Journal

Volume 12, Issue 1 (March 31, 2011)

4 articles

• Nominals, Polysemy, and Co-predication
  by Elisabetta Ježek & Chiara Melloni
  J. CS. 2011, 12(1), 1-31;
  Abstract In this paper, we examine the event/result meaning contrast displayed by Italian nominals derived from creation and redescription verbs, such as costruzione ‘construction, building’ and traduzione ‘translation.’ The goal of our research is twofold. First, we intend to verify whether the intriguing p... [Read more].
  Abstract In this paper, we examine the event/result meaning contrast displayed by Italian nominals derived from creation and redescription verbs, such as costruzione ‘construction, building’ and traduzione ‘translation.’ The goal of our research is twofold. First, we intend to verify whether the intriguing pattern of polysemy exhibited by these nominals may be analyzed as a special case of complex type, with the two constituents of the type analyzed as process and result-state, as proposed in Pustejovsky (1995). Second, we want to clarify what factors might be causing the difficulty in co-predication (i.e. simultaneous access to both subtypes, commonly regarded as the test for complex types) that these nominal typically exhibit. Results of this study can be summarized as follows: the result-state interpretation (i.e. construction as ‘the state of being constructed’) appears not to be generally accessible to these nominals, and copredication appears to be licensed only under specific syntactic and semantic conditions. We claim that both behaviors follow from the inherent properties of the event associated with these nominals, which encodes a peculiar temporal relation between the subevents. Based on this insight, we propose a revised modelling of the lexical representation of creation and redescription complex nominals within Generative Lexicon (GL) theory, informed by empirical evidence. The results of our study help to provide a better understanding of the phenomenon of lexical polysemy and the interplay between aspectual and lexical properties of Action Nominals. [Collapse]
• Symmetry Detection of 3D Objects
  by Wookyoung Jung & Takashi Yamauchi
  J. CS. 2011, 12(1), 33-64;
  Abstract Developing realistic three-dimensional stimuli is an integral part of research on visual perception and cognition, including implicit and explicit forms of visual memory, symmetry perception, object recognition, and perceptual categorization. This is particularly important for object representation ... [Read more].
  Abstract Developing realistic three-dimensional stimuli is an integral part of research on visual perception and cognition, including implicit and explicit forms of visual memory, symmetry perception, object recognition, and perceptual categorization. This is particularly important for object representation research because many theories that were developed with simplified two-dimensional stimuli turned out to be insufficient when tested with three-dimensional stimuli. In two experiments, we examined symmetry perception of naturalistic three-dimensional stimuli. The results indicate that symmetry perception for three-dimensional stimuli involves different processes from those employed for simple two-dimensional stimuli. Appendices include an archive of 3D stimuli created by 3D Studio Max (3ds Max) and a brief tutorial of the program geared for the construction of 3D stimuli for behavioral experiments. [Collapse]
• Changes in Emotional / Behavioral Aspects of Children with Developmental Disabilities through Long-term Academic Support
  by Miwa Fukushima, Tomoko Asai, & Nobuo Masataka
  J. CS. 2011, 12(1), 65-80;
  Abstract In Japan, 6.3% of elementary and junior high school students who are enrolled in normal classes experience learning difficulties (MEXT Japan, 2002). A child’s inability to read well can generate an inferiority complex that results in the loss of the child’s motivation to learn. This in turn has been... [Read more].
  Abstract In Japan, 6.3% of elementary and junior high school students who are enrolled in normal classes experience learning difficulties (MEXT Japan, 2002). A child’s inability to read well can generate an inferiority complex that results in the loss of the child’s motivation to learn. This in turn has been found to lead to secondary impediments that may result in juvenile delinquency. In the present study, children with learning difficulties and their parents participated in a year-long intervention. Children received academic tutoring, and their parents met with researchers to discuss their children’s problems and progress. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was used to inspect the kind of changes which arose in daily life after one year. It was found that through this intervention total problem behaviors, especially aggressive behaviors, were reduced and children achieved high levels of motivation for learning. These changes may lessen the likelihood of problem behaviors for these children in the future. [Collapse]
• Optimality Theory and Human Sentence Processing: Towards a Cross-Modular Analysis of Coordination
  by John C.J. Hoeks & Petra Hendriks
  J. CS. 2011, 12(1), 81-125;
  Abstract In this paper we propose a model of human sentence processing that is based on Optimality Theory (OT). In contrast to most other OT approaches to language processing, we use constraints from OT semantics rather than OT syntax to address on-line comprehension. We illustrate the workings of our model ... [Read more].
  Abstract In this paper we propose a model of human sentence processing that is based on Optimality Theory (OT). In contrast to most other OT approaches to language processing, we use constraints from OT semantics rather than OT syntax to address on-line comprehension. We illustrate the workings of our model by investigating the processing of coordinated structures. The psycholinguistic evidence that is currently available suggests that the on-line comprehension of coordination is influenced by constraints from many different information sources: pragmatics, discourse semantics, lexical semantics, and syntax. The model we propose formalizes this cross-modular interaction of constraints, and yields concrete predictions with respect to both intermediate parsing preferences and final interpretations. Our ultimate aim is to develop a model of processing performance is that at the same time a fully functional model of linguistic competence. [Collapse]