A critique of Mark D. Allen's "the preservation of verb subcategory knowledge in a spoken language comprehension deficit"

Allen [Allen, M. (2005). The preservation of verb subcategory knowledge in a spoken language comprehension deficit. Brain and Language, 95, 255-264.] reports a single patient, WBN, who, during spoken language comprehension, is still able to access some of the syntactic properties of verbs despite being unable to access some of their semantic properties. Allen claims that these findings challenge linguistic theories which assume that much of the syntactic behavior of verbs can be predicted from their meanings. I argue, however, that this conclusion is not supported by the data for two reasons: first, Allen focuses on aspects of verb syntax that are not claimed to be influenced by verb semantics; and second, he ignores aspects of verb syntax that are claimed to be influenced by verb semantics.     

The preservation of verb subcategory knowledge in a spoken language comprehension deficit

Patient WBN has a lexical-semantic deficit resulting in impaired performance on language comprehension tasks that require access to verb meanings in both single-word and sentence contexts. However, WBN shows no such comprehension impairment with respect to lexical syntax. Specifically, he performs without error on comprehension tasks that rely on knowledge of lexical-specific verb subcategory requirements. This performance pattern supports theories of lexical representation and processing in which lexical syntactic information may be encoded and retrieved independently from lexical semantic information.     

The analyst's knowledge and authority: a critique of the "new view" in psychoanalysis

A critical assessment is presented of positions recently taken by Mitchell and Renik, who are taken as representatives of a "new view" in psychoanalysis. One article by Mitchell and two by Renik are examined as paradigmatic of certain ways of construing the nature of mind, the analyst's knowledge and authority, and the analytic process that are unduly influenced by the postmodern turn in psychoanalysis. Although "new view" theorists have made valid criticisms of traditional psychoanalytic theory and practice, they wind up taking untenable positions. Specifically called into question are their views on the relation between language and interpretation, on the one hand, and the mental contents of the patient on the other. A disjunction is noted between their discussion of clinical material and their conceptual stance, and their idiosyncratic redefinitions of truth and objectivity are criticized. Finally, a "humble realism" is suggested as the most appropriate philosophical position for psychoanalysts to adopt.     

Effects of syntactic information on semantic access of ambiguous verbs in spoken language comprehension: Evidence from a cross‐modal priming experiment1

Abstract: The aim of this study was to examine how syntactic information affects the semantic processing of ambiguous verbs in spoken Japanese. The effect of a postpositional particle on semantic access of an ambiguous verb at the end of the sentence was demonstrated in two kinds of sentences, S‐ga‐V sentences (subject, subjective postpositional particle, and ambiguous verb) and O‐wo‐V sentences (object, objective postpositional particle, and ambiguous verb). A cross‐modal priming method was used in which a target noun was presented visually in Kanji (Chinese) characters either one syllable before the end or immediately after the end of the ambiguous verb. Weak multiple priming occurred in the one‐syllable‐before condition, followed by selective access in the immediately after condition, but this multiple access was partially constrained by the preceding postpositional particle. A brief occurrence of multiple access and rapid transition to selective access were detected. Furthermore, objective particles were found to have stronger constraints on multiple access than on subjective particles. A connectionist model using a constraint‐based lexical approach was consistent with the experimental results.     

Contrasting contributions of phonological short-term memory and long-term knowledge to vocabulary learning in a foreign language

The contributions of phonological short-term memory and existing foreign vocabulary knowledge to the learning of new words in a second language were compared in a sample of 40 Greek children studying English at school. The children's speed of learning new English words in a paired-associate learning task was strongly influenced by their current English vocabulary, but was independent of phonological memory skill, indexed by nonword repetition ability. However, phonological memory performance was closely linked to English vocabulary scores. The findings suggest that in learners with considerable familiarity with a second language, foreign vocabulary acquisition is mediated largely by use of existing knowledge representations.     

The aftermath of heresy: a response to Pendery et al.'s (1982) critique of "Individualized Behavior Therapy for Alcoholics"

A point-by-point response is presented to Pendery et al.'s (1982) critique of the study “Individualized Behavior Therapy for Alcoholics (IBTA)”. Two independent, external investigations have critically examined the original records from the IBTA study. The IBTA study compared two different techniques for treating poor-prognosis, chronic alcoholic state hospital patients. It was found that a broad-spectrum behavioral treatment oriented to controlled drinking was a more effective treatment than was the standard hospital treatment program based on conventional wisdom. The Pendery et al. critique gave the appearance of being a refutation by presenting findings for only one group of Ss in a comparative study. In this response, it is shown that the experimental and control Ss were justifiably classified as gamma alcoholics, that Ss were randomly assigned to groups, and that the two groups were comparable in terms of pretreatment characteristics. Moreover, as regards the originally reported 2-yr treatment outcome findings, it is shown that Pendery et al, reported no specific events which were not already documented in the original study records which formed the basis for publications about the IBTA study. Finally, even in terms of long-term outcomes, i.e. mortality rates 10–11 yr after treatment, the experimentally-treated group (20% mortality) continued to fare better than the traditionally-treated group (30% mortality). Ironically, rather than Pendery et al.'s report being a refutation of the original published accounts of the IBTA study, it is concluded that the data reported by Pendery el al. actually strengthen the validity of the original publications. The attack on the IBTA study can be meaningfully viewed as a reflection of the scientific revolution presently underway in the alcohol field. The central impetus for conceptual change in the alcohol field, however, derives less from controlled-drinking research than from the lack of empirical support for conventional wisdom. Ideas are changing because the traditional view no longer inspires progress.     

Neural network processing of natural language: II. Towards a unified model of corticostriatal function in learning sentence comprehension and non-linguistic sequencing

A central issue in cognitive neuroscience today concerns how distributed neural networks in the brain that are used in language learning and processing can be involved in non-linguistic cognitive sequence learning. This issue is informed by a wealth of functional neurophysiology studies of sentence comprehension, along with a number of recent studies that examined the brain processes involved in learning non-linguistic sequences, or artificial grammar learning (AGL). The current research attempts to reconcile these data with several current neurophysiologically based models of sentence processing, through the specification of a neural network model whose architecture is constrained by the known cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) neuroanatomy of the human language system. The challenge is to develop simulation models that take into account constraints both from neuranatomical connectivity, and from functional imaging data, and that can actually learn and perform the same kind of language and artificial syntax tasks. In our proposed model, structural cues encoded in a recurrent cortical network in BA47 activate a CSTC circuit to modulate the flow of lexical semantic information from BA45 to an integrated representation of meaning at the sentence level in BA44/6. During language acquisition, corticostriatal plasticity is employed to allow closed class structure to drive thematic role assignment. From the AGL perspective, repetitive internal structure in the AGL strings is encoded in BA47, and activates the CSTC circuit to predict the next element in the sequence. Simulation results from Caplan's [Caplan, D., Baker, C., & Dehaut, F. (1985). Syntactic determinants of sentence comprehension in aphasia. Cognition, 21, 117-175] test of syntactic comprehension, and from Gomez and Schvaneveldts' [Gomez, R. L., & Schvaneveldt, R. W. (1994). What is learned from artificial grammars?. Transfer tests of simple association. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 20, 396-410] artificial grammar learning experiments are presented. These results are discussed in the context of a brain architecture for learning grammatical structure for multiple natural languages, and non-linguistic sequences.     

Success and failure in teaching the [r]-[l] contrast to Japanese adults: tests of a Hebbian model of plasticity and stabilization in spoken language perception

A Hebbian model of learning predicts that adults may be able to acquire a nonnative speech contrast if they are trained with stimuli that are exaggerated to make them perceptually distinct. To test these ideas, we asked Japanese adults to identify contrasting [r]-[l] stimuli (e.g., rock-lock) in two training conditions. In the adaptive condition, the [r]-[l] contrast was exaggerated at first and then adjusted to maintain accurate identification. In the fixed condition, a fixed pair of stimuli were used that were distinguishable by native English speakers but difficult for the Japanese learners to discriminate. To examine whether feedback contributes to learning, we ran separate groups with and without feedback in the fixed and the adaptive conditions. Without feedback, 3 days of adaptive training produced substantial improvements, but 3 days of fixed training produced no benefit relative to control, consistent with the Hebbian account. With feedback, both fixed and adaptive training led to robust improvements, and the benefit of training transferred to a second continuum (e.g., road-load). The results are consistent with Hebbian models that are augmented to be sensitive to feedback.     

Roles of the Amygdala and Basal Forebrain in Defense: a Reply to Luyck Et al. and Implications for Defensive Action

Neuropsychology Review - The commentary by Luyck and colleagues on our paper provides many stimulating viewpoints and interpretations of our original study on dissociable responses in the amygdala...     

On the "optimal" size for normative samples in neuropsychology: capturing the uncertainty when normative data are used to quantify the standing of a neuropsychological test score.

Bridges and Holler (2007) have provided a useful reminder that normative data are fallible. Unfortunately, however, their paper misleads neuropsychologists as to the nature and extent of the problem. We show that the uncertainty attached to the estimated z score and percentile rank of a given raw score is much larger than they report and that it varies as a function of the extremity of the raw score. Methods for quantifying the uncertainty associated with normative data are described and used to illustrate the issues involved. A computer program is provided that, on entry of a normative sample mean, standard deviation, and sample size, provides point and interval estimates of percentiles and z scores for raw scores referred to these normative data. The methods and program provide neuropsychologists with a means of evaluating the adequacy of existing norms and will be useful for those planning normative studies.