A dynamic neural field model of memory, attention and cross-situational word learning

Recent empirical studies have affirmed the fundamental role of attention and memory processes in statistical word learning tasks. These processes interact in complex ways to guide spontaneous looking behaviors of learners as well as determine their overall learning performance. On the modelling side, studies have made it clear that computational models must provide process-based rather than only computational accounts of word learning, because these can connect to the empirically observed behaviors at a moment-to-moment timescale. Thus, here we present a neurally-grounded process model of word learning called WOLVES (Word-Object Learning Via Visual Exploration in Space) that integrates visual dynamics and word-object binding across multiple timescales. WOLVES integrates multiple established dynamic neural field models to allow fine-grained indexing of component processes driving the looking-learning loop. We report simulation results for three empirical cross-situational word learning experiments to validate the model

Without Words: Relational Neuropsychology and Creative Arts Therapies with People Managing Aphasia

Aphasia describes the broad experience of disrupted language production or comprehension acquired after structural changes in the brain. These changes, usually associated with stroke, tumor, or cortical degeneration, are often co-occurring with other symptoms, such as emotional dysregulation, partial paralysis, and difficult social, occupational, and community relationships. Common approaches to research and rehabilitation with persons managing aphasia highlight conversation and semantic retrieval, with a lack in literature considering the diversity of symptoms and responses. Questions arise as to the ways that psychotherapies, typically language- centered, can be adapted to collaborative, low-verbal approaches that attend to the range of individual symptoms and expressions experienced after stroke or other brain incident. This research considered the question: How does participating in a creative arts psychotherapy program influence cognitive and clinical therapeutic outcomes for a person with aphasia? Using quantitative and qualitative methods guided by an integrative, relational neuropsychology, this research explored the complexity of experiences accompanying language loss and neurorehabilitation through two case studies where participants engaged in a 5-6 session creative arts psychotherapy program. Cognitive outcomes evidenced clinically significant changes in perceptual-motor, executive function, and memory tasks, and limited differences in language production. Clinical therapeutic outcomes included improved mood, engagement, and relational experiences for both participants, evidenced through clinical observations and participant self-report at both the session and program levels. An integrative approach to psychotherapy with people managing aphasia is discussed, contributing to the research in clinical neuropsychology, relational theory, and creative arts therapy