Performance-optimized neural networks as an explanatory framework for decision confidence

Previous work has sought to understand decision confidence as a prediction of the probability that a decision will be correct, leading to debate over whether these predictions are optimal, and whether they rely on the same decision variable as decisions themselves. This work has generally relied on idealized, low-dimensional modeling frameworks, such as signal detection theory or Bayesian inference, leaving open the question of how decision confidence operates in the domain of high-dimensional, naturalistic stimuli. To address this, we developed a deep neural network model optimized to assess decision confidence directly given high-dimensional inputs such as images. The model naturally accounts for a number of puzzling dissociations between decisions and confidence, suggests a principled explanation of these dissociations in terms of optimization for the statistics of sensory inputs, and makes the surprising prediction that, despite these dissociations, decisions and confidence depend on a common decision variable.

Wigner’s friend and Relational Quantum Mechanics: A Reply to Laudisa

Relational Quantum Mechanics is an interpretation of quantum mechanics proposed by Carlo Rovelli. Rovelli argues that, in the same spirit as Einstein’s theory of relativity, physical quantities can only have definite values relative to an observer. Relational Quantum Mechanics is hereby able to offer a principled explanation of the problem of nested measurement, also known as Wigner’s friend. Since quantum states are taken to be relative states that depend on both the system and the observer, there is no inconsistency in the descriptions of the observers. Federico Laudisa has recently argued, however, that Rovelli’s description of Wigner’s friend is ambiguous, because it does not take into account the correlation between the observer and the quantum system. He argues that if this correlation is taken into account, the problem with Wigner’s friend disappears and, therefore, a relativization of quantum states is not necessary. I will show that Laudisa’s criticism is not justified. To the extent that the correlation can be accurately reflected, the problem of Wigner’s friend remains. An interpretation of quantum mechanics that provides a solution to it, like Relational Quantum Mechanics, is therefore a welcome one.

Battered Persons, Provocation, and Fair Opportunity

Different battered person defenses are distinguished from each other and shown not to depend on Battered Woman’s Syndrome. Common law and Model Penal Code conceptions of provocation are distinguished. The Model Penal Code conception is shown to be regressive. A worry is raised that there is a double standard at work in the criminal law’s treatment of intimate partner violence involving men and women. A principled explanation is offered about when provocation justifies and when it excuses. Doubts are expressed about extending a provocation defense to those with unreasonably volatile sensibilities.

Scalar Implicature, Hurford's Constraint, Contrastiveness and How They All Come Together

Disjunction with two scalar items, such as some or all of the books, has been regarded as evidence for the grammatical theory of scalar implicatures (e.g., Chierchia et al., 2012). Hurford's Constraint (Hurford, 1974) provides that disjuncts are banned from having an entailing relation, and to make such a disjunction comply with Hurford's Constraint, the meaning of some must be locally strengthened. Interestingly, however, the order of disjoined scalar items is not free, as noted by Singh (2008). The order in which a weaker scalar item comes first followed by its stronger scalar mate is better than the other order. I present an analysis of this ordering restriction based on the novel observation that the restriction is not only found in disjunction but in contrastive environments in general. I propose that contrasting a linguistic expression requires a “contrast antecedent,” which must elicit a set of mutually exclusive alternatives that includes the meaning of the contrasted expression. It will be demonstrated how the mutual exclusivity requirement presents a principled explanation for the ordering asymmetry as well as Hurford's Constraint itself, which indicates that the root of the constraint is not in disjunction but in contrastiveness. One of the indispensable ingredients in the proposal is the grammatical/conventional generation of scalar implicatures, as the strengthened meaning must be the basis of alternatives. The paper also provides a speculative analysis of only, in which I suggest that the process of exhaustification in the grammatical theory of scalar implicatures should not be characterized as the implicit only, the semantic contributions of which are more different than commonly assumed.

Pathways of Grammaticalisation in Italo-Romance

The aim of this contribution is to discuss three possible theoretical interpretations of grammaticalised structures in present-day Italo-Romance varieties. In particular, we discuss and analyse three diachronic case studies in relation to the generative view of grammaticalisation. The first case-study revolves around the expression of future tense and modality. This is discussed in the light of the assumption according to which grammaticalised elements result from merging elements in higher positions than their original merge positions within the lexical domain, giving rise to the upward directionality of the grammaticalisation process within the clause (Roberts, Ian G. and Anna Roussou, 2003, Syntactic change: A minimalist approach to grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). The second case study challenges this view, by discussing irrealis complementisers as a case of a downward pathway of grammaticalization at the CP level. For our third case study, namely the development of (discontinuous) demonstrative structures from Latin to Romance, the rich Italo-Romance empirical evidence is analysed through the lens of a parametric account (Longobardi, Giuseppe, Cristina Guardiano, Giuseppina Silvestri, Alessio Boattini, and Andrea Ceolin, 2013, Toward a syntactic phylogeny of modern Indo-European languages, Journal of Historical Linguistics 3(1), 122-152), in order to capture the role of the relevant semantic and syntactic features within the fine-grained architecture of the DP. It will be observed that the diachronic development of some functional categories in (Italo-)Romance results from cyclic pathways of grammaticalisation, as the same category might cyclically change from more synthetic to more analytic, and vice-versa. Moreover, it will also be shown how the two theoretical approaches adopted, i.e. the cartographic model (adopted in Roberts, Ian G. and Anna Roussou, 2003. Syntactic change: A minimalist approach to grammaticalization, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), and the parametric accounts (Longobardi, Giuseppe, Cristina Guardiano, Giuseppina Silvestri, Alessio Boattini and Andrea Ceolin, 2013, Toward a syntactic phylogeny of modern Indo-European languages, Journal of Historical Linguistics 3(1), 122-152), are able to provide a principled explanation of the structural correlates of grammaticalisation at the sentential, clausal and nominal level of investigation.

Evidence motivating consideration of an alternative approach

This chapter begins to motivate the development of an alternative approach to speech production by pointing out three potential difficulties with the highly-successful Articulatory Phonology/Task Dynamics approach. First, it discusses the extensive nature of modifications to AP/TD default specifications required to account for the wide variety of surface phonetic forms. The need for a large number of adjustments in AP/TD raises questions about the appropriateness of the AP/TD default-adjustment approach, which would have been more appropriate if the default, non-prominent, phrase-medial, normal-speech-rate specifications could be used most of the time. Second, it discusses the lack of a principled explanation for behaviors described by Fitts’ law. While the theory can accommodate some aspects of Fitts’ law, others are not explained or accommodated. Finally, it suggests that AP/TD’s gestural score architecture raises the risk of spatial interference among overlapping, independent gestures. These three challenges taken together set the stage for the discussion of additional challenges in Chapter 4, which further motivate consideration of phonology-extrinsic-timing-based approaches to speech motor control.

Theories of Language Contact

This chapter depicts major theories of language contact, including those relating to the outcomes of borrowing, creole formation and other bilingual mixtures, with special emphasis on the framework proposed by Frans van Coetsem. This framework is multi-disciplinary in nature, built around linguistic, sociolinguistic, and psycholinguistic approaches. I first discuss the contributions of sociolinguistic approaches to our understanding of the ways in which social contexts and social factors influence the outcomes of language contact. I then evaluate various linguistic frameworks that have been proposed for describing the linguistic outcomes of language contact, the mechanisms involved, and the classification of contact phenomena. I argue that van Coetsem’s (1988, 2000) model of language contact offers a more consistent, accurate and principled explanation of the processes of change associated with different types of contact. Following that, I show how a wide variety of contact phenomena can be accounted for in terms of just two universal mechanisms of change—borrowing and imposition. Finally, I discuss ways in which psycholinguistic models of language production can contribute to our understanding of these mechanisms of contact-induced change.

The Hydra of Tyranny, The Fall of Robespierre and the Early Demise of Robert Southey's Revolutionary Enthusiasm

This article explores Robert Southey's pessimistic re-appropriation of the popular revolutionary symbol of the hydra in the closet drama The Fall of Robespierre (1794). Challenging the prevailing view that Southey was an enthusiastic revolutionary throughout the 1790s, the study progresses from an exploration of the hydra's ubiquitous use in revolutionary and loyalist propaganda to an account of Southey's damning re-appropriation of the monster as a symbol for recurrences of tyranny in France's revolutionary governments. Analyses of The Fall of Robespierre, Southey's closet drama Wat Tyler (1794) and epic Joan of Arc (1796) demonstrate that Southey acquired an early conviction that tyranny was a recurrent obstacle to democracy, which rendered revolution futile. Arguing that Southey's revolutionary zeal had largely abated by 1793, I contend that his youthful incredulity about the plausibility of establishing a republic informed, and constitutes a principled explanation for, his notorious apostasy and conservatism in later life.

On the cardinal system in Italian Sign Language (LIS)

This paper offers a comprehensive discussion of the cardinal numeral system of Italian Sign Language. At the lexical level, we present the different formational strategies used to generate cardinal numerals and we provide evidence that in the younger generations of signers, the signonehas lost the function of indefinite determiner and is now used as a cardinal only. At the syntactic level, we show that the attested variation in the ordering between the cardinal and the noun is in part due to definiteness and contrastive focus. We account for this variation within the cartographic approach to syntax. Finally, we offer a principled explanation for the reason why cardinals inside Measure Phrases are not subject to word order variation, but always precede the measure noun.