脑的逻辑功能的核磁共振成像及其哲学意义

国际上关于逻辑对应的脑物理特征的功能核磁共振成像（fMRI）研究的主要成就在于：建立了高级精神活动和低级神经活动的关联关系的试验方法;提出了高级精神活动的（判断和推理）神经计算模型建立方法。这些研究的实验结果表明,逻辑与神经活动具有确定性的对应关系,它证明了强人工智能的观点：导致意识的可验证的实体（或者称为“意识关联物”）就是意识本身。意识的运行方式是可计算的,思维的本质可以还原为机械性的操作步骤,人工智能和人的天然智能在本质上并无二致。     

Children's comprehension of visual formal features in television programs

A review of previous studies on children's comprehension of visual formal features did not warrant predictions about children's understanding of the formal features as used in three items from Sesamstraat, the Dutch version of Sesame Street. Therefore, a study was designed in which 45 children in the age range of 4–6 years watched the items and were interviewed. In the first item, a split screen was used to visualize simultaneity of actions. The second item used a subjective camera to suggest the construction of a home video by one of the characters. Version 1 of this item did not show the character while making home video, whereas Version 2 did show the character while filming. The third item contained a dissolve (Version 1) or a cut (Version 2) to indicate the end of a dream. A general conclusion was that although older children (mean AGE=5.9 years) understood the visual formal features better than younger children (mean AGE=4.4 years), the extent to which children in both age groups understood the visual formal features appeared to vary between items and versions. Most children in both age groups understood the split screen in the first item. The younger age group did not understand the subjective camera if the making of the home video was not shown. Both the younger and the older age group understood the version with the cut better than the original version with the dissolve. In the discussion, the question was addressed what the findings of this study and previous studies teach us about children's understanding of visual formal features in general.     

The Role of Natural Class Features in the Acquisition of Phonotactic Regularities

Previous research has shown that phonotactic regularities can be acquired through recent production or auditory experience (e.g., Dell et  al., Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26(6), 1355–1367, 2000; Onishi et al., Cognition, 83(1), B13–B23, 2002). However, little is known about the role of phonological natural classes in this learning process. This study addressed this question by investigating the acquisition of a contingency relationship between onsets and medial glides by Mandarin speakers. The experiments involved the manipulation of three types of phonotactic regularities. In the Laryngeal version, onsets that preceded the same glide shared a voicing feature. In the Place version, onsets that preceded same glide shared a place feature. In the Neither version, onsets associated with the same glide shared neither a voicing feature nor a place feature. Results showed the Place version and the Laryngeal version were more easily acquired than the Neither version in terms of the amount of exposure needed to acquire the experimentally manipulated phonotactic schema and the sustainability of the acquired schema. The results suggest that the statistical learning mechanism that guides our processing of speech input prefers phonological regularities that follow certain natural class features. This preference may account for the way natural languages are structured phonologically. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Categorical structure among shared features in networks of early-learned nouns

The shared features that characterize the noun categories that young children learn first are a formative basis of the human category system. To investigate the potential categorical information contained in the features of early-learned nouns, we examine the graph-theoretic properties of noun-feature networks. The networks are built from the overlap of words normatively acquired by children prior to 2½ years of age and perceptual and conceptual (functional) features acquired from adult feature generation norms. The resulting networks have small-world structure, indicative of a high degree of feature overlap in local clusters. However, perceptual features - due to their abundance and redundancy - generate networks more robust to feature omissions, while conceptual features are more discriminating and, per feature, offer more categorical information than perceptual features. Using a network specific cluster identification algorithm (the clique percolation method) we also show that shared features among these early-learned nouns create higher-order groupings common to adult taxonomic designations. Again, perceptual and conceptual features play distinct roles among different categories, typically with perceptual features being more inclusive and conceptual features being more exclusive of category memberships. The results offer new and testable hypotheses about the role of shared features in human category knowledge.     

Do adapted vignettes improve medical decision‐making capacity for individuals with Alzheimer's disease?

Medical decision‐making capacity (MDC) is known to decline in individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The vignette method uses hypothetical information as a prerequisite for measuring the capacity to make well‐informed decisions to clinical trials. Our aim was to investigate if adapted vignettes can help individuals with mild AD to assimilate information, make decisions and express them in an understandable way, compared to corresponding decisions based on linguistically more demanding vignettes, as measured by the Swedish Linguistic Instrument for Medical Decision‐making (LIMD). Two vignettes from LIMD were altered linguistically with the aim to facilitate understanding for individuals with AD. An experimental within‐subject design was used to study the influence on MDC of readability (original/adapted vignettes) and content (two different clinical trials). We included 24 patients with mild AD in this prospective study, which read all four vignettes along with a few other tests. This allowed us to investigate the association between MDC and cognitive function. Adapted vignettes did not yield significant differences regarding MDC as compared with original vignettes using a two‐way repeated measures analysis of variance. A difference was found between the two clinical trials where LIMD score was significantly higher for Kidney disease than hypertension vignettes. Our results indicate that adapted vignettes may not improve MDC for individuals with mild AD. MDC was affected by which clinical trial the vignettes regarded, which implies that other factors affecting MDC need to be investigated, like length of text and vocabulary used.     

归类不确定情景下特征推理的综合条件概率模型

用大学生被试,通过三个实验探讨在集中呈现类别成员样本信息的归类不确定情景下的特征推理。实验结果表明,单纯的归类确定性程度和靶类别靶特征的代表性并不直接影响被试的特征推理,而是预测特征相对于目标特征的综合条件概率直接影响被试的特征推理;特征推理不是基于类别中介的间接推理,而是基于特征关联综合条件概率的直接推理。实验结果支持作者提出的预测特征综合条件概率模型。     

Workers' self‐objectification and tendencies to conform to others

Recent research showed that workers' self‐objectification—their self‐perception as objects rather than human beings—leads to detrimental intrapersonal consequences. In the present research, we explored whether this phenomenon may also affect interpersonal relations, by increasing workers' tendencies to conform. In a correlational study, Italian workers who perceived their work as more objectifying self‐objectified more—self‐attributed less human mental states and self‐perceive as more instrument‐like than human‐like—and, in turn, were more inclined to conform with others. The second study experimentally confirmed this pattern, showing that British workers who recalled an objectifying (vs. a non‐objectifying) work experience self‐objectified more. Self‐perception as instrument‐like was associated, in turn, with an increased tendency to adapt to others' opinions. The implications for organizational and social psychology are discussed.     

Sex-specific variation in facial masculinity/femininity associated with autistic traits in the general population

Reports linking prenatal testosterone exposure to autistic traits and to a masculinized face structure have motivated research investigating whether autism is associated with facial masculinization. This association has been reported with greater consistency for females than for males, in studies comparing groups with high and low levels of autistic traits. In the present study, we conducted two experiments to examine facial masculinity/femininity in 151 neurotypical adults selected for either low, mid-range, or high levels of autistic traits. In the first experiment, their three-dimensional facial photographs were subjectively rated by 41 raters for masculinity/femininity and were objectively analysed. In the second experiment, we generated 6-face composite images, which were rated by another 36 raters. Across both experiments, findings were consistent for ratings of photographs and composite images. For females, a linear relationship was observed where femininity ratings decreased as a function of higher levels of autistic traits. For males, we found a U-shaped function where males with mid-range levels of traits were rated lowest on masculinity. Objective facial analyses revealed that higher levels of autistic traits were associated with less feminine facial structures in females and less masculine structures in males. These results suggest sex-specific relationships between autistic traits and facial masculinity/femininity.     

Constrained Maneuvering: Rhetoric as a Rational Enterprise

This paper discusses some of the ways recent models have brought rhetoric into argumentation theory. In particular, it explores the rationale for and role of rhetoric in the strategic maneuvering project of pragma-dialectics and compares it with the author’s own implementation of rhetorical features. A case is made for considering the active ways audiences influence the strategies of arguers and for seeing the role of rhetoric in argumentation as both fundamental and reasonable on its own terms.     

The contextually controlled, feature-mediated classification of symbols

The classification of names of people or objects based on the features acquired by the names and the sorting instructions provided is a commonplace occurrence. For example, given the names Renoir, Pollock, James and Voltaire the average adult would be able to classify them differentially based on the instruction to classify them based on vocation or nationality. In general, such a repertoire reflects the reclassification of symbols (i.e, the names of individuals) in terms of contextual cues (instructions to sort by vocation or nationality) and the features acquired by the symbols (the specific nationalities and vocations). The present experiment studied this phenomenon with the use of arbitrary stimuli that did not have clear preexperimental associations. Two of 4 participants classified the symbols into different equivalence classes based on the prevailing contextual cues and the features that had been acquired by the symbols. Using an ABA reversal design we then demonstrated that 1 participant classified the symbols in accordance with the contextual cues and acquired features when present, but not in the absence of the contextual cues. A 3rd participant showed symbol classification that differed from that predicted by the procedures, and the 4th classified the symbols based on one set of features but not on context. These data describe one set of conditions that could account for the establishment of complex classification repertoires that occur in natural settings.