Decision Making and Data Analysis

The proposed method, called probabilistic nodes combination (PNC), is the method of 2D curve modeling and handwriting identification by using the set of key points. Nodes are treated as characteristic points of signature or handwriting for modeling and writer recognition. Identification of handwritten letters or symbols need modeling, and the model of each individual symbol or character is built by a choice of probability distribution function and nodes combination. PNC modeling via nodes combination and parameter γ as probability distribution function enables curve parameterization and interpolation for each specific letter or symbol. Two-dimensional curve is modeled and interpolated via nodes combination and different functions as continuous probability distribution functions: polynomial, sine, cosine, tangent, cotangent, logarithm, exponent, arc sin, arc cos, arc tan, arc cot, or power function.

Distinct colours in the ‘synaesthetic colour palette’

In grapheme-colour synaesthesia, particular linguistic elements evoke particular colour sensations. Interestingly, when asked, non-synaesthetes can also associate colours to letters, and previous studies show that specific letter-to-colour associations have similar biases to those of synaesthetes. However, it is an open question whether the colours reported by synaesthetes and non-synaesthetes differ overall : is there a ‘synaesthetic colour palette’? In this study, we visualize the overall distribution in colour space of colour concurrents in grapheme-colour synaesthetes, and colour associations in non-synaesthetic controls. We confirm the existence of a synaesthetic colour palette: colour concurrents in synaesthetes are different from colour associations in non-synaesthetes. We quantify three factors that distinguish the colour palette of synaesthetes and non-synaesthetes: synaesthetes have an increased over-representation of ‘pure’ (unmixed) hues, an increased presence of ‘warm’ (yellow, orange, brown) colours, and an increased presence of achromatic (grey, white, black) colours. Furthermore, we demonstrate that differences in the synaesthetic colour palette can be used to train a machine learning algorithm to reliably classify single subjects as synaesthetes versus non-synaesthetes without using test–retest consistency data. As far as we know, this is the first time an individual could be ‘diagnosed’ as a synaesthete, based only on his or her colours evoked by letters. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Bridging senses: novel insights from synaesthesia’.

Lack of regularity between letters impacts word recognition performance

Physical inter-letter dissimilarity has been suggested as a solution to increase perceptual differences between letter shapes and hence a solution to improve reading performance. However, the deleterious effects of font tuning suggest that low inter-letter regularity (due to the enhancement of specific letter features to make them more differentiable) may impair word recognition performance. The aim of the present investigation was 1) to validate our hypothesis that reducing inter-letter regularity impairs reading performance, as suggested by font tuning, and 2) to test whether some forms of non-regularities could impair visual word recognition more. To do so, we designed four new fonts. For each font we induced one type of increased perceptual difference: for the first font, the letters have longer extender length; for the second font, the letters have different slants; and for the third font, the letters have different font cases. We also designed a fourth font where letters differ on all three aspects (worst regularity across letters). Word recognition performance was measured for each of the four fonts in comparison to a traditional sans serif font (best regularity across letters) through a lexical decision task. Results showed a significant decrease in word recognition performance only for the fonts with mixed-case letters, suggesting that fonts with low regularity, such as mixed-case letters, should be avoided in the definition of new “optimal” fonts. Letter recognition performance measured for the five different fonts through a trigram recognition task showed that this effect is not consistently due to poor letter identification.

How to write in Plautdietsch?

The article raises issues related to written fixation of the oral Mennonite language called Plautdietsch. The Mennonites – members of one of the Protestant churches, established first in Holland and northern Germany – changed their place of residence over the centuries. The Mennonite language emerged in Prussia and later in Ukraine, where their large colonies had lived. Being a striking feature of this specific ethno-confessional community, Plautdietsch was and still is used almost exclusively in oral communication and does not have any established written standard. The phonology of Plautdietsch may be identified, in general, as Low German, although there is a number of significant phonological features are not characteristic of Low German area. Now the Plautdietsch native speakers live all over the world: in Canada, Germany, Russia, in particular, in Siberia, where their own, yet unstable, written standard of the language is being formed. One of the main problems concerning its fixation is caused by the complicated vocalism and high instability observed in the pronunciation of many vowels and diphthongs, the main source of difficulties preventing elaboration of the means for writing. In this paper, we focus on these unstable features of the vocal system. It provides a brief overview of currently available written samples of Plautdietsch, produced in Canada, Germany, and Russia. Some of them are based on the Latin alphabet and norms of the German spelling. Others, on the contrary, depart from it, using specific letter combinations, unknown earlier, introducing geminates (double consonants), refusing to spell nouns with a capital letter or to use umlauts (for technical convenience). Developments and tentative approaches of some Germanists from Russia who introduced their own ways of writing Plautdietsch in their research papers are presented. As an illustration, the samples of such a graphic system, elaborated by the linguist from Novosibirsk I. A. Kanakin (1940–2018), are given. They were not published and are kept in the personal archive of the author of the article. Our own principle of writing is presented too, and this as a part of the project implementation – compiling and publishing a small handbook for reading in this language, which is addressed to children, whose native language is Plautdietsch and who study literary German at school. Taking this into account, the most appropriate ad-hoc solution seems to use a form of writing that is close to German spelling and is accepted today in Germany.

Correlation between Grades Earned and Time in Online Courses

Online education is rapidly becoming a significant method of course delivery in higher education. Consequently instructors are analyzing student performance in an attempt to better scaffold student learning. Learning analytics can provide insight into online students’ course behaviors. Archival data from 167 graduate level education students enrolled in 4 different programs and 9 different online courses was analyzed in an attempt to determine if there was a correlation between their grades and the time spent in specific areas within the course: the total time within the course, the course modules, document repository, and synchronous online sessions. Data was analyzed by total time in course, time in modules, time in document repository, and time in the online synchronous discussions as well as by program. Time spent in each component did not correlate with the specific letter grade, but did correlate with earning an A or not earning an A. The sample was composed of students from four different graduate education programs: Educational Leadership, Reading, Instructional Design, and Special Education. Variations were found between programs, but the differences did not significantly correlate with the grade earned in the course. A logical progression revealed that of all the predictor variables, only time spent in synchronous online sessions showed as a significant predictor of receiving an A in the course. This is important information for instructor when providing scaffolding for students.

PERCEPTUAL LOAD MANIPULATION DOES NOT REVEAL SENSITIVITY ON THE N170 ERP COMPONENT OF MANIPULATED FACES AND BODIES

Background: It has been controversial in the face recognition literaturę whether face-sensitive N170 is affected by selective attention. Attention was manipulated according to Lavie’s perceptual load theory, examining the effect of selective attention on the processing of faces and human bodies. Faces and human bodies were presented either intact or manipulated. Material/Methods: 18 Students (9Males) from Sohag University, aged between 19 and 22 years (M = 19.38, SD = 0.48) contributed data in this study. All participants were right handed, and had normal or corrected-to-normal visual acuity. Participants were instructed to detect specific letter strings „X or N” among different (i.e., High load), or identical (Low load) letters. Letters were superimposed on different distractors. Stimuli were presented intact (Exp.1), or manipulated (Exp.2-4), by removing certain features or parts in the face and body respectively. ERP technique was used and prominent N170 and LNC were measured. Results: It was found that there is no effect of selective attention on the face sensitive N170. It seems that cropped face N170 is not affected by selective attention. However, the N170 of faces and human bodies are not affected by selective attention. The LNC findings showed that this component is affected by selective attention with enhanced negativity under low load Conditions compared to high load conditions. Conclusions: The findings of the current study showed that either cropped faces and human bodies does not reveal sensitivity on the N170 ERP component of manipulated faces and bodies.

A Is for Apple: the Role of Letter–Word Associations in the Development of Grapheme–Colour Synaesthesia

This study investigates the origins of specific letter–colour associations experienced by people with grapheme–colour synaesthesia. We present novel evidence that frequently observed trends in synaesthesia (e.g., A is typically red) can be tied to orthographic associations between letters and words (e.g., ‘A is for apple’), which are typically formed during literacy acquisition. In our experiments, we first tested members of the general population to show that certain words are consistently associated with letters of the alphabet (e.g., A is for apple), which we named index words. Sampling from the same population, we then elicited the typical colour associations of these index words (e.g., apples are red) and used the letter → index word → colour connections to predict which colours and letters would be paired together based on these orthographic-semantic influences. We then looked at direct letter–colour associations (e.g., red, blue…) from both synaesthetes and non-synaesthetes. In both populations, we show statistically that the colour predicted by index words matches significantly with the letter–colour mappings: that is, red because A is for apple and apples are prototypically red. We therefore conclude that letter–colour associations in both synaesthetes and non-synaesthetes are tied to early-learned letter–word associations.

The Cosmic Script

This cloth-bound, large-format book set is a quest to understand and apply thecontents of a groundbreaking fourth/tenth-century treatise that reformed Arabicpenmanship and established the canon of calligraphy applied to this day.Muhamad ibn Ali ibn Muqla’s treatise The Proportioned Script acts as the esotericcenter of a riddle not unlike the unraveling of a lost book through otherbooks as seen in Umberto Echo’s The Name of the Rose. In this case, The ProportionedScript is but a succinct treatise, for Ibn Muqla’s two explanatorymanuscripts detailing the proportions and methods are lost – and can only beretraced through subsequent studies and drawn reconstruction.Why such a monumental effort to unravel a single small treatise on Arabicpenmanship? As the authors explain, it was and is the canon of proportion inwriting and reveals a great deal about the sociocultural context and the importanceof script related to faith. Hence the title of the book. The Cosmic Scriptis clearly the result of significant research. The two authors met over fourdecades ago, during which Moustafa completed an MA and a PhD on the subject.They collaborated for eight years on unraveling The Proportioned Scriptthrough other sources and reconstructed the canon of letters by a detailed geometricanalysis and Moustafa’s own artistic practice of application.The first volume includes an introduction and seven chapters outliningthe historical and spiritual background of the Arabic script in terms of ancientpre-Islamic influences. The second volume contains an introduction andtwenty-one chapters, of which nineteen cover the specific letter families andoutline sources and specific graphics for each letter’s formulation.“Decoding the “Geometry of Letters,” the introduction to the first volume,describes Ibn Muqla as having invented the theory of proportioned script thattransformed this art form and had a significant impact upon the culture of theAbbasid era and beyond. He derived his system from the scribal dot (squarein form, on an angle) and thus, according to the authors, linked prophecy, writing,and geometry with the sacred dimensions. The elevated rank of the penand writing were underscored by the first revealed Qur’anic verses and thesacred status of the physical Qur’an. The authors argued that geometry bridged ...

Individuals with Intellectual Disability Can Self-Teach in Reading

Previous research has suggested that individuals with intellectual disability (ID) underperform in several areas of reading compared to mental age–matched peers. However, it is unclear how they compare on orthographic aspects of reading, which have to do with learning and matching the specific letter patterns in words. The leading approach to understanding orthographic learning is the self-teaching hypothesis, which suggests that orthographic learning is acquired through the experience of phonologically recoding words. The present study was a first test of the self-teaching hypothesis for individuals with ID in comparison to a group of typically developing children matched on verbal mental age. Results indicated that both groups were able to self-teach.