The role of the input on the development of the LC bias: A crosslinguistic comparison

Previous studies have described the existence of a phonotactic bias called the Labial–Coronal (LC) bias, corresponding to a tendency to produce more words beginning with a labial consonant followed by a coronal consonant (i.e. “bat”) than the opposite CL pattern (i.e. “tap”). This bias has initially been interpreted in terms of articulatory constraints of the human speech production system. However, more recently, it has been suggested that this presumably language-general LC bias in production might be accompanied by LC and CL biases in perception, acquired in infancy on the basis of the properties of the linguistic input. The present study investigates the origins of these perceptual biases, testing infants learning Japanese, a language that has been claimed to possess more CL than LC sequences, and comparing them with infants learning French, a language showing a clear LC bias in its lexicon. First, a corpus analysis of Japanese IDS and ADS revealed the existence of an overall LC bias, except for plosive sequences in ADS, which show a CL bias across counts. Second, speech preference experiments showed a perceptual preference for CL over LC plosive sequences (all recorded by a Japanese speaker) in 13- but not in 7- and 10-month-old Japanese-learning infants (Experiment 1), while revealing the emergence of an LC preference between 7 and 10 months in French-learning infants, using the exact same stimuli. These crosslinguistic behavioral differences, obtained with the same stimuli, thus reflect differences in processing in two populations of infants, which can be linked to differences in the properties of the lexicons of their respective native languages. These findings establish that the emergence of a CL/LC bias is related to exposure to a linguistic input.     

A modular,computer-controlled system for olfactory stimulation in the MRI environment

Although the cerebral networks involved in sensory perception are of general interest in neuroscience, registration of the effects of olfactory stimulation, especially in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) environment, presents particular problems and constraints. This article presents details of a reliable and portable system for olfactory stimulation that is modular in design and based on microcontroller technology. It has the following characteristics: (1)?It is under software control; (2)?the presentation of olfactory stimulation can be synchronized with respiration; (3)?it can be manually controlled; and (4)?it is fully compatible with an MRI environment. The principle underlying this system is to direct an odor to the subject’s nostrils by switching airflow to different odor diffusers. The characteristics of this system were established using (1)?ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopy, to measure its response time, and (2)?gas chromatography, to measure the repeatability of odor presentation in terms of gas concentration. A response time of 200?± 25 ms was obtained for the system, and the standard deviations of the gas concentration delivered during stimulation ranged from 1.5% to 22%, depending on the odor, the airflow, and the dilution of the odor used. Since it is portable, controlled by software, and reliable, on the basis of the results we obtained, this system will lend itself to a wide range of applications in olfactory neuroscience.     

Long-tailed macaques display unexpected waiting abilities in exchange tasks

The ability of animals to delay gratification is crucial for complex goal-directed action. It may help them in making effective decisions when facing a choice. We tested the ability of nine long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) to delay gratification in several experiments. In exchange tasks, subjects had to keep a small piece of cookie before returning it to an experimenter in order to get a larger food amount. Results showed that animals could wait between 10 s and 10 min depending on individual and sizes of reward. In another experiment, subjects could immediately give back the initial piece of cookie then wait for the return. Their performances more than doubled, demonstrating the role of consumption inhibition in postponing gratification. Such achievements underscore delays of gratification which until now were not thought possible in monkeys. Finally, subjects were presented with an accumulation of food pieces added at short intervals until they seized them. They mostly waited between 30 s and 1 min, which points at the consistency of our data, compared to those of other studies. Our results indicate that long-tailed macaques anticipated the duration of delays. We may account for their remarkable performances by their achievements in the social context.     

Mother–Calf vocal communication in Atlantic walrus: a first field experimental study

In all colonial pinnipeds studied, mother–young vocal recognition exists and allows rapid and reliable meetings in spite of the confusing environment of the breeding colony. The efficiency of this recognition process guarantees pup survival, especially in species where females alternate foraging sea trips and lactation periods on land. The Atlantic Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) is a highly gregarious pinniped with females attending their calves for an extended period of time (2–3 years). Although we expect mother–calf vocal recognition to occur in this species due to the high density of individuals packed in herds, it has never been experimentally demonstrated. Here, we assessed the individual stereotypy of both mother and calf barks recorded in the wild by measuring frequency and temporal acoustic parameters. Both discriminant function and artificial neural network analyses resulted in high correct classification rates, underlying a well-defined individual stereotypy in parameters related to frequency modulation and frequency values. Playback experiments showed that mothers were more responsive to the barks of their own calf than to those of unrelated young. Finally, propagation experiments revealed that barks propagate at greater distances over water surface than over ice, acoustic features such as frequency modulation and frequency spectrum being highly resistant to degradation during propagation. Thus, acoustic analysis and propagation experiments suggest that these frequency parameters might be the key acoustic features involved in the individual identification process. This experimental study clearly demonstrates that Atlantic walrus has developed a highly reliable mother–calf vocal communication allowing such strong social bond.     

Some Theoretical Considerations on Attitude,Arousal and Affect during Cognitive Dissonance

This article provides a general overview of cognitive dissonance research with the induced compliance paradigm. We begin by describiang how dissonance affects individuals' attitude change and address issues related to measurement of attitude. Next, we describe the arousal component of dissonance, how it has been measured and the issues that have been raised about its nature. Finally, we explore the emotional component of dissonance and review different ways for measuring and identifying the negative affect associated to dissonance. We conclude by claiming that a more intensive study of the process of dissonance, and particularly of its arousal and emotional components, will allow a more in‐depth understanding of the mental processes involved in cognitive dissonance.     

Can the uncertainty appraisal associated with emotion cancel the effect of the hunch period in the Iowa Gambling Task?

Research has given little attention to the influence of incidental emotions on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), in which processing of the emotional cues associated with each decision is necessary to make advantageous decisions. Drawing on cognitive theories of emotions, we tested whether uncertainty-associated emotion can cancel the positive effect of the hunch period, by preventing participants from developing a tendency towards advantageous decisions. Our explanation is that uncertainty appraisals initiate deliberative processing that is irrelevant to process emotional cues, contrary to intuitive processing (Kahneman, 2003; Tiedens & Linton, 2001). As expected, uncertainty-associated emotion cancelled the positive effect of the hunch period in the IGT compared to certainty-associated emotion: disgusted participants (certainty-associated emotion) and sad participants induced to feel certainty developed a stronger tendency towards advantageous decisions than sad participants induced to feel uncertainty. We discuss the importance of the core components that trigger incidental emotions to predict decision making.     

Cognitive engagement in emotional text reading: concurrent recordings of eye movements and head motion

ABSTRACT

The present study examined the effects of emotions on eye movements, head motion, and iPad motion during reading. Thirty-one participants read neutral, emotionally negative texts and emotionally positive texts on a digital tablet and both participants’ eye movements and body movements were recorded using respectively eye-tracking glasses and a motion capture system. The results showed that emotionally positive texts were read faster than neutral texts, and that readers’ movements decreased when reading emotional texts regardless of valence polarity. Recent studies suggested that postural movements may reflect cognitive engagement and especially the engagement in the task to be done. Our findings seem to validate this hypothesis of a bodily engagement in reading emotional contents. The present results suggest that the novel methodology of eye and postural movement recordings is informative in studying the readers’ embodied engagement during reading emotional materials.     

Cognitive processes in writing during pause and execution periods

The present study investigated how writing processes are activated during pause and execution periods. In two experiments, handwriting demands were manipulated by asking participants to compose with their familiar handwriting or with a high-demanding cursive uppercase calligraphy. Experiment 1 investigated narrative writing, a task with low planning demands. Experiment 2 addressed essay writing, a task with stronger planning demands. Occurrences of processes and their cognitive effort were analysed by asking participants to respond to random auditory probes and then to report their ongoing mental activity according to learned categories referring to the planning, translating, and revising writing processes. All together, the findings indicate that demands on planning did not affect how writing processes were activated during pauses and execution periods but automaticity of handwriting did. When handwriting was effortless, translating was mostly activated in parallel with motor execution, whereas revising and planning were mainly activated during pauses. However, none of the writing processes could be characterised as being typical of pauses, since translating was activated to a similar extent as the other two processes. By contrast, when handwriting was effortful, participants shifted to a more sequential functioning and activated translating mainly during pauses.     

Implicit Identification with Academic Achievement among Latino College Students: The Role of Ethnic Identity and Significant Others

Two studies were conducted to test the hypothesis that identification with academic achievement among Latino college students was related to the extent to which their ethnic group and significant others were linked to academic achievement. Participants completed a series of implicit association tests measuring the interrelations among academic achievement, self, and ethnic groups (Study 1) or significant others (Study 2). Study 1 revealed that the more college students identified with Latinos (relative to Caucasians) and stereotyped Latinos as low academic achievers (relative to Caucasians), the less they identified with academic achievement. Study 2 showed that the more Latino college students identified with significant others and viewed these significant others as high academic achievers, the more they identified with academic achievement. These findings are consistent with principles of cognitive consistency and stress the socio-relational facets of the academic self-concept.     

Awareness of the origin of knowledge predicts child witnesses' recall of alleged sexual and physical abuse

Children who understand that knowledge may have different origins produce more information in their free‐recall accounts than children who are less aware of source. We examined whether the tendency to make knowledge attributions was related to the number and proportion of details elicited from child witnesses using open‐ended invitations and whether this relationship varied depending on the number of incidents of abuse reported. The tendency to make knowledge attributions was measured in the presubstantive portion of protocol‐guided interviews with 3‐ to 11‐year‐old alleged victims of abuse. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the production of knowledge attribution details was positively related to the proportion of substantive episodic details produced by 3‐ to 6‐year‐olds recalling a single incident and by 3‐ to 11‐year‐olds recalling multiple incidents of abuse. Presubstantive source details were also positively correlated with the amount of source information recalled about incidents of abuse. These findings remained significant after controlling for the children's verbosity, the relative prominence of open‐ended invitations, and the children's ages. © 2003 US Government work.