Parsing to Learn

Learning a language by parameter setting is almost certainly less onerous than composing a grammar from scratch. But recent computational modeling of how parameters are set has shown that it is not at all the simple mechanical process sometimes imagined. Sentences must be parsed to discover the properties that select between parameter values. But the sentences that drive learning cannot be parsed with the learner's current grammar. And there is not much point in parsing them with just one new grammar. They must apparently be parsed with all possible grammars, in order to find out which one is most successful at licensing the language. The research task is to reconcile this with the fact that the human sentence parsing mechanism, even in adults, has only very limited parallel parsing capacity. I have proposed that all possible grammars can be folded into one, if parameter values are fragments of sentential tree structures that the parser can make use of where necessary to assign a structure to an input sentence. However, the problem of capacity limitations remains. The combined grammar will afford multiple analyses for some sentences, too many to be computed on-line. I propose that the parser computes only one analysis per sentence but can detect ambiguity, and that the learner makes use of unambiguous input only. This provides secure information but relatively little of it, particularly at early stages of learning where few grammars have been excluded and ambiguity is rife. I consider three solutions: improving the parser's ability to extract unambiguous information from partially ambiguous sentences, assuming default parameter values to temporarily eliminate ambiguity, reconfiguring the parameters so that some are subordinate to others and do not present themselves to the learner until the others have been set. A more radical alternative is to give up the quest for error-free learning and permit parameters to be set without regard for whether the parser may have overlooked an alternative analysis of the sentence. If it can be assumed that the human parser keeps a running tally of the parameter values it has accessed, then the learner would do nothing other than parse sentences for comprehension, as adults do. The most useful parameter values would become more and more easily accessed; the noncontributors would drop out of the running. There would be no learning mechanism at all, over and above the parser. But how accurate this system would be remains to be established.     

Facilitating Internalization: The Self-Determination Theory Perspective

Self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) posits that (a) people are inherently motivated to internalize the regulation of uninteresting though important activities; (b) there are two different processes through which such internalization can occur, resulting in qualitatively different styles of self-regulation; and (c) the social context influences which internalization process and regulatory style occur. The two types of internalization are introjection, which entails taking in a value or regulatory process but not accepting it as one's own, and integration, through which the regulation is assimilated with one's core sense of self. Introjection results in internally controlling regulation, whereas integration results in self-determination. An experiment supported our hypothesis that three facilitating contextual factors—namely, providing a meaningful rationale, acknowledging the behaver's feelings, and conveying choice—promote internalization, as evidenced by the subsequent self-regulation of behavior. This experiment also supported our expectation that when the social context supports self-determination, integration tends to occur, whereas when the context does not support self-determination, introjection tends to occur.     

Student Patterns of Financing Education at a Land-Grant University

A financial aid survey was administered to the entire student body (10,185) at a land-grant university. The data showed that parental assistance was the main source of financial support, but that it declined in importance each year, while student employment by the university increased each year. Legislation providing increased opportunities for student employment appears to be appropriate and desirable. A wide variety of individual solutions to financial planning were noted.     

Differential Perceptions of College Environment: Student Personnel Staff and Students

The College Characteristics Index was administered to 160 randomly selected students, 15 head residents, and 20 members of the student personnel staff. Considerable disparity in perception of the environment was found among the 3 groups. Generally, students perceived the environment as possessing a greater degree of all the characteristics measured and valued by the academic community (i.e., aspiration level, intellectual climate, and academic achievement) than did the other reference groups. The differences in perceptions suggest that head residents and other student personnel staff may be involved with selected aspects of the campus life and with atypical groups of students.     

Defining Creativity: Don't We Also Need to Define What Is Not Creative?

I argue that any attempt to define creative ideas cannot fully succeed without also defining uncreative ideas. This argument begins by defining three parameters that characterize a potentially creative thought: the idea's initial probability (p), the final utility (u), and the creator's prior knowledge of that utility (v). The three parameters then lead to a three‐criterion multiplicative definition of personal creativity, namely, c = (1 ? p)u(1 ? v), where the first factor indicates originality and the third factor surprise. Although creativity can only maximize as originality, utility, and surprise all approach unity, the same definition indicates that there are seven different ways that creativity can minimize. These alternatives were identified as (a) routine, reproductive, or habitual ideas, (b) fortuitous response bias, (c) irrational perseveration, (d) problem finding, (e) rational suppression, (f) irrational suppression, and (g) blissful ignorance. If the third parameter v is omitted, then the number of creative and noncreative outcomes reduces to just four, making creativity indistinguishable from irrational suppression. The alternative outcomes are then illustrated using the classic two‐string problem. Besides providing a more finely differentiated conception of creativity failures, the definition has critical implications regarding the processes and procedures required to generate highly creative ideas.     

Response to MacIntosh’s Review and Discussion of the Psychoanalytic Couple Therapy Journal Literature: A Self Psychological,Intersubjective Perspective

ABSTRACT

After expressing my appreciation to Heather MacIntosh and highlighting her article’s significant contributions to the field, I comment briefly on some of the implications of her methodology and findings. I then elaborate on her summary of the history of the application of self psychology (Kohut, 1971) and intersubjective systems theory (Stolorow, Brandshaft, and Atwood, 1987) to couple therapy, highlighting the key contributions of both theories and describing the current state of the field.     

Similarity in Gender and Self‐Esteem for Supportive Peer Relationships: The Mediating Role of Cooperative Goals1

The present study investigated whether cooperative goals mediate the relationship between similarity in gender and self‐esteem and social support and relationship quality in ongoing peer dyads. Based on data collected from 209 student dyads, the findings largely support the mediating role of cooperative goals. However, the study found that gender similarity was positively related while self‐esteem similarity was negatively related to cooperative goals and relationship quality of peer dyad members.     

Clients' perceptions of how reorientation therapy and self-help can promote changes in sexual orientation

Presented is a summary of 882 homosexual people's responses to 5 open-ended questions about sexual reorientation therapy. Of the 882 participants, 726 reported that they had received reorientation therapy from a professional therapist or a pastoral counselor. As a group, 779 (89.7%) of the participants viewed themselves as "more homosexual than heterosexual," "almost exclusively homosexual," or "exclusively homosexual" in their orientation before receiving reorientation therapy or making self-help efforts to change. The majority reported they believed sexual reorientation therapy and various forms of self-help were helpful to them, psychologically, spiritually, and sexually.     

Neuropsychological Contributions to the Early Identification of Alzheimer’s Disease

A wealth of evidence demonstrates that a prodromal period of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) exists for some years prior to the appearance of significant cognitive and functional declines required for the clinical diagnosis. This prodromal period of decline is characterized by a number of different neuropsychological and brain changes, and reliable identification of individuals prior to the development of significant clinical symptoms remains a top priority of research. In this review we provide an overview of those neuropsychological changes. In particular, we examine specific domains of cognition that appear to be negatively affected during the prodromal period of AD, and we review newer analytic strategies designed to examine cognitive asymmetries or discrepancies between higher-order cognitive functions versus fundamental skills. Finally, we provide a critical examination of the clinical concept of Mild Cognitive Impairment and offer suggestions for an increased focus on the impact of cerebrovascular disease (CVD) and CVD risk during the prodromal period of AD.