bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On the origin of linguistic norms: Orthography, ideology
and the first constitutional challenge to the 1996 reform of
German
Authors: JOHNSON SALLY
Published: December 2002

This article explores one aspect of the many public
protests surrounding the 1996 reform of German orthography:
the first in a series of legal challenges, which was
brought before the Federal Constitutional Court in May 1996.
The first section begins by proposing how and why such protests
can be usefully theorized in terms of Blommaert's (1999)
concept of a “language ideological debate,” and
then describes the historical background essential for an
understanding of this legal dispute. The second section focuses
on a critical analysis of the case brought against the reform,
looking at the details of the challenge itself, together with
the justification for its rejection by the Constitutional Court.
The third section considers what this dispute can tell us about
debates over the perceived origin of orthographic norms, with
particular reference to the ideological relationship between
individual, speech community, and (nation-)state. Finally, there
is a brief summary of the way in which the matter was finally –
albeit unsatisfactorily – resolved in 1998–1999.
Ethnic personal names and multiple identities in Anglophone
Caribbean speech communities in Latin America
Authors: Aceto Michael
Published: December 2002

This study investigates the generation and maintenance
of multiple personal names in an Anglophone Creole-speaking
community of Panama. Nearly every Afro-Panamanian resident
of the island of Bastimentos has two given names, one
Spanish-derived and the other Creole-derived. The Creole or
“ethnic name” is virtually the exclusive name used
locally for reference and address. It is argued that these ethnic
names are preferred for reference and address because they
reflexively define who members of this speech community are
in terms of culture and ancestry. A typology of nicknames and
pseudonyms as well as a brief cross-cultural presentation of
multiple or alternative personal names is provided. Ethnic name
usage in Bastimentos is discussed within an acts of identity
framework.
Geoffrey Lewis, The Turkish language reform,
a catastrophic success. New York: Oxford University Press,
1999. Pp. 190. HB $65.00.
Authors: Aydingün Ismail , Aydingün Ayşegül
Published: December 2002

Geoffrey Lewis's book traces the history of Turkish
language reform with fascinating style. The reader is provided
with rich and well-selected examples, and the translation from
Turkish to English is excellent. The author's experience of
Turkey and his competence in Turkish are clear throughout. He
states that the book has two purposes: to acquaint the general
reader with the history of Turkish language reform, and to
provide students at all levels of Turkish with some useful
and stimulating reading matter. Lewis is successful on both
counts. Furthermore, the book is significant in that it sheds
light on the fact that, although language reform is not a
well-known aspect of the Kemalist revolution, it played a vital
role in the creation of the Turkish national identity. In other
words, the aim of Turkish language reform was not simply to
“purify” the language by eliminating foreign words
and foreign grammatical features; rather, it was part of a
nation-building project.
Rob Amery, ‘Warrabarna Kaurna!’
Reclaiming an Australian language. (Multilingualism and
Linguistic Diversity, 1.) Lisse, The Netherlands: Swets &
Zeitlinger, 2000. Pp. xx, 289. Hb $63.00.
Authors: Loether Christopher
Published: December 2002

Many linguists believe that the revitalization of moribund languages,
where there may only be a handful of elderly fluent speakers left, is
a noble (if not also nearly impossible) ideal for those native communities
involved in such work; and this is not to mention the reintroduction of a
long-dead language, such as the South Australian language Kaurna (pronounced
[ga:na]), spoken on the Adelaide Plains until the last native
speaker, Ivaritji (a.k.a. Amelia Taylor), died in 1929. Rob Amery challenges
the standards by which language revitalization programs are judged as
successful, while giving us a step-by-step method for the reintroduction and
revalorization of an extinct native tongue, which he calls the Formulaic
Method. This detailed case study of the beginning stages of Kaurna language
revival will be of interest not just to linguists involved in the field,
but especially to community members and other nonspecialists who are somehow
connected with lesser-used languages and language revival efforts.
Amery's work is also an important contribution to the emerging field of
ecological linguistics and its application to language planning issues.
Perceptual-cognitive universals as reflections of the world
Authors: Shepard Roger N.
Published: December 2002

The universality, invariance, and elegance of principles governing the universe may be reflected in principles of the minds that have evolved in that universe – provided that the mental principles are formulated with respect to the abstract spaces appropriate for the representation of biologically significant objects and their properties. (1) Positions and motions of objects conserve their shapes in the geometrically fullest and simplest way when represented as points and connecting geodesic paths in the six-dimensional manifold jointly determined by the Euclidean group of three-dimensional space and the symmetry group of each object. (2) Colors of objects attain constancy when represented as points in a three-dimensional vector space in which each variation in natural illumination is canceled by application of its inverse from the three-dimensional linear group of terrestrial transformations of the invariant solar source. (3) Kinds of objects support optimal generalization and categorization when represented, in an evolutionarily-shaped space of possible objects, as connected regions with associated weights determined by Bayesian revision of maximum-entropy priors.
The exploitation of regularities in the environment by the brain
Authors: Barlow Horace
Published: December 2002

Statistical regularities of the environment are important for learning, memory, intelligence, inductive inference, and in fact, for any area of cognitive science where an information-processing brain promotes survival by exploiting them. This has been recognised by many of those interested in cognitive function, starting with Helmholtz, Mach, and Pearson, and continuing through Craik, Tolman, Attneave, and Brunswik. In the current era, many of us have begun to show how neural mechanisms exploit the regular statistical properties of natural images. Shepard proposed that the apparent trajectory of an object when seen successively at two positions results from internalising the rules of kinematic geometry, and although kinematic geometry is not statistical in nature, this is clearly a related idea. Here it is argued that Shepard's term, “internalisation,” is insufficient because it is also necessary to derive an advantage from the process. Having mechanisms selectively sensitive to the spatio-temporal patterns of excitation commonly experienced when viewing moving objects would facilitate the detection, interpolation, and extrapolation of such motions, and might explain the twisting motions that are experienced. Although Shepard's explanation in terms of Chasles' rule seems doubtful, his theory and experiments illustrate that local twisting motions are needed for the analysis of moving objects and provoke thoughts about how they might be detected.
Regularities of the physical world and the absence of their internalization
Authors: Hecht Heiko
Published: December 2002

The notion of internalization put forth by Roger Shepard continues to be appealing and challenging. He suggests that we have internalized, during our evolutionary development, environmental regularities, or constraints. Internalization solves one of the hardest problems of perceptual psychology: the underspecification problem. That is the problem of how well-defined perceptual experience is generated from the often ambiguous and incomplete sensory stimulation. Yet, the notion of internalization creates new problems that may outweigh the solution of the underspecification problem. To support this claim, I first examine the concept of internalization, breaking it down into several distinct interpretations. These range from well-resolved dynamic regularities to ill-resolved statistical regularities. As a function of the interpretation the researcher selects, an empirical test of the internalization hypothesis may be straightforward or it may become virtually impossible. I then attempt to cover the range of interpretations by drawing on examples from different domains of visual event perception. Unfortunately, the experimental tests regarding most candidate regularities, such as gravitational acceleration, fail to support the concept of internalization. This suggests that narrow interpretations of the concept should be given up in favor of more abstract interpretations. However, the latter are not easily amenable to empirical testing. There is nonetheless a way to test these abstract interpretations by contrasting internalization with the opposite concept: externalization of body dynamics. I summarize evidence for such a projection of body constraints onto external objects. Based on the combined evidence of well-resolved and ill- resolved regularities, the value of the notion of internalization has to be reassessed.
Internalization: A metaphor we can live without
Authors: Kubovy Michael , Epstein William
Published: December 2002

Shepard has supposed that the mind is stocked with innate knowledge of the world and that this knowledge figures prominently in the way we see the world. According to him, this internal knowledge is the legacy of a process of internalization; a process of natural selection over the evolutionary history of the species. Shepard has developed his proposal most fully in his analysis of the relation between kinematic geometry and the shape of the motion path in apparent motion displays. We argue that Shepard has made a case for applying the principles of kinematic geometry to the perception of motion, but that he has not made the case for injecting these principles into the mind of the percipient. We offer a more modest interpretation of his important findings: that kinematic geometry may be a model of apparent motion. Inasmuch as our recommended interpretation does not lodge geometry in the mind of the percipient, the motivation of positing internalization, a process that moves kinematic geometry into the mind, is obviated. In our conclusion, we suggest that cognitive psychologists, in their embrace of internal mental universals and internalization may have been seduced by the siren call of metaphor.
Generalization, similarity, and Bayesian inference
Authors: Tenenbaum Joshua B. , Griffiths Thomas L.
Published: December 2002

Shepard has argued that a universal law should govern generalization across different domains of perception and cognition, as well as across organisms from different species or even different planets. Starting with some basic assumptions about natural kinds, he derived an exponential decay function as the form of the universal generalization gradient, which accords strikingly well with a wide range of empirical data. However, his original formulation applied only to the ideal case of generalization from a single encountered stimulus to a single novel stimulus, and for stimuli that can be represented as points in a continuous metric psychological space. Here we recast Shepard's theory in a more general Bayesian framework and show how this naturally extends his approach to the more realistic situation of generalizing from multiple consequential stimuli with arbitrary representational structure. Our framework also subsumes a version of Tversky's set-theoretic model of similarity, which is conventionally thought of as the primary alternative to Shepard's continuous metric space model of similarity and generalization. This unification allows us not only to draw deep parallels between the set-theoretic and spatial approaches, but also to significantly advance the explanatory power of set-theoretic models.
Colour generalisation by domestic chicks
Authors: Baddeley R. , Osorio D. , Jones C. D.
Published: December 2002

We present data on colour generalisation by chicks relevant to Tenenbaum and Griffiths' (T&G) Bayesian framework. Chicks were trained with either one or two colours, and tested for interpolation and extrapolation. T&G's framework predicts an observed lack of extrapolation on the red to yellow line in colour space. A modification incorporating stimulus uncertainty deals with a prototype effect, where an intermediate is preferred to exemplars. After training to complementary colours, chicks do not generalise across an intermediate grey as T&G predict. [Tenenbaum & Griffiths]
Generality, mathematical elegance, and evolution of numerical/object identity
Authors: Bedford Felice L.
Published: December 2002

Object identity, the apprehension that two glimpses refer to the same object, is offered as an example of combining generality, mathematics, and evolution. We argue that it applies to glimpses in time (apparent motion), modality (ventriloquism), and space (Gestalt grouping); that it has a mathematically elegant solution of nested geometries (Euclidean, Similarity, Affine, Projective, Topology); and that it is evolutionarily sound despite our Euclidean world. [Shepard]
If a tree falls in the forest and there is nobody around, does Chasles' theorem still apply?
Authors: Bertamini Marco
Published: December 2002

The limitations of the concept of internalised kinematic geometry have been recognised by Barlow, Hecht, Kubovy & Epstein, and Todorovič. I am in agreement but I still find the perception of curvature in two frames of apparent motion fascinating and I suggest some new directions. [Barlow; Hecht; Kubovy & Epstein; Shepard; Todorovič]
“First, we assume a spherical cow ... ”
Authors: Boroditsky Lera , Ramscar Michael
Published: December 2002

There is an old joke about a theoretical physicist who was charged with figuring out how to increase the milk production of cows. Although many farmers, biologists, and psychologists had tried and failed to solve the problem before him, the physicist had no trouble coming up with a solution on the spot. “First,” he began, “we assume a spherical cow ... ” [Tenenbaum & Griffiths]
Color constancy: A case for multiple levels and paradigms
Authors: Brill Michael H.
Published: December 2002

Shepard claims that color constancy needs linear basis-function spectra, and infers the illuminant before removing its dependency. However, of the models of color constancy that have exact (and reasonable) spectral regimes, some do not need linear basis-function expansions of reflectance and illuminant spectra, some do not solve for the illuminant, and some estimate only partial object-reflectance information for single or multiple objects. [Shepard]
Colour perception may optimize biologically relevant surface discriminations – rather than type-I constancy
Authors: Bruno Nicola , Westland Stephen
Published: December 2002

Trichromacy may result from an adaptation to the regularities in terrestrial illumination. However, we suggest that a complete characterization of the challenges faced by colour perception must include changes in surface surround and illuminant changes due to inter-reflections between surfaces in cluttered scenes. Furthermore, our trichromatic system may have evolved to allow the detection of brownish-reddish edibles against greenish backgrounds. [Shepard]
Universal generalization and universal inter-item confusability
Authors: Chater Nick , Vitányi Paul M. B. , Stewart Neil
Published: December 2002

We argue that confusability between items should be distinguished from generalization between items. Shepard's data concern confusability, but the theories proposed by Shepard and by Tenenbaum & Griffiths concern generalization, indicating a gap between theory and data. We consider the empirical and theoretical work involved in bridging this gap. [Shepard; Tenenbaum & Griffiths]
Which colour space(s) is Shepard talking about?
Authors: Decock Lieven , van Brakel Jaap
Published: December 2002

Contra Shepard we argue, first, that his presentation of a three-dimensional representational (psychological or phenomenal) colour space is at odds with many results in colour science, and, second, that there is insufficient evidence for Shepard's stronger claim that the three-dimensionality of colour perception has resulted from natural selection, moulded by the particulars of the solar spectrum and its variations. [Shepard]
Universal Bayesian inference?
Authors: Dowe David , Oppy Graham
Published: December 2002

We criticise Shepard's notions of “invariance” and “universality,” and the incorporation of Shepard's work on inference into the general framework of his paper. We then criticise Tenenbaum and Griffiths' account of Shepard (1987b), including the attributed likelihood function, and the assumption of “weak sampling.” Finally, we endorse Barlow's suggestion that minimum message length (MML) theory has useful things to say about the Bayesian inference problems discussed by Shepard and Tenenbaum and Griffiths. [Barlow; Shepard; Tenenbaum & Griffiths]
External regularities and adaptive signal exchanges in the brain
Authors: Dresp Birgitta
Published: December 2002

Shepard's concept of internalization does not suggest mechanisms which help to understand how the brain adapts to changes, how representations of a steadily changing environment are updated or, in short, how brain learning continues throughout life. Neural mechanisms, as suggested by Barlow, may prove a more powerful alternative. Brain theories such as Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART) propose mechanisms to explain how representational activities may be linked in space and time. Some predictions of ART are confirmed by psychophysical and neurophysiological data. [Barlow; Shepard]
Neural spaces: A general framework for the understanding of cognition?
Authors: Edelman Shimon
Published: December 2002

A view is put forward, according to which various aspects of the structure of the world as internalized by the brain take the form of “neural spaces,” a concrete counterpart for Shepard's “abstract” ones. Neural spaces may help us understand better both the representational substrate of cognition and the processes that operate on it. [Shepard]
Interpreting screw displacement apparent motion as a self-organizing process
Authors: Frank T. D. , Daffertshofer A. , Beek P. J.
Published: December 2002

Based on concepts of self-organization, we interpret apparent motion as the result of a so-called non-equilibrium phase transition of the perceptual system with the stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) acting as a control parameter. Accordingly, we predict a significantly increasing variance of the quality index of apparent motion close to critical SOAs. [Shepard]
The place of Shepard in the world of perception
Authors: Gerbino Walter
Published: December 2002

To balance Kubovy & Epstein, I evaluate the relationship between Shepard and Gestalt theorists along three dimensions. First, both discover internal universals by reducing external support. Second, they share strengths and weaknesses of the minimum principle. Third, although their attitudes toward an evolutionary account of perception is superficially different, they are fundamentally similar with respect to the internalization process. [Kubovy & Epstein; Shepard]
The evolution of color vision
Authors: Gold Ian
Published: December 2002

It is argued that color constancy is only one of the benefits of color vision and probably not the most important one. Attention to a different benefit, chromatic contrast, suggests that the features of the environment that played a role in the evolution of color vision are properties of particular ecological niches rather than properties of naturally-occurring illumination. [Shepard]
What are we talking about here?
Authors: Heil John
Published: December 2002

Shepard provides an account of mechanisms underlying perceptual judgment or representation. Ought we to interpret the account as revealing principles on which those mechanisms operate or merely an account of principles to which their operation apparently conforms? The difference, invisible so long as we remain at a high level of abstraction, becomes important when we begin to consider implementation. [Shepard]
What is the probability of the Bayesian model, given the data?
Authors: Heit Evan
Published: December 2002

The great advantage of Tenenbaum and Griffiths's model is that it incorporates both specific and general prior knowledge into category learning. Two phenomena are presented as supporting the detailed assumptions of this model. However, one phenomenon, effects of diversity, does not seem to require these assumptions, and the other phenomenon, effects of sample size, is not representative of most reported results. [Tenenbaum & Griffiths]
Adaptation as genetic internalization
Authors: Heschl Adolf
Published: December 2002

In the course of evolution organisms change both their morphology and their physiology in response to ever-changing environmental selection pressures. This process of adaptation leads to an “internalization,” in the sense that external regularities are in some way “imitated” by the living system. Countless examples illustrate the usefulness of this metaphor. However, if we concentrate too much on Shepard's “universal regularities in the world,” we run the risk of overlooking the many more fascinating evolutionary details which alone have made, and still make possible the evolution of diversity on earth. [Shepard]
Group theory and geometric psychology
Authors: Hoffman William C.
Published: December 2002

The commentary is in general agreement with Roger Shepard's view of evolutionary internalization of certain procedural memories, but advocates the use of Lie groups to express the invariances of motion and color perception involved. For categorization, the dialectical pair is suggested. [Barlow; Hecht; Kubovy & Epstein; Schwartz; Shepard; Todorovič]
Learning to internalize: A developmental perspective
Authors: Hood Bruce
Published: December 2002

As Hecht points out, finding unequivocal evidence for phylogenetic knowledge structures is problematic, if not impossible. But if phylogeny could be dropped, then internalization starts to resemble the “theory theory” approaches of developmental psychology. For example, an appreciation of falling objects leads to a very strong bias that could be regarded as internalized knowledge acquired during ontogeny. [Hecht; Shepard]
Internalized constraints in the representation of spatial layout
Authors: Intraub Helene
Published: December 2002

Shepard's (1994) choice of kinematic geometry to support his theory is questioned by Todorovic, Schwartz, and Hecht. His theoretical framework, however, can be applied to another domain that may be less susceptible to some of their concerns. The domain is the representation of spatial layout. [Hecht; Schwartz; Shepard; Todorovič]
Reliance on constraints means detection of information
Authors: Jacobs David M. , Runeson Sverker , Andersson Isabell E.K.
Published: December 2002

We argue four points. First, perception always relies on environmental constraints, not only in special cases. Second, constraints are taken advantage of by detecting information granted by the constraints rather than by internalizing them. Third, apparent motion phenomena reveal reliance on constraints that are irrelevant in everyday perception. Fourth, constraints are selected through individual learning as well as evolution. The “perceptual-concept-of-velocity” phenomenon is featured as a relevant case. [Hecht; Kubovy & Epstein; Shepard]
What is internalized?
Authors: Kaiser Mary K.
Published: December 2002

Hecht provides insights concerning the difficulty of empirically testing Shepard's internalization hypothesis, but his argument for an externalization hypothesis suffers from similar sins. [Hecht]
The internalization of physical constraints from a developmental perspective
Authors: Krist Horst
Published: December 2002

Shepard's internalization concept is defended against Hecht's criticisms. By ignoring both Shepard's evolutionary perspective and the fact that internalization does not preclude modularization, Hecht advances inconclusive evidence. Developmental research supports Shepard's conclusion that kinematic geometry may be more deeply internalized than physical dynamics. This research also suggests that the internalization concept should be broadened to include representations acquired during ontogeny. [Hecht; Shepard]
The archeology of internalism
Authors: Kurthen Martin
Published: December 2002

Behavioral regularities are open to both representationist (hence internalist) and non-representationist explanations. Shepard improvidently favors internalism, which is burdened with severe conceptual and empirical shortcomings. Hecht and Kubovy & Epstein half-heartedly criticize internalism by tracing it back to “unconscious” metaphors or by replacing it with weak externalism. Explanations of behavioral regularities are better relocated within a radical embodiment approach. [Hecht; Kubovy & Epstein; Shepard]
Internalization of physical laws as revealed by the study of action instead of perception
Authors: Lacquaniti Francesco , Zago Mirka
Published: December 2002

We review studies on catching that reveal internalization of physics for action control. In catching free-falling balls, an internal model of gravity is used by the brain to time anticipatory muscle activation, modulation of reflex responses, and tuning of limb impedance. An internal model of the expected momentum of the ball at impact is used to scale the amplitude of anticipatory muscle activity. [Barlow; Hecht; Shepard]
Representation of basic kinds: Not a case of evolutionary internalization of universal regularities
Authors: Lomas Dennis
Published: December 2002

Shepard claims that “evolutionary internalization of universal regularities in the world” takes place. His position is interesting and seems plausible with regard to “default” motion detection and aspects of colour constancy which he addresses. However, his claim is not convincing with regard to object recognition. [Shepard]
Three deadly sins of category learning modelers
Authors: Love Bradley C.
Published: December 2002

Tenenbaum and Griffiths's article continues three disturbing trends that typify category learning modeling: (1) modelers tend to focus on a single induction task; (2) the drive to create models that are formally elegant has resulted in a gross simplification of the phenomena of interest; (3) related research is generally ignored when doing so is expedient. [Tenenbaum & Griffiths]
Tribute to an ideal exemplar of scientist and person
Authors: Massaro Dominic W.
Published: December 2002

Roger Shepard's creativity and scientific contributions have left an indelible mark on Psychology and Cognitive Science. In this tribute, I acknowledge and show how his approach to universal laws helped Oden and me shape and develop our universal law of pattern recognition, as formulated in the Fuzzy Logical Model of Perception (FLMP). [Shepard; Tenenbaum & Griffiths]
What's within? Can the internal structure of perception be derived from regularities of the external world?
Authors: Mausfeld Rainer
Published: December 2002

Shepard's approach is regarded as an attempt to rescue, within an evolutionary perspective, an empiricist theory of mind. Contrary to this, I argue that the structure of perceptual representations is essentially co-determined by internal aspects and cannot be understood if we confine our attention to the physical side of perception, however appropriately we have chosen our vocabulary for describing the external world. Furthermore, I argue that Kubovy and Epstein's “more modest interpretation” of Shepard's ideas on motion perception is based on unjustified assumptions. [Kubovy & Epstein; Shepard]
Beyond an occult kinematics of the mind
Authors: Niall Keith K.
Published: December 2002

The evidence for a kinematics of the mind is confounded by uncontrolled properties of pictures. Effects of illumination and of picture-plane geometry may underlie some evidence given for a process of mental rotation. Pictured rotation is confounded by picture similarity, gauged by gray-level correlations. An example is given involving the depicted rotation of Shepard-Metzler solids in depth. [Hecht; Kubovy & Epstein; Shepard; Todorovič]
Functional resemblance and the internalization of rules
Authors: O'Brien Gerard , Opie Jon
Published: December 2002

Kubovy and Epstein distinguish between systems that follow rules, and those that merely instantiate them. They regard compliance with the principles of kinematic geometry in apparent motion as a case of instantiation. There is, however, some reason to believe that the human visual system internalizes the principles of kinematic geometry, even if it does not explicitly represent them. We offer functional resemblance as a criterion for internal representation. [Kubovy & Epstein]
Evaluating spatial transformation procedures as universals
Authors: Parsons Lawrence M.
Published: December 2002

Shepard proposes that the human mind relies on screw displacement because of its adaptive simplicity and uniqueness. I discuss this hypothesis by assessing screw displacement with respect to (1) other plausible spatial transformations, (2) a variety of criteria for adaptive efficiency and utility, and (3) a variety of psychological conditions in which observed responses discriminate amongst alternative spatial procedures. [Shepard]
Reflections on what timescale?
Authors: Pickering John
Published: December 2002

Recent developments in both evolutionary theory and in our ideas about development suggest that genetic assimilation of environmental regularities may occur on shorter timescales than those considered by Shepard. The nervous system is more plastic and for longer periods than previously thought. Hence, the internal basis of cognitive-perceptual skills is likely to blend ontogenetic and phylogenetic learning. This blend is made more rich and interactive by the special cultural scaffolding that surrounds human development. This being so, the regularities of the environment which have been genetically assimilated during the emergence of modern human beings may themselves be the products of human action. [Shepard]
Shepard's pie: The other half
Authors: Pribram Karl H.
Published: December 2002

Having seen the development of Shepard's program at close hand, I have been inspired by the sophistication of his results. However, his program deals with only half of what is needed: Shepard's research tells what the perception/cognitive process is about, it does not tell how that process is implemented. True, Shepard has recourse to the “how” of process in evolution, but that is not the “how” of everyday implementation. For that we need to know the brain processes with which we can implement Shepard's insights. [Shepard]
Regularities, context, and neural coding: Are universals reflected in the experienced world?
Authors: Raffone Antonino , Belardinelli Marta Olivetti , van Leeuwen Cees
Published: December 2002

Barlow's concept of the exploitation of environmental statistical regularities may be more plausibly related to brain mechanisms than Shepard's notion of internalisation. In our view, Barlow endorses a bottom-up approach to neural coding and processing, whereas we suggest that feedback interactions in the visual system, as well as chaotic correlation dynamics in the brain, are crucial in exploiting and assimilating environmental regularities. We also discuss the “conceptual tension” between Shepard's ideas of law internalisation and evolutionary adaptation. [Barlow; Shepard]
An alternate route toward a science of mind
Authors: Schwartz David A.
Published: December 2002

Shepard has challenged psychologists to identify nonarbitrary principles of mind upon which to build a more explanatory and general cognitive science. I suggest that such nonarbitrary principles may fruitfully be sought not only in the laws of physics and mathematics, but also in the logical entailments of different categories of representation. In the example offered here, conceptualizing mental events as indexical with respect to the events they represent enables one to account parsimoniously for a wide range of empirical psychological phenomena. [Shepard]
Sphericity in cognition
Authors: Sokolov E. N.
Published: December 2002

The perceptual circularity demonstrated by R. Shepard with respect to hue turns out to be a sphericity of color perception based on color excitation vectors of neuronal level. The spherical color model implicitly contains information concerning generalization under color learning. Subjective color differences are “computed” in neuronal nets being represented by amplitudes of evoked potentials triggered by color change. [Shepard]
Shepard's mirrors or Simon's scissors?
Authors: Todd Peter M. , Gigerenzer Gerd
Published: December 2002

Shepard promotes the important view that evolution constructs cognitive mechanisms that work with internalized aspects of the structure of their environment. But what can this internalization mean? We contrast three views: Shepard's mirrors reflecting the world, Brunswik's lens inferring the world, and Simon's scissors exploiting the world. We argue that Simon's scissors metaphor is more appropriate for higher-order cognitive mechanisms and ask how far it can also be applied to perceptual tasks. [Barlow; Kubovy & Epstein; Shepard]
Measurement theory is a poor model of the relation of kinematic geometry and perception of motion
Authors: Todorovič Dejan
Published: December 2002

The Kubovy-Epstein proposal for the formalization of the relation between kinematic geometry and perception of motion has formal problems in itself. Motion phenomena are inadequately captured by the relational structures and the notion of isomorphism taken over from measurement theory. [Kubovy & Epstein]
Minimization of modal contours: An instance of an evolutionary internalized geometric regularity?
Authors: Vallortigara Giorgio , Tommasi Luca
Published: December 2002

The stratification in depth of chromatically homogeneous overlapping figures depends on a minimization rule which assigns the status of being “in front” to the figure that requires the formation of shorter modal contours. This rule has been proven valid also in birds, whose visual neuroanatomy is radically different from that of other mammals, thus suggesting an example of evolutionary convergence toward a perceptual universal. [Shepard]
Toward a generative transformational approach to visual perception
Authors: Vickers Douglas
Published: December 2002

Shepard's notion of “internalisation” is better interpreted as a simile than a metaphor. A fractal encoding model of visual perception is sketched, in which image elements are transformed in such a way as to maximise symmetry with the current input. This view, in which the transforming system embodies what has been internalised, resolves some problems raised by the metaphoric interpretation. [Hecht; Shepard]
Dynamics, not kinematics, is an adequate basis for perception
Authors: Wilson Andrew , Bingham Geoffrey P.
Published: December 2002

Roger Shepard's description of an abstract representational space defined by landmark objects and kinematic transformations between them fails to successfully capture the essence of the perceptual tasks he expects of it, such as object recognition. Ultimately, objects are recognized in the context of events. The dynamic nature of events is what determines the perceived kinematic behavior, and it is at the level of dynamics that events can be classified as types. [Shepard]
Internalized constraints may function as an emulator
Authors: Wilson Margaret
Published: December 2002

Kubovy and Epstein's main quarrel is with the concept of “internalization.” I argue that they underestimate the aptness of this metaphor. In particular, an emulator which predicts unfolding events can be described as an internalization of external structures. Further, an emulator may use motoric as well as perceptual resources, which lends support to Hecht's proposal. [Hecht; Kubovy & Epstein]
The role of statistics in perception
Authors: Barlow Horace
Published: December 2002

Hoffman is worried that perception itself leaves no time for the computation and compilation of statistics, but this has never been proposed. It is the underlying mechanisms that are thought to have evolved in response to the statistics of sensory stimulation, and which are capable of adjusting their parameters in response to changes in these statistics.
Internalization: A metaphor we can live without
Authors: Kubovy Michael , Epstein William
Published: December 2002

We reply to Gerbino, Heschl, Hoffman, Jacobs et al., Kurthen, O'Brien & Opie, Todorovic, and Wilson. Several issues are clarified. We concede little.
Some specifics about generalization
Authors: Tenenbaum Joshua B. , Griffiths Thomas L.
Published: December 2002

We address two kinds of criticisms of our Bayesian framework for generalization: those that question the correctness or the coverage of our analysis, and those that question its intrinsic value. Speaking to the first set, we clarify the origins and scope of our size principle for weighting hypotheses or features, focusing on its potential status as a cognitive universal; outline several variants of our framework to address additional phenomena of generalization raised in the commentaries; and discuss the subtleties of our claims about the relationship between similarity and generalization. Speaking to the second set, we identify the unique contributions that a rational statistical approach to generalization offers over traditional models that focus on mental representation and cognitive processes.
Is kinematic geometry an internalized regularity?
Authors: Todorovic Dejan
Published: December 2002

The author does not wish to respond to the Commentators.
Relationships of expressive vocabulary to frequency of reading and television experience among bilingual toddlers
Authors: PATTERSON JANET L.
Published: December 2002

This study investigated the relationships of expressive vocabulary size with frequency of being read to and frequency of watching television among 64 bilingual 21- to 27-month-old children from homes in which Spanish and English were spoken. The frequency of being read to in each language was related positively with expressive vocabulary size in the same language, and the relationships were significant even when taking the children's age and overall exposure to each language into account. The frequency of watching television was not related significantly to vocabulary size in either language.
The effect of bimodal input on implicit and explicit memory: An investigation into the benefits of within-language subtitling
Authors: BIRD STEPHEN A. , WILLIAMS JOHN N.
Published: December 2002

Two experiments examined the effect of single-modality (sound or text) and bimodal (sound and text) presentation on word learning, as measured by both improvements in spoken word recognition efficiency (long lag repetition priming) and recognition memory. Native and advanced nonnative speakers of English were tested. In Experiment 1 auditory lexical decisions on familiar words were equally primed by prior bimodal and sound-only presentation, whereas there were no priming effects for nonwords. Experiment 2 employed a rhyme judgment task using nonwords. Repetition priming of auditory rhyme judgment decisions was now obtained, and this was greater in the bimodal than the sound-only condition. In both experiments prior bimodal presentation improved recognition memory for spoken words and nonwords compared to single modality presentation. We conclude that simultaneous text presentation can aid novel word learning under certain conditions, as assessed by both explicit and implicit memory tests.
Promoting awareness of sounds in speech: An initial report of an early intervention program for children with speech and language impairments
Authors: ROTH FROMA P. , TROIA GARY A. , WORTHINGTON COLLEEN K. , DOW KATHY AYALA
Published: December 2002

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the efficacy of the rhyming portion of the Promoting Awareness of Sounds in Speech (PASS) program, a comprehensive and explicit phonological awareness intervention curriculum that was designed specifically for preschool children with speech and language impairments. A single-subject research design was used to examine treatment effects among children with varying levels of communicative competence, to permit flexibility while piloting the intervention program, and to provide experimental control. The PASS rhyming module was implemented with eight children with speech and/or language impairments, following the establishment of a stable pretreatment baseline on a series of phonological awareness probes. After instruction, all of the children demonstrated substantial improvement in their rhyming ability, which generally appeared to be attributable to the intervention rather than environmental or maturational factors. These findings suggest that PASS rhyming training was an effective approach to phonological awareness instruction for the preschoolers with disabilities who comprised our sample. Thus, it appears that explicit instruction in phonological awareness skills is beneficial for children at a point earlier than is typically judged to be therapeutically appropriate.
Assessing bilingual dominance
Authors: FLEGE JAMES EMIL , MACKAY IAN R. A. , PISKE THORSTEN
Published: December 2002

This study used two methods to assess bilingual dominance in four groups of 18 Italian–English bilinguals, who were selected on the basis of age of arrival (AOA) in Canada (early: 2–13 years; late: 15–26 years) and percentage use of the first language (L1), Italian (low L1 use: 1–15%; high L1 use: 25–85%). Ratios were derived from the bilinguals' self-ratings of ability to speak and understand Italian compared to English (the “verbal” self-rating ratios) and to read and write Italian compared to English (the “written” self-rating ratios). The ratio of the mean duration of English and Italian sentences produced by each bilingual was also computed. AOA and L1 use had the same effect on the self-rating and sentence duration ratios, which were correlated. The bilinguals who arrived in Canada as young adults and continued to use Italian often were the most likely to be Italian dominant. Dominance in Italian was associated with a relatively high level of performance in Italian (assessed in a translation task) and relatively poor performance in English (assessed by measuring strength of foreign accents). Both groups of late bilinguals (late low, late high) and both groups of early bilinguals (early low, early high) were found to produce English sentences with detectable accents. However, a group of 18 bilinguals (all early bilinguals) selected from the original sample of 72 based on their dominance in English did not have detectable foreign accents. This suggested that interlingual interference effects may not be inevitable.
Communicating without speech: Practical augmentative and alternative communication (Clinics in developmental medicine, no. 156). H. Cockerill and L. Carroll-Few (Eds.). New York: Mac Keith Press, 2001. Pp. 185.
Authors: Sutton Ann
Published: December 2002

Communicating without speech: Practical augmentative and alternative communication is an introduction to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) for “doctors and other health professionals who may have no prior knowledge of this field.” It differs from most introductory books in AAC in that it is intended neither as a textbook in AAC (e.g., Beukelman & Mirenda, 1998; Glennen & DeCoste, 1997; Lloyd, Fuller, & Arvidson, 1997; von Tetchzner & Martinsen, 2000) nor as a guide for AAC practitioners (McCurlin & Murray, 2000).
The sociolinguistics of sign languages. Ceil Lucas (Ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Pp. 259.
Authors: Schieffelin Bambi B.
Published: December 2002

In the field of linguistics, as we have repeatedly seen, some languages have had a harder time than others gaining acceptance as “legitimate” and achieving recognition as “real.” Whether it is their specific histories, politics, or cultural origins, certain categories of languages and their speakers have been labeled “different” (often interpreted as deficient) and subsequently ignored, misunderstood, and not admitted into the group of languages deemed worthy of academic study and social recognition. Those languages selected for study and validation shared many features: they had traditions of literacy and literature, dictionaries and grammars, and they were spoken.
Relativistic laser propagation through underdense and
overdense plasmas
Authors: WILLI O. , CAMPBELL D.H. , SCHIAVI A. , BORGHESI M. , GALIMBERTI M. , GIZZI L.A. , NAZAROV W. , MacKINNON A.J. , PUKHOV A. , MEYER-TER-VEHN J.
Published: December 2002

Detailed investigations of the propagation of an ultraintense
picosecond laser pulse through preformed plasmas have been
carried out. An underdense plasma with peak density around
0.1nc was generated by exploding
a thin foil target with an intense nanosecond laser pulse.
The formation of plasma channels with an ultraintense laser
pulse due to ponderomotive expulsion of elections and the
subsequent Coulomb explosion were investigated. The laser
transmission through underdense plasmas was measured for a
picosecond pulse at intensities above 1019 W/cm2
with and without a plasma channel preformed with an ultraintense
prepulse. The energy transmitted through the plasma increased
from the few percent transmittance measured in absence of the
preformed channel to almost 100% transmission with the channelling
to main pulse delay at around 100 ps. The propagation of a
relativistic laser pulse through overdense plasmas was also
investigated. A well-characterized plasma with an electron density
up to 8nc was generated by soft
X-ray irradiation of a low-density foam target. The propagation
of the laser pulse was observed via X-ray imaging and monitoring
the energy transmission through the plasma. Evidence of collimated
laser transport was obtained.
Generation and application of ultrashort X-ray pulses
Authors: VON DER LINDE D. , SOKOLOWSKI-TINTEN K. , BLOME CH. , DIETRICH C. , ZHOU P. , TARASEVITCH A. , CAVALLERI A. , SIDERS C.W. , BARTY C.P.J. , SQUIER J. , WILSON K.R. , USCHMANN I. , FÖRSTER E.
Published: December 2002

Relatively small-scale laser-driven sources of short
wavelength radiation covering a range from the extreme
ultraviolet to the hard X-ray regime are now available.
Because the duration of the X-ray pulses is comparable
to, or shorter than the laser pulse width, it is possible
to carry out X-ray measurements with picosecond or femtosecond
time resolution.
Routes to irreversibility in collective laser–matter
interaction
Authors: MULSER P. , RUHL H. , STEINMETZ J.
Published: December 2002

Collective absorption, so far determined by numerical
simulations, is explained in physical terms for cold and
warm plasma. After deducing a few general relations for
flat targets, interface phase mixing and nonadiabatic electron
acceleration in the skin layer are identified as the main
physical processes leading to irreversibility, that is,
to absorption.
Towards high-resolution spectroscopy in the XUV with
phase-locked harmonic pulses
Authors: BELLINI M. , CAVALIERI S. , CORSI C. , MATERAZZI M.
Published: December 2002

We report the results of measurements aimed to check
the phase lock of time-delayed, collinear, harmonic pulses
and to verify the possibility of performing Ramsey-like
spectroscopy in the XUV. We demonstrate that for harmonics
of medium order and for the peak intensities available
with our laser system, the generation of collinear phase-locked
harmonic pulses is indeed possible and that such pulses
can be used to achieve high-resolution spectroscopy in
the short-wavelength region.