Innate Endowment Research Articles

Large Language Models and the Argument from the Poverty of the Stimulus

Abstract How much of our linguistic knowledge is innate? According to much of theoretical linguistics, a fair amount. One of the best-known (and most contested) kinds of evidence for a large innate endowment is the so-called argument from the poverty of the stimulus (APS). In a nutshell, an APS obtains when human learners systematically make inductive leaps that are not warranted by the linguistic evidence. A weakness of the APS has been that it is very hard to assess what is warranted by the linguistic evidence. Current Artificial Neural Networks appear to offer a handle on this challenge, and a growing literature over the past few years has started to explore the potential implications of such models to questions of innateness. We focus here on Wilcox et al. (2023), who use several different networks to examine the available evidence as it pertains to wh-movement, including island constraints. They conclude that the (presumably linguistically-neutral) networks acquire an adequate knowledge of wh-movement, thus undermining an APS in this domain. We examine the evidence further, looking in particular at parasitic gaps and across-the-board movement, and argue that current networks do not, in fact, succeed in acquiring or even adequately approximating wh-movement from training corpora that roughly correspond in size to the linguistic input that children receive. We also show that the performance of one of the models improves considerably when the training data are artificially enriched with instances of parasitic gaps and across-the-board movement. This finding suggests, albeit tentatively, that the failure of the networks when trained on natural, unenriched corpora is due to the insufficient richness of the linguistic input, thus supporting the APS.

Exploring and developing diverse potentials and abilities – new perspectives

This article presents novel approaches to exploring and developing children’s diverse potentials and abilities. Traditionally, potential has been understood as an individual’s innate endowment, primarily pertaining to intelligence, facilitating achievement. However, new perspectives encompass a broader spectrum of factors, including psychosocial aspects. This article examines two concepts. The first one is the Theory of Positive Disintegration, which focuses on the personal, emotional, and moral development of individuals. According to this theory, a strong developmental potential and its content play a crucial role in the development of personality and abilities. Gifted individuals exhibit characteristics such as heightened intensity of experiences and sensations, as well as asynchronous development. Education should embrace the unique and individualized growth of gifted individuals, with the aim of facilitating their development towards higher values and a complete personality. The second concept under examination is the Talent Development Megamodel, which focuses on domain-specific abilities. Within this framework, distinct trajectories of talent development are delineated based on an individual’s domain-specific ability and potential associated with abilities and psychosocial skills. The objective of education within the Megamodel is to foster achievements and ultimately exceptional accomplishments among the gifted.

Co-Occurring Autism Spectrum and Borderline Personality Disorder: An Emerging Clinical Challenge Seeking Informed Interventions.

Co-Occurring Autism Spectrum and Borderline Personality Disorder: An Emerging Clinical Challenge Seeking Informed Interventions.

Group Mind in Anyiam-Osigwe’s Development Philosophy

This work deals with the philosophical reflections of Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe (1921-1988). He was a sage philosopher (a concept employed here in contradistinction to the term ‘professional philosopher’), whose philosophical reflections, apart from having metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical dimensions, address certain socio-political issues. An important idea in his corpus is subjected to critical interrogation in this paper. This is the idea of the group mind, a concept which is an embodiment of his reflections on how a group of people can develop institutions that can foster cooperative living. The idea further addresses how the individual can position himself for reorganisation of society by keying into social aspirations through adherence to norms, values and development of spirituality. The individual is to de-emphasise the self in relation to the others, and live the group’s vision. To achieve this, the individual is to through introspection, self-searching, self-analysis, self-awareness, and self-knowledge, gain access to their innate endowments and bring these to bear on group cohesion. In Nigeria’s case, lack of a sense of nationhood militates against patriotism and, in a democracy, denies the group a collective basis for holding politicians accountable for actions. There is, thus, the issue of distrust which makes consensus tough or nearly impossible. Anyiam-Osigwe’s notion of the group mind addresses this problem in Nigeria, if understood and applied.

THE INFLUENCE MECHANISM OF OUTWARD FDI REVERSE TECHNOLOGY SPILLOVERS ON CHINA’S GREEN INNOVATION

With rapid global development, outward foreign direct investment (FDI) has become a controversial issue, mainly focused on whether it is helpful to domestic green innovation, especially in developing countries. How does outward FDI reverse spillover technology to China, and does China’s innate endowment restrict it? The relevant mechanisms remain unclear. Therefore, this study investigated the heterogeneous effect of absorptive capacity on the impact path of reverse technology spillovers of outward FDI on green innovation in China. A fixed-effects panel model and stepwise regression analyze the direct relationship between outward FDI and green innovation and the mediating relationship of absorptive capacity. Threshold analysis reveals the mutation point of the mediating effect of absorptive capacity among China’s 31 provinces. Domestic green innovation is directly stimulated by more significant reverse technology spillovers of outward FDI. Absorptive capacity has an indirect impact as an intervening variable. The mediating effect will only make sense on one side of the threshold because the transformation effectiveness of green innovation is improved only by greater absorptive capacity, including adequate green financial support, more outstanding human capital, and a smaller technology gap. Moreover, it revealed significant regional heterogeneity in China.

Who is more likely to start a business? Analysis of the factors influencing undergraduates' entrepreneurial intentions.

Entrepreneurial intention is an important condition for promoting substantive entrepreneurial behavior, which in turn alleviates employment pressure and promotes sustainable economic and social development. Based on national survey data of university students, descriptive statistical analysis of variables and binary logistic regression analysis were used to empirically analyze the factors influencing university students’ entrepreneurial intentions in five aspects, including innate endowment, acquired characteristics, entrepreneurship courses, and entrepreneurial practice, and social support. The regression results showed that both the factors of innate endowment and acquired characteristics passed the significance test. The entrepreneurship course factor had a significant impact on entrepreneurial intention, with the mean value of the number of entrepreneurship courses hitting 1.80, which is much lower than the other subdivision factors, indicating that there is a greater demand for entrepreneurship courses offered by university students, while the actual situation is less than satisfactory. The entrepreneurial practice factor is also an important factor, with an overall mean of 3 or more, and has a significant impact on entrepreneurial intentions, but in comparison, the factor of having an off-campus practice base for entrepreneurial practice has the lowest mean score, which shows that there is some room for improvement in the construction of off-campus practice bases. The social support factor significantly influences the willingness to start a business, and the mean score for each factor is above the medium level. By understanding which students are more willing to start a business and which factors are more likely to influence their willingness to start a business, we can further consider what kind of entrepreneurial skills and entrepreneurship education can lead to high-quality entrepreneurship and employment.

Executive poverty experience and innovation performance: A study of moderating effects and influencing mechanism.

This paper analyzes the impact mechanism of executive poverty experience on innovation performance from the two logics of “innate endowment” and “endogenous power.” It then explores the moderating role of executive characteristics, firm nature, and market competition from the perspective of heterogeneity, and finally proves the influence mechanism. Using the data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2012 to 2020, the empirical results show that executives’ poverty experience improves corporate innovation performance. Further studies find that female executives with poverty experience have a more significant impact on innovation performance. Additionally, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) weaken the positive effects of executives with poverty experiences on innovation performance. The impact of executive poverty experience on innovation performance is more significant in fierce market competition. The mediating result suggests that executive poverty experience improves innovation performance partly by inhibiting R&D manipulation. The findings remain valid through Propensity Score Matching (PSM) tests, the Heckman two-stage, and alternative indicator measures. Using the early life poverty experience of executives, this study promotes research on the factors influencing corporate innovation. It also provides empirical evidence for improving corporate innovation performance through a study of moderating effects and influencing mechanisms.

Simplicity and the form of grammars

The goal of theory construction is explanation: for language, theory for particular languages (grammar) and for the faculty of language FoL (the innate endowment for language acquisition). A primitive notion of simplicity of grammars is number of symbols, but this is too crude. An improved measure distinguishes grammars that capture genuine properties of language from those that do not. The theory of FoL must meet the empirical conditions of learnability (under extreme poverty of stimulus), and evolvability (given the limited but not insignificant evidence available). Recent work provides promising insights into how these twin conditions may be satisfied.

Universal Grammar: Arguments for its Existence

The first part of this paper discusses the rationale for universal grammar (UG) theory to explain first language acquisition. It also illustrates the issues of language acquisition Chomsky argued which could not be supported by behaviourist theories and shows how Chomsky proposed a solution to this problem through his theoretical model of universal grammar. The next part outlines this theory’s key tenets, arguing that these principles must be an innate endowment of the human mind. Moreover, the study illustrates specific examples of grammatical phenomena that universal grammar seeks to explain. Lastly, it shows that certain distinct grammatical features are linked and that these connections can be explained within the Universal Grammar theoretical framework. The only reasonable explanation for the first language learning needs only limited linguistic exposure to activate them and set criteria for the language being learned for children whose minds have already been wired with essential language concepts.

Research status of traditional Chinese medicine physique identification in the field of gynecology

TCM physique is formed on the basis of innate endowment and acquired in the course of an individual's life. It is an inherent characteristic that is comprehensively displayed through various aspects of morphology, physical function and mental state. Traditional Chinese medicine has always said that "the pre-treatment of the disease is treated by the workmanship, and the pre-existing disease is treated by the work of the traditional Chinese medicine." More and more scholars have paid attention to and explored. Starting from the current domestic research status, explore the susceptibility of various diseases in TCM gynecology, analyze the pathogenesis of the occurrence, evolution, and development of the disease, guide the prevention, diagnosis and treatment, rehabilitation and health of the disease, and lay the foundation for subsequent research. Through the analysis of the correlation between TCM physique identification and various diseases of TCM gynecology, we hope that women with biased physique can be treated with traditional Chinese medicine as soon as possible, so as to reduce their incidence from the source, and give full play to TCM treatment, body differentiation, and disease diagnosis. The advantages of the combination of syndrome differentiation concepts provide certain research ideas and theoretical basis for the clinical prevention and treatment of TCM gynecological related diseases, and on this basis, guide women's daily health care, improve reproductive health and quality of life, and save medical resources It also has far-reaching social significance.

The Supply And Demand Of Status By Skill Levels

We determine how the supply and demand of hierarchically ranked agents within a status system affect its population and income inequalities. The supplies of high and low status agents are determined by parents who optimally choose investments in their children's human capital. The incentive of high status parents is to help their children maintain their own high status, while lower status parents are incentivized to help their children achieve higher status. Given that status is scarce and desireable, the parents naturally engage in a Nash-Cournot game. The solution of the supply problem yields a population complement-subtitute relationship between human capital investment and innate endowments; it requires either complementarity for one status type and substitution for the other status type as functions of the exogenous factors, never the same for both status types. The demand side under perfect insight is restricted to socio-economic systems in which differential skill levels determine status differentials (Acemoglu-Autor (2011). The solution of the combined supply and demand status model gives the main contribution of the present paper: a micro theory of skill-based status income inequality. Assuming high and low status agents are technological substitutes, the income of high status agents exceeds that of low status agents; and that inequality grows the larger is the relative relative population supply. The last section of the paper introduces uncertainty or luck due to statistical sampling by characterizing the relative population of status types as a Markov chain governed by a binomial distribution. It turns out that luck plays a larger role (compared to income inequality under perfect insight) in determining income inequality when two types of status agents are technolgical subtitutes than when they are technological complements.

Exploring the role of parental engagement in non-cognitive skill development over the lifecourse

We examine the role that parental engagement with child’s education plays in the lifecourse dynamics of locus of control (LOC), one of the most widely studied non-cognitive skills related to economic decision-making. We focus on parental engagement as previous studies have shown that it is malleable, easy to measure, and often available for fathers, whose inputs are notably understudied in the received literature. We estimate a standard skill production function using rich British cohort data. Parental engagement is measured with information provided at age 10 by the teacher on whether the father or the mother is very interested in the child’s education. We deal with the potential endogeneity in parental engagement by employing an added-value model, using lagged measures of LOC as a proxy for innate endowments and unmeasured inputs. We find that fathers’, but not mothers’, engagement leads to internality, a belief associated with positive lifetime outcomes, in both young adulthood and middle age for female and socioeconomically disadvantaged cohort members. Fathers’ engagement also increases the probability of lifelong internality and fully protects against lifelong externality. Our findings highlight that fathers play a pivotal role in the skill production process over the lifecourse.

A computational perspective on social attachment

Humans depend on social relationships for survival and wellbeing throughout life. Yet, individuals differ markedly in their ability to form and maintain healthy social relationships. Here we use a simple mathematical model to formalize the contention that a person’s attachment style is determined by what they learn from relationships early in life. For the sake of argument, we therefore discount individual differences in the innate personality or attachment style of a child, assuming instead that all children are simply born with an equivalent, generic, hardwired desire and instinct for social proximity, and a capacity to learn. In line with the evidence, this innate endowment incorporates both simple bonding instincts and a capacity for cognitively sophisticated beliefs and generalizations. Under this assumption, we then explore how distinct attachment styles might emerge through interaction with the child’s early caregivers. Our central question is, how an apparently adaptive capacity to learn can yield enduring maladaptive attachment styles that generalize to new relationships. We believe extensions of our model will ultimately help clarify the complex interacting mechanisms – both acquired and innate – that underpin individual differences in attachment styles. While our model is relatively abstract, we also attempt some connection to known biological mechanisms of attachment.

An analytical approach to examine the influence of innate endowment, human capital and social insurance difference on decision-making of labor force

This paper introduces the reputation model of information economics and constructs a mathematical model containing innate endowment, human capital, social insurance difference which vividly portrays decision-making of labor force with different innate endowment and human capital in two different social insurance systems of Beijing and Hebei province. The results showed that labors with high ability and high human capital will choose to work in Hebei province if the synergy of social insurance systems among Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province can not keep up with the integration process of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province which does not match the goal of Beijing as the center of innovation and technology in China in the future. On the contrary, if the “siphon effect” of Beijing on the human resources in Hebei area has not been effectively alleviated, it will inevitably increase the payment pressure of the Hebei social insurance fund. Therefore, in the process of integration of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province, the three governments must increase the overall use of social insurance funds of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province as well as accelerate the synergy of social insurance systems of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province.

Complements and Substitutes between Innate Endowments and Human Capital Investment

This paper disputes the claim that efficiency requires complementarity between innate endowments and human capital investment. This entails that parents invest more in highly endowed children. In an elementary supply-demand model, both substitutes as well as complements can arise. Substitution is consistent with human capital investment in less innately-endowed progeny without invoking Rawlsian rules of allocation. The model is driven by the basic assumption that all parents want their children to achieve the highest status possible. We derive optimal human capital investments in an ideal environment, one that contains no obstruction to the expression of merit. Also, we begin to show how heterogeneous innate endowments affect the marginal cost conditions that yield substitution.

Complements and Substitutes between Innate Endowments and Environmental Factors

We dispute the claim that economic efficiency entails complementarity between endowed talent and human capital investment, absent credit constraints. Complementarity means that parents invest more in highly endowed children. We show that even in a minimal, value-free, model in which marginal benefits of human capital are optimized, endowments and human capital investment are substitutes as well as complements. Depending on the level of marginal costs of human capital, this argues that human capital investment in less endowed children cannot be dismissed in a demand and supply model. Though our attempt here is basic to the point of simplicity, it begins to provide salient sufficient conditions for substitution and complementarity of those attributes based on marginal costs and the demand for human capital.

Abandoning the 'theoretical apartheid' between nature and nurture: human infants hold the key.

In Anthropology and the Cognitive Challenge, Bloch tells the intertwining tales of two protagonists – psychology and anthropology (Bloch 2012). With a keen eye for historical and intellectual trends, he identifies political and intellectual tensions that have hampered both fields. Arguing convincingly for abandoning the old ‘theoretical apartheid’ between nature and culture (in anthropology), which runs parallel to the pernicious theoretical tension between innateness and learning (in psychology), he also calls for relaxing disciplinary boundaries, maintaining that advances in the psychological sciences will enrich, rather than threaten, advances in anthropology and related social sciences. Of course, our innate endowments and capacity for experience-based learning are both essential. These twin engines of development influence one another dynamically, in ways that often go unnoticed, in a process often dubbed ‘experiential canalization’. Viewed from this perspective, our earliest endowments are shaped by the cascading influences of early experience, which in turn promote certain developmental outcomes (the acquisition of specific abilities, behavioural responses or even gene responses) over others (Blair and Raver 2012; Gottlieb 1997). Research with human infants holds some of the appeal of the ‘exotic’ that has so often captivated the imaginations and research agendas of social scientists. But infancy work offers considerably more promise for identifying our earliest, most ‘primitive’ capacities and for tracing how these are shaped by experience. If we begin early enough, infancy research permits us to identify the core initial capacities that guide learning in all humans, even before the contexts in which we live begin to shape the very phenomena that we see as worthy of attention and inquiry (Medin and Bang 2014). If we consider the environment carefully enough, infancy research permits us to witness the earliest imprints of experience and to trace how experience shapes opportunities for subsequent learning. Two uniquely human features – our altricial status at birth and our unparalleled capacity for learning – contribute jointly to our ability to acquire language and create culture. Because human infants are considerably less mature at birth than other species’ young, their very survival requires prolonged proximity to caregivers. Moreover, human infants’ neurological and behavioural plasticity ensures an exquisite sensitivity to early experience. This, coupled with their close interactions with elders and their own innate capacities, set the stage for the acquisition of language and transmission of culture, our species’ most powerful conduits for the transmission of knowledge.

Suggestion of experimental model on the innate kidney essence insufficiency syndrome for the development of humanitas traditional medicine

According to the traditional Korean medicine (TKM), kidney has been recognized as the roof of innate endowment because it plays an important role in the birth, growth, sexual reproduction, and aging. Kidney essence insufficiency syndrome (KEIS) is caused when kidney is impaired. KEIS is characterized by retarded development, decreased reproduction, tinnitus, loosening of teeth, and loss of hair and forgetfulness. In traditional Chinese medicine, KEIS mouse model was established by use of threatinjuring the kidney combined with over-fatigue. However, the TKM theory-based KEIS experiment model has not been described correctly. In the present study, we suggest a new KEIS experiment model including following cases; 1) weakness of father essence and mother blood, 2) life nurturing during pregnancy, 3) full-term gestation period.

The ontogenetic origins of mirror neurons: evidence from ‘tool-use’ and ‘audiovisual’ mirror neurons

Since their discovery, mirror neurons--units in the macaque brain that discharge both during action observation and execution--have attracted considerable interest. Whether mirror neurons are an innate endowment or acquire their sensorimotor matching properties ontogenetically has been the subject of intense debate. It is widely believed that these units are an innate trait; that we are born with a set of mature mirror neurons because their matching properties conveyed upon our ancestors an evolutionary advantage. However, an alternative view is that mirror neurons acquire their matching properties during ontogeny, through correlated experience of observing and performing actions. The present article re-examines frequently overlooked neurophysiological reports of 'tool-use' and 'audiovisual' mirror neurons within the context of this debate. It is argued that these findings represent compelling evidence that mirror neurons are a product of sensorimotor experience, and not an innate endowment.

The emergence of distinctive features (review)

Reviewed by: The emergence of distinctive features Abigail C. Cohn The emergence of distinctive features. By Jeff Mielke . (Oxford studies in typology and linguistic theory.) Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Pp. xviii, 280. ISBN 9780199233373. $39.95. A fundamental question in phonology is the role of distinctive features in characterizing phonological patterns of the world's languages in terms of their inventories, phonotactics, and alternations. One view widely held since the 1960s is that distinctive features, characterized in terms of the phonetic capabilities of humans, are universal, and that their universality is explained by their being innate: The total set of features is identical with the set of phonetic properties that can in principle be controlled in speech; they represent the phonetic capabilities of man, and we would assume, are therefore the same for all languages. (Chomsky & Halle 1968:294-95) The significant linguistic universals are those that must be assumed to be available to the child learning a language as an a priori, innate endowment. (Chomsky & Halle 1968:4) Under this view, so-called NATURAL CLASSES—widely attested crosslinguistic patterns characterized in terms of shared phonetic properties—are accounted for by the conjunction of small sets of innate distinctive features. In The emergence of distinctive features, Jeff Mielke challenges this view in a both provocative and compelling way. Based on a database of phonological alternations culled from an extensive set of descriptive grammars, he argues that an innate distinctive feature theory is not adequate and duplicates other independently needed explanations. He argues that an emergent feature theory, where 'features are abstract categories based on generalizations that emerge from phonological patterns' (9), offers a better account of natural and unnatural classes. Overall, the book serves as a challenge to the widely held view of distinctive features as innate. It sets an agenda for testing the viability of phonologically active features as emergent, which at this stage is more a programmatic alternative rather than a full-fledged theory, and calls upon all of us to rethink the nature of phonological primitives. This work (a revised version of the author's 2004 dissertation) consists of eight chapters (192 pages), three appendices, and an extensive set of references, as well as general, language, and feature indices (82 pages); together they make the book user-friendly and accessible. Well written and carefully edited (with almost no typos!), this book is available in both hardback and paperback, thus increasing the accessibility of this significant and timely work. It is complemented by an online searchable database of phonological alternations that M constructed for the study (available at http://aix1.uottawa.ca/~jmielke/pbase/index.html). The organization of the book blends discussion of the central issues and themes with the empirical foundation of the study. Chs. 1 and 2 frame the issues surrounding distinctive feature theory, asking whether an innate or emergent theory is more adequate. Ch. 5 amplifies on what an emergent theory would look like, and Ch. 8 proposes a general model for the emergence of linguistic structure. Ch. 3 provides the methodology for the database survey, while Chs. 4, 6, and 7 present results from the study. The book and accompanying database will be of interest to students and scholars of phonology, as well as those interested in broader themes about the nature of linguistic knowledge and sources of explanation in linguistics. The main argument of the book is as follows: The purpose of this book is to argue that there are many sound patterns that innate features cannot account for, that there is no direct evidence for innate features, and that observations about sound patterns are better accounted for by emergent feature theory, a theory of how the development of sound patterns leads to the recurrence of particular groups of sounds, or natural classes. (2) To address the multiple uses of the term 'natural class', M introduces PHONOLOGICALLY ACTIVE CLASSES—classes of sounds that are observed to pattern together phonologically. Thus, Mreframes the central question: What is or are the most appropriate explanations for the phonologically active [End Page 647] classes across the world's languages? A further terminological distinction that would also be useful is between UNIVERSAL and INNATE, which Mat...