Faulty Japanese sentences are judged more grammatical when punctuation is used: negative implications for Chomsky's principle of Full Interpretation

88 adult Japanese speakers judged the grammaticality of isolated simple bitransitive sentences involving an uninterpretable extra argument in addition to three legitimate arguments. The sentences thus violated Chomsky's principle of Full Interpretation which prohibits the structure building of a sentence including uninterpretable elements. The primary variable of interest was the presence or absence of punctuation, i.e., commas, which enclosed the extra argument. Findings showed that sentences with punctuation were judged more grammatical than the ones without punctuation, with an average score of judged grammaticality exceeding 3 on a 7-point scale (1 =least grammatical; 7=most grammatical). This score would not be expected if the speakers possess and judge the sentences in conformity with the principle of Full Interpretation.     

Judgments of grammaticality of Japanese simple sentences involving two arguments in a whole-part relation: a further examination of Chomsky's principle of Full Interpretation

Adult Japanese speakers judged the grammaticality of simple ungramatical sentences involving two arguments, each related with a single verb. The arguments were attached to the same case marker playing the same thematic role in the sentences. Thus the sentences violated Chomsky's principle of Full Interpretation. The two arguments were manipulated such that, on the one hand, one argument (the part-argument) constituted a part of the other argument (the whole-argument) and that, on the other, a part-argument either preceded or followed a whole-argument. Participants rated the sentences using either a conventional 7-point rating scale or magnitude estimation. Findings showed that irrespective of rating method sentences in which the whole-argument preceded the part-argument were judged more grammatical than sentences in which the part-argument preceded the whole-argument. Such an empirical phenomenon is inconsistent with the prediction derived from Chomsky's principle of Full Interpretation, while interestingly it is consistent with the grammar of classical Japanese used about 900 years ago.     

Association of maternal smoking during pregnancy and infant neurobehavioral status

The association of maternal smoking during pregnancy with neurobehavioral status was examined in 344 Japanese infants. Based on a questionnaire, their mothers were classified into three groups, Nonsmokers, Exsmokers, and Smokers. The Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale was administered three days after birth. Among the three groups, on the seven clusters and their 28 behavioral subscales there were no significant differences. The infants of Smokers had lower scores than those of Exsmokers and Nonsmokers on two behavioral items, general tone and peak of excitement. General tone remained significant after adjustment for covariates.     

Volitional lifestyle in healthy elderly: its relevance to rest-activity cycle,nocturnal sleep,and daytime napping

Sleep-related problems are prevalent among the aged. The present study examined the influence of a mentally active or "volitional" lifestyle on the rest-activity cycle, nocturnal sleep, and daytime napping in the healthy elderly. 14 aged individuals with a high Volitional lifestyle (M = 74.1 yr. old) and 14 with a Low Volitional lifestyle (M = 73.0 yr. old) were screened by questionnaires including the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale scale and the Self-confidence scale. Their activity levels were monitored by a wrist actigraph system for 14 consecutive days. They were also asked to record daily sleep logs. The total times of nocturnal sleep and daytime napping did not differ between the groups. However, the acrophases of circadian (tau = 24 hr.) and circasemidian (tau = 12 hr.) activity cycles were more advanced in the Low Volitional group. In addition, the High Volitional group took a daytime nap with a better timing than did the Low Volitional group: the former started a nap during the phase in which their activity level was going down, whereas the latter when their activity level was going up. These results suggest that high volitional lifestyle may be related to better rest-activity cycle in the healthy elderly.     

Reaction times and anticipatory skills of karate athletes

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the reaction times (RTs) and anticipation of karate athletes. In Experiment 1, choice RTs and simple RTs were measured with two types of stimuli. One was videotaped scenes of opponent's offensive actions, which simulated the athletes' view in real situations, and the other was static filled circles, or dots. In the choice RT task, participants were required to indicate as soon as possible whether the offensive actions would be aimed at the upper or middle level of their body, or the dot was presented either at a higher or a lower position. In the simple RT task, they were required to respond as soon as possible when the offensive action started from a static display of the opponent's ready stance, or a dot appeared on the display. The results showed significant differences between the karate athletes and the novices in the choice RT task, the difference being more marked for the video stimuli than for the dot stimuli. There was no significant difference in simple RT between the two groups of participants, for either type of stimuli. In Experiment 2, the proportions of correct responses (PCRs) were measured for video stimuli which were cut off at the seventh frame from the onset of the opponent's offensive action. The athletes yielded significantly higher PCRs than the novices. Collectively the results of the two experiments demonstrate the superior anticipatory skills of karate athletes regarding the target area of an opponent's attack (Scott, Williams, & Davids, Studies in perception and action II: Posters presented at the VIIth International conference on Event Perception and Action, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 1993, p. 217; Wiiliams & Elliot, Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology 21 (1999) 362), together with their advantage over novices in non-specific sensory functions (e.g., vertical discrimination).     

Perceived standing position after reduction of foot-pressure sensation by cooling the sole

We investigated the influence of the reduction of foot-pressure sensation by cooling the sole of the foot, at 1 degree C for 30 or 40 minutes, on the perception of standing position varied in the anteroposterior direction. The subjects were 16 healthy undergraduates. Firstly, for 4 of the subjects, cooling the sole of the foot decreased sensory information from the mechanoreceptors in the sole, by testing for an increase in the threshold for two-point discrepancy discrimination on the sole of the foot and for the disappearance of postural change with vibration to the sole. Next, the perception of standing position was measured by reproduction of a given standing reference position involving forward or backward leaning under both normal and cooled conditions of the feet. Standing position was varied in relation to the location of the center of foot pressure, defined as distance from the heel in percentage of the length of the foot. The reference positions, representing various locations of the center of foot pressure, were set at 10% increments from 20% to 80% of the length of the foot. With eyes closed, the subject first experienced the reference position and then attempted to reproduce it. The mean location of the center of foot pressure in the quiet standing posture was 45.7%. At the 40%, 50%, and 60% reference positions, those closest to quiet standing, absolute errors of reproduction were significantly larger than at other reference positions in both the normal and the cooled conditions. They were significantly larger in the cooled than in the normal condition. The 50% and 60% reference positions were reproduced significantly further forward in the cooled than in the normal condition. These results may be explained as due to an absence of marked changes in sensory information from both muscular activity and foot pressure when moving to reference positions close to the quiet standing posture.     

Leonardo's constraint: two opaque objects cannot be seen in the same direction

Given Leonardo's constraint that 2 opaque objects cannot be seen in the same direction, how are the regions of objects occluded to 1 eye included in perception? To answer this question, the authors presented 3-dimensional stimuli, similar to the ones that concerned Leonardo, and measured the visual directions of their monocular and binocular regions. When the distance between near and far objects was large, the nonfixated object was seen as double and blurry. Leonardo's constraint was met by seeing the near object as double and transparent or the distant object as double and superimposed. When the distance between near and far objects was small, the constraint was met by a perceptual displacement and compression of parts of the nonfixated object.     

The relativity of linguistic intuition: The effect of repetition on grammaticality judgments

Three experiments were performed to show the relativity of linguistic intuition in grammaticality judgments. In Experiment 1, 12 students judged the relative grammaticality of isolated sentences twice, receiving a repetition treatment between the two judgments. During the repetition phase, they were exposed to a repeated presentation of sentences. The findings show that the repetition treatment makes a judgment criterion more stringent for both grammatical and ungrammatical sentences. In Experiment 2, a release-from-the-proactive-inhibition paradigm was used. Twelve students first judged the grammaticality of the isolated sentences, then received the repetition treatment, and finally, made a second judgment for the sentences embedded in context. No change in judgment criterion was found for the second judgment. Judgments of the ungrammatical sentences, when embedded in context, were found to be more lenient. In Experiment 3, 12 students judged sentences embedded in context. No change in judgment criterion was found. These findings are interpreted as suggesting that linguistic intuitions as revealed in grammaticality judgments are not absolute but relative in that they are easily influenced by repetition and other variables, such as embedded context.     

Analysis of simple reaction time to a sinusoidal grating by means of a linear filter model of the detection process

Simple reaction time (RT) to a sinusoidal grating was analyzed in terms of a linear filter model of the detection process. First, RT contrast functions were determined over a wide range of spatial frequencies and retinal illuminances. Second, calculating the time course of the linear filter's response, theoretical visual latency contrast functions were derived for the same conditions of spatial frequency and retinal illuminance as those in the RT measurements. Comparison of the two functions showed that the contrast dependence of the RT functions was much larger than that of the visual latency functions. The discrepancy between the two functions was satisfactorily described as a power function of the slope of the filter's response at threshold level. On the basis of these results, we propose a model of the RT process. According to the model, the RT process is mediated by a cascade that consists of a level detector, which includes a linear filter followed by a threshold device, and a differentiator of the filter's response.     

Effect of repetition on grammaticality judgments under objective and subjective self-awareness conditions

Three experiments were performed to investigate the differential effect of repeated presentation of sentences on judgments of grammaticality under the two mental states of objective and subjective self-awareness. In Experiment 1, 22 students judged the relative grammaticality of sentences twice, receiving a repetition treatment between the two judgments. During the repetition phase, they were exposed to a repeated presentation of sentences. The findings showed that repetition makes a judgment criterion more stringent on judgments after repetition than on those before repetition for the subjectively self-aware subjects, while it does not influence the judgments for the objectively self-aware subjects. Experiment 2 was run using a revised procedure with 26 students. The findings showed the expected, interaction, such that the repetition makes a criterion stringent for the subjectively self-aware subjects while it makes the criterion lenient for the objectively self-aware subjects. Experiment 3 examined with 12 students whether the finding for the latter subjects could be explained, by divided attention theory in a concurrent task condition. The findings showed no change of judgment criterion. These findings indicate that repeated exposure to the sentences exerts differential effects on grammaticality judgments dependent on whether the subjects are objectively or subjectively self-aware.