An investigation of the dependency of subject-verb agreement on inhibitory control processes in sentence production

Agreement attraction, i.e., the production or acceptance of a verb that agrees with a noun other than the subject of the sentence, can be viewed as a process in which conflicting cues activate competing representations. The aftermath of such competition, in terms of cognitive processes, remains unclear. Using a novel referential communication task for eliciting agreement errors and both group-level manipulation of control demands and a detailed analysis of individual differences, we provide converging evidence for the role of monitoring and inhibitory control processes in agreement attraction for singular-subject sentences. We further demonstrate the dependence of producing plural verbs on such processes, suggesting the singular form is the prepotent default form. Collectively, these findings provide a clear demonstration for the role of monitoring and control processes in agreement computations, and more generally syntactic operations in sentence production.

The Extent of the Impact of Taxes on Financing Decisions and Control Processes in those Decisions

The debates sparked by the tax treatment of realized, reinvested, and distributed profits led to various taxation techniques, concluding that, while economic theory claims that any company's goal is to maximize profit, the practical reality shows that some companies only want to make a satisfactory profit and thus pay as little tax as possible, In the context of accounting methods that allow businesses to show results that are more in accordance with their goals than with reality, within specified bounds. Based on a set of eight hypotheses that we will test on a sample of industry enterprises using the research methodology of panel-based models, we will try to argue the importance of managing the tax burden and highlight the tax repercussions on investment decisions, their financing methods, and the value of the company.

Theta Neurofeedback Training Supports Motor Performance and Flow Experience

Flow is defined as a cognitive state that is associated with a feeling of automatic and effortless control, enabling peak performance in highly challenging situations. In sports, flow can be enhanced by mindfulness training, which has been associated with frontal theta activity (4-8 Hz). Moreover, frontal-midline theta oscillations were shown to subserve control processes in a large variety of cognitive tasks. Based on previous theta neurofeedback training studies, which revealed that one training session is sufficient to enhance motor performance, the present study investigated whether one 30-minute session of frontal-midline theta neurofeedback training (1) enhances flow experience additionally to motor performance in a finger tapping task, and (2) transfers to cognitive control processes in an n-back task. Participants, who were able to successfully upregulate their theta activity during neurofeedback training (responders), showed better motor performance and flow experience after training than participants, who did not enhance their theta activity (non-responders). Across all participants, increase of theta activity during training was associated with motor performance enhancement from pretest to posttest irrespective of pre-training performance. Interestingly, theta training gains were also linked to the increase of flow experience, even when corresponding increases in motor performance were controlled for. Results for the n-back task were not significant. Even though these findings are mainly correlational in nature and additional flow-promoting influences need to be investigated, the present findings suggest that frontal-midline theta neurofeedback training is a promising tool to support flow experience with additional relevance for performance enhancement.

Further Evidence for the Binding and Retrieval of Control-States From the Flanker Task

In response-interference tasks, congruency effects are reduced in trials that follow an incongruent trial. This congruence sequence effect (CSE) has been taken to reflect top-down cognitive control processes that monitor for and intervene in case of conflict. In contrast, episodic-memory accounts explain CSEs with bottom-up retrieval of stimulus-response links. Reconciling these opposing views, an emerging perspective holds that memory stores instances of control – abstract control-states – creating a shortcut for effortful control processes. Support comes from a study that assessed CSEs in a prime-target task. Here, repeating an irrelevant context feature boosted CSEs, possibly by retrieving previously stored control-states. We present a conceptual replication using the Eriksen flanker task because previous research found that CSEs in the flanker task reflect different control mechanisms than CSEs in the prime-target task. We measured CSEs while controlling for stimulus–response memory effects and manipulated contextual information (vertical spatial location) independently from the stimulus information, which introduced the conflict (horizontal spatial location). Results replicate previous findings – CSEs increased for context-repetition compared to context-changes. This study shows that retrieval of control-states is not limited to a specific task or context feature and therefore generalizes the notion that abstract control parameters are stored into trial-specific event files.

IMPROVEMENT OF ROBOTIC SYSTEMS BASED ON VISUAL CONTROL

The subject of research in the article is the use of adaptive visual control in flexible integrated robotic systems. The goal of the work is the integration of visual control facilities into automated control systems for transport and handling operations of flexible integrated production. The article solves the following tasks: analyze the application of visual control methods in robotics, consider methods for improving adaptive visual work control systems, formulate the basic requirements for adaptive visual control systems, and develop a control model for a mobile robot in the space of a flexible integrated production systems and computer vision systems. To solve the set tasks, the methods of set theory, methods of automatic control theory, and methods of the theory of image processing were used. The following results were obtained: the analysis of visual control systems was carried out from the point of view of solving the problems of flexible integrated systems of modern production; the adaptive visual control scheme was improved by introducing a declarative workspace model and a functional model of a flexible integrated system; the main requirements and tasks of adaptive visual control systems are formulated; considered the main stages of processing visual information and their practical implementation, including multi-zone workspaces; a model of visual control of a mobile robot in a flexible integrated production workspace has been developed; the practical tasks of managing mobile platforms have been solved. Conclusions: the use of adaptive visual control in a production environment will allow combining the elements of flexible integrated production distributed in space, providing monitoring, control and refinement of control processes in real time, the functioning of intelligent control tools, which will improve the quality of control processes.

Irving S. Wright Award: Cellular recycling in aging and disease: The importance of taking out the trash

Aging is greatly influenced by quality-control processes that keep the materials inside our cells in proper shape and function. One of these processes is called autophagy, which means "self-eating". This cellular recycling process can digest damaged components to provide new and better parts for the cell. Autophagy plays important roles in many age-related diseases and has been directly linked to aging. In our laboratory, we use the microscopic soil-dwelling round worm C. elegans to understand how autophagy is linked to aging and disease. In this Wright Award seminar, I will discuss our progress on understanding how autophagy is regulated during normal aging and how it may promote a long and healthy lifespan.

Visualization of Control Processes a nd Code Validation

The article contains an overview of articles related to the description of control process visualization. It provides short information on how to visualize the production line based on two programming environments: Factory IO and Inventor together with Matlab/Simulink. The analysis of these two environments concerns control of a virtual 3D object from a real PLC. Both virtual production line projects are based on control from the S7-1214 DC/DC/DC controller. Currently, there is a need to validate the program code or control process which has been done using several commercially available programs.