Complex Communication Dynamics: Exploring the Structure of an Academic Talk

Communication is a multimodal phenomenon. The cognitive mechanisms supporting it are still understudied. We explored a natural dataset of academic lectures to determine how communication modalities are used and coordinated during the presentation of complex information. Using automated and semi‐automated techniques, we extracted and analyzed, from the videos of 30 speakers, measures capturing the dynamics of their body movement, their slide change rate, and various aspects of their speech (speech rate, articulation rate, fundamental frequency, and intensity). There were consistent but statistically subtle patterns in the use of speech rate, articulation rate, intensity, and body motion across the presentation. Principal component analysis also revealed patterns of system‐like covariation among modalities. These findings, although tentative, do suggest that the cognitive system is integrating body, slides, and speech in a coordinated manner during natural language use. Further research is needed to clarify the specific coordination patterns that occur between the different modalities.     

Minds and Bodies: Human and Divine

Does God have a mind? Western theism has traditionally construed God as an intentional agent who acts on creation and in relation to humankind. God loves, punishes, and redeems. God's intentionality has traditionally been construed in analogy to human intentionality, which in turn has often presumed a supernatural dualism. Developments in cognitive science, however, render supernatural dualism suspect for explaining the human mind. How, then, can we speak of the mind of God? Borrowing from Daniel Dennett's intentional stance, I suggest that analogical reasoning regarding the mind of God be abandoned in favor of an ontologically agnostic approach that treats God as an intentional system. In this approach, God's purposive action is an explanatory feature of the believer's universe, a real pattern that informs our values and beliefs about the world and our place in it.     

Two Books for Teachers

Murphy, Nancey and Ellis, George F. R. On the Moral Nature of the Universe: Theology, Cosmology, and Ethics
Haught, John F. Science and Religion: From Conflict to Conversation     

《尚书》、《左传》、《国语》的心理学思想研究

《尚书》、《左传》、《国语》是我国最古老的三部文献。我国古代的心理学思想有不少都可以在其中找到源头。本文主要讨论：《尚书》的五行观念、人贵论和人性论思想、认知心理思想、个性心理思想、心理测验思想;《左传》的情感心理思想、病理心理思想、文艺心理思想;《国语》的缺陷心理思想。     

WHY A BRAIN CAPABLE OF LANGUAGE EVOLVED ONLY ONCE: PREFRONTAL CORTEX AND SYMBOL LEARNING

Abstract. Language and information processes are critical issues in scientific controversies regarding the qualities that epitomize humanness. Whereas some theorists claim human mental uniqueness with regard to language, others point to successes in teaching language skills to other animals. However, although these animals may learn names for things, they show little ability to utilize a complex framework of symbolic reference. In such a framework, words or other symbols refer not only to objects and concepts but also to sequential and hierarchical relationships with other symbols. This process is essential to human mental operations, including language, mathematics, and music. In humans, these operations may have coevolved with the prefrontal area of the cerebral cortex, which is proportionately much larger in humans than in other animals and more intricately linked with other areas of the brain. Analysis of the structure and function of the prefrontal area suggests that it is centrally involved in the operation of higher-order associative relationships involving the subordination of one set of associations to another. This alternate learning strategy apparently appeared at the cost of certain sensory, motor, or limbic abilities. The payoff was symbolic thinking. Humans thus are unique among species, not just for their highly developed language ability but for their odd style of thinking and learning.     

The Role of Executive Function and Theory of Mind in Pragmatic Computations

In sentences such as “Some dogs are mammals,” the literal semantic meaning (“Some and possibly all dogs are mammals”) conflicts with the pragmatic meaning (“Not all dogs are mammals,” known as a scalar implicature). Prior work has shown that adults vary widely in the extent to which they adopt the semantic or pragmatic meaning of such utterances, yet the underlying reason for this variation is unknown. Drawing on theoretical models of scalar implicature derivation, we explore the hypothesis that the cognitive abilities of executive function (EF) and theory of mind (ToM) contribute to this observed variation. In Experiment 1, we show that individuals with better ToM are more likely to compute a scalar implicature and adopt the pragmatic meaning of an utterance; however, EF makes no unique contribution to scalar implicature comprehension after accounting for ToM. In Experiment 2, we replicate this finding and assess whether it generalizes to the comprehension of other pragmatic phenomena such as indirect requests (e.g., “It's hot in here” uttered to ask for something to be done) and metaphor (e.g., “to harvest courage”). This is the first evidence that differences in ToM are associated with pragmatic competence in neurotypical adults across distinct pragmatic phenomena.     

二胎环境下小学高年级“脱独”儿童父母教养方式与同胞关系:心理理论的中介作用

研究采用问卷集体施测,收集了788名小学高年级“脱独”儿童的父母教养方式、同胞关系以及心理理论的状况,探讨小学高年级“脱独”儿童父母教养方式对同胞关系的影响及心理理论作为中介变量的影响。结果表明:心理理论在父母教养方式中的父亲过分干涉、母亲情感温暖理解、母亲惩罚严厉、母亲过分干涉与同胞关系之间起完全中介作用; 心理理论在父亲情感温暖理解、父亲偏爱与同胞关系之间起部分中介作用。研究认为,良好的父母教养方式,有助于个体提高心理理论,并可能在一定程度上改善同胞关系。     

“心为太极”说在朱子学中的诠释

朱子在《易学启蒙》中曾引用邵雍“心为太极”之说。此说与朱子学的固有观念似乎相矛盾。但“心为太极”说在朱子学的框架内至少曾出现如下三种理解:朱子本人以“心”为易图的中心方位来解释“太极虚中之象”的“环中说”;在朱子后学中具有广泛影响的禀赋说;现代学者所揭示出的“境界说”。三种说法并不矛盾,“环中说”背后所体现的是“太极不离阴阳”的活动性原则,它与“禀赋说”所代表的实体性原则相辅相成,二者的统一就是“境界说”。此外,“心为太极”还有一层工夫的含义,对于提示学者在自家身上体贴太极观念具有重要的意义。