Asymmetries in Accessing Vowel Representations Are Driven by Phonological and Acoustic Properties: Neural and Behavioral Evidence From Natural German Minimal Pairs

In vowel discrimination, commonly found discrimination patterns are directional asymmetries where discrimination is faster (or easier) if differing vowels are presented in a certain sequence compared to the reversed sequence. Different models of speech sound processing try to account for these asymmetries based on either phonetic or phonological properties. In this study, we tested and compared two of those often-discussed models, namely the Featurally Underspecified Lexicon (FUL) model (Lahiri and Reetz, 2002) and the Natural Referent Vowel (NRV) framework (Polka and Bohn, 2011). While most studies presented isolated vowels, we investigated a large stimulus set of German vowels in a more naturalistic setting within minimal pairs. We conducted an mismatch negativity (MMN) study in a passive and a reaction time study in an active oddball paradigm. In both data sets, we found directional asymmetries that can be explained by either phonological or phonetic theories. While behaviorally, the vowel discrimination was based on phonological properties, both tested models failed to explain the found neural patterns comprehensively. Therefore, we additionally examined the influence of a variety of articulatory, acoustical, and lexical factors (e.g., formant structure, intensity, duration, and frequency of occurrence) but also the influence of factors beyond the well-known (perceived loudness of vowels, degree of openness) in depth via multiple regression analyses. The analyses revealed that the perceptual factor of perceived loudness has a greater impact than considered in the literature and should be taken stronger into consideration when analyzing preattentive natural vowel processing

Coherent control of enrichment and conversion of molecular spin isomers

A theoretical model of nuclear spin conversion in molecules controlled by an external electromagnetic radiation resonant to rotational transition has been developed. It has been shown that one can produce an enrichment of spin isomers and influence their conversion rates in two ways, through coherences and through level population change induced by radiation. Influence of conversion is ranged from significant speed up to almost complete inhibition of the process by proper choice of frequency and intensity of the external field.Comment: REVTEX, 13 pages + 6 eps figure

Comment on Neutron-Proton Spin-Correlation Parameter A_{ZZ} at 68 Mev

We present two arguments indicating that the large value for the $\epsilon_1$ mixing parameter at 50 MeV, which the Basel group extracted from their recent $A_{zz}$ measurement, may be incorrect. First, there are nucleon-nucleon (NN) potentials which predict the $\epsilon_1$ at 50 MeV substantially below the Basel value and reproduce the Basel $A_{zz}$ data accurately. Second, the large value for $\epsilon_1$ at 50 MeV proposed by the Basel group can only be explained by a model for the NN interaction which is very unrealistic (no $\rho$-meson and essentially a point-like $\pi NN$ vertex) and overpredicts the $\epsilon_1$ in the energy range where it is well determined (150--500 MeV) by a factor of two.Comment: 6 pages text (LaTex) and 2 figures (paper, will be faxed upon request), UI-NTH-930

Recent advances in the theory of nuclear forces

After a brief historical review, we present recent progress in our understanding of nuclear forces in terms of chiral effective field theory.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures; talk at International Symposium on Correlations Dynamics in Nuclei, University of Tokyo, Japan, 31 January-4 February, 200

Lambda-proton correlations in relativistic heavy ion collisions

The prospect of using lambda-proton correlations to extract source sizes in relativistic heavy ion collisions is investigated. It is found that the strong interaction induces a large peak in the correlation function that provides more sensitive source size measurements than two-proton correlations under some circumstances. The prospect of using lambda-proton correlations to measure the time lag between lambda and proton emissions is also studied.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure, revtex style. Two short paragraphs are added at referees' recommendations. Phys. Rev. Lett. in pres

Brueckner Rearrangement Effects in Λ5^5_\LambdaHe and ΛΛ6^6_{\Lambda\Lambda}He

Rearrangement effects in light hypernuclei are investigated in the framework of the Brueckner theory. We can estimate without detailed numerical calculations that the energy of the $\alpha$-core is reduced by more than 2.5 MeV when the $\Lambda$ adheres to $^4$He to form $^5_\Lambda$He. Similar assessment of rearrangement contributions is essential to deduce the strength of $\Lambda\Lambda$ interaction from experimentally observed $\Delta B_{\Lambda\Lambda}$. The recently observed experimental value of $\sim$ 1 MeV for the $\Delta B_{\Lambda\Lambda}$ of \hll suggests that the matrix element of $$ in \hll is around -2 MeV.Comment: 7 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Self-Referential Noise and the Synthesis of Three-Dimensional Space

Generalising results from Godel and Chaitin in mathematics suggests that self-referential systems contain intrinsic randomness. We argue that this is relevant to modelling the universe and show how three-dimensional space may arise from a non-geometric order-disorder model driven by self-referential noise.Comment: Figure labels correcte