Empty answers in an experiment of free word association

Empty responses in free word association tests were beyond the scope of research interest in classic experiments. The results of our experiment showed that 6.14% of associations are empty answers. Precise measurement of the time of reaction of each of the participants allowed us to confirm that the empty answer was the result of an intellectual process. An analysis of associations with the stimulus would permit us to segregate those word-stimuli in which the mechanism which generates associations behaves in an atypical manner, thus indicating a difficulty in identifying the meaning of the stimulus, which may then result in a high percentage of empty answers. Yet the significant numer of empty responses is not linked with any difficulty in comprehending the stimulus. We may thus conclude that the high number of empty answers in our experiment may depend on the method of conducting the experiment. The participants in the classic experiment were provided with paper forms which contained all of the stimuli in a particular order. Therefore, there was neither a time limit for a single response nor control of the order of stimuli processing. As a consequence, the method allowed backtracking, which means that participants could omit a stimulus without answering and could return to the omitted stimulus later to provide the missing answer. This backtracking possibility may explain the very low number of empty answers in the classic experiment as opposed to our method, which made backtracking impossible

La función de las conexiones sintagmáticas en una red lexica experimental para el lexema ulica

This article presents an experimental lexical network, which was created as a result of a cyclically-conducted the basis of free word associations for the Polish. Meaning in a network of this kind is represented by the connections between the defined lexeme and the defining lexeme. Using the lexeme ‘street’ (in Polish: ulica) as an example, we show how dependencies build meaning and which function is performed by syntagmatic relations.El presente trabajo presenta una red léxica experimental, originada de resultados de un experimento, conducido cíclicamente, del test de asociación libre de palabras, para la lengua polaca, que buscaba examinar el reconocimiento del significado. En tal red, el significado se representa mediante las conexiones entre lexema definido y lexema definidor. Acudiendo al lexema ‘calle’ (en polaco, ulica) se muestra de qué modo las dependencias construyen el significado y qué función desempeñan las relaciones sintagmáticas

La función de las conexiones sintagmáticas en una red lexica experimental para el lexema ulica

This article presents an experimental lexical network, which was created as a result of a cyclically-conducted the basis of free word associations for the Polish. Meaning in a network of this kind is represented by the con-nections between the defined lexeme and the defining lexeme. Using the lexeme ‘street’ (in Polish: ulica) as an example, we show how dependencies build meaning and which function is performed by syntagmatic relations.El presente trabajo presenta una red léxica experimental, originada de resultados de un experimento, conducido cíclicamente, del test de asociación libre de palabras, para la lengua polaca, que buscaba examinar el reconocimiento del significado. En tal red, el significado se representa mediante las conexiones entre lexema definido y lexema definidor. Acudiendo al lexema ‘calle’ (en polaco, ulica) se muestra de qué modo las dependencias construyen el significado y qué función desempeñan las relaciones sintagmáticas

Can humain association norm evaluate latent semantic analysis?

This paper presents the comparison of word association norm created by a psycholinguistic experiment to association lists generated by algorithms operating on text corpora. We compare lists generated by Church and Hanks algorithm and lists generated by LSA algorithm. An argument is presented on how those automatically generated lists reflect real semantic relations

A shortest path in an experimentally built semantic network

From linguistic perspective a semantic network built by the free word association experiment is a structure to explain a lexical meaning Deese (1965) and a human associating mechanism Clark (1970). It is interesting to find if network’s path analysis may contribute to both hypotheses. Due to the nature of an experiment we restrict the analysis to shortest paths which can replace the stimulus – response connection, that is the only pairs produced by an experiment. We shall analyze a formal properties and a semantic consistency of the shortest path. We shall treat the network as an undirected weighted graph. All results are based on Polish experimental semantic network (Gatkowska, 2017)

Dom w empirycznych sieciach leksykalnych

The article explains the concept of empirical lexical networks. A comparison is then made between the meanings of the Polish lexeme dom ‘house/home’ as represented in the corpus network Wortschatz (Univeristy of Leipzig) and the experimental network of the Department of Computational Linguistics of Jagiellonian University in Kraków. In both networks, the most vital meanings are ‘the place where the family is’ and ‘the place to live’. Both networks also contain the meaning ‘building’, whereas the meaning ‘institution’ is better represented in the corpus network. The experimental network additionally contains the meaning ‘my shelter’. That network, being characterised by directional internal links, organises subnetworks that explain meanings, e.g. the subnetwork of the meaning ‘the place where the family is’ points to the special role of ‘mother’, which organises the subnetwork that represents that meaning. A comparison of the meanings being identified and explained in subnetworks with the dictionary definitions suggests that research on the network representation of meaning may be useful in lexicography

Using an inflection dictionary for a design of a visual dictionary of verbs and their attributes

Authors of this paper present a development of a visual web dictionary based on automatic extraction of verbs and their attributes from texts using the inflection dictionary of Polish language. Entries of the designed dictionary are based on triples: subject (agent) + predicate (action) + object/tool. The paper describes a prototype implementation of such a dictionary. In the paper the background for the research is presented as well as the considered problem is outlined. Moreover, the structure of the inflection dictionary of Polish language is described along with the classification of computer dictionaries. In the implementation part of the paper, the architecture of the developed web dictionary and the extraction algorithm are described.Authors of this paper present a development of a visual web dictionary based on automatic extraction of verbs and their attributes from texts using the inflection dictionary of Polish language. Entries of the designed dictionary are based on triples: subject (agent) + predicate (action) + object/tool. The paper describes a prototype implementation of such a dictionary. In the paper the background for the research is presented as well as the considered problem is outlined. Moreover, the structure of the inflection dictionary of Polish language is described along with the classification of computer dictionaries. In the implementation part of the paper, the architecture of the developed web dictionary and the extraction algorithm are described

New Methodologies for Grasslands Monitoring

Monitoring grassland areas to assess changes in their condition over time has been the subject of a lot of research at different scales. Initially the techniques focused on field-based measurements, and modelling. However, several obtained data were site specific. Based on the increase in availability of remote sensing data and products, there is an expectation that remote sensing can provide rapid and definite answers to the challenges of detecting and monitoring grassland conditions and associated changes in productivity. At the time of European Copernicus Programme, the new possibilities of satellite data from the group of Sentinel satellites give the new perspective for grasslands monitoring. The Finegrass Polish – Norwegian Project have been set to detect the biomass and its changes for grasslands in Poland and Norway applying different approaches due to different specific of the area. The results have been verified by ground measurements

Toxoplasma gondii Recombinant antigen AMA1: Diagnostic Utility of Protein Fragments for the Detection of IgG and IgM Antibodies

Toxoplasma gondii is an important zoonotic protozoan that infects a wide variety of vertebrates as intermediate hosts. For this reason, the diagnosis of this disease is very important and requires continuous improvement. One possibility is to use recombinant antigens in serological tests. Apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1), a protein located in specific secretory organelles (micronemes) of T. gondii, is very interesting in regard to its potential diagnostic utility. In the present study, we attempted to identify a fragment of the AMA1 protein with a high sensitivity and specificity for the serological diagnosis of human toxoplasmosis. The full-length AMA1 and two different fragments (AMA1N and AMA1C) were produced using an Escherichia coli expression system. After purification by metal affinity chromatography, recombinant proteins were tested for their utility as antigens in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for the detection of IgG and IgM anti-T. gondii antibodies in human and mouse immune sera. Our data demonstrate that the full-length AMA1 recombinant antigen (corresponding to amino acid residues 67–569 of the native protein) has a better diagnostic potential than its N- or C-terminal fragments. This recombinant protein strongly interacts with specific anti-T. gondii IgG (99.4%) and IgM (80.0%) antibodies, and may be used for developing new tools for diagnostics of toxoplasmosis

Behavioral changes in mice caused by Toxoplasma gondii invasion of brain

Toxoplasma gondii, a protozoan parasite, is capable of infecting a broad range of intermediate warm-blooded hosts including humans. The parasite undergoes sexual reproduction resulting in genetic variability only in the intestine of the definitive host (a member of the cat family). The parasite seems to be capable of altering the natural behavior of the host to favor its transmission in the environment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the number of parasite cysts formed in the hippocampus and amygdala of experimentally infected mice as these regions are involved in defense behaviors control and emotion processing, and to assess the influence of the infection on mice behavior. The obtained results revealed the presence of parasite cysts both in the hippocampus and the amygdala of infected mice; however, no clear region-dependent distribution was observed. Furthermore, infected mice showed significantly diminished exploratory activity described by climbing and rearing, smaller preference for the central, more exposed part of the OF arena and engaged in less grooming behavior compared to uninfected controls