A Contextual Approach to Scientific Understanding

Achieving understanding of nature is one of the aims of science. In this paper we offer an analysis of the nature of scientific understanding that accords with actual scientific practice and accommodates the historical diversity of conceptions of understanding. Its core idea is a general criterion for the intelligibility of scientific theories that is essentially contextual: which theories conform to this criterion depends on contextual factors, and can change in the course of time. Our analysis provides a general account of how understanding is provided by scientific explanations of diverse types. In this way, it reconciles conflicting views of explanatory understanding, such as the causal-mechanical and the unificationist conceptions.     

Idiom comprehension deficits in relation to corpus callosum agenesis and hypoplasia in children with spina bifida meningomyelocele

Idioms are phrases with figurative meanings that are not directly derived from the literal meanings of the words in the phrase. Idiom comprehension varies with: literality, whether the idiom is literally plausible; compositionality, whether individual words contribute to a figurative meaning; and contextual bias. We studied idiom comprehension in children with spina bifida meningomyelocele (SBM), a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with problems in discourse comprehension and agenesis and hypoplasia of the corpus callosum. Compared to age peers, children with SBM understood decomposable idioms (which are processed more like literal language) but not non-decomposable idioms (which require contextual analyses for acquisition). The impairment in non-decomposable idioms was related to congenital agenesis of the corpus callosum, which suggests that the consequences of impaired interhemispheric communication, whether congenital or acquired in adulthood, are borne more by configurational than by compositional language.     

Auditory saltation in the vertical midsagittal plane

Auditory saltation is an illusion in which a train of clicks, the first half of which is presented at one location and the other half of which is presented from a second location, is perceived as originating not only from the anchor points, but also from locations between them. That is, intermediate members of the series of clicks have their spatial locations systematically misperceived. In the present study, auditory saltation was examined for the first time in the vertical midsagittal plane. Subjects rated the perceived continuity of motion for 8-click trains systematically varied in inter-click interval (ICI), direction of motion (up, down), and trial type ('saltation' versus 'real' motion). In all listeners, saltation stimuli supported robust saltation, but only for trials with ICIs less than about 120 ms. Real motion was rated as continuous for all ICIs. These data indicate that the auditory-saltation illusion can exploit monaural stimulus cues for source location in the generation of the illusory motion percept.     

How Should a Speech Recognizer Work?

Although researchers studying human speech recognition (HSR) and automatic speech recognition (ASR) share a common interest in how information processing systems (human or machine) recognize spoken language, there is little communication between the two disciplines. We suggest that this lack of communication follows largely from the fact that research in these related fields has focused on the mechanics of how speech can be recognized. In Marr's (1982) terms, emphasis has been on the algorithmic and implementational levels rather than on the computational level. In this article, we provide a computational-level analysis of the task of speech recognition, which reveals the close parallels between research concerned with HSR and ASR. We illustrate this relation by presenting a new computational model of human spoken-word recognition, built using techniques from the field of ASR that, in contrast to current existing models of HSR, recognizes words from real speech input.     

论道教的"存想"与艺术创作中的"审美想象"之异同

道教修炼中的"存想"与艺术创作中的"审美想象"作为想象的两种类型,二者存在着较大的区别,也存在着一些相通、相似之处.本文就两种想象所要实现的目的、想象的方式、想象的内容、想象产生的源泉、想象给主体带来的自由等等方面的不同加以比较.同时指出两者存在的一些相似之处,认为"存想"具有着"审美想象"的因子,二者都伴随着强烈的情感体验.     

Cross-cultural similarities and differences in North Americans’ geographic location judgments

We examined some potential causes of bias in geographic location estimates by comparing location estimates of North American cities made by Canadian, U.S., and Mexican university students. All three groups placed most Mexican cities near the equator, which implies that all e influenced by shared beliefs about the locationthree groups wers of geographical regions relative to global reference points. However, the groups divided North America into different regions and differed in the relative accuracy of the estimates within them, which implies that there was an influence of culture-specific knowledge. The data support a category-based system of plausible reasoning, in which biases in judgments are multiply determined, and underscore the utility of the estimation paradigm as a tool in cross-cultural cognitive research.     

Perceiving distance: a role of effort and intent

Perceiving egocentric distance is not only a function of the optical variables to which it relates, but also a function of people's current physiological potential to perform intended actions. In a set of experiments, we showed that, as the effort associated with walking increases, perceived distance increases if the perceiver intends to walk the extent, but not if the perceiver intends to throw. Conversely, as the effort associated with throwing increases, perceived distance increases if people intend to throw to the target, but not if they intend to walk. Perceiving distance combines the geometry of the world with our behavior goals and the potential of our body to achieve these goals.     

How dogs navigate to catch frisbees

Using micro-video cameras attached to the heads of 2 dogs, we examined their optical behavior while catching Frisbees. Our findings reveal that dogs use the same viewer-based navigational heuristics previously found with baseball players (i.e., maintaining the target along a linear optical trajectory, LOT, with optical speed constancy). On trials in which the Frisbee dramatically changed direction, the dog maintained an LOT with speed constancy until it apparently could no longer do so and then simply established a new LOT and optical speed until interception. This work demonstrates the use of simple control mechanisms that utilize invariant geometric properties to accomplish interceptive tasks. It confirms a common interception strategy that extends both across species and to complex target trajectories.     

小学生心理素质与学业成绩的关系

运用《瑞文标准推理测验》和自编的《小学生心理素质问卷》对1247名小学生作心理素质团体测试。利用方差分析和聚类分析,探讨小学生心理素质与学业成绩的关系。结果表明:(1)总体上,学业成绩高分组心理素质优于学业成绩中等组和低分组,学业成绩中等组优于学业成绩低分组。(2)分年级看,不同年级不同学业成绩组的小学生在心理素质因素上的差异有不同。(3)学业成绩高分组学生主要分布在心理素质较好的水平层次,学业成绩中等组主要分布在心理素质中等水平层次上,而学业成绩低分组主要分布在心理素质不好的水平层次。