The minimization of the length of syntactic dependencies is a well-stablished principle of word order and the basis of a mathematical theory of word order. Here we complete that theory from the perspective of information theory, adding a competing word order principle: the maximization of predictability of a target element. These two principles are in conflict: to maximize the predictability of the head, the head should appear last, which maximizes the costs with respect to dependency length minimization. The implications of such a broad theoretical framework to understand the optimality, diversity and evolution of the six possible orderings of subject, object and verb are reviewed.

 

The placement of the head that maximizes predictability. An information theoretic approach
Ramon Ferrer-i-Cancho

Source: arxiv.org

Similarities among words affect language acquisition and processing in a multi-relational way barely accounted for in the literature. We propose a multiplex network representation of word similarities in a mental lexicon as a natural framework for investigating large-scale cognitive patterns. Our model accounts for semantic, taxonomic, and phonological interactions and identifies a cluster of words of higher frequency, easier to identify, memorise and learn and with more meanings than expected at random. This cluster emerges around age 7 yr through an explosive transition not reproduced by null models. We relate this phenomenon to polysemy, i.e. redundancy in word meanings. We show that the word cluster acts as a core for the lexicon, increasing both its navigability and robustness to degradation in cognitive impairments. Our findings provide quantitative confirmation of existing psycholinguistic conjectures about core structure in the mental lexicon and the importance of integrating multi-relational word-word interactions in suitable frameworks.

 

Multiplex model of mental lexicon reveals explosive learning in humans
Massimo Stella, Nicole M. Beckage, Markus Brede, Manlio De Domenico

Source: arxiv.org

This web collection showcases the potential of interdisciplinary complexity research by bringing together a selection of recent Nature Communications articles investigating complex systems. Complexity research aims to characterize and understand the behaviour and nature of systems made up of many interacting elements. Such efforts often require interdisciplinary collaboration and expertise from diverse schools of thought. Nature Communications publishes papers across a broad range of topics that span the physical and life sciences, making the journal an ideal home for interdisciplinary studies.

Source: www.nature.com

There is a tension between the conception of cognition as a central nervous system (CNS) process and a view of cognition as extending towards the body or the contiguous environment. The centralised conception requires large or complex nervous systems to cope with complex environments. Conversely, the extended conception involves the outsourcing of information processing to the body or environment, thus making fewer demands on the processing power of the CNS. The evolution of extended cognition should be particularly favoured among small, generalist predators such as spiders, and here, we review the literature to evaluate the fit of empirical data with these contrasting models of cognition. Spiders do not seem to be cognitively limited, displaying a large diversity of learning processes, from habituation to contextual learning, including a sense of numerosity. To tease apart the central from the extended cognition, we apply the mutual manipulability criterion, testing the existence of reciprocal causal links between the putative elements of the system. We conclude that the web threads and configurations are integral parts of the cognitive systems. The extension of cognition to the web helps to explain some puzzling features of spider behaviour and seems to promote evolvability within the group, enhancing innovation through cognitive connectivity to variable habitat features. Graded changes in relative brain size could also be explained by outsourcing information processing to environmental features. More generally, niche-constructed structures emerge as prime candidates for extending animal cognition, generating the selective pressures that help to shape the evolving cognitive system.

 

Extended spider cognition

Japyassú, H.F. & Laland, K.N. Anim Cogn (2017) 20: 375. doi:10.1007/s10071-017-1069-7

Source: link.springer.com