Referenzsemantik in der Partnermodellierung

How can we explain that an assertion on something perceived can be understood in the same manner by somebody who cannot perceive that scene? This problem bases the interest in computational linguistics in how listener modeling could possibly be harmonized with reference semantics. Mental images substituting real perception appear as a way out. The architecture of the listener model has to be adapted to the creation and use of such pictorial data structures. Furthermore, the relation between the latter and a verbal (i. e., propositional) representation must be understood. The resulting architecture of a listener model with reference semantics can be employed to solve communicational problems from three general classes in a better way, as is demonstrated by an example implementation.     

Comprehension of nonlexical categories in agrammatism

The focus of the paper is a proposal advanced by Grodzinsky (1984, 1986, 1990) concerning a possible syntactic deficit in agrammatism with respect to nonlexical categories. Eight native speakers of Serbo-Croatian, who presented a clinical picture of Broca's aphasia with agrammatism, were tested. Subject's sensitivity to traces and their knowledge of the inflectional and determiner system was investigated using a grammaticality judgment paradigm. The processing load was further minimized by use of short sentences that unequivocally exemplified different syntactic violations. These steps led to significant improvement in the performance of agrammatic aphasics, a result that is incompatible with the claim that the content of nonlexical elements is lost in agrammatism.A partial account of the findings was presented at the 31 st Meeting of the Academy of Aphasia, October 24–26, 1993. Tucson, Arizona. The authors gratefully acknowledge help in data collection from Mile Vukovi, Faculty of Defectology, University of Belgrade, and from Jovanka Jezdimirovi and Veronika Ispanovi-Radojkovi, the Institute for Mental Health in Belgrade. This research was supported in part by a grant (HD-01994) to Haskins Laboratories from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.     

Axiomatization and completeness of uncountably valued approximation logic

A first order uncountably valued logicL _Q(0,1) for management of uncertainty is considered. It is obtained from approximation logicsL _T of any poset type (T, ) (see Rasiowa [17], [18], [19]) by assuming (T, )=(Q(0, 1), ) — whereQ(0, 1) is the set of all rational numbersq such that 0<q<1 and is the arithmetic ordering — by eliminating modal connectives and adopting a semantics based onLT-fuzzy sets (see Rasiowa and Cat Ho [20], [21]). LogicL _Q(0,1) can be treated as an important case ofLT-fuzzy logics (introduced in Rasiowa and Cat Ho [21]) for (T, )=(Q(0, 1), ), i.e. asLQ(0, 1)-fuzzy logic announced in [21] but first examined in this paper.L _Q(0,1) deals with vague concepts represented by predicate formulas and applies approximate truth-values being certain subsets ofQ(0, 1). The set of all approximate truth-values consists of the empty set ø and all non-empty subsetss ofQ(0, 1) such that ifqs andqq, thenqs. The setLQ(0, 1) of all approximate truth-values is uncountable and covers up to monomorphism the closed interval [0, 1] of the real line.LQ(0, 1) is a complete set lattice and therefore a pseudo-Boolean (Heyting) algebra. Equipped with some additional operations it is a basic plain semi-Post algebra of typeQ(0, 1) (see Rasiowa and Cat Ho [20]) and is taken as a truth-table forL _Q(0,1) logic.L _Q(0,1) can be considered as a modification of Zadeh's fuzzy logic (see Bellman and Zadeh [2] and Zadeh and Kacprzyk, eds. [29]). The aim of this paper is an axiomatization of logicL _Q(0,1) and proofs of the completeness theorem and of the theorem on the existence ofLQ(0, 1)-models (i.e. models under the semantics introduced) for consistent theories based on any denumerable set of specific axioms. Proofs apply the theory of plain semi-Post algebras investigated in Cat Ho and Rasiowa [4].Presented byCecylia Rauszer     

Sensorimotor synchronization: Motor responses to pseudoregular auditory patterns

Musically trained and untrained subjects (N=30) were asked to synchronize their finger tapping with stimuli in auditory patterns. Each pattern comprised six successive tonal stimuli of the same duration, the first of which was accented by a different frequency. The duration of interstimulus onset intervals (ISIs) gradually increased or decreased in constant steps toward the end of the patterns. Four values of such steps were used in different trials: 20, 30, 45, and 60 msec. Various time-control mechanisms are hypothesized as being simultaneously responsible for subjects’ incorrect reproduction of the internal temporal ratios of the stimulus patterns. The mechanism of assimilation (of a central tendency) led subjects to enforce a regular (isochronous) structure on the patterns. The influence of other time-control mechanisms (distinction, subjective expression of an accent, sequential transfer) was expressed mainly in differences between intertap onset intervals (ITIs) and the corresponding ISIs at the beginning of the patterns. The duration of the first two ITIs was in the majority of the trials in an inverse ratio to the ratio of the respective ISIs. The distortions resulting from the timing mechanisms concerned were more pronounced in the performance of nonmusicians than in that of musicians.     

A.R. Luria's role in the development of soviet psychology

Summary A.R. Luria is one of the most outstanding Soviet psychologists. He played a great role in the development of Soviet psychology and in the formulation of psychological problems on the basis of dialectical materialism. Together with L.S. Vygotskij and A.N. Leont'ev, he put forward a theory of the socio-historical genesis of higher, specifically human, mental functions. Luria carried out numerous investigations into the ontogenetic and historical development of these functions, as well as their disturbance with local brain lesions. As the founder, in the Soviet Union, of the new discipline of neuropsychology, he made a very significant contribution to the study of the cerebral mechanisms of mental activity.Originally published in Voprosy Psichologii 28 (4), 106–115 (1978), and translated by E. Scheerer. The translator gratefully acknowledges the help of Eunice and Josef Broek and Sonia Argyle     

Sensorimotor synchronization: Motor responses to regular auditory patterns

Subjects (N = 32) were asked to synchronize a motor response with tones in auditory patterns. These patterns were created from six tones and six intertone intervals of equal duration. The pitch of the first tone differed from the others. It was found that subjects used three types of timing in their motor response: (1) the first intertone interval was prolonged and the second interval was shortened, (2) the second intertone interval was prolonged and the first interval was shortened, and/or (3) the first interval and the second interval were of approximately the same length. The prolongation of the fifth interval was observed during all three types of timing. The results are explained using the concept of suprasegmental control of timing, which explains a prolongation of intervals at critical control point of the patterns. The occurrence of three different strategies of timing is discussed in connection with similar principles in musical performance.