Hong Kong Women Project a Larger Body When Speaking to Attractive Men

In this pilot study we investigated the vocal strategies of Cantonese women when addressing an attractive vs. unattractive male. We recruited 19 young female native speakers of Hong Kong Cantonese who completed an attractiveness rating task, followed by a speech production task where they were presented a subset of the same faces. By comparing the rating results and corresponding acoustic data of the facial stimuli, we found that when young Cantonese women spoke to an attractive male, they were less breathy, lower in fundamental frequency, and with denser formants, all of which are considered to project a larger body. Participants who were more satisfied with their own height used these vocal strategies more actively. These results are discussed in terms of the body size projection principle.

The Development of Rhythmic Categories as Revealed Through an Iterative Production Task

Both humans and some non-human animals (e.g., birds and primates) demonstrate bias toward simple integer ratios in auditory rhythms. In humans, biases are found for small integer-ratio rhythms in general. In addition, there are biases for the specific small integer-ratio rhythms common to one’s cultural listening experience. To better understand the developmental trajectory of these biases, we estimated children’s rhythm priors across the entire human rhythm production space of simple rhythms. North American children aged 6-11 years completed an iterative rhythm production task, in which they tapped in synchrony with repeating three-interval rhythms. For each rhythm, the child’s produced rhythm was presented back to them as the stimulus, and over the course of 5 iterations we used their final reproductions to estimate their rhythmic biases or priors. Results suggest that children’s rhythmic priors are (nearly) integer ratios, and the relative weights of the categories observed in children are highly correlated with those of adults. However, we also observed age-related changes especially for the ratio types that vary most across cultures. In an additional rhythm perception task, children were better at detecting rhythmic disruptions to a culturally familiar rhythm (in 4/4 meter with 2:1:1 ratio pattern) than to a culturally unfamiliar rhythm (7/8 meter with 3:2:2 ratios), and performance in this task was correlated with tapping variability in the iterative task. Taken together, our findings provide evidence that children as young as 6 years old exhibit categorical rhythm priors in their rhythm production that closely resemble those of adults in the same culture.

A "Core Skills" Approach to the Assessment of Acquired Language Disorders: Exploration and Cross-Validation

<p>The majority of diagnostic assessments of aphasia—an acquired language disorder that commonly occurs after stroke or brain injury—are based upon the classical model of language. A major limitation of these diagnostic assessments is that they are based upon a very simple neuroanatomical model of language function. In the decades since the classical model, cognitive theories of language function have developed considerably, which provides a much richer framework for the assessment of acquired language disorders. On the basis of this framework, Faulkner, Wilshire, Parker, and Cunningham (2015) developed the Brief Language Assessment for Surgical Tumours (BLAST) for the assessment of language function in brain tumour patients, based upon the notion that language can be decomposed into core cognitive skills. In the current thesis, we evaluate the efficacy of the BLAST in individuals with chronic post-stroke aphasia, cross-validate the core cognitive skills identified by the BLAST with independent measures argued to index the same theoretical construct, and evaluate whether an individual’s linguistic profile on the BLAST is predictive of performance on a more naturalistic sentence production task. The results from the current research can be divided into three primary findings. First, we found that the BLAST could be administered to individuals with post-stroke aphasia, and that the linguistic profiles provided by the BLAST extend far beyond the predictions derived from neural localization and classical diagnostic assessments. Second, we found support for the validity of five of the core cognitive skills. Third, we found some support for the notion that performance on the BLAST may be predictive of performance on a more naturalistic sentence production task. In short, the current findings suggest that the BLAST holds potential as a clinical tool for the assessment of language function in a range of different neurological populations.</p>

A "Core Skills" Approach to the Assessment of Acquired Language Disorders: Exploration and Cross-Validation

<p>The majority of diagnostic assessments of aphasia—an acquired language disorder that commonly occurs after stroke or brain injury—are based upon the classical model of language. A major limitation of these diagnostic assessments is that they are based upon a very simple neuroanatomical model of language function. In the decades since the classical model, cognitive theories of language function have developed considerably, which provides a much richer framework for the assessment of acquired language disorders. On the basis of this framework, Faulkner, Wilshire, Parker, and Cunningham (2015) developed the Brief Language Assessment for Surgical Tumours (BLAST) for the assessment of language function in brain tumour patients, based upon the notion that language can be decomposed into core cognitive skills. In the current thesis, we evaluate the efficacy of the BLAST in individuals with chronic post-stroke aphasia, cross-validate the core cognitive skills identified by the BLAST with independent measures argued to index the same theoretical construct, and evaluate whether an individual’s linguistic profile on the BLAST is predictive of performance on a more naturalistic sentence production task. The results from the current research can be divided into three primary findings. First, we found that the BLAST could be administered to individuals with post-stroke aphasia, and that the linguistic profiles provided by the BLAST extend far beyond the predictions derived from neural localization and classical diagnostic assessments. Second, we found support for the validity of five of the core cognitive skills. Third, we found some support for the notion that performance on the BLAST may be predictive of performance on a more naturalistic sentence production task. In short, the current findings suggest that the BLAST holds potential as a clinical tool for the assessment of language function in a range of different neurological populations.</p>

Young minds’ quest for regularity: Evidence from the Turkish causative

Children's remarkable ability to generalize beyond the input and the resulting overregularizations/ irregularizations provide a platform for a discussion of whether morphology learning uses analogy-based, rule-based, or statistical learning procedures. The present study, testing 115 children (aged 3 to 10) on an elicited production task, investigated the acquisition of the irregular distribution in the Turkish causative. Results showed that in early acquisition, to pin down the four causative suffixes, children engaged in comparisons between analogous exemplars. Thereafter to tackle the irregularity in two of the suffixes, children entertained competing hypotheses that yielded overregularizations and irregularizations. Overregularizations were instances of abstraction across the input based on type frequency; irregularizations were attempts to default to erroneous micro-generalizations. Negative correlation between errors and verb frequency suggested that recovery from errors was sensitive to token frequency. The overgeneralize-then-recover pattern that emerged in the acquisition of causative supported an integrated account of the roles of analogy, abstraction, and frequency in morphology learning.

The Changes in Concentration of Cerebral Oxygenated Hemoglobin During Single Event-Related Japanese Shiritori Task in Patients With Major Depression Disorder: Comparison With Healthy Subjects

Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) have been reported to show cognitive impairments in attention, cognition control, and motivation. The purpose of this study is to compare and examine the characteristics of frontal and temporal cortical activity in outpatients with MDD during the word production task (Shiritori) using a single event-related Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) measurement method that was originally devised. The subjects were 29 MDD patients and 29 age matched healthy controls. In this task, one session consisted of two contrasting conditions (word production task, control condition), and all subjects alternated between these conditions. Each word was visually presented by a monitor for 0.3 s as an activation task and a fixed circle was presented for 12 s. In the activation task, subjects had to immediately generate a noun that starts with the last syllable of the presented word and they were required to say only creatures. From the data obtained at each measurement point during the 20 trials, and averaged waveform during activation task (20 trials) was calculated for each channel. During the word production task, the MDD patients showed significantly smaller activation than the controls in the prefrontal cortex area and inferior parietal area, especially in the left area. In addition, there was a significant negative correlation between Δoxy-Hb at the bilateral temporal lobe area and HAM-D total score in the MDD patients. These findings suggest that a single event-related NIRS measurement during Japanese shiritori tasks may be useful tool for evaluating psychophysiological indices in MDD patients, that relationship between activation and symptom may be of help in predicting functional outcome in patients.

ARRANGEMENT OF ENGINEERING MODELING OF TECHNOLOGICAL SYSTEMS FOR SOLVING PRODUCTION TASKS OF DIVERSE COMPLEXITY

The paper considers a technique that allows to increase the efficiency of solving various types of production tasks based on simulation modeling. The technique considers the process of engineering modeling of technological system components in accordance with conceptual hierarchical levels, which with the deeper level provide an approximation of the simulated object from the initial correspondence in the form of equipment contours to the maximum in the form of a 3D component model based on 3D scanning. This technique allows to choose the most adequate option of modeling the technological system components, corresponding to the complexity of the production task solved by simulation modeling. The application of the technique in the design and engineering services of a machine-building enterprise allows to arrange the modeling process, select all its stages, assign performers, check the execution of the modeling process, ensure that the models correspond to the production task being solved. The technique effectiveness is confirmed by the given examples of solving production tasks of diverse complexity – simulation modeling of gear milling of helical bevel gears and circular tooth pulling. The purpose of the paper is to reduce the complexity of building 3D models of technological systems by engineering services of machine-building enterprises for solving production problems of diverse complexity thanks to the hierarchical structuring of input design information for building 3D models of a technological system and solved production tasks. Research methods: functional differentiation of processes. Research results and novelty: reducing the duration of solving production tasks of diverse complexity by decreasing the time of 3D modeling of technological systems. Conclusions: rational arrangement of engineering modeling based on the hierarchical structuring of input design information for building 3D models of a technological system and solved production tasks allows to reduce the duration of engineering modeling up to two times.

Grammatical gender in Spanish child heritage speakers

This study examines grammatical gender (GG) production in young Spanish heritage-speakers (HSs) and the potential effect of the children’s language use and their parents’ input. We compared four and eight-year-old HSs to same-age monolingual children on their gender production. We measured GG production in determiners and adjectives via an elicited production task. HSs’ parents reported children’s time in each language and also completed the elicitation task. Results show that HSs’ scored significantly lower than monolinguals in both grammatical structures in which the unmarked masculine default predominates. However, older HSs had higher accuracy than younger HSs. Input from parents is not correlated with HSs’ performance and neither Spanish use nor language proficiency predicts GG performance on HSs. For theories of language acquisition, it is important to consider that although the linguistic knowledge of the HSs may differ from that of monolinguals, their grammar is protracted rather than incomplete.

Gradience in subject–verb number agreement: Can bilinguals tune in?

This study investigates native German speakers’ and bilingual Turkish/German speakers’ sensitivity to constraints on verbal agreement with pseudo-partitive subjects such as eine Packung Tabletten (“a pack of pills”). Although number agreement with the first noun phrase (headed by a container noun) is considered to be the norm, agreement with the second (containee) noun phrase is also possible. We combined scalar acceptability ratings with a stochastic constraint-based grammatical framework to model the relative strength of the constraints that determine speakers’ agreement preferences and subsequently tested whether these models could correctly predict speakers’ verb choices in a production task. For both participant groups, number match between the container noun phrase and the verb was the strongest determinant of both acceptability and production choices. The relative ranking of the constraints that we identified was the same for both groups, and the lack of age-of-acquisition effects suggests that constraints on variable subject–verb agreement, and their relative strength, are acquirable by both early and later learners of German. Group differences were seen in the absolute constraint weightings, however, with the bilinguals’ agreement preferences being more strongly influenced by number match with the containee phrase, indicating a comparatively greater reliance on surface-level cues to agreement (such as noun proximity) among the bilingual group.

Mental Fatigue Reduces the Benefits of Self-Controlled Feedback on Learning a Force Production Task

This study investigated the impact of mental fatigue and self-controlled versus yoked feedback on learning a force production task. We randomly assigned 44 non-athlete male students (Mage = 21.4, SD = 1.4 years) to four groups; (a) MF&SCF = mental fatigue & self-controlled feedback, (b) MF&Y = mental fatigue & yoked, (c) NMF&SCF = no mental fatigue & self-controlled feedback, and (d) NMF&Y = no mental fatigue & yoked). SCF group participants were provided feedback whenever they requested it, while YK group participants received feedback according to a schedule created by their SCF counterparts. To induce mental fatigue, participants performed a Stroop color-word task for one hour. During the acquisition (practice) phase, participants were asked to produce a given percentage of their maximum force (20%) in 12 blocks of six trials. We recorded the participants’ absolute error at the end of the acquisition phase, the immediate retention test, the first transfer test, and the second transfer test (after 24 hours and without any further mental fatigue). The acquisition phase data were analyzed in a 2 (feedback) × 2 (mental fatigue) × 12 (block) ANOVA with repeated measures on the last factor, while the retention and transfer data were analyzed in 2 (feedback) × 2 (mental fatigue) ANOVAs. We found that all four groups made significant progress during practice ( p < .001), but there were no significant group differences during this phase ( p>.05). There was a significant interaction effect of self-controlled feedback and mental fatigue at retention ( p = .018) and transfer testing ( p < .001). In the mental fatigue condition, participants in the self-controlled group had poorer learning compared to participants in the yoked group; but when not mentally fatigued, participants in the self-controlled group had better learning than those in the yoked group. These findings suggest that mental fatigue reduces typical advantages of self-controlled feedback in motor learning.