Visual categorization of social interactions

Prominent theories of action recognition suggest that during the recognition of actions the physical patterns of the action is associated with only one action interpretation (e.g., a person waving his arm is recognized as waving). In contrast to this view, studies examining the visual categorization of objects show that objects are recognized in multiple ways (e.g., a VW Beetle can be recognized as a car or a beetle) and that categorization performance is based on the visual and motor movement similarity between objects. Here, we studied whether we find evidence for multiple levels of categorization for social interactions (physical interactions with another person, e.g., handshakes). To do so, we compared visual categorization of objects and social interactions (Experiments 1 and 2) in a grouping task and assessed the usefulness of motor and visual cues (Experiments 3, 4, and 5) for object and social interaction categorization. Additionally, we measured recognition performance associated with recognizing objects and social interactions at different categorization levels (Experiment 6). We found that basic level object categories were associated with a clear recognition advantage compared to subordinate recognition but basic level social interaction categories provided only a little recognition advantage. Moreover, basic level object categories were more strongly associated with similar visual and motor cues than basic level social interaction categories. The results suggest that cognitive categories underlying the recognition of objects and social interactions are associated with different performances. These results are in line with the idea that the same action can be associated with several action interpretations (e.g., a person waving his arm can be recognized as waving or greeting).     

Curve tracing: A possible basic operation in the perception of spatial relations

The two experiments in this study suggest that fast internal tracing of curves is employed by the visual system in the perception of certain shape properties and spatial relations. The experimental task in the first experiment was to determine, as rapidly as possible, whether two Xs lay on the same curve or on different curves in a visual display. Mean response time for “same” responses increased monotonically with increasing distance along the curve between the Xs. The task in the second experiment was to decide either that a curve joining two Xs was unbroken or that the curve had a gap. Decision times again increased as the length of the curve joining the Xs was increased. The results of both experiments suggest that people can trace curves in a visual display internally at high speed (the average rate of tracing was about 40° of visual angle per second). Curve tracing may be an important visual process used to integrate information from different parts of a visual display.     

Complexity and coherency: integrating information in the brain

The brains of higher mammals are extraordinary integrative devices. Signals from large numbers of functionally specialized groups of neurons distributed over many brain regions are integrated to generate a coherent, multimodal scene. Signals from the environment are integrated with ongoing, patterned neural activity that provides them with a meaningful context. We review recent advances in neurophysiology and neuroimaging that are beginning to reveal the neural mechanisms of integration. In addition, we discuss concepts and measures derived from information theory that lend a theoretical basis to the notion of complexity as integration of information and suggest new experimental tests of these concepts.     

Pointing Unknowingly: Fantasy, Nonsense and 'Religious Understanding'

Lewis, Charles M. (ed.), Relativity and Religion
Tessin, Timothy and von der Ruhr, Mario (eds), Philosophy and the Grammar of Religious Belief     

The Use of Humor with Chronic Schizophrenic Patients

The use of a humorous therapeutic approach combined with drug therapy in the treatment of chronic schizophrenia patients institutionalized for protracted periods of time led to positive changes in their symptoms. The majority of the patients responded well to humorous interpretations. The patients felt that they had the option of adopting the doctor's humorous manner. This approach appealed to them and raised self-esteem; they likewise gained confidence in their own ability to form judgments. They cooperated better with the doctor in issues pertaining to treatment. The fact that humor made an impact on the patients' cognition demonstrated that patients with disturbed thought processes could be influenced in ways which improved coping. The patients' condition was evaluated according to the BPRS scale, before the treatment, on a monthly basis during the treatment, and three months upon the completion of the experiment. In the course of the experiment, pharmacological treatment remained unchanged. On the average, a perceptible reduction in the BPRS value (p < .05) was detected as a result of humor therapy. Amusing representations of affective external stimuli were incorporated into the patients' cognition and, along with a newly gained awareness of the possibility of relating to them with humor, were retained long after the termination of the project.     

Psychological adaptation to ICDs and the influence of anxiety sensitivity

Forty-nine patients scheduled for implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implantation completed self-report psychological questionnaires prior to surgery and at 2, 4 and 6 months after surgery. The most common psychological problem identified was anxiety, with clinically significant cases based on the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) ranging between 26% and 34%. Clinically significant depression ranged between 8% and 20%. Anxiety sensitivity was associated with high levels of anxiety, depression and stress at baseline, but not at follow-up assessments. It is possible that within this population anxiety sensitivity is associated with distress during high-threat situations, but the relationship diminishes once the threat has passed. In addition, the reassurance provided by the ICD may reduce negative perceptions of symptoms, promoting psychological adaptation.     

Object recognition and segmentation by a fragment-based hierarchy

How do we learn to recognize visual categories, such as dogs and cats? Somehow, the brain uses limited variable examples to extract the essential characteristics of new visual categories. Here, I describe an approach to category learning and recognition that is based on recent computational advances. In this approach, objects are represented by a hierarchy of fragments that are extracted during learning from observed examples. The fragments are class-specific features and are selected to deliver a high amount of information for categorization. The same fragments hierarchy is then used for general categorization, individual object recognition and object-parts identification. Recognition is also combined with object segmentation, using stored fragments, to provide a top-down process that delineates object boundaries in complex cluttered scenes. The approach is computationally effective and provides a possible framework for categorization, recognition and segmentation in human vision.     

Learning a Generative Probabilistic Grammar of Experience: A Process‐Level Model of Language Acquisition

We introduce a set of biologically and computationally motivated design choices for modeling the learning of language, or of other types of sequential, hierarchically structured experience and behavior, and describe an implemented system that conforms to these choices and is capable of unsupervised learning from raw natural‐language corpora. Given a stream of linguistic input, our model incrementally learns a grammar that captures its statistical patterns, which can then be used to parse or generate new data. The grammar constructed in this manner takes the form of a directed weighted graph, whose nodes are recursively (hierarchically) defined patterns over the elements of the input stream. We evaluated the model in seventeen experiments, grouped into five studies, which examined, respectively, (a) the generative ability of grammar learned from a corpus of natural language, (b) the characteristics of the learned representation, (c) sequence segmentation and chunking, (d) artificial grammar learning, and (e) certain types of structure dependence. The model's performance largely vindicates our design choices, suggesting that progress in modeling language acquisition can be made on a broad front—ranging from issues of generativity to the replication of human experimental findings—by bringing biological and computational considerations, as well as lessons from prior efforts, to bear on the modeling approach.