Symbolic,identity, and probe delayed matching of sounds by the bottlenosed dolphin

The short-term memory for sounds of the bottlenosed dolphin was tested using symbolic, identity, and probe forms of the delayed matching-to-sample (DMS) task. The forms differed in the number (one or two) or nature (symbolic or identity matches of sample sounds) of postdelay test stimuli available as memory retrieval cues. Although symbolic DMS was difficult to learn, the final performance level was approximately equal to that for identity or probe DMS. On all tasks, the dolphin’s responses were above 80% correct through to delays of 90 sec and, in some cases, through to delays of 180 and 240 sec, the “limits” being governed mainly by the dolphin’s reluctance to continue being tested at long delays. Encoding of sample stimuli into their learned symbolic representation was hypothesized to have reduced symbolic DMS to a recognition memory task, resulting in the observed equivalence of performance with the other two recognition memory tasks. The probe DMS results, unlike those for identity or symbolic DMS, showed no significant proactive interference effects from samples of prior trials. Instead, proactive interference was traceable to the probe value of the prior trial. Overall, the auditory DMS data for the dolphin were functionally similar to results reported for monkeys tested on symbolic, identity, and probe visual DMS tasks.     

Space Scale: Models in the History of Science and Students Mental Models

This paper deals with the problem of relating distance and scale by way of alternative models of perception taken from the history of science.The intuitive patterns of modern school children in evaluating the Solar System are then compared with those in the history of science. Immediate experience and intuition by children often contradict scientific understanding. The children in this study, for example, do not see the rays of the Sun as being parallel and ignore the curvature of the Earth. The authors argue that children's understanding of the rays of the Sun as not being parallel as well as their ignoring the curvature of the Earth is due to the limitation resulting from the students' `actual activity zone', and not to their insufficient knowledge. This study makes specific suggestions to broaden the scientifically based `actual activity zone' of students. We suggest that laboratory work based on historical experiments using elementary geometry – as, for example, the determination of the radiusof the Earth by Eratosthenes – promotes a scientific understanding of astronomicalmeasurements....The scale of space and time, which we customarily observe on Earth, and which is part of time, we become aware of the vastness of our universe, we are awed and humbled. But if astronomers spent all their time speculating about the immensity of the cosmos and the prodigious interval of time necessary for the evolution of the stars, their accomplishments would be few. The primary concerns of the astronomer when studying the cosmos are physical and mathematical interpretations of observations, predictions of future observations, and the development and refinement of his instruments for such interpretation and prediction. To help him in the conceptualization of his problem, astronomer may, consciously or unconsciously, visualize a small model representing the cosmic system under investigation. Using this method, we can arrive at an understanding of the relative dimensions of the system and an understanding of the time intervals involved.Shklovskii I.S. and Carl Sagan (1966)Intelligent Life in the Universe     

Erscheinungsbasierte statistische Objekterkennung

Zusammenfassung.   Die automatische Erkennung und Lokalisation von Objekten in digitalen Bildern ist ein wesentlicher Bestandteil vieler praktisch relevanter Anwendungen. In diesem Artikel wird ein erscheinungsbasiertes Verfahren zur Erkennung starrer zwei- oder dreidimensionaler Objekte vorgestellt, dem eine statistische Modellierung zugrundeliegt. Im Gegensatz zu segmentierungsbasierten Verfahren, wie sie vor allem im Bereich der 3D-Objekterkennung eingesetzt werden, erm?glicht der erscheinungsbasierte Ansatz aufgrund der Modellierung der Intensit?tswerte oder davon abgeleiteter lokaler Merkmale eines Bildes die Erkennung komplexer Objekte. Die statistische Formulierung der Problemstellung bildet den mathematischen Kontext zur Bestimmung optimaler L?sungen. Die Form der Modellierung erlaubt neben der Einzelobjekterkennung auch die Berücksichtigung von heterogenem Bildhintergrund und Mehrobjektszenen. Die dazu ben?tigten lokalen Merkmale entstehen durch r?umlich begrenzte Transformationen des Bildes, wie beispielsweise Gabor- oder Wavelet-Transformationen. Die statistische Modellierung beschreibt die Verteilung dieser lokalen Merkmale anhand einer Dichtefunktion, die sich bei der Hintergrund- und Mehrobjektmodellierung als Mischungsverteilung der Einzelobjektverteilungen ergibt. Die Aufgabenstellungen des Erlernens und Erkennens von Objekten sind damit als Parametersch?tzprobleme formal darstellbar. Dabei werden im einen Fall die Modellparameter und im anderen Fall die Lageparameter beziehungsweise die Klassen von Objekten gesch?tzt. Die experimentelle überprüfung des Ansatzes anhand realer Objektaufnahmen durch CCD-Kameras zeigt seine Brauchbarkeit zur Erkennung von 2D- und 3D-Objekten bei homogenem und heterogenem Hintergrund. Eingegangen am 5. April 2000 / Angenommen am 20. Juli 2001     

Socioscientific Issues Thinking and Action in the Midst of Science-in-the-Making

Science & Education - Like all SSI, the COVID-19 pandemic requires decisions that are contentious, involve scientific thinking, and vary across social groups. This investigation determined how...     

Ahead of the pack? Explaining the unequal distribution of scholarships in Germany

This article investigates to what extent scholarships are unequally distributed among students in Germany and how these inequalities can be explained. Following sociological theory, the article argues that elites seek qualitative ways of distinguishing themselves in a mass higher education system. Using student surveys, we demonstrate that class effects cannot merely be explained with reference to class differences in academic achievement but that higher classes have better access to scholarships independent of earlier school performance. Class differences were particularly persistent when the intermediate classes were compared with higher classes with more education. These findings illustrate that social classes have different strategies when it comes to participating in higher education and suggest that information about and access to scholarships is important in gaining a class advantage.