Body parts and early-learned verbs

This article reports the structure of associations among 101 common verbs and body parts. The verbs are those typically learned by children learning English prior to 3 years of age. In a free association task, 50 adults were asked to provide the single body part that came to mind when they thought of each verb. Analyses reveal highly systematic and structured patterns of associations that are also related to the normative age of acquisition of the verbs showing a progression from verbs associated with actions by the mouth, to verbs strongly associated with actions by hand and arm, to verbs not so strongly associated with any one body part. The results have implications for proposals about embodied verb meaning and also for processes of early verb learning.     

Auditory temporal cues can modulate visual representational momentum

In representational momentum (RM), the final position of a moving target is mislocalized in the direction of motion. Here, the effect of a concurrent sound on visual RM was demonstrated. A visual stimulus moved horizontally and disappeared at unpredictable positions. A complex tone without any motion cues was presented continuously from the beginning of the visual motion. As compared with a silent condition, the RM magnitude increased when the sound lasted longer than and decreased when it did not last as long as the visual motion. However, the RM was unchanged when a brief complex tone was presented before or after the target disappeared (Experiment 2) or when the onset of the long-lasting sound was not synchronized with that of the visual motion (Experiments 3 and 4). These findings suggest that visual motion representation can be modulated by a sound if the visual motion information is firmly associated with the auditory information.     

Temporal characteristics of the effects of visual pattern redundancy on encoding and storage processes: evidence from rapid serial visual presentation

Pattern redundancy is a key concept for representing the amount of internal mental load (encoding efficiency) needed for pattern perception/recognition. The present study investigated how pattern redundancy influences encoding and memory processes in the visual system using a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) paradigm. With RSVP, it is well known that participants often fail to detect repetitions of words (repetition blindness, RB). We used this phenomenon as an index of the encoding and storage of visual patterns. In three experiments, we presented patterns with higher and lower redundancy, as defined by Garner’s equivalent set size (ESS). The results showed that RB occurred more frequently for higher redundancy patterns when the temporal distance between the targets was less than 500 ms; this tendency was reversed with longer temporal distances of over 500 ms. Our results suggest that pattern redundancy modulates both the early encoding and subsequent memory processes of a representation.     

Packing: A Geometric Analysis of Feature Selection and Category Formation

This paper presents a geometrical analysis of how local interactions in a large population of categories packed into a feature space create a global structure of feature relevance. The theory is a formal proof that the joint optimization of discrimination and inclusion creates a smooth space of categories such that near categories in the similarity space have similar generalization gradients. Packing theory offers a unified account of several phenomena in human categorization including the differential importance of different features for different kinds of categories, the dissociation between judgments of similarity and judgments of category membership, and children's ability to generalize a category from very few examples.     

A dynamical systems analysis of spontaneous movements in newborn infants

The authors evaluated the characteristics of infants' spontaneous movements by using dynamical systems analysis. Participants were 6 healthy 1-month-old full-term newborn infants (3 males, 3 females). They used a triaxial accelerometer to measure limb acceleration in 3-dimensional space. Acceleration signals were recorded during 200 s from the right wrist when the infant was in an active alert state and lying supine (sampling rate 200 Hz). and was stored in the system's memory. Digitized data were transferred to a PC for subsequent processing with analysis software. The acceleration time series data were analyzed linearly and nonlinearly. Nonlinear time series analysis suggested that the infants' spontaneous movements are characterized by a nonlinear chaotic dynamics with 5 or 6 embedding dimensions. The production of infants'spontaneous movements involves chaotic dynamic systems that are capable of generating voluntary skill movements.     

Neurobehaviors of Japanese newborns in relation to the characteristics of early mother-infant interaction

The authors examined the relationship between newborn neurobehavioral profiles and the characteristics of early mother-infant interaction in Nagasaki, Japan. The authors administered the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS; T. B. Brazelton & J. K. Nugent, 1995) in the newborn period and the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale at 1 month (NCATS; G. Sumner & A. Spietz, 1994). They administered the Perceived Stress Scale (S. Cohen, T. Kamarck, & R. Mermelstein, 1983) as an index of maternal stress experienced over the past month. Lower irritability, higher stability in skin coloration, and lower tremulousness in the neonatal period were correlated with higher levels of maternal nurturing behaviors at 1 month. Birth weight and 2 NBAS range-of-state items (peak of excitement, irritability) predicted 31% of the variance in NCATS caregiver subscale score. The NBAS autonomic stability items (tremulousness, startles, lability of skin color) predicted 31% of the variance in the NCATS child subscale score. Perceived stress and maternal sociodemographic variables (education, income, age, parity) were not associated with child, caregiver, and total scores on the NCATS. The results suggested that lack of autonomic stability in Japanese neonates might serve as an early indicator of infant frailty, negative behavioral cues, and decreased maternal responsiveness.     

Depth representation of moving 3-D objects in apparent-motion path

Apparent motion is perceived when two objects are presented alternately at different positions. The internal representations of apparently moving objects are formed in an apparent-motion path which lacks physical inputs. We investigated the depth information contained in the representation of 3-D moving objects in an apparent-motion path. We examined how probe objects-briefly placed in the motion path-affected the perceived smoothness of apparent motion. The probe objects comprised 3-D objects which were defined by being shaded or by disparity (convex/concave) or 2-D (flat) objects, while the moving objects were convex/concave objects. We found that flat probe objects induced a significantly smoother motion perception than concave probe objects only in the case of the convex moving objects. However, convex probe objects did not lead to smoother motion as the flat objects did, although the convex probe objects contained the same depth information for the moving objects. Moreover, the difference between probe objects was reduced when the moving objects were concave. These counterintuitive results were consistent in conditions when both depth cues were used. The results suggest that internal representations contain incomplete depth information that is intermediate between that of 2-D and 3-D objects.     

How Japanese Language Has Been Used and Transformed—Focused on Social-cultural Context and the Use in Communication

In this paper I address that flexibility and vagueness of mimic word, especially Gitai-go, can provide the communication with tension leading us to the continuous process of meaning construction, focused on the history of Japanese characters as the core of mimic words. I present that Hiragana, as the character for Gitai-go, was started to use by people viewed as of no public authority such as women at that time while Kanji had a position as an official characters. As unofficial character, Hiragana was received and transformed by common people as the character which is more flexible and vague suited to express persons’ experience than Kanji. Most of Gitai-go is written in Hiragana, and people can also create original and personalized one based on their experience. We can be driven by necessity to search the meanings of Gitai-go when we meet unknown one, through its vagueness. This undifferentiated nature and indefinite feature of Gitai-go provide us with tension of communication.     

Discovery and Revitalization of “Feeling of Hometown” from a Disaster Site Inhabitant's Continuous Engagement in Reconstruction Work: Ethnographic Interviews with a Radiation Decontamination Worker Over 5 Years Following the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident1

After hometown loss due to the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident, many radiation decontamination workers started to engage in the reconstruction of their hometown. However, little is known regarding the meaning of experience of engaging in such work. We describe the process of such experience through a series of ethnographic interviews over 5 years with a radiation decontamination worker. The process was classified into the following three periods: “recovery of lost land by inhabitants' own hands,” “goal loss and semiotic trap in pursuit of recovery,” and “revitalization of feeling of hometown.” Consequently, the informant overcame the contradiction theorized as a “semiotic trap” that radiation decontamination for physical recovery would make his return to home impossible, and updated his narrative to the revitalization of “feeling of hometown” through continuous engagement in the work by creating a sense for transplacement, in which the individual focuses on the psychological aspects of his/her hometown instead of the physical aspects. Psychological reconstruction for disaster victims requires the discovery and revitalization of feeling of hometown rather than the completion of physical reconstruction.