Word knowledge in the crowd: Measuring vocabulary size and word prevalence in a massive online experiment

We use the results of a large online experiment on word knowledge in Dutch to investigate variables influencing vocabulary size in a large population and to examine the effect of word prevalence—the percentage of a population knowing a word—as a measure of word occurrence. Nearly 300,000 participants were presented with about 70 word stimuli (selected from a list of 53,000 words) in an adapted lexical decision task. We identify age, education, and multilingualism as the most important factors influencing vocabulary size. The results suggest that the accumulation of vocabulary throughout life and in multiple languages mirrors the logarithmic growth of number of types with number of tokens observed in text corpora (Herdan's law). Moreover, the vocabulary that multilinguals acquire in related languages seems to increase their first language (L1) vocabulary size and outweighs the loss caused by decreased exposure to L1. In addition, we show that corpus word frequency and prevalence are complementary measures of word occurrence covering a broad range of language experiences. Prevalence is shown to be the strongest independent predictor of word processing times in the Dutch Lexicon Project, making it an important variable for psycholinguistic research.     

Extent of food restriction affects probability but not delay-based decision-making

Rodent studies on decision-making often use food rewards and food-restrict subjects in order to motivate performance. However, food restriction has widespread effects on brain and behavior, which depend on factors including extent of restriction and feeding schedule. These factors are well recognized for their effects on motivation, but may also cause effects on decision-making independent of motivation. We examined how the degree of weight-based food restriction in rats influenced decision-making on the probability and delay discounting tasks. Additionally, we examined how the method of food restriction (consistent amount vs. time constrained feeding schedule) influenced decision-making. Our results showed that the degree of weight-based food restriction significantly altered probability, but not delay discounting, and that these effects were not entirely explainable by differences in motivation. Additionally, the method of food restriction did not significantly influence discounting when animals were within the same range of weight-based restriction. Together, our findings suggest that the degree of food restriction may modulate the neural circuitry responsible for selective aspects of decision-making related to probability. Further, these data support the need for tight control and reporting of weight and feeding in studies relying on food restriction, and suggest that the effects of food restriction may be broader than previously considered.     

Do cortical midline variability and low frequency fluctuations mediate William James’ “Stream of Consciousness”? “Neurophenomenal Balance Hypothesis” of “Inner Time Consciousness”

William James famously characterized consciousness by ‘stream of consciousness’ which describes the temporal continuity and flow of the contents of consciousness in our ‘inner time consciousness’. More specifically he distinguished between “substantive parts”, the contents of consciousness, and “transitive parts”, the linkages between different contents. While much research has recently focused on the substantive parts, the neural mechanisms underlying the transitive parts and their characterization by the balance between ‘sensible continuity’ and ‘continuous change’ remain unclear. The aim of this paper is to develop so-called neuro-phenomenal hypothesis about specifically the transitive parts and their two phenomenal hallmark features, sensible continuity and continuous change in ‘inner time consciousness’. Based on recent findings, I hypothesize that the cortical midline structures and their high degree of variability and strong low frequency fluctuations play an essential role in mediating the phenomenal balance between sensible continuity and continuous change.     

常见肺栓塞评分方法及临床应用

肺栓塞评分方法是国际上肺栓塞诊断策略的重要基础。本文简要介绍国际上常用肺栓塞评分方法,即Wells法、Geneva法、Geneva改良法、Pisa法和Claudia法,并评价和比较这些方法在临床上的应用,建议建立并规范使用适合我国国情的肺栓塞评分方法。     

Uniform Test Assembly

In educational practice, a test assembly problem is formulated as a system of inequalities induced by test specifications. Each solution to the system is a test, represented by a 0–1 vector, where each element corresponds to an item included (1) or not included (0) into the test. Therefore, the size of a 0–1 vector equals the number of items n in a given item pool. All solutions form a feasible set—a subset of 2 ⁿ vertices of the unit cube in an n-dimensional vector space. Test assembly is uniform if each test from the feasible set has an equal probability of being assembled. This paper demonstrates several important applications of uniform test assembly for educational practice. Based on Slepian’s inequality, a binary program was analytically studied as a candidate for uniform test assembly. The results of this study establish a connection between combinatorial optimization and probability inequalities. They identify combinatorial properties of the feasible set that control the uniformity of the binary programming test assembly. Computer experiments illustrating the concepts of this paper are presented.     

De Finetti’s No-Dutch-Book Criterion for Gödel logic

We extend de Finetti’s No-Dutch-Book Criterion to Gödel infinite-valued propositional logic.     

Dissimilarity cumulation theory in smoothly connected spaces

This is the third paper in the series introducing the Dissimilarity Cumulation theory and its main psychological application, Universal Fechnerian Scaling. The previously developed dissimilarity-based theory of path length is used to construct the notion of a smooth path, defined by the property that the ratio of the dissimilarity between its points to the length of the subtended fragment of the path tends to unity as the points get closer to each other. We consider a class of stimulus spaces in which for every path there is a series of piecewise smooth paths converging to it pointwise and in length; and a subclass of such spaces where any two sufficiently close points can be connected by a smooth “geodesic in the small”. These notions are used to construct a broadly understood Finslerian geometry of stimulus spaces representable by regions of Euclidean n-spaces. With an additional assumption of comeasurability in the small between the canonical psychometric increments of the first and second kind, this establishes a link between Universal Fechnerian Scaling and Multidimensional Fechnerian Scaling in Euclidean n-spaces. The latter was a starting point for our theoretical program generalizing Fechner’s idea that sensation magnitudes can be computed by integration of a local discriminability measure.     

Did Tom Kuhn actually Meet Tom Bayes?

Wesley Salmon and John Earman have presented influential Bayesian reconstructions of Thomas Kuhn’s account of theory-change. In this paper I argue that all attempts to give a Bayesian reading of Kuhn’s philosophy of science are fundamentally misguided due to the fact that Bayesian confirmation theory is in fact inconsistent with Kuhn’s account. The reasons for this inconsistency are traced to the role the concept of incommensurability plays with reference to the ‘observational vocabulary’ within Kuhn’s picture of scientific theories. The upshot of the discussion is that it is impossible to integrate both Kuhn’s claims and Bayesianism within a coherent account of theory-change.

Using morphology when spelling in a shallow orthographic system: The case of Spanish

Deep orthographies usually represent morphology and phonology simultaneously; both resources are necessary for spelling. In shallow orthographies, such as Spanish, phonology would be enough to spell most words. However, morphological knowledge may also take part in spelling. This study examined how Spanish children in 1st (N = 148), 2nd (N = 155) and 3rd grade (N = 155) use morphological information to spell plural nouns and verbs. A word dictation task was designed. The task included high and low frequency plural nouns ending in “s” (morphological “-s” condition) and verbs in the 2nd person ending in “s” (morphological “-s” condition). A lexical condition including words with a final “s” which was not morphologically motivated was used as a control condition (lexical “-s” condition). The results show that, although Spanish spelling is influenced by phonology, morphological information is also used. These results are discussed in relation to current models of word spelling.