scholarly journals Delving Into the Working Mechanism of Prediction in Sentence Comprehension: An ERP Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunlong Huang ◽  
Minghu Jiang ◽  
Qian Guo ◽  
Yuling Wang

The present study aims to delineate the working mechanism of prediction in sentence comprehension, by disentangling the influence of the facilitated general memory retrieval from the coexistent influence of the predicted language-specific semantic and/or syntactic information for the first time. The results support that prediction might influence the downstream cognitive processing in two aspects: (1) the pre-activated information facilitates the retrieval of a matched input in memory and, (2) the pre-activated information interacts with higher-level semantic/syntactic processing. More importantly, the present findings suggest that these two types of influences seem to occur at different stages of sentence comprehension: the facilitated memory retrieval of the input modulates N400 amplitude and the latency of post-N400 late central-parietal positivity/P600, while the predicted semantic/syntactic information and/or their interactions modulate the amplitude of the late positivity. The present findings would be helpful for interpreting the underlying mechanism of observed effects in prediction studies.

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (6) ◽  
pp. 1285-1296
Author(s):  
Evelien Heyselaar ◽  
Katrien Segaert

We investigate the type of attention (domain-general or language-specific) used during syntactic processing. We focus on syntactic priming: In this task, participants listen to a sentence that describes a picture (prime sentence), followed by a picture the participants need to describe (target sentence). We measure the proportion of times participants use the syntactic structure they heard in the prime sentence to describe the current target sentence as a measure of syntactic processing. Participants simultaneously conducted a motion-object tracking (MOT) task, a task commonly used to tax domain-general attentional resources. We manipulated the number of objects the participant had to track; we thus measured participants’ ability to process syntax while their attention is not taxed, slightly taxed, or overly taxed. Performance in the MOT task was significantly worse when conducted as a dual task compared with as a single task. We observed an inverted U-shaped curve on priming magnitude when conducting the MOT task concurrently with prime sentences (i.e., memory encoding), but no effect when conducted with target sentences (i.e., memory retrieval). Our results illustrate how, during the encoding of syntactic information, domain-general attention differentially affects syntactic processing, whereas during the retrieval of syntactic information, domain-general attention does not influence syntactic processing.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelien Heyselaar ◽  
Katrien Segaert

AbstractWe investigate the type of attention (domain-general or language-specific) used during syntactic processing. We focus on syntactic priming: In this task, participants listen to a sentence that describes a picture (prime sentence), followed by a picture the participants need to describe (target sentence). We measure the proportion of times participants use the syntactic structure they heard in the prime sentence to describe the current target sentence as a measure of syntactic processing. Participants simultaneously conducted a motion-object tracking (MOT) task, a task commonly used to tax domain-general attentional resources. We manipulated the number of objects the participant had to track; we thus measured participants’ ability to process syntax while their attention is not-, slightly-, or overly-taxed. Performance in the MOT task was significantly worse when conducted as a dual-task compared to as a single task. We observed an inverted U-shaped curve on priming magnitude when conducting the MOT task concurrently with prime sentences (i.e., memory encoding), but no effect when conducted with target sentences (i.e., memory retrieval). Our results illustrate how, during the encoding of syntactic information, domain-general attention differentially affects syntactic processing, whereas during the retrieval of syntactic information domain-general attention does not influence syntactic processing.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 1407
Author(s):  
Hongxia Liu ◽  
Wang Zheng ◽  
Qianping Chen ◽  
Yuchuan Zhou ◽  
Yan Pan ◽  
...  

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is one of the most frequent head and neck malignant tumors and is majorly treated by radiotherapy. However, radiation resistance remains a serious obstacle to the successful treatment of NPC. The aim of this study was to discover the underlying mechanism of radioresistance and to elucidate novel genes that may play important roles in the regulation of NPC radiosensitivity. By using RNA-seq analysis of NPC cell line CNE2 and its radioresistant cell line CNE2R, lncRNA CASC19 was screened out as a candidate radioresistance marker. Both in vitro and in vivo data demonstrated that a high expression level of CASC19 was positively correlated with the radioresistance of NPC, and the radiosensitivity of NPC cells was considerably enhanced by knockdown of CASC19. The incidence of autophagy was enhanced in CNE2R in comparison with CNE2 and another NPC cell line HONE1, and silencing autophagy with LC3 siRNA (siLC3) sensitized NPC cells to irradiation. Furthermore, CASC19 siRNA (siCASC19) suppressed cellular autophagy by inhibiting the AMPK/mTOR pathway and promoted apoptosis through the PARP1 pathway. Our results revealed for the first time that lncRNA CASC19 contributed to the radioresistance of NPC by regulating autophagy. In significance, CASC19 might be a potential molecular biomarker and a new therapeutic target in NPC.


2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (10) ◽  
pp. 1667-1678 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regine Oberecker ◽  
Manuela Friedrich ◽  
Angela D. Friederici

Event-related brain potential (ERP) studies of sentence processing in adults have shown that phrase-structure violations are associated with two ERP components: an early left anterior negativity (ELAN) and a late, centro-parietal positivity (P600). Although the ELAN reflects highly automatic first-pass sentence parsing, the P600 has been interpreted to reflect later, more controlled processes. The present ERP study investigates the processing of phrase-structure violations in children below three years of age. Both children (mean age of 2.8 years) and adults passively listened to short active sentences that were either correct or syntactically incorrect. Adults displayed an ELAN that was followed by a P600 to the syntactic violation. Children also demonstrated a biphasic ERP pattern consisting of an early left hemispheric negativity and a late positivity. Both components, however, started later and persisted longer than those observed in adults. The left lateralization of the children's negativity suggests that this component can be interpreted as a child-specific precursor to the ELAN observed in adults. The appearance of the early negativity indicates that the neural mechanisms of syntactic parsing are present, in principle, during early language development.


Author(s):  
Yu-rong Zhu ◽  
Dan Zhang ◽  
Yang Gan ◽  
Fei-hu Zhang

<p>Silicon carbide (SiC) single crystals, along with sapphire and silicon, are one of most important substrates for high-brightness LED fabrications. Owing to extremely high hardness (Mohs&rsquo; scale of 9.5) and chemical inertness, the polishing rate of SiC with conventional chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) methods is not high, and surface scratches are also inevitable because of using slurry containing hard abrasives such as silica particles. Here artemisinin (Qinghaosu) crystals, very soft molecular solids, were found, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, to effectively polish SiC wafers even in pure water as demonstrated by proof-of-concept scratching experiments using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The underlying mechanism is attributed to activated oxidation of SiC by mechanically released reactive &middot;OH free radicals from the endoperoxide bridges. The preliminary results reported here have important implications for developing novel alternative green and scratch-free polishing methods for hard-brittle substrates including SiC and others.</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianfeng Li ◽  
Shaoyu Hu ◽  
Song Hao ◽  
Shengjia Huang ◽  
Yi Qin ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The role of gene and pathway in recurrence of Ewing sarcoma (ES) was not clear. Thus, we investigated the biological role and underlying mechanism of gene and pathway in recurrence of ES. Methods Data sets of patients with ES were collected from the GEO database. We used dataset GSE63155 and GSE63156 to construct co-expression networks by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses were performed by Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID). Results We can find that genes with significant interactions in the genes of the recurrence group include SRSF11, TRIM39, SOCS3,NUPL2,COPS5. They work primarily through the oxidative stress pathway. Conclusion Through our research, for the first time found that ES by SRSF11 TRIM39, SOCS3, NUPL2, COPS5 interaction, activation of phosphorylation of bone and oxidative stress is affecting tumor recurrence.


Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan A Azcona ◽  
Samantha Tang ◽  
Thomas M Jeitner ◽  
Michal Schwartzman ◽  
Austin M Guo

Introduction: Compensatory angiogenic response to ischemia is often insufficient in maintaining adequate tissue perfusion resulting in critical limb ischemia and amputation. Identifying a novel mechanism by which angiogenesis occurs in these conditions is clinically relevant. We recently uncovered that an increase in 20-HETE, an arachidonic acid metabolite of CYP4A/F ω-hydroxylases, regulates post-ischemic angiogenesis. However, the underlying mechanism resulting in this increase is unknown. Hypothesis: Neutrophil-derived myeloperoxidase (MPO) and hypochlorous acid (HOCl) critically contribute to post-ischemic 20-HETE increases that drive angiogenesis. Methods: Hindlimb ischemia was established in mice depleted of neutrophils, macrophages, and MPO (MPO -/- ). Angiogenesis was assessed by laser doppler perfusion imaging and micro-vessel density quantitation in the hindlimb gracilis muscles. MPO and HOCl were detected in these tissues using immunohistochemistry and a HOCl-specific fluorophore. We also determined the effects of MPO and HOCl on 20-HETE production, the expression of 20-HETE synthase CYP4A11, and hypoxia inducible factor-1α in cultured endothelial cells (EC) using LC/MS/MS, real time-PCR and western blot analysis, respectively. Results: We found that ischemia failed to increase 20-HETE production in mice depleted of neutrophils and MPO (13 ± 1.5 vs 35 ± 5 and ~2 ± .25 vs 35 ± 5 pg/mg of protein, respectively), accompanied with a decreased post-ischemic angiogenic phenotype. We also detected the formation of MPO and HOCl in post-ischemic gracilis muscles. MPO and HOCl also significantly stimulate CYP4A11 expression and 20-HETE production (40±12 vs 8±5 pg/mg of protein) in EC. Furthermore, HOCl quickly induces CYP4A11 mRNA/protein expression (2-fold,) and the protein expression of HIF-1α (2-fold) in as little as 15 min. Conclusion: Our studies establish for the first time that neutrophil-derived MPO and HOCl are responsible for promoting 20-HETE increases that critically drive angiogenesis post ischemia. Thus, identifying these novel mediators can further future therapeutic strategies to balance angiogenic responses during ischemia as well as treating diseases that are associated with abnormal angiogenesis.


NeuroImage ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. S187 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.A. Keller ◽  
M.A. Just ◽  
P.A. Carpenter ◽  
K.R. Thulborn

2006 ◽  
Vol 129 (4) ◽  
pp. 789-801 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guohua Qin ◽  
Weihong Zhang ◽  
Zhuxi Wu ◽  
Min Wan

Control of workpiece machining error (WME) is a key concern in the design of a fixture system. In this paper, source errors, which are categorized into workpiece-fixture geometric default and workpiece-fixture compliance, are systematically investigated to reveal their effects upon the WME. The underlying mechanism is that source errors lead to the workpiece position error (WPE), the workpiece elastic deformations (WED), and the inconsistent datum error (IDE), and all of them will contribute together to the WME. Here, the IDE refers to the dimension deviation of the processing datum from the locating datum once two references do not coincide. An overall quantitative formulation is proposed for the computing of WME in terms of WPE, WED, and IDE for the first time. In detail, the WPE raised in the workpiece-locating and clamping process is evaluated based on the geometric defaults and local deformations of workpiece-fixture in the contact region. The WED relative to the workpiece-clamping process is determined by solving a nonlinear mathematical programming problem of minimizing the total complementary energy of the frictional workpiece-fixture system. Some numerical tests are finally demonstrated to validate the proposed approach on the basis of both theoretical and experimental data given in the references.


1988 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beverly B. Wulfeck

The relationship between sentence comprehension and grammaticality judgment was examined for both neurologically intact and agrammatic aphasic subjects. Aphasic subjects were able to make grammaticality judgments and comprehension judgments, but were less accurate than healthy control subjects. However, the tasks appeared dissociated for the aphasic subjects: Both the effects of semantic cues and the hierarchy of difficulty of sentence types differed across the two tasks. Further, the findings suggest that not all aspects of morpho-syntactic processing may be equally disrupted in aphasia. The results argue against both a central deficit view of agrammatic aphasia, and a view suggesting that syntactic processing is intact whereas semantic or thematic mapping is not. Instead, the results indicate that the respective performance domains of comprehension and grammaticality judgment may draw on different processes and/or operate on different aspects of the language input.


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