Uncertainty about the rest of the sentence

A word-by-word human sentence processing complexity metric is presented. This metric formalizes the intuition that comprehenders have more trouble on words contributing larger amounts of information about the syntactic structure of the sentence as a whole. The formalization is in terms of the conditional entropy of grammatical continuations, given the words that have been heard so far. To calculate the predictions of this metric, Wilson and Carroll's (1954) original entropy reduction idea is extended to infinite languages. This is demonstrated with a mildly context-sensitive language that includes relative clauses formed on a variety of grammatical relations across the Accessibility Hierarchy of Keenan and Comrie (1977). Predictions are derived that correlate significantly with repetition accuracy results obtained in a sentence-memory experiment (Keenan & Hawkins, 1987).     

Self-Instruction Training to Increase Academic Performance of Educationally Handicapped Children

Two experiments were designed to test the effects of self-instructional procedures on the academic performance of educationally handicapped children. Self-instructional training consisted of general self-instruction components coupled with explicit instruction in task components. Experiemnt 1 included two severly educationally handicapped children in which self-instruction training for reading comprehension and spelling was assessed. Generalization of training effects was evaluated across person, task, and setting Experiment 2 included one child in which self-instructional training for mathematics and generalization to a classroom setting was evaluated. A multiple baseline design was used in Experiment 1 and a reversal design in Experiment 2 to assess treatment effects. For both experiments, self-instructional training improved academic performance. Generalization occurred across person and task in Experiment 1 and setting in Experiment 2. It was concluded that successful academic performance occurs when self-isntructional statements integrate global strategies while simultaneously directing attention to task specific information.     

Network structure influences speech production

Network science provides a new way to look at old questions in cognitive science by examining the structure of a complex system, and how that structure might influence processing. In the context of psycholinguistics, clustering coefficient-a common measure in network science-refers to the extent to which phonological neighbors of a target word are also neighbors of each other. The influence of the clustering coefficient on spoken word production was examined in a corpus of speech errors and a picture-naming task. Speech errors tended to occur in words with many interconnected neighbors (i.e., higher clustering coefficient). Also, pictures representing words with many interconnected neighbors (i.e., high clustering coefficient) were named more slowly than pictures representing words with few interconnected neighbors (i.e., low clustering coefficient). These findings suggest that the structure of the lexicon influences the process of lexical access during spoken word production.     

Mechanisms for Robust Cognition

To function well in an unpredictable environment using unreliable components, a system must have a high degree of robustness. Robustness is fundamental to biological systems and is an objective in the design of engineered systems such as airplane engines and buildings. Cognitive systems, like biological and engineered systems, exist within variable environments. This raises the question, how do cognitive systems achieve similarly high degrees of robustness? The aim of this study was to identify a set of mechanisms that enhance robustness in cognitive systems. We identify three mechanisms that enhance robustness in biological and engineered systems: system control, redundancy, and adaptability. After surveying the psychological literature for evidence of these mechanisms, we provide simulations illustrating how each contributes to robust cognition in a different psychological domain: psychomotor vigilance, semantic memory, and strategy selection. These simulations highlight features of a mathematical approach for quantifying robustness, and they provide concrete examples of mechanisms for robust cognition.     

Mathematical psychology: Prospects for the 21st century: A guest editorial

The twenty-first century is certainly in progress by now, but hardly well underway. Therefore, I will take that modest elasticity in concept as a frame for this essay. This frame will serve as background for some of my hopes and gripes about contemporary psychology and mathematical psychology’s place therein. It will also act as platform for earnest, if wistful thoughts about what might have (and perhaps can still) aid us in forwarding our agenda and what I see as some of the promising avenues for the future. I loosely structure the essay into a section about mathematical psychology in the context of psychology at large and then a section devoted to prospects within mathematical psychology proper. The essay can perhaps be considered as in a similar spirit, although differing in content, to previous editorial-like reviews of general or specific aspects of mathematical psychology such as [Estes, W. K. (1975). Some targets for mathematical psychology. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 12, 263-282; Falmagne, J. C. (2005). Mathematical psychology: A perspective. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 49, 436-439; Luce, R. D. (1997). Several unresolved conceptual problems of mathematical psychology. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 41, 79-87] that have appeared in this journal.     

Computer-supported learning tools: A bi-circular bi-directional framework

The paper proposes a psychological framework aimed at integrating software developers’ and teachers’ opinions about computer-supported learning tools (CSLT) with learners’ beliefs. The framework highlights how a mental model of CSLT modulates the needs and goals that motivate the use of technical instructional devices, the ways in which they are used, and the expected outcomes. The framework goes beyond a simplistic conception of the relationships between the CSLT and their effects. It stresses the importance of subjective representations and describes the network of causal relationships connecting the features of the CSLT, the user's beliefs, and the user's behaviours. The framework shows that the implementation of the CSLT is influenced by the user's mental model and that representations can change as a consequence of the use of the CSLT. The framework has implications for applied issues, suggesting a possible way to respond to a request to intervene and support an institution's attempt to introduce CSLT in training activities. In fact, the framework invites educators to clarify their tacit assumptions about CSLT and to consider trainees’ opinions; it encourages tool developers, teachers, and students to exchange their opinions in order to reach a shared conception of why and how to employ the CSLT.     

The Creative Product and Process in Computer‐Mediated Groups

The effects of information technology on the creative performance in small groups were examined. An experimental 3 × 2 design was used in order to assess the effects of Group Communication Support System (GCSS) and perceived usefulness on the creative product and the creative process. A chat, a video conference and a face‐to‐face group were compared. The consensual technique was used to obtain measurements of creativity. The results of the analysis of variance indicated that the face‐to‐face group evoked more creative results than the other two. The more real life‐like the conditions were the better fluency of ideas. The video conference group scored significantly lower on incubation in the creative process. No effects were found concerning the participants' perceived usefulness. Participants in the face‐to‐face group reported themselves to be more satisfied with both their product and process than the participants in the computer‐mediated groups. The study suggests that the measurement of both the creative product and the creative process can contribute to the research on how GCSS affects creative performance.     

Exploring Initiative as a Signal of Knowledge Co‐Construction During Collaborative Problem Solving

Peer interaction has been found to be conducive to learning in many settings. Knowledge co‐construction (KCC) has been proposed as one explanatory mechanism. However, KCC is a theoretical construct that is too abstract to guide the development of instructional software that can support peer interaction. In this study, we present an extensive analysis of a corpus of peer dialogs that we collected in the domain of introductory Computer Science. We show that the notion of task initiative shifts correlates with both KCC and learning. Speakers take task initiative when they contribute new content that advances problem solving and that is not invited by their partner; if initiative shifts between the partners, it indicates they both contribute to problem solving. We found that task initiative shifts occur more frequently within KCC episodes than outside. In addition, task initiative shifts within KCC episodes correlate with learning for low pre‐testers, and total task initiative shifts correlate with learning for high pre‐testers. As recognizing task initiative shifts does not require as much deep knowledge as recognizing KCC, task initiative shifts as an indicator of productive collaboration are potentially easier to model in instructional software that simulates a peer.     

动态系统研究方法在社会心理学中的应用

文章综述了动态系统研究方法在社会心理学中的应用。社会心理学现象具有复杂性、时间性和动态性特点,动态分析方法如动态系统行为模式确定、动态系统稳定性分析、人工神经网络和元细胞自动机等计算机模型的应用,可以有效的捕捉到人类思维和行为的这些特点。目前动态分析方法已经在社会心理学的动态属性研究中取得了一定的进展。     

Criteria for the design and evaluation of cognitive architectures

Cognitive architectures are unified theories of cognition that take the form of computational formalisms. They support computational models that collectively account for large numbers of empirical regularities using small numbers of computational mechanisms. Empirical coverage and parsimony are the most prominent criteria by which architectures are designed and evaluated, but they are not the only ones. This paper considers three additional criteria that have been comparatively undertheorized. (a) Successful architectures possess subjective and intersubjective meaning, making cognition comprehensible to individual cognitive scientists and organizing groups of like-minded cognitive scientists into genuine communities. (b) Successful architectures provide idioms that structure the design and interpretation of computational models. (c) Successful architectures are strange: They make provocative, often disturbing, and ultimately compelling claims about human information processing that demand evaluation.