What language says about the psychology of events

Despite the variety of verb meanings, linguistic research on their syntax and semantics has shown that they can be categorized into a finite and surprisingly small number of event types. More recently, research in the psycholinguistics of language acquisition and processing has emphasized the relevance of event type. The wider implication of these findings is that the conceptual fluidity of verbal concepts is confined by the fundamental structures of mental grammar, shedding light on this important interface between cognition and syntactic organization.     

Multiple points of entry into a circular enclosure prevent place learning despite normal vestibular orientation and cue arrays: evidence for map resetting

This study identified sources of map orientation critical for successful spatial problem solving by rats of a plus maze embedded in water. Disorientation slowed, but it did not prevent acquisition of goal location. Use of a circular enclosure with multiple points of entry prevented reliable goal location. A single entry point enabled the rats to locate a fixed goal. A cue array within the enclosure was ineffective in providing orientation. These data suggest that stable map orientation can be derived from entry location when enclosure geometry is uniformative, but is not readily taken from cue arrays. They further suggest that map orientation is reset when rats enter an enclosure.     

Mitral cell beta1 and 5-HT2A receptor colocalization and cAMP coregulation: a new model of norepinephrine-induced learning in the olfactory bulb

In the present study we assess a new model for classical conditioning of odor preference learning in rat pups. In preference learning beta(1)-adrenoceptors activated by the locus coeruleus mediate the unconditioned stimulus, whereas olfactory nerve input mediates the conditioned stimulus, odor. Serotonin (5-HT) depletion prevents odor learning, with 5-HT(2A/2C) agonists correcting the deficit. Our new model proposes that the interaction of noradrenergic and serotonergic input with odor occurs in the mitral cells of the olfactory bulb through activation of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). Here, using selective antibodies and immunofluorescence examined with confocal microscopy, we demonstrate that beta(1)-adrenoceptors and 5-HT(2A) receptors colocalize primarily on mitral cells. Using a cAMP assay and cAMP immunocytochemistry, we find that beta-adrenoceptor activation by isoproterenol, at learning-effective and higher doses, significantly increases bulbar cAMP, as does stroking. As predicted by our model, the cAMP increases are localized to mitral cells. 5-HT depletion of the olfactory bulb does not affect basal levels of cAMP but prevents isoproterenol-induced cAMP elevation. These results support the model. We suggest the mitral-cell cAMP cascade converges with a Ca(2+) pathway activated by odor to recruit CREB phosphorylation and memory-associated changes in the olfactory bulb. The dose-related increase in cAMP with isoproterenol implies a critical cAMP window because the highest dose of isoproterenol does not produce learning.     

A critique of top-down independent levels models of speech production: Evidence from non-plan-internal speech errors

A number of speech errors are examined which are difficult to account for by top-down serial processing models of speech production which hove independent levels of processing. In particular, most of these errors are characterized by the presence of an interfering element which is external to the utterance under current construction. This paper has two main aims: to classify these errors, and to examine the constraints upon them. It is found that phonological similarity between the target and intrusion is a major determinant of error occurrence. The consequences for models of speech production are discussed in a framework consisting of the architecture and control structure of those models. A particular model to account for these data is proposed, consisting of a spreading activation lexical network.