Behavioral & Brain
Sciences (BBS) is an interdisciplinary journal devoted to issues directly
relevant to the topics we have covered in this course. An excerpt from their
webpage:
BBS publishes important and controversial interdisciplinary "target
articles" in psychology, neuroscience, behavioral biology, cognitive
science, artificial intelligence, linguistics and philosophy. Articles are
rigorously refereed and, if accepted, are circulated to a large number of
potential commentators around the world in the various specialties on which
the article impinges. Their 1000-word commentaries are then co-published with
the target article as well as the author's response to each. The commentaries
consist of analyses, elaborations, complementary and supplementary data and
theory, criticisms and cross-specialty syntheses.
For the final paper, you will choose one of a selection of BBS target
articles. Your choices are:
- Michael A. Arbib. (2005). From monkey-like action recognition to human language: An evolutionary framework for neurolinguistics. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 28 (2).
[link]
- John L. Locke and Barry Bogin. (2006). Language and life history: A new perspective on the development and evolution of human language. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 29 (3).
[link]
-
Frank van der Velde and Marc de Kamps. (2006). Neural blackboard architectures of combinatorial structures in cognition Behavioral and Brain Sciences 29 (1).
[link]
Based on what you have learned in the class, write a 4- to 6-page
(1000 words max) paper in the style of a BBS commentary that critically examines
your chosen article.
- Make sure your commentary is condensed and has original ideas about the
article -- this is NOT a summary! See the following guidelines from BBS:
NOTE TO COMMENTATORS: The purpose of the Open Peer Commentary service is
to provide a concentrated constructive interaction between author and
commentators on a topic judged to be of broad significance to the
biobehavioral science community. Commentators should provide substantive
criticism, interpretation, and elaboration as well as any pertinent
complementary or supplementary material, such as illustrations....
Commentaries and articles should be free of hyperbole and remarks ad
hominem.
- Your paper should demonstrate your ability to relate (compare, contrast)
ideas in the article to the course material. You are encouraged to use
results and findings as well as computational models discussed in class to support
or refute arguments made by the authors.
- You should also feel free to cite works not covered in class, but doing so
is neither necessary nor sufficient.
- state at the top the first page which article you are reviewing
- informative commentary title
- 60 word abstract
- 4 - 6 pages main text, 1000 words max, double-spaced
- make citations as appropriate
- make it as professional a submission as possible (that means spellcheck, proofread, etc.).
- Take some time to skim through the articles. Some of them are fairly dense
reading, so don't worry if you don't understand everything at first -- just
try to get a general sense of the major ideas.
- Choose your article and start reading it as soon as possible. You should
assume that it will take you time and multiple readings to understand and
reflect on the ideas and relevant issues.