Auditory neural tracking and lexical processing of speech in noise: Masker type, spatial location, and language experience

The present study investigated how single-talker and babble maskers affect auditory and lexical processing during native (L1) and non-native (L2) speech recognition. Electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings were made while L1 and L2 (Korean) English speakers listened to sentences in the presence of single-talker and babble maskers that were colocated or spatially separated from the target. The predictability of the sentences was manipulated to measure lexical-semantic processing (N400), and selective auditory processing of the target was assessed using neural tracking measures. The results demonstrate that intelligible single-talker maskers cause listeners to attend more to the semantic content of the targets (i.e., greater context-related N400 changes) than when targets are in babble, and that listeners track the acoustics of the target less accurately with single-talker maskers. L1 and L2 listeners both modulated their processing in this way, although L2 listeners had more difficulty with the materials overall (i.e., lower behavioral accuracy, less context-related N400 variation, more listening effort). The results demonstrate that auditory and lexical processing can be simultaneously assessed within a naturalistic speech listening task, and listeners can adjust lexical processing to more strongly track the meaning of a sentence in order to help ignore competing lexical content

Listening effort during speech perception enhances auditory and lexical processing for non-native listeners and accents

Speech communication in a non-native language (L2) can feel effortful, and the present study suggests that this effort affects both auditory and lexical processing. EEG recordings (electroencephalography) were made from native English (L1) and Korean listeners while they listened to English sentences spoken with two accents (English and Korean) in the presence of a distracting talker. Neural entrainment (i.e., phase locking between the EEG recording and the speech amplitude envelope) was measured for target and distractor talkers. L2 listeners had relatively greater entrainment for target talkers than did L1 listeners, likely because their difficulty with L2 speech recognition caused them to focus more attention on the speech signal. N400 was measured for the final word in each sentence, and L2 listeners had greater lexical processing in high-predictability sentences than did L1 listeners. L1 listeners had greater target-talker entrainment when listening to the more difficult L2 accent than their own L1 accent, and similarly had larger N400 responses for the L2 accent. It thus appears that the increased effort of L2 listeners, as well as L1 listeners understanding L2 speech, modulates their auditory and lexical processing during speech recognition. This may provide a mechanism to compensate for their perceptual challenges under adverse conditions

Avalanche Dynamics in Wet Granular Materials

We have studied the dynamics of avalanching wet granular media in a rotating drum apparatus. Quantitative measurements of the flow velocity and the granular flux during avalanches allow us to characterize novel avalanche types unique to wet media. We also explore the details of viscoplastic flow (observed at the highest liquid contents) in which there are lasting contacts during flow, leading to coherence across the entire sample. This coherence leads to a velocity independent flow depth at high rotation rates and novel robust pattern formation in the granular surface.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures in color, REVTeX4, for smaller pdfs see http://angel.elte.hu/~tegzes/condmat.htm

Interpreting forest and grassland biome productivity utilizing nested scales of image resolution and biogeographical analysis

Several hardware, software, and data collection problems encountered were conquered. The Geographic Information System (GIS) data from other systems were converted to ERDAS format for incorporation with the image data. Statistical analysis of the relationship between spectral values and productivity is being pursued. Several project sites, including Jackson, Pope, Boulder, Smokies, and Huntington Forest are evolving as the most intensively studied areas, primarily due to availability of data and time. Progress with data acquisition and quality checking, more details on experimental sites, and brief summarizations of research results and future plans are discussed. Material on personnel, collaborators, facilities, site background, and meetings and publications of the investigators are included

Nutrition and its role in human evolution

Peer reviewedPostprin

The new Cold Neutron Chopper Spectrometer at the Spallation Neutron Source - Design and Performance

The design and performance of the new Cold Neutron Chopper Spectrometer (CNCS) at the Spallation Neutron Source in Oak Ridge are described. CNCS is a direct geometry inelastic time-of-flight spectrometer, designed to cover essentially the same energy and momentum transfer ranges as IN5 at ILL, LET at ISIS, DCS at NIST, TOFTOF at FRM2, AMATERAS at J-PARC, PHAROS at LANSCE and NEAT at HZB, at similar energy resolution. Measured values of key figures such as neutron flux at sample position and energy resolution are compared between measurements and ray tracing Monte Carlo simulations, and good agreement (better than 20% of absolute numbers) has been achieved. The instrument performs very well in the cold and thermal neutron energy ranges, and promises to become a workhorse for the neutron scattering community for quasielastic and inelastic scattering experiments

Does consumer protection enhance disclosure credibility in reward crowdfunding?

We study how the interplay of disclosure and regulation shapes capital allocation in reward crowdfunding. Using data from Kickstarter, the largest online reward crowdfunding platform, we show that, even in the absence of clear regulation and enforcement mechanisms, disclosure helps entrepreneurs access capital for their projects and bolsters engagement with potential project backers, consistent with the notion that disclosure mitigates moral hazard. We further document that, subsequent to a change in Kickstarter’s terms of use that increases the threat of consumer litigation, the association between project funding and disclosure becomes stronger. This evidence suggests that consumer protection regulation enhances the perceived credibility of disclosure. We find the effect of the change in terms of use to be more pronounced in states with stricter consumer protection regulations. Taken together, our findings yield important insights on the role of disclosure, as well as on the potential effects of increased regulation on crowdfunding platforms