bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The quest for optimality: A positive heuristic of science?
Authors: Schoemaker Paul J. H.
Published: May 2011

This paper examines the strengths and weaknesses of one of science's most pervasive and flexible metaprinciples;optimalityis used to explain utility maximization in economics, least effort principles in physics, entropy in chemistry, and survival of the fittest in biology. Fermat's principle of least time involves both teleological and causal considerations, two distinct modes of explanation resting on poorly understood psychological primitives. The rationality heuristic in economics provides an example from social science of the potential biases arising from the extreme flexibility of optimality considerations, including selective search for confirming vidence, ex post rationalization, and the confusion of prediction with explanation. Commentators are asked to reflect on the extent to which optimality is (1) an organizing principle of nature, (2) a set of relatively unconnected techniques of science, (3) a normative principle for rational choice and social organization, (4) a metaphysical way of looking at the world, or (5) something else still.
Age preferences in mates reflect sex differences in human reproductive strategies
Authors: Kenrick Douglas T. , Keefe Richard C.
Published: May 2011

The finding that women are attracted to men older than themselves whereas men are attracted to relatively younger women has been explained by social psychologists in terms of economic exchange rooted in traditional sex-role norms. An alternative evolutionary model suggests that males and females follow different reproductive strategies, and predicts a more complex relationship between gender and age preferences. In particular, males' preferences for relatively younger females should be minimal during early mating years, but should become more pronounced as the male gets older. Young females are expected to prefer somewhat older males during their early years and to change less as they age. We briefly review relevant theory and present results of six studies testing this prediction. Study 1 finds support for this gender-differentiated prediction in age preferences expressed in personal advertisements. Study 2 supports the prediction with marriage statistics from two U.S. cities. Study 3 examines the cross-generational robustness of the phenomenon, and finds the same pattern in marriage statistics from 1923. Study 4 replicates Study 1 using matrimonial advertisements from two European countries, and from India. Study 5 finds a consistent pattern in marriages recorded from 1913 through 1939 on a small island in the Philippines. Study 6 reveals the same pattern in singles advertisements placed by financially successful American women and men. We consider the limitations of previous normative and evolutionary explanations of age preferences and discuss the advantages of expanding previous models to include the life history perspective.
A mobility gradient in the organization of vertebrate movement: The perception of movement through symbolic language
Authors: Golani Ilan
Published: May 2011

Ordinary language can prevent us from seeing the organization of whole-animal movement. This may be why the search for behavioral homologies has not been as fruitful as the founders of ethology had hoped. The Eshkol-Wachman (EW) movement notational system can reveal shared movement patterns that are undetectable in the kinds of informal verbal descriptions of the same behaviors that are in current use. Rules of organization that are common to locomotor development, agonistic and exploratory behavior, scent marking, play, and dopaminergic drug-induced stereotypies in a variety of vertebrates suggest that behavior progresses along a “mobility gradient” from immobility to increasing complexity and unpredictability. A progression in the opposite direction, with decreasing spatial complexity and increased stereotypy, occurs under the influence of the nonselective dopaminergic drugs apomorphine and amphetamine and partly also the selective dopamine agonist quinpirole. The behaviors associated with the mobility gradient appear to be mediated by a family of basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuits and their descending output stations. Because the small number of rules underlying the mobility gradient account for a large variety of behaviors, they may be related to the specific functional demands on these neurological systems. The EW system and the mobility gradient model should prove useful to ethologists and neurobiologists.
The evolutionary psychology of men's coercive sexuality
Authors: Thornhill Randy , Thornhill Nancy Wilmsen
Published: May 2011

Psychological adaptation underlies all human behavior. Thus, sexual coercion by men could either arise from a rape-specific psychological adaptation or it could be a side-effect of a more general psychological adaptation not directly related to rape. Determining the specific environmental cues that men's brains have been designed by selection to process may help us decide which these rival explanations is correct. We examine six testable predictions against existing data: (1) Both coercive and noncoercive will be associated with high levels of sexual arousal and performance in men. (2) Achieving physical control of a sexually unwilling woman will be sexually arousing to men. (3) Young men will be more sexually coercive than older men. (4) Men of low socioeconomic status will likewise be more sexually coercive. (5) A man's motivation to use sexual coercion will be influenced by its effects on social image. (6) Even in long-term relationships men will be motivated to use coercion when their mates show a lack of interest in resistance to sex because these are interpreted as signs of sexual infidelity. Current data support all six predictions and are hence consistent with the rape-specific hypothesis, but this does not eliminate the side-effect hypothesis, which is likewise compatible with the findings, as well as with the further evidence that forced matings increased the fitness of ancestral males during human evolution. We suggest some research that may help decide between the two hypotheses.
Errata
Authors: Greenfield Patricia M.
Published: May 2011

Due to a printer error, the wrong graph was printed on p. 578 of the Author's Response for “Language, Tools and Brain,” by Patricia M. Greenfield, BBS (1991), 14(4):531–95. The correct graph is presented below. Note that, at 16 months, Strategy 2, the pot strategy, was dominant for five children, whereas Strategy 1, the pairing strategy, was dominant for three children.
The nature of nurture: Genetic influence on “environmental” measures
Authors: Plomin Robert , Bergeman C. S.
Published: May 2011

Evidence for genetic influence on environmental measures will emerge in quantitative genetic analyses if genetically influenced characteristics of individuals are assessed by these environmental measures. Recent twin and adoption studies indicate substantial genetic influence when measures of the environment are treated as phenotypes in genetic analyses. Genetic influence has been documented for measures as diverse as videotaped observations of parental behavior toward their children, ratings by parents and children of their family environment, and ratings of peer groups, social support, and life events. Evidence for genetic influence on environmental measures includes some of the most widely used measures of environment – the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment, the Family Environment Scales, and the Social Readjustment Rating Scale of life events, for example. The goal of this article is to document and discuss these findings and to elicit commentary that might help to shape the course of research on this topic, which has far-reaching implications for the behavioral and brain sciences.
Précis of From neuropsychology to mental structure
Authors: Shallice Tim
Published: May 2011

Neuropsychological results are increasingly cited in cognitive theories although their methodology has been severely criticised. The book argues for an eclectic approach but particularly stresses the use of single-case studies. A range of potential artifacts exists when inferences are made from such studies to the organisation of normal function – for example, resource differences among tasks, premorbid individual differences, and reorganisation of function. The use of “strong” and “classical” dissociations minimises potential artifacts. The theoretical convergence between findings from fields where cognitive neuropsychology is well developed and those from the normal literature strongly suggests that the potential artifacts are not critical. The fields examined in detail in this respect are short-term memory, reading, writing, the organisation of input and output speech systems, and visual perception. Functional dissociation data suggest that not only are input systems organised modularly, but so are central systems. This conclusion is supported by findings on impairment of knowledge, visual attention, supervisory functions, memory, and consciousness.
Is human cognition adaptive?
Authors: Anderson John R.
Published: May 2011

Can the output of human cognition be predicted from the assumption that it is an optimal response to the information-processing demands of the environment? A methodology called rational analysis is described for deriving predictions about cognitive phenomena using optimization assumptions. The predictions flow from the statistical structure of the environment and not the assumed structure of the mind. Bayesian inference is used, assuming that people start with a weak prior model of the world which they integrate with experience to develop stronger models of specific aspects of the world. Cognitive performance maximizes the difference between the expected gain and cost of mental effort. (1) Memory performance can be predicted on the assumption that retrieval seeks a maximal trade-off between the probability of finding the relevant memories and the effort required to do so; in (2) categorization performance there is a similar trade-off between accuracy in predicting object features and the cost of hypothesis formation; in (3) casual inference the trade-off is between accuracy in predicting future events and the cost of hypothesis formation; and in (4) problem solving it is between the probability of achieving goals and the cost of both external and mental problem-solving search. The implemention of these rational prescriptions in neurally plausible architecture is also discussed.
Language acquisition in the absence of experience
Authors: Crain Stephen
Published: May 2011

A fundamental goal of linguistic theory is to explain how natural languages are acquired. This paper describes some recent findings on how learners acquire syntactic knowledge for which there is little, if any, decisive evidence from the environment. The first section presents several general observations about language acquisition that linguistic theory has tried to explain and discusses the thesis that certain linguistic properties are innate because they appear universally and in the absence of corresponding experience. A third diagnostic for innateness, early emergence, is the focus of the second section of the paper, in which linguistic theory is tested against recent experimental evidence on children's acquisition of syntax.
Is human information processing conscious?
Authors: Velmans Max
Published: May 2011

Investigations of the function of consciousness in human information processing have focused mainly on two questions: (1) Where does consciousness enter into the information processing sequence, and (2) how does conscious processing differ from preconscious and unconscious processing? Input analysis is thought to be initially “preconscious” and “pre-attentive” - fast, involuntary, and automatic. This is followed by “conscious,” “focal-attentive” analysis, which is relatively slow, voluntary, and flexible. It is thought that simple, familiar stimuli can be identified preconsciously, but conscious processing is needed to identify complex, novel stimuli. Conscious processing has also been thought to be necessary for choice, learning and memory, and the organization of complex, novel responses, particularly those requiring planning, reflection, or creativity.

The present target article reviews evidence that consciousness performs none of these functions. Consciousness nearly alwaysresultsfrom focal-attentive processing (as a form of output) but does not itselfenter intothis or any other form of human information processing. This suggests that the term “conscious process” needs reexamination. Consciousnessappearsto be necessary in a variety of tasks because they require focal-attentive processing; if consciousness is absent, focal-attentive processing is absent. From afirst-person perspective, however, conscious statesarecausally effective. First-person accounts arecomplementaryto third-person accounts. Although they can be translated into third-person accounts, they cannot be reduced to them.
From an animal's point of view: Motivation, fitness, and animal welfare
Authors: Dawkins Marian Stamp
Published: May 2011

To study animal welfare empirically we need an objective basis for deciding when an animal is suffering. Suffering includes a wide range ofunpleasant emotional states such as fear, boredom, pain, and hunger. Suffering has evolved as a mechanism for avoiding sources ofdanger and threats to fitness. Captive animals often suffer in situations in which they are prevented from doing something that they are highly motivated to do. The “price” an animal is prepared to pay to attain or to escape a situation is an index ofhow the animal “feels” about that situation. Withholding conditions or commodities for which an animal shows “inelastic demand” (i.e., for which it continues to work despite increasing costs) is very likely to cause suffering. In designing environments for animals in zoos, farms, and laboratories, priority should be given to features for which animals show inelastic demand. The care ofanimals can thereby be based on an objective, animal-centered assessment of their needs.
Are species intelligent?
Authors: Schull Jonathan
Published: May 2011

Plant and animal species are information-processing entities of such complexity, integration, and adaptive competence that it may be scientifically fruitful to consider them intelligent. The possibility arises from the analogy between learning (in organisms) and evolution (in species), and from recent developments in evolutionary science, psychology and cognitive science. Species are now described as spatiotemporally localized individuals in an expanded hierarchy of biological entities. Intentional and cognitive abilities are now ascribed to animal, human, and artificial intelligence systems that process information adaptively, and that manifest problem-solving abilities. The structural and functional similarities between such systems and species are extensive, although they “are usually obscured by population-genetic metaphors that have nonetheless contributed much to our understanding of evolution.

In this target article, I use Sewall Wright's notion of the “adaptive landscape” to compare the performances of evolving species to those of intelligent organisms. With regard to their adaptive achievements and the kinds of processes by which they are achieved, biological species compare very favorably to intelligent animals by virtue of interactions between populations and their environments, between ontogeny and phylogeny, and between natural, interdemic, organic, and species selection. Addressing the question of whether species are intelligent could help to refine our ideas about species, evolution, and intelligence, and could open new lines of empirical and theoretical inquiry in many disciplines.
Insensitivity of the analysis of variance to heredity-environment interaction
Authors: Wahlsten Douglas
Published: May 2011

It makes sense to attribute a definite percentage of variation in some measure of behavior to variation in heredity only if the effects of heredity and environment are truly additive. Additivity is often tested by examining the interaction effect in a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) or its equivalent multiple regression model. If this effect is not statistically significant at the α = 0.05 level, it is common practice in certain fields (e.g., human behavior genetics) to conclude that the two factors really are additive and then to use linear models, which assume additivity. Comparing several simple models of nonadditive, interactive relationships between heredity and environment, however, reveals that ANOVA often fails to detect nonadditivity because it has much less power in tests of interaction than in tests of main effects. Likewise, the sample sizes needed to detect real interactions are substantially greater than those needed to detect main effects. Data transformations that reduce interaction effects also change drastically the properties ofthe causal model and may conceal theoretically interesting and practically useful relationships. If the goal ofpartitioning variance among mutually exclusive causes and calculating “heritability” coefficients is abandoned, interactive relationships can be examined more seriously and can enhance our understanding of the ways living things develop.
Erratum: Apology
Authors: McCawley James D.
Published: May 2011

In my comments on David Lightfoot in BBS (INFL,/Spec, and other fabulous beasts, 1989, 12:350–52) regarding language learnability, the symbol for verb was incorrectly printed as Y, rather than V. The error appeared at the end of the first paragraph in the second column on page 351. The clause should have read: “…the approach allows a child to learn rules of syntactic structure in terms of whatever category components he can so far identify (hence prior to the acquisition of the full repertoire of category notions) and it allows him to impose specific syntactic structures on sentence types whose syntax and semantics he has not yet learned (even a child who did not yet understand passive sentences would assimilate was given money to the already learned [V', VV'] surface configuration as soon as he had identified was as a V').”
The role of attention in auditory information processing as revealed by event-related potentials and other brain measures of cognitive function
Authors: Näätänen Risto
Published: May 2011

This article examines the role of attention and automaticity in auditory processing as revealed by event-related potential (ERP) research. An ERP component called themismatch negativity, generated by the brain's automatic response to changes in repetitive auditory input, reveals that physical features of auditory stimuli are fully processed whether or not they are attended. It also suggests that there exist precise neuronal representations of the physical features of recent auditory stimuli, perhaps the traces underlying acoustic sensory (“echoic”) memory. A mechanism of passive attention switching in response to changes in repetitive input is also implicated.

Conscious perception of discrete acoustic stimuli might be mediated by some of the mechanisms underlying another ERP component (NI), one sensitive to stimulus onset and offset. Frequent passive attentional shifts might accountforthe effect cognitive psychologists describe as “the breakthrough of the unattended” (Broadbent 1982), that is, that even unattended stimuli may be semantically processed, without assuming automatic semantic processing or late selection in selective attention.

Theprocessing negativitysupports the early-selection theory and may arise from a mechanism for selectively attending to stimuli defined by certain features. This stimulus selection occurs in the form ofa matching process in which each input is compared with the “attentional trace,” a voluntarily maintained representation of the task-relevant features of the stimulus to be attended. The attentional mechanism described might underlie the stimulus-set mode of attention proposed by Broadbent. Finally, a model of automatic and attentional processing in audition is proposed that is based mainly on the aforementioned ERP components and some other physiological measures.
Brain evolution inHomo:The “radiator” theory
Authors: Falk Dean
Published: May 2011

The “radiator” theory of brain evolution is proposed to account for “mosaic evolution” whereby brain size began to increase rapidly in the genusHomowell over a million yearsafterbipedalism had been selected for in early hominids. Because hydrostatic pressures differ across columns of fluid depending on orientation (posture), vascular systems of early bipeds became reoriented so that cranial blood flowed preferentially to the vertebral plexus instead of the internal jugular vein in response to gravity. The Hadar early hominids and robust australopithecines partly achieved this reorientation with a dramatically enlarged occipital/marginal sinus system. On the other hand, hominids in the gracile australopithecine throughHomolineage delivered blood to the vertebral plexus via a widespread network of veins that became more elaborate through time. Mastoid and parietal emissary veins are representatives of this network, and increases in their frequencies during hominid evolution are indicative of its development. Brain size increased with increased frequencies of mastoid and parietal emissary veins in the lineage leading to and includingHomo, but remained conservative in the robust australopithecine lineage that lacked the network of veins. The brain is an extremely heatsensitive organ and emissary veins in humans have been shown to cool the brain under conditions of hyperthermia. Thus, the network of veins in the lineage leading toHomoacted as a radiator that released a thermal constraint on brain size. The radiator theory is in keeping with the belief that basal gracile and basal robust australopithecines occupied distinct niches, with the former living in savanna mosaic habitats that were subject to hot temperatures and intense solar radiation during the day.
Consciousness, explanatory inversion, and cognitive science
Authors: Searle John R.
Published: May 2011

Cognitive science typically postulates unconscious mental phenomena, computational or otherwise, to explain cognitive capacities. The mental phenomena in question are supposed to be inaccessible in principle to consciousness. I try to show that this is a mistake, because all unconscious intentionality must be accessible in principle to consciousness; we have no notion of intrinsic intentionality except in terms of its accessibility to consciousness. I call this claim the “Connection Principle.” The argument for it proceeds in six steps. The essential point is that intrinsic intentionality has aspectual shape: Our mental representations represent the world under specific aspects, and these aspectual features are essential to a mental state's being the state that it is.

Once we recognize the Connection Principle, we see that it is necessary to perform an inversion on the explanatory models of cognitive science, an inversion analogous to the one evolutionary biology imposes on preDarwinian animistic modes of explanation. In place of the original intentionalistic explanations we have a combination of hardware and functional explanations. This radically alters the structure of explanation, because instead of a mental representation (such as a rule) causing the pattern of behavior it represents (such as rule-governed behavior), there is a neurophysiological cause of a pattern (such as a pattern of behavior), and the pattern plays a functional role in the life of the organism. What we mistakenly thought were descriptions of underlying mental principles in, for example, theories of vision and language were in fact descriptions of functional aspects of systems, which will have to be explained by underlying neurophysiological mechanisms. In such cases, what looks like mentalistic psychology is sometimes better construed as speculative neurophysiology. The moral is that the big mistake in cognitive science is not the overestimation of the computer metaphor (though that is indeed a mistake) but the neglect of consciousness.
Précis of The Origin of Concepts
Authors: Carey Susan
Published: May 2011

A theory of conceptual development must specify the innate representational primitives, must characterize the ways in which the initial state differs from the adult state, and must characterize the processes through which one is transformed into the other. The Origin of Concepts (henceforth TOOC) defends three theses. With respect to the initial state, the innate stock of primitives is not limited to sensory, perceptual, or sensorimotor representations; rather, there are also innate conceptual representations. With respect to developmental change, conceptual development consists of episodes of qualitative change, resulting in systems of representation that are more powerful than, and sometimes incommensurable with, those from which they are built. With respect to a learning mechanism that achieves conceptual discontinuity, I offer Quinian bootstrapping. TOOC concludes with a discussion of how an understanding of conceptual development constrains a theory of concepts.
Concepts are not icons
Authors: Gauker Christopher
Published: May 2011

Carey speculates that the representations of core cognition are entirely iconic. However, this idea is undercut by her contention that core cognition includes concepts such as object and agency, which are employed in thought as predicates. If Carey had taken on board her claim that core cognition is iconic, very different hypotheses might have come into view.
The notion of incommensurability can be extended to the child's developing theories of mind as well
Authors: Kiss Szabolcs
Published: May 2011

In this commentary I argue that the notion of incommensurability can be extended to the child's developing theories of mind. I use Carey's concept of Quinian bootstrapping and show that this learning process can account for the acquisition of the semantics of mental terms. I suggest a distinction among three stages of acquisition and adopt the theory–theory of conceptual development.
Conceptual discontinuity involves recycling old processes in new domains
Authors: Landy David , Allen Colin , Anderson Michael L.
Published: May 2011

We dispute Carey's assumption that distinct core cognitive processes employ domain-specific input analyzers to construct proprietary representations. We give reasons to believe that conceptual systems co-opt core components for new domains. Domain boundaries, as well as boundaries between perceptual–motor and conceptual cognitive resources may be useful abstractions, but do not appear to reflect constraints respected by brains and cognitive systems.
Beyond the building blocks model
Authors: Margolis Eric , Laurence Stephen
Published: May 2011

Carey rightly rejects the building blocks model of concept acquisition on the grounds that new primitive concepts can be learned via the process of bootstrapping. But new primitives can be learned by other acquisition processes that do not involve bootstrapping, and bootstrapping itself is not a unitary process. Nonetheless, the processes associated with bootstrapping provide important insights into conceptual change.
The prehistory of number concept
Authors: Overmann Karenleigh A. , Wynn Thomas , Coolidge Frederick L.
Published: May 2011

Carey leaves unaddressed an important evolutionary puzzle: In the absence of a numeral list, how could a concept of natural number ever have arisen in the first place? Here we suggest that the initial development of natural number must have bootstrapped on a material culture scaffold of some sort, and illustrate how this might have occurred using strings of beads.
Acquiring a new concept is not explicable-by-content
Authors: Shea Nicholas
Published: May 2011

Carey's book describes many cases in which children develop new concepts with expressive power that could not be constructed out of their input. How does she side-step Fodor's paradox of radical concept nativism? I suggest that it is by rejecting the tacit assumption that psychology can only explain concept acquisition when it occurs by rational inference or other transitions that are explicable-by-content.
Can multiple bootstrapping provide means of very early conceptual development?
Authors: Haman Maciej , Hernik Mikołaj
Published: May 2011

Carey focuses her theory on initial knowledge and Quinian bootstrapping. We reflect on developmental mechanisms, which can operate in between. Whereas most of the research aims at delimitating early cognitive mechanisms, we point at the need for studying their integration and mutual bootstrapping. We illustrate this call by referring to a current debate on infants' use of featural representations.
Graceful degradation and conceptual development
Authors: Keil Frank
Published: May 2011

In this book, Carey gives cognitive science a detailed account of the origins of concepts and an explanation of how origins stories are essential to understanding what concepts are and how we use them. At the same time, this book's details help highlight the challenge of explaining how conceptual change works with real-world concepts that often have heavily degraded internal content.
Representation development, perceptual learning, and concept formation
Authors: McLaren I. P. L. , Wills Andy J. , Graham S.
Published: May 2011

We argue for an example of “core cognition” based on Diamond and Carey's (1986) work on expertise and recognition, which is not made use of in The Origin of Concepts. This mechanism for perceptual learning seems to have all the necessary characteristics in that it is innate, domain-specific (requires stimulus sets possessing a certain structure), and demonstrably affects categorisation in a way that strongly suggests it will influence concept formation as well.
Can Carey answer Quine?
Authors: Hill Christopher S.
Published: May 2011

In order to defend her claim that the concept object is biologically determined, Carey must answer Quine's gavagai argument, which purports to show that mastery of any concept with determinate reference presupposes a substantial repertoire of logical concepts. I maintain that the gavagai argument withstands the experimental data that Carey provides, but that it yields to an a priori argument.
Can developmental psychology provide a blueprint for the study of adult cognition?
Authors: Markman Arthur B.
Published: May 2011

In order to develop sophisticated models of the core domains of knowledge that support complex cognitive processing in infants and children, developmental psychologists have mapped out the content of these knowledge domains. This research strategy may provide a blueprint for advancing research on adult cognitive processing. I illustrate this suggestion with examples from analogical reasoning and decision making.
Rational constructivism, statistical inference, and core cognition
Authors: Xu Fei
Published: May 2011

I make two points in this commentary on Carey (2009). First, it may be too soon to conclude that core cognition is innate. Recent advances in computational cognitive science and developmental psychology suggest possible mechanisms for developing inductive biases. Second, there is another possible answer to Fodor's challenge – if concepts are merely mental tokens, then cognitive scientists should spend their time on developing a theory of belief fixation instead.
Language and analogy in conceptual change
Authors: Gentner Dedre , Simms Nina
Published: May 2011

Carey proposes that the acquisition of the natural numbers relies on the interaction between language and analogical processes: specifically, on an analogical mapping from ordinal linguistic structure to ordinal conceptual structure. We suggest that this analogy in fact requires several steps. Further, we propose that additional analogical processes enter into the acquisition of number.
Definitions as a window to the acquisition of relative clauses
Authors: FRIEDMANN NAAMA , ARAM DORIT , NOVOGRODSKY RAMA
Published: May 2011

Definitions that children provide can be a valuable measure of their syntax, and specifically, of their ability to produce relative clauses. This research explored the acquisition of subject, object, and indirect object relative clauses in 121 Hebrew-speaking children aged 3 years, 5 months to 8 years, 6 months (3;5–8;6). The children were asked to define 14 nouns, and their responses were collected and analyzed for various syntactic aspects. The main results were that children started using relative clauses in their definitions at age 3;8, and their use of relative clause increased consistently until they were 6 years old. Retesting 38 of the 6-year-olds at age 8;6 indicated no differences in several syntactic measures between their production of relative clauses at age 6 and 8;6, suggesting that the ability to produce relative clauses stabilizes around age 6. The participants made almost no grammatical errors at any of the ages, probably because they avoided the use of relative clauses when they had not mastered them yet. In the early stages participants produced mainly headless relatives, and with age the use of a relative head increased. The acquisition of relative clauses was not related to the ability to embed or to the ability to use pronouns: these abilities existed already in the youngest age group and remained constant throughout the age groups.
Modeling and experiment of a planar 3-DOF parallel micromanipulator
Authors: Yue Yi , Gao Feng , Jin Zhenlin , Zhao Xianchao
Published: May 2011

In this paper, a planar 3-DOF XYγ parallel micromanipulator with monolithic structure is presented. The micromanipulator is driven by three piezoelectric (PZT) actuators. To achieve highly accurate control, a new approach investigating the relationship among input-force, payload, stiffness, and displacement (IPSD model) of the XYγ micromanipulator is proposed in analytical style, and the analytical expression of the relationship between driving voltages of PZT actuators and outputs of end-effector is deduced based on the IPSD model. Finally, in order to verify the IPSD model, the simulations by finite element method and experiment are performed. The micromanipulator can be used to do microtasks that need the manipulator perform only planar motion, such as microoperation and microassembly, and the proposed IPSD model is useful for both digital control and design of the XYγ micromanipulator.
Optimal motion planning by reinforcement learning in autonomous mobile vehicles
Authors: Gómez M. , González R. V. , Martínez-Marín T. , Meziat D. , Sánchez S.
Published: May 2011

The aim of this work has been the implementation and testing in real conditions of a new algorithm based on the cell-mapping techniques and reinforcement learning methods to obtain the optimal motion planning of a vehicle considering kinematics, dynamics and obstacle constraints. The algorithm is an extension of the control adjoining cell mapping technique for learning the dynamics of the vehicle instead of using its analytical state equations. It uses a transformation of cell-to-cell mapping in order to reduce the time spent during the learning stage. Real experimental results are reported to show the satisfactory performance of the algorithm.
Porcine bocaviruses: genetic analysis and prevalence in Chinese swine population
Authors: ZHANG H. B. , HUANG L. , LIU Y. J. , LIN T. , SUN C. Q. , DENG Y. , WEI Z. Z. , CHEUNG A. K , LONG J. X. , YUAN S. S.
Published: May 2011

In members of theBocavirusgenus, that contain three open reading frames (ORFs) of the Parvovirinae subfamily, porcine bocaviruses (PoBoVs) exhibit the most genetic diversity. Based on the ORF2-encoded viral protein (VP1) classification, the six reported porcine bocaviruses were grouped into four species: PoBoV1 (porcine boca-like virus or PBoLV), PoBoV2 (porcine parvovirus 4 or PPV4), PoBoV3 (PBoV1/PBoV2) and PoBoV4 (6V/7V), with PoBoV3 and PoBoV4 each having two genotype viruses. All four PoBoV species were detected in the 166 samples collected in 2010 from swine herds located in ten provinces of China. The detection rates for PoBoV1-4 were 28·9%, 6·6%, 19·3% and 39·7%, respectively. The co-infection combinations involving these six porcine bocaviruses in the collected samples were very complex. Furthermore, mixed infections with viruses from other families (porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, classic swine fever virus and porcine circovirus type 2) were also detected.
Transmission of Streptococcus pneumoniae in adults may occur through saliva
Authors: LEVINE H. , ZARKA S. , DAGAN R. , SELA T. , ROZHAVSKI V. , COHEN D. I. , BALICER R. D.
Published: May 2011

Of 742 army recruits tested for pneumococcal nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal carriage, 6·6% were positive. Frequent sharing of a drinking glass/bottle was a common, strong and independent risk factor for pneumococcal carriage. Our findings strongly suggest, for the first time, that in young adults, transmission of pneumococci may occur via saliva and this should be considered when conducting an outbreak investigation and carriage studies.
History-dependent quasi-variational inequalities arising in contact mechanics
Authors: SOFONEA MIRCEA , MATEI ANDALUZIA
Published: May 2011

We consider a class of quasi-variational inequalities arising in a large number of mathematical models, which describe quasi-static processes of contact between a deformable body and an obstacle, the so-called foundation. The novelty lies in the special structure of these inequalities that involve a history-dependent term as well as in the fact that the inequalities are formulated on the unbounded interval of time [0, +∞). We prove an existence and uniqueness result of the solution, then we complete it with a regularity result. The proofs are based on arguments of monotonicity and convexity, combined with a fixed point result obtained in [22]. We also describe a number of quasi-static frictional contact problems in which we model the material's behaviour with an elastic or viscoelastic constitutive law. The contact is modelled with normal compliance, with normal damped response or with the Signorini condition, as well, associated to versions of Coulomb's law of dry friction or to the frictionless condition. We prove that all these models cast in the abstract setting of history-dependent quasi-variational inequalities, with a convenient choice of spaces and operators. Then, we apply the abstract results in order to prove the unique weak solvability of each contact problem.
Danon disease: characteristic late gadolinium enhancement pattern on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging
Authors: Dara Bharat S. , Rusconi Paolo G. , Fishman Joel E.
Published: May 2011

Danon disease is a rare entity associated with the clinical triad of mental retardation, skeletal myopathy, and severe hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. We report two cases of Danon disease and describe the results of the cardiac magnetic resonance imaging studies that were conducted to assess the pattern of cardiac hypertrophy.
Comparison of right ventricular deformation and dyssynchrony in patients with different subtypes of hypoplastic left heart syndrome after Fontan surgery using two-dimensional speckle tracking
Authors: Petko Colin , Voges Inga , Schlangen Jana , Scheewe Jens , Kramer Hans-Heiner , Uebing Anselm S.
Published: May 2011

Background

The left ventricle in patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome may influence right ventricular function and outcome. We aimed to investigate differences in right ventricular deformation and intraventricular dyssynchrony between hypoplastic left heart syndrome patients with different anatomical subtypes and left ventricle sizes after Fontan surgery using two-dimensional speckle tracking.

Patients and methods

We examined 29 hypoplastic left heart syndrome patients aged 5.4 plus or minus 2.8 years after Fontan surgery and compared 15 patients with mitral and aortic atresia with the remaining 14 patients with other anatomic subtypes. We used two-dimensional speckle tracking to measure the global and regional systolic longitudinal strain and strain rate as well as intraventricular dyssynchrony.

Results

Global strain (−19.5, 2.8% versus −17.4, 3.9%) and global strain rate (−1.0, 0.2 per second versus −0.9, 0.3 per second) were not different between groups. The mitral and aortic atresia group had higher strain in the basal septal (−13.0, 5.0% versus −3.9, 9.3%, p = 0.003) and mid-septal (−19.4, 4.7% versus −13.2, 6.5%, p = 0.009) segments, and higher strain rates in the mid-septal segment (−1.14, 0.3 per second versus −0.95, 0.4 per second, p = 0.047), smaller left ventricle area (0.18, 0.41 square centimetre versus 2.83, 2.07 square centimetre, p = 0.0001), and shorter wall-to-wall delay (38, 29 milliseconds versus 81, 57 milliseconds, p = 0.02).

Conclusion

Significant differences in regional deformation and intraventricular dyssynchrony exist between the mitral and aortic atresia subtype with small left ventricles and the other anatomic subtypes with larger left ventricles after Fontan surgery.
Positive Associations Primacy in the IAT
Authors: Anselmi Pasquale , Vianello Michelangelo , Robusto Egidio
Published: May 2011

Two studies investigated the different contribution of positive and negative associations to the size of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) effect. A Many-Facet Rasch Measurement analysis was applied for the purpose. Across different IATs (Race and Weight) and different groups of respondents (White, Normal weight, and Obese people) we observed that positive words increase the IAT effect whereas negative words tend to decrease it. Results suggest that the IAT is influenced by a positive associations primacy effect. As a consequence, we argue that researchers should be careful when interpreting IAT effects as a measure of implicit prejudice.
Does Evaluative Learning Rely on the Perception of Contingency?
Authors: Kattner Florian , Ellermeier Wolfgang
Published: May 2011

An experiment is reported studying the impact of objective contingency and contingency judgments on cross-modal evaluative conditioning (EC). Both contingency judgments and evaluative responses were measured after a contingency learning task in which previously neutral sounds served as either weak or strong predictors of affective pictures. Experimental manipulations of contingency and US density were shown to affect contingency judgments. Stronger contingencies were perceived with high contingency and with low US density. The contingency learning task also produced a reliable EC effect. The magnitude of this effect was influenced by an interaction of statistical contingency and US density. Furthermore, the magnitude of EC was correlated with the subjective contingency judgments. Taken together, the results imply that propositional knowledge about the CS-US relationship, as reflected in contingency judgments, moderates evaluative learning. The data are discussed with respect to different accounts of EC.
Emotion-Induced Impairments in Speeded Word Recognition Tasks
Authors: Zeelenberg René , Bocanegra Bruno R. , Pecher Diane
Published: May 2011

Recent studies show that emotional stimuli impair the identification of subsequently presented, briefly flashed stimuli. In the present study, we investigated whether emotional distractors (primes) impaired target processing when presentation of the target stimulus was not impoverished. In lexical decision, animacy decision, rhyme decision, and nonword naming, targets were presented in such a manner that they were clearly visible (i.e., targets were not masked and presented until participants responded). In all tasks taboo-sexual distractors caused a slowdown in responding to the subsequent neutral target. Our results indicate that the detrimental effects of emotional distractors are not confined to paradigms in which visibility of the target is limited. Moreover, impairments were obtained even when semantic processing of stimuli was not required.
A Robust Classic
Authors: Kutzner Florian , Vogel Tobias , Freytag Peter , Fiedler Klaus
Published: May 2011

In the present research, we argue for the robustness of illusory correlations (ICs, Hamilton & Gifford, 1976) regarding two boundary conditions suggested in previous research. First, we argue that ICs are maintained under extended experience. Using simulations, we derive conflicting predictions. Whereas noise-based accounts predict ICs to be maintained (Fielder, 2000; Smith, 1991), a prominent account based on discrepancy-reducing feedback learning predicts ICs to disappear (Van Rooy et al., 2003). An experiment involving 320 observations with majority and minority members supports the claim that ICs are maintained. Second, we show that actively using the stereotype to make predictions that are met with reward and punishment does not eliminate the bias. In addition, participants’ operant reactions afford a novel online measure of ICs. In sum, our findings highlight the robustness of ICs that can be explained as a result of unbiased but noisy learning.
Between-Task Transfer of Learning From Spatial Compatibility to a Color Stroop Task
Authors: Marini Maddalena , Iani Cristina , Nicoletti Roberto , Rubichi Sandro
Published: May 2011

Responses to a relevant stimulus dimension are faster and more accurate when the stimulus and response spatially correspond compared to when they do not, even though stimulus position is irrelevant (Simon effect). It has been demonstrated that practicing with an incompatible spatial stimulus-response (S-R) mapping before performing a Simon task can eliminate this effect. In the present study we assessed whether a learned spatially incompatible S-R mapping can be transferred to a nonspatial conflict task, hence supporting the view that transfer effects are due to acquisition of a general “respond to the opposite stimulus value” rule. To this aim, we ran two experiments in which participants performed a spatial compatibility task with either a compatible or an incompatible mapping and then transferred, after a 5 min delay, to a color Stroop task. In Experiment 1, responses were executed by pressing one of two keys on the keyboard in both practice and transfer tasks. In Experiment 2, responses were manual in the practice task and vocal in the transfer task. The spatially incompatible practice significantly reduced the color Stroop effect only when responses were manual in both tasks. These results suggest that during practice participants develop a response-selection strategy of emitting the alternative spatial response.
Niche segregation of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and anammox bacteria in the Arabian Sea oxygen minimum zone
Authors: Pitcher Angela , Villanueva Laura , Hopmans Ellen C , Schouten Stefan , Reichart Gert-Jan , Sinninghe Damsté Jaap S
Published: May 2011

Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and anaerobic ammonia-oxidizing (anammox) bacteria have emerged as significant factors in the marine nitrogen cycle and are responsible for the oxidation of ammonium to nitrite and dinitrogen gas, respectively. Potential for an interaction between these groups exists; however, their distributions are rarely determined in tandem. Here we have examined the vertical distribution of AOA and anammox bacteria through the Arabian Sea oxygen minimum zone (OMZ), one of the most intense and vertically exaggerated OMZs in the global ocean, using a unique combination of intact polar lipid (IPL) and gene-based analyses, at both DNA and RNA levels. To screen for AOA-specific IPLs, we developed a high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry method targeting hexose-phosphohexose (HPH) crenarchaeol, a common IPL of cultivated AOA. HPH-crenarchaeol showed highest abundances in the upper OMZ transition zone at oxygen concentrations of ca. 5 μm, coincident with peaks in both thaumarchaeotal 16S rDNA and amoA gene abundances and gene expression. In contrast, concentrations of anammox-specific IPLs peaked within the core of the OMZ at 600 m, where oxygen reached the lowest concentrations, and coincided with peak anammox 16S rDNA and the hydrazine oxidoreductase (hzo) gene abundances and their expression. Taken together, the data reveal a unique depth distribution of abundant AOA and anammox bacteria and the segregation of their respective niches by >400 m, suggesting no direct coupling of their metabolisms at the time and site of sampling in the Arabian Sea OMZ.