Structural Integration in Language and Music: Evidence for a Shared System.

In this study, we investigate whether language and music share cognitive resources for structural processing. We report an experiment that used sung materials and manipulated linguistic complexity (subject-extracted relative clauses, object-extracted relative clauses) and musical complexity (in-key critical note, out-of-key critical note, auditory anomaly on the critical note involving a loudness increase). The auditory-anomaly manipulation was included in order to test whether the difference between in-key and out-of-key conditions might be due to any salient, unexpected acoustic event. The critical dependent measure involved comprehension accuracies to questions about the propositional content of the sentences asked at the end of each trial. The results revealed an interaction between linguistic and musical complexity such that the difference between the subject- and object-extracted relative clause conditions was larger in the out-of-key condition than in the in-key and auditory-anomaly conditions. These results provide evidence for an overlap in structural processing between language and music

The Disk Wind in the Young Binaries and the Origin of the Cyclic Activity of Young Stars

We present results of numerical modeling of the cyclic brightness modulation in the young binary systems with the eccentric orbits and low-mass secondary components. Brightness variations of the primary is due to the periodical extinction variations on the line-of-sight caused by the disk wind of the secondary and a common envelope it produces. A matter distribution in the envelope has been calculated in the ballistic approach. Calculations showed that for the young binaries with the elliptic orbits parameters of the photometric minima (their depth, duration and the shape of light curves) depend not only on the disk wind parameters and an inclination of the binary orbit to the line-of-sight but also on the longitude of the periastron. A modulation of the scattered radiation of the common envelope with a phase of the orbital period has been investigated in the single scattering approach. It is shown that an amplitude of the modulation is maximal when the system is seen edge-on and has also a non-zero value in the binaries observed pole-on. Possible applications of the theory to the young stellar objects are discussed. In particular, an attention is payed to a resemblance of the light curves in some models with light curves of the objects suspected as candidates to FUORs.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, accepted by Astronomy Letter

Visual perceptual load induces inattentional deafness

In this article, we establish a new phenomenon of “inattentional deafness” and highlight the level of load on visual attention as a critical determinant of this phenomenon. In three experiments, we modified an inattentional blindness paradigm to assess inattentional deafness. Participants made either a low- or high-load visual discrimination concerning a cross shape (respectively, a discrimination of line color or of line length with a subtle length difference). A brief pure tone was presented simultaneously with the visual task display on a final trial. Failures to notice the presence of this tone (i.e., inattentional deafness) reached a rate of 79% in the high-visual-load condition, significantly more than in the low-load condition. These findings establish the phenomenon of inattentional deafness under visual load, thereby extending the load theory of attention (e.g., Lavie, Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance, 25, 596–616, 1995) to address the cross-modal effects of visual perceptual load

A Close Eye on the Eagle-Eyed Visual Acuity Hypothesis of Autism

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been associated with sensory hypersensitivity. A recent study reported visual acuity (VA) in ASD in the region reported for birds of prey. The validity of the results was subsequently doubted. This study examined VA in 34 individuals with ASD, 16 with schizophrenia (SCH), and 26 typically developing (TYP). Participants with ASD did not show higher VA than those with SCH and TYP. There were no substantial correlations of VA with clinical severity in ASD or SCH. This study could not confirm the eagle-eyed acuity hypothesis of ASD, or find evidence for a connection of VA and clinical phenotypes. Research needs to further address the origins and circumstances associated with altered sensory or perceptual processing in ASD

Macular thickness measurements in healthy Norwegian volunteers: an optical coherence tomography study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ethnic, intersubject, interoperator and intermachine differences in measured macular thickness seem to exist. Our purpose was to collect normative macular thickness data in Norwegians and to evaluate the association between macular thickness and age, gender, parity, and contraception status.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Retinal thickness was measured by Stratus Optical Coherence Tomography in healthy subjects. Mean macular thickness (MMT) was analyzed by repeated measures ANOVA with three dependent regional MMT-variables for interaction with age, gender, parity and oral contraception use. Exploratory correlation with age by the Pearson correlation test, both before and after stratification by gender was performed. Differences in MMT between older and younger subjects, between oral contraception users and non-users, as well as parous and nulliparous women were studied by post-hoc Student's t-tests.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Central MMT in Norwegians was similar to values earlier reported in whites. MMT in central areas of 1 and 2.25 mm in diameter were higher in males than in females. In younger subjects (≤43 years) differences in MMT between genders were larger than in the mixed age group, whereas in older subjects (>43 years) the small differences did not reach the set significance level. No differences were found in minimal foveolar thickness (MMFT) between the genders in any age group.</p> <p>Mean foveal thickness (1 mm in diameter) was positively associated with age in females (r = 0.28, p = 0.03). MMFT was positively associated with age in all groups and reached significance both in females and in mixed gender group (r = 0.20, p = 0.041 and r = 0.26, p = 0.044 respectively).</p> <p>Mean foveal thickness and MMFT were significantly higher in parous than in nulliparous women, and age-adjusted ANOVA for MMFT revealed a borderline effect of parity.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Age and gender should be taken into consideration when establishing normal ranges for MMT in younger subjects. The gender difference in retinal thickness in young, but not older adults suggests a gonadal hormonal influence. The possible association between parity and retinal structure and its clinical relevance, should be studied further.</p

Atypical Neurophysiology Underlying Episodic and Semantic Memory in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show atypicalities in episodic memory (Boucher et al. in Psychological Bulletin, 138 (3), 458-496, 2012). We asked participants to recall the colours of a set of studied line drawings (episodic judgement), or to recognize line drawings alone (semantic judgement). Cycowicz et al. (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 65, 171-237, 2001) found early (300 ms onset) posterior old-new event-related potential effects for semantic judgements in typically developing (TD) individuals, and occipitally focused negativity (800 ms onset) for episodic judgements. Our results replicated findings in TD individuals and demonstrate attenuated early old-new effects in ASD. Late posterior negativity was present in the ASD group, but was not specific to this time window. This non-specificity may contribute to the atypical episodic memory judgements characteristic of individuals with ASD

Track D Social Science, Human Rights and Political Science

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138414/1/jia218442.pd