Are word representations abstract or instance-based? Effects of spelling inconsistency in orthographic learning.

In Experiment 1, 62 10-year-old children studied printed pseudowords with semantic information. The items were later represented in a different format for reading, with half of the items spelled in the same way as before and half displayed in a new phonologically equivalent spelling. In a dictation test, the exposure to an alternative spelling substantially increased the number of errors that matched the alternative spelling, especially in good spellers. Orthographic learning predicted word identification when accuracy on orthographic choice for words was controlled. In Experiment 2, the effects on dictation responses of exposure to a misspelling versus the correct spelling, and the interactive effect of spelling ability, were confirmed relative to a no-exposure control in adults. The results support a single-lexicon view of reading and spelling and have implications for abstractionist and instance-based theories of orthographic representations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Questioning the Living/Nonliving Dichotomy: Evidence From a Patient With an Unusual Semantic Dissociation.

In this article the authors describe a patient (J.P.) whose category-specific naming deficit eluded the classical dichotomies between living versus nonliving items or visual versus functional attributes. At age 22, he had herpes simplex encephalitis followed by a left temporal lobectomy. J.P. was tested on measures of visual perception, category naming, fluency, and name-picture matching. He showed a severe impairment naming and identifying fruits, vegetables, and musical instruments. His performance with animals and birds was spared inconsistently, meaning that even the preserved categories were, at some point, affected. J.P.'s unusual deficit supports the hypothesis that semantic knowledge is organized in the brain on the basis of object properties, which can cut across the living-nonliving categorical distinction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The cascaded nature of lexical selection and integration in auditory sentence processing.

An event-related brain potential experiment was carried out to investigate the temporal relationship between lexical selection and the semantic integration in auditory sentence processing. Participants were presented with spoken sentences that ended with a word that was either semantically congruent or anomalous. Information about the moment in which a sentence-final word could uniquely be identified, its isolation point (IP), was compared with the onset of the elicited N400 congruity effect, reflecting semantic integration processing. The results revealed that the onset of the N400 effect occurred prior to the IP of the sentence-final words. Moreover, the factor early or late IP did not affect the onset of the N400. These findings indicate that lexical selection and semantic integration are cascading processes, in that semantic integration processing can start before the acoustic information allows the selection of a unique candidate and seems to be attempted in parallel for multiple candidates that are still compatible with the bottom-up acoustic input. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generation and context memory.

Generation enhances memory for occurrence but may not enhance other aspects of memory. The present study further delineates the negative generation effect in context memory reported in N. W. Mulligan (2004). First, the negative generation effect occurred for perceptual attributes of the target item (its color and font) but not for extratarget aspects of context (location and background color). Second, nonvisual generation tasks with either semantic or nonsemantic generation rules (antonym and rhyme generation, respectively) produced the same pattern of results. In contrast, a visual (or data-driven) generation task (letter transposition) did not disrupt context memory for color. Third, generating nonwords produced no effect on item memory but persisted in producing a negative effect on context memory for target attributes, implying that (a) the negative generation effect in context memory is not mediated by semantic encoding, and (b) the negative effect on context memory can be dissociated from the positive effect on item memory. The results are interpreted in terms of the processing account of generation. The original, perceptual-conceptual version of this account is too narrow, but a modified processing account, based on a more generic visual versus nonvisual processing distinction, accommodates the results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unattended words need to be primed to be recognized

The categorical relation between a target word and a flanking, to-be-ignored, nontarget word can influence target response. Although usually taken as evidence of a full and automatic analysis of stimuli whether or not they have been attended, this flanker effect may only point to the failure of focused attention when nontarget stimuli have been primed and made task-relevant. The present study examined the role of priming in the flanker task. In one condition, schematic and semantic priming of nontargets was potentiated by having subjects categorize the target as an instance of a living or nonliving thing. In a second condition, priming was minimized by requiring only a shallow analysis of the target for a response; subjects searched the target for the presence of the letter R. A flanker effect was found only in the categorization condition, and then only when the target was the name of an animal. There was no evidence that unattended nontargets had been fully and automatically encoded to a semantic level.     

硬件描述语言VHDL指称语义的研究

VHDL是一种广泛使用的硬件描述语言，但长期以来缺乏严格的形式语义，文章介绍并分析了若干具有代表性的VHDL指称语义的研究工具，在此基础上，简要介绍了作者提出的基于时段逻辑的VHDL语义的框架时对VHDL指称语义的看法。     

Event fairness and non-interleaving concurrency

Event fairness suitable for non-interleaving concurrency is proposed. Fairness is viewed with respect to concurrency, rather than non-determinism, in the sense that no concurrent component of the system should be delayed indefinitely. Shields' asynchronous transition systems and Mazurkiewicz's traces have been used; the model gives rise to a partial order. A class of generalised notions of (weak, strong and unconditional) event fairness relative to progress requirements is derived. The weakest fairness notion in this class is shown to coincide with maximality with respect to the partial order over traces.     

产品语境分析与产品设计定位

一个新的产品能否成功,除了取决于产品本身的品质外,还要看该产品的设计定位是否准确,通过对产品周围环境的语境进行分析,可以使设计者能更好地明确设计目的和任务,并以此来对产品进行准确定位。因此,正确地分析产品语境,是设计活动中的一个重要的环节。目前,设计管理活动也从设计生产后促销转变为设计前决策,因此产品语境分析是一种有效的辅助设计定位的手段。     

三维重建新方法及新技术研究

分析了基于二维工程视图重建三维立体问题,以实际工程图样为重建对象,提出三维重建新方法,即工程语义为基础,基元之间的关系识别是先导,基元识别是关键,基元合成是根本;研制了工程语义处理、基元关系识别、基元识别、基元合成等新技术;实现了一个三维重建原型系统,输出了以工程图样为对象的三维重建实例。