Three cheers for psychology, Pleh
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date sent: Thu, 2 Apr 1998 12:13:14 -0500
Send reply to: Society for the History of the Social and Behavioral Sciences
<CHEIRON(a)YORKU.CA>
From: "Roger K. Thomas" <rkthomas(a)ARCHES.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Two items bearing differently on "new history" of psychology
To: CHEIRON(a)YORKU.CA
1. "During the last 50 years there have been two changes in the way in
which scientists have studied the nervous system. First of all, the
traditional and largely independent major scientific disciplines of
physics, chemistry, physiology, pharmacology, and pathology gave rise to
the more specialized subdisciplines of neurophysiology, neurochemistry,
neuropharmacology, etc...AND THE SCIENCE OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY WAS
BORN." (Emphasis added)
The above written by A. David Smith appeared in the Preface for the IBRO
(International Brain Research Organization) Handbook Series: Methods in
the Neurosciences, Volume 17, In Situ Hybridization Techniques for the
Brain edited by Z. Henderson (John Wiley & Sons, 1996). I understand it
may appear in all volumes. I thank my former student and now Research
Associate at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Dr. Cheryl D.
Young, for bringing the Preface to my attention.
2. Yesterday, while looking for someting else, I happened upon an article
titled "Psychological Studies of Historical Personalities" by Franklin
Fearing in Psychological Bulletin, 1927, v.24, pp. 521-539. It addresses
the "new history," leading rather early with a quotation from J. H.
Robinson's book, The New History (1912), just as Laurel Furumoto did in
her article of 1987. I admire Dr. Furumoto's work greatly and in no way
do I wish to imply that Fearing's article diminishes Dr. Furumoto's
article, but Fearing did address some of the same issues and quoted
sources not cited by Furumoto that participants and observers of the "new
history of psychology" may wish to consider.
Roger K. Thomas, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Director, Franklin College (Arts/Sciences) Outreach Program
Department of Psychology
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-3013 USA
706-542-3101
rkthomas(a)arches.uga.edu
Csaba Pleh
associate professor
Dept General Psychology Eotvos Lorand U
Budapest 64 P.O. Box 4 Hungary 1378
T.: 36 13423130 Fax: 36 13423109 Home: 36 23453933
Paolo Mancosu eloadasa aprilis *16*-an lesz, tehat a megadott ellentmondo
adatok kozul a csutortok az igaz. Kerdes: van-e az inkonzisztencia
kikuszobolesenek olyan modja is, amely nem igenyel adattorlest.
Elnezest.
mate andras
Az ELTE BTK Logika tanszek szeminariuman
apr. 15., csutortok du. 4-kor
Paolo Mancosu
(UC Berkeley -- Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin) tart eloadast
HILBERT'S FINITISM:
confrontations with philosophy, 1922-1930.
cimmel. Helyszin: Pesti B. u. 1., A ep. felem. 23.
Az eloadas kivonata:
In the last ten years there has been renewed interest in the historical
development of Hilbert's program. By making use of unpublished
material preserved at the library of the Mathematisches Institut in
Gottingen, Hallett, Peckhaus, and Sieg, among others, have been able to
unearth a significant amount of new information that dramatically
increases our understanding of the various phases of Hilbert's program.
However, there is an important aspect of Hilbert's program that has
been largely ignored in the literature, namely, the philosophical
underpinnings and the philosophical reception of Hilbert's program in
the 1920s. During this period Hilbert and Bernays' conception of
finitism underwent significant shifts. Moreover, several philosophers
working in a variety of traditions, ranging from neo-Kantianism to
phenomenology, dealt quite critically with Hilbert's new foundations of
mathematics. One can name, among others, O. Becker, E. Cassirer, D.
Mahnke, A. Muller, and L. Nelson.
Drawing on published and unpublished sources, I will give an overview
of the exchange between Hilbert's school and the philosophers mentioned
above, emphasizing in particular issues related to the nature of
Hilbert's finitism.
Bibliography
P.Mancosu (ed.): From Brouwer to Hilbert. The debate on the
foundations of mathematics in the 1920s. Oxford University Press, New
York, 1998.
==============================================================================
Andras Mate CSc, assoc. prof. -- Dept. of Symbolic Logic
Lorand Eotvos University Budapest, Faculty of Arts and Humanities
H-1364 Budapest, POB 107
Phone: (36 1) 266 9100/5328 -- TAD/Fax: (36 1) 266 41 95
e-mail:mate@isis.elte.hu
Home: H-1119 Budapest, Nandorfehervar koz 11 / Phone: (36 1) 204 0489
From: Julie Anderson <ja8(a)st-andrews.ac.uk>
UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS
SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY
Two positions in cognition or cognitive neuroscience
Applications are invited for two posts within the School of Psychology. You
should have research interests in any area of cognition or cognitive
neuroscience.
You should possess a doctoral qualification in psychology, neuroscience, or
a cognate discipline. You should also have a record of publication in
peer-reviewed journals at an appropriate level for a department with a
starred 5 rating in the most recent RAE.
It is planned that the posts will be lectureships but if exceptionally well
qualified candidates are available it is not unthinkable that a readership
or an additional chair may be created.
The post will be tenable full-time from 1st September 1998 or as soon as
possible thereafter. The salary will either be on the appropriate point of
the Academic Salary Scale for Lecturer/Reader currently ?16,045 - ?33,202
per annum or, if a Professorial appointment is made then the salary will
not be less than ?33,882. Informal enquiries should be directed to
either Professor D W Johnston (tel: 01334 462059, e-mail
dwj(a)st-andrews.ac.uk) or Mrs J Anderson (tel: 01334 462071) at the School
of Psychology.
Please Quote Reference CB176/APSO/98 on all correspondence.
Application forms and further particulars from Personnel Services,
University of St Andrews, College gate, North Street, St Andrews, Fife,
KY16 9AJ (tel: 01334 462571 (24hrs), fax 01334 462570, e-mail:
Jobline(a)st-andrews.ac.uk). We regret applications cannot be made by
e-mail. Completed applications accompanied by a CV and letter of
application should be returned to arrive not later than 27th April 1998.
The University operates Equal Opportunities and No Smoking Policies.
http://psych.st-and.ac.uk:8080/
Tisztelt Erdeklodok,
mint azt az eloadasokon szoban mar jeleztuk, a teruletspecificitas
sorozat utolso ket eloadasanak idopontja szervezesi okokbol MODOSULT.
Gergely Gyorgy
A kontingencia-detkcios modul szerepe a szocio-emocionalis
fejlodesben
c. eloadasanak uj datuma: aprilis 20.
Banreti Zoltan
A modularis nyelvfeldolgozasi koncepcio az afazias teljesitmeny
magyarazataban
c. eloadasanak uj datuma: aprilis 27.
Az eloadasok kezdetenek idopontja s helyszine valtozatlan:
16.00, VI. Izabella u. 46, 218. terem.
Tovabbra is varunk minden erdeklodot!!!
__________________________________________________________
Miklos GYORI
Department of General Psychology,
Lorand Eotvos University (ELTE), Budapest
1064 Budapest Izabella u. 46., Hungary
tel: ++36-1 3423130 fax: ++36-1 3423109
e-mail: gyori(a)izabell.elte.hu http://www.ps.elte.hu/~gyori/
__________________________________________________________
Budapest - Tampere Minisymposium on Computational Neurolgy
1998 March 31 (Tuesday)
KFKI Res. Inst. for Particle and Nuclear Physics
of the Hung. Acad. Sci. Budapest - Csilleberc. III bldg.
Tentative schedule
10.00 Dr. H. Eskola (Ragnar Granit Institute on Bioelectromagnetism,
Tampere University of Technology)
Modelling of EEG fields
11.00 P. Erdi (Dept. Biophysics, KFKI Res. Inst. for Particle and Nuclear
Physics of the Hung. Acad. Sci)
Towards a computational neurology:
molecular, cellular, network, population and connectionist models
12.00 J. Janszky (National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology,
Budapest)
EEG features of hippocampal sclerosis
12.45 Lunch
14.00 P. Halasz (Haynal Imre University of Health Sciences, Budapest, Dep.
Neurology)
A possible common malignisation pathway in epilepsies
15.00 Gy. Rasonyi (National Institute Psychiatry and Neurology, Budapest)
Does mesial temporal lobe epilepsy syndrome exist?
15.45 H. Frey (University of Tampere, Faculty of Medicine, Dept.
Neurology)
Finland Application of computerized brain atlas and volumetric
methods for identification of brain lesions in MRI.
Break
17.00 K. Szalisznyo (Dept. Biophysics, KFKI Res. Inst. for Particle and
Nuclear Physics of the Hung. Acad. Sci.)
Physiology of the normal and pathological behaviors of the hippocampus:
why and how to use population model?
18.00 P. Barsi (National Institut of Psychiatry and Neurology, Budapest)
Application of 3DMP-ROGE sequence in MRI detection of
developmental brain malformation
Az ELTE BTK Logika tanszek szeminariuman
marc. 26., csutortok du. 4-kor
Kalman Laszlo es Radai Gabor tart eloadast
ALTALANOSITOTT OROKLODESI HALOK
cimmel. Helyszin: Pesti B. u. 1., A ep. felem. 23.
Az eloadas kivonata:
Az a1ltala1nosi1tott o2ro2klo3de1si ha1lo1k (Generalised Inheritance
Networks - GIN) elme1lete abbo1l a mesterse1ges intelligencia teru2lete1n
egyre inka1bb teret nyero3 tradi1cio1bo1l no3tt ki, amely a szaba1lyalapu1
rendszerekkel szemben a mintailleszte1sben la1tja az intelligens
viselkede1s alapjait. A nyelve1szet teru2lete1n ez specifikusan annyit
tesz, hogy mind a mondatfeldolgoza1s mind a mondatgenera1la1s egy
adatba1zisban tala1lhato1 minta1khoz valo1 hasonlo1sa1gon alapszik, ahol
ezek a mintak adott esetben szintaktikai e1s szemantikai jelense1gek
egyu2ttja1ra1sa1n alapszanak.
Ennek a megko2zeli1te1snek bizonyos ko2vetkezme1nyei vannak az alkalmazott
reprezenta1cio1k tekintete1ben is: jo1llehet a szoka1sos
attribu1tum-e1rte1k struktu1ra1k nyelve ko2nnyen kezelheto3
sza1mi1ta1stechnikai szempontbo1l, de tu1lsa1gosan szege1nyes ahhoz, hogy
minden nyelve1szetileg releva1ns aspektus megfogalmazhato1 legyen benne.
Ez a nyelv konnyen a1tko1dolhato1 egy elso3rendu3 logikai nyelvre, illetve
annak egy fragmentuma1ra. Innen ke1zenfekvo3 az o2tlet, hogy ezen
fragmentum bo3vi1te1se1vel ero3si1hetju2k a nyelv kifejezo3 ereje1t.
Azonban a teljes elso3rendu3 logika bizonyos tulajdonsa1gai miatt (ld. a
ko2vetezme1nyrela1cio1 eldo2nthetetlense1ge) ke1nytelenek vagyunk
o1vatosan elja1rni a fragmentum megva1laszta1sa1ban.
Elso3 ko2zeli1te1sben teha1t egy olyan fragmentumot va1lasztottunk, ahol
egy ve1ges mondathalmaz leza1ra1sa a ko2vetkezme1nyrela1cio1ra maga is
ve1ges halmazt eredme1nyez (modulo logikai ekvivalencia), i1ly mo1on pedig
kisza1mi1thato1 ke1t mondathalmaz hasonlo1sa1ga, amely nem ma1s mint
ko2zo2s ko2vetkezme1nyeik halmaza -- Sim(A, B) = Intersect(Con(A),
Con(B)). Jo1llehet ebben a fragmentumban a sztenderd mu3veletek jo1l
e1rtelmezheto3ek, sajnos ez a fragmentum is tu1l szu3knek bizonyult.
Eze1rt azta1n ma1sodik ko2zeli1te1sben egy olyan fragmentumot
va1lasztottunk, amelyben tetszo3leges arita1su1 fu2ggve1nyek e1s relacio1k
szerepelhetnek, de csak egzisztencia1lis kvantort engedu2nk meg. Itt ugyan
a ve1gesko2vetkezme1nyhalmaz-tulajdonsa1g nem a1ll fenn, me1gis
kifejezheto3 ke1t mondathalmaz hasonlo1sa1ga (ami majdnem ugyanolyan, mint
az a1ltala1nosi1ta1suk). Tapasztalataink szerint ez a nyelv ma1r ele1g
ero3s ahhoz, hogy minden nyelve1szetileg releva1ns a1ltala1nosi1ta1s
kifejezheto3 legyen ha1lo1zatos forma1ban. Viszont a hasonlo1sa1g
kisza1mi1ta1sa1hoz szu2kse1ges mu3veletek bonyolultsa1ga -- u1gy tu3nik --
tu1l nagy.
Tova1bbra is keressu2k azt a fragmentumot, amelynek kifejezo3ereje
ele1gse1ges, ugyanakkor leheto3ve1 teszi a szu2kse1ges mu3veletek
(hasonlo1sa1g-sza1mi1ta1s illetve unifika1cio1) hate1kony elve1gze1se1t.
==============================================================================
Andras Mate CSc, assoc. prof. -- Dept. of Symbolic Logic
Lorand Eotvos University Budapest, Faculty of Arts and Humanities
H-1364 Budapest, POB 107
Phone: (36 1) 266 9100/5328 -- TAD/Fax: (36 1) 266 41 95
e-mail:mate@isis.elte.hu
Home: H-1119 Budapest, Nandorfehervar koz 11 / Phone: (36 1) 204 0489
Kedves kollegak !
A pecsi evolucios szekcioulesunkkel kapcsolatban kuldom az ujabb
levelet.
Sikerult a korabbiakban kozoltnel valamivel tobb idot kapnunk, egy
kiegeszito orat, 11h30 es 12h30 kozott
Aprilis 16-an, csutortokon ket reszben tartjuk a szekciot, mindkettot
a Pecsi Janus Pannonius Tudomanyegyetem Pollack Mihaly Muszaki Karan.
11h30 - 12h30 017-es terem
14h30 - 18h00 011-es terem
Az eloadasok besosztasa
Elnezest kerek, hogy ezt nem sikerult senkivel egyeztetnem, csak a
szervezokkel, a nyomda surgette oket.
Altalanos diszkutalo: Kampis Gyorgy lesz.
Reszletek: pleh(a)izabell.elte.hu
Mindenkit szerettel varunk.
1998. aprilis 16.
delelott: elmelet I. - elnok: Csanyi Vilmos
11h30 - 11h40 Nanay Bence: Az elme mint evolucios rendszer
11h40 - 11h50 Topal Jozsef: Tudathipotezisek a kognitiv etologiai
vizsgalatok tukreben
11h50 - 12h10 Miklosi Adam: Allati modellek az emberi evolucio
kutatasaban
12h10 - 12h20 Kiss Szabolcs: A naiv tudatelmelet evolucios
megkozelitese
12h20 - 12h30 Diszkusszio
delutan: elmelet II. - elnok: Bereczkei Tamas
14h30 - 14h50 Pleh Csaba: Az evolucios szemlelet a pszichologiaban:
felmerulese, eltunese s ujra megjelenese
14h50 - 15h10 Csanyi Vilmos: A human viselkedeskomplexum evolucioja
15h10 - 15h20 Kaldy Zsuzsa: (R)Evolucios pszichologia?
15h20 - 15h40 Banyai Eva: A hipnozis evolucios ertelmezese
15h40 - 16h00 Diszkusszio es kave
delutan: empirikus munkak - elnok: Banyai Eva
16h00 - 16h20 Bereczkei Tamas: Reproduktiv strategiak magyarorszagi
cigany populaciokban
16h30 - 16h40 Csanaky Andras, Bereczkei Tamas: A szocializacio
evolucios palyai: kedvezotlen csaladi kornyezetbol szarmazo gyerekek
szexualis es reproduktiv strategiai
16h40 - 16h50 Voros Szilvia, Bereczkei Tamas, Gal Agnes, Bernath
Laszlo: Adaptiv dontesek es trade-off mechanizmusok a parvalasztasban
16h50 - 17h10 Gergely Gyorgy: A kontingencia-detekcios modul szerepe
a korai reprezentacios es szocio-emocionalis fejlodesben illetve az
autizmus etiologiajaban
17h10 - 17h20 Terestyeni Tamas: A kommunikacio nehany evolucios
vonatkozasa
17h20 - 17h30 Doka Antal: A fajok kozotti kommunikacio etologiai es
pszichologiai problemai
17h30 - 17h40 Bende Istvan: A jatek mint helyettesito cselekves: a
kauzalitas es funkcio kerdese osszehasonlito pszichologiai
szempontbol
17h40 - 17h50 Balogh Tibor: Egy meg nem szuntetheto megorzes
posztmodern interpretacioi
17h50 - 18h00 Diszkusszio
A helyi szervezoktol hallom, hogy talan tobben nem fizettek. Laszlo
Janos uzenetet tolmacsolom: aki csak 1 napra jon, az ott helyben
fizethet kedvezmenyes 2000 Ft reszveteli dijat.
Kozlekedesi informaciok:
Intercity (helyjegy kell) Bidapest, Deli 7h20 - Pecs 9h48, ott var
majd valaki. Igazabol Bereczkei Tamas kuldhetne egy diakot talan,
mert magam meg egy masik ulesen leszek.
Visszafele: gyorsvonat Pecs 19h00 - Budapest, Deli 22h43.
A programot mindenki megkapja postan is, aki jelentkezett, illetve az
eloadoknak magam mar elkuldtem!
Csaba Pleh
associate professor
Dept General Psychology Eotvos Lorand U
Budapest 64 P.O. Box 4 Hungary 1378
T.: 36 13423130 Fax: 36 13423109 Home: 36 23453933
Below is the abstract of a forthcoming BBS target article on:
STAYING ALIVE: EVOLUTION, CULTURE, AND WOMEN'S INTRA-
SEXUAL AGGRESSION
by Anne Campbell
This article has been accepted for publication in Behavioral and Brain
Sciences (BBS), an international, interdisciplinary journal providing
Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current research in
the biobehavioral and cognitive sciences.
Commentators must be BBS Associates or nominated by a BBS Associate. To
be considered as a commentator for this article, to suggest other
appropriate commentators, or for information about how to become a BBS
Associate, please send EMAIL to:
bbs(a)cogsci.soton.ac.uk
or write to:
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Department of Psychology
University of Southampton
Highfield, Southampton
SO17 1BJ UNITED KINGDOM
http://www.princeton.edu/~harnad/bbs/http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/bbs/ftp://ftp.princeton.edu/pub/harnad/BBS/
ftp://ftp.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/pub/bbs/
gopher://gopher.princeton.edu:70/11/.libraries/.pujournals
If you are not a BBS Associate, please send your CV and the name of a
BBS Associate (there are currently over 10,000 worldwide) who is
familiar with your work. All past BBS authors, referees and commentators
are eligible to become BBS Associates.
To help us put together a balanced list of commentators, please give
some indication of the aspects of the topic on which you would bring
your areas of expertise to bear if you were selected as a commentator.
An electronic draft of the full text is available for inspection
with a WWW browser, anonymous ftp or gopher according to the
instructions that follow after the abstract.
____________________________________________________________________
STAYING ALIVE: EVOLUTION, CULTURE, AND WOMEN'S INTRA-SEXUAL
AGGRESSION
Anne Campbell
Psychology Department
Durham University
South Road
Durham DH1 3LE
a.c.campbell(a)durham.ac.uk
KEYWORDS: female, aggression, violence, competition, sex
differences
ABSTRACT: Females' tendency to place a high value on protecting
their own life enhanced their reproductive success in the
environment of evolutionary adaptation because infant survival
depended more upon maternal (rather than paternal) care and
defence. The evolved mechanism by which the costs of aggression
(and other forms of risk-taking) are weighted more heavily for
females may be a lower threshold for fear in situations
which pose a direct threat of bodily injury. Females' concern
with personal survival also has implications for sex differences
in dominance hierarchies because the risks associated with their
formation in nonbonded exogamous females are not offset by
increased reproductive success. Hence, among females, disputes
do not carry with them implications for status as they do among
males, but are chiefly connected with the acquisition and
defence of scarce resources. Consequently, female competition is
more likely to take the form of indirect aggression or low-level
direct combat than among males. Under patriarchy, men have held
the power to propagate images and attributions which are
favourable to the continuance of their control. Women's
aggression has been viewed as a gender-incongruent aberration or
dismissed as evidence of irrationality. These cultural
interpretations have "enhanced" evolutionarily based sex
differences by a process of imposition which stigmatises the
expression of aggression by females and causes women to offer
exculpatory (rather than justificatory) accounts of their own
aggression.
--------------------------------------------------------------
To help you decide whether you would be an appropriate commentator for
this article, an electronic draft is retrievable from the World Wide
Web or by anonymous ftp or gopher from the US or UK BBS Archive.
Ftp instructions follow below. Please do not prepare a commentary on
this draft. Just let us know, after having inspected it, what relevant
expertise you feel you would bring to bear on what aspect of the
article.
The URLs you can use to get to the BBS Archive:
http://www.princeton.edu/~harnad/bbs/http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/bbs/Archive/bbs.campbell.htmlftp://ftp.princeton.edu/pub/harnad/BBS/bbs.campbell
ftp://ftp.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/pub/bbs/Archive/bbs.campbell
gopher://gopher.princeton.edu:70/11/.libraries/.pujournals
To retrieve a file by ftp from an Internet site, type either:
ftp ftp.princeton.edu
or
ftp 128.112.128.1
When you are asked for your login, type:
anonymous
Enter password as queried (your password is your actual userid:
yourlogin(a)yourhost.whatever.whatever - be sure to include the "@")
cd /pub/harnad/BBS
To show the available files, type:
ls
Next, retrieve the file you want with (for example):
get bbs.campbell
When you have the file(s) you want, type:
quit
Below is the abstract of a forthcoming BBS target article on:
WORDS IN THE BRAIN'S LANGUAGE
by Friedemann Pulvermueller
This article has been accepted for publication in Behavioral and
Brain Sciences (BBS), an international, interdisciplinary journal
providing Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial
current research in the biobehavioral and cognitive sciences.
Commentators must be BBS Associates or nominated by a BBS Associate.
To be considered as a commentator for this article, to suggest other
appropriate commentators, or for information about how to become a
BBS Associate, please send EMAIL to:
bbs(a)cogsci.soton.ac.uk
or write to:
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Department of Psychology
University of Southampton
Highfield, Southampton
SO17 1BJ UNITED KINGDOM
http://www.princeton.edu/~harnad/bbs/http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/bbs/ftp://ftp.princeton.edu/pub/harnad/BBS/
ftp://ftp.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/pub/bbs/
gopher://gopher.princeton.edu:70/11/.libraries/.pujournals
If you are not a BBS Associate, please send your CV and the name of
a BBS Associate (there are currently over 10,000 worldwide) who is
familiar with your work. All past BBS authors, referees and
commentators are eligible to become BBS Associates.
To help us put together a balanced list of commentators, please give
some indication of the aspects of the topic on which you would bring
your areas of expertise to bear if you were selected as a
commentator. An electronic draft of the full text is available for
inspection with a WWW browser, anonymous ftp or gopher according to
the instructions that follow after the abstract.
___________________________________________________________________
WORDS IN THE BRAIN'S LANGUAGE
Friedemann Pulvermueller
Fachgruppe Psychologie
Universitaet Konstanz
78434 Konstanz
Germany
pumue(a)uni-tuebingen.de
KEYWORDS: associative learning, cell assembly, cognition,
cortex, language, word category
ABSTRACT: If the cortex is an associative memory, strongly
connected cell assemblies will form when neurons in different
cortical areas are frequently active at the same time. The cortical
distributions of these assemblies must be a consequence of where in
the cortex correlated neuronal activity occurred during learning.
An assembly can be considered a functional unit exhibiting activity
states such as full activation (ignition) after appropriate sensory
stimulation (possibly related to perception) and continuous
reverberation of excitation within the assembly (a putative memory
process). This has implications for cortical topographies and
activity dynamics of cell assemblies representing words. Cortical
topographies of assemblies should be related to aspects of the
meaning of the words they represent, and physiological signs of
cell assembly ignition should be followed by possible indicators of
reverberation. The following postulates are discussed in detail:
(1) assemblies representing phonological word forms are strongly
lateralized and distributed over perisylvian cortices; (2)
assemblies representing highly abstract words, such as grammatical
function words, are also strongly lateralized and restricted to
these perisylvian regions; (3) assemblies representing concrete
content words include additional neurons in both hemispheres; (4)
assemblies representing words referring to visual stimuli include
neurons in visual cortices; (5) assemblies representing words
referring to actions include neurons in motor cortices. Two main
sources of evidence are used for evaluating these proposals: (a)
imaging studies aiming at localizing word processing in the brain,
based on stimulus-triggered event-related potentials (ERP),
positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI), and (b) studies of the temporal dynamics
of fast activity changes in the brain, as revealed by
high-frequency responses recorded in the electroencephalogram (EEG)
and magnetoencephalogram (MEG). These data provide evidence for
processing differences between words and matched meaningless
pseudowords, and between word classes such as concrete content and
abstract function words, and words evoking visual or motor
associations. There is evidence for early word class-specific
spreading of neuronal activity and for equally specific
high-frequency responses occurring later. These results support a
neurobiological model of language in the Hebbian tradition.
Competing large-scale neuronal theories of language are discussed
in the light of the summarized data. A final paragraph addresses
neurobiological perspectives on the problem of serial order of
words in syntactic strings.
--------------------------------------------------------------
To help you decide whether you would be an appropriate commentator for
this article, an electronic draft is retrievable from the World Wide
Web or by anonymous ftp or gopher from the US or UK BBS Archive.
Ftp instructions follow below. Please do not prepare a commentary on
this draft. Just let us know, after having inspected it, what relevant
expertise you feel you would bring to bear on what aspect of the
article.
The URLs you can use to get to the BBS Archive:
http://www.princeton.edu/~harnad/bbs/http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/bbs/Archive/bbs.pulvermueller.htmlftp://ftp.princeton.edu/pub/harnad/BBS/bbs.pulvermueller
ftp://ftp.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/pub/bbs/Archive/bbs.pulvermueller
gopher://gopher.princeton.edu:70/11/.libraries/.pujournals
To retrieve a file by ftp from an Internet site, type either:
ftp ftp.princeton.edu
or
ftp 128.112.128.1
When you are asked for your login, type:
anonymous
Enter password as queried (your password is your actual userid:
yourlogin(a)yourhost.whatever.whatever - be sure to include the "@")
cd /pub/harnad/BBS
To show the available files, type:
ls
Next, retrieve the file you want with (for example):
get bbs.pulvermueller
When you have the file(s) you want, type:
quit
