scholarly journals Structural priming and the representation of language

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly P. Branigan ◽  
Martin J. Pickering
Keyword(s):  
Mental Representation ◽  
Structural Priming ◽  
Powerful Method ◽  
Cognitive Sciences ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Alternative Approaches

AbstractStructural priming offers a powerful method for experimentally investigating the mental representation of linguistic structure. We clarify the nature of our proposal, justify the versatility of priming, consider alternative approaches, and discuss how our specific account can be extended to new questions as part of an interdisciplinary programme integrating linguistics and psychology as part of the cognitive sciences of language.

scholarly journals Phenomenology and functional analysis. A functionalist reading of Husserlian phenomenology

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 869-889
Author(s):  
Marek Pokropski
Keyword(s):  
Functional Analysis ◽  
Mental Representation ◽  
Husserlian Phenomenology ◽  
Cognitive Sciences ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Functional Decomposition ◽  
Methodological Perspective ◽  
Computational Functionalism ◽  
Hubert Dreyfus

Abstract In the article I discuss functionalist interpretations of Husserlian phenomenology. The first one was coined in the discussion between Hubert Dreyfus and Ronald McIntyre. They argue that Husserl’s phenomenology shares similarities with computational functionalism, and the key similarity is between the concept of noema and the concept of mental representation. I show the weaknesses of that reading and argue that there is another available functionalist reading of Husserlian phenomenology. I propose to shift perspective and approach the relation between phenomenology and functionalism from a methodological perspective, specifically taking into account the functionalist explanatory strategy called functional analysis. I discuss the notion of function in Husserl’s works and Husserl’s idea of functional phenomenology. The key argument I develop is that in functional phenomenology we can find an explanatory strategy which is analogous to the strategy of functional decomposition used in functional analysis. I conclude that the proposed functionalist reading of phenomenology opens a new approach to the integration of phenomenology with cognitive sciences.

scholarly journals Vehicles, contents and supervenience

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-488
Author(s):  
Gottfried Vosgerau
Keyword(s):  
Mental Representation ◽  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Experimental Methods ◽  
Explanatory Role ◽  
Cognitive Sciences ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Supervenience Thesis ◽  
Content Internalism ◽  
Insight Into

In this paper, I provide an argument for the assumption that contents supervene on vehicles, which is based on the explanatory role of representations in the cognitive sciences. I then show that the supervenience thesis together with the explanatory role imply that the individuation criteria for contents and vehicles are tightly bound together, such that content internalism (externalism) is in effect equivalent to vehicle internalism (externalism). In the remainder of the paper, I argue that some of the different positions in the debate stem from different research questions, namely the question about the acquisition conditions and the question about the entertaining conditions for mental representation. Finally, I argue that the thesis of externalism is much more interesting if understood as a claim about how mental representation works in our world as opposed to how they work in all metaphysically possible worlds. In particular, I argue that this ?nomological? understanding of the thesis is able to explain how and why the experimental methods used in contemporary cognitive sciences are able to provide insight into behavior generation.

scholarly journals Pretense as alternative sense-making: a praxeological enactivist account

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Weichold ◽  
Zuzanna Rucińska
Keyword(s):  
Mental Representation ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Pretend Play ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Sense Making ◽  
Cognitive Sciences ◽  
Practice Turn ◽  
Do So

AbstractThe project of this paper is to synthesize enactivist cognitive science and practice theory in order to develop a new account of pretend play. Pretend play is usually conceived of as a representationalist phenomenon where a pretender projects a fictional mental representation onto reality. It thus seems that pretense can only be explained in representationalist terms. In this paper, we oppose this usual approach. We instead propose not only new explanatory tools for pretend play, but also a fundamental reconceptualization of the phenomena of pretend play, that is, of the very explanandum of theories of pretense. To do so, we suggest combining the turn to action and embodiment in the cognitive sciences with the practice turn in the humanities. From our point of view, pretend play has to be seen in its role in human life as a whole, which is to help children to learn to master the complex sociocultural contingencies of the manifold social practices that make up social reality. Pretend play should therefore be conceived as alternative sense-making that is always related, in varying ways, to ordinary social practices. Pretenders do not need to project mental representations onto reality, but make sense of their surroundings in different ways than encultured adults in ordinary practices. In the paper, we spell out this view and show how it enables an enactivist reconceptualization of imagination, intentions and knowledge, which are usually thought of as being available only to representationalist accounts of pretense.

scholarly journals Structural priming in bilinguals

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 448-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROGER P. G. VAN GOMPEL ◽  
MANABU ARAI
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Implicit Learning ◽  
Mental Representation ◽  
Structural Priming ◽  
Learning Effects ◽  
Syntactic Structures

In this review, we examine how structural priming has been used to investigate the representation of first and second language syntactic structures in bilinguals. Most experiments suggest that structures that are identical in the first and second language have a single, shared mental representation. The results from structures that are similar but not fully identical are less clear, but they may be explained by assuming that first and second language representations are merely connected rather than fully shared. Some research has also used structural priming to investigate the representation of cognate words. We will also consider whether cross-linguistic structural priming taps into long-term implicit learning effects. Finally, we discuss recent research that has investigated how second language syntactic representations develop as learners’ proficiency increases.

scholarly journals Impaired implicit learning of syntactic structure in children with developmental language disorder: Evidence from syntactic priming

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 239694151877993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Garraffa ◽  
Moreno I Coco ◽  
Holly P Branigan
Keyword(s):  
Implicit Learning ◽  
Structural Priming ◽  
Syntactic Priming ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Learning Disorder ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Developmental Learning ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Initial Learning

Background and aims Implicit learning mechanisms associated with detecting structural regularities have been proposed to underlie both the long-term acquisition of linguistic structure and a short-term tendency to repeat linguistic structure across sentences (structural priming) in typically developing children. Recent research has suggested that a deficit in such mechanisms may explain the inconsistent trajectory of language learning displayed by children with Developmental Learning Disorder. We used a structural priming paradigm to investigate whether a group of children with Developmental Learning Disorder showed impaired implicit learning of syntax (syntactic priming) following individual syntactic experiences, and the time course of any such effects. Methods Five- to six-year-old Italian-speaking children with Developmental Learning Disorder and typically developing age-matched and language-matched controls played a picture-description-matching game with an experimenter. The experimenter’s descriptions were systematically manipulated so that children were exposed to both active and passive structures, in a randomized order. We investigated whether children’s descriptions used the same abstract syntax (active or passive) as the experimenter had used on an immediately preceding turn (no-delay) or three turns earlier (delay). We further examined whether children’s syntactic production changed with increasing experience of passives within the experiment. Results Children with Developmental Learning Disorder’s syntactic production was influenced by the syntax of the experimenter’s descriptions in the same way as typically developing language-matched children, but showed a different pattern from typically developing age-matched children. Children with Developmental Learning Disorder were more likely to produce passive syntax immediately after hearing a passive sentence than an active sentence, but this tendency was smaller than in typically developing age-matched children. After two intervening sentences, children with Developmental Learning Disorder no longer showed a significant syntactic priming effect, whereas typically developing age-matched children did. None of the groups showed a significant effect of cumulative syntactic experience. Conclusions Children with Developmental Learning Disorder show a pattern of syntactic priming effects that is consistent with an impairment in implicit learning mechanisms that are associated with the detection and extraction of abstract structural regularities in linguistic input. Results suggest that this impairment involves reduced initial learning from each syntactic experience, rather than atypically rapid decay following intact initial learning. Implications Children with Developmental Learning Disorder may learn less from each linguistic experience than typically developing children, and so require more input to achieve the same learning outcome with respect to syntax. Structural priming is an effective technique for manipulating both input quality and quantity to determine precisely how Developmental Learning Disorder is related to language input, and to investigate how input tailored to take into account the cognitive profile of this population can be optimised in designing interventions.

Priming methods in semantics and pragmatics

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mora Maldonado ◽  
Benjamin Spector ◽  
Emmanuel Chemla
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Structural Priming ◽  
Powerful Method ◽  
Linguistic Data ◽  
Linguistic Representations ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Theories Of Meaning

AbstractStructural priming is a powerful method to inform linguistic theories. We argue that this method extends nicely beyond syntax to theories of meaning. Priming, however, should still be seen as only one of the tools available for linguistic data collection. Specifically, because priming can occur at different, potentially conflicting levels, it cannot detect every aspect of linguistic representations.

Above and beyond the content: Feelings influence mental simulations

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kellen Mrkva ◽  
Luca Cian ◽  
Leaf Van Boven
Keyword(s):  
Mental Representation ◽  
Mental Simulation ◽  
Past Experience ◽  
Prediction Errors

Abstract Gilead et al. present a rich account of abstraction. Though the account describes several elements which influence mental representation, it is worth also delineating how feelings, such as fluency and emotion, influence mental simulation. Additionally, though past experience can sometimes make simulations more accurate and worthwhile (as Gilead et al. suggest), many systematic prediction errors persist despite substantial experience.

Alternative approaches to ultra-high resolution imaging

1991 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 650-651
Author(s):  
J.M. Cowley
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
High Voltage ◽  
High Resolution Electron Microscopy ◽  
Crystal Defects ◽  
High Resolution Imaging ◽  
General Applicability ◽  
Resolution Electron ◽  
Radiation Resistant ◽  
Resolution Imaging ◽  
Alternative Approaches

By extrapolation of past experience, it would seem that the future of ultra-high resolution electron microscopy rests with the advances of electron optical engineering that are improving the instrumental stability of high voltage microscopes to achieve the theoretical resolutions of 1Å or better at 1MeV or higher energies. While these high voltage instruments will undoubtedly produce valuable results on chosen specimens, their general applicability has been questioned on the basis of the excessive radiation damage effects which may significantly modify the detailed structures of crystal defects within even the most radiation resistant materials in a period of a few seconds. Other considerations such as those of cost and convenience of use add to the inducement to consider seriously the possibilities for alternative approaches to the achievement of comparable resolutions.

Mental representation of economic crisis in Italian and Swiss samples 1The authors would like to thank Maurizio Mistri for his help in the construction of items. This research was supported by a grant from the Italian Murst (ex 40%).

2001 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Savadori ◽  
Eraldo Nicotra ◽  
Rino Rumiati ◽  
Roberto Tamborini
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Mental Representation ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
National Context ◽  
Cluster Procedure ◽  
Total N ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Important Symptom

The content and structure of mental representation of economic crises were studied and the flexibility of the structure in different social contexts was tested. Italian and Swiss samples (Total N = 98) were compared with respect to their judgments as to how a series of concrete examples of events representing abstract indicators were relevant symptoms of economic crisis. Mental representations were derived using a cluster procedure. Results showed that the relevance of the indicators varied as a function of national context. The growth of unemployment was judged to be by far the most important symptom of an economic crisis but the Swiss sample judged bankruptcies as more symptomatic than Italians who considered inflation, raw material prices and external accounts to be more relevant. A different clustering structure was found for the two samples: the locations of unemployment and gross domestic production indicators were the main differences in representations.

Reading About Persons: The Effects of Conjunctions on the Mental Representation of Person Descriptions

2008 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Krolak-Schwerdt ◽  
Margret Wintermantel ◽  
Nadine Junker ◽  
Julia Kneer
Keyword(s):  
Mental Representation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Person Memory ◽  
Causal Connections ◽  
Single Person ◽  
On Line

Three experiments investigated the processing of person descriptions that consisted of a number of statements about the characteristics of a person. In one condition, each statement referred to a single person attribute and in the other condition, causal and additive conjunctions to verbally link the statements were introduced. Evidence was found that the introduction of verbal links enhanced participants’ memory about the characteristics of the described person. On-line measures of processing showed that the comprehension of person information was strongly facilitated by the introduction of verbal links. Furthermore, the results were due to the introduction of causal connections between person attributes. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for models of person memory and representation.

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