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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Mental representation'
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Lee, Michael D. "Connectionist learning of mental representation." Adelaide, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/2440/19137.
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Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Depts. of Psychology and Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 1997
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Kinch, James. "Millikan's theory of mental representation." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.339189.
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De-Blacquiere-Clarkson, Richard. "The metaphysics of mental representation." Thesis, Durham University, 2011. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/833/.
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The representational theory of mind (RTM) explains the phenomenon of intentionality in terms of the existence and nature of mental representations. Despite the typical characterisation of mental representations in terms of their semantics, RTM is best understood as a metaphysical – more specifically formal ontological – theory whose primary defining feature is stipulating the existence of a class of mental particulars called representations. In this regard it is false, since mental representations do not exist. My argument is primarily methodological. Using an extended analysis of mereology and its variants as paradigmatic examples of a formal ontological theory, I argue for a 'synthetic’ approach to ontology which seeks to form a sound descriptive characterisation of the relevant phenomena from empirical data, to which philosophical analysis is applied to produce a rigorous theory. The value and necessity of this method is proved by example in our discussion of mereology which is shown to be defensible given certain assumptions, in particular perdurantism, but still inadequate as an account of parthood without considerable supplementation. We also see that there are viable alternatives which adopt a more synthetic approach and do not require the same assumptions. Having effectively demonstrated the value of a synthetic approach in ontology I critically examine the methodology employed by RTM and find it severely lacking. In the guise of ‘commonsense psychology’ RTM cavalierly imposes a theoretical framework without regard to empirical data, and this results in a severe distortion of the phenomenon of intentionality it purports to explain. RTM is methodologically unsound, and so its commitment to the existence of mental representations is utterly undermined. Furthermore the most attractive aspect of RTM – its semantics – can be separated from any commitment to mental representations existing. Even RTM’s strongest advocates lack motivation to believe that mental representations exist.
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Pickup, Graham John. "Mental state representation in schizophrenia." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.267162.
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From a literature review, it was concluded that schizophrenia primarily involves deficits in conscious, controlled processing. This was shown to be compatible with Frith's (1992) neuropsychological model of impaired metarepresentation in the disorder. There is strong evidence that patients with paranoid symptoms or behavioural signs have deficits in the representation of others' mental states ('theory of mind'; ToM), but two recent studies have produced conflicting results. Those findings were reconciled in the first study of the thesis, which showed that, on false belief tasks, patients have intact first-order ToM, but specific impairments at the second-order level. This was later confirmed using a 'hints' test of ToM. The results were contrasted with the case of autism. On a spatial reversal test of executive function, schizophrenics with behavioural signs made more perseverative errors than controls. No correlations appeared between ToM and executive function for any of the schizophrenic symptom groups. This was contrasted with the case of autism, and it was suggested that schizophrenia involves late-occurring, independent deficits in separate metarepresentational domains. It was argued that Frith's model of schizophrenia can be extended to include impaired representation of own knowledge, explaining the deficient use of context in the disorder. Some evidence was obtained that patients with primarily behavioural signs are impaired at naming objects in a picture context; this ability was unrelated to ToM, consistent with independent deficits in separate metarepresentational domains. It was suggested that 'weak central coherence' in autism may also reflect impaired representation of own knowledge, and some evidence was obtained that (like autistics), symptomatic schizophrenics show facilitation on embedded figures tests. Schizophrenic patients performed the same as controls, however, on an illusions task. For patients with behavioural signs, embedded figures accuracy was inversely related to the ability to name objects in a picture context, and it was argued that this supported task analyses suggesting a common cognitive process.
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Calder, Daniel Alexander Richard. "Predictive processing and mental representation." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/31264.
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According to some (e.g. Friston, 2010) predictive processing (PP) models of cognition have the potential to offer a grand unifying theory of cognition. The framework defines a flexible architecture governed by one simple principle - minimise error. The process of Bayesian inference used to achieve this goal results in an ongoing flow of prediction that both makes sense of perception and unifies it with action. Such a provocative and appealing theory naturally has caused ripples in philosophical circles, prompting several commentaries (e.g. Hohwy, 2012; Clark, 2016). This thesis tackles one outstanding philosophical problem in relation to PP - the question of mental representation. In attempting to understand the nature of mental representations in PP systems I touch on several contentious points in philosophy of cognitive science, including the explanatory power of mechanisms vs. dynamics, the internalism vs. externalism debate, and the knotty problem of proper biological function. Exploring these issues enables me to offer a speculative solution to the question of mental representation in PP systems, with further implications for understanding mental representation in a broader context. The result is a conception of mind that is deeply continuous with life. With an explanation of how normativity emerges in certain classes of self-maintaining systems of which cognitive systems are a subset. We discover the possibility of a harmonious union between mechanics and dynamics necessary for making sense of PP systems, each playing an indispensable role in our understanding of their internal representations.
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Klint, Robin, and Kristoffer Georges. "Digitala Droger : Mental Ohälsas Representation." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-20309.
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Följande studie skapades av två spelstudenter från Blekinge Tekniska Högskola och är avsedd att behandla området missbruk och de effekter som kan påverka en individs mentala hälsa. Studien kommer att utformas genom ett digitalt spel och syftar till att lära ungdomar effekterna av droger. Denna kandidatuppsats kommer att gå igenom alla grundläggande delar av studien, tidigare forskning, metoder, designprocess, resultat och avslutas med en diskussion där projektgruppen reflekterar över det utförda arbetet. Texten kommer också att ta upp samarbetet mellan projektgruppen och den digitala plattformen, Lotusmodellen AB, i syfte att förebygga psykisk sjukdom. Tekniker och designval för att skapa ett spel med syftet är en av de viktigaste centrala delarna i designprocessen. Dessa är baserade på både professionell litteratur, men också öppna intervjuer med målgruppen med sina egna personliga livserfarenheter av beroende. Undersökningen är en representation av hur vår projektgrupp har fått nya erfarenheter och sedan använt detta i en digital design. Vi hoppas att detta kan fortsätta driva andra designers att ta itu med samhällsfrågor som vanligtvis inte får tillräckligt med uppmärksamhet och skapa en helt egen design för att förhoppningsvis påverka omvärlden och återspegla svårigheter som påverkar individer runt om i världen.
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Kazez, Jean Rahel. "Mental representation and causal explanation." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/185312.
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Mental causation has been a concern in the philosophy of mind since Descartes. Intuitively, thoughts are causes of behavior, and they are causes of behavior in virtue of their mental properties. The computational theory of mind views thoughts as symbol tokenings, and thus as causes. However, if the computational theory of mind is correct, the causal efficacy of mental properties is problematic. A representation tokening causes further representation tokenings or behaviors in virtue of local computational properties of the representation. Mental properties could explain mental causation as well, if they could be identified with, or they supervened upon, causally relevant computational properties of representations. But on plausible construals of the nature of mental properties, they do not. If mental properties are assigned relevance in our mental lives, the result is a picture in which the effects of mental events are overdetermined by their mental and physical properties. Since such overdetermination is implausible, the causal efficacy of mental properties should be denied. A number of philosophers have proposed sufficient conditions for causal relevance and argued that mental properties meet those conditions. The role of mental properties in laws or counterfactuals is taken to be pivotal. But there are serious problems with each of the proposed accounts. A property can play an explanatory role, even if it does not play a causal-explanatory role. The point of assigning mental properties to representations is to account for a system's information processing capacities. Mental properties can play this explanatory role without accounting for cause-effect relationships. The causal efficacy of mental properties can be denied, while an explanatory role for mental properties is maintained.
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Aytekin, Tevfik. "A Naturalistic Account Of Mental Representation." Phd thesis, METU, 2007. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12608272/index.pdf.
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My thesis is an attempt to develop a naturalistic account of mental representation based on the notion of causation. The thesis consists of two main parts. The first part (chapters II and III) develops an understanding of naturalization. According to my proposal, naturalization is a two-step process: in the first step a set of conditions is specified which are thought to be the essential aspects of the notion under study and in the second step a naturalistic system is proposed which is claimed to satisfy these conditions. In accordance with this understanding of naturalization, the second part (chapters IV and V) of the thesis sets out the conditions which a successful naturalization of mental representation has to satisfy and then develops a new naturalistic account of mental representation based on the causal connections between environmental properties and the brain.
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Apperly, Ian. "Children's mental representation of referential relations : representational partitioning and "theory of mind"." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2000. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/782/.
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In six experiments I investigated children’s handling of intensional contexts. The results were described in terms of a developmental extension of Fauconnier’s mental spaces account of meaning representation. Implications for children’s mentalistic development were explored. In chapter 1 I considered the “referential opacity” raised by the representational nature of the mind. I interpreted the findings of Russell (1987) as evidence for a developmental dissociation between handling of intensional contexts - due to the partial nature of representations - and “intentional” referential problems - due to representations being outdated or hypothetical. In experiments 1-3 I demonstrated this dissociation explicitly, and showed that it extended to non-linguistic intensional contexts. Experiments 4 &5 showed correlations between children’s handling of intensional contexts and linguistic ambiguity, which I explained by their common requirement that representational content be held as partial. Experiment 6 showed that children’s handling of intensional questions (and mentalistic explanations) improved after observing incorrect action on the basis of partial knowledge. This effect of supporting context was short-lived, suggesting that it supported on-line activity not question comprehension. After earlier success with out-dated and hypothetical representations, children’s handling of partial representations at 6-7 years explains their concurrent late success with intensional contexts and linguistic ambiguity, and constitutes a qualitative change in their representational abilities.
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Lacey, Simon. "Mental representation in visual/haptic crossmodal memory." Thesis, Southampton Solent University, 2005. http://ssudl.solent.ac.uk/589/.
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It is an unresolved question whether the mental representations that enable visual/haptic crossmodal memoory for objects are modality-specific - either visual (Zhang et al., 2004) and/or haptic (Reed et al., 2004); modality-independent - either abstract (Easton et al., 1997) or structural but still in some way abstract (Reales & Ballesteros, 1999); or dual code - visual for unfamiliar objects but visual and verbal for familiar objects (Johnson et al., 1989). The thesis argues that dual-code representation can be parsimoniously reduced to visual representation, with verbal processes relegated to strategic roled, and that visual representation can be reduced to spatial representation. Spatial representation can be defined as containing information about size, shape and the arrangement of different object parts and features relative to each other, and is a novel hypothesis in visual/haptic crossmodal memory. Seven experiments tested existing theories and the novel hypothesis primarily through the innovative use of interference techniques. These experiments showed that there was no evidence for strictly abstract representation or for the main predictions of the dual-code account. There was no effect of interference on familiar objects and it is suggested that these are either resistant to interference because they involce deep long-term memory representations or that they are represented through an associative network of different representations. The novel hypothesis of spatial representation was supported in experiments that contrasted visual and haptic, spatial and non-spatial interference. These showed strongly that the modality of the interference was irrelevant and that spatiality was the key factor. Whether itoccured during encoding or retrieval, spatial interference disrupted performance regardless of its modality and also disrupted the visual-haptic and haptic-visual conditions equally. The thesis concludes that visual/haptic crossmodal memory is enabled by modality-indeopendent spatial representation. This new finding is an original and theoretically important contribution because it specifies the format of a modality-independent representation and solves two of the three main task constraints: how any kind of object can be re[presented via both vision and touch. It is also a generative source of hypotheses about the third constraint: why error is systematically greater in the haptic-visual condition than the visual-haptic condition.
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Zhou, Xiaolin. "The mental representation of Chinese disyllabic words." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.259648.
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McGuiness, Andrew. "Mental and motor representation for music performance." Thesis, Open University, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.528242.
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This research proposes a theory of nonconscious motor representation which precedes mental representation of the outcome of motor actions in music performance. The music performer faces the problem of how to escape sedimented musical paradigms to produce novel configurations of dynamics, timing and tone colour. If the sound were mentally represented as an action goal prior to being produced, it would tend to be assimilated to a known action goal. The proposed theory is intended to account for creativity in music performance, but has implications in other areas for both creativity and motor actions. The investigation began with an ethnographic study of two 'posthardcore' rock bands in London and Bristol. Posthardcore musicians work with minimal explicit knowledge of music theory and cognitive involvement in performance is actively eschewed. Serendipitous musical felicities in performance are valued. Such felicities depend on adjustment and fine control of dynamics, timing and tone colour within the parameters of the given. A selective survey of music aesthetics shows that the defining qualities of music are the production of immanent rather than representational meaning; polysemy; and processuality. Taking an analytic philosophy and cognitive science approach, I argue that apprehensions of immanent meaning depend on relationships between proximal percepts within the specious present. A general argument for nonconceptual perceptual content as perception of relations between magnitudes within the specious present is extended to music and argued to account for both the polysemic richness of music and its processuality. Nonconceptual relational perception can account for novel apprehensions by music listeners, but not for the production of novel configurations by the performer. I argue that motor creativity in music performance is achieved through the nonconscious parameterization of inverse models without conscious representation of the goal of the action. Conscious representation for the performer occurs when they hear their own performance.
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Belasco, Alan Michael. "The role of detection in mental representation." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/289227.
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This dissertation critically analyzes current theories of mental representation, with an emphasis on indicator and teleological semantics. Its central claim is that detection-based theories of mental meaning--or more generally, theories which trace the meaning of a cognitive structure S to those environmental conditions which obtain while S executes or acquires its function--cannot explain many of the representational structures invoked in common-sense and computational psychology. The dissertation emphasizes several kinds of representational states (both common-sense and computational) that are not commonly noted in the philosophical literature. By emphasizing the heterogeneity of cognitive contents, the dissertation shows just how robust a notion of content will be needed to naturalize, or even just analyze, mental representation. Chapter one introduces the fundamentals of indicator theories and the notion of a language of thought. Chapter two introduces a class of ordinary beliefs that resist explanation on indicator accounts--viz., mistaken beliefs about the physical appearance of members of a kind. Indicator theories require us to assign propositional contents to these beliefs so as to make them true (counterintuitively), at the additional cost of making false many other beliefs about the kind. Chapter three addresses the implications for content theories of internal instructions in cognitive processing--of structures which specify actions that the cognitive system is to perform. Instructions do not fit naturally within the framework of indicator semantics. Indicator theories take a symbol's meaning to be a function of conditions which regularly precede, and help cause, the symbol's tokening. By contrast, an instruction represents an action which has not yet been performed, an action that will issue from the instruction itself. Indicator theories thus must reconcile the future-directed contents of instructions with the backward-looking mechanism of detection. Chapter four challenges the assumption of both indicator and teleological accounts that meaning is founded on some type of causal interaction between the denoting state and the denoted conditions. It explores the conflict between this foundational assumption and the atomic prototypes invoked in theories of visual object recognition.
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Vosgerau, Gottfried. "Mental representation and self-consciousness from basic self-representation to self-related cognition." Paderborn Mentis, 2007. http://d-nb.info/99282558X/04.
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Vosgerau, Gottfried. "Mental representation and self-consciousness : from basic self-representation to self-related cognition /." Paderborn : Mentis, 2009. http://d-nb.info/99282558X/04.
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Hörlin, Victor. "Mental representation och identifikation : Skillnader i förmågan att hålla kvar och namnge en doft respektive en bild genom mental representation." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Psykologiska institutionen, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-100979.
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I den olfaktoriska litteraturen finns olika åsikter om huruvida människor kan bibehålla en mental representation av en doft. I denna studie undersöktes hur bra vi är på att föreställa oss dofter jämfört med bilder av personer, med hypotesen att denna förmåga är sämre för dofter än för bilder. Deltagarna försökte namnge 40 personer (bilder) och 40 lukter, där den ena gruppen endast exponerades för stimuli i 4 sekunder (singelsamplingsgruppen), den andra fick obegränsad tillgång under hela namngivningsförsöket (multisamplingsgruppen). Grundantagandet är att om deltagarna kan föreställa sig ett objekt för sitt inre så är de inte så beroende av återexponering. Resultatet visade inte på någon signifikant interaktion mellan grupp och modalitet, men nominellt går resultatet i hypotesens riktning. Studiens resultat går då att förklara på flera sätt utifrån tidigare forskning inom området. Men utan en signifikant interaktion går hypotesen inte att bekräfta.
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De, Anna Gabriele. "Formal causation and mental representation : a Thomistic proposal." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/12915.
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In the past years, the relevance of Thomas Aquinas's theory of cognition for contemporary debates on epistemology has been widely discussed. That theory claims that mind and world are formally identical and that this relationship overcomes various problems associated with scepticism concerning mental representation. The proposal, however, is grounded on the idea that the world can act on the mind through a relation of formal causation. This thesis attempts to develop a Thomistic theory of formal causation which may be suitable for a realist account of mental representation and which may meet the requirements prompted by current discussions. The suggested view is grounded on Aquinas's metaphysics, according to which the world is constituted of substances. The claim that change is possible since substances are hylomorphically constituted (viz., metaphysically composed of form and matter) is defended. Aquinas's claim that some substances have forms which may act independently of matter is also supported. The paradigmatic examples are human souls, i.e. the forms of human beings, whose higher cognitive capacity, i.e. thinking, can be in principle carried on without the need of any material organ. A Thomistic theory of causation is subsequently proposed. It is argued that hylomorphism explains the distinction among four species of causes (material, formal, final and efficient). Aquinas's attempt to explain causal relations conditionally is developed along the lines suggested by John Mackie's INUS conditional analysis. Jaegwon Kim's implementation of Mackie's proposal through an object-based metaphysics of events is then adapted to the hylomorphical account of substances. On these grounds, a theory of formal causation can be proposed and applied to Aquinas's theory of mental representation. The ensuing proposal is offered not in the spirit of historical exegesis but as a substantive philosophical account and it is Thomistic only in the broad sense that it is built on Aquinas's metaphysics and is consistent with his claims on causation.
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Du, Yuhui. "Probing the Mental Representation of Relation-Defined Categories." The Ohio State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1597414024378882.
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Dominguez, Alva M. "SCHOOL-BASED MENTAL HEALTH REFERRALS’ REPRESENTATION OF ACTUAL MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS AMONG ADOLESCENTS." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2019. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/894.
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Increasingly, health providers are recognizing the importance of providing behavioral and mental health services to children and adolescents. As a result, school districts are adopting the School-Based Mental Health Program approach to provide mental health services to their students. The purpose of this study is to test if there is a disparity between children being referred due to externalizing behavior versus internalizing behaviors. The data was collected from archival sources, and it was analyzed utilizing the SPSS software for a quantitative and descriptive study. The findings indicated that students experiencing Internalizing and/or Externalizing behaviors are almost equally receiving services. This study found that most of the referrals were made by school counselors, only a few by parents and even less by students themselves. For this reason, the study’s recommendation is for social workers to engage in providing training for parents and students in identifying mental health issues before they become a significant problem.
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Chan, Yen-Ling. "Idioms in the mental lexicon /." View abstract, 2006. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3269190.
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Price, Carolyn Susan. "Function and content : a teleological approach to mental representation." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.287111.
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Brannigan, Holly P. "Language processing and the mental representation of syntactic structure." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/424.
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This thesis investigates the mental representation of syntactic structure. It takes an interdisciplinary approach which exploits methods and insights from both experimental psychology and theoretical linguistics to explore the claim that syntactic representation can be the subject of empirical psychological study. The thesis makes use of corpus analysis and two experimental methods, agreement error elicitation and syntactic priming, to examine syntactic structure in both language production and language comprehension. I argue that assumptions about syntactic representation are fundamental to all models of language processing. However, processing models have largely assumed the representations proposed by theoretical linguists in the belief that that syntactic representation is the province of theoretical linguistics. I propose that the mental representation of syntactic structure is a legitimate area of study for psycholinguists and that it can be investigated using experimental methods. The remainder of this thesis presents empirical evidence to support this claim. The main conclusion of this thesis is that syntactic representation is amenable to psychological study. The evidence which is gathered in this way is in principle relevant not only to theories of language processing but also to any linguistic theory which claims to characterise knowledge of language.
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Lowe, Richard Kingsley. "Scientists' and non-scientists' mental representation of scientific diagrams." Thesis, Lowe, Richard Kingsley (1992) Scientists' and non-scientists' mental representation of scientific diagrams. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 1992. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/51370/.
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Diagrams are an ubiquitous means of depicting information. As well as being a valuable professional tool for both thinking and communicating, diagrams are widely used to help students learn various disciplines. However, in this context diagrams are used not only with the expectation that they will enrich the students’ knowledge of the discipline, but also with the assumption that diagrammatic information is inherently easier to process than other presentations.
This research arose from theoretically motivated doubts about the capacity of those without expertise in a particular discipline to process diagrams more easily than other presentations. It was set within the general expert-novice framework and based upon a theoretical position that diagram processing is not driven directly by the diagrammatic data but rather is mediated by an individual’s mental representation of those data. It gauged the processing capability of those without discipline expertise by comparing the way professional scientists represented diagrams mentally with the way they were represented by non-scientists. The scientists and diagrams used as illustrative examples in this research were professional meteorologists and weather maps respectively. If nonscientists’ mental representations of given diagrammatic material differ with regard to important fundamentals from those of scientists, they may not be able to process the material effectively without considerable support.
The results indicated fundamental differences between the way diagrams were represented mentally by the scientists and non-scientists. The nature and extent of these differences indicated that the non-meteorologists lacked a suitable basis for processing the diagrams in a way that would help them learn about the discipline. Their mental representation was impoverished, fragmentary and mainly based upon superficial visuospatial characteristics of weather map diagrams’ pictorial constituents. It was largely without the fundamental domain-specific meteorological dimension that was the basis of the scientists’ mental representation and was lacking in organisation, detail and scope. Whereas the scientists’ mental representation set the information from a particular weather map diagram in a much broader temporal and spatial meteorological context, the non-scientists’ mental representation was limited to the particular diagram under consideration and lacked the scientists’ highly interrelated and hierarchical structure between different types of information.
This research shows that the task of processing diagrams may not be as different from the task of processing other types of presentation as might be supposed. It indicates that as with other forms of presentation such as text and mathematics, individuals lacking experience in a discipline will have a limited capacity to make effective use of diagrammatic presentation. An inference from this research therefore is that diagrams cannot be regarded simply as an alternative form of presentation that is easier to process than other modes. Rather, the indications are that specific instructional support for students would be required with regard to the context, subject-matter principles and type of organisational structure that are the basis of the types of diagram which characterise a particular discipline. An improved realisation of the instructional potential of diagrams would require a change from the largely informal and somewhat haphazard manner by which students typically learn how to use diagrams at present, to more formal and systematic approaches. The development of such approaches requires further research to increase understanding of the nature of diagram processing and determine how this understanding may be translated into effective pedagogical strategies.
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Frank, Cornelia [Verfasser]. "Mental representation and learning: a perceptual-cognitive view on mental and physical practice / Cornelia Frank." Bielefeld : Universitätsbibliothek Bielefeld, 2014. http://d-nb.info/1064382142/34.
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Young, Christopher John. "Decompressing the Mental Number Line." The Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1250616640.
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Helmkay, Owen. "Information representation, problem format, and mental algorithms in probabilistic reasoning." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2001. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/NQ66153.pdf.
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Barkowsky, Thomas. "Mental representation and processing of geographic knowledge : a computational approach /." Berlin [u.a.] : Springer, 2002. http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0817/2002042843-d.html.
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Cai, Zhenguang. "Mental representation and processing of syntactic structure : evidence from Chinese." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/5509.
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From the perspective of cognitive psychology, our knowledge of language can be viewed as mental representations and our use of language can be understood as the computation or processing of mental representations. This thesis explores the mental representation and processing of syntactic structure. The method used in this thesis is structural priming, a phenomenon in which people tend to repeat the linguistic structure that they have recently processed. The language under investigation is Chinese. The main research theme is divided up into four different questions. The first question is how syntactic structure is mentally represented. For a long time this has been a question for syntacticians whose main evidence is their intuition. There are, however, recent calls for experimental methods in the investigation of syntactic representation. I propose that structural priming can be used as an experimental approach to the investigation of syntactic representation. More specifically, structural priming can illuminate the constituent structure of a syntactic construction and help us determine which syntactic analysis corresponds to the representation of the construction. Three structural priming experiments on some controversial constructions in Mandarin were reported to show that structural priming can be used to distinguish alternative analyses of a syntactic construction. The second question concerns the use of thematic and lexical information in grammatical encoding in sentence production. Models of grammatical encoding differ in the locus of conceptual effects on grammatical encoding and the extent to which grammatical encoding is lexically guided. Five experiments were reported on these two issues. First, the results indicate that thematic information affects grammatical encoding by prompting the processor map thematic roles onto the same linear order as they were previously mapped. Though conceptual information was previously believed to only affect the assignment of grammatical functions (e.g., subject and object) to nouns (i.e., functional processing), this finding suggests that it can influence the linear order of sentence constituents (i.e., positional processing) as well. The results also show that the processor persists in using the same argument structure of the verb, implying that grammatical encoding is lexically guided to some extent. The third question concerns the processing of verb-phrase (VP) ellipsis in comprehension. Previous research on this topic disagrees on whether the interpretation of VP ellipsis is based over the syntactic or semantic representation of the antecedent and whether the antecedent representation is copied or reconstructed at the ellipsis site. An experiment was presented and the results show no structural priming effect from the ellipsis site. This suggests that no syntactic structure is reconstructed at the ellipsis and possibly no copying of the antecedent structure either. The results then favour a semantic account of VP ellipsis processing. The last question concerns the lexico-syntactic representation of cognates in Cantonese-Mandarin bilinguals. Previous research has paid little attention as to whether cognates have shared or distinct lemmas in bilinguals. Two experiments show that the structural priming effect from the cognate of a verb was smaller than from the verb itself, suggesting that Cantonese/Mandarin cognates have distinct rather than shared lemmas, though the syntactic information associated with cognates is collectively represented across the two languages. At the end of the thesis, I discussed the implications of these empirical studies and directions of further research.
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Tan, Siew Hong. "Culture and time perception : implications for mental representation and decisions." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/12834.
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This thesis examines cultural variations in time perception, as well as the possible influences on mental representation and decisions. Building on prior research on cultural differences in time-related perceptions, two main time perceptions were identified and focused on, namely temporal orientation and the use of time metaphor. The temporal orientation line of investigation explores the implications of a stronger future versus past orientation among English and Mandarin-speakers respectively. Based on Construal Level Theory, temporal orientation is expected to be related to psychological distance, which in turn affects the mental representations individuals form. The findings supported a stronger future orientation among English-speakers which is also evident in their mental representations that vary as a function of temporal orientation. However, Mandarin-speakers exhibited neither a strong past nor future orientation. A study examining the possible influence of temporal orientation on value judgment revealed a complex association between culture and value judgment. The time metaphor line of inquiry investigates the use of time metaphors among English and Mandarin-speakers and also the possible implications of such tendencies. Although previous psychological research implies a possible connection between the use of time metaphor and sense of personal control, this relationship is yet to be established. The findings showed supportive evidence of a frequent use of ego and time-moving metaphors among English and Mandarin-speakers respectively. However, studies examining the relationship between the use of time metaphor, perceived personal control, and decisions (optimism bias and risk-taking) revealed little supportive evidence of an association between them. The findings and a range of methodological and theoretical implications are discussed in the closing chapter.
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Qiao, Xiaomei. "The Representation of Newly Learned Words in the Mental Lexicon." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/194383.
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Most research in word recognition uses words that already exist in the reader's lexicon, and it is therefore of interest to see whether newly learned words are represented and processed in the same way as already known words. For example, are newly learned words immediately represented in a special form of lexical memory, or is there a gradual process of assimilation? As for L2 language learners, are newly learned words incorporated into the same processing system that serves L1, or are they represented quite independently?The current study examines this issue by testing for the existence of the Prime Lexicality Effect (PLE) observed in masked priming experiments (Forster & Veres, 1998). Strong form priming was found with nonword primes (e.g., contrapt-CONTRACT), but not with word primes (e.g., contrast-CONTRACT). This effect is generally assumed to result from competition between the prime and the target. So if the readers had been trained to treat "contrapt" as a new word, would it now function like a word and produce much weaker priming? Elgort (2007) demonstrated such an effect with unmasked primes with L2 bilinguals. The current study investigates the PLE in both L1 and L2 bilinguals under different training conditions. When the training program involves mere familiarization (learning to type the words), a PLE was found with visible primes, but not with masked primes, which suggests that unmasked PLE is not the best indicator of lexicalization. In the case of "real" acquisition where the new word is given a definition and a picture of the object it refers to, and learning is spread over two weeks, a clear PLE was obtained. However, when the same experiment was carried out on Chinese-English bilinguals using the same English materials, completely opposite results were obtained. The learning enhanced priming, rather than reducing it, suggesting that the L2 lexicon might differ qualitatively from the L1 lexicon. The implications of these results for competitive theories of lexical access are discussed, and alternative explanations are considered.
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Baguley, Thomas Simon. "The representation of spatial mental models in long-term memory." Thesis, Open University, 1994. http://oro.open.ac.uk/57430/.
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This thesis is concerned with how people understand and remember spatial information derived from verbal descriptions. The thesis distinguishes between three different ways of representing spatial information in working memory. The first way is to represent the surface form of the source from which the spatial information is derived (the language of a description). The second is to represent the structure of the situation derived from that source (a spatial mental model). The third is to represent the perceptual characteristics of the situation from a particular perspective (a visual image). Considerable evidence exists that people construct and manipulate spatial mental models in working memory. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the claim that mental models are represented in long-term memory. An outline of the spatial mental modeling processes required to understand a simple spatial description is proposed. It is proposed that spatial mental modeling is comprised of three processing stages. Firstly, comprehension processes are required to access the linguistic meaning of information presented in spatial description. Secondly, construction processes are required to build up a representation of the spatial structure of the situation derived from the language of the description. Thirdly, consultation processes are required to monitor construction and to access information from the spatial mental model. Nine experiments are reported which investigate evidence for and against the view that people remember the construction and consultation of a spatial mental model. In the final chapter this evidence is reviewed and a 'sketch' of a processing theory of memory for spatial descriptions is proposed. It is argued that memory for a spatial mental model is a product of the interaction between construction and consultation processes over a period of time rather than a simple 'copy' of a completed working memory spatial mental model.
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Flynn, Emma. "Theory of mind, representation and executive control." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.364662.
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Gygax, Pascal Mark. "The representation of characters responses : do readers infer specific emotions." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.250184.
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Winkley, Michael Lee. "Strang a new model of concepts and analogy /." Diss., Online access via UMI:, 2006.
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Tong, Yuk-yue. "Lay models of personality : assessment and implications /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 2002. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B24702274.
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Selway, Matthew. "Mental disorder in the contemporary American biopic : representation and national identity." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2016. https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/61877/.
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This thesis considers the representation of mental disorder in the contemporary American biopic from 1999 onwards, focussing upon how such representations of the biographical subject’s experience of mental illness can be read as interrogating many of the central features and ideologies of American national identity. Though long overlooked in academia, a recent surge in scholarly attention has repositioned and illuminated the biographical film (biopic) as a dynamic genre that warrants greater appreciation and investigation. This thesis contributes to current debates and understandings of the genre by critically interrogating the representational strategies and tropes present in depictions of mental disorder in the genre and contextualising these aspects in regards to wider cultural issues. Much like many critiques of the biopic genre, the portrayal of mental disorder in film and media has often been criticised for lacking authenticity or accuracy. Where critics and filmgoers bemoan the biopic’s over-celebratory nature and malleable relationship with history, so too psychiatric professionals and members of the public lament derogatory stereotypes and images of mental disorder that contribute to the perpetuation of stigma. However, this project realises a conscious move away from subjective debates concerning accuracy whilst still engaging with psychiatric research as a means of demonstrating the valuable interdisciplinary overlaps between psychiatry and film studies. Where critical considerations of mental illness representation largely focus upon the impact of film and media on cultural attitudes, the analyses in this thesis instead consider the influence of American culture on film representation. Whilst engaging with key ideas associated with the construction of national identity (primarily gender, race and class) this thesis also includes critical considerations of the portrayal of mental disorder and its intersections with many other socio-culturally significant aspects of American character and identity, including capitalism, sexuality, celebrity, religion and regionality.
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Twissell, Adrian. "Mental representation and the construction of conceptual understanding in electronics education." Thesis, Oxford Brookes University, 2016. https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/items/a7a23a79-6ad6-4986-9ce7-2ea883576672/1/.
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Learning about abstract electronics concepts can be difficult due to the hidden nature of the phenomena of interest. Developing understanding about electronics is therefore challenging because voltage cannot be readily observed; only the outcomes of the behaviour of voltage can be observed. Consequently modelling the phenomena of interest becomes a crucial factor in supporting learners in their development of knowledge and understanding. Visualisation skills have been promoted as important when modelling knowledge in different forms, supporting learners in their development of knowledge and understanding. Current research about electronics education, however, has tended to focus on learners’ misconceptions, experimental methods and interventions focusing on theoretical aspects of knowledge. Perspectives on learners’ actual constructions of knowledge in practice are not common. The aim of this research study, therefore, was to explore the use of external visual representations in support of learning about electronics concepts, within the context of Secondary Design and Technology education. The study adopts a case study approach and uses an interpretative cross-case synthesis methodology to explore a specific case of representation use among one class of Year 10 students. The analytical framework is designed to focus on the translation of and transition between multiple representations, including computer program code, and the representation of phenomena at three levels of representation: observable, symbolic and abstract. Data collection involved the observation of learners engaged with learning activities, documents collected from these activities, individual semi-structured interviews and participant characteristics data collected from course records. The findings show that common processes of learning are accompanied by individual developments in meaning and understanding. Individual understanding was characterised with the creation of four cognitive profiles representing key learner constructs. Understanding about abstract concepts was shown to benefit from representations where concrete referents linked with practical experience. Electronics understanding was also shown to benefit from the explanatory use of program code as a supporting method with which to model and simulate circuit behaviour. The research approach involving the close observation of learners engaging with learning activities was found to provide a greater understanding of learners’ approaches to learning in practice. The outcomes are applied to the practice of teaching electronics and modifications to the research are suggested for future researchers interested in the issues of teaching, learning and concept development in electronics education.
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Tytus, Agnieszka. "The processing and representation of the bilingual Chinese-English mental lexicon." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 2013. https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/the-processing-and-representation-of-the-bilingual-chineseenglish-mental-lexicon(b64cd4fb-4916-4661-ba08-bd62daebbfc3).html.
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This study investigated the representation and processing of the bilingual Chinese-English mental lexicon. Specifically, the conceptual level of representation was examined. Four aims were pursued in this project. First and second, this investigation addressed the way in which concepts are represented and processed in bilingual lexical memory. It also compared language processing on a word level in visual and auditory modalities. Finally, the investigation probed the degree of semantic overlap in bilingual speakers. To achieve the aims of this project, Chinese-English speakers were requested to perform a primed animacy decision task. This task allowed for the addressing of the notions of priming effect, priming asymmetry effect, and the impact of modality on language processing. In addition, bilingual participants and control groups of monolingual English and Chinese participants were requested to take part in a semantic judgment task. This task was used to evaluate the notion of semantic overlap. The investigation of the four separate notions helped test the Revised Hierarchical Model (RHM) (Kroll and Stewart, 1994). It was demonstrated that participants responded more rapidly to the related targets (translation equivalents) than to the unrelated ones (words in L1 and L2 that did not share meaning) and this was taken as evidence for a shared conceptual store. Moreover, a priming effect was observed from L1 to L2 but it failed to appear in the L2 to L1 language direction. This pointed to a priming asymmetry and the fact that the strength of the interlexical connection between L1 and concepts is stronger than this relationship with L2. Further comparison of the results from the visual and auditory modalities illustrate that the processes are not identical and that the information in the two modalities might become available at slightly different rates. Finally, a comparison of bilingual and monolingual semantic structures revealed that bilingual English and Chinese conceptual maps are more similar to one another than to the monolingual English or Chinese maps, respectively, which in turn may point to the process of semantic convergence (Pavlenko, 2009). The findings obtained in this study substantiate the original framework of the RHM (Kroll and Stewart, 1994).
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DeLollis, Ann Lincoln. "An integration of psychoanalytic and Piagetian theories pertaining to mental representation /." The Ohio State University, 1987. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487324944214158.
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Ferreira, Dias Kanthack Thiago. "Interdependent relationships between the mental representation and psychophysiological correlates of action." Thesis, Lyon, 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018LYSE1166/document.
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L’objectif de ce travail était d’apporter des données encore inconnu sur la relation entre les corrélats neurophysiologiques de l’action et la représentation mentale. Un ensemble de six expérimentations ont été menées. Celles-ci nous ont permis de mieux comprendre les modalités d’utilisation de l’imagerie motrice qu’elle soit concomitante ou réaliser après la pratique réelle. Les effets de la pratique physique sur la capacité d’utilisation de l’imagerie motrice ont aussi été explorés. Nos résultats montrent que l’imagerie motrice est très efficace, qu’elle soit pratiquée de manière concomitante à la pratique réelle ou après celle-ci lorsque la fatigue physique est importante. Nous démontrons que des capacités d’imagerie élevées ne sont pas systématiquement reliées à une amélioration de la performance. De manière inédite nous démontrons que la pratique réelle peut–être bénéfique pour la capacité d’imagerie motrice d’une habilité fortement automatisée. De plus, des sessions de pratique physique prolongées et intermittentes semblent plus perturber la capacité d’imagerie motrice qu’une pratique continue. L’ensemble de ces résultats est une contribution importante aux connaissances relatives à l’utilisation de l’imagerie motrice dans la réhabilitation ou encore dans la pratique physiqueThe main purpose of the present work was to add substantial data regarding the psychophysiological correlates of action with respective mental representation. A total of six experimental protocols were developed to understand the mechanisms of using motor imagery concomitant and after actual practice, and the effects of exercise on motor imagery ability. According to our findings, motor imagery can very be usefull when performed concomitant with actual practice and even after an exercise session, when fatigue is most present. We demonstrate that higher levels of motor imagery ability are not always linked with greater performance enhancement. Unprecedentedly, we reported that an exercise session might even be beneficial for motor imagery ability of high-automated task. In addition, prolonged intermittent exercise session are more likely to impair motor imagery ability in comparison with continuous exercise. These findings are of special interest of sports coaches and rehabilitation professionals, which usually incorporate motor imagery into their physical training sessions
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Lee, Sau-lai. "Communication and shared representation : the role of knowledge estimation /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 2002. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B24729632.
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Vermeulen, Monique. "An investigation into the representation of the mentally ill in popular film." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/800.
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There is a common perception that media depiction of mental health and illness is overwhelmingly negative and inaccurate. Media portrayal of mental illness is also viewed as an important element in forming and influencing society’s attitudes towards mental health issues, although there is no causal link to prove this. People with mental illness are most commonly shown as being violent and aggressive. Movie stereotypes that contribute to the stigmatisation of mentally ill persons include the mental patient as rebellious free spirit, homicidal maniac, seductress, enlightened member of society, narcissistic parasite, and zoo specimen. The profession of psychiatry is, has always been, and will likely continue to be a much enjoyed subject among filmmakers and their audiences, as it tends to provide exciting and emotionally compelling opportunities to portray personal struggles feared by most of humanity. This research will analyse the entertainment media in an attempt to provide evidence to support the above statement. The research will, furthermore, analyse the manner in which entertainment media represent the mentally ill with reference to popular films invariably produced in the US
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Welch, Mark, University of Western Sydney, and Faculty of Nursing and Health Studies. "Reel madness : the representation of madness in popular western film." THESIS_FNHS_XXX_Welch_M.xml, 1997. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/705.
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This thesis considers the representation of madness in popular film, in the main from the Western canon and English speaking, and argues that madness is seen and represented as an extreme of human experience, a form of Otherness, which throws into relief notions of ontology, sanity and personal and cultural identity. It progresses from a consideration of the historical representations of madness and sanity in art and literature to a review of the pertinent literature on cinema and representation, and uses seminal examples from throughout cinematic history mostly from English language films, from 1906-1996, to illustrate the argument. Alternative methodological approaches are considered for the insights they may provide, and also for the contribution they make to the development of the thesis, in particular the influence of semiotics. A number of stereotypical portrayals of madness, such as the 'mad scientist', the 'crazed murderer', and the 'doomed heroic outsider' are examined in detail. Finally, the thesis proposes the way madness, and mad people, are represented in popular film is reflective and indicative of social and cultural concerns over what can be known, how identity can be established and what it means to live in the contemporary world fraught with uncertainty, anxiety and changeDoctor of Philosophy (Hons)
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Say, Tessa. "The mental representation of Italian morphology : evidence for the dual-mechanism model." Thesis, University of Essex, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.310049.
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PAIDASSI, MARY MIREILL. "L'imitation et l'espace mental dans la genese de la representation chez l'enfant." Paris 8, 1987. http://www.theses.fr/1987PA080113.
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L'etude a pour objet l'analyse des premieres manifestations de la fonction symbolique chez l'enfant au cours de la deuxieme annee a travers l'observation de l'imitation et de l'espace mental. Selon wallon, l'imitation, qui est a la fois participation au modele et dedoublement revele les conditions memes de la naissance de la representation. Cet avenement n'est possible que si a l'espace perceptif actuel se superpose un espace mental sous-jacent au langage et a la representation, milieu ou doivent pouvoir etre imaginees des positions et des trajectoires qui sont encore a realiser. La premiere recherche consiste a retracer dans le cadre de l'observation de l'imitation spontanee de dix enfants, observes pendant un an, de treize a trente-trois mois, les etapes successives de l'imitation. Le but est de provoquer directement, de facon specifique l'imitation differee, l'enfant repondant a des modeles gestuels et sonores choisis. La deuxieme recherche consiste a determiner a quel age l'enfant montre une intuition spatiale mentale. Une experience exigeant de prevoir la trajectoire invisible du deplacement regulier d'un objet est realisee sur un groupe d'enfants de quatorze a trente-six mois. Les resultats montrent, par l'etude de la genese de l'imitation, l'apparition de formes intermediaires necessaires a la realisation de l'imitation intelligente ou differee. Celle-ci ne survient qu'apres une periode d'incubation, d'elaboration sensori-motrice. Ce qui a prepare le mouvement, c'est l'attitude ou la posture observee a partir de treize mois dans la reaction d'arret et l'elaboration posturale ou apparait l'isolement de l'attitude. C'est donc l'activite posturale qui menerait a la representation. Enfin a partir de quatorze mois, l'enfant montre une aptitude spatiale mentale par la prevision de l'ordre des deplacements d'un objetThe study aims at an analysis of the first manifestations of the symbolic function in children throughout their second year by means of the observation of imitation and mental space. According to wallon, imitation, which consists both in modelling oneself on someone and splitting oneself, discloses the very conditions of the genesis of child representation. That advent is possible only if a mental space controlling both language and representation is superposed to the present perceptive space. The first research consists in setting out the successive steps of imitation by observing the spontaneous imitation of ten children from thirteen to thirty-tree months old, watched through a whole year. The purpose is to directly bring about, in a specific way, postponed imitations, the children responding to selected motions and sounds models. The second research consists in deciding at what age children become intuitively aware of a mental space. An experiment is carried out on group of children aged fourteen to thirty-six months, the purpose of which is to foresee the invisible trajectory of an object in steady motion. Through studying the genesis of imitation, the results show the appearance of intermediary forms necessary for the development of a subtle or postponed imitation. The latter can be observed only after an incubation period, a sensori-motor elaboration. What has paved the way for the child's motion is the attitude or the posture observed in thirteen months olds to the standstill reaction or postural elaboration, in which the attitude can be isolated. Therefore, it seems that the postural activity would lead to child representation. Lastly, from fourteen months onwards, children develop a mental space aptitude by foreseeing the successive stages in the motion of an object
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von, Friesendorff Rickard. "Navigering och mental representation med ljud i en icke-visuell 3D miljö." Thesis, Högskolan i Skövde, Institutionen för informationsteknologi, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:his:diva-17014.
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Denna studie tar upp forskning kring tillgänglighet inom data/tv-spel och fokuserar främst på ljudspel, en genre som särskilt uppstått för synnedsatta. Texten tar upp frågeställningen kring seende personers upplevelser av ljudspel och att kvalitativ data ska samlas in för denna studie. Metoden diskuteras och relevant forskning för denna studie nämns därefter. Genom att lyfta fram viktiga designval för genren ljudspel har en artefakt skapats dedikerad till studien. Denna artefakt består av ett enkelt spel med syfte att undersöka seende personers förmåga att navigera i en okänd 3D-miljö utan grafik, samt undersöka deras mentala representation av 3D-miljön. Undersökningen visade resultat som gav förståelse för personers upplevelse av ljudspel och hur deras mentala bild ser ut. För framtida arbeten borde även synnedsatta ta del av artefakten för att se om den mentala representationen skiljer sig mellan grupperna.
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MARELLI, MARCO. "The mental representation of compound nouns: evidendence from neuro and psycholinguistic studies." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10281/28072.
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There is a general debate as to whether constituent representations are accessed in compound processing, and which compound properties (e.g., headedness, semantic transparency) would influence this parsing procedure. This thesis investigates the mental representation of compound nouns in a series of six studies exploiting the properties of the Italian language, in the fields of both psycholinguistics and cognitive neuropsychology.
First, effects related to the compound structure were investigated in the context of neglect dyslexia (Chapter 1). Second, converging evidence in favor of the headedness effect was sought in a constituent-priming experiment on normal participants (Chapter 2) and through the assessment of compound naming errors in patients suffering from aphasia (Chapter 3). Third, the access to grammatical properties of the constituents was studied in a single case study on deep dyslexia (Chapter 4). Fourth, the role of compound semantic transparency was investigated by assessing constituent frequency effects in both lexical decision latencies (Chapter 5) and fixation durations during compound-word reading (Chapter 6).
The results indicate that the variables related to the whole compound (i.e., compound headedness, whole-word frequency and semantic transparency) play a crucial role in word processing, but also that constituent representations are accessed. To explain the observed effects a model will be proposed, positing both a multiple-lemma representation of compound words and a parallel procedure dedicated to the conceptual combination of compound constituents.
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Welch, Mark. "Reel madness : the representation of madness in popular western film." Thesis, View thesis, 1997. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/705.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis considers the representation of madness in popular film, in the main from the Western canon and English speaking, and argues that madness is seen and represented as an extreme of human experience, a form of Otherness, which throws into relief notions of ontology, sanity and personal and cultural identity. It progresses from a consideration of the historical representations of madness and sanity in art and literature to a review of the pertinent literature on cinema and representation, and uses seminal examples from throughout cinematic history mostly from English language films, from 1906-1996, to illustrate the argument. Alternative methodological approaches are considered for the insights they may provide, and also for the contribution they make to the development of the thesis, in particular the influence of semiotics. A number of stereotypical portrayals of madness, such as the 'mad scientist', the 'crazed murderer', and the 'doomed heroic outsider' are examined in detail. Finally, the thesis proposes the way madness, and mad people, are represented in popular film is reflective and indicative of social and cultural concerns over what can be known, how identity can be established and what it means to live in the contemporary world fraught with uncertainty, anxiety and change
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Müller, Dana. "The representation of numbers in space : a journey along the mental number line." Phd thesis, Universität Potsdam, 2006. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2007/1294/.
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The present thesis deals with the mental representation of numbers in space. Generally it is assumed that numbers are mentally represented on a mental number line along which they ordered in a continuous and analogical manner. Dehaene, Bossini and Giraux (1993) found that the mental number line is spatially oriented from left-to-right. Using a parity-judgment task they observed faster left-hand responses for smaller numbers and faster right-hand responses for larger numbers. This effect has been labelled as Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect.
The first study of the present thesis deals with the question whether the spatial orientation of the mental number line derives from the writing system participants are adapted to. According to a strong ontogenetic interpretation the SNARC effect should only obtain for effectors closely related to the comprehension and production of written language (hands and eyes). We asked participants to indicate the parity status of digits by pressing a pedal with their left or right foot. In contrast to the strong ontogenetic view we observed a pedal SNARC effect which did not differ from the manual SNARC effect. In the second study we evaluated whether the SNARC effect reflects an association of numbers and extracorporal space or an association of numbers and hands. To do so we varied the spatial arrangement of the response buttons (vertical vs. horizontal) and the instruction (handrelated vs. button-related). For vertically arranged buttons and a buttonrelated instruction we found a button-related SNARC effect. In contrast, for a hand-related instruction we obtained a hand-related SNARC effect. For horizontally arranged buttons and a handrelated instruction, however, we found a buttonrelated SNARC effect. The results of the first to studies were interpreted in terms of weak ontogenetic view.
In the third study we aimed to examine the functional locus of the SNARC effect. We used the psychological refractory period paradigm. In the first experiment participants first indicated the pitch of a tone and then the parity status of a digit (locus-of-slack paradigma). In a second experiment the order of stimulus presentation and thus tasks changed (effect-propagation paradigm). The results led us conclude that the SNARC effect arises while the response is centrally selected.
In our fourth study we test for an association of numbers and time. We asked participants to compare two serially presented digits. Participants were faster to compare ascending digit pairs (e.g., 2-3) than descending pairs (e.g., 3-2). The pattern of our results was interpreted in terms of forwardassociations (“1-2-3”) as formed by our ubiquitous cognitive routines to count of objects or events.Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der räumlichen Repräsentation von Zahlen. Generell wird angenommen, dass Zahlen in einer kontinuierlichen und analogen Art und Weise auf einem mentalen Zahlenstrahl repräsentiert werden. Dehaene, Bossini und Giraux (1993) zeigten, dass der mentale Zahlenstrahl eine räumliche Orientierung von links-nach-rechts aufweist. In einer Paritätsaufgabe fanden sie schnellere Links-hand Antworten auf kleine Zahlen und schnellere Rechts-hand Antworten auf große Zahlen. Dieser Effekt wurde Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) Effekt genannt. In der ersten Studie der vorliegenden Arbeit ging es um den Einfluss der Schriftrichtung auf den SNARC Effekt. Eine strenge ontogenetische Sichtweise sagt vorher, dass der SNARC Effekt nur mit Effektoren, die unmittelbar in die Produktion und das Verstehen von Schriftsprache involviert sind, auftreten sollte (Hände und Augen). Um dies zu überprüfen, forderten wir Versuchspersonen auf, die Parität dargestellter Ziffern durch Tastendruck mit ihrem rechten oder linken Fuß anzuzeigen. Entgegen der strengen ontogenetischen Hypothese fanden wir den SNARC Effekt auch für Fußantworten, welcher sich in seiner Charakteristik nicht von dem manuellen SNARC Effekt unterschied. In der zweiten Studie gingen wir der Frage nach, ob dem SNARC Effekt eine Assoziation des nicht-körperbezogenen Raumes und Zahlen oder der Hände und Zahlen zugrunde liegt. Um dies zu untersuchen, variierten wir die räumliche Orientierung der Tasten zueinander (vertikal vs. horizontal) als auch die Instruktionen (hand-bezogen vs. knopf-bezogen). Bei einer vertikalen Knopfanordnung und einer knopf-bezogenen Instruktion fanden wir einen knopfbezogenen SNARC Effekt. Bei einer hand-bezogenen Instruktion fanden wir einen hand-bezogenen SNARC Effekt. Mit horizontal angeordneten Knöpfen gab es unabhängig von der Instruktion einen knopf-bezogenen SNARC Effekt. Die Ergebnisse dieser beiden ersten Studien wurden im Sinne einer schwachen ontogenetischen Sichtweise interpretiert. In der dritten Studie befassten wir uns mit dem funktionalen Ursprung des SNARC Effekts. Hierfür nutzten wir das Psychological Refractory Period (PRP) Paradigma. In einem ersten Experiment hörten Versuchspersonen zuerst einen Ton nach welchem eine Ziffer visuell präsentiert wurde (locus-of-slack Paradigma). In einem zweiten Experiment wurde die Reihenfolge der Stimuluspräsentation/Aufgaben umgedreht (effect-propagation Paradigma). Unsere Ergebnisse lassen vermuten, dass der SNARC Effekt während der zentralen Antwortselektion generiert wird. In unserer vierten Studie überprüften wir, ob Zahlen auch mit Zeit assoziiert werden. Wir forderten Versuchspersonen auf zwei seriell dargebotene Zahlen miteinander zu vergleichen. Versuchspersonen waren schneller zeitlich aufsteigende Zahlen (z.B. erst 2 dann 3) als zeitlich abfolgenden Zahlen (z.B. erst 3 dann 2) miteinander zu vergleichen. Unsere Ergebnisse wurden im Sinne unseres vorwärtsgerichteten Mechanismus des Zählens („1-2-3“) interpretiert.
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湯旭瑜 and Yuk-yue Tong. "Lay models of personality: assessment and implications." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2002. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B3124368X.
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