Numerosity discrimination in infants: evidence for two systems of representations

Two experiments investigated numerosity discrimination in 6-month-old infants, comparing their performance on both large numbers (4 vs. 8 elements) and small numbers (2 vs. 4 elements) with both total filled area and total contour length controlled for. These studies provide the first direct comparison between discrimination of small and large numbers in infants with the same methodology, the same type of stimuli, and the same continuous variable controls. Results showed that infants succeeded in discriminating 4 from 8 elements but failed to discriminate 2 from 4 elements, providing evidence for the existence of two systems of number representations in infancy.     

Transgender Representation by the People’s Daily Since 1949

With a focus on Chinese literature of the dynastic period, previous studies on transgender representation in China demonstrated a dichotomy between the attitude of the uppermost class and that of the general public. Apart from literature representation, other studies on “deviant” sexuality in contemporary China tend to attribute this complicated attitude to the non-religious Confucianism-rooted culture that is tolerant yet intolerant. Especially since China entered socialism, this complexity was incorporated into socialist ideologies, leading to unique and distinctive treatment of sexual “deviance”. By examining transgender representation by the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, the People’s Daily, this study aims to disclose how sexual “deviance” has been regulated throughout the decades, how gender ideology changes over time under the influence of political, cultural and technological factors, and how a transgender identity was dismantled or facilitated by these factors in turn.     

Do Early Nouns Refer to Kinds or Distinct Shapes? Evidence From 10-Month-Old Infants

ABSTRACT— What is the nature of early words? Specifically, do infants expect words for objects to refer to kinds or to distinct shapes? The current study investigated this question by testing whether 10-month-olds expect internal object properties to be predicted by linguistic labels. A looking-time method was employed. Infants were familiarized with pairs of identical or different objects that made identical or different sounds. During test, before the sounds were demonstrated, paired objects were labeled with one repeated count-noun label or two distinct labels. Results showed that infants expected objects labeled with distinct labels to make different sounds and objects labeled with repeated labels to make identical sounds, regardless of the objects' appearance. These findings indicate that the 10-month-olds' expectations about internal properties of objects were driven by labeling and provide evidence that even at the beginning of word learning, infants expect distinct labels to refer to different kinds.     

伦理审查委员会的法律地位初探

伦理审查委员会(IRB)的法律地位是一个崭新的课题.通过解读我国现行的伦理审查规范,对我国IRB伦理审查活动的合法性、伦理审查结果的法律效力、IRB及研究人员的法律责任等关乎IRB法律地位的问题进行了探讨.考察了美国和瑞典的伦理审查法规,提出应该提高我国伦理审查规范的法律位阶,推行注册制度的建议.     

The role of language in acquiring object kind concepts in infancy

Four experiments investigated whether 9-month-old infants could use the presence of labels to help them establish a representation of two distinct objects in a complex object individuation task. We found that the presence of two distinct labels facilitated object individuation, but the presence of one label for both objects, two distinct tones, two distinct sounds, or two distinct emotional expressions did not. These findings suggest that language may play an important role in the acquisition of sortal/object kind concepts in infancy: words may serve as "essence placeholders". Implications for the relationship between language and conceptual development are discussed.     

步入涅槃还是走向终结?——对当代医学困境的原点审视和深层反思

当代医学在享受基因时代“圣餐”的同时,也在步入一个危机频发的“问题时代”。从原点审视,造成其危机和困境的“本因”,是其核心价值系统及其动力体系的根本缺陷所致,其基本的生命观、疾病观陷入到诸多哲学困惑和认识误区,其治疗观的“对抗性思维”更是有违自然伦理的法度,这是当代医学走向更高理论平台的战略切入点。     

Word learning as Bayesian inference

The authors present a Bayesian framework for understanding how adults and children learn the meanings of words. The theory explains how learners can generalize meaningfully from just one or a few positive examples of a novel word's referents, by making rational inductive inferences that integrate prior knowledge about plausible word meanings with the statistical structure of the observed examples. The theory addresses shortcomings of the two best known approaches to modeling word learning, based on deductive hypothesis elimination and associative learning. Three experiments with adults and children test the Bayesian account's predictions in the context of learning words for object categories at multiple levels of a taxonomic hierarchy. Results provide strong support for the Bayesian account over competing accounts, in terms of both quantitative model fits and the ability to explain important qualitative phenomena. Several extensions of the basic theory are discussed, illustrating the broader potential for Bayesian models of word learning.     

聋生汉字识别的同音判断与启动效应实验研究

本研究采用暂同形似、音同形异、音异形似和无关字四类汉字字组为实验材料．每类字组都按汉字使用频率分为低频字、中频字、高频字三种．对使用手语聋生和使用口语聋生进行了同音判断和启动效应实验,旨在探究聋生在汉字识别过程中语音编码所起的作用。实验结果表明,在聋生汉字识别中,字形的知觉加工对提取语音具有非常重要的作用,但语音的提取对聋生来说非常困难。不同字频对不同字组的同音判断成绩的影响不同,表明聋生对不同汉字的语音意识不同。聋生在汉字识别中存在语音混淆和字形混淆的现象,说明语音编码和字形编码在汉字识别过程中都起了重要的作用。字频对聋生汉字识别的影响也不同,同频字产生语音特征的影响;低频字产生字形特征的影响;而中频字都不产生语音特征和字形特征的影响。     

认知研究的现象学趋向

关于认知的研究,从心理学进展来看,20世纪70年代占主导性地位的是认知主义(cogni-tivism),或称为符号的研究定向;80年代兴起了联结主义(connectionnism),或称为网络的研究定向,它是以神经的网络加工系统为理论基础的,或者说是通过脑的生物活动来类比人的认知活动。认知心理学以其丰富的实验成果迅速改变着心理学的面貌,但与此同时也遭到诸多批判。这些批判主要反映在对其方法论的否定。美国心理学家汤普森认为,认知心理学的个体主义方法论把一切都还原为个人的认知活动,现实的行为被看成是个体的认知操作,而不是社会和历史构造的产物。[1]这…     

汉族儿童亲属词概念结构发展研究

采用自然分类和多维标度法,考察汉语儿童亲属词概念结构的发展。结果表明:(1)随着年龄增长,儿童亲属词概念结构的维度在变化。小学低年级学生出现性别和辈分维度,小学高年级学生出现辈分和成人/儿童维度,初中生出现亲属亲密程度维度,高二学生出现姻亲/非姻亲维度。(2)亲属词概念结构受儿童性别和生活经验影响。(3)个体概念结构发展和人类概念结构进化有类似之处。