Cross‐Situational Learning of Phonologically Overlapping Words Across Degrees of Ambiguity

Cross‐situational word learning (XSWL) tasks present multiple words and candidate referents within a learning trial such that word–referent pairings can be inferred only across trials. Adults encode fine phonological detail when two words and candidate referents are presented in each learning trial (2 × 2 scenario; Escudero, Mulak, & Vlach, 2016a ). To test the relationship between XSWL task difficulty and phonological encoding, we examined XSWL of words differing by one vowel or consonant across degrees of within‐learning trial ambiguity (1 × 1 to 4 × 4). Word identification was assessed alongside three distractors. Adults finely encoded words via XSWL: Learning occurred in all conditions, though accuracy decreased across the 1 × 1 to 3 × 3 conditions. Accuracy was highest for the 1 × 1 condition, suggesting fast‐mapping is a stronger learning strategy here. Accuracy was higher for consonant than vowel set targets, and having more distractors from the same set mitigated identification of vowel set targets only, suggesting possible stronger encoding of consonants than vowels.     

Layer and regional effects of environmental enrichment on the pyramidal neuron morphology of the rat

The environmental enrichment (EE) paradigm is widely used to study experience-dependent brain plasticity. Several studies have investigated functional and anatomical EE effects. However, as EE effects are different according to cerebral region, cortical layer, dendritic field and morphological index considered, a univocal characterization of neuronal morphological changes following rearing in enriched environments is lacking.Aim of the present study was to characterize in the rat the effects of EE on the neuronal morphology of frontal and parietal cortical regions, the main target areas of the stimulation provided by the paradigm. Male Wistar rats were housed in an enriched environment for 3.5 months from the 21st postnatal day. For the morphological analysis, biotinylated dextran amine (BDA)-labeled pyramidal neurons were selected from frontal (M1–M2) and parietal (S1–S2) cortical layers III and V. Apical and basal dendritic branching and spines were analyzed using the Sholl method.Results showed that EE increased branching and spines in both layers of frontal cortex, but had a greater effect on apical arborization. In parietal cortex, EE significantly affected branching and spines in layer III but not layer V neurons, in which only a tendency to be influenced by the rearing conditions was observed in basal arborization.It is hypothesized that these multifaceted morphological EE effects are connected to the heavy involvement of a sensory-motor circuit engaged in the guidance of voluntary action and in motor learning activated by EE stimulation.     

Infantile sexuality and Freud's legacy

The topic of sexuality and infantile sexuality, though less frequently discussed by psychoanalysis in recent decades, has received renewed attention for some years. The intention of this paper is to share some reflections around the role of infantile sexuality in our thinking, how we encounter it in our work with patients and in clinical material. Through reference to questions put forward by Freud (1905) in Three Essays, this paper takes into consideration some areas of the debate that has developed on the subject of infantile sexuality, starting from Freud's original intuition, including various hypotheses on the genesis of the sexual drive. The author will concentrate on two specific points. Firstly, how infantile sexuality – as a permanent dimension of the subject's existence – unfolds in the relationship and is deeply influenced by it. And that is how in childhood and adolescence, infantile sexuality ushers in parental sexuality – just as, in the case of our patients, infantile sexuality ushers in the analyst's sexuality. The second point pertains to the temporal dimension within which infantile sexuality is inscribed. The hypothesis that the author proposes is that infantile sexuality may be understood in the specific time of psychoanalysis [Nachträglichkeit], distinct and different with respect to the linear, evolutionary dimension.     

Content-context binding in verbal working memory updating: on-line and off-line effects

The role of content–context binding in working memory updating has received only marginal interest, despite its undoubted relevance for the updating process. In the classical updating paradigm, the main focus has been on the process of discarding information when new information is presented. Its efficacy has been determined by measurement of the accuracy of recalled, updated information. In the current study we measured the working memory updating process directly, employing a dynamic memory task composed of alternating sequences of learning, active maintenance and updating phases. Binding was manipulated by changing the type of updating (total or partial) and the strength of the perceptual connection between items. The on-line updating process and the off-line efficacy were separately analysed. Both on-line and off-line measures indicated that partial updating conditions, where the operation of updating content–context binding was required, were more demanding than both total updating conditions and memory and maintenance phases. Our results suggest that working memory updating can be identified not only as a process of substitution of information, but also as inhibition of no longer relevant information and, above all, as a binding updating.     

Speed of processing, anticipation, inhibition and working memory in bilinguals

Literature on the so-called bilingual advantage is directed towards the investigation of whether the mastering of two languages fosters cognitive skills in the non-verbal domain. The present study aimed to evaluate whether the bilingual advantage in non-verbal skills could be best defined as domain-general or domain-specific, and, in the latter case, at identifying the basic cognitive skills involved. Bilingual and monolingual participants were divided into two different age groups (children, youths) and were tested on a battery of elementary cognitive tasks which included a choice reaction time task, a go/no-go task, two working memory tasks (numbers and symbols) and an anticipation task. Bilingual and monolingual children did not differ from each other except for the anticipation task, where bilinguals were found to be faster and more accurate than monolinguals. These findings suggest that anticipation, which has received little attention to date, is an important cognitive domain which needs to be evaluated to a greater extent both in bilingual and monolingual participants.