4,495 research outputs found
The positional-specificity effect reveals a passive-trace contribution to visual short-term memory.
The positional-specificity effect refers to enhanced performance in visual short-term memory (VSTM) when the recognition probe is presented at the same location as had been the sample, even though location is irrelevant to the match/nonmatch decision. We investigated the mechanisms underlying this effect with behavioral and fMRI studies of object change-detection performance. To test whether the positional-specificity effect is a direct consequence of active storage in VSTM, we varied memory load, reasoning that it should be observed for all objects presented in a sub-span array of items. The results, however, indicated that although robust with a memory load of 1, the positional-specificity effect was restricted to the second of two sequentially presented sample stimuli in a load-of-2 experiment. An additional behavioral experiment showed that this disruption wasn't due to the increased load per se, because actively processing a second object--in the absence of a storage requirement--also eliminated the effect. These behavioral findings suggest that, during tests of object memory, position-related information is not actively stored in VSTM, but may be retained in a passive tag that marks the most recent site of selection. The fMRI data were consistent with this interpretation, failing to find location-specific bias in sustained delay-period activity, but revealing an enhanced response to recognition probes that matched the location of that trial's sample stimulus
Solving the Jitter Problem in Microwave Compressed Ultrafast Electron Diffraction Instruments: Robust Sub-50 fs Cavity-Laser Phase Stabilization
We demonstrate the compression of electron pulses in a high-brightness
ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) instrument using phase-locked microwave
signals directly generated from a mode-locked femtosecond oscillator.
Additionally, a continuous-wave phase stabilization system that accurately
corrects for phase fluctuations arising in the compression cavity from both
power amplification and thermal drift induced detuning was designed and
implemented. An improvement in the microwave timing stability from 100 fs to 5
fs RMS is measured electronically and the long-term arrival time stability
(10 hours) of the electron pulses improves to below our measurement
resolution of 50 fs. These results demonstrate sub-relativistic ultrafast
electron diffraction with compressed pulses that is no longer limited by
laser-microwave synchronization.Comment: Accepted for publication in Structural Dynamic
Exact Dynamics of Multicomponent Bose-Einstein Condensates in Optical Lattices in One, Two and Three Dimensions
Numerous exact solutions to the nonlinear mean-field equations of motion are
constructed for multicomponent Bose-Einstein condensates on one, two, and three
dimensional optical lattices. We find both stationary and nonstationary
solutions, which are given in closed form. Among these solutions are a
vortex-anti-vortex array on the square optical lattice and modes in which two
or more components slosh back and forth between neighboring potential wells. We
obtain a variety of solutions for multicomponent condensates on the simple
cubic lattice, including a solution in which one condensate is at rest and the
other flows in a complex three-dimensional array of intersecting vortex lines.
A number of physically important solutions are stable for a range of parameter
values, as we show by direct numerical integration of the equations of motion.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure
Recency Effects in the Inferior Parietal Lobe during Verbal Recognition Memory
The most recently encountered information is often most easily remembered in psychological tests of memory. Recent investigations of the neural basis of such “recency effects” have shown that activation in the lateral inferior parietal cortex (LIPC) tracks the recency of a probe item when subjects make recognition memory judgments. A key question regarding recency effects in the LIPC is whether they fundamentally reflect the storage (and strength) of information in memory, or whether such effects are a consequence of task difficulty or an upswing in resting state network activity. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging we show that recency effects in the LIPC are independent of the difficulty of recognition memory decisions, that they are not a by-product of an increase in resting state network activity, and that they appear to dissociate from regions known to be involved in verbal working memory maintenance. We conclude with a discussion of two alternative explanations – the memory strength and “expectancy” hypotheses, respectively – of the parietal lobe recency effect
POLOCALC: a Novel Method to Measure the Absolute Polarization Orientation of the Cosmic Microwave Background
We describe a novel method to measure the absolute orientation of the
polarization plane of the CMB with arcsecond accuracy, enabling unprecedented
measurements for cosmology and fundamental physics. Existing and planned CMB
polarization instruments looking for primordial B-mode signals need an
independent, experimental method for systematics control on the absolute
polarization orientation. The lack of such a method limits the accuracy of the
detection of inflationary gravitational waves, the constraining power on the
neutrino sector through measurements of gravitational lensing of the CMB, the
possibility of detecting Cosmic Birefringence, and the ability to measure
primordial magnetic fields. Sky signals used for calibration and direct
measurements of the detector orientation cannot provide an accuracy better than
1 deg. Self-calibration methods provide better accuracy, but may be affected by
foreground signals and rely heavily on model assumptions. The POLarization
Orientation CALibrator for Cosmology, POLOCALC, will dramatically improve
instrumental accuracy by means of an artificial calibration source flying on
balloons and aerial drones. A balloon-borne calibrator will provide far-field
source for larger telescopes, while a drone will be used for tests and smaller
polarimeters. POLOCALC will also allow a unique method to measure the
telescopes' polarized beam. It will use microwave emitters between 40 and 150
GHz coupled to precise polarizing filters. The orientation of the source
polarization plane will be registered to sky coordinates by star cameras and
gyroscopes with arcsecond accuracy. This project can become a rung in the
calibration ladder for the field: any existing or future CMB polarization
experiment observing our polarization calibrator will enable measurements of
the polarization angle for each detector with respect to absolute sky
coordinates.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, Accepted by Journal of Astronomical
Instrumentatio
Spatially Extended Dislocations Produced by the Dispersive Swift-Hohenberg Equation
Motivated by previous results showing that the addition of a linear
dispersive term to the two-dimensional Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation has a
dramatic effect on the pattern formation, we study the Swift-Hohenberg equation
with an added linear dispersive term, the dispersive Swift-Hohenberg equation
(DSHE). The DSHE produces stripe patterns with spatially extended dislocations
that we call seam defects. In contrast to the dispersive Kuramoto-Sivashinsky
equation, the DSHE has a narrow band of unstable wavelengths close to an
instability threshold. This allows for analytical progress to be made. We show
that the amplitude equation for the DSHE close to threshold is a special case
of the anisotropic complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (ACGLE) and that seams in
the DSHE correspond to spiral waves in the ACGLE. Seam defects and the
corresponding spiral waves tend to organize themselves into chains, and we
obtain formulas for the velocity of the spiral wave cores and for the spacing
between them. In the limit of strong dispersion, a perturbative analysis yields
a relationship between the amplitude and wavelength of a stripe pattern and its
propagation velocity. Numerical integrations of the ACGLE and the DSHE confirm
these analytical results
Childhood Depression and Conduct Disorder: I. Behavioral, Affective, and Cognitive Aspects of Family Problem-Solving Interactions
We assessed the family interactions of depressed, conduct-disordered, mixed depressed-conductdisordered, and nonclinic children, ages 7-14 years, during a standardized family problem-solving discussion in the clinic. The child's and the mother's problem-solving proficiency, aversive behavior, and associated affective behavior (depressed and angry-hostile) were observed. The child and mother also rated each other's affect during the interaction for the dimensions sad, angry, critical, and happy on Likert-type scales. The child's and mother's cognitive constructions about the interaction were assessed using videomediated recall. Although all clinic groups had lower levels of effective problem solving than did nonclinic children, their deficiencies were somewhat different. Mixed and depressed children displayed high levels of depressed affect and low levels of angry affect, whereas conduct-disordered children displayed both angry and depressed affect. In addition, conduct-disordered children had lower levels of positive problem solving and higher levels of aversive content than did non-conduct-disordered children. Depressed and conduct-disordered children had higher levels of self-referent negative cognitions than did mixed and comparison children, and depressed children also had higher other-referent negative cognitions than did all other groups. The study provides support for theories and treatment that stress the importance of family problem-solving and conflict resolution skills in child psychopathology
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