Evidence for phonetic processing of cues to place of articulation: Perceived manner affects perceived place

Using stimuli that could be labeled either as stops [b,d] or as fricatives [f,v,θ,ð], we found that, for a given acoustic stimulus, perceived place of articulation was dependent on perceived manner. This effect appeared for modified natural syllables with a free-identification task and for a synthetic transition continuum with a forced-choice identification task. Since perceived place could be changed by changing manner labels with no change in the acoustic stimulus, it follows that the processing of the place feature depends on the value the listener assigns to the manner feature rather than directly on any of the acoustic cues to manner. We interpret these results as evidence that the identification of place of articulation involves phonetic processing and could not be purely auditor     

Distraction and time estimation

It is argued that events which occur during an interval of time which is being judged may be classified in terms of their effects on the alertness of the subject, and in terms of the degree to which they distract him from the task of detecting and processing time-relevant cues. A distracting task, defined by the number of arithmetical operations a subject was required to perform, was presented while reproductions of an interval were being made. The data support the prediction that the higher the level of distraction, the less time a subject will judge to have elapsed during an objective period.     

Enhanced Hippocampal CA1 LTP but Normal Spatial Learning in Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate 3-kinase(A)-Deficient Mice

To define the physiological role of IP₃3-kinase(A) in vivo, we have generated a mouse strain with a null mutation of the IP₃3-kinase(A) locus by gene targeting. Homozygous mutant mice were fully viable, fertile, apparently normal, and did not show any morphological anomaly in brain sections. In the mutant brain, the IP₄ level was significantly decreased whereas the IP₃ level did not change, demonstrating a major role of IP₃3-kinase(A) in the generation of IP₄. Nevertheless, no significant difference was detected in the hippocampal neuronal cells of the wild-type and the mutant mice in the kinetics of Ca²⁺ regulation after glutamate stimulation. Electrophysiological analyses carried out in hippocampal slices showed that the mutation significantly enhanced the LTP in the hippocampal CA1 region, but had no effect on the LTP in dentate gyrus (DG). No difference was noted, however, between the mutant and the wild-type mice in the Morris water maze task. Our results indicate that IP₃3-kinase(A) may play an important role in the regulation of LTP in hippocampal CA1 region through the generation of IP₄, but the enhanced LTP in the hippocampal CA1 does not affect spatial learning and memory.     

The Pervasiveness of 1/f Scaling in Speech Reflects the Metastable Basis of Cognition

Human neural and behavioral activities have been reported to exhibit fractal dynamics known as 1/f noise , which is more aptly named 1/f scaling . Some argue that 1/f scaling is a general and pervasive property of the dynamical substrate from which cognitive functions are formed. Others argue that it is an idiosyncratic property of domain-specific processes. An experiment was conducted to investigate whether 1/f scaling pervades the intrinsic fluctuations of a spoken word. Ten participants each repeated the word bucket over 1,000 times, and fluctuations in acoustic measurements across repetitions generally followed the 1/f scaling relation, including numerous parallel yet distinct series of 1/f fluctuations. On the basis of work showing that 1/f scaling is a universal earmark of metastability, it is proposed that the observed pervasiveness of 1/f fluctuations in speech reflects the fact that cognitive functions are formed as metastable patterns of activity in brain, body, and environment.     

Culture, cross-role consistency, and adjustment: testing trait and cultural psychology perspectives

Trait and cultural psychology perspectives on cross-role consistency and its relation to adjustment were examined in 2 individualistic cultures, the United States (N=231) and Australia (N=195), and 4 collectivistic cultures, Mexico (N=199), the Philippines (N=195), Malaysia (N=217), and Japan (N=180). Cross-role consistency in trait ratings was evident in all cultures, supporting trait perspectives. Cultural comparisons of mean consistency provided support for cultural psychology perspectives as applied to East Asian cultures (i.e., Japan) but not collectivistic cultures more generally. Some but not all of the hypothesized predictors of consistency were supported across cultures. Cross-role consistency predicted aspects of adjustment in all cultures, but prediction was most reliable in the U.S. sample and weakest in the Japanese sample. Alternative constructs proposed by cultural psychologists--personality coherence, social appraisal, and relationship harmony--predicted adjustment in all cultures but were not, as hypothesized, better predictors of adjustment in collectivistic cultures than in individualistic cultures.     

Perceived parental conditional regard and autonomy support as predictors of young adults' self- versus other-oriented prosocial tendencies

The current research examined the relations of parental conditional regard and autonomy-supportive parenting with levels of internalization and self- versus other-oriented helping tendencies. As predicted from self-determination theory, college students' perceptions of parental conditional regard correlated positively with introjection internalization and self-oriented helping tendencies. Autonomy-supportive parenting predicted fuller internalization and other-oriented helping. Results suggest that the relations between parental practices and prosocial orientations are mediated by the level of internalization that was predicted by each parental practice.     

Correspondence between self-report and interview-based assessments of antisocial personality disorder

Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is associated with suicide, violence, and risk-taking behavior and can slow response to first-line treatment for Axis I disorders. ASPD may be assessed infrequently because few efficient diagnostic tools are available. This study evaluated 2 promising self-report measures for assessing ASPD--the ASPD scale of the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4 (PDQ-4; S. E. Hyler, 1994) and the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; L. Morey, 1991, 2007)--as well as the ASPD module of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II (SCID-II; M. B. First, R. L. Spitzer, M. Gibbon, J. B. W. Williams, & L. S. Benjamin, 1997). The measures were administered to 1,345 offenders in court-mandated residential substance abuse treatment programs and prisons. PDQ-4 and PAI scores related strongly to SCID-II symptom counts (rs = .67 and .51, respectively), indicating these measures convey useful clinical information about the severity of offenders' ASPD pathology. The dimensional association between the measures was relatively invariant across gender, race, and site, although differences in mean scores were observed. Levels of agreement of the SCID-II with the PDQ-4 (kappa = .31) and PAI (kappa = .32) in classifying participants as ASPD was limited. Alternative thresholds for both self-report measures were identified and cross-validated.     

What Lies Outside Language?

The paper aims to make out the incoherence of the distinction between and rigid separation of 'the linguistic' and 'the extra-linguistic' as well as to absolve Wittgenstein from any commitment to it. Insistence on a descent from the abstract to a concrete discussion allows a connection to be made between Tractatus positions such as: 'The limits of my language indicate the limits of my world.' and 'The world and life are one.' and the Investigations : 'What has to be accepted is - so one could say - forms of life .' From this a picture is developed of the intimate interconnection between language, practical life, and world.