Estimation and visualization of confusability matrices from adaptive measurement data

We present a simple but effective method based on Luce’s choice axiom [Luce, R.D. (1959). Individual choice behavior: A theoretical analysis. New York: John Wiley & Sons] for consistent estimation of the pairwise confusabilities of items in a multiple-choice recognition task with arbitrarily chosen choice-sets. The method combines the exact (non-asymptotic) Bayesian way of assessing uncertainty with the unbiasedness emphasized in the classical frequentist approach.We apply the method to data collected using an adaptive computer game designed for prevention of reading disability. A player’s estimated confusability of phonemes (or more accurately, phoneme-grapheme connections) and larger units of language is visualized in an easily understood way with color cues and explicit indication of the accuracy of the estimates. Visualization of learning-related changes in the player’s performance is considered.The empirical validity of the choice axiom is evaluated using the game data itself. The axiom appears to hold reasonably well although a small systematic violation is observable for the smallest choice-set sizes.     

“ÁLL TRÁDES,THEIR GEAR AND TACKLE AND TRIM”: THEOLOGY,COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE,AND PSYCHONEUROIMMUNOLOGY IN TRANSVERSAL DIALOGUE

This third of three articles outlining a different approach to science/religion dialogue generally and to engagement between theology and the neurosciences specifically, gives a brief account of the model in practice. It begins by introducing the question to be investigated—whether the experience of relational connection can affect health outcomes by directly moderating immune function. Then, employing the same threefold heuristic of encounter, exchange, and expression used previously, it discusses how the transversal model set out in these articles has been used to investigate this question and to develop a theoretical physiological model for the proposed link between relationality and health.     

I Can't Get You Out of My Head: The Influence of Secrecy on Consumers’ Self‐Brand Connections

Although research provides anecdotal evidence of consumers keeping their brand consumption a secret, there is little empirical corroboration to justify its study or illuminate the resulting consequences. The goals of this research are to provide evidence for the prevalence of keeping brand consumption a secret and to understand the resulting cognitive processing and consequences. Specifically, we first explore the occurrence of secrecy in the context of brand consumption, its types, and its motivations, underscoring the need for further investigation. Then, through a series of three subsequent studies, we demonstrate that keeping brand consumption a secret can lead to enhanced self‐brand connections through the underlying processes of thought suppression and thought intrusion. We rule out alternative explanations and enhance generalizability through the examination of passive (e.g., avoiding) versus active (e.g., lying) secrecy and variations in agency (i.e., instructed vs. voluntary secrecy).     

When I grow down – music,spirituality and memory loss: A performative lecture on aging

This article uses a postmodern methodology to set out a model of life which consists of a time of growing up and learning to speak, and of growing down when the power of speech and cognition gradually disintegrates. It describes how this was presented at a conference partly by means of drama (including movement and music) at the beginning and ending of a lecture which was designed to show the important role of music at the beginning and end of life. The centre of the presentation sets out the research into the role of music in personhood, wellbeing and health. It examines the role of music in connectedness, community and identity. There is much evidence for the relationship between music and health which is leading to the possibility of doctors prescribing music. The growth of community choirs has seen the growth of a musical aesthetic which values wellbeing highly. A phenomenography of the musical experience clarifies the relationship between music and wellbeing and the potentially transformative effects of the liminal space created by the four domains of musicking – Materials, Expression, Construction and Values. It also sets out a way of presenting research that engages the mind, body, emotions and spirituality of the audience.     

“Socialism of the soul:” Holocaust in Saul Bellow’s The Victim

Saul Bellow wrote his second novel The Victim at the Partisan Review group’s instance. In the aftermath of the Holocaust the PR group advocated the assimilation of the American Jews into mainstream American life for their future safety and prosperity. Keeping in view Bellow’s creative potentials and belief in Marxism/Trotskyism, the PR members asked him to educate the Jews in this matter through his fiction. Bellow treated the subject of Jewish assimilation in an allegorical vein, projecting the idea of universal brotherhood based on common human grounds. Here, a Jew, Asa Leventhal, behaves like a Gentile and a Gentile, Kirby Allbee, like a Jew as victim and victimizer of each other. Their repeated encounters mitigate their racial apprehensions and bring the two closer to each other. Both discover one into the other as his inescapable self, bound by a common human connection. Finally they make peace with each other, projecting Bellow’s allegory of inexorable cosmic kinship—“socialism of the soul”—despite their differences of blood, race and religion.     

Social connection and social networking: Daily conflict increases nightly Facebook use among avoidant participants

Using a daily diary methodology we explored whether attachment style predicted evening Facebook use and whether this effect was moderated by daily interpersonal conflict. High anxiety participants reported spending significantly more time on Facebook at night, regardless of daily conflict. Conversely, participants high in avoidance only reported increased time on Facebook on nights following days of more (vs. less) conflict. Daily conflict did not influence time spent in face-to-face interactions for avoidant participants. Interestingly, increased time on Facebook led to lower self-esteem next day , but increased time in face-to-face interactions led to higher self-esteem. Results suggest people high in avoidance use Facebook as an indirect way to seek connection following conflict, but, ironically, Facebook fails to fulfill avoidant’s belongingness needs.     

A MODEL OF CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS

Abstract: In this article I identify the conceptual tools needed to establish claims for the existence of conceptual ties, along with the principles governing the use of those tools, and present a model of conceptual analysis. I identify and justify those principles in the light of the conditions for the meaningfulness of expressions in language, which I extract from an analysis of the concept of meaning. The conclusions of this analysis are organized into a schematic model of the workings of a language. According to this model, the meaning of every word in any language is determined by its role in the systematic mapping of all possible states of affairs included in its conceptual scheme.     

第二语言习得过程中介语变化论析

本文以中介语的历时变化和共时变化为视角,归纳和分析了中介语多变性的不同语言能力变化论和不同环境语言运用变化论;并从学习者的语言运用环境和交际对象、学习方式和在语言运用中对语言形式的注意程度等方面,对解释中介语多变性的不同观点进行了评介。最后,从联结的角度对中介语本质特性进行了分析。     

参照群体类型与自我—品牌联系

自我－品牌联系(Self-brand Connection)指消费者使用某品牌构建、强化和表达自我的程度。研究参照群体的类型对消费者的自我－品牌联系的影响。研究结果表明：三种非成员群体对自我－品牌联系的影响是不同的,消费者会使用品牌形象与渴望群体一致的品牌来表明自己是什么类型的人,也会使用品牌形象与规避群体相悖的品牌来表明自己不是什么类型的人;消费者对成员群体的情感承诺程度会调节成员群体对自我－品牌联系的影响,情感承诺度高、中的成员群体比情感承诺度低的成员群体对自我－品牌联系的影响更大