A Computational Evaluation of Sentence Processing Deficits in Aphasia

Individuals with agrammatic Broca's aphasia experience difficulty when processing reversible non‐canonical sentences. Different accounts have been proposed to explain this phenomenon. The Trace Deletion account (Grodzinsky, 1995, 2000, 2006) attributes this deficit to an impairment in syntactic representations, whereas others (e.g., Caplan, Waters, Dede, Michaud, & Reddy, 2007; Haarmann, Just, & Carpenter, 1997) propose that the underlying structural representations are unimpaired, but sentence comprehension is affected by processing deficits, such as slow lexical activation, reduction in memory resources, slowed processing and/or intermittent deficiency, among others. We test the claims of two processing accounts, slowed processing and intermittent deficiency, and two versions of the Trace Deletion Hypothesis (TDH), in a computational framework for sentence processing (Lewis & Vasishth, 2005) implemented in ACT‐R (Anderson, Byrne, Douglass, Lebiere, & Qin, 2004). The assumption of slowed processing is operationalized as slow procedural memory, so that each processing action is performed slower than normal, and intermittent deficiency as extra noise in the procedural memory, so that the parsing steps are more noisy than normal. We operationalize the TDH as an absence of trace information in the parse tree. To test the predictions of the models implementing these theories, we use the data from a German sentence—picture matching study reported in Hanne, Sekerina, Vasishth, Burchert, and De Bleser (2011). The data consist of offline (sentence‐picture matching accuracies and response times) and online (eye fixation proportions) measures. From among the models considered, the model assuming that both slowed processing and intermittent deficiency are present emerges as the best model of sentence processing difficulty in aphasia. The modeling of individual differences suggests that, if we assume that patients have both slowed processing and intermittent deficiency, they have them in differing degrees.     

Better Never to Have Been Born

The pro‐life paradox, as I call it, begins with a single claim endorsed by many American Christians: infants and young children are innocent in the sight of God because they cannot yet take responsibility for their spiritual well‐being. With this in mind, I argue that pro‐life believers have unwittingly fallen victim to a theological paradox in which their attempts to save the earthly lives of unborn children make it theoretically possible for said children to die an eternal death. On the one hand, many Christians trust in an eventual spiritual reckoning where God will separate the “sheep” from the “goats” (see Matthew 25:31–46), ushering the former into heaven while damning the latter to hell. However, those who cannot yet repent and seek salvation are not blamed for their spiritual failings. If they die, they go to heaven because they are too young and intellectually immature to know any better. But if dead children are spiritually blameless, then abortion practitioners have perversely and paradoxically saved millions of unborn souls by removing human volition (and thus damnation itself) from the equation and by making it possible for the unborn to experience the joys of heaven without the temptations of earth.     

Reaching Across the DMZ: Identity Uncertainty and Reunification on the Korean Peninsula

Drawing on uncertainty‐identity theory (Hogg, 2012), we explore the effects of uncertainty concerning a specific social identity on group identification and attitudes toward subgroup integration and separation in South Koreans' nested identity context (N = 148). All variables were measured. Path analysis revealed, as predicted, that superordinate identity uncertainty weakened superordinate identification and subgroup identity uncertainty weakened subgroup identification. We also found that subgroup identity uncertainty strengthened superordinate identification. This effect was stronger for those who perceived their superordinate group prototype and subgroup prototype to be distinct and nonoverlapping. Furthermore, superordinate identity uncertainty decreased reunification intentions by weakening superordinate identification. Subgroup identity uncertainty increased reunification intentions by strengthening superordinate identification only for those who perceived their superordinate group prototype and subgroup prototype to be distinct and nonoverlapping. Implications for uncertainty identity theory and intergroup relations are discussed.     

What is wrong with religious education? A response to Philip Barnes

This article reviews Philip Barnes’ account of problems with religious eEducation (RE), and explores the practical implications of his position. Acknowledging his compelling logic – that RE is premised on an acceptance of all religions as equally theologically true – this article argues for optimism: with controversy and ambiguity moving to centre stage, a re‐orientation of RE’s attainment targets could focus RE curricula and provide a measure of direction for future progress. Equally, a focus on developing individual values for life in a plural democracy – where personal destinies often conflict both culturally and existentially – would likewise give RE a more potent purpose and the foundations for a normative agenda. Inspired by J.S. Mill, this article concludes that such RE may have to move beyond the classroom to achieve its potential as a critical, inclusive, relevant and progressive subject with coherent social and educational aims.     

Self-esteem in patients with borderline and avoidant personality disorders

This study compared self-esteem in patients with avoidant personality disorder (APD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD). Patients diagnosed with one or more personality disorders answered the questionnaire Index of Self Esteem as part of a comprehensive evaluation within the setting of a treatment trial. Our hypotheses were that (1) both patients with APD and patients with BPD would report low levels of self-esteem, (2) patients with APD would report lower self-esteem than patients with BPD. We further expected that (3) patients with higher levels of depression would report lower levels of self-esteem, but that (4) both borderline and avoidant personality pathology would contribute to explained variance in self-esteem beyond what would be accounted for by depression. All of our hypotheses were supported. The results from our study showed a significant difference in self-esteem level between the two personality disorders, patients with APD reporting lower self-esteem than patients with BPD. Subjects with both disorders were measured to have self-esteem levels within the range that presumes clinical problems. Self-esteem represents an important quality of subjective experience of the self, and the study of self-esteem in PDs can offer new and important knowledge of PDs as self-pathology.     

An fMRI study of phonological and spatial working memory using identical stimuli

The aim of the present fMRI study was to localize brain areas that were uniquely activated for phonological versus spatial working memory. Previous studies have reported inconsistent results, most likely because of methodological heterogeneity varying both stimuli and instructions in the same study. Here, identical consonant-vowel-consonant non-words were visually presented to the subjects in a 2-back paradigm under two different instructions; the subjects either had to memorize the non-words per se or their location. The results give evidence for a hemispheric organization of working memory, with dominance for processing of phonological information in the left hemisphere and frontal cortex, and spatial information in the right hemisphere and parietal cortex. The results also reflect a certain overlap between the neuronal network for working memory and processing of verbal and spatial material. These findings are discussed with regard to processing specificity and the extent that activated areas also may reflect perceptual processes.     

Combinatorial data analysis: Association and partial association

A combinatorial data analysis strategy is reviewed that is designed to compare two arbitrary measures of proximity defined between the objects from some set. Based on a particular cross-product definition of correspondence between these two numerically specified notions of proximity (typically represented in the form of matrices), extensions are then pursued to indices of partial association that relate the observed pattern of correspondence between the first two proximity measures to a third. The attendant issues of index normalization and significance testing are discussed; the latter is approached through a simple randomization model implemented either through a Monte Carlo procedure or distributional approximations based on the first three moments. Applications of the original comparison strategy and its extensions to partial association may be developed for a variety of methodological and substantive tasks. Besides rank correlation, we emphasize the topics of spatial autocorrelation for one variable and spatial association between two and mention the connection to the usual randomization approach for one-way analysis-of-variance.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">My Way</Emphasis> and Life’s Highway: Replies to Steward,Smilansky, and Perry

I seek to reply to the thoughtful and challenging papers by Helen Steward, Saul Smilansky, and John Perry. Steward argues that agency itself requires access to alternative possibilities; I attempt to motivate my denial of this view. I believe that her view here is no more plausible than the view (which she rejects) that it is unfair to hold someone morally responsible, unless he has genuine access to alternative possibilities. Smilansky contends that compatibilism is morally shallow, and that we can see this from the “ultimate perspective.” In reply, I explore the nature of “zooming” arguments, and I contend that even from a somewhat more detached perspective, important features that distinguish us from mere animals can be discerned (even in a causally deterministic universe). Finally, I seek to address Perry’s defense of classical compatibilism. My main objection to his form of compatbilism is that agents must be construed as having a certain kind of “baggage”—even on his own account.

分散空间注意条件下客体特征一致性对视觉特征错觉性结合的影响

本研究通过设置对空间注意资源的分配实施强行操作的情形下,探讨了主、次作业客体形状一致性和次作业客体间距对乏空间注意区次作业客体颜色、形状特征的检测及对特征错觉性结合的影响。实验结果表明：（１）分散空间注意使次作业区域注意减弱,对客体及其颜色和形状特征的识别均产生明显影响．而且对形状的影响又大于颜色;（２）特征错觉性结合率,主、次作业客体形状一致时比客体形状不一致时明显增大;（３）次作业客体间距对特征错觉性结合率无明显影响,但客体形状一致性和客体间距之间存在明显交互作用．     

幼儿二维心理旋转能力发展的研究

在以旋转的米老鼠图形作为测试项目,对每半岁为一个年龄段共１３３名３．５一６．５岁的幼儿进行心理旋转的实验研究中发现,幼儿在４岁时已经开始建立心理旋转能力．其发展特征呈连续性;男女幼儿间有一定的性别差异存在,但统计结果提示无显著性意义;男女幼儿在５－６岁间都发现有一个负增长阶段,其原因不明。