Language membership as a gradient emergent feature

In their keynote article, Dijkstra, Wahl, Buytenhuijs, van Halem, Al-jibouri, de Korte, and Rekké (2018) introduce the Multilink model representing an integrated bi/multilingual lexicon. This proposal builds upon both previous and recent research on an integrated cognitive architecture underlying the language faculty (for a summary, see e.g., Putnam, Carlson & Reitter, 2018). In our view, the adjustments proposed by the authors are an improvement on previous instantiations of similar models such as those discussed in the present article. In our remarks we explicate how the Multilink model may be further enhanced, by making any appeal to language-specific nodes or representations epiphenomenal. To achieve this, we propose a novel approach to representing language membership as the result of gradient emergent principles that builds upon the integrated lexicon underlying the Multilink model.

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Respect for the Doctor (Sir 38:1-3)

The Biblical Annals ◽

10.31743/biban.291 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 31-62

Author(s):

Andrzej Piwowar

Keyword(s):

Present Article ◽

Old Testament ◽

Innovative Approach ◽

Greek Text ◽

Greek Version ◽

Belief In God ◽

The People ◽

Novel Approach ◽

Hebrew Version ◽

Essential Prerequisite

The first part of the article synthetically presents the Old Testament Israelites’ attitude to doctors and their activities. It is an essential prerequisite for the depiction of the innovative approach to the issue proposed by Sirach in Sir 38:1-15. Subsequently, the translation of the text’s Greek version into Polish is presented and the pericope’s structure is divided into four parts: I. 38:1-3 – respect for the doctor, II. 38:4-8 – the value of medicine, III. 38:9-11 – the relation of the sick to God, and IV. 38:12-15 – the doctor’s role in treating the sick. The present article is devoted to the exegetico-theological analysis of the first part of the Greek version of Sir 38:1-15, that is of 38:1-3. Even though the article is based primarily on the Greek text of the verses, it takes into account its original Hebrew version as well. Sirach calls the believing Israelites to completely change their perception of doctors and their activities. He encourages his readers not to reject doctors but to treat them with respect and reverence, and, indirectly, not to ignore the doctor’s efforts meant to restore health to the sick one. The sage justifies his novel approach with two arguments. First, doctors were created by God and given the task of aiding the sick in their suffering. They are a mere tool in God’s hands, for God is the only Doctor that can truly heal a person (this aspect is emphasized more by the Hebrew than by the Greek text). Secondly, doctors deserve respect for even kings and dignitaries benefit from their service and treat them with respect and reverence. In 38:1-3 Sirach offers a perfect synthesis of Israel’s traditional belief in God, who is the only doctor able to heal a person, with the Hellenistic influence related to medicine and the people who dabble in it.

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THE MINIMALIST PROGRAM.Noam Chomsky. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1994. Pp. 420. $22.50 cloth.

Studies in Second Language Acquisition ◽

10.1017/s0272263197241070 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

pp. 121-123 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Alan Munn

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Architecture ◽

Language Faculty ◽

Knowledge Of Language ◽

Explanatory Adequacy ◽

The Way

This most recent exposition of Chomsky's ideas about the language faculty strives to reach a deeper level of explanatory adequacy. Rather than the question of “What does knowledge of language consist of?” Chomsky asks the question “Why is the language faculty the way it is?” His basic answer to this question is the following: Two sorts of conditions are imposed on the language faculty, conditions arising from its place in the cognitive architecture “bare output conditions” and conditions of conceptual naturalness such as economy, simplicity, and nonredundancy. Minimalism is thus a call for theoretical simplicity with respect to the constructs used to explain language phenomena: “It is all too easy to succumb to the temptation to offer purported explanation for some phenomenon on the basis of assumptions that are roughly of the order of complexity of what is to be explained. . . . Minimalist demands at least have the merit of highlighting such moves, thus sharpening the question of whether we have a genuine explanation or a restatement of the problem in other terms” (pp. 234–235).

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The Effects of Probe Similarity on Retrieval and Comparison Processes in Associative Recognition

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_01059 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 29 (2) ◽

pp. 352-367 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Qiong Zhang ◽

Matthew M. Walsh ◽

John R. Anderson

Keyword(s):

Adaptive Control ◽

Information Processing ◽

Cognitive Architecture ◽

Associative Recognition ◽

Probe Word ◽

Probe Type ◽

Eeg Signal ◽

Novel Approach ◽

Eeg Data ◽

Opposing Effects

In this study, we investigated the information processing stages underlying associative recognition. We recorded EEG data while participants performed a task that involved deciding whether a probe word triple matched any previously studied triple. We varied the similarity between probes and studied triples. According to a model of associative recognition developed in the Adaptive Control of Thought-Rational cognitive architecture, probe similarity affects the duration of the retrieval stage: Retrieval is fastest when the probe is similar to a studied triple. This effect may be obscured, however, by the duration of the comparison stage, which is fastest when the probe is not similar to the retrieved triple. Owing to the opposing effects of probe similarity on retrieval and comparison, overall RTs provide little information about each stage's duration. As such, we evaluated the model using a novel approach that decomposes the EEG signal into a sequence of latent states and provides information about the durations of the underlying information processing stages. The approach uses a hidden semi-Markov model to identify brief sinusoidal peaks (called bumps) that mark the onsets of distinct cognitive stages. The analysis confirmed that probe type has opposite effects on retrieval and comparison stages.

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Remarks on Multimodality: Grammatical Interactions in the Parallel Architecture

Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence ◽

10.3389/frai.2021.778060 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

Author(s):

Neil Cohn ◽

Joost Schilperoord

Keyword(s):

Meaning Making ◽

Cognitive Architecture ◽

Parallel Architecture ◽

Linguistic Competence ◽

Multimodal Communication ◽

Language Faculty ◽

Sensory Signals ◽

Relative Independence

Language is typically embedded in multimodal communication, yet models of linguistic competence do not often incorporate this complexity. Meanwhile, speech, gesture, and/or pictures are each considered as indivisible components of multimodal messages. Here, we argue that multimodality should not be characterized by whole interacting behaviors, but by interactions of similar substructures which permeate across expressive behaviors. These structures comprise a unified architecture and align within Jackendoff's Parallel Architecture: a modality, meaning, and grammar. Because this tripartite architecture persists across modalities, interactions can manifest within each of these substructures. Interactions between modalities alone create correspondences in time (ex. speech with gesture) or space (ex. writing with pictures) of the sensory signals, while multimodal meaning-making balances how modalities carry “semantic weight” for the gist of the whole expression. Here we focus primarily on interactions between grammars, which contrast across two variables: symmetry, related to the complexity of the grammars, and allocation, related to the relative independence of interacting grammars. While independent allocations keep grammars separate, substitutive allocation inserts expressions from one grammar into those of another. We show that substitution operates in interactions between all three natural modalities (vocal, bodily, graphic), and also in unimodal contexts within and between languages, as in codeswitching. Altogether, we argue that unimodal and multimodal expressions arise as emergent interactive states from a unified cognitive architecture, heralding a reconsideration of the “language faculty” itself.

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Domains of Female Choice in Human Evolution

10.31219/osf.io/gz5d8 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Gregory Gorelik

Keyword(s):

Present Article ◽

Human Evolution ◽

Female Choice ◽

Cognitive Architecture ◽

Mate Preferences ◽

Male Competition ◽

Female Mate ◽

Additional Domain

The present article advances the view that women’s mate preferences can be grouped into at least two overarching domains: competitiveness and fatherhood. Theoretical and empirical considerations suggest that female mate preferences evolve in contexts of male competitiveness and often amplify the effects of male-male competition. Evidence for the importance of male-male competition and female choice for competitiveness in humans is reviewed. Evidence is likewise offered for the importance of human fatherhood as an additional domain of female choice outside of male competitiveness. Implications of more inclusive mate preferences for the evolution of cognitive architecture are discussed.

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Scale-free architectures support representational diversity

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x19002966 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 43 ◽

Author(s):

Chris Fields ◽

James F. Glazebrook

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Architecture ◽

Levels Of Abstraction ◽

Scale Free ◽

Abstract Representations ◽

Computational Architecture ◽

Architectural Models ◽

Cognition Scale

Abstract Gilead et al. propose an ontology of abstract representations based on folk-psychological conceptions of cognitive architecture. There is, however, no evidence that the experience of cognition reveals the architecture of cognition. Scale-free architectural models propose that cognition has the same computational architecture from sub-cellular to whole-organism scales. This scale-free architecture supports representations with diverse functions and levels of abstraction.

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Copper-dependent ATP7B up-regulation drives the resistance of TMEM16A-overexpressing head-and-neck cancer models to platinum toxicity

Biochemical Journal ◽

10.1042/bcj20190591 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 476 (24) ◽

pp. 3705-3719 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Avani Vyas ◽

Umamaheswar Duvvuri ◽

Kirill Kiselyov

Keyword(s):

Oxidative Stress ◽

Head And Neck ◽

Transcriptional Activation ◽

Platinum Resistance ◽

Mrna Levels ◽

Strong Positive Correlation ◽

Platinum Compounds ◽

Copper Chelation ◽

Novel Approach ◽

Cancer Models

Platinum-containing drugs such as cisplatin and carboplatin are routinely used for the treatment of many solid tumors including squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). However, SCCHN resistance to platinum compounds is well documented. The resistance to platinum has been linked to the activity of divalent transporter ATP7B, which pumps platinum from the cytoplasm into lysosomes, decreasing its concentration in the cytoplasm. Several cancer models show increased expression of ATP7B; however, the reason for such an increase is not known. Here we show a strong positive correlation between mRNA levels of TMEM16A and ATP7B in human SCCHN tumors. TMEM16A overexpression and depletion in SCCHN cell lines caused parallel changes in the ATP7B mRNA levels. The ATP7B increase in TMEM16A-overexpressing cells was reversed by suppression of NADPH oxidase 2 (NOX2), by the antioxidant N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC) and by copper chelation using cuprizone and bathocuproine sulphonate (BCS). Pretreatment with either chelator significantly increased cisplatin's sensitivity, particularly in the context of TMEM16A overexpression. We propose that increased oxidative stress in TMEM16A-overexpressing cells liberates the chelated copper in the cytoplasm, leading to the transcriptional activation of ATP7B expression. This, in turn, decreases the efficacy of platinum compounds by promoting their vesicular sequestration. We think that such a new explanation of the mechanism of SCCHN tumors’ platinum resistance identifies novel approach to treating these tumors.

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Collecting Words: A Clinical Example of a Morphology-Focused Orthographic Intervention

Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools ◽

10.1044/2020_lshss-19-00050 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 51 (3) ◽

pp. 544-560 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Kimberly A. Murphy ◽

Emily A. Diehm

Keyword(s):

Written Language ◽

Morphological Knowledge ◽

English Orthography ◽

Word Level ◽

Novel Approach ◽

Language Pathology ◽

The One ◽

Critical Intervention ◽

Reading And Spelling ◽

Reading And Spelling Difficulties

Purpose Morphological interventions promote gains in morphological knowledge and in other oral and written language skills (e.g., phonological awareness, vocabulary, reading, and spelling), yet we have a limited understanding of critical intervention features. In this clinical focus article, we describe a relatively novel approach to teaching morphology that considers its role as the key organizing principle of English orthography. We also present a clinical example of such an intervention delivered during a summer camp at a university speech and hearing clinic. Method Graduate speech-language pathology students provided a 6-week morphology-focused orthographic intervention to children in first through fourth grade ( n = 10) who demonstrated word-level reading and spelling difficulties. The intervention focused children's attention on morphological families, teaching how morphology is interrelated with phonology and etymology in English orthography. Results Comparing pre- and posttest scores, children demonstrated improvement in reading and/or spelling abilities, with the largest gains observed in spelling affixes within polymorphemic words. Children and their caregivers reacted positively to the intervention. Therefore, data from the camp offer preliminary support for teaching morphology within the context of written words, and the intervention appears to be a feasible approach for simultaneously increasing morphological knowledge, reading, and spelling. Conclusion Children with word-level reading and spelling difficulties may benefit from a morphology-focused orthographic intervention, such as the one described here. Research on the approach is warranted, and clinicians are encouraged to explore its possible effectiveness in their practice. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12290687

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