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.     

Solving geometric analogy problems through two-stage analogical mapping

Evans' 1968 ANALOGY system was the first computer model of analogy. This paper demonstrates that the structure mapping model of analogy, when combined with high-level visual processing and qualitative representations, can solve the same kinds of geometric analogy problems as were solved by ANALOGY. Importantly, the bulk of the computations are not particular to the model of this task but are general purpose: We use our existing sketch understanding system, CogSketch, to compute visual structure that is used by our existing analogical matcher, Structure Mapping Engine (SME). We show how SME can be used to facilitate high-level visual matching, proposing a role for structural alignment in mental rotation. We show how second-order analogies over differences computed via analogies between pictures provide a more elegant model of the geometric analogy task. We compare our model against human data on a set of problems, showing that the model aligns well with both the answers chosen by people and the reaction times required to choose the answers.     

Pearls in the desert: Death reminders provoke immediate derogation of extrinsic goals, but delayed inflation

Psychologists and philosophers have argued that explicitly contemplating one’s mortality makes extrinsically oriented goal pursuits, such as for wealth and fame, seem unimportant. Research inspired by terror management theory has shown, however, that when thoughts of death are active outside current focal attention, individuals bolster culturally sanctioned standards of self-worth. The present studies thus examined the hypotheses that (a) immediately after explicit reminders of mortality, individuals will trivialize extrinsic goals, but (b) when a delay and distraction follows an explicit mortality reminder, individuals will favorably evaluate extrinsic goals. Consistent with these hypotheses, Studies 1 and 2 showed that, relative to subjects reminded of an aversive control topic, mortality salience led to lower importance ratings for extrinsic goals. Study 2 further showed that, when mortality salience was followed by a distracter task, subjects gave higher importance ratings for a high priority extrinsic goal.     

A metasynthesis of published case studies through Lacan's L‐schema: Transference in perversion

Transference in perversion is characterized by specific problems such as a defiant and polemic attitude, erotic transference, projections, and aggression. Such transference poses particular problems in the treatment of perversion and might render analytical work with these patients impossible. The authors propose that Lacan's L‐schema can contribute to separating productive from counterproductive aspects of transference as it distinguishes between an Imaginary and a Symbolic dimension in transference. In this meta‐synthesis of 11 published case studies on sexual perversion, patterns of transference are analysed. On the Imaginary dimension, the authors found that patients with perversion tend to (un)consciously engage the analyst in a relationship characterized by identification, fusion and rivalry. On the Symbolic dimension, they found that perverse patients are able to question their motives, lapses, symptoms, and subjective identity. The thematic analysis revealed the importance of the position of the analyst in this work, which is described within the L‐schema as being the representative of the otherness in the Other. Implications for clinical practice and recommendations for further research are outlined.     

The mental representation of integers: an abstract-to-concrete shift in the understanding of mathematical concepts

Mathematics has a level of structure that transcends untutored intuition. What is the cognitive representation of abstract mathematical concepts that makes them meaningful? We consider this question in the context of the integers, which extend the natural numbers with zero and negative numbers. Participants made greater and lesser judgments of pairs of integers. Experiment 1 demonstrated an inverse distance effect: When comparing numbers across the zero boundary, people are faster when the numbers are near together (e.g., −1 vs. 2) than when they are far apart (e.g., −1 vs. 7). This result conflicts with a straightforward symbolic or analog magnitude representation of integers. We therefore propose an analog-x hypothesis: Mastering a new symbol system restructures the existing magnitude representation to encode its unique properties. We instantiate analog-x in a reflection model: The mental negative number line is a reflection of the positive number line. Experiment 2 replicated the inverse distance effect and corroborated the model. Experiment 3 confirmed a developmental prediction: Children, who have yet to restructure their magnitude representation to include negative magnitudes, use rules to compare negative numbers. Taken together, the experiments suggest an abstract-to-concrete shift: Symbolic manipulation can transform an existing magnitude representation so that it incorporates additional perceptual-motor structure, in this case symmetry about a boundary. We conclude with a second symbolic-magnitude model that instantiates analog-x using a feature-based representation, and that begins to explain the restructuring process.     

Intersecting heterologies

The author proposes that it has largely been underestimated that the therapeutic community is placed within two discourses – that of therapy and that of community – and has almost exclusively focused on the first. In so doing, it has been restricted within a medical or pseudo-medical conceptual framework. In an appeal to re-frame the discussion about the therapeutic community in relation to its forgotten discourse reference is principally made to the work of the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan and to two of his sources – Heidegger and Socrates – and more specifically to Lacan’s notion of lack which is contrasted to modernity’s trope of expectation which corresponds to the Imaginary phallus.     

Proximity and precedence in arithmetic

How does the physical structure of an arithmetic expression affect the computational processes engaged in by reasoners? In handwritten arithmetic expressions containing both multiplications and additions, terms that are multiplied are often placed physically closer together than terms that are added. Three experiments evaluate the role such physical factors play in how reasoners construct solutions to simple compound arithmetic expressions (such as “2?+?3?×?4”). Two kinds of influence are found: First, reasoners incorporate the physical size of the expression into numerical responses, tending to give larger responses to more widely spaced problems. Second, reasoners use spatial information as a cue to hierarchical expression structure: More narrowly spaced subproblems within an expression tend to be solved first and tend to be multiplied. Although spatial relationships besides order are entirely formally irrelevant to expression semantics, reasoners systematically use these relationships to support their success with various formal properties.     

Developing number–space associations: SNARC effects using a color discrimination task in 5-year-olds

Human adults’ numerical representation is spatially oriented; consequently, participants are faster to respond to small/large numerals with their left/right hand, respectively, when doing a binary classification judgment on numbers, known as the SNARC (spatial–numerical association of response codes) effect. Studies on the emergence and development of the SNARC effect remain scarce. The current study introduces an innovative new paradigm based on a simple color judgment of Arabic digits. Using this task, we found a SNARC effect in children as young as 5.5 years. In contrast, when preschool children needed to perform a magnitude judgment task necessitating exact number knowledge, the SNARC effect started to emerge only at 5.8 years. Moreover, the emergence of a magnitude SNARC but not a color SNARC was linked to proficiency with Arabic digits. Our results suggest that access to a spatially oriented approximate magnitude representation from symbolic digits emerges early in ontogenetic development. Exact magnitude judgments, on the other hand, rely on experience with Arabic digits and, thus, necessitate formal or informal schooling to give access to a spatially oriented numerical representation.     

Notation to symbol: Development in children's understanding of print

Three studies used the moving word task to examine children's understanding of the symbolic nature of print. A card containing a printed word is presented with two pictures, one of which is named by the word. The child is told what the card says and then asked three times what the word is. For the second question, the card is spatially adjacent to the picture it does not name, and 4-year-olds typically respond that the word has changed to name this picture. The studies examined the impact of how the move is carried out and the role of other cognitive abilities (Study 1), the influence of the source of the print and the visibility of the cards (Study 2), and the role of the matching picture in children's solutions (Study 3). In all cases, children continued to name the picture that is closest to the card, indicating an incomplete grasp of how print carries meaning. The conclusion is that children's error in this task represents a fundamental misconception about how print signifies meanings, and that prior to reading, children do not understand the symbolic function of the constituents of print. Furthermore, executive processes of representation and inhibition are identified as significant to children's solutions.