Journal

Volume 17, Issue 2 (June 30, 2016)

5 articles

• The Four Levels of Free Will
  by Grant Gillett & Sam Liu
  J. CS. 2016, 17(2), 167-198;
  Abstract The problem of free will is expressed in a seemingly inconsistent triad arising because, as moral agents we consider ourselves unique among the creatures of the world and yet, as scientists (and more importantly cognitive neuroscientists), we study cognitive mechanisms in human beings as we do any o... [Read more].
  Abstract The problem of free will is expressed in a seemingly inconsistent triad arising because, as moral agents we consider ourselves unique among the creatures of the world and yet, as scientists (and more importantly cognitive neuroscientists), we study cognitive mechanisms in human beings as we do any other natural phenomena. The Free Will triad is as follows: 1. Free will is the link between the soul (or psyche) and human action. 2. The soul is the aspect of a human being that cannot be explained in terms of physical or biological sciences. 3. Human existence and action occurs within a natural world subject to explanations grounded in the physical and biological sciences. Cognitive neuroscience does its work at the centre of this problem and therefore it is useful to construct an account of human action in which free (and morally significant) action can be understood in a way that embodies an interpretation of the Free Will triad within an orthodox construal of natural science. The philosophical debate, is often metaphysical structured by absolute dogmata about nature and what happens within it, and that does not always help but an Aristotelian theoretical framework supplemented by the evolutionary neurology of John Hughlings-Jackson and recent work in embodied cognition offers a different analysis in which cognitive neuroscience and the ethology of human adaptation to an objective, reflective, normative domain of activity suggest a way ahead. [Collapse]
• Decision-Making & Quantum Mechanical Models of Cognitive Processing
  by John Jung Park
  J. CS. 2016, 17(2), 199-228;
  Abstract There have been numerous neurobiological theories positing that quantum mechanics is importantly responsible for certain psychological phenomena, such as consciousness and conscious decision-making. In this respect, such theories understand the relevant aspects of the brain to be “quantum mechanical... [Read more].
  Abstract There have been numerous neurobiological theories positing that quantum mechanics is importantly responsible for certain psychological phenomena, such as consciousness and conscious decision-making. In this respect, such theories understand the relevant aspects of the brain to be “quantum mechanical.” Although it is highly questionable whether any of these theories have the requisite or sufficient empirical evidence strictly within the domain of neuroscience to appropriately justify their views, a different approach to arguing that quantum mechanics is importantly relevant to human decision-making will be discussed. By putting various puzzle pieces together of empirical evidence in psychology that quantum probability models describe certain human cognitive decision-making processes, I contend that human decision-making overall is best described by quantum mechanical processes. Finally, I at times provide a novel defense of this view from a number of objections. [Collapse]
• A Quantum-Cognition Approach to the Study of Second Language Acquisition
  by Stefano Rastelli
  J. CS. 2016, 17(2), 229-262;
  Abstract In this paper, I want to draw attention to the fact that – following other linguistic disciplines such as Semantics, Natural Language Processing, and Information Retrieval – Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research could also benefit from a quantum-cognition approach. In order to illustrate the po... [Read more].
  Abstract In this paper, I want to draw attention to the fact that – following other linguistic disciplines such as Semantics, Natural Language Processing, and Information Retrieval – Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research could also benefit from a quantum-cognition approach. In order to illustrate the potential of a future collaboration between SLA and quantum-cognition, I describe a case-study demonstrating a quantum effect in SLA, namely, the superposition of a grammatical and a statistical rule of noun-article agreement. I argue that a second language (L2) competence – like other phenomena in both nature and the human mind – is measurement-dependent, meaning that we can access it only contextually and probabilistically. [Collapse]
• On Something Similar
  by Joan Busquets & Christian Bassac
  J. CS. 2016, 17(2), 263-307;
  Abstract The use of expressions something similar/something like that/and the like is a pervasive feature of spoken natural language, and thus must be accounted for if we hope to develop a semantic account of dialogue. These expressions exhibit an anaphoric type dependency, but at the semantic-pragmatic leve... [Read more].
  Abstract The use of expressions something similar/something like that/and the like is a pervasive feature of spoken natural language, and thus must be accounted for if we hope to develop a semantic account of dialogue. These expressions exhibit an anaphoric type dependency, but at the semantic-pragmatic level rather than the syntactic level. The meaning of these utterances depends upon the context of utterance: if the meaning of the utterance is regardedas fixed, then utterances which intuitively are coherent receive incoherent interpretations. To model what happens with utterances containing these phrases, we require both a formal theory of discourse structure, and accessibility to the lexicon. [Collapse]
• Interlanguage as Linguistic System: Prosodic Evidence from Ìgbò Learners and Users of Yorùbá Tones
  by Boluwaji Oshodi
  J. CS. 2016, 17(2), 309-335;
  Abstract The issue of what constitutes the linguistic system that is, the grammatical status of the kind of grammar produced by second language learners has remained a subject of controversy in SLA studies. This type of grammar usually a deviant form of the target language known as interlanguage has been con... [Read more].
  Abstract The issue of what constitutes the linguistic system that is, the grammatical status of the kind of grammar produced by second language learners has remained a subject of controversy in SLA studies. This type of grammar usually a deviant form of the target language known as interlanguage has been considered by some SLA scholars to be a form of grammar based on its regularity and consistency in terms of the rules involved in its derivation. This study examined the interlanguage grammar of twenty adult Ìgbò native speakers who were L2 learners of Yorùbá with focus on tone marking. Findings revealed that the Ìgbò learners of Yorùbá made use of deviant tones when compared with adult Yorùbá native speakers’ pattern of tone marking. However, there was a kind of regularity and consistency in what is regarded as deviations in the form produced by the Ìgbò subjects. This regularity and consistency confirms that, the occurrence of tones in the interlanguage grammar of Ìgbò L2 Yorùbá are also rule governed like any native language which makes it a form of grammar in its own right. This obviously supports the claim that interlanguage could be a form of grammar in some instances which emanated from the combination of linguistic and innate factors. [Collapse]