A formal framework for characterizing querying algorithms

Algorithmic procedures have been devised for constructing a knowledge space by querying experts. The queries submitted to the expert consist of assertions that are to be accepted or rejected. The present paper provides a characterization of the algorithms that may be used to draw inferences from previously collected answers. It is based on the notion of a closure on the set of all assertions, and its extension to a set containing for each assertion a positive and a negative instance, representing acceptance and rejection, respectively. The developed characterization emphasizes the significance of the well-known QUERY and PS-QUERY procedures. Potential applications of the presented results in contexts other than knowledge space theory are pointed out.     

The influence of perceived prison crowding on male inmates' perception of aggressive events

This study examines whether, in a male prison, the subjective experience of crowding increases the likelihood that events are perceived as aggressive in nature, and whether the protagonists involved are viewed as more hostile, malevolent, and aggressive. In addition, this paper also examines the possible mediating effects of stress, arousal, and psychological well‐being on two hypothesised relationships. First, these mediating factors are examined for the link between individuals' personal space preferences and their perceived level of crowding. Second, these factors are examined for the link between perceived crowding and interpretations of an aggressive event. Such associations may help to explain why crowding and aggression are linked within a social interactionist perspective. The results confirmed previous findings that crowding is linked to increases in arousal and stress, and a reduction in psychological well‐being. This study also found, however, that those inmates who experienced crowding were also more likely to interpret behaviour as aggressive and violent. This relationship was not mediated by arousal, stress, or psychological well‐being. However, these factors were found to partially operate in the relationship between personal space preferences and the experience of subjective crowding. The implications of this study for social interactionist explanations of the link between crowding and prison violence are offered. Aggr. Behav. 30:273–283, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

情绪、边框影响决策认知过程的实验研究

借用问题空间,通过实验探讨情绪、边框对决策认知过程的影响,以进一步考察边框效应的本质特点。结果如下：情绪、边框均独立对决策认知过程产生影响;积极、消极信息导致不同的加工方式;积极信息既利于节省认知资源,又利于作出符合当前环境的决策。     

Computational exploration of metaphor comprehension processes using a semantic space model

Recent metaphor research has revealed that metaphor comprehension involves both categorization and comparison processes. This finding has triggered the following central question: Which property determines the choice between these two processes for metaphor comprehension? Three competing views have been proposed to answer this question: the conventionality view ( Bowdle & Gentner, 2005 ), aptness view ( Glucksberg & Haught, 2006b ), and interpretive diversity view ( Utsumi, 2007 ); these views, respectively, argue that vehicle conventionality, metaphor aptness, and interpretive diversity determine the choice between the categorization and comparison processes. This article attempts to answer the question regarding which views are plausible by using cognitive modeling and computer simulation based on a semantic space model. In the simulation experiment, categorization and comparison processes are modeled in a semantic space constructed by latent semantic analysis. These two models receive word vectors for the constituent words of a metaphor and compute a vector for the metaphorical meaning. The resulting vectors can be evaluated according to the degree to which they mimic the human interpretation of the same metaphor; the maximum likelihood estimation determines which of the two models better explains the human interpretation. The result of the model selection is then predicted by three metaphor properties (i.e., vehicle conventionality, aptness, and interpretive diversity) to test the three views. The simulation experiment for Japanese metaphors demonstrates that both interpretive diversity and vehicle conventionality affect the choice between the two processes. On the other hand, it is found that metaphor aptness does not affect this choice. This result can be treated as computational evidence supporting the interpretive diversity and conventionality views.     

Towards a computational theory of experience

A standing challenge for the science of mind is to account for the datum that every mind faces in the most immediate – that is, unmediated – fashion: its phenomenal experience. The complementary tasks of explaining what it means for a system to give rise to experience and what constitutes the content of experience (qualia) in computational terms are particularly challenging, given the multiple realizability of computation. In this paper, we identify a set of conditions that a computational theory must satisfy for it to constitute not just a sufficient but a necessary, and therefore naturalistic and intrinsic, explanation of qualia. We show that a common assumption behind many neurocomputational theories of the mind, according to which mind states can be formalized solely in terms of instantaneous vectors of activities of representational units such as neurons, does not meet the requisite conditions, in part because it relies on inactive units to shape presently experienced qualia and implies a homogeneous representation space, which is devoid of intrinsic structure. We then sketch a naturalistic computational theory of qualia, which posits that experience is realized by dynamical activity-space trajectories (rather than points) and that its richness is measured by the representational capacity of the trajectory space in which it unfolds.     

VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS COGNITION: A COMPUTATIONAL APPROACH TO SELF-UNDERSTANDING IN THREE MONOTHEIST CONTEXTS

This study considered representations of divine and human others in the self-understanding of monotheists from three religions. Self-understanding was conceptualized on the basis of semantic and episodic knowledge in narrative response data. Given the importance of social context in the formation of cognitive schemas, the project emphasized self-understanding in a comparative religious design. The sample included sixty nominated religious exemplars who responded to a structured interview. Schemas were subsequently mapped for Jews, Muslims, and Christians by comparison of self and other representations in a computational model known as latent semantic analysis (LSA). Findings indicated that representation of the divine is far removed from parents in cognitive schemas for all participants. Unlike Jews and Christians, Muslims appear to represent human others on the basis of self-understanding which principally references the divine. When considered in a computational semantic space, exemplars generally represent the self in a manner corresponding with divine and peer figures.     

空间量化的心理表征

空间量化(spacial quantification)是空间知觉的基础, 是对特定空间性质的表达。离散量(discrete magnitude)与连续量(continuous quantity)分别反映了空间分立和连续的性质, 二者有着相似的行为效应, 在神经表达上也有部分重叠, 这些证据暗示了二者可能有共同的表征机制——模拟表征(analog magnitude representation)。数量空间映射(number–space mappings)提供了数量与空间关系的直接证据。但空间量化的研究中还有许多未解之谜, 如：空间量化的动态表征、量化机制的普遍性、参照点问题、复杂和多维空间的量化等。在具身认知(embodied cognition)的框架下, 空间量化的心理表征研究将对空间的性质做出更深刻的回答。     

词边界信息在中文阅读眼跳目标选择中的作用：来自中文二语学习者的证据

采用EyeLink 1000眼动仪, 选取韩、美、日、泰四国留学生各20名, 在正常无空格和词间空格两种呈现方式下阅读中文语句, 以此来探讨二语学习者在阅读中文时词边界信息在眼跳目标选择中的作用。结果发现, 二语学习者在中文阅读中存在着一致的眼动模式, 即在单次注视事件中, 倾向于注视词的中间部分, 在多次注视事件中, 倾向于注视其开端部分, 然后再计划一次词内再注视。词边界信息能够有效地引导中文二语学习者的眼动行为和眼跳计划, 更多地将首次注视位置落在词的中间部分。最后, 词边界信息在眼跳目标选择中的促进作用没有受到母语文本呈现方式熟悉性的调节。我们认为, 中文二语学习者在阅读中的眼跳目标选择可能采用的是战略-战术策略。     

视听时间再校准：适应空间与适应客体的联合及独立作用

同一事件的视听成分即使同时发生, 由于两种信息的物理传播与神经传导速度的差异, 大脑知觉到它们的时刻仍会存在一定的延迟。时间再校准指大脑可以最小化并适应这段时间延迟的现象。本研究采用“适应—测验”范式, 在适应阶段连续给被试呈现视觉先于听觉或听觉先于视觉128ms的刺激对, 在测验阶段以时序判断任务来测量被试此时主观同时点的变化。通过操纵适应及新异视听刺激对(即适应客体与新异客体)在测验阶段出现的空间位置, 探索空间与客体因素对视听时间再校准的影响。结果发现, 当适应客体出现于适应空间时, 主观同时点显著偏向了时间延迟的方向; 同样显著或边缘显著的主观同时点偏移还发生于适应客体出现于未适应空间时, 以及新异客体出现于适应空间时。研究表明, 视听时间再校准在不同空间中的表现取决于适应空间与适应客体的联合或独立作用。     

文本加工中情境模型建构的五个维度

情境模型理论是当代西方文本阅读加工的一个重要理论。该文通过详细介绍情境模型建构的空间、时间、因果、主人公、意图五大维度,以助于对情境模型理论整体理解。通过总结可知,目前国内外关于情境模型建构中的空间、因果和主人公三个维度的研究成果较多,研究范式也较为成熟,时间和意图维度则研究成果较少