Sleep not just protects memories against forgetting, it also makes them more accessible

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.There is another ORE record for this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/10871/31235Two published datasets (Dumay & Gaskell, 2007, Psychological Science; Tamminen, Payne, Stickgold, Wamsley, & Gaskell, 2010, Journal of Neuroscience) showing a positive influence of sleep on declarative memory were re-analyzed, focusing on the "fate" of each item at the 0-hr test and 12-hr retest. In particular, I looked at which items were retrieved at test, and "maintained" (i.e., not forgotten) at retest, and which items were not retrieved at test, but eventually "gained" at retest. This gave me separate estimates of protection against loss and memory enhancement, which the classic approach relying on net recall/recognition levels has remained blind to. In both free recall and recognition, the likelihood of maintaining an item between test and retest, like that of gaining one at retest, was higher when the retention interval was filled with nocturnal sleep, as opposed to day-time (active) wakefulness. And, in both cases, the effect of sleep was stronger on gained than maintained items. Thus, if sleep indeed protects against retroactive, unspecific interference, it also clearly promotes access to those memories initially too weak to be retrieved. These findings call for an integrated approach including both passive (cell-level) and active (systems-level) consolidation, possibly unfolding in an opportunistic fashion

Auditory selective adaptation moment by moment, at multiple timescales

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the American Psychological Association via the DOI in this recordData availability: The data from this project are available on the OSF repository: https://osf.io/2fjkb/?view_only=265878a996174dfab3c6d74bb563da0fOver the course of a lifetime, adults develop perceptual categories for the vowels and consonants in their native language, based on the distribution of those sounds in their environment. However, in any given listening situation, the short-term distribution of sounds can cause changes in this long-term categorization. For example, if the same sound (the “adaptor”) is heard many times in a short period of time, listeners adapt and become less prone to hearing that sound. Although hundreds of speech selective adaptation experiments have been published, there is almost no information about how long this adaptation lasts. Using stimuli chosen to produce very large initial adaptation, we test adaptation effects with essentially no delay, and with delays of 25 min, 90 min, and 5.5 hr; these tests probe the duration of adaptation both in the (single) ear to which the adaptor was presented, and in the opposite ear. Reliable adaptation remains 5.5 hours after exposure in the same-ear condition, whereas it is undetectable at 90 min in the opposite ear. Surprisingly, the amount of residual adaptation is largely unaffected by whether the listener is exposed to speech between adaptation and test, unless the speech shares critical acoustic properties with the adapting sounds. Analyses of the shifts on three time scales (seconds, minutes, and hours) provide information about the multiple levels of analysis that the speech signal undergoes.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)Spanish Ministry for Science and InnovationBasque GovernmentSpanish State Research Agenc

Improved memory for information learnt before alcohol use in social drinkers tested in a naturalistic setting

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer Nature via the DOI in this record.Alcohol is known to facilitate memory if given after learning information in the laboratory; we aimed to investigate whether this effect can be found when alcohol is consumed in a naturalistic setting. Eighty-eight social drinkers were randomly allocated to either an alcohol self-dosing or a sober condition. The study assessed both retrograde facilitation and alcohol induced memory impairment using two independent tasks. In the retrograde task, participants learnt information in their own homes, and then consumed alcohol ad libitum. Participants then undertook an anterograde memory task, of alcohol impairment when intoxicated. Both memory tasks were completed again the following day. Mean amount of alcohol consumed was 82.59 grams over the evening. For the retrograde task, as predicted, both conditions exhibited similar performance on the memory task immediately following learning (before intoxication) yet performance was better when tested the morning after encoding in the alcohol condition only. The anterograde task did not reveal significant differences in memory performance post-drinking. Units of alcohol drunk were positively correlated with the amount of retrograde facilitation the following morning. These findings demonstrate the retrograde facilitation effect in a naturalistic setting, and found it to be related to the self-administered grams of alcohol.The study was funded by an MRC grant to CJAM (MR/L023032/1), we would like to thank all the participants for their time

Context variability promotes generalization in reading aloud: Insight from a neural network simulation

This is the final version. Available from the Cognitive Science Society via the link in this recordHow do neural network models of quasiregular domains learn to represent knowledge that varies in its consistency with the domain, and generalize this knowledge appropriately? Recent work focusing on spelling-to-sound correspondences in English proposes that a graded “warping” mechanism determines the extent to which the pronunciation of a newly learned word should generalize to its orthographic neighbors. We explored the micro-structure of this proposal by training a network to pronounce new made-up words that were consistent with the dominant pronunciation (regulars), were comprised of a completely unfamiliar pronunciation (exceptions), or were consistent with a subordinate pronunciation in English (ambiguous). Crucially, by training the same spelling-to-sound mapping with either one or multiple items, we tested whether variation in adjacent, within-item context made a given pronunciation more able to generalize. This is exactly what we found. Context variability, therefore, appears to act as a modulator of the warping in quasiregular domains.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)NSERCCF

A complementary systems account of word learning: neural and behavioural evidence

In this paper we present a novel theory of the cognitive and neural processes by which adults learn new spoken words. This proposal builds on neurocomputational accounts of lexical processing and spoken word recognition and complementary learning systems (CLS) models of memory. We review evidence from behavioural studies of word learning that, consistent with the CLS account, show two stages of lexical acquisition: rapid initial familiarization followed by slow lexical consolidation. These stages map broadly onto two systems involved in different aspects of word learning: (i) rapid, initial acquisition supported by medial temporal and hippocampal learning, (ii) slower neocortical learning achieved by offline consolidation of previously acquired information. We review behavioural and neuroscientific evidence consistent with this account, including a meta-analysis of PET and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies that contrast responses to spoken words and pseudowords. From this meta-analysis we derive predictions for the location and direction of cortical response changes following familiarization with pseudowords. This allows us to assess evidence for learning-induced changes that convert pseudoword responses into real word responses. Results provide unique support for the CLS account since hippocampal responses change during initial learning, whereas cortical responses to pseudowords only become word-like if overnight consolidation follows initial learning

Cloud computing in industrial SMEs: Identification of the barriers to its adoption and effects of its application

ABSTRACT: Cloud computing is a new technological paradigm that may revolutionize how organizations use IT by facilitating delivery of all technology as a service. In the literature, the Cloud is treated mainly through a technological approach focused on the concept definition, service models, infrastructures for its evelopment and security problems. However, there is an important lack of works which analyze this paradigm adoption in SMEs and its results, with a gap between the technological development and its adoption by organizations. This paper uses a qualitative technique methodology -group meetings with managers- and a quantitative one-survey- and identifies which factors act as barriers to Cloud adoption and which positive effects its application generates in 94 industrial SMEs. The conclusion is that the main barriers are of a cultural type and that the positive effects go well beyond reducing costs

Nucleolar Association and Transcriptional Inhibition through 5S rDNA in Mammals

Changes in the spatial positioning of genes within the mammalian nucleus have been associated with transcriptional differences and thus have been hypothesized as a mode of regulation. In particular, the localization of genes to the nuclear and nucleolar peripheries is associated with transcriptional repression. However, the mechanistic basis, including the pertinent cis- elements, for such associations remains largely unknown. Here, we provide evidence that demonstrates a 119 bp 5S rDNA can influence nucleolar association in mammals. We found that integration of transgenes with 5S rDNA significantly increases the association of the host region with the nucleolus, and their degree of association correlates strongly with repression of a linked reporter gene. We further show that this mechanism may be functional in endogenous contexts: pseudogenes derived from 5S rDNA show biased conservation of their internal transcription factor binding sites and, in some cases, are frequently associated with the nucleolus. These results demonstrate that 5S rDNA sequence can significantly contribute to the positioning of a locus and suggest a novel, endogenous mechanism for nuclear organization in mammals

La Relación Entre la Motivación Docente y Variables de la Organización: Revisión de la Literatura

Abstract Teacher motivation plays a central role in education because ofitsimpacton student motivation. Previous reviews of teacher motivation have focused on individual variables and psychopathology indicators. However, it is also important to understand the effect of organizational variableson teacher motivationbecause these highlightthe contextthat the teacher is a part of(i.e.,the school). The literature review in this paper analysed studies related to teacher motivation and a pre-defined group of organizational variablesthat werepublished between 1990 and 2014 in several electronic databases.The study found that organizational culture was the most studied variable associated with teacher motivationand most studies in this area were published between 2010 and 2014.Further,there was a prevalence of quantitative studies. This paper concludes with the theoreticaland practical implications of the results,as well assuggestions for future research directions

Does Sleep Improve Your Grammar? : Preferential Consolidation of Arbitrary Components of New Linguistic Knowledge

We examined the role of sleep-related memory consolidation processes in learning new form-meaning mappings. Specifically, we examined a Complementary Learning Systems account, which implies that sleep-related consolidation should be more beneficial for new hippocampally dependent arbitrary mappings (e.g. new vocabulary items) relative to new systematic mappings (e.g. grammatical regularities), which can be better encoded neocortically. The hypothesis was tested using a novel language with an artificial grammatical gender system. Stem-referent mappings implemented arbitrary aspects of the new language, and determiner/suffix+natural gender mappings implemented systematic aspects (e.g. tib scoiffesh + ballerina, tib mofeem + bride; ked jorool + cowboy, ked heefaff + priest). Importantly, the determiner-gender and the suffix-gender mappings varied in complexity and salience, thus providing a range of opportunities to detect beneficial effects of sleep for this type of mapping. Participants were trained on the new language using a word-picture matching task, and were tested after a 2-hour delay which included sleep or wakefulness. Participants in the sleep group outperformed participants in the wake group on tests assessing memory for the arbitrary aspects of the new mappings (individual vocabulary items), whereas we saw no evidence of a sleep benefit in any of the tests assessing memory for the systematic aspects of the new mappings: Participants in both groups extracted the salient determiner-natural gender mapping, but not the more complex suffix-natural gender mapping. The data support the predictions of the complementary systems account and highlight the importance of the arbitrariness/systematicity dimension in the consolidation process for declarative memories