Describing and understanding the time course of the property listing task.

To study linguistically coded concepts, researchers often resort to the Property Listing Task (PLT). In a PLT, participants are asked to list properties that describe a concept (e.g., for DOG, subjects may list "is a pet", "has four legs", etc.). When PLT data is collected for many concepts, researchers obtain Conceptual Properties Norms (CPNs), which are used to study semantic content and as a source of control variables. Though the PLT and CPNs are widely used across psychology, only recently a model that describes the listing course of a PLT has been developed and validated. That original model describes the listing course using order of production of properties. Here we go a step beyond and validate the model using response times (RT), i.e., the time from cue onset to property listing. Our results show that RT data exhibits the same regularities observed in the previous model, but now we can also analyze the time course, i.e., dynamics of the PLT. As such, the RT validated model may be applied to study several similar memory retrieval tasks, such as the Free Listing Task, Verbal Fluidity Task, and to research related cognitive processes. To illustrate those kinds of analyses, we present a brief example of the difference in PLT's dynamics between listing properties for abstract versus concrete concepts, which shows that the model may be fruitfully applied to study concepts.

AC-PLT: An algorithm for computer-assisted coding of semantic property listing data.

In this paper, we present a novel algorithm that uses machine learning and natural language processing techniques to facilitate the coding of feature listing data. Feature listing is a method in which participants are asked to provide a list of features that are typically true of a given concept or word. This method is commonly used in research studies to gain insights into people's understanding of various concepts. The standard procedure for extracting meaning from feature listings is to manually code the data, which can be time-consuming and prone to errors, leading to reliability concerns. Our algorithm aims at addressing these challenges by automatically assigning human-created codes to feature listing data that achieve a quantitatively good agreement with human coders. Our preliminary results suggest that our algorithm has the potential to improve the efficiency and accuracy of content analysis of feature listing data. Additionally, this tool is an important step toward developing a fully automated coding algorithm, which we are currently preliminarily devising.

CPNCoverageAnalysis: An R package for parameter estimation in conceptual properties norming studies.

In conceptual properties norming studies (CPNs), participants list properties that describe a set of concepts. From CPNs, many different parameters are calculated, such as semantic richness. A generally overlooked issue is that those values are only point estimates of the true unknown population parameters. In the present work, we present an R package that allows us to treat those values as population parameter estimates. Relatedly, a general practice in CPNs is using an equal number of participants who list properties for each concept (i.e., standardizing sample size). As we illustrate through examples, this procedure has negative effects on data's statistical analyses. Here, we argue that a better method is to standardize coverage (i.e., the proportion of sampled properties to the total number of properties that describe a concept), such that a similar coverage is achieved across concepts. When standardizing coverage rather than sample size, it is more likely that the set of concepts in a CPN all exhibit a similar representativeness. Moreover, by computing coverage the researcher can decide whether the CPN reached a sufficiently high coverage, so that its results might be generalizable to other studies. The R package we make available in the current work allows one to compute coverage and to estimate the necessary number of participants to reach a target coverage. We show this sampling procedure by using the R package on real and simulated CPN data.

An adaptive linear filter model of procedural category learning.

We use a feature-based association model to fit grouped and individual level category learning and transfer data. The model assumes that people use corrective feedback to learn individual feature to categorization-criterion correlations and combine those correlations additively to produce classifications. The model is an Adaptive Linear Filter (ALF) with logistic output function and Least Mean Squares learning algorithm. Categorization probabilities are computed by a logistic function. Our data span over 31 published data sets. Both at grouped and individual level analysis levels, the model performs remarkably well, accounting for large amounts of available variances. When fitted to grouped data, it outperforms alternative models. When fitted to individual level data, it is able to capture learning and transfer performance with high explained variances. Notably, the model achieves its fits with a very minimal number of free parameters. We discuss the ALF's advantages as a model of procedural categorization, in terms of its simplicity, its ability to capture empirical trends and its ability to solve challenges to other associative models. In particular, we discuss why the model is not equivalent to a prototype model, as previously thought.

Using agreement probability to study differences in types of concepts and conceptualizers.

Agreement probability p(a) is a homogeneity measure of lists of properties produced by participants in a Property Listing Task (PLT) for a concept. Agreement probability's mathematical properties allow a rich analysis of property-based descriptions. To illustrate, we use p(a) to delve into the differences between concrete and abstract concepts in sighted and blind populations. Results show that concrete concepts are more homogeneous within sighted and blind groups than abstract ones (i.e., exhibit a higher p(a) than abstract ones) and that concrete concepts in the blind group are less homogeneous than in the sighted sample. This supports the idea that listed properties for concrete concepts should be more similar across subjects due to the influence of visual/perceptual information on the learning process. In contrast, abstract concepts are learned based mainly on social and linguistic information, which exhibit more variability among people, thus, making the listed properties more dissimilar across subjects. Relative to abstract concepts, the difference in p(a) between sighted and blind is not statistically significant. Though this is a null result, and should be considered with care, it is expected because abstract concepts should be learned by paying attention to the same social and linguistic input in both, blind and sighted, and thus, there is no reason to expect that the respective lists of properties should differ. Finally, we used p(a) to classify concrete and abstract concepts with a good level of certainty. All these analyses suggest that p(a) can be fruitfully used to study data obtained in a PLT.

How to carry out conceptual properties norming studies as parameter estimation studies: Lessons from ecology.

Conceptual properties norming studies (CPNs) ask participants to produce properties that describe concepts. From that data, different metrics may be computed (e.g., semantic richness, similarity measures), which are then used in studying concepts and as a source of carefully controlled stimuli for experimentation. Notwithstanding those metrics' demonstrated usefulness, researchers have customarily overlooked that they are only point estimates of the true unknown population values, and therefore, only rough approximations. Thus, though research based on CPN data may produce reliable results, those results are likely to be general and coarse-grained. In contrast, we suggest viewing CPNs as parameter estimation procedures, where researchers obtain only estimates of the unknown population parameters. Thus, more specific and fine-grained analyses must consider those parameters' variability. To this end, we introduce a probabilistic model from the field of ecology. Its related statistical expressions can be applied to compute estimates of CPNs' parameters and their corresponding variances. Furthermore, those expressions can be used to guide the sampling process. The traditional practice in CPN studies is to use the same number of participants across concepts, intuitively believing that practice will render the computed metrics comparable across concepts and CPNs. In contrast, the current work shows why an equal number of participants per concept is generally not desirable. Using CPN data, we show how to use the equations and discuss how they may allow more reasonable analyses and comparisons of parameter values among different concepts in a CPN, and across different CPNs.

Eliciting semantic properties: methods and applications.

Asking subjects to list semantic properties for concepts is essential for predicting performance in several linguistic and non-linguistic tasks and for creating carefully controlled stimuli for experiments. The property elicitation task and the ensuing norms are widely used across the field, to investigate the organization of semantic memory and design computational models thereof. The contributions of the current Special Topic discuss several core issues concerning how semantic property norms are constructed and how they may be used for research aiming at understanding cognitive processing.

Informational content of cosine and other similarities calculated from high-dimensional Conceptual Property Norm data.

To study concepts that are coded in language, researchers often collect lists of conceptual properties produced by human subjects. From these data, different measures can be computed. In particular, inter-concept similarity is an important variable used in experimental studies. Among possible similarity measures, the cosine of conceptual property frequency vectors seems to be a de facto standard. However, there is a lack of comparative studies that test the merit of different similarity measures when computed from property frequency data. The current work compares four different similarity measures (cosine, correlation, Euclidean and Chebyshev) and five different types of data structures. To that end, we compared the informational content (i.e., entropy) delivered by each of those 4 × 5 = 20 combinations, and used a clustering procedure as a concrete example of how informational content affects statistical analyses. Our results lead us to conclude that similarity measures computed from lower-dimensional data fare better than those calculated from higher-dimensional data, and suggest that researchers should be more aware of data sparseness and dimensionality, and their consequences for statistical analyses.

The role of variability in the property listing task.

It is generally believed that concepts can be characterized by their properties (or features). When investigating concepts encoded in language, researchers often ask subjects to produce lists of properties that describe them (i.e., the Property Listing Task, PLT). These lists are accumulated to produce Conceptual Property Norms (CPNs). CPNs contain frequency distributions of properties for individual concepts. It is widely believed that these distributions represent the underlying semantic structure of those concepts. Here, instead of focusing on the underlying semantic structure, we aim at characterizing the PLT. An often disregarded aspect of the PLT is that individuals show intersubject variability (i.e., they produce only partially overlapping lists). In our study we use a mathematical analysis of this intersubject variability to guide our inquiry. To this end, we resort to a set of publicly available norms that contain information about the specific properties that were informed at the individual subject level. Our results suggest that when an individual is performing the PLT, he or she generates a list of properties that is a mixture of general and distinctive properties, such that there is a non-linear tendency to produce more general than distinctive properties. Furthermore, the low generality properties are precisely those that tend not to be repeated across lists, accounting in this manner for part of the intersubject variability. In consequence, any manipulation that may affect the mixture of general and distinctive properties in lists is bound to change intersubject variability. We discuss why these results are important for researchers using the PLT.

Physics-Based Signal Analysis of Genome Sequences: An Overview of GenomeBits.

A comprehensive overview of the recent physics-inspired genome analysis tool, GenomeBits, is presented. This is based on traditional signal processing methods such as discrete Fourier transform (DFT). GenomeBits can be used to extract underlying genomics features from the distribution of nucleotides, and can be further used to analyze the mutation patterns in viral genomes. Examples of the main GenomeBits findings outlining the intrinsic signal organization of genomics sequences for different SARS-CoV-2 variants along the pandemic years 2020-2022 and Monkeypox cases in 2021 are presented to show the usefulness of GenomeBits. GenomeBits results for DFT of SARS-CoV-2 genomes in different geographical regions are discussed, together with the GenomeBits analysis of complete genome sequences for the first coronavirus variants reported: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Epsilon and Eta. Interesting features of the Delta and Omicron variants in the form of a unique 'order-disorder' transition are uncovered from these samples, as well as from their cumulative distribution function and scatter plots. This class of transitions might reveal the cumulative outcome of mutations on the spike protein. A salient feature of GenomeBits is the mapping of the nucleotide bases (A,T,C,G) into an alternating spin-like numerical sequence via a series having binary (0,1) indicators for each A,T,C,G. This leads to the derivation of a set of statistical distribution curves. Furthermore, the quantum-based extension of the GenomeBits model to an analogous probability measure is shown to identify properties of genome sequences as wavefunctions via a superposition of states. An association of the integral of the GenomeBits coding and a binding-like energy can, in principle, also be established. The relevance of these different results in bioinformatics is analyzed.

GenomeBits Characterization of MPXV.

Genome sequences of the monkeypox virus (MPXV) causing the current outbreak are being reported from an increasing number of countries. We present a letter-to-numerical sequence study via GenomeBits signal mapping in order to characterize the evolution of the MPXV via simple statistical analysis. Histograms, empirical and theoretical cumulative distribution curves and the resulting scatter plots for the base nucleotides A and C versus their complementary base nucleotides T and G are discussed. GenomeBits may help the surveillance of emergent infectious diseases.

Wave-like behaviour in (0,1) binary sequences.

A comprehensive study of the properties of finite (0,1) binary systems from the mathematical viewpoint of quantum theory is presented. This is a quantum-inspired extension of the GenomeBits model to characterize observed genome sequences, where a complex wavefunction [Formula: see text] is considered as an analogous probability measure and it is related to an alternating (0,1) binary series having independent distributed terms. The real and imaginary spectrum of [Formula: see text] vs. the nucleotide base positions display characteristic features of sound waves. This approach represents a novel perspective for identifying and "observing" emergent properties of genome sequences in the form of wavefunctions via superposition states. The motivation is to develop a simple algorithm to perform wave calculations from binary sequences and to apply these wave functions to sonification.

GenomeBits insight into omicron and delta variants of coronavirus pathogen.

We apply the new GenomeBits method to uncover underlying genomic features of omicron and delta coronavirus variants. This is a statistical algorithm whose salient feature is to map the nucleotide bases into a finite alternating (±) sum series of distributed terms of binary (0,1) indicators. We show how by this method, distinctive signals can be uncovered out of the intrinsic data organization of amino acid progressions along their base positions. Results reveal a sort of 'ordered' (or constant) to 'disordered' (or peaked) transition around the coronavirus S-spike protein region. Together with our previous results for past variants of coronavirus: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Epsilon and Eta, we conclude that the mapping into GenomeBits strands of omicron and delta variants can help to characterize mutant pathogens.

Uncovering Signals from the Coronavirus Genome.

A signal analysis of the complete genome sequenced for coronavirus variants of concern-B.1.1.7 (Alpha), B.1.135 (Beta) and P1 (Gamma)-and coronavirus variants of interest-B.1.429-B.1.427 (Epsilon) and B.1.525 (Eta)-is presented using open GISAID data. We deal with a certain new type of finite alternating sum series having independently distributed terms associated with binary (0,1) indicators for the nucleotide bases. Our method provides additional information to conventional similarity comparisons via alignment methods and Fourier Power Spectrum approaches. It leads to uncover distinctive patterns regarding the intrinsic data organization of complete genomics sequences according to its progression along the nucleotide bases position. The present new method could be useful for the bioinformatics surveillance and dynamics of coronavirus genome variants.

Language Processing Differences Between Blind and Sighted Individuals and the Abstract Versus Concrete Concept Difference.

In the property listing task (PLT), participants are asked to list properties for a concept (e.g., for the concept dog, "barks," and "is a pet" may be produced). In conceptual property norming (CPNs) studies, participants are asked to list properties for large sets of concepts. Here, we use a mathematical model of the property listing process to explore two longstanding issues: characterizing the difference between concrete and abstract concepts, and characterizing semantic knowledge in the blind versus sighted population. When we apply our mathematical model to a large CPN reporting properties listed by sighted and blind participants, the model uncovers significant differences between concrete and abstract concepts. Though we also find that blind individuals show many of the same processing differences between abstract and concrete concepts found in sighted individuals, our model shows that those differences are noticeably less pronounced than in sighted individuals. We discuss our results vis-a-vis theories attempting to characterize abstract concepts.

Morphing a Stereogram into Hologram.

We developed a method to transform stereoscopic two-dimensional (2D) images into holograms via unsupervised morphing deformations between left (L) and right (R) input images. By using robust DeepFlow and light-field rendering algorithms, we established correlations between a 2D scene and its three-dimensional (3D) display on a Looking Glass HoloPlay monitor. The possibility of applying this method, together with a lookup table for multi-view glasses-free 3D streaming with a stereo webcam, was also analyzed.

Modeling of body mass index by Newton's second law.

Since laws of physics exists in nature, their possible relationship to terrestrial growth is introduced. By considering the human body as a dynamic system of variable mass (and volume), growing under a gravity field, it is shown how natural laws may influence the vertical growth of humans. This approach makes sense because the non-linear percentile curves of different aspects of human physical growth from childhood to adolescence can be described in relation to physics laws independently of gender and nationality. Analytical relations for the dependence of stature, measured mass (weight), growth velocity (and their mix as the body mass index) on age are deduced with a set of common statistical parameters which could relate environmental, genetics and metabolism and different aspects of physical growth on earth. A relationship to the monotone smoothing using functional data analysis to estimate growth curves and its derivatives is established. A preliminary discussion is also presented on horizontal growth in an essentially weightless environment (i.e., aquatic) with a connection to the Laird-Gompertz formula for growth.