arXiv subjects

Neguine Rezaii

Publications and source records attributed to Neguine Rezaii.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Do Multimodal Large Language Models Need Reasoning to Classify Dementia from Speech?

Multimodal large language models (MLLMs) have emerged as a promising approach for improving the accuracy, transferability, and explainability of automatic dementia classification (ADC) systems from voice recordings. Yet it remains unclear whether their reasoning capabilities are beneficial for ADC, and how such capabilities should be leveraged. In this paper, we conduct a careful evaluation of reasoning MLLMs for ADC and show that naive strategies, such as relying on text-based rationales, can lead to hallucinated and inconsistent rationales for diagnosis and yield inferior ADC performance compared with LLM-free baselines. To overcome this limitation, we propose \textbf{De}mentia \textbf{T}hinker with Nonlinear \textbf{A}daptor and Re\textbf{i}nforcement \textbf{L}earning (DeTAiL), an adaptor-based framework that exploits the internal representations of reasoning MLLMs for improved dementia classification. Across two dementia datasets with distinct test formats and label granularities, DeTAiL consistently outperforms strong baselines and methods that rely on text-based rationales. Code and demo will be released upon acceptance.

eess.AS↗

arXiv2026

The grip of grammar on meaning uncertainty: cross-linguistic evidence, neural correlates, and clinical relevance

Isolated word meanings are inherently uncertain. This uncertainty reduces when they are combined and anchored in context. We propose that grammar compresses meaning uncertainty cross-linguistically, which is reflected in brain and selectively disrupted in disorders. Compression was operationalized as the relative difference between non-contextual surprisal estimated from lexical frequency, and contextual surprisal from grammar-sensitive models. In narratives from 20 languages, contextual surprisal reduced frequency-based surprisal. This reduction closely tracked the surprisal cost of reversing word order, and scaled with richer, non-redundant lexis as organized by more complex but optimal dependency structure. During fMRI, surprisal and its reduction explained BOLD activity for comprehension and production in overlapping but distinct regions. Uncertainty reduction was significantly attenuated in aphasia, dementia, and schizophrenia, but remained intact where primary deficit is not language. These findings position uncertainty reduction via grammar as a foundational concept that illuminates principles, brain basis, and disruptions of language.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2025

An N-of-1 Artificial Intelligence Ecosystem for Precision Medicine

Artificial intelligence in medicine is built to serve the average patient. By minimizing error across large datasets, most systems deliver strong aggregate accuracy yet falter at the margins: patients with rare variants, multimorbidity, or underrepresented demographics. This average patient fallacy erodes both equity and trust. We propose a different design: a multi-agent ecosystem for N-of-1 decision support. In this environment, agents clustered by organ systems, patient populations, and analytic modalities draw on a shared library of models and evidence synthesis tools. Their results converge in a coordination layer that weighs reliability, uncertainty, and data density before presenting the clinician with a decision-support packet: risk estimates bounded by confidence ranges, outlier flags, and linked evidence. Validation shifts from population averages to individual reliability, measured by error in low-density regions, calibration in the small, and risk--coverage trade-offs. Anticipated challenges include computational demands, automation bias, and regulatory fit, addressed through caching strategies, consensus checks, and adaptive trial frameworks. By moving from monolithic models to orchestrated intelligence, this approach seeks to align medical AI with the first principle of medicine: care that is transparent, equitable, and centered on the individual.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2022

The syntax-lexicon tradeoff in writing

As speakers turn their thoughts into sentences, they maintain a balance between the complexity of words and syntax. However, it is unclear whether this syntax-lexicon tradeoff is unique to the spoken language production that is under the pressure of rapid online processing. Alternatively, it is possible that the tradeoff is a basic property of language irrespective of the modality of production. This work evaluates the relationship between the complexity of words and syntactic rules in the written language of neurotypical individuals on three different topics. We found that similar to speaking, constructing sentences in writing involves a tradeoff between the complexity of the lexical and syntactic items. We also show that the reduced online processing demands during writing allows for retrieving more complex words at the cost of incorporating simpler syntax. This work further highlights the role of accessibility of the elements of a sentence as the driving force in the emergence of the syntax-lexicon tradeoff.

cs.CL↗