637 research outputs found
The Groove Enhancement Machine (GEM): A multi-person adaptive metronome to manipulate sensorimotor synchronization and subjective enjoyment
Synchronization of movement enhances cooperation and trust between people. However, the degree to which individuals can synchronize with each other depends on their ability to perceive the timing of othersâ actions and produce movements accordingly. Here, we introduce an assistive deviceâa multi-person adaptive metronomeâto facilitate synchronization abilities. The adaptive metronome is implemented on Arduino Uno circuit boards, allowing for negligible temporal latency between tapper input and adaptive sonic output. Across five experimentsâtwo single-tapper, and three group (four tapper) experiments, we analyzed the effects of metronome adaptivity (percent correction based on the immediately preceding tap-metronome asynchrony) and auditory feedback on tapping performance and subjective ratings. In all experiments, tapper synchronization with the metronome was significantly enhanced with 25â50% adaptivity, compared to no adaptation. In group experiments with auditory feedback, synchrony remained enhanced even at 70â100% adaptivity; without feedback, synchrony at these high adaptivity levels returned to near baseline. Subjective ratings of being in the groove, in synchrony with the metronome, in synchrony with others, liking the task, and difficulty all reduced to one latent factor, which we termed enjoyment. This same factor structure replicated across all experiments. In predicting enjoyment, we found an interaction between auditory feedback and metronome adaptivity, with increased enjoyment at optimal levels of adaptivity only with auditory feedback and a severe decrease in enjoyment at higher levels of adaptivity, especially without feedback. Exploratory analyses relating person-level variables to tapping performance showed that musical sophistication and trait sadness contributed to the degree to which an individual differed in tapping stability from the group. Nonetheless, individuals and groups benefitted from adaptivity, regardless of their musical sophistication. Further, individuals who tapped less variably than the group (which only occurred âŒ25% of the time) were more likely to feel âin the groove.â Overall, this work replicates previous single person adaptive metronome studies and extends them to group contexts, thereby contributing to our understanding of the temporal, auditory, psychological, and personal factors underlying interpersonal synchrony and subjective enjoyment during sensorimotor interaction. Further, it provides an open-source tool for studying such factors in a controlled way
Exploring agency and self-other processing: an FMRI study of dynamic cooperation using an adaptively paced finger tapping task with variable auditory feedback
Ensemble musicians must be flexible and learn to adapt their performance to that of their partners and do so appropriately based on available sensory information streams. To further describe this type of dynamic joint action, we present a functional MRI study of sensorimotor synchronization with an adaptive âvirtual partnerâ (VP). In particular, we investigate the behavioural and neural effects of variable auditory feedback (off, different to or same as pacing tones) associated with finger tapping performance across varying degrees of VP adaptivity (α). We predict that auditory feedback will bias the system to either i) integrate or ii) segregate information regarding âselfâ or the VP (âotherâ). We acquired subjective ratings of sense of oneness (self-other merging) and influence (self-other distinction) which we expected to vary with the availability and reliability (ambiguous-same vs. distinct-different) of pertinent auditory information. Behavioural data show a significant interaction effect of auditory feedback on α and synchronization such that distinctive self-other auditory information results in improvements in synchronization, especially at higher levels of α. Furthermore, auditory feedback was seen to have a significant effect on perceived oneness. Specifically, improved synchronization correlates with both ratings of oneness and activation of the precuneus and posterior cingulate, areas thought to integrate external and self generated information. By contrast, a comparison of neural activation in different and same auditory conditions reveals SMA and cerebellum activity. Identification of these structures may be related to greater sensitivity to prediction error as well as self-other distinction necessary for agency processing
The reaction from threshold up to 570 MeV
The reaction has been studied in a
kinematically complete measurement with a large acceptance time-of-flight
spectrometer for incident neutron energies between threshold and 570 MeV. The
proton-proton invariant mass distributions show a strong enhancement due to the
pp() final state interaction. A large anisotropy was found in the
pion angular distributions in contrast to the reaction . At small energies, a large forward/backward asymmetry has been
observed. From the measured integrated cross section , the isoscalar cross section has been extracted.
Its energy dependence indicates that mainly partial waves with Sp final states
contribute. Note: Due to a coding error, the differential cross sections as shown in Fig. 9 are too small by a factor of two, and
inn Table 3 the differential cross sections
are too large by a factor of . The integrated cross sections and all
conclusions remain unchanged. A corresponding erratum has been submitted and
accepted by European Physics Journal.Comment: 18 pages, 16 figure
Analysing powers for the reaction and for np elastic scattering from 270 to 570 MeV
The analysing power of the reaction for neutron energies between threshold and 570 MeV has been determined
using a transversely polarised neutron beam at PSI. The reaction has been
studied in a kinematically complete measurement using a time-of-flight
spectrometer with large acceptance. Analysing powers have been determined as a
function of the c.m. pion angle in different regions of the proton-proton
invariant mass. They are compared to other data from the reactions and . The np elastic scattering analysing power was determined as a
by-product of the measurements.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, subitted to EPJ-
The Pelvis and Beyond: Musculoskeletal Tender Points in Women With Chronic Pelvic Pain
To determine the feasibility of a detailed pain sensitivity assessment using body wide musculoskeletal tender points (TPs) in women with different types of chronic pelvic pain (CPP) and compare phenotypic differences
A compact statistical model of the song syntax in Bengalese finch
Songs of many songbird species consist of variable sequences of a finite
number of syllables. A common approach for characterizing the syntax of these
complex syllable sequences is to use transition probabilities between the
syllables. This is equivalent to the Markov model, in which each syllable is
associated with one state, and the transition probabilities between the states
do not depend on the state transition history. Here we analyze the song syntax
in a Bengalese finch. We show that the Markov model fails to capture the
statistical properties of the syllable sequences. Instead, a state transition
model that accurately describes the statistics of the syllable sequences
includes adaptation of the self-transition probabilities when states are
repeatedly revisited, and allows associations of more than one state to the
same syllable. Such a model does not increase the model complexity
significantly. Mathematically, the model is a partially observable Markov model
with adaptation (POMMA). The success of the POMMA supports the branching chain
network hypothesis of how syntax is controlled within the premotor song nucleus
HVC, and suggests that adaptation and many-to-one mapping from neural
substrates to syllables are important features of the neural control of complex
song syntax
Reductive Evolution of the Mitochondrial Processing Peptidases of the Unicellular Parasites Trichomonas vaginalis and Giardia intestinalis
Mitochondrial processing peptidases are heterodimeric enzymes (α/ÎČMPP) that play an essential role in mitochondrial biogenesis by recognizing and cleaving the targeting presequences of nuclear-encoded mitochondrial proteins. The two subunits are paralogues that probably evolved by duplication of a gene for a monomeric metallopeptidase from the endosymbiotic ancestor of mitochondria. Here, we characterize the MPP-like proteins from two important human parasites that contain highly reduced versions of mitochondria, the mitosomes of Giardia intestinalis and the hydrogenosomes of Trichomonas vaginalis. Our biochemical characterization of recombinant proteins showed that, contrary to a recent report, the Trichomonas processing peptidase functions efficiently as an α/ÎČ heterodimer. By contrast, and so far uniquely among eukaryotes, the Giardia processing peptidase functions as a monomer comprising a single ÎČMPP-like catalytic subunit. The structure and surface charge distribution of the Giardia processing peptidase predicted from a 3-D protein model appear to have co-evolved with the properties of Giardia mitosomal targeting sequences, which, unlike classic mitochondrial targeting signals, are typically short and impoverished in positively charged residues. The majority of hydrogenosomal presequences resemble those of mitosomes, but longer, positively charged mitochondrial-type presequences were also identified, consistent with the retention of the Trichomonas αMPP-like subunit. Our computational and experimental/functional analyses reveal that the divergent processing peptidases of Giardia mitosomes and Trichomonas hydrogenosomes evolved from the same ancestral heterodimeric α/ÎČMPP metallopeptidase as did the classic mitochondrial enzyme. The unique monomeric structure of the Giardia enzyme, and the co-evolving properties of the Giardia enzyme and substrate, provide a compelling example of the power of reductive evolution to shape parasite biology
Effects of Unexpected Chords and of Performer's Expression on Brain Responses and Electrodermal Activity
BACKGROUND: There is lack of neuroscientific studies investigating music processing with naturalistic stimuli, and brain responses to real music are, thus, largely unknown.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: This study investigates event-related brain potentials (ERPs), skin conductance responses (SCRs) and heart rate (HR) elicited by unexpected chords of piano sonatas as they were originally arranged by composers, and as they were played by professional pianists. From the musical excerpts played by the pianists (with emotional expression), we also created versions without variations in tempo and loudness (without musical expression) to investigate effects of musical expression on ERPs and SCRs. Compared to expected chords, unexpected chords elicited an early right anterior negativity (ERAN, reflecting music-syntactic processing) and an N5 (reflecting processing of meaning information) in the ERPs, as well as clear changes in the SCRs (reflecting that unexpected chords also elicited emotional responses). The ERAN was not influenced by emotional expression, whereas N5 potentials elicited by chords in general (regardless of their chord function) differed between the expressive and the non-expressive condition.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results show that the neural mechanisms of music-syntactic processing operate independently of the emotional qualities of a stimulus, justifying the use of stimuli without emotional expression to investigate the cognitive processing of musical structure. Moreover, the data indicate that musical expression affects the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of musical meaning. Our data are the first to reveal influences of musical performance on ERPs and SCRs, and to show physiological responses to unexpected chords in naturalistic music
Performance of the first prototype of the CALICE scintillator strip electromagnetic calorimeter
A first prototype of a scintillator strip-based electromagnetic calorimeter
was built, consisting of 26 layers of tungsten absorber plates interleaved with
planes of 45x10x3 mm3 plastic scintillator strips. Data were collected using a
positron test beam at DESY with momenta between 1 and 6 GeV/c. The prototype's
performance is presented in terms of the linearity and resolution of the energy
measurement. These results represent an important milestone in the development
of highly granular calorimeters using scintillator strip technology. This
technology is being developed for a future linear collider experiment, aiming
at the precise measurement of jet energies using particle flow techniques
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