Being explicit about the implicit: inference generating techniques in visual narrative

abstractInference has long been acknowledged as a key aspect of comprehending narratives of all kinds, be they verbal discourse or visual narratives like comics and films. While both theoretical and empirical evidence points towards such inference generation in sequential images, most of these approaches remain at a fairly broad level. Few approaches have detailed the specific cues and constructions used to signal such inferences in the first place. This paper thereby outlines several specific entrenched constructions that motivate a reader to generate inference. These techniques include connections motivated by the morphology of visual affixes like speech balloons and thought bubbles, the omission of certain narrative categories, and the substitution of narrative categories for certain classes of panels. These mechanisms all invoke specific combinatorial structures (morphology, narrative) that mismatch with the elicited semantics, and can be generalized by a set of shared descriptive features. By detailing specific constructions, this paper aims to push the study of inference in visual narratives to be explicit about when and why meaning is ‘filled in’ by a reader, while drawing connections to inference generation in other modalities.

Creating Access to Assessment Methods and Results

Jurors may have no idea how our assessment tools and procedures work. Professionals are so used to speaking and thinking with the basic assumptions of our professions that those assumptions become invisible to us. Standardized testing and normative interpretation are a great example of this concept. After years of graduate school and clinical practice, when a neuropsychologist uses the word testing we have a very precise image in our thought bubbles of a battery of valid and reliably constructed instruments, normed on appropriate populations, administered in a standardized fashion, and interpreted in the context of the larger assessment. But very few jurors will have been exposed to the concept of normative interpretation. To ensure that jurors and triers of fact have access to our broader message regarding assessment results, we need to begin our testimony with a clear, accessible, and engaging description of our assessment tools and process. This chapter addresses strategies for explaining psychological and neuropsychological assessment procedures, as well as specific tests like the MMPI, in a clear, accessible manner.

Testimony That Sticks

How do we create access to complex, highly technical neuropsychological and psychological information for jurors in a way that is engaging, understandable, and (to quote Faulkner) sets the truth on fire? Testimony that Sticks shares the fruits of 4-years of in-depth interviews with over 70 seasoned forensic neuropsychologists and psychologists, as well as attorneys and judges, presenting compelling analogies, metaphors, and succinct explanations of assessment processes and findings, as well as principals of productive expert testimony for direct and cross examination. This book allows readers to be a fly on the wall as seasoned forensic neuropsychologists and psychologists share what they actually say on the stand: their best strategies and techniques for creating access to our science for juries and other triers of fact. Readers also have access to the thought bubbles of attorneys and judges as they watch expert testimony and weigh in on what they need from our profession to create more productive testimony. At its heart, the book is about disrupting the academic communication style learned in our years of scientific training that results in a net loss of our ability to communicate clearly and simply about the neuroscience we love. It is about shedding jargon, giving ourselves permission to allow emotion to creep back into our language, freeing up our body language, and using vivid, clear, language to create moments of genuine, productive communication with jurors and other triers of fact.

He's Got All the Answers

A cartoon exploring various math thought bubbles is coupled with a full-page activity sheet.

Aspects of a boy’s childhood as a complex social construct in comics

The depiction of boyhood in the Western world of comics underwent a subtle transformation in the shadow of the Second World War. Major artists of these sequential artistic texts (such as Schultz and Spiegelman) fine-tuned key elements in the set of resources they drew on, effectively changing how readers/viewers engage with the young male protagonists in comics. The shift in affect was realized in storylines; instead of these being driven by external, performance-oriented representations of ‘boyhood’ punctuated by mischievous deeds or heroic exploits, drama was created by a much more complex and nuanced depiction of boyhood that explored the internal emotional and psychological worlds of main boy characters. Drawing on representative examples from two different sets of comics, this article applies a bi-modal, semiotic approach that specifically addresses how facial expressions, gaze and speech/thought bubbles, elements of the interpersonal meta-function, construct a more complex representation of boyhood.

INTERSECÇÕES ENTRE RELIGIÃO E HISTÓRIAS EM QUADRINHOS: BALÕES DE PENSAMENTO A PARTIR DE UM OLHAR À SUPERAVENTURA "Intersections between Religion and Comics: thought bubbles from a look into superhero genre"

A partir de uma abordagem bibliográfica exploratória, este texto apresenta intersecções identificadas entre religião e histórias em quadrinhos, especialmente, a partir de um olhar a superaventura. Inicialmente, o texto reitera o papel das histórias em quadrinhos enquanto representação do universo simbólico-cultural humano, para, em seguida, apresentar ilustrações sobre a religião nas histórias em quadrinhos a partir da superaventura e indicar pesquisadores e pesquisadoras envolvidas com o assunto. Uma abordagem na perspectiva da Teologia e das Ciências da Religião identifica que religião e histórias em quadrinhos se encontram especialmente de quatro maneiras: a) quadrinhos produzidos por instituições religiosas; b) quadrinhos com temas reconhecidamente e intencionalmente religiosos; c) quadrinhos com religião como ilustração contextual; d) quadrinhos como expressão das estruturas simbólicas e religiosas. Ao final, afirma que quadrinhos são sim locus revelacionis da experiência religiosa humana e reitera a importância do estudo na perspectiva da teologia do cotidiano.Palavras-chave: Superaventura. Histórias em Quadrinhos. Histórias em Quadrinhos – aspectos religiosos.AbstractStarting from an exploratory bibliographic approach, this text presents intersections identified between religion and comics, especially from a look into the superhero genre. Initially, the text reiterates the role of comics as a representation of the symbolic and cultural human background, to then display examples on religion in comics especially in superhero stories and present investigators involved with the subject. An approach of theology and religious studies identified that religion and comics intersected particularly in four ways: a) comics produced by religious institutions; b) comics with known and intentionally religious themes; c) comics with religion as contextual illustration; d) comics as an expression of symbolic and religious structures. In the end, it states that comics are a locus revelacionis of human religious experience and reiterates the importance of studying the theme under the perspective of the theology of daily life.Keywords: Superhero genre. Comics. Comics – religious aspects.