Discussion of networked information retrieval and the interoperability of heterogeneous information-retrieval systems shows how differences concerning search operators and database schemas can be handled by applying data-abstraction concepts in combination with uncertain inference. Highlights include data types, data independence, schema…

Two studies examined developmental patterns in understanding physical and social transitivity in 6- to 11-year olds. Findings revealed no significant correlations between social judgments and judgments concerning length. Results suggested that children possess two distinct strategies for making transitive judgments that correspond to the logical…

Discusses the logical approach to information retrieval that treats retrieval as inference, considers probabilistic models for text retrieval, and presents an approach for combining Datalog (a variant of Horn predicate logic) with probabilistic theory using intentional semantics with logical rules. Discusses syntax and semantics and compares this…

Proposes a coherence hypothesis that integrates both the "power" and "covariational" views of how people distinguish genuine causes from spurious ones. Results of 2 experiments involving 96 and 56 undergraduates support the hypothesis. Discusses the place of coherence within causal inference. (SLD)

Action learning in the workplace occurs when decisions must be made quickly, relying on practical judgment. Just-in-time training, interpreted as "anticipative action," prepares learners to exercise inferential understanding amid "hot action" in the workplace. (Contains 17 references.) (SK)

Maintains author's interpretation of 6-month-olds' behavior is consistent with task requirements in the 2000 study and previous work showing that infants use explanatory inferences to make sense of their world. Asserts that ability to understand that people communicate with persons but act on objects is precursor to infants' understanding at 9 to…

Background: Previous research suggests that children with specific comprehension difficulties have problems with the generation of inferences. This raises important questions as to whether poor comprehenders have poor comprehension skills generally, or whether their problems are confined to specific inference types. Aims: The main aims of the…

Three experiments examined the changes in category representation that take place when children use exemplars for tasks other than classification. In Experiments 1 and 2, 6- and 10-year-old children learned to classify exemplars of a novel category and then used the same exemplars in an inferential prediction task. In a subsequent classification…

According to one theory about how children learn the concept of natural numbers, they first determine that "one", "two", and "three" denote the size of sets containing the relevant number of items. They then make the following inductive inference (the Bootstrap): The next number word in the counting series denotes the size of the sets you get by…

This study investigates the online comprehension of Determiner Phrases (DPs) as a function of the given-new distinction in two-sentence texts in German and further focuses on DPs whose interpretation depends on inferential information (so-called "bridging relations"). Previous reaction time studies report an advantage of given over new…

The ability to analyze the author's purpose and perspective is just as essential as literal and inferential comprehension and, hence, the middle and school students should be engaged in comparing, synthesizing, and analyzing complex texts. Advanced readers have the ability to grasp tone and nuance as they analyze and interpret text.

Recent work in the cognitive sciences provides new neurological/biological and evolutionary bases for understanding the construction of knowledge (in the form of sets of ideas containing functionally useful inferences) and the capacity for imagination (as the ability to run inferences and generate ideas from information) in the human mind. In…

In two experiments, it is demonstrated that knowledge about idiosyncratic aspects of one's own memory performance may become the basis for inferences in recognition. In the first study, beliefs about the effect of the encoding conditions on memory were experimentally induced by varying the memory task such that participants' performance was…

It is reasonably well known that the ratios of consecutive terms of a Fibonacci series converge to the golden ratio. This note presents a simple, complete proof of an interesting generalization of this result to a whole family of 'precious metal ratios'.

This article explores second language (L2) learners' interpretation of reflexive anaphora in VP-Ellipsis by critiquing the work of Ying (2003), who applies Relevance Theory to explain elliptical anaphora. It argues against four claims made in his analysis: that L2 learners apply maximal relevance in anaphoric interpretation; that a procedural…