The study of variability in reasoning can shed light on several issues, including mechanisms underlying developmental change, individual differences, and developmental disorders. We explored the basis of variability in a much-studied task in cognitive development, the balance scale. Starting with a simple feed-forward connectionist model and training patterns based on McClelland (1989), we inve...

In this paper we describe a production system model of children's development on the balance scale task. Starting with a set of rules that makes random predictions, the system iearns from its errors and improves as it gains experience. The transition mechanism is a discrimination process that searches for differences between cases in which correct predictions are made and cases in which errors ...

Periods of relatively stable, rule-like behavior alternated with short transition periods characterize cognitive development on reasoning tasks like the balance scale task. Each transition gives rise to an improvement in behavior, until a phase is reached in which performance is flawless or improvement is not worthwhile given the necessary extra effort. Several computational models have been de...

[Purpose] This study aimed to investigate the clinical effects of virtual reality-based training and task-oriented training on balance performance in stroke patients. [Subjects and Methods] The subjects were randomly allocated to 2 groups: virtual reality-based training group (n = 12) and task-oriented training group (n = 12). The patients in the virtual reality-based training group used the Ni...

Quinlan et al. [Quinlan, p., van der Mass, H., Jansen, B., Booij, O., & Rendell, M. (this issue). Re-thinking stages of cognitive development: An appraisal of connectionist models of the balance scale task. Cognition, doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2006.02.004] use Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to criticize a connectionist model of development on the balance-scale task, arguing that LCA shows that this ...

BACKGROUND Stepping response may be considered the most important postural reaction to prevent a fall because it is the inability to respond effectively to a loss of balance that ultimately determines whether a fall occurs. However, very little has been studied on the effect of exercising on step execution behavior in the elderly. OBJECTIVES To explore whether older persons who exercise regul...

0

In this paper, we consider engagement in a triadic humanrobot-task interaction. More specifically, we discuss why we need to perform ‘online’ differentiation and balancing of task and social engagement during human-robot interactions. The results of this work will help us to progress towards uncovering novel ways to design personalised humanrobot interaction experiences. We start by defining th...