Dynamical connectivity and nonlinearity in a whole-brain computational model

openTra la grande varietà di modelli per l'attività cerebrale su larga scala, gli "effective models" raggiungono un buon compromesso tra accuratezza e complessità del modello e possono essere adattati ai dati di risonanza magnetica funzionale dell'attività dei singoli soggetti. Useremo un modello delle dinamiche del cervello per analizzare i dati dell'attività cerebrale individuale dal Progetto Human Connectome (un grande database di neuroimaging) e affronteremo la relazione tra la non linearità del modello e la "connettività funzionale dinamica" (variazioni temporali nella correlazione tra i segnali di aree diverse). In particolare, ci concentreremo sulla "velocità di connettività funzionale dinamica", un indice scalare che misura la rapidità di variazione nei modelli di connettività, e indagheremo se il modello riproduce la sua distribuzione empirica e se quest'ultima è correlata alla non linearità del modello.Among the large variety of models for large-scale brain activity, effective models achieve a good trade-off between model accuracy and complexity and can be fit to activity data of individual subjects from functional magnetic resonance imaging. We will use an effective model of whole-brain dynamics to fit individual brain activity data from the Human Connectome Project (a large neuroimaging database) and address the relationship between the model nonlinearity and the "dynamic functional connectivity" (temporal variations in the correlation between signals of different areas). In particular, we will focus on the "dynamic functional connectivity speed", a scalar index measuring the rapidity of variation in connectivity patterns, and investigate whether the model reproduces its empirical distribution and whether the latter is related to the model's nonlinearity

Aguilera Cerni - Vilafamés o la conquista del futuro

Vicente Aguilera Cerni, crítico de arte, escritor y director del que fuera y aún es uno de los más originales proyectos museísticos en España y probablemente de Europa, encontró en la pequeña localidad castellonense de Vilafamés el marco perfecto para desarrollar el proyecto de su vida, estableciéndose así una relación simbiótica entre pueblo y Museo que ayudaría a ambos a conquistar un futuro, que el enamorado de las utopías que fue Aguilera Cerni supo vislumbrar pese a las dificultades de todo orden que encontraría el proyecto. Personaje comprometido y una de las figuras críticas más relevantes del panorama artístico del siglo xx, el fundador del Museo Popular de Arte Contemporáneo de Vilafamés, rebautizado después como Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Vicente Aguilera Cerni, encontraría en este hermoso rincón de la Plana Alta, el lugar definitivo en su vida personal y profesional. Un recorrido por la vida de Aguilera Cerni y por el lugar que amó y un recuerdo a los personajes que hicieron posible esa probabilidad improbable que es el Museo de Vilafamés.Vicente Aguilera Cerni, art critic, writer and director of which was and still is one of the most original museum projects in Spain and probably in Europe found in the small provincial town of Vilafamés the perfect framework to develop the project of his life. Thereby establishing a symbiotic relationship between town and museum that would help both conquer a future that Aguilera Cerni, a lover of utopias, was able to discern despite all types of difficulties that would face the project. A committed character and one of the most relevant critical figures in the artistic panorama of the 20th century, the founder of the popular Museum of Contemporary Art of Vilafamés, renamed later as Museum of Contemporary Art, Vicente Aguilera Cerni, found in this beautiful corner of the Plana Alta, the final station in his personal and professional life. A tour through Aguilera Cerni’s life and the place he loved and a reminder of the persons that made it possible: the unlikely probability that is the Vilafamés Museum

The efficacy of grapheme-phoneme correspondence instruction in reducing the effect of orthographic forms on second language phonology

The orthographic forms (spellings) of second language (L2) words and sounds affect the pronunciation and awareness of L2 sounds, even after lengthy naturalistic exposure. This study investigated whether instruction could reduce the effects of English orthographic forms on Italian native speakers’ pronunciation and awareness of L2 English sounds. Italians perceive, produce, and judge the same sound as a short sound if it is spelled with one letter and as a long sound if it is spelled with a digraph, due to L1 Italian grapheme-phoneme correspondence (GPC) rules whereby double consonant letters represent long consonants. Totally, 100 Italian learners of English were allocated to two conditions (final n = 88). The participants in the explicit GPC (EGPC) condition discovered English GPC rules relating to sound length through reflection, explicit teaching, and practice; the participants in the passive exposure condition practiced the same words as the EGPC participants, but with no mention of GPCs. Pre- and postintervention production (delayed word repetition) and phonological awareness (rhyme judgment) tasks revealed no positive effects of the instruction. GPC instruction appears to be ineffective in reducing orthographic effects on L2 phonology. Orthographic effects may be impervious to change, whether by naturalistic exposure or by instruction

The efficacy of grapheme-phoneme correspondence instruction in reducing the effect of orthographic forms on second language phonology

The orthographic forms (spellings) of second language (L2) words and sounds affect the pronunciation and awareness of L2 sounds, even after lengthy naturalistic exposure. This study investigated whether instruction could reduce the effects of English orthographic forms on Italian native speakers' pronunciation and awareness of L2 English sounds. Italians perceive, produce, and judge the same sound as a short sound if it is spelled with one letter and as a long sound if it is spelled with a digraph, due to L1 Italian grapheme-phoneme correspondence (GPC) rules whereby double consonant letters represent long consonants. Totally, 100 Italian learners of English were allocated to two conditions (final n = 88). The participants in the explicit GPC (EGPC) condition discovered English GPC rules relating to sound length through reflection, explicit teaching, and practice; the participants in the passive exposure condition practiced the same words as the EGPC participants, but with no mention of GPCs. Pre- and postintervention production (delayed word repetition) and phonological awareness (rhyme judgment) tasks revealed no positive effects of the instruction. GPC instruction appears to be ineffective in reducing orthographic effects on L2 phonology. Orthographic effects may be impervious to change, whether by naturalistic exposure or by instruction

Numeracy Gender Gap in STEM Higher Education: The Role of Neuroticism and Math Anxiety

The under-representation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is ubiquitous and understanding the roots of this phenomenon is mandatory to guarantee social equality and economic growth. In the present study, we investigated the contribution of non-cognitive factors that usually show higher levels in females, such as math anxiety (MA) and neuroticism personality trait, to numeracy competence, a core component in STEM studies. A sample of STEM undergraduate students, balanced for gender (N-F = N-M = 70) and Intelligent Quotient (IQ), completed online self-report questionnaires and a numeracy cognitive assessment test. Results show that females scored lower in the numeracy test, and higher in the non-cognitive measures. Moreover, compared to males', females' numeracy scores were more strongly influenced by MA and neuroticism. We also tested whether MA association to numeracy is mediated by neuroticism, and whether this mediation is characterized by gender differences. While we failed to detect a significant mediation of neuroticism in the association between MA and numeracy overall, when gender was added as a moderator in this association, neuroticism turned out to be significant for females only. Our findings revealed that non-cognitive factors differently supported numeracy in females and males in STEM programs

Effects of orthographic forms on the acquisition of novel spoken words in a second language

The orthographic forms of words (spellings) can affect word production in speakers of second languages. This study tested whether presenting orthographic forms during L2 word learning can lead speakers to learn non-nativelike phonological forms of L2 words, as reflected in production and metalinguistic awareness. Italian(L1) learners of English as a Second Language (English(L2)) were exposed to English(L2) novel spoken words (pseudowords) and real words in association with pictures either from auditory input only (Phonology group), or from both auditory and orthographic input (Phonology & Orthography group, both groups n = 24). Pseudowords and words were designed to obtain 30 semi-minimal pairs, each consisting of a word and a pseudoword that contained the same target consonant, spelled with one letter or with double letters. In Italian double consonant letters represent a long consonant, whereas the English language does not contrast short and long consonants. After the learning phase, participants performed a production task (picture naming), a metalinguistic awareness task (rhyme judgment) and a spelling task. Results showed that the Phonology & Orthography group produced the same consonant as longer in double-letter than in single-letter lexical items, while this was not the case for the Phonology group. The former group also rejected spoken rhymes that contained the same consonant spelled with a single letter in one word and double letters in the other, because they considered these as two different phonological categories. Finally, the Phonology & Orthography group learned more novel words than the Phonology group, showing that orthographic input results in more word learning, in line with previous findings from native speakers

The Contribution of Personality and Intelligence Toward Cognitive Competences in Higher Education

Personality and cognition are found to be two interrelated concepts and to both have a predictive power on educational and life outcomes. With this study we aimed at evaluating the extent to which personality traits interact with cognition in acquiring cognitive competences during higher education. In a sample of university students at different stages of their career and from different fields of study, we collected Big Five traits, as a measure of personality, and Intelligent Quotient (IQ), as a proxy of cognition. A set of multiple regressions served to explore the relative contribution of IQ and personality traits on the performance on two cognitive competences tests: literacy and numeracy. Results showed that IQ highly modulated numeracy but had a moderate or no impact on literacy while, compared with IQ, personality affects literacy more. In a further explorative analysis, we observed that both the effects of personality and IQ on cognitive competences were modulated by the level of the students' career (freshmen, undergraduates, and bachelor graduates). Different traits, and particularly conscientiousness, increased or decreased their impact on achieved scores depending on the educational level, while IQ lost its effect in undergraduates suggesting that personal dispositions become more influential in advancing the academic carrier. Finally, the field of study resulted to be a predictor of numeracy, but also an important covariate altering the pattern of personality impact

Effects of L1 orthography and L1 phonology on L2 English pronunciation

Recent research has revealed the effects of orthography on the pronunciation of consonant durations in the L2 English of L1 Italian speakers (e.g. the [p] in floppy being pronounced as longer than in copy). In this paper we compared this orthographic effect with an orthography-independent effect of L1 phonology, namely VOT. We measured closure durations and VOT for plosives produced by 30 learners of L2 English in Italy, 30 Italian late bilingual speakers of L2 English living in the UK, and 30 native English speakers. While VOT values produced by late bilinguals differed significantly from those produced by learners, closure durations were similar across the two groups. Additionally, L1 Italian VOT values proved that late bilinguals adapted VOT in L2 English by a larger extent than learners. It appears that the effects of orthography on L2 consonant duration can be more resistant to naturalistic L2 exposure than orthography-independent effects of L1 phonology