Rotation to Simple Loadings Using Component Loss Functions: The Oblique Case

Component loss functions (CLFs) similar to those used in orthogonal rotation are introduced to define criteria for oblique rotation in factor analysis. It is shown how the shape of the CLF affects the performance of the criterion it defines. For example, it is shown that monotone concave CLFs give criteria that are minimized by loadings with perfect simple structure when such loadings exist. Moreover, if the CLFs are strictly concave, minimizing must produce perfect simple structure whenever it exists. Examples show that methods defined by concave CLFs perform well much more generally. While it appears important to use a concave CLF, the specific CLF used is less important. For example, the very simple linear CLF gives a rotation method that can easily outperform the most popular oblique rotation methods promax and quartimin and is competitive with the more complex simplimax and geomin methods. The author would like to thank the editor and three reviewers for helpful suggestions and for identifying numerous errors.     

Pitch direction ability predicts melodic perception in autism

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) often present atypical auditory perception. Previous work has reported both enhanced low-level pitch discrimination and superior abilities to detect local pitch structure on higher-level melodic tasks in ASD. However, it is unclear how low and high levels of auditory perception are related in ASD or typical development (TD), or how this relationship might change across development and stimulus presentation rates. To these aims, in the present study, children with ASD and TD were tested on a low-level pitch direction discrimination task and a high-level melodic global-local task. Groups performed similarly on both of these auditory tasks. Moreover, individual differences in low-level pitch direction ability predicted performance on the higher-level global-local task, with a stronger relationship in ASD. Age did not affect the relationship between low-level and high-level pitch performance in either ASD or TD. However, there was a more positive effect of age on the high-level global-local task performance in TD than ASD. Finally, there was no effect of stimulus rate on the relationship between low-level and high-level pitch performance in either group. These findings provide a better understanding of how perception is associated across levels of processing in ASD versus TD. This work helps to better understand individual differences in auditory perception and to refine ASD phenotypes.     

The Puzzle of Absolute Pitch

Absolute pitch—the ability to name or produce a note of particular pitch in the absence of a reference note—is generally considered to be extremely rare. However, it has been found that native speakers of two different tone languages—Mandarin and Vietnamese—display a remarkably precise form of absolute pitch in enunciating words. Given these findings, it is proposed that absolute pitch may have evolved as a feature of speech, analogous to other features such as vowel quality. It is also conjectured that tone–language speakers generally acquire this feature during the 1st year of life, in the critical period when infants acquire other features of their native language. For speakers of nontone languages, the acquisition of absolute pitch by rare individuals may be associated with a critical period of unusually long duration, so that it extends to the age at which the child can begin taking music lessons. According to this line of reasoning, the potential for acquiring absolute pitch is universal at birth, and can be realized by giving the infant the opportunity to associate pitches with verbal labels during the 1st year or so of life.     

The melody of surprise: maternal surprise vocalizations during play with her infant

Two groups of mothers and their infants (24 infants, mean age=3.5 months and 24 infants, mean age=5.5 months) were video‐ and audio‐taped in their homes while playing with a Jack‐in‐the‐box. The mean fundamental frequency of spontaneous surprise exclamations of mothers when opening the toy were analysed, and infant and maternal facial expressions of surprise were coded in three regions of the face. A t‐test established that significantly more of the older children in comparison with younger children showed surprise (t=?2.96, df=46, p<0.005, 2‐tailed). Twenty‐nine per cent of the younger infants, in comparison with 67% of the older children showed facial expressions of surprise. A t‐test of maternal pitch height (Hz) indicated that mothers exclaimed in surprise with a higher pitch when the child did not show a surprise facial expression (mean=415.61 Hz) in comparison with the child showing surprise (mean=358.97 Hz; t=2.9, df=46, p=0.006, 2‐tailed). A multiple regression established that infant's expression was a stronger predictor of maternal vocal pitch than was the age of the infant. These results are discussed in terms of maternal use of emotional expressions as ‘social signals’. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

AN ABSOLUTE DISTINCTION BETWEEN FAITH AND SCIENCE: CONTRAST WITHOUT COMPARTMENTALIZATION

This article argues for acknowledging the existence of an absolute distinction between faith and science. It is often assumed in the science and religion debate that such a distinction would be ahistorical and uncontextual. After discussing this critique, the analogy with love and facts will be used to explain how an absolute distinction between faith and science may exist nonetheless. This contrast, however, does not imply compartmentalization. It is shown that the absolute distinction between faith and science is of crucial importance to understand the historical contexts that so many contributors to the science and religion debate refer to in their argument against the approaches of Independence or Contrast. The article concludes that within our messy and complex practices there is an absolute distinction between faith and science—our historical contexts cannot be understood without it.     

Non-Verbal Paradigm for Assessing Individuals for Absolute Pitch

Autistic individuals have been observed to demonstrate high intelligence through musical communication, leading to many empirical studies on this topic. Absolute Pitch (AP) has been a captivating phenomenon for researchers, although there has been disagreement regarding AP percentages among the population and appropriate testing methods for AP. This study analyzed data collected from 118 people, using a pitch matching paradigm designed specifically to be inclusive of those who are likely to have note-naming difficulty due to communication challenges. Thirty-eight participants were autistic individuals, 32% of which were considered to have severe language impairment. Twelve other participants had other developmental disorders. All but 1 of the 38 autistics (97%) demonstrated exceptional and instantaneous pitch matching abilities on piano. Ten of the 12 (83%) with other developmental disorders demonstrated this ability, and approximately half (53%) of neurotypicals were able to exhibit this ability. Our numbers indicate that with a more inclusive paradigm for assessing AP, it may be demonstratable in close to 50% of the population, and near 100% in the autistic population. This testing method represents a neurodiversity-friendly and fully inclusive, non-verbal paradigm for demonstrating AP.     

Relative versus absolute stimulus control in the temporal bisection task

When subjects learn to associate two sample durations with two comparison keys, do they learn to associate the keys with the short and long samples (relational hypothesis), or with the specific sample durations (absolute hypothesis)? We exposed 16 pigeons to an ABA design in which phases A and B corresponded to tasks using samples of 1 s and 4 s, or 4 s and 16 s. Across phases, we varied the mapping between the samples and the keys. For group Relative, short and long samples were always associated with the same keys (e.g., Phase A: ‘1s→ Left, 4s→ Right''; Phase B: ‘4s→ Left, 16s→ Right''); for group Absolute, the 4-s sample was associated always with the same key (e.g., Phase A: ‘1s→ Left, 4s→ Right''; Phase B: ‘16s→ Left, 4s→ Right’). If temporal control is relational, group Relative should learn the new task faster than group Absolute, but if temporal control is absolute, the opposite should occur. We compared the results with the predictions of the Learning-to-Time (LeT) model, which accounts for temporal discrimination in terms of absolute stimulus control and stimulus generalization. The acquisition curves of the two groups were generally consistent with LeT and therefore more consistent with the absolute than the relative hypothesis.     

Sinnott-Armstrong,Walter, ed., Moral Psychology Volume 2. The Cognitive Science of Morality: Intuition and Diversity,Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2008, pp. xviii + 585, US$30 (paper)

It is plausible that the universe exists: a thing such that absolutely everything is a part of it. It is also plausible that singular, structured propositions exist: propositions that literally have individuals as parts. Furthermore, it is plausible that for each thing, there is a singular, structured proposition that has it as a part. Finally, it is plausible that parthood is a partial ordering: reflexive, transitive, and anti-symmetric. These plausible claims cannot all be correct. We canvass some costs of denying each claim and conclude that parthood is not a partial ordering. Provided that the relevant entities exist, parthood is not anti-symmetric and proper parthood is neither asymmetric nor transitive.     

WINNICOTT AND HELPLESSNESS: DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY,RELIGION, AND PERSONAL LIFE

The author examines Winnicott's theory of development from the perspective of existential helplessness, arguing that (a) his views illuminate healthy (and unhealthy) aspects of religion, and (b) express his stance toward the helplessness of dying and death. The author contends that Winnicott understood the infant's psychic growth in relation to the reality of existential helplessness and absolute dependency. Four interrelated, dynamic paradoxes embedded in Winnicott's developmental perspective are discussed, and these paradoxes are seen as frameworks to depict his notions of ego, transitional objects, and true/false selves. The author posits that religion, which Winnicott included under the rubric of transitional phenomena, can be understood in relation to existential helplessness and can be assessed in terms of the degree to which these paradoxes are dynamic.     

声调范畴感知和声调复杂度对音乐音高感知的跨领域影响

采用音高识别与区分任务, 以汉语母语者、越南语母语者和俄语母语者为研究对象, 考察了两个语言加工层面的因素, 即声调范畴感知模式以及不同语言声调系统的复杂度差异对跨领域音乐音高感知的影响。结果发现: (1)汉语和越南语两组声调语言母语者听辨结果符合范畴感知模式, 而俄语母语者是连续感知。在语言和音乐两种刺激条件下, 声调语言母语者在范畴边界宽度、范畴内区分率、范畴间区分率以及区分峰度等指标上不存在显著差异。(2)汉语和越南语两组声调语言母语者的音乐音高区分任务结果差异不显著。实验结果表明: 在行为层面, 母语声调范畴感知模式可以迁移到音乐音高感知中, 但复杂声调系统并不能促进跨领域的音乐音高精细感知。实验结果从语言对音乐音高加工影响的角度支持了“共享论”。