Opposing and following responses in sensorimotor speech control : why responses go both ways

When talking, speakers continuously monitor and use the auditory feedback of their own voice to control and inform speech production processes. When speakers are provided with auditory feedback that is perturbed in real time, most of them compensate for this by opposing the feedback perturbation. But some speakers follow the perturbation. In the current study, we investigated whether the state of the speech production system at perturbation onset may determine what type of response (opposing or following) is given. The results suggest that whether a perturbation-related response is opposing or following depends on ongoing fluctuations of the production system: It initially responds by doing the opposite of what it was doing. This effect and the non-trivial proportion of following responses suggest that current production models are inadequate: They need to account for why responses to unexpected sensory feedback depend on the production-system’s state at the time of perturbation

Consistency influences altered auditory feedback processing

Previous research on the effect of perturbed auditory feedback in speech production has focused on two types of responses. In the short term, speakers generate compensatory motor commands in response to unexpected perturbations. In the longer term, speakers adapt feedforward motor programs in response to feedback perturbations, in order to avoid future errors. The current study investigated the relation between these two types of responses to altered auditory feedback. Specifically, it was hypothesized that consistency in previous feedback perturbations would influence whether speakers adapt their feedforward motor programs. In an altered auditory feedback paradigm, formant perturbations were applied either across all trials (the consistent condition) or only to some trials while the others remained unperturbed (the inconsistent condition). The results showed that speakers’ responses were affected by feedback consistency, with stronger speech changes in the consistent condition compared to the inconsistent condition. Current models of speech-motor control can explain this consistency effect. However, the data also suggest compensation and adaptation are distinct processes, which is not in line with all current models

Understanding Changes in Violent Extremist Attitudes During the Transition to Early Adulthood

Objectives: The current study seeks to explain changes in support for violent extremism during the transition to early adulthood. This period during the life course could increase uncertainty and vulnerability to radicalization, or alternatively lead to maturation, prosocial bonds, and consequently less support for violent extremism. In the absence of population-based longitudinal data on violent extremist attitudes, we know very little about how and why attitudes change during this period. Method: Data came from an ongoing longitudinal cohort study in Zürich, Switzerland (n = 910). First, we assessed the variation in violent extremist attitudes between ages 17 and 20 using the Reliable Change Index. Second, we used hybrid regression techniques to investigate to what extent theoretically relevant factors can explain between- and within-individual differences in violent extremist attitudes. Results: Our results show that violent extremist attitudes are largely stable or declining between late adolescence and early adulthood, and that within-individual changes in low self-control, conflict coping skills, and peer disapproval of violence can in part explain these changes. Conclusions: For young people in Zürich, the transition to early adulthood was characterized by increases in psychosocial maturity, more prosocial peers, and less deviant behavior, which in turn was associated with lower support for violent extremism. Existing research on effective interventions for criminal desistance and disengagement from gangs may therefore be fruitful avenues for developing programs aimed at reducing support for violent extremism and fostering deradicalization

You talkin' to me? Communicative talker gaze activates left-lateralized superior temporal cortex during perception of degraded speech.

Neuroimaging studies of speech perception have consistently indicated a left-hemisphere dominance in the temporal lobes' responses to intelligible auditory speech signals (McGettigan and Scott, 2012). However, there are important communicative cues that cannot be extracted from auditory signals alone, including the direction of the talker's gaze. Previous work has implicated the superior temporal cortices in processing gaze direction, with evidence for predominantly right-lateralized responses (Carlin & Calder, 2013). The aim of the current study was to investigate whether the lateralization of responses to talker gaze differs in an auditory communicative context. Participants in a functional MRI experiment watched and listened to videos of spoken sentences in which the auditory intelligibility and talker gaze direction were manipulated factorially. We observed a left-dominant temporal lobe sensitivity to the talker's gaze direction, in which the left anterior superior temporal sulcus/gyrus and temporal pole showed an enhanced response to direct gaze - further investigation revealed that this pattern of lateralization was modulated by auditory intelligibility. Our results suggest flexibility in the distribution of neural responses to social cues in the face within the context of a challenging speech perception task

Smoking, respiratory symptoms and likely asthma in young people: evidence from postal questionnaire surveys in the Wythenshawe Community Asthma Project (WYCAP)

BACKGROUND: Although it is recognised that smoking is a major risk factor for subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and is associated with respiratory symptoms, there is less agreement concerning the relationship between asthma and smoking. This study aims to examine the relationship between cigarette smoking and asthma prevalence. METHOD: Data were used from two postal questionnaire surveys (1999 and 2001) in two general practice populations, using a respiratory questionnaire based on the ECRHQ and a generic quality of life questionnaire (EQ-5D). Only subjects less than 45 years old were included in the survey. An empirical definition of likely asthma was used based on respiratory questionnaire responses. Smoking was examined according to three categories, current smoker, ex smoker and never smoker. RESULTS: Almost 3500 subjects were included in the analyses. Current smokers had a higher prevalence of likely asthma compared to never smokers, odds ratio (OR) 1.59 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.24 to 2.04). and also compared to ex smokers OR 1.79 (CI 1.25 to 2.56), but there was no difference between ex smokers and never smokers (OR 1.00 (0.75–1.35)). Current smoking was also positively associated with all symptoms but not with a history of hayfever/eczema. CONCLUSION: Although the positive association found between current smoking and obstructive airways disease is likely to be due to the effect of cigarettes on asthma, it could reflect an association with early COPD (GOLD stages 0 or 1). Smoking cessation has a beneficial effect on the prevalence of respiratory symptoms and is therefore of paramount importance among these young adults

Variability of Disk Emission in Pre-Main Sequence and Related Stars. II. Variability in the Gas and Dust Emission of the Herbig Fe Star SAO 206462

We present thirteen epochs of near-infrared (0.8-5 micron) spectroscopic observations of the pre-transitional, "gapped" disk system in SAO 206462 (=HD 135344B). In all, six gas emission lines (including Br gamma, Pa beta, and the 0.8446 micron line of O I) along with continuum measurements made near the standard J, H, K, and L photometric bands were measured. A mass accretion rate of approximately 2 x 10^-8 solar masses per year was derived from the Br gamma and Pa beta lines. However, the fluxes of these lines varied by a factor of over two during the course of a few months. The continuum also varied, but by only ~30%, and even decreased at a time when the gas emission was increasing. The H I line at 1.083 microns was also found to vary in a manner inconsistent with that of either the hydrogen lines or the dust. Both the gas and dust variabilities indicate significant changes in the region of the inner gas and the inner dust belt that may be common to many young disk systems. If planets are responsible for defining the inner edge of the gap, they could interact with the material on time scales commensurate with what is observed for the variations in the dust, while other disk instabilities (thermal, magnetorotational) would operate there on longer time scales than we observe for the inner dust belt. For SAO 206462, the orbital period would likely be 1-3 years. If the changes are being induced in the disk material closer to the star than the gap, a variety of mechanisms (disk instabilities, interactions via planets) might be responsible for the changes seen. The He I feature is most likely due to a wind whose orientation changes with respect to the observer on time scales of a day or less. To further constrain the origin of the gas and dust emission will require multiple spectroscopic and interferometric observations on both shorter and longer time scales that have been sampled so far.Comment: 42 pages, 10 figure

Measurement of the branching fraction and CP content for the decay B(0) -> D(*+)D(*-)

This is the pre-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the links below. Copyright @ 2002 APS.We report a measurement of the branching fraction of the decay B0→D*+D*- and of the CP-odd component of its final state using the BABAR detector. With data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.4  fb-1 collected at the Υ(4S) resonance during 1999–2000, we have reconstructed 38 candidate signal events in the mode B0→D*+D*- with an estimated background of 6.2±0.5 events. From these events, we determine the branching fraction to be B(B0→D*+D*-)=[8.3±1.6(stat)±1.2(syst)]×10-4. The measured CP-odd fraction of the final state is 0.22±0.18(stat)±0.03(syst).This work is supported by DOE and NSF (USA), NSERC (Canada), IHEP (China), CEA and CNRS-IN2P3 (France), BMBF (Germany), INFN (Italy), NFR (Norway), MIST (Russia), and PPARC (United Kingdom). Individuals have received support from the A.P. Sloan Foundation, Research Corporation, and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

Measurement of the B0-anti-B0-Oscillation Frequency with Inclusive Dilepton Events

The $B^0$-$\bar B^0$ oscillation frequency has been measured with a sample of 23 million \B\bar B pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric B Factory at SLAC. In this sample, we select events in which both B mesons decay semileptonically and use the charge of the leptons to identify the flavor of each B meson. A simultaneous fit to the decay time difference distributions for opposite- and same-sign dilepton events gives $\Delta m_d = 0.493 \pm 0.012{(stat)}\pm 0.009{(syst)}$ ps$^{-1}$.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Physical Review Letter