The analytic and the synthetic as linguistic topics

The Analytic/Synthetic distinction did not originate in Kant, but in Port-Royal's logical theory. The key for the doctrine is the explicite recognition of two different kinds of relative clauses, e.g. explicative and determinative. In the middle eighteenth century the distinction becomes a topic within the grammars. Although we can find by grammarians different criteria for the distinction, these criteria (for which we can find medieval sources) are for the main predictable from the original theory of ideas, which was presented in Port-Royal's logical writings. The topic of the two relative clauses (somewhat broader than the analytic/synthetic distinction) can be used to give empirical criteria for analyticity and also for revisiting Quine's criticism of the topic. Analyticity yet appears as a master piece of classical linguistic philosophy and not as being the empty dogma of modern empiricism.     

Genetic analysis of isolation-induced aggression. I. Comparison between closely related inbred mouse strains.

Young adult males of the inbred mouse strains BALB/c, C57BL/6, CBA, C3H/He, and the outbred strain NMRI showed significant interstrain differences for isolation-induced aggression as measured in a standard-opponent test. Additionally, four related inbred strains of common origin (ABG, AB//Halle, ABB, AB//Jena) were studied. ABG and AB//Halle showed nearly no overlap for the trait isolation-induced aggression. Tests of histocompatibility and coat color, as well as mandible measurements, confirmed a close genetic relationship between ABG and AB//Halle. The large difference for isolation-induced aggression between these two closely related strains offers excellent opportunities to search for single gene correlates of aggression.     

Group therapy for pathological gamblers: a cognitive approach

This study evaluated the efficacy of a group cognitive treatment for pathological gambling. Gamblers, meeting DSM-IV criteria for pathological gambling, were randomly assigned to treatment (N=34) or wait-list control (N=24) conditions. Cognitive correction techniques were used first to target gamblers' erroneous perceptions about randomness, and then to address issues of relapse prevention. The dependent measures used were the DSM-IV criteria for pathological gambling, perceived self-efficacy, gamblers' perception of control, desire to gamble, and frequency of gambling. Post-treatment results indicated that 88% of the treated gamblers no longer met the DSM-IV criteria for pathological gambling compared to only 20% in the control group. Similar changes were observed on all outcome measures. Analysis of data from 6-, 12- and 24-month follow-ups revealed maintenance of therapeutic gains. Recommendations for group interventions are discussed, focusing on the cognitive correction of erroneous perceptions toward the notion of randomness.     

ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS OF ORAL PRODUCTIONS OF INFANTS LATER DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM AND THEIR MOTHER

Research on early signs of autism in social interactions often focuses on infants’ motor behaviors; few studies have focused on speech characteristics. This study examines infant‐directed speech of mothers of infants later diagnosed with autism (LDA; n = 12) or of typically developing infants (TD; n = 11) as well as infants’ productions (13 LDA, 13 TD). Since LDA infants appear to behave differently in the first months of life, it can affect the functioning of dyadic interactions, especially the first vocal productions, sensitive to expressiveness and emotions sharing. We assumed that in the first 6 months of life, prosodic characteristics (mean duration, mean pitch, and intonative contour types) will be different in dyads with autism. We extracted infants’ and mothers’ vocal productions from family home movies and analyzed the mean duration and pitch as well as the pitch contours in interactive episodes. Results show that mothers of LDA infants use relatively shorter productions as compared to mothers talking to TD infants. LDA infants’ productions are not different in duration or pitch, but they use less complex modulated productions (i.e., those with more than two melodic modulations) than do TD. Further studies should focus on developmental profiles in the first year, analyzing prosody monthly.     

Word Detection in Sung and Spoken Sentences in Children With Typical Language Development or With Specific Language Impairment

Background: Previous studies have reported that children score better in language tasks using sung rather than spoken stimuli. We examined word detection ease in sung and spoken sentences that were equated for phoneme duration and pitch variations in children aged 7 to 12 years with typical language development (TLD) as well as in children with specific language impairment (SLI ), and hypothesized that the facilitation effect would vary with language abilities. Method: In Experiment 1, 69 children with TLD (7–10 years old) detected words in sentences that were spoken, sung on pitches extracted from speech, and sung on original scores. In Experiment 2, we added a natural speech rate condition and tested 68 children with TLD (7–12 years old). In Experiment 3, 16 children with SLI and 16 age-matched children with TLD were tested in all four conditions. Results: In both TLD groups, older children scored better than the younger ones. The matched TLD group scored higher than the SLI group who scored at the level of the younger children with TLD . None of the experiments showed a facilitation effect of sung over spoken stimuli. Conclusions: Word detection abilities improved with age in both TLD and SLI groups. Our findings are compatible with the hypothesis of delayed language abilities in children with SLI , and are discussed in light of the role of durational prosodic cues in words detection.     

Egocentric search for disappearing objects in domestic dogs: evidence for a geometric hypothesis of direction

In several species, the ability to locate a disappearing object is an adaptive component of predatory and social behaviour. In domestic dogs, spatial memory for hidden objects is primarily based on an egocentric frame of reference. We investigated the geometric components of egocentric spatial information used by domestic dogs to locate an object they saw move and disappear. In experiment 1, the distance and the direction between the position of the animal and the hiding location were put in conflict. Results showed that the dogs primarily used the directional information between their own spatial coordinates and the target position. In experiment 2, the accuracy of the dogs in finding a hidden object by using directional information was estimated by manipulating the angular deviation between adjacent hiding locations and the position of the animal. Four angular deviations were tested: 5, 7.5, 10 and 15°. Results showed that the performance of the dogs decreased as a function of the angular deviations but it clearly remained well above chance, revealing that the representation of the dogs for direction is precise. In the discussion, we examine how and why domestic dogs determine the direction in which they saw an object disappear.     

Developmental changes of win-stay and loss-shift strategies in decision making

This study aims to clarify the developmental changes in real-life decision making when strategy is adjusted using both positive and negative feedback, that is, whether strategic adjustment evolves with age. A total of 84 participants divided into three age groups (children, adolescents, and adults) performed the standard version of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Children and adolescents showed a strong bias in favor of disadvantageous choices whereas adults learned to decide advantageously during the course of the task. Interestingly, the results clearly demonstrate that children did not switch differently following gains and losses whereas adolescents and adults switched more often after a loss than after a gain, corresponding to the “loss-shift” and the “win-stay” strategies, respectively. The results also revealed that adults switched less often after losses compared to children and adolescents and, thus, used the loss-stay strategy more often than the 2 youngest groups. These new findings suggest that successful completion of the IGT by adults requires fine feedback monitoring and more frequent use of the win-stay and loss-stay strategic adjustments.     

Pupil diameter measurement errors as a function of gaze direction in corneal reflection eyetrackers

Pupil dilation is a useful, noninvasive technique for measuring the change in cognitive load. Since it is implicit and nonverbal, it is particularly useful with preverbal or nonverbal participants. In cognitive psychology, pupil dilation is most often measured by corneal reflection eye-tracking devices. The present study investigates the effect of gaze position on pupil size estimation by three common eye-tracking systems. The task consisted of a simple object pursuit situation, as a sphere rotated around the display screen. Systematic errors of pupil size estimation were found with all three systems. Implications for task-elicited pupillometry, especially for gaze-contingent studies such as object tracking or reading, are discussed.     

How Does Explicit Versus Implicit Risk Information Influence Adolescent Risk‐Taking Engagement?

Adolescents have been shown to be more likely to engage in risky behaviors in daily life. Many studies have indicated that adolescents could make advantageous choices when they receive explicit information but could fail to choose advantageously when they are not informed about risks. The current study aimed to examine the influence of explicit risk information (i.e., when risk information is directly available) versus implicit risk information (i.e., when risk information has to be learned from feedback) on risk‐taking engagement, in order to clarify whether the enhanced risk‐taking observed in decision making under ambiguity in adolescents results from either a greater exploration of ambiguous situations (i.e., a higher ambiguity tolerance) or a specific difficulty associated with learning based on previous choices' outcomes. Adolescents and young adults completed a new adaptation of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. They were required to accumulate as many points as possible by inflating balloons associated with variable break points and avoiding explosions. This adaptation involved a manipulation of the information level with two conditions, an “informed” condition and a “noninformed” condition, in which the participants had to learn the matching of colors with balloons' resistances based on feedback. The results demonstrated that providing explicit risk information allows adolescents to be as efficient as adults at the end of the game. In contrast, adolescents failed to adjust risk‐taking to the balloon resistance in the noninformed condition. These findings critically suggest that this failure reflects a specific impairment of feedback‐based learning ability but not a global excess of risk‐taking during adolescence. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Examining the sex- and circadian dependency of a learning phenotype in mice with glycine transporter 1 deletion in two Pavlovian conditioning paradigms

Behavioural characterisation of transgenic mice has been instrumental in search of therapeutic targets for the modulation of cognitive function. However, little effort has been devoted to phenotypic characterisation across environmental conditions and genomic differences such as sex and strain, which is essential to translational research. The present study is an effort in this direction. It scrutinised the stability and robustness of the phenotype of enhanced Pavlovian conditioning reported in mice with forebrain neuronal deletion of glycine transporter 1 by evaluating the possible presence of sex and circadian dependency, and its consistency across aversive and appetitive conditioning paradigms. The Pavlovian phenotype was essentially unaffected by the time of testing between the two circadian phases, but it was modified by sex in both conditioning paradigms. We observed that the effect size of the phenotype was strongest in female mice tested during the dark phase in the aversive paradigm. Critically, the presence of the phenotype in female mutants was accompanied by an increase in resistance to extinction. Similarly, enhanced conditioned responding once again emerged solely in female mutants in the appetitive conditioning experiment, which was again associated with an increased resistance to extinction across days, but male mutants exhibited an opposite trend towards facilitation of extinction. The present study has thus added hitherto unknown qualifications and specifications of a previously reported memory enhancing phenotype in this mouse line by identifying the determinants of the magnitude and direction of the expressed phenotype. This in-depth comparative approach is of value to the interpretation of behavioural findings in general.