Knowledge likely held by others affects speakers’ choices of referential expressions at different stages of discourse

Effective communication requires adjusting one’s discourse to be understood by the addressee. While some suggest that choices of referring expressions are dependent on the addressee’s accessibility to the referent, there is also evidence for an egocentric bias in speech production. This study relied on two new experimental tasks designed to assess whether speakers adapt their choices of referential expressions when introducing movie characters that are either likely known or likely unknown by their addressee, and when maintaining or reintroducing these characters at a later point in the discourse. Results revealed an adjustment to the addressee in the use of character’s names (increased for likely known characters) and definite expressions (increased for likely unknown characters) observed at all the discourse stages. Use of indefinite expressions and names was affected by the participant’s own knowledge specifically when introducing the characters. These results indicate that speakers take their addressee’s likely knowledge into account at multiple discourse stages

Adjustment of speaker’s referential expressions to an addressee’s likely knowledge and link with theory of mind abilities

To communicate cooperatively, speakers must determine what constitutes the common ground with their addressee and adapt their referential choices accordingly. Assessing another person’s knowledge requires a social cognition ability termed theory of mind (ToM). This study relies on a novel referential communication task requiring probabilistic inferences of the knowledge already held by an addressee prior to the study. Forty participants were asked to present 10 movie characters and the addressee, who had the same characters in a random order, was asked to place them in order. ToM and other aspects of social cognition were also assessed. Participants used more information when presenting likely unknown than likely known movie characters. They particularly increased their use of physical descriptors, which most often accompanied movie-related information. Interestingly, a significant relationship emerged between our ToM test and the increased amount of information given for the likely unknown characters. These results suggest that speakers use ToM to infer their addressee’s likely knowledge and accordingly adapt their referential expressions

Dynamic saturation of an intersublevel transition in self-organized InAs/In(x)A(1-x)lAs quantum dots

International audienceWe have observed a dynamic saturation of an intersublevel transition in InAs/InxAl1-xAs quantum dots related to the discrete nature of electron states using midinfrared femtosecond spectroscopy. This dynamic saturation is a consequence of the gradual filling of the discrete quantum-dot electron states due to the capture of electrons injected in the barrier. Our interpretation of the differential transmission experiments is confirmed by a comparison with a rate-equation model with the capture and intersublevel relaxation time as fit parameters yielding 10 ps and 1 ps, respectively. We discuss the mechanism responsible for these relaxation times

Referential Choices in a Collaborative Storytelling Task: Discourse Stages and Referential Complexity Matter

During a narrative discourse, accessibility of the referents is rarely fixed once and for all. Rather, each referent varies in accessibility as the discourse unfolds, depending on the presence and prominence of the other referents. This leads the speaker to use various referential expressions to refer to the main protagonists of the story at different moments in the narrative. This study relies on a new, collaborative storytelling in sequence task designed to assess how speakers adjust their referential choices when they refer to different characters at specific discourse stages corresponding to the introduction, maintaining, or shift of the character in focus, in increasingly complex referential contexts. Referential complexity of the stories was manipulated through variations in the number of characters (1 vs. 2) and, for stories in which there were two characters, in their ambiguity in gender (different vs. same gender). Data were coded for the type of reference markers as well as the type of reference content (i.e., the extent of the information provided in the referential expression). Results showed that, beyond the expected effects of discourse stages on reference markers (more indefinite markers at the introduction stage, more pronouns at the maintaining stage, and more definite markers at the shift stage), the number of characters and their ambiguity in gender also modulated speakers' referential choices at specific discourse stages, For the maintaining stage, an effect of the number of characters was observed for the use of pronouns and of definite markers, with more pronouns when there was a single character, sometimes replaced by definite expressions when two characters were present in the story. For the shift stage, an effect of gender ambiguity was specifically noted for the reference content with more specific information provided in the referential expression when there was referential ambiguity. Reference content is an aspect of referential marking that is rarely addressed in a narrative context, yet it revealed a quite flexible referential behavior by the speakers

The neural correlates of referential communication : taking advantage of sparse-sampling fMRI to study verbal communication with a real interaction partner

This paper introduces an innovative functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) protocol to study real verbal interactions while limiting the impact of speech-related movement artefacts. This protocol is based on a sparse sampling acquisition technique and allowed participants to complete a referential communication task with a real interaction partner. During verbal interactions, speakers adjust their verbal productions depending on their interlocutors' knowledge of the referents being mentioned. These adjustments have been linked to theory of mind (ToM), the ability to infer other's mental states. We thus sought to determine if the brain regions supporting ToM would also be activated during a referential communication task in which participants have to present movie characters that vary in their likelihood of being known by their interlocutor. This pilot study establishes that the sparse sampling strategy is a viable option to study the neural correlates of referential communication while minimizing movement artefacts. In addition, the brain regions supporting ToM were recruited during the task, though specifically for the conditions where participants could adjust their verbal productions to the interlocutor's likely knowledge of the referent. This study therefore demonstrates the feasibility and relevance of a sparse-sampling approach to study verbal interactions with fMRI, including referential communication

The application of rules in morphology, syntax and number processing: a case of selective deficit of procedural or executive mechanisms?: Deficit of procedural or executive mechanisms

International audienceDeclarative memory is a long-term store for facts, concepts and words. Procedural memory subserves the learning and control of sensorimotor and cognitive skills, including the mental grammar. In this study, we report a single-case study of a mild aphasic patient who showed procedural deficits in the presence of preserved declarative memory abilities. We administered several experiments to explore rule application in morphology, syntax and number processing. Results partly support the differentiation between declarative and procedural memory. Moreover, the patient's performance varied according to the domain in which rules were to be applied, which underlines the need for more fine-grained distinctions in cognition between procedural rules

Strong Morita Equivalence and Imprimitivity Theorems

The purpose of this thesis is to give an exposition of two topics, mostly following the books \cite{R & W} and \cite{Wil}. First, we wish to investigate crossed product $C^*$-algebras in its most general form. Crossed product $C^*$-algebras are $C^*$-algebras which encode information about the action of a locally compact Hausdorff group $G$ as automorphisms on a $C^*$-algebra $A$. One of the prettiest example of such a dynamical system that I have observed in the wild arises in the gauge-invariant uniqueness theorem \cite{Rae}, which assigns to every $C^*$-algebra $C^*(E)$ associated with a graph $E$ a \emph{gauge action} of the unit circle \T to automorphisms on $C^*(E)$. Group $C^*$-algebras also arise as a crossed product of a dynamical system. I found crossed products in its most general form very abstract and much of its constructions motivated by phenomena in a simpler case. Because of this, much of the initial portion of this exposition is dedicated to the action of a discrete group on a unital $C^*$-algebra, where most of the examples are given. I must admit that I find calculations of crossed products when one has an indiscrete group $G$ acting on our $C^*$-algebra daunting except under very simple cases. This leads to our second topic, on imprimitivity theorems of crossed product $C^*$-algebras. Imprimitivity theorems are machines that output (strong) Morita equivalences between crossed products. Morita equivalence is an invariant on $C^*$-algebras which preserve properties like the ideal structure and the associated $K$-groups. For example, no two commutative $C^*$-algebras are Morita equivalent, but $C(X) \otimes M_n$ is Morita equivalent to $C(X)$ whenever $n$ is a positive integer and $X$ is a compact Hausdorff space. Notice that Morita equivalence can be used to prove that a given $C^*$-algebra is simple. All this leads to our concluding application: Takai duality. The set-up is as follows: we have an action $\alpha$ of an abelian group $G$ on a $C^*$-algebra $A$. On the associated crossed product $A \rtimes_\alpha G$, there is a dual action \Hat{\alpha} from the Pontryagin dual \Hat{G}. Takai duality states that the iterated crossed product (A \rtimes_\alpha G) \rtimes \Hat{G} is isomorphic to A \otimes \calK(L^2(G)) in a canonical way. This theorem is used to show for example that all graph $C^*$-algebras are nuclear or to establish theorems on the $K$-theory on crossed product $C^*$-algebras

«La relation de limitation et d’exception dans le français d’aujourd’hui : excepté, sauf et hormis comme pivots d’une relation algébrique »

L’analyse des emplois prépositionnels et des emplois conjonctifs d’ “excepté”, de “sauf” et d’ “hormis” permet d’envisager les trois prépositions/conjonctions comme le pivot d’un binôme, comme la plaque tournante d’une structure bipolaire. Placées au milieu du binôme, ces prépositions sont forcées par leur sémantisme originaire dûment métaphorisé de jouer le rôle de marqueurs d’inconséquence systématique entre l’élément se trouvant à leur gauche et celui qui se trouve à leur droite. L’opposition qui surgit entre les deux éléments n’est donc pas une incompatibilité naturelle, intrinsèque, mais extrinsèque, induite. Dans la plupart des cas (emplois limitatifs), cette opposition prend la forme d’un rapport entre une « classe » et le « membre (soustrait) de la classe », ou bien entre un « tout » et une « partie » ; dans d’autres (emplois exceptifs), cette opposition se manifeste au contraire comme une attaque de front portée par un « tout » à un autre « tout ». De plus, l’inconséquence induite mise en place par la préposition/conjonction paraît, en principe, tout à fait insurmontable. Dans l’assertion « les écureuils vivent partout, sauf en Australie » (que l’on peut expliciter par « Les écureuils vivent partout, sauf [qu’ils ne vivent pas] en Australie »), la préposition semble en effet capable d’impliquer le prédicat principal avec signe inverti, et de bâtir sur une telle implication une sorte de sous énoncé qui, à la rigueur, est totalement inconséquent avec celui qui le précède (si « les écureuils ne vivent pas en Australie », le fait qu’ils « vivent partout » est faux). Néanmoins, l’analyse montre qu’alors que certaines de ces oppositions peuvent enfin être dépassées, d’autres ne le peuvent pas. C’est, respectivement, le cas des relations limitatives et des relations exceptives. La relation limitative, impliquant le rapport « tout » - « partie », permet de résoudre le conflit dans les termes d’une somme algébrique entre deux sous énoncés pourvus de différent poids informatif et de signe contraire. Les valeurs numériques des termes de la somme étant déséquilibrées, le résultat est toujours autre que zéro. La relation exceptive, au contraire, qui n’implique pas le rapport « tout » - « partie », n’est pas capable de résoudre le conflit entre deux sous énoncés pourvus du même poids informatif et en même temps de signe contraire : les valeurs numériques des termes de la somme étant symétriques et égales, le résultat sera toujours équivalent à zéro

Social work students in Aotearoa New Zealand: the impacts of financial hardship on mental and social wellbeing

In Aotearoa New Zealand, approximately 3000 people are enrolled in a recognized social work education programme at any one time. A collaboration between researchers at two social work education providers sought to understand the experiences of student financial hardship, and its impact on wellbeing, amongst current social work students and recent graduates. In total, 346 students and recent graduates participated in a survey that gathered information Glossary of te reo Māori terms regarding financial circumstances, caring responsibilities, mental health and social wellbeing. As social work qualifications require a significant component of unpaid field education, this study reflects growing interest in the financial impact of studying for a social work qualification. This article explores some of the findings with particular focus on the impact of financial hardship on mental and social wellbeing. In particular, the study found that nearly one in four respondents reported experiencing moderate or severe financial hardship while studying, and that this had a significant impact on their mental and social wellbeing. In addition, those with caring responsibilities, especially accumulative caring responsibilities for children and others, were more likely to experience financial hardship. These results add weight to the call for greater support for those preparing to enter the social work workforce