Seeing is knowing? Visual word recognition in non-dyslexic and dyslexic readers: an ERP study

The aim of the current study was to investigate whether phonological/semantic processing of the word takes place simultaneously with, or following, the early processing of its visual features. Event related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in 13 dyslexic (four female) and 14 non-dyslexic (six female) native English speaking young adults in two lexical decision tasks. In Task 1 participants had to make an orthographic lexical decision to distinguish frequently used words (W) from pseudohomophones (PH1)focusing on visual properties of stimuli. In Task 2 they had to make a phonological lexical decision—to pseudohomophones (PH2) and pseudowords (PW) and decide whether stimuli sounded like real words—focusing on non-visual higher order, i.e., phonological and semantic, processing of the stimuli. The behavioural performance was less good and the ERP peaks’ latency longer in dyslexics compared to controls. The reaction times (RTs) and the number of errors (reversed for the controls in Task 2) increased across four conditions for both groups in the following order: W< PH1< PH2< PW. The ERPs were larger in Task 2 compared to Task 1 starting at 100 ms (P1) for the controls and from about 220 ms (P2) for the dyslexics. The latency of N2 peak in left occipito-temporal sites was larger (as was the number of errors) in PH2 compared to PW condition in controls only, which indicates phonological/semantic specific processing at a time latency of 250–260 ms. Thus, the visual task required less effort than the phonological task, dyslexics’ behavioural performance was less good and the brain activation delayed compared to controls. Combined behavioural and ERP results of this study indicated that phonological/semantic processing of the word took place 150 ms after processing of its visual features in controls and possibly later in dyslexics

On the Schoenberg Transformations in Data Analysis: Theory and Illustrations

The class of Schoenberg transformations, embedding Euclidean distances into higher dimensional Euclidean spaces, is presented, and derived from theorems on positive definite and conditionally negative definite matrices. Original results on the arc lengths, angles and curvature of the transformations are proposed, and visualized on artificial data sets by classical multidimensional scaling. A simple distance-based discriminant algorithm illustrates the theory, intimately connected to the Gaussian kernels of Machine Learning

Correlation functions for ionic motion from NMR relaxation and electrical conductivity in the glassy fast-ion conductor (Li2S)0.56(SiS2)0.44

The Li7 NMR spin-lattice relaxation and the electrical conductivity in the typical glassy fast-ion conductor (Li2S)0.56(SiS2)0.44 are discussed from models of Li+ionic motion with distributions of activation energies, as well as from stretched-exponential time-correlation functions. The measured correlation times from the two effects differ by two orders of magnitude, and the derived distributions are shifted greatly relative to each other. We relate the great differences to percolation around the high barriers in the distribution. We present a phenomenological theory that yields good quantitative fits to the observed NMR relaxation with a Gaussian distribution, and to the conductivity and related dielectric properties with the continuous-time random-walk model and the same Gaussian truncated at the percolation limit. This correlates the two effects in a simple and effective way; both time-correlation functions can be calculated approximately from the distributions, and even the dc conductivity can be calculated from the NMR results. The present approach is discussed and compared with previously proposed models to explain the anomalies in ac electrical-conductivity and NMR relaxation rates in glassy fast-ion conductors

Reply to ‘‘Comment on ‘Correlation functions for ionic motion from NMR relaxation and electrical conductivity in the glassy fast-ion conductor (Li2S)0.56(SiS2)0.44’ ’’

Hunt’s Comment criticizes our recent article for combining concepts from percolation theory and effective-medium theories to calculate the dc and ac conductivities in ionic conducting glasses. Our approach was an attempt to describe the dc and ac conductivity with input information from our NMR measurements. We used the continuous-time random-walk theory and reasonable assumptions for the glasses which yielded good fits of the dc and ac conductivities at many temperatures

Relaxation and fluctuations in glassy fast-ion conductors: Wide-frequency-range NMR and conductivity measurements

Li7 nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rates (R1) versus the temperature at several resonance frequencies (4 to 40 MHz) are reported together with the conductivity measurements, σ(ω), in the range 1 Hz to 3.76 MHz on 0.56Li2S+0.44Si2S, a glassy fast-ionic conductor. Both R1 and σ(ω) are fitted consistently over the whole temperature and frequency range by using a stretched-exponential, i.e., exp(-t/τ*c)β for the corresponding correlation functions (CF). Formulas that relate R1(ω) and σ(ω) and that give the asymptotic behavior as functions of T and ω of both quantities are tested experimentally. We find significant differences between βσrelated to σ(ω) and βR related to R1, which implies a difference in the corresponding correlation functions of the ionic diffusional motion. An apparent order-of-magnitude difference in τ*0 attempt times was derived from these conductivity and NMR measurements. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the microscopic mechanisms which lead to fluctuations and relaxation in fast-ionic conductors

Children with Reading Disability Show Brain Differences in Effective Connectivity for Visual, but Not Auditory Word Comprehension

Background: Previous literature suggests that those with reading disability (RD) have more pronounced deficits during semantic processing in reading as compared to listening comprehension. This discrepancy has been supported by recent neuroimaging studies showing abnormal activity in RD during semantic processing in the visual but not in the auditory modality. Whether effective connectivity between brain regions in RD could also show this pattern of discrepancy has not been investigated. Methodology/Principal Findings: Children (8- to 14-year-olds) were given a semantic task in the visual and auditory modality that required an association judgment as to whether two sequentially presented words were associated. Effective connectivity was investigated using Dynamic Causal Modeling (DCM) on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Bayesian Model Selection (BMS) was used separately for each modality to find a winning family of DCM models separately for typically developing (TD) and RD children. BMS yielded the same winning family with modulatory effects on bottom-up connections from the input regions to middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and inferior frontal gyrus(IFG) with inconclusive evidence regarding top-down modulations. Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) was thus conducted across models in this winning family and compared across groups. The bottom-up effect from the fusiform gyrus (FG) to MTG rather than the top-down effect from IFG to MTG was stronger in TD compared to RD for the visual modality. The stronge