Speech-specific auditory processing: where is it?

Are speech-specific processes localized in dedicated cortical regions or do they emerge from developmental plasticity in the connections among non-dedicated regions? Here we claim that all the brain regions activated by the processing of auditory speech can be re-classified according to whether they respond to non-verbal environmental sounds, pitch changes, unfamiliar melodies, or conceptual processes. We therefore argue that speech-specific processing emerges from differential demands on auditory and conceptual processes that are shared by speech and non-speech stimuli. This has implications for domain- vs. process-specific cognitive models, and for the relative importance of segregation and integration in functional anatomy.     

Relative weight of local and global properties depends on both the position of local elements and the saliency of global form

Love, Rouder, and Wisniewski (1999) and Ripoll and Marty (2005) showed that subjects could process global properties very quickly in a same/different task on abstract visual scenes for which the conspicuity of local and global properties had been controlled. In this new experiment, two important new factors were manipulated: saliency of the global pattern and location of local similarity. The results showed that the saliency of the global form as well as the location of local similarity determines the strength of global and local effects. Global effects continue to manifest themselves even when the extraction of the global form is difficult. Finally, the whole pattern of results suggests that local and global processing proceeds simultaneously and involves two attentional systems whose spatial characteristics are very different.     

An additive factor analysis of the effect of depression on the reaction time of old patients

Depressed participants display longer reaction times (RTs) than control participants. The present study was aimed at deciphering which stages of processing are affected by depression in old adults. Sixteen old depressed patients and 16 old healthy volunteers performed a two-choice visual RT task. Signal intensity, stimulus-response mapping and foreperiod duration were manipulated so as to affect the stages of stimulus preprocessing, response selection and motor adjustment, respectively. Reaction time data suggest that depression spares the stage of stimulus preprocessing but affects the stage of motor adjustment. An analysis of the error rate leaves open the possibility that depression alters the stage of response selection.     

Divergent stress responses and coping styles in psychogenetically selected Roman high-(RHA) and low-(RLA) avoidance rats: behavioural,neuroendocrine and developmental aspects

The Swiss sublines of Roman high-(RHA/Verh) and low-(RLA/Verh) avoidance rats have been genetically selected for good vs. poor performance in two-way active avoidance since 1972. RLA/Verh rats show increased stress responses (e.g. freezing behaviour, ACTH, corticosterone and prolactin secretion) and adopt a more passive (or reactive) coping style when confronted with a novel environment. In the open field, elevated plus-maze, black/white box test, and in a new light/dark open field test, RLA/Verh rats appear to be more anxious than their RHA/Verh counterparts. Anxiety may result from their particular psychophysiological profile, i.e. increased emotionality combined with a passive coping style. In contrast, RHA/Verh rats are less responsive to stress, they show little anxiety in novel situations and tend to be impulsive and novelty (sensation) seekers. Some behavioural differences are already noticeable shortly after birth, but the full pattern appears to stabilize only after puberty. Gene-environment interactions are critical in establishing this pattern. The data reviewed indicate that the differences between RHA/Verh and RLA/Verh rats probably result from a complex interaction among divergent anxiety/emotionality characteristics, differences in locomotor activity and novelty/reward seeking, as well as active vs. passive coping styles. It is proposed further that these divergent personality types are to be found not only in other selective breeding programs but in the form of individual differences in most populations of rats used for this type of research.     

Does analogical transfer involve a term-to-term alignment?

According to dominant models of reasoning by analogy, analogical transfer requires subjects to first define a full one-to-one correspondence between the base and the target problems. Accordingly, these models predict that if there is a cross-mapping between the base and the target (cross-mapping exists when similar or identical elements in the base and the target play different roles), the time spent transferring a property from the base to the target will be greater. The present results are inconsistent with this prediction. Indeed, if the mapping task is more difficult in the cross-mapping condition than in the control condition, the time needed to make the transfer is not affected by the presence of a cross-mapping. Consequently, we conclude that the mapping phase is not a necessary condition for transfer.     

Ramadan during a civil war (as reflected in a series of sermons)

In March 1992, the month of Ramadan coincided in Bosnia and Hercegovina with the time between the referendum for the independence of this Yugoslav republic and its recognition by the European Community and the United States. This time was characterized by the transition from a shaky peace into a bloody war. The sermons then given in different mosques in Sarajevo help us to understand better the internal pluralism and evolutions of Bosnian Islam at this time. They also show that some imams used Islam as an impetus to appeasement, and others as an impetus to mobilization. Against the background of extreme tensions between communities, the unanimous perception of Islam as a refuge for the Muslim community encouraged varying re‐Islamization activities.     

MICELAB: Spatial processing of mouse movement in Turbo Pascal

Pointing tasks with a mouse are very useful in psychological experiments concerned with a subject’s ability to track a visual object or to move to a target location (e.g., to find a word in text). Such tasks are quite easily performed by subjects, and numerous variables may be obtained from the mouse movement. In this article we describe a set of Turbo Pascal 6.0 units and a program running on the IBM PC family that show how data (x,y coordinates) recorded from a mouse movement can be analyzed to give dispersion, direction, and distance of the movement.     

Properties of curvilinear vection

Approximately linear relationships were observed between contrast, spatial frequency, temporal frequency, or velocity of stimulation and perceived velocity of curvilinear vection—that is, a visually induced self-motion in a curved path. Similarly, linear relationships were also found between the perceived degree of curvature of curvilinear vection and spatial frequency or velocity of stimulation. Since the perceived velocity of curvilinear vection varies with contrast, spatial frequency, temporal frequency, and angular velocity, and the perceived degree of curvature of curvilinear vection varies only with spatial frequency and angular velocity, peripheral vision is not sufficient for computing accurately the curvilinear component of induced self-motion in a curved path. Concurrently, it was shown that the perceived direction of curvilinear vection is not always unambiguously perceived (Sauvan & Bonnet, 1989). Consequently, it is suggested that two different types of visual processing, which involve the peripheral or the central vision, underlie the processing of curvilinear vection.