The Role of Negative Information in Distributional Semantic Learning

Distributional models of semantics learn word meanings from contextual co‐occurrence patterns across a large sample of natural language. Early models, such as LSA and HAL (Landauer & Dumais, 1997; Lund & Burgess, 1996), counted co‐occurrence events; later models, such as BEAGLE (Jones & Mewhort, 2007), replaced counting co‐occurrences with vector accumulation. All of these models learned from positive information only: Words that occur together within a context become related to each other. A recent class of distributional models, referred to as neural embedding models, are based on a prediction process embedded in the functioning of a neural network: Such models predict words that should surround a target word in a given context (e.g., word2vec; Mikolov, Sutskever, Chen, Corrado, & Dean, 2013). An error signal derived from the prediction is used to update each word's representation via backpropagation. However, another key difference in predictive models is their use of negative information in addition to positive information to develop a semantic representation. The models use negative examples to predict words that should not surround a word in a given context. As before, an error signal derived from the prediction prompts an update of the word's representation, a procedure referred to as negative sampling. Standard uses of word2vec recommend a greater or equal ratio of negative to positive sampling. The use of negative information in developing a representation of semantic information is often thought to be intimately associated with word2vec's prediction process. We assess the role of negative information in developing a semantic representation and show that its power does not reflect the use of a prediction mechanism. Finally, we show how negative information can be efficiently integrated into classic count‐based semantic models using parameter‐free analytical transformations.     

Attention Problems and Restlessness as Transdiagnostic Markers of Severity and Treatment Response in Youth with Internalizing Problems

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Transdiagnostic models of psychopathology suggest that disorders may share common features that could influence their severity. Attention problems...     

Mobile phone use while driving: An investigation of the beliefs influencing drivers’ hands-free and hand-held mobile phone use

This study explored the psychological influences of hands-free and hand-held mobile phone use while driving. Participants were 796 Australian drivers aged 17–76 years who owned mobile phones. A cross-sectional survey assessed frequency of calling and text messaging while driving (overall, hands-free, hand-held) as well as drivers’ behavioural, normative, and control beliefs relating to mobile phone use while driving. Irrespective of handset type, 43% of drivers reported answering calls while driving on a daily basis, followed by making calls (36%), reading text messages (27%), and sending text messages (18%). In total, 63.9% of drivers did not own hands-free kits and, of the drivers that owned hand-free kits, 32% did not use it most or all of the time. Significant differences were found in the behavioural, normative, and control beliefs of frequent and infrequent users of both types of handset while driving. As expected, frequent users reported more advantages of, more approval from others for, and fewer barriers that would prevent them from, using either a hands-free or a hand-held mobile phone while driving than infrequent users. Campaigns to reduce mobile phone use while driving should attempt to minimise the perceived benefits of the behaviour and highlight the risks of this unsafe driving practice.     

A MEASURE OF OBJECTIFIED BODY CONSCIOUSNESS FOR PREADOLESCENT AND ADOLESCENT YOUTH

Objectified body consciousness (OBC)—the tendency to view oneself as an object to be looked at and evaluated by others—has received recent attention as a possible vulnerability factor for depression and disordered eating. Although OBC generally is discussed in developmental terms, extant research has examined primarily the experiences of undergraduates and adults. Our goal in this study was to develop an age-appropriate measure to allow study of OBC development during preadolescence and adolescence. We modeled the OBC-Youth after McKinley and Hyde's (1996) OBC-Classic to measure three components of OBC: body surveillance, body shame, and appearance control beliefs. The 14-item scale contains modified vocabulary and syntax to make it appropriate for use with preadolescent and adolescent youth. Results indicate that the OBC-Youth scale is a reliable, valid measure of OBC. Initial findings about the correlates of OBC in preadolescence are discussed.