Characterizing the Dynamics of Learning in Repeated Reference Games

The language we use over the course of conversation changes as we establish common ground and learn what our partner finds meaningful. Here we draw upon recent advances in natural language processing to provide a finer-grained characterization of the dynamics of this learning process. We release an open corpus (>15,000 utterances) of extended dyadic interactions in a classic repeated reference game task where pairs of participants had to coordinate on how to refer to initially difficult-to-describe tangram stimuli. We find that different pairs discover a wide variety of idiosyncratic but efficient and stable solutions to the problem of reference. Furthermore, these conventions are shaped by the communicative context: words that are more discriminative in the initial context (i.e., that are used for one target more than others) are more likely to persist through the final repetition. Finally, we find systematic structure in how a speaker's referring expressions become more efficient over time: Syntactic units drop out in clusters following positive feedback from the listener, eventually leaving short labels containing open-class parts of speech. These findings provide a higher resolution look at the quantitative dynamics of ad hoc convention formation and support further development of computational models of learning in communication.     

Margaret F. Washburn (1871–1939): First Woman Ph.D. in Psychology

Margaret Floy Washburn was one of the first generation of leading psychologists trained in America and became an eminent and influential psychologist during the first third of the 20th century. She was recognized for significant contributions in theory development, experimental work, teaching, and professional service, but this paper focuses on her activities as director of the psychology program at Vassar College and author of the classic text in comparative psychology, The Animal Mind . Although full biographical details are not given, a listing of bibliographic sources is provided so that scholars might more readily obtain access to information omitted from the paper. The discussion also considers Washburn's professional life and personal characteristics and how she might be viewed as a role model.
"Nothing in the world is so compelling to the emotions as the mind of another human being" (Washburn, 1916b, p. 606). This statement, tucked away in an essay on the psychology of esthetic experience in music, provides an insightful clue to one of the motivations which sustained Margaret Floy Washburn's significant career as one of the most influential psychologists in psychology's first half–century as a distinct discipline. She held a life long fascination with the minds of humans and animals and was convinced that experimental psychology provided the appropriate methodology for exploring the topic. She devoted her unflagging energy and outstanding ability to the newly evolving science throughout a 43–year career which covered the period 1894–1937.