Distributional semantic models (DSMs) and implicit bias
How might we learn stereotypes from the distributional statistics of one's language environment? How do these semantic representations for social categories vary across contexts? This line of research encompasses multiple ongoing projects that investigate the specific mechanisms that could result in the implicit biases observed in humans, as well as the ability of DSMs to capture the predictions made by modern theories of implicit bias. Check back soon for papers and updates!
Semantic search models
We created a Python package and web app called forager. With forager, researchers and clinicians can apply a variety of computational memory search models to analyze verbal fluency data. Check out the web app here or the package repository here.
Publications:
Kumar, A. A., Apsel, M., Zhang, L., Xing, N., & Jones, M. N. (2023). forager: A Python package and web interface for modeling mental search. Behavior Research Methods, 1-17.
Kumar, A. A., Apsel, M., Zhang, L., Xing, N., & Jones, M. N. (2023). forager: A Python package and web interface for modeling mental search. Behavior Research Methods, 1-17.
Lexical retrieval models
How do we retrieve the correct words to describe the concept we want to convey? This project involved comparing a set of nested computational models of lexical retrieval based on a previous experimental task and data. Given a prompt and a prime word, the models were evaluated based on how well they predicted human response words. The various models used either semantic cues, phonological cues, or some combination of the two.
Publications:
Apsel, M., Kumar, A. A., & Jones, M. N. (2022). Finding the right words: A computational model of cued lexical retrieval. In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (Vol. 44, No. 44).
Apsel, M., Kumar, A. A., & Jones, M. N. (2022). Finding the right words: A computational model of cued lexical retrieval. In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (Vol. 44, No. 44).