A review of The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain, by Terrance Deacon, 1997. New York: W.W. Norton, 527pp. ISBN 0393317544. $29.95 USD. Hardcover.

https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/complicity/index.php/complicity/article/download/8719/7039

The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain

Swedish national road and transport research institute

being used in many other applications to explicitly declare the knowledge embedded in them. However, not only are ontologies useful for applications in which knowledge plays a key role, but they can also trigger a major change in current Web contents. This change is leading to the third generation of the Web—known as the Semantic Web—which has been defined as “the conceptual structuring of the Web in an explicit machine-readable way.”1 This definition does not differ too much from the one used for defining an ontology: “An ontology is an explicit, machinereadable specification of a shared conceptualization.”2 In fact, new ontology-based applications and knowledge architectures are developing for this new Web. A common claim for all of these approaches is the need for languages to represent the semantic information that this Web requires—solving the heterogeneous data exchange in this heterogeneous environment. Here, we don’t decide which language is best of the Semantic Web. Rather, our goal is to help developers find the most suitable language for their representation needs.

/pdf/ontology-languages-for-the-semantic-web-90f8gpqdsc.pdf

Ontology languages for the Semantic Web

Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik

As driving functions become increasingly automated, motorists run the risk of becoming cognitively removed from the driving process. Psychophysiological measures may provide added value not captured through behavioral or self-report measures alone. This paper provides a selective review of the psychophysiological measures that can be utilized to assess cognitive states in real-world driving environments. First, the importance of psychophysiological measures within the context of traffic safety is discussed. Next, the most commonly used physiology-based indices of cognitive states are considered as potential candidates relevant for driving research. These include: electroencephalography and event-related potentials, optical imaging, heart rate and heart rate variability, blood pressure, skin conductance, electromyography, thermal imaging, and pupillometry. For each of these measures, an overview is provided, followed by a discussion of the methods for measuring it in a driving context. Drawing from recent empirical driving and psychophysiology research, the relative strengths and limitations of each measure are discussed to highlight each measures' unique value. Challenges and recommendations for valid and reliable quantification from lab to (less predictable) real-world driving settings are considered. Finally, we discuss measures that may be better candidates for a near real-time assessment of motorists' cognitive states that can be utilized in applied settings outside the lab. This review synthesizes the literature on in-vehicle psychophysiological measures to advance the development of effective human-machine driving interfaces and driver support systems.

/pdf/a-review-of-psychophysiological-measures-to-assess-cognitive-4bkk7ryov7.pdf

A Review of Psychophysiological Measures to Assess Cognitive States in Real-World Driving

We present the results of an evaluation of the performance of the Leap Motion Controller with the aid of a professional, high-precision, fast motion tracking system A set of static and dynamic measurements was performed with different numbers of tracking objects and configurations For the static measurements, a plastic arm model simulating a human arm was used A set of 37 reference locations was selected to cover the controller's sensory space For the dynamic measurements, a special V-shaped tool, consisting of two tracking objects maintaining a constant distance between them, was created to simulate two human fingers In the static scenario, the standard deviation was less than 05 mm The linear correlation revealed a significant increase in the standard deviation when moving away from the controller The results of the dynamic scenario revealed the inconsistent performance of the controller, with a significant drop in accuracy for samples taken more than 250 mm above the controller's surface The Leap Motion Controller undoubtedly represents a revolutionary input device for gesture-based human-computer interaction; however, due to its rather limited sensory space and inconsistent sampling frequency, in its current configuration it cannot currently be used as a professional tracking system

An Analysis of the Precision and Reliability of the Leap Motion Sensor and Its Suitability for Static and Dynamic Tracking

A user study of auditory, head-up and multi-modal displays in vehicles.

An analysis of the suitability of a low-cost eye tracker for assessing the cognitive load of drivers.

This paper reports on the design and evaluation of direct 3D gesture interaction with a full horizontal parallax light field display. A light field display defines a visual scene using directional light beams emitted from multiple light sources as if they are emitted from scene points. Each scene point is rendered individually resulting in more realistic and accurate 3D visualization compared to other 3D displaying technologies. We propose an interaction setup combining the visualization of objects within the Field Of View (FOV) of a light field display and their selection through freehand gesture tracked by the Leap Motion Controller. The accuracy and usefulness of the proposed interaction setup was also evaluated in a user study with test subjects. The results of the study revealed high user preference for free hand interaction with light field display as well as relatively low cognitive demand of this technique. Further, our results also revealed some limitations and adjustments of the proposed setup to be addressed in future work.

/pdf/exploring-direct-3d-interaction-for-full-horizontal-parallax-3jcsmhfnym.pdf

Exploring Direct 3D Interaction for Full Horizontal Parallax Light Field Displays Using Leap Motion Controller

Recording knowledge in a common framework that would make it possible to seamlessly share global knowledge remains an important challenge for researchers. This brief examines several ideas about the representation of knowledge addressing this challenge. A widespread general agreement is followed that states uniform knowledge representation should be achievable by using ontologies populated with concepts. A separate chapter is dedicated to each of the three introduced topics, following a uniform outline: definition, organization, and use. This brief is intended for those who want to get to know the field of knowledge representation quickly, or would like to be up to date with current developments in the field. It is also useful for those dealing with implementation as examples of numerous operational systems are also given.

Grega Jakus

Papers

An Analysis of the Precision and Reliability of the Leap Motion Sensor and Its Suitability for Static and Dynamic Tracking

A user study of auditory, head-up and multi-modal displays in vehicles.

An analysis of the suitability of a low-cost eye tracker for assessing the cognitive load of drivers.

Exploring Direct 3D Interaction for Full Horizontal Parallax Light Field Displays Using Leap Motion Controller

Concepts, Ontologies, and Knowledge Representation