空间和语言:人们如何“谈论”空间

本文试图探求在回答人们如何依赖语言或句法谈论空间这一问题上,有关人类认知空间的知觉神经系统科学和空间句法理论是如何得以相互借鉴的。基于捷克岛夫的大脑内部再现模块,对于大脑、感知和语言学的研究大都表明多中心参照体系的空间再现模块和空间的语言表达之间并非存在一一对应的关系。换言之,有很多空间关系是无法用语言来表达的。彼特森等学者认为名词是用来描述作为物质实体的空间、类似场地和物体的,而非对于物体形状的一种语言编码,而介词主要描绘了物体之间的关系而非地点。虽然空间句法理论对于空间的理解截然不同于前述的知觉神经系统学,它认为空间是一个由各种不同关系组合而成的构型实体,它同意语言是具有空间性的。总而言之,空间句法理论从一种构型的方法出发来处理空间复杂性问题,使原来不可谈论的复杂的空间关系变得可描述和分析,从而超越了语言学词典中用以描述空间关系的简单的字词的作用。而且,这种对空间的描述方法进一步从另一个角度阐明了大脑内部多中心参照体系再现模块的存在,而此结论也被知觉神经系统方面的研究验证。综上所述,空间句法理论和知觉神经系统理论对于空间的再现和语言的表达上有着很多共通之处,对于两者的相互借鉴可以加深对于我们所处的空间复杂性的理解。

Financial Decision-Making： The Roles of Intuition, Heuristics, and Impulses

This paper will add to an evolving new paradigm for financial decision-making by exploring the important roles that intuition, heuristics, and impulses play as a bridge between how the conscious and unconscious can work together more effectively in making better decisions. Historically, the roles of financial/accounting theory and cognitive psychology have been extensively studied and documented in attempting to explain individual financial decision-making. More recently, neuroscience has made substantial contributions to learning how prospective financial decisions and outcomes affect brain activity and observed decision-making behavior. The evidence from neuroscience indicates that up to 90% of our decisions are initiated at the unconscious level, which is only beginning to be investigated in a systematic manner. Integrating these findings from multiple disciplines, including recent contributions from neuroscience, has many implications, not only with respect to personal and corporate financial decisions and how markets work, but also as an essential component in the tool box of the general decision maker.