechanism, table] [model, probability, hypothesis, data, set, update, outcome, fail, probabilistic, successful, fit, higher, selected, parameter, paper] [behavioral, input, current, original, focus, figure]
Concept Membership vs Typicality in Sentence Verification Tasks
Francesca Zarl, Danilo Fum
Francesca Zarl, Danilo Fum
In the paper we discuss the relation between fuzzy sets and the
graded membership and typicality effects found in the study
of concepts. After a short overview of the topic, we present
three experiments, carried out using the same method but with
different situational contexts, which examine whether graded
membership and typicality could be considered as independent
factors capable of influencing the performance of human participants
involved in sentence verification tasks, or they are
somehow interrelated. The paper concludes with a general
discussion of the experimental findings and the problems they
pose for models of concepts based on the theory fuzzy sets.
[category, condition, pair, general, presented, verbal, journal] [experiment, negative, positive, fact, anova, sense, case, neutral, common, prototype, assigned, people, account, variable, factor, discussion, relationship] [membership, typicality, fuzzy, instance, context, graded, pmt, degree, experimental, nmt, mixed, typical, main, previous, carried, verification, varied, interesting, university, directly, introduced, criterion, trieste, adopted, clearly] [concept, member, three, study, asked, better] [sentence, similarity, table, considered, determining, semantic, phrase, class, relation, natural, entity] [higher, set, theory, classical, function, paper, point, depend, based, determine, consider] [interaction, polarity, view]
Better safe than sorry: Risky function exploitation through safe optimization
Eric Schulz, Quentin Huys, Dominik Bach, Maarten Speekenbrink, Andreas Krause
Eric Schulz, Quentin Huys, Dominik Bach, Maarten Speekenbrink, Andreas Krause
Exploration-exploitation of functions, that is learning and
optimizing a mapping between inputs and expected outputs, is ubiquitous to many
real world situations. These situations sometimes require us to avoid certain
outcomes at all cost, for example because they are poisonous, harmful, or
otherwise dangerous. We test participants' behavior in scenarios in which they
have to find the optimum of a function while at the same time avoid outputs below
a certain threshold. In two experiments, we find that Safe-Optimization, a
Gaussian Process-based exploration-exploitation algorithm, describes
participants' behavior well and that participants seem to care firstly whether a
point is safe and then try to pick the optimal point from all such safe points.
This means that their trade-off between exploration and exploitation can be seen
as an intelligent, approximate, and homeostasis-driven strategy.
[learning, task, time, condition, avoid, learn, fixed, block, chance] [initial, experiment, cognitive, focused, work] [intercept, membership, expand, expanding] [example, lower, active] [random, distance, analysis, exponential] [safe, function, set, point, behavior, normal, threshold, optimization, maximize, decision, probability, sampled, unknown, kernel, expected, bandit, find, sampling, higher, chosen, maximizer, tree, average, bivariate, expander, regression, conference, squared, upper, provide, data, choose, posterior, screenshot, maximizing, well, model, homeostasis, lead, exploration, distribution, jmin, assume, risk, minimizing, exploitation, confidence, sample, avoiding] [input, gaussian, figure, output, process, human, focus, indicates, current]
A Neural Model of Context Dependent Decision Making in the Prefrontal Cortex
Sugandha Sharma, Brent Komer, Terrence Stewart, Chris Eliasmith
Sugandha Sharma, Brent Komer, Terrence Stewart, Chris Eliasmith
In this paper, we present a spiking neural model of context
dependent decision making. Prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a fundamental role in
context dependent behaviour. We model the PFC at the level of single spiking
neurons, to explore the underlying computations which determine its contextual
responses. The model is built using the Neural Engineering Framework and performs
input selection and integration as a nonlinear recurrent dynamical process. The
results obtained from the model closely match behavioural and neural experimental
data obtained from macaque monkeys that are trained to perform a context
sensitive perceptual decision task. The close match suggests that the
low-dimensional, nonlinear dynamical model we suggest captures central aspects of
context
dependent decision making in primates.
[response, evidence, task, trial, irrelevant, integration, condition, time, learned, trajectory, analogous] [relevant, axis, experiment, work, positive] [context, experimental, sign, produce, combination] [equation, number, comparison, provided] [coherence, dependent, contextual, length, analysis] [model, data, choice, decision, population, based, regression, underlying, set, total, making, determine, note, preferred, simple, implies] [motion, colour, neural, sensory, monkey, figure, input, pfc, mante, selection, direction, neuron, nneuron, behavioural, spike, network, recurrent, prefrontal, trained, plot, spiking, perform, output, cortex, averaged, nonlinear, indicates, dynamical, moving, visual, built, corresponds, pca, dynamic, integrated, current, movement, represented, eye]
Discourse Analysis as a Solution to Interpretive Problems in Cognitive Development Research
Patrick Byers
Patrick Byers
Cognitive development researchers have drawn conclusions about
young children’s developing knowledge of number by studying their behavior,
while at the same time acknowledging that behavior is an imperfect index of
knowledge, e.g., it may be disputed whether a given behavioral task accurately
measures, overestimates, or underestimates children’s knowledge. The texts
of published research articles from these investigations are the focus of a
discourse analysis described in the present article. The results of the discourse
analysis suggest that claims about what a person knows are actually generalized
descriptions of behavior. Therefore, in studying behavior on tasks to draw
conclusions about participants’ conceptual knowledge, researchers are
merely making behavioral generalizations, not investigating hidden cognitive or
epistemic content.
[child, general, development, task, evidence, developing] [claim, understanding, disposition, described, cognitive, justification, fact, inconsistent, distinction, person, assertion, relevant, variety, gelman, displacement, clear, discursive, basis, case, claimed, focused, truth, statement] [typical, specific, memory, description] [knowledge, number, cardinal, cardinality, performance, counting, understand, young, study, competence, analyzed, published, example, subtraction, ability, asked, addition, barner, insofar, sarnecka, concept] [analysis, conceptual, discourse, count, concrete, abstract, indicative, interpretation, accurately, principle, relative, semantic, similarity] [behavior, set, justified, well, provide, range, counted] [behavioral, current, apparent]
A rational speech-act model of projective content
Ciyang Qing, Noah Goodman, Daniel Lassiter
Ciyang Qing, Noah Goodman, Daniel Lassiter
Certain content of a linguistic construction can project when the
construction is embedded in entailment-canceling environments. For example, the
conclusion that John smoked in the past from "John stopped smoking" still holds
for "John didn't stop smoking," where the original utterance is embedded under
negation. There are two main approaches to account for projection. The semantic
approach adds restrictions of the common ground to the conventional meaning. The
pragmatic approach tries to derive projection from general conversational
principles. In this paper we build a probabilistic model of language
understanding in which the listener jointly infers the world state and the common
ground the speaker has assumed. We take change-of-state verbs as an example and
model its projective content under negation. Under certain assumptions, the model
correctly predicts the projective behavior and its interaction with the question
under discussion, without any special semantic treatment of projective
content.
[standard, hearing, general, negation, second] [common, explain, inference, account, discussion, equally, summarized, consistent, reason, introduce] [context, john, utterance, listener, ground, speaker, content, literal, bob, conversational, language, previous, experimental, informative, meaning] [question, example, answer, change, problem] [approach, semantics, table, semantic, universe] [set, model, probability, pragmatic, prior, projective, projection, qudmax, rsa, qud, smoking, qudnow, smoked, predicts, alice, distribution, uniform, stopped, goodman, granted, infer, capture, assuming, smoke, quds, marginal, actual, consider, formalizing, maximal, return, rational, predicted, assumption, probabilistic, entire, jointly, motivate, paper] [figure, defined, define, column, current, fully]
Infants’ speech and gesture production in Mozambique and the Netherlands
Chiara De Jong, Paul Vogt
Chiara De Jong, Paul Vogt
In this paper, we explore the cultural differences in the
production of speech and speech+gesture combinations by infants at the age of
17-18 months in Mozambique and the Netherlands. We found that Dutch infants
produce more speech and gestures compared to Mozambican infants. Infants in both
communities make most use of content words. The results further show that Dutch
infants make more use of proximal pointing than Mozambicans, whereas Mozambicans
make more use of the offering gesture. Finally, the amount of semantically
coherent speech+gesture combinations of the Mozambican infants is higher than of
the Dutch infants.
[infant, development, child, compared, early, vocabulary, attention, category, age, learning, deictic, developmental, size, target, congruent] [low, explained, case, social, concerning, cognitive] [speech, mozambique, gesture, netherlands, produced, language, dutch, content, urban, mozambican, coded, produce, object, cultural, rowe, combination, accompanied, coherent, proximal, offering, rural, vogt, production, express, utterance, meaningful, university, communicative, communication, gestural, meaning, contained, recording, iverson, mastin] [number, education, difference, three, study, high, video, purpose] [semantic, semantically, amount, word, table, frequency, onset, order, considered, diversity] [average, higher, data, observed, well, based, individual] [pointing, environment, input, hand]
Feature-based Joint Planning and Norm Learning in Collaborative Games
Mark Ho, James MacGlashan, Amy Greenwald, Michael Littman, Elizabeth Hilliard, Carl Trimbach, Stephen Brawner, Josh Tenenbaum, Max Kleiman-Weiner, Joseph Austerweil
Mark Ho, James MacGlashan, Amy Greenwald, Michael Littman, Elizabeth Hilliard, Carl Trimbach, Stephen Brawner, Josh Tenenbaum, Max Kleiman-Weiner, Joseph Austerweil
People often use norms to coordinate behavior and accomplish
shared goals. But how do people learn and represent norms? Here, we formalize the
process by which collaborating individuals (1) reason about group plans during
interaction, and (2) use task features to abstractly represent norms. In
Experiment 1, we test the assumptions of our model in a gridworld that requires
coordination and contrast it with a “best response” model. In
Experiment 2, we use our model to test whether group members’ joint
planning relies more on state features independent of other agents
(landmark-based features) or state features determined by the configuration of
agents (agent-relative features).
[learning, task, learn, learned, generalize, simultaneously, test] [people, experiment, social, reasoning, reason, cognitive, work] [previous, shared, converge, directly] [strategy, group, number, differ, international, scored] [direct, indirect, pass, entropy, computational] [model, agent, norm, reward, row, player, state, individual, set, behavior, function, courtyard, best, success, optimal, hallway, game, reinforcement, round, respective, choose, based, follow, jointly, note, planning, collided, bottom, decision] [joint, human, figure, represent, center, action, goal, feature, top, passing, coordination, grid, switched, represented, representation, move]
Metaphor & Emotion: Metaphorical Frames for Coping with Hardship
Rose Hendricks, Lera Boroditsky
Rose Hendricks, Lera Boroditsky
Do metaphors shape people’s emotional states and mindsets
for dealing with hardship? Natural language metaphors may act as frames that
encourage people to reappraise an emotional situation, changing the way they
respond to it. Recovery from cancer is one type of adversity that many people
face, and it can be mediated by the mindset people adopt. We investigate whether
two common metaphors for describing a cancer experience – the battle and
the journey – encourage people to make different inferences about the
patient’s emotional state. After being exposed to the battle metaphor
participants inferred that the patient would feel more guilt if he didn’t
recover, while after being exposed to the journey metaphor participants felt that
he had a better chance of making peace with his situation. We discuss
implications of this work for investigations of metaphor and emotion, mindsets,
and recovery.
[journal, learned, evidence, reported, suggests, family, response] [metaphor, people, cancer, battle, emotional, journey, experience, social, joe, feel, influence, mindset, positive, work, metaphorical, peace, mental, disease, framing, cognitive, health, talk, breast, guilt, anger, guilty, situation, character, diagnosed, psychological, reappraisal, affective, emotion, statement, common, described, adversity, clinical, dealing, consistent, reason, recover, recovery, belief, imagine, penson] [support, main, gender, language, adjustment, linguistic, describe, affect, attribute] [encourage, coping, difficult, difference, science, help, better, mediate, greater] [read, mentioned, reading, turn, written] [making, based] [figure, role, experienced, interaction]
Attentive and Pre-Attentive Processes in Multiple Object Tracking: A Computational Investigation
Paul Bello, Will Bridewell, Christina Wasylyshyn
Paul Bello, Will Bridewell, Christina Wasylyshyn
The rich literature on multiple object tracking (MOT) conclusively
demonstrates that humans are able to visually track a small number of objects
(Pylyshyn & Storm 1988, Alvarez & Franconeri 2007). There is considerably less
agreement on what perceptual and cognitive processes are involved. While it is
clear that MOT is attentionally demanding, various accounts of MOT performance
centrally involve pre-attentional mechanisms as well. In this paper we present an
account of object tracking in the ARCADIA framework (Bridewell & Bello 2015) that
treats MOT as dependent upon both pre-attentive and attention-bound processes. We
show that with minimal addition this model replicates a variety of core phenomena
in the MOT literature and provides an algorithmic explanation of human
performance limitations.
[attention, speed, attentional, saliency, evidence, task, processing, second, correspondence, target, accuracy, journal] [cognitive, discussion, described, psychological, account, work, explain, frame, capacity, pylyshyn] [object, content, blue, main] [number, performance, strategy, science, literature, correctly, problem, larger] [computational, mechanism, core, construction, identified, proximity] [set, selected, model, heuristic, update, updating, simulation, theory, proportion, modeling, simple] [tracking, mot, visual, arcadia, vstm, multiple, spacing, locator, human, location, accessible, focus, figure, highlighter, motion, component, extrapolation, system, encoded, franconeri, image, role, apparent, perception, vision, interlingua, inhibition, involved, interaction, region, tracked, nearest, encoding, hemifield, orientation]
The face-space duality hypothesis: a computational model
Jonathan Vitale, Mary-Anne Williams, Benjamin Johnston
Jonathan Vitale, Mary-Anne Williams, Benjamin Johnston
Valentine's face-space suggests that faces are represented in a
psychological multidimensional space according to their perceived properties.
However, the proposed framework was initially designed as an account of invariant
facial features only, and explanations for dynamic features representation were
neglected. In this paper we propose, develop and evaluate a computational model
for a twofold structure of the face-space, able to unify both identity and
expression representations in a single implemented model. To capture both
invariant and dynamic facial features we introduce the face-space duality
hypothesis and subsequently validate it through a mathematical presentation using
a general approach to dimensionality reduction. Two experiments with real facial
images show that the proposed face-space: (1) supports both identity and
expression recognition, and (2) has a twofold structure anticipated by our formal
argument.
[dimension, classification, journal, separation, general] [mapping, prototypical, psychological, perceived, introduce, cognitive, experiment, understanding, account] [support, experimental, trace] [reduction, number, better, solution, linear] [proposed, similarity, computational, structure, analysis, class, computed, minimum, min, considered] [function, objective, set, hypothesis, model, optimal, sample, data, point, provide, paper, observed, based, estimated] [identity, expression, facial, matrix, face, dynamic, dimensionality, invariant, recognition, multidimensional, space, representation, framework, associated, twofold, duality, penalty, process, voverall, single, corresponding, suggested, component, represented, human, input, integral, perception, vpca, smallest, eigenvectors, dataset, algorithm, belonging, maximising, figure]
Chinese and English speakers’ neural representations of word meaning offer a different picture of cross-language semantics than corpus and behavioral measures
Benjamin Zinszer, Andrew Anderson, Rajeev Raizada
Benjamin Zinszer, Andrew Anderson, Rajeev Raizada
Speakers of Chinese and English share decodable neural semantic
representations, which can be elicited by words in each language. We explore
various, common models of semantic representation and their correspondences to
each other and to these neural representations. Despite very strong
cross-language similarity in the neural data, we find that two versions of a
corpus-based semantic model do not show the same strong correlation between
languages. Behavior-based models better approximate cross-language similarity,
but these models also fail to explain the similarities observed in the neural
data. Although none of the examined models explain cross-language neural
similarity, we explore how they might provide additional information over and
above cross-language neural similarity. We find that native speakers’
ratings of noun-noun similarity and one of the corpus models do further correlate
with neural data after accounting for cross-language similarities.
[target, reported, task, stimulus, compare] [strong, explained, representational, cognitive, power, explain, described, explanatory] [language, meaning, functional, native, relatedness, shared, highly, null, degree, encode, university] [three] [semantic, chinese, english, similarity, word, corpus, leeds, translation, table, broadened, correlated, decoding, noun, analysis, zinszer, broad, correlate, measure, variance, unique, multivariate, mitchell, crosslanguage, eleven, reflect] [data, model, correlation, based, set, respective, provide, capture] [neural, brain, behavioral, representation, space, fmri, averaged, activity, gyrus, roi, represented, figure]
Modeling developmental and linguistic relativity effects in color term acquisition
Barend Beekhuizen, Suzanne Stevenson
Barend Beekhuizen, Suzanne Stevenson
We model two patterns related to the acquisition of color terms in
Russian and English: children produce overextension errors for some colors but
not others, and language-specific distinctions affect color discrimination in a
non-linguistic task. Both effects, as well as a reasonable convergence with adult
linguistic behavior, are shown by a Self-Organizing Map trained on naturalistic
input. We investigate the effect of different ways of representing colors, i.e.,
as perceptual features or in terms of the cognitive biases on categorization
extracted from crosslinguistic color naming data. We also consider the influence
of color term frequency. Our results suggest effects of all three of term
frequency, cognitive biases, and perceptual features.
[developmental, adult, category, development, dark, test, stimulus, target, boundary, learning, child, explore, mapped, learner, learned] [cognitive, property] [color, term, russian, blue, linguistic, perceptual, map, cell, chip, language, discrimination, crosslinguistic, sdisc, goluboj, scorec, conc, overextension, relativity, convergence, acquiring, typological, distracter, affect, beekhuizen] [difference, correct, study] [english, acquisition, semantic, frequency, corpus, vector, naming, frequent, distance] [model, set, behavior, data, find, uniform, fit, observed, distribution, well, prevalence, probability, sampling, evaluating] [feature, som, light, input, ranking, figure, pattern, space, represent, labeled, trained]
Distinguishing processing difficulties in inhibition, implicature, and negation
Ann Nordmeyer, Erica Yoon, Mike Frank
Ann Nordmeyer, Erica Yoon, Mike Frank
Despite their considerable communicative abilities, young children
often have difficulty interpreting complex linguistic structures in context. Two
examples of this phenomenon are negation and pragmatic implicature, both of which
pose sometimes surprising difficulties for preschoolers. Both of these structures
require children to resist a more salient alternative interpretation; since
executive function abilities develop extensively during childhood, perhaps
failures are due to problems in inhibition. To test this hypothesis, we designed
speeded tasks to measure inhibitory control, negation, and implicature
comprehension in children and adults. Using standard analyses as well as drift
diffusion models, we found different patterns of processing on all three tasks,
and no support for the hypothesis that inhibitory control per se is playing a
role in either adults' or children's negation or implicature processing. Instead,
our analyses reveal qualitatively different developmental trajectories for each
task, suggesting task-specific factors driving these changes.
[negation, drift, task, implicature, target, processing, age, compared, trial, developmental, time, inhibitory, reaction, evidence, picture, accuracy, slower, separation, development, implicatures, response, suggesting, boundary, executive, test, type, plate, general, early, explore, struggle, revealed, banana, appeared] [work, cognitive, despite, positive, negative, version, key] [language, object, linguistic, named, select, university] [control, three, performance, incorrect, difference, correct, difficulty, group, young, require, traditional] [bias, comprehension, analysis, increase, word] [decision, diffusion, parameter, data, individual, rate, pragmatic, model, fit, higher, function, making, set, hypothesis, well] [inhibition, process, figure, side, longer]
The Charon Model of Moral Judgment
Deirdre Kelly, Jim Davies
Deirdre Kelly, Jim Davies
We present a model of moral judgment, Charon, which adds to
previous models several factors that have been shown to influence moral judgment:
1) a more sophisticated account of prior mental state, 2) imagination, 3)
empathy, 4) the feedback process between emotion and reason, 5) self-interest,
and 6) self-control. We discuss previous classes of models and demonstrate
Charon’s extended explanatory power with a focus on psychopathy and
autism.
[journal, general, autism, evidence, switch, presented, processing, wrong, response] [moral, people, judgment, emotional, cognitive, empathy, emotion, person, reasoning, utilitarian, social, account, mental, greene, ethical, reason, explain, charon, deontological, case, influence, psychopath, affective, psychological, personality, imagination, trolley, haidt, psychopathy, result, situation, application, understanding, work, arrive, morality, unsuccessful, save, defence, stressed, autistic] [previous, affect, university, argue] [better, ability, change, study, concept, feedback] [involve, approach, earlier] [model, successful, making, state, empirical, higher, well, decision, prior, good, pay] [role, process, focus, visual, disgust, box, action, pull, train]
The Impact of Granularity on the Effectiveness of Students' Pedagogical Decisions
Guojing Zhou, Collin Lynch, Thomas Price, Tiffany Barnes, Min Chi
Guojing Zhou, Collin Lynch, Thomas Price, Tiffany Barnes, Min Chi
In this study we explored the impact of student versus tutor
pedagogical decision-making on learning. We examined this impact at two levels of
granularity: problem vs. step. 279 students were randomly assigned to four
conditions and the domain content and required steps were strictly controlled to
be equivalent across four conditions. The only differences among them were
decision agency {Student vs. Tutor} and granularity {Problem vs. Step}. Our
results showed a significant interaction effect between decision agency and
granularity. That is, step level decisions can be more effective than problem
level decisions but the students were more likely to make effective pedagogical
decisions at problem level than step level. In general, on both problem and step
levels, the students were significantly more likely to decide to do problem
solving rather than study it as a worked example.
[learning, time, training, fixed, test, compared, task, condition, journal] [generally, agency, cognitive, focused] [domain, content, main] [problem, pedagogical, student, worked, step, tutprob, tutor, effective, granularity, studprob, tutstep, group, solve, studstep, impact, study, number, solving, difference, fwe, pyrenees, example, tutoring, help, isomorphic, received, spent, fading, investigate, intelligent, better, versus, performance, outperformed, required, science, control, answer, equal, asked, pretest, strictly, solution, course] [principle, random, table, analysis, complete, order] [decision, making, prior, decide, adaptive, policy, probability, total] [level, process]
Can Musical Engagement Alleviate Age-Related Decline in Inhibitory Control?
Ruben Vromans, Marie Postma-Nilsenova
Ruben Vromans, Marie Postma-Nilsenova
The purpose of our study was to determine whether active musical
engagement alleviates decline in inhibitory control due to cognitive aging. Given
that musical training in young adults improves attentional performance, we can
expect this benefit to persist for older adults as well. With the help of the
stop-signal procedure, we measured response inhibition of young and older adults
who provided a self-reported assessment of their musical engagement, using the
recently validated Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index. The Gold-MSI
addresses a variety of musical activities and thus offers a more comprehensive
measure than ability to play a musical instrument used in the past. Results of
the experiment showed that older participants had longer stop-signal reaction
times, independently of their musical training and engagement, but musical
training and ensemble practice were negatively related to the proportion of
missed responses suggesting a weak effect of certain types of musical activities
on inhibitory control.
[inhibitory, training, response, age, reaction, general, older, executive, task, auditory, time, aging, suggesting, selective, presented, enhanced, decline, complex, subscales, tested, nosignal] [cognitive, variable, experience, emo, life, comprehensive, negative, including] [perceptual, expect, tilburg, instrument, memory] [control, performance, ability, practice, study, young, active, working, improve, strategy, additional] [musical, ensemble, missed, engagement, ssrt, music, sophistication, table, relation, singing, order, verbruggen, stopsignal, moreno, orchestra, measure, analysis, symphony] [proportion, regression, based, waiting] [inhibition, figure, human, visual, brain, perception, focus]
A 6-month longitudinal study on numerical estimation in preschoolers
Pierina Cheung, Emily Slusser, Anna Shusterman
Pierina Cheung, Emily Slusser, Anna Shusterman
The current study investigated the development of numerical
estimation in 3- to 5-year-old children sampled monthly for six months. At each
session, children completed a task that assesses verbal number knowledge (Give-N
task) and a numerical estimation task that assesses approximate number knowledge
(Fast Cards). Results showed that children who acquired the cardinal principle
(CP) during the course of the study showed marked improvement on the estimation
task. Following CP acquisition, estimation became more accurate overall but also
fluctuated widely. We discuss the implications of our findings for number word
learning, particularly the mapping between verbal number and the approximate
number system (ANS).
[session, verbal, child, task, remained, development, suggesting, size, developmental, mapped, tested] [mapping, fish, positive] [error, previous, main, university, variability, criterion] [number, cardinal, estimation, fast, corre, study, group, asked, larger, improvement, numerical, approximate, acquired, knowledge, carey, included, counting, exact, odic, acquire, mapper, acuity, understand, covs, cardinality, experimenter, difference, smaller, shusterman, course, linear] [word, large, principle, longitudinal, acquisition, analysis, count, small, identified] [set, range, data, average, generate, prior] [figure, parallel, system, current]
The distorting effect of deciding to stop sampling
Anna Coenen, Todd Gureckis
Anna Coenen, Todd Gureckis
People usually collect information to serve specific goals and
often end up with samples that are unrepresentative of the underlying population.
This can introduce biases on later judgments that generalize from these samples.
Here we show that goals influence not only what information we collect, but also
when we decide to terminate search. Using an optimal stopping analysis, we
demonstrate that even when learners have no control over the content of a sample
(i.e., natural sampling), the simple decision of when to stop sampling can yield
sample distributions that are non-representative and could potentially bias
future decision making. We test the prediction of these theoretical analyses with
two behavioral experiments.
[size, condition, task, rule, early, evidence, selective, test, statistical] [experiment, people, continue, coin] [mixed, affect, blue] [estimation, teacher, number, difference, impact, group, correct, card, question, high, answer, greater] [natural, bias, composition, earlier] [sample, sampling, stopping, binary, distribution, expected, estimate, average, extreme, optimal, probability, decision, model, choice, bonus, outcome, potential, cost, repeatedly, lead, good, red, terminate, find, state, simple, collected, collect, biased, utility, posterior, true, assume, decide, uniform, search, making, data, deck] [figure, goal, current, process]
Inferring Individual Differences Between and Within Exemplar and Decision-Bound Models of Categorization
Irina Danileiko, Michael Lee
Irina Danileiko, Michael Lee
Different models of categorization are often treated as competing
accounts, but specific models are often used to understand individual
differences, by estimating individual-level parameters. We develop an approach to
understanding categorization that allows for individual differences both between
and within models, using two prominent categorization models that make different
theoretical assumptions: the Generalized Context Model (GCM) and General
Recognition Theory (GRT). We develop a latent-mixture model for inferring whether
an individual uses the GCM or GRT, while simultaneously allowing for the use of
special-case simpler strategies. The GCM simple strategies involve attending to a
single stimulus dimension, while the GRT simple strategies involve using
unidimensional decision bounds. Our model also allows for simple contaminant
strategies. We apply the model to four previously published categorization
experiments, finding large and interpretable individual differences in the use of
both models and specific strategies, depending on the nature of the stimuli and
category structures.
[category, categorization, stimulus, general, response, attention, dimension, exemplar, unidimensional, selective, condition, kruschke, journal, categorize, presented, attend, generalization] [people, experiment, person, psychological, cognitive, work, including, possibility] [specific, vertical, memory] [strategy, number, graphical, special, three, science, majority] [subject, approach, large, include, distance, table, similarity, random, involve] [model, inferred, individual, decision, gcm, contaminant, grt, bound, bayesian, modeling, filtration, selected, probability, based, maddox, assumes, condensation, zeithamova, total, bartlema, data, mixture, navarro, uncertainty, varying, guess, load, behavior, posterior, parameter, depending] [figure, diagonal, horizontal, level, perception, recognition, defined, represent, involved]
Adults' guesses on probabilistic tasks reveal incremental representativeness biases
Habiba Azab, David Ruskin, Celeste Kidd
Habiba Azab, David Ruskin, Celeste Kidd
Participants in most binary-choice tasks with multiple trials tend
to probability-match (Vulkan, 2000) — i.e., provide re- sponses that match
the probability distribution of the presented population. Given a single trial,
however, participants usually choose the majority option (James & Koehler, 2011).
By us- ing a method that visually presents the probabilities of the two competing
options, we examine responses when participants are given only a single trial,
and initial responses when partic- ipants are given multiple trials. While we
still observe aggre- gate probability-matching in the multiple-trial condition,
we find robust sequence effects in participants’ initial responses,
including robust maximizing behavior on the first response. This suggests that
both maximizing in single-trial experiments and aggregate probability-matching in
multiple-trial ones can be explained by a single, underlying mechanism; one that
seeks to provide a representative sample at each point during sequence
generation.
[trial, condition, sequence, journal, task, response, presented, suggests, learning, exclusively] [experiment, percentage, initial, psychology, excluded, rating] [experimental, previous, color, james, matching] [majority, number, asked, three, feedback] [order, random, mechanism, subject, tend] [orange, gumballs, proportion, behavior, gumball, probability, distribution, hypothesis, maximizing, machine, green, population, representative, provide, guess, button, sample, estimate, chose, aggregate, choice, likelihood, underlying, estimating, rank, individual, observe, higher, well, maximize, signed, entire, predict, data, choose, option, observed, point, binary, reward] [figure, single, human, image, indicates, multiple]
Cultural Evolution Across Domains: Language, Technology and Art
Monica Tamariz, Simon Kirby, Jon W. Carr
Monica Tamariz, Simon Kirby, Jon W. Carr
The social and cognitive mechanisms of cultural evolution have
been studied in detail for different domains: language, technology, the economy,
art, etc. However, a model that incorporates the function of a cultural
tradition and that is able to compare evolutionary dynamics across cultural
domains has not been formulated. By exploring the dynamics of comparable
linguistic, technological, and artistic experimental tasks, we test the effect of
domain-specific function on evolutionary mechanisms such as inheritance,
innovation, and selection. We find evidence that cultural domain shapes both the
structure of the traditions and the way the cultural-evolutionary mechanisms
operate. The simplifying effects of cultural transmission are noticeable in
language and technology, but not in art; innovation is highest in art and lowest
in language; and functional pressures lead to different morphological adaptations
across domains. This speaks of a crucial role of function and domain in the
evolution of culture.
[condition, evidence, learning, task, pressure, pair, statistical, selective] [participant, social, distinct, cognitive, low, told, explained, simplicity, flower, experiment, inheritance, absence] [cultural, domain, language, art, evolution, transmission, lego, technology, innovation, evolutionary, object, culture, artistic, university, functional, drop, communicative, linguistic, generation, experimental, communication, iterated, produced, edinburgh, morphological, simplification, kirby, chicago, interlocutor, society] [three, change, number, high, linear, volume, question, study] [complexity, structure, random, diversity, increase, construction, word, order] [predicted, success, predict, model, function] [human, selection, figure, height, chain, trained, horizontal, top]
Reading experience shapes the mental timeline but not the mental number line
Benjamin Pitt, Daniel Casasanto
Benjamin Pitt, Daniel Casasanto
People conceptualize both time and numbers as unfolding along a
horizontal line, either from left to right or from right to left. The direction
of both the mental timeline (MTL) and the mental number line (MNL) are widely
assumed to depend on the direction of reading and writing within a culture.
Although experimental evidence supports this assumption regarding the MTL, there
is no clear evidence that reading direction determines the direction of the MNL.
Here we tested effects of reading experience on the direction of both the MTL and
MNL. Participants read English text either normally (from left to right) or
mirror-reversed (from right to left). After normal reading, participants showed
the space-time associations and space-number associations typical of Westerners.
After mirror reading, participants’ space-time associations were
significantly reduced but their space-number associations were unchanged. These
results suggest that the MTL and MNL have different experiential bases.
[standard, time, condition, response, evidence, training, task, orthography, position, appeared, reliable, test, presented, phase, indicating, half] [experience, mental, people, influence, timeline, key, causal, temporal] [experimental, university, dehaene, spatial] [number, reversed, study, counting, greater, ordinal, progress, three, smaller, larger, differ] [reading, snarc, mnl, text, congruity, english, earlier, read, writing, written, experiential, arabic, determining, large, small, order, spacenumber, random, spacetime] [correlation, provide, normal, determined, data, determine, opposite] [direction, left, mtl, space, hand, rts, finger, associated, role, side, interaction]
Talking with tact: Polite language as a balance between informativity and kindness
Erica J. Yoon, Michael Henry Tessler, Noah D. Goodman, Michael C. Frank
Erica J. Yoon, Michael Henry Tessler, Noah D. Goodman, Michael C. Frank
Conveying information in a false or indirect manner in
consideration of listeners' wants (i.e., being polite) seemingly contradicts an
important goal of a cooperative speaker: information transfer. We propose that a
cooperative speaker considers both "epistemic utility," or utility of providing
the listener new information, and "social utility," or utility of maintaining or
boosting the listener's self-image (being polite). We formalize this tradeoff
within a probabilistic model of language understanding and test it with empirical
data on people's inferences about the relation between a speaker's goals,
utterances and the true states of the world.
[condition, compare] [social, experiment, epistemic, positive, bad, negative, understanding, cognitive, consistent, inference, work, participant, scale, united, talk, rated] [speaker, utterance, listener, language, literal, bob, context, speech, meaning, experimental, degree] [difference, knowledge, performance, asked, balance, high] [read, semantics, order] [model, state, true, honest, utility, polite, inferred, nice, niceness, data, politeness, cooperative, pragmatic, assume, terrible, honesty, based, parameter, good, wanted, function, posterior, distribution, meanness, amazing, expected, infer, prior, rational, rsa, proportion, truthful, empirical, density, infers, probabilistic, method, full, likelihood] [goal, figure, weight, design, human, represent, component, framework]
A Neural Field Model of Word Repetition Effects in Early Time-Course ERPs in Spoken Word Perception
Andrew Valenti, Michael Brady, Matthias Scheutz, Phillip Holcomb, He Pu
Andrew Valenti, Michael Brady, Matthias Scheutz, Phillip Holcomb, He Pu
Previous attempts at modeling the neuro-cognitive mechanisms
underlying word processing have used connectionist approaches, but none has
modeled spoken word architectures as the input is presented in real-time. Hence,
such models rely on the ingenuity of the modeler to establish a mapping of
real-time stimulus to the model’s input which may not preserve processing
that happens during each time step. We present a neural field model which
successfully replicates the effect of immediate auditory repetition of
monosyllabic words and fits it to a component of a well-studied mechanism for
analyzing language processing, the event-related potential (ERP). This represents
a new modeling approach to studying the neuro-cognitive processes, one that is
based on the bottom-up inter-action of real-time sensory information with
higher-level cate-
gories of cognitive processing.
[erp, processing, time, training, learning, presentation, auditory, spoken, erps, monosyllabic, early, repeated, response, category, target, stimulus, sound, task, recorded, presented] [cognitive, influence, implicit, negative, fall, biological] [speech, experimental, error, language, contained, updated] [equation, primary, three, usa, boston, change, difference] [word, vector, equilibrium, random, lexical, semantic, computed, mechanism] [model, state, data, modeling, interval, fit, prediction, potential] [field, neural, repetition, input, modulator, figure, signal, trained, unit, activation, component, perception, filter, sensory, connectionist, human, deeper, layer, dynamic, eye, interaction, associated, driver, area, single, polarity]
Cross-linguistic similarities aid third language learning in bilinguals
James Bartolotti, Viorica Marian
James Bartolotti, Viorica Marian
Learning a new language involves significant vocabulary
acquisition. Learners can accelerate this process by relying on words with
native-language overlap, such as cognates. For bilingual third language learners,
it is necessary to determine how their two existing languages interact during
novel language learning. A scaffolding account predicts transfer from either
language for individual words, whereas an accumulation account predicts
cumulative transfer from both languages. To compare these accounts, twenty
English-German bilingual adults were taught an artificial language containing 48
novel written words that varied orthogonally in English and German wordlikeness
(neighborhood size and orthotactic probability). Wordlikeness in each language
improved word production accuracy, and similarity to one language provided the
same benefit as dual-language overlap. In addition, participants' memory for
novel words was affected by the statistical distributions of letters in the novel
language. Results indicate that bilinguals utilize both languages during third
language acquisition, supporting a scaffolding learning model.
[novel, learning, accuracy, vocabulary, picture, target, improved, time, size, learn, indicate, baseline, journal, response, increased, task, block, evidence, faster, condition, learned, orthotactic, training, fixed, artificial] [account, participant, experience] [language, german, wordlikeness, production, memory, scaffolding, curve, bilingual, term, foreign, intercept, phonological, growth, meaning, germanlike, combination, englishlikeness, wordlike, englishlike] [knowledge, third, benefit, quadratic, high, transfer, three, working, better] [word, english, proficiency, similarity, lexical, existing, relative, acquisition, random, written, form, neighborhood, orthographic, linking] [model, higher, individual, accumulation, fit, predicts] [recognition, single, overlap, current, process, height, associated]
Learning in the wild - how labels influence what we learn
Samuel Rivera, Chris Robinson
Samuel Rivera, Chris Robinson
Learning concepts and categories in the real world is often
accompanied by verbal labels. The existing theoretical accounts of how labels
influence what we learn range from facilitation to overshadowing, with changes
occurring over development. Studies investigating how labels influence what
people learn have typically been confined to a category learning framework, where
participants were tasked to learn how to discriminate categories or infer missing
category properties. Here, we investigate how the absence or presence of labels,
both common and unique, alter how people attend and what they remember in a more
general setting. Our results suggest that unique labels may promote visual
exploration of objects; whereas, there was no evidence to support the claim that
hearing the same label associated with different members of a to-be-learned
category directed attention to common features.
[category, attention, silent, label, deterministic, condition, learning, training, defining, test, time, presented, learn, repeated, categorization, denote, lure, labeling, standard, accuracy, evidence, facilitate, revealed, novel, testing, examining, auditory, individuation, early, sound, trial, robinson, directing, child, development, fixated, showing] [common, participant, anova, cognitive, relevant, presence, influence] [main, latency, error, bonferroni, object, linguistic, support, language, affect, perceptual, studied, experimental] [study, number, young, three, difference, statistically] [unique, direct, phrase, mechanism] [proportion, pairwise, underlying] [figure, visual, associated, fixation, feature, focus, current, plot]
Active Overhearing: Development in Preschoolers’ Skill at ‘Listening in’ to Naturalistic Overheard Speech
Ruthe Foushee, Fei Xu
Ruthe Foushee, Fei Xu
Overhearing can be seen as active learning, and overheard speech
provides an increasingly viable source of linguistic input across development.
This study extends previous results showing learning from overhearing simplified,
pedagogic speech to a more ecologically valid context. Children learn multiple
words and facts corresponding to novel toys either through an overheard phone
call or through direct instruction. Remarkably, 4.5–6-year-olds learned
four new words equally well in both conditions. Their performance on a set of six
facts was even better, especially when taught directly. Analysis of the videos
revealed that older children with high test accuracy both looked toward the
experimenter often, and tracked objects as she discussed them.
3–4.5-year-olds only learned facts from overhearing, and exhibited greater
varability in attention. These results suggest learning from overhearing is
driven by attention to the indirect input, and may be a skill that undergoes
substantial development during the preschool years.
[learning, overhearing, condition, test, novel, child, learn, accuracy, attention, target, didactic, overheard, familiar, younger, familiarity, older, age, touch, development, vocabulary, attend, spoke, tested, explicit, decreased, suggesting, chance, advantage] [experiment, fact, social, positive, mapping, discussion, result] [speech, object, linguistic, previous, coded, language] [experimenter, better, performance, study, active, video, included, playing, greater, toy, impact, score, received, skill, additional, difference, correct] [word, demonstrated, measure, random, substantial, table, direct] [model, fit, call, aic, well, odds] [interaction, phone, joint, figure, performed, gaze, naturalistic, input, multiple, tracking]
Varieties of experience: A new look at folk philosophy of mind
Kara Weisman, Carol Dweck, Ellen Markman
Kara Weisman, Carol Dweck, Ellen Markman
Philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists have often
divided the mind into fundamental component parts. Does this intuition carry over
into folk philosophy of mind? In a series of large-scale studies, we explore
intuitive distinctions among different kinds of mental phenomena and consider how
these distinctions might organize the conceptual space of the diverse
“intelligent” and “social” entities in the modern world.
Across studies, independent exploratory factor analyses reveal a common latent
structure underlying mental capacity attributions, centered on three types of
phenomenal experiences: physiological experiences of biological needs (e.g.,
hunger, pain); social-emotional experiences of self- and other-relevant emotions
(e.g., guilt, pride); and perceptual-cognitive abilities to detect and use
information about the environment (e.g., hearing, memory). We argue for an
expanded model of folk philosophy of mind that goes beyond agency and experience
(H. M. Gray, Gray, & Wegner, 2007) to make basic and important distinctions among
different varieties of experience.
[dimension, target, revealed, age, attention, stanford, presented, explore] [mental, factor, feeling, physiological, experience, experiencing, social, gray, people, folk, philosophy, lay, moral, accounted, intuitive, reasoning, distinct, capacity, agency, cognitive, soc, biological, emo, perceptualcognitive, beetle, discussion, judged, cog, phy, distinction, evaluate, ontology, excluded, ontological, weisman, survey, work, psychology, rated, capable, priori, understanding] [perceptual, affect, item, university] [mind, study, three, providing, additional] [variance, table, analysis, structure, large] [total, model, set, range, making, exploratory, check, consider, full] [current, perception, framework, human, component]
How people differ in syllogistic reasoning
Sangeet Khemlani, P.n. Johnson-Laird
Sangeet Khemlani, P.n. Johnson-Laird
Psychologists have studied syllogistic inferences for more than a
century, but no extant theory gives an adequate account of them. Reasoners appear
to reason using different strategies. A complete account of syllogisms must
explain them and the resulting differences from one individual to another. We
propose a dual-process theory that solves these two problems. It is based on the
manipulation of mental models, i.e., iconic simulations of possibilities. A
computer program implementing the theory, mReasoner, generates initial
conclusions by building and scanning models. The theory accounts for individual
differences in an early study on syllogisms (Johnson-Laird & Steedman, 1978). The
computational model provides an algorithmic account of the different processes on
which three subsets of performance relied (Simulation 1). It also simulates the
performance of each individual participant in the study (Simulation 2). The
theory and its implementation constitute the first robust account of individual
differences in syllogistic reasoning.
[valid, journal, size] [conclusion, reasoning, mental, intuitive, account, initial, systematic, appear, inference, explain, cognitive, quantified] [program, experimental, carried, separate, characterize] [subset, performance, three, study] [analysis, computational, cluster, small, canonical, order] [individual, parameter, syllogistic, data, theory, model, search, simulation, mreasoner, set, oba, deliberative, consider, aba, abc, iba, ibc, iab, aab, eab, ocb, eba, ebc, alternative, icb, acb, obc, oab, ecb, fit, simulated, based, banker, steedman, optimal, correlation, propensity, datasets, chef, khemlani, yield, best] [figure, system, architect, corresponding, implementation]
Grounded Distributional Semantics for Abstract Words
Katsumi Takano, Akira Utsumi
Katsumi Takano, Akira Utsumi
Since Harnad (1990) pointed out the symbol grounding problem,
cognitive science research has demonstrated that grounding in perceptual or
sensorimotor experience is crucial to language. Recent embodied cognition
theories have argued that language is more important for grounding abstract than
concrete words; abstract words are grounded via language. Distributional
semantics has recently addressed the embodied nature of language and proposed
multimodal semantic models. However, these models are not cognitively plausible
because they do not address the recent embodiment view of abstract concepts.
Therefore, we propose a novel multimodal distributional semantics in which
abstract words are represented indirectly through grounded representations of
their semantically related concrete words. A simulation experiment demonstrated
that the proposed model achieved better performance in computing the word
similarity than other multimodal or text-based distributional models. This
finding suggests that the indirect embodiment view is plausible and contributes
to the improvement of multimodal distributional semantics.
[standard, learned, processing, test, finding, compared, vocabulary] [cognitive, experience, cognition, result] [perceptual, language, linguistic, directly, meaning, degree, highly, basic] [grounded, symbol, performance, number, improve, better, international, acquired, step, stage] [abstract, semantic, word, distributional, concrete, proposed, multimodal, vector, embodiment, semantics, similarity, kiela, computed, indirect, computational, mediator, dsmg, psychologically, dsmv, plausible, concreteness, dsml, lexical, approach, cosine, semantically, table, demonstrated, pabs, constructed, construct, acquisition] [model, method, theory, correlation, conference, dispersion, data, propose] [visual, embodied, grounding, view, represented, image, representation, space, figure, sensorimotor, human, represent, pointed, neural, achieved, matrix]
Shakers and Maracas: Action-Based Categorisation Choices in Triads Are Influenced by Task Instructions
Nicholas Shipp, Frederic Vallee-Tourangeau, Susan Anthony
Nicholas Shipp, Frederic Vallee-Tourangeau, Susan Anthony
Shipp, Vallée-Tourangeau, and Anthony (2014) used the triad
task to show that when participants select items that ‘goes best with the
target’, they tend to select the choice that shares both an action and a
taxonomic relation. However such instructions are non-explicit and vague, and
might encourage a strategy other than a categorical decision. The present
experiment used the same triads as in Shipp et al. to test whether participants
were actually engaging in a categorisation strategy. The task instructions were
manipulated so that participants either selected the item that “goes
best”, “goes best to form a category” or is “most
similar” to the target. The results found no differences between the
instructions of “goes best to form a category” and “goes
best”. Therefore the triad task does encourage a natural categorisation
strategy and differences in task instructions across research are a result of the
stimuli used.
[category, task, target, condition, presented, journal, test, categorization, chance, compared, second, reported] [designed, experiment, led, percentage, cognitive, key, work, united] [triad, item, taxonomic, perceptual, shared, select, object, categorisation, shipp, dco, thematic, pco, sco, context, gbfc, share, rifle, lin, pistol, experimental, membership, main, functional, murphy, sword, instructed, anthony, previous, manipulated, thematically, hoc] [sharing, example, strategy, water, asked, three, difference, addition, lower, instruction] [form, similarity, analysis, relation, conceptual, list] [choice, best, higher, proportion, option, set, selecting, selected, full, additive] [action, interaction, selection, side, role, figure]
Training prospective abilities through conversation about the extended self
Nadia Chernyak, Kathryn Leech, Meredith Rowe
Nadia Chernyak, Kathryn Leech, Meredith Rowe
The ability to act on behalf of our future selves is related to
uniquely human abilities such as planning, delay of gratification, and goal
attainment. While prospection develops rapidly during early childhood, little is
known about the mechanisms that support its development. Here we explored whether
encouraging children to talk about their extended selves (self outside the
present context) boosts their prospective abilities. Preschoolers (N = 81)
participated in a 5-minute interaction with an adult in which they were asked to
talk about events in the near future, distant future, near past, or present.
Compared with children discussing their present and distant future, children
asked to discuss events in their near future or near past displayed better
planning and prospective memory. Additionally, those two conditions were most
effective in eliciting self-projection (use of personal pronouns). Results
suggest that experience communicating about the close-in-time, extended self
contributes to children’s future-oriented thinking.
[child, time, training, condition, developmental, early, picture, age, journal, second, revealed, looked, development, suggests, powerful] [future, prospective, talk, extended, distant, cognitive, work, conversation, thinking, personal, talking, prospection, mental, bed, going, long, told, social, delay, happen, discussing, remind, proceeded, distinct, temporal, feel, cognizing] [item, episodic, context, memory, support, language] [experimenter, asked, three, young, linear, square, help, preschool, score, ability, school, greater, mind, atance, travel, playing, received, study] [tense, class, amount, upcoming, listed, conceptual] [generate, planning, proportion, game, draw, generated, provide, theory] [box, labeled]
There is more to gesture than meets the eye: Visual attention to gesture’s referents cannot account for its facilitative effects during math instruction
Miriam Novack, Elizabeth Wakefield, Eliza Congdon, Steve Franconeri, Susan Goldin-Meadow
Miriam Novack, Elizabeth Wakefield, Eliza Congdon, Steve Franconeri, Susan Goldin-Meadow
Teaching a new concept with gestures – hand movements that
accompany speech – facilitates learning above-and-beyond instruction
through speech alone (e.g., Singer & Goldin-Meadow, 2005). However, the
mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are still being explored. Here, we use eye
tracking to explore one mechanism – gesture’s ability to direct
visual attention. We examine how children allocate their visual attention during
a mathematical equivalence lesson that either contains gesture or does not. We
show that gesture instruction improves posttest performance, and additionally
that gesture does change how children visually attend to instruction: children
look more to the problem being explained, and less to the instructor. However
looking patterns alone cannot explain gesture’s effect, as posttest
performance is not predicted by any of our looking-time measures. These findings
suggest that gesture does guide visual attention, but that attention alone cannot
account for its facilitative learning effects.
[attention, learning, condition, time, training, learn, type, novel, indicating, spoken, increased, presented, visually] [work, explanation, missing, understanding, focused, positive] [gesture, speech, previous, produced, aoi, directly, university, affect] [instructional, instruction, problem, performance, solve, posttest, addend, strategy, math, equivalence, instructor, spent, correct, study, differ, singer, equal, mathematical, tobii, equation, answer, better, watching, correctly, ability, asked, allocation, pretest, answered, difference, ping, help, idea] [form, grouping, increase, natural] [data, proportion, woman, sample, lead] [visual, eye, segment, figure, side, tracking, focus, current, gaze, directs, aois, behavioral, facilitates, space]
Measuring and modeling distraction by self-referential processing in a complex working memory span task
Jeroen Daamen, Marieke van Vugt, Niels Taatgen
Jeroen Daamen, Marieke van Vugt, Niels Taatgen
Two experiments using novel complex working memory span tasks were
performed, both requiring the participants to remember a span of letters whilst
being distracted by the processing of words. Word processing could either be
self-referential (SRP) or not. In the first experiment recall performance was
compared between SRP and non-SRP conditions using the same words. In the second
experiment, we compared SRP and non-SRP in two tasks equalized in semantic
processing but using different words. In both experiments recall performance was
significantly lower after SRP compared to non-SRP, indicating that SRP has a
disruptive effect on the recall task. A cognitive model implemented in PRIMs,
using goal competition during SRP, interfering with rehearsal of letters, could
account for the observed experimental results. If SRP interferes with subsequent
tasks in this manner it should also interfere with tasks other than recall, such
as SRP occurring in daily life.
[srp, condition, processing, distraction, task, span, presented, response, rehearsal, time, phase, distracting, trial, presentation, compared, blank, complex, second, reported, selfreferential] [experiment, neutral, caused, mental, participant, cognitive, fact, including, explained, negative, account, percentage, elaboration, inconsistency, factor] [recall, memory, item, chunk, experimental, prevent, remember, store, retrieval] [score, difference, performance, lower, working, scored, modeled, included, example, better, number, answer, prims, mind] [word, analysis, measure, semantic, confusion, positional] [model, data, well, average, allow, set, observed, confidence, chosen] [letter, current, figure, cwm, screen, serial, goal, multiple, internal]
Statistical Learning Ability Can Overcome the Negative Impact of Low Socioeconomic Status on Language Development
Leyla Eghbalzad, Joanne Deocampo, Christopher Conway
Leyla Eghbalzad, Joanne Deocampo, Christopher Conway
Statistical learning (SL) is believed to be a mechanism that
enables successful language acquisition. Language acquisition in turn is heavily
influenced by environmental factors such as socioeconomic status (SES). However,
it is unknown to what extent SL abilities interact with SES in affecting language
outcomes. To examine this potential interaction, we measured event-related
potentials (ERPs) in 38 children aged 7-12 while performing a visual SL task
consisting of a sequence of stimuli that contained covert statistical
probabilities that predicted a target stimulus. Hierarchical regression results
indicated that SL ability moderated the relationship between SES (average of both
caregiver’s education level) and language scores (grammar, and marginally
with receptive vocabulary). For children with high SL ability, SES had a weaker
effect on language compared to children with low SL ability, suggesting that
having good SL abilities could help ameliorate the disadvantages associated with
being raised in a family with lower SES.
[learning, statistical, erp, development, predictor, condition, target, child, task, standard, compared, vocabulary, socioeconomic, presented, status, receptive, evidence, revealed, grammaticality, early, nopredictor, erps, reaction, georgia, magician, jost, sequence, administered, reported] [low, relationship, social, cognitive, variable, biological, consistent, influence, appear, negative] [language, environmental, raised, linguistic, ppvt, highly] [high, ability, impact, education, lower, difference, assessment, study, department, larger] [amplitude, grammar, measure, demonstrated] [probability, data, measured, average, higher, potential, posterior, good, based, state] [figure, level, visual, eeg, brain, net, region, intrinsic, environment, neural, component, box]
The Influence of Group Interaction on Creativity in Engineering Design
Trina Kershaw, Rebecca Peterson, Sankha Bhowmick
Trina Kershaw, Rebecca Peterson, Sankha Bhowmick
Group work is frequently part of idea generation, despite evidence
that group interaction may reduce productivity during brainstorming sessions.
Idea quantity is one aspect of creativity, but the originality of ideas generated
is also important. In this paper, we examine how different aspects of group
interaction, such as who makes the most contributions to an idea and the number
of group members contribute to an idea, impact the originality of concepts
generated by engineering students. We found that the most original concepts were
produced when the concept originator was the top contributor to the design, and
when the majority of group members contributed to the concept, particularly among
senior students. These results are discussed in relation to previous work and
suggestions are made for future research that assesses the interaction between
design fixation and group processes.
[second, standard, suggests, completed] [examined, work, agreement, led, technical, experience, social, common] [generation, produced, previous, produce, modified, university, coded, innovation, nominal] [group, originality, concept, engineering, contribution, contributor, idea, score, originator, received, litter, member, contributed, senior, curriculum, working, collection, number, brainstorming, paulus, product, improvement, picker, minor, quantity, undergraduate, blair, freshman, contribute, nijstad, high, asme, circulated, isolated, performance, subset] [creativity, creative, analysis, productivity, applied, final] [individual, higher, method, decision, generated, sample, paper, tree, based] [design, top, level, figure, multiple, interaction, original, coding, system]
Exploring the Cost Function in Color Perception and Memory: An Information-Theoretic Model of Categorical Effects in Color Matching
Chris R. Sims, Zheng Ma, Sarah R. Allred, Rachel A. Lerch, Jonathan I. Flombaum
Chris R. Sims, Zheng Ma, Sarah R. Allred, Rachel A. Lerch, Jonathan I. Flombaum
Recent evidence indicates that color categories can exert a strong
influence over color matching in both perception and memory. We explore this
phenomenon by analyzing the cost function for perceptual error. Our analysis is
developed within the mathematical framework of rate–distortion theory.
According to our approach, the goal of perception is to minimize the expected
cost of error while subject to a constraint on the capacity of perceptual
processing. We propose that the cost function in color perception is defined by
the sum of two components: a metric cost associated with the magnitude of error
in color space, and a cost associated with perceptual errors that cross color
category boundaries. A computational model embodying this assumption is shown to
produce an excellent fit to empirical data. The results generally suggest that
what appear as 'errors' in working memory performance may reflect reasonable and
systematic behaviors in the context of costs.
[category, response, stimulus, categorical, evidence, indicate, journal] [capacity, influence, strong, experiment, cognitive, conditional, psychological, result, described] [color, delayed, memory, channel, undelayed, perceptual, error, experimental, parameterized, identification, circular, bae, matching, wheel, university, angular] [estimation, working, additional, difference, solution, equation, performance, department, comparing, conducted, three, precision] [subject, approach, cosine, relative, computational, probe] [cost, model, function, metric, hue, fit, theory, probability, distribution, paper, based, assumes, optimal, data, estimated, best, bayesian, empirical, maximum, catmet, simple, expected] [perception, figure, visual, current, constraint, goal, developed, represents, brain, angle, illustrated, framework, sensory]
Abstraction in time: Finding hierarchical linguistic structure in a model of relational processing
Leonidas Doumas, Andrea Martin
Leonidas Doumas, Andrea Martin
Abstract mental representation is fundamental for human cognition.
Forming such representations in time, especially from dynamic and noisy
perceptual input, is a challenge for any processing modality, but perhaps none so
acutely as for language processing. We show that LISA (Hummel & Holyaok, 1997)
and DORA (Doumas, Hummel, & Sandhofer, 2008), models built to process and to
learn structured (i.e., symbolic) representations of conceptual properties and
relations from unstructured inputs, show oscillatory activation during processing
that is highly similar to the cortical activity elicited by the linguistic
stimuli from Ding et al. (2016). We argue, as Ding et al. (2016), that this
activation reflects formation of hierarchical linguistic representation, and
furthermore, that the kind of computational mechanisms in LISA/DORA (e.g.,
temporal binding by systematic asynchrony of firing) may underlie formation of
abstract linguistic representations in the human brain.
[relational, processing, analogical, learn, structured, response] [proposition, reasoning, cognitive] [language, linguistic, modified, object] [active, symbolic, closely, propositional, code] [lisa, sentence, structure, semantic, english, fire, phrase, noun, computational, mandarin, direct, order, structural, form, forming, abstract] [bound, well, model, observed, rate, data, compositional] [binding, ding, dora, coding, figure, firing, chase, goblin, representing, gnome, driver, representation, cortical, hierarchical, doumas, activation, process, conjunctively, chaser, represented, chased, human, represent, pattern, tracking, phrasal, connectionist, role, current, hummel, oscillatory, perform, tracked, dynamic, unit, synchrony, bind, connected, distributed, activity, burst, fur, localist]
Modeling sampling duration in decisions from experience
Nisheeth Srivastava, Johannes Mueller-Trede, Paul Schrater, Edward Vul
Nisheeth Srivastava, Johannes Mueller-Trede, Paul Schrater, Edward Vul
Cognitive models of choice almost universally implicate sequential
evidence accumulation as a fundamental element of the mechanism by which
preferences are formed. When to stop evidence accumulation is an important
question that such models do not currently answer. We present the first cognitive
model that accurately predicts stopping decisions in individual economic
decisions-from-experience trials, using an online learning model. Analysis of
stopping decisions across three different datasets reveals three useful
predictors of sampling duration - relative evidence strength, how long it takes
participants to see all rewards, and a novel indicator of convergence of an
underlying learning process, which we call predictive {\em volatility}. We
quantify the relative strengths of these factors in predicting observers'
stopping points, finding that predictive volatility consistently dominates
relative evidence strength in stopping decisions.
[evidence, predictor, sequence, learning, sequential, baseline, trial, learn, response, statistical, task] [experience, influence, strength, cognitive, long, variable] [error, perceptual, consistently, experimental] [three, counting, difference, larger, greater, magnitude, number, estimation, equation, quantity, problem] [length, relative, large] [sampling, volatility, model, dfe, stopping, predictive, evd, sample, prediction, probability, decision, data, individual, expected, choice, best, fit, option, observer, risky, terminate, point, distribution, predict, hazard, correlation, reward, log, datasets, regression, parameter, measured, modeling, simple, accumulation, call, actual, choose, safe, outcome, load, empirical] [figure, duration, human, multiple, dataset, role, associated]
Experience as a Free Parameter in the Cognitive Modeling of Language
Brendan Johns, Michael Jones, Douglas Mewhort
Brendan Johns, Michael Jones, Douglas Mewhort
To account for natural variability in cognitive processing, it is
standard practice to optimize the parameters of a model to account for behavioral
data. However, variability reflecting the information to which one has been
exposed is usually ignored. Nevertheless, most language theories assign a large
role to an individual’s experience with language. We present a new way to
fit language-based behavioral data that combines simple learning and processing
mechanisms using optimization of language materials. We demonstrate that
benchmark fits on multiple linguistic tasks can be achieved using this method and
will argue that one must account not only for the internal parameters of a model
but also the external experience that people receive when theorizing about human
behavior.
[standard, learning, test, older, type, adult] [cognitive, account, split, source, psychological, strength, power, people] [linguistic, language, environmental, memory, specific, priming, variability, context, retrieval] [young, group, performance, knowledge, better, provided, free, number, three] [semantic, lexical, word, experiential, large, corpus, frequency, random, sdm, variance, complete, natural, order, contextual, measure, increase, form, examine, document, attained, diversity, combined, beagle] [model, fit, data, fitting, set, method, decision, best, selected, behavior, determine, provide, correlation, individual, simple, parameter] [figure, behavioral, representation, algorithm, human, environment, space, internal, process, multiple]
Syntax Accommodation in Social Media Conversations
Reihane Boghrati, Joe Hoover, Kate M. Johnson, Justin Garten, Morteza Dehghani
Reihane Boghrati, Joe Hoover, Kate M. Johnson, Justin Garten, Morteza Dehghani
The psycholinguistic theory of Communication Accommodation
proposes that people modify communication dynamics to minimize (or maximize)
their social differences. Research on communication accommodation has shown that
people who want social approval will modify their linguistic style to match that
of their interactant; however, most studies have been conducted on small-scale
datasets and in laboratory situations. In this work, we investigate the
relationship between linguistic syntax usage and conversation participation in a
more naturalistic conversational setting: social media conversations on
Reddit.com. We introduce a novel approach for calculating document-level syntax
similarity by relying on natural language processing methods and graph theory
techniques. Using the proposed method, we present the results of two experiments
which demonstrate that users who comment on a post tend to use syntax similar to
that of the original post.
[compared, evidence, pair, journal, novel] [social, people, historical, experiment, conversation, relationship, psychological, hypothesize, suppose] [language, communication, previous, matching, linguistic, van, priming, convergence] [study, number, group, conducted, three] [syntactic, similarity, syntax, post, accommodation, comment, parse, random, style, written, structure, graph, subreddit, perfect, syntactically, edit, approach, subreddits, distance, hungarian, tend, document, sentence, minimum, complete, text, reddit, word, order, writing, considered, calculating, calculate, commented, measure, edge] [theory, data, hypothesis, tree, set, method, higher, follow, function, provide, minimize] [original, algorithm, bipartite, weight, dataset, cat, figure, output, mimicry, side, user]
How Different Frames of Reference Interact: A Neural Network Model
Weizhi Nan, Yanlong Sun, Xun Liu, Hongbin Wang
Weizhi Nan, Yanlong Sun, Xun Liu, Hongbin Wang
People use multiple frames of reference (FORs) for representing
and updating spatial relationships between objects in a complex environment.
“Frame of Reference-based Map of Salience” theory (FORMS) suggests
that FORs with high salience may be processed in priority. Here, we report a
computational neural network model for a two-cannon task, which naturally
involves multiple FORs with different levels of salience: intrinsic frame of
reference (IFOR) and egocentric frame of reference (EFOR). The goal is to
investigate the computational neural mechanisms underlying human spatial
performance. Our simulation results fit earlier behavioral results well. The
model suggests although multiple FORs may be initially represented independently,
they interfere with each other by the inhibitory competition of neurons in the
later process (in hidden layer) for conflict resolution. Moreover, salience may
modulate the competition by prioritizing FORs with high salience levels. These
results represent a connectionist support for the FORMS theory.
[target, condition, trial, competition, training, response, inhibitory, testing, presented, suggests, complex, conflict, task, time, sun] [salience, cognitive, frame, stable, positive] [color, spatial, blue, reference, encode, main, egocentric, updated] [ratio, three, group, larger, number] [analysis, table, computational, anchored, earlier] [red, model, set, simulation, data, correlation, based, opposite, prediction, potential, theory, predictive] [cannon, pellet, angle, orientation, layer, fors, multiple, neural, efor, ifor, behavioral, interaction, hidden, network, intrinsic, figure, location, input, fewer, column, represent, environment, process, human, output, longer, represents, tamborello, center, current, excitatory, represented]
Animal, dog, or dalmatian? Level of abstraction in nominal referring expressions
Caroline Graf, Judith Degen, Robert Hawkins, Noah Goodman
Caroline Graf, Judith Degen, Robert Hawkins, Noah Goodman
Nominal reference is very flexible---the same object may be called
a dalmatian, a dog, or an animal when all are literally true. What accounts for
the choices that speakers make in how they refer to objects? The addition of
modifiers (e.g. "big dog") has been extensively explored in the literature, but
fewer studies have explored the choice of noun, including its level of
abstraction. We collected freely produced referring expressions in a multi-player
reference game experiment, where we manipulated the object's context. We find
that utterance choice is affected by the contextual informativeness of a
description, its length and frequency, and the typicality of the object for that
description. Finally, we show how these factors naturally enter into a formal
model of production within the Rational Speech-Acts framework, and that the
resulting model predicts our quantitative production data.
[target, condition, compared, category, label, deterministic, indicating] [sufficient, cognitive, long, rating, experiment, treated, case, evaluate] [basic, typicality, term, reference, referring, super, speaker, utterance, object, typical, ite, distractor, nominal, listener, production, van, refer, language, context, specific, referential, contained, map, referent, distractors, main, experimental, literal, mentioning] [three, difference, number, free, ratio, greater] [length, frequency, short, noun, contextual, includes, word, order] [model, choice, empirical, informativeness, cost, data, set, log, probability, rsa, probabilistic, collected, game, preference, determine, posterior, pragmatic, selected, parameter, choose, rational, slider, goodman, preferred, predicts, higher] [level, figure, quantitative]
Do classifier categories affect or reflect object concepts?
Laura Speed, Jidong Chen, Falk Huettig, Asifa Majid
Laura Speed, Jidong Chen, Falk Huettig, Asifa Majid
We conceptualize objects based on sensorimotor information gleaned
from real-world experience. To what extent is conceptual information structured
according to higher-level linguistic features? We investigate whether
classifiers, a grammatical category, shape the conceptual representations of
objects. In three experiments native Mandarin speakers (a classifier language)
and native Dutch speakers (a language without classifiers) judged the similarity
of a target object with four objects (presented as words or pictures). One
object shared a classifier with the target, the other objects did not. Overall,
the target object was judged as more similar to the object with the shared
classifier than distractor objects in both Dutch and Mandarin speakers, with no
difference between the two languages. Thus, even speakers of a non-classifier
language are sensitive to object similarities underlying classifier systems, and
using a classifier system does not exaggerate these similarities. This suggests
that classifier systems reflect, rather than affect, conceptual structure.
[target, type, presented, category, journal, match, compared, evidence, task, numeral, explicit, shape, advantage] [experiment, cognitive, judged, judge] [classifier, language, object, grammatical, dutch, linguistic, gender, affect, shared, distractor, saalbach, native, experimental, main, lucy, previous, share, relativity, university, spanish, salient, german, specific, matching, masculine, grammatically, typical, yucatec] [comparison, three, thought, study, sharing, procedure, asked, difference, example, greater] [similarity, mandarin, conceptual, reflect, word, noun, english, organization, chinese] [find, higher, range, simple, data] [figure, system, associated, visual, representation, interaction, reveal, feature]
Using Motor Dynamics to Explore Real-time Competition in Cross-situational Word Learning: Evidence From Two Novel Paradigms
John Bunce, Drew Abney, Chelsea Gordon, Michael Spivey, Rose Scott
John Bunce, Drew Abney, Chelsea Gordon, Michael Spivey, Rose Scott
Adults can use cross-situational information to learn words, but
it is unclear how much information they retain about the potential referents that
occur with a word on each observation. We tested this question using novel
mouse-tracking and finger-tracking paradigms. Adults encountered novel words in
ambiguous training trials and were then tested on the words’ referents. In
some test trials, participants saw both the target and a high-probability
competitor that had repeatedly occurred with the word. Participants’ mouse
trajectories were slower, less accurate, and more complex when the competitor was
present, indicating participants were aware that both the target and competitor
had occurred with the word. This suggests that learners can retain multiple
potential referents for a word and mouse tracking provides a promising way of
assessing this knowledge. However, this knowledge was not evident in
participants’ finger movements, suggesting that finger tracking might not
capture real-time competition between referents.
[target, competitor, competition, mouse, test, occurred, trajectory, revealed, novel, trial, retain, learning, training, label, tested, crosssituational, suggests, time, encounter, heard, position, response, accuracy, complex, conjecture, slower, yurovsky, exhibited, statistical, appeared] [experiment, series, anova, participant, cognitive, psychological] [referent, object, select, main, referential, previous, university, language] [correct, incorrect, dot, knowledge, three, differ, impact] [word, entropy, measure, complexity, examine, computed, analysis] [potential, selected, sample, capture, alternative, provide, data, green, set] [angle, tracking, finger, single, multiple, computer, motor, process, experienced, planned]
Decision contamination in the wild: Sequential dependencies in Yelp review ratings
David Vinson, Rick Dale, Michael Jones
David Vinson, Rick Dale, Michael Jones
Current judgments are systematically biased by prior judgments.
Such biases occur in ways that seem to reflect the cognitive system’s
ability to adapt to the statistical regularities within the environment. These
cognitive sequential dependencies have been shown to occur under carefully
controlled laboratory settings as well as more recent studies designed to
determine if such effects occur in real world scenarios. In this study we use
these well-known findings to guide our analysis of over 2.2 million business
review ratings. We explore how both within-reviewer and within-business (between
reviewer) ratings are influenced by previous ratings. Our findings, albeit
exploratory, suggest that current ratings are influenced in systematic ways by
prior ratings. This work is couched within a broader program that aims to
determine the validity of laboratory findings using large naturally occurring
behavioral data.
[sequential, stimulus, time, journal, statistical, occur, trial, occurring, presented, type, processing, categorization] [rating, cognitive, judgment, work, temporal, scale, experience, moral, future, influence] [previous, contrast, influenced, experimental, perceptual, expect] [absolute, number, difference, study, online, linear, magnitude] [distance, natural, preceding, relative, large, measure, analysis, reflect, frequency, subsequent, table] [star, distribution, provide, average, prior, making, regression, decision, determine, data, well, model, observed, naturally, exploration, opposite, simple] [review, current, business, laboratory, assimilation, reviewer, dataset, yelp, perception, farther, figure, successive, assimilate, controlled, neural, displaced]
Grammatical gender affects odor cognition
Laura Speed, Asifa Majid
Laura Speed, Asifa Majid
Language interacts with olfaction in exceptional ways. Olfaction
is believed to be weakly linked with language, as demonstrated by our poor odor
naming ability, yet olfaction seems to be particularly susceptible to linguistic
descriptions. We tested the boundaries of the influence of language on olfaction
by focusing on a non-lexical aspect of language (grammatical gender). We
manipulated the grammatical gender of fragrance descriptions to test whether the
congruence with fragrance gender would affect the way fragrances were perceived
and remembered. Native French and German speakers read descriptions of fragrances
containing ingredients with feminine or masculine grammatical gender, and then
smelled masculine or feminine fragrances and rated them on a number of dimensions
(e.g., pleasantness). Participants then completed an odor recognition test.
Fragrances were remembered better when presented with descriptions whose
grammatical gender matched the gender of the fragrance. Overall, results suggest
grammatical manipulations of odor descriptions can affect odor cognition.
[verbal, journal, test, presented, processing, explicit, suggests, suggesting] [influence, cognitive, perceived, cognition, perceive, told, work, rated, talking, rating, explicitly, described, people, implicitly, buy, judged] [gender, grammatical, fragrance, odor, language, masculine, male, feminine, german, memory, female, olfactory, french, olfaction, experimental, affect, smelled, linguistic, clearly, description, matched, smell, grammatically, pleasantness, previous, perceptual, marketed, herz, spanish, native, carefully, context] [difficult, easily, thought, study, correctly, product, number, annual, three] [semantic, natural, conceptual, read, english, table, linked] [based, making, selected, set] [perception, interaction, recognition, figure, box, labeled, brain, sensory, encoding]
Modeling N400 amplitude using vector space models of word representation
Allyson Ettinger, Naomi Feldman, Philip Resnik, Colin Phillips
Allyson Ettinger, Naomi Feldman, Philip Resnik, Colin Phillips
We use a vector space model (VSM) to simulate semantic relatedness
effects in sentence processing, and use this connection to predict N400 amplitude
in an ERP study by Federmeier and Kutas (1999). We find that the VSM-based model
is able to capture key elements of the authors' manipulations and results,
accounting for aspects of the results that are unexplained by cloze probability.
This demonstration provides a proof of concept for use of VSMs in modeling the
particular context representations and corresponding facilitation processes that
seem to influence non-cloze-like behavior in the N400.
[target, processing, structured, journal, explicit] [influence, cognitive, key, result, fact, strong] [context, language, relatedness, main] [study, linear, greater, collective, comparison, three] [semantic, word, federmeier, similarity, relation, cloze, cosine, vector, amplitude, kutas, facilitation, reflect, sentence, computational, vsms, averaging, underlie, anchored, distance, association, direct, simulate, lexical, vsm, plausibility, incoming, agnostic, natural, untimed, measure, track, workshop] [expected, model, based, average, probability, modeling, predict, selected, fit, capture, simple, simulation, making, find, observed, higher, roughly] [figure, representation, space, constraint, brain, represented, computer]
An Information-Processing Account of Representation Change: International Mathematical Olympiad Problems are Hard not only for Humans
Takuya Matsuzaki, Munehiro Kobayashi, Noriko H. Arai
Takuya Matsuzaki, Munehiro Kobayashi, Noriko H. Arai
We present a new information-processing model of math problem
solving in which representation change theory can be implemented. The problem
representation process is divided into two. One is to translate a problem into a
formula in a conservative extension of Zermelo-Fraenkel's set theory, and the
other is to interpret the translated formulas in local mathematical theories. A
ZF formula has several interpretations, and representation change is thus
implementable as a choice of an interpretation. Adopting the theory of real
closed fields as an example of local theory, we develop a prototype system. We
use more than 400 problems from three sources as benchmarks: exercise books,
university entrance examination, and the International Mathematical Olympiad
problems. Our experimental results suggest that our model can serve as a basis of
a quantitative study on representation change in the sense that the performance
of our prototype system reflects difficulties of the problems quite
precisely.
[processing, time, quantifier, size] [prototype, appropriate, basis, real, variable, account, logic, reasoning] [language, module, experimental, university, recall] [problem, change, mathematical, solving, formula, difficulty, propositional, primary, insight, imo, math, number, three, rcf, called, exercise, univ, example, solved, draughtboard, mutilated, solve, solution, entrance, reformulation, geometry, require, performance, secondary, arithmetic, presburger, international, precision, free, knowledge] [table, local, syntactic, natural, discourse, sentence, semantic, expressed, computational, logical, benchmark, mechanism, analysis, theoretical, complexity] [theory, model, search, set, choice, formulation, find, assume, requires] [representation, process, system, perception, consists, algorithm, implementation, human, transformation, current, unit, space]
Inductive Ethics: A Bottom-Up Taxonomy of the Moral Domain
Justin Landy, Daniel Bartels
Justin Landy, Daniel Bartels
Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) posits that people moralize at
least six distinct kinds of virtues. These virtues are divided into
“individualizing” and “binding” virtues. Despite
widespread enthusiasm for MFT, it is unknown how plausible it is as a model of
people’s conceptualizations of the moral domain. In this research, we take
a bottom-up approach to characterizing people’s conceptualization of the
moral domain, and derive a taxonomy of morality that does not resemble MFT. We
find that this model more accurately reflects people’s theories of morality
than does MFT.
[inductive, superordinate, category, baseline, presented, development, journal] [moral, taxonomy, strength, liberty, sanctity, mft, person, care, conclusion, loyalty, authority, morality, participant, premise, gained, social, foundation, belong, people, man, rated, personality, dissimilarity, cognitive, positive, violate, differing, nephew, dendrogram, exemplify, qualified] [relatedness, university, domain, coded, resemble] [study, fairness, closely, greater, larger, versus] [table, derived, considered, expressed, conceptual, analysis] [likelihood, model, behavior, correlation, randomly, method, sample, theory] [figure, indicates, multidimensional, belonging]
Extracting Human Face Similarity Judgments: Pairs or Triplets?
Linjie Li, Vicente Malave, Amanda Song, Angela Yu
Linjie Li, Vicente Malave, Amanda Song, Angela Yu
Two experimental protocols, pairwise rating and triplet ranking,
have been commonly used for eliciting perceptual similarity judgments for visual
objects. Pair has the advantage of greater precision, but triplet is potentially
cognitive less taxing, thus resulting in less noisy responses. Here, we introduce
several information-theoretic measures of how useful the two protocols are for
response prediction and parameter estimation. We demonstrate that triplet is
significantly better for extracting subject-specific preferences, while the two
are comparable across subjects. While the specific conclusions should be
interpreted cautiously, the work provides an information-theoretic framework for
quantifying how repetitions within and across subjects can help to combat noise
in human responses, as well as giving some insight into the nature of similarity
representation and response noise in humans. More generally, this work
demonstrates that substantial noise and inconsistency corrupt similarity
judgments, both within- and across-subjects, with consequent implications for
experimental design and data interpretation.
[response, stimulus, pair, learning, quantify, accuracy, presented, compare, scaling, advantage] [future, rating, cognitive, consistent, systematic, work] [error, experimental, perceptual, generation] [comparison, greater, number, better, three, provided, asked, precision, numerical, science, numeric] [similarity, subject, relative, analysis, order, measure] [triplet, pairwise, data, model, predictive, distribution, gain, correlation, prediction, noise, compute, posterior, bayesian, well, total, predicting, average, based, higher, simple, predict, find, upper, comparable, prior, utility, individual, rate, obvious, making, provide, paper, theory] [human, figure, face, multidimensional, ranking, facial, design, indicates, extracting, representation]
Investigating Semantic Conflict between General Knowledge and Novel Information in Real-Time Sentence Processing
Angele Yazbec, Michael Kaschak, Arielle Borovsky
Angele Yazbec, Michael Kaschak, Arielle Borovsky
There is extensive evidence that listeners use general knowledge
to predict upcoming sentence endings; however, less is known about how novel
information is integrated when there is disagreement between general knowledge
and novel information. The present studies use the visual world paradigm to study
the semantic competition between new information and general knowledge.
Experiment 1 demonstrates that listeners learn to use limited exposure to new
information and their general knowledge to anticipate sentence endings that align
with the action of the sentence. Experiment 2 demonstrates participants learn to
use combinatorial information from stories to elicit anticipatory eye movements
to the target over the general knowledge distractor. Evidence from these
experiments indicates even in the presence of semantic conflict with general
knowledge, listeners rapidly increase the weight of novel information rather than
general knowledge.
[general, target, novel, evidence, spoken, second, learn, journal, increased, processing, time, starting, presented, override, learned, suggests, conflict, task, explore] [story, experiment, appear, cartoon, street] [distractor, object, anticipate, rapidly, weigh, pilot, van, support, acting, adapt, fixating, rely, thematic, borovsky, mismatch] [knowledge, procedure, study, conducted] [sentence, anticipatory, comprehension, semantic, onset, analysis, article, exceed, peanut, noun, generalknowledge, interpretation, contextual, interpret] [agent, log, potential, measured, expected, based, proportion, pragmatic, call] [action, eye, screen, image, reveal, visual, computer, movement, figure]
Geometric representations of evidence in models of decision-making
Peter Kvam
Peter Kvam
Traditionally, models of the decision-making process have focused
on the case where a decision-maker must choose between two alternatives. The most
successful of these, sequential sampling models, have been extended from the
binary case to account for choices and response times between multiple
alternatives. In this paper, I present a geometric representation of diffusion
and accumulator models of multiple-choice decisions, and show how these can be
analyzed as Markov processes on lattices. I then introduce psychological
relationships between choice alternatives and show how this impacts the
sequential sampling process. I conclude with two examples showing how one can
predict distributions of responses on a continuum as well as response times by
incorporating psychological representations into a multi-dimensional random walk
diffusion process.
[evidence, response, stimulus, time, task, lattice, starting, sequential, type, scaling, presented] [psychological, case, person, initial, described, account, participant] [geometric, color, identification, orthogonal, modified] [three, number, absolute, step, additional, sum, free] [random, relative, order, walk, construct, structure, existing] [decision, choice, model, alternative, log, diffusion, accumulator, odds, state, sampling, accumulation, theory, rate, set, distribution, von, point, provide, simple, well, making, favor, modeling, piece, confidence, data, vary, hue, note] [representation, space, process, orientation, direction, corresponding, figure, multidimensional, transition, represent, markov, represented, allows, triggered, multiple]
Centering and the meaning of conditionals
Nicole Cruz, David Over, Mike Oaksford, Jean Baratgin
Nicole Cruz, David Over, Mike Oaksford, Jean Baratgin
The centering inference - p & q, therefore if p then q - is
important in reasoning research because it is logically valid for some accounts
of conditionals (e. g. the material and the probability conditionals), but not
for others (e. g. the inferential conditional, according to which a conditional
is true if and only if there is an inferential connection between p and q). We
tested participants' acceptance of centering compared to valid and invalid
inferences not containing conditionals, varying the presence of an inferential
connection and of a common topic of discourse between p and q. Participants'
acceptance of centering was more similar to valid inferences than to invalid
inferences, and there was no reliable effect of a connection between p and q.
Acceptance rates were higher when there was a common topic of discourse,
independently of the type of inference. The findings support the probability
conditional account.
[valid, invalid, test, finding, journal, compared, general, evidence] [conditional, connection, inference, centering, conditionals, common, inferential, inferentialism, belief, reasoning, people, presence, absence, thinking, logically, causal, truth, factor, strong, liaku, mental, premise, cognitive, conclusion, psychological, scope, amri, oberauer, psychology, philosophical, arb, logic, anova, oaksford, covariation, version, consequent, experiment, led, account] [degree, university, specific, bird, experimental, support, main, language, context, acceptance, mixed, memory, varied] [group, lower, high, difference, online, three, science, equation] [topic, argument, discourse, oxford, form, semantic, logical] [probability, theory, higher, true, validity, pragmatic, probabilistic, hypothesis, assume, uncertain] [interaction, human]
Investigating the Effects of Transparency and Ambiguity on Idiom Learning
Mehrgol Tiv, Evelyn Milburn, Tessa Warren
Mehrgol Tiv, Evelyn Milburn, Tessa Warren
The purpose of this study was to learn how transparency and
ambiguity affect idiom learning. To start, 157 French idioms were translated to
English and normed for familiarity, transparency, and ambiguity. Experiment 1 was
a training study in which 32 of these idioms were taught to 25 native English
speakers over two days of training. A cued recall test during a third session
showed a reliable effect of transparency, but performance was close to ceiling.
In Experiment 2, the amount of training was reduced to one session and a semantic
relatedness test was included after the cued recall test. The results of
Experiment 2 suggest that high transparency idioms are recalled with greater
accuracy in a cued-recall test but low transparency idioms are recalled with
greater accuracy in a semantic relatedness test. No significant effect of or
interaction with ambiguity was found.
[test, learning, accuracy, training, task, second, learned, completed, session, span, journal, learn, presented, participated, cued, novel] [experiment, low, influence, hair, indicated, history, participant, focused, strong] [transparency, idiom, ambiguity, figurative, language, meaning, literal, idiomatic, recall, relatedness, memory, university, abbreviated, french, typed, pittsburgh, torrance, translated, definition, variability, tongue, highly] [high, study, included, performance, better, correct, asked, three, working, answer, author, software, difference, greater, questionnaire] [semantic, word, table, ambiguous, phrase, measure, norming, random, english, sentence, comprehension] [individual, higher, set, predict, potential, model] [interaction, current, transparent, operation, unfamiliar, recognition]
Using Prior Data to Inform Model Parameters in the Predictive Performance Equation
Michael Collins, Kevin Gluck, Matthew Walsh, Michael Krusmark, Glenn Gunzelmann
Michael Collins, Kevin Gluck, Matthew Walsh, Michael Krusmark, Glenn Gunzelmann
The predictive performance equation (PPE) is a mathematical model
of learning and retention that attempts to capitalize on the regularities seen in
human learning to predict future performance. To generate predictions,
PPE’s free parameters must be calibrated to a minimum amount of historical
performance data, leaving PPE unable to generate valid predictions for initial
learning events. We examined the feasibility of using the data from other
individuals, who performed the same task in the past, to inform PPE’s free
parameters for new individuals (prior-informed predictions). This approach could
enable earlier and more accurate performance predictions. To assess the
predictive validity of this methodology, the accuracy of PPE’s
individualized and prior-informed predictions before the point in time where PPE
can be fully calibrated using an individual’s unique performance history.
Our results show that the prior data can be used to inform PPE’s free
parameters, allowing earlier performance predictions to be made.
[learning, training, accuracy, time, calibration, retention, task] [event, future, cognitive, initial, historical, psychological, examined] [error, calculated] [performance, educational, free, three, practice, difference, education, accurate, step, tutoring, number, ability, student, force, comparing, equation, knowledge, mathematical] [approach, amount, earlier, minimum, existing, complete] [data, ppe, individualized, prior, prediction, model, sample, decay, rmsd, inform, calibrated, generated, rate, predict, parameter, based, average, method, generate, generating, calibrating, edm, calibrate, predicted, predictive, predicting, datasets, datashop, distribution, fit, set, observed, individual, collected, air, remaining, elapsed, allowing, scalar] [level, single, performed, dataset]
Using Statistics to Learn Words and Grammatical Categories: How High Frequency Words Assist Language Acquisition
Rebecca Frost, Padraic Monaghan, Morten Christiansen
Rebecca Frost, Padraic Monaghan, Morten Christiansen
Recent studies suggest that high-frequency words may benefit
speech segmentation (Bortfeld, Morgan, Golinkoff, & Rathbun, 2005) and
grammatical categorisation (Monaghan, Christiansen, & Chater, 2007). To date,
these tasks have been examined separately, but not together. We familiarised
adults with continuous speech comprising repetitions of target words, and
compared learning to a language in which targets appeared alongside
high-frequency marker words. Marker words reliably preceded targets, and
distinguished them into two otherwise unidentifiable categories. Participants
completed a 2AFC segmentation test, and a similarity judgement categorisation
test. We tested transfer to a word-picture mapping task, where words from each
category were used either consistently or inconsistently to label
actions/objects. Participants segmented the speech successfully, but only
demonstrated effective categorisation when speech contained high-frequency marker
words. The advantage of marker words extended to the early stages of the transfer
task. Findings indicate the same high-frequency words may assist speech
segmentation and grammatical categorisation.
[marker, test, target, category, segmentation, condition, statistical, appeared, learning, task, indicate, stream, assist, identify, continuous, alongside, reliably, compared, presented, type, training, learn, half, receiving, early, chance, picture, indicating] [consistent, preceded, mapping, psychological, possibility, inconsistent, version, consistency, examined, anova, cognitive, lasted] [speech, language, grammatical, categorisation, contained, membership, variability] [high, performance, knowledge, transfer, help, created, better, benefit, versus, number, helpful, required, study] [word, frequency, demonstrated, monaghan, natural, similarity, acquisition] [prior, data] [figure, performed, interaction, comprised, segment, role]
Explaining December 4, 2015: Cognitive Science Ripped from the Headlines
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Do the discoveries of cognitive science generalize beyond
artificial lab experiments? Or do they have little hope of helping us to
understand real-world events? Fretting on this question, I bought a copy of the
Wall Street Journal and found that the three front page headlines each connect to
my own research on explanatory reasoning. I report tests of the phenomena of
inferred evidence, belief digitization, and revealed truth in real-world contexts
derived from the headlines. If my own corner of cognitive science has such
explanatory relevance to the real world, then cognitive science as a whole must
be in far better shape yet.
[evidence, base, revealed, chance, artificial, type, condition] [explanation, cognitive, explanatory, people, monetary, low, combat, aggressive, terrorist, bank, social, modest, serve, suppose, equally, belief, engage, work, truth, inference, causal, introduce, future, terrorism, military, motive, neutral, reasoning, responsibility, diagnostic, favoring, conditional, consistent, led, united, discussion, front, mental, statement] [error] [science, high, group, three, question, asked, allowed, study, difference] [order, organization, ambiguous, major] [probability, rate, inferred, based, making, prior, conference, policy, uncertain, risk, method, favor, hypothesis, everyday, validity] [action, interpersonal, central, current]
Modeling category learning using a dual-system approach: A simulation of Shepard, Hovalnd and Jenkins (1961) by COVIS
Charlotte Edmunds, Andy Wills
Charlotte Edmunds, Andy Wills
This paper examines the ability of a dual-system, formal model of
categorization COVIS (Ashby, Paul & Maddox, 2011) to predict the learning
performance of participants on the six category structures described in Shepard,
Hovland and Jenkin’s (1961) seminal study. COVIS assumes that category
learning is mediated by two dissociable neural systems that compete to control
responding. The verbal system explicitly tests verbalizable rules, whereas the
implicit system gradually associates each stimulus with the appropriate response.
Although COVIS is highly influential, there are no published evaluations of the
formal model against classic category learning data (COVIS is most typically
applied heuristically to the design of new experiments). In the current paper, we
begin to address this gap in the literature. Specifically, we demonstrate that
COVIS is able to accommodate the ordinal pattern found by Shepard et al.,
provided that adjustments consistent with the model’s theoretical framework
are made.
[category, covis, rule, learning, trial, verbal, stimulus, type, response, shepard, jenkins, adjusted, rpe, dslope, journal, dbase, nosofsky, dmax, discriminant, competition, categorization, presented] [implicit, psychological, described, initial, salience, cognitive, positive, capable, account] [previous, experimental, calculated, memory] [feedback, formal, ordinal, correct, three, difficulty, equation, dopamine, incorrect, included, larger, stated] [include, amount, theoretical] [model, parameter, reward, simulation, capture, data, set, function, constant, confidence, determined, randomly, conjunction, hovland, decision, based, modeling, trust, theory, predict, binary] [system, unit, current, activation, represents, sensory, space, respond, pattern, behavioral, figure, selection, representation]
Modeling Impairments in Lexical Development
Michael Vinos, Angeliki Andrikopoulou, Christina F. Papaeliou, Athanassios Protopapas
Michael Vinos, Angeliki Andrikopoulou, Christina F. Papaeliou, Athanassios Protopapas
We implemented the connectionist model of social-pragmatic word
learning (Caza & Knott, 2012) to test the hypothesis that reduced joint attention
between infant and mother would increase the difference in acquisition between
nouns and verbs as observed in Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The ratio of
objects to actions in the observed event stream was manipulated to create an
original noun-verb asymmetry. Ten simulations were run for each of the
combinations of three conditions of communicative reliability and two conditions
of unfiltered random associative learning, which is regarded by some researchers
as the primary mechanism of language learning in ASD. The simulations indicated
that the reduction in the reliability of communicative actions does not lead to
increased noun-verb asymmetry within the originally planned training epochs. A
trend in the predicted direction appeared toward the end of training, suggesting
that further simulations may help resolve the issue within the current
architecture.
[learning, attention, training, reliability, asd, child, journal, vocabulary, condition, learned, development, developmental, reliable, sli, early, autism, time, spectrum, baseline, increased, learn] [social, event, low, consistent, asymmetry, gate, extent, cognitive, future, work] [communicative, language, associative, university, object, specific, affect, differentiated, implemented] [number, difference, correctly, modeled, high, correct, ratio, three, mother, study, young] [word, gating, acquisition, caza, lexical, ral, residual, subnetwork, frequency, maternal, differential, greece, verb, amount] [model, rate, observed, successful, set, theory, probability, well] [joint, action, filter, figure, network, knott, epoch, current, neural, activation]
Monolinguals’ and Bilinguals’ Use of Language in Forming Novel Object Categories
Sarah Fairchild, Anna Papafragou
Sarah Fairchild, Anna Papafragou
Monolinguals and bilinguals differ along a number of dimensions,
including the way they label existing object categories (Pavlenko & Malt, 2011).
In the present study, we asked whether English monolinguals, Spanish-English
bilinguals, and English-Spanish bilinguals also differ in the way they use
language when forming novel categories. Previous research with monolinguals shows
that a shared label encourages children (e.g., Waxman & Markow, 1995) and adults
(e.g., Lupyan, Rakison, & McClelland, 2007) to place objects together. Extending
this work, we demonstrate that, when two objects shared a Licit Word label like
“zeg,” monolinguals and bilinguals alike were encouraged to group
them together. Illicit Words like “gxz,”, on the other hand, only
influenced the categorization decisions of bilinguals. Thus bilinguals appear to
be more flexible in their use of linguistic information in categorization.
Neither group made use of non-linguistic cues (patterned frames), suggesting a
unique role for language in category formation.
[cue, novel, categorization, category, standard, type, compared, target, second, label, condition, presented, facilitate, child, task, journal, advantage, learned, powerful, indicate, increased] [frame, experience, cognitive, equally, influence, participant, experiment, simply, grouped, work] [language, licit, illicit, linguistic, bilingual, compliance, monolingual, object, perceptual, shared, patterned, experimental, influenced, discriminable, phonologically, main, spanish, previous, male, native] [group, differ, three, high, asked, effective, young, difference, facilitating, control] [similarity, word, english, proficiency, flexibility, existing, unique, forming, flexible, considered] [higher, observed] [tool, figure, role, represent]
Essays about service-learning events can be mined for program assessment
Anne Gilman, Deborah Roney, Victoria Rehr, Helen Hu, Mark Peterson
Anne Gilman, Deborah Roney, Victoria Rehr, Helen Hu, Mark Peterson
Psychological applications of human language technology combined
with multidisciplinary approaches to
similarity calculations and data visualization offer avenues to broaden the use
of students' own words in program assessment. We compared multiple analysis
approaches on both simple token counts (word roots and character trigrams) and
top-down language indicators from 85 student essays about service-learning
events. Bioinformatic distance calculations on word root counts provided useable
assessment information on attitude change, showing patterns of word use that
match the holistic goals of the assignment. Although these patterns were not
found in a subsequent batch
of 81 essays, the tools we are providing may facilitate
other efforts to detect attitude change in student writing about
service-learning events.
[learning, compared, processing, test, scaling] [attitude, including, rated, psychological, key, character, version, common] [program, language, retrieved, expert, specific, context, american, university, culture] [assessment, student, college, educational, knowledge, reduction, addition, software, perspective, usa, annual, measuring, comparison] [word, analysis, package, text, liwc, writing, computational, clustering, count, token, bioinformatic, essay, lim, horn, natural, usage, similarity, root, identified, distance, visualization, accurately, differential, written, cluster, applying, large, core, mining, document, genome] [data, provide, higher, determine, row, allow, paper, aid] [single, dimensional, developed, central]
The Variable Relationship Between On-Task Behavior and Learning
Karrie Godwin, Howard Seltman, Ma. Victoria Almeda, Shimin Kai, Ryan Baker, Anna Fisher
Karrie Godwin, Howard Seltman, Ma. Victoria Almeda, Shimin Kai, Ryan Baker, Anna Fisher
The Time-on-Task hypothesis asserts that learning is a function of
time one allocates to a learning task. Thus, time off-task reduces learning
opportunities and is therefore thought to be detrimental to learning. To date,
the available research suggests a positive relationship between time on-task and
achievement; however, the strength of the correlation fluctuates dramatically.
One potential explanation that has been put forth to account for the mixed
results is differences in the operational definition of time. The present study
tests this hypothesis by examining whether a more stable relationship between
on-task behavior and learning can be obtained if time is operationalized in a
uniform way. The results of the present study indicate that while on-task
behavior was positively correlated with learning outcomes overall, marked
variability was still found across classrooms suggesting that the divergent
results obtained in previous research are not driven solely by differences in how
time is measured.
[learning, time, child, journal, consisted, second, session, examining, mellon, standardized, utilized, suggests] [relationship, work, strength, future, variable, positive, consistent, composite, discussion, issue, moderated] [variability, university, fourth, academic] [school, classroom, educational, grade, instructional, department, achievement, fraction, study, high, karweit, elementary, number, student, ontask, ranged, usa, report, engaged, literature, spent, teacher, operationalized, kindergarten, slavin, education, slope, charter, larger, instruction, godwin, college, quiz, moderation] [order, amount, class, analysis] [behavior, total, outcome, observed, prior, observation, function, average, sample, hypothesis, individual, well] [level, figure, coding]
Language Informativity: Is starfish more of a fish in English than in Dutch?
Farah M. Djalal, Wouter Voorspoels, Tom Heyman, Gert Storms
Farah M. Djalal, Wouter Voorspoels, Tom Heyman, Gert Storms
Two studies examined how lexical information contained in words
affects people’s category representations. Some words are lexically
suggestive regarding the taxonomic position of their referent (e.g., bumblebee,
starfish). However, this information differs from language to language (e.g., in
Dutch the equivalent words hold no taxonomic information: hommel, vlinder). Three
language groups, Dutch, English, and Indonesian speakers, were tested in
similarity and typicality judgment tasks. The results show that the lexical
information affects only the users of the language (e.g., Dutch speakers rated
Dutch-informative items, both in similarity and typicality tasks, higher than
English and Indonesian speakers). Results are discussed in light of theories of
concept representation and the language relativity hypothesis.
[category, presented, response, finding, position, evidence, test] [influence, people, cognitive, fish, judgment, judge, discussion, rated, consistent] [language, informative, typicality, dutch, indonesian, item, bahasa, starfish, object, taxonomic, influenced, typical, university, linguistic, expect, refers, rely, contained, suggestive, share, burung, informativity, meaning, affect, filler] [study, three, group, concept, question, included, number, knowledge] [similarity, lexical, english, word, considered, structure, goldfish, order, interpretation, panel, examine, random, list] [higher, hypothesis, method, data, model, consider, average] [representation, figure, interaction, performed]
Effect of Aging on Inhibitory Attentional Mechanisms
Maegen Walker, Margeaux Ciraolo, Andrew Dewald, Scott Sinnett
Maegen Walker, Margeaux Ciraolo, Andrew Dewald, Scott Sinnett
The ability to inhibit the processing of irrelevant information
declines as adults age (Hasher & Zacks, 1988; Lustig, Hasher and Tonev, 2006;
Mayr, 2001). However, previous research investigating inhibitory control in older
adults has not evaluated the extent to which irrelevant information is processed
and later recognized. Using a dual task paradigm with young adults, Dewald,
Sinnett, and Doumas (2011) demonstrated inhibited recognition for previously
ignored words, provided they had appeared infrequently with targets in the
primary task, compared to words that did not appear with targets. The current
study adapted this paradigm to examine inhibitory mechanisms in a sample of older
adults. Here, older adults exhibited inhibited recognition for all words while
young adults continued to show greater inhibition for words that had appeared
with targets compared to words that had not. This finding suggests that older
adults may experience a decline in the selective inhibition of irrelevant
information.
[older, task, irrelevant, processing, age, inhibitory, inhibit, picture, presented, block, ignored, selective, attentional, chance, compared, test, younger, target, stroop, attention, accuracy, recognized, second, adult, aging, superimposed, processed, paradigm, journal, presentation, decline, inhibited, stimulus, dewald, finding, reduced, suggests, indicating, distraction, learning, repeated] [cognitive, psychology, detection, extent, version, experiment] [distractor, experimental, color, previous] [young, performance, primary, ability, control, study, lower, conducted, difficult, science, greater, additional] [word, written, order, demonstrated] [selected, higher, randomly, well] [recognition, surprise, visual, attended, repetition, inhibition, figure, role, brain, current, prefrontal, inhibiting, cortex, moving, human]
Analytic Eye Movement Patterns in Face Recognition are Associated with Better Performance and more Top-down Control of Visual Attention: an fMRI Study
Cynthia Y. H. Chan, J. J. Wong, Antoni B. Chan, Tatia M. C. Lee, Janet H. Hsiao
Cynthia Y. H. Chan, J. J. Wong, Antoni B. Chan, Tatia M. C. Lee, Janet H. Hsiao
Recent research has revealed two different eye movement pat-terns
during face recognition: holistic and analytic. The present study investigated
the neural correlates of these two patterns through functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI). A more holistic pattern was associated with more activation in
the face-selective perceptual areas, including the occipital face area and
fusiform face area. In contrast, participants using a more analytic pattern
demonstrated more activation in areas important for top-down control of visual
attention, including the frontal eye field and intraparietal sulcus. In addition,
participants using the analytic strategy had better recognition performance than
those showing holistic patterns. These results suggest that analytic eye movement
patterns are associated with more engagement of top-down control of visual
attention, which may consequently enhance recognition performance.
[attention, test, processing, displayed, task, verbal, executive, evidence, increased, reported, finding] [cognitive, people, including, relationship, scale, located, consistent] [memory, spatial, functional, perceptual, university, adopted, previous] [control, performance, working, study, better, number, three, functioning, active] [analysis, engagement] [data, planning, higher, individual, set, average, model, total, green] [eye, face, movement, holistic, analytic, recognition, visual, hong, pattern, activation, associated, figure, cortex, facial, kong, brain, ofa, left, role, prefrontal, neural, chuk, markov, hidden, frontal, fmri, screen, center, area, chan, tracking, ffa, fixation, network, imaging, involved, occipital, perception]
An Analysis of Frame Semantics of Continuous Processes
Clifton McFate, Ken Forbus
Clifton McFate, Ken Forbus
Qualitative Process theory provides a formal representation for
human-like models of continuous processes. Prior research mapped qualitative
process elements onto English language constructions, but did not connect the
representations to existing frame semantic resources. Here we identify and
classify QP language constituents through their instantiation in FrameNet frames
to provide a unified semantics for linguistic and non-linguistic representations
of processes. We demonstrate that all core QP relations can map to FN, though
larger QP evoking phrasal constructions do exist outside of this mapping. We
conclude with a corpus analysis showing that these frames occur in natural text
involving a variety of continuous processes.
[continuous, indicate, pressure] [frame, valence, mapping, influence, appear, work, mental, reasoning, event] [language, specific, map, frequently] [water, quantity, example, additional, difference, required, change, science, measurement, providing] [framenet, direct, table, semantic, evoking, analysis, limit, include, natural, entity, semantics, lexical, constrained, indirect, qtype, causative, corpus, sentence, core, construction, includes, evoked, den, temperature, approach, comparative, inchoative, northwestern, amount, possession, qunit, correlative, constrainer, flow, prepositional, mcfate, dependent] [qualitative, rate, theory, well, model, provide, agent] [process, motion, pattern, figure, representation, element, system]
Inferring Generic Meaning From Pragmatic Reference Failure
Philip Crone, Mike Frank
Philip Crone, Mike Frank
Generic sentences (e.g., “birds lay eggs”) express
generalizations about kinds, in contrast to non-generic sentences that express
facts about specific individuals or sets of individuals (e.g., “all birds
lay eggs”). Although generics are pervasive in natural language, there is
no unique linguistic marker of genericity, making the identification of generics
a challenge. We investigate the morphosyntactic cues that listeners use to
identify whether a sentence should receive a generic interpretation or not. We
find that two factors – the definiteness of a sentence’s subject NP
and the tense of the sentence – are extremely important in guiding
intuitions about whether a sentence should receive a generic interpretation. We
argue that the importance of these factors can be explained by taking generic
interpretations to arise due to a failure to ground expressions as referring to
specific entities or events.
[task, classification, presented, identify, time, reported, test, second, training, finding, accuracy] [generic, experiment, work, singular, judged, failure, rated, influence, explained, discussion, kind, viewed] [reference, speaker, previous, produced, specific, refer, university, language, morphosyntactic, express, native, bird, referent, main, context, meaning, referring, classifying, ground] [number, knowledge, example, receive, aspect, study] [subject, tense, sentence, definite, definiteness, plural, interpretation, indefinite, genericity, english, noun, animacy, progressive, bare, random, completion, interpret, intended, interpreted] [set, simple, pragmatic, find, model, decision, consider] [interaction, role]
The Impact of Interactivity on Simulation-Based Science Inquiry with Variable-Setting Controls
Jung Aa Moon, Michelle Lamar, Carolyn Forsyth, Madeleine Keehner
Jung Aa Moon, Michelle Lamar, Carolyn Forsyth, Madeleine Keehner
The current study investigated how interactivity of simulation
controls affects data collection in science inquiry. A chemistry simulation was
designed to allow either low or high interactivity in setting experimental
variables. Adult participants were randomly assigned to one of the interactivity
conditions and solved a series of assessment items. The results from the first
item indicated that the highly interactive controls posed challenges in
conducting a thorough investigation. Performance in the last item which is a
repetition of the first item suggested that the participants were able to
overcome the initial challenges over the course of their investigations. The
results provide implications for designing educational simulations for learning
and assessment.
[learning, condition, response, time, test] [low, cognitive, variable, scientific, negative, multimedia, despite] [item, experimental, manipulated, error, scaffolding] [high, interactivity, solute, science, educational, greater, water, collection, number, tweak, interactive, concentration, assessment, saturation, limited, workload, performance, differ, three, click, study, control, question, drag, correct, knowledge, asked, middle, smaller, usa, difference, group] [amount, table, order, increase] [data, simulation, sampling, range, inquiry, button, load, choice, round, slider, sampled, allow, average, selected, point, preference, chose, prior, total] [current, figure, level, design, involved, associated]
Causal Reasoning in Infants and Adults: Revisiting backwards-blocking
Deon Benton, David Rakison
Deon Benton, David Rakison
Causal learning is a fundamental ability that enables human
reasoners to learn about the complex interactions in the world around them. The
available evidence with children and adults, however, suggests that the mechanism
or set of mechanisms that underpins causal perception and causal reasoning are
not well understood; that is, it is unclear whether causal perception and causal
reasoning are underpinned by a Bayesian mechanism, associative mechanism, or
both. It has been suggested that a Bayesian mechanism, rather than an associative
mechanism, underpins causal reasoning because such a mechanism can better explain
the putative backward-blocking finding in children and adults (e.g., Sobel,
Tenenbaum, & Gopnik, 2004). In this paper, we report two experiments to examine
to what extent infants and adults exhibit backward blocking and whether
humans’ ability to reason about causal events is underpinned by an
associative mechanism, a Bayesian mechanism, or both.
[test, trial, revealed, suggests, underpinned, learning, second, processed, developmental, presented, infant, differed, development, evidence, looked, reliably, task, increased, gopnik, compared, time, tested, finding, familiar, pre, older] [causal, reasoning, experiment, detector, event, blicket, reason, perceive, blickets, sobel, causality, extent, associatively, caused, inference, launching, despite, result] [object, associative, previous, habituation, activated, habituated, varied] [ability, study, differ, cube, young, activate, cohen, three] [analysis, examine, emerges, mechanism, entered] [bayesian, machine, based, simple, model] [process, perception, longer, figure, design]
A Dynamic Neural Field Model of Speech Cue Compensation
Gavin Jenkins, Paul Tupper
Gavin Jenkins, Paul Tupper
Categorical speech content can often be perceived directly from
continuous auditory cues in the speech stream, but human-level performance on
speech recognition tasks requires compensation for contextual variables like
speaker identity. Regression modeling by McMurray and Jongman (2011) has
suggested that for many fricative phonemes, a compensation scheme can
substantially increase categorization accuracy beyond even the information from
24 un-compensated raw speech cues. Here, we simulate the same dataset instead
using a neurally rather than abstractly implemented model: a hybrid dynamic
neural field model and connectionist network. Our model achieved slightly lower
accuracy than McMurray and Jongman’s but similar accuracy patterns across
most fricatives. Results also compared similarly to more recent models that were
also less neurally instantiated but somewhat closer fitting to humans in
accuracy. An even less abstracted model is an immediate future goal, as is
expanding the present model to additional sensory modalities and
constancy/compensation effects.
[cue, accuracy, learning, categorization, compared, advantage, training, attention, shape, test, tested, auditory, dimension, journal, receptive, time, portion] [including, future, long, perceived, profile, shifted] [speech, speaker, memory, adjustment, vowel, context, ltm, term, gender, acoustic, specific] [number, performance, lower] [relative, mechanism, involve, abstract, large] [model, data, set, rate, provide, fit, well, individual] [dnf, neural, field, compensation, figure, mcmurray, phoneme, activation, dynamic, network, human, jongman, input, performed, neurally, architecture, fricative, single, raw, current, connectionist, constancy, dimensional, visual, organized, apfelbaum, side, perception, angle, pdp, compensating, layer, signal, recognition, transform]
Predicting Overprecision in Range Estimation
Matthew Kaesler, Matthew Welsh, Carolyn Semmler
Matthew Kaesler, Matthew Welsh, Carolyn Semmler
Overprecision (overconfidence in interval estimation) is a bias
with clear implications for economic outcomes in industries reliant on
forecasting possible ranges for future prices and unknown states of nature, such
as mineral and petroleum exploration. Prior research has shown the ranges people
provide are too narrow given the knowledge they have; that is, they underestimate
uncertainty and are overconfident in their knowledge. The underlying causes of
this bias are, however, still unclear and individual differences research has
shed little light on traits predictive of susceptibility. Taking this as a
starting point, this paper directly contrasts the Naïve Sampling Model and
Informativeness-Accuracy Tradeoff accounts of overprecision, seeing which better
predicts performance in an interval estimation task. This was achieved by
identifying traits associated with these theories – Short Term Memory and
Need for Cognitive Closure, respectively. Analyses indicate that NFCC but not STM
predicts interval width and thus, potentially, impacts overprecision.
[span, task, accuracy, general, test, predictor, learning, reduced, age] [relationship, cognitive, capacity, scale, low, people, explanation, narrow, future, judgment, wide, personality] [memory, support, production, van, ltm, informative, error, degree] [nfcc, overprecision, width, stm, digit, online, estimation, score, closure, absolute, high, knowledge, nsm, hansson, study, working, wider, better, ability, performance, overconfidence, yaniv, narrower, thought, correct, linear, apm, petroleum, conducted, number] [bias, table, reflect, form, measure] [interval, confidence, individual, sampling, model, search, true, prior, measured, predict, estimate, correlation, observed, regression, higher, predicts, decision, potential, population] [multiple, level, role, achieve]
Distributed Cognition in the Past Progressive: Narratives as Representational Tools for Clinical Reasoning
Katherine Lippa, Valerie Shalin
Katherine Lippa, Valerie Shalin
Cognition may require access to past events, for example to
understand undesirable outcomes or diagnose failures. When cognition is
distributed between multiple participants, a particular representational
challenge occurs because not all of the participants may have directly
experienced the focal event. Language can transcend temporal and physical
limitations on event accessibility. We suggest that people create complex
linguistic constructs as tools to facilitate retrospective cognition. We
illustrate this process by analyzing the use of a particular linguistic construct
(narrative) in the domain of clinical reasoning. Results demonstrated that
narratives support clinical cognition during practitioner-patient interactions.
Narratives extended access to clinically relevant events providing information
about circumstances, subjective experiences, patient functioning, and prior
decisions. Whereas, the hermeneutic nature of narrative allowed collaborative
hypothesis testing and creation of meaning. The use of narrative in clinical
cognition challenges Bruner’s (1991) distinction between narrative and
paradigmatic reasoning and enriches the understanding of medical narratives.
[facilitate, attention, testing, complex, time, suggests, served] [narrative, cognition, cognitive, reasoning, clinical, medical, including, understanding, practitioner, temporal, event, symptom, relevant, physical, causal, kind, key, hermeneutic, representational, people, paradigmatic, case, experience, history, discussion, significance, retrospective, lasted, intentional, bruner, phenomenological, nature, mutually] [language, functional, specific, access, linguistic, support, content, directly, context, memory, psycholinguistic, basic] [example, problem, understand, study, create, external, thought] [contextual, structure, table, analysis, construction, record] [hypothesis, individual, decision, provide, subjective] [distributed, patient, tool, environment, interaction, facilitates, creation, involved, allows, space, experienced, joint]
Tit-for-Tat: Effects of Feedback and Speaker Reliability on Listener Comprehension Effort
Nicole Craycraft, Zoe Kriegel, Michael Tanenhaus, Jennifer Roche
Nicole Craycraft, Zoe Kriegel, Michael Tanenhaus, Jennifer Roche
Miscommunication is often seen as a detrimental aspect of human
communication. However, miscommunication can differ in cause as well as severity.
What distinguishes a miscommunication where conversation partners continue to put
forth the effort from miscommunication where conversation partners simply give
up? In this eye-tracking study, participants heard globally ambiguous statements
that were either a result of an experimental error or speaker underspecification;
participants either received positive or negative feedback on these ambiguous
trials. We found that negative feedback, paired with the reliability of the
message, will impact the amount of processing effort a comprehender puts
forth—specifically, listeners were less forgiving of errors when they were
penalized and when speakers’ instructions lacked effort. This suggests that
language users weigh conversational contexts and outcomes as well as linguistic
content during communication.
[time, processing, type, condition, task, indicating, presented, heard, second, polynomial, sound, journal, suggests, attention, paired] [negative, cognitive, consequence, future, experience] [listener, error, speaker, ambiguity, lazy, effort, orthogonal, globally, miscommunication, communication, confederate, growth, affect, penalized, language, curve, memory, object, experimental, main, referential, eyelink, context, previous, specific, unreliable, referring] [feedback, experimenter, perspective, received, understand, correct, course, differentially, young, school] [ambiguous, global, comprehension, amount, word, measure, analysis, unambiguous] [based, model, chose, predict, provide, red, function, cooperative, choice] [dwell, visual, screen, design, figure, interest, partner, process, interaction, area, experienced, computer]
A connectionist model for automatic generation of child-adult interaction patterns
Moinuddin M. Haque, Paul Vogt, Afra Alishahi, Emiel Krahmer
Moinuddin M. Haque, Paul Vogt, Afra Alishahi, Emiel Krahmer
This study introduces a neural network that models the social
interactions from a video corpus. The corpus consists of recordings of
naturalistic observations of social interactions among children and their
environment. The videos are annotated multimodally including features like
gestures. We explore how this video corpus can be utilized for modelling by
training our model on a portion of the annotated data extracted from the corpus,
and then by using the model to predict novel interaction sequences. We evaluate
our model by comparing its automatically generated sequences to an unseen portion
of the corpus data. The initial results show strong similarities between the
generated interactions and those observed in the corpus.
[training, child, time, learning, test, sequence, attention, accuracy, infant, baseline, development, replicate, formed, novel, early] [social, series, cognitive, evaluate, interact] [language, speech, gesture, generation, vogt, linguistic, unseen, communication, share, contained] [study, mother, video, three, toy, division, exact, better] [corpus, word, engagement, distance, vector, computational, table, analysis] [data, model, generated, set, observed, probability, based, distribution, predict, method, modelling, well, function, macro] [network, neural, figure, annotated, interaction, joint, hellinger, narx, input, transition, nng, naturalistic, output, architecture, bit, level, trained, process, coordinated, represents, incorporated, layer]
Causal Contrasts Promote Algebra Problem Solving
Jian-Ping Ye, Jessica Walker, Patricia Cheng
Jian-Ping Ye, Jessica Walker, Patricia Cheng
The causal-contrast approach is a new teaching method that
recruits learners’ implicit causal discovery process to improve math
learning by juxtaposing information critical to discovering the goal of each
solution step. Students often memorize mathematical procedures and have
difficulty transferring their knowledge to novel problems. By enabling learners
to infer the goal of each step, the causal-contrast approach substantially
improved high-school algebra problem solving compared to a traditional
instructional control (Walker et al., 2014). The present study developed Walker
et al.’s instructional materials into a computer-based teaching program and
tested the new approach on community-college students. The study added two new
conditions: a baseline that received no instruction and a condition using a video
from Khan Academy, a well-regarded online educational website representative of
the traditional approach. A delayed post-test indicated that the causal-contrast
condition produced greater success in solving transfer problems than the other
three conditions.
[learning, condition, baseline, journal, novel, identify, presented, second] [causal, understanding, cognitive, implicit, reason, explicitly] [experimental, instructed, perceptual, contrast, previous, support] [problem, pretest, mathematical, transfer, instructional, equation, traditional, solving, solve, performance, educational, knowledge, three, group, quadratic, mathematics, algebra, instruction, solution, study, khan, intervention, teaching, discover, academy, asked, contrasting, solved, subgoals, worked, student, comparison, comparing, challenging, conducted, international, received, step, difference, video, outperformed, isolate, online, procedural, benefit] [approach, structure, table, natural] [fail, prior, set, method] [figure, top, process, goal, critical, human]
Dynamics of Strategy Adaptation in a Temporally Extended Monty Hall Dilemma
Stephanie Petrusz, Theo Rhodes, Joshua Shields, Abisha Munroe
Stephanie Petrusz, Theo Rhodes, Joshua Shields, Abisha Munroe
We present the results of two temporally extended experimental
implementations of the Monty Hall dilemma in order to examine the dynamics of
belief. In the first experiment, we used the standard three-door version of the
dilemma, but biased the probability of the winning door positionally.
Participants capitalized on the increased probabilities but did not discover the
optimal switch strategy. In the second experiment, we increased the number of
doors, in each case removing all but two doors. As the number of doors increased,
participants converged on the optimal switch strategy, as well as increasing
their confidence in their strategy. This suggests that the information relevant
to the MHD is not win frequencies but how the different elements of the dilemma
are related.
[block, switch, presented, second, response, task, trial, standard] [experiment, belief, fact, dilemma, participant, reasoning, psychological, basis, case, people, version, understanding, explained, designed, extended] [experimental, degree, normalized, salient, color, van, attempted] [number, group, correct, strategy, partial, performance, win, course, change, better, changing, guide, difficulty] [measure, considered, approach, text, manipulating, order] [door, confidence, mhd, squared, eta, winning, probability, monty, hall, remaining, lowest, highest, total, chosen, higher, unchosen, evaluating, chose, optimal, probabilistic, unequal, based, hypothesis, making, classic, successful, assent, agent, obvious, choose] [switching, figure, design, represented, dynamical]
Influencing Categorical Choices through Physical Object Interaction
Nicholas Shipp, Frederic Vallee-Tourangeau, Susan Anthony
Nicholas Shipp, Frederic Vallee-Tourangeau, Susan Anthony
Recent research has shown that action knowledge influences
categorical decisions. Shipp, Vallée-Tourangeau, and Anthony, (2014) showed
that action influences categorisation using a triad task when combined with
taxonomic information and presented within a functional context. The present
experiment examined whether participants would be more likely to match items
based on shared actions following priming with the functional actions of the
objects. Participants engaged in the triad task after a priming phase where they
either interacted with a series of objects for their functional capacity, grouped
them into or moved them from one table to another. Consistent with Shipp et al.
the results showed that action was primarily used to base choices on the triad
task when the action choice also shared a taxonomic relation, and was presented
in context. Participants were more likely to select the action item when they had
been primed with the functional action of the objects.
[task, condition, presented, category, target, completed, interference, appeared, journal, chance, phase, time, pick, stream, revealed] [experiment, percentage, physical, united] [priming, triad, taxonomic, functional, object, shipp, context, item, pco, sco, dco, perceptual, select, shared, main, jax, categorisation, instructed, interacted, hoc, buxbaum, experimental, borghi, primed, adjustment, potentiation, situated, sort, hertfordshire, matched, university] [sharing, example, knowledge, asked, three, difference] [analysis, structural, relation, table, conceptual, post, order] [choice, higher, selected, based, set, prior, simulation] [action, movement, performed, interaction, figure, grasp, associated, activation, visual, brain, system, current, facilitates, side]
Establish Trust and Express Attitude for a Non-Humanoid Robot
Mei Si, J. Dean McDaniel
Mei Si, J. Dean McDaniel
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in
designing social robots to interact with people to provide therapy and
companionship. Most social robots currently being used are light-weight and much
smaller in size compared to people. In this work, we investigate designing
interactions for larger and more physically capable robots as they have more
potential to assist people physically. A modified version of Baxter robot was
used, by sitting Baxter on top of an electronic wheelchair. Two experiments were
designed for studying the role of facial expressions and body movements in
establishing trust with the user and for expressing attitudes. Our results
suggest that the robot is capable of expressing fine and distinguishable
attitudes (proud vs. relaxed) using its body language, and the coupling between
body movements and speech is essential for the robot to be viewed as a
person.
[condition, second, test, compared, touch, arbitrary, reported] [baxter, robot, routine, social, experiment, relaxed, participant, people, virtual, hesitation, comfortable, designed, emotion, perceived, institute, digital, version, hesitated, attitude, interact, feel, comfortability, physically, close, negative, work, physical, polytechnic, ten, indicated] [meaningful, modified, speech, expressing, express, voice] [group, score, control, difference, creating, asked, create, limited, impact] [approach, amount, natural, table, residual, post] [trust, designing, behavior, observed, higher, increasing] [face, arm, body, figure, human, facial, interaction, interacting, nonverbal, movement, shake, robotic, friendly, expression, coupled, hand, user, associated]
Attractivity Weighting: Take-the-Best's Foolproof Sibling
Paul Thorn, Gerhard Schurz
Paul Thorn, Gerhard Schurz
We describe a prediction method called "Attractivity Weighting"
(AW). In the case of cue-based paired comparison tasks, AW's prediction is based
on a weighted average of the cue values of the most successful cues. In many
situations, AW's prediction is based on the cue value of the most successful cue,
resulting in behavior similar to Take-the-Best (TTB). Unlike TTB, AW has a
desirable characteristic called "access optimality": Its long-run success is
guaranteed to be at least as great as the most successful cue. While access
optimality is a desirable characteristic, concerns may be raised about the
short-term performance of AW. To evaluate such concerns, we here present a study
of AW's short-term performance. The results suggest that there is little reason
to worry about the short-run performance of AW. Our study also shows that, in
random sequences of paired comparison tasks, the behavior of AW and TTB is nearly
indiscernible.
[cue, sequence, paired, journal, rule, reported] [ecological, event, percentage, concerning, case, including, character] [object, access, criterion, experimental, highly, university, raised] [performance, score, comparison, called, number, linear, greater, problem, participating] [order, table, weighted, considered, random, preceding] [prediction, method, ttb, data, average, round, predicts, behavior, weighting, based, attractivity, decision, best, validity, genuine, making, adaptive, set, determined, observed, hypothesis, optimality, mlr, rieskamp, compensatory, goldstein, regression, higher, vaw, respective, scoring, schurz, ordering, simple, worry, simulation, consider] [human, perform, accessible, element, defined]
Sentire Decision Making in a Mixed-Motive Game
Joana Campos, Ana Paiva
Joana Campos, Ana Paiva
The complexity of situations makes individuals use emotions to
make sense of their environment and interdependent others. In this paper, we
build on the idea that physiological reactions give emotional information about
the subject and we focus on Electrodermal Activity (EDA), an index of arousal, to
inspect deep processes of a dyadic interaction in a mixed-motive game. Our
interest lies on how conflict episodes unfold, to design intelligent agents that
are more socially aware and thus able to express and recognise dyadic forms of
conflict. A qualitative analysis of the data allowed us to identify moments where
players made choices to cope with ongoing conflict or prospects of it in the
future.
[conflict, response, stimulus, journal, type] [emotional, physiological, emotion, elicited, event, arousal, social, intense, experiment, focused, negative, work, guilt, avoidance, participant, people] [affect, experimental, studied, previous] [card, three, study, number, better] [analysis, minimum, measure, linked, small, reflect, natural, subject] [skin, decision, conductance, game, eda, scrs, round, electrodermal, making, data, negotiation, player, offer, bargaining, opponent, scr, played, negotiator, call, tonic, potential, proposer] [interaction, action, activity, dyadic, design, process, level, figure, focus, behaviour, system, play, experienced, interest, human, signal, role]
Understanding "almost": Empirical and computational studies of near misses
Tobias Gerstenberg, Josh Tenenbaum
Tobias Gerstenberg, Josh Tenenbaum
When did something almost happen? In this paper, we investigate
what brings counterfactual worlds close. In Experiments 1 and 2, we find
that participants' judgments about whether something almost happened are
determined by the causal proximity of the alternative outcome. Something almost
happened, when a small perturbation to the relevant causal event would have been
sufficient to bring it about. In contrast to previous work that has argued that
prior expectations are neglected when judging the closeness of counterfactual
worlds (Kahneman & Varey, 1990), we show in Experiment 3 that participants
are more likely to say something almost happened when they didn't expect it. Both
prior expectations and causal distance influence judgments of "almost". In
Experiment 4, we show how both causal proximity and beliefs about what would
have happened in the absence of the cause jointly explain judgments of "almost
caused" and "almost prevented".
[target, test, absent, trajectory, condition, presented, journal, trial] [ball, causal, counterfactual, experiment, clip, agreement, low, wall, close, happened, character, gate, black, long, influence, tended, cognitive, throw, white, hit, caused, kahneman, statement, agreed, gerstenberg, event, grass, discussion, happen, perturbation, jordan, rating, relevant, sufficient, situation, nfemale, work, sdage] [spatial, main, contrast, society] [high, practice, performance, science, difference, question, asked] [distance, missed, short, proximity, small, manipulating] [outcome, prior, model, actual, shot, well, alternative, normal, game, norm, probability, simulation, max] [region, figure, center, reached, angle, reach, interaction, design, labeled, performed, penalty]
A 3D shape inference model matches human visual object similarity judgments better than deep convolutional neural networks
Goker Erdogan, Robert A. Jacobs
Goker Erdogan, Robert A. Jacobs
In the past few years, deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs)
trained on large image data sets have shown impressive visual object recognition
performances. Consequently, these models have attracted the attention of the
cognitive science community. Recent studies comparing CNNs with neural data from
cortical area IT suggest that CNNs may—in addition to providing good
engineering solutions—provide good models of biological visual systems.
Here, we report evidence that CNNs are, in fact, not good models of human visual
perception. We show that a 3D shape inference model explains human performance on
an object shape similarity task better than CNNs. We argue that deep neural
networks trained on large amounts of image data to maximize object recognition
performance do not provide adequate models of human vision.
[shape, categorization, accuracy, base, target, evidence, size, category, suggesting, child, learned, suggests] [inference, biological, experiment, cognitive] [object, calculated, experimental, production] [performance, change, better, comparison, example, three, annual] [similarity, semantic, large, parse, random, structure, calculate, node, variance, calculating] [model, good, data, set, randomly, sample, observer, provide, probability, ideal, maximize, solely, note, capture, assume] [visual, cnns, human, neural, image, face, deep, trained, connecting, recognition, alexnet, figure, cnn, picked, representation, viewpoint, vision, layer, forward, convolutional, monkey, computer, imagenet, move, extract, space, perception, comput, input]
Extraction of Event Roles From Visual Scenes is Rapid, Automatic, and Interacts with Higher-Level Visual Processing
Alon Hafri, John Trueswell, Brent Strickland
Alon Hafri, John Trueswell, Brent Strickland
A crucial component of event recognition is understanding the
roles that people and objects take: did the boy hit the girl, or did the girl hit
the boy? We often make these categorizations from visual input, but even when our
attention is otherwise occupied, do we automatically analyze the world in terms
of event structure? In two experiments, participants made speeded gender
judgments for a continuous sequence of male-female interaction scenes. Even
though gender was orthogonal to event roles (whether the Agent was male or
Female, or vice-versa), a switching cost was observed when the target
character’s role reversed from trial to trial, regardless of whether the
actors, events, or side of the target character differed. Crucially, this effect
held even when nothing in the task required attention to the relationship between
actors. Our results suggest that extraction of event structure in visual scenes
is a rapid and automatic process.
[repeated, trial, task, pair, reaction, evidence, target, faster, slower, standard, attention, journal, response, condition, saliency, reliable, paradigm, processing, time] [event, experiment, character, people, cognitive, excluded, appear, held, explicitly, hit] [male, previous, gender, item, female, main, university, orthogonal, mixed] [included, difference, magnitude, additional, better, greater, primary] [semantic, table, structure, subject, list, small, mention, animacy, multilevel] [cost, agent, model, observed, average, data, making, set] [switching, role, actor, side, visual, rts, patient, catch, exp, reprole, interaction, image, body, human, design, automatic, extraction, driven, repactors]
Integrating identification and perception: A case study of familiar and unfamiliar face processing
Kelsey Allen, Ilker Yildirim, Josh Tenenbaum
Kelsey Allen, Ilker Yildirim, Josh Tenenbaum
We are very familiar with certain objects; we can quickly
recognize our cars, friends and collaborators despite heavy occlusion, unusual
lighting, or extreme viewing angles. We can also determine if two very different
views of a stranger are indeed of the same person. How can we recognize familiar
objects quickly, while performing deliberate, perceptual inference on unfamiliar
objects? We describe a model combining an identity classification network for
familiar faces with an analysis by synthesis approach for unfamiliar faces to
make rich inferences about any observed face. We additionally develop an online
non-parametric clustering algorithm for recognition of repeatedly experienced
unfamiliar faces, and show how new faces can become familiar by being
consolidated into the identity recognition network. Finally, we show that this
model predicts human behavior in viewpoint generalization and identity clustering
tasks, and predicts processing time differences between familiar and unfamiliar
faces.
[familiar, processing, training, accuracy, test, shape, learned, classification, task, cue, presented, reaction, learning, cued, condition, compared] [inference, account, described, experiment, person, including, cognitive, work, profile] [latent, object, identification, perceptual] [correctly, young, performance, three, online, difference] [cluster, clustering, structural, vector, entropy, computed, random, approach] [model, set, likelihood, individual, observed, predict, well, generated, determine, projection] [unfamiliar, face, recognition, network, identity, image, latents, figure, generative, neural, rendered, lighting, pose, trained, classified, space, texture, viewpoint, behavioral, frontal, perception, viewing, associated, performed, morphable, system, vision, layer, consolidated, human, convolutional]
Statistical Learning of Prosodic Patterns and Reversal of Perceptual Cues for Sentence Prominence
Sofoklis Kakouros, Okko Räsänen
Sofoklis Kakouros, Okko Räsänen
Recent work has proposed that prominence perception in speech
could be driven by predictability of prosodic patterns, connecting prominence
perception to the concept of statistical learning. In the present study, we
tested the predictability hypothesis by conducting a listening test where
subjects were first exposed to a 5-minute stream of sentences with a certain
proportion of sentence-final words having either a falling or rising pitch
trajectory. After the exposure stage, subjects were asked to grade prominence in
a set of novel sentences with similar pitch patterns. The results show that the
subjects were significantly more likely to perceive words with low-probability
pitch trajectories as prominent independently of the direction of the pitch
change. This suggests that even short exposure to prosodic patterns with a
certain statistical structure can induce changes in prominence perception,
supporting the connection between prominence perception and attentional
orientation towards low-probability events in an otherwise predictable
context.
[pitch, predictability, test, journal, statistical, standard, trajectory, testing, processing, condition, attention, stimulus, prosody, spectral, spoken, learning, presented, heard, task] [perceived, cognitive, stress, experiment, fundamental, ten, work] [speech, acoustic, language, habituation, society, linguistic, acoustical, utterance, perceptual, production, listening, van, affect, basic] [number, science, international, asked, annual, idea] [prominence, prosodic, falling, rising, word, sentence, prominent, excursion, frequency, lexical, subject, structure, aalto, order, frequent, corpus, exactly, contour] [probabilistic, set, hypothesis, conference, distribution, proportion, modeling, subjective] [perception, figure, duration, level, signal, role, direction, human]
The paradox of relational development: Could language learning be (temporarily) harmful?
Christian Hoyos, Ruxue Shao, Dedre Gentner
Christian Hoyos, Ruxue Shao, Dedre Gentner
Recent studies report a striking decline in children’s
ability to notice same-different relations around age 3 (Walker et al., 2015). We
propose that such a decline results from an object focus related to
children’s avid noun-learning. To test this, we examine children’s
performance on a classic relational task – the relational match-to-sample
task (RMTS). Prior work has shown that 4-year-olds can pass this task (Christie &
Gentner, 2014). However, if nominal language induces an object focus, their
performance should be disrupted by a noun-labeling pretask. In two experiments,
4-year-olds either labeled objects or actions in a naming pretask. Then they
completed the RMTS task. Consistent with the noun-focus explanation, the
object-naming group failed the RMTS task, whereas the action-naming group and a
control group both succeeded. This suggests that nominal language can lead to an
object focus, and that this could explain the temporary decline in
children’s relational processing.
[relational, rmts, task, child, gentner, early, learning, processing, decline, christie, pair, development, condition, baseline, completed, age, presented, standard, older, developmental, journal, evidence, generalize, tested, general, vocabulary, chance, walker, analogical, trial, dominance, impaired, rattermann] [experiment, cognitive, notice, work, causal, failed, focused, psychological] [object, language, nominal, spatial, shift, occurs, support, specific, university, experimental] [group, ability, asked, performance, young, experimenter, difference, card, improve, three, procedure] [naming, noun, similarity, verb, temporarily] [set, lead, proportion, individual, hypothesis, sample, machine] [focus, action, current, performed, catch, multiple, labeled, behavioral, brain]
On the Link between Fact Learning and General Cognitive Ability
Florian Sense, Rob R. Meijer, Hedderik van Rijn
Florian Sense, Rob R. Meijer, Hedderik van Rijn
Adaptive fact learning systems have been developed to make optimal
use of testing and spacing effects by taking into account individual differences
in learning efficiency. Measures derived from these systems, capturing the
individual differences, predict later performance in similar and different fact
learning tasks. Additionally, there is a rich body of literature showing that
individual differences in general cognitive ability or working memory capacity
can predict scores on achievement tests. If these measures also influence fact
learning, incorporating them might further enhance adaptive systems. However,
here we provide evidence that performance during fact learning is neither related
to working memory capacity nor general cognitive ability. This means that the
individual differences captured by our adaptive learning system encapsulate
characteristics of learners that are independent of their general cognitive
ability. Consequently, adaptive learning methods should focus primarily on
memory-related processes.
[general, forgetting, test, span, learning, second, complex, task, executive, journal, suggests, session, foster, presented, response, learn, attentional, time, learner, learned, standardized, interference, completed] [cognitive, capacity, fact, composite, participant, psychological, commonly, psychology, low] [memory, van, variation, university, dutch, experimental, item, studied, highly, netherlands] [ability, working, wmc, study, high, three, performance, department, knowledge, score, fluid, identical] [measure, list, order, table] [rate, individual, estimated, data, model, correlation, adaptive, well, predict, set, provide, optimal, parameter, based, range, compute] [spacing, figure, indicates, developed, activation, goal]
Modeling the Visual Word Form Area Using a Deep Convolutional Neural Network
Sandy Wiraatmadja, Garrison Cottrell
Sandy Wiraatmadja, Garrison Cottrell
The visual word form area (VWFA) is a region of the cortex located
in the left fusiform gyrus, that appears to be a waystation in the reading
pathway, but there is a disagreement as to whether or not the VWFA is selective
for whole words or sublexical structures. A recent study using fMRI adaptation
(Glezer, et al., 2009) provided evidence that neurons in the VWFA are selectively
tuned to real words, but not pseudowords, suggesting the VWFA is tuned to real
words and not sublexical structure. Here, we develop a realistic model of the
VWFA by training a deep convolutional neural network to map printed words to
their labels. The network is able to achieve an accuracy of 98.5% on the test
set. We then analyze this network to see if it can account for the data Glezer
et al. found for words and pseudowords, and find that it does.
[pseudowords, accuracy, training, prime, target, evidence, test, pair, response, size, learning, compared, stimulus, selective] [real, work, consistent, cognitive] [map, share, adaptation, basic, error, previous, activated] [high, change, bar, step, difference, study] [word, distance, form, small, temperature, reading, large] [model, set, probability, modeling, observe, function, rate, chose] [network, visual, vwfa, figure, layer, activation, neural, output, glezer, convolutional, vwfanet, trained, letter, euclidean, deep, area, feature, tuned, neuroimaging, consisting, softmax, computer, region, fusiform, input, pooling, brain, represents, architecture, stride, sublexical, signal, selectivity, bold, dataset, relu, single, current, represented, unit]
Linguistic Priming and Learning Adjacent and Non-Adjacent Dependencies in Serial Reaction Time Tasks
Hao Wang, Elsi Kaiser
Hao Wang, Elsi Kaiser
Although syntactic priming is well studied and commonly assumed to
involve implicit learning, the mechanisms behind this phenomenon are still under
debate. We tested whether implicit learning of adjacent and non-adjacent
sequences occurs in a non-linguistic, finger sequence task (Serial Reaction Time
task), and if so, whether these implicitly-learned dependencies can cause
syntactic priming in the linguistic domain. We followed the logic that exposure
to statistical patterns in the SRT task may influence language users’
relative clause (RC) attachment biases, and trained participants on SRT sequences
with adjacent or non-adjacent dependencies. Participants then wrote completions
to relative clause fragments in a situation where they could opt for adjacent or
non-adjacent linguistic structures. Participants successfully learned the
adjacent and non-adjacent dependency implicitly during the SRT task, but,
strikingly, their RC continuations did not exhibit priming effects. Implications
for theories of syntactic priming and its relations to implicit learning are
discussed.
[learning, adjacent, position, srt, dog, attachment, task, block, explicit, dependency, evidence, trial, predictable, sequence, target, reaction, time, condition, artificial, second, unpredictable, prime, display, faster, modifies, statistical] [implicit, low, experiment, work, result, cognitive, los] [priming, language, previous, linguistic, coded, domain, item] [high, number, knowledge, example, three, difference, group, modify] [syntactic, relative, sentence, clause, completion, head, order, induce, existing, verb, noun, structure, intended, structural, random, asrt, involve, menon, music, ambiguous] [predicts, data, predictive, doctor] [figure, current, serial, finger, image, coding, representation]
Simple trees in complex forests: Growing Take The Best by Approximate Bayesian Computation
Eric Schulz, Maarten Speekenbrink, Björn Meder
Eric Schulz, Maarten Speekenbrink, Björn Meder
How can heuristic strategies emerge from smaller building blocks?
We propose Approximate Bayesian Computation as a computational solution to this
problem. As a first proof of concept, we demonstrate how a heuristic decision
strategy such as Take The Best (TTB) can emerge from smaller, probabilistically
updated building blocks. Based on a self-reinforcing sampling scheme, different
building blocks are combined and, over time, tree-like non-compensatory
heuristics emerge. This new algorithm, coined Approximately Bayesian Computed
Take The Best (ABC-TTB), is able to recover a data set that was generated by TTB,
leads to sensible inferences about cue importance and cue directions, can
outperform traditional TTB, and allows to trade-off performance and computational
effort explicitly. Our findings demonstrate how a strategy from the heuristic
tool box can emerge.
[cue, learning, size, learned, second, training] [cognitive, inference, recover] [building, effort, updated, university, trace, item] [performance, approximate, correct, computation, science, smaller, example, subset, number, annual, better, three, strategy] [computational, order, approach, proposed, node, ordered, applied] [data, model, proposal, ttb, bayesian, sampled, probability, decision, heuristic, tree, set, generated, emerge, posterior, successful, simple, based, reinforcement, prior, generate, best, chosen, proportion, sampling, accepted, classic, beta, urn, higher, underlying, distribution, prediction, abc, likelihood, city, summary, drawn, simulated] [figure, algorithm, top, averaged, direction, plot, associated, process, learns]
Think Fast! Mental-state Language is Related to the Speed of False-belief Reasoning in Adulthood
Erin Roby, Rose Scott
Erin Roby, Rose Scott
When tested appropriately, infants appear to demonstrate
false-belief understanding in the first year of life. Some have argued that this
is inconsistent with the well-established relationship between social experience
and preschoolers’ false-belief performance. We argue that these two sets of
findings are not inconsistent because the ability to attribute false beliefs to
others is necessary but not sufficient for false-belief performance, and we
propose several ways that one social factor, hearing and using mental-state
language, might relate to false-belief performance throughout the lifespan. We
tested this account by examining the relationship between adults’ use of
mental-state language and their false-belief understanding. Participants’
use of mental-state language was related to how quickly they could accurately
predict the behavior of agents on the basis of desires and beliefs. These
findings provide the first evidence that mental-state talk and false-belief
performance are related into adulthood.
[task, reaction, child, avoid, evidence, time, developmental, type, tested, hearing, completed, journal, presented, suggests, examining, stroop, year] [false, belief, mental, social, reasoning, story, relationship, cognitive, understanding, talk, percentage, people, psychological, mentalstate, desire, strange, experience, falsebelief, san, capacity, described, physical, consistent, account, scott, personal, backwards] [language, object, attribute, experimental, calculated] [performance, difference, correct, ability, control, impact, marble, working, sally] [approach, table, word, order, accurately] [agent, theory, behavior, total, prior, well, true, predict] [represent]
Curiosity-Driven Development of Tool Use Precursors: a Computational Model
Sébastien Forestier, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer
Sébastien Forestier, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer
Studies of child development of tool use precursors show
successive but overlapping phases of qualitatively different types of behaviours.
We hypothesize that two mechanisms in particular play a role in the structuring
of these phases: the intrinsic motivation to explore and the representation used
to encode sensorimotor experience. Previous models showed how curiosity-driven
learning mechanisms could allow the emergence of developmental trajectories. We
build upon those models and present the HACOB (Hierarchical Active
Curiosity-driven mOdel Babbling) architecture that actively chooses which
sensorimotor model to train in a hierarchy of models representing the
environmental structure. We study this architecture using a simulated robotic arm
in a 2D environment. We show that overlapping phases of behaviours are
autonomously emerging in hierarchical models using active model babbling. To our
knowledge, this is the first model of curiosity-driven development of simple tool
use and of the self-organization of overlapping phases of behaviours.
[learning, position, development, condition, developmental, explore, learn, infant, trajectory, category] [autonomous, motivated, mental, robot] [object, evolution, emergence] [active, study, progress, motivation, number, three, control] [structure, random, considered, small] [model, exploration, choice, agent, inverse, chooses, hierarchy, chosen, provide] [tool, sensory, motor, goal, sensorimotor, arm, space, babbling, overlapping, stick, reached, reach, intrinsic, play, interest, gripper, ject, architecture, hierarchical, environment, movement, robotic, behavioural, single, role, flat, figure, joint, define, hacob, ieee, interaction, abrupt, associated, representation]
Beyond Markov: Accounting for Independence Violations in Causal Reasoning
Bob Rehder
Bob Rehder
Although many theories of causal cognition are based on causal
graphical models, a key property of such models—the inde-pendence relations
stipulated by the Markov condition—is routinely violated by human
reasoners. Two accounts of why people violate independence are formalized and
subjected to experimental test. Subjects’ inferences were more consistent
with a dual prototype model in which people favor network states in which
variables are all present or all absent than a leaky gate model in which
information is transmitted through network nodes when it should normatively be
blocked. The article concludes with a call for theories of causal cognition that
rest on foundations that are faithful to the kinds of causal inferences people
actually draw.
[presented, test] [common, causal, leaky, gate, dual, prototype, independence, normative, variable, elaborated, treated, described, rehder, presence, low, explaining, diagram, retirement, people, inference, waldmann, unconditionally, cognitive, dependence, separated, key, reasoning, consistent, experiment, account, absence] [domain, experimental, error, previous, description] [three, high, magnitude, number, difference, asked, greater, chart, graphical, versus] [dependent, table, small, article] [model, predicts, empirical, predicted, conditioned, independent, trade, distribution, confidence, probability, probabilistic, based, assuming, fit] [network, interest, joint, figure, markov, represents, pattern, corresponding, human, direction, controlled]
Temporal Expressions in Speech and Gesture
İdil Bostan, Ahmet Börütecene, Oğuzhan Özcan, Tilbe Goksun
İdil Bostan, Ahmet Börütecene, Oğuzhan Özcan, Tilbe Goksun
People use spatial metaphors to talk about temporal concepts and
gesture frequently during speech. The characteristics of these gestures give
information regarding the mental timelines people form to experience time. The
present study investigates the expression of temporal concepts on a natural
setting with Turkish speakers. We found that Turkish speakers used more
metaphoric temporal phrases (e.g., short period) than words referring to time
without spatial content (e.g., today) in a session where they talked about
people’s fortune. Spontaneous gestures were mainly classified as metaphoric
and beat gestures and were mostly produced on the sagittal axis, which
contradicts with the previous findings. Yet, we also found that people used
vertical axis to represent current and future events. These findings suggest that
lateral axis may not always be the most common direction for co-speech temporal
gesture use, and the pragmatic constraints of the environment may influence the
spatial conceptualization of time.
[time, deictic, type, evidence] [temporal, axis, people, future, sagittal, metaphorical, talk, common, cognitive, front, drinking, experience, mental] [gesture, spatial, metaphoric, turkish, vertical, speech, beat, zaman, lateral, language, literal, fortune, telling, coded, spontaneous, bir, produced, native, university, accompanied, refer, experimental, previous, refers, referred, referring, produce, categorized, express, cup, manipulative, gestural, sonra, meaning, map, combination, content] [study, difference, concept] [english, abstract, natural, table, expressed, involve, form, word, earlier, writing] [setting, coffee, provide, based, opposite] [left, space, diagonal, figure, direction, represent, level, interaction, pointing, current, involved, representation]
Spatial Memory and Foraging: How Perfect Spatial Memory Improves Foraging Performance
Bryan Kerster, Chris Kello
Bryan Kerster, Chris Kello
Foraging is a search process common to all mobile organisms.
Spatial memory can improve foraging efficacy, and evidence indicates that many
species actively utilize spatial memory to aid in their foraging, yet most
current models of foraging do not include spatial memory. In this study, an
online game was used to replicate and extend findings from a recent study to
investigate the role of spatial memory in foraging. The game involved searching a
2d space to find as many resources as possible. Spatial information was displayed
that provided complete information about search history in order test how
“perfect” spatial memory improves search performance. Over 1000
participants were recruited to participate using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk,
which allowed this test to be performed across a wide range of different resource
distributions. Results replicated the findings of earlier studies, and
demonstrated that spatial memory can have a dramatic effect on search
performance.
[indicate, task, time, displayed, presented, journal, compared, test] [experiment, factor, cognitive, power, key, work, described] [spatial, memory, normalized, previous] [number, resource, performance, study, score, efficiency, difference, click, example, square, provided, high, allowed] [clustering, perfect, path, random, animal, length, demonstrated, increase, analysis, table] [foraging, search, kerster, model, observed, game, allan, density, optimal, higher, distribution, marginal, find, simple, searched, fit, lognormal, replicated, uniform, foraged, marine] [human, visual, current, clustered, movement, figure, law, single, environment, space, screen, searching, process, indicates]
More than Words: The Many Ways Extended Discourse Facilitates Word Learning
Sumarga Suanda, Linda Smith, Chen Yu
Sumarga Suanda, Linda Smith, Chen Yu
Child-directed speech is often temporally organized such that
successive utterances refer to the same topic. This type of extended discourse on
the same referent has been shown to possess several verbal signatures that could
facilitate learning. Here, we reveal multiple non-verbal correlates to extended
discourse that could also aid learning. Multimodal analyses of extended discourse
episodes reveal that during these episodes, toddlers and parents exhibit greater
sustained attention on objects, and greater coordination between their behaviors.
The results indicate the interconnections between multiple aspects of the
language-learning environment, and suggest that parents’ speech may both
shape and be shaped by non-verbal processes. Implications for understanding how
the learning environment influences development are discussed.
[attention, learning, child, verbal, target, time, development, facilitate, session, baseline, learn, early, depicts, sustained, adjacent] [extended, social, temporal, series, hold] [object, speech, referential, language, transparency, utterance, referent, distractor, degree, referring, previous, perceptual, rich] [greater, three, national, course] [discourse, short, word, table, engagement, referentially, considered, linked] [manual, data, observed, total, played, correlation, set, well, provide, measured] [joint, coupling, figure, gaze, parent, eye, toddler, holding, multiple, environment, current, coupled, play, nonverbal, visual, transparent, duration, camera, view, classified, role, talked, dyad, equipped, period]
Examining the specificity of the seductive allure effect
Emily Hopkins, Deena Weisberg, Jordan Taylor
Emily Hopkins, Deena Weisberg, Jordan Taylor
Previous work has found that people feel significantly more
satisfied with explanations of psychological phenomena when those explanations
contain neuroscience information — even when this information is entirely
irrelevant to the logic of the explanations. This seductive allure effect was
first demonstrated by Weisberg, Keil, Goodstein, Rawson, & Gray (2008), and has
since been replicated several times in independent labs (e.g., Fernandez-Duque,
Evans, Christian, & Hodges, 2014; Rhodes, Rodriguez, & Shah, 2014; Weisberg,
Taylor, & Hopkins, 2015). However, these studies only examined psychological
explanations with added neuroscience information. The current study thus
investigated the generality of this effect and found that the seductive allure
effect occurs across several scientific disciplines whenever the explanations
include reference to smaller components or more fundamental processes. These data
suggest that people have a general preference for reductive explanations.
[general, irrelevant, journal, presented, adjacent, task, increased, trial] [explanation, neuroscience, reductive, psychology, seductive, mturk, bad, allure, rated, scientific, social, psychological, people, work, biological, mating, phenomenon, chemistry, discipline, fundamental, perceive, described, assigned, explanatory, judge, engage, chemical, season, participant, pairing, excluded, understanding, sense, attract] [male, select, language, reference, previous, item, main] [science, better, study, biology, undergraduate, three, difference] [quality, random, unique, form] [good, preference, sample, average, higher, randomly, behavior, data, determined, range, rate, method, regression, hierarchy] [level, horizontal, interaction, field, role, current, figure, brain]
Construal level affects intuitive moral responses to narrative content
Nicholas Lester, René Weber
Nicholas Lester, René Weber
This study proposes that moral judgments of media content are not
only related to intuitive moral domain salience and exemplars, but also to the
processing state of the individual at the moment of exposure. An experiment
manipulating construal level prior to exposure to a narrative text was conducted
to test this proposal. The results suggest that evaluations of moral violations
are modulated by construal level. High-level construal led to harsher, more
consistent judgments of domain-violator morality, eliminating the effect of
baseline moral intuitions. Low-level construal induced an apparent trade-off in
moral evaluation strategy which is sensitive to both narrative outcome and domain
salience. When domain violators were punished, intuitive moral salience was
negatively correlated with moral evaluations; however, when domain violators were
rewarded, the opposite trend emerged. These findings suggest that the strength
and quality of moral intuitions are not robust to broader cognitive processes,
but interact with them.
[response, test, presented, general, exposure] [moral, construal, salience, narrative, intuitive, character, morality, negative, gong, positive, tamborini, social, cognitive, punishment, mitigating, judgment, intensification, clt, eyal, harsher, evaluation, interact, violation, mitigation, perceived, experiment, affective, mime, disposition, result, transgression, medin, emotional, psychological, rewarded, rated, relationship, participant] [domain, main, support, content, description, priming] [study, difference] [relative, principle, include, word] [outcome, prior, reward, model, based, theory, predict, data, allow, individual] [level, interaction, activation, system, basal]
Two Potential Mechanisms Underlying the Link between Approximate Number Representations and Symbolic Math in Preschool Children
Ariel Starr, Rachel Roberts, Elizabeth Brannon
Ariel Starr, Rachel Roberts, Elizabeth Brannon
The approximate number system (ANS) is frequently considered to be
a foundation for the acquisition of uniquely human symbolic numerical
capabilities. However, the mechanism by which the ANS influences symbolic number
representations and mathematical thought remains poorly understood. Here, we
tested the relation between ANS acuity, cardinal number knowledge, approximate
arithmetic, and symbolic math achievement in a one-year longitudinal
investigation of preschoolers’ early math abilities. Our results suggest
that cardinal number knowledge is an intermediary factor in the relation between
ANS acuity and symbolic math achievement. Furthermore, approximate arithmetic
performance contributes unique variance to math achievement that is not accounted
for by ANS acuity. These findings suggest that there are multiple routes by which
the ANS influences math achievement. Therefore, interventions targeting both the
precision and manipulability of the ANS may prove to be more beneficial for
improving mathematical reasoning compared to interventions targeting only one of
these factors.
[developmental, second, child, task, early, training, completed, predictor, session, test, tested, year, general, age, learn] [influence, cognitive, including, series, serve, consistent, understanding, focused, psychological, work, sense] [meaning, contained, remains, support, varied] [math, symbolic, number, approximate, arithmetic, achievement, numerical, acuity, nonsymbolic, knowledge, counting, performance, ability, precision, cardinal, comparison, mathematical, contribute, manipulability, contributes, controlling, mathematics, correct, array, provided, tema, preschool, quantity, larger, mediate, national, young, formal, school, appears, schooling, assessment] [relation, variance, unique, acquisition, small] [model, data, individual, regression, underlying, total] [system, visit, performed, multiple]
Conflict-based regulation of control in language production
Michael Freund, Barry Gordon, Nazbanou Nozari
Michael Freund, Barry Gordon, Nazbanou Nozari
Is language production dynamically regulated by cognitive control?
If so, how domain-general is this process? In two experiments, we studied
conflict adaptation, or conflict-driven adjustments of control, in two paradigms:
Picture-Word Interference (PWI), which induces linguistic conflict, and
Prime-Probe (PP), which induces visuospatial conflict. Exp. 1 tested within-task
conflict adaptation separately in PWI and PP. Exp. 2 tested cross-task adaptation
by alternating the two tasks in a task-switching paradigm. We found reliable
within-task conflict adaptation in both PWI and PP, but neither an analysis of
individual differences (Exp. 1), nor a direct manipulation of between-task
conflict (Exp. 2) revealed cross-task adaptation. We further report a robust
2-back within-task adaptation in Exp. 2 to refute alternative accounts of null
cross-task adaptation. These findings support models of dynamic, top-down control
in language production that posit at least some degree of domain-specificity.
[conflict, pwi, incongruent, congruent, task, tested, evidence, trial, response, target, interference, journal, stroop, test, monitoring, kan, reliable, size, avoid, hopkins, revealed, regulation, robust, sequence, stimulus, regulatory, completed, necker, forster] [cognitive, congruency, detection, power, low, vice] [adaptation, language, production, memory, experimental, previous, error, support, specificity, linguistic, speech, phonological] [control, performance, study, working, better, number, online, department, difference] [analysis, subject, semantic, amount, word, order, random] [function, alternative, lead, correlation] [current, rts, system, level, pattern, design, interaction, figure, human]
Active Viewing in Toddlers Facilitates Visual Object Learning: An Egocentric Vision Approach
Sven Bambach, David Crandall, Linda Smith, Chen Yu
Sven Bambach, David Crandall, Linda Smith, Chen Yu
Early visual object recognition in a world full of cluttered
visual information is a complicated task at which toddlers are incredibly
efficient. In their everyday lives, toddlers constantly create learning
experiences by actively manipulating objects and thus self-selecting object views
for visual learning. The work in this paper is based on the hypothesis that
active viewing and exploration of toddlers actually creates high-quality training
data for object recognition. We tested this idea by collecting egocentric video
data of free toy play between toddler-parent dyads, and used it to train
state-of-the-art machine learning models (Convolutional Neural Networks, or
CNNs). Our results show that the data collected by parents and toddlers have
different visual properties and that CNNs can take advantage of these differences
to learn toddler-based object models that outperform their parent counterparts in
a series of controlled simulations.
[training, learning, test, child, accuracy, testing, learn, size, compared, advantage, classification, early] [work, appear, frame, understanding] [object, color, appearance, egocentric, experimental] [toy, video, better, study, active, create, performance, created, number, investigate, recognize] [large, diversity, small, floor, diverse] [data, collected, simulation, set, average, based, everyday, well, higher, machine, compute] [visual, parent, toddler, figure, view, trained, image, controlled, play, cnns, convolutional, network, captured, recognition, cnn, grayscale, field, box, train, occluded, neural, camera, bounding, multiple, dataset, focus, joint, computer, viewing, center, firstperson]
The Pragmatics of Spatial Language
Tomer Ullman, Yang Xu, Noah Goodman
Tomer Ullman, Yang Xu, Noah Goodman
How do people understand the pragmatics of spatial language? We
propose a rational-speech act model for spatial reasoning, and apply it to the
terms `in' and `near'. We examine people's fine-grain spatial reasoning in this
domain by having them locate where an event occurred, given an utterance. Our
pragmatic listener model provides a quantitative and qualitative fit to people's
inferneces.
[implicature, indicate, task] [people, participant, reasoning, told, account, experiment, work, flower, person, cognitive, understanding] [spatial, listener, language, literal, blue, lily, utterance, context, plaza, speaker, quarter, map, grew, victory, domain, lexicon, color, denotation, adjust, production, slack, speech, previous, specific] [example, equation, inside, place, prompted, estimation, department] [distance, gold, edge, panel, small, natural] [pragmatic, red, model, city, guess, goodman, probability, set, qualitative, uniform, infer, true, distribution, rational, bottom, depend, prior, probabilistic, uncertainty] [figure, location, region, top, pattern, center, quantitative, framework, space, left, area]
Measuring Interest in Science: The Science Curiosity Scale
Asheley Landrum, Joseph Hilgard, Heather Akin, Nan Li, Dan Kahan
Asheley Landrum, Joseph Hilgard, Heather Akin, Nan Li, Dan Kahan
In the current study, we present the methods for creating and
validating a science curiosity scale. We find that the scale presented here is
unidimensional and highly reliable. Moreover, it predicts engagement with a
science documentary clip more accurately than do measures of science intelligence
or education. Although more steps are needed, this provides initial evidence for
the utility of our measure of science curiosity.
[response, reported, journal, valid, evidence, standard, indicate, task] [scale, clip, public, scientific, story, people, indicated, power, social, told, survey, disposition, purport, going, aim] [item, module, latent, interesting] [science, curiosity, documentary, asked, interested, study, news, performance, included, international, closely, national, government, measurement, ordinary, attending, watched, desirable, high, answer, entertainment, lecture, request, visiting, precision] [measure, engagement, comprehension, irt, reading, read, order, determining, combined] [set, full, theory, based, intelligence, measured, find, entire, behavior, predict, predicted, regression] [interest, figure, behavioral, episode, selection, image, business, current, level, validate]
An Ecological Model of Memory and Inferences
Daniela Link, Julian N. Marewski, Lael J. Schooler
Daniela Link, Julian N. Marewski, Lael J. Schooler
In this paper, we develop a memory model that predicts retrieval
characteristics of real-world facts. First, we show how ACT-R’s memory
model can be used to predict people’s knowledge about real-world objects.
The model assumes the probability of retrieving a chunk of information about an
object and the time to retrieve this information depend on the pattern of prior
environmental exposure to the object. Second, we use frequencies of information
appearing on the Internet as a proxy for what information people would encounter
in their natural environment, outside the laboratory. In two Experiments, we use
this model to account for subjects’ associative knowledge about real-world
objects as well as the associated retrieval latencies. Third, in a computer
simulation, we explore how such model predictions can be used to understand the
workings and performance of decision strategies that operate on the contents of
declarative memory.
[time, response, cue, accuracy, task, base, size] [experiment, cognitive, people, person, strength, psychological, low] [retrieval, memory, attribute, chunk, declarative, criterion, environmental, web, marewski, object, discriminating, associative, retrieve, retrieved, latency, vertical] [knowledge, equation, number, strategy, sum, performance, science, included] [relation, frequency, table] [city, model, decision, noise, empirical, expected, probability, predicted, total, estimated, predict, simulated, based, set, modeling, assume, parameter, function, making, unknown, distribution, search, berlin, correlation, median, internet, smoothed, well, observed] [activation, figure, environment, encoding, responded, corresponding]
Children’s Awareness of Authority to Change Rules in Various Social Contexts
Xin Zhao, Tamar Kushnir
Xin Zhao, Tamar Kushnir
To investigate children’s awareness of authority to change
rules, we showed children (ages 4-7) videos of one child playing a game alone or
three children playing a game together. In the group video, the game rule was
initiated either: by one of the children, by three children collaboratively or by
an adult. They then were asked whether the characters in the videos could change
the rules. Children believed that the character could change the rule when
playing alone. Their responses to the group video depended on how the rule was
initiated. They attributed authority to change rules only to the child who
initiated the rule, unless the rule was created collaboratively. We also asked
children whether they could change norms (school/moral/artifact norms) in daily
life; and found moral/artifact distinction in children’s endorsement of
norm changing. These results suggest that children recognize flexibility in
changing rules even in preschool years.
[rule, child, condition, age, task, developmental, adult, half, development, showing, older, awareness, suggests, second] [authority, moral, social, understanding, consistent, endorse, character, reasoning, story, changed, normative, work, cognitive, agreement, yellow, fact, distinction] [manipulated, blue] [change, young, mom, video, collaborative, three, answered, playing, changing, group, artifact, school, initiated, asked, question, difference, conventional, majority, experimenter, score, understand, ownership, questionnaire, exact, rigid, solitary, preschool, freedom, recognize] [flexibility, correlated, order] [game, norm, binomial, red, based, proportion, prior, green, correlation, consider] [center, figure, human, play, joint]
Systems Factorial Analysis of Item and Associative Retrieval
Gregory Cox, Amy Criss
Gregory Cox, Amy Criss
Using hierarchical Bayesian estimation of RT distributions, we
present a novel application of Systems Factorial Technology (Townsend & Nozawa,
1995) to the retrieval of item and associative information from episodic memory.
We find that item and associative information are retrieved concurrently, with
positive memory evidence arising from a holistic match between the test pair and
the contents of memory, in which both item and associative matches are pooled
together into a single source. This retrieval architecture is inconsistent with
both strictly serial processing and independence of item and associative
information. Pooling of item and associative matches implies that while item and
associative information may be separable, they are not qualitatively different,
nor are qualitatively different processes (e.g., familiarity vs. recollection)
used to retrieve these kinds of information.
[processing, response, journal, test, pair, time, evidence, inhibitory, match, half, presented, novel, appeared, interference] [strength, positive, negative, psychological, low, consistent, capacity, cognitive, independence] [associative, item, memory, retrieval, experimental, exhaustive, sic, facilitatory, quadrant, retrieved, factorial, coactive, intact, rearranged, sft, mismatch, pooled, townsend, characterize, studied, priming, retrieve] [correct, study, assessment, high, allowed] [table, list, minimum] [independent, function, theory, model, posterior, remaining, based, well, qualitative, credible, allow] [recognition, image, parallel, serial, process, figure, architecture, left, qualitatively, interaction, hierarchical, multiple, holistic, human, single, design]
Children learn non-exact number word meanings first
Junyi Chu, Katie Wagner, David Barner
Junyi Chu, Katie Wagner, David Barner
Children acquire exact meanings for number words in distinct
stages. First, they learn one, then two, and then three and sometimes four.
Finally, children learn to apply the counting procedure to their entire count
list. Although these stages are ubiquitous and well documented, the foundation of
these meanings remains highly contested. Here we ask whether children assign
preliminary meanings to number words before learning their exact meanings by
examining their responses on the Give-a-Number task to numbers for which they do
not yet have exact meanings. While several research groups have approached this
question before, we argue that because these data do not usually conform to a
normal distribution, typical methods of analysis likely underestimate their
knowledge. Using non-parametric analyses, we show that children acquire non-exact
meanings for small number words like one, two, three, four and possibly for
higher numbers well before they acquire the exact meanings.
[child, learning, learn, chance, evidence, response, task, second, target, development, early, tested] [positive, cognitive, ten, lee, understanding, consistent] [sign, language, bilingual] [number, correct, knower, knowledge, exact, incorrect, subset, slope, counting, acquire, larger, three, gunderson, limited, asked, wagner, preliminary, numerical, approximate, requested, analyzed, experimenter, lower, sarnecka, comparing, corre, provided, statistically, cardinal] [word, small, table, count, large, analysis, english, principle, abstract, list] [data, median, higher, well, find, set, entire, provide] [figure, level, system, parallel, representing, driven, represent]
Inferring priors in compositional cognitive models
Eric Bigelow, Steven Piantadosi
Eric Bigelow, Steven Piantadosi
We apply Bayesian data analysis to a structured cognitive model in
order to determine the priors that support human generalizations in a simple
concept learning task. We modeled 250,000 ratings in a "number game" experiment
where subjects took examples of a numbers produced by a program (e.g. 4, 16, 32)
and rated how likely other numbers (e.g. 8 vs. 9) would be to be generated. This
paper develops a data analysis technique for a family of compositional "Language
of Thought" (LOT) models which permits discovery of subjects' prior probability
of mental operations (e.g. addition, multiplication, etc.) in this domain. Our
results reveal high correlations between model mean predictions and subject
generalizations, but with some qualitative mismatch for a strongly compositional
prior.
[rule, learning, processing, inductive, structured] [cognitive, inference, work, strong] [language, domain, meaning, map, production, apply] [concept, number, math, high, example, three, digit] [grammar, analysis, relative, bias, structure, large, variance, table] [model, probability, data, prior, compositional, set, independent, mixture, expr, bayesian, posterior, infer, pcfg, hypothesis, distribution, lot, interval, parameter, generate, generated, inferring, simple, fit, noi, likelihood, assumed, uniform, sampling, conditioned, well, game, range, highest, method, total, assign] [human, figure, space, associated, start, behavioral, box, allows, neural, representation, represents, representing]
Which is in front of Chinese people: Past or Future? A study on Chinese people’s space-time mapping
Yan Gu, Yeqiu Zheng, Marc Swerts
Yan Gu, Yeqiu Zheng, Marc Swerts
Research shows that Chinese, when they gesture about time, tend to
put the past “ahead” and future “behind”. Do they think
of time in the way as suggested by their gestures? In Exp1 we show that when time
conceptions are constructed with neutral wording, Chinese are more likely to have
past-in-front-mappings than Spaniards. This could be due to cultural differences
in temporal focus of attention, as Chinese people are more past-oriented than
Europeans. However, Exp2&3 show that, independent of culture, Chinese’s
past-in-front mapping is sensitive to the wording of sagittal spatial metaphors.
In comparison to neutral wording, they have more past-in-front mappings when time
conceptions are constructed with past-in-front spatial metaphors, whereas fewer
past-in-front mappings are constructed with future-in-front metaphors. There thus
appear to be both long-term effects of cultural attitudes on the spatialization
of time, and also immediate effects of the space-time metaphors used to probe
people’s mental representations.
[time, task, condition, wald, day, evidence, sequence, tested, explore] [temporal, people, future, front, mapping, neutral, metaphor, experiment, wording, fuente, sagittal, mental, diagram, cognitive, psychological, happened, corresponded, aymara, consistent, appear, discussion, event, tomorrow, result, yesterday, character, conception, spatialization] [spatial, cultural, language, gesture, vertical, refers, spanish, culture, sign] [study, ratio, comparison, group, procedure, place, asked] [chinese, earlier, lexical, mandarin, constructed, expressed, eating, table, bias, english] [odds, friend, proportion, hypothesis, rate] [focus, box, perform, visit, representation, space]
Inattentional Blindness in a Coupled Perceptual--Cognitive System
Will Bridewell, Paul Bello
Will Bridewell, Paul Bello
Attention is thought to be a part of a larger cluster of
mechanisms that serve to orient a cognitive system, to filter contents with
respect to their task relevance, and to devote more computation to certain
options than to others. All these activities proceed under the plausible
assumption that not all information can be or ought to be processed for a system
to satisfice in an ever changing world. In this paper, we describe an
attention-centric cognitive system called ARCADIA that demonstrates the
orienting, filtering, and resource-skewing functions mentioned above. The
demonstration involves maintaining focus on cognitive tasks in a dynamic
environment. While ARCADIA carries out a task, limits on its attentional capacity
result in "inattentional blindness" under circumstances analogous to those where
people fail to perceive otherwise salient stimuli.
[attention, task, stimulus, trial, attentional, cross, time, saliency, segmentation, processed, presented, reported, attend, novel, processing] [cognitive, blindness, perceive, distinction, people, cognition, result] [object, memory, salient, content] [comparison, strategy, working, receive, report, three, width, video, course] [file, length, operates, construct] [model, full, note, modeling, reflects, assumed, roughly] [visual, inattentional, arcadia, critical, focus, system, inhibition, figure, accessible, vision, component, location, covert, process, fixation, vstm, mack, receives, interlingua, divided, representation, rock, perception, carry, multiple, cycle, inattentionally, height, highlighter, output, image, attended, reporter, element, human, bello]
Recursive belief manipulation and second-order false-beliefs
Torben Braüner, Patrick Blackburn, Irina Polyanskaya
Torben Braüner, Patrick Blackburn, Irina Polyanskaya
The literature on first-order false-belief is extensive, but less
is known about the second-order case. The ability to handle second-order
false-beliefs correctly seems to mark a cognitively significant step, but what
is its status? Is it an example of *complexity only* development, or does it
indicate that a more fundamental *conceptual change* has taken place? In this
paper we extend Braüner's hybrid-logical analysis of first-order
false-belief tasks to the second-order case, and argue that our analysis supports
a version of the conceptual change position.
[task, rule, modal, time, child, response, training, asd] [belief, reasoning, logic, formation, work, manipulation, cognitive, version, perspectival, application, crucial, statement, person, falsebelief, mental, psychology] [van, shift, term, nominal, experimental, linguistic, language, refer] [sally, anne, marble, proof, hybrid, satisfaction, deduction, perspective, correct, basket, formula, peter, change, competence, secondorder, propositional, operator, moved, derivation, formalization, called, concluding, study, science, example, mastery, correctly] [analysis, natural, principle, logical, conceptual, complexity, approach, earlier, typically] [call, theory, model, point, true, paper, tree, note] [figure, move, human, action, system, view]
Syntactic Flexibility in the Noun: Evidence from Picture Naming
Nicholas Lester, Fermin Moscoso del Prado Martin
Nicholas Lester, Fermin Moscoso del Prado Martin
Does syntactic information affect the production of bare nouns?
Research into this issue has explored word-specific features (e.g., gender).
However, word-independent syntactic distributions may also play a role. For
example, studies of word recognition have uncovered strong effects of the
diversity of a word's syntactic distribution – its syntactic flexibility
– on response times in visual lexical decision. By contrast, studies of
sentence production have produced strong but conflicted effects of syntactic
flexibility. We propose that syntactic flexibility also affects production of
individual words. We reanalyze a database of previously collected timed picture
naming data using two novel measures of syntactic flexibility, one based on the
relations stemming from the noun, and one based on the relations extending to the
noun. Our results show that nouns that project a diverse array of structures are
produced faster, and those that are integrated into a diverse array of structures
are produced slower.
[picture, target, interference, journal, dependency, processing, slower, occur, evidence] [cognitive, possibility, respect] [production, access, grammatical, gender, produced, language, facilitatory, support, produce, affect, contrast, university, memory, speech, refer] [study, number, array, greater, asked, three] [syntactic, flexibility, noun, word, diversity, lexical, measure, sentence, dependent, head, naming, relation, determiner, semantic, syntactically, english, onset, opportunistic, diverse, abstract, entropy, include, del, oxford, frequency, prado, moscoso, preposition, root, typically, strategist, form] [data, hypothesis, observed, theory, total, set, individual, model] [activation, cat, figure, visual, space, rts]
Alien species and alienable traits: An artificial language game investigating the spread of cultural variants between antagonistic groups
Betsy Sneller, Gareth Roberts
Betsy Sneller, Gareth Roberts
The spread of cultural variants, such as dress or speech patterns,
may be promoted or inhibited by different types of bias. In model-based bias,
variants are differentially adopted according to characteristics of individuals
exhibiting them. Based on a hypothesis from sociolinguistic fieldwork, we posit
two types of model-based bias: bias associated with alienable traits such as
“tough” and inalienable traits such as “male.”
We tested this by conducting a laboratory experiment in which participants played
a computer game using an artificial language with two different dialects. Players
were significantly more likely to borrow features of the other dialect when the
variation was explicitly associated with toughness than when it was associated
with another alien race. This suggests that cultural variants linked to
alienable traits are more likely to be adopted than those linked to inalienable
ones, even if the practical implications of the two traits are very similar.
[condition, artificial, displayed, learning, consisted, presented, learned] [talk, white, social, experiment, trait, told, explicitly, participant, assigned, result, case, consistent] [wiwos, burl, cultural, language, variation, alienable, tough, inalienable, experimental, linguistic, wiwo, university, borrowing, african, american, interlocutor, dialect, fight, alien, sneller, pennsylvania, spread, adoption, tougher, speech, chatting, chat, toughness, variant, south, adopted, borrowed, vocalic, consonantal, meet, urban, antagonistic, wordlist] [difference, study, practice, stage, question, three, working] [linked, typing, table, phonology] [game, player, based, hypothesis, well] [associated, feature, practical, figure, role, action, involved]
Cognitive Strategies in HCI and Their Implications on User Error
Marc Halbrügge, Michael Quade, Klaus-Peter Engelbrecht
Marc Halbrügge, Michael Quade, Klaus-Peter Engelbrecht
Human error while performing well-learned tasks on a computer
is an infrequent, but pervasive problem. Such errors are
often attributed to memory deficits, such as loss of activation or
interference with other tasks (Altmann & Trafton, 2002). We
are arguing that this view neglects the role of the environment.
As embodied beings, humans make extensive use of external
cues during the planning and execution of tasks. In this paper,
we study how the visual interaction with a computer interface
is linked to user errors. Gaze recordings confirm our hypothesis
that the use of the environment increases when memory
becomes weak. An existing cognitive model of sequential action
and procedural error (Halbrügge, Quade, & Engelbrecht,
2015) is extended to account for the observed gaze behavior.
[task, time, sequential, sequence, recorded, type, journal, compared, test, trial, training, general] [cognitive, experiment, account, assistant, application, physical] [error, memory, retrieval, priming, experimental, previous, retrieve, van] [procedural, strategy, external, correct, interactive] [obligatory, theoretical, analysis, subject, large] [model, based, data, behavior, theory, rate, assumption, fit, higher, search, berlin, paper, modeling, empirical, good] [human, visual, figure, user, gaze, fixation, goal, mfg, element, postcompletion, kitchen, activation, current, computer, role, level, action, interaction, technische, erroneous, screen, environment, design, eye, revised, omission, planned]
Connectionist Semantic Systematicity in Language Production
Jesus Calvillo, Harm Brouwer, Matthew Crocker
Jesus Calvillo, Harm Brouwer, Matthew Crocker
A novel connectionist model of sentence production is presented,
which employs rich situation model representations originally proposed for
modeling systematicity in comprehension (Frank, Haselager, & van Rooij, 2009).
The high overall performance of our model demonstrates that such representations
are not only suitable for comprehension, but also for modeling language
production. Further, the model is able to produce novel encodings (active vs.
passive) for a particular semantics, as well as generate such encodings for
previously unseen situations, thus demonstrating both syntactic and semantic
systematicity. Our results provide yet further evidence that connectionist
approaches can achieve systematicity, in production as well as comprehension.
[training, condition, testing, test, time, novel, second, type] [situation, described, street, event] [basic, bedroom, microworld, frank, heidi, language, sophia, seek, hide, dssi, produced, produce, object, girl, contained, meaning, production, rich, systematicity, highly, charlie, unseen, fold, playground] [passive, active, performance, number, high, demonstrating, won, toy] [semantic, sentence, table, similarity, ease, vector, word, syntactic, order, comprehension, loses, grammar, semantically, perfect] [model, set, game, generate, queried, well, completely, probability] [output, space, connectionist, corresponding, layer, associated, hidden, defined, matrix, dimensionality, activation, represented, unit, representation]
Grammatical Bracketing Determines Learning of Non-adjacent Dependencies
Hao Wang, Jason Zevin, Toben Mintz
Hao Wang, Jason Zevin, Toben Mintz
Grammatical dependencies often involve elements that are not
adjacent. However, most experiments in which non-adjacent dependencies are
learned bracketed the dependent material with pauses, which is not how
dependencies appear in natural language. Here we report successful learning of
embedded NAD without pause bracketing. Instead, we induce learners to compute
structure in an artificial language by entraining them through processing English
sentences. We also found that learning becomes difficult when grammatical
entrainment causes learners to compute boundaries that are misaligned with NAD
structures. In sum, we demonstrated that grammatical entrainment can induce
boundaries that can carry over to reveal structures in novel language materials,
and this effect can be used to induce learning of non-adjacent dependencies.
[artificial, learning, dependency, training, novel, phase, block, test, position, counterbalancing, processing, bracketing, presented, facilitate, entrainment, learn, testing, nonadjacent, stream, southern, statistical, adjacent, presentation, prosody, half, swech, fixed, alignment, sequence, recorded, repeated] [experiment, detection, result, kind, possibility, cognitive, discussion, presence] [language, grammatical, linguistic, university, chunk, mixed] [correct, incorrect, three, difference, material, created, number, hard, acquire, department] [english, syntactic, sentence, word, verb, structure, natural, analysis, parsing, mechanism, dependent, subject, induce, random, window, concatenated, length] [randomly, making, successful, data, success] [design, figure, interaction, level]
Natural science: Active learning in dynamic physical microworlds
Neil Bramley, Tobias Gerstenberg, Joshua Tenenbaum
Neil Bramley, Tobias Gerstenberg, Joshua Tenenbaum
In this paper, we bring together research on active learning and
intuitive physics to explore how people learn about "microworlds" with continuous
spatiotemporal dynamics. Participants interacted with objects in simple
two-dimensional worlds governed by a physics simulator, with the goal of
identifying latent physical properties such as mass, and forces of attraction or
repulsion. We find an advantage for active learners over passive and yoked
controls. Active participants spontaneously performed several kinds of "natural
experiments" which reveal the objects' properties with varying success. While
yoked participants' judgments were affected by the quality of the active
participant they observed, they did not share the learning advantage, performing
no better than passive controls overall. We discuss possible explanations for the
divergence between active and yoked learners, and outline further steps to
categorize and explore active learning in the wild.
[learning, target, condition, accuracy, evidence, test, learn, mouse, compared, time, explore, differed, advantage, trial] [physical, causal, intuitive, cognitive, people, participant, experiment, relationship, interact, paid] [object, distractor, pilot, society, memory, main, experimental] [active, passive, force, yoked, question, grab, mass, better, performance, punch, control, puck, science, attraction, microworlds, shaking, annual, three, grabbed, repel, answered, controlling, accurate, limited, ullman, worse, encroaching, allowed, practice, correct, number] [global, local, identifying, random, identified, distance] [average, randomly, conference, simulation, confidence, setup, observed] [figure, controlled, experienced, current, space, performed]
Coalescing the Vapors of Human Experience into a Viable and Meaningful Comprehension
Tomer Ullman, Max Siegel, Josh Tenenbaum, Samuel Gershman
Tomer Ullman, Max Siegel, Josh Tenenbaum, Samuel Gershman
Models of learning concepts or theories often invoke a stochastic
search process, in which learners generate hypotheses through some structured
random process and then evaluate them on some data measuring their quality or
value. To be successful within a reasonable time-frame, these models need ways of
generating good candidate hypotheses before the data are considered. Schulz
(2012a) has proposed that studying the origins of new ideas in more everyday
contexts, such as how we think up new names for things, can provide insight into
the cognitive processes that generate good hypotheses for learning. We propose a
simple generative model for how people might draw on their experience to propose
new names in everyday domains such as pub names or action movies, and show that
it captures surprisingly well the names that people actually imagine. We discuss
the role for an analogous hypothesis-generation mechanism in enabling and
constraining causal theory learning.
[task, learning, general, time, response, det, match] [thinker, relevant, people, real, rating, cognitive, causal, evaluation, bad, low, psychological, sense, coming, thinking, experience, rated, white, source, evaluate] [production, generation, language, produce] [better, concept, example, high, problem, thought, number, step, difference, answer, asked, department] [quality, structure, structural, considered, order, plausible, large, construct, proposed, small] [model, pub, everyday, search, average, theory, hypothesis, good, distribution, generate, stochastic, consider, propose, reasonable, randomly, proportion, movie, choosing, total, challenge, provide, paper, proposing, schulz, bear, proposal, rose, draw] [space, figure, process, generative, action]
Music Reading Expertise Modulates Visual Spans in both Music Note and English Letter Reading
Tze Kwan Li, Susana T. L. Chung, Janet H. Hsiao
Tze Kwan Li, Susana T. L. Chung, Janet H. Hsiao
Here we investigated how music reading experience modulates
visual spans in language reading. Participants were
asked to identify music notes, English letters, Chinese characters,
and novel symbols (Tibetan letters) presented at random
locations on the screen while maintaining central fixation. We
found that for music note reading, musicians outperformed
non-musicians at some peripheral positions in both visual
fields, and for English letter reading, musicians outperformed
non-musicians at some peripheral positions in the RVF but
not in the LVF. In contrast, in both Chinese character and
novel symbol reading, musicians and non-musicians did not
differ in their performance at peripheral positions. Since both
music and English reading involve a left-to-right reading direction
and a RVF/LH advantage, these results suggest that
the modulation of music reading experience on visual spans in
language reading depends on the similarities in the cognitive
processes involved.
[span, processing, testing, position, novel, presented, task, advantage, stimulus, size, suggests, training, target, attention] [character, cognitive, consistent, experience, mapping, result] [expertise, language, perceptual, matching, contrast, vertical, university, previous, background] [larger, number, performance, symbol, difference, outperformed, study, playing, better, chess, lower, education, started] [music, reading, chinese, english, tibetan, subtended, rvf, piano, read, word, progressive, nonmusicians, examine, modulates] [note, upper, measured] [visual, letter, level, central, peripheral, hong, angle, figure, kong, fixation, identity, reaching, eye, horizontal, modulation, ensure, performed, brain, lateralization, hsiao, vision, screen, involves, reached, location]
Design from Zeroth Principles
Jordan W. Suchow, Michael D. Pacer, Thomas L. Griffiths
Jordan W. Suchow, Michael D. Pacer, Thomas L. Griffiths
A successful design accounts for the structure of the problem it
is aimed at solving. When it is a human-directed design, this includes the
expectations of its users. How do we arrive at such a design? One approach starts
from first principles to evaluate the quality of proposed designs. Here, we
introduce a form of human-in-the-loop computation that synthesizes a design
conforming to its users’ expectations. The technique begins by constructing
a transmission chain seeded with a random design. Each user in the chain is
exposed to the design and then recreates it. Through this iterative process, the
users’ perceptual, inductive, and reconstructive biases transform the
initial design into one better matched to human cognition, being easier to learn
and harder to forget. We evaluated the approach in three domains —
stimulus–response mappings, vanity phone numbers, and typesetting —
and show that it produces a good design in each.
[switch, position, learned, inductive, starting, stimulus, tested, second, type] [participant, experiment, cognitive, initial, mapping, discussion, mechanical, evaluated, recruited] [transmission, directly, memory, generation] [number, better, highlighted, passed, performance, equal, correctly, three, computation, solution] [random, technique, final, constructed, approach, form, minimum, order] [method, set, state, distribution, good, model, prior, estimating, probability, randomly, amazon, collected, requires, row, call, successful] [design, chain, letter, telephone, zeroth, light, phone, vanity, spacing, human, markov, seeded, placement, typeset, reconstructive, process, bounding, passing, user, font, kerning, turned, space, transform, market, figure]
Should moral decisions be different for human and artificial cognitive agents?
Evgeniya Hristova, Maurice Grinberg
Evgeniya Hristova, Maurice Grinberg
Moral judgments are elicited using dilemmas presenting
hypothetical situations in which an agent must choose between letting several
people die or sacrificing one person in order to save them. The evaluation of the
action or inaction of a human is compared to those of two artificial agents
– a humanoid robot and an automated system. Ratings of rightness,
blamefulness and moral permissibility of action or inaction in incidental and
instrumental moral dilemmas are used. The results show that for the artificial
cognitive agents the utilitarian action is rated as more morally permissible than
inaction. The humanoid robot is found to be less blameworthy for his choices
compared to the human agent or to the automated system. Action is found to be
more appropriate, more permissible, more right, and less blameworthy than
inaction only for the incidental scenarios. The results are interpreted and
discussed from the perspective of perceived moral agency.
[artificial, presented, compared, standard, explore, type] [moral, robot, utilitarian, humanoid, automated, harm, cognitive, agency, inaction, rated, morally, incidental, permissibility, instrumental, permissible, worker, people, instrumentality, blameworthiness, rightness, blameworthy, hanging, trolley, perceived, person, scale, evaluation, hristova, likert, judged, scenario, evaluate, heavy, fact, described, concerning, malle, death, anova, grinberg] [description, main, factorial] [difference, container, study, control, activate, mind, analyzed] [table] [agent, choice, choosing, higher, paper, completely, expected, based, data, button, rate, chooses] [human, action, identity, figure, system, goal, interaction, moving]
Developmental Differences in Children's Statistical Learning Abilities
Limor Raviv, Inbal Arnon
Limor Raviv, Inbal Arnon
Infants, children and adults are capable of implicitly extracting
regularities from their environment through statistical learning (SL). SL is
present from early infancy and found across tasks and modalities, raising
questions about its domain generality. However, little is known about SL's
developmental trajectory: Is SL fully developed capacity in infancy, or does it
improve with age, like other cognitive skills? While SL is well established in
infants and adults, only few studies looked at SL across development with
conflicting results: some find age-related improvements while others do not.
Importantly, despite its postulated role in language learning, no study has
examined the developmental trajectory of auditory SL throughout childhood. Here,
we conduct a large-scale study of children's auditory SL across a wide age-range
(5-12y, N=115). Results show that auditory SL does not change much across
development. We discuss implications for modality-based differences in SL and for
its role in language acquisition.
[learning, auditory, age, statistical, developmental, development, task, trajectory, early, infancy, accuracy, test, youngest, trial, journal, saffran, heard, half, evidence, older, general, arciuli, suggests, learn, asl, second, finding, syllable, compared, foil, simpson, presentation, modality, postulated, artificial, improves, showing, chance, younger] [implicit, cognitive, examined, childhood, capacity, develop, work, claim, nature] [language, domain, alien, affect, gender, memory, support, appearance, item] [study, improve, better, performance, group, number, change, improvement, difference, young, score, worse] [order, word, table, structure, random, small] [model, regression] [visual, role, pattern, sensory, input]
Under Pressure: How Time-Limited Cognition Explains Statistical Learning by 8-Month Old Infants
Martyn Lloyd-Kelly, Fernand Gobet, Peter Lane
Martyn Lloyd-Kelly, Fernand Gobet, Peter Lane
In a classic experiment, Saffran, Aslin, and Newport (1996) used a
headturn preference procedure to show that infants can discriminate between
familiar syllable sequences ("words”) and new syllable sequences
("non-words" and
"part-words"). While several computational models have simulated aspects of their
data and proposed that the learning of transitional probabilities could be
mediated by neural-net or chunking mechanisms, none have simulated the absolute
values of infants' listening times in the different experimental conditions. In
this paper, we used CHREST, a model based on chunking, to simulate these
listening times. The model simulated the fact that infants listened longer to
novel words (non-words and part-words) than familiar words. While the times
observed with the model were longer than those observed with infants, we make a
novel finding with regard to phonological store trace decay. We also propose how
to modify CHREST to produce data that fits closer to the human data.
[learning, time, presentation, syllable, familiar, test, novel, learn, loop, segmentation, statistical, modality, phase, verbal, testing, artificial, stream, general, recorded, learned] [participant, experiment, cognitive, san, implicit, capacity] [phonological, chrest, trace, store, discrimination, ltm, memory, headturn, familiarisation, rmse, language, listening, default, university, recognised, speaker, speech, chunk, discriminate, uttered, minute] [study, stm, better, three, procedure, composed, report, working, created] [word, node, transitional, root, simulate, order, acquisition, computational, include] [simulated, decay, model, data, fit, preference, best, average, set, observed, based, paper, simulation] [figure, pattern, human, image, forward, implement]
Exploring the Neural Mechanisms Supporting Structured Sequence Processing and Language Using Event-Related Potentials: Some Preliminary Findings
Gretchen Smith, Gerardo Valdez, Anne Walk, John Purdy, Christopher Conway
Gretchen Smith, Gerardo Valdez, Anne Walk, John Purdy, Christopher Conway
Structured sequence processing (SSP) refers to the neurocognitive
mechanisms used to learn sequential patterns. SSP seems to be important for
language knowledge; however, there are few neural studies showing an empirical
connection between SSP and language. The purpose of this study was to investigate
the association between SSP and language processing by comparing underlying
neural components elicited during each type of task. Healthy adults completed a
visual, non-linguistic SSP task and a visual morpho-syntactic language task. Both
tasks were designed to cause violations in expectations of items occurring in a
series. Event-related potentials were used to examine the neural mechanisms
associated with these expectancy violations. The results indicated the P3a
elicited by the SSP task and the P600 elicited by the language task shared
similarities in their topographic distribution. These preliminary analyses
suggest the P3a and P600 may reflect processes involving detection of sequential
violations in non-language and language domains.
[ssp, task, learning, processing, sequence, phase, sequential, artificial, test, electrophysiological, stimulus, erp, structured, ungrammatical, response, showing, occurring, presentation, statistical, presented, early, conway, inspection, second, explicit, displayed, christiansen, evidence, compared] [elicited, cognitive, implicit, consistent, bad, violation, indicated] [language, grammatical, previous] [correct, score, study, department, usa, performance] [measure, natural, grammar, sentence, word, reflect, syntactic, relative, expectancy, topographic] [data, distribution, full, button, underlying, posterior, correlation, probability] [neural, visual, element, figure, component, central, associated, left, eeg, anterior, frontal, press]
Bifurcation analysis of a Gradient Symbolic Computation model of incremental processing
Pyeong Whan Cho, Paul Smolensky
Pyeong Whan Cho, Paul Smolensky
Language is ordered in time and an incremental processing system
encounters temporary ambiguity in the middle of sentence comprehension. An
optimal incremental processing system must solve two computational problems: On
the one hand, it has to keep multiple possible interpretations without choosing
one over the others. On the other hand, it must reject interpretations
inconsistent with context. We propose a recurrent neural network model of
incremental processing that does stochastic optimization of a set of soft, local
constraints to build a globally coherent structure successfully. Bifurcation
analysis of the model makes clear when and why the model parses a sentence
successfully and when and why it does not---the garden path and local coherence
effects are discussed. Our model provides neurally plausible solutions of the
computational problems arising in incremental processing
[second, processing, indicate, target, journal, presented, arrow, time, continuous] [stable, inconsistent, consistent, case, cognitive, initial] [incremental, language, grammatical, ambiguity] [symbolic, change, discrete, investigate, reject, discover] [equilibrium, word, energy, gsc, sentence, branch, structure, panel, local, bifurcation, global, reading, computational, graph, grammar, analysis, disconnectivity, harmony, continuation, parsing, path, attractor, blend, quantization, manifold, garden, build, topology, harmonic, coherence, syntactic, major, discovered, comprehension, evolves, small, interpretation] [model, state, point, landscape, method, set, consider, optimal, parameter] [system, figure, activation, neural, unstable, gradient, representing, representation, multiple, human, network]
A Tale of Two Disasters: Biases in Risk Communication
Matthew Welsh, Sandy Steacy, Steve Begg, Daniel Navarro
Matthew Welsh, Sandy Steacy, Steve Begg, Daniel Navarro
Risk communication, where scientists inform policy-makers or the
populace of the probability and magnitude of possible disasters, is essential to
disaster management – enabling people to make better decisions regarding
preventative steps, evacuations, etc. Psychological research, however, has
identified multiple biases that can affect people’s interpretation of
probabilities and thus risk. For example, availability (Tversky & Kahneman, 1973)
is known to confound probability estimates while the description-experience gap
(D-E Gap) (Hertwig & Erev, 2009) shows low probability events being over-weighted
when described and under-weighted when learnt from laboratory tasks. This paper
examines how probability descriptions interact with real world experience of
events. Responses from 294 participants across 8 conditions showed that
people’s responses, given the same described probabilities and
consequences, were altered by their familiarity with the disaster (bushfire vs
earthquake) and its salience to them personally. The implications of this for
risk communication are discussed.
[familiarity, condition, base, test, suggests, year, increased, occurring, presentation, presented] [people, salience, experience, participant, described, low, indicated, gap, discussion, percentage, survey, common, real] [recalled, communication, affect, university, select, recall] [format, number, asked, better, school, absolute, reduce, operational, three, difference] [frequency, natural, table, analysis, occurrence, relative] [risk, disaster, probability, earthquake, adelaide, data, house, bushfire, availability, proportion, theory, prospect, bushfires, rate, higher, decision, selecting, choice, actual, tendency, option, risky, sell, predicted, learnt, forecasting, selected] [figure, interaction, respond, unfamiliar, fewer, perception]
What Makes You Feel You Are Learning: Cues to Self-Regulated Learning
Jessie Chin, Elizabeth Stine-Morrow
Jessie Chin, Elizabeth Stine-Morrow
While learning in a multitext environment increases with the rise
of electronic environments, little is known about what makes learners feel that
they should continue learning or already learn enough from one text. The current
study aimed at examining what cues learners use to regulate their effort among
multiple sources in a multitext environment. By manipulating the amount of new
information and conceptual overlap across texts within a topic, we created three
types of text environments to generate different trajectories of two cues to
perceived learning, new information (measured by rating of perceived new
information) and encoding fluency (measured by ratings of reading ease). Results
showed that the dominant cue to gauge perceived learning was the perceived amount
of new information. The study extended theories in animal foraging and
metacognition, and established a novel paradigm to better investigate adult
learning in the wild.
[condition, learning, cue, learn, processing, journal, time, monitoring, test, age, learned] [perceived, low, perceive, experience, rated, judge, feel, psychology, people] [introduced, content, proximal, previous, main, experimental, recall, mixed] [three, high, study, number, performance, knowledge, metacognition, operationalized, thought, difference] [amount, conceptual, fluency, text, reading, ease, article, topic, subsequent, table, comprehension, read, examine, introducing, order, meant, con, word, relative, sentence, frequency, measure, regulate, multitext, analysis, manipulating] [expected, function, estimate, average, foraging, well, determine] [encoding, overlap, figure, current, suggested, dominant]
Modeling Commonsense Reasoning via Analogical Chaining: A Preliminary Report
Joseph Blass, Kenneth Forbus
Joseph Blass, Kenneth Forbus
Understanding the nature of commonsense reasoning is one of the
deepest questions of cognitive science. Prior work has proposed analogy as a
mechanism for commonsense reasoning, with prior simulations focusing on reasoning
about continuous behavior of physical systems. This paper examines how analogy
might be used in commonsense more broadly. The two contributions are (1) the idea
of common sense units, intermediate-sized collections of facts extracted from
experience (including cultural experience) which improves analogical retrieval
and simplifies inferencing, and (2) analogical chaining, where multiple rounds of
analogical retrieval and mapping are used to rapidly construct explanations and
predictions. We illustrate these ideas via an implemented computational model,
tested on examples from an independently-developed test of commonsense
reasoning.
[analogical, analogy, base, automatically, test, training, generalization, artificial, learning] [reasoning, case, inference, causal, work, cognitive, common, relevant, future, abduction, experience, logically, sense, mapping, logic, event, quantified, candidate] [retrieved, language, domain, aaai, specific, separate] [answer, question, three, knowledge, larger, correct, require, answering, involving, score, formal, required] [logical, plausible, natural, similarity, large, probe, computational, include] [commonsense, csus, copa, csu, chaining, sme, companion, model, paper, theory, derivational, nlu, prior, set, conference, well, generated, ambulance, forbus, potential, loved, son, fell, requires] [system, figure, human, multiple, current, extracted, plan]
Individual Differences in Pupil Dilation during Naming Task
Kaidi Lõo, Jacolien van Rij, Juhani Järvikivi, Harald Baayen
Kaidi Lõo, Jacolien van Rij, Juhani Järvikivi, Harald Baayen
The present study investigates individual differences in pupil
dilation during standard word naming. We looked at (i) how individual
subjects’ pupil size changes over the course of time and (ii) how well
pupil size is predicted by the frequency of the stimuli. The time course of the
pupil size was analysed
with generalized additive modeling. The results show large individual variations
in the pupil response pattern in this very simple task. Although, we see a pupil
response to both stimulus onset and articulation onset and offset, both the
amplitude of change and the direction of change differ substantially between
subjects. This raises the question of what makes the pupil response functions so
diverse, and one factor indicated by the frequency effect or the lack thereof
might be shallow reading versus reading for content.
[time, size, second, stimulus, response, task, processing, journal, compared, general, presented, generalized, trial, verbal, suggests] [cognitive, yellow, experiment, clear, version, indicated, engage] [speech, van, main, language, experimental, vertical, mixed, university, recall] [group, three, high, study, partial, product, third, included, change, conducted] [pupil, frequency, dilation, subject, articulation, onset, naming, word, lexical, dotted, contour, reading, smooth, analysis, sentence, panel, pupillary, shallow, baayen, exactly, tensor, weak, read, package, pupillometry, diameter] [function, individual, median, data, additive, increasing, green, load, well] [peak, figure, eye, screen, interaction, computer, pattern]
Fuse to be used: A weak cue's guide to attracting attention
Zara Harmon, Vsevolod Kapatsinski
Zara Harmon, Vsevolod Kapatsinski
Several studies examined cue competition in human learning by
testing learners on a combination of conflicting cues rooting for different
outcomes, with each cue perfectly predicting its outcome. A common result has
been that learners faced with cue conflict choose the outcome associated with the
rare cue (the Inverse Base Rate Effect, IBRE). Here, we investigate cue
competition including IBRE with sentences containing cues to meanings in a visual
world. We do not observe IBRE. Instead we find that position in the sentence
strongly influences cue salience. Faced with conflict between an initial cue and
a non-initial cue, learners choose the outcome associated with the initial cue,
whether frequent or rare. However, a frequent configuration of non-initial cues
that are not sufficiently salient on their own can overcome a competing salient
initial cue rooting for a different meaning. This provides a possible explanation
for certain recurring patterns in language change.
[cue, zon, mik, presented, mapped, learn, configural, base, learning, eliminative, kruschke, training, appeared, competition, picture, creature, consisted, artificial, ibre, attention, task, position, exposure, suggests, processing, conflict, isolation, finding, evidence, development, conflicting, reliance, predictor, condition, test, occurred, postpositional] [initial, experiment, mapping, common, presence, work, absence, explanation, disease, strong, inference, develop, reason, influence] [meaning, language, combination, previous, university, salient] [difference, ratio] [frequent, form, sentence, frequency, association, table, word, large, small, perfect, structure] [inverse, rare, rate, predicts, well, stronger, pas, observe, compete] [associated, figure, screen]
How do Distributions of Item Sizes Affect the Precision and Bias in Representing Summary Statistics?
Midori Tokita, Akira Ishiguchi
Midori Tokita, Akira Ishiguchi
Many studies have shown that observers can accurately perceive and
evaluate the statistical summary of presented objects’ attribute values,
such as the average, without attending to each object. However, it remains
controversial how the visual system integrates the attribute values (e.g.,
information on size) of multiple items and computes the average value. In this
study, we tested how distributions of item sizes affect the precision and bias in
judging average values. We predicted that if observers utilize all of the
available size information equally, the distribution would have no effect, and
vice versa. Our results showed that, with novice observers, judgement precision
differed among size distributions and that the observers overestimated the size
of the average value compared to the actual size under all conditions. However,
this was not the case for experienced observers, who showed no effects of
distribution type on average assessment performance.
[size, presented, statistical, tested, standard, accuracy, journal, test, suggests, standardized, compared, stimulus, blank, attention, trial, repeated] [positively, equally, possibility, negatively, judgment, cognitive, people, emotional] [item, novice, affect, perceptual, percept] [precision, comparison, number, performance, larger, limited, conducted, three, smaller, fraction, idea] [bias, analysis, ensemble, mechanism, computed, averaging, accurately, variance] [average, distribution, set, summary, individual, weber, skewed, pse, uniform, unaffected, overestimated, function, data, normal, actual, computing, judgement, noise, marchant] [representing, experienced, figure, visual, representation, process, perception, multiple, single, represent, extracting, psychometric, vision]
Mechanisms for storing and accessing event representations in episodic memory, and their expression in language: a neural network model
Martin Takac, Alistair Knott
Martin Takac, Alistair Knott
We present a neural network model of how events are stored in and
retrieved from episodic long-term memory (LTM). The model is novel in giving an
explicit account of the working memory (WM) medium mediating access to episodic
memory: it makes a specific proposal about how representations of events and
situations in semantic WM interface with representations of events and situations
in episodic memory. It also provides the framework for an account of how
operations accessing temporally remote situations are reported in language.
[time, type, learn, dog, presented, sequence, evidence] [situation, cognitive, temporal, hold, person, experience, account] [episodic, ltm, memory, reference, retrieved, language, specific, linguistic, retrieve, pat, afternoon, hippocampal, john, hippocampus, evening, sleep, hide] [working, material, active] [token, discourse, semantic, antecedent] [model, agent, distribution, query, probability, individual, set, provide] [episode, som, figure, activity, network, medium, pattern, patient, system, representation, takac, neural, current, process, knott, interface, input, representing, reconstruct, recurrent, localist, associated, action, trained, cortex, represent, sing, allows, morning, distributed, stored, holding, chair, represented, involves, unit, pfc]
Stereotype-Based Intuitions: A Psycholinguistic Approach to Experimental Philosophy’s ‘Sources Project’
Eugen Fischer, Paul Engelhardt
Eugen Fischer, Paul Engelhardt
Experimental philosophy’s ‘sources project’
seeks to develop psychological explanations of philosophically relevant
intuitions which help us assess their evidentiary value. This paper develops a
psycholinguistic explanation of intuitions prompted by brief philosophical
case-descriptions. For proof of concept, we target intuitions underlying a
classic paradox about perception (‘argument from hallucination’). We
trace them to stereotype-driven inferences automatically executed in verb
comprehension. We employ a forced-choice plausibility-ranking task to show that
contextually inappropriate stereotypical inferences are made from less salient
uses of the verb “to see”. This yields a debunking explanation which
resolves the philosophical paradox.
[time, journal, second, evidence, explicit, directional, verbal, suggests] [epistemic, philosophical, aware, sense, phenomenal, physical, inappropriate, macbeth, dagger, experience, intuition, relevant, salience, philosophically, contextually, intuitive, competent, cognitive, conclusion, consistent, philosophy, fischer, evidentiary, psychology, explanation, key, vitiating, anglia, debunking, inference, engender, work] [experimental, salient, spatial, stereotypical, object, psycholinguistic, university, perceptual] [problem, study, example] [argument, verb, direct, word, approach, sentence, proximity, abstract, semantic] [preferred, paper, preference, hypothesis, infer, well] [visual, associated, critical, activation, perception, figure, automatic, review, process]
What Were They Thinking? Diagnostic Coding of Conceptual Errors in a Mathematics Learning Software Data Archive
Christine Massey, Jennifer Kregor, Laura Cosgrove, Himchan Lee
Christine Massey, Jennifer Kregor, Laura Cosgrove, Himchan Lee
Decades of research have demonstrated that students face critical
conceptual challenges in learning mathematics. As new adaptive learning
technologies become ubiquitous in education, they bring opportunities both to
facilitate conceptual development in more focused ways and to gather data that
may yield new insights into students’ learning processes. The present study
analyzes data archives from a perceptual learning intervention designed to help
students master key concepts related to linear measurement and fractions. Using
algorithmic data coding on a database of 78,034 errors from a sample of sixth
graders, both conceptual errors and other errors were captured and analyzed for
change over time. Results indicate that conceptual errors decreased
significantly. This approach suggests additional ways that such datasets can be
exploited to better understand how the software impacts different students and
how next generations of adaptive software may be designed to code and respond to
common error patterns in real time.
[learning, response, type, indicate, time, decreased, half, accuracy, phase, reported] [designed, understanding, focused, ball, cognitive, algorithmic] [error, perceptual, coded, specific, mixed, occurs] [problem, hash, mathematics, integer, fraction, measurement, software, linear, student, number, mark, regrouping, plm, study, endpoint, fractional, mastery, unproductive, ruler, educational, answer, difficult, national, targeted, sixth, code, change, counting, massey, mastered, correct, recognize, discrete] [conceptual, distance, large, examine, structure, table, approach, relative] [data, total, adaptive, set, point, unknown, average, rate] [figure, captured, encoding, process, multiple, coding, start, level, represented]
Trust, Communication, and Inequality
Joanna Bryson, Paul Rauwolf
Joanna Bryson, Paul Rauwolf
Inequality in wealth is a pressing concern in many contemporary
societies, where it has been show to co-occur with political polarization and
policy volatility, however its causes are unclear. Here we demonstrate that
inequality can covary reliably with other cooperative behavior, despite a lack of
exogenous cause or deliberation. Under simulated cultural evolution via social
learning selecting for trust and cooperative exchange, we find both cooperation
and inequality to be more prevalent in contexts where the same agents play both
the roles of the trusting investor and the trusted investee, in contrast to
conditions where roles are divided between subpopulations. Cooperation is more
likely in contexts of high transparency about potential partners and with a high
amount of partner choice; while inequality is more likely with high information
but no choice in partners. Our approach holds promise for examining the causality
and social contexts underlying shifts in income inequality.
[learning, competition, condition, journal, time] [social, political, stable, causality, work, low, understanding, united, held, contemporary, result, sufficient] [evolution, university, context, previous, spatial, evolutionary, generation, knowing, cultural, environmental, experimental] [high, unified, number, partial, greater, concern, extend] [local, substantial] [inequality, trust, return, population, rate, investor, cooperation, wealth, demand, economic, potential, bryson, polarization, investees, investment, probability, rauwolf, drawn, costly, game, model, selected, behavior, money, cooperative, choice, round, extreme, investee, row, max, adaptive, generate, note, manapat, princeton, randomly, disjoint, set, trustee, emerge, bottom] [partner, top, figure, human, focus, single, driven]
Singular Interpretations Linger During the Processing of Plural Noun Phrases
Nikole Patson
Nikole Patson
Plural nouns do not strictly refer to more than one object, which
suggests that they are not semantically marked to mean “more than
one” and that plurality inferences are made via a scalar implicature.
Consistent with that hypothesis, recent evidence using a picture-matching
paradigm supports founds that participants were equally fast to respond to a
picture of a single object as a picture of multiple objects after reading a
sentence containing a plural. This suggests that comprehenders activate both a
semantic (i.e., singular) and a pragmatic interpretation (i.e., plural). The
current study found that even after a 1500 ms delay, comprehenders still maintain
activation of both meanings after reading a sentence containing a plural. This
suggests that the activation of the singular meaning may not be due to the
processing of a scalar implicature, but rather may be due to the nature of plural
conceptual representations.
[picture, implicature, faster, suggests, processing, evidence, time, finding, spatially, presented, type, reaction, compared, reported, explicit, journal] [singular, consistent, account, work, negated, experiment, judgment, delay, relevant] [meaning, context, experimental, object, language, contained, linguistic, spatial, filler, mismatched, matched, configuration] [number, study, computation] [plural, noun, comprehenders, conceptual, patson, sentence, interpretation, semantic, ate, sentential, argued, semantically, conceptually, token, kaup, ben, zoe, reading, read, tieu, interpreted, intended, affirmative, mentioned, comprehension] [scalar, set, state, preference, pragmatic, based, implied, intermediate, compute] [representation, single, activation, respond, represent, multiple, current, figure, distributed]
Generalisable patterns of gesture distinguish semantic categories in communication without language
Gerardo Ortega, Asli Özyürek
Gerardo Ortega, Asli Özyürek
There is a long-standing assumption that gestural forms are geared
by a set of modes of representation (acting, representing, drawing, moulding)
with each technique expressing speakers’ focus of attention on specific
aspects of referents (Müller, 2013). Beyond different taxonomies describing
the modes of representation, it remains unclear what factors motivate certain
depicting techniques over others. Results from a pantomime generation task show
that pantomimes are not entirely idiosyncratic but rather follow generalisable
patterns constrained by their semantic category. We show that a) specific modes
of representations are preferred for certain objects (acting for manipulable
objects and drawing for non-manipulable objects); and b) that use and ordering of
deictics and modes of representation operate in tandem to distinguish between
semantically related concepts (e.g., “to drink” vs
“mug”). This study provides yet more evidence that our ability to
communicate through silent gesture reveals systematic ways to describe events and
objects around us.
[silent, iconicity, shape, showing, revealed, deictic, category, target, evidence] [elicited, cognitive, depicting, systematic] [gesture, sign, object, language, manipulable, acting, referent, gestural, drawing, produced, specific, communication, depicted, gesturers, remains, express, speech, describe, pantomime, production, expressing, degree, generalisable, calculated, outline, favour, produce, manner, distinguish, linguistic] [strategy, study, high, number, asked, three, effective] [semantic, mode, form, word, order, tend, table, emerging] [proportion, observed, manual, empirical] [representation, represent, representing, affordances, single, focus, figure, action, multiple, pointing, represented, visual, motion]
Scarcity captures attention and induces neglect: Eyetracking and behavioral evidence
Brandon Tomm, Jiaying Zhao
Brandon Tomm, Jiaying Zhao
Resource scarcity poses challenging demands on the human cognitive
system. Budgeting with limited resources induces an attentional focus on the
problem at hand. This focus enhances processing of relevant information, but it
also comes with a cost. Specifically, scarcity may cause a failure to notice
beneficial information that helps alleviate the condition of scarcity. In three
experiments, participants were randomly assigned with a small budget (“the
poor”) or a large budget (“the rich”) to order a meal from a
restaurant menu. The poor participants looked longer at the prices of the items
and recalled the prices more accurately, compared to the rich participants.
Importantly, the poor neglected a useful discount that would save them money.
This neglect may arise as a result of attentional narrowing, and help explain a
range of counter-productive behaviors of low-income individuals. The current
findings have important implications for public policy and services for
low-income individuals.
[time, condition, attention, attentional, suggests, processing, looked, enhanced, reliable] [experiment, cognitive, people, explanation, result, assigned, public, social, discussion, explain, focused, work] [rich, memory, recall, error, recalled] [limited, number, spent, proportional, difference, absolute, help, asked, benefit, working, beneficial, study, place, procedure] [order, reflect, large, small, measure, clause] [price, financial, average, predict, randomly, ordering] [poor, scarcity, calorie, discount, dwell, menu, visual, food, neglect, encoding, current, budget, figure, focus, meal, assistance, process, neglected, human, prioritization, behavioral, fewer, facilitates, oecd, longer, environment, enrollment]
Using determiners as contextual cues in sentence comprehension: A comparison between younger and older adults
Nazbanou Nozari, Daniel Mirman
Nazbanou Nozari, Daniel Mirman
Younger adults use both semantic and phonological cues to quickly
localize the referent during sentence comprehension. ERP studies have shown that
older adults, as a group, are less apt at using contextual semantic cues to
predict upcoming words. The current study extends the investigation of contextual
cue processing beyond semantic cues, by comparing younger and older adults in
their ability to use phonological cues in indefinite articles (a/an) in an
eye-tracking paradigm. Our results suggest that both age groups use such
contextual phonological information, but with different timelines: younger adults
use the cues to anticipate an upcoming word, whereas older adults show delayed
cue processing after the target word has been spoken. Together with past
research, these findings support a model of sentence comprehension in which the
use of contextual cues continues with aging, but is no longer as efficient as in
the young system for anticipatory word retrieval.
[older, younger, target, age, processing, cue, time, condition, compared, erp, early, presented, aging, response, finding, polynomial, evidence, showing, journal, second, suggests, wlotko, spoken, arttype, recorded, type, delong, auditory] [late, cognitive, focused, psychology, timeline] [phonological, context, language, referent, experimental, memory, delayed, anticipate, main, specific] [control, three, quadratic, linear, young, continued, study, subset] [article, contextual, sentence, word, semantic, comprehension, analysis, indefinite, upcoming, anticipatory, window, noun, table, frequency, reading, locate, boy, gca] [set, model, marginal, explored, data] [interaction, visual, current, process, fixation, figure]
Surprising blindness to conversational incoherence in both instant-messaging and face-to-face speech
Gareth Roberts, Benjamin Langstein, Bruno Galantucci
Gareth Roberts, Benjamin Langstein, Bruno Galantucci
Language is widely assumed to be a well designed tool for reliably
communicating propositional information between people. This suggests that its
users should be sensitive to failures of communication, such as utterances that
are blatantly incoherent with respect to an ongoing conversation. We present
experimental work suggesting that, in fact, people are surprisingly tolerant of
conversational incoherence. In two previous studies, participants engaged in
instant-messaging conversations that were either repeatedly crossed with other
conversations or had lines inserted into them that deliberately contradicted
available information. In both cases, a substantial proportion of participants
failed to notice. In a new study, confederates inserted unexpected, nonsensical
lines into face-to-face conversations. The majority of participants failed to
notice. We argue these findings suggest that we should be wary of modeling
spontaneous communication in terms of faithful information transmission, or
language as a well designed tool for that purpose.
[condition, pair, identify, chance, time, suggests, task, reliable] [participant, inserted, conversation, detection, focused, nonsensical, incoherence, crossing, inconsistent, people, fact, famous, broadly, social, failed, work, narrowly, server, blatant, notice, sensitive, cartoon, consistent, communicating, flower, butterfly, teresa, instant, respect, case, guessed, surprisingly] [language, communication, message, evolution, communicative, linguistic, meaning, confederate, conversational, spontaneous, university, referred, identification] [study, question, group, asked, transcript, received, three, thought, answered, crossed, answer, procedure, guy, help, mother] [sentence, window, distance] [rate, green, well, red, guess] [human, involved, figure, left, controlled]
The Influence of Religious Beliefs on False Memory of Fabricated Events
Ellen Searle, Jennifer Vonk, Brock Brothers
Ellen Searle, Jennifer Vonk, Brock Brothers
Previous research has indicated that memories can be modified in
conjunction with one’s attitudes, in particular, political beliefs. The
current study extended this finding by focusing on the relationship between
differing religious beliefs and false memories for news events. We predicted that
religious people would be more inclined to remember fabricated news events
positively depicting religion and less likely to remember events negatively
depicting religion compared to non-religious people. Opposite effects were
predicted for events depicting atheism. In contrast, we found that religious
people were more likely to falsely remember both events depicting religion
positively and negatively compared to non-religious individuals. However, the
extent to which individuals felt positively about the events interacted with
religious beliefs to predict reported false memories. Religious individuals were
more likely to remember events if they felt positively about them whereas
atheists were more likely to remember events if they felt negatively about them.
[category, presented, finding, journal, reported, standardized, standard] [religious, false, event, valence, negative, positively, depicting, positive, negatively, felt, religiosity, religion, falsely, people, scale, consistent, strength, atheist, fabricated, political, influence, social, low, nonreligious, belief, personality, real, frenda, christian, psychological, fundamentalism, psychology, god, interact, relationship, pope, likert, squirrel] [memory, remember, depicted, remembered, experimental, recall, illustrating, influenced] [study, high, step, conducted, controlling, news, group, impact, investigate, score, asked] [entered] [true, predicted, regression, correlation, predict, individual, point, affiliation, respective, prior, simple, expected] [associated, interaction, figure, role, current, corresponding]
Gender Differences in the Effect of Impatience on Men and Women’s Timing Decisions
Moojan Ghafurian, David Reitter
Moojan Ghafurian, David Reitter
Decisions over the timing of actions are critical in several
safety, security and healthcare scenarios. These decisions, similar to discrete
decisions, can be influenced by biases and individual traits. In this paper, a
bias of impatience is studied in an experiment with 626 participants, with a
focus on gender differences. Impatience was moderated with a manipulation of a
variable-speed countdown. Men and women differed in how they expressed
impatience. While men systematically and irrationally act earlier when become
impatient following the slower countdowns, women react by irrationally requesting
earlier information about the outcome of each trial, and impulsively pressing an
inactive key.
[timing, early, time, reliably, condition, slower, speed, second, compared] [experiment, late, positive, story, hypothesize, manipulation, cover, key, participant, people, long, psychological, cognition, mechanical, experience] [gender, experimental, frequently, intercept] [number, study, discrete, watching, strategy, difference, covariate, investigate] [count, table, earlier, reflect, analysis] [men, game, check, impatience, countdown, round, wait, model, choice, num, live, risk, cookie, played, opponent, monster, based, set, individual, point, propensity, decision, impulsive, nfc, financial, option, choose, predicting, average, decide, waiting, tendency, estimate, genderm, potential, amazon, nowait, pressed, behavior] [duration, figure, start, play, press, catch]
Analytical Thinking Predicts Less Teleological Reasoning and Religious Belief
Jeffrey Zemla, Samantha Steiner, Steven Sloman
Jeffrey Zemla, Samantha Steiner, Steven Sloman
Individual differences in reflectiveness have been found to
predict belief in God. We hypothesize that this association may be due to a
broader inclination for intuitive thinkers to endorse teleological explanations.
In support of our hypothesis, we find that scientifically unfounded teleological
explanations are more likely to be endorsed by intuitive compared to analytical
thinkers, and that those who endorse teleological explanations are more likely to
have religious beliefs.
[test, reported, completed, age, half, presented, journal, suggests] [teleological, reasoning, religious, causal, belief, endorse, analytical, crt, god, experiment, intuitive, thinking, cognitive, conditional, religion, religiosity, familial, scale, strong, scientifically, existence, leading, childhood, negatively, willingness, life, engage, discussion, explanation, tversky, kelemen, people, influence, excluded, shenhav, understanding, forum] [support, abbreviated, experimental, affect, gender, blue, highly] [control, correct, performance, three, answer, ability, reflection, high, report, score, correctly, scored, change] [order, style, correlated, bias, natural, measure, proposed] [probability, hypothesis, correlation, predicts, predict, find, aid] [numeracy, figure, eye, neglect, design]
Longitudinal L2 Development of the English Article in Individual Learners
Akira Murakami, Theodora Alexopoulou
Akira Murakami, Theodora Alexopoulou
We investigate the accuracy development of the English article by
learners of English as a second language. The study focuses on individual
learners, tracking their learning trajectories through their writings in the
EF-Cambridge Open Language Database (EFCAMDAT), an open access learner corpus. We
draw from 17,859 writings by 1,280 learners and ask whether article accuracy in
individual learners fluctuates randomly or whether learners can be clustered
according to their developmental trajectories. In particular, we apply k-means
clustering to automatically cluster in a bottom up fashion learners with similar
learning curves. We follow learners for a period covering one CEFR level. Given
the relatively short learning window, the majority of learners follow a
horizontal line. Nevertheless, we also identify groups of learners showing a
power-function and U-shaped curve. Crucially, these groups are
‘hidden’ when the aggregate of learners is considered, a finding
highlighting the importance of individual level analysis.
[accuracy, development, learning, developmental, learner, second, span, absent, shape, identify, showing] [axis, systematic] [language, null, calculated, variation, grammatical, van] [number, three, study, included, teaching, investigate, score, procedure, difference] [cluster, writing, longitudinal, tlu, window, english, article, clustering, silhouette, large, panel, obligatory, ocs, chinese, include, short, order, measure, open, corpus, englishtown, applied, proficiency, calculate, small, trend, acquisition, random, definite, aggregated, exponential, loess] [individual, data, average, observed, distribution, range, consider, entire, note, metric, aggregate, point, follow] [figure, pattern, multiple, horizontal, represents, correspond, corresponds, left, represent, focus]
Spatializing emotion: A mapping of valence or magnitude?
Benjamin Pitt, Daniel Casasanto
Benjamin Pitt, Daniel Casasanto
People implicitly associate different emotions with different
locations in left-right space. Which dimensions of emotion do they spatialize?
Across many studies people spatialize emotional valence, mapping positive
emotions onto their dominant side of space and negative emotions onto their
non-dominant side. Yet, other results suggest a contradictory mapping of
emotional intensity (a.k.a., emotional magnitude), according to which people
associate more intense emotions with the right and less intense emotions with the
left, regardless of valence. To resolve this apparent contradiction, we first
tested whether people implicitly spatialize whichever dimension of emotion they
attend to. Results showed the predicted valence mapping, but no intensity
mapping. We then tested an alternative explanation of findings previously
interpreted as showing an intensity mapping; these data may reflect a left-right
mapping of spatial magnitude, not emotion. People implicitly spatialize emotional
valence, but there is no clear evidence for an implicit lateral mapping of
emotional intensity.
[evidence, task, response, tested, standard, test, presented, standardized, dimension, journal, faster, stimulus, half, size, appeared, reliably] [intensity, valence, emotional, mapping, experiment, mouth, people, implicitly, spatialize, emotion, extremely, intense, negative, happy, speeded, positive, drts, judged, implicit, consistent, explanation, psychological, angry, discussion, regressed, rating, valenced, inconsistent, participant] [spatial, experimental, varied, lateral, previous, university, cultural] [magnitude, larger, slope, greater, difference, drt, three] [associate, order, word, interpreted, abstract, subject, random] [data, predicted, observed, provide, alternative, making, set] [area, left, space, rts, polarity, associated, side, facial, apparent, figure, hand, dominant, pattern]
Questions in informal teaching: A study of mother-child conversations
Yue Yu, Elizabeth Bonawitz, Patrick Shafto
Yue Yu, Elizabeth Bonawitz, Patrick Shafto
Questioning is a core component of formal pedagogy. Parents
commonly question children, but do they use questions to teach? Research has
shown that informal pedagogical situations elicit stronger inferences than the
same evidence observed in non-pedagogical situations. Certain questions
(“pedagogical questions”) have similar features. We investigate the
frequency and distribution of pedagogical questions from mother-child
conversations documented in the CHILDES database. We show that pedagogical
questions are commonplace, are more frequent for middle-class mothers compared to
working-class mothers, are more frequent during free play than during daily
routines, and are more frequent in mothers who ask more questions. The results
serve as a first step towards understanding the role of questions in informal
pedagogy.
[learning, child, developmental, journal, type, status, target, evidence, age, suggests, development, explore, adult, facilitate] [conversation, understanding, cognitive, percentage, social, work, serve] [context, informal, specific, language, academic] [pedagogical, question, questioning, rhetorical, free, daily, asked, study, knowledge, three, teaching, answer, informationseeking, number, differ, coder, science, pedagogy, help, transcript, knowledgeable, formal, young, demonstrating, documented, teach, majority] [frequency, composition, childes, correlated, subcategories, frequent] [proportion, total, sample, higher, well, everyday, function, provide, data, individual] [play, role, coding, analyzing, figure, meal]
Comparing Predictive and Co-occurrence Based Models of Lexical Semantics Trained on Child-directed Speech
Fatemeh Torabi Asr, Jon Willits, Michael Jones
Fatemeh Torabi Asr, Jon Willits, Michael Jones
Distributional Semantic Models have been successful at predicting
many semantic behaviors. The aim of this paper is to compare two major classes of
these models – co-occurrence-based models, and prediction error-driven
models – in learning semantic categories from child-directed speech.
Co-occurrence models have gained more attention in cognitive research, while
research from computational linguistics on big datasets has found more success
with prediction-based models. We explore differences between these types of
lexical semantic models (as representatives of Hebbian vs. reinforcement learning
mechanisms, respectively) within a more cognitively relevant context: the
acquisition of semantic categories (e.g., apple and orange as fruit vs. soap and
shampoo as bathroom items) from linguistic data available to children. We found
that models that perform some form of abstraction outperform those that do not,
and that co-occurrence-based abstraction models performed the best. However,
different models excel at different categories, providing evidence for
complementary learning systems.
[learning, learn, size, target, categorization, accuracy, category, classification, family, tested, compare, training, second, performing, compared, vocabulary, learned] [cognitive, abstraction, experiment] [context, linguistic, previous, latent, studied, discrimination, speech, memory] [performance, better, outperformed, smaller, number, larger, literature, comparing] [word, semantic, distributional, window, cbow, skipgram, corpus, vector, similarity, large, ndl, rva, lexical, computational, baroni, frequency, small, mechanism, random, applied, syntactic, levy] [model, predictive, based, data, best, simple, predicting, prediction, parameter, predicted, set, well, reinforcement] [hidden, layer, pca, trained, input, figure, network, neural, output, matrix, performed, architecture, distributed, perform, practical]
A Developmental Shift in the Relationship Between Sequential Learning, Executive Function, and Language Ability as Revealed by Event-Related Potentials
Joanne Deocampo, Christopher Conway
Joanne Deocampo, Christopher Conway
Previous research has shown a link between sequential learning
(SL) and language as well as links between executive function (EF) and both
language and SL. However, little research has focused on both the development of
the relationship between these factors and their neurological underpinnings. Here
we report a study of the event-related potential (ERP) correlates of SL and
behavioral measures of language and EF in a sample of 7-12-year-old children.
Results revealed that both SL and EF had independent associations with language
development but that the contribution that both made toward language development
shifted dramatically between the ages of 7 to 11-12 years. The results
furthermore suggest that this developmental shift may be due in part to the
maturation of EF abilities and changes due to neural entrenchment and commitment
as a consequence of language acquisition.
[learning, age, statistical, time, predictor, sequential, erp, task, block, developmental, evidence, presented, second, executive, older, target, erps, development, younger, revealed, sequence, processing, half, standard, spoken, medial, jost, positivity, increased, condition, inspection, tested, learn, scatter] [relationship, cognitive, implicit, conditional, appear, positive, told, strong] [language, shift, previous] [ability, three, change, study, assessment, high, score, appears] [window, sentence, post, measure, table, link, structure, amount] [model, based, function, outcome, individual, posterior, chose, predict, predicted, higher, sample] [figure, neural, visual, process, region]
Ambiguity and Representational Stability: What is the role of embodied experiences?
Ramon D. Castillo, Talia Waltzer, Heidi Kloos
Ramon D. Castillo, Talia Waltzer, Heidi Kloos
The influence of embodied experiences on cognition is not yet
fully understood. To explore its effects, we analyzed the responses of adults in
a high-ambiguity prediction task: Adults had to decide which of two objects would
sink faster (or slower) in water. Ambiguity was achieved by pitting object volume
and object mass against buoyancy: The winning object was sometimes heavy and big,
and sometimes it was light and small. Thus, the task could not be solved with a
simplistic rule alone. The crucial manipulation was whether adults haptically
explored the objects, either prior to feedback training or afterward. Findings
showed a clear disadvantage of hands-on experiences: When allowed to hold the
objects, participants were likely to show a simplistic focus on object heaviness.
These results call for a more a nuanced understanding of the effect of embodied
experiences on the stability of representations.
[training, trial, phase, presented, explore, task, faster, condition, type, pair, sinking, heaviness, sink, picture, heavier, sank, slower, learned, developmental, mjar, haptically, lighter, dropped] [experience, real, cognitive, cognition, manipulation, held, extent, anova, participant, systematic, experiment, hold] [object, main, van, ambiguity, support, university, situated, highly] [performance, difference, mass, jar, feedback, volume, smaller, water, example, number, place, asked, difficult, provided, filled, high] [embodiment] [prediction, winning, well, decide, making, bigger, behavior, prior] [embodied, visual, figure, dynamic, view, current, perform, focus, bodily, performed]
Interaction of Instructional Material Order and Subgoal Labels on Learning in Programming
Laura Schaeffer, Lauren Margulieux, Richard Catrambone
Laura Schaeffer, Lauren Margulieux, Richard Catrambone
Subgoal labeled expository instructions and worked examples have
been shown to positively impact student learning and performance in computer
science education. This study examined whether problem solving performance
differed based on the order of expository instructions and worked examples and
the presence of subgoal labels within the instructions for creating applications
(Apps) for phones. Participants were 132 undergraduates. A significant
interaction showed that when learners were presented with the worked example
followed by the expository instructions containing subgoal labels, the learner
was better at outlining the procedure for creating an application. However, the
manipulations did not affect novel problem solving performance or explanations of
solutions. These results suggest that some limited benefit can be gained from
presenting a worked example before expository instructions when subgoal labels
are included.
[task, learner, learning, general, presented, novel, journal, learn, learned] [cognitive, explanation, explain, street, experience] [specific, fortune, affect, main, experimental, apply, domain, contained] [worked, subgoal, problem, example, app, instructional, solving, expository, performance, study, assessment, procedural, material, subgoals, knowledge, creating, better, procedure, asked, presenting, group, practice, score, teller, margulieux, programming, needed, inventor, create, transfer, solution, international, modify, high, correct, received, scored, awarded, limited] [text, order, written, abstract, table, organization, analysis, structure] [provide, well, based, point, method, data, maximum, aid] [level, computer, advance, interaction, process, allows]
Visual constraints modulate stereotypical predictability of agents during situated language comprehension
Alba Rodríguez, Michele Burigo, Pia Knoeferle
Alba Rodríguez, Michele Burigo, Pia Knoeferle
We investigated how constraints on the concurrent visual context
modulate the use of prior gender and action cues and stereotypical knowledge
during situated language comprehension. Participants saw videos of hands
performing actions, then inspected the pictures of potential agents (one female
one male) during auditory German OVS sentences. Unlike in Rodríguez et al.
2015, the concurrent context included a picture of the videotaped object and a
‘competitor object’. Fixations to the agents' faces were measured
during comprehension. We manipulated the match between videotaped actions and
those described by the sentence and the stereotypicality match between the
described actions and the gender of videotaped agents. We replicated the
preference for the target agent's face (gender-matching the videotaped hands).
Action-verb mismatch effects emerged earlier and were modulated by
stereotypicality. Results suggest that visual availability of objects during
comprehension facilitates the activation of representations from recent events
and unseen events, favoring stereotypical expectations.
[target, competitor, attention, match, display, compared, time, response, spoken, pair, showing, picture] [event, described, experiment, cognitive, presence] [language, female, gender, male, previous, object, stereotypicality, matched, stereotypically, concurrent, stereotypical, context, situated, inspected, mismatch, cake, mismatched, building, baking, apple, inspecting, german, contained, boost, experimental, modulate, verbally, inspect, manipulated, item, memory, gleichadv, rodriguez, incremental] [video, knowledge, stereotype, study] [sentence, comprehension, verb, preceding, derived, noun, upcoming] [agent, prior, preference, model, well, alternative, potential, opposite, based] [action, visual, scene, region, eye, congruence, representation, face, associated, figure]
Examining Search Processes in Low and High Creative Individuals with Random Walks
Yoed Kenett, Joseph Austerweil
Yoed Kenett, Joseph Austerweil
The creative process involves several cognitive processes, such as
working memory, controlled attention and task switching. One other process is
cognitive search over semantic memory. These search processes can be controlled
(e.g., problem solving guided by a heuristic), or uncontrolled (e.g., mind
wandering). However, the nature of this search in relation to creativity has
rarely been examined from a formal perspective. To do this, we use a random walk
model to simulate uncontrolled cognitive search over semantic networks of low and
high creative individuals with an equal number of nodes and edges. We show that a
random walk over the semantic network of high creative individuals
“finds” more unique words and moves further through the network for a
given number of steps. Our findings are consistent with the associative theory of
creativity, which posits that the structure of semantic memory facilitates search
processes to find creative solutions.
[cue, test, novel, starting] [cognitive, low, initial, work, examined, thinking, psychological, future, simply] [memory, associative, previous, produce] [number, high, score, performance, difference, equal, science, free, mind, ranged, ability, thought] [semantic, creative, walk, hsc, random, lsc, similarity, creativity, node, visited, unique, final, uncontrolled, amount, structure, association, kenett, examine, computational, spreading, fluency, unweighted, divergent, word, weaker, computed, approach] [search, average, theory, behavior, generate, based, individual, probability, capture, varying, data, rank, well, model] [network, process, representation, controlled, matrix, figure, activation, reach, facilitates, transition, connected, plan]
Determining the alternatives for scalar implicature
Benjamin Peloquin, Mike Frank
Benjamin Peloquin, Mike Frank
Successful communication regularly requires listeners to make
pragmatic inferences --- enrichments beyond the literal meaning of a speaker's
utterance. For example, when interpreting a sentence such as "Alice ate some of
the cookies," listeners routinely infer that Alice did not eat all of them. A
Gricean account of this phenomenon assumes the presence of alternatives (like
"all of the cookies") with varying degrees of informativity, but it remains an
open question precisely what these alternatives are. To address this question, we
collect empirical measurements of speaker and listener judgments about varying
sets of alternatives across a range of scales and use these as inputs to a
computational model of pragmatic inference. This approach allows us to test
hypotheses about how well different sets of alternatives predict pragmatic
judgments by people. Our findings suggest that comprehenders likely consider a
broader set of alternatives beyond those logically entailed by the initial
message.
[condition, implicature, target, training, presented, test, standard, task] [experiment, scale, rating, excluded, understanding, leaving, negative, work, discussion, participant, judgment] [literal, listener, van, utterance, item, speaker, meaning, native, message, context, experimental, previous] [included, number, three, larger, addition, thought, question] [semantic, semantics, pass, english, random, intended, considered, measure, substantial, plausible, computational] [scalar, pragmatic, model, alternative, set, entailment, fit, star, tiel, empirical, data, total, generate, rsa, consider, predict, compatible, classic, sample, provide, denotes, probability, loved, best, restaurant, considering, generated] [figure, compatibility, human, design, framework]
Lasting Political Attitude Change Induced by False Feedback About Own Survey Responses
David Sivén, Thomas Strandberg, Lars Hall, Petter Johansson, Philip Pärnamets
David Sivén, Thomas Strandberg, Lars Hall, Petter Johansson, Philip Pärnamets
False feedback on choices has been documented to induce lasting
preference change. Here we extend such effects to the political domain and
investigate the temporal persistence of induced preferences, as well as, the
possible role the length of confabulatory justifications may play. We conducted a
two-day choice blindness experiment using political statements, with sessions
being roughly one week apart. Changes in political preferences remained one week
after initial responses, and were most prominent in participants who were allowed
to confabulate freely. These findings, being the first to demonstrate lasting
preference change using choice blindness, are discussed in light of
constructivist approaches to attitude formation through a process of
self-perception.
[condition, time, second, directional, target, presented, response, session, journal, paradigm, consisted, compared, evidence] [attitude, political, false, manipulation, blindness, correction, participant, rating, elaboration, confabulation, survey, long, induced, lasting, cognitive, lund, influence, experiment, social, interpreting, confabulatory, axis, public, concerning, detection, told, swedish, persuasion, sweden, strength, conditional, initial, concerned] [manipulated, corrected, previous, specific, domain, main, reference, shift, supporting] [change, feedback, asked, week, difference, comparing, school, science] [short, large, constructed, amount] [choice, preference, well, model, state, confidence, data, full] [original, interaction, direction, box, central, performed]
How should autonomous vehicles behave in moral dilemmas? Human judgments reflect abstract moral principles
Derek Powell, Patricia Cheng, Michael Waldmann
Derek Powell, Patricia Cheng, Michael Waldmann
Self-driving autonomous vehicles (AVs) have the potential to make
the world a safer and cleaner place. A challenge confronting the development of
AVs is how these vehicles should behave in traffic situations where harm is
unavoidable. It is important that AVs behave in ethically appropriate ways to
mitigate harm. Ideally, they should obey a system of principles that both concur
with human moral judgments and are ethically defensible. Here we compare
people’s moral judgments of AV programming with their judgments about the
behavior of human drivers, with the goal of beginning to identify such
principles. As many debates within ethics remain unresolved, empirical
investigations like ours may guide the development of ethical AVs (Bonnefon et
al., 2015). In addition, people’s judgments about the behavior of AVs may
serve as a window into the abstract principles people apply in their moral
reasoning.
[switch, condition, development, compared, general] [moral, push, car, causal, dilemma, experiment, people, traffic, yellow, trolley, autonomous, abstraction, approval, save, sacrifice, truck, situation, appropriate, street, scenario, assigned, sacrificial, programmed, driverless, paid, judgment, kill, behave, indicated, vehicle, account, morally, man, harm, possibility, steering, appropriateness, runaway, case, ethically, examined, utilitarian, person, road, generally, rating] [blue, program, main, manipulated] [lower, study, programming, three, greater] [abstract, concrete, turn, structure, acceptable] [observed, red, simple] [human, driver, side, chain, figure, level, design, goal, interaction, symmetry, system, computer, driven]
Effects of Working Memory Training on L2 Proficiency and Working Memory Capacity
Gregory Colflesh, Valerie Karuzis, Polly O'Rourke
Gregory Colflesh, Valerie Karuzis, Polly O'Rourke
The current study examined the effects of working memory training
on working memory capacity and second language ability in adult learners of
Spanish. In order to maximize the effect of the training for language learners,
the stimuli for the training tasks were Spanish words and sentences. While the
training group did not show greater improvements on working memory assessments
relative to controls, they did show more native-like patterns in a Spanish
self-paced reading task. The combination of second language materials with
working memory training may be helping users learn to cope with the increased
processing demands associated with learning a new language, even if they are not
necessarily improving their working memory.
[training, task, span, presented, second, processing, increased, position, journal, time, condition, grammaticality, complex, completed, presentation, shapebuilder, improving, accuracy, psychonomic, session, learning, leveled, leveling, suggests, nback, sorter, target, executive, evidence] [cognitive, version, capacity, examined, judgment, agreement] [memory, spanish, language, experimental, grammatical, recall, university, morphosyntactic] [working, control, group, assessment, study, performance, ability, correct, impact, improve, wmc, greater, needed, online, better, modeled, additional, transfer] [reading, word, sentence, running, comprehension, bulletin, list, order, measure, proficiency] [adaptive, demand] [current, performed, interaction, level, simon, serial, associated, role]
Representation: Problems and Solutions
Nancy Salay
Nancy Salay
The current orthodoxy in cognitive science, what I describe as a
commitment to deep representationalism, faces intractable problems. If we take
these objections seriously, and I will argue that we should, there are two
possible responses: 1. We are mistaken that representation is the locus of our
cognitive capacities; or, 2. Our representational capacities do give us critical
cognitive advantages, but they are not fundamental to us qua human beings. As
Andy Clark has convincingly argued, anti-representationalism, option one, is
explanatorily weak. Consequently, I will argue, we need to take the second option
seriously. In the first half of the paper I rehearse the problems with the
current representational view and in the second half of the paper I defend and
give a sketch of a two-systems view of cognition – a non-representational
perceptual system coupled with a representational language-dependent one –
and look at some consequences of the view.
[time, meditation, dog, developing, intentionality, second] [representational, cognitive, account, mental, capacity, experience, cognition, fundamental, rtm, future, result, comprehensive, reason, scrub, appeal, positive, consequence, precisely, cartesian, mit, barking, thinking, explanatorily, contra, overuse, appear, explained, rudder] [language, perceptual, university, argue, functional, sort, share, evolutionary, argues, support, memory] [require, problem, ability, mind, science, dennett, mentally, desirable] [relation, theoretical, conceptual, animal, clark, experiential, large] [theory, set, best, agent] [perception, representation, view, human, environment, level, current, move, behaviour, naturalistic, neural, deep, cat, system, activity, responding, sensory]
No Effect of Verbal Labels for the Shapes on Type II Categorization Tasks
Fotis A. Fotiadis, Athanassios Protopapas
Fotis A. Fotiadis, Athanassios Protopapas
Category learning is thought to be mediated—in at least some
category structures—by hypothesis-testing processes. Verbal labels for the
stimuli and stimulus individuation have been shown to facilitate the formation,
testing, and application of category membership rules (Fotiadis & Protopapas,
2014). We sought to replicate the phenomenon of facilitation due to verbal names
for the stimuli by training participants for two consecutive days to either learn
new names for abstract shapes, or learn shape-ideogram pairings; a third group
was unexposed to the shapes. After training, participants were given a Type II
categorization task—thought to be mediated by verbal processes of rule
discovery—utilizing the trained shapes. We hypothesized that verbal labels
for the shapes and shape individuation would provide facilitative effects in
learning to categorize. Results revealed no effect of training on categorization
performance. This study suggests that caution should be taken when generalizing
findings across perceptual modalities or different experimental paradigms.
[learning, training, category, categorization, verbal, task, type, evidence, condition, rule, ideogram, stimulus, facilitate, label, consecutive, journal, pseudowords, trial, learn, revealed, auditory, presented, second, day, size, shape, mock, categorize, modality, shepard, administered, compared, presentation, learned, explicit, utilized, unexposed, finding, accuracy, session, statistical, testing, familiarity, minda, paradigm] [mediated, version] [experimental, memory, perceptual, criterion, membership, university] [performance, study, number, provided, thought, three, group, analyzed, asked] [associate, abstract, structure] [hypothesis, simple, favor, selected, data, probabilistic, empirical, model] [human, trained, visual, reach]
Context-dependent Processes and Engagement in Reading Literature
Miho Fuyama, Shohei Hidaka
Miho Fuyama, Shohei Hidaka
It does not do the act of reading literature any justice to
describe it as simply processing text to acquire information or knowledge. We
enjoy reading stories, we become absorbed in them. Our absorption into stories is
related to their contextual structure. We develop a statistical method for the
analysis of reading time distributions which allows us to assess the context of a
story rather than merely its text. This analysis detects statistically distinct
distributions of reading times, with each distribution representing a distinct
process or mode of reading. Our experiments support the hypothesis that the
temporal change in these modes of reading are related to changes in the degrees
of absorption of the subjects and also in the contextual structure of the stories
being read.
[time, statistical, shape, novel, processing, suggests, pair, second, session] [experiment, temporal, story, distinct, consistent, scale, participant, profile, result, long, discussion] [degree, context] [number, asked, analyzed, change, study, report, knowledge, procedure, author, literature] [reading, analysis, absorption, gamma, mode, read, short, contextual, introductory, text, table, structure, order, engagement, subprocesses, subject, reader, book, technique, word, interpreted, grammar, major, subprocess, exponential] [data, estimated, distribution, correlation, mixture, parameter, regression, full, average, hazard, probability, function, aggregate] [figure, process, multiple, single, performed, involved, indicator]
On the adaptive nature of memory-based false belief
Hidehito Honda, Toshihiko Matsuka, Kazuhiro Ueda
Hidehito Honda, Toshihiko Matsuka, Kazuhiro Ueda
Previous studies have shown that people’s memories are
changeable, and systematic incorrect memories (e.g., false memory) can be
created. We hypothesize that people’s beliefs about the real world can be
changed similarly to the way systematic incorrect memories and systematic
incorrect beliefs (which we call memory-based false belief) are generated. We
also predict that since memory-based false beliefs are consistent with abstract
knowledge that is consisted with prototypical patterns and organization found in
the real world, false beliefs work adaptively in making inferences about
environmental information in the real world. We conducted behavioral and
simulation studies in order to examine our hypotheses on people’s beliefs
and inferences about the real world. The results showed that participants had
systematic false beliefs about cities’ attributes (e.g., whether they have
a professional baseball team), and that such false beliefs worked adaptively in
making inferences about population size.
[size, condition, presented, japanese] [false, people, systematic, belief, inference, missing, real, examined, cognitive, professional, relationship, nature, fpb, adaptively, football, baseball, prototypical, team, fnb, participant, tokyo, syst, psychological, tally, consistent, capital, positive, result] [attribute, memory, university, calculated, previous, affect] [knowledge, correct, study, larger, conducted, number, accurate, incorrect, answer, asked, strategy, three, recognize, limited] [large, amount, order, small, table, examine, list, tend] [population, city, proportion, making, based, adaptive, hypothesis, correlation, simulated, simulation, abc, predict, denotes, pleskac, individual, generated, validity, gigerenzer] [recognition, behavioral, figure, human, computer]
The Role of Similarity in Constructive Memory: Evidence from Tasks with Children and Adults
Georgi Petkov, Margarita Pavlova
Georgi Petkov, Margarita Pavlova
Literature on memory research shows that when memorizing, people
may blend two situations, i.e. when memorizing one story, they add elements from
another story. Most of the cognitive models assume that the superficial
similarity between two episodes is the primary factor for blending. However,
there is evidence that people blend dissimilar stories as well, if these stories
share the same relational structure. We contrasted the two factors in a single
study and performed experiments with the same design and stimuli with adults and
with 4-5-year-old children. The results show that there is no qualitative
difference between the performance of adults and children. Also, both adults and
children blend either pictures that have surface or structural similarity
depending on the abstractness of the objects in them.
[relational, superficially, analogous, blending, distracters, type, analogical, evidence, kokinov, presented, age, test, pavlova, development, journal, recognized, analogy, compared, second, phase, consisted, repeated, stimulus] [cognitive, experiment, people, designed, reasoning, mapping, result, false, factor] [memory, dissimilar, share, main, university, experimental, combining, shift, shared, bulgarian] [difference, science, three, knowledge, procedure, constructive, example, correct, annual, superficial, study, answer, performance, correctly, comparison, young] [similarity, blend, abstract, structure] [data, qualitative, assume, theory, conference, depending, blended, higher, distribution] [figure, recognition, human, role, performed, pattern, design, current]
Dual process theory of reasoning and recognition memory errors: Individual differences in a memory prose task
Giorgio Gronchi, Stefania Righi, Giacomo Parrini, Lapo Pierguidi, Maria Pia Viggiano
Giorgio Gronchi, Stefania Righi, Giacomo Parrini, Lapo Pierguidi, Maria Pia Viggiano
Cognitive factors can mediate the tendency to create false memory.
We explored the role of the two systems of reasoning in the production of false
memories. Such difference can be assessed through the Cognitive Reflection Test
(CRT), a measure of the propensity to reflect rather than producing an intuitive
response. By the use of a DRM-like paradigm in a prose recognition memory task,
we measured CRT-related individual differences in producing false memories. We
observed that intuitive thinkers are more likely to produce false memories.
[response, target, task, journal, presented, half, second, paradigm, day] [false, crt, intuitive, analytical, unrelated, cognitive, pad, mild, reasoning, story, people, cover, psychology, dual, thinking, italy, health, san, result, drug, salvi, ten, psychological, ball, bat, initial, relationship, judgment, long, low, engage, social, explained, capacity, series] [memory, experimental, lily] [score, group, high, three, problem, department, reflection, statistically, working, greater, material, free] [word, similarity, producing, measure, semantic, list, order] [individual, nfc, patch, tendency, higher, theory, observed, set, point, entire, total, prediction, rate, obvious, chosen] [recognition, process, activation]
Consistency and credibility in legal reasoning: A Bayesian network approach
Saoirse Connor Desai, Stian Reimers, David Lagnado
Saoirse Connor Desai, Stian Reimers, David Lagnado
Witness credibility is important for establishing testimonial
value. The story model posits that people construct narratives from evidence but
does not explain how credibility is assessed. Formal approaches use Bayesian
networks (BN) to represent legal evidence. Recent empirical work suggests people
might also reason using qualitative causal networks. In two studies, participants
read a realistic trial transcript and judge guilt and witness credibility. Study
1 varied testimonial consistency and defendant character. Guilt and credibility
assessments were affected by consistency but not prior convictions. Study 2
constructed a BN to represent consistency issues. Individual parameter estimates
were elicited for the corresponding BN to compute posterior predictions for guilt
and credibility. The BN provided a good model for overall and individual guilt
and credibility ratings. These results suggest people construct causal models of
the evidence and consider witness credibility. The BN approach is a promising
direction for future research in legal reasoning.
[evidence, reliability, appeared, condition, trial] [credibility, guilt, testimony, defendant, people, legal, witness, inconsistent, consistency, consistent, victim, causal, story, reason, key, reasoning, evidential, drunk, provoked, conviction, belief, crime, defence, appear, prosecution, bartender, provoke, juror, conditional, relating, disclosing, closing, claim, police, establishing, explain, character, cognitive] [previous, manipulated] [study, three, impact, provided, lower] [correlated, approach, construct, order, considered, constructed, read] [model, probability, prior, posterior, bayesian, credible, observed, individual, modeling, decision, good, qualitative, probabilistic, paper, higher, predicted, empirical, officer] [represent, framework, network, figure, corresponding]
Is it a nine, or a six? Prosocial and selective perspective taking in four-year-olds
Xuan Zhao, Bertram F. Malle, Hyowon Gweon
Xuan Zhao, Bertram F. Malle, Hyowon Gweon
To successfully navigate the complex social world, people often
need to solve the problem of perspective selection: Between two conflicting
viewpoints of the self and the other, whose perspective should one take? In two
experiments, we show that four-year-olds use others’ knowledge and goals to
decide when to engage in visual perspective taking. Children were more likely to
take a social partner’s perspective to describe an ambiguous symbol when
she did not know numbers and wanted to learn than when she knew numbers and
wanted to teach. These results were shown in children’s own responses
(Experiment 1) and in their evaluations of others’ responses (Experiment
2). By preschool years, children understand when perspective taking is
appropriate and necessary and selectively take others’ perspectives in
social interactions. These results provide novel insights into the nature and the
development of perspective taking.
[child, test, condition, learn, developmental, explicit, appeared, evidence, development, age, learning, journal, task, selective, trial] [social, experiment, mental, people, explicitly, nature, cognitive, epistemic, understanding, engage, work, reason, future, appropriate, reasoning] [ignorant] [perspective, number, emma, experimenter, question, practice, ability, asked, knowledge, report, photo, answer, better, puppet, perspectivetaking, young, answered, annual, identical, informant, moll, symbol, science, guy, video, prosocial, help, group, preschool, gweon, problem, pedagogical] [ambiguous, reading, table] [decide, prior, consider, provide, theory, conference, wanted, choice] [visual, side, critical, respond, level, figure, apparent]
Collective search on rugged landscapes: A cross-environmental analysis
Daniel Barkoczi, Pantelis Pipergias Analytis, Charley Wu
Daniel Barkoczi, Pantelis Pipergias Analytis, Charley Wu
In groups and organizations, agents use both individual and social
learning to solve problems. The balance between these two activities can lead
collectives to very different levels of performance. We model collective search
as a combination of simple learning strategies to conduct the first large-scale
comparative study, across fifteen challenging environments and two different
network structures. In line with previous findings in the social learning
literature, collectives using a hybrid of individual and social learning perform
much better than specialists using only one or the other. Importantly, we find
that collective performance varies considerably across different task
environments, and that different types of network structures can be superior,
depending on the environment. These results suggest that recent contradictions in
the social learning literature may be due to methodological differences between
two separate research traditions, studying disjoint sets of environments that
lead to divergent findings.
[learning, task, type, time, modality, lattice, journal, sequential, simultaneously, explore] [social, cognitive, influence] [studied, experimental, environmental, communication, fitness, variability, cultural, specific] [collective, performance, hybrid, number, solution, study, strategy, better, contradictory, problem, investigated, challenging] [local, random, structure, global, organization, efficient, table, large] [search, mason, individual, lazer, payoff, friedman, population, average, lead, schaffer, landscape, rugged, best, optimization, simulation, locally, range, exploration, eggholder, adaptive, behavior, higher, function, imitation, agent, paper, simple, langermann, total, making, machine, parameter] [network, connected, environment, fully, performed, figure, perform, behavioral]
Combining Multiple Perspectives in Language Production: A Probabilistic Model
Mindaugas Mozuraitis, Suzanne Stevenson, Daphna Heller
Mindaugas Mozuraitis, Suzanne Stevenson, Daphna Heller
While speakers tailor referring expressions to the knowledge of
their addressees, they do so imperfectly. Our goal here is to provide an
explanation for this type of pattern by extending a probabilistic model
introduced to explain perspective-taking behavior in comprehension. Using novel
production data from a type of knowledge mismatch not previously investigated in
production, we show that production patterns can also be explained as arising
from the probabilistic combination of the speaker’s and the
addressee’s perspectives. These results show the applicability of the
multiple-perspectives approach to language production, and to different types of
knowledge mismatch between conversational partners.
[target, type, condition, baseline, display] [influence, experiment, common, cognitive, variable] [appearance, referring, vmo, shared, addressee, contrast, modification, privileged, domain, speaker, production, reference, language, object, heller, experimental, lego, weighing, obj, modified, vmos, mismatch, share, referential, modifier, main, combination, university, adapt, crayon, distinguish, egocentric] [knowledge, perspective, control, formula, contrasting] [approach, intended, comprehension, demonstrated, regular, random] [function, model, probability, data, modeling, probabilistic, state, consider, proportion, based, preference, choosing, assume, fit, note, set, hypothesis, behavior] [expression, pattern, multiple, figure, goal, critical, design, fully, corresponding, component, human]
The development of heuristics in children: Base-rate neglect and representativeness
Samantha Gualtieri, Stephanie Denison
Samantha Gualtieri, Stephanie Denison
This paper examines the development of the representativeness
heuristic in early childhood. Using a novel paradigm, we investigated 3- to
6-year-old children’s ability to use base-rate and individuating
information in their predictive inferences. In Experiment 1, we presented
children with base-rate and individuating information separately to test their
ability to use each independently. In Experiment 2, we presented children with
base-rate and individuating information together. Two critical trial types were
used, one in which the base-rate information and individuating information
pointed to the same response and one in which the base-rate and individuating
information pointed to conflicting responses. Results suggest that children
progress to adult-like heuristic-based responding at 6 years of age.
[individuating, wearing, type, age, presented, conflict, child, chance, response, revealed, counterbalanced, completed, representativeness, half, indicate, condition, development, shape, slide, park, adult, heard, examining, coat, position, suggesting, naughty] [robot, experiment, white, trait, normative, told, factor, established, including, corresponded, person, cognitive] [color, gender, blue, description, main, previous, rely] [group, problem, performance, experimenter, asked, young, majority, additional, ability, score, provided, help, investigated, received] [order, bias] [heuristic, predictive, nice, provide, green, range] [side, figure, play, associated, performed, neglect, interaction, separately, design, standing, responding]
Testing the Tolerance Principle: Children form productive rules when it is more computationally efficient to do so
Kathryn D. Schuler, Charles Yang, Elissa L. Newport
Kathryn D. Schuler, Charles Yang, Elissa L. Newport
During language acquisition, children must learn when to
generalize a pattern – applying it broadly and to new words (‘add
–ed’ in English) – and when to restrict generalization, storing
the pattern only with specific lexical items. One effort to quantify the
conditions for generalization, the Tolerance Principle, accurately predicts
children’s generalizations in corpus-based studies. This principle
hypothesizes that a general rule will be formed when it is computationally more
efficient than storing lexical forms individually. Here we test the principle in
an artificial language of 9 nonsense nouns. As predicted, children exposed to 5
regular forms and 4 exceptions generalized, applying the regular form to 100% of
novel test words. Children exposed to 3 regular forms and 6 exceptions did not
extend the rule, even though the token frequency of the regular form was still
high. The Tolerance Principle thus captures a basic principle of generalization
in rule formation.
[rule, novel, test, inflection, formed, exposure, learning, child, adult, condition, artificial, time, learner, marker, exposed, heard, categorical, generalization, evidence, generalize, type, newport, category] [singular, formation, cognitive, appear, distinction, consistent] [language, produce, production, matching, apply] [number, difference, asked, mark, required, high, precise, strategy, appears] [productive, tolerance, principle, lexical, form, frequency, plural, regular, efficient, exception, noun, acquisition, token, english, corpus, irregular, yang, complexity, frequent, computationally, verb, applying, tense, forming, storing, list, applied, productivity, computational, nonsense, childes] [predicts, data, probability, based, model, predicted, behavior, individual, follow] [figure, pattern, input, fewer]
Variability in category learning: The Effect of Context Change and Item Variation on Knowledge Generalization
Dustin Finch, Paulo Carvalho, Robert Goldstone
Dustin Finch, Paulo Carvalho, Robert Goldstone
We explore how context change and item variation during natural
category learning influence memory and generalization to new examples.
Participants studied either images of the same bird or varied birds from each of
several categories. These images could be presented in a constant background
color or different background colors. During test, birds were presented in only
one of the studied background colors. Performance at test depended on the context
overlap between study and test, with better performance when there was minimal
context change during study. Also, contrary to previous findings, we found that
learners generalized better when items were repeated during study and remembered
old items better when items were varied during study. When there is a moderate
degree of context change, there is no benefit of repetition or variation for
either novel or old items. These results indicate that context change and item
variation have complementary effects on learning.
[test, category, novel, presented, generalization, learning, repeated, compared, journal, room, smith, evidence, counterbalanced, categorization, half, testing, classification, tested, learn, classify] [experiment, people, psychological, positive, twelve, influence, work] [context, variation, memory, item, studied, background, bird, color, previous, varied, studying, experimental, degree, variability, environmental, classifying, remember, manipulated, illustrating, underwater, specific, recall] [change, study, better, performance, high, knowledge, ability, asked, third, group, number, department, benefit, promote, concept, usa, classroom] [natural, similarity, amount, contextual] [row, increasing, theory, total, confidence, chosen] [repetition, figure, medium, overlap, represent, human, performed, brain]
Performance Pressure and Comparison in Relational Category Learning
John Patterson, Kenneth Kurtz
John Patterson, Kenneth Kurtz
The study of relational categories has emphasized the importance
of within-category comparison for learning and transfer – guided by
predictions from structure mapping theory (Gentner, 1983). Recent research has
yielded the predicted comparison advantage under the supervised observational
learning mode (over sequential exposures) but, puzzlingly, not under the
supervised classification mode. In the present study we evaluate performance
pressure as a possible contributor to the ineffectuality of comparison under
classification by crossing performance pressure (elevated and standard) with two
classification learning formats (single-item and within-category pairs). We
found: (1) that pressure hindered single-item learning, but not comparison
learning; and (2) a novel comparison advantage under standard classification. We
conclude: (1) that performance pressure exerts a deleterious effect on relational
category learning that comparison may compensate for; and (2) that pressure does
not seem to underlie lackluster classification + comparison performance (relative
to observational learning). Implications and new evidence are discussed.
[pressure, category, relational, learning, classification, wald, training, elevated, condition, presentation, standard, accuracy, trial, distraction, presented, reliable, kurtz, patterson, indicating, regulatory, rfq, alignment, test, journal, stimulus, revealed, task, showing, categorization, examining, analogical, statistical, suggests, advantage, sequential] [cognitive, psychological, percentage, manipulation, nature, evaluate] [attribute, shared, memory, main, item, produce] [comparison, performance, transfer, study, group, knowledge, feedback, number, difference, received, three, correct, working, science, observational, linear] [mode, structure, similarity, analysis, random, structural] [weighting, data, model, marginal, based] [interaction, focus, role, figure, supervised, rock, interest, perform, cycle]
Intermediate Judgments Inhibit Belief Updating: Zeno’s Paradox in Decision Making
James Yearsley, Emmanuel Pothos
James Yearsley, Emmanuel Pothos
Rational agents should update their beliefs in the light of new
evidence. Equally, changes in belief should depend only on the quality of the
evidence, and not on factors such as the order in which the evidence is acquired,
or whether intermediate judgements are requested during evidence acquisition. In
contrast we show that requests for intermediate judgments can inhibit belief
updating for real decision makers, which represents a new type of decision making
fallacy. This behaviour is paradoxical from the point of view of classical
Bayesian models, but we show that it is consistent with an a priori, parameter
free prediction of a cognitive model based on quantum theory.
[evidence, smith, presented, second, prob, fixed, test, time, presentation] [belief, judgment, cognitive, participant, guilty, case, cognition, initial, fact, simply, excluded, possibility, experiment, absence, property, consistent] [memory, evolution, error, previous] [change, number, asked] [order, small, large, computed, construct, final, lim] [intermediate, model, bayesian, probability, quantum, decision, survival, classical, data, state, making, piece, opinion, parameter, yearsley, pothos, function, extra, realistic, rational, imperfect, based, dixon, paradox, full, fit, updating, note, innocent, depend, prediction, reproduce, provide, average, set, best, initially, simple, empirical, behavior, primacy, depends] [expression]
Working memory encoding of events and their participants: a neural network model with applications in sensorimotor processing and sentence generation
Martin Takac, Alistair Knott
Martin Takac, Alistair Knott
In this paper we present a model of how events and their
participants are represented in semantic working memory (WM). The model's central
assumption is that events are experienced through sequentially structured
sensorimotor (SM) routines - as are the individuals that participate in them. In
the light of this assumption, we propose that events and individuals are stored
in semantic WM as *prepared SM routines*. This proposal allows a new mechanism
for binding representations of individuals to semantic roles such as AGENT and
PATIENT. It also enables a novel account of how expectations about forthcoming
events can influence SM processing in real time as events are perceived. Finally,
it supports an account of the interface between semantic WM representations and
language.
[sequence, type, dog, attention, presented, sequential, status, processing, training] [event, candidate, account, black, white, situation, experience, person] [memory, language, object, activated, argue, perceptual] [active, working, created, three, number, activate, idea] [semantic, syntactic, structure, mechanism, sentence] [model, individual, agent, distribution, well, expected, generated, predicted, population, point, propose, set] [episode, patient, network, representation, layer, som, current, prepared, location, medium, binding, represent, action, representing, figure, system, takac, scheme, neural, localist, input, involves, unit, knott, space, colour, activity, represented, stored, perception, motor, represents, sensorimotor, learns]
What do you expect from an unfamiliar talker?
Dave Kleinschmidt, T. Florian Jaeger
Dave Kleinschmidt, T. Florian Jaeger
Speech perception is made much harder by variability between
talkers. As a
result, listeners need to adapt to each different talker's particular acoustic
cue distributions. Thinking of this adaptation as a form of statistical
inference, we explore the role that listeners' prior expectations play in
adapting to an unfamiliar talker. Specifically, we test the hypothesis that
listeners will have a harder time adapting to talkers whose cue distributions
fall outside the range of normal variation across talkers. We also show that
it is possible to infer listeners' shared prior expectations based on
patterns of adaptation to different cue distributions. This provides a
potentially powerful tool for directly probing listeners' prior expectations
about talkers that does not rely on speech produced by many different talkers,
which is costly to collect and annotate, and only indirectly related to
listeners' subjective expectations.
[cue, classification, exposure, category, learning, evidence, journal, statistical, heard, boundary] [cognitive, work, experience, consistent, percentage, psychological] [talker, adaptation, typical, speech, variability, shift, adapt, phonetic, society, contrast, produced, acoustical, accent, kronrod, previous, perceptual, shared, acoustic, expect, vots, informative] [science, study, differ, annual] [order, distributional, english, variance, table, complete] [prior, vot, model, confidence, based, distribution, expected, data, observed, range, bayesian, posterior, behavior, well, ideal, inferred, modeling, adapting, adapter, infer, probability, higher, actual, predicted, set, probing, conference, determine] [unfamiliar, figure, current, perception, input, framework, corresponding, play, corresponds]
Working Memory Affects Attention to Loss Value and Loss Frequency in Decision-Making under Uncertainty
Bo Pang, Kaileigh Byrne, Darrell Worthy
Bo Pang, Kaileigh Byrne, Darrell Worthy
Decision-making under uncertainty is pervasive. This work sought
to understand the role of working memory (WM) in loss sensitivity by utilizing
two widely used tasks, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Soochow Gambling Task
(SGT), and manipulating WM with a dual-task paradigm. We hypothesized that WM
load would reduce attention to both loss value and frequency in the
decision-making tasks. To better delineate the psychological processes
underpinning choice behavior, we developed an Expectancy-Frequency-Perseveration
(EFP) model which parsimoniously captures three critical factors driving choices:
expected value, frequency of gains and losses, and perseveration. Behavioral and
computational modeling results indicate that WM load compromised performance in
the IGT due to reduced attention to loss value but enhanced performance in the
SGT because of diminished attention to loss frequency. Our findings suggest that
WM heightens attention to losses, but that greater attention is given to loss
frequency than loss value.
[attention, task, condition, compared, trial, attend, learning, evidence, suggests, block, impaired, stroop, exhibited, indicate] [experiment, work, sensitivity, psychological, cognitive, implicitly] [intact, memory, term, specific] [performance, versus, better, greater, larger, number, working, numerical, contributes, three] [frequency, frequent, examine, computational, table] [igt, model, expected, load, loss, efp, parameter, sgt, choice, option, fit, aversion, decision, vpp, behavior, gambling, tendency, bic, data, iowa, function, advantageous, median, modeling, uncertainty, perseveration, disadvantageous, prediction, pvl, utilizing, lead, selected, making, provide, chosen, good] [weight, net, performed, role, figure, behavioral, brain]
Adapting Deep Network Features to Capture Psychological Representations
Joshua Peterson, Joshua Abbott, Thomas Griffiths
Joshua Peterson, Joshua Abbott, Thomas Griffiths
Deep neural networks have become increasingly successful at
solving classic perception problems such as object recognition, semantic
segmentation, and scene understanding, often reaching or surpassing human-level
accuracy. This success is due in part to the ability of DNNs to learn useful
representations of high-dimensional inputs, a problem that humans must also
solve. We examine the relationship between the representations learned by these
networks and human psychological representations recovered from similarity
judgments. We find that deep features learned in service of object classification
account for a significant amount of the variance in human similarity judgments
for a set of animal images. However, these features do not capture some
qualitative distinctions that are a key part of human representations. To remedy
this, we develop a method for adapting deep features to align with human
similarity judgments, resulting in image representations that can potentially be
used to extend the scope of psychological experiments.
[stimulus, learning, categorization, classification, baseline, learned, complex, correspondence, category, learn, classify] [psychological, cognitive, explained, depth, work] [object, typicality, produce] [performance, number, problem, better, three, solved, linear, science] [similarity, animal, large, final, approach, variance, table, amount, natural] [set, model, predict, predicting, well, predicted, method, data, adapting, regression, rate, find] [human, deep, feature, neural, network, matrix, layer, image, convolutional, figure, representation, cnn, original, extracted, computer, visual, memorability, arxiv, vision, preprint, hierarchical, cnns, performed, cortex, transformation, googlenet, imagenet, multidimensional, caffenet, architecture, recognition, regularization]
A Computational Model of Perceptual Deficits in Medial Temporal Lobe Amnesia
Patrick Sadil, Rosemary A. Cowell
Patrick Sadil, Rosemary A. Cowell
Damage to the Medial Temporal Lobe (MTL) impairs declarative
memory and perception. The Representational-Hierarchical (RH) Account explains
such impairments by assuming that MTL stores conjunctive representations of items
and events, and that individuals with MTL damage must rely upon representations
of simple visual features in posterior visual cortex. A recent study revealed a
surprising anti-perceptual learning effect in MTL-damaged individuals: with
exposure to a set of visual stimuli, discrimination performance worsened rather
than improved. We expand the RH account to explain this paradox by assuming that
visual discrimination is performed using a familiarity heuristic. Exposure to a
set of highly similar stimuli entails repeated presentation of simple visual
features, eventually rendering all feature representations equally (maximally)
familiar and hence inutile for solving the task. Since the unique conjunctions
represented in MTL do not occur repeatedly, healthy individuals are shielded from
perceptual interference. We simulate this mechanism with a neural network.
[stimulus, familiarity, interference, learning, task, second, exposure, pair, novelty, journal, medial, half, impaired, evidence] [low, account, experiment, temporal, representational, appear, experience] [discrimination, ambiguity, perceptual, memory, item, shared, contained, object, highly, share, mismatch] [high, performance, score, control, number, sharing] [unique, abstract, mechanism, simulate] [posterior, model, data, maximum, individual, simulation, simple, empirical, set, heuristic, differs] [visual, prc, barense, mtl, feature, damage, network, layer, conjunctive, activation, figure, brain, grid, recognition, input, mnemonic, lesion, kohonen, switching, reach, lobe, perirhinal, neural, critical, repeat, ventral, represented]
Learning biases may prevent lexicalization of pragmatic inferences: a case study combining iterated (Bayesian) learning and functional selection
Thomas Brochhagen, Michael Franke, Robert van Rooij
Thomas Brochhagen, Michael Franke, Robert van Rooij
Natural languages exhibit properties that are difficult to explain
from a purely functional perspective. One of these properties is the systematic
lack of upper-bounds in the literal meaning of scalar expressions. This
investigation addresses the development and selection of such semantics from a
space of possible alternatives. To do so we put forward a model that integrates
Bayesian learning into the replicator-mutator dynamics commonly used in
evolutionary game theory. We argue this synthesis to provide a suitable and
general model to analyze the dynamics involved in the use and transmission of
language. Our results shed light on the semantics-pragmatics divide and show how
a learning bias in tandem with functional pressure may prevent the lexicalization
of pragmatic inferences.
[learning, type, advantage, sequence, complex, development] [reasoning, case, explain, virtue, account] [language, literal, lexica, functional, speaker, lexicon, contrast, meaning, university, fitness, linguistic, evolutionary, message, convey, combination, lexicalization, iterated, communication, communicative, communal] [larger, science] [semantic, bias, semantics, natural, analysis, weighted, length, encodes, table, logical] [pragmatic, model, true, lack, prior, expected, well, scalar, game, lead, hearer, stronger, bayesian, behavior, simpler, data, probability, population, proportion, prevalence, bound, assumption, rational, franke, probabilistic, state, player] [selection, figure, signaling, level, representation, involved, allows, matrix, space]
The Plausible Impossible: Causal Constraints on Magical Reasoning
Andrew Shtulman, Caitlin Morgan
Andrew Shtulman, Caitlin Morgan
A common intuition, often captured in fiction, is that some
impossible events (e.g., levitating a stone) are “more impossible”
than others (e.g., levitating a feather). We investigated the source of this
intuition, hypothesizing that it arises from explanatory considerations logically
precluded by the violation at hand but still taken into account. In Study 1,
adults saw pairs of magical events (spells) that violated one of 18 causal
principles and were asked to indicate which would be more difficult to learn.
Both spells violated the same causal principle but differed in their relation to
a subsidiary principle. Participants’ judgments of spell difficulty
consistently honored the subsidiary principle. Study 2 replicated the effects of
Study 1 with Likert-type ratings, and Study 3 replicated those effects in
children. These findings suggest that events that defy causal explanation are
interpreted in terms of explanatory considerations that hold in the absence of
such violations.
[child, journal, modal, time, half, size, participated, pair, task, learn] [causal, impossible, spell, magical, violate, ontological, cognitive, fictional, physical, magic, psychological, harry, reasoning, cognition, turning, possibility, connection, prefer, biological, float, bucket, version, disney, implicit, hogwarts, honor, discussion, anticipated, person, violation, plausibly, levitating, presumably, explanatory] [object, cultural, graded] [study, difficulty, knowledge, three, number, difficult, asked, difference, young, school, greater, differ] [structure, principle, relation, violated, plausible, conceptual] [making, probability, point, density] [involved, weight, multiple]
Linguistic input is tuned to children’s developmental level
Daniel Yurovsky, Gabriel Doyle, Michael Frank
Daniel Yurovsky, Gabriel Doyle, Michael Frank
Children rapidly learn a tremendous amount about language despite
limitations imposed on them by their developing cognitive abilities. One possible
explanation for this rapid learning is that caregivers tune the language they
produce to these limitations, titrating the complexity of their speech to
developmentally-appropriate levels. We test this hypothesis in a large-scale
corpus analysis, measuring the contingency between parents’ and
children’s speech over the first 5 years. Our results support the
linguistic tuning hypothesis, showing a high degree of mostly parent-led
coordination early in development that decreases as children become more
proficient language learners and users.
[alignment, category, child, learning, baseline, age, learn, developmental, developing, naima, test, adult, journal, indicate, logit, early, statistical, tune, aligning, evidence, response, robust, younger] [social, cognitive, person, psychological, aligned, contingency, work] [language, linguistic, speech, conversational, previous, production, produce, university, utterance, support, web, memory, produced] [change, number, mom, appears, high] [word, liwc, tuning, producing, pronoun, syntactic, complexity, measure, corpus, analysis, contingent, hayes, amount, increase] [model, probability, parameter, align, hypothesis, function, posterior, data, predicts, simpler, vary, estimating, individual, independent, highest, estimated, binary] [parent, level, figure, coordinate, hierarchical, input]
The Permeability of Fictional Worlds
Meghan Salomon, Lance Rips
Meghan Salomon, Lance Rips
Real people sometimes appear in fiction, for example, Napoleon in
War and Peace. Readers may also believe that a person who never actually appears
in a novel could potentially appear there. In two experiments, we find evidence
that readers think that a real person could appear in specific novels and
physically interact with a character. This effect is magnified when the person
and character share spatial and temporal elements of their setting.
[novel, time, country, general] [real, fictional, person, people, appear, experiment, exist, character, historical, fiction, famous, temporal, robert, jay, modern, coolidge, lee, calvin, era, queen, contemporary, reality, gatsby, interact, exists, scarlett, govern, psychological, fame, possibility, publication, judged, import, political, century, sherlock, existed, war, fdr, franklin, holmes, discussion, wind, olivia, gerrig, hypothetical, victoria, mechanical] [spatial, appearance, expect, meet, varied, university, american] [answered, difference, transfer, question, absolute, place, greater] [table, distance, read, text] [well, setting, proportion, set, find, based] [direction, figure, leader]
Statistical learning bias predicts second-language reading efficiency
Luca Onnis, Stefan Frank, Hongoak Yun, Matthew Lou-Magnuson
Luca Onnis, Stefan Frank, Hongoak Yun, Matthew Lou-Magnuson
Statistical learning (SL) is increasingly invoked as a set of
general-purpose mechanisms upon which language learning is built during infancy
and childhood. Here we investigated the extent to which SL is related to adult
language processing. In particular, we asked whether SL proclivities towards
relations that are more informative of English are related to efficiency in
reading English sentences by native speakers of Korean. We found that individuals
with a stronger statistical learning sensitivity showed a larger effect of
conditional word probability on word reading times, indicating that they more
efficiently incorporated statistical regularities of the language during reading.
In contrast, L2 English proficiency was related to overall reading speed but not
to the use of statistical regularities.
[learning, statistical, processing, task, backward, sequential, test, second, artificial, sequence, time, presented, adult, training, pair, journal, early] [cognitive, strength, low, sensitivity, sensitive, consistent, implicit] [language, native, university, linguistic, previous, speech] [high, study, efficiency, example, better, knowledge, ability] [bias, word, reading, english, proficiency, transitional, lohi, hilo, korean, sentence, read, frequency, grammar, occurrence, onnis, bigram, phrase, thiessen, natural, syntactic, measure, freq, length, random, parse, shae, literacy] [probability, data, individual, model, predicts, probabilistic, predict, independent, stronger, higher] [forward, process, pattern, longer]
The Effects of Discourse Cues on Garden Path Processing
Ana Besserman, Elsi Kaiser
Ana Besserman, Elsi Kaiser
We report a self-paced reading study that investigated garden-path
sentences like While the man hunted {a/the} deer ran into the woods. In such
sentences, the critical noun (deer) tends to be misparsed as an object of the
preceding verb, and has to be re-analyzed as a subject of the following clause
when the disambiguating verb (e.g. ran) is encountered. We build on earlier
corpus work which found a relationship between syntactic function and information
status: Subjects tend to be already-mentioned information/definite, while objects
are typically new/indefinite. We investigated whether the noun’s
information status influences processing and whether this effect depends on the
verb’s argument structure. Results showed that information status matters
when processing the noun after optionally transitive verbs (hunt) but not after
reflexive absolute verbs (wash). These results suggest that access to
discourse-level representations during noun phrase re-analysis is modulated by
verb argument structure.
[processing, status, condition, accuracy, dog, response, journal, second, target, position] [man, initial, work, strong, extent, sensitive] [object, ambiguity, overt, reference, manipulated, context] [study, analyzed, question] [verb, noun, discourse, opt, ambiguous, rat, sentence, boy, reading, washed, syntactic, subject, definiteness, argument, phrase, indefinite, barked, interpretation, interpreted, lingering, temporarily, definite, structure, parsing, unambiguous, word, mentioned, hunted, semantic, givenness, modulated, slowdown, entity, comprehension, disambiguating, transitive, clause, tend, spillover, misparse, definites, christianson, preceding] [prior, higher, data] [critical, covert, role, reflexive]
Analogical Generalization and Retrieval for Denominal Verb Interpretation
Clifton McFate, Ken Forbus
Clifton McFate, Ken Forbus
The creativity of natural language poses a significant theoretical
problem. One example of this is denominal verbs (those derived from nouns) such
as spoon in “She spooned me some sugar”. Traditional generative
approaches typically posit a unique entry in the lexicon for this usage, though
this approach has difficulty scaling. Construction Grammar has evolved as a
competing theory which instead allows the syntactic form of the sentence itself
to contribute semantic meaning. However, how people learn syntactic constructions
remains an open question. One suggestion has been that they are learned through
analogical generalization. We evaluate this hypothesis using a computational
model of analogical generalization to simulate Kaschak and Glenberg’s
(2000) study regarding interpretation of denominal verbs.
[generalization, analogical, training, learning, novel, child, baseline, target, analogy, alignment, evidence, relational, compared, learned, presented, second] [cognitive, frame, evaluate, work, future, consistent, experiment, case, account, evaluated, understanding, claim, result] [language, linguistic, meaning, retrieval, priming, chunking, produced] [transfer, example, correct, correctly, performance, comparison, additional, young] [construction, transitive, semantic, denominal, sentence, verb, sage, random, kaschak, grammar, computational, form, progressive, syntactic, interpretation, glenberg, structural, constructionist, argument, order, phrase, structure, interpret, theoretical, probe, spoon, acquisition, english, approach] [model, simulation, based, set, conference, total, theory, threshold] [figure, role, trained, system, action]
Perceived Momentum Influences Responsibility Judgments
Jeffrey Parker, Iman Paul, Nicholas Reinholtz
Jeffrey Parker, Iman Paul, Nicholas Reinholtz
This work examines the extent to which people hold independent
sequential events (e.g., players making correct/incorrect guesses) responsible
for overall outcomes (e.g., the team winning/losing the game). Two types of
events are found to garner the majority of responsibility for overall outcomes:
(1) final events and (2) events that are perceived to disrupt momentum (e.g., an
incorrect guess after a sequence of correct guesses). While previous research has
shown that final events tend to be perceived as more responsible for overall
outcomes, the current experiments are the first to document the role of perceived
momentum on responsibility judgments. Specifically, we demonstrate that the
effect is mediated by perceived momentum changes after the time of the event and
moderated when exogenous factors (e.g., a delay between events) disrupt perceived
momentum. We discuss how these findings relate to pivotality, the counterfactual
simulation model, and the role of unexpectedness in responsibility judgments.
[sequence, repeated, sequential, indicating, participated, journal, suggests, occurred, tested] [perceived, momentum, responsibility, aligned, event, experiment, blame, team, series, assigned, people, result, objectively, counterfactual, responsible, cognitive, unexpected, causal, described, explicitly, perceive, preceded, felt, pivotality, told, delay, held, paid, examined, influence, guessed, indicated, percentage, failure, amt, equally, reasoning, hold, halpern, hot] [previous, specific, university] [incorrect, correct, versus, group, three, science, change, course, usa, example, greater] [final, tend, table, forming] [outcome, game, guess, player, success, making, independent, proportion, guessing, likelihood, probability, predict, tendency, tenenbaum, higher] [role, current, associated]
Using Violations of Fitts’ Law to Communicate during Joint Action
Cordula Vesper, Laura Schmitz, Günther Knoblich
Cordula Vesper, Laura Schmitz, Günther Knoblich
When people perform joint actions together, task knowledge is
sometimes distributed asymmetrically such that one person has information that
another person lacks. In such situations, inter¬¬personal action
coordination can be achieved if the know¬ledgeable person modulates basic
parameters of her goal-directed actions in a way that provides relevant
infor¬mation to the less knowledgeable partner. We investigated whether
systematic violations of predicted movement duration provide a sufficient basis
for such communication. Results of a joint movement task show that knowledgeable
partners spontaneously and systematically violated the pre¬dictions of
Fitts’ law in order to communicate if their partners could not see their
movements. Unknowing partners had a benefit from these violations and more so if
the violations provided a good signal-to-noise ratio. Together, our findings
suggest that generating and perceiving systematic deviations from the predicted
duration of a goal-directed action can enable non-conventionalized forms of
communication during joint action.
[target, task, pitch, time, condition, tone, position, standard, indicate] [instrumental, person, experiment, systematic, aware, case, participant] [communication, communicative, experimental, previous, access, calculated, modulate] [three, performance, study, moved, create, correct, ratio, understand, purpose, knowledgeable, help, created, online] [analysis, order, onset, short, distance] [based, interval, provide, predicted, expected, well, chose, data, inform, good, individual] [movement, joint, action, duration, follower, leader, law, visual, motor, start, velocity, partner, vision, location, signaling, perform, signal, figure, performed, goal, human, role, modulation, snr, move, interaction, motion, system, achieve, computer, kinematic]
Evolution of polysemous word senses from metaphorical mappings
Yang Xu, Barbara Malt, Mahesh Srinivasan
Yang Xu, Barbara Malt, Mahesh Srinivasan
What forces have shaped the evolution of the lexicon? Languages
evolve under the pressure of having to communicate an unbounded set of ideas
using a finite set of linguistic structures. This suggests why the transmission
of ideas should be compressed such that one word will develop multiple senses.
Previous theory also suggests how a word might develop new senses: Abstract
concepts may be construed in terms of more concrete concepts. Here, we bring
these two perspectives together to examine metaphorical extensions of English
word meanings over the past millennium, analyzing how senses from a source domain
are extended to new ones in a target domain. Using empirical and computational
methods, we found that metaphorical mappings are highly systematic and can be
explained in terms of a compact set of variables. Our work shows how metaphor can
provide a cognitive device for compressing emerging ideas into an existing
lexicon.
[target, explore, suggests, development] [metaphorical, sense, historical, source, mapping, metaphor, asymmetry, externality, valence, cognitive, explained, intersubjectivity, serve, animate, variable, account, rated, explain, nature, diachronic, systematic, extension, explaining, valenced, experience, work, compression] [domain, language, university, evolution, communicative, communication, support, degree, highly, directly] [external, change, three] [word, semantic, english, embodiment, concreteness, animacy, relative, concrete, tend, correlated, existing, variance, synchronic, database, abstract, emerging, table, large, polysemy] [predicted, set, data, model, based, theory, empirical, prediction, predict, average, predictive, provide] [direction, figure]
From Words to Behaviour via Semantic Networks
Armand S. Rotaru, Gabriella Vigliocco, Stefan L. Frank
Armand S. Rotaru, Gabriella Vigliocco, Stefan L. Frank
The contents and structure of semantic networks have been the
focus of much recent research, with major advances in the development of
distributional models. In parallel, connectionist modeling has extended our
knowledge of the processes engaged in semantic activation. However, these two
lines of investigation have rarely brought together. Here, starting from a
standard textual model of semantics, we allow activation to spread throughout its
associated semantic network, as dictated by the patterns of semantic similarity
between words. We find that the activation profile of the network, measured at
various time points, can successfully account for response times in the lexical
decision task, as well as for subjective concreteness and imageability
ratings.
[baseline, journal, response, task, learning, time, accuracy, psychonomic, verbal, processing] [cognitive, close, account, distant, representational, psychological, negative] [language, experimental] [number, free, performance, concept, study, integrating] [semantic, word, lexical, richness, distributional, concreteness, abstract, association, imageability, similarity, computational, large, measure, table, diversity, variance, concrete, english, structure, vector, direct, amount, order, structural, frequency, british, orthographic, distance, bulletin, dependent, ferrer, contextual, approach, analysis, include, neighborhood] [model, behavior, decision, well, data, log, probabilistic, set, theory, method, provide] [activation, human, network, visual, feature]
Examining Cardiac and Behavioral Responses in a Modality Dominance Task
Chris Robinson, Krysten Chadwick, Jessica Parker, Scott Sinnett
Chris Robinson, Krysten Chadwick, Jessica Parker, Scott Sinnett
The current study examined cardiac and behavioral responses to
changing auditory and visual information while using modified oddball tasks. When
instructed to press the same button for auditory and visual oddballs, auditory
dominance was found with cross-modal presentation slowing down visual response
times and decreasing visual accuracy. When instructed to make separate responses
to auditory and visual oddballs, visual dominance was found with cross-modal
presentation slowing down response times and decreasing auditory accuracy.
However, examination of cardiac responses that were time-locked to stimulus onset
show cross-modal facilitation effects, with discrimination of oddballs and
standards occurring earlier in the course of processing in the cross-modal
condition than in the unimodal conditions. These findings shed light on potential
mechanisms underlying modality dominance effects and have implications on tasks
that require simultaneous processing of auditory and visual information.
[auditory, dominance, oddball, response, modality, unimodal, presented, standard, presentation, condition, heart, stimulus, cardiac, hrv, attention, processing, attentional, colavita, crossmodal, dog, denote, task, consisted, compared, sinnett, revealed, resting, paired, faster, time, slowed, reported, ibi, robinson, suggesting, robust, learning, trial, executive, integration, dell] [experiment, low, changed, examined, cognitive, hit, anova, worth] [discrimination, university, instructed, error, calculated, variability] [study, high, course, procedure, differ, additional] [examine, reflect, double, onset, earlier, frequent] [rate, button, individual, underlying] [visual, current, sensory, figure, behavioral, goal, perception, reverse, component, computer, pattern, press]
Allocation of attention during auditory word learning
Keith Apfelbaum, Vladimir Sloutsky
Keith Apfelbaum, Vladimir Sloutsky
The deployment of selective attention has been studied in depth as
a mechanism of visual categorization for decades. However, little work has
investigated how attentional mechanisms operate for non-visual domains, and many
models of categorization tacitly presume domain-general attention use. In three
experiments, we investigated whether learners deploy attention to novel auditory
features when learning novel words in a similar fashion to the prevailing visual
categorization findings. These studies yielded evidence of non-isomorphism, as
selective attention in the auditory domain shows high context specificity, in
contrast to the wide generalization of attention in the visual domain.
[attention, selective, learning, auditory, category, irrelevant, training, generalization, novel, type, categorization, test, dimension, pitch, generalize, decreased, evidence, second, learned, isomorphism, journal, learn, testing, processing, operate, developmental, differentiate, accuracy, yielded] [relevant, experiment, relevance, examined, discussion, including, nature, cognitive] [discrimination, contrast, domain, context, talker, error, criterion, experimental, language, voice, speech, vowel, alien, gender, main, phonological] [step, included, procedure, identical, change, performance, received] [lexical, word, random, analysis, small, measure] [data, threshold, model, function, measured, set] [visual, feature, duration, reached, pattern, allows, figure, perception, interaction]
Don't Blink! Evaluating Training Paradigms for Overcoming the Attentional Blink
Trudy Buwalda, Jelmer Borst, Marieke van Vugt, Niels Taatgen
Trudy Buwalda, Jelmer Borst, Marieke van Vugt, Niels Taatgen
A lot of people show a decline in performance when they have to
report a second target stimulus in a stream of distractor stimuli. Curiously,
this decline only happens when the second target appears approximately 200-500ms
after the first target. Recently, Choi, Chang, Shibata, Sasaki, and Watanabe
(2012) have shown that a short, one-hour training can eliminate this "attentional
blink". Up to now, it is still unclear why this training works. In this paper, we
have evaluated a range of different training paradigms to test several hypotheses
about the mechanism behind the reduction of the attentional blink. Our results
show that none of these training paradigms have a large training effect when
administered in isolation. The training by Choi et al. (2012) outperforms them
all. The most likely explanation for this effect are temporal expectations
relative to the first target.
[training, task, attentional, target, position, second, presented, stimulus, size, choi, accuracy, test, stream, reported, processing, time, presentation, tested, speed, reduced, trial, paradigm, standard, tang, pressing, consisted, block, compared, condition] [temporal, people, explanation, influence, experiment, expectation, percentage, implicit, factor, participant, cognitive] [item, experimental, van, distractors] [blink, feedback, posttest, pretest, control, strategy, correct, report, reduction, practice, number, performance, study, larger, three, difference, digit, answer, identical] [relative, increase, random, small] [find, chosen, randomly, hypothesis, model] [lag, figure, letter, role, play, start, visual, fixation, current]
Why Sense-Making through Magnitude May Be Harder for Fractions than for Whole Numbers
Eliane Wiese, Rony Patel, Kenneth Koedinger
Eliane Wiese, Rony Patel, Kenneth Koedinger
What is the role of fraction magnitude knowledge in learning
fraction addition? An experiment with 71 6th and 7th grade students compared
fraction addition instruction and practice with a magnitude representation to a
tightly controlled non-magnitude condition. In the magnitude condition, students
with better fraction magnitude estimation skills benefitted more from the
conceptual instruction and this relationship was moderated by students’
knowledge of how magnitude relates to fraction addition and equivalence. However,
students with better fraction magnitude estimation skills benefitted less from
the practice problems with magnitude. In the non-magnitude condition, fraction
magnitude estimation was not predictive of learning. This study indicates that
students with magnitude knowledge can leverage it to learn fraction addition
concepts from magnitude representations, but, for those students, magnitude
representations may be a distraction from practicing the procedure.
[accuracy, learning, condition, presented, learn, incongruent, predictor] [initial, positive, relationship, cognitive, low] [error] [fraction, addition, magnitude, knowledge, number, pretest, sum, pae, instruction, estimation, incorrect, equivalence, arithmetic, study, answer, correct, midtest, linear, greater, practice, posttest, intervention, question, grade, high, asked, strategy, procedure, addend, adding, worked, example, control, reject, procedural, three, understand, assessment, science, help, better, difficulty, improve, equivalent, problem, department, mathematics, included] [conceptual, combined, include] [predictive, regression, confidence, note, yield, hypothesis] [direction, interaction, representation, role]
The Primary and Convergent Retrieval Model of Recall
William J. Hopper, David E. Huber
William J. Hopper, David E. Huber
Memory models typically assume that recall is a two-stage process
with learning affecting both processes to the same degree. This equal learning
assumption is difficult to reconcile with studies of the 'testing effect', which
reveal different forgetting rates following learning from test practice versus
learning from restudy. Here we present a new memory model, termed Primary and
Convergent Retrieval (PCR) that assumes successful recall leads to a selective
enhancement for the second stage of recall (Convergent Retrieval). We applied
this model to existing testing effect data. In two new experiments, we confirmed
novel predictions of the PCR model for transfer between retrieval cues and for
recall latencies. This is the first formally specified model of the testing
effect and it has broad implications for the nature of learning and
retrieval.
[test, learning, time, accuracy, testing, retention, target, second, forgetting, formed, cued, response] [initial, temporal, psychological, experiment] [recall, retrieval, item, memory, pcr, restudy, activated, recalled, occurs, context, latency, produce, roediger, finite, subsequently, karpicke] [practice, active, number, free, study, primary, stage, activate, passive, change, example, allowed] [final, irt, considered, order, irts, list, subsequent] [model, binomial, assume, successful, probability, initially, observed, distribution, predicted, threshold, interval, prior, data, fit, considering, requires, parameter, extra, fail, attempt, assumption] [figure, convergent, process, feature, activation, encoding, output, encoded, interaction, current]
Modelling the co-development of word learning and perspective-taking
Marieke Woensdregt, Simon Kirby, Chris Cummins, Kenny Smith
Marieke Woensdregt, Simon Kirby, Chris Cummins, Kenny Smith
Word learning involves mapping observable words onto unobservable
speaker intentions, and intention-reading co-develops with language. To explore
this interaction we present an agent-based model in which an individual
simultaneously learns a lexicon and learns about the speaker's perspective, given
a shared context and the speaker's utterances, through Bayesian inference.
Simulations with this model show that (i) lexicon-learning and
perspective-learning are interdependent: learning one is impossible without some
knowledge of the other, (ii) lexicon- and perspective-learning can bootstrap each
other, resulting in successful inference of both even when the learner starts
with no knowledge of the lexicon and unhelpful assumptions about the minds of
others, and (iii) receiving initial input from a `helpful' speaker (who adopts
the learner's perspective on the world) paves the way for later learning from
speakers with perspectives which diverge from the learner's. This approach
represents a first exploration of the co-development dynamics of language and
mindreading.
[learning, learner, learn, development, statistical, child, second, learned, early, evidence, bootstrap, half, target] [social, mental, described, belief, simply, false, case, inference, situation, mapping, understanding, impossible] [lexicon, speaker, referential, language, object, context, tom, intention, refer, meaning, mindreading, unobservable, associative, partly, deaf, pyers, sign, salient, communicative] [perspective, ability, knowledge, study, correct, equation] [word, turn, intended, ambiguous, rise] [model, hypothesis, infer, probability, inferring, data, based, set, prior, opposite, prediction, state, bayesian, simulates, function, posterior, likelihood] [input, figure, consists, allows, role, represent, behaviour]
The effect of "mood": Group-based collaborative problem solving by taking different perspectives
Yugo Hayashi
Yugo Hayashi
Collaborative problem solving based on different perspectives is
an effective strategy for constructing new knowledge and discoveries. It remains
unclear what kind of interaction process underlies development of an abstract or
integrated perspective upon experiencing conflict with different perspectives in
a group. The present study investigates two factors in an experimental setting:
(1) groups with a single opposing perspective (maverick) would hold an advantage
over groups and (2) groups with positive moods would hold an advantage over
groups with negativity. We investigate the factors influencing perspective taking
in problem-solving groups using conversational agents. Results showed that (1) a
single different perspective in the group can be accepted for perspective taking
compared to several members with an opposing perspective, and (2) positive mood
generated by group members facilitating perspective taking compared to negative
mood.
[task, conflict, compared, rule, condition, presented, facilitate, journal, trial, development] [black, positive, white, negative, cognitive, social, influence, evaluation, emotion, experience, keywords, work, psychology, affective, participant, emotional, consistent, experiment] [conversational, experimental, previous, main, chat, produce, manipulated, affect, degree] [perspective, group, mood, number, problem, study, collaborative, hayashi, solving, member, opposing, better, performance, mere, investigate, discover, science, focusing, knowledge, inside, difference, maverick, conducted, annual, investigated, nega, facilitating] [abstract] [based, agent, cooperative, provide, discovery, conference, generated] [figure, single, interaction, controlled, role, process, partner, indicates, respond, computer, current]
Creative Interaction with Blocks and Robots
Daniel Smithwick, Larry Sass, David Kirsh
Daniel Smithwick, Larry Sass, David Kirsh
In order to creatively interact with robots we need to understand
how creative thinkers work with objects to explore new ideas physically. Our
approach involves comparing the model-making strategies of architects with
students to expose the creative extras architects bring to working with physical
models. To study this we coded students and architects performing a design task.
Architects differed from students along three dimensions. First, architects were
more selective; they used fewer blocks overall and fewer variations. Second,
architects appear to think more about spatial relationships and material
constraints. Lastly, architects more often experiment with re-orientations: they
position a block one way to see its relations to its neighbors; they reposition
it another way to see how that changes how things look and feel. These findings
suggest that designers interact with the material more effectively than students.
This embodied know-how is something next generation robots can support and
possibly enhance.
[block, time, sequence, explore, type] [physical, thinking, participant, experiment, cognitive, interact, percentage, explain, work] [configuration, spatial, novice, expert, architectural, functional, suggestive, dream] [three, material, student, modify, study, science, depiction, number, spent, usa, reject, group] [table, abstract, linked, structural, analysis, structure, small, manipulating, aloud] [model, making, total, exploratory, based, set, simple] [design, interaction, action, site, figure, coding, scheme, activity, sketching, perform, gero, performed, suwa, robotic, protocol, primitive, placing, fewer, involves, relocate, assemble, visual, process, side]
A Hierarchical Probabilistic Language-of-Thought Model of Human Visual Concept Learning
Matthew Overlan, Robert Jacobs, Steven Piantadosi
Matthew Overlan, Robert Jacobs, Steven Piantadosi
How do people rapidly learn rich, structured concepts from sparse
input? Recent approaches to concept learning have found success by integrating
rules and statistics. We describe a hierarchical model in this spirit in which
the rules are stochastic, generative processes, and the rules themselves arise
from a higher-level stochastic, generative process. We evaluate this
probabilistic language-of-thought model with data from an abstract rule learning
experiment carried out with adults. In this experiment, we find novel
generalization effects, and we show that the model gives a qualitatively good
account of the experimental data. We then discuss the role of this kind of model
in the larger context of concept learning.
[learning, rule, training, test, learn, statistical, general, generalize, category, size, novel, position, learned, exemplar] [cognitive, experiment, work, people, account, consistent, long] [language, specific, program, item, van] [concept, example, number, three, ability, science] [abstract, natural, token, grammar, structure, discussed, computational, small, theoretical] [model, set, hypothesis, probability, distribution, data, probabilistic, aba, sampling, xbb, prior, full, stochastic, bottom, function, defines, likelihood, tree, simple, bayesian, posterior, generated, follow, string, gcm, ideal] [generative, figure, framework, output, visual, top, process, human, representation, built, allows]
Integrating physical reasoning and visual object recognition for fully occluded scene interpretation
Ilker Yildirim, Max Siegel, Josh Tenenbaum
Ilker Yildirim, Max Siegel, Josh Tenenbaum
Conventional theories of visual object recognition treat objects
effectively as abstract patterns of image features. They do not explicitly
represent objects as physical entities in the world, with physical properties
such as three-dimensional shape, mass, stiffness, elasticity, surface friction,
and so on. However, for many purposes, an object's physical existence is central
to our ability to recognize it and think about it. This is certainly true for
recognition via haptic perception, i.e., perceiving objects by touch, but even in
the visual domain an object's physical properties may directly determine how it
looks and thereby how we recognize it. Here we show how a physical object
representation can allow the solution of video problems, like perceiving an
object under a cloth, that are otherwise difficult to accomplish without
extensive experience, and we provide behavioral and computational evidence that
people can use such a representation.
[test, trial, task, presented, standard, type, category, shape] [physical, experiment, causal, people, explicitly, future] [object, item, distractor, error, university] [performance, study, recognize, example, knowledge, three] [canonical, approach] [model, randomly, average, denotes, simulated, likelihood, distribution, uncertainty, conference, underlying, simulation, true, generated, posterior] [unoccluded, occluded, image, neural, visual, rotation, figure, network, cloth, perception, convolutional, mesh, fully, scene, perceiving, invariant, recognition, rendered, deep, blender, viewpoint, vision, view, engine, chair, represented, trained, rotating, human, rendering, computer, behavioral, process, representation, brain, performs]
“This problem has no solution”: when closing one of two doors results in failure to access any.
Hippolyte Gros, Emmanuel Sander, Jean-Pierre Thibaut
Hippolyte Gros, Emmanuel Sander, Jean-Pierre Thibaut
We investigated what happens when the spontaneous encoding of a
problem is incongruent with its solving strategy. We created word problems from
which two distinct semantic representations could be abstracted. Only one of
these representations was consistent with the solving strategy. We tested whether
participants could recode a semantically incongruent representation in order to
access another, less salient, solving strategy. In experiment 1, participants had
to solve arithmetic problems and to indicate which problems were unsolvable. In
experiment 2, participants received solved problems and had to decide whether the
solution was appropriate or not. In both experiments, participants had more
difficulties acknowledging that problems inducing an incongruent representation
could be solved than they had for problems inducing a congruent representation.
This was confirmed by response times. These results highlight how semantic
aspects can lead even adults to fail or succeed in the solving of arithmetic
problems requiring basic mathematical knowledge.
[incongruent, response, congruent, time, task, journal, indicate, presented, type, continuous, second, identify, denote] [experiment, nature, cognitive, sander, induced, situation, reasoning, fact, property] [access, spontaneous, experimental, vertical, previous] [problem, solving, strategy, cardinal, ordinal, solve, solvable, mathematical, solution, difference, solved, correct, arithmetic, correctly, confirmed, comparison, recoding, unsolvable, inducing, complementation, versus, solver, discrete, created, ability, three, highlighted, numerical, hypothesized, question, needed] [semantic, semantically, structure, order, word, abstract, removed, interpreted, analysis] [find, rate, success, data, depending, lead, total, confidence, making, alternative] [representation, figure, associated, algorithm, process, congruence]
L2 Idiom Processing: Figurative Attunement in Highly Idiomatic Contexts
Sara Beck, Andrea Weber
Sara Beck, Andrea Weber
Using cross-modal priming, we investigated the processing of
idioms in non-native listeners in varying experimental contexts. As idiomatic
processing models have presented evidence for an idiomatic mode of processing
that can be activated for non-native speakers in highly figurative contexts
(Bobrow & Bell, 1973), this experiment revisits those claims while also examining
access to figurative meaning in addition to the literal meaning of individual
words within an idiom. This experiment showed increased priming for visual
targets related to the figurative meaning of an idiom when the experimental list
contained a large proportion of idiomatic sentences compared to when the list
contained only a small proportion of idiomatic sentences. Non-native speakers not
only showed online access to figurative meaning but were also sensitive to highly
idiomatic contexts; though, responses to the targets related to literal meaning
of the final word of the idiom were faster in all instances than
figuratively-related targets.
[processing, second, target, presented, faster, evidence, compared, journal, novel, auditory, prime, increased] [experiment, unrelated, strong, presence, salience] [figurative, literal, meaning, idiom, idiomatic, experimental, language, context, priming, access, highly, variation, constituent, attunement, relatedness, bell, bobrow, native, facilitatory, contained, filler, main, separate, activated, production, formulaic, adaptation, psycholinguistic, occurs, priority, swinney, schmitt, anna] [online, control, addition, comparison] [word, mode, list, lexical, english, sentence, comprehension, proposed, final, table] [based, model, data, individual, total, hypothesis, varying, decision] [rts, current, visual, activation, representation, interaction, controlled]
Synthesized size-sound sound-symbolism
Gwilym Lockwood, Peter Hagoort, Mark Dingemanse
Gwilym Lockwood, Peter Hagoort, Mark Dingemanse
Studies of sound-symbolism have shown that people can associate
sound and meaning in consistent ways when presented with maximally contrastive
stimulus pairs of nonwords such as bouba/kiki (rounded/sharp) or mil/mal
(big/small). Recent work has shown the effect extends to antonymic words from
natural languages and has proposed a role for shared cross-modal correspondences
in biasing form-to-meaning associations. An important open question is how the
associations work, and particularly what the role is of sound-symbolic matches
versus mismatches. We report on a learning task designed to distinguish between
three existing theories by using a spectrum of sound-symbolically matching,
mismatching, and neutral (neither matching nor mismatching) stimuli. Synthesized
stimuli allow us to control for prosody, and the inclusion of a neutral condition
allows a direct test of competing accounts. We find evidence for a sound-symbolic
match boost, but not for a mismatch difficulty compared to the neutral
condition.
[nonwords, sound, learning, symbolism, condition, match, evidence, nonword, big, learned, learn, mismatching, journal, iconicity, size, lockwood, accuracy, ideophones, fixed, japanese, test, presented, spectrum, synthesized, planck, klein, soundsymbolic, processing, replication, soundsymbolically, suggests, nijmegen] [neutral, mapping, real, experiment, rating, people, philosophical, participant, cognitive, initial, biological, consistent, institute, work] [language, graded, matching, mismatch, dutch, experimental, boost, meaning, groot, psycholinguistics] [better, study, difference, help, three, larger] [word, random, small, association, meant, table, adjective, prosodic] [provide, model, round, sample, set, max, opposite, lack, chose] [figure, role, screen]
Information-Seeking, Learning and the Marginal Value Theorem: A Normative Approach to Adaptive Exploration
Andra Geana, Robert Wilson, Nathaniel Daw, Jonathan Cohen
Andra Geana, Robert Wilson, Nathaniel Daw, Jonathan Cohen
Daily life often makes us decide between two goals: maximizing
immediate rewards (exploitation) and learning about the environment so as to
improve our options for future rewards (exploration). An adaptive organism
therefore should place value on information independent of immediate reward, and
affective states may signal such value (e.g., curiosity vs. boredom: Hill &
Perkins, 1985; Eastwood et al. 2012). Here, we augment the classic serial
foraging scenario to more explicitly reward the development of knowledge. We
develop a formal model that quantifies the value of information in this setting
and how it should impact decision making, paralleling the treatment of reward by
the marginal value theorem (MVT) in the foraging literature. We then present the
results of an experiment designed to provide an initial test of this model, and
discuss the implications of this information-foraging framework on boredom and
task disengagement.
[time, learning, task, learned, learn, switch, fixed, journal, compared, accuracy, position, faster] [consistent, future, experiment, initial, normative] [studied, error] [number, spent, better, step, improve] [global, local, structure, earlier, variance, increase, relative] [reward, patch, model, agent, foraging, wave, optimal, behavior, prediction, data, exploration, distribution, minion, well, estimate, point, sampling, choose, boredom, game, average, estimated, archer, function, rate, marginal, provide, staying, earn, uncertainty, decision, stay, choice, adaptive, predicted, hitting, expected, higher, stochastic, decide, cost, increasing] [current, environment, human, switching, longer, figure, location, associated]
Learning that numbers are the same, while learning that they are different
Jon Willits, Michael Jones, David Landy
Jon Willits, Michael Jones, David Landy
It has been suggested that the way that number words are used may
play an important role in the development of number concepts. However, little is
currently known about the overall ways in which number words are used in
child-directed speech. To address this, we performed an analysis of how number
words are used in the CHILDES database. We looked at four statistics: 1) lexical
frequency, 2) contextual diversity, 3) word co-occurrence, and 4) distributional
similarity, to see if these distributional statistics suggest why some aspects of
number acquisition are easy and others are hard, and if these statistics are
informative about specific debates in number acquisition. We found that that are
many important differences in how small and large number words are used (such as
differences in frequency, co-occurrence patterns, and distributional similarity),
differences that may play an role in shaping hypotheses about children’s
acquisition of number concepts.
[learn, learning, category, accuracy, statistical, time, age, evidence, development, big, developmental, occur] [psychological, experience, belong, extent, cognitive, distinct, common] [language, speech, highly, principal, linguistic, specific, meaning, interesting, university, american, informative] [number, three, counting, larger, young, numerical, concept, answer, score, lower, difference, composed, usa, cardinal, magnitude] [word, frequency, large, distributional, structure, analysis, frequent, childes, diversity, small, usage, form, similarity, corpus, contextual, acquisition, lexical, count, semantic, verb, final, indiana, cluster, eighteen, structural] [based, proportion, set] [figure, role, performed, input, hierarchical, behavioral, brain]
Probabilistic Simulation Predicts Human Performance on Viscous Fluid-Pouring Problem
James Kubricht, Chenfanfu Jiang, Yixin Zhu, Song-Chun Zhu, Demetri Terzopoulos, Hongjing Lu
James Kubricht, Chenfanfu Jiang, Yixin Zhu, Song-Chun Zhu, Demetri Terzopoulos, Hongjing Lu
The physical behavior of moving fluids is highly complex, yet
people interact with them daily with relative ease. To investigate how humans
achieve this remarkable ability, the present study extended the classical
water-pouring problem (Schwartz & Black, 1999) to examine how humans consider
physical properties of fluids (e.g., viscosity) and perceptual variables (e.g.,
volume) in a reasoning task. We found that humans do not rely on simple heuristic
rules to reason about fluid dynamics. Instead, they rely on perceived viscosity
and volume to make their judgments. Computational results from a probabilistic
simulation model reliably account for human sensitivity to latent fluid
attributes and their performance on our task. In contrast, non-simulation models
based on statistical learning fail to fit human performance. Our results provide
converging evidence supporting mental simulation strategies in physical
reasoning, and outline experimental conditions that rectify the dissociation
between explicit prediction and tacit judgment.
[response, task, explicit, test, reported] [physical, reasoning, mental, judgment, intuitive, account, cognitive, experiment, people, perceived, viewed, reason] [perceptual, latent, experimental] [fluid, volume, viscosity, vlv, container, ife, vhv, performance, pour, tilted, viscous, problem, svm, greater, demonstration, filled, three, particle, inside, video, water, study, science, annual, tilting, discretized, schwartz] [flow, relative, computational, bates] [simulation, model, noisy, method, predict, proportion, probabilistic, heuristic, conference, simulated, realistic, provide, making] [human, computer, input, motion, angle, visual, tilt, figure, rotation, side]
Similarity-Based Reasoning is Shaped by Recent Learning Experience
Paul Thibodeau, David Myers, Stephen Flusberg
Paul Thibodeau, David Myers, Stephen Flusberg
Popular approaches to modeling analogical reasoning have captured
a wide range of developmental and cognitive phenomena, but the use of structured
symbolic representations makes it difficult to account for the dynamic and
context sensitive nature of similarity judgments. Here, the results of a novel
behavioral task are offered as an additional challenge for these approaches.
Participants were presented with a familiar analogy problem (A:B::C:?), but with
a twist. Each of the possible completions (D1, D2, D3), could be considered
valid: There was no unambiguously “correct” answer, but an array of
equally good candidates. We find that participants’ recent experience
categorizing objects (i.e., manipulating the salience of the features),
systematically affected performance in the ambiguous analogy task. The results
are consistent with a dynamic, context sensitive approach to modeling analogy
that continuously updates feature weights over the course of experience.
[analogy, training, shape, size, brightness, condition, task, relational, trial, label, match, analogical, response, novel, revealed, target, learning, category, completed, phase, compared, development, dimension, developmental, predictor, attend, statistical, structured, juliet, improved, maximally, indicating] [people, reasoning, cognitive, experience, rated, consistent, basis, relationship, illustration] [object, referred, forced, perceptual, shift, main, context, meaning] [control, three, comparison, feedback, course, differ, identical, difference, provided] [ambiguous, similarity, table, order, small, final, approach, structure] [choose, sample, model, option, based, best, data, fit, modeling, logistic] [figure, original, feature, distributed, interaction]
What do we learn from rating metaphors?
Paul Thibodeau, Les Sikos, Frank Durgin
Paul Thibodeau, Les Sikos, Frank Durgin
What makes some metaphors easier to understand than others?
Theoretical accounts of metaphor processing appeal to dimensions like
conventionality and aptness to explain variability in metaphor comprehensibility.
In a typical experiment, one group of naive participants rates a set of
metaphoric sentences along these dimensions, while another is timed reading the
same sentences. Then, the ratings are used to predict response times in order to
identify the most relevant linguistic dimension for metaphor comprehension.
However, surprisingly high correlations between ratings of theoretically
orthogonal constructs and the results of an experiment in which a context
manipulation affected ratings of metaphor conventionality and aptness suggest
that these measures should be treated as dependent, rather than explanatory,
variables. We discuss the implications of this perspective for theories of
language processing.
[processing, target, dimension, stimulus, journal, presented, response, naive, processed, identify, base, familiarity] [metaphor, aptness, conventionality, people, extension, rated, crime, vehicle, thibodeau, experiment, sense, relevant, consistent, explained, apt, psychological, indicated, durgin, initial, manipulation, comprehensibility, rating, explain, personality, bowdle, extent] [context, metaphoric, matched, literal, principal, figurativeness, mixed, metaphoricity, figurative, linguistic, language, experimental, orthogonal, description, memory, easier, item, priming, variability] [conventional, asked, understand, college] [fluency, table, word, variance, measure, analysis, read, semantic, small, order, comprehension, loaded, theoretical, lexical] [rate, data, well, predict, vary, higher, behavior] [component, figure, goal]
Listener sensitivity to foreign-accented speech with grammatical errors
Yuki Asano, Andrea Weber
Yuki Asano, Andrea Weber
The present accent rating study investigates the interaction
between accent strength and grammatical correctness on perceived accentedness.
German native (L1) listeners rated German sentences produced by L1 and non-native
(L2) speakers. Sentences either contained a grammatical error or were
grammatically
correct. Results showed that grammatical correctness affected the accent rating
of sentences produced by L1 speakers, but not of those by L2 speakers. The
inverse influence of grammatical errors on sentences spoken with stronger accents
suggests that phonological information plays a more important role for global
perception of speech accentedness than grammatical correctness does, revealing a
hierarchical importance of factors that form an L2 accent. This finding is in
line with recent findings from an online processing ERP study
(Hanulíková, van Alphen, van Goch, & Weber, 2012) in which L1 listeners
were tolerant towards grammatical errors made by L2 speakers, i.e. showed no P600
effect for grammatically incorrect sentences.
[attention, journal, spoken, learning, processing, second, suggests, type, age, erp, statistical, suggesting, standard] [rating, perceived, cognitive, case, experiment, influence, strength, person, agreement, kind] [grammatical, speech, accent, error, speaker, german, foreign, produced, language, phonological, grammatically, van, previous, contained, normalized, background, perceptual, degree, dutch, decisive, accented, accentedness, affect, memory, main, variation, adjust, marked, visible, der, male, american, university, society, tolerant] [correct, study, correctness, incorrect, group, online, three] [sentence, preposition, form, order, english, global, verb, syntactic, short, acquisition] [higher, varying, data, chosen] [perception, interaction, figure]
A Comparative Evaluation of Approximate Probabilistic Simulation and Deep Neural Networks as Accounts of Human Physical Scene Understanding
Renqiao Zhang, Jiajun Wu, Chengkai Zhang, William T. Freeman, Joshua B. Tenenbaum
Renqiao Zhang, Jiajun Wu, Chengkai Zhang, William T. Freeman, Joshua B. Tenenbaum
Humans demonstrate remarkable abilities to predict physical events
in complex scenes. Two classes of models for physical scene understanding have
recently been proposed: ``Intuitive Physics Engines'', or IPEs, which posit that
people make predictions by running approximate probabilistic simulations in
causal mental models similar to physics engines, and memory-based models like
convolutional networks, which make judgments based on analogies to stored
experiences of previously encountered scenes and outcomes. Here we report four
experiments that rigorously compare simulation-based and CNN-based models, where
both approaches are concretely instantiated in algorithms that can run on raw
image inputs and produce as outputs physical judgments. Both approaches can
achieve super-human accuracy levels and can quantitatively predict human
judgments to a similar degree, but only the simulation-based models generalize to
novel situations in ways that people do, and are qualitatively consistent with
systematic perceptual illusions and judgment asymmetries that people show.
[training, block, test, accuracy, generalize, learning, half] [physical, people, experiment, intuitive, stable, understanding, cognitive, fall, stability, reasoning, causal, mental, judgment] [perceptual, object, experimental] [performance, number, three, approximate, study, knowledge, ability, force] [pile, table, computational, large, small, variance] [model, simulation, set, predict, probabilistic, bayesian, setup, capture, well, state] [neural, ipe, human, alexnet, trained, visual, lenet, figure, scene, cnns, unstable, engine, vision, convolutional, instability, center, pretrained, battaglia, network, recognition, cnn, camera, horizontal, gaussian, top, arxiv, computer]
Learning Behavior-Grounded Event Segmentations
Christian Gumbsch, Jan Kneissler, Martin Butz
Christian Gumbsch, Jan Kneissler, Martin Butz
The event segmentation theory (EST) postulates that humans
systematically segment the continuous sensorimotor information flow into events
and event boundaries. The basis for the observed segmentation tendencies,
however, remains largely unknown. We introduce a computational model that grounds
EST in the interaction abilities of a system. The model learns events and event
boundaries based on actively gathered sensorimotor signals. It segments the
signals based on principles of probabilistic predictive coding and surprise. The
implemented model essentially simulates, anticipates, and learns event
progressions and event transitions online while interacting with the environment
by means of dynamic, predictive Bayesian models. Besides the model’s event
segmentation capabilities, we show that the learned encodings can be used for
higher-order planning. Moreover, the encodings systematically conceptualize
environmental interactions and they help to identify the factors that are
critical for ensuring interaction success.
[time, boundary, learning, position, segmentation, dimension, identify, testing, developing, learned, type, training, continuous] [event, cognitive, heavy, relevant, ten, detection, scenario] [object, error, environmental, color] [active, change, step, attached] [small, variance, anticipatory, computational, form, structure, considered, distance] [model, prediction, predictive, predict, set, based, behavior, planning, reinforcement, generated, probability] [forward, system, sensory, hand, motor, food, figure, transition, currently, desired, sensorimotor, gaussian, characterized, environment, movement, interaction, architecture, current, learns, input, human, consists, action, suitable, light, reach, velocity, foe, segment, workspace, interacting, essentially, searching, est, critical]
Disfluency production in speech and gesture
Niloofar Akhavan, Tilbe Goksun, Nazbanou Nozari
Niloofar Akhavan, Tilbe Goksun, Nazbanou Nozari
The cognitive architecture and function of co-speech gesture has
been the subject of a large body of research. We investigate two main questions
in this field, namely, whether language and gesture are the same or two
inter-related systems, and whether gestures help resolve speech problems, by
examining the relationship between gesture and disfluency in neurotypical
speakers. Our results support the view of separate, but inter-related systems by
showing that speech problems do not necessarily cause gesture problems, and on
many occasions, gestures signal an upcoming speech problem even before it
surfaces in overt speech. We also show that while gestures are more common on
fluent trials, speakers use both iconic and beat gestures on disfluent trials to
facilitate communication, although the two gesture types support communication in
different ways.
[evidence, journal, time, simultaneously, examining, verbal, facilitate, repeated, compared, starting] [relationship, cognitive, examined, temporal, absence, appropriateness, preceded] [speech, gesture, language, disfluency, iconic, beat, production, disfluent, interruption, university, fluent, coded, produced, spatial, memory, retrieval, main, accompanied, resolve, produce, neurotypical, repair, spontaneous, expect, error, overt, support, gestural, separate, mcneill, healthy, interrupted, resumed, interrelated, kita, listener, utterance, speaker, gesturing, resolving, supporting, cambridge, society, girl] [help, problem, filled, primary, science, annual, question, department, study, better] [lexical, word, running, proposed, semantic] [point] [role, hand, system, repetition, represent, brain]
Predictions with Uncertain Categorization: A Rational Model
Elizaveta Konovalova, Gael Le Mens
Elizaveta Konovalova, Gael Le Mens
A key function of categories is to help predictions about
unobserved features of objects. At the same time, humans often find themselves in
situations where the categories of the objects they perceive are uncertain. How
do people make predictions about unobserved features in such situations? We
propose a rational model that solves this problem. Our model complements existing
models in that it is applicable in settings where the conditional independence
assumption does not hold (features are correlated within categories) and where
the features are continuous as opposed to discrete. The qualitative predictions
of our model are borne out in two experiments.
[category, second, target, categorization, scatter, evidence, suggests, journal, continuous, paradigm, compared] [experiment, people, conditional, basis, mental, independence, candidate, fact, consistent, told, positive, account, cognitive, version] [object, rely, experimental, memory, item] [asked, linear, knowledge, number, control] [existing, table, rat, order] [model, rational, correlation, posterior, blood, uncertain, fit, best, prediction, consider, unobserved, probability, individual, implied, prior, assume, estimated, sample, proportion, observed, setting, making, predict, data, propose, protropin, assumption, distribution, parameter, denotes, propensity, independent, bic, true, compute, maker, optimal] [feature, figure, single, level, weight, multiple, representation, design, pattern]
Numeric Competencies and Anchoring Biases
Sangsuk Yoon, Nathan Fong
Sangsuk Yoon, Nathan Fong
Two experiments were conducted to examine the role of three facets
of numeracy (objective (ONS), subjective (SNS), and symbolic number mapping
(SMap)) in three anchoring tasks (experimenter-given, self-generate, and
valuation). We found that the three numeric competencies were associated with
different anchoring tasks. SMap was associated with none of the three anchor
tasks, while ONS consistently predicted stronger susceptibility to self-generated
anchoring. The role of ONS and SNS in experimenter-given and valuation tasks were
inconsistent. In Experiment 1, where the direction of adjustment from an anchor
is specified, ONS and SNS were positively associated with anchor susceptibility
in a valuation task, while they were not in an experimenter-given anchor task. On
the other hand, in Experiment 2 where the direction of adjustment from an anchor
is uncertain, ONS and SNS were positively associated with anchor susceptibility
in an experimenter-given anchor task, while they were not in a valuation task.
[task, journal, test, presented] [experiment, cognitive, psychological, positively, result, low, mapping, relationship, explicitly, personality, examined, scale, social, future, inconsistent, judgment, consistent, positive] [adjustment, previous, item] [three, numeric, high, number, question, study, lower, comparison, approximate, symbolic, literature, score, ability, asked, example, answer, math, estimation, investigated] [length, distance, table, bias, weaker] [higher, decision, individual, stronger, predicted, uncertain, subjective, price, find, objective, point, regression, economic, risk] [anchor, anchoring, numeracy, valuation, ons, associated, susceptibility, direction, role, smap, market, bjalkebring, column, indicates, behavioral, factual, freezing, mississippi, selfgenerated]
A perspective on all cognition? A study of everyday environments from the perspective of distributed cognition
Nils Dahlbäck, Mattias Kristiansson
Nils Dahlbäck, Mattias Kristiansson
Distributed cognition is a perspective that primarily has been
applied to complex socio-technical systems such as flight decks of commercial
airliners, or operating rooms where professionals perform cognitive tasks in
environments specifically designed for this. For some scholars distributed
cognition is exactly this kind of specialized cognitive system. On the other hand
it has been claimed by some workers in the field that distributed cognition is
not a kind of cognition but a perspective on all cognition. We have therefore
studied an environment very different from the systems previously studied, namely
single people’s homes. We find that there are many similarities between the
home and the specialized socio-technical environments. To us this suggests that
the specially designed complex environments can be seen as specialized cases of
the general principles of distributed cognition which are not reflections of
“particular work practices” but of general features of human
cognition.
[time, complex, journal, suggests] [cognitive, cognition, pocket, professional, work, bag, leaving, specialized, designed, shoulder, kind, physical, social, located, despite, historical, fact, calendar, bench, deliberate, specially, serve, described] [studied, memory, instance, previous, cultural, functional, situated, cambridge, combination, remembering, specific, interesting, university] [perspective, number, study, video, knowledge, course, external, computation] [large, small, analysis, list, mentioned] [search, everyday, note, based, paper] [distributed, moa, environment, system, kitchen, side, felicia, view, human, field, top, apartment, feature, space]
Causal Learning With Continuous Variables Over Time
Kevin Soo, Benjamin Rottman
Kevin Soo, Benjamin Rottman
When estimating the strength of the relation between a cause (X)
and effect (Y), there are two main statistical approaches that can be used. The
first is using a simple correlation. The second approach, appropriate for
situations in which the variables are observed unfolding over time, is to take a
correlation of the change scores – whether the variables reliably change in
the same or opposite direction. The main question of this manuscript is whether
lay people use change scores for assessing causal strength in time series
contexts. We found that subjects’ causal strength judgments were better
predicted by change scores than the simple correlation, and that use of change
scores was facilitated by naturalistic stimuli. Further, people use a heuristic
of simplifying the magnitudes of change scores into a binary code (increase vs.
decrease). These findings help explain how people uncover true causal relations
in complex time series contexts.
[time, continuous, learning, presented, journal, tested, suggests, size, condition, attend, half] [causal, strength, people, experiment, positive, negative, rstates, temporal, series, drug, viewed, microorganism, relationship, uncover, result, judging, discretize, cognitive, scale, influence, covariation, vice, common] [experimental, main] [change, question, better, numerical, study, absolute, created, procedure, format, three, code, difference, high] [random, order, increase, longitudinal, table, relation, analysis] [data, correlation, binary, estimating, inferring, model, true, computing, increasing, method, observed, set, infer, naturally, compute, theory] [figure, visual, naturalistic, sensory, transition, human, involved]
Sub-Categorical Properties of Stimuli Determine the Category-Order Effect
Jordan Schoenherr, Robert Thomson
Jordan Schoenherr, Robert Thomson
The category-order effect (COE) is observed when the categorical
properties of items within the first half of a given list affect recall
performance in a mixed-list serial-recall task. The present study examines
whether the advantage is due to other sub-categorical properties (e.g.,
orthographic similarity and word frequency) rather than an artifact of stimuli
used in previous studies (e.g., numbers vs. nouns). Participants were presented
with numeric stimuli and nouns from a variety of semantic categories while their
orthography and word frequency were systematically manipulated. The results
suggest that a large portion of the COE can be attributed to the sub-categorical
properties of the items.
[category, presented, coe, categorical, journal, backward, subcategorical, evidence, interference, accuracy, consisted, categoryorder, size, precede, schoenherr, lasek, examining, response, thomson, exhibited, eliminated, finding, improved, replicate] [experiment, greene, case, cognitive, indicated, discussion, psychology, explanation, fact] [recall, memory, recalled, item, previous, main, experimental, affect, university] [number, performance, mse, numeric, format, study, procedure, greater, created] [word, order, frequency, semantic, orthographic, similarity, list, relative, length, fan] [set, higher, observed, proportion, prior, based] [forward, letter, figure, serial, activation, interaction, input, associated, represented]
Moral Judgments: Studying People with Helping Professions
Maurice Grinberg, Evgeniya Hristova, Veselina Kadreva
Maurice Grinberg, Evgeniya Hristova, Veselina Kadreva
While a considerable amount of research is done in the field of
moral psychology, to our best knowledge, no systematic study of moral judgments
made by professional groups who make moral decisions as part of their
occupational duties exists (e.g. firefighters, medical doctors, midwives, police
officers). By their training and practice, such professionals are expected to
exhibit differences in moral judgment compared to the general population. Here we
report data about moral judgments of firefighters and midwives using moral
dilemmas in which one person must be sacrificed in order to save more people. The
study reveals that midwives and firefighters are considerably less utilitarian
compared to a control group of students. Midwives almost never find the
utilitarian action to be permissible. This striking result demonstrates that
further understanding of the specific mechanisms involved in special professional
groups’ moral judgment is needed.
[presented, revealed, training, time, artificial, compared] [moral, harm, death, utilitarian, inevitability, permissible, professional, physical, occupation, judged, instrumentality, directness, person, percentage, avoidable, life, inevitable, experience, killing, judgment, dilemma, impersonal, harming, trolley, going, worker, anova, people, heavy, factor, occupational, situation, fall, die, responsibility, personal, endangered, termination, ethical, save, cognitive, incidental, emotional, instrumental, inflicted, care, thing] [main, female, male, mixed, specific, gender] [number, analyzed, control, three, study, saving, involving, difference, special, container] [order, analysis] [data, based, set, exploration] [figure, interaction, moving, fewer, action]
Children consider others' expected costs and rewards when deciding what to teach
Sophie Bridgers, Julian Jara-Ettinger, Hyowon Gweon
Sophie Bridgers, Julian Jara-Ettinger, Hyowon Gweon
Humans have an intuitive sense of how to help and inform others
even in the absence of a specific request. How do we achieve this? Here we
propose that even young children can reason about others’ expected costs
and rewards to flexibly decide what is best for others. We asked children to
choose one of two toys to teach to another agent while systematically varying the
relative costs and rewards of discovering each toy’s functions.
Children’s choices were consistent with the predictions of a computational
model that maximizes others’ utilities by minimizing their expected costs
and maximizing their expected rewards. These results suggest that even early in
life, children draw rational inferences about others’ costs and benefits,
and choose to communicate information that maximizes their utilities.
[learner, condition, learning, differed, suggests] [reason, cognitive, reasoning, consideration, social, failed, equally, understanding] [harder, experimental] [toy, teaching, teach, help, easy, hard, experimenter, taught, activate, cooler, dull, cool, discover, knowledgeable, communicate, activating, asked, prioritize, reduce, difficulty, teacher, providing, knowledge] [relative, reflect, small, order, turn, table] [model, expected, cost, reward, utility, full, discovery, higher, consider, selected, button, best, alternative, data, choose, provide, choice, deciding, based, preferred, set, empirical, rewarding, binomial, simpler, range, decide, predict, inform, probability, incur, proportion, predicted, likelihood] [figure, play, activation, plan, focus]
Differentiating between Encoding and Processing during Sequential Diagnostic Reasoning: An Eye tracking study.
Anja Klichowicz, Agnes Scholz, Sascha Strehlau, Josef F. Krems
Anja Klichowicz, Agnes Scholz, Sascha Strehlau, Josef F. Krems
When finding a best explanation for observed symptoms a multitude
of information has to be integrated and matched against explanations stored in
memory. Although assumptions about ongoing memory processes can be derived from
the process models, little process data exists that would allow to sufficiently
test these assumptions.
In order to explore memory processes in diagnostic reasoning, 29 participants
were asked to solve a visual reasoning task (the Black Box paradigm) where
critical information had to be retrieved from memory.
This study focused on differentiating between processes that take place during
the encoding and the evaluation of symptom information by comparing eye movement
measures (the number of fixation and fixation duration per dwell).
Results will be discussed in light of existing theories on sequential diagnostic
reasoning. Further, it will be discussed to which extent eye movements can be
informative about memory processes underlying sequential diagnostic reasoning.
[processing, task, time, sequential, trial, test, second, increased, journal, complex, compared, training] [diagnostic, black, reasoning, cognitive, evaluation, participant, influence, car, symptom, deliberate, concerning, explanation, people, explained, clear] [memory, aoi, experimental, differentiated, expect] [number, study, place, department, high, johnson, needed] [analysis, order, absorption, measure] [decision, making, assume, tracing, upper, data, find, set, method] [fixation, process, encoding, eye, ray, dwells, dwell, box, atom, duration, glaholt, light, current, encoded, horstmann, field, tracking, left, gaze, tar, figure, hygene, aois, technische, corner, area, movement, analyzing]
Effects of experience in a developmental model of reading
Ya-Ning Chang, Padraic Monaghan, Stephen Welbourne
Ya-Ning Chang, Padraic Monaghan, Stephen Welbourne
There is considerable evidence showing that age of acquisition
(AoA) is an important factor influencing lexical processing. Early-learned words
tend to be processed more quickly compared to later-learned words. The effect
could be due to the gradual reduction in plasticity as more words are learned.
Alternatively, it could originate from differences within semantic
representations. We implemented the triangle model of reading including
orthographic, phonological and semantic processing layers, and trained it
according to experience of a language learner to explore the AoA effects in both
naming and lexical decision. Regression analyses on the model’s performance
showed that AoA was a reliable predictor of naming and lexical decision
performance, and the effect size was larger for lexical decision than for naming.
The modelling results demonstrate that AoA operates differentially on concrete
and abstract words, indicating that both the mapping and the representation
accounts of AoA were contributing to the model’s performance.
[training, age, learned, time, task, journal, hearing, target, presented, processing, size, learning, early, accuracy, predictor, evidence, picture, explore, learn] [mapping, consistency, including, experience, consistent, key] [phonological, context, speaking, error, language, memory, experimental] [step, score, larger, performance, three, conducted, greater, number] [aoa, semantic, lexical, word, naming, reading, frequency, cumulative, attractor, monaghan, locus, orthographic, semantics, acquisition, concreteness, computational, derived, phonology, simulate, table, small, richness, slot] [model, decision, regression, theory, set, based, data, measured, observed] [representation, trained, layer, hidden, interaction, behavioural, activation, input, role, unit, connected, developed, pattern]
Language does not explain the wine-specific memory advantage of wine experts
Ilja Croijmans, Asifa Majid
Ilja Croijmans, Asifa Majid
Although people are poor at naming odors, naming a smell helps to
remember that odor. Previous studies show wine experts have better memory for
smells, and they also name smells differently than novices. Is wine
experts’ odor memory is verbally mediated? And is the odor memory advantage
that experts have over novices restricted to odors in their domain of expertise,
or does it generalize? Twenty-four wine experts and 24 novices smelled wines,
wine-related odors and common odors, and remembered these. Half the participants
also named the smells. Wine experts had better memory for wines, but not for the
other odors, indicating their memory advantage is restricted to wine. Wine
experts named odors better than novices, but there was no relationship between
experts’ ability to name odors and their memory for odors. This suggests
experts’ odor memory advantage is not linguistically mediated, but may be
the result of differential perceptual learning.
[verbal, journal, label, accuracy, advantage, interference, task, test, type, half, training, condition, presented, learning, baseline, finding] [common, consistent, cognitive, consistency, relationship, people, chemical, real, appear, white, professional] [wine, memory, odor, remembering, language, expertise, named, remember, perceptual, expert, olfactory, consistently, domain, smell, verbally, smelled, household, superior, melcher, previous, specific, corrected, restricted, bonferroni, flavor, describing, brown, nez, recall, croijmans, hughson] [better, chess, asked, study, ability, correctly, accurate, difference, correct, group, knowledge, help] [naming, table, small, dependent] [correlation, pairwise, red] [recognition, encoding, interaction, visual, role, food, current]
Young children and adults integrate past expectations and current outcomes to reason about others’ emotions
Desmond Ong, Mika Asaba, Hyowon Gweon
Desmond Ong, Mika Asaba, Hyowon Gweon
Reasoning about others’ emotions is a crucial component in
social cognition. Here, we tested the ability of preschool children to reason
about an agent’s emotions following an unexpected outcome. Importantly, we
controlled for the actual payoff of the outcome, while varying the prior
expectation of the agents. Five year olds, but not four year olds, were able to
correctly judge an agent’s emotions following an unexpected outcome
(Experiment 1). However, when explicitly provided with the agent’s
expectations, four year old children were then able to correctly judge the
agent’s feelings (Experiment 2). Thus, our results suggest that the ability
to reason about emotions given outcomes and prior expectations develops by 4
years of age, while the ability to spontaneously infer such prior expectations
develops soon after. We discuss our results in light of the developmental
literature on emotion understanding and counter- factual reasoning.
[child, test, developmental, adult, reported, age, tested, incongruent, trajectory, journal] [expectation, character, low, ball, understanding, bowling, affective, happy, reason, strike, knocked, gutter, rating, physical, emotion, experiment, counterfactual, feel, scale, initial, sad, feeling, happier, unexpected, mental, mage, straight, felt, reasoning, social, going, explicitly, hit, examined, judge, equally, emotional, indicated] [] [high, experimenter, provided, ability, asked, preschool, correctly, practice, three, better, number, sally, understand, additional, young, difference, video, change] [final, order] [prior, outcome, alternative, choose, observed, higher, chose, theory, actual, choice, predict, agent] [left, figure]
On the Tragedy of Personnel Evaluation
Momme von Sydow, Niels Braus
Momme von Sydow, Niels Braus
In social-dilemma situations (public-good games) people may pursue
their local, egoistic interests and thereby lower the global, overall payoff of
their group and, paradoxically, even their own resulting payoff. One may also
speak of intra-individual dilemmas, where people pursue local goals at the
expense of their overall utility. Our experiments transfer this idea to personnel
evaluation. Participants were put in the position of a Human Resources manager,
who should for instance select workers who optimize the overall payoff of the
company, rather than those who optimize only their specific payoffs. The results,
however, suggest that most, albeit not all, participants tended to focus on
directly comparing individuals without considering the overall contribution to a
group. Thus employees with the best overall effects for a company may be
evaluated the most negatively. This possible ‘tragedy of personnel
evaluation’ may have a substantial negative impact on the effectiveness of
companies or organizations.
[task, general, day, phase, condition] [experiment, people, evaluation, worker, social, company, work, cognitive, positive, evaluated, assigned, team, causal, negative, detection, presence, stable, understanding, discussion] [clearly, context, evolutionary, university, evolution, society] [group, working, contribution, majority, versus, management, lower, science, high] [local, table, global, small, increase] [altruist, earnings, personnel, individual, normal, utility, von, based, highest, lowest, best, tragedy, average, egoistic, optimize, round, randomly, well, manager, altruism, considering, fehr, operating, ignore, total, pursue, data, good, profit] [selection, figure, human, role, focus, critical]
Learning How To Throw Darts: The Effect Of Modeling Type And Reflection On Dart-Throwing Skills
Janneke van der Loo, Eefje Frissen, Emiel Krahmer
Janneke van der Loo, Eefje Frissen, Emiel Krahmer
In this study we investigate the effect of modeling type and
reflection on the acquisition of dart-throwing skills, self-efficacy beliefs and
self-reaction scores by replicating a study by Kitsantas, Zimmerman, and Cleary
(2000). Participants observing a coping model were expected to surpass
participants observing a mastery model who in turn were expected to outperform
participants who learned without a model. Reflection was hypothesized to have a
positive effect. Ninety undergraduate students were tested three times on
dart-throwing skills, self-efficacy beliefs, and self-reaction scores. Contrary
to what was expected, we found no main effects of modeling type and reflection.
No interaction effects were found either. There was an effect of trial,
indicating that participants improved dart-throwing skills, self-efficacy
beliefs, and self-reaction scores over time. Furthermore, self-efficacy beliefs
and dart-throwing skill were highly correlated. Our results suggest that learners
do not benefit from observing a model and reflecting, but practice makes
perfect.
[learning, test, type, trial, second, journal, tested, improved, repeated, condition, learn, performing, indicating] [social, influence, throw, experience] [main, van, novice, basic] [reflection, observing, observational, mastery, coping, study, dart, practice, difference, asked, three, throwing, dartthrowing, feedback, better, skill, watched, video, kitsantas, score, question, started, educational, group, reflecting, third, numerically, selfreaction, performance, selfefficacy, scored] [acquisition, order, form, den, turn, writing, reflect, read] [model, modeling, correlation, played, higher, observed, lead, data, average, expected, measured, best, follow] [motor, process, interaction, performed, current]
Dissociable effects of cue validity on bias formation and reversal
Angelo Pirrone, Qi Zhang, Sheng Li
Angelo Pirrone, Qi Zhang, Sheng Li
In two experiments we manipulated the prior probability of
occurrence for two alternatives. After a first learning session, in a second
session the cue to bias the decision was reversed. Our investigation shows that
subjects are able to learn the reverse bias only when the bias of the first
session is in line with their expected outcome. When, during the first session,
the actual outcome of the bias is not in line with the expected outcome, there is
an inhibition for the reversal bias learning in the second session. We
investigate this phenomenon with computational models of choice showing that the
inhibition of reversal is due to an increase in the rate at which subjects
accumulate evidence for repeated, unexpected stimuli. We discuss a possible
theoretical explanation that links this phenomenon to similar results found in
the literature on reversal learning and to the effect of novelty on learning.
[session, reversal, drift, accuracy, learning, presented, starting, second, training, invalid, congruent, valid, incongruent, evidence, arrow, wrong, cue, learn, journal, rule, time, rdk, faster, peking, task, mulder, ddm, block, trial, stimulus, learned, reported, wrt, differed, showing, compared] [neutral, experiment, crt] [experimental, perceptual, discrimination, manipulated] [group, correct, change, modify, accurate, performance, three, department] [bias, occurrence, random, table] [decision, rate, point, validity, expected, model, diffusion, outcome, prior, opposite, accumulation, making, data, probability, based, biased, accumulated] [direction, performed, figure, interaction, pointing, rts, level, switched, human, behavioural, inhibition, associated]
Are we ON the same page? Monolingual and bilingual acquisition of familiar and novel relational language
Nathan George, Junko Kanero, Dorothee Chwilla, Daniel Weiss
Nathan George, Junko Kanero, Dorothee Chwilla, Daniel Weiss
Verbs and prepositions pose significant challenges in second
language learning, as languages differ in how they map these relational terms
onto events. Second language learners must put aside their language-specific lens
to uncover how a new language operates, perhaps having to rediscover semantic
distinctions typically ignored in the first language. The current study examines
how the acquisition of these novel mappings are affected by characteristics of
the learner and of the language to be learned. English monolinguals and
Dutch-English bilinguals learned novel terms that corresponded to containment and
support relations of either English, Dutch, or Japanese. Results show that
English distinctions are learned best across groups, potentially reflecting
predispositions in human cognition. No differences were found between
monolinguals and bilinguals in any language condition. The characteristics of the
language to be learned appear to play a prominent role in the acquisition of
novel semantic categories.
[learning, second, novel, japanese, category, learned, presented, relational, learn, test, training, advantage, evidence, condition, suggests, attend, consisted, block, learner] [cognitive, mapping, cognition, future, excluded, appear, experiment] [language, lexicalization, dutch, bilingual, support, native, containment, university, main, oku, phonetic, expect, aan, nonce, acquiring, monolingual, background, van, degree, easier, outperform, hameru, ireru, spatial] [study, three, additional, worse, better, conducted, reflecting, performance] [english, semantic, acquisition, word, examine, relation, relative, ease, proficiency, verb] [well] [figure, current, pattern, level, process, performed, motion]
A Perception-Based Threshold for Bidirectional Texture Functions
Banafsheh Azari, Sven Bertel, Charles Wuethrich
Banafsheh Azari, Sven Bertel, Charles Wuethrich
For creating photorealistic images, Computer Graphics researchers
introduced Bidirectional Texture Functions (BTFs), which use view- and
illumination-dependent textures for rendering. BTFs require massive storage, and
several proposals were made on how to compress them, but very few take into
account human perception. We present and discuss an experimental study on how
decreasing the texture resolution influences perceived quality of the rendered
images. In a visual comparison task, observer quality judgments and gaze data
were collected and analysed to determine the optimal downsampling of BTF data
without significant loss of their perceived visual quality.
[second, pair, test, exposure, time, presentation, visually, block, viewer] [perceived, bidirectional, real, experiment, work, compression] [object, experimental] [three, study, group, reflection, material, incorrect, comparison, lower, correct, performance, equal, number] [quality, table, surface, order, analysis, subject, applied, existing] [data, higher, well, model, threshold, average, based, individual, collected] [image, btf, fixation, texture, visual, gaze, resolution, perception, btfs, computer, illumination, perceivable, figure, vdp, reflectance, afds, sofa, viewing, ffs, eye, light, filip, location, rendered, rendering, synthetic, downsampling, view, human]
Temporal Causal Strength Learning with Multiple Causes
Cory Derringer, Benjamin Rottman
Cory Derringer, Benjamin Rottman
When learning the relation between a cause and effect, how do
people control for all the other factors that influence the same effect? Two
experiments tested a hypothesis that people focus on events in which the target
cause changes and all other factors remain stable. In both four-cause (Experiment
1) and eight-cause (Experiment 2) scenarios, participants learned causal
relations more accurately when they viewed datasets in which only one cause
changed at a time. However, participants in the comparison condition, in which
multiple causes changed simultaneously, performed fairly well; in addition to
focusing on events when a single cause changed, they also used events in which
multiple causes changed for updating their beliefs about causal strength. These
findings help explain how people are able to learn causal relations in situations
when there are many alternative factors.
[condition, accuracy, learning, learn, time, trial, target, learner, tested, finding, cue, test, type] [causal, experiment, strength, focal, changed, positive, negative, people, neutral, stable, participant, cognitive, strong, viewed, influence, remain, relationship] [informative, updated, sleep, intercept] [change, three, number, better, controlling, control, created, subset, accurate, fairly, included, difference, help, course, effectiveness] [random, table, final, order, calculate, relative] [regression, data, set, alternative, update, datasets, bivariate, theory, updating, potential, based, logistic, probability, predicting, selected, predict, well] [multiple, figure, current, patient, transition, interaction]
A Unified Framework for Bounded and Unbounded Numerical Estimation
Dan Kim, John Opfer
Dan Kim, John Opfer
Representations of numerical value have been assessed using
bounded (e.g., 0-1000) and unbounded (e.g., 0-?) number-line tasks, with
considerable debate regarding whether one or both tasks elicit unique cognitive
strategies (e.g., addition or subtraction) and require unique cognitive models.
To test this, we examined 86 5- to 9-year-olds' addition, subtraction, and
estimation skill (bounded and unbounded). Against the measurement-skills
hypothesis, estimates were even more logarithmic on unbounded than bounded number
lines and were better described by conventional log-linear models than by
alternative cognitive models. Moreover, logarithmic index values reliably
predicted arithmetic scores, whereas model parameters of alternative models
failed to do so. Results suggest that the logarithmic-to-linear shift theory
provides a unified framework for numerical estimation with high descriptive
adequacy and yields uniquely accurate predictions for children’s early math
proficiency.
[task, condition, second, developmental, tested, evidence, test, development, suggests, response] [power, cognitive, account, examined] [shift, mixed, produced] [number, unbounded, bounded, numerical, estimation, logarithmic, mllm, subtraction, logarithmicity, addition, arithmetic, cohen, better, three, greater, magnitude, linear, sarnecka, cyclic, numeric, performance, scallop, opfer, unified, accurate, mspm, psychophysical, mcpms, require, study, conventional] [bias, order, unique] [model, parameter, predicted, fit, individual, data, best, based, actual, correlation, estimate, median, observed, expected, predict, provide] [framework, multiple, representation, figure]
The Relationship Between Inhibitory Control and Free Will Beliefs in 4-to 6-Year-Old-Children
Adrienne Wente, Titus Ting, Rosie Aboody, Tamar Kushnir, Alison Gopnik
Adrienne Wente, Titus Ting, Rosie Aboody, Tamar Kushnir, Alison Gopnik
This study explores the relationship between beliefs about
self-control and the ability to exercise self-control in 4- to 6- year-old
children. Sixty-eight children were asked a series of questions to gauge whether
they believed that they could freely choose to act against their desires or
inhibit themselves from performing desired actions. Children were also asked to
provide qualitative explanations for why they could or could not exercise free
will, and to complete two inhibitory control tasks: forbidden toy and day/night.
Choice responses were negatively correlated with performance on the forbidden toy
task, when children performed that task first. There was also a negative
correlation between a belief in an internal locus of control, and success on the
forbidden toy measure. Refraining from touching a forbidden toy appears to be
correlated to less belief in free will. Though this may appear counter-intuitive,
it is consistent with cross-cultural research.
[task, inhibitory, child, completed, executive, age, half, developmental, revealed, explore, suggests, day, development, presented, type, tested, counterbalanced] [relationship, desire, impossible, belief, indicated, explanation, possibility, social, anova, people, negative, explain, consistent, experience, series] [previous] [free, control, external, toy, forbidden, provided, score, experimenter, asked, question, answered, night, believed, difference, study, received, ice, passed, mind, ability, kushnir, department, practicing, functioning, exercise, drew, usa, better, practice, differ] [eat, order, table, locus, correlated] [choose, choice, theory, independent, correlation, wait, hall, provide, data] [internal, action, inhibition, fewer, food, desired, indicates]
Document Cohesion Flow: Striving towards Coherence
Scott Crossley, Mihai Dascalu, Stefan Trausan-Matu, Laura Allen, Danielle McNamara
Scott Crossley, Mihai Dascalu, Stefan Trausan-Matu, Laura Allen, Danielle McNamara
Text cohesion is an important element of discourse processing.
This paper presents a new approach to modeling, quantifying, and visualizing text
cohesion using automated cohesion flow indices that capture semantic links among
paragraphs. Cohesion flow is calculated by applying Cohesion Network Analysis, a
combination of semantic distances, Latent Semantic Analysis, and Latent Dirichlet
Allocation, as well as Social Network Analysis. Experiments performed on 315
timed essays indicated that cohesion flow indices are significantly correlated
with human ratings of text coherence and essay quality. Visualizations of the
global cohesion indices are also included to support a more facile understanding
of how cohesion flow impacts coherence in terms of semantic dependencies between
paragraphs.
[reported, accuracy, size] [understanding, initial, automated, strong, evaluation] [previous, university, sort, latent, coherent, language, linguistic, calculated] [three, absolute, study, number, score, scored, conducted, difference, high, linear] [cohesion, text, flow, essay, coherence, global, quality, semantic, writing, local, paragraph, crossley, document, similarity, graph, adjacency, topological, raters, analysis, order, distance, lexical, discourse, organization, demonstrated, computational, examine, ordered, sequencing, correlated, table, topic, readerbench, measure, final, sat] [based, regression, average, provide, correlation, model, well, follow, predict] [human, network, overlap, feature, current, figure, element, developed]
Are children flexible speakers? Effects of typicality and listener needs in children’s event descriptions
Myrto Grigoroglou, Anna Papafragou
Myrto Grigoroglou, Anna Papafragou
Do children take into account their addressees’ needs in
spontaneous production? Developmental evidence for speaker adjustments is mixed.
Some studies show that children are often under-informative when communicating
with ignorant addressees but other studies demonstrate successes in
children’s ability to integrate another person’s perspective. We
asked whether children adapt their event descriptions depending on (a) the
typicality of event components, and (b) the listener’s visual access to the
events. We found that children’s ability to use information about the
listener’s visual perspective to make specific adjustments to event
descriptions emerged only in highly interactive contexts, in which participants
collaborated towards mutual goals.
[age, test, child, older, journal, younger, evidence, compared, explore, revealed, task, showing, early, presentation, dell] [experiment, event, account, generic, sensitivity, discussion, man, participant, version] [access, atypical, addressee, typical, instrument, specific, typicality, referential, main, confederate, communicative, egocentric, informational, production, listener, contrastive, ignorant, communication, university, adjust, frequently, previous, delaware, watering, adapt, lockridge, experimental, mentioning, describing, brown, emerged, highly] [group, ability, difference, perspective, purpose, conducted, knowledge, circle, procedure, experimenter] [mention, mentioned, analysis] [agent, proportion] [visual, goal, interaction, computer, screen, figure]
Explanatory Biases in Social Categorization
Samuel Johnson, Haylie Kim, Frank Keil
Samuel Johnson, Haylie Kim, Frank Keil
Stereotypes are important simplifying assumptions we use for
navigating the social world, associating traits with social categories. These
beliefs can be used to infer an individual’s likely social category from
observed traits (a diagnostic inference) or to make inferences about an
individual’s unknown traits based on their putative social category (a
predictive inference). We argue that these inferences rely on the same
explanatory logic as other sorts of diagnostic and predictive reasoning tasks,
such as causal explanation. Supporting this conclusion, we demonstrate that
stereotype use involves four of the same biases known to be used in causal
explanation: A bias against categories making unverified predictions (Exp. 1), a
bias toward simple categories (Exp. 2), an asymmetry between confirmed and
disconfirmed predictions of potential categories (Exp. 3), and a tendency to
treat uncertain categorizations as certainly true or false (Exp. 4).
[evidence, category, complex, categorization, heard, deterministic, journal, chance, completed] [people, social, causal, personality, positive, negative, occupation, explanatory, experiment, explanation, cognitive, physical, simplicity, diagnostic, religion, work, belong, jamie, told, ethnicity, drink, taylor, reasoning, chener, trait, folian, scope, excluded, consistent, discussion, explain, recruited, case, psychological, account, occasionally, leading, martini, mechanical] [latent] [reputation, stereotype, science, traditional, help, versus, additional, difference] [bias, relative] [probability, simple, unknown, individual, making, based, predictive, conference, uncertain, piece, prior, infer, prediction, method, set, potential, inferred, amazon] [feature, associated, multiple]
Relation between bimanual coordination and whole-body balancing on a slackline
Kentaro Kodama, Yusuke Kikuchi, Hideo Yamagiwa
Kentaro Kodama, Yusuke Kikuchi, Hideo Yamagiwa
To reveal the fundamental skills involved in slacklining, this
study examined a hypothesis regarding single-leg standing on a slackline. In the
field of practice, instructors teach learners how to maintain balance on a
swinging flat belt (slackline), such as by moving their hands in parallel. We
hypothesized that bimanual coordination in the horizontal direction might
contribute to dynamic balancing on a slackline. In our pilot study, two
participants at different skill levels were asked to maintain their balance on a
slackline as long as possible. The dynamic stability of bimanual coordination was
assessed by a nonlinear time series analysis (cross recurrence quantification
analysis), then compared among the participants. Bimanual coordination stability
was higher in the experienced player than in the novice player. The results
suggest that the single-leg standing skill might be correlated with bimanual
coordination stability. Further investigations are expected to clarify this
notion in the future.
[time, task, training, position, phase, standard, compared] [series, stability, fundamental, regarded, cognitive, stable, participant, sensitivity, long, case, experiment] [novice, shared, van] [balance, skill, study, maintain, investigate, three, hypothesized, control, greater, number, strategy, difficult, required, international, contributes] [analysis, relation, structure] [player, data, higher, noise, sample, model, based, method, hypothesis] [bimanual, coordination, slackline, dynamic, experienced, balancing, standing, figure, system, postural, slacklining, movement, recurrence, level, nonlinear, human, quantification, persistence, body, motor, dynamical, static, pattern, horizontal, move, maxl, longer, microscopic, motion, current, reveal, quiet, crqa, center, dofs, macroscopic, compensating, environment]
From embodied metaphors to metaphoric gestures
Margot Lhommet, Stacy Marsella
Margot Lhommet, Stacy Marsella
Humans turn abstract referents and discourse structures into
gesture using metaphors. The semantic relation between abstract communicative
intentions and their physical realization in gesture is a question that has not
been fully addressed. Our hypothesis is that a limited set of primary metaphors
and image schemas underlies a wide range of gestures.
Our analysis of a video corpus supports this view: over 90% of the gestures in
the corpus are structured by image schemas via a limited set of primary
metaphors. This analysis informs the extension of a computational model that
grounds various communicative intentions to a physical, embodied context, using
those primary metaphors and image schemas. This model is used to generate gesture
performances for virtual characters.
[shape, status, size, suggests, structured, verbal, rule] [virtual, physical, mental, social, metaphor, work, script, autonomous, reasoning, mapping, wide, depicting, scale] [gesture, communicative, object, metaphoric, generation, speech, university, speaker, depict, previous, meaning, language, multiagent, convey, eing, conversational, vertical, springer] [primary, grounded, international, intelligent, communicate, limited, video, impact] [abstract, corpus, concrete, analysis, discourse, computational, semantic, conceptual, list, text, relation, multimodal, structure] [model, set, generate, range, conference, behavior, based, distribution] [image, space, embodied, action, figure, nonverbal, location, represents, represent, framework, annotated, human]
Selecting Explanations from Causal Chains: Transitivity Intuitions Require Exportable Mechanisms
Jonas Nagel, Simon Stephan
Jonas Nagel, Simon Stephan
When A causes B and B causes C, under what conditions is A a good
explanation for the occurrence of C? We propose that distal causes are only
perceived to be explanatory if the causal mechanism is insensitive to inessential
variations of boundary conditions. In two experiments, subjects first observed
deterministic A->B->C relationships in a single exemplar of an unknown
kind. They judged A to be crucial for C by default. However, when they
subsequently learned that the causal mechanism fails to generate the A->C
dependency in other exemplars of the same kind, subjects devalued A as a crucial
explanation for C even within the first exemplar. We relate these findings to
the idea that good explanations pick out portable dependency relations, and that
sensitive causes fail to meet this requirement.
[dependency, condition, exemplar, second, learned, pre, learning, half, indicating, position, complex, generalize, analogous, boundary, finding, sound, selective, displayed] [causal, sensitive, fish, relationship, experiment, explanation, distal, crucial, appropriateness, sensitivity, insensitive, influence, rating, explanatory, contingency, swarm, device, kind, physical, antenna, nagel, relevance, equally, mediated, stephan, variable, despite, dependence, presence, physiological, narrow, future, exportable] [proximal, gender, highly, context, domain] [asked, additional, high, three] [mechanism, occurrence, post, mediator, class, interpreted, perfect] [observed, alternative, good, outcome, estimate, hypothesis, simple, expected] [figure, brain, activity, single, chain, movement, system, human]
Causality, Normality, and Sampling Propensity
Thomas Icard, Joshua Knobe
Thomas Icard, Joshua Knobe
We offer an account of the role of normality---both statistical
and prescriptive---in judgments of actual causation. Using only standard tools
from the literature on causal cognition, we argue that the phenomenon can be
explained simply on the assumption that people stochastically sample
(counterfactual) scenarios in a way that reflects perceived normality. We show
that a formalization of this idea can account for some of the most puzzling
qualitative patterns uncovered in recent experimental work on the topic.
[statistical, fixed] [causal, prescriptive, strength, counterfactual, case, coin, normality, people, sufficiency, dice, necessity, account, causation, caused, abnormal, disjunctive, roll, inclined, alex, regard, fact, suppose, administrative, faculty, accord, relevant, arises, explained, event, receptionist, detector, purely, factor, extent, supersession, moral, philosophy, police, billy, violates, cognitive, flip, stochastically, work, claim, precisely, professor, described, suzy, person] [degree, experimental, university] [impact, allowed, problem, greater, three] [measure, existing, exactly, reflect] [sampling, actual, consider, outcome, probabilistic, norm, probability, agent, determine, sample, paper, bayes, normal, model, drawn, depends, simple, underlying] [conjunctive, motion, role, supposed]
Using Subgoal Learning and Self-Explanation to Improve Programming Education
Lauren Margulieux, Richard Catrambone
Lauren Margulieux, Richard Catrambone
The present study explored passive, active, and constructive
methods of learning problem solving procedures. Using subgoal learning, which has
promoted retention and transfer in procedural domains, the study compared the
efficacy of different methods for learning a programming procedure. The results
suggest that constructive methods produced better problem solving performance
than passive or active methods. The amount of instructional support that learners
received in the three different constructive interventions also affected
performance. Learners performed best when they either received hints about the
subgoals of the procedure or received feedback on the subgoal labels that they
constructed, but not when they received both. These findings suggest that
constructing subgoal labels is better than passively or actively engaging with
subgoal labels. Furthermore, there is an optimal level of instructional support
for students engaging in constructive learning and that providing too much
support can be equally as detrimental as providing too little support.
[learning, label, condition, novel, task, receiving, completed, journal] [explain, constructing, participant, cognitive] [support, meaning, main] [subgoal, feedback, constructive, worked, subgoals, received, problem, solving, example, created, instructional, better, guided, procedure, passive, active, app, receive, programming, providing, create, study, asked, provided, transfer, performance, help, correct, click, guidance, unguided, knowledge, statistically, drum, catrambone, included, drag, improve, procedural, solve, promote, incorrect, effective, number, inventor] [include, analysis, applied, quality, structural, considered] [method, based, best, prior] [performed, figure, image, framework, classified, play]
The Effects of Gender Stereotypes for Structure Mapping in Mathematics
Kreshnik Begolli, Brooke Herd, Hannah Sayonno, Susanne Jaeggi, Lindsey Richland
Kreshnik Begolli, Brooke Herd, Hannah Sayonno, Susanne Jaeggi, Lindsey Richland
Fear of a negative stereotype about one’s performance can
lead to temporary underperformance on tests; e.g. women may underperform on a
math test when prompted to think about gender. The current study extends this
literature to examine whether stereotype threat not only leads to
underperformance on tests, but also may impact reasoning and learning more
broadly. We focus in particular on the effects of stereotype threat on analogical
learning, a complex reasoning process that imposes a high working memory load.
In this study, we examined the effects of gender stereotypes when females were
asked to learn by comparing the mathematical concepts of combinations and
permutations. Overall, participants given a threat before learning gained less
from the instruction, as reflected by assessments administered immediately after
the lesson and after a 1-week delay. This could lead to systematic differences in
the quality of abstract representational knowledge for individuals from
negatively stereotyped groups.
[learning, test, condition, analogical, journal, time, type, analogy, relational, learn, suggesting, exposed, examining] [story, unrelated, common, cognitive, schema, examined, social, work, negative] [gender, context, memory, combination, experimental, previous, delayed] [threat, stereotype, lesson, video, mathematics, instructional, study, working, performance, misleading, facilitory, posttest, richland, impact, mathematical, problem, solution, high, math, knowledge, lower, teaching, worse, strategy, mcdonough, reduce, correct, instruction, solve, question, greater, pretest, concept, number, permutation, comparing] [similarity, structure, core, order, surface] [based, state, higher, potential, lead] [role, current, represent]
Improving with Practice: A Neural Model of Mathematical Development
Sean Aubin, Aaron Voelker, Chris Eliasmith
Sean Aubin, Aaron Voelker, Chris Eliasmith
The ability to improve in speed and accuracy as a result of
repeating some task is an important hallmark of intelligent biological systems.
We model the progression from a counting-based strategy for addition to a
recall-based strategy. The model consists of two networks working in parallel: a
slower basal ganglia loop, and a faster cortical network. The slow network
methodically computes the count from one digit given another, corresponding to
the addition of two digits, while the fast network gradually "memorizes" the
output from the slow network. The faster network eventually learns how to add the
same digits that initially drove the behaviour of the slower network. Performance
of this model is demonstrated by simulating a fully spiking neural network that
includes basal ganglia, thalamus and various cortical areas.
[learning, learn, response, presented, development, task, rule, learned, accuracy, reaction, developmental, complex, speed, faster] [cognitive, result] [memory, error, recall, apply] [counting, addition, grade, strategy, working, number, digit, numerical, progression, answer, dyscalculia, performance, thalamus, mathematical, incremented, example, magnitude, correct, predefined, international] [semantic, vector, table, plausible, count, similarity] [model, population, well, rate, simple, conference] [neural, heteroassociative, figure, spiking, representation, input, output, prefrontal, brain, network, basal, represent, pointer, level, single, cortical, cortex, current, learns, encoders, eliasmith, consists, desired, motor, architecture, activity, neuron, focus, numeracy, nef, behaviour, action]
Examining Referential Uncertainty in Naturalistic Contexts from the Child’s View: Evidence from an Eye-Tracking Study with Infants
Yayun Zhang, Chen Yu
Yayun Zhang, Chen Yu
Young Infants are prolific word learners even though they are
facing the challenge of referential uncertainty (Quine, 1960). Many laboratory
studies have shown that infants are skilled at inferring correct referents of
words from ambiguous contexts (Swingley, 2009). However, little is known
regarding how they visually attend to and select the target object among many
other objects in view when parents name it during everyday interactions. By
investigating the looking pattern of 12-month-old infants using naturalistic
first-person images with varying degrees of referential ambiguity, we found that
infants’ attention is selective and they only select a small subset of
objects to attend to at each learning instance despite the complexity of the data
in the real world. This work allows us to better understand how perceptual
properties of objects in infants’ view influence their visual attention,
which is also related to how they select candidate objects to build word-object
mappings.
[learning, target, attention, attend, label, time, statistical, size, learn, condition, suggesting, evidence, compare, silence, infant, labeling, looked, selective, visually, continuous, novel, complex, smith] [experiment, influence, person, cognitive, candidate, real] [object, select, referential, referent, perceptual, previous, degree, language, experimental] [correct, number, study, subset, free, young, knowledge, toy] [word, naming, entropy, ambiguous, natural, examine, small, direct, build] [data, uncertainty, proportion, selected, potential, based, uncertain, pay] [attended, view, visual, figure, gaze, location, eye, moment, system, environment, process, play, naturalistic, viewing, analyzing, centered, pattern, human]
The Naïve Utility Calculus unifies spatial and statistical routes to preference
Julian Jara-Ettinger, Felix Sun, Laura Schulz, Josh Tenenbaum
Julian Jara-Ettinger, Felix Sun, Laura Schulz, Josh Tenenbaum
Humans can seamlessly infer what other people like, based on what
they do. Broadly, two types of accounts have been proposed to explain different
aspects of this ability. A first account focuses on inferences from spatial
information: agents choose and move towards things they like. A second account
focuses on inferences from statistical information: uncommon choices reveal
preferences more clearly compared to common choices. Here we argue that these two
kinds of inferences can be explained by the assumption that agents maximize
utilities. We test this idea in a task where adult participants infer an
agent’s preferences using a combination of spatial and statistical
information. We show that our model predicts human answers with higher accuracy
than a set of plausible alternative models.
[statistical, test, second, category, suggests, standard, compared, type, adult] [participant, inference, sensitive, work, common, people, intuitive, experiment, understanding, psychological, reason] [spatial, object, combination, rely] [three, better, difference] [table, computational] [model, agent, utility, nuc, confidence, cost, calculus, infer, preference, red, higher, green, correlation, miner, alternative, collecting, reward, assumes, assumption, full, collected, theory, navigate, distribution, predicted, mineral, based, set, considers, bayesian, closest, simpler, deviation, traveling, proportion, efficiently, choose, integrates, cookie] [lesion, human, figure, action, reveal, single, goal]
Task-set Selection in Probabilistic Environments: a Model of Task-set Inference
Ian W. Eisenberg, Russell A. Poldrack
Ian W. Eisenberg, Russell A. Poldrack
To act effectively in a complicated, uncertain world, people
often rely on task-sets (TSs) that define action policies over a
range of stimuli. Effectively selecting amongst TSs requires
assessing their individual utility given the current world state.
However, the world state is, in general, latent, stochastic, and
time-varying, making TS selection a difficult inference for the
agent. An open question is how observable environmental
factors influence an actor's assessment of the world state and
thus the selection of TSs. We designed a novel
task in which probabilistic cues predict one of two TSs on a
trial-by-trial basis. With this task, we investigate how people
integrate multiple sources of probabilistic information in the
service of TS selection. We show that when action feedback is
unavailable, TS selection can be modeled as “biased Bayesian
inference”, such that individuals participants differentially
weight immediate cues over TS priors when inferring the
latent world state.
[task, stimulus, training, learning, trial, position, evidence, test, response, deterministic, rule, learn, explicit, phase, testing] [participant, people, inference, psychological, work, relationship, key, cognitive] [latent, vertical, context, select, relates] [feedback, idea, performance] [structure, recursion, analysis, computational, vector, distance] [model, tss, probabilistic, individual, choice, decision, based, prior, making, optimal, bayesian, parameter, probability, confidence, sts, true, fit, likelihood, estimate, behavior, infer, posterior, red, state, underlying, reinforcement, selected, collins, observer, population, knew, integrate, favor, hypothesis] [transition, action, current, selection, multiple, figure, matrix, encoded, defined, encoding, respond]
N400 amplitudes reflect change in a probabilistic representation of meaning: Evidence from a connectionist model
Milena Rabovsky, Steven S. Hansen, James L. McClelland
Milena Rabovsky, Steven S. Hansen, James L. McClelland
The N400 ERP component is widely used, but the cognitive functions
underlying N400 amplitudes are still unclear. Recent simulations with a model of
word meaning suggest that N400 amplitudes reflect implicit semantic prediction
error. Here, we extend these simulations to sentence comprehension, using a model
of sentence processing to simulate a number of N400 effects obtained in empirical
research. In the model, sequentially incoming words update a representation
capturing probabilities of elements of sentence meaning, not only reflecting the
constituents presented so far, but also the model’s best guess at all
features of the sentence meaning based on the statistical regularities in its
environment. Across a series of simulations, the update of the predictive
representation of sentence meaning consistently patterned with N400 amplitudes,
in line with the idea that N400 amplitudes reflect semantic surprise as the
change in the probability distribution over semantic features in an integrated
representation of meaning.
[processing, presented, compared, congruent, erp, training, category, incongruent, reversal, presentation, correspondence, probed, learning] [described, connection, unrelated, unexpected, concerning, cognitive, influence, event, induced] [meaning, shared, language, specific, error, functional, filler, produced, context, van] [smaller, change, difference, larger, better] [semantic, sentence, word, reflect, lexical, approach, incoming, measure, computational, simulate, kutas, cloze] [model, probability, update, based, simulation, prediction, empirical, observed, set, underlying, distribution, probabilistic] [layer, activation, brain, surprise, network, feature, representation, repetition, output, component, categorically, current, trained, unit, neural, role, environment, canary, input]
Asking and evaluating natural language questions
Anselm Rothe, Brenden Lake, Todd Gureckis
Anselm Rothe, Brenden Lake, Todd Gureckis
The ability to ask questions during learning is a key aspect of
human cognition. While recent research has suggested common principles underlying
human and machine “active learning,” the existing literature has
focused on relatively simple types of queries. In this paper, we study how humans
construct rich and sophisticated natural language queries to search for
information in a large yet computationally tractable hypothesis space. In
Experiment 1, participants were allowed to ask any question they liked in natural
language. In Experiment 2, participants were asked to evaluate questions that
they did not generate themselves. While people rarely asked the most informative
questions in Experiment 1, they strongly preferred more informative questions in
Experiment 2, as predicted by an ideal Bayesian analysis. Our results show that
rigorous information-based accounts of human question asking are more widely
applicable than previously studied, explaining preferences across a diverse set
of natural language questions.
[learning, task, revealed, size, trial, phase, type] [people, experiment, cognitive, work, participant, evaluate] [language, rich, blue, context, color, purple, reference, configuration, informative] [question, active, number, asked, score, science, answer, annual, demonstration, study, example, better, correctly, high, allowed] [natural, quality, analysis, large, frequency, table] [ship, expected, generated, model, game, tile, bayesian, rank, hypothesis, red, eig, painting, choice, machine, best, query, set, sampling, conference, bonus, data, gain, occupied, simple, battleship, distribution, row, selected, prior, good, ideal, higher, remaining, function] [human, figure, location, space, column, single, left]
Sequential images are not universal, or Caveats for using visual narratives in experimental tasks
Neil Cohn
Neil Cohn
Sequential images have frequently been used as experimental
stimuli in the cognitive and psychological sciences to explore topics like theory
of mind, temporal cognition, discourse, social intelligence, and event
sequencing, among others. The assumption has been that sequential images provide
a fairly universal and transparent stimuli that require little to no learning to
decode, and thus are ideal for non-verbal tasks in developmental, clinical, and
non-literate populations. However, decades of cross-cultural and developmental
research have actually suggested something different: that sequential image
comprehension is contingent on exposure and practice with a graphic system. I
here review this literature and advocate for more sensitivity to the
“fluency” needed to understand sequential images.
[sequential, picture, age, journal, exposure, developmental, child, sequence, japanese, arrangement, cohn, complex, africa, comic, manga, learning, broadcasting, test, second, construe, conveying] [narrative, understanding, continuity, cognitive, work, temporal, character, cognition, appear, event, interpreting, experience, social, psychological, united, including] [experimental, language, basic, south, perceptual, meaning, degree, memory, production, university] [ability, study, understand, educational, practice, recognize, require, question] [comprehension, structure, modulated, proficiency, british, fluency, reflect] [prior, requires, provide, inform] [visual, image, figure, activity, pictorial, graphic, system, constraint, brain]
Deciding to Remember: Memory Maintenance as a Markov Decision Process
Jordan W. Suchow, Tom Griffiths
Jordan W. Suchow, Tom Griffiths
Working memory is a limited-capacity form of human memory that
actively holds information in mind. Which memories ought to be maintained? We
approach this question by showing an equivalence between active maintenance in
working memory and a Markov decision process in which, at each moment, a
cognitive control mechanism selects a memory as the target of maintenance. The
challenge of remembering is to find a suitable maintenance policy. We compute the
optimal policy under various conditions and define plausible cognitive mechanisms
that can approximate them. Framing the problem of maintenance in this way makes
it possible to capture in a single model many of the essential behavioral
phenomena of memory maintenance, including directed forgetting and self-directed
remembering. Finally, we consider the case of imperfect metamemory — where
the current state of memory is only partially observable — and show that
the fidelity of metamemory determines the effectiveness of maintenance.
[directed, learning, time, family, cued, task, journal, forgetting, target] [cognitive, assigned, strength, case, temporal, strong, determines] [memory, maintenance, remembering, metamemory, object, remembered, studied, remember, graded, recall, reproducing, priority, context] [working, control, number, problem, performance, allocation, selects, mind, resource, strategy, benefit, difference, maintain] [random, direct, mechanism, plausible] [reward, state, policy, decision, optimal, luce, probability, agent, function, partially, quantum, model, observable, set, behavior, consider, chosen, williams, depend, mdp, imperfect, best, distribution, memorizer, suchow, choice, worst, bjork, proportion] [process, markov, action, current, human, defined, behavioral, visual, transition, system, figure, framework, space, sensor]
Process Modeling of Qualitative Decision Under Uncertainty
David Broniatowski, Valerie Reyna
David Broniatowski, Valerie Reyna
Fuzzy-trace theory assumes that decision-makers process
qualitative “gist” representations and quantitative
“verbatim” representations in parallel. Here, we develop a formal
model of fuzzy-trace theory that explains both processes. The model also
integrates effects of individual differences in numeracy, metacognitive
monitoring and editing, and sensation seeking. Parameters of the model varied in
theoretically meaningful ways with differences in numeracy, monitoring, and
sensation seeking, accounting for risk preferences at multiple levels. Relations
to current theories and potential extensions are discussed.
[chance, categorical, journal, compare, compared, stimulus, presented] [framing, frame, mental, cognitive, possibility, extended, consistent, psychological, prefer, account, mapping, personality] [manipulated, experimental, criterion] [problem, ordinal, number, high, mathematical, seeking] [subject, interpretation, order, interpreted, weighted, table] [decision, model, option, money, risky, individual, preferred, choose, gist, choice, theory, data, sensation, winning, risk, sample, stanovich, gamble, nfc, gain, interval, probability, point, loss, leboeuf, total, average, based, proportion, chosen, higher, mle, additive, pnfc, hierarchy, estimate, set, estimated, logistic] [representation, numeracy, associated, process, space, represent, reverse, level, design, multiple, analytic]
Learning Non-Adjacent Dependencies in Continuous Presentation of an Artificial Language
Hao Wang, Jason Zevin, Toben Mintz
Hao Wang, Jason Zevin, Toben Mintz
Many grammatical dependencies in natural language involve elements
that are not adjacent, such as between the subject and verb in the child always
runs. To date, most experiments showing evidence of learning non-adjacent
dependencies have used artificial languages in which the to-be-learned
dependencies are presented in isolation by presenting the minimal sequences that
contain the dependent elements. However, dependencies in natural language are not
typically isolated in this way. In this study we exposed learners to non-adjacent
dependencies in long sequences of words. We accelerated the speed of presentation
and learners showed evidence for learning of non-adjacent dependencies. The
previous pause-based positional mechanisms for learning of non-adjacent
dependency are challenged.
[learning, dependency, artificial, presentation, nonadjacent, position, half, test, trial, testing, presented, training, counterbalancing, statistical, novel, consisted, heard, auditory, sequence, learn, randomized, radio, adjacent, newport, indicate, participated, child, ungrammatical, condition, occur, continuous] [experiment, rating, cognitive, scale, long, low, kind, clear, detection] [language, previous, variability, speech, grammatical, item, contained, memory, university] [question, three, presenting, number, answer, hard, correct, linear, asked] [word, sentence, natural, distributional, syntactic, dependent, subject, embedded, concatenated, positional, edge, order, random] [rate, success, intermediate, making] [start, pattern, current, play, design, suggested]
Coordinate to cooperate or compete: Abstract goals and joint intentions in social interaction
Max Kleiman-Weiner, Mark Ho, Joseph Austerweil, Michael Littman, Josh Tenenbaum
Max Kleiman-Weiner, Mark Ho, Joseph Austerweil, Michael Littman, Josh Tenenbaum
Successfully navigating the social world requires reasoning about
both high-level strategic goals, such as whether to cooperate or compete, as well
as the low-level actions needed to achieve those goals. We develop a hierarchical
model of social agency that infers the intentions of other agents, strategically
decides whether to cooperate or compete with them, and then executes either a
cooperative or competitive planning program. Learning occurs across both
high-level strategic decisions and low-level actions leading to the emergence of
social norms. We test predictions of this model in multi-agent behavioral
experiments using rich video-game like environments. By grounding strategic
behavior in a formal model of planning, we develop abstract notions of both
cooperation and competition and shed light on the computational nature of joint
intentionality.
[learning, competition, trial, generalize, pair, time] [social, work, reasoning, develop, cognitive, dilemma, future] [previous, intention, acting] [square, group, number, require] [abstract, cluster, include, mode, mechanism] [planning, cooperation, model, agent, cooperative, behavior, strategic, player, game, cooperate, data, competitive, stochastic, utility, compete, jointly, theory, based, consider, realize, individual, lesioned, round, cote, choose, infer, well, reinforcement, distribution, rate, max, policy, good] [joint, action, coordination, goal, figure, reached, space, human, behavioral, move, plan, hierarchical, interaction, single, allows]
A Nonlinear Dynamical Systems Theory Perspective on Dual-Processing Accounts of Decision-Making under Uncertainty
Marieke M. J. W. van Rooij, Luis H. Favela
Marieke M. J. W. van Rooij, Luis H. Favela
Dual-processing accounts of reasoning have gained renewed
attention in the past decade, particularly in the fields of social judgment,
learning, and decision-making under uncertainty. Although the various accounts
differ, the common thread is the distinction between two qualitatively different
types of reasoning: explicit/implicit, rational/affective, fast/slow, etc.
Consequently, much research has focused on characterizing the two different
processes. Less extensive are the attempts to find mediators that influence which
process is used. In this paper, we argue that the missing perspective on these
dual-processing theories is rooted in dynamical systems theory. By shifting the
perspective to the dynamic interaction and transitions between different types of
reasoning, we provide a theoretical framework for dual-processing with an
emphasis on phase transitions. As a special case, we focus on dual-processing in
decision-making and judgment under uncertainty for which we will propose
suggestions for future experimental evaluation.
[phase, complex, journal, processing, type, development] [cognitive, reasoning, social, psychological, dual, understanding, judgment, strong, cognition, evans, common, case, thinking, relationship, mit, clear] [van, experimental, conscious, university] [control, change, science, perspective, mind, ice, water, activate, difficulty, number, ability] [order, theoretical, conceptual, approach, temperature, dependent, liquid] [theory, behavior, lack, uncertainty, model, qualitative, utilize, risky, note, observed] [system, nonlinear, dynamical, human, dynamic, transition, catastrophe, qualitatively, behavioral, focus, process, interaction, framework, critique, dualprocessing, current, brain, perception, dualprocess]
From uh-oh to tomorrow: Predicting age of acquisition for early words across languages
Mika Braginsky, Daniel Yurovsky, Virginia Marchman, Mike Frank
Mika Braginsky, Daniel Yurovsky, Virginia Marchman, Mike Frank
Why do children learn some words earlier than others? Regularities
and differences in the age of acquisition for words across languages yield
insights regarding the mechanisms guiding word learning. In a large-scale corpus
analysis, we estimate the ages at which 9,200 children learn 300-400 words in
seven languages, predicting them on the basis of independently-derived
linguistic, environmental, and conceptual factors. Predictors were surprisingly
consistent across languages, but varied across development and as a function of
lexical category (e.g., concreteness predicted nouns while linguistic structure
predicted function words). By leveraging data at a significantly larger scale
than previous work, our analyses highlight the power that emerges from unifying
previously disparate theories, but also reveal the amount of reliable variation
that still remains unexplained.
[age, predictor, development, vocabulary, category, learning, early, learned, child, indicate, developmental, learn, journal] [work, arousal, valence, relationship, scale, understanding, sensitive, consistency, consistent, swedish] [language, previous, spanish, utterance, linguistic, russian, turkish, highly] [number, linear, change, question, limited, appears] [word, frequency, acquisition, lexical, mlu, cdi, concreteness, english, aoa, length, conceptual, min, wordbank, relative, babiness, childes, corpus, approach, examine, analysis, coefficient, table, amount, theoretical, earlier, complexity] [data, function, estimate, max, collected, model, predicting, fit, estimated, predict, higher, based, individual] [figure]
Effects of Gesture on Analogical Problem Solving: When the Hands Lead you Astray
Autumn Hostetter, Mareike Wieth, Katlyn Foster, Keith Moreno, Jeffery Washington
Autumn Hostetter, Mareike Wieth, Katlyn Foster, Keith Moreno, Jeffery Washington
We investigated the role of speech-accompanying gestures in
analogical problem solving. Participants attempted to solve Duncker’s
(1945) Radiation Problem after reading and retelling a story that described an
analogous solution in a different domain. Participants were instructed to
gesture, instructed not to gesture, or given no instructions regarding gesture as
they retold the story. Participants who were instructed to gesture as they retold
the analogous story were more likely to mention perceptual details in their
description and less likely to apply the analogous solution to the problem than
participants who were instructed not to gesture. These results suggest that
gestures can be detrimental to analogous problem solving when the perceptual
elements of a story are irrelevant to its schematic similarity with a problem.
[analogical, target, condition, general, analogous] [story, source, told, schema, military, connection, medical, radiation, cognitive, notice, psychological, explanation, mental, formation] [gesture, instructed, perceptual, gestured, convergence, gesturing, spatial, produced, studied, retold, noticing, memory, beilock, multiplicity, retelling, specific, hostetter, strengthen, thomas, experimental, lleras, retell] [problem, solution, solving, solve, spontaneously, difficult, army, included, encourage, smaller, experimenter, three, schematic, concept, difference, appears, study, help] [producing, similarity, applied, form, large, small, mention] [fortress, likelihood, generate, success] [multiple, focus, involved, hand, representation, moving, role, eye, tumor, represent, motor, system]
Stable Causal Relationships are Better Causal Relationships
Nadya Vasilyeva, Thomas Blanchard, Tania Lombrozo
Nadya Vasilyeva, Thomas Blanchard, Tania Lombrozo
We report two experiments investigating whether people’s
judgments about causal relationships are sensitive to the robustness or stability
of such relationships across a wide range of background circumstances. We
demonstrate that people prefer stable causal relationships even when overall
causal strength is held constant, and show that this effect is unlikely to be
driven by a causal generalization’s actual scope of application. This
documents a previously unacknowledged factor that shapes people’s causal
reasoning.
[type, evidence, presented, target, condition, suggesting, revealed] [causal, relationship, stability, experiment, strength, moderator, moderated, sore, explanatory, yonas, judgment, circumstance, held, explanation, zelmos, stable, variable, salty, sexual, split, cognitive, people, covariation, scope, sex, enabling, relevant, strong, extent, sensitive, respect, herpes, fresh, scientist, agree, influence, thrombosis, drinking, claim, sense, gerstenberg, sexually, causally, nonmoderated] [background, main, varied, mixed] [water, vein, additional, difference, science, guidance, asked] [eating, structure, frequency, token, table] [actual, population, average, sample, rate, outcome, higher, range, consider, agent] [figure, unstable, deep, role, activity]
Emotional influences on time perception
Anna K. Trapp, Manfred Thüring
Anna K. Trapp, Manfred Thüring
In studies on prospective time perception, a prolonging effect of
arousal on time estimates is commonly reported for durations under 2s while the
effect vanishes for longer intervals. In this study, we investigated how arousal
and pleasure induced by aural stimuli varying in volume and valence influenced
reproductions in the range from 1.1s to 5s. As expected, higher arousal was
associated with higher estimates for 1.1s durations. However, this effect was
also found for 3.8s durations. An additional analysis with linear mixed models
revealed an interaction between volume manipulation and subjective ratings
regarding arousal and pleasure. Based on these results we propose that subjective
experience of the emotional quality of stimuli might be interesting for further
research on prospective time perception. Moreover, the results showed that not
only within subject variation should be statistically controlled when analyzing
such data. Instead, statistical models should also include parameters controlling
for stimulus material.
[time, compared, speed, reported, statistical, revealed, presented, fixed, timing, induction, continuous, sound] [arousal, emotional, valence, neutral, clock, pleasure, ptrs, negative, anova, low, noulhiane, prolonging, cognitive, lmm, loud, prospective, ptr, gil, rating, factor, including, respect, described, aural, led, affective, indicated, psychology, emotion, reproduction, version] [mixed, variation, support, main] [volume, linear, difference, high, conducted, smaller, study, help, group, magnitude, ranging, impact, report] [random, analysis, increase, variance, include] [well, data, higher, model, subjective, hypothesis, increasing] [duration, perception, longer, interaction, medium, visual, level, averaged]
The Relational SNARC: Spatial Representation of Nonsymbolic Ratios?
Percival Matthews, Rui Meng, Elizabeth Toomarian, Edward Hubbard
Percival Matthews, Rui Meng, Elizabeth Toomarian, Edward Hubbard
Recent research has highlighted the operation of a ratio
processing system that represents the analog magnitudes of nonsymbolic ratios.
This study investigated whether such representations would demonstrate spatial
associations parallel to the SNARC (spatial numeric association of response
codes) effect previously demonstrated with whole number magnitudes. Participants
judged whether nonsymbolic ratio test stimuli were larger or smaller than
reference stimuli using response keys located alternately either on the left or
on the right side of space. Larger ratio magnitudes were associated with the
right side of space and smaller magnitudes with the left. These results
demonstrate that nonsymbolic ratio magnitudes – defined relationally by
pairs of components – are characterized by a left-to-right spatial mapping.
The current focus on ratio magnitudes expands our understanding of the basic
human perceptual apparatus and how it might provide tools that grant intuitive
access to more advanced numerical concepts beyond whole numbers.
[stimulus, processing, test, presented, journal, standard, response, reaction, faster, type] [understanding, cognitive, mental, white, street, black, psychological, told, negative] [spatial, experimental, reference, basic, varied, access, perceptual] [ratio, nonsymbolic, number, magnitude, circle, dot, fraction, symbolic, numerical, smaller, larger, composed, ability, three, comparison, study, drt, analog, usa, educational, johnson, denominator, asked, department, numerator, school, numerosity] [snarc, association, demonstrated, panel, small] [individual, sample] [human, current, figure, space, perception, hand, left, representation, represents, process]
Dynamical systems modeling of the child--mother dyad: Causality between child-directed language complexity and language development
Jeremy Irvin, Daniel Spokoyny, Fermin Moscoso del Prado Martin
Jeremy Irvin, Daniel Spokoyny, Fermin Moscoso del Prado Martin
We model the causal links between child language (CL) and
child-directed language (CDL). We take pairs of sequences of linguistic
measurements from a longitudinal study. Each child-mother pair of sequences is
considered as an instance of the trajectory of a high-dimensional dynamical
system. We then use Multispatial Convergent Cross Mapping to ascertain the
directions of causality between the pairs of sequences, that is, whether the
complexity of CL drives that of CDL, the complexity of CDL drives that of CL,
both, or neither. We find that children are responsive to the amount of speech
and the diversity of words produced by their mothers, but not vice-versa.
However, the syntactic diversities of the children's utterances drive the
syntactic diversity of the mothers' utterances. This is evidence for fine-grained
fine-tuning of CDL in response only to the syntax of CL.
[child, development, time, evidence, journal, vocabulary, response, cross, adult, developmental, size] [causal, cognitive, causality, series, presence, variable, version, strong, talking, reconstructed] [language, produced, university, van, evolution, speech, contained, linguistic, cambridge] [number, three, science] [complexity, shadow, syntactic, direct, cdl, diversity, manifold, del, prado, acquisition, lexical, short, order, length, moscoso, longitudinal, richness, detailed, technique, measure, increase, recovered, sugihara, corpus, mlus, embedding, analysis] [model, provide, sample, measured, find, point, considering] [system, dynamical, multiple, coupled, ccm, interaction, input, convergent, single, role, level, human, original]
Definitely maybe and possibly even probably: efficient communication of higher-order uncertainty
Michele Herbstritt, Michael Franke
Michele Herbstritt, Michael Franke
Possibility and probability expressions, like possibly or
probably,
are frequently assumed to communicate that the probability
of a proposition is above a certain threshold. Most previous
empirical research on these expressions has focused on
cases of known objective chance: if the true objective probability
is given, would a speaker use possibly, probably or one
of their kin? Here, we investigate the use of probability expressions
when speakers have subjective uncertainty about objective
chance, i.e., higher-order uncertainty. Experimental data
suggest that speakers’ choices of a probability expression is a
complex function of their state of higher-order uncertainty. We
formulate a computational probabilistic model of pragmatic
speaker behavior that explains the experimental data.
[complex, chance, suggests, verbal, standard, wearing, evidence, picture] [possibility, work, belief, factor, ball, imagine, experiment, result, version, appropriate, proposition] [experimental, message, access, content, speaker, previous, affect, drawing] [number, free, better, investigate] [semantics, computational, table, expressed] [model, probability, uncertainty, red, objective, urn, data, observed, choice, agent, simple, posterior, pragmatic, likelihood, state, drawn, modeling, bayesian, based, draw, prior, bayes, nested, randomly, probabilistic, uncertain, behavior, rationality, aic, rsa, definitely, proportion, favor, observe, credible, predict, rational, observation, regression, goodman, consider, sender, call, setup] [figure, expression, level, interaction]
First things first? Top-down influences on event apprehension
Johannes Gerwien, Monique Flecken
Johannes Gerwien, Monique Flecken
Not much is known about event apprehension, the earliest stage of
information processing in elicited language production studies, using pictorial
stimuli. A reason for our lack of knowledge on this process is that apprehension
happens very rapidly (<350 ms after stimulus onset, Griffin & Bock 2000),
making it difficult to measure the process directly. To broaden our understanding
of apprehension, we analyzed landing positions and onset latencies of first
fixations on visual stimuli (pictures of real-world events) given short stimulus
presentation times, presupposing that the first fixation directly results from
information processing during apprehension.
[presentation, condition, time, stimulus, task, processing, compared, exposure, type, verbal] [event, experiment, respect, manipulation, cognitive, indicated, white, described, basis] [language, apprehension, spanish, specific, ger, german, message, linguistic, object, specificity, directly, reference, production, coded, bock, native, produced, aoi, error, main, term, generation] [three, study, comparing] [flexibility, verb, sentence, short, table] [agent, data, estimate, model] [fixation, action, duration, visual, spa, location, scene, process, eye, fewer, level, longer, figure, region, representation, encoding, area, system, viewing]
The Description-Experience Gap in Risky Choice Framing
Gaëlle Vallée-Tourangeau, Frédéric Vallée-Tourangeau, Madhuri Ramasubramanian
Gaëlle Vallée-Tourangeau, Frédéric Vallée-Tourangeau, Madhuri Ramasubramanian
We examined whether the classical framing effect observed with the
Asian Disease problem could be reversed when people make decisions from
experience. Ninety-five university students were randomly allocated to one of
three conditions: Description, Sampling (where the participants were allowed to
sample through the outcomes presented as a pack of cards) and Interactive (where
the participants were invited to spread out all possible outcomes in a sample)
and made three gain-framed choices and three loss-framed choices, with two filler
tasks after the first three choices. The results revealed a significant
interaction effect between framing and choice condition. In the Description
choice condition, participants were more risk-seeking with loss-framed problems.
This pattern was reversed in the Sampling choice condition where participants
were more risk-seeking with gain frames. Finally, the Interactive choice
condition resulted in a classic pattern of framing effect, whereby people were
more risk averse in the domain of gains.
[condition, presented, task, reversal, processing, evidence] [framing, people, frame, descriptive, disease, valence, experience, negative, front, scale, social, cognition, gap, cognitive, mental, positive, reasoning] [description, experimental, university, program, spread, support] [interactive, three, asked, interactivity, score, problem, reversed, kingston, allowed, impact, understand, ecology] [examine, illustrates] [sampling, choice, loss, gain, risky, option, risk, individual, decision, asian, outcome, explicated, sample, observed, expected, preference, making, risktaking, hertwig, uncertain, distribution, classic, choose, probability, recreational, behavior, alternative] [figure, representation, pattern, human, experienced]
Transfer of Cognitive Skills in Developmental Tasks
Sarah Rupp, Niels Taatgen
Sarah Rupp, Niels Taatgen
The main question we try to answer in this paper is whether
stage-like progression in cognitive development can be explained by transfer of
cognitive skill among tasks. We focus on the following question: To what extent
does training on one task improve the performance on another task? The tasks are
Piaget’s (1959) Balance Scale Task and Number Conservation Task, and a task
that we will call the Une-Sentence Task, which is taken from Karmiloff-Smith's
(1979) experiment on the acquisition of determiners in French. We re-implemented
already existing models within the framework of the PRIMs cognitive architecture
(Taatgen, 2013). Each task was subdivided in certain stages related to the
complexity of the problem-solving strategies. We show that mastery of a certain
stage of a problem becomes easier if a higher stage of another task is mastered
first.
[task, training, dimension, developmental, second, learn, general, subordinate, development, learning, child, time, tested, phase, testing, learned] [cognitive, case, scale, account, explain, explained, work] [shared, combination, support, french, van, interesting, main, university, specific] [stage, balance, transfer, progress, number, prims, three, performance, mastery, idea, identical, third, knowledge, better, lower, skill, question, conservation, study, mastered, step, problem, difference, answer, correct, modeled, helpful, taatgen] [sentence, examine, word, distance, approach, structure, boy, amount] [model, decision, theory, based, paper, consider, call, higher, decide, average] [figure, dominant, multiple, weight, single, process, indicates, trained, transition]
Cognitive biases and social coordination in the emergence of temporal language
Tessa Verhoef, Esther Walker, Tyler Marghetis
Tessa Verhoef, Esther Walker, Tyler Marghetis
Humans spatialize time. This occurs within individual minds and
also in larger, shared cultural systems like language. Understanding the origins
of space-time mappings requires analyses at multiple levels, from initial
individual biases to cultural evolution. Here we present a laboratory experiment
that simulates the cultural emergence of space-time mappings. Dyads had to
communicate about temporal concepts using only a novel, spatial signaling device.
Over the course of their interactions, participants rapidly established semiotic
systems that mapped systematically between time and space. These semiotic systems
exhibited a number of similarities, but also striking idiosyncrasies. By
foregrounding the interaction of mechanisms that operate on disparate timescales,
laboratory experiments can shed light on the commonalities and variety found in
space-time mappings in languages around the world.
[time, target, novel, increased, fixed, sequence, touch, deictic, complex, sequential, accuracy] [temporal, cognitive, social, systematic, future, initial, consistent, strong, experience, extent] [language, vertical, spatial, cultural, semiotic, evolution, emergence, meaning, communication, shared, domain, communicative, calculated, linguistic, university, variability] [communicate, incorrect, difference, three, correct, number, course, study, bar] [structure, distance, semantic, random, order, associate, relative, english, abstract, earlier, natural, entirely, relation, combined, similarity] [model, round, individual, pairwise, game] [space, duration, signal, interaction, system, dyad, location, figure, associated, coordination, human, defined]
A performance model for early word learning
Michael Frank, Molly Lewis, Kyle MacDonald
Michael Frank, Molly Lewis, Kyle MacDonald
The emergence of language around a child’s first birthday is
one of the greatest transformations in human development. Does this transition
require a fundamental shift in the child’s knowledge or beliefs, or could
it instead be attributable to more gradual changes in processing abilities? We
present a simple model of cognitive performance that supports the second
conclusion. The premise is that any cognitive operation requires multiple steps,
each of which require some time to complete and have some probability of failure.
We use meta-analysis to estimate these parameters for two components of simple
ostensive word learning: social cue use and word recognition. When combined in
our model, these estimates suggest that learning should be very difficult for
children younger than around a year, especially with gaze alone. This model takes
a first step towards quantifying performance limitations for cognitive
development and may be broadly applicable to other developmental changes.
[learning, developmental, reaction, accuracy, cue, time, speed, early, processing, age, fernald, reported, development, learn, evidence, indicate, target, complex, older, stanford, ostensive, adult, yurovsky] [social, cognitive, temporal, psychology, mental, psychological, failure, strong, work, mapping] [language, basic, frank, null, referential] [performance, change, number, literature, sum, department, product] [word, analysis, link, kail, large] [model, probability, data, success, estimated, estimate, function, distribution, simple, successful, fit, set, theory, rate, individual, dashed, consider, parameter] [gaze, figure, pointing, operation, chain, recognition, internal, parametric, single, current]
Referential choice in identification and route directions
Adriana Alexandra Baltaretu, Emiel Krahmer, Alfons Maes
Adriana Alexandra Baltaretu, Emiel Krahmer, Alfons Maes
Though communicative goals are an important element in language
production, few studies investigate the extent to which these goals might affect
the form and content of referring expressions. In this study, we directly
contrast two tasks with different goals: identification and instruction giving.
Speakers had to refer to a target building nearby or further away, so that their
addressee would distinguish it between other buildings (identification) or give
route directions and use the same building as a landmark (instructions). Our
results showed that irrespective of goals, the referring expressions consisted of
the same types of attributes, yet the attribute frequency and formulation
differed. In the identification task, references were longer, contained more
locative and more post-nominal modifiers. In addition, referential choices were
influenced by the visual distance between the speaker and the target: when the
speaker observed the target from far, references were longer and contained more
often locative modifiers.
[target, task, type, size, consisted, compared, journal, complex] [influence, extent, account, white, factor, close] [building, referring, route, communicative, identification, object, speaker, reference, addressee, van, language, experimental, produced, generation, production, spatial, affect, main, color, refer, description, contained, converging, marked, der, locative] [difference, number, asked, international, study, correct] [distance, random, length, order, noun, lexical, computational, structure, corpus, frequency, turn, natural, association, table, discourse] [model, distribution] [visual, location, figure, goal, interaction, focus, longer, pointing, expression, direction]
Statistical learning creates novel object associations via transitive relations
Yu Luo, Jiaying Zhao
Yu Luo, Jiaying Zhao
A remarkable ability of the cognitive system is the creation of
new knowledge based on prior experiences. What cognitive mechanisms support such
knowledge creation? We propose that statistical learning not only extracts
existing relationships between objects, but also generates new associations
between objects that have never been directly associated. Participants viewed a
continuous color sequence consisting of base pairs (e.g., A-B, B-C), and learned
these pairs. Importantly, they also successfully learned a novel pair (A-C) that
could only be associated through transitive relations between the base pairs
(Exp1). This learning, however, was not successful with three base pairs (e.g.,
learning A-D from A-B, B-C, C-D), revealing a limit in this transitive process
(Exp2). Beyond temporal associations, novel transitive associations can also be
formed across categorical hierarchies (Exp3), but with limits (Exp4&5). The
current findings suggest that statistical learning provides an efficient scaffold
through which new object associations are transitively created.
[base, pair, novel, learning, statistical, park, learned, familiar, categorical, country, test, chance, foil, subordinate, superordinate, formed, reliably, automatically, presented, reported, task, second, served, explicit, appeared, exposure, learn, suggesting, sequence, awareness, suggests, tested, participated, journal, ubc] [experiment, temporal, people, cognitive, inference, discussion, participant, work, implicit, psychological] [color, directly, memory, previous, specific, noticing, object] [knowledge, three, procedure, number, study, course, performance, circle, correctly, percent, third] [transitive, form, reflect, order, association, limit, examine, dotted] [city, chosen, based, prior] [level, visual, associated, current, figure, corresponding]
The Relationship Between the Numerical Distance Effect and Approximate Number System Acuity is Non-Linear
Dana Chesney
Dana Chesney
People can estimate numerical quantities, like the number of
grapes in a bunch, using the Approximate Number System (ANS). Individual
differences in this ability (ANS acuity) are emerging as an important predictor
in research areas ranging from math skills to judgment and decision making. One
commonly used ANS acuity metric is the size of the Numerical Distance Effect
(NDE): the amount of savings in RT or errors when distinguishing stimuli values
as the numerical distance between them increases. However, the validity of this
metric has recently been questioned. Here, we model the relationship between the
NDE-size and ANS acuity. We demonstrate that the relationship between NDE-size
and ANS acuity should not be linear, but rather should resemble an inverted
J-shaped distribution, with the largest NDE-sizes typically being found for near
average ANS acuities.
[journal, size, half, standard, pair, task, faster, stimulus, accuracy, evidence] [relationship, people, perceived, close, judgment] [error, distinguish, experimental, referred, calculated] [numerical, magnitude, acuity, number, smaller, larger, comparison, symbolic, modeled, ratio, greater, approximate, difference, nde, erfc, moyer, absolute, acta, math, sekuler, ranging, erfcs, ability, linear, counting, better] [distance, small, large, amount, theoretical, typically, dependent] [individual, model, yield, range, ideal, based, predict, metric, decision, distribution, proportion, find, well, rate, validity] [overlap, figure, central, system, rts, pattern]
Fractal Scaling and Implicit Bias: A Conceptual Replication of Correll (2008)
Mary Jean Amon, John G. Holden
Mary Jean Amon, John G. Holden
A racial priming article claimed that, relative to a control
condition, an exotic variety of variability, called 1/ƒ noise, is altered
when stereotypes impact participants’ judgments in an implicit prejudice
task (Correll, 2008). However, Madurski and LeBel (2014) recently described two
powerful, faithfully cloned, and apparently decisive studies that each failed to
return a successful literal replication of Correll’s report. Madurski and
LeBel outlined and subsequently eliminated several potential extraneous reasons
for their replication failures, such as different participant demographics,
participant non-compliance, poor psychometrics, and hardware discrepancies. By
contrast, this article reports a successful conceptual replication of the pattern
reported by Correll. Notably, this conceptual replication required adjustments to
Correll’s original method and statistical analyses. All the changes were
dictated by a systems theory of 1/ƒ noise that was largely in place prior to
Correll’s report. Implications for the replication debate are discussed,
with emphasis on contextualizing implicit cues.
[replication, scaling, optimized, avoid, task, response, statistical, spectral, time, baseline, fractal, correll, journal, sda, trial, madurski, lebel, weapon, presented, spectrum, reliable, identify, condition, standard, pink, orden, compelling, holden] [racial, white, methodological, implicit, black, participant, power, race, manipulation, sensitive, social, established, described, cognitive, psychological, series, psychology] [van, literal, error, variability, experimental, priming, identification, university, contrast] [control, difference, impact, practice] [bias, conceptual, analysis, relative, theoretical, derived] [uncertainty, data, noise, observed, rate, potential, sampling, successful, quantum, predicted] [original, coordination, reveal, pattern, human, figure, tool]
Controlled vs. Automatic Processing: A Graph-Theoretic Approach to the Analysis of Serial vs. Parallel Processing in Neural Network Architectures
Sebastian Musslick, Biswadip Dey, Kayhan Ozcimder, Mostofa Patwary, Theodore L. Willke, Jonathan D. Cohen
Sebastian Musslick, Biswadip Dey, Kayhan Ozcimder, Mostofa Patwary, Theodore L. Willke, Jonathan D. Cohen
The limited ability to simultaneously perform multiple tasks is
one of the most salient features of human performance and a defining
characteristic of controlled processing. Based on the assumption that
multitasking constraints arise from shared representations between individual
tasks, we describe a graph-theoretic approach to analyze these constraints. Our
results are consistent with previous numerical work (Feng et al., 2014), showing
that even modest amounts of shared representation induce dramatic constraints on
the parallel processing capability of a network architecture. We further
illustrate how this analysis method can be applied to specific neural networks to
efficiently characterize the full profile of their parallel processing
capabilities. We present simulation results that validate theoretical
predictions, and discuss how these methods can be applied to empirical studies of
controlled vs. and automatic processing and multitasking performance in
humans.
[task, interference, processing, stimulus, response, size, dimension, directed, indicate, learned] [cognitive, psychological, capacity, work, extent, profile] [associative, describe, concurrent, shared] [performance, number, control, limited] [graph, analysis, reflect, approach, similarity, applied, theoretical, adjacency] [set, independent, empirical, determine, maximum, theory, consider, uniform, based, individual] [network, multitasking, output, input, pathway, parallel, layer, figure, overlap, bipartite, capability, activity, neural, matrix, automatic, human, trained, performed, representation, concurrently, extracted, associated, controlled, serial, represents, pattern, corresponding, unit, constraint, focus, component, represented, validate, current, pure, switching, achieved]
How Does Generic Language Elicit Essentialist Beliefs?
Emily Foster-Hanson, Sarah-Jane Leslie, Marjorie Rhodes
Emily Foster-Hanson, Sarah-Jane Leslie, Marjorie Rhodes
Generic language (e.g., “tigers have stripes,”
“girls hate math”) is a powerful vehicle for communicating
essentialist beliefs. One way generic language likely communicates these beliefs
is by leading children to generate kind-based explanations about particular
properties; e.g., if a child hears “girls hate math,” he may infer
that there must be an inherent causal basis for the generalization, which in turn
supports essentialist beliefs. However, it is also possible that simply hearing a
category described with generics elicits the belief that the category is an
appropriate kind to generalize about. On this account, even if the generic is
negated (“girls don’t hate math”), the generic language might
nonetheless lead children to essentialize the category. The current study
supports the latter possibility, suggesting that even hearing negated generics
(“girls don’t hate math”) may still foster social essentialism.
[category, novel, hearing, condition, child, increased, heard, development, negation, generalize, powerful, developmental] [generic, essentialist, social, essentialism, zarpies, property, striped, zarpie, rhodes, causal, statement, develop, appropriate, psychological, kind, elicit, hate, explanation, simply, generally, replacement, negated, cognition, reasoning, told, hold, gelman, negating, race, cimpian, scope, baby, inheritance, communicating, predicated, spotted, basis, sufficient] [language, specific, coded, cultural, gender, shared, memory, university, expect] [puppet, study, ability, three, asked, mother, preschool, experimenter] [animal, conceptual, expressed, form] [lead, alternative, individual] [current, input, view, box, signaling, role, associated]
Extended Metaphors are Very Persuasive
Paul Thibodeau, Peace Iyiewuare, Matias Berretta
Paul Thibodeau, Peace Iyiewuare, Matias Berretta
Metaphors pervade discussions of critical issues and influence how
people reason about these domains. For instance, when crime is a beast, people
suggest enforcement-oriented approaches to crime-reduction (e.g., by augmenting
the police force); when crime is a virus, on the other hand, people suggest
systemic reforms for the affected community. In the current study, we find that
extending metaphoric language into the descriptions of policy interventions
bolsters the persuasive influence of metaphoric frames for an array of important
is- sues. When crime is a beast, people are even more likely to endorse
“attacking” the problem with harsh enforcement tac- tics; when crime
is a virus people are even more likely to to endorse “treating” the
problem through social reform.
[response, congruent, condition, revealed, facilitate, target, journal, compared, chance, incongruent, presented] [metaphor, extended, consistent, frame, people, inconsistent, crime, initial, issue, described, framing, candidate, influence, beast, relationship, persuasive, framed, economy, designed, reform, experiment, social, distinct, work, thibodeau, street, extending, participant, police, manipulation, clear, percentage] [metaphoric, language, description, matching, describe, item, degree, expect, specificity, context, experimental] [virus, difference, study, problem, three, score, educational, asked, question] [conceptual, ambiguous, similarity, word, lexical, conceptually, lsa, table, analysis, semantic, natural, order, identified] [choose, option, policy, chose, data, increasing, city] [congruence, system]
Who should I tell? Young children correct and maintain others’ beliefs about the self
Mika Asaba, Hyowon Gweon
Mika Asaba, Hyowon Gweon
We care tremendously about what other people think of us.
Motivated by two lines of prior work -- children's inferential and communicative
capacities and strategic reputation management -- we examine how children infer
what others think of them given others' observations of their performance, and
how they influence these beliefs through disclosing their performance. In
Experiment 1, 3-5 year-olds played a luck-based game; one confederates watched
the child win and another confederate watched the child lose. We asked the child
to disclose an additional, unobserved win to one of the two confederates. We find
that younger children overwhelmingly choose the person who previously saw them
win. However, as age increased, children were more likely to choose to disclose
to someone who previously saw them lose. In Experiment 2, adults played a similar
third person version and selectively chose the person who saw the main character
previously lose.
[child, older, evidence, developmental, younger, trial, tested, age, selective] [positive, experiment, belief, negative, front, person, work, understanding, cognitive, people, told, communicating, reasoning, social, moral, desire, prefer, discussion, reason, care, false, version] [confederate, tom, blue] [win, bill, disclose, asked, experimenter, young, change, won, lose, understand, maintain, card, reputation, skill, three, lost, anne, communicate, additional, correct, management, differentially, watched, difference, third, performance, ability] [final, order, random, amount, meant] [game, friend, observed, outcome, observer, chose, choose, prior, played, winning, choice, preference, agent, infer, star, provide, based] [figure, selectively]
Can Monaural Auditory Displays Convey Directional Information to Users?
Takanori Komatsu, Seiji Yamada
Takanori Komatsu, Seiji Yamada
The purpose of this study is to build a monaural auditory display
to convey four pieces of directional information (upward, downward, rightward,
and leftward) to users effectively and intuitively without the need for wearing
headphones or preparing more than one speaker. We prepared five types of monaural
auditory displays consisting of triangle wave sounds and conducted an experiment
to investigate which kinds of displays succeeded in conveying the four pieces of
information to participants. As a result, we could confirm that one of the
prepared monaural auditory displays, designed as a “progress bar” on
the basis of the mental-number line and spatial-number association of the
response code effect, succeeded in conveying the four pieces of information more
effectively compared with the other candidate sets (its average correct rates
were 0.88). This result thus strongly shows that this monaural auditory display
was quite useful for conveying primitive spatial information to users.
[auditory, sound, directional, monaural, display, conveying, triangle, rightward, leftward, downward, upward, succeeded, training, navigation, indicating, response, indicate, fixed, pitch, artificial, emitted, journal, presented, phase, stepwise] [candidate, designed, basis, experiment, fundamental, result, intuitive, understanding, variable] [speech, convey, spatial, manner, experimental, main] [correct, code, concept, international, study, effective, japan, performance, investigate] [association, snarc, table] [set, wave, higher, played, best, increasing, decreasing, independent, find, effectively, average, simple] [indicates, prepared, duration, figure, left, human, user, associated, level, consisting, visual, subtle, pattern]
Spatial Attention to Social Cues is not a Monolithic Process
Samuel Harding, Ty Boyer, Bennett Bertenthal
Samuel Harding, Ty Boyer, Bennett Bertenthal
Social stimuli are a highly salient source of information, and
seem to possess unique qualities that set them apart from other well-known
categories. One characteristic is their ability to elicit spatial orienting,
whereby directional stimuli like eye-gaze and pointing gestures act as exogenous
cues that trigger automatic shifts of attention that are difficult to inhibit.
This effect has been extended to non-social stimuli, like arrows, leading to some
uncertainty regarding whether spatial orienting is specialized for social cues.
Using a standard spatial cueing paradigm, we found evidence that both a pointing
hand and arrow are effective cues, but that the hand is encoded more quickly,
leading to overall faster responses. We then extended the paradigm to include
multiple cues in order to evaluate congruent vs. incongruent cues. Our results
indicate that faster encoding of the social cue leads to downstream effects on
the allocation of attention resulting in faster orienting.
[stimulus, attention, faster, cue, response, arrow, target, incongruent, congruent, reaction, valid, presented, showing, type, paradigm, time, processing, suggesting, cued, attend, standard, interfere, directional, speed, journal, exogenous, evidence, invalid] [social, experiment, consistent, influence, discussion, strength, salience, cognitive, low, excluded, psychological] [spatial, main, experimental, previous, visible] [difference, three, greater, provided, additional, ability, addition] [include] [validity, total, prediction, observed, opposite, normal] [central, hand, encoding, pointing, gaze, cueing, visual, figure, orienting, flanking, location, interaction, reflexive, multiple, screen, direction, perception, soa, design, eye, pointed, automatic, process, brain, critical, algorithm]
When High WMC Promotes Mental Set: A Model of the Water Jar Task
Erin Sovansky, Stellan Ohlsson
Erin Sovansky, Stellan Ohlsson
Differences in working memory capacity (WMC) relate to performance
on a variety of problem solving tasks. High WMC is beneficial for solving
analytical problems, but can hinder performance on insight problems (DeCaro &
Beilock, 2010). One suggested reason for WMC-related differences in problem
solving performance is differences in strategy selection, in which high WMC
individuals tend toward complex algorithmic strategies (Engle, 2002). High WMC
might increase the likelihood of non-optimal performance on Luchins’ (1942)
water jar task because high WMC solvers tend toward longer solutions, not
noticing when shorter solutions become available. We present empirical data
showing this effect, and a computational model that replicates the findings by
choosing among problem solving strategies with different WM demands. The high WMC
model used a memory-intensive strategy, which led to long solutions when shorter
ones were available. The low WMC model was unable to use that strategy, and
switched to shorter solutions.
[task, complex, accuracy, journal, type, presented, span, finding, executive, processing, time] [low, long, capacity, cognitive, experience, analytical, people, mental, psychology, psychological, ten, subtracting, failed, capable] [memory, previous, experimental, van] [problem, wmc, high, solving, solution, solver, jar, strategy, water, working, solved, insight, difference, shorter, performance, formula, reduction, solve, number, step, three, lower, score, saved, study, better, practice, extrapolating, guided, limited, luchins] [short, order, path, random, table, tend, computational, abstract, list] [model, prior, higher, proportion, based, set, successful, function, tendency, load, empirical, utility] [human, current, goal, longer, figure, desired, environment]
Thermodynamics and Cognition: Towards a Lawful Explanation of the Mind
Larry Moralez, Luis Favela
Larry Moralez, Luis Favela
An argument is developed to show that the theoretical methods of
description for biological and physical systems can be corroborated by appealing
to the second law of thermodynamics. The separation dates back to Modern western
philosophy, but we show that the second law’s influence on the evolutionary
history of life at the scale of the global Earth system—a system that has
demonstrated an exponential increase of entropy production over time—
justifies rescinding this separation. From this perspective it appears that the
necessity of ever increasing entropy in nature may constrain the organization and
behavior of living organisms and cognitive processes. We suggest a new framework
for understanding cognition by explaining memory at the scale of the
brain-body-environment system with respect to its role in increasing entropy in
nature. This framework, if developed further, may lead to a fruitful
understanding of cognition by appealing to the necessity of physical laws.
[suggests, hebbian, increased, second] [cognitive, physical, biological, nature, understanding, cognition, respect, dichotomy, organism, life, mit, scale, account, history, philosophy, philosophical, explanation, contemporary, closed, necessity, thermodynamics, scientific, formation, modern, case] [memory, production, context, situated, university, domain, western] [free, water, mind, perspective, additional, study] [entropy, energy, slt, living, increase, earth, global, consumption, understood, approach, principle, biophysical, flow, amount, order, local, open, unique, path, matter, theoretical, river, consume, supply, promising, constrained] [empirical, increasing, enables, potential, data, likelihood, inquiry] [system, action, law, brain, process, neural, field, net, human, selection, dynamic, move, framework, florida]
Benefits for Grounded Feedback over Correctness in a Fraction Addition Tutor
Eliane Wiese, Rony Patel, Kenneth Koedinger
Eliane Wiese, Rony Patel, Kenneth Koedinger
Do students activate conceptual and procedural knowledge
simultaneously when learning fraction addition? In grounded feedback, student
actions on a target, to-be-learned representation are reflected in a more
familiar feedback representation to promote conceptual learning within procedural
practice. An experiment with 163 4th and 5th graders shows improved learning with
a grounded feedback tutor over a symbols-only control with step-level right/wrong
feedback. Learning with grounding also transferred to symbols-only assessment
items, providing some support for the simultaneous activation view.
[learning, condition, test, time, simultaneous, second, type, improved] [evaluation, experiment, work, cognitive] [error, main, previous, directly] [fraction, grounded, feedback, addition, student, correct, correctness, number, knowledge, tutor, included, pretest, magnitude, symbolic, bar, incorrect, strategy, posttest, sum, control, procedural, problem, study, performance, equation, correctly, adding, question, arithmetic, science, instruction, transfer, converted, score, school, solved, converting, help, equivalent] [conceptual, class, table, interpret, proposed, correlated, final] [prior, average, marginal, independent, model, favor] [representation, figure, grounding, activation, view, accessible]
Our morals really depends on our language: The foreign language effect within participants
Kuninori Nakamura
Kuninori Nakamura
Recent research has suggested that using a foreign language to
present hypothetical moral dilemmas increases the rate of utilitarian judgments
about those dilemmas (e.g., Greene et al, 2001) and decreases incoherency between
judgments in framing effect tasks (e.g., Costa, Foucart, Hayakawa, Aparici,
Apesteguia, Heafner, & Keysar, 2014; Keysar, Hayakawa, & An, 2012). However,
existing research has mainly investigated this effect using between-participants
designs (i.e., different participants in the foreign and native language
conditions). Such designs are unable to exclude non-equivalent conditions as a
confounding variable. In contrast, this study examined the foreign language
effect using a within-subjects design (i.e., all participants responded to moral
dilemmas (Greene et al, 2001) and framing effect tasks in both their native and
foreign languages. The “foreign language effect” was replicated,
excluding semantic non-equivalence between language conditions as a potential
confound. This result supports the hypothesis that the foreign language effect is
independent of meaning.
[switch, japanese, response, indicate, chance, task, presented, indicating, condition] [moral, framing, factor, save, costa, people, disease, footbridge, trolley, kill, thinking, reasoning, baby, man, permissibility, result, boat, cognition, utilitarian, judgment, dilemma, die, morally] [foreign, language, native, medicine, affect, crisis, sculpture, nakamura, hospital, donor, meaning, remains, exclude] [study, difference, problem, equivalence, three, equivalent] [table, coherence, analysis, semantic, reflect, english, read, existing] [individual, model, loss, choose, financial, gain, asian, decision, fit, depend, replicated, data, bic, chose] [design, action, figure, responded, performed]
A scaleable spiking neural model of action planning
Peter Blouw, Chris Eliasmith, Bryan Tripp
Peter Blouw, Chris Eliasmith, Bryan Tripp
Past research on action planning has shed light on the neural
mechanisms underlying the selection of simple motor actions, along with the
cognitive mechanisms underlying the planning of action sequences in constrained
problem solving domains. We extend this research by describing a neural model
that rapidly plans action sequences in relatively unconstrained domains by
manipulating structured representations of objects and the actions they typically
afford. We provide an analysis that indicates our model is able to reliably
accomplish goals that require correctly performing a sequence of up to 5 actions
in a simulated environment. We also provide an analysis of the scaling properties
of our model with respect to the number of objects and affordances that
constitute its knowledge of the environment. Using simplified simulations we find
that our model is likely to function effectively while picking from 10,000
actions related to 25,000 objects.
[sequence, structured, time, scaling, indicate, complex] [cognitive, ultimate, representational, work] [memory, object, associative, context] [number, precision, control, working, needed, require, knowledge, partial, correct, problem] [large, random, analysis, vector, semantic, panel, tuning] [model, planning, set, state, simulated, function, randomly, average, successful, provide, simple, behavior] [action, goal, neural, environment, spiking, motor, spa, figure, selection, planned, subsystem, system, representation, stack, location, ket, signal, inner, labeled, performed, process, correspond, accomplish, architecture, plan, hrr, planner, neuron, represent, current, implement, sps, routed, basal, representing, vsas, perform]
Monitoring the Level of Attention by Posture Measurement and EEG
Ryohei Furutani, Yuki Seino, Taro Tezuka, Tetsuji Satoh
Ryohei Furutani, Yuki Seino, Taro Tezuka, Tetsuji Satoh
Attention is a factor that affects the performance of various
intelligent activities in humans. Up until now, the methods for measuring the
level of attention have been mostly based on subjective reports or employing
large and costly devices. In this paper, a new method of estimating the level of
attention is proposed, based on posture and EEG measurements. These data can be
recorded using easily available and less burdensome devices. From the obtained
data, the time evolution of attention was explored. Experiments showed that there
is negative correlation between posture variance and attention, and also between
EEG and attention.
[attention, time, task, monitoring, learning, recorded, pressure, match, indicate] [participant, work, low, cognitive, power, experiment, indicated, physiological, focused, negative, device] [evolution, recording, society, summarizes, description, university, object] [board, balance, change, three, high, easily, calculation, science, measurement, conducted, questionnaire, problem, cab, intelligent, japan, group, performance] [table, frequency, variance, proposed, large, word] [subjective, correlation, based, method, measured, estimating, model, total, propose, data, log, interval, making] [level, eeg, posture, figure, center, gravity, band, system, represent, weight, indicator, reversi, attentive, chair, body, indicates, height, movement, burdensome, divided, move, sensor]
The Illusion of Explanatory Depth in a Misunderstood Field: The IOED in Mental Disorders
Andrew Zeveney, Jessecae Marsh
Andrew Zeveney, Jessecae Marsh
Humans fail to understand the world around them and also fail to
recognize this lack of understanding. The illusion of explanatory depth (IOED)
exemplifies these failures: people believe they understand the world more deeply
than they actually do and only realize that this belief is an illusion when they
attempt to explain elements of the world. An unexplored factor of the IOED is how
people may become overconfident by confusing their own understanding with
others’ understanding. In two experiments, we examine the IOED in mental
disorders, a domain where society has a limited understanding. In Experiment 1,
we demonstrate that people display an IOED for mental disorders as well as
devices, but that it is smaller for mental disorders. In Experiment 2, we show
that exposing the IOED is specifically linked to generating an explanation,
rather than more generally thinking about a phenomenon.
[presented, condition, finding, evidence, explore, tested, size, suggests] [understanding, mental, people, illusion, ioed, personal, explanation, gap, health, experiment, explain, rated, explanatory, disorder, examined, phenomenon, depth, thinking, societal, work, keil, lay, attempting, rozenblit, scale, laypeople, future, simply, endorse, concentrated, overestimate, belief, great, expose, discussion, anticipated] [domain, society, description, expert, interesting, drop] [understand, smaller, asked, limited, recognize, knowledge, difference, greater, larger, question, ability, study, group] [correlated, understood, demonstrated, topic, order] [higher, generating, rate, well, demonstrate, generate, set, average, lack] [level, figure, interaction]
Social Affordance Tracking over Time - A Sensorimotor Account of False-Belief Tasks
Judith Bütepage, Hedvig Kjellström, Danica Kragic
Judith Bütepage, Hedvig Kjellström, Danica Kragic
False-belief task have mainly been associated with the explanatory
notion of the theory of mind. However, it has often been pointed out that this
kind of high-level reasoning is computational and time expensive. Viewed from an
embodied intelligence perspective, the failing in a false-belief test can be the
result of the impairment to recognize and track others' sensorimotor
contingencies and affordances. Thus, social cognition is explained in terms of
low-level signals instead of high-level reasoning. In this work, we present a
generative model for optimal action selection which simultaneously can be
employed to make predictions of others' actions. We demonstrate how the tracking
of others' sensorimotor signals can give rise to correct false-belief inferences,
while a lack thereof leads to failing. With this work, we want to emphasize the
importance of sensorimotor contingencies in social cognition, which might be a
key to artificial, socially intelligent systems.
[time, test, presented, learning, training] [social, account, mental, belief, inference, cognitive, reasoning, story, understanding, implicit, mapping, autistic, cognition, temporal, false] [tom, memory] [sally, marble, help, mind, idea, knowledge, ability, active, anne, perspective] [approach, vector, computational, rise, distance] [state, model, agent, based, optimal, distribution, theory, observation, predict, lack, behavior, prior, successful, infer, goodman, prediction, propose, probability] [hidden, action, box, sensorimotor, tracking, generative, goal, interaction, smc, selection, smcs, affordances, defined, representation, represent, current, joint, location, theorist, embodied, visual, figure, affordance, space, system]
Hidden Markov Modeling of eye movements with image information leads to better discovery of regions of interest
Stephan Brueggemann, Antoni B. Chan, Janet Hsiao
Stephan Brueggemann, Antoni B. Chan, Janet Hsiao
Hidden Markov models (HMM) can describe the spatial and
temporal characteristics of eye-tracking recordings in
cognitive tasks. Here, we introduce a new HMM approach.
We developed HMMs based on fixation locations and we also
used image information as an input feature. We demonstrate
the benefits of the newly proposed model in a face
recognition study wherein an HMM was developed for every
subject. Discovery of regions of interest on facial stimuli is
improved compared to earlier approaches. Moreover,
clustering of the newly developed HMMs lead to very distinct
groups. The newly developed approach also allows
reconstructing image information at fixation.
[second, identify, statistical] [temporal, cognitive, mouth, distinct, located] [spatial, map] [partial, better, difference, study, number, understand, group] [proposed, clustering, cluster, analysis, approach] [state, model, individual, prior, estimated, based, probability, patch, full, data] [hidden, image, fixation, face, hmm, hmms, eye, developed, figure, newly, input, markov, transition, heat, vhem, interest, recognition, chuk, facial, nose, hong, location, movement, allows, visual, correspond, gaussian, area, algorithm, foveated, component, kong, variational, gmm, original, reconstruction, feature, representation, hsiao, perry, geisler]
Influences of Speaker-Listener Similarity on Shadowing and Comprehension
Lynn Perry, Emily Mech, Maryellen MacDonald, Mark Seidenberg
Lynn Perry, Emily Mech, Maryellen MacDonald, Mark Seidenberg
We routinely encounter speakers with different accents and
speaking styles. The speech perception literature offers examples of disruption
of comprehension for unfamiliar speech and also of listeners’ rapid
accommodation to unfamiliar accents. Much of this research uses a single measure
and/or focuses on isolated word perception. We investigated listeners’
abilities to comprehend and shadow connected speech spoken in a familiar or
unfamiliar accent. We found increases in shadowing latencies and comprehension
errors in the Dissimilar Speech relative to Similar Speech
conditions—especially for relatively informal rather than more academic
style speech. Additionally, there was less accommodation over time to Dissimilar
than Similar Speech. These results suggest that there are costs both in the
immediate timescale of processing speech (necessary for shadowing) and in the
longer time scale of listening comprehension when accent and other speech quality
is very different from one’s own speech.
[condition, task, block, type, revealed, familiarity, second, standard, accuracy, processing, heard, familiar, compared, journal, predictor, test, time, simultaneous] [examined, rated, white, social, relationship, perceived] [speech, shadowing, listening, passage, dissimilar, informal, academic, latency, error, native, speaker, american, speaking, main, language, regional, comprehend, accent, depict, dialect, african, delivery, manipulated, adaptation, experimental, voice, degree, highly, varied] [comparison, study, larger, ability, included, marginally, course, accurate, constructive, difference] [comprehension, style, english, shadow, random, similarity, accommodation, word, syntactic] [model, proportion, regression] [interaction, unfamiliar, figure, perception, longer, driven, current]
Conceptual Expansion During Divergent Thinking
Richard Hass
Richard Hass
Recent research on creative thinking has implicated conceptual
expansion as potential cognitive underpinnings. These theories were examined
within the context of a laboratory study using two divergent thinking prompts.
Participants generated alternative/creative uses for a brick and for a glass
bottle (separately) for two minutes and responses were time-stamped using a
Matlab GUI. Semantic distances between responses and conceptual representations
of the DT prompts were computed using latent semantic analysis. Results showed
that semantic distance increased as responding progressed, with significant
differences between the two tasks, and intraparticipant variation. Results have
implications for theories of creative thinking and represent methodological and
analytic advances in the study of divergent thinking.
[response, task, time, statistical, attention, appeared, processing, monitor, executive, verbal, journal, evidence, presented] [thinking, cognitive, people, examined, psychological, initial] [memory, latent, associative, growth, generation, context, variation, content, degree] [study, linear, concept, performance, matlab, control, originality, fluid, idea, science] [semantic, creative, conceptual, distance, order, expansion, analysis, prompt, divergent, lsa, irt, brick, glass, creativity, bottle, cosine, fluency, table, similarity, flexibility, neuroscientific, structure, examine, correlated, global] [model, data, individual, validity, alternative, subjective, prior, potential, method] [serial, current, represent, represents, defined, representation, representing, brain]
Information Search with Depleting and Non-Depleting Resources
Amber Bloomfield, J. Isaiah Harbison, Susan Campbell, Petra Bradley, Lelyn Saner
Amber Bloomfield, J. Isaiah Harbison, Susan Campbell, Petra Bradley, Lelyn Saner
Predictions about information search behavior have been informed
by extensive research in food foraging behavior. However, information foraging
environments may differ in key ways from food foraging environments, and these
differences may impact search behavior. We investigated the effect of patch
distribution (depleting or non-depleting) and ability to return to previously
searched patches on participants’ decision to switch from one patch to
another while searching. Whether or not a participant could return after leaving
a patch led to fewer samples and fewer relevant items found. Whether or not the
patches depleted and whether it was possible to return to a patch influenced
stopping rules, indicating that these factors may alter the size of the increment
applied through the Incremental Rule.
[irrelevant, condition, rule, size, task, switch, time, target, standard, journal, suggests, decreased] [relevant, relationship, participant, experiment, negative, consistent, positive, case, source, ten, mechanical] [incremental, previous, influenced, matching, item, memory, varied] [number, three, comparing, ability, impact, resource, investigated, study, larger] [richness, table, visited, applying] [return, patch, search, increment, rate, depleting, total, depletion, foraging, stopping, forager, predicted, behavior, average, explored, depending, threshold, highest, distribution, optimal, leave, expected, searched, cost, data, exploited, model, decision, deviation, marginal, sample, richer, find] [figure, fewer, food, pattern, current, switching, compatibility]
Do Simple Probability Judgments Rely on Integer Approximation?
Shaun O'Grady, Tom Griffiths, Fei Xu
Shaun O'Grady, Tom Griffiths, Fei Xu
A great deal of research has been conducted on how humans reason
about probability, yet it remains unknown what mental computations support this
ability. Research on the development of the Approximate Number Sense (ANS) has
shown that performance in a magnitude (i.e., estimations of integers)
discrimination task is well fit by a psychophysical model (Halberda & Feigenson,
2008). Whether or not estimations of integers plays a role in probability
judgments has yet to be investigated. In the present study we use data from two
adult experiments as well as results from comparisons of two computational models
to argue that simple probability judgments based on proportion may involve a
division operation, a finding that could explain why previous research has
yielded little evidence supporting the role of the ANS in probability judgments.
[trial, target, type, presented, chance, general, big, task, evidence, adult, revealed, response, development, increased] [experiment, sense, reasoning, told, designed, reason, white, bag] [color, bird, influenced, discrimination] [number, ratio, performance, favorable, equal, acuity, approximate, correct, example, unfavorable, young, comparison, panamath, accurate, strategy, statistically, study, marble, group, investigate, asked, literature, lower] [order, large, computational, correlated, measure] [probability, based, proportion, model, distribution, total, making, probabilistic, data, well, game, red, correlation, weber, average, played, predict] [figure, area, gaussian, role, design, interaction, system]
Evaluating Causal Hypotheses: The Curious Case of Correlated Cues
Bob Rehder, Zachary Davis
Bob Rehder, Zachary Davis
Although the causal graphical model framework has achieved
considerable success accounting for causal learning data, appli-cation of that
formalism to multi-cause situations assumes that people are insensitive to the
statistical properties of the causes themselves. The present experiment tests
this assumption by first instructing subjects on a causal model consisting of two
independent and generative causes and then requesting them to make data
likelihood judgments, that is, to estimate the proba-bility of some data given
the model. The correlation between the causes in the data was either positive,
zero, or negative. The data was judged as most likely in the positive condition
and least likely in the negative condition, a finding that obtained even though
all other statistical properties of the data (e.g., causal strengths, outcome
density) were controlled. These re-sults pose a problem for current models of
causal learning.
[learning, statistical, presented, presentation, base, condition, journal, generalize] [causal, common, positively, reasoning, independence, retirement, positive, described, cognitive, people, conditional, account, strength, fact, absence, rehder, case, consistent, negative, treated, experiment, expectation, judge, psychological] [domain, expect, experimental] [three, high, asked, computation] [structure, correlated, table, graph, order, computed, large, vector] [data, probability, likelihood, generated, estimate, sample, correlation, trade, distribution, marginal, observed, hypothesis, model, prior, bayesian, conditioned, highest, unconditional, parameter, assumption, note, expected, binomial, assumed] [interest, current, network, role, pattern]
Reflexive Spatial Attention to Goal Directed Reaching
Alexis Barton, Bennett Bertenthal, Samuel Harding
Alexis Barton, Bennett Bertenthal, Samuel Harding
Social interaction involves cues such as gaze direction, head
orientation, and pointing gestures that serve to automatically orient attention
to a specific referent or spatial location. In this paper we demonstrate that an
observed reaching action similarly results in a reflexive shift in attention as
evidenced by faster responses that are congruent with the direction of the reach,
than responses that are incongruent. When the task involves a saccadic response
(Experiment 1) this prediction is inhibited and results in a reverse-congruence,
faster responses to incongruent than congruent cues, when the cue occurs after
the reach is completed. This reverse-congruence is not present when the task
involves a key press (Experiment 2) or a mouse movement (Experiment 3). We
propose that the inhibition of the predictive saccade is overcome when the eye
movements toward the goal are activated to guide the mouse movement.
[response, attention, congruent, cue, incongruent, mouse, faster, stimulus, revealed, time, automatically, task, completed, evidence, presented, target, trial, presentation, slower] [experiment, social, discussion, consistent, changed, long, facilitated, result, key] [spatial, shift, main, instructed, object, experimental, error, color] [three, video, course, guide] [analysis, completion, relative, onset] [observation, predictive, observed, well, hypothesis, prediction, red] [reach, action, eye, direction, reaching, movement, saccadic, soa, inhibition, congruence, soas, activation, gaze, reflexive, figure, goal, left, automatic, location, grasping, orienting, grasp, dynamic, interaction, hand, saccade, associated, pointing, contralateral, visual, move, reversecongruence]
Structural Alignment in Incidental Word Learning
Ruxue Shao, Dedre Gentner
Ruxue Shao, Dedre Gentner
Young children can sometimes acquire new vocabulary words with
only limited, indirect exposure (Carey & Bartlett, 1978). We propose that
structural alignment processes lead to fluent detection of commonalities and
differences that facilitate incidental word learning. To test this, we adapted
the Carey and Bartlett paradigm, varying the alignability of the objects that
4-year-olds saw while hearing the novel word chromium. In Experiment 1, children
in the High-Alignment condition were significantly better than those in the
Low-Alignment condition at identifying chromium objects in a subsequent task. In
Experiment 2, we ruled out an alternative account by equalizing the overall
amount of information presented to the two groups. We also found that the
advantage of high alignment persisted after two-to-four days. These results
suggest that structural alignment is a mechanism by which children can learn word
meanings even in incidental word learning situations.
[chromium, learning, alignment, day, exposure, condition, retention, learn, child, task, alignable, shape, advantage, olive, novel, journal, presented, pick, bartlett, analogical, alignability, evidence, vocabulary, trial, assessed, dimension, identify, dark, rule, differed] [experiment, initial, incidental, cognitive, mapping, false, fish, consistent, understanding, discussion, designed] [meaning, color, object, blue, spontaneous, language, experimental, intention, perceptual, highly, noticing] [group, difference, assessment, transfer, number, correctly, carey, comparison, performance, high, better, received, asked, study, experimenter, young, comparing, greater, easily] [word, structural, similarity, amount, subsequent, structure] [hypothesis, set, point, max] [figure, role, process, pattern, goal, facilitates]
Neural bases of semantic-memory deficits for events
Chia-Ming Lei, Haley C. Dresang, Michelle B. Holcomb, Tessa C. Warren, Michael Walsh Dickey
Chia-Ming Lei, Haley C. Dresang, Michelle B. Holcomb, Tessa C. Warren, Michael Walsh Dickey
This study investigated the neural bases of event-related
semantic-memory deficits among people with aphasia due to left-hemisphere (LH)
stroke. A novel task using naturalistic photographic stimuli and patient-friendly
procedures was used to test event-related semantic knowledge. In the task,
participants decided whether depicted events were normal (represented in semantic
memory) or were abnormal (not represented in semantic memory). Performance on
this Event task was correlated with deficits in action- and object-concept
processing and on standardized language measures, especially action- and
verb-processing deficits. Logistic regression analyses examined lesion correlates
of patient performance on the Event task. Surprisingly, increasing LH lesion size
in action ROIs was associated with improved performance on the event-knowledge
task. These findings suggest that action processing may play a special role in
event-related semantic memory representations. Furthermore, they are consistent
with recent claims that the right hemisphere may be especially important for
activation of event-related knowledge.
[task, processing, response, type, stimulus, presented, evidence, test, journal, erp, tested, suggests, standardized, finding, compared] [event, temporal, examined, consistent, cognitive, abnormal, sagittal, unexpected, relationship] [object, language, memory, activated, depicted, specific, communication, template] [performance, knowledge, study, usa, control, better, department, larger, additional] [semantic, naming, verb, conceptual, correlated, measure, analysis, word, intended, bias] [data, regression] [lesion, action, roi, gyrus, brain, behavioral, image, cat, neural, represented, figure, anatomical, scan, voxel, metusalem, ppt, kdt, visual, damage, aphasia, palm, associated, activation]
Degeneracy results in canalisation of language structure: A computational model of word learning
Padraic Monaghan
Padraic Monaghan
There is substantial variation in language experience between
learners, yet there is surprising similarity in the language structure they
eventually acquire. While it is possible that this canalisation of language
structure may be due to constraints imposed by modulators, such as an innate
language system, it may instead derive from the broader, communicative
environment in which language is acquired. In this paper, the latter perspective
is tested for its adequacy in explaining the robustness of language learning to
environmental variation. A computational model of word learning from
cross-situational, multimodal information was constructed and tested. Key to the
model’s robustness was the presence of multiple, individually unreliable
information sources that could support learning when combined. This
“degeneracy” in the language system had a detrimental effect on
learning when compared to a noise-free environment, but was critically important
for acquiring a canalised system that is resistant to environmental noise in
communication.
[learning, cue, target, robustness, training, reliability, accuracy, canalisation, degeneracy, presented, condition, compared, assist, speed, processing, time, integrative, statistical, spoken, testing, integration, second, learner, learned, tested, operate, category, developmental] [cognitive, consequence, supported, biological, result, anova, presence] [language, gestural, phonological, environmental, referent, object, variation, map, communicative, support, implemented, criterion, hoc, speech, linguistic] [effective, performance, perspective, acquired, ability] [word, distributional, prosodic, semantic, computational, acquisition, structure, increase, multimodal, combined, post] [model, randomly, increasing, potential, point, modeling] [multiple, figure, input, visual, representation, environment, layer, system, single, trained, activation, interaction, current, unit]
Lexical Complexity of Child-Directed and Overheard Speech: Implications for Learning
Ruthe Foushee, Tom Griffiths, Mahesh Srinivasan
Ruthe Foushee, Tom Griffiths, Mahesh Srinivasan
Although previous studies have found a link between the
child-directed speech learners receive and their vocabulary development, no
previous studies have found a parallel link between early measures of overheard
speech and vocabulary. This is despite the fact that children are able to learn
words from overheard speech in laboratory settings (Shneidman & Woodward, 2015).
Drawing on the idea that children preferentially attend to stimuli that are at a
manageable level of complexity (Kidd, Piantadosi, & Aslin, 2012, 2014), the
present research explores the possibility that children do not initially tune
into overheard speech because it is too complex for their stage of lexical
development. Using transcripts from CHILDES and the SBC, and estimates of
vocabulary by age from the MB-CDI, we find that child-directed speech is
significantly less complex than overheard speech through at least 30 months,
suggesting children may only begin learning from more complex, overheard speech
later.
[overheard, vocabulary, learning, age, attention, child, learn, development, complex, early, developmental, directed, attend, familiar, suggests, overhearing, barbara, explore, berkeley, infant, dialogue, novel] [account, relationship, future, psychological, social] [speech, language, previous, typical, lexicon, linguistic, expect, university, acoustic, american] [young, greater, idea, high, effective, versus, knowledge] [complexity, lexical, measure, analysis, word, relative, childdirected, reflect, corpus, style, window, database, link, exponential, longitudinal] [sample, based, proportion, unknown, data, simple, optimal, completely, intermediate, initially, hypothesis, capture] [input, current, unfamiliar, visual, figure, selectively, period]
A neural network model of hierarchical category development
Chris Gorman, Alistair Knott
Chris Gorman, Alistair Knott
Object recognition and categorization is a fundamental aspect of
cognition in humans and animals. Models have been implemented around the idea
that categories are sets of frequently co-occurring features. Out of these models
a question has been raised, namely what is the mechanism by which we learn a
hierarchically organized set of categories, including types and subtypes? In this
paper we introduce such a model, the Dominant Property Assembly Network (DPAN).
DPAN uses an unsupervised neural network to model an agent which develops a
hierarchy of object categories based on highly correlated object features.
Initially, the network generates representations of high-level object types by
identifying commonly co-occurring sets of features. Over time, the network will
start to use an inhibition of return (IOR) operation to examine the features of a
categorized object that make it unusual as an instance of its identified
category.
[learning, training, dog, category, learn, subordinate, categorization, presented, superordinate, type, child] [property, cognitive, simply, prototype] [object, basic, shared, referential, updated] [stage, change, difference, assembly, three, recognize, idea, number, subtypes] [token, vector, identifying, computational, correlated] [set, rate, based, well, model, allowing, agent, paper, winning, return, provide, theory] [network, unit, dpan, input, represent, weight, level, ior, neural, cpca, operation, dpa, inhibition, gradient, localist, cat, representation, figure, represents, internal, subtle, layer, representing, lpa, output, visual, learns, dominant, rpc, activates, represented, allows, indicates, process, matrix, associated, image]
Communicating generalizations about events
Michael Henry Tessler, Noah Goodman
Michael Henry Tessler, Noah Goodman
Habitual sentences (e.g. Bill smokes.) generalize an event over
time, but how can you know a habitual sentence is true? We develop a
computational model and use this to guide experiments into the truth conditions
of habitual language. In Expts. 1 & 2, we measure participants’ prior
expectations about the frequency with which an event occurs and validate the
predictions of the model for when a habitual sentence is acceptable. In Expt. 3,
we show that habituals are sensitive to top-down moderators of expected
frequency: It is the expectation of future tendency that matters for habitual
language. This work provides the mathematical glue between our intuitive
theories’ of others and events and the language we use to talk about them.
[time, presented, explore, month, completed] [experiment, future, event, truth, person, work, scale, causal, generic, people, enabling, participant, recruited, elicited, viewed] [male, speaker, gender, language, female, endorsement, frequently] [bill, asked, difference, third] [frequency, sentence, dependent, analysis, computational, order] [model, habitual, log, data, prior, felicity, habituals, propensity, density, predicted, bayesian, scaled, predictive, proportion, threshold, smoked, posterior, pragmatic, theory, inferred, set, behavior, preventative, distribution, writes, expected, underlying, range, observe, full, predict, clothing, average] [action, figure, human, corresponding, compensated, food]
Measuring lay theories of parenting and child development
Emily Hembacher, Michael C Frank
Emily Hembacher, Michael C Frank
Parenting practices are known to play an important role in shaping
children’s outcomes. For example, children whose parents engage them in
high-quality conversations and who are given opportunities for free play are at
an advantage for learning and later academic outcomes. However, communicating the
results of relevant scientific findings to parents remains a challenge. One
possible moderator of uptake of parenting information is the implicit theories
parents hold with regard to child development and parenting. As a first step in
investigating this possibility, the present work establishes a new measure of
parenting attitudes including three subscales corresponding to attitudes about
rules and respect, affection and attachment, and early learning. We then examine
whether subscale scores predict uptake of new information about children’s
learning. Scores on the Early Learning subscale, but not the Rules and Respect
subscale, predicted generalization from the article, providing initial evidence
of the validity of this measure.
[learning, early, target, child, generalization, development, attachment, learn, evidence, subscales, test, time, status, reported, explore] [respect, lay, scale, implicit, factor, initial, work, consistent, experiment, personality, hold, talk, including, psychology, relationship, positively, psychological, mechanical, people, understanding, strong, engage] [recall, language, gender, previous, meaningful, item] [parenting, subscale, affection, uptake, control, three, young, conducted, knowledge, targ, helpful, questionnaire, correct, high, differentially, answered] [article, read, analysis, measure, reading, table, reflect, identified, random, existing] [higher, based, predicted, predict, behavior, validity, provide, theory, model, well, generated] [play, psychometric]
Improving Visual Memory with Auditory Input
Scott R. Schroeder, Viorica Marian
Scott R. Schroeder, Viorica Marian
Can input in one sensory modality strengthen memory in a different
sensory modality? To address this question, we asked participants to encode
images presented in various locations (e.g., a dog in the top left corner of the
screen) while they heard spatially uninformative sounds. Some of these sounds
matched the image (e.g., the word “dog” or a barking sound) while
others did not. In a subsequent memory test, participants were better at
remembering the locations of images that were encoded with a matching sound, even
though these sounds were spatially uninformative – an effect that was
mediated by whether the sounds were verbal or non-verbal. Because the sounds did
not provide any relevant location information, better spatial memory cannot be
attributed to auditory memory; rather, it is attributed to visual memory being
strengthened by the matching auditory input. These findings provide the first
behavioral evidence for cross-modal interactions in memory.
[congruent, spoken, auditory, condition, sound, incongruent, hearing, presented, accuracy, task, picture, evidence, tonal, improved, dog, uninformative, spatially, beep, cue, completed, yielded, attention, ventriloquism, test, displayed, modality, finding, increased, depicts] [neutral, experiment, relevant, anova, cognitive, barking, located, attributed, variable, consistent] [memory, environmental, spatial, item, remembered, retrieval, object, linguistic, strengthen, remembering, main, episodic, remember, matched, context, matching] [control, better, number, help, performance, equal, helpful, versus, included] [word, english, list, dependent] [provide, row, independent, played] [visual, encoding, input, location, figure, image, sensory, top, left, encoded]
But vs. Although under the microscope
Fatemeh Torabi Asr, Vera Demberg
Fatemeh Torabi Asr, Vera Demberg
Previous experimental studies on concessive connectives have only
looked at their local facilitating or predictive effect on discourse relation
comprehension and have often viewed them as a class of discourse markers with
similar effects. We look into the effect of two connectives, but and although,
for inferring contrastive vs. concessive discourse relations to complement
previous experimental work on causal inferences. An offline survey on AMTurk and
an online eye-tracking-while-reading experiment are conducted to show that even
between these two connectives, which mark the same set of relations,
interpretations are biased. The bias is consistent with the distribution of the
connective across discourse relations. This suggests that an account of discourse
connective meaning based on probability distributions can better account for
comprehension data than a classic categorical approach, or an approach where
closely related connectives only have a core meaning and the rest of the
interpretation comes from the discourse arguments.
[time, condition, processing] [expectation, experiment, consistent, causal, participant, including, story, cognitive, inference, judgment] [contrast, meaning, memory, cake, experimental, context, item, previous, affect, contrastive, marked, linguistic, coherent, frequently, mixed, filler] [difference, study, question, differ, online] [discourse, coherence, connective, sentence, violated, reading, interpretation, final, relation, comprehension, random, pizza, offline, text, savory, corpus, disambiguating, table, word, earlier, ambiguous, concessive, semantics, local, trigger, bias, continuation, semantic, eating, pdtb] [total, distribution, model, well, based, data, set, probability, observed] [critical, desired, interaction, area, region, role, design]
Emotions in lay explanations of behavior
Desmond Ong, Jamil Zaki, Noah Goodman
Desmond Ong, Jamil Zaki, Noah Goodman
Humans use rich intuitive theories to explain other people’s
behavior. Previous work in lay psychology of behavior have tended to treat
emotion as causing primarily unintentional behavior (e.g., being sad causes one
to cry), neglecting how people incorporate emotions into explanations of
rational, intentional actions. Here, we provide preliminary explorations into
integrating emotions into a theory of folk psychology. Specifically, we show that
in the lay theory, people are willing to endorse emotions as causes of
intentional actions. Moreover, people readily attribute beliefs and desires as
explanations for emotional expressions. This work provides a first step in
elaborating people’s rich understanding of emotions as an important
component of intuitive social cognition.
[situational, modal, presented, type, speed, test, explore] [intentional, emotional, emotion, lay, people, unintentional, explanation, intuitive, profile, caused, work, counterfactual, laypeople, psychology, social, explain, influence, understanding, psychological, valenced, affective, rated, feeling, situation, physical, rating, fall, belief, sue, endorse, appeal, future, result, judged, judge, desire, behave, recruited, desdemona, causal, distinct] [rich, affect] [study, asked, impact] [ambiguous, cluster, frequency, clustering, table, form, completion] [behavior, set, model, decision, generated, chose, theory, likelihood, note, find, state, rate, making, bought, round] [action, figure, driven, achieve, top]
Structure-sensitive Noise Inference: Comprehenders Expect Exchange Errors
Till Poppels, Roger Levy
Till Poppels, Roger Levy
Previous research has found that comprehenders are willing to
adopt non-literal interpretations of sentences whose literal reading is unlikely.
Several studies found evidence that comprehenders decide whether a given
utterance should be taken at face value in accordance with principles of Bayesian
rationality, by weighing the prior probability of potential interpretations
against the degree to which they are (in)consistent with the literal form of the
utterance. While all of these results are consistent with string-edit noise
models, many error processes are known to be sensitive to the underlying
linguistic structure of the intended utterance. Here, we explore the case of
exchange errors and provide experimental evidence that comprehenders' noise model
is structure-sensitive. Our results add further support to the noisy-channel
theory of language comprehension, extend the set of known noise operations to
include positional exchanges, and show that comprehenders' noise models are
well-adapted to structure-sensitive sources of signal corruption.
[evidence, presented, accuracy, compared, accidental] [gibson, described, possibility, case, cognitive, consistent, rated, sensitivity] [literal, language, utterance, previous, normalized, expect, repair, support, item, filler, highly, communicative, experimental, production, linguistic] [] [implausible, comprehenders, exchange, plausibility, plausible, comprehension, canonicality, structure, word, canonical, intended, interpretation, sentence, order, table, analysis, package, sib, corpus, reading, semantic, syntactic, positional, interpreted, kicked, literally, floor, tra, relative, fil, errorbars, exchanging, adopt] [noise, model, rational, probability, prior, underlying, noisy, consider, string, hypothesis, alternative, dashed] [represent, figure, input, process, representation]
Tangible models and haptic representations aid learning of molecular biology concepts
Kristen Johannes, Jacklyn Powers, Lisa Couper, Matt Silberglitt, Jodi Davenport
Kristen Johannes, Jacklyn Powers, Lisa Couper, Matt Silberglitt, Jodi Davenport
Can novel 3D models help students develop a deeper understanding
of core concepts in molecular biology? We adapted 3D molecular models, developed
by scientists, for use in high school science classrooms. The models accurately
represent the structural and functional properties of complex DNA and Virus
molecules, and provide visual and haptic feedback about biomolecular properties
that are often implicit in traditional models. We investigated: 1) Can we measure
improvement on core concepts? 2) Do lessons with 3D models improve student
outcomes on these measures? and 3) What factors mediate learning? Model use
yielded measurable gains in conceptual knowledge and the greatest gains were
related to how actively models were used during a lesson and the facilitative
role adopted by the teachers.
[test, learning, time, replication, complex, reliable, explore] [understanding, key, designed, reasoning, life, loading, physical] [item] [dna, molecular, virus, biology, student, viral, active, posttest, classroom, science, tangible, teacher, school, high, spent, three, haptic, passive, poliovirus, biomolecular, correct, interactive, lakeside, identical, assembly, concept, facilitating, feedback, strand, difficulty, answering, actively, greater] [structure, conceptual, amount, proficiency, small, structural, frequency, accurately, table] [model, allow, observed, fit, predicted] [role, figure, process, represent, activity, current, developed, cycle, critical]
‘Unlikely' Outcomes Might Never Occur, But What About ‘Unlikely (20% Chance)’ Outcomes?
Sarah Jenkins, Adam Harris, Murray Lark
Sarah Jenkins, Adam Harris, Murray Lark
A commonly suggested solution to reduce misinterpretations of
verbal probability expressions in risk communications is to use a
verbal-numerical (mixed format) approach, but it is not known whether this
increases understanding over and above a purely numerical format. Using the
‘which outcome’ methodology (Teigen & Filkuková, 2013), we
examined the effect of using verbal, numerical and mixed communication formats,
as well as investigating whether marking outcomes as salient would alter the
outcomes people perceived as ‘unlikely’ or having a 20% chance of
occurring. We observed no effect of saliency, but replicated previous findings,
with general preference for values at the high end of a distribution (including
maximum/above maximum values) present in both verbal and mixed communication
formats. This demonstrates the relevance of these findings for real-world
consequential risk communication. Whilst the estimates differed between the mixed
and numerical formats, we found that the mixed format yielded the more accurate
estimates.
[verbal, saliency, condition, journal, response, chance, general, occur, accuracy, indicating] [understanding, event, scenario, people, scientific, influence, communicating, future, described, perceived] [mixed, communication, salient, experimental, describe, term, marking, shift] [format, numerical, correct, high, study, lower, number, asked, three, difference, accurate, solution, change] [approach, british, translation, distance, directionality, occurrence] [risk, probability, outcome, teigen, decision, vpes, geological, maximum, distribution, methodology, lava, consequential, climate, probabilistic, uncertainty, harris, earthquake, proportion, trust, budescu, bin, observed, higher, well, potential, ipcc, replicated, extra] [figure, site, numeracy, human, expression, interest, multiple, behavioral, focus, level]
No stereotype threat effect in international chess
Tom Stafford
Tom Stafford
We examine data from over 6.6 million games of tournament chess
between players rated by the international chess authority, FIDE. Previous
research has focussed on the low representation of women in chess. We replicate
and extend previous analysis (Chabris and Glickman, 2006) on an international
level. We find no support for differential variability, differential drop-out
between male and female players, or social context (in the form of proportion of
female players at a national level) as drivers of drivers of male-female
differences. Further, we examine games between mixed and same gender pairs for
evidence of a `stereotype threat' effect. Contrary to previous reports, we find
no evidence of stereotype threat. Though this analysis contradicts one specific
mechanism whereby gender stereotype may influence players, the persistent
differences between male and female players suggests that systematic factors do
exist and remain to be uncovered.
[learning, advantage, journal, evidence, compared, younger, standard, country] [rating, rated, white, social, cognitive, psychological, influence, strong, phenomenon, man, black, work] [female, male, gender, previous, curve, context, highly, intellectual, support] [chess, difference, stereotype, performance, threat, playing, young, international, chabris, group, skill, study, glickman, fide, lower, elo, participation, change, number, tournament, mathematics, active, win, zip, absolute, minority, observational] [analysis, relative, large, mechanism, differential, relation] [player, higher, average, proportion, data, men, outcome, played, game, confidence, sample, winning, woman, probability, population, find, opposite, deviation, quintile, covered] [figure, allows, role, move]
Outcome or Strategy? A Bayesian Model of Intelligence Attribution
Marta Kryven, Tomer Ullman, William Cowan, Josh Tenenbaum
Marta Kryven, Tomer Ullman, William Cowan, Josh Tenenbaum
People have a common-sense notion of intelligence and use it to
evaluate decisions and decision-makers. We propose a model of intelligence
attribution based on inverse planning in Partially Observable Markov Decision
Processes (POMDPs). The model explains the agent's decisions by a combination of
probabilistic planning, a softmax decision noise, prior knowledge about the world
and forgetting, estimating the agent's intelligence as efficiency in optimising
costs and rewards. Behavioural evidence shows that some people attribute
intelligence to the strategy and others attribute intelligence to the outcome of
the observed actions. People in the strategy cluster attribute more intelligence
to decisions that minimise the agent's overall cost, even if the outcome is
unlucky. People in the outcome cluster attribute intelligence to the outcome,
preferring low-cost outcomes even if the outcome is accidental and make neutral
judgements before they observe the result. Our model explains human judgements
better than perceptual cues.
[condition, mouse, sem, age, time, half, forgetting] [people, rating, participant, experiment, attribution, rated, social, anova, judged, cognitive, belief, attributed] [attribute, perceptual, cell, main, describe, university] [knowledge, intelligent, strategy, difference, number, control, solving, better, department] [cluster, table, random] [intelligence, agent, decision, prior, model, outcome, optimal, revisits, noise, suboptimal, optimality, lucky, pomdp, planning, based, bayesian, set, rank, movie, evaluating, reward, inverse, regression, chosen, rational, theory, pearson, median, observer, observed, observable, attributing, higher] [goal, action, computer, human, behaviour, markov, space, multiple, location]
The Emergence of Linguistic Consciousness and the "hard problem"
Christina Behme
Christina Behme
Jackendoff (2007) claims that most work on consciousness deals
“almost exclusively with visual experience” and suggests to focus
more on linguistic awareness. Jackendoff proposes that phonological ability
– to divide utterances into words and syllables – is at the core of
linguistic consciousness. This account can be supplemented by empirical research
on language acquisition. Focusing on the step-by-step emergence of linguistic
consciousness in infancy can offer new and potentially fruitful angles for
investigating states of consciousness. In addition computational models of word
segmentation and possible implications for linguistic consciousness are
discussed.
[child, early, journal, complex, infant, suggests, learn, segmentation, auditory, familiar, task, time, awareness] [experience, account, aware, philosophical, relevant, cognitive, understanding, work, conversation, fact] [linguistic, language, consciousness, phonological, conscious, jackendoff, speech, phonotactic, chalmers, native, discriminate, voice, rhythmic, combination, acoustic, succeed, distinguish, werker, basic, prose, emergence, meaning, blue, access, argues, earliest, puddle, addressing, prelinguistic] [hard, problem, easy, young, initiated, ability, aspect, stage] [structure, acquisition, computational, word, increasingly, semantics] [model, provide, based, individual, modeling, range, good] [perception, input, valuation, focus, visual, role, human, babbling, behaviour, process]
Where Should Researchers Look for Strategy Discoveries during the Acquisition of Complex Task Performance? The Case of Space Fortress
Marc Destefano, Wayne Gray
Marc Destefano, Wayne Gray
In complex task domains, such as games, students may exceed their
teachers. Such tasks afford diverse means to tradeoff one type of performance for
another, combining task elements in novel ways to yield method variations and
strategy discoveries that, if mastered, might produce large or small leaps in
performance. For the researcher interested in the development of extreme
expertise in the wild, the problem posed by such tasks is “where to
look” to capture the explorations, trials, errors, and successes that
eventually lead to the invention of superior performance. In this paper, we
present several successful discoveries of methods for superior performance. For
these discoveries we used Symbolic Aggregate Approximation as our method of
identifying changepoints within score progressions in the venerable game of Space
Fortress. By decomposing performance at these changepoints, we find previously
unknown strategies that even the designers of the task had not anticipated.
[task, time, second, complex, rule, lab] [gray, appear, cognitive, result, killing] [drop, destroy, expert, curve, blue, superior, experimental] [strategy, performance, skill, number, score, three, study, symbolic, appears, science] [small, increase, acquisition, subject, large, approach] [fortress, player, mine, hour, game, destroyed, data, destroying, sax, average, total, shoot, shooting, vulnerability, individual, point, wayne, requires, method, capture, bonus, ship, extreme, destefano, marc, behavior, aggregate, well, plateau, psf, leap, discovering, dip, approximation, vlner, scoring, discovery, simple] [figure, space, play, algorithm, focus, allows, plot, pattern, screen]
The Interaction of Memory and Attention in Novel Word Generalization: A Computational Investigation
Erin Grant, Aida Nematzadeh, Suzanne Stevenson
Erin Grant, Aida Nematzadeh, Suzanne Stevenson
People exhibit a tendency to generalize a novel noun to the
basic-level in a hierarchical taxonomy -- a cognitively salient category such as
"dog" -- with the degree of generalization depending on the number and type of
exemplars. A change in the presentation timing of exemplars has also been shown
to have an effect, reversing the prior observed pattern of basic-level
generalization. We explore the precise mechanisms that could lead to such
behavior by extending a computational model of word learning and generalization
to integrate cognitive processes of memory and attention. Our results show that
the interaction of forgetting and attention to novelty, as well as sensitivity to
both type and token frequencies of exemplars, enables the model to replicate the
empirical results from different presentation timings. Our results reinforce the
need to incorporate general cognitive processes within word learning models to
better understand observed behaviors in vocabulary acquisition.
[novel, generalization, attention, learning, presentation, subordinate, training, time, test, sequential, category, match, simultaneous, suspicious, general, coincidence, alignment, condition, novelty, dog, nematzadeh, type, reversal, superordinate, child, generalize, fep, presented, forgetting, pgen, attend, noveltyt, compared, assoct] [people, taxonomy, cognitive, strength, account, extended] [memory, meaning, instance, basic, object, taxonomic, specific, incremental] [three, group, number, greater, lower] [word, computational, animal, mechanism, association, frequency, approach] [model, probability, data, decay, set, observed, higher, tendency, integrate, formulation, rate] [feature, level, input, interaction, figure, single, labeled]
Environmental Orientation Affects Emotional Expression Identification
Stephen Flusberg, Derek Shapiro, Kevin Collister, Paul Thibodeau
Stephen Flusberg, Derek Shapiro, Kevin Collister, Paul Thibodeau
Spatial metaphors for affective valence are common in English,
where up in space=happy/positive and down in space=sad/negative. Past research
suggests that these metaphors have some measure of psychological reality: people
are faster to respond to valenced stimuli when they are presented in
metaphor-congruent regions of space. Here we explore whether the orientation of a
stimulus –rather than its position– is sufficient to elicit such
spatial-valence congruency effects, and, if so, which spatial reference frame(s)
people use to represent this orientation. In Experiment 1, participants viewed
images of happy and sad profile faces in different orientations and had to
identify the depicted emotion. In Experiment 2, participants completed this task
while lying down on their sides, thereby disassociating environmental and
egocentric reference frames. Experiment 1 revealed a metaphor-congruent
interaction between emotion and orientation, while Experiment 2 revealed that
this spatial-valence congruency effect was only reliable in the environmental
frame of reference.
[condition, appeared, stimulus, revealed, faster, presented, processing, time, position, completed, upward, reaction, downward, compared, slower, response, identify, suggests] [happy, experiment, sad, people, frame, emotional, congruency, upright, gazing, emotion, masked, upwards, valence, profile, oriented, respect, facing, unmasked, valenced, account, work, psychology, discussion, disassociating, appear, positive, negative, mapping, davidenko, lying, common, lynott, connotes, sufficient, elicit, participant] [reference, spatial, environmental, egocentric, error, main] [performance, study] [analysis] [data, based] [orientation, face, respond, space, figure, represent, computer, interaction, screen, polarity, expression, top, environment, perception, spatialvalence]
An experimental study on the observation of facts in explanation reconstruction
Hitoshi Terai, Kazuhisa Miwa, Naohiro Toyama
Hitoshi Terai, Kazuhisa Miwa, Naohiro Toyama
In this study, we conducted experiments to examine the factors
that facilitate shifts in explanations using short story in which participants
were required an explanation reconstruction. In the experiment, we controlled the
time of presentation of a key fact that contradicts an initial explanation and
has a central role in its reconstruction (bottom-up condition), reflective
thinking (top-down condition), and the two together (bidirectional condition).
The results are summarized as follows. First, when the prior explanation was
rejected, attention to the key fact was inhibited although a new explanation was
required. Second, the successful group increased their attention on the key fact
just before the explanatory shift. Third, protection of the preceding explanation
with unobserved facts was inhibited by guiding the participants’ attention
toward the key fact. Finally, although the initial explanation was not completely
shifted, a quasiexplanatory shift was achieved by activating reflective thinking
with attention to the key fact.
[attention, time, condition, facilitate, baseline, phase, task, increased, presented, finding] [fact, explanation, key, explanatory, initial, reflective, experiment, reconstructed, barber, thinking, shifted, bidirectional, hair, story, unsuccessful, indicated, oxygen, shop, understanding, caloric, summarized, crucial, gathering, scientific, burning, facilitated, introduction, phenomenon, staff, constructing, basis, reconsider, reinterpret, guiding] [shift, experimental, previous, main, university, meaning] [control, group, place, mind, number, ratio, lower, required, difference, problem, science, procedure] [increase, construct, constructed, preceding, structure] [successful, based, theory, observation, average, opportunity, consider, completely, observed, accepted] [fixation, reconstruction, figure, system, transition, eye, process, area]
A Learned Label Modulates Object Representations in 10-Month-Old Infants
Katherine Twomey, Gert Westermann
Katherine Twomey, Gert Westermann
Despite substantial evidence for a bidirectional relationship
between language and representation, the roots of this relationship in infancy
are not known. The current study explores the possibility that labels may affect
object representations at the earliest stages of language acquisition. We asked
parents to play with their 10-month-old infants with two novel toys for three
minutes, every day for a week, teaching infants a novel word for one toy but not
the other. After a week infants participated in a familiarization task in which
they saw each object for 8 trials in silence, followed by a test trial consisting
of both objects accompanied by the trained word. Infants exhibited a faster
decline in looking times to the previously unlabeled object. These data speak to
the current debate over the status of labels in human cognition, supporting
accounts in which labels are an integral part of representation.
[label, time, novel, child, infant, trial, stimulus, familiarization, journal, test, learned, evidence, training, learning, early, category, attention, presented, phase, session, target, task, caregiver, recorded, lab, eyetracker, half, development, consisted, shape, westermann, categorization, developmental, age, twomey, preferential, auditory] [experience, relationship, cognitive, work, account, interact, explained, mapping] [object, language, affect, perceptual, experimental, color, accompanied, blue] [study, experimenter, asked, week, toy, received, identical, teaching, difference] [word, relative, onset, amount] [demonstrate, red, prior, data, individual, model] [play, representation, labeled, current, trained, figure, visual, screen, offset, single]
Spatial Interference and Individual Differences in Looking at Nothing for Verbal Memory
Alper Kumcu, Robin L. Thompson
Alper Kumcu, Robin L. Thompson
People tend to look at uninformative, blank locations in space
when retrieving information. This gaze behaviour, known as looking at nothing, is
assumed to be driven by the use of spatial indices associated with external
information. We investigated whether people form spatial indices and look at
nothing when retrieving words from memory. Participants were simultaneously
presented four words. During retrieval participants looked at the relevant, blank
location, where the probe word had appeared previously, longer than the other
blank locations. Additionally, word presentation was sometimes followed by a
visual cue either co-located or not with the probe word. Valid cues functioned as
visual reinforcement while invalid cues caused interference. Finally,
participants with better visuospatial memory looked less at the relevant, blank
location, suggesting a dynamic relationship between so-called
“external” and “internal” memory. Overall findings
suggest an automatic, instantaneous spatial indexing mechanism for words and a
dynamic looking at nothing behaviour.
[cue, visuospatial, blank, invalid, time, presented, verbal, indexing, interference, irrelevant, condition, looked, evidence, valid, task, revealed, appeared, journal, simultaneously, interfering, general, formed, aimed] [cognitive, mental, relevant, percentage, people, psychological, experiment, manipulation, understanding, history, version] [spatial, memory, quadrant, retrieval, language, experimental, university, updated, main] [external, study, better, number, spent, difference, equal, three, asked, questionnaire, science, working] [word, probe, mechanism, analysis] [individual, correlation, data] [visual, eye, dwell, internal, interest, behaviour, location, integrated, corresponding, dynamic, space, encoding, longer, associated, centre, retrieving, divided, area, analysed, role, simon, environment]
Deconstructing "tomorrow": How children learn the semantics of time
Katharine Tillman, Tyler Marghetis, David Barner, Mahesh Srinivasan
Katharine Tillman, Tyler Marghetis, David Barner, Mahesh Srinivasan
Deictic time words (e.g., “tomorrow") refer to time periods
relative to the present. While children produce these words by age 2-3, they use
them incorrectly for several more years. Here, as a case study in abstract word
learning, we explored what children know about these words during this delay.
Specifically, we probed children’s knowledge of three aspects of meaning:
deictic (past/future) status, sequential ordering (e.g., “tomorrow”
is after “yesterday”), and remoteness from now. We asked 3- to
8-year-olds to place these words on a timeline extending from the past (left) to
the future (right). Even 4-year-olds could meaningfully represent the
words’ deictic status and order, and by 6, the majority displayed
adult-like performance. Adult-like knowledge of remoteness, however, emerged
independently, after age 7. Thus, even while children use these terms
incorrectly, they are gradually constructing a structured semantic domain,
including information about the deictic, sequential, and metric relations among
terms.
[deictic, time, remoteness, status, age, early, child, learning, accuracy, sequential, adult, busby, facet, tested, learn, year, indicate, improved, developmental, journal, chance, independently, half, bootstrapping, type] [temporal, timeline, understanding, future, common, case, long, indicated, going, event, possibility, yesterday, cognitive] [meaning, language, item, produce, calculated, spatial, production, linguistic, error, characterize, refer] [knowledge, partial, acquire, three, study, majority, week, place, young, department] [order, word, relative, semantic, distance, acquisition, abstract, syntactic, breakfast, tense] [ordering, prior, probability, provide, predicted, confidence, method] [figure, placement, grant, left, duration, represent, transition]
Generalization of within-category feature correlations
Nolan Conaway, Kenneth Kurtz
Nolan Conaway, Kenneth Kurtz
Theoretical and empirical work in the field of classification
learning is centered on a ‘reference point’ view, where learners are
thought to represent categories in terms of stored points in psychological space
(e.g., prototypes, exemplars, clusters). Reference point representations fully
specify how regions of psychological space are associated with class labels, but
they do not contain information about how features relate to one another (within-
class or otherwise). We present a novel experiment suggesting human learners
acquire knowledge of within-class feature correlations and use this knowledge
during generalization. Our methods conform strictly to the traditional artificial
classification learning paradigm, and our results cannot be explained by any
prominent reference point model (i.e., GCM, ALCOVE). An alternative to the
reference point framework (DIVA) provides a strong account of the observed
performance. We additionally describe preliminary work on a novel discriminative
clustering model that also explains our results.
[category, diva, classification, learning, generalization, training, novel, journal, discriminative, boundary, stimulus, response, evidence, indicate, generalized, exemplar, reported, presented, selective] [psychological, explained, account, people, work, experiment, systematic, cognitive] [reference, experimental, perceptual, memory, depicted, context, contrast, encode] [knowledge, performance, acquire, traditional, report, difference, study, score] [class, clustering, similarity, divergent] [model, point, gcm, observed, fit, parameter, probability, best, prediction, predict, theory, search] [feature, diagonal, figure, critical, human, behavioral, side, represent, internal, stored, central, representation, hidden, fully, space, achieved, associated, explains, design, represented]
Neurophysiological Effects of Negotiation Framing
Peter Khooshabeh, Rebecca Lin, Celso de Melo, Jonathan Gratch, Brett Ouimette, Jim Blascovich
Peter Khooshabeh, Rebecca Lin, Celso de Melo, Jonathan Gratch, Brett Ouimette, Jim Blascovich
In this study, we manipulated gain/loss framing context during a
simulated negotiation between a human user and a virtual agent. Task instructions
placed users either in a loss or gain framed context, such that those in the loss
frame had to minimize expenses whereas those in the gain frame had to maximize
profits. The virtual agent displayed facial emotions so that we could also test
how interpersonal emotions interact with framing. Results suggest that
individuals are more motivated to minimize their losses than maximizing their
gains. The loss frame caused individuals to demand more during the negotiation,
hence to minimize expenses. Neurophysiological results suggest that
cardiovascular patterns of challenge (i.e., positive motivations) were present in
the loss frame condition, most strongly when the virtual human smiled. We discuss
these results in regards to Prospect Theory. This work also has implications for
designing and rigorously evaluating human-like virtual agents.
[task, condition, compared, journal, suggests, displayed, induction, decreased, half, indicate, increased] [frame, virtual, framing, positive, emotion, social, emotional, indicated, motivated, physiological, psychological, cognitive, told, work, khooshabeh, account, situation, participant, neutral] [affect, context, manipulated] [greater, performance, threat, study, difference, mood, motivation] [relative, multivariate] [negotiation, loss, gain, demand, challenge, agent, cardiovascular, offer, decision, neurophysiological, risk, outcome, state, based, minimize, prospect, tpr, demanded, motivational, reactivity, profit, model, making, carnevale, maximize, behavior, round, predicted, loom, bps] [facial, behavioral, level, interpersonal, interaction, goal, experienced, expression, human, design]
Probability Prediction in Children with ASD
Zi L. Sim, Fei Xu
Zi L. Sim, Fei Xu
Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often struggle
with making inductive generalizations. Yet for typically developing children, the
capacity to make such generalizations is a hallmark of human learning. This
ability requires some understanding of “intuitive statistics” (i.e.,
the understanding that there is a relationship between samples and populations),
which have been previously demonstrated to emerge early on in infancy. We
hypothesized that the challenges with inductive generalization among the ASD
population may have its roots in weaknesses in probabilistic reasoning. In the
current study, we gave children with ASD a probability prediction task adapted
from the method used with infants in Teglas et al. (2007), and our results over
two experiments with two groups (one from the U.S. and one from Singapore)
suggest that compared with typically developing children, children with autism
may have difficulties in engaging in probabilistic reasoning.
[autism, asd, familiarization, developing, presented, inductive, task, test, displaying, trial, child, developmental, picture, learning, spectrum, early, journal, statistical, phase, bouncing, shape, presentation, second, learn, generalization] [experiment, cognitive, reasoning, psychological, yellow, understanding, social, future, autistic, disorder, causal, work, mental] [experimental, object, blue, color, adapted, fluent] [control, three, ability, procedure, identical, container, card, young, experimenter, difference, exact, group, asked, better] [typically, large, order, weak] [probabilistic, sample, probability, theory, prediction, making, binomial, method, based, median] [current, exited, visual, level, respond, screen, perform]
Know Your Enemy: Applying Cognitive Modeling in Security Domain
Vladislav Daniel Veksler, Norbou Buchler
Vladislav Daniel Veksler, Norbou Buchler
Game Theory -based decision aids have been successfully employed
in real-world policing, anti-terrorism, and wildlife conservation efforts (Tambe,
Jiang, An, & Jain, 2013). Cognitive modeling, in concert with model tracing and
dynamic parameter fitting techniques, may be used to improve the performance of
such decision aids by predicting individual attacker behavior in repeated
security games. We present three simulations, showing that (1) cognitive modeling
can aid in greatly improving decision-aid performance in the security domain; and
(2) despite the fact that individual attackers will differ in initial preferences
and in how they learn, model parameters can be adjusted dynamically to make
useful predictions for each attacker.
[learning, repeated, robust, suggests, general] [cognitive, initial, normative, account, fact, future, despite, cognition] [domain, mixed] [performance, strategy, software, better, playing, number, improve, international] [table, employed, animal, approach, computational, oxford] [attacker, security, game, defender, model, simulation, theory, decision, rate, individual, modeling, agent, predict, preference, tracing, parameter, choose, based, behavior, success, reinforcement, uncertainty, predicting, method, provide, dynamically, employ, utility, winning, prevented, rational, attack, optimal, data, paper, conference, tambe, successful, perfectly, fitting] [human, figure, action, behavioral, play, focus, dynamic, represents, multiple, current]
Leveling the Field: Talking Levels in Cognitive Science
Luke Kersten, Robert West, Andrew Brook
Luke Kersten, Robert West, Andrew Brook
Talk of levels is everywhere in cognitive science. Whether it is
in terms of adjudicating longstanding debates or motivating foundational
concepts, one cannot go far without hearing about the need to talk at different
‘levels’. Yet in spite of its widespread application and use, the
concept of levels has received little sustained attention within cognitive
science. This paper provides an analysis of the various ways the notion of levels
has been deployed within cognitive science. The paper begins by introducing and
motivating discussion via four representative accounts of levels. It then turns
to outlining and relating the four accounts using two dimensions of comparison.
The result is the creation of a conceptual framework that maps the logical space
of levels talk, which offers an important step toward making sense of levels talk
within cognitive science
[second, attention, general, position] [cognitive, talk, ontic, epistemic, explanatory, account, bechtel, discussion, newell, physical, applies, biological, realization, metaphysical, pylyshyn, algorithmic, mechanistic, cognition, sense, marr, application, understanding, virtue, identifies, described, real, implementational, concerned, informationprocessing, constitutive, philosophy, realist, mental, investigation, conductivity, perspectival, simply, respect, substantive] [contrast, produce] [three, science, versus, larger, mind, change] [analysis, computational, organization, conceptual, relation, theoretical, relate, logical, mechanism] [theory, consider, provide, individual, underlying, representative] [level, system, framework, view, figure, brain, space, current, neurological, realized]
Bayesian Pronoun Interpretation in Mandarin Chinese
Meilin Zhan, Roger P. Levy, Roger P. Levy, Andrew Kehler
Meilin Zhan, Roger P. Levy, Roger P. Levy, Andrew Kehler
Kehler and Rohde (2013) proposed a Bayesian theory of pronoun
interpretation where the influence of world knowledge emerges as effects on the
prior and the influence of information structure as effects on the likelihood:
P(referent|pronoun) ∝ P(pronoun|referent)P(referent). Here we present two
experiments on Mandarin Chinese that allow us to test the generality of the
theory for a language with different syntactic-semantic associations than
English. Manipulations involving two different classes of implicit-causality
verbs and passive vs. active voice confirmed key predictions of the Bayesian
theory: effects of these manipulations on the prior and likelihood in production
were consistently reflected in pronoun interpretation preferences. Quantitative
analysis shows that the Bayesian model is the best fit for Mandarin compared to
two competing analyses. These results lend both qualitative and quantitative
support to a cross linguistically general Bayesian theory of pronoun
interpretation.
[type, test, journal, second, statistical, increased, condition] [experiment, strong, influence, san] [voice, production, referent, main, grammatical, object, overt, affect, coded, refer, referring, null, passage, varied, term] [passive, active, free, knowledge] [pronoun, interpretation, prompt, verb, subject, logical, meihui, syntactic, mandarin, rohde, kehler, weak, sentence, passivization, bias, form, pronominalized, chinese, bei, mirror, structure, pronominalization, mentioned, clause, competing, intended, entity, structural, emerges, jieyi, generality] [bayesian, model, rate, prior, likelihood, theory, predicts, probability, predicted, hypothesis, data, proportion, choice, based, observed] [figure, quantitative, role]
A speed-accuracy trade-off in children's processing of scalar implicatures
Rose Schneider, Michael Frank
Rose Schneider, Michael Frank
Scalar implicatures - inferences from a weak description ("I ate
some of the cookies") that a stronger alternative is true ("I didn't eat all") -
are paradigm cases of pragmatic inference. Children's trouble with scalar
implicatures is thus an important puzzle for theories of pragmatic development,
given their communicative competence in other domains. Previous research has
suggested that access to alternatives might be key. Here, we explore children's
reaction times in a new paradigm for measuring scalar implicature processing.
Alongside failures on scalar implicatures with "some," we replicate previous
reports of failures with "none," and find evidence of a speed-accuracy trade-off
for both quantifiers. Motivated by these findings, we explore the relationship
between accuracy and reaction time with a Drift Diffusion Model. We find evidence
consistent with the hypothesis that preschoolers lack access to alternatives for
scalar implicature computation, although this set of alternatives may be broader
than previously assumed.
[trial, age, accuracy, reaction, type, quantifier, drift, horowitz, time, response, implicature, evidence, implicatures, target, task, developmental, ddm, processing, explore, separation, paradigm, ipad, indicating, suggests, slower, older, increased] [consistent, split, low, inferential, cover, cognitive, relevant, excluded, motivated, relationship, failed] [frank, previous, mixed, description, language, access] [correct, performance, incorrect, high, three, knowledge, lower, study, computation, experimenter, additional] [book, bias, subject, lexical] [scalar, data, alternative, diffusion, model, making, parameter, pragmatic, fit, hypothesis, find, compute, theory, rate, exploratory, based, observed, decision, confidence] [figure, interaction, rts, longer, process]
Left-right mental timeline is robust to visuospatial and verbal interference
Rose Hendricks, Esther Walker, Benjamin Bergen, Lera Boroditsky, Rafael Nunez
Rose Hendricks, Esther Walker, Benjamin Bergen, Lera Boroditsky, Rafael Nunez
We test the robustness of American college students’ mental
timeline to dual tasks that have interfered with spatial and verbal reasoning in
prior work. We focus on the left-right axis for representing sequences of events.
We test American college students, who read from left to right. We test for
automatic space-time mappings using two established space-time association tasks.
We find that their tendency to associate earlier events with the left side of
space and later events with the right remains under conditions of visuospatial
and verbal interference. We find this both when participants made time judgments
about linguistic and non-linguistic stimuli. We discuss the relationship between
these results and those obtained for mental timelines that result from learning
new metaphors in language (Hendricks & Boroditsky, 2015), and the effects of the
same interference tasks on number tasks (mental number-line and counting; van
Dijck et al., 2009; Frank et al., 2012).
[interference, time, visuospatial, task, verbal, incongruent, congruent, reaction, completed, second, presented, type, revealed, accuracy, baseline, dijck, condition, span, sequence, robust, evidence, calibration, block, nonlinguistic, suggesting, standard] [judgment, mental, experiment, dual, congruency, work, timeline, participant, cognitive, people, metaphor, temporal, implicit, assigned, white, future] [spatial, memory, main, linguistic, van, american, frank] [number, working, control, three, group, accurate, difference, performance, conducted, college, practice] [earlier, association, order, associate] [load, observed, making, individual] [left, representation, space, figure, screen, performed, side, interaction]
Helping people make better decisions using optimal gamification
Falk Lieder, Tom Griffiths
Falk Lieder, Tom Griffiths
Game elements like points and levels are a popular tool to nudge
and engage students and customers. Yet, no theory can tell us which incentive
structures work and how to design them. Here we connect the practice of
gamification to the theory of reward shaping in reinforcement learning. We
leverage this connection to develop a method for designing effective incentive
structures and delineating when gamification will succeed from when it will fail.
We evaluate our method in two behavioral experiments. The results of the first
experiment demonstrate that incentive structures designed by our method help
people make better, less short-sighted decisions and avoid the pitfalls of less
principled approaches. The results of the second experiment illustrate that such
incentive structures can be effectively implemented using game elements like
points and badges. These results suggest that our method provides a principled
way to leverage gamification to help people make better decisions.
[condition, learning, avoid, time, response, task, presented, second, improved, increased] [people, experiment, positive, negative, work, designed, cognitive, principled] [experimental, modified] [performance, approximate, better, help, adding, sum, equation, control, number, three, correct, problem, beneficial, international, group] [structure, embedded, frequency] [optimal, reward, gamification, method, policy, function, decision, shaping, incentive, game, state, planning, theorem, jonesville, median, clarksville, pseudorewards, choice, theory, smithsville, max, potential, mdp, designing, williamsville, reinforcement, bakersville, arg, leverage, based, fail, bonus, discounted] [figure, environment, action, integrated, move, level, current, original, achieve, separately]
When to Block versus Interleave Practice? Evidence Against Teaching Fraction Addition before Fraction Multiplication
Rony Patel, Ran Liu, Kenneth Koedinger
Rony Patel, Ran Liu, Kenneth Koedinger
In practice, mathematics education is blocked (i.e., teaching one
topic at a time; CCSS, 2010), but research generally promotes interleaving (i.e.,
teaching multiple topics together; Rohrer & Taylor, 2007). For example, fraction
arithmetic is blocked with students being taught fraction addition before
fraction multiplication. Since students often confuse fraction operations to
produce arithmetic errors, interleaved fraction arithmetic instruction might be
more productive than blocked instruction to teach students to discriminate
between the operations. Additionally, a cognitive task analysis suggests that
fraction multiplication may be a prerequisite to fraction addition and thus
reversing the blocking order may enhance learning. Two experiments with fraction
addition and fraction multiplication were run. Experiments 1 and 2 show that
interleaved instruction is generally better than the current blocked instruction.
Experiment 2 provides evidence that blocking that reverses the standard order --
providing practice on fraction multiplication before fraction addition --
produces better learning.
[condition, learning, interference, accuracy, evidence, training, task, presented, suggests, finding, block, type, second, slower] [experiment, common, cognitive, consistent, generally] [support, delayed] [fraction, multiplication, addition, blocked, interleaved, practice, problem, posttest, blocking, better, interleaving, strategy, correct, instruction, pretest, number, step, arithmetic, denominator, skill, midtest, incorrect, mathematics, division, taught, feedback, provided, multiplying, adding, teaching, correctness, performance, knowledge, outperformed, transfer, school, convert, answer, require, national, three, tutor, procedure, prerequisite, equivalent, included, progression] [order, analysis, core] [choice, observed, proportion, predict, based, state, independent] [figure, process, moving]
Context, but not proficiency, moderates the effects of metaphor framing: A case study in India
Paul Thibodeau, Daye Lee, Stephen Flusberg
Paul Thibodeau, Daye Lee, Stephen Flusberg
Metaphors suffuse language and affect how people think. A
meta-analysis of metaphor framing studies conducted between 1983 and 2000
concluded that metaphors are about 6% more persuasive than literal language
(Sopory & Dillard, 2002). However, each of these studies was conducted in English
with samples drawn from populations of native English speakers. Here, we test
whether and how language proficiency moderates the influence of metaphor frames.
Sampling from a population of non-native, but generally proficient, English
speakers from India, we found that metaphor frames systematically affected people
who reported using English primarily in informal contexts (i.e., among friends
and family and through the media) but not for people who reported using English
primarily in formal contexts (i.e., for school or work). We discuss implications
of this finding for countries like the US, where English is increasingly a
non-native language for its residents, and for theories of language
processing.
[response, reported, congruent, type, second, journal, family, revealed, age, suggesting, incongruent, learning] [metaphor, people, crime, influence, consistent, beast, street, social, work, india, framing, participant, issue, frame, systematic, thibodeau, percentage, mechanical, cognitive, commonly, psychological, history, designed, including, persuasive, contrasted, political, reasoning] [language, informal, context, item, native, influenced, main, frequently, previous, proficient, degree] [formal, asked, virus, school, educational, education, study, create, conducted, science] [english, usage, table, reading, proficiency, tend, fluency] [population, option, model, choose, find, setting, consider, prior] [interaction, congruence]
Recursion in Nicaraguan Sign Language
Annemarie Kocab, Ann Senghas, Jesse Snedeker
Annemarie Kocab, Ann Senghas, Jesse Snedeker
Syntactic recursion is argued to be a key property of natural
languages, allowing us to create an infinite number of utterances from a finite
number of words and rules. Some have argued that recursion is uniquely human.
There are at least two possibilities for the origins of recursion: 1) Recursion
is a property of the language faculty. 2) Recursion is an historical
accomplishment and is culturally constructed over millennia. Here we ask whether
an emerging sign language, Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL), exhibits syntactic
recursion by comparing the language of the first three age cohorts of signers.
Signers (n=27) watched and described vignettes designed to elicit relative
clauses. Results suggest that signers from all three cohorts have strategies to
fulfill the discourse function of relative clauses, picking out an individual
from a set. The grammatical form of the utterances differs across cohorts, with
signers from later cohorts clearly producing embedded structures.
[second, early, age, evidence, individuating, revealed, target, performing, repeated, compared] [property, historical, capacity, cognitive, work, version, faculty, character, established] [language, sign, community, university, fourth, coded, cultural, deaf, description, expect, constituent, linguistic, describing] [three, difference, third, number, reduction, asked, observing, study, department] [relative, clause, cohort, boy, recursion, conjoined, syntactic, typing, nicaraguan, nsl, verb, mention, producing, length, emerging, discourse, fulfill, recursive, argued, entered, unique, form, embedded, constructed, structure, noun, picking, identifying, prosodic] [individual, set, model, function, proportion, opportunity] [action, human, figure, scene, coding, single, current]
A Twist On Event Processing: Reorganizing Attention To Cope With Novelty In Dynamic Activity Sequences
Jessica Kosie, Dare Baldwin
Jessica Kosie, Dare Baldwin
Fluent event processing appears to critically involve selectively
attending to information-rich junctures within continuously unfolding sensory
streams (e.g., Newtson, 1973). What counts as information-rich would seem to
depend on a variety of factors, however, including the novelty/familiarity of
such events, as well as opportunity for repeated viewings. Using Hard, Recchia, &
Tversky’s “Dwell-time Paradigm,” we investigated the extent to
which viewers’ attention to unfolding activity streams is affected by
novelty/familiarity and a second viewing. Viewers’ dwell times were
recorded as they advanced twice each through three slideshows varying in
familiarity but equated on other dimensions. Dwell time patterns revealed
reorganization on a number of fronts: a) familiarity elicited decreased dwelling
overall, b) dwell-time patterns changed systematically on second viewing, and c)
familiarity modulated the specific nature of change associated with repeated
viewing. These findings illuminate reorganization in attention as action
information is first encountered and quickly incorporated to guide
processing.
[tying, second, boundary, familiarity, processing, twist, familiar, attention, predictability, slide, advantage, shoe, sem, unfolding, distinctive, slideshows, stream, shoelace, exposure, displayed, statistical, sequence, segmentation, revealed, segmental, attentional, dwelling, slideshow, loop, identify, portion, type, enhanced, repeated] [event, depicting, causally, low, examined, causal, fact] [discrimination, specific, degree, highly, main] [three, versus, provided, differ, linear, greater] [structure, tend, analysis, relative, increase] [method, prior, predicted, preferred, opportunity] [dwell, activity, viewing, action, longer, motion, reorganization, sensory, classified, process, interaction, selectively, dynamic, level, naturalistic, unfamiliar, segment, current]
Strategic search in semantic memory
Evgenii Nikitin, Thomas Hills
Evgenii Nikitin, Thomas Hills
We search for various things every day - food, information on the
Internet or someone's name in memory. Despite the different nature of these
tasks, they all have a common feature - a final goal with an unknown location in
a complex environment. This property of the search raises a problem of trade-off
between exploration of new opportunities and exploitation of the known
information. We used the data from the semantic fluency task experiment to
investigate how humans switch between exploration and exploitation strategies
when they search in memory. On comparing different search models, the one that
assumes that humans switch strategies according to the semantic quality of the
current neighbourhood best fits the data. Moreover, participants who set higher
thresholds for the words with better quality of the neighbourhood tend to
retrieve more words. We also used regression analysis to find out which factors
affect efficiency of both strategies.
[time, switch, suggests, type] [psychological, participant, people, described, cognitive, variable] [memory, retrieval, retrieved, retrieve, calculated, description, support, produced] [number, strategy, idea, performance, study, improve, three] [semantic, local, global, word, quality, proximity, analysis, similarity, neighbourhood, frequency, measure, subject, vector, random, calculate, amount, table, semantically, coefficient, animal] [search, model, threshold, maximum, average, patch, foraging, fit, find, exploitation, mvt, set, remaining, exploration, marginal, optimal, likelihood, best, aic, regression, higher, elapsed, function, pij, choice, rate, attempt, modelling, assumes, leave, intake, strategically, estimate] [current, space, process, switching, figure, nearest, dynamic, glm, representation]
Translating testimonial claims into evidence for category-based induction
Tamar Kushnir, Susan Gelman
Tamar Kushnir, Susan Gelman
Inductive generalizations about the properties of kinds are based
on evidence. But evidence can come either from our observations, or from the
testimony of knowledgeable informants. The current study explores how we combine
information from these two sources to make inductive inferences. Participants
learned about a novel object category, and observed the property occur with some
frequency in a sample of category members. Different groups of participants also
heard an informant making either Generic, Quantified, or Specific claims about
the prevalence of the property. Participants who heard generic claims were more
resistant to a straightforward use of statistical evidence in their
generalizations. Moreover, participants who rated the informant as more
knowledgeable (across conditions) gave higher prevalence estimates. The results
suggest two pathways through which testimony translates into evidence for
category learning, and raise questions on how to best combine evidence from these
different sources into a common representational form.
[category, evidence, condition, inductive, trial, statistical, learning, novel, heard, hearing, suggests, type, wald, general] [generic, property, quantified, testimony, zorg, claim, testimonial, cognitive, influence, attribution, led, low, causal, straightforward, blickets, skepticism, account, straightforwardly, resistant, lovely, people, illustration, translate, credibility, belief] [specific, main, object, influenced] [knowledge, high, study, video, slope, knowledgeable, difference, lower, informant, translating, observing] [frequency, table] [observed, prevalence, sample, machine, average, rational, based, probability, lead, making, parameter, probabilistic, prior, higher, data, predicted, bayesian, model, highest, true] [interaction, figure, human, process, current]
Investigating Rational Analogy in the Spirit of John Stuart Mill: Bayesian Analysis of Confidence about Inferences across Aligned Simple Systems
Bradley Rogers, David Landy
Bradley Rogers, David Landy
What does it mean for analogy to be rational? John Stuart Mill
described a probabilistic underpinning for analogical inference based on the the
odds of observing systemic pairwise correspondence across otherwise independent
systems by mere chance. Although proponents and critics have debated its
validity, Mill’s approach has yet to be implemented computationally or
studied psychologically. In this paper we examine Mill’s approach and show
how it can be instantiated using Bayes theorem. Then we describe two experiments
that present subjects with partially-revealed, aligned binary strings with
varying degrees of intra- and inter-string regularity. Experimental results are
compared to a formal rational analysis of the stimuli revealing conditions
whereby participants exhibit confidence patterns consistent and inconsistent with
Mill’s rational basis of analogy.
[analogy, analogical, evidence, conflict, correspondence, stimulus, relational, response, target, general, presented, match, journal, indicating] [consistent, people, participant, experiment, basis, reasoning, agree, property, cognitive, strong, relationship, described, assigned, psychological] [matched, experimental, degree] [problem] [approach, analysis, computational, bias, unique, list, large] [rational, probability, proportion, pairwise, model, theory, randomly, probabilistic, sample, prediction, confidence, observed, mill, rationally, sampling, binary, estimating, based, bayesian, lead, distribution, choice, rate, criticism, varying, simple, describes, generated, incomplete, consider, systemic, rationality] [figure, design, system, developed, responded, human]
Pragmatic relativity: Gender and context affect the use of personal pronouns in discourse differentially across languages
Zeynep Azar, Ad Backus, Asli Ozyurek
Zeynep Azar, Ad Backus, Asli Ozyurek
Speakers use differential referring expressions in pragmatically
appropriate ways to produce coherent narratives. Languages, however, differ in a)
whether REs as arguments can be dropped and b) whether personal pronouns encode
gender. We examine two languages that differ from each other in these two aspects
and ask whether the co-reference context and the gender encoding options affect
the use of REs differentially. We elicited narratives from Dutch and Turkish
speakers about two types of three-person events, one including people of the same
and the other of mixed-gender. Speakers re-introduced referents into the
discourse with fuller forms (NPs) and maintained them with reduced forms (overt
or null pronoun). Turkish speakers used pronouns mainly to mark emphasis and only
Dutch speakers used pronouns differentially across the two types of videos. We
argue that linguistic possibilities available in languages tune speakers into
taking different principles into account to produce pragmatically coherent
narratives.
[type, repeated, compared, reduced, general, adult, stimulus] [personal, person, singular, extended] [turkish, dutch, null, overt, gender, language, context, main, maintenance, referent, reference, typologically, encode, university, studying, referring, addressee, maintaining, netherlands, specific, default, sitting, radboud, office, expect, emphasis, coherent, refer, coded, coreference] [video, third, differ, strategy, study, comparison, additional, comparing] [discourse, pronoun, subject, analysis, mentioned, clause, variance, form, noun, applied] [data, independent, woman, preferred, sample, full] [tracking, interaction, performed, maintained, figure, single, hand, accessible, current]
Which Learning Algorithms Can Generalize Identity-Based Rules to Novel Inputs?
Paul Tupper, Bobak Shahriari
Paul Tupper, Bobak Shahriari
We propose a novel framework for the analysis of learning
algorithms that allows us to say when such algorithms can and cannot generalize
certain patterns from training data to test data. In particular we focus on
situations where the rule that must be learned concerns two components of a
stimulus being identical. We call such a basis for discrimination an
identity-based rule. Identity-based rules have proven to be difficult or
impossible for certain types of learning algorithms to acquire from limited
datasets. This is in contrast to human behaviour on similar tasks. Here we
provide a framework for rigorously establishing which learning algorithms will
fail at generalizing identity-based rules to novel stimuli. We use this framework
to show that such algorithms are unable to generalize identity-based rules to
novel inputs unless trained on virtually all possible inputs. We demonstrate
these results computationally with a multilayer feedforward neural network.
[training, learning, novel, learn, generalize, second, ungrammatical, valid, learner, pair, artificial, task, paired, learned, fixed] [rating, case, result, suppose, experiment, evaluate] [language, grammatical, map, phonological, contrast, phonotactic, apply, university, linguistic] [score, example, number, asked, identical, performance, ability] [word, random, computational, order] [data, set, consider, theorem, increasing, good, provide, average, model, demonstrate, randomly, maximum] [algorithm, invariant, hidden, symmetry, network, neural, trained, input, distributed, localist, dataset, train, letter, define, invariance, human, sonority, figure, encoding, segment, identity, consist, framework, unable, feature, formalize, connectionist, computer]
Discriminability of sound contrasts in the face of speaker variation quantified
Christina Bergmann, Alejandrina Cristia, Emmanuel Dupoux
Christina Bergmann, Alejandrina Cristia, Emmanuel Dupoux
How does a naive language learner deal with speaker variation
irrelevant to distinguishing word meanings? Experimental data is contradictory,
and incompatible models have been proposed. Here, we examine basic assumptions
regarding the acoustic signal the learner deals with: Is speaker variability a
hurdle in discriminating sounds or can it easily be ignored? To this end, we
summarize existing infant data. We then present machine-based discriminability
scores of sound pairs obtained without any language knowledge. Our results show
that speaker variability decreases sound contrast discriminability, and that some
contrasts are affected more than others. However, chance performance is rare;
most contrasts remain discriminable in the face of speaker variation. We take our
results to mean that speaker variation is not a uniform hurdle to discriminating
sound contrasts, and careful examination is necessary when planning and
interpreting studies testing whether and to what extent infants (and adults) are
sensitive to speaker differences.
[sound, infant, tested, test, processing, testing, stimulus, quantify, evidence, condition, spoken, learning, early, chance, compare, developmental, compared, novel, learner] [psychological, including, deal] [speaker, variation, speech, variability, acoustic, discrimination, contrast, discriminability, episodic, language, talker, phonetic, abstractionist, normalization, abx, pena, sucking, experimental, vowel, support, kuhl, habituation, jusczyk, mel, deviating, adverse, frequently, background, introduced] [difference, score, versus, study, performance, impact, difficult, ability, problem, change, better, international] [word, abstract, corpus, table, english] [data, compute, based, lack, rate] [face, figure, level, perception, multiple, indicates, interaction, trained]
The Combinatorial Power of Experience
Brendan Johns, Randall Jamieson, Matthew Crump, Michael Jones, Douglas Mewhort
Brendan Johns, Randall Jamieson, Matthew Crump, Michael Jones, Douglas Mewhort
Recent research in the artificial grammar literature has found
that a simple exemplar model of memory can account for a wide variety of
artificial grammar results (Jamieson & Mewhort, 2009, 2010, 2011). This classic
type of model has also been extended to account for natural language sentence
processing effects (Johns & Jones, 2015). The current article extends this work
to account for sentence production, and demonstrates that the structure of
language itself provides sufficient power to generate syntactically correct
sentences, even with no higher-level information about language provided to the
model.
[exemplar, artificial, test, presented, position, journal, regularity] [experience, power, account, psychological, nature, sufficient, people] [language, memory, context, retrieval, produce, experimental, grammatical, grammatically, production, retrieved, studied, linguistic, previous] [number, performance, correct, equal, department, high, greater, ability, three, improvement, exact, formal] [word, order, sentence, vector, grammar, structure, natural, syntactic, analysis, unordered, length, construct, panel, list, small, probe, record, large, retrieves, jamieson, constructed, jones, amount, complexity, holographic, computed, final, mechanism, regular, epm] [model, rank, simple, function, provide, ordering, theory, based, underlying] [figure, serial, stored, representation, represent, represented, goal, parallel, input, allows, represents, top]
Racial Essentialism is Associated With Prejudice Towards Blacks in 5- and 6-Year-Old White Children
Tara Mandalaywala, Marjorie Rhodes
Tara Mandalaywala, Marjorie Rhodes
Psychological essentialism is a cognitive bias that leads people
to view members of a category as sharing a deep, underlying, inherent nature that
causes them to be fundamentally similar to one another in non-obvious ways.
Although essentialist beliefs can be beneficial, allowing people to view the
social world as stable and predictable, essentialist beliefs about social
categories such as race or ethnicity are also thought to underlie the development
of stereotyping and prejudice. While recent studies in adults have found that
racial essentialism is associated with increased prejudice, the development of
this relationship has rarely been examined. The present research examines the
implications of essentialism for prejudice in a population of white five- and
six-year old children in the United States, finding that essentialist beliefs
about race are associated with increased implicit and explicit prejudice towards
members of a minority racial group.
[development, child, journal, early, explicit, increased, block, developmental, category, time, presented, status, completed] [social, essentialism, essentialist, prejudice, white, race, implicit, racial, black, relationship, cognitive, people, intergroup, psychological, participant, formation, personality, smiley, prejudiced, frowny, negative, socially, pairing, warmth, stable, justification, positive, cartoon, justify, prejudicial, yellow, biological, reasoning, distinct, stereotyping, leading, thermometer, nature, rhodes] [blue] [group, greater, score, study, minority, asked, three] [association, structure, measure, bias, order] [individual, data, compatible, lead, button, incompatible, sample, higher] [associated, view, face, indicates, screen]
Simple Search Algorithms on Semantic Networks Learned from Language Use
Aida Nematzadeh, Filip Miscevic, Suzanne Stevenson
Aida Nematzadeh, Filip Miscevic, Suzanne Stevenson
Recent empirical and modeling research has focused on the semantic
fluency task because it is informative about semantic memory. An interesting
interplay arises between the richness of representations in semantic memory and
the complexity of algorithms required to process it. It has remained an open
question whether representations of words and their relations learned from
language use can enable a simple search algorithm to mimic the observed behavior
in the fluency task. Here we show that it is plausible to learn rich
representations from naturalistic data for which a very simple search algorithm
(a random walk) can replicate the human patterns. We suggest that explicitly
structuring knowledge about words into a semantic network plays a crucial role in
modeling human behavior in memory search and retrieval; moreover, this is the
case across a range of semantic information sources.
[learned, learner, match, switch, replicate, task, cue] [people, explicitly, appropriate, work, simply] [memory, produce, meaning, language, produced] [number, ratio, required, knowledge, created, better] [semantic, word, random, irt, walk, beagle, animal, abbott, structure, fluency, corpus, gold, weighted, node, association, reflect, conceptual, table, edge, graph, computational, similarity, subcategory, length, stricter, contextual, approach, unweighted] [data, search, patch, model, observed, range, best, behavior, foraging, empirical, set, simple, optimal, parameter, average, threshold, find, modeling, rate, capture, higher] [network, human, representation, connected, pattern, algorithm, input, process, figure, naturalistic, perform]
The Structure of Names in Memory: Deviations from Uniform Entropy Impair Memory for Linguistic Sequences
Melody Dye, Brendan Johns, Michael Jones, Michael Ramscar
Melody Dye, Brendan Johns, Michael Jones, Michael Ramscar
Human languages can be seen as socially evolved systems that have
been structured to optimize information flow in communication. Communication
appears to proceed both more efficiently and more smoothly when information is
distributed evenly across the linguistic signal. In previous work (Ramscar et
al., 2013), we used tools from information theory to examine how naming systems
evolved to meet this requirement historically, and how, over the past several
hundred years, social legislation and rapid population growth have disrupted
naming practices in the West, making names ever harder to process and remember.
In support of these observations, we present findings from three experiments
investigating name fluency, recognition, and recall. These results provide
converging empirical evidence for an optimal solution to name design, and offer a
more nuanced understanding of how social engineering has impaired the structure
of names in memory.
[task, revealed, response, accuracy, faster, category, journal, learn, second, ramscar, repeated] [famous, social, experiment, cognitive, psychological, work, discussion, psychology, experience] [female, male, gender, memory, linguistic, recall, produce, university, produced, recalled, evenly, highly, harder, communication] [asked, correct, correctly, study, array, difficult] [semantic, entropy, naming, frequency, subject, grammar, fluency, structure, english, producing, distributional, analysis, efficient, lexical, similarity, word, indiana, identified, length, accurately, semantics] [set, theory, men, rate, optimal, distribution, individual, uncertainty, collected, log, search, probability, relied, point, model, decision] [element, interaction, recognition, face, human, figure, space, distributed]
Analyzing distributional learning of phonemic categories in unsupervised deep neural networks
Okko Räsänen, Tasha Nagamine, Nima Mesgarani
Okko Räsänen, Tasha Nagamine, Nima Mesgarani
Infants’ speech perception adapts to the phonemic categories
of their native language, a process assumed to be driven by the distributional
properties of speech. This study investigates whether deep neural networks
(DNNs), the current state-of-the-art in distributional feature learning, are
capable of learning phoneme-like representations of speech in an unsupervised
manner. We trained DNNs with unlabeled and labeled speech and analyzed the
activations of each layer with respect to the phones in the input segments. The
analyses reveal that the emergence of phonemic invariance in DNNs is dependent on
the availability of phonemic labeling of the input during the training. No
increased phonemic selectivity of the hidden layers was observed in the purely
unsupervised networks despite successful learning of low-dimensional
representations for speech. This suggests that additional learning constraints or
more sophisticated models are needed to account for the emergence of phone-like
categories in distributional learning operating on natural speech.
[learning, training, classification, standard, statistical, target, learn, auditory, finding, continuous, increased] [temporal, capable] [speech, acoustic, language, phonetic, gender, native, context, error] [number, study, performance, analyzed] [distributional, order, earlier, increasingly, node, structure, random, vector, corpus] [data, set, observed, individual, higher, model] [input, phone, phonemic, layer, network, dbn, aen, unsupervised, neural, deep, hidden, selectivity, mlp, supervised, output, knn, rbm, nagamine, dnns, timit, invariance, moa, activation, reconstruction, generative, system, autoencoder, dbns, original, trained, dnn, feature, multiple, corresponding, visual, representation, stack, human, feedforward]
Boredom, Information-Seeking and Exploration
Andra Geana, Robert Wilson, Nathaniel Daw, Jonathan Cohen
Andra Geana, Robert Wilson, Nathaniel Daw, Jonathan Cohen
Any adaptive organism faces the choice between taking actions with
known benefits (exploitation), and sampling new actions to check for other, more
valuable opportunities available (exploration). The latter involves
information-seeking, a drive so fundamental to learning and long-term reward that
it can reasonably be considered, through evolution or development, to have
acquired its own value, independent of immediate reward. Similarly, behaviors
that fail to yield information may have come to be associated with aversive
experiences such as boredom, demotivation, and task disengagement. In accord with
these suppositions, we propose that boredom reflects an adaptive signal for
managing the exploration-exploitation tradeoff, in the service of optimizing
information acquisition and long-term reward. We tested participants in three
experiments, manipulating the information content in their immediate task
environment, and showed that increased perceptions of boredom arise in
environments in which there is little useful information, and that higher boredom
correlates with higher exploration.
[task, learning, condition, increased, switch, tested, time, response, performing, journal] [experiment, horizon, rated, consistent, work, long, told, elicited, participant, relationship, perceived] [error, content, previous, university, curve] [three, number, change, improve, difference, course, better, greater, received, asked] [random, theoretical, amount, bias, earlier, short, correlated] [boredom, game, exploration, prediction, behavior, bandit, higher, reward, boring, played, generated, average, exploratory, decision, machine, model, total, opportunity, cost, correlation, adaptive, slider, drive, empirical, choosing, princeton, observed, pressed, well] [current, gaussian, figure, environment, signal, suggested, human, screen, perform, associated, behavioral, level]
Implicit measurement of motivated causal attribution
Laura Niemi, Joshua Hartshorne, Tobias Gerstenberg, Liane Young
Laura Niemi, Joshua Hartshorne, Tobias Gerstenberg, Liane Young
Moral judgment often involves pinning causation for harm to a
particular person. Since it reveals "who one sides with," expression of moral
judgment can be a costly social act that people may be motivated to conceal.
Here, we demonstrate that a simple, well-studied psycholinguistic task (implicit
causality) can be leveraged as a novel implicit measure of morally relevant
causal attributions. Participants decided whether to continue sentences like "Amy
killed Bob because..." with either the pronoun "he" or "she". We found that (1)
implicit causality selections predicted explicit causal judgments, (2) selecting
the object (victim) for harm/force events (e.g., kill, rape) predicted
endorsement of moral values previously linked to victim-blame, and (3) higher
hostile sexism predicted selecting the female as the cause in male-on-female
harm/force. The implicit causality task is a new measure of morally motivated
causal attribution that may circumvent social desirability concerns.
[task, position, journal, explicit, increased] [implicit, causality, causal, moral, people, social, harm, sexism, hostile, motivated, work, killed, psychological, blame, low, positively, judgment, deserved, attribution, morally, cognition, personality, amy, violence, responsibility, psychology, hostility, hartshorne, extent, sufficient, caesar, person, causation, event, reasoning, understanding, focused, purity, brutus] [object, select, endorsement, gender, filler, language] [contribution, force, high, group, study] [sentence, subject, correlated, measure, pronoun] [agent, prior, predict, higher, predicted, men, selecting, likelihood, well, individual, predicts] [binding, patient, involves, focus, perception, view, indicates]
Putting the “th” in Tenths: The Role of Labeling Decimals in Revealing Place Value Structure
Abbey Loehr, Bethany Rittle-Johnson
Abbey Loehr, Bethany Rittle-Johnson
Language is a powerful cognitive tool. For example, labeling
objects or features of problems can support categorization and relational
thinking. Less is known about their role in making inferences about the structure
of mathematics problems. We test the impact of labeling decimals such as 0.25
using formal place value labels (“two tenths and five hundredths”)
compared to informal labels (“point two five”) or no labels on
children’s problem-solving performance. Third- and fourth-graders (N = 104)
were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (formal labels, informal
labels, or no labels) and labeled decimals while playing a magnitude comparison
game and number line estimation task. Formal labels facilitated performance on
comparison problems that required understanding the role of zero, which
highlighted place value structure. However, formal labels hindered performance
when explicit understanding of place value magnitudes was required. Findings
highlight how the language teachers and students use can impact problem-solving
success.
[condition, compared, label, revealed, incongruent, learning, congruent, child, task, labeling, relational, type, journal, accuracy] [understanding, negative, thinking, examined, cognitive] [informal, language, shared] [decimal, formal, number, place, comparison, performance, magnitude, knowledge, correct, correctly, mathematics, included, solved, comparing, lower, transfer, greater, providing, pretest, digit, estimation, three, mathematical, fraction, percent, control, symbolic, pae, decomposed, revealing, study, score, answer, activate, encourage] [relative, table, structure, analysis, reflect, naming, korean] [game, highest, everyday, making] [role, pattern, performed, reveal, current, play]
The Effect of Emotion and Induced Arousal on Numerical Processing
Karina Hamamouche, Michelle Hurst, Sara Cordes
Karina Hamamouche, Michelle Hurst, Sara Cordes
Prominent theories suggest that time and number are represented by
a common magnitude system. However, distinct patterns of temporal and numerical
processing occur in the presence of emotional stimuli, calling into question
theories of a common magnitude system, while also unveiling questions regarding
the mechanisms underlying these temporal and numerical biases. We tested whether
numerical processing, like temporal processing, may be impacted by increased
arousal levels, yet have a higher threshold level in order to impact estimates.
If so, then induced arousal may reverse the typical pattern of numerical
underestimation in the presence of emotions. Adults (N = 85) participated in
either a stress-induction or a control version of the task. Then, participants
completed a numerical bisection task in the presence and absence of emotional
content. Increasing arousal had no impact on numerical processing, except in the
presence of happy faces, providing further evidence for distinct processing
mechanisms.
[processing, task, condition, baseline, increased, time, presentation, test, revealed, standard, evidence, attention, presented, induction, journal, stimulus, simultaneous, response, suggesting] [emotional, arousal, temporal, stress, emotion, presence, neutral, underestimation, happy, work, induced, angry, bisection, overestimation, common, distinct, absence, arousing, cognitive, social, result] [main, content, basic, degree] [numerical, impact, performance, magnitude, control, young, heightened, study, number, precision, identical, providing, precise, investigated, experimenter, dot, difference, math] [large, measure, bias, order, relative] [prior, observed, set, individual, higher, pse, underlying] [pattern, face, level, interaction, representation, perception]
Is the Self-Concept like Other Concepts? The Causal Structure of Identity
Stephanie Chen, Daniel Bartels, Oleg Urminsky
Stephanie Chen, Daniel Bartels, Oleg Urminsky
We investigate the age-old questions of what makes us who we are
and what features of identity, if changed, would make us a different person.
Previous approaches to identity have suggested that there is a type of feature
that is most defining of identity (e.g., autobiographical memories or moral
qualities). We propose a new approach to identity that suggests that, like
concepts in general, more causally central features are perceived as more
defining of the self-concept. In three experiments, using both measured and
manipulated causal centrality, we find that changes to features of identity that
are perceived as more causally central are more disruptive to both the identity
of the self and others.
[defining, condition, target, task, suggests, counterbalanced, completed, journal] [causal, causally, centrality, missing, common, person, experiment, personal, version, positive, depth, perceived, rated, continuity, described, people, vignette, disruption, disruptive, shyness, moral, spearman, autobiographical, caused, childhood, personality, assigned, character, discussion, relationship, strength, disrupt, twelve, influence, consistent] [memory, map, contained] [number, change, three, concept, difference, knowledge] [approach, measure, read, order, linked, table, plausible, structure, semantic] [correlation, set, prior, average, measured, selected, individual] [identity, feature, central, figure, peripheral, level, suggested, represent]
Can the High-Level Semantics of a Scene be Preserved in the Low-Level Visual Features of that Scene? A Study of Disorder and Naturalness
Hiroki Kotabe, Omid Kardan, Marc Berman
Hiroki Kotabe, Omid Kardan, Marc Berman
Real-world scenes contain low-level visual features (e.g., edges,
colors) and high-level semantic features (e.g., objects and places). Traditional
visual perception models assume that integration of low-level visual features and
segmentation of the scene must occur before high-level semantics are perceived.
This view implies that low-level visual features of a scene alone do not carry
semantic information related to that scene. Here we present evidence that
suggests otherwise. We show that high-level semantics can be preserved in
low-level visual features, and that different high-level semantics can be
preserved in different types of low-level visual features. Specifically, the
‘disorder’ of a scene is preserved in edge features better than color
features, whereas the converse is true for ‘naturalness.’ These
findings suggest that semantic processing may start earlier than thought before,
and integration of low-level visual features and segmentation of the scene may
occur after semantic processing has begun, or in parallel.
[processing, suggests, evidence, segmentation, occur, presented, journal, stimulus, tested, category, suggesting, categorize, early, removing, half, integration, time, exposure, mask, presentation] [disorder, people, experiment, consistent, psychological, diagnostic, cognitive, identifiable, possibility] [color, object, spatial, highly, university] [better, study, difference, statistically, providing, procedure, conducted, number] [semantic, semantics, edge, natural, correlate, correlated, derived, dependent, global, association] [randomly, method, rate, note, predicted, correlation, prior, partially] [visual, scene, naturalness, preserved, original, figure, perception, scrambled, rapid, image, lowlevel, oliva, preservation, carry, recognition, associated, scrambling, brain]
When the Words Don’t Matter: Arbitrary labels improve categorical alignment through the anchoring of categories
Ellise Suffill, Martin Pickering, Holly Branigan
Ellise Suffill, Martin Pickering, Holly Branigan
Novel labels provide feedback that may enhance categorical
alignment between interlocutors. However, the nature of this feedback may not
always be linguistic. Lupyan (2008) has demonstrated the effects of labels on
individual categorization, and even non-word labels have seemingly produced
greater consistency in sorting strategies (Lupyan & Casasanto, 2014). We extend
this to alignment by demonstrating that arbitrary labels can increase sorting
consistency to bring people’s categories closer together, even without
dialogue. Importantly, we argue that increased alignment is not always due to
labeling in a linguistic sense. Results suggest that it is not the content of the
non-word labels driving the alignment effects, but the very presence of the
labels acting as ‘anchors’ for category formation. This demonstrates
a more general cognitive effect of arbitrary labels on categorization.
[alignment, exposure, labeling, exposed, novel, label, category, fixed, condition, removing, categorical, categorization, pair, block, lupyan, arbitrary, teb, occur, dup, sound, match, increased, half, facilitate, reported] [consistency, participant, appear, cognitive, consistent, led, nature, physical] [language, linguistic, access, item, matched, meaning, specific, produced, experimental, shared, evolution, intercept, seemingly] [group, reduce, barrier, included, feedback, greater, number, place, enhance] [sorting, table, random, order, demonstrated, applied, sorted, conceptual, analysis, residual, syntactic, increase, approach, lexical, abstract, structure] [set, model, fit, higher, data, well] [associated, anchoring, process, interaction, figure]
General Mechanisms Underlying Language and Spatial Cognitive Development
Hilary Miller, Vanessa Simmering
Hilary Miller, Vanessa Simmering
Previous research showed that children’s spatial language
production predicts their spatial skills, but the mechanisms underlying this
relation remain a source of debate. This study examined whether
4-year-olds’ spatial skills were predicted by their attention to
task-relevant information—in tasks that emphasize either memory or
language—above and beyond their spatial word production. Children completed
three types of tasks: (1) a memory task assessing attention to task-relevant
color, size, and location cues; (2) a production task assessing adaptive use of
language to describe scenes, varying in color, size, and location; and (3)
spatial tasks. After controlling for age, gender, and vocabulary,
children’s spatial skills were significantly predicted by their memory for
task-relevant cues, above and beyond their task-related language production and
adaptive use of language. These findings suggest that attending to relevant
information is a process supporting spatial skill acquisition and underlies the
relation between language and spatial cognition.
[task, size, child, attention, vocabulary, cue, target, trial, test, tested, development, probed, general, second, irrelevant, early, picture, presented, reflected, developmental] [relevant, composite, cognitive, cognition, causal, excluded, psychological, negative, mental] [spatial, memory, language, description, color, referent, differentiated, adaptation, production, varied, miller, produce, calculated, produced, support, coded, pruden, object, describe, encode] [score, performance, three, number, array, study, correct, included, third, quantity, controlling, better] [relation, word, variance, probe, productive] [predicted, adaptive, proportion, data, predict, hypothesis] [location, figure, scene, feature]
Developmentally plausible learning of word categories from distributional statistics
Daniel Freudenthal, Julian Pine, Gary Jones, Fernand Gobet
Daniel Freudenthal, Julian Pine, Gary Jones, Fernand Gobet
In this paper we evaluate a mechanism for the learning of word
categories from distributional information against criteria of psychological
plausibility. We elaborate on the ideas developed by Redington et al. (1998) by
embedding the mechanism in an existing model of language acquisition (MOSAIC) and
gradually expanding the contexts it has access to in a developmentally plausible
way. In line with child data, the mechanism shows early development of a noun
category, and later development of a verb category. It is furthermore shown that
the mechanism can maintain high performance at lower computational overhead by
disregarding token frequency information, thus improving the plausibility of the
mechanism as something that is used by language-learning children.
[developmental, accuracy, early, target, category, learning, reported, child, development, classify] [cognitive, basis] [context, language, emergence, grammatical, main] [number, performance, high, lower, limited, investigate] [mechanism, noun, word, redington, preceding, table, verb, order, mosaic, jaccard, approach, plausible, distributional, similarity, computed, frequent, frequency, distance, gradually, computational, developmentally, large, analysis, richness, token, measure, class, concatenated, overhead, length, expressed, corpus, acquisition, disregarding, plausibility, mintz, productive, argued, increase, tend, applied, increasingly] [rank, data, model, correlation, well, threshold, higher, collect] [pattern, input, separately, represents]
An Empirical Evaluation of Models for How People Learn Cue Search Orders
Percy Mistry, Michael Lee, Ben Newell
Percy Mistry, Michael Lee, Ben Newell
We propose simple parameter-free models that predict how
people learn environmental cue contingencies, use this information
to measure the usefulness of cues, and in turn, use these
measures to construct search orders. To develop the models,
we consider a total of 8 previously proposed cue measures,
based on cue validity and discriminability, and develop simple
Bayesian and biased-Bayesian learning mechanisms for inferring
these measures from experience. We evaluate the model
predictions against people’s search behavior in an experiment
in which people could freely search cues for information to
decide between two stimuli. Our results show that people’s
behavior is best predicted by models relying on cue measures
maximizing short-term accuracy, rather than long-term exploration,
and using the biased learning mechanism that increases
the certainty of inferences about cue properties, but does not
necessarily learn true environmental contingencies.
[cue, learning, standard, learned, learn, trial, journal, evidence, attention, compared] [people, lee, mental, newell, account, evaluation, black, cognitive, psychological, participant] [discriminability, experimental, university, blue, select] [partial, lower, correct, usa, better, difference, linear] [order, measure, panel, random, large, relate] [search, biased, validity, model, success, rate, bayesian, decision, probability, simple, additive, predicted, uncertainty, individual, tau, based, distribution, choice, predict, beta, sampled, making, city, modeling, sampling, behavior, gain, consider, propose, bayes, ordering, set, best, generated, decide, prior, sample, data, red] [figure, focus, top, human, process]
The role of word-word co-occurrence in word learning
Abdellah Fourtassi, Emmanuel Dupoux
Abdellah Fourtassi, Emmanuel Dupoux
A growing body of research on early word learning suggests that
learners gather word-object co-occurrence statistics across learning situations.
Here we test a new mechanism whereby learners are also sensitive to word-word
co-occurrence statistics. Indeed, we find that participants can infer the likely
referent of a novel word based on its co-occurrence with other words, in a way
that mimics a machine learning algorithm dubbed ‘zero-shot learning’.
We suggest that the interaction between referential and distributional
regularities can bring robustness to the process of word acquisition
[learning, category, novel, presented, label, artificial, familiar, learn, statistical, familiarization, session, exposure, test, picture, learned, training, tested, hear, cue, phase, exposed, journal, chance, block, second, learner] [real, experiment, psychological, work, situation, cognitive, absence, series] [language, referential, context, latent, referent, consolidation, experimental, linguistic, meaning, consistently, memory, interesting, university] [correct, step, difference, knowledge, composed] [semantic, word, distributional, mechanism, order, abstract, analysis, xsl, similarity, large, association, ouyang] [model, based, infer, hypothesis, set, choice, machine] [visual, figure, neural, consists, suggested, human, trained]
Solution of division by access to multiplication: Evidence from eye tracking
Shawn Tan, Kasia Muldner, Jo-Anne Lefevre
Shawn Tan, Kasia Muldner, Jo-Anne Lefevre
People report solving division problems by mentally recasting
division problems as multiplication (e.g., 72 ÷ 8 to 8 × [?] = 72).
Mediation of division by multiplication occurs mainly on larger problems. Eye
tracking data was used to determine whether patterns of gaze durations on
division problems provided support for mediation. Adults solved division problems
in two formats: traditional (e.g., 72 ÷ 8 = [ ]) and recasted (e.g. 72 = 8
× [ ]). Processing of individual problem elements was compared across
formats. Results provide support for mediation. Processing patterns for
traditionally-formatted problems were more similar to those for traditional
division in earlier work (72 ÷ 8) whereas problems in recasted format (72 =
8 × [ ]) were more similar to patterns found when participants solved
multiplication problems (e.g., 8 × 9). These findings provide a novel source
of support for differential processing of problems across presentation formats.
[time, processing, attention, size, reported, presented, journal, compared, display, position, evidence, response, appeared] [missing, mental, cognitive, influence, work, located] [sign, retrieval, experimental, memory, varied, support, spatial, university, calculated] [division, problem, format, traditional, recasted, multiplication, middle, curtis, dividend, solved, arithmetic, solving, spent, recasting, lefevre, mediation, equal, solution, larger, operand, number, strategy, solve, symbol, morris, study, third, course, ranging, analyzed, addition, report] [large, small, table, carleton] [distribution, interval, observed, total, simple] [gaze, interest, eye, area, figure, element, left, location, tracking, duration, longer, focus, divided, fixation, dwell, pattern]
Using a smartphone game to promote transfer of skills in a real world environment
Inge Doesburg, Niels Taatgen
Inge Doesburg, Niels Taatgen
This article presents an experiment in which participant's working
memory, tasks-switching and focusing skills are trained in a game called Wollie
on a smartphone. Before and after the training period they performed three task
(a recall, Stroop and task-switching). The goal of this research was to see how
the participants, from the test group, learn within the game and how this affects
the three tasks. Only in the Stroop results a clear difference between the two
groups was found. However, we found that participants who had the most trouble in
playing Wollie, improved the most on Stroop and task-switching, indicating that
these participants still lacked the relevant skills for all these tasks.
[task, stroop, training, presented, time, test, second, switch, picture, rule, accuracy, block, learning, condition, pre] [participant, cognitive, influence, people, low, appear, result, assigned] [recall] [improvement, transfer, smartphone, group, difflevel, tap, wollie, control, three, working, high, needed, difference, help, progress, created, performance, playing, score, improve, highscore, educational, smart, benefit, taatgen, called] [word, table, amount, applied, small, post, graph] [game, correlation, player, data, based, green, average, highest, played, decision] [figure, level, screen, train, switching, play, focus, phone, performed, goal, reached, perform]
Searching large hypothesis spaces by asking questions
Alexander Cohen, Brenden Lake
Alexander Cohen, Brenden Lake
One way people deal with uncertainty is by asking questions. A
showcase of this ability is the classic 20 questions game where a player asks
questions in search of a secret object. Previous studies using variants of this
task have found that people are effective question-askers according to normative
Bayesian metrics such as expected information gain. However, so far, the studies
amenable to mathematical modeling have used only small sets of possible
hypotheses that were provided explicitly to participants, far from the unbounded
hypothesis spaces people often grapple with. Here, we study how people evaluate
the quality of questions in an unrestricted 20 Questions task. We present a
Bayesian model that utilizes a large data set of object-question pairs and
expected information gain to select questions. This model provides good
predictions regarding people's preferences and outperforms simpler
alternatives.
[response, learning, compared, presented] [people, depth, participant, mechanical, cognitive, experiment, including, turk, scale, work, future] [object, previous, specific] [question, subset, correct, asked, answer, science, number, ability, effective, providing, annual, analyzed] [large, random, semantic, complete, quality, computed, table, analysis, unique] [model, bayesian, set, full, average, expected, game, hypothesis, eig, data, rank, correlation, gain, chosen, best, selected, prior, guessing, bonus, posterior, search, choose, likelihood, point, played, multinomial, setup, fit, bigger, maximizes, probability, randomly, alternative, conference, selecting, range, simulated] [human, space, framework, behavioral]
Predicting Decision in Human-Agent Negotiation using functional MRI
Eunkyung Kim, Sarah Gimbel, Aleksandra Litvinova, Jonas Kaplan, Morteza Dehghani
Eunkyung Kim, Sarah Gimbel, Aleksandra Litvinova, Jonas Kaplan, Morteza Dehghani
The importance of human-agent negotiation, and the role of emotion
in such negotiations, have been emphasized in human-agent interaction research.
Thus far, studies have focused on behavioral effects, rather than examining the
neural underpinnings of different behaviors shown in human-agent interactions.
Here, we used a multi-round negotiation platform, instead of the more common
single-shot negotiation, and were able to find distinct brain patterns in
emotion-related regions of the brain during different types of offers. Using
multi-voxel pattern analysis to analyze brain imaging data acquired during
functional MRI scanning, we show that it is possible to predict whether the
negotiator concedes, does not change, or asks for more during the negotiation.
Most importantly, we demonstrate that left dorsal anterior insula, which is known
to be an emotion-related brain region, shows a different pattern of activity for
each of the three offer types.
[task, general, accuracy, artificial, type, standard, showing, journal, compared, chance, indicate, learning] [participant, social, emotion, cognitive, history, investigating] [functional, previous] [better, included, three, international, limited, linear, practice, number] [analysis, approach] [negotiation, offer, data, prediction, round, method, agent, based, predict, payoff, find, behavior, restaurant, decision, generated, model] [brain, feature, fmri, searchlight, selection, mvpa, anterior, activity, dorsal, insula, left, human, computer, role, roi, neural, performed, level, insular, pattern, user, imaging, labeled, voxel, cortex, voxels, glm, ultimatum]
Attention and the Development of Inductive Generalization: Evidence from Recognition Memory
Tracey Miser, Vladimir Sloutsky
Tracey Miser, Vladimir Sloutsky
Induction, the ability to generalize knowledge from known to novel
instances, is essential for human learning. This study investigates how attention
allocation during category learning and induction affects what information is
represented and encoded to memory. In Experiment 1 5-year-olds and adults learned
rule-based categories. They were then presented with an
Induction-then-Recognition task. Similar to previous results with familiar
categories, children exhibited better memory for items than adults. In Experiment
2, adults learned similarity-based categories and then were presented with an
Induction-then-Recognition task. In this condition, adults’ memory was as
good as children’s memory in Experiment 1. These results indicate that the
way categories are represented affects the way induction is performed.
[category, induction, attention, presented, novel, switch, inductive, development, learning, journal, child, phase, developmental, evidence, chance, familiar, sloutsky, fisher, rule, deterministic, learned, training, label, age, target, generalization, indicating, accuracy, testing, task, performing, processing] [experiment, false, low, result, twelve, focused, inference, kind, cognitive] [memory, item, experimental, discrimination, default, perceptual] [high, better, young, feedback, knowledge, ability, provided, study, lower] [mechanism, similarity, table, analysis, argued, demonstrated] [probabilistic, based, higher, inferred, remaining] [feature, recognition, view, visual, representation, perform, single, multiple, role]
Viewing time affects overspecification: Evidence for two strategies of attribute selection during reference production
Ruud Koolen, Albert Gatt, Roger Van Gompel, Emiel Krahmer, Kees Van Deemter
Ruud Koolen, Albert Gatt, Roger Van Gompel, Emiel Krahmer, Kees Van Deemter
Speakers often produce definite referring expressions that are
overspecified: they tend to include more attributes than neces- sary to
distinguish the target referent. The current paper inves- tigates how the
occurrence of overspecification is affected by viewing time. We conducted an
experiment in which speakers were asked to refer to target objects in visual
domains. Half of the speakers had unlimited time to inspect the domains, while
viewing time was limited (1000 ms) for the other half. The results reveal that
limited viewing time induces the occurrence of overspecification. We conjecture
that limited viewing time caused speakers to rely heavily on quick heuristics
during attribute selection, which urge them to select attributes that are
perceptually salient. In the case of unlimited inspection time, speakers seem to
rely on a combination of heuristic and more deliberate selection strategies.
[time, target, condition, size, identify, half, pressure, presented, inspection, type] [experiment, cognitive, deliberate, inherent] [color, attribute, van, distractors, pace, overspecification, listener, reference, referential, inspect, redundant, domain, speaker, overspecified, distractor, refer, referring, production, description, language, object, discriminatory, unlimited, rely, manipulated, main, university, tilburg, quick, select, incremental, describe, deemter, contained, confederate, uniquely, referent, produce, interesting, speech, expect, produced] [limited, three, needed, included, example, difference, number] [occurrence, include, random, definite, computational, order, large, amount] [proportion, based, heuristic, model, data, paper] [viewing, visual, selection, figure, interaction, current, critical, scan]
Trump supported it?! A Bayesian source credibility model applied to appeals to specific American presidential candidates’ opinions
Jens Koed Madsen
Jens Koed Madsen
The credibility of politicians is crucial to their persuasiveness
as election candidates. The paper applies a parameter-free Baysian source
credibility model (integrating trustworthiness and epistemic authority) in a
real-life test predicting participants’ posterior belief in the goodness of
an unnamed policy after a named candidate has publically supported or attacked
it.
Two studies test model predictions against policy support and attack of five
presidential candidates from the USA. Model predictions were measured against
observed posterior belief in the goodness of the policy.
The results strongly suggest the model captures essential traits of how
participants update beliefs in policies given appeals to a candidates’
support of attack. Further, individual differences suggest that people consider
other factors than the ones elicited for the study. More studies into appeals to
specific candidates are warranted to construct more accurate models of the
influence of source credibility on political reasoning
[tested, test, suggests, sequential, general] [source, political, candidate, credibility, belief, epistemic, trustworthiness, authority, goodness, conditional, supported, persuasive, reasoning, person, influence, social, people, publically, election, public, trump, psychology, appeal, elicited, presidential, fact, despite, participant, cognitive, trustworthy, clinton, hahn, democratic, bush] [support, specific, university, expert, gender, degree, american, named] [study, linear, science] [order, argument, approach, applied, oxford, table] [model, bayesian, posterior, policy, observed, individual, good, prior, population, harris, attack, predict, potential, attacked, fit, likelihood, trust, average, woman, paper, unknown, data, regression] [current, review]
Expressive faces are remembered with less pictorial fidelity than neutral faces
Martina Lorenzino, Giorgio Gronchi, Corrado Caudek
Martina Lorenzino, Giorgio Gronchi, Corrado Caudek
A repeated finding in the literature of face recognition is that
expressive faces are remembered better than neutral faces. However, a better
facial-identity recognition may come at a cost of a reduced precision with which
the pictorial facial features, irrelevant for identity recognition, are
represented in memory. By means of a continuous-report task, we tested this
hypothesis by measuring the memory precision of expressive and neutral faces.
Commensurable face-identity and facial-expressions variations were generated with
the method of Fechnerian scaling. The results confirm our hypothesis, but only
under conditions of high memory load. We interpret the present findings as due to
the effects of the categorical processes required for facial-identity
recognition.
[compared, presented, phase, task, advantage, second, journal, test, blank, irrelevant, repeated, stimulus, trial, response] [neutral, emotional, angry, san, frame, happy, experiment, negative, cognition, health] [memory, discrimination, perceptual, expect, van, der, remember] [working, lower, precision, procedure, study, better, versus, created, statistically, asked, difference, department, high, correct] [order, employed, interpret] [fechnerian, generated, rate, set, measured, average, function, method] [face, morphing, continuum, image, expressive, facial, pictorial, fidelity, identity, visual, expression, represented, recognition, vwm, figure, psychometric, transient, representation, screen, corresponding, creation, top, morphed, unfamiliar, fixation, jackson, padiglione]
Three barriers to effective thought experiments, as revealed by a system that externalizes students’ thinking
Miki Matsumuro, Kazuhisa Miwa
Miki Matsumuro, Kazuhisa Miwa
This study aimed to develop a Thought Experiment Externalizer
(TE-ext) and to apply it in order to observe barriers to problem solving. TE-ext
enables students to visualize a problem situation. Users of TE-ext can implement
changes in the situation and see the result as an animation. Experimental use of
TE-ext identified three barriers to conducting an effective thought experiment
(TE). First, participants tended not to change the situation from the original
one; second, incorrect or inappropriate knowledge was applied to the situation;
third, the participants did not apply the results of their TE to other
situations. These factors prevented participants from rejecting their initial
incorrect model and finding a new one through TEs.
[phase, test, second, shape, time, half] [situation, thinking, mental, initial, cognitive, reasoning, result, scientific, experiment, including, factor, existence, inappropriate, nature, animation, exist, focused, philosophy] [select, previous, shift, apply, experimental, support, combination, frequently, main, university] [yoyo, barrier, third, problem, correct, thought, step, additional, incorrect, science, break, knowledge, effective, conduct, change, three, conducted, student, educational, answer, solving, instruction, yokoyama, square, investigated, number, asked, anzai, confirm, conducting, exact, high, easily] [] [model, selected, round, expected, prevented, string, based, data, simulation] [figure, original, carry, direction, movement, operation, role, suitable, process, rotation]
Mind reading: Discovering individual preferences from eye movements using switching hidden Markov models
Tim Chuk, Antoni B. Chan, Shinsuke (shin) Shimojo, Janet H. Hsiao
Tim Chuk, Antoni B. Chan, Shinsuke (shin) Shimojo, Janet H. Hsiao
Here we used a hidden Markov model (HMM) based approach to infer
individual choices from eye movements in preference decision-making. We assumed
that during decision making process, there is a transit from an exploration to a
decision-making period, and this behavior can be better captured with a Switching
HMM (SHMM). Through clustering individual eye movement patterns described in
SHMMs, we automatically discovered two groups of participants with different
decision making behavior. One group showed a strong bias to look more often at
the to-be chosen stimulus (i.e., the gaze cascade effect; Shimojo et al., 2003)
with a short decision-making period. The other group showed a weaker cascade
effect with a longer decision-making period. The SHMMs also showed capable of
inferring participants’ preference choice on each trial with high accuracy.
Thus, our SHMM approach made it possible to reveal individual differences in
decision making and discover individual preferences from eye movements.
[time, trial, switch, standard, accuracy, attention, chance, indicate, test, journal] [inference, participant, people, cognitive, paid, social] [shared] [group, high, number, spent] [final, table, analysis, length, clustering, earlier, discovered, approach, bias] [individual, exploration, chosen, state, preference, decision, infer, making, data, based, proportion, prior, decisionmaking, average, yield, behavior, higher, model] [eye, period, cascade, hidden, gaze, movement, transition, fixation, shmm, hmm, face, markov, shmms, switching, level, side, matrix, suggested, hmms, shimojo, pattern, hong, clustered, longer, image, gaussian, current, performed, summed, figure]
Semantic Contamination of Visual Similarity Judgments
Layla Unger, Anna Fisher
Layla Unger, Anna Fisher
The roles of semantic and perceptual information in cognition are
of widespread interest to many researchers. However, disentangling their
contributions is complicated by their overlap in real-world categories. For
instance, attempts to calibrate visual similarity based on participant judgments
are undermined by the possibility that semantic knowledge contaminates these
judgments. This study investigated whether inverting stimuli attenuates semantic
contamination of visual similarity judgments in adults and children. Participants
viewed upright and inverted triads of familiar animals, and judged which of two
test items looked most like the target. One test item belonged to the same
category as the target, and one belonged to a different category. Test
items’ visual similarity to the target either corresponded or conflicted
with category membership. Across age groups, conflicting category membership
reduced accuracy and slowed reaction times to a greater extent in upright than
inverted triads. Therefore, inversion attenuates semantic contamination of visual
similarity judgments.
[conflict, category, inverted, test, response, inversion, target, accuracy, condition, contamination, presented, slower, revealed, task, processing, age, adult, attenuates, match, attenuated, visually, journal, repeated, presentation, mellon, contaminates, consisted, slows, familiar, belonged, carnegie, child, undermined] [upright, influence, experiment, gelman, possibility, judgment, judge, qualified, cognition] [perceptual, item, main, membership, manipulated, experimental, degree, triad, memory] [knowledge, study, kindergarten, versus, accurate, practice, group] [similarity, semantic, approach, conceptual, analysis, animal] [calibrate, collecting, bottom, calibrating, prediction, prior, choose, predicted] [visual, orientation, brain, pattern, rts, interaction]
Human Reinforcement Learning of Sequential Action
George Kachergis, Floris Berends, Roy de Kleijn, Bernhard Hommel
George Kachergis, Floris Berends, Roy de Kleijn, Bernhard Hommel
Learning sequential actions is an essential ability, for most
daily activities are sequential. We modify the trajectory serial reaction time
(SRT) task, used to teach people a consistent sequence of mouse movements by
cueing them with the next target response. We introduce a reinforcement learning
(RL) version of the paradigm in which no cue appears. Instead, learners must
explore response alternatives, receiving penalties when incorrect and rewards
when correct. Learners are not told that they will learn a single deterministic
sequence of responses, nor that it will repeat (nor how often), nor how long it
is. Performance was bimodal: half performed poorly, and yet half performed
remarkably well, acquiring the full 10-item sequence within 10 repetitions. We
compare these groups’ detailed results in this RL task with a cued
trajectory SRT task, finding both similarities and discrepancies. Human learners
outperform three standard RL models and have different patterns of errors.
[learning, sequence, srt, position, response, task, target, sequential, cued, trajectory, time, paradigm, reaction, sarsa, learn, attention, valid, compare, accuracy, journal, scm, evidence, stimulus, eligibility, explore, training] [experiment, cognitive, negative, low, participant, temporal, psychological] [previous, error, adapted, university] [correct, group, score, incorrect, study, number, performance, difference, high, three, change, control, better] [correlated, final, structure] [reinforcement, median, simple, data, reward, behavior, well, model, success, recency, note] [rts, human, action, figure, current, serial, role, movement, pattern, environment, slow, process, brain]
The Role of the Prefrontal Cortex in Inductive Reasoning: An fNIRS Study
Layla Unger, Jaeah Kim, Theodore Huppert, Julia Badger, Anna Fisher
Layla Unger, Jaeah Kim, Theodore Huppert, Julia Badger, Anna Fisher
This study examined neural activity associated with inductive
inference using functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS). Induction is a
powerful way of generating new knowledge by generalizing known information to
novel items or contexts. Two key bases for identifying targets for induction are
perceptual similarity, and rules that specify category-relevant features.
Similarity- and rule-based induction have been argued to represent distinct
mechanisms, such that only rule-based induction requires executive function
processes associated with the prefrontal cortex (PFC), namely: active maintenance
of representations and inhibition of salient but irrelevant features. Here, we
address the lack of direct empirical evidence supporting this possibility by
recording PFC activity using fNIRS while adult participants (n=24) performed an
inductive inference task. We found that PFC activity during induction was greater
when participants had been taught a category-inclusion rule versus when
participants could only rely on overall similarity.
[induction, baseline, inductive, fnirs, rule, category, condition, evidence, presented, match, target, categorization, task, shape, general, novel, statistical, revealed, journal, processing, stimulus, mellon, rulebased, tested, adult, compare, badger, similaritybased] [inference, distinction, reasoning, distinct, possibility, basis, consistent, presence, foundation] [memory, color, functional, uniquely, maintenance, perceptual, degree, university] [study, greater, linear, taught, department, versus, smaller] [similarity, head, involve, koenig] [data, model, based, observed] [activity, pfc, neural, associated, brain, prefrontal, anatomical, behavioral, human, figure, cortex, visual, area, represent, body, imaging, feature]
Learning and making novel predictions about others’ preferences
Natalia Vélez, Yuan Chang Leong, Chelsey Pan, Jamil Zaki, Hyowon Gweon
Natalia Vélez, Yuan Chang Leong, Chelsey Pan, Jamil Zaki, Hyowon Gweon
We often make decisions on behalf of others, such as picking out
gifts or making restaurant recommendations. Yet, without direct access to
others’ preferences, our choices on behalf of others depend on what we
think they like. Across two experiments, we examined whether and how accurately
people are able to infer others’ preferences by observing their choices.
Our results suggest that people are capable of making reasonably accurate
predictions about what others will choose next, given what they have chosen
before. These results lay the groundwork to systematically study how people make
novel predictions about others’ preferences, and when different strategies
might be appropriate.
[target, novel, accuracy, learning, learn, task, generalize, test, tested, suggesting, second, half, journal, evidence, compared, learned] [experiment, people, real, social, participant, work, person, consistent, described, extent, stable, reasoning] [previous, egocentric, experimental, meet] [performance, provided, asked, three, imposed, observing, study, better, free, young] [accurately] [model, choose, well, movie, making, mml, set, predict, based, data, choosing, predicting, round, chose, option, predicted, preference, reasonably, completely, friend, observe, solely, observed, choice, prior, behalf, agent, chosen, align, observer, infer, noisy, allocentric] [human, figure, feature, trained, space, current]
The Determinants of Knowability
Samuel Johnson, Kristen Kim, Frank Keil
Samuel Johnson, Kristen Kim, Frank Keil
Many propositions are not known to be true or false, and many
phenomena are not understood. What determines what propositions and phenomena are
perceived as knowable or unknowable? We tested whether factors related to
scientific methodology (a proposition’s reducibility and falsifiability),
its intrinsic metaphysics (the materiality of the phenomena and its scope of
applicability), and its relation to other knowledge (its centrality to
one’s other beliefs and values) influence knowability. Across a wide range
of naturalistic scientific and pseudoscientific phenomena (Studies 1 and 2), as
well as artificial stimuli (Study 3), we found that reducibility and
falsifiability have strong direct effects on knowability, that materiality and
scope have strong indirect effects (via reducibility and falsifiability), and
that belief and value centrality have inconsistent and weak effects on
knowability. We conclude that people evaluate the knowability of propositions
consistently with principles proposed by epistemologists and practicing
scientists.
[relational, reduced, evidence, test] [knowability, reducibility, centrality, consistent, falsifiability, relationship, methodological, extent, scope, knowable, materiality, belief, scientific, strong, phenomenon, people, reducible, proposition, fundamental, understanding, laypeople, influence, pseudoscience, positive, claim, zenilan, scientist, unknowable, physical, perceived, moral, factor, possibility, basis, appear, composite, discussion, wide, determines] [item, highly, experimental, university, conscious, domain] [study, material, science, knowledge, step, idea, concern] [table, topic, indirect, direct, measure, variance, read, complete, order] [empirical, predict, regression, model, true, consider, method] [intrinsic, central, associated, design, movement]
A computational investigation of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: The case of spatial relations
Christine Tseng, Alexandra Carstensen, Terry Regier, Yang Xu
Christine Tseng, Alexandra Carstensen, Terry Regier, Yang Xu
Investigations of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis often ask whether
there is a difference in the non-linguistic behavior of speakers
of two languages, generally without modeling the underlying
process. Such an approach leaves underexplored the relative
contributions of language and universal aspects of cognition,
and how those contributions differ across languages. We
explore the naming and non-linguistic pile-sorting of spatial
scenes across speakers of five languages via a computational
model grounded in an influential proposal: that language will
affect cognition when non-linguistic information is uncertain.
We report two findings. First, native language plays a small
but significant role in predicting spatial similarity judgments
across languages, consistent with earlier findings. Second, the
size of the native-language role varies systematically, such that
finer-grained semantic systems appear to shape similarity judgments
more than coarser-grained systems do. These findings
capture the tradeoff between language-specific and universal
forces in cognition, and how that tradeoff varies across languages.
[accuracy, evidence, stimulus, category, size, task, tested, test] [cognitive, cognition, percentage, case] [language, spatial, native, linguistic, dutch, grain, color, ground, variation, object, kay, support] [strategy, three, science, procedure, asked] [residual, universal, naming, semantic, similarity, pile, sorting, maihiki, computational, earlier, relative, mandarin, carstensen, sorted, chichewa, english, varies, relation, reflect, small, khetarpal, open, topological] [predictive, model, data, based, predicted, individual, hypothesis, gain, predict, proportion, behavior, predicting, prediction, predicts, proposal, expected] [figure, scene, matrix, role]
Mindfulness meditation as attention control training: A dual-blind investigation
Alexa Romberg, Hank Haarmann
Alexa Romberg, Hank Haarmann
Mindfulness meditation is a form of secular meditation that
emphasizes non-judgmental awareness of the present moment. Research into
mindfulness has greatly expanded in recent years (Davidson & Kasniak, 2015) and a
growing literature has documented effects of mindfulness training on cognition.
However, the specific aspects of mindfulness meditation training for novice
practitioners that might influence cognition remain unexplored. The present study
used a rigorous, dual-blind design to investigate whether the
attention-monitoring component of mindfulness meditation reduces mind-wandering
and improves performance during reading comprehension and sustained attention
tasks. When compared with relaxation meditation, mindfulness training improved
recall of specific details from a text but did not reduce mind-wandering or
affect sustained attention. The results are discussed with respect to design
considerations when studying a meditation intervention.
[meditation, session, mmt, attention, training, mindfulness, task, reported, target, rmt, sustained, relaxation, general, accuracy, fixed, response, completed, revealed, mrazek, sart, consisted, auditory, relax, block, testing, improves, presented, test] [cognition, influence, told, sensitivity, thinking, cognitive, low] [passage, specific, main, memory] [group, study, control, performance, guided, practice, engaged, change, report, linear, high, asked, working, college, comparison, question] [comprehension, text, reading, frequency, form, random, table, engagement, subject, read, order, freq] [model, fit, total, objective, prior, data, find, expected] [design, component, interaction, goal, pattern]
Salience versus prior knowledge - how do children learn rules?
Samuel Rivera, Vladimir Sloutsky
Samuel Rivera, Vladimir Sloutsky
Categories are essential for thinking, learning, and
communicating. Research has shown that young children and adults treat
categories very differently, with young children favoring whole objects while
adults focus on the key information in most cases. If so, then how can young
children learn categories requiring focused attention to key features? Studies
have shown that drawing attention to rules had facilitative effects. We sought
to identify whether the effect was driven by instruction about rules or by
stimulus-driven factors. Our results suggest that even with instruction,
4-year-olds were not able to attend to key information. Simply making important
information more salient, however, allowed them to learn the category and
transfer to situations when the key feature was no longer salient.
[test, category, learning, accuracy, endogenous, exogenous, standard, baseline, switch, learn, training, attention, deterministic, condition, rule, learned, arrow, child, chance, completed, family, cue, resemblance, type, age, revealed, novel, development, categorization, exemplar, clue, dropped, remained, testing, selective, executive, shape, journal, facilitative, suggests] [key, salience, told, cognitive, inference, consistent] [salient, experimental, rely, memory, color, appearance, perceptual] [young, instruction, help, versus, study, feedback, knowledge, understand, correct, limited, teaching] [structure, similarity, order, table, demonstrated] [probabilistic, prior, sample, relied, point] [feature, figure, holistic, interaction, corresponds]
Memory for exemplars in category learning
Charlotte Edmunds, Andy Wills, Fraser Milton
Charlotte Edmunds, Andy Wills, Fraser Milton
Some argue that category learning is mediated by two competing
systems of learning: one explicit, one implicit (Ashby et al., 1998). These
systems are hypothesised to be responsible for learning rule-based and
information-integration category structures respectively. However, little
experimental work has directly investigated whether people are conscious of
category knowledge learned by the implicit system. In this study, we directly
compared explicit recognition memory for exemplars between these two category
structures. Contrary to the predictions of the dual-systems approach, we found
preliminary evidence of superior exemplar memory after information-integration
category learning compared to rule-based learning. This result is consistent with
the hypothesis that participants learn information-integration category
structures by using complex rules.
[category, learning, condition, stimulus, unidimensional, explicit, covis, evidence, informationintegration, learn, training, rule, learned, dark, verbal, brightness, optimum, complex, journal, categorization, test, displayed, optimally, reported, compared, carpenter, edmunds, size, boundary, dimension, general, presented] [implicit, participant, described, experiment, key, work, case, split, consistent] [memory, directly, experimental, university, superior] [strategy, report, performance, greater, asked, three, study, feedback, knowledge, questionnaire, school] [structure, analysis, random, small, identified, table] [model, decision, data, based, conjunction, assumed, hypothesis, simple, determine] [recognition, system, light, classified, multiple, indicates, figure, space, diagonal, neuroimaging, human]
Effects of Auditory Input on a Spatial Serial Response Time Task
Chris Robinson, Jessica Parker
Chris Robinson, Jessica Parker
The current study examined how relevant and irrelevant auditory
stimuli affect the speed of responding to structured visual sequences.
Participants were presented with a dot that appeared in different locations on a
touch screen monitor and they were instructed to quickly touch the dot. Response
times sped up over time, suggesting that participants learned the visual
sequences. Response times in Experiment 1 were slower when the dot was paired
with random sounds, suggesting that irrelevant sounds slowed down visual
processing/responding. Dots in Experiment 2 were paired with correlated sounds
(both auditory and visual information provided location information). While the
redundant intersensory information did not speed up response times, it did
partially attenuate auditory interference. These findings have implications on
tasks that require processing of simultaneously presented auditory and visual
information and provide evidence of auditory interference and possibly dominance
on a task that typically favors the visual modality.
[auditory, response, learning, block, presented, sequence, modality, stimulus, sound, statistical, task, paired, condition, silent, interference, dominance, processing, attention, irrelevant, slower, intersensory, touch, colavita, attenuated, speed, time, automatically, half, structured, appeared, showing, suited, sped, robinson, reaction, attentional, reported, redundancy, conflicting, suggesting, silence, finding, ohio, pop, transformed, multisensory] [experiment, account, nature, temporal, participant, cognitive, psychological, negative, examined, future, relevant] [instructed, experimental, spatial, affect, university, speech] [dot, better, study, require, procedure] [correlated, random] [state] [visual, current, location, responding, sensory, perception, screen, pattern, slow, figure, respond, brain]
Decision-Making and Biases in Causal-Explanatory Reasoning
Samuel Johnson, Marianna Zhang, Frank Keil
Samuel Johnson, Marianna Zhang, Frank Keil
Decisions often rely on judgments about the probabilities of
various explanations. Recent research has uncovered a host of biases that afflict
explanatory inference: Would these biases also translate into decision-making? We
find that although people show biased inferences when making explanatory
judgments in decision-relevant contexts (Exp. 1A), these biases are attenuated or
eliminated when the choice context is highlighted by introducing an economic
framing (price information; Exp. 1B–1D). However, biased inferences can be
“locked in” to subsequent decisions when the judgment and decision
are separated in time (Exp. 2). Together, these results suggest that decisions
can be more rational than the corresponding judgments—leading to choices
that are rational in the output of the decision process, yet irrational in their
incoherence with judgments.
[explicit, evidence, monitoring, task] [causal, judgment, people, reasoning, explanation, explanatory, scope, diagnostic, narrow, unbiased, transduction, cognitive, wide, hesolite, spindle, deer, normative, unverified, lawnmower, inference, work, discussion, white, sufficient, translate, excluded, buy, diagnosis, caused, experiment, separated, faulty, leading, mechanical, tended, axle, suppose] [context, latent, previous, expect] [science, asked, question, performance, difference, appears, problem, versus, equal, procedure] [bias, induce, order, dependent, table] [choice, biased, decision, making, economic, lead, check, rational, based, conference, favor, depend, choose, method, behavior, amazon, underlying] [system, current, corresponding, behavioral, process, human]
Event participants and linguistic arguments
Roxana-Maria Barbu, Ida Toivonen
Roxana-Maria Barbu, Ida Toivonen
Although there is a clear and intuitive mapping between
linguistic arguments of verbs and event participants,the mapping is not perfect.
We review the linguistic evidence that indicates that the mapping is imperfect.
We also present the results of a new experimental study that provides further
support for a dissociation between event participants and linguistic arguments.
The study consists of two tasks. The first task elicited intuitions on
conceptual event participants, and the second task elicited intuitions on
linguistic arguments in instrument verbs and transaction verbs. The results
suggest that while instrument phrases and currency/price phrases are considered
necessary event participants, they are not linguistic arguments.
[task, child, type, presented, evidence, status, test] [event, participant, mapping, necessity, buy, clear, person, scrub, experiment, work, mit, nature, distinction] [linguistic, instrument, coded, object, language, describe, university, directly, evening, tom, instructed] [study, example, number, provided, difference, place, answer, needed, asked, three, difficult, literature, ice, required] [conceptual, verb, argument, include, syntactic, phrase, currency, mentioned, order, sentence, obligatory, conceptually, semantic, praised, lisa, theoretical, listed, linguistically, syntactically, praise, considered, rissman, table, structure, rappaport, koenig, expressed, linguistics, illustrate, noun, optional, carleton, brush, complete] [based, average] [transaction, motion, involved]
Between versus Within-Language Differences in Linguistic Categorization
Anne White, Gert Storms, Barbara C. Malt, Steven Verheyen
Anne White, Gert Storms, Barbara C. Malt, Steven Verheyen
Cross-linguistic research has shown that boundaries for lexical
categories differ from language to language. The aim of this study is to explore
these differences between languages in relation to the categorization differences
within a language. Monolingual Dutch- (N=400) and French-speaking (N=300) Belgian
adults provided lexical category judgments for three lexical categories that are
roughly equivalent in Dutch and French. Each category was represented by good,
borderline, and bad examples. A mixture modeling approach enabled us to identify
latent groups of categorizers within a language and to evaluate cross-linguistic
variation in relation to within-language variation. We found complex patterns of
lexical variation within as well as between language groups. Even within a
seemingly homogeneous group of speakers sharing the same mother tongue, latent
groups of categorizers display a variability that resembles patterns of lexical
variation found at a cross-linguistic level of comparison.
[category, categorization, reliability, journal, displayed, presented, display, complex, task, adult] [clear, account, common, extent] [latent, dutch, language, french, pot, variability, item, doos, degree, categorizers, variation, bouteille, vagueness, fles, linguistic, memory, criterion, malt, monolingual, seemingly, belgian, household, map, expect, speaking, endorsed, object] [group, difference, number, study, equivalent, comparison, mother, lower] [table, lexical, similarity, identified, random, relation, complete, semantic, order, naming] [data, mixture, average, set, roughly, model, correlation, higher, proportion, sample, homogeneous, threshold, based, well, theory, probability, modeling, collected, bic] [figure, selection]
Do Do Do, The The The: Interactivity and Articulatory Suppression in Mental Arithmetic
Frederic Vallee-Tourangeau, Miroslav Sirota, Gaelle Vallee-Tourangeau
Frederic Vallee-Tourangeau, Miroslav Sirota, Gaelle Vallee-Tourangeau
Doing long sums in the absence of complementary actions or
artefacts is a multi-step procedure that quickly taxes working memory; congesting
the phonological loop further handicaps performance. In the experiment reported
here, participants completed long sums either with hands down—the low
interactivity condition—or by moving numbered tokens—the high
interactivity condition—while they repeated ‘the’ continuously,
loading the phonological loop, or not. As expected articulatory suppression
substantially affected performance, but more so in the low interactivity
condition. Independent measures of basic arithmetic skill and mathematics anxiety
moderated the impact of articulatory suppression on performance in the low but
not in the high interactivity condition. These findings suggest that working
memory resources are augmented with interactivity, underscoring the importance of
characterizing the properties of the system as it is configured by the dynamic
agent-environment coupling
[condition, task, presentation, attention, reported, presented, repeated, executive, completed, accuracy, journal, time] [low, mental, cognitive, experiment, physical, percentage, long, absence, series, moderated] [memory, basic, error, latency, main, experimental, university, phonological, degree] [interactivity, articulatory, suppression, high, arithmetic, performance, working, impact, calculation, math, anxiety, problem, efficiency, absolute, ratio, mathematics, correct, answer, moderation, poorer, procedure, difference, solution, counting, secondary, collapsing, interim, skill, adding, moderate, three, slowest] [table, increase, order, employed, calculating] [average, data, higher, measured, function, simple] [level, switching, complementary, dynamic, design, experienced, pattern, add]
What Causal Illusions Might Tell us About the Identification of Causes
Robert Thorstad, Phillip Wolff
Robert Thorstad, Phillip Wolff
According to existing accounts of causation, people rely on a
single criterion to identify the cause of an event. The phenomenon of causal
illusions raises problems for such views. Causal illusions arise when a
particular factor is perceived to be causal despite knowledge indicating
otherwise. According to what we will call the Dual-Process Hypothesis of Causal
Identification, identifying a cause involves two cognitive processes. Consistent
with this hypothesis, we found that in response to a causal illusion shown in a
naturalistic setting, people’s initial judgments of causation were higher
than their ultimate judgments of causation (Experiment 1). Using an online
measure of decisions, we found that people initially view animations of causal
illusions as causal before concluding that they are non-causal (Experiment 2).
Finally, we obtained similar results using a deadline procedure (Experiment 3).
Implications for different classes of theories of causation are discussed.
[response, dial, time, occur, completed, tested, position, dependency] [causal, causation, intuitive, experiment, reflective, impression, causality, cognitive, initial, illusion, deadline, man, judged, animation, elevator, reasoning, ultimate, rated, viewed, distinction, reflectiveness, people, caused, consistent, strong, sloman, thinking, perceived, long, existence, temporal, identifies, event, wolff, respect, basis, judge, clear, social, discussion] [perceptual, confederate, transmission] [three, knowledge, conducted, study, high] [written, short, measure, order, open] [hypothesis, decision, stronger, individual, well, provide, allow, initially, generated, door] [figure, system, process, involves, move, level]
Not all overlaps are equal: Social affiliation and rare overlaps of preferences
Natalia Vélez, Sophie Bridgers, Hyowon Gweon
Natalia Vélez, Sophie Bridgers, Hyowon Gweon
Shared preferences are a critical component of social attraction.
Knowing that someone likes the same things as you do is indicative of broader
underlying similarities that support successful social partnerships. However, not
all overlaps in preferences are equally informative. Here we propose that the
rarity of overlaps in preferences may be a particularly salient cue for social
affiliation. We find evidence that people are sensitive to the rarity of overlaps
in preferences and affiliate themselves (Experiment 1) or predict others'
affiliations (Experiment 2) with potential social partners who share a relatively
rare preference. Because preferences provide information about both what people
know and what they like, we also tested the effect of overlaps in knowledge
(without taste) and overlaps in taste (without knowledge) to understand why we
are drawn to people who share our preferences.
[target, trial, chance, statistical, general, condition, test, task] [social, people, experiment, common, personality, significance, influence, excluded, consistent, intuitive] [shared, item, matched, share, influenced, cultural, census, consistently, select] [knowledge, difference, asked, group, procedure, provided, study, control] [music, relative, expressed, meeting] [friend, rare, preference, chose, popularity, gazorp, knew, prevalence, agent, game, predicted, population, rarity, potential, rarer, choice, choose, affiliation, gazorps, favorite, prior, raspberry, binomial, taste, systematically, consider, infer, stronger, find, amazon, sampling, liking, successful] [role, figure, complementary]
Are Symptom Clusters Explanatory? A Study in Mental Disorders and Non-Causal Explanation
Daniel Wilkenfeld, Jennifer Asselin, Tania Lombrozo
Daniel Wilkenfeld, Jennifer Asselin, Tania Lombrozo
Three experiments investigate whether and why people accept
explanations for symptoms that appeal to mental disorders, such as: “She
experiences delusions because she has schizophrenia.” Such explanations are
potentially puzzling, as mental disorder diagnoses are made on the basis of
symptoms rather than causes. Do laypeople nonetheless conceptualize mental
disorder classifications in causal terms? Or is this an instance of non-causal
explanation? Experiment 1 shows that such explanations are found explanatory.
Experiment 2 presents participants with novel disorders that are stipulated to
involve or not involve an underlying cause across symptoms and people. Disorder
classifications are found more explanatory when a causal basis is stipulated, or
when participants infer that one is present (even after it’s denied in the
text). Finally, Experiment 3 finds that merely having a principled, but
non-causal, basis for defining symptom clusters is insufficient to reach the
explanatory potential of categories with a stipulated common cause.
[condition, category, presented, attention, journal, second, revealed, statistical, decreased, pick] [mental, common, disorder, experiment, symptom, explanation, causal, explanatory, diagnostic, basis, reason, disease, people, diagnosed, medical, presence, excluded, stipulated, grouped, laypeople, appeal, told, principled, philosophy, vignette, dsm, work, agreement, discussion, borderline, historical, fact, explain, psychiatric, anova, scale, unrelated] [alien, experimental, varied, american] [three, asked, number, correctly, group, question, included, control] [random, cluster, analysis, token, comprehension, exchange] [based, inferred, prior, find, underlying, consider, draw, doctor, higher, range, treatment] [figure, single]
Does Chess Instruction Enhance Mathematical Ability in Children? A Three-Group Design to Control for Placebo Effects
Giovanni Sala, Fernand Gobet, Roberto Trinchero, Salvatore Ventura
Giovanni Sala, Fernand Gobet, Roberto Trinchero, Salvatore Ventura
Pupils’ poor achievement in mathematics has recently been a
concern in many countries. To address this issue, it has been proposed to teach
chess in schools. However, no convincing evidence of the benefits of chess
instruction has ever been provided, because no study has ever controlled for
placebo effects. This study implemented a three-group design to control for
placebo effects. Measures of mathematical and metacognitive skills were taken.
The results showed that the chess-treated group achieved better scores in
mathematics than the placebo group (attending a Go course) but not than the
control group (attending regular school lessons). Regarding metacognition, no
differences occurred between the groups. These results suggest that some
chess-related skills generalize to mathematics, because chess compensated for the
hours of school lessons lost, whereas Go did not. However, this transfer is not
mediated by metacognitive skills, and appears to be too limited to offer
educational advantages.
[journal, test, training, learning, development, generalize, whilst, size] [cognitive, positive, influence, summarized, focused, psychological, united] [academic, experimental, university, memory, domain, gobet, perceptual] [chess, mathematical, instruction, group, placebo, control, school, study, mathematics, ability, three, metacognitive, transfer, metacognition, educational, international, primary, attending, education, practice, pretest, performance, kazemi, teaching, special, effectiveness, outperformed, problem, enhancing, achievement, interested, board, difference, enhance, trinchero, impact, course, math, knowledge, spite, curricular] [regular, order, class, table] [game, sample, policy, potential, planning, observed, state] [design, figure, attended, field, activity]
Temporal Horizons and Decision-Making: A Big Data Approach
Robert Thorstad, Phillip Wolff
Robert Thorstad, Phillip Wolff
Human behavior is plagued by shortsightedness. When faced with two
options, smaller rewards are often chosen over larger rewards, even when such
choices are potentially costly. In three experiments, we use big data techniques
to examine how such choices might be driven by people’s temporal horizons.
In Experiment 1, we determine the average distance into the future people talk
about in their tweets in order to determine the temporal horizon of each U.S.
state. States with further future horizons had lower rates of risk taking. In
Experiment 2, we used an individual’s tweets to establish their temporal
horizon and found that those with longer temporal horizons were more willing to
wait for larger rewards. In Experiment 3, we show with tweets that those with
longer future horizons were less likely to take risks. The findings help
establish a powerful relationship between people’s thoughts about the
future and their decisions.
[time, task, completed, evidence, big, valid] [future, horizon, temporal, experiment, delay, long, discounting, twitter, relationship, excluded, bart, sensitivity, result, balloon, demographic, people, composite, aim, evaluate, tweet, account, discussion, earned, handle, evaluated, thinking, stable, axis, including] [main, classifier, address] [number, larger, asked, failing, additional, smaller, logarithmic, control] [analysis, distance, tend, correlated, large, measure, computational, short] [risk, risky, potential, state, provide, collected, wait, data, average, individual, hypothesis, reward, behavior, well, plotted, total, impulsive] [orientation, fewer, classified, longer, figure, human, separately, discount, level, performed, horizontal]
Quantifying Joint Activities using Cross-Recurrence Block Representation
Tian Xu, Chen Yu
Tian Xu, Chen Yu
Humans, as social beings, are capable of employing various
behavioral cues, such as gaze, speech, manual action, and body posture, in
everyday communication. However, to extract fine-grained interaction patterns in
social contexts has been presented with methodological challenges.
Cross-Recurrence Plot Quantification Analysis (CRQA) is an analysis method
invented in theoretical physics and recently applied to cognitive science to
study interpersonal coordination. In this paper, we extend this approach to
analyzing joint activities in child-parent interaction. We define a new
representation as Cross Recurrence Block based on CRQA. With this representation,
we are able to capture interpersonal dynamics from more than two behavioral
streams in one Cross Recurrence Plot and derive a suite of measures to quantify
detailed characteristics of coordination. Using a dataset collected from
child-parent interaction, we show that these quantitative measures of joint
activities reveal developmental changes in coordinative behavioral patterns
between children and parents.
[time, cross, child, categorical, block, standard, target, month, formed, stream, sequence] [social, temporal, cognitive, held, series, hold, leading] [object, blue, calculated] [width, study, science, playing, toy] [analysis, constructed, frequency, form, structure, list, derived, reflect, measure, engagement] [data, point, based, method, individual, manual, green, capture, reflects, red] [holding, recurrence, joint, behavioral, crb, parent, plot, figure, action, interaction, quantification, representation, hand, interpersonal, coordination, crbs, crp, lag, height, diagonal, play, switched, multiple, start, quantitative, left, matrix, human, duration, coordinated, reveal, crqa, blockb, blocka, horizontal, activity]
tDCS to Premotor Cortex Changes Action Verb Understanding: Complementary Effects of Inhibitory and Excitatory Stimulation
Tom Gijssels, Daniel Casasanto
Tom Gijssels, Daniel Casasanto
Do neural systems for planning motor actions play a functional
role in understanding action language? Across multiple neuroimaging studies,
processing action verbs correlates with somatotopic activity in premotor cortex
(PMC). Yet, only one neurostimulation study supports a functional role for PMC in
action verb understanding: paradoxically, inhibiting PMC made people respond
faster to action verbs. Here we investigated effects of PMC excitation and
inhibition on action verb understanding using tDCS. Right-handers received
excitatory or inhibitory stimulation to left PMC hand areas, then made lexical
decisions on unimanual action verbs and abstract verbs. tDCS polarity selectively
affected how accurately participants responded to unimanual action verbs.
Inhibitory stimulation to left PMC caused a relative increment in performance for
right-hand responses, whereas excitatory left PMC stimulation caused a relative
decrement. tDCS polarity did not differentially affect responses to abstract
verbs. Premotor areas that subserve planning actions also support understanding
language about these actions.
[response, inhibitory, accuracy, processing, evidence, type, task, trial, journal, stimulus] [understanding, people, caused, relationship] [language, functional, previous, experimental, support, produced, university] [study, primary, performance, correct, received, differentially, statistically] [verb, abstract, lexical, word, relative, semantic, accurately, direct] [predicted, data, decision, button, planning, find] [action, left, motor, hand, pmc, tdcs, stimulation, unimanual, polarity, excitatory, activity, neural, interaction, inhibition, excitation, premotor, complementary, current, brain, ctbs, system, willems, behavioral, neurostimulation, performed, cortex, role, embodied, rts, selectively, somatotopic, pattern, perform, human, transcranial, activation, inhibiting, dominant, view]
From low to high cognition: A multi-level model of behavioral control in the primate brain
Jerald Kralik, Dongqing Shi, Omar El-Shroa, Laura Ray
Jerald Kralik, Dongqing Shi, Omar El-Shroa, Laura Ray
The basic cognitive architecture of the human brain remains
unknown. However, there is evidence for the existence of distinct behavioral
control systems shared by humans and nonhumans; and there is further evidence
pointing to distinct higher-level problem solving systems shared by humans and
other primates. To clarify the nature of these proposed systems and examine how
they may interact in the brain, we present a four-level model of the primate
brain and compare its performance to three other brain models in the face of a
challenging foraging problem (i.e., with transparent, and thus, invisible
barriers). In all manipulations (e.g., size of problem space, number of
obstacles), our model never performed the best outright; however, it was always
among the best, appearing to be a jack-of-all-trades. Thus, the virtues of our
primate brain lie not only in the heights of thinking it can reach, but also in
its range and versatility.
[learning, size, evidence, learn, novel, advantage, suggests] [cognitive, initial, existence] [main, item, lateral, directly] [problem, control, changing, solve, solving, number, performance, solver, barrier, ability, change, solution, appears, largest, blocking, mammalian, example, challenging] [path, computational, examine, comparative, cumulative, direct, habit, analysis, complete, creative, considered] [model, state, agent, best, find, foraging, based, well, function, reinforcement, potential] [level, system, goal, brain, nonapparent, grid, figure, transparent, behavioral, apparent, action, primate, represents, actor, prefrontal, current, detour, reach, granular, pfc, performed, obstacle, location, food, cortex, reaching, rhesus, opaque, consisting, evolved, nonhuman, hidden]
Cohesive Features of Deep Text Comprehension Processes
Laura Allen, Matthew Jacovina, Danielle McNamara
Laura Allen, Matthew Jacovina, Danielle McNamara
This study investigates how cohesion manifests in readers’
thought processes while reading texts when they are instructed to engage in
self-explanation, a strategy associated with deeper, more successful
comprehension. In Study 1, college students (n = 21) were instructed to either
paraphrase or self-explain science texts. Paraphrasing was characterized by
greater cohesion in terms of lexical overlap whereas self-explanation included
greater lexical diversity and more connectives to specify relations between
ideas. In Study 2, adolescent students (n = 84) were provided with instruction
and practice in self-explanation and reading strategies across 8 sessions.
Self-explanations increased in lexical diversity but became more causally and
semantically cohesive over time. Together, these results suggest that cohesive
features expressed in think alouds are indicative of the depth of students’
comprehension processes.
[training, processing, explicit, target, session, second] [causal, established, engage, mental, cognitive, understanding, explicitly] [specific, calculated, produced, language] [study, greater, practice, ratio, knowledge, three, strategy, lower, included, course, number, prompted, instructional, educational, tutoring, provided, science, instruction] [cohesion, text, comprehension, lexical, reading, semantic, cohesive, paraphrase, diversity, istart, skilled, examine, global, selfexplanation, indicative, analysis, aggregated, identified, givenness, selfexplanations, coherence, establish, detected] [higher, prior, generate, method] [overlap, current, deep, associated, representation, goal]
Specificity at the basic level in event taxonomies: The case of Maniq verbs of ingestion
Ewelina Wnuk
Ewelina Wnuk
Previous research on basic-level object categories shows there is
cross-cultural variation in basic-level concepts, arguing against the idea that
the basic level reflects an objective reality. In this paper, I extend the
investigation to the domain of events. More specifically, I present a case study
of verbs of ingestion in Maniq illustrating a highly specific categorization of
ingestion events at the basic level. A detailed analysis of these verbs reveals
they tap into culturally salient notions. Yet, cultural salience alone cannot
explain specificity of basic-level verbs, since ingestion is a domain of
universal human experience. Further analysis reveals, however, that another key
factor is the language itself. Maniq’s preference for encoding specific
meaning in basic-level verbs is not a peculiarity of one domain, but a recurrent
characteristic of its verb lexicon, pointing to the significant role of the
language system in the structure of event concepts.
[general, label, categorization] [case, event, described, generic, cognitive, drinking, fact, factor] [basic, specific, language, manner, specificity, object, lexicon, domain, salient, variation, highly, default, referring, apply, lexicalization, netherlands, university, john, linguistic, cultural, characteristic, expertise] [number, hard, reflection] [ingestion, verb, maniq, eat, eating, fruit, aslian, kap, linked, table, medicinal, ingested, semantic, animal, wild, involve, ciyak, liquid, linguistics, newman, applied, fibrous, typically, reveals, categorial, inhale, elaborate, coh, culturally, jahai, structure, large] [smoke, well, range, depending, based, underlying] [level, human, food, associated, action, identity, encoding, system, covert]
What does the crowd believe? A hierarchical approach to estimating subjective beliefs from empirical data
Michael Franke, Fabian Dablander, Anthea Schoeller, Erin Bennett, Judith Degen, Michael Tessler, Justine Kao, Noah Goodman
Michael Franke, Fabian Dablander, Anthea Schoeller, Erin Bennett, Judith Degen, Michael Tessler, Justine Kao, Noah Goodman
People's beliefs about everyday events are both of theoretical
interest in their own right
and an important ingredient in model building---especially in Bayesian
cognitive models of
phenomena such as logical reasoning, future predictions, and language use.
Here, we explore
several recently used methods for measuring subjective beliefs about
unidimensional
contiguous properties, such as the likely price of a new watch. As a first step
towards a way
of assessing and comparing belief elicitation methods, we use hierarchical
Bayesian modeling
for inferring likely population-level beliefs as the central tendency of
participants'
individual-level beliefs. Three different dependent measures are considered:
(i) slider
ratings of (relative) likelihood of intervals of values, (ii) a give-a-number
task, and (iii)
choice of the more likely of two intervals of values. Our results suggest that
using averaged
normalized slider ratings for binned quantities is a practical and fairly good
approximator
of inferred population-level beliefs.
[task, paired, condition, indicate] [cognitive, belief, participant, work, rating, future, frame, consistent] [item, latent, context, experimental] [number, comparison, three, measuring, lower, spent, easy, comparing, high] [link, measure, table, interpretation, plausible, sentence] [slider, model, bin, subjective, data, binned, bayesian, coffee, posterior, prior, higher, tendency, histogram, watch, individual, laptop, predictive, joke, commute, choice, good, likelihood, behavior, cost, function, crowd, approximation, observed, empirical, everyday, capture, elicitation, parameter, method, provide] [central, level, practical, figure, hierarchical, focus, trained]
Active control of study leads to improved episodic memory in children
Azzurra Ruggeri, Douglas B. Markant, Todd M. Gureckis, Fei Xu
Azzurra Ruggeri, Douglas B. Markant, Todd M. Gureckis, Fei Xu
This paper reports an experiment testing whether volitional
control over the presentation of stimuli leads to enhanced recognition memory in
6- to 8-year-old children. Children were presented with a simple memory game on
an iPad. During the study phase, for half of the materials children could decide
the order and pacing of stimuli presentation (active condition). For the other
half of the materials, children observed the study choices of another child
(yoked condition). We found that recognition performance was better for the
objects studied in the active condition as compared to the yoked condition.
Furthermore, we found that the memory advantages of active learning persisted
over a one-week delay between study and test. Our results support pedagogical
approaches that emphasize self-guided learning and show that even young children
benefit from being able to control how they learn.
[test, learning, presented, condition, time, session, accuracy, child, compared, recognized, advantage, journal, phase, task, block, presentation, testing, improved, position, explore] [cognitive, frame, experience] [memory, object, studied, episodic, experimental, spatial, previous, studying, recall, main] [study, active, control, yoked, number, markant, retest, procedure, science, better, versus, performance, analyzed, week, voss, passive, benefit, arranged, young] [distance, order, visited] [red, selected, data, well, lead, exploration, correlation, making, paper, average, set, adaptive] [recognition, location, grid, figure, encoding, role, longer, original, level, experienced, pattern, currently, design, current]
Stop paying attention: the need for explicit stopping in inhibitory control
Ning Ma, Angela Yu
Ning Ma, Angela Yu
Inhibitory control, the ability to stop inappropriate actions, is
an important cognitive function often investigated via the stop-signal task, in
which an infrequent stop signal instructs the subject to stop a default go
response. Previously, we proposed a rational decision-making model for stopping,
suggesting the observer makes a repeated Go versus Wait choice at each instant,
so that a Stop response is realized by repeatedly choosing to Wait. We propose an
alternative model here that incorporates a third choice, Stop. Critically,
unlike the Wait action, choosing the Stop action not only blocks a Go response at
the current moment but also for the remainder of the trial -- the disadvantage of
losing this flexibility is balanced by the benefit of not having to pay attention
anymore. We show that this new model both reproduces known behavioral effects and
has internal dynamics resembling presumed Go neural activations in the brain.
[time, trial, response, inhibitory, explicit, task, stimulus, processed, attentional, processing, attention] [race, belief, cognitive, low, leading, version, future] [error, encode, experimental, basic] [control, difference, three, high] [subject, earlier, ssrt, onset, proposed] [model, cost, wait, optimal, function, expected, bayesian, data, state, decision, mdp, stopping, average, ptz, observed, choosing, probability, distribution, assume, rate, chosen, median, observer, classical, chooses, making, posterior, simulated] [action, signal, process, neural, behavioral, sensory, current, fixation, movement, associated, ptd, eye, penalty, neuron, frontal, fef, figure, ssd, moment, field, brain, activity, paying, canceled]
A cross-linguistic investigation on the acquisition of complex numerals
Pierina Cheung, Meghan Dale, Mathieu Le Corre
Pierina Cheung, Meghan Dale, Mathieu Le Corre
Complex numerals (e.g., four hundred) have a multiplicative
structure (four hundred = 4 x 100). This paper investigates whether children are
sensitive to the meaning of the multiplicative structure. We designed a novel
word learning paradigm and taught 4- to 6-year-old children the meaning of a
novel numeral phrase (e.g., ‘one gobi houses’ to mean a group of
three houses). We then asked whether they could generalize it to a novel context
(e.g., ‘two gobi butterflies’ to mean two groups of three).
Experiment 1 showed that only English-speaking children who received multiplier
syntax training were able to generalize. Experiment 2 extended findings from
Experiment 1 to Cantonese-speaking children and found that they could also
generalize a novel multiplier to novel contexts. These results suggest that
children as young as 4 can create a mapping between the structure of complex
numerals and a multiplicative meaning.
[multiplier, numeral, novel, gobi, condition, complex, training, learning, generalize, generalization, phase, test, multiplicative, cantonese, general, age, presented, uninformative, generalized, tested, suggesting, evidence, task, competitor, journal, vocabulary, learn, completed] [experiment, mapping, experience, discussion, sensitivity, understanding] [meaning, classifier, language, map, linguistic] [digit, three, group, asked, counting, correct, knowledge, investigate, number, passed, discover, control, majority, mathematical, included, taught] [phrase, count, form, structure, word, syntax, noun, acquisition, chinese, english, combined, measure, pass, interpreted] [highest, compositional, total, provide, average, set, modelling, demonstrate] [figure, system, design]
Switch it up: Learning Categories via Feature Switching
Garrett Honke, Nolan Conaway, Kenneth Kurtz
Garrett Honke, Nolan Conaway, Kenneth Kurtz
This research introduces the switch task, a novel learning mode
that fits with calls for a broader explanatory account of human category learning
(Kurtz, 2015; Markman & Ross, 2003; Murphy, 2002). This paper presents the switch
task to further explore the contingencies between learning goals, learning modes,
outcomes, and category representations. Given that the ability to switch items
between categories nicely encapsulates category knowledge, how does this relate
to more familiar tasks like inferring features and classifying exemplars? To
address this question we present an empirical investigation of this new task,
side-by-side with the well-established alternative of classification learning.
The results show that the category knowledge acquired through switch learning
shares similarities with inference learning and provides insight into the
processes at work. The implications of this research, particularly the
distinctions between this learning mode and well-known alternatives, are
discussed.
[category, learning, switch, classification, test, type, training, accuracy, task, classify, phase, condition, wald, journal, presented, target, tacl, novel, paradigm, iii, family, learn, exemplar, compared, resemblance, diva, learned, reliable, reliably] [inference, result, experiment, psychological, distinct, participant, consistent, commonly] [experimental, memory] [group, example, correct, accurate, knowledge, included, three, member, provided, study, feedback, versus, traditional, analyzed, partial, difference] [structure, complete, mode, class, conceptual, approach, random, core] [estimate, model, higher, incomplete, proportion, set, button, data, based] [feature, figure, human, process, representation, switching, represent, current]
Episodic memory as a prerequisite for online updates of model structure
David Gergely Nagy, Gergo Orban
David Gergely Nagy, Gergo Orban
Human learning in complex environments critically depends on the
ability to perform model selection, that is to assess competing hypotheses about
the structure of the environment. Importantly, information is accumulated
continuously, which necessitates an online process for model selection. While
model selection in human learning has been explored extensively, it is unclear
how memory systems support learning in an online setting. We formulate a semantic
learner and demonstrate that online learning on open model spaces results in a
delicate choice between either tracking a possibly infinite number of competing
models or retaining experiences in an intact form. Since none of these choices is
feasible for a bounded-resource memory system, we propose an episodic learner
that retains an optimised subset of experiences in addition to semantic memory.
On a simple model system we demonstrate that this normative theory of episodic
memory can effectively circumvent the challenge of online model selection.
[learning, learner, novel, statistical, complex, evidence] [normative, sufficient, power, inference, capacity] [episodic, memory, batch, main, store, argue] [online, change, problem, number, limited, knowledge, comparison, approximate, benefit, correct, require, performance, providing] [semantic, computational, form, order, structure, large, storing, amount, earlier, constrained] [model, data, posterior, distribution, predictive, mllh, bayesian, parameter, mixture, set, alternative, probability, marginal, based, proc, log, choice, provide, estimate, likelihood, uncertainty, simple, demonstrate, retaining, point, prior, mog, true, effectively, machine, propose, razor, hypothesis, expected, conf] [selection, human, tracked, current, representation, figure, surprise, system, brain, framework, space]
Feature Overlap in Action Sequence
Alexandra Stubblefield, Lisa Fournier
Alexandra Stubblefield, Lisa Fournier
This study determined if features of an action plan held in
working memory are activated equally (consistent with serial memory theories) or
in a gradient (consistent with theories that assume serial order is imposed
before response selection). Two visual events occurred sequentially.
Participants planned an action (3-key sequence) to the first event (Action A)
maintaining this action in working memory while executing a speeded response to
the second event (Action B). Afterwards, participants executed Action A. We
manipulated whether Action B overlapped with the first, second or final feature
of Action A, and examined the pattern of correct, Action B RTs at the different
overlap locations by finger (index, middle, ring), as well as error rates of both
Action A and Action B. Results indicate that sequences were not activated
equally or in a gradient. Instead, activation reflected a serial position curve
or reverse serial position curve dependent on finger.
[response, sequence, second, appeared, position, journal, compared, stimulus, cross, task, trial, accuracy, evidence, presented, slower, occurred] [event, consistent, psychological, corresponded] [memory, error, activated, experimental, curve, main, instructed] [middle, third, study, partial, working, three, conducted, control, greater, differ, correct] [order, double] [rate, prior, assume, pairwise] [action, feature, activation, finger, plan, overlap, serial, ring, maintained, box, gradient, rts, pattern, fournier, executed, current, represented, overlapped, repetition, fixation, parallel, reverse, planned, interaction, left, executing, movement, figure, space, perception, execution, centimeter, visual, keyboard, execute, representing, letter, responded]
Modeling adaptation to a novel accent
Kasia Hitczenko, Naomi Feldman
Kasia Hitczenko, Naomi Feldman
Listeners quickly adapt to novel accents. There are three main
hypotheses for how they do so. Some suggest that listeners expand their phonetic
categories, allowing more variability in how a sound is pronounced. Others argue
that listeners shift their categories instead, only accepting deviations
consistent with the accent. A third hypothesis is that listeners shift and expand
their categories. Most work has supported the category expansion hypotheses, with
the key exception of Maye et al. (2008) who argued for a shifting strategy. Here,
we apply the ideal adaptor model from Kleinschmidt & Jaeger (2015) to reexamine
what conclusions can be drawn from their data. We compare adaptation models in
which categories are shifted, expanded, or both shifted and expanded. We show
that models involving expansion can explain the data as well as, if not better
than, the shift model, in contrast to what has been previously concluded from
these data.
[category, session, test, standard, sound, exposure, heard, evidence, response, spoken, suggests, compare, novel, task, exposed] [experiment, people, mapping, version, work, front, shifted, explain] [shift, expand, accent, endorsement, adaptation, vowel, previous, maye, covariance, item, speech, updated, lowered, accented, wetch, acoustic, american, weech, adapt, witch, pronounced, produced, experimental, accept, jaeger, girl, adaptor, kleinschmidt, argue, shifting, raised, pronunciation, expanding, twenty] [three, sum, better, difference, absolute, involving] [word, lexical, expansion, english, increase, weighted] [model, data, probability, confidence, based, set, decision, hypothesis, capture, ideal, sampled, parameter, accepted] [figure, corresponding, original, unfamiliar]
Comparing competing views of analogy making using eye-tracking technology
Jean-Pierre Thibaut, Bob French, Yannick Glady
Jean-Pierre Thibaut, Bob French, Yannick Glady
We used eye-tracking to study the time course of analogical
reasoning in adults. We considered proportions of looking times and saccades. The
main question was whether or not adults would follow the same search strategies
for different types of analogical problems (Scene Analogies vs. Classical A:B:C:D
scene version of A:B::C:D). We then compared these results to the predictions of
various models of analogical reasoning. Results revealed a picture of common
search patterns with local adaptations to the specifics of each paradigm in both
looking-time duration and the number and types of saccades. These results are
discussed in terms of conceptions of analogical reasoning.
[task, analogy, target, analogical, standard, stimulus, second, time, type, pair, looked, attention, evidence, compared, picture, presented, compare, suggests, suggesting, relational] [cognitive, reasoning, unrelated, common, result, focused, black, source] [item, main, distractor, french, object] [solution, three, number, study, comparing, science, third, correct, received, course] [relation, semantic, order, local, analysis] [search, find, data, point, making] [scene, abcd, eye, thibaut, figure, role, interaction, slice, chasing, designated, semdis, pointed, tracking, focus, organized, tsemdis, fewer, visual, gordon, undis, bsemdis, csemdis]
Memory for the Random: A Simulation of Computer Program Recall
Fernand Gobet, Oliver Iain
Fernand Gobet, Oliver Iain
Contrary to a widely held belief, experts recall random material
better than non-experts. This phenomenon, predicted by the CHREST computational
model, was first established with chess players. Recently, it has been shown
through a meta-analysis that it generalises to nearly all domains where the
effect has been tested. In this paper, we carry out computer simulations to test
whether the mechanism postulated with chess experts – the acquisition and
use of a large number of chunks – also applies to computer programming
experts. The results show that a simplified version of CHREST (without the
learning and use of high-level schemata known as templates) broadly captures the
skill effect with scrambled programs. However, it fails to account for the
differences found in humans between different types of randomisation. To account
for these differences, additional mechanisms are necessary that use semantic
processing.
[stimulus, test, type, completed, training, time, presented, journal, presentation, compared, phase, learning] [cognitive, account, experiment, experience, psychological, described] [recall, chrest, program, memory, expert, expertise, chunk, novice, guerin, chunking, adelson, recalled, gobet, perceptual, language, discrimination, barfield, randomised, experimental, module, epam, randomisation] [skill, programming, code, three, material, knowledge, chess, better, correct, number, study, performance, stm, course] [random, semantic, order, large, syntactic, proposed] [model, normal, data, based, point, empirical, paper, simulation] [computer, level, figure, net, architecture, scrambled, simon, chase]
Linguistic niches emerge from pressures at multiple timescales
Molly Lewis, Michael C. Frank
Molly Lewis, Michael C. Frank
What accounts for the vast diversity in the world’s
languages? We explore one possibility: languages adapt to their linguistic
environment (Linguistic Niche Hypothesis; Lupyan & Dale, 2010). Recent studies
have found support for this hypothesis through correlations between aspects of
the environment and linguistic structure. We synthesize this previous work and
find that languages spoken in cold, small regions tend to be more complex across
a range of linguistic features. We also test a novel prediction of the Linguistic
Niche Hypothesis by examining the learnability of languages for first-language,
child learners.
[complex, spoken, learning, second, suggests, size, explore, adult, lupyan] [relationship, cognitive, work, variable] [language, linguistic, environmental, principal, niche, variability, polish, turkish, portuguese, yoruba, finnish, chamorro, morphosyntactic, bulgarian, georgian, tagalog, lithuanian, fijian, greek, ilocano, hawaiian, spanish, akan, bambara, kanuri, luganda, timescale, catalan, wolof, tamil, hebrew, ewe, precipitation, shona, italian, hindi, bengali, hausa, irish, learnability, communicative, german, romanian, somali, vietnamese, timescales, french, evolution, areal] [number, study, larger, control] [word, complexity, tend, english, small, hungarian, analysis, temperature, mechanism, large, aoa, acquisition] [population, hypothesis, data, find, model, range, datasets, total] [component, internal, figure]
Know Your Adversary: Insights for a Better Adversarial Behavioral Model
Yasaman Abbasi, Debarun kar, Nicole Sintov, Milind Tambe, Noam Ben-Asher, Don Morrison, Cleotilde Gonzalez
Yasaman Abbasi, Debarun kar, Nicole Sintov, Milind Tambe, Noam Ben-Asher, Don Morrison, Cleotilde Gonzalez
Given the global challenges of security, both in physical and
cyber worlds, security agencies must optimize the use of their limited resources.
To that end, many security agencies have begun to use "security game" algorithms,
which optimally plan defender allocations, using models of adversary behavior
that have originated in behavioral game theory. To advance our understanding of
adversary behavior, this paper presents results from a study involving an
opportunistic crime security game (OSG), where human participants play as
opportunistic adversaries against an algorithm that optimizes defender
allocations. In contrast with previous work which often assumes homogeneous
adversarial behavior, our work demonstrates that participants are naturally
grouped into multiple distinct categories that share similar behaviors. We
capture the observed adversarial behaviors in a set of diverse models from
different research traditions, behavioral game theory and Cognitive Science,
illustrating the need for heterogeneity in adversarial models.
[response, learning, time, training] [cognitive, work, distinct, percentage, crime, future] [highly, instance, memory, interesting, main] [score, number, three, study, better, strategy, high] [cluster, random, opportunistic, graph, clustering] [model, behavior, adversary, utility, game, security, station, data, based, ibl, mobility, defender, parameter, decision, adversarial, suqr, probability, exploration, heterogeneity, rank, observed, quantal, homogeneous, theory, expected, distribution, osg, rationality, provide, satisficing, highest, choice, rational, set, considering, player, noise, heterogeneous, coverage, making, attack, blended, defense, played, cyber, perfectly, subjective, average, modeling, patrolling, collected] [behavioral, figure, human, algorithm]
Gibson's Reasons for Realism and Gibsonian Reasons for Anti-Realism: An Ecological Approach to Model-Based Reasoning in Science
Guilherme Sanches de Oliveira
Guilherme Sanches de Oliveira
Representational views of the mind traditionally face a skeptical
challenge on perceptual knowledge: if our experience of the world is mediated by
representations built upon perceptual inputs, how can we be certain that our
representations are accurate and our perceptual apparatus reliable? J. J.
Gibson's ecological approach provides an alternative framework, according to
which direct perception of affordances does away with the need to posit internal
mental representations as intermediary steps between perceptual input and
behavioral output. Gibson accordingly spoke of his framework as providing
“reasons for realism.” In this paper I suggest that, granting Gibson
his reasons for perceptual realism, the Gibsonian framework motivates
anti-realism when it comes to scientific theorizing and modeling. If scientists
are Gibsonian perceivers, then it makes sense to take their use of models in
indirect investigations of real-world phenomena not as representations of the
phenomena, but rather as autonomous tools with their own affordances.
[target, relational, learn, stanford, processing] [scientific, ecological, gibson, gibsonian, representational, cognitive, philosophy, epistemic, kind, perceive, psychology, organism, autonomous, relationship, account, cognition, mental, mediated, case, descartes, morgan, synthese, edward, manipulation, mit, fact, relevant, simply, zalta, url, morrison, afford, representationalism] [perceptual, university, object, van, generation] [science, knowledge, mind, external, mathematical, accurate] [approach, direct, order, indirect, oxford, rat, intended, proposed] [model, modeling, theory, subjective, based, individual, well, alternative] [perception, affordances, action, view, representation, framework, realism, visual, built, skeptical, behavioral, represent, dynamical, environment, affordance, involves, process, encyclopedia, robotic, internal]
Measuring the Causal Dynamics of Facial Interaction with Convergent Cross Mapping
Eric Postma, Marie Postma-Nilsenová
Eric Postma, Marie Postma-Nilsenová
The nature of the dynamics of nonverbal interactions is of
considerable interest to the study of human communication and future
human-computer interaction. Facial expressions constitute an important source of
nonverbal social signals. Whereas most studies have focused on the facial
expressions of isolated individuals, the aim of this study is to explore the
coupling dynamics of facial expressions in social dyadic interactions. Using a
special experimental set-up, the frontal facial dynamics of pairs of socially
interacting persons were measured and analyzed simultaneously. We introduce the
use of convergent cross mapping, a method originating from dynamical systems
theory, to assess the causal coupling of the dyadic facial-expression dynamics.
The results reveal the presence of bidirectional causal couplings of the facial
dynamics. We conclude that convergent cross mapping yields encouraging results in
establishing evidence for causal behavioral interactions.
[cross, time, size, dimension, complex, paired] [causal, conversation, mapping, causality, participant, presence, survey, positive, evaluation, statement, social, psychological, detecting] [gender, recording] [number, study, measuring, example] [attractor, shadow, measure, quality, table, manifold, relation, embedding, increase, applied, analysis, establish] [correlation, prediction, increasing, method, behavior, predict] [facial, ccm, action, coupling, system, convergent, behavioral, dynamical, nonverbal, figure, interaction, dyad, unit, dyadic, interacting, synchrony, lorenz, coupled, mimicry, library, partner, human, recurrence, corner, eye, lag]
Modeling language discrimination in infants using i-vector representations
M. Julia Carbajal, Radek Fér, Emmanuel Dupoux
M. Julia Carbajal, Radek Fér, Emmanuel Dupoux
Experimental research suggests that at birth infants can
discriminate two languages if they belong to different rhythmic classes, and by 4
months of age they can discriminate two languages within the same class provided
they have been previously exposed to at least one of them. In this paper, we
present a novel application of speech technology tools to model language
discrimination, which may help to understand how infants achieve high performance
on this task. By combining a Gaussian Mixture Model of the acoustic space and
low-dimensional representations of novel utterances with a model of a habituation
paradigm, we show that brief exposure to French does not allow to discriminate
between two previously unheard languages with similar phonological properties,
but facilitates discrimination of two phonologically distant languages. The
implications of these findings are discussed.
[test, switch, infant, presented, task, exposure, pair, second, novel, phase] [initial, arousal, asymmetry, belong, variable] [language, habituation, discrimination, speech, french, acoustic, bilingual, speaker, discriminate, background, ubm, variability, unheard, abx, experimental, centroid, spanish, utterance, calculated, principal, habituated, previous, native, identification, subspace, rhythmic] [difference, ability, number, larger, step, understand, young, help, additional] [english, distance, variance, large, analysis, cosine, measure] [model, set, data, distribution, observed, selected, threshold, modeling, mixture, propose, behavior] [trained, system, representation, component, figure, pattern, recognition, represent, space, dataset, single, feature, represents, overlapping, gaussian]
Children’s Use of Orthographic Cues in Language Processing
Takayo Sugimoto
Takayo Sugimoto
This study investigated factors responsible for the developmental
discontinuity of children's language processing in Japanese. We conducted an
experiment using cross-modal linguistic stimuli (prosody & orthography) to see
whether children’s orthographic knowledge affects their rendaku strategy or
not. Our results showed that orthographic cues affected literate
children’s rendaku processing. They were aware the correspondence between
types of orthography and word categories in Japanese. Children define the
rendaku category and redefine it, resulting in the qualitative change in
children’s rendaku strategies.
[rendaku, condition, japanese, pitch, katakana, unaccented, processing, hiragana, compound, orthography, developmental, journal, voiced, development, literate, child, novel, category, presented, prosody, adult, correspondence, phonetics, counterbalance, loan, complex, task, yamato, preliterate, early, test] [aware, formation, experiment, applies, childhood] [accent, language, accented, apply, university, linguistic, native, consonant, phonological, society, foreign] [strategy, control, group, three, change, study, knowledge, japan, acquire, score, annual, middle] [word, orthographic, lexical, table, acquisition, noun, subject, assignment, oxford, handbook, prosodic, aloud, meeting, applied, literacy, read] [total, based, data] [figure, element, divided, represent]
Semantic, Lexical, and Geographic Cues in Recall Processes
Janelle Szary, Michael N. Jones
Janelle Szary, Michael N. Jones
Semantic fluency tasks have increasingly been used to probe the
structure of human memory, adopting methodologies from the ecological foraging
literature to describe memory as a trajectory through semantic space. Clusters of
semantically related items are often produced together, and the transitions
between these clusters of semantically related items are consistent with theories
of optimal foraging, where the search process exhibits a balance between
exploration and exploitation (Hills, Jones, & Todd, 2012). Here, we use a
semantic fluency memory task in which subjects recall geographic locations. For
each pairwise transition, we measure temporal, geographic, semantic, lexical, and
phonetic distances. In general, the dimensions are loosely but reliably
correlated with each other. Segmentation of the retrieval sequence into patches
supports the notion that subjects strategically leave patches as within-patch
resources diminish, but also suggests that subjects may shift their attention
between different sources of information, perhaps reflecting dynamically changing
patch definitions.
[compared, category, sequence, suggests, task, time, occurred, switch, evidence, reported, finding] [cognitive, temporal, physical, consistent, psychological, positively, appropriate, leading] [phonetic, retrieval, retrieved, memory, phonological, recall, recalled, highly, language] [number, greater, balance, science, course, external, control, versus, idea] [semantic, distance, geographic, lexical, structure, shuffled, correlated, measure, fluency, subject, szary, semantically, similarity, relative, preceding, reflect] [search, observed, patch, optimal, data, foraging, exploration, simulated, pairwise, exploitation, city, hypothesis, metric, higher, rate, forager, successful, dynamically, exploratory, measured] [figure, space, process, internal, goal, tool]
Curiosity and Its Influence on Children's Memory
Haley Walin, Shaun O'Grady, Fei Xu
Haley Walin, Shaun O'Grady, Fei Xu
Curiosity has a tumultuous past. Originally curiosity was
considered a vice of excess leading to misconduct and disaster. Recently,
curiosity has transformed into a virtue of self-expression resulting in success
and better performance. In classrooms, educators try to find ways of eliciting
curiosity from their students: allowing them to pick their own research topics
and books, including pop culture references in lecture, and many more strategies.
Recent adult studies have revealed better memory for trivia facts that elicit
more curiosity. The current study modifies the methods used in previous adult
studies in order to make them more appropriate for children. Results from a
sample of 24 7- and 8-year-olds reveal that by age eight curiosity significantly
affects memory for trivia facts. This research may shed light on the cognitive
advantages of curiosity and legitimatize the encouragement of curiosity in
classrooms for school age children.
[child, age, learning, trial, revealed, presented, size, evidence, retention, learn, response, testing, artificial, attention, increased, journal, developmental] [gap, rating, cognitive, scale, low, induced, elicit, people, influence] [memory, remember, recall, coded] [curiosity, question, dopamine, answer, correct, knowledge, experimenter, trivia, curious, study, ratio, group, better, asked, difference, active, larger, high, filling, motivation, metacognitive, science, lower, board, provided, concept] [order, form, increase, word, small, mechanism] [reward, model, theory, exploratory, odds, based, behavior, lead, sample, well, prior, knew, expected] [level, network, desired, box, figure, process, brain]
Increasing preschoolers’ awareness of lexical ignorance to encourage word-learning
Sofia Jimenez, Kaitlin Ryan, Megan Saylor
Sofia Jimenez, Kaitlin Ryan, Megan Saylor
Preschool-aged children develop awareness of the words they do and
do not know. Awareness of one’s lexicon may encourage word learning if
children pay more attention to the definition of unknown words. Here, we tested
3-4-year-old children (N = 91) on a word learning task embedded in an e-book.
When a novel word was read, children were either asked if they knew the word,
asked a question about the storyline, or asked no question. Then they were given
a description without visual input and asked to identify the referent’s
picture from three choices. Participants who were asked if they knew a word
before being provided with the definition identified more referents than children
in the other conditions. Children’s word learning was predicted by
short-term memory.
[awareness, novel, test, target, familiar, learning, picture, task, tested, electronic, attention, child, condition, ignorance, teddy, development, identify, vocabulary, presented, reported, heard, creature, revealed, early, journal, span, type, trial, counterbalanced, completed] [cognitive, income, told, work, story, possibility, researcher, supported] [object, language, memory, distractor, meaning, item, distractors, support, degree, definition, lexicon] [question, three, asked, digit, study, ability, young, transfer, vanderbilt, help, preschool, practice, experimenter, scaffold, example, prompted, performance] [word, lexical, table, reading, book, acquisition, order] [well, knew, consider, predict, unknown] [representation, unfamiliar, current, visual, catch]
The Aging Lexicon: Differences in the Semantic Networks of Younger and Older Adults
Dirk U. Wulff, Thomas Hills, Margie Lachman, Rui Mata
Dirk U. Wulff, Thomas Hills, Margie Lachman, Rui Mata
How does the mental lexicon, the network of learned words in our
semantic memory, change in old age? To address this question, we employ a new
network inference method to infer networks from verbal fluency data of a group of
younger and older adults. We find that older adults produce more unique words in
verbal fluency tasks than younger adults. In line with recent theorizing, this
suggests a larger mental lexicon for older than for younger adults. Moreover, we
find that relative to the mental lexicon of younger adults, the mental lexicon of
older adults is less small-world-like. Based on several findings linking network
clustering to processing speed, this finding suggests that not only the size, but
also the structure of the mental lexicon may contribute to apparent cognitive
decline in old age.
[older, younger, verbal, size, journal, statistical, vocabulary, age, suggests, adult, aging, standard, finding, decline, preferential, bootstrap, learning] [mental, cognitive, psychological, inference, investigation, consistent, result, aim] [lexicon, memory, produced, language, lexica, previous, highly, society, experimental] [number, larger, group, step, performance, study, young, science] [semantic, fluency, small, clustering, structure, path, shortest, word, unique, coefficient, window, random, length, relative, graph, analysis, natural, measure, minimum, rand, producing, animal, frequency, entered] [average, data, method, based, search, parameter, inferred, total, optimal, theory, median] [network, figure, process, apparent]
A Recurrent Network Approach to Modeling Linguistic Interaction
Rick Dale, Riccardo Fusaroli, Kristian Tylén, Joanna Rączaszek-Leonardi, Morten Christiansen
Rick Dale, Riccardo Fusaroli, Kristian Tylén, Joanna Rączaszek-Leonardi, Morten Christiansen
What capacities enable linguistic interactions? While several
proposals have been advanced, little progress has been made in comparing and
articulating them within an integrative framework. In this paper, we take initial
steps towards a connectionist framework designed to compare different cognitive
models of social interactions. The framework we propose couples two
simple-recurrent network systems (Chang, 2002) to explore the computational
underpinnings of interaction, and apply this modeling framework to predict the
semantic structure derived from transcripts of an experimental joint decision
task (Bahrami et al., 2010; Fusaroli et al., 2012). In an exploratory application
of this framework, we find (i) that the coupled network approach is capable of
learning from noisy naturalistic input but (ii) that integration of production
and comprehension does not increase the network performance. We end by discussing
the value of looking to traditional parallel distributed processing as flexible
models for exploring computational mechanisms of conversation.
[integration, learning, training, task, test, sequential, processing, compare, baseline] [cognitive, social, conversation, common, participant, capable] [production, language, context, linguistic, interlocutor, university, conversational] [performance, number, interactive, control, better, modeled, difference] [comprehension, lsa, lexical, local, word, structure, computational, chang, subnetwork, semantic, subnetworks, approach, order, cosine, panel, theoretical, relative, syntactic, corpus, analysis, fusaroli] [model, agent, predict, full, function, expected, prediction, based, modeling, allow] [input, network, layer, output, hidden, coupled, framework, representation, space, interaction, recurrent, dyad, trained, neural, coupling, joint, interacting, activation, net, figure, fully, integrated, internal, original, matrix]
Are Financial Advisors Money Doctors or Charlatans? Evidence on Trust, Advice, and Risk Taking in Delegated Asset Management
Qizhang Sun, Michael Gibbert, Thomas Hills, Eric Nowak
Qizhang Sun, Michael Gibbert, Thomas Hills, Eric Nowak
We test the effects of advice and trust on risk-taking in three
online experiments designed to elucidate under what conditions financial advice
may increase risk-taking, irrespective of advisor performance. In our study,
investors made 100 decisions, selecting between one of two alternatives: risky or
conservative. We manipulate the suggestion of an advisor (risky vs. non-risky
investments), the fee of the advice, as well as the trustworthiness of the
advisor (by increasing the transparency of the advice presented) to test the
effect of the advice on risk-taking. The results show that individuals
asymmetrically follow the advice they received, with a bias towards following
more risky than conservative advice. Moreover, trusted advice was more persuasive
irrespective of what the advisor suggested and even the fee is higher.
[test, condition, standard, second, trial, chance, suggests] [people, experiment, experience, result, low, personal, survey, recruited, mturk, long] [select, experimental, manipulated] [larger, high, asked, control, online, group, better, number, enable, lose, manipulate, seeking, performance, difference] [quality] [advice, advisor, risky, conservative, trust, follow, alternative, financial, money, model, investment, justified, risk, asymmetric, consult, price, selecting, selected, phrasing, choose, probability, trusted, decision, distribution, method, irrespective, outcome, enables, higher, actual, bearish, fee, recommend, gennaioli, provide, investor, assumption, find, deviation, charge, choice, based, prove, accumulated, randomly, normal, bought, charged] [environment, figure, design, represents, suggested, market]
The impact of biased hypothesis generation on self-directed learning
Doug Markant
Doug Markant
Self-directed learning confers a number of advantages relative to
passive observation, including the ability to test hypotheses rather than learn
from data generated by the environment. However, it remains unclear to what
extent self-directed learning is constrained by basic cognitive processes and how
those limits are related to the structure of the to-be-learned material. The
present study examined how hypothesis generation affects the success of
self-directed learning of categorical rules. Two experiments manipulated the
hypothesis generation process and assessed its impact on the ability to learn 1D
and 2D rules. Performance was strongly influenced by whether the stimulus
representation facilitated the generation of hypotheses consistent with the
target rule. Broadly speaking, the findings suggest that the opportunity to
actively gather information is not enough to guarantee successful learning, and
that the efficacy of self-directed learning closely depends on how hypothesis
generation is shaped by the structure of the learning environment.
[rule, learning, stimulus, test, target, accuracy, classification, type, condition, category, sdl, learn, dimension, trial, shape, displayed, size, task, journal, second, training, label] [experiment, cognitive, participant, assigned, people, including, led] [generation, perceptual, highly, combination, salient, experimental, previous] [performance, involving, study, correct, number, passive, markant, gureckis, ability] [form, structure, order, relative, analysis] [hypothesis, proportion, decision, generated, search, generate, predicted, successful, higher, randomly, biased, based, set, depends, success] [feature, figure, representation, interaction, corresponding, goal, defined, selection, single]
Representing Sequence: The Influence of Timeline Axis and Direction on Causal Reasoning in Litigation Law
Amy Fox, Martin van den Berg, Erica de Vries
Amy Fox, Martin van den Berg, Erica de Vries
Can the representation of event sequence influence how jurors
remember and reason in a legal case? We addressed this question by examining the
interaction between an individual’s preferred spatial construal of time
(SCT) for an external (visual- spatial) representation and the SCT of a courtroom
graphic. One hundred fifty three undergraduates played the role of jurors in a
fictitious civil trial. The details of a case were re- counted in a multimedia
presentation featuring timelines animated in one of four orientations:
left-right, right-left, top- bottom, and bottom-top. Participants were assessed
on measures of comprehension and causal reasoning. Results indicated effects of
timeline orientation and SCT choice behavior on comprehension and reasoning. We
discuss these results in terms of the role of attention in temporal-causal
reasoning, and implications for the design of multimedia materials for the
courtroom.
[sequence, time, task, stimulus, attention, presentation, evidence, learning, presented, sequential, explore, revealed, suggests] [scts, reasoning, timeline, sct, multimedia, cognitive, mental, courtroom, temporal, influence, causal, axis, stability, rwd, construal, result, oriented, inconsistent, consistent, lawyer, event, litigation, import, case, animated, representational, traffic, indicated, testimony, sagittal] [spatial, experimental, university, memory, coherent] [working, asked, external, group, interactive, impact, department] [comprehension, measure, order, flexibility, structure, sequencing, abstract] [data, choice, model, chose, preferred] [orientation, visual, figure, direction, role, body, representation, space, interaction, design, developed]
Answering Causal Queries about Singular Cases
Simon Stephan, Michael R. Waldmann
Simon Stephan, Michael R. Waldmann
Queries about singular causation face two problems: It needs to be
decided whether the two observed events are instantiations of a generic
cause-effect relation. Second, causation needs to be distinguished from
co-incidence. We propose a computational model that addresses both questions. It
accesses generic causal knowledge either on the individual or the group level.
Moreover, the model addresses the possibility of a coincidence by adopting Cheng
and Novick’s (2005) power PC measure of causal responsibility. This measure
delivers the conditional probability that a cause is causally responsible for an
effect given that both events have occurred. To take uncertainty about both the
causal structure and the parameters into account we embedded the causal
responsibility measure within the structure induction (SI) model developed by
Meder et al. (2014). We report the results of three experiments that show that
the SI model better captures the data than the power PC model.
[second, test, presented, induction, occurred, tested, target, time, condition, type] [causal, singular, generic, power, causation, contingency, responsibility, experiment, event, chemical, fish, antenna, causally, low, cheng, psychological, account, absence, imagine, indicated, caused, discussion, series, possibility, relationship, responsible, waldmann] [depicted, main, instructed] [question, knowledge, asked, high, three, difference, problem, study, group] [structure, table, measure, oxford, read, relation, mechanism] [model, data, probability, sample, predicts, parameter, likelihood, observed, uncertainty, bayesian, theory, predicted, noise, based, predictive, higher, gene, confidence, denotes, posterior, consider, prior, set] [single, figure, developed, interaction, joint]
Making it Right: Can the Right-Hemisphere Compensate for Language Function in Patients with Left-Frontal Brain Tumors?
Ethan Jost, Nicole Brennan, Kyung Peck, Andrei Holodny, Morten Christiansen
Ethan Jost, Nicole Brennan, Kyung Peck, Andrei Holodny, Morten Christiansen
Both the degree to which the left-hemisphere is specialized for
language and the relative ability of the right-hemisphere to subserve language
function are underspecified. The present study sought to identify whether the
right-frontal fMRI activation seen in a number of case studies in patients with
left-sided brain lesions exists as a group-level trend in patients with
left-frontal tumors. It also sought to examine the possible compensatory nature
of this activation. Thus, a retrospective analysis of 197 brain tumor patients
who had undergone pre-surgical fMRI language mapping was conducted. Patients with
left-frontal tumors were found to be more likely to show right- or co-dominant
fMRI activation during language mapping tasks compared to patients who had tumors
elsewhere in the brain. Further, patients with left-frontal tumors who were
identified as right- or co-dominant for language were found to possess more
intact language function as measured by the Boston Naming Test.
[development, indicate, early, age, reported, task, suggests, adult, journal] [result, work, case, cognitive, clinical, future, cancer, understanding, positive] [language, healthy, functional, error, degree, shift] [study, report, difference, number, traditional, usa, group, better, required] [large, table, plasticity, order, demonstrates, trend] [function, compensatory, data, based, set] [brain, tumor, patient, reorganization, activation, damage, frontal, laterality, fmri, hemisphere, contralateral, role, figure, hemispheric, leftdominant, lobe, suffering, stroke, righthemisphere, left, dominant, network, brennan, memorial, kettering, sloan, basal, holodny, ipsilateral, bnt, infiltration]
Spatial Meaning is Retained in Emotion Metaphors: Some Evidence from Spanish
Cesar Riano, Florencia Reali
Cesar Riano, Florencia Reali
Previous work has shown that the abstract use of the prepositions
in and on retains spatial meaning, such as containment and support that includes
the control relationship between a located object (the figure) and a reference
object (the ground). We extend these ideas to the case of metaphorical
descriptions of emotion in Spanish – some of them featuring the emotion as
a located entity in the person´s body, and some of them featuring emotion as
the ground in which the person´s body stands. Two rating experiments show
that people judge emotions as more “controllable” when they are
described as located entities (the figure) than when they are described as
grounds.
[condition, evidence, counterbalanced, second] [gran, emotion, encontraba, estado, una, described, metaphorical, located, framing, positive, negative, metaphor, person, valence, twelve, cognition, cognitive, los, participant, social, universidad, political, people, elena, experiencing, sus, andes, retained, rated, relationship, reali, version, por, case, great, work, ximena, controllable, falta, serenidad, luz, featuring] [spatial, ground, experimental, meaning, perceptual, language, spanish, object, linguistic, item, degree, describing, functional, describe] [study, control, questionnaire, included] [abstract, entity, sentence, concrete, del, semantic, order, conceptual] [data, state, proposal, higher, rate] [figure, body, naturalness, corresponds]
Explanatory Value, Probability, and Abductive Inference
Matteo Colombo, Marie Nilsenova, Jan Sprenger
Matteo Colombo, Marie Nilsenova, Jan Sprenger
Abductive reasoning assigns special status to the explanatory
power of a hypothesis. But what determines explanatory power remains unclear. Our
study clarifies this issue by asking: How does the explanatory power of a
hypothesis cohere with other cognitive factors? How does probabilistic
information affect explanatory judgments? To answer these questions, we conducted
an experiment, where participants made judgments about a potentially explanatory
hypothesis and its cognitive virtues. In the responses, we isolated three
constructs: Explanatory Value, Rational Acceptability, and Entailment. While
explanatory judgments strongly cohered with judgments of causal relevance and
with a sense of understanding, Explanatory Value was sensitive to manipulations
of statistical relevance relations between hypothesis and evidence, but not to
explicit information about the prior probability of the hypothesis. These results
indicate that probabilistic information about statistical relevance is a strong
determinant of Explanatory Value, and that abductive and probabilistic reasoning
are two distinct modes of inference.
[statistical, response, base, chance, presented, second, revealed] [explanatory, relevance, explanation, understanding, power, abductive, causal, philosophy, cognitive, inference, vignette, reasoning, white, factor, ball, confirmation, sense, lombrozo, simplicity, acceptability, scientific, strong, truth, ruud, east, abduction, account, psychology, determines, louise, experiment, implication, taxi, assigned, manipulation, distinct, proposition] [university, experimental, tilburg, principal, main, netherlands, degree] [three, question, literature, study, help, number, knowledge, difference] [logical, table, analysis, weak, oxford, dependent, relation] [hypothesis, probabilistic, prior, probability, rational, urn, posterior, good, conservative, chooses, bayesian, entailment, consider, broader, rate, estimated, selected] [component, interaction, human]
Visual Statistical Learning Deficits in Children with Developmental Dyslexia: an Event Related Potential Study
Sonia Singh, Anne Walk, Christopher Conway
Sonia Singh, Anne Walk, Christopher Conway
Extensive research suggests that individuals with developmental
dyslexia (DD) perform below typical readers on non-linguistic cognitive tasks
involving the learning and encoding of statistical-sequential patterns. However,
research investigating the neural mechanisms underlying such a deficit is
inadequate. The aim of the present study was to investigate the ERP correlates of
sequence processing in a sample of children diagnosed with DD using a
probabilistic visual serial learning paradigm. Behavioral results revealed that
whereas age-matched typically developing (TD) children (n=12) showed learning in
the task as reflected by their reaction times, the children with dyslexia (n=8)
showed no effects of learning. Additionally, ERPs of the TD children showed a
P300-like response indicative of this paradigm (Jost et al., 2015); whereas,
children diagnosed with a reading disorder showed no such ERP effects. These
findings are consistent with the idea that differences in statistical-sequential
learning ability might underlie the reading deficits observed in DD.
[learning, statistical, predictor, dyslexia, developmental, target, response, deficit, stimulus, sequence, erp, erps, task, time, sequential, compared, revealed, condition, presented, jost, processing, magnocellular, age, suggests, wechsler, trial, annals, presentation] [cognitive, implicit, diagnosed, low, appear, indicated] [color, language, phonological, perceptual, typical] [group, ability, high, study, difficulty, three, larger] [reading, word, decoding, table, amplitude, typically, dependent] [observed, data, theory, probability, sample, individual, potential, average, lack] [visual, motor, figure, associated, level, brain, behavioral, input, eeg, current, component, performed, neural, left, net, box]
The St. Petersburg Paradox: A Subjective Probability Solution
Hongbin Wang, Yanlong Sun, Jack Smith
Hongbin Wang, Yanlong Sun, Jack Smith
The St. Petersburg Paradox (SPP), where people are willing to pay
only a modest amount for a lottery with infinite expected gain, has been a famous
showcase of human (ir)rationality. Since inception multiple solutions have been
proposed, including the influential expected utility theory. Criticisms remain
due to the lack of a priori justification for the utility function. Here we
report a new solution to the long-standing paradox, which focuses on the
probability weighting component (rather than the value/utility component) in
calculating the expected value of the game. We show that a new Additional
Transition Time (AT) based measure, motivated by both physics and psychology, can
naturally lead to a converging expected value and therefore solve the
paradox.
[time, occur, standard, arbitrary, second] [event, expectation, people, pleasure, long, great, cognitive, consistent, psychological, impossible, paid, judgment] [] [solution, additional, concept, logarithmic, mind, equal, difficulty, number, mathematical, fair, problem, difference, science, sum, smaller, published] [small, length, head, form, large, statistic, proposed, measure, complete, existing] [probability, utility, streak, expected, bernoulli, function, based, game, waiting, theory, petersburg, spp, decision, treatment, tttt, toss, lack, gamble, return, pay, infinite, weighting, paper, prospect, describes, player, money, payout, rare, probabilistic, paradox, tail, risk, wait, valued, making] [human, figure, transition, pattern, longer, represents, play, original, component, represented]
A test of two models of probability judgment: quantum versus noisy probability
Fintan Costello, Paul Watts
Fintan Costello, Paul Watts
We test contrasting predictions of two recent models of
probability judgment: the quantum probability model (Busemeyer et al., 2011) and
the probability theory plus noise model (Costello & Watts, 2014). Both models
assume that people estimate probability using formal processes that follow or
subsume standard probability theory. The quantum probability model predicts
people's estimates should agree with one set of probability theory identities,
while the probability theory plus noise model predicts a specific pattern of
violation of those identities. Experimental results show just the form of
violation predicted by the probability theory plus noise model. These results
suggest that people's probability judgments do not follow quantum probability:
instead, they follow the rules of standard probability theory, with the
systematic biases seen in those judgments due to the effects of random noise.
[interference, standard, pair, reliably, evidence, test, chance, second, presented] [event, positive, systematic, people, experiment, psychological, case, reasoning, causal] [term, error, degree, university, item, expect, instance] [difference, number, measurement, group, equal, idea, formal] [table, order, random, form, occurrence] [probability, quantum, theory, model, measured, observables, predicts, incompatible, noise, ordering, observable, predicted, opposite, average, estimate, incompatibility, busemeyer, conjunction, expected, weather, assume, follow, counted, compatible, hpe, sample, state, individual, randomly, set, ireland, incorrectly, probabilistic, assumes, windy, depend, cloudy, prior] [identity, conjunctive]
Influence of 3D images and 3D-printed objects on spatial reasoning
Akihiro Maehigashi, Kazuhisa Miwa, Masahiro Oda, Yoshihiko Nakamura, Kensaku Mori, Tsuyoshi Igami
Akihiro Maehigashi, Kazuhisa Miwa, Masahiro Oda, Yoshihiko Nakamura, Kensaku Mori, Tsuyoshi Igami
In this study, we experimentally investigated the influence
of a three-dimensional (3D) graphic image and a 3D-printed object on a spatial
reasoning task in which participants were required to infer cross sections of a
liver in a situation where liver resection surgery was presupposed. The results
of the study indicated that using a 3D-printed object produced more accurate task
performance and faster mental model construction of a liver structure than a 3D
image. During the task, using a 3D-printed object was assumed to reduce cognitive
load and information accessing cost more than using a 3D image.
[task, condition, test, learning, time, cross, target, indicating, indicate] [situation, cognitive, mental, reasoning, people, factor, influence, experiment, understanding, cognition] [spatial, object, memory, reference, main, store, experimental] [external, liver, vein, ability, branching, three, score, difference, required, answer, conducted, accurate, ivc, shorter, desk, number, accessing, secondary, primary, created, high, investigated, sheet, mentally, experimentally, school, manipulate, nagoya, resection, science, japan, printed] [structure, accurately, analysis, concrete, considered, construct] [model, cost, higher, load, drawn, confidence, observed, correlation, assumed, inferring] [image, location, tumor, representation, figure, computer, interaction, inner, anatomical, internal, box]
Modeling the Contribution of Central Versus Peripheral Vision in Scene, Object, and Face Recognition
Panqu Wang, Garrison Cottrell
Panqu Wang, Garrison Cottrell
It is commonly believed that the central visual field is important
for recognizing objects and faces, and the peripheral region is useful for scene
recognition. However, the relative importance of central versus peripheral
information for object, scene, and face recognition is unclear. In a behavioral
study, Larson and Loschky (2009) investigated this question by measuring the
scene recognition accuracy as a function of visual angle, and demonstrated that
peripheral vision was indeed more useful in recognizing scenes than central
vision. In this work, we modeled and replicated the result of Larson and Loschky
(2009), using deep convolutional neural networks. Having fit the data for scenes,
we used the model to predict future data for large-scale scene recognition as
well as for objects and faces. Our results suggest that the relative order of
importance of using central visual field information is face
recognition>object recognition>scene recognition, and vice-versa for
peripheral information.
[accuracy, condition, processing, tested, training, journal, learning, learned, classification, radius, test] [experiment, result, consistent, work, missing] [object, van] [versus, performance, equal, number, three, study, contribution, modeled] [window, relative, small, order, efficient] [model, modeling, function, higher, predict, set, best] [recognition, vision, central, scene, peripheral, visual, face, figure, deep, larson, loschky, neural, foveated, convolutional, scotoma, human, field, original, recognizing, image, viewable, resolution, trained, viewing, region, preprocessed, behavioral, achieve, network, perception, angle, connected, computer, layer, area, validation, googlenet, cnns, fully, performs, arxiv, preprint, input]
College Students’ Understanding of Linear Functions: Slope is Slippery
Marta Mielicki, Jennifer Wiley
Marta Mielicki, Jennifer Wiley
A common obstacle for students in the transition from arithmetic
to algebra is developing a conceptual understanding of equations representing
functions. Two experiments manipulated isomorphic problems in terms of their
solution requirements (computation vs. interpretation) and format to test for
understanding of linear functions. Experiment 1 provided problems in a story
context, and found that performance on slope comparison problems was low,
especially when problems were presented with equations. Experiment 2 tested
whether performance on slope comparison problems improves when problem prompts
include explicit mathematical terminology rather than just natural language
consistent with the problem story. Results suggest that many undergraduate
students fail to access the mathematical concept of slope when problem prompts
are presented with natural language. Overall, the results suggest that even
undergraduate students lack understanding of the slope concept and equations of
linear functions, both which are foundational for advanced algebraic thinking.
[presented, presentation, type, advantage, reported, accuracy, learning, journal, pair, revealed, counterbalanced, half, compare, completed, explicit] [experiment, understanding, company, cognitive, participant] [main, language, linguistic, chicago, bob, university, error] [problem, slope, comparison, mathematical, format, linear, performance, equation, solving, solution, three, graphical, computation, concept, comparing, correct, sponsor, solve, undergraduate, algebra, terminology, answer, better, mathematics, versus, algebraic, subtypes, entailed, incorrect, school, pledge, cab, requiring, stern, mielicki, math, wiley, conducted, procedural, knowledge, subtype, donate, procedure, rephrasing, illinois] [interpretation, natural, graph, order, conceptual, form, comprehension] [point, method, expected, proportion, money, higher] [figure]
Processing Consequences of Onomatopoeic Iconicity in Spoken Language Comprehension
David Peeters
David Peeters
Iconicity is a fundamental feature of human language. However its
processing consequences at the behavioral and neural level in spoken word
comprehension are not well understood. The current paper presents the behavioral
and electrophysiological outcome of an auditory lexical decision task in which
native speakers of Dutch listened to onomatopoeic words and matched control words
while their electroencephalogram was recorded. Behaviorally, onomatopoeic words
were processed as quickly and accurately as words with an arbitrary mapping
between form and meaning. Event-related potentials time-locked to word onset
revealed a significant decrease in negative amplitude in the N2 and N400
components and a late positivity for onomatopoeic words in comparison to the
control words. These findings advance our understanding of the temporal dynamics
of iconic form-meaning mapping in spoken word comprehension and suggest interplay
between the neural representations of real-world sounds and spoken words.
[iconicity, processing, spoken, compared, presented, sound, auditory, early, arbitrary, journal, suggests, evidence, verbal, electrophysiological, erp, erps, processed, recorded, advantage, condition, ideophones, response, positivity] [mapping, late, experiment, negative, temporal, experience, positive, indicated, case] [iconic, language, dutch, sign, meaning, main, error, native, item, linguistic] [control, study, difference] [onomatopoeic, word, lexical, amplitude, form, frequency, existing, comprehension, analysis, semantic, onset, electrode, accurately] [decision, rate, everyday] [behavioral, brain, current, component, left, eeg, activation, level, rts, region, decrease, eye, visual, performed, sensory]
Language Evolution in the Lab: The Case of Child Learners
Limor Raviv, Inbal Arnon
Limor Raviv, Inbal Arnon
Recent work suggests that cultural transmission leads to the
emergence of linguistic structure as speakers’ weak individual biases
become amplified through iterated learning. However, to date, no published study
has demonstrated a similar emergence of linguistic structure in children. This
gap is problematic given that languages are mainly learned by children and that
adults may bring existing linguistic biases to the task. Here, we conduct a
large-scale study of iterated language learning in both children and adults,
using a novel, child-friendly paradigm. Results show that while children make
more mistakes overall, their languages become more learnable and show
learnability biases similar to those of adults. Child languages did not show a
significant increase in linguistic structure over time, but consistent mappings
between meanings and signals did emerge on many occasions, as found with adults.
This provides the first demonstration that cultural transmission affects the
languages children and adults produce similarly.
[learning, child, age, structured, adult, time, artificial, type, ditaz, ilm, learned, learn, didi, second] [initial, consistent, experiment, cognitive, distinct, strong, work, participant, including, despite, result, case] [language, transmission, generation, linguistic, cultural, error, kirby, learnability, alien, iterated, emergence, learnable, produced, evolution, emerged, previous, easier, sign, memory, balgu, inferior] [number, study, group, performance, score, difference, created, creating, three, comparison, smaller, change] [structure, increase, random, examine, semantic, natural, plural, small, final] [model, regression, making, diffusion] [figure, single, decrease, trained, visual, multiple, input]