Acceptability of Dative Argument Structure in Spanish: Assessing Semantic and Usage‐Based Factors

Multiple constraints, including semantic, lexical, and usage‐based factors, have been shown to influence dative alternation across different languages. This work explores whether fine‐grained statistics and semantic properties of the verb affect the acceptability of dative constructions in Spanish. First, a corpus analysis reveals that verbs of different semantic classes occur naturally in alternative dative constructions, a pattern quite different from English. The fact that dative alternation appears independent of semantic classes challenges traditional semantic‐based approaches. Second, acceptability rating tasks reveal that dative constructions containing highly entrenched word combinations and frequent word order are judged more acceptable regardless of the verbs' semantics. The results are interpreted in favor of usage‐based accounts: Acceptability of dative constructions may be language‐specific and depend on patterns of use and conventionalization.     

Imitation,Inspiration, and Creation: Cognitive Process of Creative Drawing by Copying Others' Artworks

To investigate the cognitive processes underlying creative inspiration, we tested the extent to which viewing or copying prior examples impacted creative output in art. In Experiment 1, undergraduates made drawings under three conditions: (a) copying an artist's drawing, then producing an original drawing; (b) producing an original drawing without having seen another's work; and (c) copying another artist's work, then reproducing that artist's style independently. We discovered that through copying unfamiliar abstract drawings, participants were able to produce creative drawings qualitatively different from the model drawings. Process analyses suggested that participants' cognitive constraints became relaxed, and new perspectives were formed from copying another's artwork. Experiment 2 showed that exposure to styles of artwork considered unfamiliar facilitated creativity in drawing, while styles considered familiar did not do so. Experiment 3 showed that both copying and thoroughly viewing artwork executed using an unfamiliar style facilitated creativity in drawing, whereas merely thinking about alternative styles of artistic representation did not do so. These experiments revealed that deep encounters with unfamiliar artworks—whether through copying or prolonged observation—change people's cognitive representations of the act of drawing to produce novel artwork.     

An essay on inequalities and order-restricted inference

This essay was prompted by a concern on the part of many senior members of the Society for Mathematical Psychology that the training of contemporary cognitive scientists exhibits a trend away from quantitative sophistication. Such a trend, if it goes unchallenged, can only serve to further marginalize mathematical psychology. There are several ways to combat this disturbing situation. Members of the Society might involve themselves more vigorously with scientific problems that are widely viewed as substantively or methodologically important, problems that require technical skill for their resolution; one example, discussed here, concerns order-restricted inference. We can also do more to encourage graduate students to develop and explore sophisticated theoretical models by giving them the tools to do so; that last battle must take place in the classroom.     

Bayesian Estimation of Circumplex Models Subject to Prior Theory Constraints and Scale-Usage Bias

This paper presents a hierarchical Bayes circumplex model for ordinal ratings data. The circumplex model was proposed to represent the circular ordering of items in psychological testing by imposing inequalities on the correlations of the items. We provide a specification of the circumplex, propose identifying constraints and conjugate priors for the angular parameters, and accommodate theory-driven constraints in the form of inequalities. We investigate the performance of the proposed MCMC algorithm and apply the model to the analysis of value priorities data obtained from a representative sample of Dutch citizens. We wish to thank Michael Browne and two anonymous reviewers for their comments. The data for this study were collected as part of the project AIR2-CT94-1066, sponsored by the European Commission.     

Generalized constrained multiple correspondence analysis

A comprehensive approach for imposing both row and column constraints on multivariate discrete data is proposed that may be called generalized constrained multiple correspondence analysis (GCMCA). In this method each set of discrete data is first decomposed into several submatrices according to its row and column constraints, and then multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) is applied to the decomposed submatrices to explore relationships among them. This method subsumes existing constrained and unconstrained MCA methods as special cases and also generalizes various kinds of linearly constrained correspondence analysis methods. An example is given to illustrate the proposed method.Heungsun Hwang is now at Claes Fornell International Group. The work reported in this paper was supported by Grant A6394 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to the second author.     

Bounds on variances of estimators for multinomial processing tree models

When there are order constraints among the parameters of a binary, multinomial processing tree (MPT) model, methods have been developed for reparameterizing the constrained MPT into an equivalent unconstrained MPT. This note provides a theorem that is useful in computing bounds on the estimator variances for the parameters of the constrained model in terms of estimator variances of the parameters of the unconstrained model. In particular, we show that if X and Y are random variables taking values in [0,1], then Var[XY]?2(Var[X]+Var[Y]).     

More evidence on size modification in spatial axes systems of varying complexity

Pictorial space can be conceptualized as aggregate space (where figures compete for limited available space) or as axial space (where space is infinite and exists independently of figures). That these two kinds of space concepts follow a developmental sequence was tested by investigating size regulation mechanisms in 7- to 12-year-old children's figure drawings. An earlier longitudinal study had shown that the more figures were drawn and the more complex the spatial axes system, the smaller the figures. Two studies confirmed that object-driven size reduction was the size regulation mechanism in younger children, whereas axes-driven size reduction was the only factor regulating figure size in 12-year-old children. Size reduction occurred in a gradual fashion in younger children, whereas size reduction was more pronounced in crossed axes systems in older children. In addition, 7-year-old children showed a dynamic and fluid interaction between internal and external task demands for size regulation.     

When is search for meaning in life beneficial for well-being? A cross-national study

Previous research has found cross-national variations in the association between search for meaning in life (SMIL) and well-being (i.e. SMIL–WB link). This study extended and tested a “self-improvement hypothesis” that accounts for such cross-national variations based on an international database—the sixth wave of World Values Survey. SMIL represents a self-improvement effort which is more demanded in contexts with stronger external constraints. Thus, we expected a stronger positive SMIL–WB link in such contexts. A series of multilevel analyses was used to verify this hypothesis. The results showed that the SMIL–WB link varied across different societies, with well-being indexed by happiness, life satisfaction and subjective health. Moreover, external constraints from cultural, social-institutional, economic and ecological contexts (collectivism, peace threats, economic scarcity and environmental threats) moderated the SMIL–WB links. We thus call for advancing SMIL theory by considering person–context interaction.     

The relative importance of different perceptual-cognitive skills during anticipation

We examined whether anticipation is underpinned by perceiving structured patterns or postural cues and whether the relative importance of these processes varied as a function of task constraints. Skilled and less-skilled soccer players completed anticipation paradigms in video-film and point light display (PLD) format. Skilled players anticipated more accurately regardless of display condition, indicating that both perception of structured patterns between players and postural cues contribute to anticipation. However, the Skill × Display interaction showed skilled players’ advantage was enhanced in the video-film condition, suggesting that they make better use of postural cues when available during anticipation. We also examined anticipation as a function of proximity to the ball. When participants were near the ball, anticipation was more accurate for video-film than PLD clips, whereas when the ball was far away there was no difference between viewing conditions. Perceiving advance postural cues appears more important than structured patterns when the ball is closer to the observer, whereas the reverse is true when the ball is far away. Various perceptual-cognitive skills contribute to anticipation with the relative importance of perceiving structured patterns and advance postural cues being determined by task constraints and the availability of perceptual information.     

婴幼儿词语习得中的社会性认知加工过程

有关婴幼儿词语习得的研究主要有三种理论假设:联想学习理论、制约限制理论和社会语用理论.本文将从以下四个方面着重介绍社会语用理论的相关研究:婴幼儿词语习得过程涉及哪些社会性认知加工过程,社会语用理论如何应对来自前两种理论的质疑和挑战,社会性认知加工过程的相对权重如何以及自闲症儿童词语习得存在怎样的社会性认知加工障碍.相关研究结果表明社会性认知加工过程在婴幼儿词语习得中具有基础性作用.最后对今后在该领域的研究中需要进一步深入探讨的问题提出了一些思考.