Individual differences in indirect speech act processing found outside the language network

Abstract Face-to-face communication requires skills that go beyond core language abilities. In dialog, we routinely make inferences beyond the literal meaning of utterances and distinguish between different speech acts based on e.g. contextual cues. It is however not known whether such communicative skills potentially overlap with core language skills or other capacities, such as Theory of Mind (ToM). In this fMRI study we investigate these questions by capitalizing on individual variation in pragmatic skills in the general population. Based on behavioral data from 201 participants, we selected participants with higher vs lower pragmatic skills for the fMRI-study (N = 57). In the scanner, participants listened to dialogs including a direct or an indirect target utterance. The paradigm allowed participants at the whole group level to (passively) distinguish indirect from direct speech acts, as evidenced by a robust activity difference between these speech acts in an extended language network including ToM areas. Individual differences in pragmatic skills modulated activation in two additional regions outside the core language regions (one cluster in the left lateral parietal cortex and intraparietal sulcus and one in the precuneus). The behavioral results indicate segregation of pragmatic skill from core language and ToM. In conclusion, contextualized and multimodal communication requires a set of inter-related pragmatic processes that are neurocognitively segregated: (1) from core language and (2) partly from ToM.

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Individual differences in cross-race bias modulate adaptation to ingroup and outgroup faces: An FMRi study

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e512142015-062 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Kimberly A. Quinn ◽

Bradley D. Mattan ◽

Pia Rotshtein

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Race Bias ◽

Fmri Study

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Sex disparities in cardiovascular health metrics among rural-dwelling older adults in China: a population-based study

BMC Geriatrics ◽

10.1186/s12877-021-02116-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Xiaolei Han ◽

Ziying Jiang ◽

Yuanjing Li ◽

Yongxiang Wang ◽

Yajun Liang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Rural Communities ◽

Cardiovascular Health ◽

Rural China ◽

Descriptive Analysis ◽

Population Based ◽

Baseline Survey ◽

Chinese Older Adults ◽

Face To Face ◽

Sex Disparities

Abstract Background Cardiovascular health (CVH) metrics among Chinese older adults are poorly understood. We investigated sex disparities in CVH metrics and their management among rural-dwelling older adults in China. Methods This community-based study included 5026 participants (age ≥ 65 years; 57.2% women) in the baseline survey of a multimodal intervention study in rural China. In March–September 2018, data were collected through face-to-face interviews, clinical examinations, and laboratory tests. We defined six CVH metrics (three behavioral factors—smoking, body mass index, and physical activity; three biological factors—blood pressure, total cholesterol, and blood glucose) following the modified American Heart Association’s recommendations. We performed descriptive analysis separately for men and women. Results Of all participants, only 0.8% achieved ideal levels in all six CVH metrics. Men were more likely than women to have ideal levels in all CVH metrics but smoking. Women had higher prevalence of ideal global (9.7% vs. 7.8%) and behavioral (18.3% vs. 9.5%) CVH metrics (p < 0.001), whereas men had higher prevalence of ideal biological CVH metrics (5.4% vs. 3.5%, p < 0.001). The prevalence of ideal global and behavioral CVH metrics increased with age in both women and men (p for trend< 0.001). Women were more likely to be aware of their hypertension and diabetes, and to receive antihypertensive treatment, while men were more likely to achieve the goal of high cholesterol treatment (p < 0.05). Conclusions The CVH metrics among older adults living in the rural communities in China are characterized by an extremely low proportion of optimal global CVH metrics and distinct sex differences, alongside poor management of major biological risk factors. Trial registration ChiCTR1800017758 (Aug 13, 2018).

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Diagnostic stability in a Dutch psychosis incidence cohort

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.185.6.460 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 185 (6) ◽

pp. 460-464 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

Natalie D. Veen ◽

Jean-Paul Selten ◽

Diede Schols ◽

Winfried Laan ◽

Hans W. Hoek ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Psychotic Disorders ◽

Population Based ◽

Schizophrenic Disorder ◽

Diagnostic Stability ◽

Face To Face ◽

Follow Up Study ◽

Relative Risks ◽

Diagnostic Interviews ◽

The Uk

BackgroundNo study outside the UK has examined the diagnostic stability of psychotic disorders in a population-based sample.AimsTo determine diagnostic stability in a Dutch population-based psychosis incidence cohort, to examine the frequencies of diagnostic shifts to and from schizophrenic disorders and to report the revised relative risks of schizophrenic disorders for immigrants.MethodA 30-month follow-up study assessed the cohort (n=181) by means of face-to-face diagnostic interviews.ResultsDiagnostic stability of schizophrenic disorders was high (91%), but lower for other psychotic disorders. At follow-up, the initial diagnosis was adjusted to schizophrenic disorder more often than that the reverse occurred. Almost half (49%) of the patients who were not initially diagnosed as having a schizophrenic disorder received this diagnosis at follow-up. The relative risks for most immigrant groups were stable.ConclusionsSchizophrenic disorders are underdiagnosed, rather than overdiagnosed, at first presentation.

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Calibrated prevalence of disabling chronic pain according to different approaches: a face-to-face cross-sectional population-based study in Southern Spain

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014033 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. e014033 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Andrés Cabrera-León ◽

María Rueda ◽

Miguel Cantero-Braojos

Keyword(s):

Chronic Pain ◽

Population Based ◽

Southern Spain ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Population Based Study ◽

Face To Face

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Fears and phobias: reliability and heritability

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291799008429 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 29 (3) ◽

pp. 539-553 ◽

Cited By ~ 135

Author(s):

K. S. KENDLER ◽

L. M. KARKOWSKI ◽

C. A. PRESCOTT

Keyword(s):

Threshold Model ◽

Twin Studies ◽

Measurement Model ◽

Population Based ◽

Face To Face ◽

Long Term Stability ◽

Telephone Interviews ◽

History Of ◽

Multiple Threshold ◽

Test Retest Reliability

Background. Familial factors, which are partly genetic, influence risk for phobias. Prior family and twin studies, however, were based on a single lifetime assessment, which may be only moderately reliable.Methods. We obtained, 8 years apart, two assessments of lifetime history of five unreasonable fears and phobias (agoraphobia and social, situational, animal and blood-injury phobia) from face-to-face and telephone interviews from 1708 individual female twins from a population-based registry. We also obtained, 1 month apart, test–retest reliability on 192 twins. We fitted, using the program Mx, a measurement model that estimates the role of genetic and environmental risk factors correcting for measurement error.Results. Short-term reliability of the five phobias was modest (mean κ=0·46), but higher than long-term stability (mean κ=0·30). Unreliability occurred both for subject recall of unreasonable fears and for interviewer assessment of which fears constituted phobias. Examining fears and phobias together, in a multiple threshold model, results suggested that twin resemblance was due solely to genetic factors, with estimated total heritabilities, corrected for unreliability, of: any 43%, agoraphobia 67%, animal 47%, blood/injury 59%, situational 46% and social 51%. With the exception of animal phobia, similar results were obtained analysing phobias alone.Conclusions. Lifetime histories of unreasonable fears and phobias assessed at personal interview have substantial unreliability. Correcting for unreliability, the liability to fears and their associated phobias is moderately heritable. Individual-specific environmental experiences play an important role in the development of phobias, while familial–environmental factors appear to be of little aetiological significance.

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Dempster-Shafer Theoretic Learning of Indirect Speech Act Comprehension Norms

Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence ◽

10.1609/aaai.v34i06.6610 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 34 (06) ◽

pp. 10410-10417

Author(s):

Ruchen Wen ◽

Mohammed Aun Siddiqui ◽

Tom Williams

Keyword(s):

Recent Work ◽

Speech Acts ◽

Speech Act ◽

Social Roles ◽

Rule Learning ◽

Indirect Speech ◽

Robot Teams ◽

Indirect Speech Acts ◽

Indirect Speech Act

For robots to successfully operate as members of human-robot teams, it is crucial for robots to correctly understand the intentions of their human teammates. This task is particularly difficult due to human sociocultural norms: for reasons of social courtesy (e.g., politeness), people rarely express their intentions directly, instead typically employing polite utterance forms such as Indirect Speech Acts (ISAs). It is thus critical for robots to be capable of inferring the intentions behind their teammates' utterances based on both their interaction context (including, e.g., social roles) and their knowledge of the sociocultural norms that are applicable within that context. This work builds off of previous research on understanding and generation of ISAs using Dempster-Shafer Theoretic Uncertain Logic, by showing how other recent work in Dempster-Shafer Theoretic rule learning can be used to learn appropriate uncertainty intervals for robots' representations of sociocultural politeness norms.

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Participatory Surveillance of COVID-19 in Lesotho via Weekly Calls: Protocol for Cell Phone Data Collection (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.31236 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Abigail R Greenleaf ◽

Gerald Mwima ◽

Molibeli Lethoko ◽

Martha Conkling ◽

George Keefer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Data Collection ◽

Surveillance System ◽

Cell Phone ◽

Diarrheal Disease ◽

Cell Phones ◽

Population Based ◽

Noncommunicable Diseases ◽

Future Research ◽

Face To Face ◽

Participatory Surveillance

BACKGROUND The increase in cell phone ownership in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) has created an opportunity for low-cost, rapid data collection by calling participants on their cell phones. Cell phones can be mobilized for a myriad of data collection purposes, including surveillance. In LMIC, cell phone–based surveillance has been used to track Ebola, measles, acute flaccid paralysis, and diarrheal disease, as well as noncommunicable diseases. Phone-based surveillance in LMIC is a particularly pertinent, burgeoning approach in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participatory surveillance via cell phone could allow governments to assess burden of disease and complements existing surveillance systems. OBJECTIVE We describe the protocol for the LeCellPHIA (Lesotho Cell Phone PHIA) project, a cell phone surveillance system that collects weekly population-based data on influenza-like illness (ILI) in Lesotho by calling a representative sample of a recent face-to-face survey. METHODS We established a phone-based surveillance system to collect ILI symptoms from approximately 1700 participants who had participated in a recent face-to-face survey in Lesotho, the Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (PHIA) Survey. Of the 15,267 PHIA participants who were over 18 years old, 11,975 (78.44%) consented to future research and provided a valid phone number. We followed the PHIA sample design and included 342 primary sampling units from 10 districts. We randomly selected 5 households from each primary sampling unit that had an eligible participant and sampled 1 person per household. We oversampled the elderly, as they are more likely to be affected by COVID-19. A 3-day Zoom training was conducted in June 2020 to train LeCellPHIA interviewers. RESULTS The surveillance system launched July 1, 2020, beginning with a 2-week enrollment period followed by weekly calls that will continue until September 30, 2022. Of the 11,975 phone numbers that were in the sample frame, 3020 were sampled, and 1778 were enrolled. CONCLUSIONS The surveillance system will track COVID-19 in a resource-limited setting. The novel approach of a weekly cell phone–based surveillance system can be used to track other health outcomes, and this protocol provides information about how to implement such a system. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT DERR1-10.2196/31236

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Speech Acts

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199697960.013.22 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Stephen C. Levinson

Keyword(s):

Conversation Analysis ◽

Speech Acts ◽

Language Use ◽

Speech Act ◽

Linguistic Pragmatics ◽

Recursive Structures ◽

Core Language ◽

Core Issues ◽

Essential Insight

The essential insight of speech act theory was that when we use language, we perform actions—in a more modern parlance, core language use in interaction is a form of joint action. Over the last thirty years, speech acts have been relatively neglected in linguistic pragmatics, although important work has been done especially in conversation analysis. Here we review the core issues—the identifying characteristics, the degree of universality, the problem of multiple functions, and the puzzle of speech act recognition. Special attention is drawn to the role of conversation structure, probabilistic linguistic cues, and plan or sequence inference in speech act recognition, and to the centrality of deep recursive structures in sequences of speech acts in conversation.

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