Categorical Perception of Face Actions: Their Role in Sign Language and in Communicative Facial Displays

Can face actions that carry significance within language be perceived categorically? We used continua produced by computational morphing of face-action images to explore this question in a controlled fashion. In Experiment 1 we showed that question-type-a syntactic distinction in British Sign Language (BSL)-can be perceived categorically, but only when it is also identified as a question marker. A few hearing non-signers were sensitive to this distinction; among those who used sign, late sign learners were no less sensitive than early sign users. A very similar facial-display continuum between 'surprise' and 'puzzlement' was perceived categorically by deaf and hearing participants, irrespective of their sign experience (Experiment 2). The categorical processing of facial displays can be demonstrated for sign, but may be grounded in universally perceived distinctions between communicative face actions. Moreover, the categorical perception of facial actions is not confined to the six universal facial expressions.     

Conventions and Rules in Literature

Views of what role convention plays in the creation and appreciation of art works gravitate towards two extremes. One view holds that works of art can be apprehended and appreciated as well as created with no reference to convention. The other claims that conventions fully determine how works of art are apprehended and are therefore necessary conditions for the creation of works of art as well as constitutive of appreciation. The former is a version of the Romantic view of art as something that appeals spontaneously to man's most profound emotions, to man's sentient nature, without making use of or needing mediating conventions. The conventionalist view denies that it is possible to respond spontaneously to art. All apprehension and appreciation of art are structured by conventions, and the reader/audience cannot go beyond these conventions because they constitute , the experience of the work of art. This paper explains the sense in which the constitutive view may be best understood.     

Firearms and Their Role in Homicide and Suicide*

ABSTRACT: Various arguments against firearms from the standpoint of their role in homicide and suicide are discussed. It is contended by some that murderers are law-abiding citizens who get into trouble because of the availability of firearms. A study in Detroit indicated that both murderers and suicidal persons are prone to misuse the firearm as they would misuse any potential instrument of destruction, independent of gun control measures. If the Second Amendment to the Constitution is to be used by those favoring the right to bear arms, the argument must involve an incorporation of an inherent responsibility toward the use of the firearm; that people wanting to use them should be able to accept reasonable rules and personality qualification as a factor in having the right to obtain them. More effective education and screening of the overly aggressive person or the self-destructive individual are suggested, in terms of school mental health programs, screening at the police precinct level, gun permit application level, and through effective suicide prevention and crisis centers.     

视角在时间语言理解中的影响

语言学家在英语的时间语言表达中发现了隐含其中的两种不同运动视角：一种是从过去指向将来的自我运动（自我运动视角moving-ego）;另一种是从将来指向过去的时间运动（时间运动视角moving-time）。心理学家McGlone＆Harding报告了在英语中视角对时问语言理解的作用,并提出人们存在MT视角的偏向。本文报告了两个实验,实验1直接运用和修改McGlone＆Harding的范式在汉语文本探讨视角对时间语言理解的影响。实验2运用信号检测理论来验证了人们存在MT视角偏向。     

心理模拟在语言理解中的作用

心理模拟在语言理解中的作用逐渐受到人们重视。相关理论包括知觉符号系统理论、语言的神经理论和语言与情境模拟理论。行为研究发现感知觉运动信息与语言理解存在交互作用,而脑机制研究显示感知觉运动脑区参与语言理解。目前的研究对于心理模拟参与语言理解的机制仍缺乏细致探讨,导致结果存在矛盾之处。对隐喻语言里心理模拟作用的探讨也需加强。此外,心理模拟系统如何与语言学信息交互作用的相关假设也需要完善。     

Components of Short-Term Memory and Their Relation to Language Processing

Abstract— Verbal working memory consists of separable capacities for the retention of phonological and semantic information. Within the phonological domain, there are independent capacities for retaining input-phonological codes and output-phonological codes. The input-phonological capacity does not appear to be critical for language comprehension but is involved in verbatim repetition and long-term learning of new words. The semantic capacity is critical for both comprehension and production and for the learning of new semantic information. Different neural structures appear to underlie these capacities, with a left-parietal region involved in input-phonological retention and a left-frontal region involved in semantic retention.     

Communist Conventions for Deductive Reasoning

In section 1, I develop epistemic communism, my view of the function of epistemically evaluative terms such as ‘rational’. The function is to support the coordination of our belief‐forming rules, which in turn supports the reliable acquisition of beliefs through testimony. This view is motivated by the existence of valid inferences that we hesitate to call rational. I defend the view against the worry that it fails to account for a function of evaluations within first‐personal deliberation. In the rest of the paper, I then argue, on the basis of epistemic communism, for a view about rationality itself. I set up the argument in section 2 by saying what a theory of rational deduction is supposed to do. I claim that such a theory would provide a necessary, sufficient, and explanatorily unifying condition for being a rational rule for inferring deductive consequences. I argue in section 3 that, given epistemic communism and the conventionality that it entails, there is no such theory. Nothing explains why certain rules for deductive reasoning are rational.     

On the Role of Passion in Second Language Learning and Flourishing

This study aimed to examine a positive-oriented model of two types of motivational constructs (i.e., harmonious passion and obsessive passion) for learning a second language (L2) and their relationship to self-growth indicators. The dualistic model of passion was used to explore whether and how the two types of passion play different roles in positive outcomes both within and outside L2. This study was conducted with 260 Chinese high school students learning English as a L2. Results of path analyses supported the model and showed that harmonious passion, and to a lesser degree obsessive passion, for L2 learning predicted learners’ positive experiences in L2 activity (i.e., L2 flow experiences and L2 mastery goals). In turn, flow experiences and mastery goals both predicted willingness to communicate in L2, whereas only mastery goals led to self-growth in other life areas (i.e., flourishing in life). This study is the first to explore the role of passion for L2 and associated processes in contributing to the field of L2 learning and life outcomes. Findings highlighted that being passionate about L2 learning can provide benefits in both willingness to communicate in L2 and personal well-being, especially if the passion is harmonious in nature.

     

The normativity of Lewis Conventions

David Lewis famously proposed to model conventions as solutions to coordination games, where equilibrium selection is driven by precedence, or the history of play. A characteristic feature of Lewis Conventions is that they are intrinsically non-normative. Some philosophers have argued that for this reason they miss a crucial aspect of our folk notion of convention. It is doubtful however that Lewis was merely analysing a folk concept. I illustrate how his theory can (and must) be assessed using empirical data, and argue that it does indeed miss an important aspect of real-world conventions.     

The Relationships Between Japanese Interpersonal Conflict Styles and Their Language Expressions

ABSTRACT

The present study investigated the influence of interpersonal conflict management styles on language expressions and the differences in expressions in same-sex relational categories based on specific in-group-out-group classifications. Questionnaires were administered to 367 university students in Japan. After reading a scenario, participants reported on actual language use and gave ratings on an interpersonal conflict management scale. The results revealed that Japanese change their expressions, along with psychological styles, depending on the relational target. They also indicated psychological constructs were related to their equivalent expressions. The results suggested that future research should take into consideration the potential differences in behavior and interaction posture inherent in various relational and situational categories.     

When and why Conventions cannot Be Social Institutions

Philosophia - The paper focuses on the issue of compatibility of social institution and convention. At first, it introduces the modest account of conventionality building on five distinctive...     

Conventions and Moral Norms: The Legacy of Lewis

David Lewis’ Convention has been a major source of inspiration for philosophers and social scientists alike for the analysis of norms. In this essay, I demonstrate its usefulness for the analysis of some moral norms. At the same time, conventionalism with regards to moral norms has attracted sustained criticism. I discuss three major strands of criticism and propose how these can be met. First, I discuss the criticism that Lewis conventions analyze norms in situations with no conflict of interest, whereas most, if not all, moral norms deal with situations with conflicting interests. This criticism can be answered by showing that conventions can emerge in those contexts as well. Secondly, I discuss the objection that this type of conventionalism, inspired by Lewis, presents moral norms as fundamentally contingent, whereas most, if not all, moral norms are not. However, such critics fail to appreciate that conventions are not radically contingent. Moreover, if one distinguishes the question as to why an individual should comply with a norm from the question whether the norm in question itself can be justified, a core element of the complaint of contingency disappears. The third objection to conventionalism concerns the way in which conventionalists justify norms. I argue that reflection upon the way in which according to Lewis norms are justified reveals a fundamental tension in his theory. Possible solutions to this tension all have in common that the complaint of contingency returns in some form. Therefore, this third complaint cannot be avoided altogether.     

A Difference of Some Consequence Between Conventions and Rules

Lewis’s view of the way conventions are passed on may have some especially interesting consequences for the study of language. I’ll start by briefly discussing agreements and disagreements that I have with Lewis’s general views on conventions and then turn to how linguistic conventions spread. I’ll compare views of main stream generative linguistics, in particular, Chomsky’s views on how syntactic forms are passed on, with the sort of view of language acquisition and language change advocated by usage-based or construction grammars, which seem to fit better with Lewis’s ideas. Then I will illustrate the interest of Lewis’s perspective on the dissemination of conventions with a variety of linguistic examples.     

The Role of Cortico-Thalamo-Cortical Circuits in Language: Recurrent Circuits Revisited

Neuropsychology Review - Based on a review of recent literature, a recurrent circuit model describes how cortico-thalamo-cortical and cortico-cortical circuitry supports word retrieval,...