Neighborhood consistency in mental arithmetic: Behavioral and ERP evidence

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The impact of animacy and speech rhythm on the word order of conjuncts in German preschoolers and adults

In this study, we investigated the impact of two constraints on the linear order of constituents in German preschool children’s and adults’ speech production: a rhythmic (*LAPSE, militating against sequences of unstressed syllables) and a semantic one (ANIM, requiring animate referents to be named before inanimate ones). Participants were asked to produce coordinated bare noun phrases in response to picture stimuli (e.g., Delfin und Planet, ‘dolphin and planet’) without any predefined word order. Overall, children and adults preferably produced animate items before inanimate ones, confirming findings of Prat-Sala, Shillcock, and Sorace (2000). In the group of preschoolers, the strength of the animacy effect correlated positively with age. Furthermore, the order of the conjuncts was affected by the rhythmic constraint, such that disrhythmic sequences, i.e., stress lapses, were avoided. In both groups, the latter result was significant when the two stimulus pictures did not vary with respect to animacy. In sum, our findings suggest a stronger influence of animacy compared to rhythmic well-formedness on conjunct ordering for German speaking children and adults, in line with findings by McDonald, Bock, and Kelly (1993) who investigated English speaking adults

Las Lunas, Yuncler (Toledo). Un depósito de materiales metálicos del Bronce Final en la Submeseta Sur de la Península Ibérica

Se exponen los resultados del primer estudio realizado sobre un nuevo conjunto de materiales metálicos del Bronce Final recuperado a finales de 2008 en las excavaciones arqueológicas del yacimiento de Las Lunas (Yuncler, Toledo, España). La localización geográfica del hallazgo, lejos de las principales zonas de dispersión conocidas para este tipo de conjuntos, la singularidad de los objetos que integra, y las relaciones atlánticas y mediterráneas que evidencian sus materiales, lo convierten en un ejemplo destacado para el estudio de este período en el centro de la Península Ibérica.Peer reviewe