1
|
Ünal E, Wilson F, Trueswell J, Papafragou A. Asymmetries in encoding event roles: Evidence from language and cognition. Cognition 2024; 250:105868. [PMID: 38959638 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105868] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2022] [Revised: 05/20/2024] [Accepted: 06/28/2024] [Indexed: 07/05/2024]
Abstract
It has long been hypothesized that the linguistic structure of events, including event participants and their relative prominence, draws on the non-linguistic nature of events and the roles that these events license. However, the precise relation between the prominence of event participants in language and cognition has not been tested experimentally in a systematic way. Here we address this gap. In four experiments, we investigate the relative prominence of (animate) Agents, Patients, Goals and Instruments in the linguistic encoding of complex events and the prominence of these event roles in cognition as measured by visual search and change blindness tasks. The relative prominence of these event roles was largely similar-though not identical-across linguistic and non-linguistic measures. Across linguistic and non-linguistic tasks, Patients were more salient than Goals, which were more salient than Instruments. (Animate) Agents were more salient than Patients in linguistic descriptions and visual search; however, this asymmetrical pattern did not emerge in change detection. Overall, our results reveal homologies between the linguistic and non-linguistic prominence of individual event participants, thereby lending support to the claim that the linguistic structure of events builds on underlying conceptual event representations. We discuss implications of these findings for linguistic theory and theories of event cognition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ercenur Ünal
- Department of Psychology, Ozyegin University, Istanbul, Turkey.
| | - Frances Wilson
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
| | - John Trueswell
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Anna Papafragou
- Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Tal S, Grossman E, Arnon I. Infant-directed speech becomes less redundant as infants grow: Implications for language learning. Cognition 2024; 249:105817. [PMID: 38810427 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105817] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2022] [Revised: 05/13/2024] [Accepted: 05/14/2024] [Indexed: 05/31/2024]
Abstract
Do speakers use less redundant language with more proficient interlocutors? Both the communicative efficiency framework and the language development literature predict that speech directed to younger infants should be more redundant than speech directed to older infants. Here, we test this by quantifying redundancy in infant-directed speech using entropy rate - an information-theoretic measure reflecting average degree of repetitiveness. While IDS is often described as repetitive, entropy rate provides a novel holistic measure of redundancy in this speech genre. Using two developmental corpora, we compare entropy rates of samples taken from different ages. We find that parents use less redundant speech when talking to older children, illustrating an effect of perceived interlocutor proficiency on redundancy. The developmental decrease in redundancy reflects a decrease in lexical repetition, but also a decrease in repetitions of multi-word sequences, highlighting the importance of larger sequences in early language learning.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shira Tal
- Department of Linguistics and English Language, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Department of Cognitive Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
| | - Eitan Grossman
- Department of Linguistics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Inbal Arnon
- Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Fogd D, Sebanz N, Kovács ÁM. Flexible social monitoring as revealed by eye movements: Spontaneous mental state updating triggered by others' unexpected actions. Cognition 2024; 249:105812. [PMID: 38763072 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105812] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2023] [Revised: 05/09/2024] [Accepted: 05/10/2024] [Indexed: 05/21/2024]
Abstract
Successful interactions require not only representing others' mental states but also flexibly updating them, whenever one's original inferences may no longer hold. Such situations arise, for instance, when a partner's behavior is incongruent with one's expectations. Although these situations are rather common, the question whether people update others' mental states spontaneously upon encountering unexpected behaviors and whether they use the updated mental states in novel contexts, has been largely unexplored. We addressed these issues in two experiments. In each experiment participants first performed an anticipatory looking task, reacting to a virtual 'partner', who categorized pictures based on their ambiguous or non-ambiguous color. Importantly, to perform the task participants did not have to track their partner's perspective. Following a correct categorization phase, the 'partner' started to systematically miscategorize one of the ambiguous colors (e.g., as if she would now believe that the greenish blue is green). We measured how participants' anticipatory looking preceding the partner's categorization changed across trials. Afterward, we asked whether participants implicitly transferred their knowledge about the partner's updated perspective to a new task. Finally, they performed an explicit perspective-taking task, to test whether they selectively updated the partner's perspective, but not their own. Results revealed that correct anticipations started to emerge only after a few miscategorizations, indicating the spontaneous updating of the other's perspective regarding the miscategorized color. Signatures of updating emerged somewhat earlier when the partner made similarity judgments (Experiment 2), highlighting the subjective nature of her decisions, compared to when following an explicit color-categorization rule (Experiment 1). In the explicit perspective-taking task of both experiments, roughly half of the participants could categorize items according to the partner's (spontaneously updated) perspective and also used their partner's updated perspective in the implicit transfer task to some degree, while they were the ones who displayed more pronounced anticipatory patterns as well. Such data provides strong evidence that the observed changes in anticipatory looking reflect spontaneous and flexible mental state updating. In addition, the findings also point to a high individual variability both in the updating of attributed mental states and the use of the updated mental state content.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Dóra Fogd
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Natalie Sebanz
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Vienna, Austria
| | | |
Collapse
|
4
|
Bearfield CX, Stokes C, Lovett A, Franconeri S. What Does the Chart Say? Grouping Cues Guide Viewer Comparisons and Conclusions in Bar Charts. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VISUALIZATION AND COMPUTER GRAPHICS 2024; 30:5097-5110. [PMID: 37792647 DOI: 10.1109/tvcg.2023.3289292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/06/2023]
Abstract
Reading a visualization is like reading a paragraph. Each sentence is a comparison: the mean of these is higher than those; this difference is smaller than that. What determines which comparisons are made first? The viewer's goals and expertise matter, but the way that values are visually grouped together within the chart also impacts those comparisons. Research from psychology suggests that comparisons involve multiple steps. First, the viewer divides the visualization into a set of units. This might include a single bar or a grouped set of bars. Then the viewer selects and compares two of these units, perhaps noting that one pair of bars is longer than another. Viewers might take an additional third step and perform a second-order comparison, perhaps determining that the difference between one pair of bars is greater than the difference between another pair. We create a visual comparison taxonomy that allows us to develop and test a sequence of hypotheses about which comparisons people are more likely to make when reading a visualization. We find that people tend to compare two groups before comparing two individual bars and that second-order comparisons are rare. Visual cues like spatial proximity and color can influence which elements are grouped together and selected for comparison, with spatial proximity being a stronger grouping cue. Interestingly, once the viewer grouped together and compared a set of bars, regardless of whether the group is formed by spatial proximity or color similarity, they no longer consider other possible groupings in their comparisons.
Collapse
|
5
|
Van de Cruys S, Bervoets J, Gadsby S, Gijbels D, Poels K. Insight in the Conspiracist's Mind. PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW 2024; 28:302-324. [PMID: 37776304 DOI: 10.1177/10888683231203145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/02/2023]
Abstract
Academic AbstractThe motto of the conspiracist, "Do your own research," may seem ludicrous to scientists. Indeed, it is often dismissed as a mere rhetorical device that conspiracists use to give themselves the semblance of science. In this perspective paper, we explore the information-seeking activities ("research") that conspiracists do engage in. Drawing on the experimental psychology of aha experiences, we explain how these activities, as well as the epistemic experiences that precede (curiosity) or follow (insight or "aha" experiences) them, may play a crucial role in the appeal and development of conspiracy beliefs. Aha moments have properties that can be exploited by conspiracy theories, such as the potential for false but seemingly grounded conclusions. Finally, we hypothesize that the need for autonomous epistemic agency and discovery is universal but increases as people experience more uncertainty and/or feel epistemically excluded in society, hence linking it to existing literature on explaining conspiracy theories.
Collapse
|
6
|
Gao Q, Chen P, Huang Q, Wang Z. Advanced theory of mind and children's prosocial lie-telling in middle childhood: A training study. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 246:106012. [PMID: 39033606 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2024] [Revised: 05/28/2024] [Accepted: 05/31/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024]
Abstract
Children's advanced theory of mind (AToM) is concurrently associated with their prosocial lie-telling. However, the causal link between AToM and prosocial lie-telling has not yet been demonstrated. To address this gap, the current study adopted a training paradigm and investigated the role of AToM in children's prosocial lie-telling in middle childhood. A total of 66 9- and 10-year-old children who did not demonstrate any prosocial lie-telling in a disappointment gift paradigm at the baseline were recruited and randomly assigned to either the experimental group (n = 32) or an active control group (n = 34). The experimental group underwent a conversation-based training program of four sessions. The results showed significantly greater gains in AToM at the posttest for the experimental group children compared with the control group children, controlling for family socioeconomic status, children's literacy score, working memory, and inhibition. More important, the experimental group children were more likely to tell prosocial lies than the control group, even after controlling for the pretest AToM and other covariates. However, the training effects faded at the 6-month follow-up test after the training's completion. These findings provide the first evidence for the causal role of AToM in the development of prosocial lie-telling in middle childhood. The fade-out effect is discussed in the context of educational interventions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Qiyang Gao
- Shaoxing University, Shaoxing, Zhejiang 312010, China
| | - Peiyao Chen
- South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510631, China
| | - Qianyao Huang
- Shaoxing University, Shaoxing, Zhejiang 312010, China
| | - Zhenlin Wang
- Massey University, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand.
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Abalde SF, Rigby A, Keller PE, Novembre G. A Framework for Joint Music Making: Behavioral Findings, Neural Processes, and Computational Models. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024:105816. [PMID: 39032841 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105816] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2023] [Revised: 07/15/2024] [Accepted: 07/16/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024]
Abstract
Across different epochs and societies, humans occasionally gather to jointly make music. This universal form of collective behavior is as fascinating as it is fragmentedly understood. As the interest in joint music making (JMM) rapidly grows, we review the state-of-the-art of this emerging science, blending behavioral, neural, and computational contributions. We present a conceptual framework synthesizing research on JMM within four components. The framework is centered upon interpersonal coordination, a crucial requirement for JMM. The other components imply the influence of individuals' (past) experience, (current) social factors, and (future) goals on real-time coordination. Our aim is to promote the development of JMM research by organizing existing work, inspiring new questions, and fostering accessibility for researchers belonging to other research communities.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sara F Abalde
- Neuroscience of Perception and Action Lab, Italian Institute of Technology, Rome, Italy; The Open University Affiliated Research Centre at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy.
| | - Alison Rigby
- Neurosciences Graduate Program, University of California, San Diego, US
| | - Peter E Keller
- Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University, Denmark; Department of Clinical Medicine, Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Denmark; The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Australia
| | - Giacomo Novembre
- Neuroscience of Perception and Action Lab, Italian Institute of Technology, Rome, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Poli F, Li YL, Naidu P, Mars RB, Hunnius S, Ruggeri A. Toddlers strategically adapt their information search. Nat Commun 2024; 15:5780. [PMID: 38987261 PMCID: PMC11237003 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48855-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2023] [Accepted: 05/14/2024] [Indexed: 07/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Adaptive information seeking is essential for humans to effectively navigate complex and dynamic environments. Here, we developed a gaze-contingent eye-tracking paradigm to examine the early emergence of adaptive information-seeking. Toddlers (N = 60, 18-36 months) and adults (N = 42) either learnt that an animal was equally likely to be found in any of four available locations, or that it was most likely to be found in one particular location. Afterwards, they were given control of a torchlight, which they could move with their eyes to explore the otherwise pitch-black task environment. Eye-movement data and Markov models show that, from 24 months of age, toddlers become more exploratory than adults, and start adapting their exploratory strategies to the information structure of the task. These results show that toddlers' search strategies are more sophisticated than previously thought, and identify the unique features that distinguish their information search from adults'.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Poli
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
| | - Yi-Lin Li
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB), Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Pravallika Naidu
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB), Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Rogier B Mars
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Max Planck Research Group iSearch, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
| | - Sabine Hunnius
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Azzurra Ruggeri
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB), Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- School of Social Sciences and Technology, Department of Education, Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany.
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Vienna, Austria.
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Cong Y, LaCroix AN, Lee J. Clinical efficacy of pre-trained large language models through the lens of aphasia. Sci Rep 2024; 14:15573. [PMID: 38971898 PMCID: PMC11227580 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-66576-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2024] [Accepted: 07/01/2024] [Indexed: 07/08/2024] Open
Abstract
The rapid development of large language models (LLMs) motivates us to explore how such state-of-the-art natural language processing systems can inform aphasia research. What kind of language indices can we derive from a pre-trained LLM? How do they differ from or relate to the existing language features in aphasia? To what extent can LLMs serve as an interpretable and effective diagnostic and measurement tool in a clinical context? To investigate these questions, we constructed predictive and correlational models, which utilize mean surprisals from LLMs as predictor variables. Using AphasiaBank archived data, we validated our models' efficacy in aphasia diagnosis, measurement, and prediction. Our finding is that LLMs-surprisals can effectively detect the presence of aphasia and different natures of the disorder, LLMs in conjunction with the existing language indices improve models' efficacy in subtyping aphasia, and LLMs-surprisals can capture common agrammatic deficits at both word and sentence level. Overall, LLMs have potential to advance automatic and precise aphasia prediction. A natural language processing pipeline can be greatly benefitted from integrating LLMs, enabling us to refine models of existing language disorders, such as aphasia.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yan Cong
- School of Languages and Cultures, Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA.
| | - Arianna N LaCroix
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA
| | - Jiyeon Lee
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Wu 吴奕忱 Y, Li 李晟 S. Complexity Matters: Normalization to Prototypical Viewpoint Induces Memory Distortion along the Vertical Axis of Scenes. J Neurosci 2024; 44:e1175232024. [PMID: 38777600 PMCID: PMC11223457 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1175-23.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2023] [Revised: 04/24/2024] [Accepted: 05/13/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Scene memory is prone to systematic distortions potentially arising from experience with the external world. Boundary transformation, a well-known memory distortion effect along the near-far axis of the three-dimensional space, represents the observer's erroneous recall of scenes' viewing distance. Researchers argued that normalization to the prototypical viewpoint with the high-probability viewing distance influenced this phenomenon. Herein, we hypothesized that the prototypical viewpoint also exists in the vertical angle of view (AOV) dimension and could cause memory distortion along scenes' vertical axis. Human subjects of both sexes were recruited to test this hypothesis, and two behavioral experiments were conducted, revealing a systematic memory distortion in the vertical AOV in both the forced choice (n = 79) and free adjustment (n = 30) tasks. Furthermore, the regression analysis implied that the complexity information asymmetry in scenes' vertical axis and the independent subjective AOV ratings from a large set of online participants (n = 1,208) could jointly predict AOV biases. Furthermore, in a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment (n = 24), we demonstrated the involvement of areas in the ventral visual pathway (V3/V4, PPA, and OPA) in AOV bias judgment. Additionally, in a magnetoencephalography experiment (n = 20), we could significantly decode the subjects' AOV bias judgments ∼140 ms after scene onset and the low-level visual complexity information around the similar temporal interval. These findings suggest that AOV bias is driven by the normalization process and associated with the neural activities in the early stage of scene processing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yichen Wu 吴奕忱
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- National Key Laboratory of General Artificial Intelligence, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Sheng Li 李晟
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- National Key Laboratory of General Artificial Intelligence, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Cathcart CA. Multiple evolutionary pressures shape identical consonant avoidance in the world's languages. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2316677121. [PMID: 38917001 PMCID: PMC11228491 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2316677121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Accepted: 05/15/2024] [Indexed: 06/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Languages disfavor word forms containing sequences of similar or identical consonants, due to the biomechanical and cognitive difficulties posed by patterns of this sort. However, the specific evolutionary processes responsible for this phenomenon are not fully understood. Words containing sequences of identical consonants may be more likely to arise than those without; processes of word form mutation may be more likely to remove than create sequences of identical consonants in word forms; finally, words containing identical consonants may die out more frequently than those without. Phylogenetic analyses of the evolution of homologous word forms indicate that words with identical consonants arise less frequently than those without. However, words with identical consonants do not die out more frequently than those without. Further analyses reveal that forms with identical consonants are replaced in basic meaning functions more frequently than words without. Taken together, results suggest that the underrepresentation of sequences of identical consonants is overwhelmingly a by-product of constraints on word form coinage, though processes related to word usage also serve to ensure that such patterns are infrequent in more salient vocabulary items. These findings clarify aspects of processes of lexical evolution and competition that take place during language change, optimizing communicative systems.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chundra A Cathcart
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zürich CH-8050, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zürich CH-8050, Switzerland
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Center "Words, Bones, Genes, Tools", University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72074, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Chen AM, Palacci A, Vélez N, Hawkins RD, Gershman SJ. A Hierarchical Bayesian Model of Adaptive Teaching. Cogn Sci 2024; 48:e13477. [PMID: 38980989 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2023] [Revised: 06/05/2024] [Accepted: 06/08/2024] [Indexed: 07/11/2024]
Abstract
How do teachers learn about what learners already know? How do learners aid teachers by providing them with information about their background knowledge and what they find confusing? We formalize this collaborative reasoning process using a hierarchical Bayesian model of pedagogy. We then evaluate this model in two online behavioral experiments (N = 312 adults). In Experiment 1, we show that teachers select examples that account for learners' background knowledge, and adjust their examples based on learners' feedback. In Experiment 2, we show that learners strategically provide more feedback when teachers' examples deviate from their background knowledge. These findings provide a foundation for extending computational accounts of pedagogy to richer interactive settings.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alicia M Chen
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
| | | | | | | | - Samuel J Gershman
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University
- Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Chu J, Tenenbaum JB, Schulz LE. In praise of folly: flexible goals and human cognition. Trends Cogn Sci 2024; 28:628-642. [PMID: 38616478 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2024.03.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2022] [Revised: 03/13/2024] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 04/16/2024]
Abstract
Humans often pursue idiosyncratic goals that appear remote from functional ends, including information gain. We suggest that this is valuable because goals (even prima facie foolish or unachievable ones) contain structured information that scaffolds thinking and planning. By evaluating hypotheses and plans with respect to their goals, humans can discover new ideas that go beyond prior knowledge and observable evidence. These hypotheses and plans can be transmitted independently of their original motivations, adapted across generations, and serve as an engine of cultural evolution. Here, we review recent empirical and computational research underlying goal generation and planning and discuss the ways that the flexibility of our motivational system supports cognitive gains for both individuals and societies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Junyi Chu
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | | | - Laura E Schulz
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Tatone D, Pomiechowska B. Questioning the nature and origins of the "social agent" concept. Behav Brain Sci 2024; 47:e142. [PMID: 38934455 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x23003011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Abstract
Spelke posits that the concept of "social agent," who performs object-directed actions to fulfill social goals, is the first noncore concept that infants acquire as they begin to learn their native language. We question this proposal on empirical grounds and theoretical grounds, and propose instead that the representation of object-mediated interactions may be supported by a dedicated prelinguistic mechanism.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Denis Tatone
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Vienna, Austria ; https://denistatone.wixsite.com/my-site
| | - Barbara Pomiechowska
- Center for Developmental Science, Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK ; https://bpomie.github.io/
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Carey S. The role of language in transcending core knowledge. Behav Brain Sci 2024; 47:e123. [PMID: 38934434 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x23003060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Abstract
What Babies Know (WBK) argues that core knowledge has a unique place in cognitive architecture, between fully perceptual and fully conceptual systems of representation. Here I argue that WBK's core knowledge is on the perception side of the perception/cognition divide. I discuss some implications of this conclusion for the roles language learning might play in transcending core knowledge.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Susan Carey
- Psychology, Harvard University, MA, Cambridge, USA
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Augustat N, Endres D, Mueller EM. Uncertainty of treatment efficacy moderates placebo effects on reinforcement learning. Sci Rep 2024; 14:14421. [PMID: 38909105 PMCID: PMC11193823 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-64240-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2024] [Indexed: 06/24/2024] Open
Abstract
The placebo-reward hypothesis postulates that positive effects of treatment expectations on health (i.e., placebo effects) and reward processing share common neural underpinnings. Moreover, experiments in humans and animals indicate that reward uncertainty increases striatal dopamine, which is presumably involved in placebo responses and reward learning. Therefore, treatment uncertainty analogously to reward uncertainty may affect updating from rewards after placebo treatment. Here, we address whether different degrees of uncertainty regarding the efficacy of a sham treatment affect reward sensitivity. In an online between-subjects experiment with N = 141 participants, we systematically varied the provided efficacy instructions before participants first received a sham treatment that consisted of listening to binaural beats and then performed a probabilistic reinforcement learning task. We fitted a Q-learning model including two different learning rates for positive (gain) and negative (loss) reward prediction errors and an inverse gain parameter to behavioral decision data in the reinforcement learning task. Our results yielded an inverted-U-relationship between provided treatment efficacy probability and learning rates for gain, such that higher levels of treatment uncertainty, rather than of expected net efficacy, affect presumably dopamine-related reward learning. These findings support the placebo-reward hypothesis and suggest harnessing uncertainty in placebo treatment for recovering reward learning capabilities.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nick Augustat
- Department of Psychology, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
| | - Dominik Endres
- Department of Psychology, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Erik M Mueller
- Department of Psychology, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Brocard S, Wilson VAD, Berton C, Zuberbühler K, Bickel B. A universal preference for animate agents in hominids. iScience 2024; 27:109996. [PMID: 38883826 PMCID: PMC11177197 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109996] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2023] [Revised: 03/15/2024] [Accepted: 05/14/2024] [Indexed: 06/18/2024] Open
Abstract
When conversing, humans instantaneously predict meaning from fragmentary and ambiguous mspeech, long before utterance completion. They do this by integrating priors (initial assumptions about the world) with contextual evidence to rapidly decide on the most likely meaning. One powerful prior is attentional preference for agents, which biases sentence processing but universally so only if agents are animate. Here, we investigate the evolutionary origins of this preference, by allowing chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, human children, and adults to freely choose between agents and patients in still images, following video clips depicting their dyadic interaction. All participants preferred animate (and occasionally inanimate) agents, although the effect was attenuated if patients were also animate. The findings suggest that a preference for animate agents evolved before language and is not reducible to simple perceptual biases. To conclude, both humans and great apes prefer animate agents in decision tasks, echoing a universal prior in human language processing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Brocard
- Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
| | - Vanessa A D Wilson
- Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Chloé Berton
- Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
| | - Klaus Zuberbühler
- Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland (UK)
| | - Balthasar Bickel
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Adriano A, Ciccione L. The interplay between spatial and non-spatial grouping cues over approximate number perception. Atten Percept Psychophys 2024:10.3758/s13414-024-02908-4. [PMID: 38858304 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-024-02908-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/13/2024] [Indexed: 06/12/2024]
Abstract
Humans and animals share the cognitive ability to quickly extract approximate number information from sets. Main psychophysical models suggest that visual approximate numerosity relies on segmented units, which can be affected by Gestalt rules. Indeed, arrays containing spatial grouping cues, such as connectedness, closure, and even symmetry, are underestimated compared to ungrouped arrays with equal low-level features. Recent evidence suggests that non-spatial cues, such as color-similarity, also trigger numerosity underestimation. However, in natural vision, several grouping cues may coexist in the scene. Notably, conjunction of grouping cues (color and closure) reduces perceived numerosity following an additive rule. To test whether the conjunction-effect holds for other Gestalt cues, we investigated the effect of connectedness and symmetry over numerosity perception both in isolation and, critically, in conjunction with luminance similarity. Participants performed a comparison-task between a reference and a test stimulus varying in numerosity. In Experiment 1, test stimuli contained two isolated groupings (connectedness or luminance), a conjunction (connectedness and luminance), and a neutral condition (no groupings). Results show that point of subjective equality was higher in both isolated grouping conditions compared to the neutral condition. Furthermore, in the conjunction condition, the biases from isolated grouping cues added linearly, resulting in a numerosity underestimation equal to the sum of the isolated biases. In Experiment 2 we found that conjunction of symmetry and luminance followed the same additive rule. These findings strongly suggest that both spatial and non-spatial isolated cues affect numerosity perception. Crucially, we show that their conjunction effect extends to symmetry and connectedness.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Adriano
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, CEA, INSERM, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin center, 91191, Gif/Yvette, France.
| | - Lorenzo Ciccione
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, CEA, INSERM, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin center, 91191, Gif/Yvette, France
- Collège de France, Université Paris Sciences Lettres (PSL), 75005, Paris, France
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Bass I, Bonawitz E. Early environments and exploration in the preschool years. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0305353. [PMID: 38857256 PMCID: PMC11164363 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305353] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2023] [Accepted: 05/27/2024] [Indexed: 06/12/2024] Open
Abstract
A great deal of research has demonstrated how children's exploration is driven by opportunities for learning. However, less work has investigated how individual differences across children and their environmental contexts relate to patterns in playful exploration. We performed a "mega-analysis" in which we pooled preschool-aged children's play data from four past experiments in our lab (N = 278; M(age) = 56 months) and correlated play behaviors with age and socioeconomic status (median income, modal education in children's home zip codes). We found that, with age, children performed more unique actions during play. Additionally, children from lower SES areas explored more variably; the link between this play and tendencies to focus on pedagogically demonstrated features traded off differently than it did for higher SES children. This work lays critical groundwork for understanding exploration across developmental contexts.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ilona Bass
- Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Elizabeth Bonawitz
- Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Gupta P, Vogelsang M, Vogelsang L, Shah P, Gilad-Gutnick S, Sinha P. The influence of semantics on long-term visual memory capacity in children and adults. BRITISH JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2024. [PMID: 38859629 DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2023] [Revised: 04/17/2024] [Accepted: 04/29/2024] [Indexed: 06/12/2024]
Abstract
Human visual memory capacity has a rapid developmental progression. Here we examine whether image semantics modulate this progression. We assessed the performance of children (6-14 years) and young adults (19-36 years) on a visual memory task using real-world (or meaningful) as well as abstract image sets, which were matched in low-level image attributes. For real images, we find comparable performance across the two age groups, consistent with previously reported results. However, for abstract images, we find a clear age-related difference indicating greater reliance of children's memory processes on semantics, suggesting that strategies for encoding abstract patterns keep improving even into late childhood. We complemented these studies with computational experiments designed to examine the role of increasing experience with real-world images on real and abstract image encoding, to examine whether the observed age-related differences, as well as the general privilege of real over abstract images, can emerge directly through experience with meaningful images. Our results provide support for this possibility and set the stage for a finer-grained investigation of the timeline along which children's memory capacity for abstract images reaches adult levels.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Priti Gupta
- Amarnath and Shashi Khosla School of Information Technology, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India
- Project Prakash, Dr Shroff's Charity Eye Hospital, New Delhi, India
- Cognitive Science Programme, Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra, India
| | - Marin Vogelsang
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Lukas Vogelsang
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Pragya Shah
- Project Prakash, Dr Shroff's Charity Eye Hospital, New Delhi, India
| | - Sharon Gilad-Gutnick
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Pawan Sinha
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Mahon BZ, Almeida J. Reciprocal interactions among parietal and occipito-temporal representations support everyday object-directed actions. Neuropsychologia 2024; 198:108841. [PMID: 38430962 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108841] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Revised: 02/19/2024] [Accepted: 02/25/2024] [Indexed: 03/05/2024]
Abstract
Everyday interactions with common manipulable objects require the integration of conceptual knowledge about objects and actions with real-time sensory information about the position, orientation and volumetric structure of the grasp target. The ability to successfully interact with everyday objects involves analysis of visual form and shape, surface texture, material properties, conceptual attributes such as identity, function and typical context, and visuomotor processing supporting hand transport, grasp form, and object manipulation. Functionally separable brain regions across the dorsal and ventral visual pathways support the processing of these different object properties and, in cohort, are necessary for functional object use. Object-directed grasps display end-state-comfort: they anticipate in form and force the shape and material properties of the grasp target, and how the object will be manipulated after it is grasped. End-state-comfort is the default for everyday interactions with manipulable objects and implies integration of information across the ventral and dorsal visual pathways. We propose a model of how visuomotor and action representations in parietal cortex interact with object representations in ventral and lateral occipito-temporal cortex. One pathway, from the supramarginal gyrus to the middle and inferior temporal gyrus, supports the integration of action-related information, including hand and limb position (supramarginal gyrus) with conceptual attributes and an appreciation of the action goal (middle temporal gyrus). A second pathway, from posterior IPS to the fusiform gyrus and collateral sulcus supports the integration of grasp parameters (IPS) with the surface texture and material properties (e.g., weight distribution) of the grasp target. Reciprocal interactions among these regions are part of a broader network of regions that support everyday functional object interactions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bradford Z Mahon
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, USA; Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, USA; Department of Neurosurgery, University of Rochester Medical Center, USA.
| | - Jorge Almeida
- Proaction Laboratory, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra, Portugal; CINEICC, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra, Portugal
| |
Collapse
|
22
|
Goldstein-Marcusohn Y, Asaad R, Asaad L, Freud E. The large-scale organization of shape processing in the ventral and dorsal pathways is dissociable from attention. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae221. [PMID: 38832533 PMCID: PMC11148664 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2024] [Revised: 05/02/2024] [Accepted: 05/09/2024] [Indexed: 06/05/2024] Open
Abstract
The two visual pathways model posits that visual information is processed through two distinct cortical systems: The ventral pathway promotes visual recognition, while the dorsal pathway supports visuomotor control. Recent evidence suggests the dorsal pathway is also involved in shape processing and may contribute to object perception, but it remains unclear whether this sensitivity is independent of attentional mechanisms that were localized to overlapping cortical regions. To address this question, we conducted two fMRI experiments that utilized different parametric scrambling manipulations in which human participants viewed novel objects in different levels of scrambling and were instructed to attend to either the object or to another aspect of the image (e.g. color of the background). Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that the large-scale organization of shape selectivity along the dorsal and ventral pathways was preserved regardless of the focus of attention. Attention did modulate shape sensitivity, but these effects were similar across the two pathways. These findings support the idea that shape processing is at least partially dissociable from attentional processes and relies on a distributed set of cortical regions across the visual pathways.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yael Goldstein-Marcusohn
- Department of Psychology and the Centre for Vision Research, York University, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
| | - Rahaf Asaad
- Department of Psychology and the Centre for Vision Research, York University, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
| | - Leen Asaad
- Department of Psychology and the Centre for Vision Research, York University, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
| | - Erez Freud
- Department of Psychology and the Centre for Vision Research, York University, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Tatone D, Csibra G. The Representation of Giving Actions: Event Construction in the Service of Monitoring Social Relationships. CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2024; 33:159-165. [PMID: 38855531 PMCID: PMC11156555 DOI: 10.1177/09637214241242460] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2024]
Abstract
Giving is a unique attribute of human sharing. In this review, we discuss evidence attesting to our species' preparedness to recognize interactions based on this behavior. We show that infants and adults require minimal cues of resource transfer to relate the participants of a giving event in an interactive unit (A gives X to B) and that such an interpretation does not systematically generalize to superficially similar taking events, which may be interpreted in nonsocial terms (A takes X). We argue that this asymmetry, echoed in language, reveals the operations of a mechanism of event construction where participant roles are encoded only when they are crucial to rendering an action teleologically well-formed. We show that such a representation of giving allows people to monitor the direction (who gave to whom) and kind (what was given) of resource transfer within a dyad, suggesting that giving may be interpreted as indicative of a relationship based on long-term balance. As this research suggests, advancing the study of the prelinguistic representation of giving has implications for cognitive linguistics, by clarifying the relation between event participants and syntactic arguments, as well as social cognition, by identifying which kinds of relational inferences people draw from attending to acts of sharing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Denis Tatone
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University
| | - Gergely Csibra
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University
- School of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Fedorenko E, Piantadosi ST, Gibson EAF. Language is primarily a tool for communication rather than thought. Nature 2024; 630:575-586. [PMID: 38898296 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07522-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2023] [Accepted: 05/03/2024] [Indexed: 06/21/2024]
Abstract
Language is a defining characteristic of our species, but the function, or functions, that it serves has been debated for centuries. Here we bring recent evidence from neuroscience and allied disciplines to argue that in modern humans, language is a tool for communication, contrary to a prominent view that we use language for thinking. We begin by introducing the brain network that supports linguistic ability in humans. We then review evidence for a double dissociation between language and thought, and discuss several properties of language that suggest that it is optimized for communication. We conclude that although the emergence of language has unquestionably transformed human culture, language does not appear to be a prerequisite for complex thought, including symbolic thought. Instead, language is a powerful tool for the transmission of cultural knowledge; it plausibly co-evolved with our thinking and reasoning capacities, and only reflects, rather than gives rise to, the signature sophistication of human cognition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Evelina Fedorenko
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Speech and Hearing in Bioscience and Technology Program at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
25
|
Goupil N, Rayson H, Serraille É, Massera A, Ferrari PF, Hochmann JR, Papeo L. Visual Preference for Socially Relevant Spatial Relations in Humans and Monkeys. Psychol Sci 2024; 35:681-693. [PMID: 38683657 DOI: 10.1177/09567976241242995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/01/2024] Open
Abstract
As a powerful social signal, a body, face, or gaze facing toward oneself holds an individual's attention. We asked whether, going beyond an egocentric stance, facingness between others has a similar effect and why. In a preferential-looking time paradigm, human adults showed spontaneous preference to look at two bodies facing toward (vs. away from) each other (Experiment 1a, N = 24). Moreover, facing dyads were rated higher on social semantic dimensions, showing that facingness adds social value to stimuli (Experiment 1b, N = 138). The same visual preference was found in juvenile macaque monkeys (Experiment 2, N = 21). Finally, on the human development timescale, this preference emerged by 5 years, although young infants by 7 months of age already discriminate visual scenes on the basis of body positioning (Experiment 3, N = 120). We discuss how the preference for facing dyads-shared by human adults, young children, and macaques-can signal a new milestone in social cognition development, supporting processing and learning from third-party social interactions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Goupil
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, Bron, France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France; and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
| | - Holly Rayson
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, Bron, France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France; and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
| | - Émilie Serraille
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, Bron, France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France; and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
| | - Alice Massera
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, Bron, France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France; and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
| | - Pier Francesco Ferrari
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, Bron, France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France; and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
| | - Jean-Rémy Hochmann
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, Bron, France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France; and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
| | - Liuba Papeo
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, Bron, France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France; and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Weaver H, Zettersten M, Saffran JR. Becoming word meaning experts: Infants' processing of familiar words in the context of typical and atypical exemplars. Child Dev 2024. [PMID: 38822689 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.14120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/03/2024]
Abstract
How do infants become word meaning experts? This registered report investigated the structure of infants' early lexical representations by manipulating the typicality of exemplars from familiar animal categories. 14- to 18-month-old infants (N = 84; 51 female; M = 15.7 months; race/ethnicity: 64% White, 8% Asian, 2% Hispanic, 1% Black, and 23% multiple categories; participating 2022-2023) were tested on their ability to recognize typical and atypical category exemplars after hearing familiar basic-level category labels. Infants robustly recognized both typical (d = 0.79, 95% CI [0.54, 1.03]) and atypical (d = 0.70, 95% CI [0.46, 0.94]) exemplars, with no significant difference between typicality conditions (d = 0.14, 95% CI [-0.08, 0.35]). These results support a broad-to-narrow account of infants' early word meanings. Implications for the role of experience in the development of lexical knowledge are discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Haley Weaver
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Martin Zettersten
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
| | - Jenny R Saffran
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Allen K, Brändle F, Botvinick M, Fan JE, Gershman SJ, Gopnik A, Griffiths TL, Hartshorne JK, Hauser TU, Ho MK, de Leeuw JR, Ma WJ, Murayama K, Nelson JD, van Opheusden B, Pouncy T, Rafner J, Rahwan I, Rutledge RB, Sherson J, Şimşek Ö, Spiers H, Summerfield C, Thalmann M, Vélez N, Watrous AJ, Tenenbaum JB, Schulz E. Using games to understand the mind. Nat Hum Behav 2024; 8:1035-1043. [PMID: 38907029 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-01878-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2022] [Accepted: 04/03/2024] [Indexed: 06/23/2024]
Abstract
Board, card or video games have been played by virtually every individual in the world. Games are popular because they are intuitive and fun. These distinctive qualities of games also make them ideal for studying the mind. By being intuitive, games provide a unique vantage point for understanding the inductive biases that support behaviour in more complex, ecological settings than traditional laboratory experiments. By being fun, games allow researchers to study new questions in cognition such as the meaning of 'play' and intrinsic motivation, while also supporting more extensive and diverse data collection by attracting many more participants. We describe the advantages and drawbacks of using games relative to standard laboratory-based experiments and lay out a set of recommendations on how to gain the most from using games to study cognition. We hope this Perspective will lead to a wider use of games as experimental paradigms, elevating the ecological validity, scale and robustness of research on the mind.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | - Alison Gopnik
- University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | | | | | - Tobias U Hauser
- University College London, London, UK
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London, UK
- University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Mark K Ho
- Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | | | - Wei Ji Ma
- New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Iyad Rahwan
- Center for Humans and Machines, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Mirko Thalmann
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
| | | | | | | | - Eric Schulz
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany.
| |
Collapse
|
28
|
Forgács B. Meaning as mentalization. Front Hum Neurosci 2024; 18:1384116. [PMID: 38855407 PMCID: PMC11158629 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1384116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2024] [Accepted: 05/02/2024] [Indexed: 06/11/2024] Open
Abstract
The way we establish meaning has been a profound question not only in language research but in developmental science as well. The relation between linguistic form and content has been loosened up in recent pragmatic approaches to communication, showing that code-based models of language comprehension must be augmented by context-sensitive, pragmatic-inferential mechanisms to recover the speaker's intended meaning. Language acquisition has traditionally been thought to involve building a mental lexicon and extracting syntactic rules from noisy linguistic input, while communicative-pragmatic inferences have also been argued to be indispensable. Recent research findings exploring the electrophysiological indicator of semantic processing, the N400, have raised serious questions about the traditional separation between semantic decoding and pragmatic inferential processes. The N400 appears to be sensitive to mentalization-the ability to attribute beliefs to social partners-already from its developmental onset. This finding raises the possibility that mentalization may not simply contribute to pragmatic inferences that enrich linguistic decoding processes but that the semantic system may be functioning in a fundamentally mentalistic manner. The present review first summarizes the key contributions of pragmatic models of communication to language comprehension. Then, it provides an overview of how communicative intentions are interpreted in developmental theories of communication, with a special emphasis on mentalization. Next, it discusses the sensitivity of infants to the information-transmitting potential of language, their ability to pick up its code-like features, and their capacity to track language comprehension of social partners using mentalization. In conclusion, I argue that the recovery of meaning during linguistic communication is not adequately modeled as a process of code-based semantic retrieval complemented by pragmatic inferences. Instead, the semantic system may establish meaning, as intended, during language comprehension and acquisition through mentalistic attribution of content to communicative partners.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bálint Forgács
- Department of Experimental and Neurocognitive Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
| |
Collapse
|
29
|
Gerstenberg T. Counterfactual simulation in causal cognition. Trends Cogn Sci 2024:S1364-6613(24)00107-4. [PMID: 38777661 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2024.04.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2024] [Revised: 04/23/2024] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
How do people make causal judgments and assign responsibility? In this review article, I argue that counterfactual simulations are key. To simulate counterfactuals, we need three ingredients: a generative mental model of the world, the ability to perform interventions on that model, and the capacity to simulate the consequences of these interventions. The counterfactual simulation model (CSM) uses these ingredients to capture people's intuitive understanding of the physical and social world. In the physical domain, the CSM predicts people's causal judgments about dynamic collision events, complex situations that involve multiple causes, omissions as causes, and causes that sustain physical stability. In the social domain, the CSM predicts responsibility judgments in helping and hindering scenarios.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tobias Gerstenberg
- Stanford University, Department of Psychology, 450 Jane Stanford Way, Bldg 420, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
30
|
Zhang X, Bloom P, Jara-Ettinger J. People Have Systematically Different Ownership Intuitions in Seemingly Simple Cases. Psychol Sci 2024:9567976241240424. [PMID: 38743821 DOI: 10.1177/09567976241240424] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Our understanding of ownership influences how we interact with objects and with each other. Here, we studied people's intuitions about ownership transfer using a set of simple, parametrically varied events. We found that people (N = 120 U.S. adults) had similar intuitions about ownership for some events but sharply opposing intuitions for others (Experiment 1). People (N = 120 U.S. adults) were unaware of these conflicts and overestimated ownership consensus (Experiment 2). Moreover, differences in people's ownership intuitions predicted their intuitions about the acceptability of using, altering, controlling, and destroying the owned object (N = 130 U.S. adults; Experiment 3), even when ownership was not explicitly mentioned (N = 130 U.S. adults; Experiment 4). Subject-level analyses suggest that these disagreements reflect at least two underlying intuitive theories, one in which intentions are central to ownership and another in which physical possession is prioritized.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Paul Bloom
- Department of Psychology, Yale University
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
| | | |
Collapse
|
31
|
Schneider H. The emergence of enhanced intelligence in a brain-inspired cognitive architecture. Front Comput Neurosci 2024; 18:1367712. [PMID: 38984056 PMCID: PMC11231642 DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2024.1367712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2024] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 07/11/2024] Open
Abstract
The Causal Cognitive Architecture is a brain-inspired cognitive architecture developed from the hypothesis that the navigation circuits in the ancestors of mammals duplicated to eventually form the neocortex. Thus, millions of neocortical minicolumns are functionally modeled in the architecture as millions of "navigation maps." An investigation of a cognitive architecture based on these navigation maps has previously shown that modest changes in the architecture allow the ready emergence of human cognitive abilities such as grounded, full causal decision-making, full analogical reasoning, and near-full compositional language abilities. In this study, additional biologically plausible modest changes to the architecture are considered and show the emergence of super-human planning abilities. The architecture should be considered as a viable alternative pathway toward the development of more advanced artificial intelligence, as well as to give insight into the emergence of natural human intelligence.
Collapse
|
32
|
Zuanazzi A, Ripollés P, Lin WM, Gwilliams L, King JR, Poeppel D. Negation mitigates rather than inverts the neural representations of adjectives. PLoS Biol 2024; 22:e3002622. [PMID: 38814982 PMCID: PMC11139306 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002622] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2023] [Accepted: 04/11/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Combinatoric linguistic operations underpin human language processes, but how meaning is composed and refined in the mind of the reader is not well understood. We address this puzzle by exploiting the ubiquitous function of negation. We track the online effects of negation ("not") and intensifiers ("really") on the representation of scalar adjectives (e.g., "good") in parametrically designed behavioral and neurophysiological (MEG) experiments. The behavioral data show that participants first interpret negated adjectives as affirmative and later modify their interpretation towards, but never exactly as, the opposite meaning. Decoding analyses of neural activity further reveal significant above chance decoding accuracy for negated adjectives within 600 ms from adjective onset, suggesting that negation does not invert the representation of adjectives (i.e., "not bad" represented as "good"); furthermore, decoding accuracy for negated adjectives is found to be significantly lower than that for affirmative adjectives. Overall, these results suggest that negation mitigates rather than inverts the neural representations of adjectives. This putative suppression mechanism of negation is supported by increased synchronization of beta-band neural activity in sensorimotor areas. The analysis of negation provides a steppingstone to understand how the human brain represents changes of meaning over time.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Arianna Zuanazzi
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Pablo Ripollés
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, United States of America
- Music and Audio Research Lab (MARL), New York University, New York, New York, United States of America
- Center for Language, Music and Emotion (ClaME), New York University, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Wy Ming Lin
- Hector Research Institute for Education Sciences and Psychology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Laura Gwilliams
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States of America
| | - Jean-Rémi King
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, United States of America
- Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL University, Paris, France
| | - David Poeppel
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, United States of America
- Center for Language, Music and Emotion (ClaME), New York University, New York, New York, United States of America
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute for Neuroscience, Frankfurt, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
33
|
Portelance E, Frank MC, Jurafsky D. Learning the Meanings of Function Words From Grounded Language Using a Visual Question Answering Model. Cogn Sci 2024; 48:e13448. [PMID: 38742768 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13448] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2023] [Revised: 04/05/2024] [Accepted: 04/12/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Interpreting a seemingly simple function word like "or," "behind," or "more" can require logical, numerical, and relational reasoning. How are such words learned by children? Prior acquisition theories have often relied on positing a foundation of innate knowledge. Yet recent neural-network-based visual question answering models apparently can learn to use function words as part of answering questions about complex visual scenes. In this paper, we study what these models learn about function words, in the hope of better understanding how the meanings of these words can be learned by both models and children. We show that recurrent models trained on visually grounded language learn gradient semantics for function words requiring spatial and numerical reasoning. Furthermore, we find that these models can learn the meanings of logical connectives and and or without any prior knowledge of logical reasoning as well as early evidence that they are sensitive to alternative expressions when interpreting language. Finally, we show that word learning difficulty is dependent on the frequency of models' input. Our findings offer proof-of-concept evidence that it is possible to learn the nuanced interpretations of function words in a visually grounded context by using non-symbolic general statistical learning algorithms, without any prior knowledge of linguistic meaning.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eva Portelance
- Department of Linguistics, McGill University
- Mila - Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
34
|
Macias C, Persaud K. From silos to synergy: Integrating approaches to investigate the role of prior knowledge and expectations on episodic memory. Psychon Bull Rev 2024:10.3758/s13423-024-02505-4. [PMID: 38691223 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-024-02505-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/19/2024] [Indexed: 05/03/2024]
Abstract
Significant progress in the investigation of how prior knowledge influences episodic memory has been made using three sometimes isolated (but not mutually exclusive) approaches: strictly adult behavioral investigations, computational models, and investigations into the development of the system. Here we point out that these approaches are complementary, each approach informs and is informed by the other. Thus, a natural next step for research is to combine all three approaches to further our understanding of the role of prior knowledge in episodic memory. Here we use studies of memory for expectation-congruent and incongruent information from each of these often disparate approaches to illustrate how combining approaches can be used to test and revise theories from the other. This domain is particularly advantageous because it highlights important features of more general memory processes, further differentiates models of memory, and can shed light on developmental change in the memory system. We then present a case study to illustrate the progress that can be made from integrating all three approaches and highlight the need for more endeavors in this vein. As a first step, we also propose a new computational model of memory that takes into account behavioral and developmental factors that can influence prior knowledge and episodic memory interactions. This integrated approach has great potential for offering novel insights into the relationship between prior knowledge and episodic memory, and cognition more broadly.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Carla Macias
- Psychology Department, Rutgers University - Newark, Smith Hall, 101 Warren Street, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA.
| | - Kimele Persaud
- Psychology Department, Rutgers University - Newark, Smith Hall, 101 Warren Street, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA
| |
Collapse
|
35
|
Poli F, Ghilardi T, Beijers R, de Weerth C, Hinne M, Mars RB, Hunnius S. Individual differences in processing speed and curiosity explain infant habituation and dishabituation performance. Dev Sci 2024; 27:e13460. [PMID: 38155558 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13460] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2023] [Revised: 08/05/2023] [Accepted: 11/09/2023] [Indexed: 12/30/2023]
Abstract
Habituation and dishabituation are the most prevalent measures of infant cognitive functioning, and they have reliably been shown to predict later cognitive outcomes. Yet, the exact mechanisms underlying infant habituation and dishabituation are still unclear. To investigate them, we tested 106 8-month-old infants on a classic habituation task and a novel visual learning task. We used a hierarchical Bayesian model to identify individual differences in sustained attention, learning performance, processing speed and curiosity from the visual learning task. These factors were then related to habituation and dishabituation. We found that habituation time was related to individual differences in processing speed, while dishabituation was related to curiosity, but only for infants who did not habituate. These results offer novel insights in the mechanisms underlying habituation and serve as proof of concept for hierarchical models as an effective tool to measure individual differences in infant cognitive functioning. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: We used a hierarchical Bayesian model to measure individual differences in infants' processing speed, learning performance, sustained attention, and curiosity. Faster processing speed was related to shorter habituation time. High curiosity was related to stronger dishabituation responses, but only for infants who did not habituate.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Poli
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Tommaso Ghilardi
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, School of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Roseriet Beijers
- Behavioral Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Carolina de Weerth
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Max Hinne
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Rogier B Mars
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Sabine Hunnius
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
36
|
Tamis-LeMonda CS, Kachergis G, Masek LR, Gonzalez SL, Soska KC, Herzberg O, Xu M, Adolph KE, Gilmore RO, Bornstein MH, Casasola M, Fausey CM, Frank MC, Goldin-Meadow S, Gros-Louis J, Hirsh-Pasek K, Iverson J, Lew-Williams C, MacWhinney B, Marchman VA, Naigles L, Namy L, Perry LK, Rowe M, Sheya A, Soderstrom M, Song L, Walle E, Warlaumont AS, Yoshida H, Yu C, Yurovsky D. Comparing apples to manzanas and oranges to naranjas: A new measure of English-Spanish vocabulary for dual language learners. INFANCY 2024; 29:302-326. [PMID: 38217508 PMCID: PMC11019594 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12571] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Revised: 11/20/2023] [Accepted: 11/21/2023] [Indexed: 01/15/2024]
Abstract
The valid assessment of vocabulary development in dual-language-learning infants is critical to developmental science. We developed the Dual Language Learners English-Spanish (DLL-ES) Inventories to measure vocabularies of U.S. English-Spanish DLLs. The inventories provide translation equivalents for all Spanish and English items on Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) short forms; extended inventories based on CDI long forms; and Spanish language-variety options. Item-Response Theory analyses applied to Wordbank and Web-CDI data (n = 2603, 12-18 months; n = 6722, 16-36 months; half female; 1% Asian, 3% Black, 2% Hispanic, 30% White, 64% unknown) showed near-perfect associations between DLL-ES and CDI long-form scores. Interviews with 10 Hispanic mothers of 18- to 24-month-olds (2 White, 1 Black, 7 multi-racial; 6 female) provide a proof of concept for the value of the DLL-ES for assessing the vocabularies of DLLs.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Marc H. Bornstein
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, MD, USA
- Institute for Fiscal Studies, UK
- UNICEF, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Laura Namy
- Institute for Education Sciences, Washington, DC, USA
| | | | | | - Adam Sheya
- University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| | | | | | - Eric Walle
- University of California Merced, Merced, CA, USA
| | | | | | - Chen Yu
- University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | | |
Collapse
|
37
|
Pinheiro-Chagas P, Sava-Segal C, Akkol S, Daitch A, Parvizi J. Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Successive Activations across the Human Brain during Simple Arithmetic Processing. J Neurosci 2024; 44:e2118222024. [PMID: 38485257 PMCID: PMC11044197 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2118-22.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Revised: 02/16/2024] [Accepted: 03/03/2024] [Indexed: 03/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Previous neuroimaging studies have offered unique insights about the spatial organization of activations and deactivations across the brain; however, these were not powered to explore the exact timing of events at the subsecond scale combined with a precise anatomical source of information at the level of individual brains. As a result, we know little about the order of engagement across different brain regions during a given cognitive task. Using experimental arithmetic tasks as a prototype for human-unique symbolic processing, we recorded directly across 10,076 brain sites in 85 human subjects (52% female) using the intracranial electroencephalography. Our data revealed a remarkably distributed change of activity in almost half of the sampled sites. In each activated brain region, we found juxtaposed neuronal populations preferentially responsive to either the target or control conditions, arranged in an anatomically orderly manner. Notably, an orderly successive activation of a set of brain regions-anatomically consistent across subjects-was observed in individual brains. The temporal order of activations across these sites was replicable across subjects and trials. Moreover, the degree of functional connectivity between the sites decreased as a function of temporal distance between regions, suggesting that the information is partially leaked or transformed along the processing chain. Our study complements prior imaging studies by providing hitherto unknown information about the timing of events in the brain during arithmetic processing. Such findings can be a basis for developing mechanistic computational models of human-specific cognitive symbolic systems.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pedro Pinheiro-Chagas
- Stanford Human Intracranial Cognitive Electrophysiology Program, Department of Neurology and Neurological Science, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
- UCSF Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, California
| | - Clara Sava-Segal
- Stanford Human Intracranial Cognitive Electrophysiology Program, Department of Neurology and Neurological Science, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
| | - Serdar Akkol
- Stanford Human Intracranial Cognitive Electrophysiology Program, Department of Neurology and Neurological Science, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
| | - Amy Daitch
- Stanford Human Intracranial Cognitive Electrophysiology Program, Department of Neurology and Neurological Science, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
| | - Josef Parvizi
- Stanford Human Intracranial Cognitive Electrophysiology Program, Department of Neurology and Neurological Science, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
| |
Collapse
|
38
|
Kosie JE, Lew-Williams C. Infant-directed communication: Examining the many dimensions of everyday caregiver-infant interactions. Dev Sci 2024:e13515. [PMID: 38618899 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13515] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2023] [Revised: 03/22/2024] [Accepted: 03/30/2024] [Indexed: 04/16/2024]
Abstract
Everyday caregiver-infant interactions are dynamic and multidimensional. However, existing research underestimates the dimensionality of infants' experiences, often focusing on one or two communicative signals (e.g., speech alone, or speech and gesture together). Here, we introduce "infant-directed communication" (IDC): the suite of communicative signals from caregivers to infants including speech, action, gesture, emotion, and touch. We recorded 10 min of at-home play between 44 caregivers and their 18- to 24-month-old infants from predominantly white, middle-class, English-speaking families in the United States. Interactions were coded for five dimensions of IDC as well as infants' gestures and vocalizations. Most caregivers used all five dimensions of IDC throughout the interaction, and these dimensions frequently overlapped. For example, over 60% of the speech that infants heard was accompanied by one or more non-verbal communicative cues. However, we saw marked variation across caregivers in their use of IDC, likely reflecting tailored communication to the behaviors and abilities of their infant. Moreover, caregivers systematically increased the dimensionality of IDC, using more overlapping cues in response to infant gestures and vocalizations, and more IDC with infants who had smaller vocabularies. Understanding how and when caregivers use all five signals-together and separately-in interactions with infants has the potential to redefine how developmental scientists conceive of infants' communicative environments, and enhance our understanding of the relations between caregiver input and early learning. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Infants' everyday interactions with caregivers are dynamic and multimodal, but existing research has underestimated the multidimensionality (i.e., the diversity of simultaneously occurring communicative cues) inherent in infant-directed communication. Over 60% of the speech that infants encounter during at-home, free play interactions overlap with one or more of a variety of non-speech communicative cues. The multidimensionality of caregivers' communicative cues increases in response to infants' gestures and vocalizations, providing new information about how infants' own behaviors shape their input. These findings emphasize the importance of understanding how caregivers use a diverse set of communicative behaviors-both separately and together-during everyday interactions with infants.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jessica E Kosie
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
- School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
| | - Casey Lew-Williams
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
| |
Collapse
|
39
|
Kolvoort IR, Fisher EL, van Rooij R, Schulz K, van Maanen L. Probabilistic causal reasoning under time pressure. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0297011. [PMID: 38603716 PMCID: PMC11008876 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2023] [Accepted: 12/26/2023] [Indexed: 04/13/2024] Open
Abstract
While causal reasoning is a core facet of our cognitive abilities, its time-course has not received proper attention. As the duration of reasoning might prove crucial in understanding the underlying cognitive processes, we asked participants in two experiments to make probabilistic causal inferences while manipulating time pressure. We found that participants are less accurate under time pressure, a speed-accuracy-tradeoff, and that they respond more conservatively. Surprisingly, two other persistent reasoning errors-Markov violations and failures to explain away-appeared insensitive to time pressure. These observations seem related to confidence: Conservative inferences were associated with low confidence, whereas Markov violations and failures to explain were not. These findings challenge existing theories that predict an association between time pressure and all causal reasoning errors including conservatism. Our findings suggest that these errors should not be attributed to a single cognitive mechanism and emphasize that causal judgements are the result of multiple processes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ivar R. Kolvoort
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Institute for Logic, Language, and Computation, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Elizabeth L. Fisher
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, and Cognition & Philosophy Laboratory, Monash University, Clayton, Australia
| | - Robert van Rooij
- Institute for Logic, Language, and Computation, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Katrin Schulz
- Institute for Logic, Language, and Computation, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Leendert van Maanen
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
40
|
Unger L, Chang T, Savic O, Bergen BK, Sloutsky VM. When is a word in good company for learning? Dev Sci 2024:e13510. [PMID: 38597678 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Revised: 01/24/2024] [Accepted: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024]
Abstract
Although identifying the referents of single words is often cited as a key challenge for getting word learning off the ground, it overlooks the fact that young learners consistently encounter words in the context of other words. How does this company help or hinder word learning? Prior investigations into early word learning from children's real-world language input have yielded conflicting results, with some influential findings suggesting an advantage for words that keep a diverse company of other words, and others suggesting the opposite. Here, we sought to triangulate the source of this conflict, comparing different measures of diversity and approaches to controlling for correlated effects of word frequency across multiple languages. The results were striking: while different diversity measures on their own yielded conflicting results, once nonlinear relationships with word frequency were controlled, we found convergent evidence that contextual consistency supports early word learning. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: The words children learn occur in a sea of other words. The company words keep ranges from highly variable to highly consistent and circumscribed. Prior findings conflict over whether variability versus consistency helps early word learning. Accounting for correlated effects of word frequency resolved the conflict across multiple languages. Results reveal convergent evidence that consistency helps early word learning.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Layla Unger
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Tyler Chang
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California, USA
| | - Olivera Savic
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, San Sebastian, Spain
| | - Benjamin K Bergen
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California, USA
| | | |
Collapse
|
41
|
Gotzner N, Scontras G. On the Role of Loopholes in Polite Communication: Linking Subjectivity and Pragmatic Inference. Open Mind (Camb) 2024; 8:500-510. [PMID: 38681213 PMCID: PMC11049673 DOI: 10.1162/opmi_a_00133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2023] [Accepted: 02/14/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Existing proposals on the attenuating uses of indirect, negated expressions (e.g., not happy to mean sad) agree that speakers exploit indirectness for pragmatic purposes but differ on the underlying sources they attribute to these uses. Here, we synthesize existing proposals via adjective subjectivity, which operationalizes the notion of loopholes for plausible deniability. We present experimental evidence that the degree of subjectivity of an adjective predicts the degree to which participants strengthen the negated adjective's meaning, but only if the adjective under consideration has an evaluatively-positive meaning. This finding indicates that speakers may intentionally use negation to leave themselves the option to retract the implicated face-threatening meaning if openly challenged.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nicole Gotzner
- Cognitive Science Institute, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Gregory Scontras
- Department of Language Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
42
|
Berent I. Consciousness isn't "hard"-it's human psychology that makes it so! Neurosci Conscious 2024; 2024:niae016. [PMID: 38585293 PMCID: PMC10996123 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niae016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2023] [Revised: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Consciousness arguably presents a "hard problem" for scholars. An influential position asserts that the "problem" is rooted in ontology-it arises because consciousness "is" distinct from the physical. "Problem intuitions" are routinely taken as evidence for this view. In so doing, it is assumed that (i) people do not consider consciousness as physical and (ii) their intuitions faithfully reflect what exists (or else, intuitions would not constitute evidence). New experimental results challenge both claims. First, in some scenarios, people demonstrably view consciousness as a physical affair that registers in the body (brain). Second, "problem intuitions" are linked to psychological biases, so they cannot be trusted to reflect what consciousness is. I conclude that the roots of the "hard problem" are partly psychological. Accordingly, its resolution requires careful characterization of the psychological mechanisms that engender "problem intuitions."
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Iris Berent
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA
| |
Collapse
|
43
|
Prado J, Knops A. Spatial attention in mental arithmetic: A literature review and meta-analysis. Psychon Bull Rev 2024:10.3758/s13423-024-02499-z. [PMID: 38565841 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-024-02499-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/06/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
We review the evidence for the conceptual association between arithmetic and space and quantify the effect size in meta-analyses. We focus on three effects: (a) the operational momentum effect (OME), which has been defined as participants' tendency to overestimate results of addition problems and underestimate results of subtraction problems; (b) the arithmetic cueing effect, in which arithmetic problems serve as spatial cues in target detection or temporal order judgment tasks; and (c) the associations between arithmetic and space observed with eye- and hand-tracking studies. The OME was consistently found in paradigms that provided the participants with numerical response alternatives. The OME shows a large effect size, driven by an underestimation during subtraction while addition was unbiased. In contrast, paradigms in which participants indicated their estimate by transcoding their final estimate to a spatial reference frame revealed no consistent OME. Arithmetic cueing studies show a reliable small to medium effect size, driven by a rightward bias for addition. Finally, eye- and hand-tracking studies point to replicable associations between arithmetic and eye or hand movements. To account for the complexity of the observed pattern, we introduce the Adaptive Pathways in Mental Arithmetic (APiMA) framework. The model accommodates central notions of numerical and arithmetic processing and helps identifying which pathway a given paradigm operates on. It proposes that the divergence between OME and arithmetic cueing studies comes from the predominant use of non-symbolic versus symbolic stimuli, respectively. Overall, our review and findings clearly support an association between arithmetic and spatial processing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jérôme Prado
- Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon (CRNL), INSERM U1028 - CNRS UMR5292, Université de Lyon, Lyon, France
| | - André Knops
- Université Paris Cité, LaPsyDÉ, CNRS, F-75005, Paris, France.
| |
Collapse
|
44
|
Long B, Goodin S, Kachergis G, Marchman VA, Radwan SF, Sparks RZ, Xiang V, Zhuang C, Hsu O, Newman B, Yamins DLK, Frank MC. The BabyView camera: Designing a new head-mounted camera to capture children's early social and visual environments. Behav Res Methods 2024; 56:3523-3534. [PMID: 37656342 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02206-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 09/02/2023]
Abstract
Head-mounted cameras have been used in developmental psychology research for more than a decade to provide a rich and comprehensive view of what infants see during their everyday experiences. However, variation between these devices has limited the field's ability to compare results across studies and across labs. Further, the video data captured by these cameras to date has been relatively low-resolution, limiting how well machine learning algorithms can operate over these rich video data. Here, we provide a well-tested and easily constructed design for a head-mounted camera assembly-the BabyView-developed in collaboration with Daylight Design, LLC., a professional product design firm. The BabyView collects high-resolution video, accelerometer, and gyroscope data from children approximately 6-30 months of age via a GoPro camera custom mounted on a soft child-safety helmet. The BabyView also captures a large, portrait-oriented vertical field-of-view that encompasses both children's interactions with objects and with their social partners. We detail our protocols for video data management and for handling sensitive data from home environments. We also provide customizable materials for onboarding families with the BabyView. We hope that these materials will encourage the wide adoption of the BabyView, allowing the field to collect high-resolution data that can link children's everyday environments with their learning outcomes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bria Long
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
| | | | - George Kachergis
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | | | - Samaher F Radwan
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Graduate School of Education, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Robert Z Sparks
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Violet Xiang
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Chengxu Zhuang
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Oliver Hsu
- Daylight Design, LLC, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | | | - Daniel L K Yamins
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Michael C Frank
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
45
|
Goldstone RL, Andrade-Lotero EJ, Hawkins RD, Roberts ME. The Emergence of Specialized Roles Within Groups. Top Cogn Sci 2024; 16:257-281. [PMID: 36843212 DOI: 10.1111/tops.12644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2022] [Revised: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2023] [Indexed: 02/28/2023]
Abstract
Humans routinely form groups to achieve goals that no individual can accomplish alone. Group coordination often brings to mind synchrony and alignment, where all individuals do the same thing (e.g., driving on the right side of the road, marching in lockstep, or playing musical instruments on a regular beat). Yet, effective coordination also typically involves differentiation, where specialized roles emerge for different members (e.g., prep stations in a kitchen or positions on an athletic team). Role specialization poses a challenge for computational models of group coordination, which have largely focused on achieving synchrony. Here, we present the CARMI framework, which characterizes role specialization processes in terms of five core features that we hope will help guide future model development: Communication, Adaptation to feedback, Repulsion, Multi-level planning, and Intention modeling. Although there are many paths to role formation, we suggest that roles emerge when each agent in a group dynamically allocates their behavior toward a shared goal to complement what they expect others to do. In other words, coordination concerns beliefs (who will do what) rather than simple actions. We describe three related experimental paradigms-"Group Binary Search," "Battles of the Exes," and "Find the Unicorn"-that we have used to study differentiation processes in the lab, each emphasizing different aspects of the CARMI framework.
Collapse
|
46
|
Huber E, Sauppe S, Isasi-Isasmendi A, Bornkessel-Schlesewsky I, Merlo P, Bickel B. Surprisal From Language Models Can Predict ERPs in Processing Predicate-Argument Structures Only if Enriched by an Agent Preference Principle. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2024; 5:167-200. [PMID: 38645615 PMCID: PMC11025647 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2022] [Accepted: 08/30/2023] [Indexed: 04/23/2024]
Abstract
Language models based on artificial neural networks increasingly capture key aspects of how humans process sentences. Most notably, model-based surprisals predict event-related potentials such as N400 amplitudes during parsing. Assuming that these models represent realistic estimates of human linguistic experience, their success in modeling language processing raises the possibility that the human processing system relies on no other principles than the general architecture of language models and on sufficient linguistic input. Here, we test this hypothesis on N400 effects observed during the processing of verb-final sentences in German, Basque, and Hindi. By stacking Bayesian generalised additive models, we show that, in each language, N400 amplitudes and topographies in the region of the verb are best predicted when model-based surprisals are complemented by an Agent Preference principle that transiently interprets initial role-ambiguous noun phrases as agents, leading to reanalysis when this interpretation fails. Our findings demonstrate the need for this principle independently of usage frequencies and structural differences between languages. The principle has an unequal force, however. Compared to surprisal, its effect is weakest in German, stronger in Hindi, and still stronger in Basque. This gradient is correlated with the extent to which grammars allow unmarked NPs to be patients, a structural feature that boosts reanalysis effects. We conclude that language models gain more neurobiological plausibility by incorporating an Agent Preference. Conversely, theories of human processing profit from incorporating surprisal estimates in addition to principles like the Agent Preference, which arguably have distinct evolutionary roots.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eva Huber
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Sebastian Sauppe
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Arrate Isasi-Isasmendi
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Australian Research Centre for Interactive and Virtual Environments, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
| | - Paola Merlo
- Department of Linguistics, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- University Center for Computer Science, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Balthasar Bickel
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
47
|
Lonardo L, Völter CJ, Hepach R, Lamm C, Huber L. Do dogs preferentially encode the identity of the target object or the location of others' actions? Anim Cogn 2024; 27:28. [PMID: 38553650 PMCID: PMC10980658 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-024-01870-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2023] [Revised: 03/22/2024] [Accepted: 03/24/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Abstract
The ability to make sense of and predict others' actions is foundational for many socio-cognitive abilities. Dogs (Canis familiaris) constitute interesting comparative models for the study of action perception due to their marked sensitivity to human actions. We tested companion dogs (N = 21) in two screen-based eye-tracking experiments, adopting a task previously used with human infants and apes, to assess which aspects of an agent's action dogs consider relevant to the agent's underlying intentions. An agent was shown repeatedly acting upon the same one of two objects, positioned in the same location. We then presented the objects in swapped locations and the agent approached the objects centrally (Experiment 1) or the old object in the new location or the new object in the old location (Experiment 2). Dogs' anticipatory fixations and looking times did not reflect an expectation that agents should have continued approaching the same object nor the same location as witnessed during the brief familiarization phase; this contrasts with some findings with infants and apes, but aligns with findings in younger infants before they have sufficient motor experience with the observed action. However, dogs' pupil dilation and latency to make an anticipatory fixation suggested that, if anything, dogs expected the agents to keep approaching the same location rather than the same object, and their looking times showed sensitivity to the animacy of the agents. We conclude that dogs, lacking motor experience with the observed actions of grasping or kicking performed by a human or inanimate agent, might interpret such actions as directed toward a specific location rather than a specific object. Future research will need to further probe the suitability of anticipatory looking as measure of dogs' socio-cognitive abilities given differences between the visual systems of dogs and primates.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lucrezia Lonardo
- Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna and University of Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, Vienna, 1210, Austria.
| | - Christoph J Völter
- Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna and University of Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, Vienna, 1210, Austria
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
| | - Robert Hepach
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK
| | - Claus Lamm
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, 1010, Austria
| | - Ludwig Huber
- Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna and University of Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, Vienna, 1210, Austria
| |
Collapse
|
48
|
Coffey JR, Zeitlin M, Crawford J, Snedeker J. It's All in the Interaction: Early Acquired Words Are Both Frequent and Highly Imageable. Open Mind (Camb) 2024; 8:309-332. [PMID: 38571529 PMCID: PMC10990573 DOI: 10.1162/opmi_a_00130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 02/10/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Prior studies have found that children are more likely to learn words that are frequent in the input and highly imageable. Many theories of word learning, however, predict that these variables should interact, particularly early in development: frequency of a form is of little use if you cannot infer its meaning, and a concrete word cannot be acquired if you never hear it. The present study explores this interaction, how it changes over time and its relationship to syntactic category effects in children acquiring American English. We analyzed 1461 monolingual English-speaking children aged 1;4-2;6 from the MB-CDI norming study (Fenson et al., 1994). Word frequency was estimated from the CHILDES database, and imageability was measured using adult ratings. There was a strong over-additive interaction between frequency and imageability, such that children were more likely to learn a word if it was both highly imageable and very frequent. This interaction was larger in younger children than in older children. There were reliable differences between syntactic categories independent of frequency and imageability, which did not interact with age. These findings are consistent with theories in which children's early words are acquired by mapping frequent word forms onto concrete, perceptually available referents, such that highly frequent items are only acquired if they are also imageable, and vice versa.
Collapse
|
49
|
Fairchild GT, Holler DE, Fabbri S, Gomez MA, Walsh-Snow JC. Naturalistic Object Representations Depend on Distance and Size Cues. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.03.16.585308. [PMID: 38559105 PMCID: PMC10980039 DOI: 10.1101/2024.03.16.585308] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
Egocentric distance and real-world size are important cues for object perception and action. Nevertheless, most studies of human vision rely on two-dimensional pictorial stimuli that convey ambiguous distance and size information. Here, we use fMRI to test whether pictures are represented differently in the human brain from real, tangible objects that convey unambiguous distance and size cues. Participants directly viewed stimuli in two display formats (real objects and matched printed pictures of those objects) presented at different egocentric distances (near and far). We measured the effects of format and distance on fMRI response amplitudes and response patterns. We found that fMRI response amplitudes in the lateral occipital and posterior parietal cortices were stronger overall for real objects than for pictures. In these areas and many others, including regions involved in action guidance, responses to real objects were stronger for near vs. far stimuli, whereas distance had little effect on responses to pictures-suggesting that distance determines relevance to action for real objects, but not for pictures. Although stimulus distance especially influenced response patterns in dorsal areas that operate in the service of visually guided action, distance also modulated representations in ventral cortex, where object responses are thought to remain invariant across contextual changes. We observed object size representations for both stimulus formats in ventral cortex but predominantly only for real objects in dorsal cortex. Together, these results demonstrate that whether brain responses reflect physical object characteristics depends on whether the experimental stimuli convey unambiguous information about those characteristics. Significance Statement Classic frameworks of vision attribute perception of inherent object characteristics, such as size, to the ventral visual pathway, and processing of spatial characteristics relevant to action, such as distance, to the dorsal visual pathway. However, these frameworks are based on studies that used projected images of objects whose actual size and distance from the observer were ambiguous. Here, we find that when object size and distance information in the stimulus is less ambiguous, these characteristics are widely represented in both visual pathways. Our results provide valuable new insights into the brain representations of objects and their various physical attributes in the context of naturalistic vision.
Collapse
|
50
|
Segal O, Moyal D. Listening Preference for Child-Directed Speech Versus Time-Reversed Speech in Moderate-Preterm Infants Compared to Full-Term Infants. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2024; 67:900-916. [PMID: 38394254 DOI: 10.1044/2023_jslhr-23-00040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/25/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE The purpose of the present study was to examine whether there is a listening preference for child-directed speech (CDS) over backward speech in moderate-preterm infants (MPIs). METHOD Eighteen MPIs of gestational age of 32.0 weeks (range: 32-34.06 weeks), chronological age of 8.09 months, and maturation age of 6.48 months served as the experimental group. The two control groups consisted of a total of 36 infants-20 full-term infants matched for chronological age and 16 full-term infants matched for maturation age. The infants were tested using the central fixation procedure and were presented with 16 trials of CDS and backward speech. A follow-up was conducted 5 years after the initial experiment using a developmental and a five-item parent questionnaire. RESULTS MPIs did not demonstrate a preference for CDS over backward speech, whereas both control groups demonstrated a listening preference for CDS over backward speech. MPIs showed a delayed use of first words and word combinations and lower scores on the five-item questionnaire compared to term infants. Twelve MPIs (67%) did not demonstrate a preference for CDS over backward speech. Four of them (33%) were later diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders. CONCLUSIONS The lack of preference for CDS over backward speech in the MPIs group suggests delayed developmental pattern of speech processing compared to full-term peers. Delays in neurological maturation as well as listening experience in an unregulated environment outside the uterus during a sensitive period of brain development may affect the recognition of phonological and prosodic patterns that support listening preference for speech over backward speech.
Collapse
|