Cognitive Science Commons^™

Modeling Substitution Errors In Spanish Morphology Learning, Libby Barak, Nathalie Fernandez Echeverri, Naomi H. Feldman, Patrick Shafto

Proceedings of the Society for Computation in Linguistics

In early stages of language acquisition, children often make inflectional errors on regular verbs, e.g., Spanish-speaking children produce –a (present-tense 3rd person singular) when other inflections are expected. Most previous models of morphology learning have focused on later stages of learning relating to production
of irregular verbs. We propose a computational model of Spanish inflection learning to examine the earlier stages of learning and present a novel data set of gold-standard inflectional annotations for Spanish verbs. Our model replicates
data from Spanish-learning children, capturing the acquisition order of different inflections and correctly predicting the substitution errors they make. Analyses show …

Association Strength Between Concepts As The Origin Of The "Foreign Language Effect", Emilia Ezrina

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Bilinguals sometimes make decisions in verbal tasks differently in their first (L1) and second (L2) language. This phenomenon is known as the foreign language effect (FLE), and it suggests strong connections between language and cognition. On the one hand, it is possible that L2 “blunts” emotional language. However, the FLE can be observed in non-emotional tasks. Therefore, it is possible that L2 requires more deliberate processing due to increased cognitive load, leading to more rational decisions. The support for each explanation is mixed.

In this thesis we propose looking for a single explanation for all instances of the FLE. After …

(De)Constructing Paradigmaticity In Syntax: An Information-Theoretic Approach, Ryan Ka Yau Lai

Proceedings of the Society for Computation in Linguistics

The notions of paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations are central to linguistics. Traditionally, two linguistic forms are paradigmatically related if they fall in the same grammatical slot and can substitute for each other, and syntagmatically related if they occur next to each other. For example, in mainstream American English, modals may and can have a paradigmatic relationship since they share a syntactic position, but the modal may and perfect auxiliary have have a syntagmatic relationship as they co-occur in distinct syntactic positions, e.g. They may have eaten. Paradigmatically related forms may form a closed set, or paradigm. Paradigms are well-studied in …

An Incremental Rsa Model For Adjective Ordering Preferences In Referential Visual Context, Fabian Schlotterbeck, Hening Wang

Proceedings of the Society for Computation in Linguistics

We report data from a preference rating experiment that tested for conflicting effects of subjectivity and discriminatory strength on adjective ordering preferences in referential visual context. Results indicate that, if the communicative efficiency of an adjective is low in a given context, it is preferred later in a multi-adjective expression. To account for qualitative aspects of these data, we propose a novel computational model of incremental processing in the Rational Speech Act framework. What sets the model apart from previous approaches is that it assumes fully incremental interpretation, without the need to anticipate possible sentence completions.

What You Don’T Know Matters: An Ignorance-Focused Investigation Of Theory Of Mind, Steven M. Shin, Jonathan S. Phillips

Cognitive Science Senior Theses

This project examines the ways in which knowledge, or ignorance, impact healthy adults’ theory of mind (i.e. their considerations of others’ mental states). In a pilot study, and four experiments, an effect is found which supports the hypothesis that knowledge states influence the execution of theory of mind. The present findings suggest that attention is directed differently when participants reason from positions of knowledge, or positions of ignorance, in regard to a task-relevant fact. This project provides a starting point for further research, investigating the rich contextual contributions to the fluent functioning of the ‘theory of mind system.’

Who Am I?: How Natives’ Mental Trauma Develop During Precolonial And Colonial Eras As Seen In Achebe’S Things Fall Apart And Fanon’S The Wretched Of The Earth, Sophia D. Casetta

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

Colonialism is a long, brutal process, where natives’ identities are uprooted as colonizers establish their influence in a foreign land. Consequently, through the exploration of the natives’ response to this upheaval throughout the precolonial and colonial eras, the psychological toll that is placed on the colonized is evident. Such mental trauma that is incited is explored in Chinua Achebe’s fictional novel Things Fall Apart, which unveils the slowly lost of the natives’ identities during the precolonial shift, and the non-fiction work of Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth that details psychological disorders of the colonized due to colonization. …

Bridging Philosophy And Neuroscience: How Behavioral Experiments Inform A Recent Theory Of Animal Consciousness, Qasim Abrar Qureshi

Cognitive Science Senior Theses

Consciousness is a loaded term and can mean many different things to different people. The goal of this paper is to investigate animal consciousness with an emphasis on rats. We investigated different ways of approaching the problem of animal consciousness including neuroscientific and philosophical methods. Next, we examined, a recent theory of animal consciousness in detail and examined neuroscientific evidence to support animals possessing the features described in the theory. The theory posited that consciousness includes five different components: perceptual richness, evaluative richness, self-consciousness, unity, and temporality. After, we discussed the phenomenon of “insight” and how it is similar and …

Cognitive Feedback Theories And Artificial Intelligence: A Case For A Grammarly Of Ui/Ux Design, Jordan Buchanan Paff

Dartmouth College Undergraduate Theses

This thesis is concerned with utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) techniques and cognitive theories of feedback to enhance learning outcomes in the field of user interface and user experience (UI/UX) design. The capabilities of AI/ML have expanded immensely over the past several years, and it is now being effectively used in software programs like Grammarly, a tool that provides intelligent feedback on writing skills including grammar, tone, and clarity. Grammarly has been uniquely successful as a feedback tool because it relies on lessons from cognitive science regarding student feedback and learning outcomes. Currently, there is no comparable software …

Security-Enhanced Serial Communications, John White, Alexander Beall, Joseph Maurio, Dane Fichter, Dr. Matthew Davis, Dr. Zachary Birnbaum

Military Cyber Affairs

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are widely used by critical infrastructure and are ubiquitous in numerous industries including telecommunications, petrochemical, and manufacturing. ICS are at a high risk of cyber attack given their internet accessibility, inherent lack of security, deployment timelines, and criticality. A unique challenge in ICS security is the prevalence of serial communication buses and other non-TCP/IP communications protocols. The communication protocols used within serial buses often lack authentication and integrity protections, leaving them vulnerable to spoofing and replay attacks. The bandwidth constraints and prevalence of legacy hardware in these systems prevent the use of modern message authentication and …

The Model 2.0 And Friends: An Interim Report, Garrison W. Cottrell, Martha Gahl, Shubham Kulkarni, Shashank Venkatramani, Yash Shah, Keyu Long, Xuzhe Zhi, Shivaank Agarwal, Cody Li, Jingyuan He, Thomas Fischer

MODVIS Workshop

Last year, I reported on preliminary results of an anatomically-inspired deep learning model of the visual system and its role in explaining the face inversion effect. This year, I will report on new results and some variations on network architectures that we have explored, mainly as a way to generate discussion and get feedback. This is by no means a polished, final presentation!

We look forward to the group’s suggestions for these projects.

How Object Segmentation And Perceptual Grouping Emerge In Noisy Variational Autoencoders, Ben Lonnqvist, Zhengqing Wu, Michael H. Herzog

MODVIS Workshop

Many animals and humans can recognize and segment objects from their backgrounds. Whether object segmentation is necessary for object recognition has long been a topic of debate. Deep neural networks (DNNs) excel at object recognition, but not at segmentation tasks - this has led to the belief that object recognition and segmentation are separate mechanisms in visual processing. Here, however, we show evidence that in variational autoencoders (VAEs), segmentation and faithful representation of data can be interlinked. VAEs are encoder-decoder models that learn to represent independent generative factors of the data as a distribution in a very small bottleneck layer; …

Constraining The Binding Problem Using Maps, Zhixian Han, Anne Sereno

MODVIS Workshop

We constrained the binding problem by creating maps of different attributes. We compared the performance of different models with different maps in our current study. Our preliminary results showed that the performance of the model is the highest when location maps were used. These results suggest that the optimal way to constrain the binding problem is to create location maps of different attributes.

The Effects Of Color On Flavor, Tiffany S. Yoo

Honors Capstones

Color and its relation to flavor, is a complex cognitive phenomenon that researchers today are still trying to decipher. The present literature review is an examination of the history of color, process of color perception, the effects of additional factors such as saturation, the exploration of senses that may potentially contribute to perception itself, and the different modern theories suggested. The purpose of this project was to review, revise, and narrow down which theories can be deemed as accurate in terms of the amount of support addressed by modern literature. While a clear-cut answer was not concluded, three potential theories …

Eco-Interoception: What Plants, Fungi And Protista Have Taught My Body, Sara Riley Dotterer

Art Theses and Dissertations

To me, ecology is the relational, full-body awareness that I am made up of and deeply connected to everything around me; and for better or worse, this is reciprocal. I form ecotones, an ecological transitional zone between two ecosystems, with the world around me. I use this ecotonal lens to blur binaries and dissolve boundaries between me and the world “outside my body.” During my Masters of Fine Arts at Southern Methodist University, I have continuously explored and represented the lives of various more-than-human species outside of my body, including plants, fungi and protista through an ecotonal lens. Although these …

Zoom Fatigue: Case Presentation And Brief Review, Alan Lucerna, James Espinosa, Risha Hertz, Robin Lahr, James Lee

Stratford Campus Research Day

In this review, we discuss the phenomenon of what has been called Zoom Fatigue—a sense of fatigue as well as physical and emotional stress that can be associated with teleconferencing (especially long teleconferences with minimal breaks). The Zoom Fatigue Scale is discussed as well as various theories to explain the phenomenon. Some preventive strategies are discussed.

Enhancing The Battleverse: The People’S Liberation Army’S Digital Twin Strategy, Joshua Baughman

Military Cyber Affairs

No abstract provided.

Operationalizing Deterrence By Denial In The Cyber Domain, Gentry Lane

Military Cyber Affairs

No abstract provided.

Hidden Stratagem - Microtargeting: The Future Of Conflict, Jessica Dawson

ACI Books & Book Chapters

In September 2020, General Paul Nakasone, NSA Director and Commander of U.S. Cyber Command, called foreign influence operations “the next great disruptor.”[1] Nearly every intelligence agency in the United States government has been sounding the alarm over targeted influence operations enabled by social media companies since at least 2016, even though some of these operations started earlier. What often goes unstated and even less understood is the digital surveillance economy underlying these platforms and how this economic structure of trading free access for data collection about individuals’ lives poses a national security threat. Harvard sociologist Shoshana Zuboff calls this phenomenon …

A Comparison Of The Expressive Language Characteristics In Schizophrenia And Wernicke’S Aphasia, Taylor Thomas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mental illness and language disorders are rarely linked together as a way of making a comparison. In this study, a comprehensive scoping review was initiated to discuss the differential diagnostic characteristics of expressive language in Schizophrenia and Wernicke’s Aphasia (WA). This study will examine the domains of language where there are overlaps between the characteristics of expressive language. Semantics, pragmatics, and discourse will be further examined while comparing what aspects of expressive language are key in each domain. Schizophrenia being classified as a mental illness and WA being classified as an acquired language disorder, there are fundamental properties of language …

Creative Problem Solving Using Visual Thinking, Jacob L. Ravnborg

Creative Studies Graduate Student Master's Projects

Creative Problem Solving Using Visual Thinking

This project explores the concept of visual and semantic thinking and how they can be incorporated into Creative Problem Solving sessions. Visual thinking is the ability to conjure mental images as part of the thinking process. This type of thinking is hard-wired into the human brain and can be seen in individual behavior and language. Meanwhile, semantic thinking is using language and grammar to convey meaning. It is a sequential process that depends on cultural and social references. The project argues that both types of thinking are essential and recommends specific guidelines for including …