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Markus Werning

Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Institut für Philosophie II, Faculty Member

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A complete list of my publications and downloads of most papers can be found on my personal homepage at: http://www.rub.de/phil-lang/. My agenda as a philosopher is deeply rooted in a naturalistic understanding of philosophy. The overarching goal of my research is to approach questions in the philosophy of language and mind and related areas (epistemology, descriptive metaphysics, etc.) (i) with exact theoretical methods – e.g. logic, formal semantics, and probability theory –, (ii) with advanced empirical methods such as EEG and fMRI and (iii) by computational modelling. I thus view those areas of philosophy in continuity with the cognitive sciences where, in philosophy, emphasis is put on theoretical rigor as well as meta- and cross-disciplinary aspects. My naturalistic attitude towards philosophy arises from a general skepticism with regard to apriori reasoning such as conceptual analysis, intuition and introspection as a privileged source of knowledge.
Phone: +49-234-32-24734
Address: Ruhr University Bochum
Department of Philosophy
GA 04/43
44780 Bochum
Germany

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Sally Haslanger

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Daniel D. Hutto

University of Wollongong

Maj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen

The University of Manchester

William E. S. McNeill

University of Southampton

Macquarie University

Juan José Prat Ferrer

IE

National Research University Higher School of Economics

University of Copenhagen

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Case Western Reserve University

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Papers by Markus Werning

To predict or not to predict: The role of context constraint and truth-value in negation processing

Studies on negation processing often report a Polarity by Truth interaction: False affirmative se... more Studies on negation processing often report a Polarity by Truth interaction: False affirmative sentences show longer response times and larger N400 ERPs relative to true affirmative sentences, whereas the effect of truth-value is reversed for negative sentences. This interaction has repeatedly been linked to variations in lexical associations, predictability, or to the need of constructing two subsequent mental representations during the comprehension of negative sentences. To disentangle the context-independent effect of negation as a syntactic operator from the context-dependent effect of predictability we ran five ERP-experiments employing a picture-sentence verification paradigm. The word's predictability was manipulated by varying the number of alternative sentence continuations provided by the context and making it equivalent for both sentence polarities. We show that predictability modulated the online processing of affirmative and negative sentences in a similar manner. ...

Bayesian Pragmatics Provides the Best Quantitative Model of Context Effects on Word Meaning in EEG and Cloze Data

Cognitive Science, 2019

We contrast three views of how words contribute to a listener's understanding of a sentence and c... more We contrast three views of how words contribute to a listener's understanding of a sentence and compare corresponding quantitative models of how the listener's probabilistic prediction on sentence completion is affected in online comprehension. The Semantic Similarity Model presupposes that the predictor of a word given a preceding discourse is their semantic similarity. The Relevance Model maintains that utterances are chosen to maximize relevance. The Bayesian Pragmatic Model assumes a relevanceguided modulation of a word's lexical meaning that can be regarded as a Bayesian update of statistical regularities stored in memory. In addition to a Cloze test, we perform an EEG study, recording the event-related potential on the predicted word and take the N400 component to be inversely correlated with the word's predictive probability. In a multiple regression analysis, we compare the three models with regard to Cloze values and N400 amplitudes. The Bayesian Pragmatic Model best explains the data.

Evidence for Single-Type Semantics—An Alternative To $e$/$t$-Based Dual-Type Semantics

Journal of Semantics, Aug 15, 2018

The "complex first" paradox: Why do semantically thick concepts so early lexicalize as nouns?

Benjamins current topics, 2010

Factivity Variation in Episodic Memory Reports

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2023

Context vs. Compositionality: How Do Context-induced Ad-hoc Affordances Interact with Semantically Stored Telic Information? - An ERP Study

Cognitive Science, 2015

In an ERP study we investigate the time course of the interaction between the lexically specified... more In an ERP study we investigate the time course of the interaction between the lexically specified telic role of a noun and the contextually provided ad-hoc affordance induced by a linguistic discourse. If preceded by a neutral discourse context, a verb inconsistent with the telic role in a sentence elicits an enhanced N400 compared to a congruent verb. However, if the preceding discourse context induces an ad-hoc affordance for the object that conflicts with the lexically specified telic role of the referring noun, we observe a crossing-over: compared to the neutral context, the N400 elicited by the inconsistent verb is significantly reduced in this context, whereas the N400 elicited by the congruent verb is significantly enhanced. We interpret these results as a consequence of the immediate functional replacement of the telic role with the contextually triggered ad-hoc affordance, thus supporting a single-step model of sentence meaning composition.

The time-course of sentence meaning composition

Contemporary semantic theories can be classified along two dimensions: (i) the way and time-cours... more Contemporary semantic theories can be classified along two dimensions: (i) the way and time-course in which contextual factors influence sentence truth-conditions; and (ii) whether and to what extent comprehension involves sensory, motor and emotional processes. In order to explore this theoretical space, our ERP study investigates the time-course of the interaction between the lexically specified telic component of a noun (the function of the object to which the noun refers to, e.g., a funnel is generally used to pour liquids into containers) and an ad-hoc affordance contextually induced by the situation described in the discourse. We found that, if preceded by a neutral discourse context, a verb incongruent with the noun's telic component as in "She uses the funnel to hang her coat" elicited an enhanced N400 compared to a congruent verb as in "She uses the funnel to pour water into a container." However, if the situation introduced in the preceding discourse induced a new function for the object as an ad-hoc affordance (e.g., the funnel is glued to the wall and the agent wants to hang the coat), we observed a crossing-over regarding the direction of the N400 effect: comparing the ad-hoc affordance-inducing context with the neutral context, the N400 for the incongruent verb was significantly reduced, whereas the N400 for the congruent verb was significantly enhanced. We explain these results as a consequence of the incorporation of the contextually triggered ad-hoc affordance into the meaning of the noun. Combining these results with an analysis of semantic similarity values between test sentences and contexts, we argue that one possibility is that the incorporation of an ad-hoc affordance may be explained on the basis of the mental simulation of concurrent motor information.

The Time-Course of Sentence Meaning Composition. N400 Effects of the Interaction between Context-Induced and Lexically Stored Affordances

Frontiers in Psychology, May 26, 2017

Contemporary semantic theories can be classified along two dimensions: (i) the way and time-cours... more Contemporary semantic theories can be classified along two dimensions: (i) the way and time-course in which contextual factors influence sentence truth-conditions; and (ii) whether and to what extent comprehension involves sensory, motor and emotional processes. In order to explore this theoretical space, our ERP study investigates the time-course of the interaction between the lexically specified telic component of a noun (the function of the object to which the noun refers to, e.g., a funnel is generally used to pour liquids into containers) and an ad-hoc affordance contextually induced by the situation described in the discourse. We found that, if preceded by a neutral discourse context, a verb incongruent with the noun's telic component as in "She uses the funnel to hang her coat" elicited an enhanced N400 compared to a congruent verb as in "She uses the funnel to pour water into a container." However, if the situation introduced in the preceding discourse induced a new function for the object as an ad-hoc affordance (e.g., the funnel is glued to the wall and the agent wants to hang the coat), we observed a crossing-over regarding the direction of the N400 effect: comparing the ad-hoc affordance-inducing context with the neutral context, the N400 for the incongruent verb was significantly reduced, whereas the N400 for the congruent verb was significantly enhanced. We explain these results as a consequence of the incorporation of the contextually triggered ad-hoc affordance into the meaning of the noun. Combining these results with an analysis of semantic similarity values between test sentences and contexts, we argue that one possibility is that the incorporation of an ad-hoc affordance may be explained on the basis of the mental simulation of concurrent motor information.

Introduction to the special issue “Logical perspectives on science and cognition”

Synthese, Jul 22, 2019

This special issue of Synthese is in honor of Gerhard Schurz, our good friend and colleague, who ... more This special issue of Synthese is in honor of Gerhard Schurz, our good friend and colleague, who contributed to philosophy in a multitude of novel and interesting ways. The idea to do such a special issue was born at a symposium on the occasion of Gerhard's 60th birthday back then in 2016. As a fun fact, the final publication of the special issue in print might be quite close to his 65th birthday in 2021. So in some sense this special issue can be expected to kill two birds with one stone. Let us start this introduction with a few words on Gerhard's life and work and on the guest editors' own relationship to him. We then zoom in and will say more about this special issue, followed by a brief description of its content.

Compositionality, Context, Categories and the Indeterminacy of Translation

Erkenntnis, Mar 1, 2004

Predicting the Past from Minimal Traces: Episodic Memory and its Distinction from Imagination and Preservation

Review of Philosophy and Psychology, Apr 23, 2020

The paper develops an account of minimal traces devoid of representational content and exploits a... more The paper develops an account of minimal traces devoid of representational content and exploits an analogy to a predictive processing framework of perception. As perception can be regarded as a prediction of the present on the basis of sparse sensory inputs without any representational content, episodic memory can be conceived of as a "prediction of the past" on the basis of a minimal trace, i.e., an informationally sparse, merely causal link to a previous experience. The resulting notion of episodic memory will be validated as a natural kind distinct from imagination. This trace minimalist view contrasts with two theory camps dominating the philosophical debate on memory. On one side, we face versions of the Causal Theory that hold on to the idea that episodic remembering requires a memory trace that causally links the event of remembering to the event of experience and carries over representational content from the content of experience to the content of remembering. The Causal Theory, however, fails to account for the epistemic generativity of episodic memory and is psychologically and information-theoretically implausible. On the other side, a new camp of simulationists is currently forming up. Motivated by empirical and conceptual deficits of the Causal Theory, they reject not only the necessity of preserving representational content, but also the necessity of a causal link between experience and memory. They argue that remembering is nothing but a peculiar form of imagination, peculiar only in that it has been reliably produced and is directed towards an episode of one's personal past. Albeit sharing their criticism of the Causal Theory and, in particular, rejecting its demand for an intermediary carrier of representational content, the paper argues that a causal connection to experience is still necessary to fulfill even the minimal requirements of past-directedness and reliability.

Investigating scalar implicatures in a truth-value judgement task: evidence from event-related brain potentials

Language, cognition and neuroscience, Apr 29, 2016

It is considered underinformative to say Some As are B when it is known that all As are B. Such u... more It is considered underinformative to say Some As are B when it is known that all As are B. Such underinformative sentences receive divergent truth-value judgements: whereas so-called logical responders evaluate them to be true, pragmatic responders reject them as false. In a sentence-picture verification experiment, we found that the split in the behavioural responses correlates with the difference in the event-related potentials (ERP) signal (N400 and P600) recorded for underinformative and for unambiguously true or false sentences with some. However, the ERP patterns for sentences with all are similar for both groups. In contrast to previous findings, the effect is independent of the subjects' autistic spectrum quotients. Assuming that the N400 amplitude is inversely correlated with the expected probability of the critical word we argue that the observed between-group difference in the ERP pattern can be explained by the hypothesis that ‘logicians’ and ‘pragmatists’ use distinct verification strategies in evaluating sentences with the quantifier some.

Logical Perspectives on Science and Cognition

Synthese, 2020

Contributions to this special issue: Christian J. Feldbacher-Escamilla, Alexander Gebharter, Pete... more Contributions to this special issue: Christian J. Feldbacher-Escamilla, Alexander Gebharter, Peter Brössel, &amp; Markus Werning: Introduction to the special issue “Logical perspectives on science and cognition”; Wolfgang Spohn: Defeasible Normative Reasoning; Jonathan Evans &amp; Shira Elqayam: How and Why we Reason from Is to Ought; Ioannis Votsis: Theory-Ladenness: Testing the “Untestable”; Alexander Gebharter &amp; Nina Retzlaff: A new proposal how to handle counterexamples to Markov causation a la Cartwright, or: Fixing the chemical factory; Andreas Hüttemann: Processes, pre-emption and further problems; Ulrike Hahn, Jens Ulrik Hansen, &amp; Erik Olsson: Truth Tracking Performance of Social Networks; Christian J. Feldbacher-Escamilla: An Optimality-Argument for Equal Weighting; Igor Douven: Scoring in Context; Ilkka Niiniluoto: Truthlikeness: Old and new debates; Theo Kuipers: Refined nomic truth approximation by revising models and postulates; Gustavo Cevolani &amp; Roberto Festa: A partial consequence account of truthlikeness; Elke Brendel: Truthmaker Maximalism and the Truthmaker Paradox; Gerhard Schurz: Twelve great papers: Comments and replies Citation information: Feldbacher-Escamilla, C. J., Gebharter, A., Brössel, P., &amp; Werning, M. (Eds.). (2020). Logical perspectives on science and cognition [Special issue]. Synthese, 197(4).

Guest Editors' Preface

Journal of Semantics, Nov 1, 2012

Conceptual Fingerprints: Lexical Decomposition by Means of Frames – a Neuro-cognitive Model

Springer eBooks, Aug 23, 2007

Synesthesia, Sensory-Motor Contingency, and Semantic Emulation: How Swimming Style-Color Synesthesia Challenges the Traditional View of Synesthesia

Frontiers in Psychology, 2012

Intentionality and the brain: Unraveling the theory-of-mind network

Constructing a Wider View on Memory

Routledge eBooks, Oct 26, 2022

Personal memories of past events are often characterized as coming with a visual perspective that... more Personal memories of past events are often characterized as coming with a visual perspective that takes one of two forms. Accordingly, a distinction between field and observer memories is made. Field memories are regarded as memories in which one views "the remembered scene as one originally experienced it, from one's original point of view" (McCarroll 2018, 3). One might remember, for instance, playing football as if reliving the event of kicking the ball. In contrast, observer memories are taken to be memories in which "I view myself as if from the position of an observer, and 'see' myself as if from-the-outside, from a third-person perspective" (McCarroll 2018, 3). In this case, the football player might remember the past experience as an onlooker from the sidelines, seeing her own body move on the field and kicking the ball. The distinction between field and observer memories is sometimes motivated by an analogy with imagination, where one can distinguish imagining-from-the-inside-"Zeno imagines swimming in the rough ocean"-and imagining-from-the-outside-"Zeno imagines himself swimming in the rough ocean," e.g., by looking down on the sea from a rock (for review, see Liefke and Werning 2021; Vendler 1982). The analogy is probably largely due to an imagistic understanding of remembering, i.e., the idea that the content of a memory is a mental image. This received view on memory perspective has recently met with critique from both psychologists and philosophers (e.g.

Reading Words Hurts: The impact of pain sensitivity on people's ratings of pain-related words

Cognitive Science, 2015

Proceedings of the 37th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society

A standard assumption in linguistic, psycholinguistic, and computational research on pronoun use ... more A standard assumption in linguistic, psycholinguistic, and computational research on pronoun use is that production and interpretation are guided by the same set of contextual factors. Kehler et al. (2008) and Kehler & Rohde (2013) have argued instead for a Bayesian model, one in which pronoun production is insensitive to a class of semantically-and pragmaticallydriven contextual biases that have been shown to influence pronoun interpretation. Here we evaluate the model using a passage completion study that employs a subtle contextual manipulation to which traditional analyses are insensitive, specifically by varying whether or not a relative clause that modifies the direct object in the context sentence invites the inference of a cause of the event that the sentence denotes. The results support the claim that pronoun interpretation biases, but not production biases, are sensitive to this pragmatic enrichment, revealing precisely the asymmetry predicted by the Bayesian analysis. A correlation analysis further establishes that the model provides better estimates of measured pronoun interpretation biases than two competing models from the literature.

To predict or not to predict: The role of context constraint and truth-value in negation processing

Studies on negation processing often report a Polarity by Truth interaction: False affirmative se... more Studies on negation processing often report a Polarity by Truth interaction: False affirmative sentences show longer response times and larger N400 ERPs relative to true affirmative sentences, whereas the effect of truth-value is reversed for negative sentences. This interaction has repeatedly been linked to variations in lexical associations, predictability, or to the need of constructing two subsequent mental representations during the comprehension of negative sentences. To disentangle the context-independent effect of negation as a syntactic operator from the context-dependent effect of predictability we ran five ERP-experiments employing a picture-sentence verification paradigm. The word's predictability was manipulated by varying the number of alternative sentence continuations provided by the context and making it equivalent for both sentence polarities. We show that predictability modulated the online processing of affirmative and negative sentences in a similar manner. ...

Bayesian Pragmatics Provides the Best Quantitative Model of Context Effects on Word Meaning in EEG and Cloze Data

Cognitive Science, 2019

We contrast three views of how words contribute to a listener's understanding of a sentence and c... more We contrast three views of how words contribute to a listener's understanding of a sentence and compare corresponding quantitative models of how the listener's probabilistic prediction on sentence completion is affected in online comprehension. The Semantic Similarity Model presupposes that the predictor of a word given a preceding discourse is their semantic similarity. The Relevance Model maintains that utterances are chosen to maximize relevance. The Bayesian Pragmatic Model assumes a relevanceguided modulation of a word's lexical meaning that can be regarded as a Bayesian update of statistical regularities stored in memory. In addition to a Cloze test, we perform an EEG study, recording the event-related potential on the predicted word and take the N400 component to be inversely correlated with the word's predictive probability. In a multiple regression analysis, we compare the three models with regard to Cloze values and N400 amplitudes. The Bayesian Pragmatic Model best explains the data.

Evidence for Single-Type Semantics—An Alternative To $e$/$t$-Based Dual-Type Semantics

Journal of Semantics, Aug 15, 2018

The "complex first" paradox: Why do semantically thick concepts so early lexicalize as nouns?

Benjamins current topics, 2010

Factivity Variation in Episodic Memory Reports

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2023

Context vs. Compositionality: How Do Context-induced Ad-hoc Affordances Interact with Semantically Stored Telic Information? - An ERP Study

Cognitive Science, 2015

In an ERP study we investigate the time course of the interaction between the lexically specified... more In an ERP study we investigate the time course of the interaction between the lexically specified telic role of a noun and the contextually provided ad-hoc affordance induced by a linguistic discourse. If preceded by a neutral discourse context, a verb inconsistent with the telic role in a sentence elicits an enhanced N400 compared to a congruent verb. However, if the preceding discourse context induces an ad-hoc affordance for the object that conflicts with the lexically specified telic role of the referring noun, we observe a crossing-over: compared to the neutral context, the N400 elicited by the inconsistent verb is significantly reduced in this context, whereas the N400 elicited by the congruent verb is significantly enhanced. We interpret these results as a consequence of the immediate functional replacement of the telic role with the contextually triggered ad-hoc affordance, thus supporting a single-step model of sentence meaning composition.

The time-course of sentence meaning composition

Contemporary semantic theories can be classified along two dimensions: (i) the way and time-cours... more Contemporary semantic theories can be classified along two dimensions: (i) the way and time-course in which contextual factors influence sentence truth-conditions; and (ii) whether and to what extent comprehension involves sensory, motor and emotional processes. In order to explore this theoretical space, our ERP study investigates the time-course of the interaction between the lexically specified telic component of a noun (the function of the object to which the noun refers to, e.g., a funnel is generally used to pour liquids into containers) and an ad-hoc affordance contextually induced by the situation described in the discourse. We found that, if preceded by a neutral discourse context, a verb incongruent with the noun's telic component as in "She uses the funnel to hang her coat" elicited an enhanced N400 compared to a congruent verb as in "She uses the funnel to pour water into a container." However, if the situation introduced in the preceding discourse induced a new function for the object as an ad-hoc affordance (e.g., the funnel is glued to the wall and the agent wants to hang the coat), we observed a crossing-over regarding the direction of the N400 effect: comparing the ad-hoc affordance-inducing context with the neutral context, the N400 for the incongruent verb was significantly reduced, whereas the N400 for the congruent verb was significantly enhanced. We explain these results as a consequence of the incorporation of the contextually triggered ad-hoc affordance into the meaning of the noun. Combining these results with an analysis of semantic similarity values between test sentences and contexts, we argue that one possibility is that the incorporation of an ad-hoc affordance may be explained on the basis of the mental simulation of concurrent motor information.

The Time-Course of Sentence Meaning Composition. N400 Effects of the Interaction between Context-Induced and Lexically Stored Affordances

Frontiers in Psychology, May 26, 2017

Contemporary semantic theories can be classified along two dimensions: (i) the way and time-cours... more Contemporary semantic theories can be classified along two dimensions: (i) the way and time-course in which contextual factors influence sentence truth-conditions; and (ii) whether and to what extent comprehension involves sensory, motor and emotional processes. In order to explore this theoretical space, our ERP study investigates the time-course of the interaction between the lexically specified telic component of a noun (the function of the object to which the noun refers to, e.g., a funnel is generally used to pour liquids into containers) and an ad-hoc affordance contextually induced by the situation described in the discourse. We found that, if preceded by a neutral discourse context, a verb incongruent with the noun's telic component as in "She uses the funnel to hang her coat" elicited an enhanced N400 compared to a congruent verb as in "She uses the funnel to pour water into a container." However, if the situation introduced in the preceding discourse induced a new function for the object as an ad-hoc affordance (e.g., the funnel is glued to the wall and the agent wants to hang the coat), we observed a crossing-over regarding the direction of the N400 effect: comparing the ad-hoc affordance-inducing context with the neutral context, the N400 for the incongruent verb was significantly reduced, whereas the N400 for the congruent verb was significantly enhanced. We explain these results as a consequence of the incorporation of the contextually triggered ad-hoc affordance into the meaning of the noun. Combining these results with an analysis of semantic similarity values between test sentences and contexts, we argue that one possibility is that the incorporation of an ad-hoc affordance may be explained on the basis of the mental simulation of concurrent motor information.

Introduction to the special issue “Logical perspectives on science and cognition”

Synthese, Jul 22, 2019

This special issue of Synthese is in honor of Gerhard Schurz, our good friend and colleague, who ... more This special issue of Synthese is in honor of Gerhard Schurz, our good friend and colleague, who contributed to philosophy in a multitude of novel and interesting ways. The idea to do such a special issue was born at a symposium on the occasion of Gerhard's 60th birthday back then in 2016. As a fun fact, the final publication of the special issue in print might be quite close to his 65th birthday in 2021. So in some sense this special issue can be expected to kill two birds with one stone. Let us start this introduction with a few words on Gerhard's life and work and on the guest editors' own relationship to him. We then zoom in and will say more about this special issue, followed by a brief description of its content.

Compositionality, Context, Categories and the Indeterminacy of Translation

Erkenntnis, Mar 1, 2004

Predicting the Past from Minimal Traces: Episodic Memory and its Distinction from Imagination and Preservation

Review of Philosophy and Psychology, Apr 23, 2020

The paper develops an account of minimal traces devoid of representational content and exploits a... more The paper develops an account of minimal traces devoid of representational content and exploits an analogy to a predictive processing framework of perception. As perception can be regarded as a prediction of the present on the basis of sparse sensory inputs without any representational content, episodic memory can be conceived of as a "prediction of the past" on the basis of a minimal trace, i.e., an informationally sparse, merely causal link to a previous experience. The resulting notion of episodic memory will be validated as a natural kind distinct from imagination. This trace minimalist view contrasts with two theory camps dominating the philosophical debate on memory. On one side, we face versions of the Causal Theory that hold on to the idea that episodic remembering requires a memory trace that causally links the event of remembering to the event of experience and carries over representational content from the content of experience to the content of remembering. The Causal Theory, however, fails to account for the epistemic generativity of episodic memory and is psychologically and information-theoretically implausible. On the other side, a new camp of simulationists is currently forming up. Motivated by empirical and conceptual deficits of the Causal Theory, they reject not only the necessity of preserving representational content, but also the necessity of a causal link between experience and memory. They argue that remembering is nothing but a peculiar form of imagination, peculiar only in that it has been reliably produced and is directed towards an episode of one's personal past. Albeit sharing their criticism of the Causal Theory and, in particular, rejecting its demand for an intermediary carrier of representational content, the paper argues that a causal connection to experience is still necessary to fulfill even the minimal requirements of past-directedness and reliability.

Investigating scalar implicatures in a truth-value judgement task: evidence from event-related brain potentials

Language, cognition and neuroscience, Apr 29, 2016

It is considered underinformative to say Some As are B when it is known that all As are B. Such u... more It is considered underinformative to say Some As are B when it is known that all As are B. Such underinformative sentences receive divergent truth-value judgements: whereas so-called logical responders evaluate them to be true, pragmatic responders reject them as false. In a sentence-picture verification experiment, we found that the split in the behavioural responses correlates with the difference in the event-related potentials (ERP) signal (N400 and P600) recorded for underinformative and for unambiguously true or false sentences with some. However, the ERP patterns for sentences with all are similar for both groups. In contrast to previous findings, the effect is independent of the subjects' autistic spectrum quotients. Assuming that the N400 amplitude is inversely correlated with the expected probability of the critical word we argue that the observed between-group difference in the ERP pattern can be explained by the hypothesis that ‘logicians’ and ‘pragmatists’ use distinct verification strategies in evaluating sentences with the quantifier some.

Logical Perspectives on Science and Cognition

Synthese, 2020

Contributions to this special issue: Christian J. Feldbacher-Escamilla, Alexander Gebharter, Pete... more Contributions to this special issue: Christian J. Feldbacher-Escamilla, Alexander Gebharter, Peter Brössel, &amp; Markus Werning: Introduction to the special issue “Logical perspectives on science and cognition”; Wolfgang Spohn: Defeasible Normative Reasoning; Jonathan Evans &amp; Shira Elqayam: How and Why we Reason from Is to Ought; Ioannis Votsis: Theory-Ladenness: Testing the “Untestable”; Alexander Gebharter &amp; Nina Retzlaff: A new proposal how to handle counterexamples to Markov causation a la Cartwright, or: Fixing the chemical factory; Andreas Hüttemann: Processes, pre-emption and further problems; Ulrike Hahn, Jens Ulrik Hansen, &amp; Erik Olsson: Truth Tracking Performance of Social Networks; Christian J. Feldbacher-Escamilla: An Optimality-Argument for Equal Weighting; Igor Douven: Scoring in Context; Ilkka Niiniluoto: Truthlikeness: Old and new debates; Theo Kuipers: Refined nomic truth approximation by revising models and postulates; Gustavo Cevolani &amp; Roberto Festa: A partial consequence account of truthlikeness; Elke Brendel: Truthmaker Maximalism and the Truthmaker Paradox; Gerhard Schurz: Twelve great papers: Comments and replies Citation information: Feldbacher-Escamilla, C. J., Gebharter, A., Brössel, P., &amp; Werning, M. (Eds.). (2020). Logical perspectives on science and cognition [Special issue]. Synthese, 197(4).

Guest Editors' Preface

Journal of Semantics, Nov 1, 2012

Conceptual Fingerprints: Lexical Decomposition by Means of Frames – a Neuro-cognitive Model

Springer eBooks, Aug 23, 2007

Synesthesia, Sensory-Motor Contingency, and Semantic Emulation: How Swimming Style-Color Synesthesia Challenges the Traditional View of Synesthesia

Frontiers in Psychology, 2012

Intentionality and the brain: Unraveling the theory-of-mind network

Constructing a Wider View on Memory

Routledge eBooks, Oct 26, 2022

Personal memories of past events are often characterized as coming with a visual perspective that... more Personal memories of past events are often characterized as coming with a visual perspective that takes one of two forms. Accordingly, a distinction between field and observer memories is made. Field memories are regarded as memories in which one views "the remembered scene as one originally experienced it, from one's original point of view" (McCarroll 2018, 3). One might remember, for instance, playing football as if reliving the event of kicking the ball. In contrast, observer memories are taken to be memories in which "I view myself as if from the position of an observer, and 'see' myself as if from-the-outside, from a third-person perspective" (McCarroll 2018, 3). In this case, the football player might remember the past experience as an onlooker from the sidelines, seeing her own body move on the field and kicking the ball. The distinction between field and observer memories is sometimes motivated by an analogy with imagination, where one can distinguish imagining-from-the-inside-"Zeno imagines swimming in the rough ocean"-and imagining-from-the-outside-"Zeno imagines himself swimming in the rough ocean," e.g., by looking down on the sea from a rock (for review, see Liefke and Werning 2021; Vendler 1982). The analogy is probably largely due to an imagistic understanding of remembering, i.e., the idea that the content of a memory is a mental image. This received view on memory perspective has recently met with critique from both psychologists and philosophers (e.g.

Reading Words Hurts: The impact of pain sensitivity on people's ratings of pain-related words

Cognitive Science, 2015

Proceedings of the 37th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society

A standard assumption in linguistic, psycholinguistic, and computational research on pronoun use ... more A standard assumption in linguistic, psycholinguistic, and computational research on pronoun use is that production and interpretation are guided by the same set of contextual factors. Kehler et al. (2008) and Kehler & Rohde (2013) have argued instead for a Bayesian model, one in which pronoun production is insensitive to a class of semantically-and pragmaticallydriven contextual biases that have been shown to influence pronoun interpretation. Here we evaluate the model using a passage completion study that employs a subtle contextual manipulation to which traditional analyses are insensitive, specifically by varying whether or not a relative clause that modifies the direct object in the context sentence invites the inference of a cause of the event that the sentence denotes. The results support the claim that pronoun interpretation biases, but not production biases, are sensitive to this pragmatic enrichment, revealing precisely the asymmetry predicted by the Bayesian analysis. A correlation analysis further establishes that the model provides better estimates of measured pronoun interpretation biases than two competing models from the literature.