Cortical operational synchrony during audio-visual speech integration

Information from different sensory modalities is processed in different cortical regions. However, our daily perception is based on the overall impression resulting from the integration of information from multiple sensory modalities. At present it is not known how the human brain integrates information from different modalities into a unified percept. Using a robust phenomenon known as the McGurk effect it was shown in the present study that audio-visual synthesis takes place within a distributed and dynamic cortical networks with emergent properties. Various cortical sites within these networks interact with each other by means of so-called operational synchrony (Kaplan, Fingelkurts, Fingelkurts, & Darkhovsky, 1997). The temporal synchronization of cortical operations processing unimodal stimuli at different cortical sites reveals the importance of the temporal features of auditory and visual stimuli for audio-visual speech integration.     

How Not to Criticise Scientism

This paper argues that the main global critiques of scientism lose their punch because they rely on an uncharitable definition of their target. It focuses on epistemological scientism and divides it into four categories in terms of how strong (science is the only source of knowledge) or weak (science is the best source of knowledge) and how narrow (only natural sciences) or broad (all sciences or at least not only the natural sciences) they are. Two central arguments against scientism, the (false) dilemma and self-referential incoherence, are analysed. Of the four types of epistemological scientism, three can deal with these counterarguments by utilizing two methodological principles: epistemic evaluability of reliability and epistemic opportunism. One hopes that these considerations will steer the discussion on scientism to more fruitful pastures in the future. For example, there are interesting methodological considerations concerning what evaluability or reliability and epistemic opportunism entail.     

Job Insecurity and Depressive Symptoms in Mothers and Adolescents: A Dyadic Study

Journal of Child and Family Studies - In this study, we examined whether maternal perceived job insecurity (JI) affected depressive symptoms in their adolescent children. Specifically, we tested a...     

Effects of reduced threshold of automated speed enforcement on speed and safety

This study was designed to evaluate the effects of a reduced threshold of the fixed automated speed enforcement system on speed and safety on a two-lane rural road. The threshold was lowered from 20 km/h to 4 km/h and the public was informed about the change. Driving speeds on the experimental and control road before and after the change were compared. The main results showed that the reduced threshold decreased the mean speed by 2.5 km/h, the standard deviation of speed by 1.1 km/h and the proportion of exceeding vehicles by 11.8 percentage units. In conclusion, lowering the threshold of automated speed enforcement combined with an appropriate information campaign bring about a significant speed reduction that could contribute to substantial safety benefits.