Cognitive Science

Event-related brain potentials were recorded to morphologically correct and incorrect regular and irregular past tense verb forms presented in sentences and in lists. In the sentence context, all incorrect verb forms elicited a broadly distributed late posterior positivity, as well as a left anterior negativity (LAN) that was particularly pronounced for the incorrect irregulars. Using a single-word paradigm, we did not find a LAN for any of the incorrect verb forms but found an N400-like effect for all irregular verbs. In the sentence context, only the incorrect irregulars elicited a long-lasting, broadly distributed late positivity, reminiscent of the P600. For regular verbs, responses to incorrect forms produced smaller, more time restricted effects. These data show that morphological and syntactic violations produce similar patterns of brain activity, suggesting that these two systems engage cognitive processes with similar underlying neural substrates.

In three experiments we compared the performance of native English speakers to that of Spanish–English and Dutch–English bilinguals on a masked morphological priming lexical decision task. The results do not show significant differences across the three experiments. In line with recent meta-analyses, we observed a graded pattern of facilitation across stem priming with transparent suffixed primes (e.g., viewer–view), opaque suffixed or pseudo-suffixed primes (e.g., corner–corn) and form control primes (e.g., freeze–free). Priming was largest in the transparent condition, smallest in the form condition and intermediate in the opaque condition. Our data confirm the hypothesis that bilinguals largely adopt the same processing strategies as native speakers (e.g., Lemhöfer et al., 2008), and constrain the hypothesis that bilinguals rely more heavily on whole-word processing in their second language ( ,  and ). The observed pattern of morphological priming is in line with earlier monolingual studies, further highlighting the reality of semantic transparency effects in the initial stages of word recognition.► We compare masked morphological priming in native and non-native word recognition. ► We find the same graded pattern of facilitation for transparent and opaque items. ► Morphological processing follows the same principles in L1 and L2.

Semantic processing in 10-year-old children and adults was examined using event related potentials (ERPs). The N400 component, an index of semantic processing, was studied in relation to sentences that ended with congruent, moderately incongruent, or strongly incongruent words. N400 amplitude in adults corresponded to levels of semantic incongruity with the greatest amplitude occurring to strongly incongruent sentences at all midline electrodes. In contrast, children’s N400s were greater for both moderately and strongly incongruent sentences but did not differ between these levels of incongruity. This finding suggests that semantic processing may differ in adults and children.

We tested the predictions of a dual-route model of complex word reading according to which morpho-orthographic segmentation is hypothesised to require a fine-grained orthographic code that would be particularly sensitive to letter order, whereas morphosemantic representations are hypothesised to be most rapidly accessed via a coarsegrained orthographic code that is less sensitive to letter order. We predicted that letter transpositions would disrupt morpho-orthographic processing more than morphosemantic processing. In line with these predictions, Experiment 1 showed no priming from opaque pseudo-derived primes containing a letter transposition at the morpheme boundary (masetr-mast) relative to replaced letter controls (masicr-mast) in the presence of significant priming from transposed-letter transparent derived primes (banekr-bank). Similarly, Experiment 2 showed that although complex nonword primes (bankity-bank) generate significant priming effects relative to unrelated primes (farmity-bank), the same primes with letter transpositions (banikty-bank) do not prime relative to transposed unrelated primes (farimty-bank).

We tested the predictions of a dual-route model of complex word reading according to which morpho-orthographic segmentation is hypothesised to require a fine-grained orthographic code that would be particularly sensitive to letter order, whereas morphosemantic representations are hypothesised to be most rapidly accessed via a coarsegrained orthographic code that is less sensitive to letter order. We predicted that letter transpositions would disrupt morpho-orthographic processing more than morphosemantic processing. In line with these predictions, Experiment 1 showed no priming from opaque pseudo-derived primes containing a letter transposition at the morpheme boundary (masetr-mast) relative to replaced letter controls (masicr-mast) in the presence of significant priming from transposed-letter transparent derived primes (banekr-bank). Similarly, Experiment 2 showed that although complex nonword primes (bankity-bank) generate significant priming effects relative to unrelated primes (farmity-bank), the same primes with letter transpositions (banikty-bank) do not prime relative to transposed unrelated primes (farimty-bank).

There has been increased awareness that individuals need not have a binary gender identity (i.e., male or female), but rather, gender identities exist on a spectrum. With this increased awareness, there has also been an increase in the use of they as a singular pronoun when referring to individuals with a non-binary gender identity. Has the processing of singular they changed along with a change in its usage? Previous studies have demonstrated that sentences in which they is co-indexed with singular antecedents, are judged acceptable and are easy to process, but only if the antecedents are non-referential and/or have ambiguous gender; co-indexing they with referential antecedents with unambiguous gender (e.g., Mary) results in lower acceptability ratings and greater processing effort. We investigated whether participants who frequently interacted with individuals with a non-binary gender identity and/or identified as having a non-binary gender themselves would process sentences in w...

We examined the effects of morpho-orthographic decomposition on complex word processing using a combination of masked priming and ERP recordings. The process of morpho-orthographic decomposition was primed by the prior presentation of complex non-words (formed by the combination a legal stem and legal affix, e.g. huntity, cornity, scanity) as prime stimuli. Targets were semantically transparent complex words (e.g. hunter), semantically opaque pseudocomplex words (e.g. corner), and simplex words (e.g. scandal) that contained the same stem as primes or a different stem (e.g., huntity-hunter vs. farmity-hunter). We found a large early (150-200 ms) priming effect for transparent complex words only, followed by widely distributed priming effects between 200 and 300 ms and more spatially focused N400 priming effects for all types of target. Furthermore, in the 150-200 ms time-window, the ERP waveforms generated by pseudocomplex words patterned with those of complex words, both of which generated less negative-going waveforms compared with simplex words. In the N400 time-window, on the other hand, complex words differed from both pseudocomplex and simplex words. The results provide further support for early morpho-orthographic segmentation processes that operate independently of semantic transparency, and suggest that the output of these processes only affects the subsequent processing of truly complex words.

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Widely disseminated videos by Harun Yahya and Zakir Naik show us the manipulation of ideas to construct Muslim identities based on particular understandings of science, especially through representations of evolution and iʿjāz (scientific miracles found in the Qurʾān).  These topics are important because they are hotly contested:  for instance, some Muslims suggest that not accepting human evolution is the normative understanding of Islam, other Muslims suggest that even human evolution is accepted in the Qurʾān.  Still others question why one would look at the Qurʾān at all for scientific theories.  On the other hand, the mainstream media repeat scientific errors by individual Muslim clerics.1  Some of the current discussion of digital humanities delves into social media, but videos within the Muslim world have been little studied beyond basic binaries.2  Through our recent effort to catalogue nearly all the internet videos on science and Islam, our preliminary data suggest ways representations are reused across the video media landscape, creating resonances that may be readily studied.

Videos have, in some ways, become a modern version of the premodern majmuʿa, in which an individual would copy and keep selections of works of interest.  Our contemporary “copyists” might begin by watching a selection of videos, thinking about what they see, and engaging with the ideas through commenting on the videos, posting links to them on other social media, or discussing them with people nearby, like friends and family.  As the video medium becomes more comfortable, they might then copy whole videos onto their own pages, and perhaps eventually integrate the material into their own voice by adding labels or splicing in their own messages.  Even without adding their own voice, through clipping segments of longer videos, individuals highlight issues of concern.  A few might experiment with a video blog.  In the end, just as in the premodern majmuʿa, video clips are often shorn of their original context and grafted into a new context.  Today, unlike the original majmuʿas, “copyists” may seek to attract attention and even economic benefit through views and sales.  Yet just like the premodern majmuʿa, engagement with video is highly personal:  if even just reposting a video clip to your own page means enduring comments, presenting material with your own voice or body in a video must be understood as an active presentation of identity (or identities).

The public nature of this social media process and the relative persistence of videos ensures that these contemporary video majmuʿa present discourses that may portray a wide variety of actors.  Our data demonstrate how broadly disseminated the Turkish-based Harun Yahya’s documentaries are in English.  Yet the lecturer with the largest number of videos is the South Asian medical doctor, Zakir Naik.  The constructions of normative Muslim dogma through these videos, often strikingly contrasted with constructions of Western ideas, influence both Muslims and non-Muslims.  This project analyzes not only the prominent personalities creating original content, but the way video clips are augmented or contrasted with additional material.  This analysis delimits some of the processes of identity construction represented in this medium.

Funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.
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1. For instance, the representations of an Earth-centric universe.  See these videos for some diverse presentations:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-6rTCKde2k,  www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqGt0YV1AMQ, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkwUnzd8ExA.
2. L. Mosemghvdlishvili and J. Jansz, “Framing and praising Allah on YouTube:  Exploring user-created videos about Islam and the motivations for producing them,” New Media & Society 15(4) (2013): 482-500; J. Svensson, “ITZ BIDAH BRO!!!!! GT ME?? -- YouTube Mawlid and Voices of Praise and Blame,” in Muslims and the New Information and Communication Technologies:  Notes from an Emerging and Infinite Field. T. Hoffman and G. Larsson, eds. (Dordrecht: Springer, 2013): 89-111.

Online spoken word poetry employs both audio and visual cues to connect to broader cultures of affinity.  Muslim youth outside of Muslim-majority countries often find internet videos using poetry as a way to connect to others.  Talk Islam from Sydney, Australia has spent the past several years creating short videos that present a their perspectives on a variety of social and religious topics.

One of the earliest of their videos is called the “Meaning of Life” (2013).  I argue that the poem’s author, Kamal Saleh, takes up Muslim science narratives in his video in order to assert a dominance for Islam that Muslims in Sydney may not feel.  The visual and textual idioms combine to construct his view of both globalized Anglophone culture and the Qurʾān as a locus of meaning, creating a cultural piece that has spread worldwide.

The material in this talk was developed from the 2014-15 project through SSiMS to catalogue videos on the internet addressing both science and Islam, funded by the Templeton Foundation.  Evaluations for “The Meaning of Life” and more than two hundred other videos may be found online at www.islamandsciencevideos.com.

Muslim media resounds with a plethora of voices interpreting scripture to “revitalize” Islam and facilitate its engagement with diverse groups. These media and the well-known figures who employ them incorporate discursive threads that at times emphasize constructions of “science”, debunking or accepting science that is often also constructed as “Western” or “Qurʾānic”, or even both. Muslim televangelists such as Zakir Naik present these discourses, utilizing them to augment traditional scriptures in order to gain additional fame. This renown then is constructed as providing them with an authority to speak for and to Muslims globally. For some, this process is part of the democratization of Qurʾānic interpretation that is often connected within various Salafi belief systems, although it is not only found among them.

Although terms like “televangelism” suggest satellite television, these media are increasingly found in online videos, on YouTube and other platforms, where they are consumed on cell phones and computers alike, expanding access well beyond home-based television. The spreadability of these materials, through re-editing and spoofing as well as copying to new platforms or channels, such as embedding them in other social media, suggests that both the media and the discourses enclosed in them do offer extensions to traditional sources of authority.

This paper examines the scientific discourses used by Zakir Naik in online videos that were collected as a part of our research into videos on science and Islam. Zakir Naik was presented in more videos in our catalogue -- three times as many as the next closest figure -- making his use of this discourse an important element in Muslim cultures worldwide. Several prior scholars have noted use of Zakir Naik’s materials in Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and Norway. The recurring use of his “Qurʾān and Modern Science:  Compatible or Incompatible?” in venues around the world demonstrates the interest in the topic. This includes leading with science-related ideas in a Oxford Union appearance (UK) in 2011, demonstrating at least Naik’s belief in its continuing relevance culturally. In addition, Naik’s presentation of the same material in Dubai during Ramadan of 2013/1434 demonstrates his popularity in the central Islamic lands as well. We argue that his material both incorporates and rejects “Western” ideas in order to both build his own brand and develop ways for Muslims in non-majority geographic regions to build certainty into their faith.

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Aḥmad b. Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Kāsānī, popularly known as Makhdūm-i Aʿẓam, the greatest master, is regularly articulated in contemporary literature on the Naqshbandiyya as “the” leader of the Naqshbandiyya at the end of his life.  And yet Makhdūm-i Aʿẓam himself does not articulate the group of which he is a part as being the Naqshbandiyya, but its precursor, the Khwājagān (the masters).  His shrines, one in Dehbid, outside of Samarqand, and another in Kasan-sai, in the Ferghana Valley, built in the past decade, create a factual set for the actual human being, while the works he wrote have taken on a life of their own, traveling well outside of the space within which he lived and died in the end of the fifteenth and the first half of the sixteenth centuries.  During his actual life, Makhdūm-i Aʿẓam’s connections which political leaders and contrasts with other religious figures were relatively common for the elite among the Naqshbandiyya and the Khwājagān.  However, no attention has been paid to how the narratives in Makhdūm-i Aʿẓam’s treatises shifted according to the site of its readership or copying.  Thus, while the idea of Makhdūm-i Aʿẓam remained fixed as far as we know, one might argue that his writings have shifted and changed over time.  This essay will look at one such work, Tanbīh al-salāṭīn (Admonition of the Kings) to begin to tease out some of these shifts, and contextualize it in the sociopolitical spheres of his time.  One of the primary reasons for examining this material closely is that Makhdūm-i Aʿẓam’s intellectual progeny seem to have developed in two separate spheres:  One centered in Bukhara on Muḥammad Islam Juybari (d. 1563), the other centered on Lutfullah Chusti (d. 1571) in Tashkent and eastward.  As one sees in the Naṣīhat al-sālikīn, different copies of the manuscripts show traces of their point of origin, as when one manuscript (ms. 1443) says to “go to Tashkent”, and another (Kattakhanov ms., more on these below) says “came to Tashkent”.

“Childhood studies”, a field in European history, is largely unknown in Islamic studies.  Nur al-Din ʿAbd al-Rahmān Jāmi (d. 898 AH / 1492 CE), author of Bahāristān, wrote the work to educate his son.  Although it is doubtful that he intended to address constructions of masculinity and sexuality in the work explicitly, we may read across the text to draw out the implicit messages about masculinity and sexuality represented there.  This article presents a single literary text as an individual example for how we might begin to read such a text for information on these topics.  Because of Jāmi’s popularity across the Turkic and Persianate lands, the work may have had influence far beyond its temporal and geographic context.

Keywords:  Sufism, Naqshbandiyya, Herat, Central Asia, historiography, childhood, adolescence, sexuality, love, fifteenth century

This grading rubric was designed for use with short essays for an introductory religion course.  Students submit their papers online and I do all my grading online as well, using highlighting in my writing software (Nisus Writer Pro) to quickly mark up basic issues like word choice problems or grammatical errors, so that if the student doesn't quickly see the problem, they can ask me or the school's writing center. 

I often re-weight the parts for different classes with different emphases.  I also enter the segments into my grading spreadsheet separately so that I can follow a student's progress over time, and write better evaluations/recommendations.

For most of my introductory courses, I provide students with daily handouts, which are posted to the course web site after the class.  The handout usually provides the bare bones of what we will cover in the class, plus vocabulary.  This provides students with a way to see common diacritics for Islamic terms (although I never test them on their use), and gives students a way to review what were the dominant topics from a particular reading or discussion.

I use 5-minute papers as a way to facilitate discussions in more advanced classes, as well as to assess how well students are incorporating the material.  Students are given the question on a half-sheet of paper, and given approximately 5 minutes to write on the topic.  I typically then collect them, and grade them before the next class.

Returning them helps me learn student names, and I use them to give students positive feedback, applying stickers (which become more coveted as the semester goes on), drawing cartoons, and writing words of encouragement on them. 

Some 5-minute papers over the semester are more assessment than discussion-prompting; others are designed more to integrate topics.  The scores for the 5-minute papers are wrapped into the class participation grade, so that they do not promote testing anxiety and help students who prepare well but find talking in front of others difficult.

They can create particular problems for students with disabilities, however.  I have been able to work around issues with individual students, by having a conversation about the goals of the exercise and how their individual situation might impact it.  But I can imagine a classroom in which I would not be able to use it because of disability-related issues.

I first saw the technique used at the University of Michigan in a teaching seminar.