2,840 research outputs found
Age of second language acquisition affects nonverbal conflict processing in children : an fMRI study
Background: In their daily communication, bilinguals switch between two languages, a process that involves the selection of a target language and minimization of interference from a nontarget language. Previous studies have uncovered the neural structure in bilinguals and the activation patterns associated with performing verbal conflict tasks. One question that remains, however is whether this extra verbal switching affects brain function during nonverbal conflict tasks.
Methods: In this study, we have used fMRI to investigate the impact of bilingualism in children performing two nonverbal tasks involving stimulus-stimulus and stimulus-response conflicts. Three groups of 8-11-year-old children - bilinguals from birth (2L1), second language learners (L2L), and a control group of monolinguals (1L1) - were scanned while performing a color Simon and a numerical Stroop task. Reaction times and accuracy were logged.
Results: Compared to monolingual controls, bilingual children showed higher behavioral congruency effect of these tasks, which is matched by the recruitment of brain regions that are generally used in general cognitive control, language processing or to solve language conflict situations in bilinguals (caudate nucleus, posterior cingulate gyrus, STG, precuneus). Further, the activation of these areas was found to be higher in 2L1 compared to L2L.
Conclusion: The coupling of longer reaction times to the recruitment of extra language-related brain areas supports the hypothesis that when dealing with language conflicts the specialization of bilinguals hampers the way they can process with nonverbal conflicts, at least at early stages in life
Spacelike distance from discrete causal order
Any discrete approach to quantum gravity must provide some prescription as to
how to deduce continuum properties from the discrete substructure. In the
causal set approach it is straightforward to deduce timelike distances, but
surprisingly difficult to extract spacelike distances, because of the unique
combination of discreteness with local Lorentz invariance in that approach. We
propose a number of methods to overcome this difficulty, one of which
reproduces the spatial distance between two points in a finite region of
Minkowski space. We provide numerical evidence that this definition can be used
to define a `spatial nearest neighbor' relation on a causal set, and conjecture
that this can be exploited to define the length of `continuous curves' in
causal sets which are approximated by curved spacetime. This provides evidence
in support of the ``Hauptvermutung'' of causal sets.Comment: 32 pages, 16 figures, revtex4; journal versio
Feynman Propagator for a Free Scalar Field on a Causal Set
The Feynman propagator for a free bosonic scalar field on the discrete
spacetime of a causal set is presented. The formalism includes scalar field
operators and a vacuum state which define a scalar quantum field theory on a
causal set. This work can be viewed as a novel regularisation of quantum field
theory based on a Lorentz invariant discretisation of spacetime.Comment: 4 pages, 2 plots. Minor updates to match published versio
The Plants Database: Providing Basic Plant Information
The PLANTS database provides basic plant information to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), its clients, cooperators, and the general public via the World Wide Web (Fig. 1). The foundation of PLANTS is a taxonomic backbone (checklist) of the vascular and nonvascular plants of North America (north of Mexico) and United States territories in the Caribbean and Pacific regions. Attribute data are appended to this backbone pertaining to distribution, vegetative specifications, nativity, federal and state status, crop data, growth form, growth parameters, species abstracts, and images
Case Studies of Beginning Teachers
Case Studies of Beginning Teachers offers a collection of 35 case studies of first-year teaching experiences — a mixture of true dilemmas and best solution scenarios — that bridge educational theory and practice to shed light on actual problems and challenges new teachers most often confront
Case Studies on Teaching
Case Studies on Teaching is a unique book designed to infuse reality into the process of preparing teachers. The contents are based on real issues and needs faced by new teachers at they commence their professional careers in elementary and secondary school classrooms. The thirty-six cases offer myriad opportunities for utilizing the case method of instruction. This method has received acclaim in law, medicine, and business curricula. Regardless of the professional context, case studies create interactions that mandate active learning
Human Roughness Perception and Possible Factors Effecting Roughness Sensation
Surface texture sensation is significant for business success, in particular for solid surfaces for most of the materials; including foods, furniture or fabrics. Applications of roughness perception are still unknown, especially under different conditions such as lubricants with varying viscosities, different temperatures, or under different force loads during the observation of the surface. This work aims to determine the effect of those unknown factors, with applied sensory tests on 62 healthy participants. Roughness sensation of fingertip was tested under different lubricants including water and diluted syrup solutions at room temperature (25oC) and body temperature (37oC) by using simple pairwise comparison in order to observe the just noticeable difference threshold and perception levels. Additionally in this research applied force load during roughness observation was tested with pair-wise ranking method to illustrate its possible effect on the human sensation. Obtained results showed that human roughness discrimination capability reduces with an increasing viscosity of the lubricant, where the temperature was not found to be significant. Moreover, the increase in the applied force load showed an increase in the sensitivity of roughness discrimination capability. Observed effects of the applied factors were also used for estimating the oral sensation of texture during eating. These findings are significant for our fundamental understanding to the texture perception, but also could find applications in the material sciences which may include food sciences that needs information about texture perception for the development of new foods with controlled textural features
Codimension-2 surfaces and their Hilbert spaces: low-energy clues for holography from general covariance
We argue that the holographic principle may be hinted at already from
low-energy considerations, assuming diffeomorphism invariance, quantum
mechanics and Minkowski-like causality. We consider the states of finite
spacelike hypersurfaces in a diffeomorphism-invariant QFT. A low-energy
regularization is assumed. We note a natural dependence of the Hilbert space on
a codimension-2 boundary surface. The Hilbert product is defined dynamically,
in terms of transition amplitudes which are described by a path integral. We
show that a canonical basis is incompatible with these assumptions, which opens
the possibility for a smaller Hilbert-space dimension than canonically
expected. We argue further that this dimension may decrease with surface area
at constant volume, hinting at holographic area-proportionality. We draw
comparisons with other approaches and setups, and propose an interpretation for
the non-holographic space of graviton states at asymptotically-Minkowski null
infinity.Comment: 13 pages, 9 eps figures. Added Section VI, improved presentation.
Expanded and split the Introduction into two sections. Added Section VII.
Added reference
Energy-momentum diffusion from spacetime discreteness
We study potentially observable consequences of spatiotemporal discreteness
for the motion of massive and massless particles. First we describe some simple
intrinsic models for the motion of a massive point particle in a fixed causal
set background. At large scales, the microscopic swerves induced by the
underlying atomicity manifest themselves as a Lorentz invariant diffusion in
energy-momentum governed by a single phenomenological parameter, and we derive
in full the corresponding diffusion equation. Inspired by the simplicity of the
result, we then derive the most general Lorentz invariant diffusion equation
for a massless particle, which turns out to contain two phenomenological
parameters describing, respectively, diffusion and drift in the particle's
energy. The particles do not leave the light cone however: their worldlines
continue to be null geodesics. Finally, we deduce bounds on the drift and
diffusion constants for photons from the blackbody nature of the spectrum of
the cosmic microwave background radiation.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, corrected minor typos and updated to match
published versio
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