Masked form priming is moderated by the size of the letter-order-free orthographic neighbourhood

University students made lexical decisions to targets preceded by masked primes. In Experiment 1, transposed-letter primes were used also in the sandwich priming paradigm, in which the target is briefly pre-presented prior to the prime. The priming effects in the masked paradigm, but not in the sandwich paradigm, were moderated by the density of the letter-order-free neighbourhood of the target. In Experiment 2, letter-order-free neighbour prime words produced a priming cost in masked priming. These results are consistent with the idea that sandwich priming attenuates letter-order-free neighbour competition in target identification. Unexpectedly, no priming cost was produced by conventional (letter-position-preserving) word neighbour primes. Order-free neighbours may produce facilitation of target processing less, and more variably, than conventional neighbours.     

Intentional switching of auditory attention between long and short sequential tone patterns

The current study focuses on auditory task switching, more precisely on switching attention between different temporal patterns of the same auditory stimulus. Tone sequences consisting of nine different pitch tones were presented aurally. Three repetitive short 3-tone patterns (local focus) were combined to a long pattern (global focus), and each could be either rising or falling, resulting in congruent or incongruent combinations. Participants were informed by a cue if they had to attend to the short or to the long pattern, and they indicated if the target pattern was rising or falling by pressing one of two keys. In two experiments, we investigated cued switches between the two attentional foci. Switch costs in reaction times and errors were observed when switching from the long to the short pattern but not when switching from the short to the long pattern. These asymmetric switch costs were reduced when participants had more time to prepare for the switch in a condition with a prolonged cue-stimulus interval. In addition, participants made more errors when global and local patterns did not correspond to each other (i.e., in incongruent trials) when attending to either of the patterns, but this congruency effect was not modulated by preparation time. The data suggest that the mechanisms of task goal prioritizing, as indicated by the asymmetric attention switch costs, are dissociable from those underlying stimulus selection, as indicated by the congruency effects.     

Perception of the length of an object through dynamic touch is invariant across changes in the medium

Rotational inertia—a mechanical quantity that describes the differential resistance of an object to angular acceleration in different directions—has been shown to support perception of the properties of that object through dynamic touch (wielding). The goal of the present study was to examine if perception of the length of an object through dynamic touch depends on its rotational inertia, independent of the medium in which it is wielded. The participants (n = 14) wielded 12 different objects held in air or completely immersed in water and reported perceived lengths of those objects. Each object consisted of a rod of a particular density with a particular number of stacked steel rings attached at a particular location along its length. Perceived length was invariant across medium. In addition, a single-valued function of the major eigenvalue, I ₁, and the minor eigenvalue, I ₃, of the rotational inertia, I, of the 12 objects predicted the perceived lengths of those objects in both air and water, and the perceived lengths were invariant across the two media. These results support the hypothesis that the informational support for perception of the length of an object through dynamic touch is invariant across changes in the medium.     

Does Talker‐Specific Information Influence Lexical Competition? Evidence From Phonological Priming

In this study, we examined whether the lexical competition process embraced by most models of spoken word recognition is sensitive to talker‐specific information. We used a lexical decision task and a long lag priming experiment in which primes and targets sharing all phonemes except the last one (e.g., /bagaR/“fight” vs. /baga?/“luggage”) were presented in two separate blocks of stimuli. In Experiment 1, the competitor prime block was presented only once to listeners, and no modulation of the competitor priming effect as a function of a talker change between the primes and targets was observed. However, attenuation in the competitor priming effect in the case of a talker change between the primes and targets was observed in Experiment 2 in which the competitor prime block was presented five times to listeners. We discuss our findings in reference to hybrid models of spoken word recognition in which repetition of words with the same talker could be a key factor in the formation and access to talker‐dependent representations.     

The Problematization of Sexuality among Women Living with HIV and a New Feminist Approach for Understanding and Enhancing Women’s Sexual Lives

In the context of HIV, women’s sexual rights and sexual autonomy are important but frequently overlooked and violated. Guided by community voices, feminist theories, and qualitative empirical research, we reviewed two decades of global quantitative research on sexuality among women living with HIV. In the 32 studies we found, conducted in 25 countries and composed mostly of cis-gender heterosexual women, sexuality was narrowly constructed as sexual behaviours involving risk (namely, penetration) and physiological dysfunctions relating to HIV illness, with far less attention given to the fullness of sexual lives in context, including more positive and rewarding experiences such as satisfaction and pleasure. Findings suggest that women experience declines in sexual activity, function, satisfaction, and pleasure following HIV diagnosis, at least for some period. The extent of such declines, however, is varied, with numerous contextual forces shaping women’s sexual well-being. Clinical markers of HIV (e.g., viral load, CD4 cell count) poorly predicted sexual outcomes, interrupting widely held assumptions about sexuality for women with HIV. Instead, the effects of HIV-related stigma intersecting with inequities related to trauma, violence, intimate relations, substance use, poverty, aging, and other social and cultural conditions primarily influenced the ways in which women experienced and enacted their sexuality. However, studies framed through a medical lens tended to pathologize outcomes as individual “problems,” whereas others driven by a public health agenda remained primarily preoccupied with protecting the public from HIV. In light of these findings, we present a new feminist approach for research, policy, and practice toward understanding and enhancing women’s sexual lives—one that affirms sexual diversity; engages deeply with society, politics, and history; and is grounded in women’s sexual rights.     

The functional neuroanatomy of prelexical processing in speech perception

In this paper we attempt to relate the prelexical processing of speech, with particular emphasis on functional neuroimaging studies, to the study of auditory perceptual systems by disciplines in the speech and hearing sciences. The elaboration of the sound-to-meaning pathways in the human brain enables their integration into models of the human language system and the definition of potential auditory processing differences between the two cerebral hemispheres. Further, it facilitates comparison with recent developments in the study of the anatomy of non-human primate auditory cortex, which has very precisely revealed architectonically distinct regions, connectivity, and functional specialization.     

Judicial Responses to Civil Disobedience: A Comparative Approach

In this paper, I compare the extent of Anglo-American judicial engagement in response to civil disobedience with that of the French judiciary. I begin by examining what the civil disobedient can realistically expect to achieve in a court of law. I shall argue that his priority should be to require the judge, acting as a mouthpiece for the law, to respond to his complaints. To do this, the civil disobedient must be able to deny liability for the offence he has allegedly committed by urging a different interpretation of the law on the basis of an alternative -- but plausible -- reading of constitutional or human rights. If the civil disobedient can do this, he can claim a victory of sorts, even if his claims are ultimately unsuccessful. But legal culture can present a further barrier. Judges have different roles in different jurisdictions and therein lie further difficulties for the French civil disobedient.     

Inhibitory priming effects in auditory word recognition: when the target's competitors conflict with the prime word

Several studies indicate that the number of similar sounding words that are activated during recognition is a powerful predictor of performance on auditory targets. Words with few competitors are processed more quickly and accurately than words with many competitors. In the present study, we examined the contribution of the competitor set size in determining the magnitude of the inhibitory priming effect. The data show that the priming effect is stronger when word targets have few competitors. This result supports the view of direct competition between lexical candidates.     

What is the relationship between phonological short-term memory and speech processing?

Traditionally, models of speech comprehension and production do not depend on concepts and processes from the phonological short-term memory (pSTM) literature. Likewise, in working memory research, pSTM is considered to be a language-independent system that facilitates language acquisition rather than speech processing per se. We discuss couplings between pSTM, speech perception and speech production, and we propose that pSTM arises from the cycling of information between two phonological buffers, one involved in speech perception and one in speech production. We discuss the specific role of these processes in speech processing, and argue that models of speech perception and production, and our understanding of their neural bases, will benefit from incorporating them.     

Ironic effects of racial bias during interracial interactions

Previous research has suggested that Blacks like White interaction partners who make an effort to appear unbiased more than those who do not. We tested the hypothesis that, ironically, Blacks perceive White interaction partners who are more racially biased more positively than less biased White partners, primarily because the former group must make more of an effort to control racial bias than the latter. White participants in this study completed the Implicit Association Test (IAT) as a measure of racial bias and then discussed race relations with either a White or a Black partner. Whites' IAT scores predicted how positively they were perceived by Black (but not White) interaction partners, and this relationship was mediated by Blacks' perceptions of how engaged the White participants were during the interaction. We discuss implications of the finding that Blacks may, ironically, prefer to interact with highly racially biased Whites, at least in short interactions.