Predictive learning, prediction errors, and attention: evidence from event-related potentials and eye tracking

Prediction error (‘‘surprise’’) affects the rate of learning: We learn more rapidly about cues for which we initially make incorrect predictions than cues for which our initial predictions are correct. The current studies employ electrophysiological measures to reveal early attentional differentiation of events that differ in their previous involvement in errors of predictive judgment. Error-related events attract more attention, as evidenced by features of event-related scalp potentials previously implicated in selective visual attention (selection negativity, augmented anterior N1). The earliest differences detected occurred around 120 msec after stimulus onset, and distributed source localization (LORETA) indicated that the inferior temporal regions were one source of the earliest differences. In addition, stimuli associated with the production of prediction errors show higher dwell times in an eyetracking procedure. Our data support the view that early attentional processes play a role in human associative learning

Utterance Selection Model of Language Change

We present a mathematical formulation of a theory of language change. The theory is evolutionary in nature and has close analogies with theories of population genetics. The mathematical structure we construct similarly has correspondences with the Fisher-Wright model of population genetics, but there are significant differences. The continuous time formulation of the model is expressed in terms of a Fokker-Planck equation. This equation is exactly soluble in the case of a single speaker and can be investigated analytically in the case of multiple speakers who communicate equally with all other speakers and give their utterances equal weight. Whilst the stationary properties of this system have much in common with the single-speaker case, time-dependent properties are richer. In the particular case where linguistic forms can become extinct, we find that the presence of many speakers causes a two-stage relaxation, the first being a common marginal distribution that persists for a long time as a consequence of ultimate extinction being due to rare fluctuations.Comment: 21 pages, 17 figure

Management of trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis

<p>Background: The current treatments for human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), Chagas disease and leishmaniasis (collectively referred to as the kinetoplastid diseases) are far from ideal but, for some, there has been significant recent progress. For HAT the only advances in treatment over the past two decades have been the introduction of an eflornithine/nifurtimox co-administration and a shorter regime of the old standard melarsoprol.</p> <p>Sources of data: PubMed.</p> <p>Areas of Agreement: There is a need for new safe, oral drugs for cost-effective treatment of patients and use in control programmes for all the trypanosomatid diseases.</p> <p>Areas of controversy: Cutaneous leishmaniasis is not on the agenda and treatments are lagging behind.</p> <p>Growing points: There are three compounds in development for the treatment of the CNS stage of HAT: fexinidazole, currently due to entry into phase II clinical studies, a benzoxaborole (SCYX-7158) in phase I trials and a diamidine derivative (CPD-0802), in advanced pre-clinical development. For Chagas disease, two anti-fungal triazoles are now in clinical trial. In addition, clinical studies with benznidazole, a drug previously recommended only for acute stage treatment, are close to completion to determine the effectiveness in the treatment of early chronic and indeterminate Chagas disease. For visceral leishmaniasis new formulations, therapeutic switching, in particular AmBisome, and the potential for combinations of established drugs have significantly improved the opportunities for the treatment in the Indian subcontinent, but not in East Africa.</p> <p>Areas timely for developing research: Improved diagnostic tools are needed to support treatment, for test of cure in clinical trials and for monitoring/surveillance of populations in control programmes.</p&gt

The effect of fatigue on climbing fluidity and hand movements

In rock climbing, climbers use their arms to regulate their posture on the wall, which can lead to localised muscle fatigue. Evidence shows fatigue is the primary cause of falls, but little is known about how fatigue specifically affects climbing rhythm and hand movements. The present study examined climbing fluidity and hand movements on an indoor climbing wall before and after a specific fatiguing protocol. Seventeen climbers completed three repetitions of a challenging climbing route (21 on Ewbank scale) with different levels of localised arm fatigue. Climbers’ movements were tracked using 3D motion capture, and their hand actions assessed using notational analysis. Seventy markers were used to create 15 rigid body segments and the participants\u27 centre of mass. The global entropy index was calculated on the path of the participants\u27 centre of mass. Climbers fell more often when fatigued, but there were no significant differences in hip jerk or global entropy index when fatigued. No significant differences were found between the number of exploratory or performatory hand movements with different amounts of fatigue. The results suggest that localised arm fatigue affects a climber’s ability to prevent themselves from falling, but it does not specifically affect their fluidity

Comet 9P/Tempel 1: Interpretation with the Deep Impact Results

According to our common understandings, the original surface of a short-period comet nucleus has been lost by sublimation processes during its close approaches to the Sun. Sublimation results in the formation of a dust mantle on the retreated surface and in chemical differentiation of ices over tens or hundreds of meters below the mantle. In the course of NASA's Deep Impact mission, optical and infrared imaging observations of the ejecta plume were conducted by several researchers, but their interpretations of the data came as a big surprise: (1) The nucleus of comet 9P/Tempel 1 is free of a dust mantle, but maintains its pristine crust of submicron-sized carbonaceous grains; (2) Primordial materials are accessible already at a depth of several tens of cm with abundant silicate grains of submicrometer sizes. In this study, we demonstrate that a standard model of cometary nuclei explains well available observational data: (1) A dust mantle with a thickness of ~1-2 m builds up on the surface, where compact aggregates larger than tens of micrometers dominate; (2) Large fluffy aggregates are embedded in chemically differentiated layers as well as in the deepest part of the nucleus with primordial materials. We conclude that the Deep Impact results do not need any peculiar view of a comet nucleus.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, 1 table. ApJ letters, 673, L199-20

Cosmological Limits on the Neutrino Mass from the Lya Forest

The Lya forest in quasar spectra probes scales where massive neutrinos can strongly suppress the growth of mass fluctuations. Using hydrodynamic simulations with massive neutrinos, we successfully test techniques developed to measure the mass power spectrum from the forest. A recent observational measurement in conjunction with a conservative implementation of other cosmological constraints places upper limits on the neutrino mass: m_nu < 5.5 eV for all values of Omega_m, and m_nu < 2.4 (Omega_m/0.17 -1) eV, if 0.2 < Omega_m <0.5 as currently observationally favored (both 95 % C.L.).Comment: 4 pages, 2 ps figures, REVTex, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Galaxy Cluster Correlation Function to z ~ 1.5 in the IRAC Shallow Cluster Survey

We present the galaxy cluster autocorrelation function of 277 galaxy cluster candidates with 0.25 \le z \le 1.5 in a 7 deg^2 area of the IRAC Shallow Cluster Survey. We find strong clustering throughout our galaxy cluster sample, as expected for these massive structures. Specifically, at = 0.5 we find a correlation length of r_0 = 17.40^{+3.98}_{-3.10} h^-1 Mpc, in excellent agreement with the Las Campanas Distant Cluster Survey, the only other non-local measurement. At higher redshift, = 1, we find that strong clustering persists, with a correlation length of r_0=19.14^{+5.65}_{-4.56} h^-1 Mpc. A comparison with high resolution cosmological simulations indicates these are clusters with halo masses of \sim 10^{14} Msun, a result supported by estimates of dynamical mass for a subset of the sample. In a stable clustering picture, these clusters will evolve into massive (10^{15} Msun) clusters by the present day.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. ApJ Letters, in pres

Evolution of the Cluster Mass and Correlation Functions in LCDM Cosmology

The evolution of the cluster mass function and the cluster correlation function from z = 0 to z = 3 are determined using 10^6 clusters obtained from high-resolution simulations of the current best-fit LCDM cosmology (\Omega_m = 0.27, \sigma_8 = 0.84, h = 0.7). The results provide predictions for comparisons with future observations of high redshift clusters. A comparison of the predicted mass function of low redshift clusters with observations from early Sloan Digital Sky Survey data, and the predicted abundance of massive distant clusters with observational results, favor a slightly larger amplitude of mass fluctuations (\sigma_8 = 0.9) and lower density parameter (\Omega_m = 0.2); these values are consistent within 1-\sigma with the current observational and model uncertainties. The cluster correlation function strength increases with redshift for a given mass limit; the clusters were more strongly correlated in the past, due to their increasing bias with redshift - the bias reaches b = 100 at z = 2 for M > 5 x 10^13 h^-1 M_sun. The richness-dependent cluster correlation function, represented by the correlation scale versus cluster mean separation relation, R0-d, is generally consistent with observations. This relation can be approximated as R_0 = 1.7 d^0.6 h^-1 Mpc for d = 20 - 60 h^-1 Mpc. The R0-d relation exhibits surprisingly little evolution with redshift for z < 2; this can provide a new test of the current LCDM model when compared with future observations of high redshift clusters.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Bias, redshift space distortions and primordial nongaussianity of nonlinear transformations: application to Lyman alpha forest

On large scales a nonlinear transformation of matter density field can be viewed as a biased tracer of the density field itself. A nonlinear transformation also modifies the redshift space distortions in the same limit, giving rise to a velocity bias. In models with primordial nongaussianity a nonlinear transformation generates a scale dependent bias on large scales. We derive analytic expressions for these for a general nonlinear transformation. These biases can be expressed entirely in terms of the one point distribution function (PDF) of the final field and the parameters of the transformation. Our analysis allows one to devise nonlinear transformations with nearly arbitrary bias properties, which can be used to increase the signal in the large scale clustering limit. We apply the results to the ionizing equilibrium model of Lyman-alpha forest, in which Lyman-alpha flux F is related to the density perturbation delta via a nonlinear transformation. Velocity bias can be expressed as an average over the Lyman-alpha flux PDF. At z=2.4 we predict the velocity bias of -0.1, compared to the observed value of -0.13 +/- 0.03. Bias and primordial nongaussianity bias depend on the parameters of the transformation. Measurements of bias can thus be used to constrain these parameters, and for reasonable values of the ionizing background intensity we can match the predictions to observations. Matching to the observed values we predict the ratio of primordial nongaussianity bias to bias to have the opposite sign and lower magnitude than the corresponding values for the highly biased galaxies, but this depends on the model parameters and can also vanish or change the sign.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur