323 research outputs found
Impaired Competence for Pretense in Children with Autism: Exploring Potential Cognitive Predictors.
Lack of pretense in children with autism has been explained by a number of theoretical explanations, including impaired mentalising, impaired response inhibition, and weak central coherence. This study aimed to empirically test each of these theories. Children with autism (n=60) were significantly impaired relative to controls (n=65) when interpreting pretense, thereby supporting a competence deficit hypothesis. They also showed impaired mentalising and response inhibition, but superior local processing indicating weak central coherence. Regression analyses revealed that mentalising significantly and independently predicted pretense. The results are interpreted as supporting the impaired mentalising theory and evidence against competing theories invoking impaired response inhibition or a local processing bias. The results of this study have important implications for treatment and intervention
Depression-Related Impairments in Prospective Memory
Time-based prospective memory, the ability to carry out a future intention at a specified time, was found to be impaired in a community sample of clinically depressed adults, relative to a nondepressed sample. Nondepressed participants monitored the time more frequently and, in the final block of the task, accelerated time-monitoring as the target time for the prospective memory response approached. These results are consistent with previous findings of depression-related impairments in retrospective memory tasks that require controlled, self-initiated processing
Surface reconstruction induced geometries of Si clusters
We discuss a generalization of the surface reconstruction arguments for the
structure of intermediate size Si clusters, which leads to model geometries for
the sizes 33, 39 (two isomers), 45 (two isomers), 49 (two isomers), 57 and 61
(two isomers). The common feature in all these models is a structure that
closely resembles the most stable reconstruction of Si surfaces, surrounding a
core of bulk-like tetrahedrally bonded atoms. We investigate the energetics and
the electronic structure of these models through first-principles density
functional theory calculations. These models may be useful in understanding
experimental results on the reactivity of Si clusters and their shape as
inferred from mobility measurements.Comment: 9 figures (available from the author upon request) Submitted to Phys.
Rev.
Post-Turing Methodology: Breaking the Wall on the Way to Artificial General Intelligence
This article offers comprehensive criticism of the Turing test and develops quality criteria for new artificial general intelligence (AGI) assessment tests. It is shown that the prerequisites A. Turing drew upon when reducing personality and human consciousness to “suitable branches of thought” re-flected the engineering level of his time. In fact, the Turing “imitation game” employed only symbolic communication and ignored the physical world. This paper suggests that by restricting thinking ability to symbolic systems alone Turing unknowingly constructed “the wall” that excludes any possi-bility of transition from a complex observable phenomenon to an abstract image or concept. It is, therefore, sensible to factor in new requirements for AI (artificial intelligence) maturity assessment when approaching the Tu-ring test. Such AI must support all forms of communication with a human being, and it should be able to comprehend abstract images and specify con-cepts as well as participate in social practices
Structural and Electronic Properties of Small Neutral (MgO)n Clusters
Ab initio Perturbed Ion (PI) calculations are reported for neutral
stoichiometric (MgO)n clusters (n<14). An extensive number of isomer structures
was identified and studied. For the isomers of (MgO)n (n<8) clusters, a full
geometrical relaxation was considered. Correlation corrections were included
for all cluster sizes using the Coulomb-Hartree-Fock (CHF) model proposed by
Clementi. The results obtained compare favorably to the experimental data and
other previous theoretical studies. Inclusion of correlaiotn is crucial in
order to achieve a good description of these systems. We find an important
number of new isomers which allows us to interpret the experimental magic
numbers without the assumption of structures based on (MgO)3 subunits. Finally,
as an electronic property, the variations in the cluster ionization potential
with the cluster size were studied and related to the structural isomer
properties.Comment: 24 pages, LaTeX, 7 figures in GIF format. Accepted for publication in
Phys. Rev.
Fast electronic relaxation in metal nanoclusters via excitation of coherent shape deformations: Circumventing a bottleneck
Electron-phonon relaxation in size-quantized systems may become inhibited
when the spacing of discrete electron energy levels exceeds the magnitude of
the phonon frequency. We show, however, that nanoclusters can support a fast
nonradiative relaxation channel which derives from their distinctive ability to
undergo Jahn-Teller shape deformations. Such a deformation represents a
collective and coherent vibrational excitation and enables electronic
transitions to occur without a multiphonon bottleneck. We analyze this
mechanism for a metal cluster within the analytical framework of a
three-dimensional potential well undergoing a spheroidal distortion. An
expression for the time evolution of the distortion parameter is derived, the
electronic level crossing condition formulated, and the probability of
electronic transition at a level crossing is evaluated. An application to
electron-hole recombination in a closed-shell aluminum cluster with 40
electrons shows that the short (~250 fs) excitation lifetime observed in recent
pump-probe experiments can be explained by the proposed mechanism.Comment: 21 page
Magic Numbers of Silicon Clusters
A structural model for intermediate sized silicon clusters is proposed that
is able to generate unique structures without any dangling bonds. This
structural model consists of bulk-like core of five atoms surrounded by
fullerene-like surface. Reconstruction of the ideal fullerene geometry results
in the formation of crown atoms surrounded by -bonded dimer pairs. This
model yields unique structures for \Si{33}, \Si{39}, and \Si{45} clusters
without any dangling bonds and hence explains why these clusters are least
reactive towards chemisorption of ammonia, methanol, ethylene, and water. This
model is also consistent with the experimental finding that silicon clusters
undergo a transition from prolate to spherical shapes at \Si{27}. Finally,
reagent specific chemisorption reactivities observed experimentally is
explained based on the electronic structures of the reagents.Comment: 4 pages + 3 figures (postscript files after \end{document}
Verbal short-term memory deficits in Down syndrome: phonological, semantic, or both?
The current study examined the phonological and semantic contributions to the verbal short-term memory (VSTM) deficit in Down syndrome (DS) by experimentally manipulating the phonological and semantic demands of VSTM tasks. The performance of 18 individuals with DS (ages 11–25) and 18 typically developing children (ages 3–10) matched pairwise on receptive vocabulary and gender was compared on four VSTM tasks, two tapping phonological VSTM (phonological similarity, nonword discrimination) and two tapping semantic VSTM (semantic category, semantic proactive interference). Group by condition interactions were found on the two phonological VSTM tasks (suggesting less sensitivity to the phonological qualities of words in DS), but not on the two semantic VSTM tasks. These findings suggest that a phonological weakness contributes to the VSTM deficit in DS. These results are discussed in relation to the DS neuropsychological and neuroanatomical phenotype
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