11,585 research outputs found
On Experiencing Meaning: Irreducible Cognitive Phenomenology and Sinewave Speech
Upon first hearing sinewaves, all that can be discerned are beeps and whistles. But after hearing the original speech, the beeps and whistles sound like speech. The difference between these two episodes undoubtedly involves an alteration in phenomenal character. OāCallaghan (2011) argues that this alteration is non-sensory, but he leaves open the possibility of attributing it to some other source, e.g. cognition. I discuss whether the alteration in phenomenal character involved in sinewave speech provides evidence for cognitive phenomenology. I defend both the existence of cognitive phenomenology and the phenomenal contrast method, as each concerns the case presented here
Decline and fall:a biological, developmental, and psycholinguistic account of deliberative language processes and ageing
Background: This paper reviews the role of deliberative processes in language: those language processes that require central resources, in contrast to the automatic processes of lexicalisation, word retrieval, and parsing. 10 Aims: We describe types of deliberative processing, and show how these processes underpin high-level processes that feature strongly in language. We focus on metalin- guistic processing, strategic processing, inhibition, and planning. We relate them to frontal-lobe function and the development of the fronto-striate loop. We then focus on the role of deliberative processes in normal and pathological development and ageing, 15 and show how these processes are particularly susceptible to deterioration with age. In particular, many of the commonly observed language impairments encountered in ageing result from a decline in deliberative processing skills rather than in automatic language processes. Main Contribution: We argue that central processing plays a larger and more important 20 role in language processing and acquisition than is often credited. Conclusions: Deliberative language processes permeate language use across the lifespan. They are particularly prone to age-related loss. We conclude by discussing implications for therapy
An Efficient Probabilistic Context-Free Parsing Algorithm that Computes Prefix Probabilities
We describe an extension of Earley's parser for stochastic context-free
grammars that computes the following quantities given a stochastic context-free
grammar and an input string: a) probabilities of successive prefixes being
generated by the grammar; b) probabilities of substrings being generated by the
nonterminals, including the entire string being generated by the grammar; c)
most likely (Viterbi) parse of the string; d) posterior expected number of
applications of each grammar production, as required for reestimating rule
probabilities. (a) and (b) are computed incrementally in a single left-to-right
pass over the input. Our algorithm compares favorably to standard bottom-up
parsing methods for SCFGs in that it works efficiently on sparse grammars by
making use of Earley's top-down control structure. It can process any
context-free rule format without conversion to some normal form, and combines
computations for (a) through (d) in a single algorithm. Finally, the algorithm
has simple extensions for processing partially bracketed inputs, and for
finding partial parses and their likelihoods on ungrammatical inputs.Comment: 45 pages. Slightly shortened version to appear in Computational
Linguistics 2
Amodal Atypical Neural Oscillatory Activity in Dyslexia: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective
First Published December 21, 2016It has been proposed that atypical neural oscillations in both the auditory and the visual modalities could explain why
some individuals fail to learn to read and suffer from developmental dyslexia. However, the role of specific oscillatory
mechanisms in reading acquisition is still under debate. In this article, we take a cross-linguistic approach and argue
that both the phonological and orthographic specifics of a language (e.g., linguistic rhythm, orthographic depth) shape
the oscillatory activity thought to contribute to reading development. The proposed theoretical framework should
allow future research to test cross-linguistic hypotheses that will shed light on the heterogeneity of auditory and visual
disorders and their underlying brain dysfunction(s) in developmental dyslexia, and inform clinical practice by helping
us to diagnose dyslexia across languages.This research was funded by the European Research Council (ERC
Advanced Grant, BILITERACY Project, to M.C.), and the Spanish
government (Plan Nacional-PSI2012-32128 and PSI2015-65338-P
to M.L., Plan Nacional-PSI2012-32350 and PSI2015-65694-P to
N.M., and Plan Nacional-PSI2015-67353-R to M.C.). The Basque
Center on Brain Cognition and Language acknowledges funding
from Ayuda Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa SEV-2015-0490
Parsing the Plagiary Scandals in History and Law
[Excerpt] āIn 2002 the history of History was scandal. The narrative started when a Pulitzer Prize winning professor was caught foisting bogus Vietnam War exploits as background for classroom discussion. His fantasy lapse prefaced a more serious irregularityāthe author of the Bancroft Prize book award was accused of falsifying key research documents. The award was rescinded. The year reached a crescendo with two plagiarism cases āthat shook the history profession to its core.ā
Stephen Ambrose and Doris Kearns Goodwin were ācrossoverā celebrities: esteemed academicsāPulitzer winnersāwith careers embellished by a public intellectual reputation. The media nurtured a Greek Tragedy ātwo superstars entangled in the labyrinth of the worst case academic curseāaccusations that they copied without attribution. Their careers dangled on the idiosyncratic slope of paraphrasing with its reefs of echoes, mirroring, recycling, borrowing, etc.
As the Ambrose-Kearns Goodwin imbroglio ignited critique from the History community, a sequel engulfed Harvard Law School. Alan Dershowitz, Charles Ogletree, and Laurence Tribe were implicated in plagiarism allegations; the latter two ensnared on the paraphrase slope. The New York Times headline anticipated a new media frenzy: When Plagiarismās Shadow Falls on Admired Scholars. Questioned after the first two incidents, the President of Harvard said: āIf you had a third one then I would have said, āOkay, you get to say this is a special thing, a focused problem at the Law School.āā There was no follow up comment after the Tribe accusation.
The occurrence of similar plagiarism packages in two disciplines within an overlapping time frame justifies an inquiry. The following case studies of six accusation narratives identify a congeries of shared issues, subsuming a crossfire of contention over definition, culpability, and sanction. While the survey connects core History-Law commonalities, each case is defined by its own distinctive cluster of signifiers. The primary source for the explication of each signifier cluster is the media of newspaper, trade journal, television, and internet. The media presence is the Articleās motifāeach case study summarizes a media construct of a slice of the plagiarism debate. By authorās decree the debate is restricted to āpureā plagiarism: the appropriation of anotherās text without attribution. The survey is conducted according to chronological order, beginning with History.
Ward Churchillās sui generis smutch from plagiarism continues to agitate media coverage. His argument that a dismissal by the University of Colorado for academic misconduct would constitute a cover for a First Amendment protected essay on 9/11 adds more challenge to the plagiary abyss. This Article concludes with up-to-date coverage of the Churchill narrative.
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