Talker adaptation in speech perception: adjusting the signal or the representations?

Past research has established that listeners can accommodate a wide range of talkers in understanding language. How this adjustment operates, however, is a matter of debate. Here, listeners were exposed to spoken words from a speaker of an American English dialect in which the vowel /ae/ is raised before /g/, but not before /k/. Results from two experiments showed that listeners' identification of /k/-final words like back (which are unaffected by the dialect) was facilitated by prior exposure to their dialect-affected /g/-final counterparts, e.g., bag. This facilitation occurred because the competition between interpretations, e.g., bag or back, while hearing the initial portion of the input [bae], was mitigated by the reduced probability for the input to correspond to bag as produced by this talker. Thus, adaptation to an accent is not just a matter of adjusting the speech signal as it is being heard; adaptation involves dynamic adjustment of the representations stored in the lexicon, according to the characteristics of the speaker or the context.     

What is the link between language and spatial images? Behavioral and neural findings in blind and sighted individuals

In order to find objects or places in the world, multiple sources of information, such as visual input, auditory input and asking for directions, can help you. These different sources of information can be converged into a spatial image, which represents configurational characteristics of the world. This paper discusses the findings on the nature of spatial images and the role of spatial language in generating these spatial images in both blind and sighted individuals. Congenitally blind individuals have never experienced visual input, yet they are able to perform several tasks traditionally associated with spatial imagery, such as mental scanning, mental pathway completions and mental clock time comparison, though perhaps not always in a similar manner as sighted. Therefore, they offer invaluable insights into the exact nature of spatial images. We will argue that spatial imagery exceeds the input from different input modalities to form an abstract mental representation while maintaining connections with the input modalities. This suggests that the nature of spatial images is supramodal, which can explain functional equivalent results from verbal and perceptual inputs for spatial situations and subtle to moderate behavioral differences between the blind and sighted.     

Infant directed speech and the development of speech perception: Enhancing development or an unintended consequence?

Infant directed speech (IDS) is a speech register characterized by simpler sentences, a slower rate, and more variable prosody. Recent work has implicated it in more subtle aspects of language development. Kuhl et al. (1997) demonstrated that segmental cues for vowels are affected by IDS in a way that may enhance development: the average locations of the extreme “point” vowels (/a/, /i/ and /u/) are further apart in acoustic space. If infants learn speech categories, in part, from the statistical distributions of such cues, these changes may specifically enhance speech category learning. We revisited this by asking (1) if these findings extend to a new cue (Voice Onset Time, a cue for voicing); (2) whether they extend to the interior vowels which are much harder to learn and/or discriminate; and (3) whether these changes may be an unintended phonetic consequence of factors like speaking rate or prosodic changes associated with IDS. Eighteen caregivers were recorded reading a picture book including minimal pairs for voicing (e.g., beach/peach) and a variety of vowels to either an adult or their infant. Acoustic measurements suggested that VOT was different in IDS, but not in a way that necessarily supports better development, and that these changes are almost entirely due to slower rate of speech of IDS. Measurements of the vowel suggested that in addition to changes in the mean, there was also an increase in variance, and statistical modeling suggests that this may counteract the benefit of any expansion of the vowel space. As a whole this suggests that changes in segmental cues associated with IDS may be an unintended by-product of the slower rate of speech and different prosodic structure, and do not necessarily derive from a motivation to enhance development.     

Assessing the role of orthography in speech perception and production: Evidence from picture–word interference tasks

The effects of orthographic and phonological relatedness between distractor word and object name in a picture–word interference task were investigated. In Experiment 1 distractors were presented visually, and consistent with previous findings, priming effects arising from phonological overlap were modulated by the presence or absence of orthographic similarity between distractor and picture name. This pattern is interpreted as providing evidence for cascaded processing in visual word recognition. In Experiment 2 distractors were presented auditorily, and here priming was not affected by orthographic match or mismatch. These findings provide no evidence for orthographic effects in speech perception and production, contrary to a number of previous reports.     

Individuality of movements in music – Finger and body movements during playing of the flute

The achievement of mastery in playing a composition by means of a musical instrument typically requires numerous repetitions and corrections according to the keys and notations of the music piece. Nevertheless, differences in the interpretation of the same music piece by highly skilled musicians seem to be recognizable. The present study investigated differences within and between skilled flute players in their finger and body movements playing the same piece several times on the same and on different days. Six semiprofessional and four professional musicians played an excerpt of Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2 several times on three different days. Finger and body movements were recorded by 3D motion capture and analyzed by linear and nonlinear classification approaches. The findings showed that the discrete and continuous movement timing data correctly identified individuals up to 100% by means of their finger movements and up to 94% by means of their body movements. These robust examples of identifying individual movement patterns contradict the prevailing models of small, economic finger movements that are favored in the didactic literature for woodwind players and question traditional recommendations for teaching the learning of motor skills.     

In the eye of the beholder? Universality and cultural specificity in the expression and perception of emotion

Do members of different cultures express (or “encode”) emotions in the same fashion? How well can members of distinct cultures recognize (or “decode”) each other's emotion expressions? The question of cultural universality versus specificity in emotional expression has been a hot topic of debate for more than half a century, but, despite a sizeable amount of empirical research produced to date, no convincing answers have emerged. We suggest that this unsatisfactory state of affairs is due largely to a lack of concern with the precise mechanisms involved in emotion expression and perception, and propose to use a modified Brunswikian lens model as an appropriate framework for research in this area. On this basis we provide a comprehensive review of the existing literature and point to research paradigms that are likely to provide the evidence required to resolve the debate on universality vs. cultural specificity of emotional expression. Applying this fresh perspective, our analysis reveals that, given the paucity of pertinent data, no firm conclusions can be drawn on actual expression (encoding) patterns across cultures (although there appear to be more similarities than differences), but that there is compelling evidence for intercultural continuity in decoding, or recognition, ability. We also note a growing body of research on the notion of ingroup advantage due to expression “dialects,” above and beyond the general encoding or decoding patterns. We furthermore suggest that these empirical patterns could be explained by both universality in the underlying mechanisms and cultural specificity in the input to, and the regulation of, these expression and perception mechanisms. Overall, more evidence is needed, both to further elucidate these mechanisms and to inventory the patterns of cultural effects. We strongly recommend using more solid conceptual and theoretical perspectives, as well as more ecologically valid approaches, in designing future studies in emotion expression and perception research.     

Last and fast? – A gender-specific analysis of effort gains in swimming relay events across Olympic Games and World Championships during the past 20 years

Elite swimmers are individual athletes competing mostly on their own. However, when competing in a relay team, they are exposed to social influences possibly leading to effort gains compared to their individual performance. This study investigated effort gains in relay team members during 4 × 100 m freestyle races of Olympic Games and World Championships across the past 20 years. We assumed increasing effort gains in swimmers competing on later serial positions within their relay team since weaknesses in their performances can increasingly less be compensated by their teammates (social indispensability). Furthermore, we assumed a stronger gain in female athletes since females have been shown to be more affected by social indispensability then males. Using linear mixed modelling analyses, we additionally examined the moderating impact of the relay team outcome (i.e. medal-winning chance) on effort gains and indispensability effects while accounting for current team rankings at change-over. Except for the first swimmer, overall effort gains in relay performances were found as compared to performances in individual races during the same championship. Furthermore, these gains were close to equally distributed among both laps of the 100 m distance. However, even though effort gains are tending to be most pronounced for the last relay team swimmer we failed to detect any significant indispensability effect in our data set. Noteworthy, female swimmers showed larger effort gains when winning a medal (based on the current team rankings) was likely. In contrast, males showed effort gains irrespective of the serial order within the relay team and medal chance. Consequently, tentative recommendations are derived on how to line up a relay team.     

Reasons and Value – in Defence of the Buck-Passing Account

In this article, I will defend the so-called buck-passing theory of value. According to this theory, claims about the value of an object refer to the reason-providing properties of the object. The concept of value can thus be analyzed in terms of reasons and the properties of objects that provide them for us. Reasons in this context are considerations that count in favour of certain attitudes. There are four other possibilities of how the connection between reasons and value might be formulated. For example, we can claim that value is a property that provides us with reasons to choose an option that has this property. I argue that none of these four other options can ultimately be defended, and therefore the buck-passing account is the one we ought to accept as the correct one. The case for the buck-passing account becomes even stronger, when we examine the weak points of the most pressing criticism against this account thus far.     

Word fragmentations and repetitions in the spontaneous speech of 2–6-yr-old children

Samples of spontaneous speech of 110 nursery school children, aged 2 yr, 1 mo to 6 yr, were written down. Two of the children were regarded as stutterers by the parents and the nursery school personnel. Instances of word and phrase repetitions and word fragmentations were marked. Fragmentation of a word before the whole word is pronounced was used as criterion of stuttering. The nonstutterers had an average frequency of word repetitions of 6.3%, while word fragmentations were virtually nonoccurrent. The frequency of word repetitions decreased with increasing age. Relating word repetitions to grammatical complexity of speech, it was found that the decrease was particularly large at a certain point of the grammatical development. The two stutterers had, in addition to normal frequencies of word repetitions, marked occurences of word fragmentations (2.8 and 4.1%).     

The influence of aging on the spatial and temporal variables of gait during usual and fast speeds in older adults aged 60 to 102 years

BackgroundWith increases in life expectancy, it is important to understand the influence of aging on gait, given that this activity is related to the independence of older adults and may help in the development of health strategies that encourage successful aging in all phases of this process.Research questionTo compare gait parameters with usual and fast speeds for independent and autonomous older adults throughout the aging process (60 to 102 years old), and also to identify which of the gait variables are best for identifying differences across the different age groups.MethodsTwo hundred older adults aged between 60 and 102 years were evaluated. The sample was divided into 3 age groups: 60 to 79 years, 80 to 89 years and 90 years and over. The analyzed gait variables were: speed (meters/s), cadence (steps/min), stride time (seconds), step length (centimeters), double support (percentage of the gait cycle), swing (percentage of the gait cycle), step length variability (CoV%) and stride time variability (CoV%).ResultsGroup comparison regarding usual gait and fast gait revealed a significant difference in all gait variables. In addition, it can be seen that variables such as gait speed and step length showed greater effect sizes in intergroup comparison (usual gait: 0.48 and 0.47; fast gait: 0.36 and 0.40; respectively), possibly showing that these variables can better detect the changes observed with increasing age.ConclusionThere are differences in the gait performance of older adults from different age groups for usual and fast gait speeds, which is more evident regarding gait speed and step length variables. We recommend the use of usual gait for the identification of the effects of aging because, besides showing a higher effect size values it is more comfortable and requires less effort from older subjects.     

The Polish Catholic Church’s perception of the processes of EU integration and Europeanisation in the context of traditional norms and values

The Catholic Church has historically played a significant role in the sociocultural and political life of Poland. Its activity was particularly evident and significant during the process of political transformation. Since 1989, however, the sociopolitical conditions have remarkably changed, thereby placing the church in a new, challenging context. Poland’s post-1989 political aspirations (opening to the West in particular) have come to the fore of the public debate, in which the church has actively participated. In this article I aim to analyse the church’s position on the process of EU integration and the Europeanisation of Polish law and culture. The main questions concern the direction of argumentation used by the church’s internal wings and the politicisation of the discourse on the axiological shape of Polish culture and tradition. My analysis embraces the debate surrounding the process of European integration, with special consideration of the church’s internal divisions (between the ‘centre-right’ and ‘radical-right’ in particular) and ideological discrepancies concerning the very idea of integration and the debates on the draft Constitution of the European Union (Constitutional Treaty) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms of the European Union.     

No anticipation–no action: the role of anticipation in action and perception

This paper reviews psychophysical evidence for the existence and the nature of two types of anticipation in goal-oriented action. The first one relates to attained changes of the perceptual world, thus to action goals. These anticipations determine appropriate motor output. We argue that goal codes do not only serve as a reference unit, against which currently produced behavioral effects are compared. Rather voluntary actions appear to be planned literally in terms of intended behavioral effects. The second type of anticipation relates to the environmental conditions that have to be met to bring an intended effect into being. These anticipations serve to trigger selected actions, when appropriate execution conditions are encountered. Altogether, the behavioral evidence portrays a remarkable automaticity of goal-oriented action. Once a goal exists (wherever it might come from), corresponding efferent output is generated and executed under appropriate conditions.     

Categorical perception along the happy–angry and happy–sad continua in the first year of life

The current study investigated 6-, 9- and 12-month old infants’ ability to categorically perceive facial emotional expressions depicting faces from two continua: happy–sad and happy–angry. In a between-subject design, infants were tested on their ability to discriminate faces that were between-category (across the category boundary) or within-category (within emotion category). Results suggest that 9- and 12 month-olds can discriminate between but not within categories, for the happy–angry continuum. Infants could not discriminate between cross-boundary facial expressions in the happy–sad continuum at any age. We suggest a functional account; categorical perception may develop in conjunction with the emotion's relevance to the infant.     

Students’ perception of instrumental support and effort in mathematics: the mediating role of subjective task values

Recent research shows that teacher support is predictive of student outcomes, such as engagement and effort. In this study, we explored the relation between students’ perceptions of teacher instrumental support in mathematics lessons and their effort in mathematics. We also tested whether this relation was mediated through students’ perception of the utility value, cost, and intrinsic value of mathematics. The study was designed as a cross-sectional survey. The participants included 309 9th and 10th grade Norwegian high school students. Three dimensions of mathematics task values were measured: utility value, intrinsic value, and the cost of working with mathematics. The data were analyzed by means of structural equation modeling. Instrumental support was directly and positively related to both the utility value and the intrinsic value of mathematics. However, it was only indirectly related to the perceived cost of working with mathematics, mediated by the utility value and the intrinsic value. Instrumental support was also both directly and indirectly related to effort. The indirect relation was mediated by the students’ perception of mathematics task values.     

Does evaluative learning rely on the perception of contingency?: manipulating contingency and US density during evaluative conditioning

An experiment is reported studying the impact of objective contingency and contingency judgments on cross-modal evaluative conditioning (EC). Both contingency judgments and evaluative responses were measured after a contingency learning task in which previously neutral sounds served as either weak or strong predictors of affective pictures. Experimental manipulations of contingency and US density were shown to affect contingency judgments. Stronger contingencies were perceived with high contingency and with low US density. The contingency learning task also produced a reliable EC effect. The magnitude of this effect was influenced by an interaction of statistical contingency and US density. Furthermore, the magnitude of EC was correlated with the subjective contingency judgments. Taken together, the results imply that propositional knowledge about the CS-US relationship, as reflected in contingency judgments, moderates evaluative learning. The data are discussed with respect to different accounts of EC.     

About the role of bottom-up and top-down processes on perception–action interaction in sensorimotor transformations

Theories of common-coding propose that feature codes of perceived and to-be-produced events are likely to interact with each other when they overlap. We investigated the impact of bottom-up and top-down processes on cross talk in a motor replication task. Participants moved a pen on a covered digitizer tablet while a gain varied the relation between hand and cursor amplitude. Then, participants replicated the hand amplitude (intra-modal) or the cursor amplitude (intermodal) without visual feedback. We replicated that, when the not-to-be-replicated amplitude was longer (shorter) than the to-be-replicated amplitude, replications significantly overshot (undershot) (= after-effects). Importantly, after-effects were remarkably smaller in the experimental groups which wore gloves (thin and thick rubber) or goggles (clear and tinted lenses) than in a control group. Our results provide evidence that top-down attention modulated perception–action interaction.     

Infants’ perception of rhythm and tempo in unimodal and multimodal stimulation: A developmental test of the intersensory redundancy hypothesis

Research has demonstrated that young infants can detect a change in the tempo and the rhythm of an event when they experience the event bimodally (audiovisually), but not when they experience it unimodally (acoustically or visually). According to Bahrick and Lickliter (2000, 2002), intersensory redundancy available in bimodal, but not in unimodal, stimulation directs attention to the amodal properties of events in early development. Later in development, as infants become more experienced perceivers, attention becomes more flexible and can be directed toward amodal properties in unimodal and bimodal stimulation. The present study tested this developmental hypothesis by assessing the ability of older, more perceptually experienced infants to discriminate the tempo or rhythm of an event, using procedures identical to those in prior studies. The results indicated that older infants can detect a change in the rhythm and the tempo of an event following both bimodal (audiovisual) and unimodal (visual) stimulation. These results provide further support for the intersensory redundancy hypothesis and are consistent with a pattern of increasing specificity in perceptual development.     

Dark and bright sides of thriving – school burnout and engagement in the Finnish context

School burnout is defined as exhaustion, cynicism and inadequacy as a student, and engagement can be conceptualized as study-related vigor, absorption and dedication. School burnout is increasing, particularly among students on an academic track, while at the end of elementary school almost half of the students no longer find school meaningful. School burnout and engagement were investigated by applying the demand-resource and stage-environment models. The results show that high school demands lead to burnout, while personal and school resources lead to school engagement. Burnout from school-context can also spillover to later depression, drop out and internet addiction, and engagement to overall satisfaction with life and success in educational pathways. In line with the stage-environment fit theory, educational transitions play a role in changes in school burnout trajectories. Adoption of a person-oriented approach revealed several different burnout-engagement profiles, including a profile in which students are at the same time both exhausted and engaged. The social context of peers, immigrant status, parents and teachers also play an important role in engagement and burnout.