Typing pictures: linguistic processing cascades into finger movements

The present study investigated the effect of psycholinguistic variables on measures of response latency and mean interkeystroke interval in a typewritten picture naming task, with the aim to outline the functional organization of the stages of cognitive processing and response execution associated with typewritten word production. Onset latencies were modulated by lexical and semantic variables traditionally linked to lexical retrieval, such as word frequency, age of acquisition, and naming agreement. Orthographic variables, both at the lexical and sublexical level, appear to influence just within-word interkeystroke intervals, suggesting that orthographic information may play a relevant role in controlling actual response execution. Lexical-semantic variables also influenced speed of execution. This points towards cascaded flow of activation between stages of lexical access and response execution

Optical polarization observations in the Scorpius region: NGC 6124

We have obtained optical multicolour (UBVRI) linear polarimetric data for 46 of the brightest stars in the area of the open cluster NGC 6124 in order to investigate the properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) that lies along the line of sight toward the cluster. Our data yield a mean polarization efficiency of $P_V/E_{B-V}=3.1\pm$0.62, i.e., a value lower than the polarization produced by the ISM with normal efficiency for an average color excess of $E_{B-V}=0.80$ as that found for NGC 6124. Besides, the polarization shows an orientation of $\theta \sim 8^\circ$.1 which is not parallel to the Galactic Disk,an effect that we think may be caused by the Lupus Cloud. Our analysis also indicates that the observed visual extinction in NGC 6124 is caused by the presence of three different absorption sheets located between the Sun and NGC 6124. The values of the internal dispersion of the polarization ($\Delta P_V\sim 1.3$) and of the colour excess ($\Delta E_{B-V}\sim 0.29$ mag) for the members of NGC 6124 seem to be compatible with the presence of an intra-cluster dust component. Only six stars exhibit some evidence of intrinsic polarization.Our work also shows that polarimetry provides an excellent tool to distinguish between member and non-member stars of a cluster

high resolution study of epigenetic processes new insights into methylation and demethylation

n/

Cognitive predictors of shallow-orthography spelling speed and accuracy in 6th grade children

Spelling accuracy and time course was investigated in a sample of 100 Norwegian 6th grade students completing a standardized spelling-to-dictation task. Students responded by keyboard with accurate recordings of response-onset latency (RT) and inter-keypress interval (IKI). We determined effects of a number of child-level cognitive ability factors, and of word-level factors—particularly the location within the word of a spelling challenge (e.g., letter doubling), if present. Spelling accuracy was predicted by word reading (word split) performance, non-word spelling accuracy, keyboard key-finding speed and short-term memory span. Word reading performance predicted accuracy just for words with spelling challenges. For correctly spelled words, RT was predicted by non-word spelling response time and by speed on a key-finding task, and mean IKI by non-verbal cognitive ability, word reading, non-word spelling response time, and key-finding speed. Compared to words with no challenge, mean IKI was shorter for words with an initial challenge and longer for words with a mid-word challenge. These findings suggest that spelling is not fully planned when typing commences, a hypothesis that is confirmed by the fact that IKI immediately before within word challenges were reliably longer than elsewhere within the same word. Taken together our findings imply that routine classroom spelling tests better capture student competence if they focus not only on accuracy but also on production time course

A behavioral database for masked form priming

Reading involves a process of matching an orthographic input with stored representations in lexical memory. The masked priming paradigm has become a standard tool for investigating this process. Use of existing results from this paradigm can be limited by the precision of the data and the need for cross-experiment comparisons that lack normal experimental controls. Here, we present a single, large, high-precision, multicondition experiment to address these problems. Over 1,000 participants from 14 sites responded to 840 trials involving 28 different types of orthographically related primes (e.g., castfe–CASTLE) in a lexical decision task, as well as completing measures of spelling and vocabulary. The data were indeed highly sensitive to differences between conditions: After correction for multiple comparisons, prime type condition differences of 2.90 ms and above reached significance at the 5% level. This article presents the method of data collection and preliminary findings from these data, which included replications of the most widely agreed-upon differences between prime types, further evidence for systematic individual differences in susceptibility to priming, and new evidence regarding lexical properties associated with a target word’s susceptibility to priming. These analyses will form a basis for the use of these data in quantitative model fitting and evaluation and for future exploration of these data that will inform and motivate new experiments

Comunicare i beni archeologici

Il Codice dei Beni Culturali e del Paesaggio (art. 2 comma 4) stabilisce che i beni del patrimonio culturale di appartenenza pubblica sono destinati alla fruizione della collettività. Interrogarsi intorno agli strumenti e alle tecniche per la fruizione del patrimonio significa operare processi di valorizzazione; questa infatti consiste, tra l’altro, nel promuovere la conoscenza del patrimonio culturale e nell’assicurare le migliori condizioni di utilizzazione e fruizione pubblica del patrimonio stesso. Musei, raccolte museali, aree e parchi archeologici pongono oggi il tema della fruizione in maniera complessa e diversificata. Da una parte occorre ottimizzare l’impiego di mezzi e sistemi di comunicazione, sempre più raffinati, alle molteplici esigenze di un’utenza ampia e variegata, dall’altra trovare la miglior compatibilità tra le istanze di conservazione dei beni e le esigenze dell’utenza. Il volume raccoglie gli atti della Giornata di Studi intitolata “Comunicare i Beni Archeologici” tenutasi a Gallarate nel marzo del 2010 durante la quale funzionari degli enti di tutela e gestione del patrimonio, operatori museali, professionisti e ricercatori hanno messo a confronto le proprie esperienze per la fruizione dei beni archeologici con il comune obiettivo di una sempre più efficace trasmissione della conoscenza del patrimonio