The role of prior experience in language acquisition

Learners exposed to an artificial language recognize its abstract structural regularities when instantiated in a novel vocabulary (e.g., Gómez, Gerken, & Schvaneveldt, 2000; Tunney & Altmann, 2001). We asked whether such sensitivity accelerates subsequent learning, and enables acquisition of more complex structure. In Experiment 1, pre-exposure to a category-induction language of the form aX bY sped subsequent learning when the language is instantiated in a different vocabulary. In Experiment 2, while naíve learners did not acquire an acX bcY language, in which aX and bY co-occurrence regularities were separated by a c-element, prior experience with an aX bY language provided some benefit. In Experiment 3 we replicated this finding with a 24-hour delay between learning phases, and controlled for prior experience with the aX bY language's prosodic and phonological characteristics. These findings suggest that learners, and the structure they can acquire, change as a function of experience.     

Who speaks? Who looks? Who feels? Point of view in autobiographical narratives1

In this paper, the author aims to substantiate Freud's claim that neurotic illness creates gaps in autobiographical narratives in terms of the narrator's stating and inducing perspectives. He sketches out the role of narrative perspective and the joint taking of a shared perspective by analyst and patient in psychoanalytic therapy. He introduces four ways of representing perspectives in narratives. Three degrees of narrative distortion are exemplifi ed by three excerpts from life narratives and explored in terms of narrative perspective representation. The most comprehensive perspective representation is achieved in the fi rst example by explicitly stating the present perspective of the narrator as well as the past perspective of the story's protagonist by use of mental verbs. In the second narrative, exclusive use of linguistic forms for inducing the protagonist's perspective both overwhelms the narrator and gives the listener an incomplete picture of what happened. Inconsistent motives, denial of responsibility and omission of detail render the third narrative even more diffi cult to follow. The author discusses the clinical signifi cance of this exploratory analysis of perspectives in narratives in terms of claiming responsibility for one's past action and of level of defence mechanisms, and by highlighting the emotional impact on listeners, which the author suggests is the stronger the more perspectives are left out. He discusses analogies to countertransference. The analysis of narrative perspectives offers an approach for systematic research in psychoanalytic practice.     

Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) spontaneously compute addition operations over large numbers

Mathematics is a uniquely human capacity. Studies of animals and human infants reveal, however, that this capacity builds on language-independent mechanisms for quantifying small numbers (<4) precisely and large numbers approximately. It is unclear whether animals and human infants can spontaneously tap mechanisms for quantifying large numbers to compute mathematical operations. Moreover, all available work on addition operations in non-human animals has confounded number with continuous perceptual properties (e.g. volume, contour length) that correlate with number. This study shows that rhesus monkeys spontaneously compute addition operations over large numbers, as opposed to continuous extents, and that the limit on this ability is set by the ratio difference between two numbers as opposed to their absolute difference.     

The relationship between dynamic strain aging and serrated flow behaviour in magnesium alloy

The relationship between dynamic strain ageing (DSA) and serrated flow has been investigated via alternately switching strain rates at various temperatures in a Mg–3Nd–1Zn alloy. The results reveal that serrated flow is enhanced with decreasing strain rate and increasing temperature and tends to vanish, while the DSA continually intensifies as revealed by a higher flow stress even after the serration flow disappears. A mechanism is proposed, which could explain some abnormal deformation behaviour, such as a negative strain rate sensitivity and thermal hardening.     

错误加工的神经机制

错误加工在认知控制和行为监控中起着关键的作用。监控自己的认知和行为结果,觉察到应该的反应和实际的反应之间的差别（即错误）,纠正这种错误并防止再犯是错误加工的主要内容。错误反应或由代表反应错误等负性反馈刺激诱发的ERP相对于正确反应或由代表反应正确等正性反馈刺激诱发的ERP,表现出一个相对负走向的波形变化,称为错误相关负波（error-related negativity, ERN）和反馈相关负波（feedback-related negativity, FRN）,两者都定位于前扣回附近。错误加工神经机制的研究主要集中于前扣回与ERN、错误意识与错误加工、ERN与FRN的关系。对于前扣带回和ERN的功能意义的解释主要有错误检测理论、冲突监控理论、强化学习理论和预期违反假说。目前错误加工神经机制的研究在研究内容、研究方法和理论观点等方面还存在些问题,这些可能是未来进一步的研究方向     

Intended emotions influence intentional binding with emotional faces: Larger binding for intended negative emotions

The effect of emotions on Intentional binding (IB) is equivocal. In addition, most studies on IB have not manipulated emotional content of intentions. This study investigates the effect of intended and outcome emotions using emotional faces (happy or disgust face in experiment 1 and a happy or angry face in experiment 3). To see whether the effects are due to priming, we used instructions with a happy-disgust pair in experiment 2 and happy-angry pair in experiment 4. Outcome emotional faces were not predictable. Results showed that intending a negative emotional face resulted in shorter action-outcome interval judgments compared to a happy face irrespective of the emotional content of the outcome face. This effect was absent in experiments 2 and 4 with instructed emotions. In addition to showing the importance of having explicit intentions, the results show that emotional content of our intentions does influence IB possibly due to prospective mechanisms.     

Surviving or living? A question of containment

Abstract

This paper explores the establishment of a safe inner representation of a mother as a crucial containing experience that distinguishes surviving and living. A comparison is drawn between a client with a deprived early experience, who is turned into a refugee and is searching for a containing experience, and a refugee who has had a good inner experience and then loses it. The contrast between the two highlights how a refugee may have to shift from living to surviving. Survival is conceptualized in terms of a ‘fugitive state of mind’ which a refugee may come to occupy. Living is thought about as a state in which safety is not only contingent upon an external set of factors but vitally depends on the circumstances which allow for internal containment. In the last part of the paper emphasis is placed on needing to take account of these special needs for containment in addressing management practices and rehabilitation of refugees. It is suggested that doing so establishes the necessary conditions for containment while blindness to these needs impedes further rehabilitation and integration.     

Processes and pathways in development via digital media: Examples from word learning

Word learning unfolds over multiple, cascading pathways which support in-the-moment processing and learning. The process is refined with each exposure to a word, and exposures to new words occur across a variety of forms and contexts. However, as children are exposed to more and more digital media, the ways in which children encounter, learn, and build on their vocabulary is also shifting. These shifts represent changes in context, content, and at the level of the child that can lead to negative outcomes. Less work, however, has discussed what these differences mean for how things change in the underlying developmental cascade and learning processes. Here, we suggest that the increasing presence of digital media may shift the developmental pathways for learning (the chain of events that support future learning) but not necessarily the developmental processes (the mechanisms underlying learning). Moreover, the interaction of the two may lead to different behavior and outcomes for learning in a digital era. We argue it is imperative for researchers to not only study how digital media differs from everyday learning, but directly measure if the well-worn pathways, processes, and variables found with decades of research with real items translate to a digital media era.     

HOW PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENTS CAN ENHANCE PSYCHOLOGICAL DEFENSE MECHANISMS

Psychological defense mechanisms are a powerful and often unappreciated force safeguarding mental health. Although rarely directed in this way, the most common forms of psychiatric treatment—psychotherapy and antidepressants—can enhance psychological defense mechanisms. Psychotherapy, through both specific and nonspecific factors, induces positive perspective shifts favoring positive cognitive distortions, including adaptive classical defense mechanisms and healthy attribution biases. Antidepressants, by altering very basic emotional information processing, such as facial expression recognition and emotional memories, also foster positive cognitive distortions. By shifting perceptions and thoughts in a positive direction, psychotherapy and antidepressants improve the capacity to dissociate from negative emotional stimuli.Brad Bowins, M.D., FRCP(C), is a staff psychiatrist at the University of Toronto Health Service and he is in private practice.