Inhibición semántica acumulativa en la producción de verbos en español

This paper reports an experiment designed to assess the occurrence of lexical interference in verb production in Spanish. Using the semantic competitors paradigm (Howard et al., 2006), we show that the higher the number of verbs of the same category produced, the longer it takes to retrieve another verb of the same category in a picture naming task. According to our data, the production of a related verb delays the naming of a new member of the category by 20 ms., which means that, as is the case with nouns, semantically related verbs compete for selection. These results support the statement that, regardless their differences with respect to semantic representation and organization, verb and noun selection are guided by the same principles. Methodologically, our findings confirm that the paradigm is highly sensitive to semantic proximity effects, in terms of either categories or features. In light of these findings, we discuss the reasons why previous studies exploring semantic relatedness effects in verb production, most of them using the picture-word interference paradigm, have led to inconclusive and sometimes contradictory results.Este artículo presenta un experimento diseñado para evaluar la ocurrencia de interferencia léxica en la producción de verbos en español. Usando el paradigma de los competidores semánticos (HOWARD et al., 2006), mostramos que cuanto mayor es el número de verbos de la misma categoría producidos, más tiempo lleva recuperar otro verbo de la misma categoría en una tarea de denominación de imágenes. Según nuestros datos, la producción de un verbo relacionado retrasa la denominación de un nuevo miembro de la categoría en 20 ms, lo que significa que, como es el caso para los sustantivos, los verbos relacionados semánticamente compiten por la selección. Estos resultados respaldan la propuesta de que, independientemente de sus diferencias con respecto a la representación y organización semántica, la selección de verbos y sustantivos se rige por los mismos principios. Metodológicamente, nuestros hallazgos confirman que el paradigma es altamente sensible a los efectos de proximidad semántica, en términos de categorías o rasgos. A la luz de estos hallazgos, discutimos las razones por las cuales los estudios previos que exploraron los efectos de la relación semántica en la producción de verbos, la mayoría de ellos utilizando el paradigma de interferencia entre palabras y dibujos, han llevado a resultados no concluyentes y a veces contradictorios

Cognitive style modulates semantic interference effects: evidence from field dependency

The so-called semantic interference effect is a delay in selecting an appropriate target word in a context where semantic neighbours are strongly activated. Semantic interference effect has been described to vary from one individual to another. These differences in the susceptibility to semantic interference may be due to either differences in the ability to engage in lexical-specific selection mechanisms or to differences in the ability to engage more general, top-down inhibition mechanisms which suppress unwanted responses based on task-demands. However, semantic interference may also be modulated by an individual’s disposition to separate relevant perceptual signals from noise, such as a field-independent (FI) or a field-dependent (FD) cognitive style. We investigated the relationship between semantic interference in picture naming and in an STM probe task and both the ability to inhibit responses top-down (measured through a Stroop task) and a FI/FD cognitive style measured through the embedded figures test (EFT). We found a significant relationship between semantic interference in picture naming and cognitive style—with semantic interference increasing as a function of the degree of field dependence—but no associations with the semantic probe and the Stroop task. Our results suggest that semantic interference can be modulated by cognitive style, but not by differences in the ability to engage top-down control mechanisms, at least as measured by the Stroop task

Nätverksprotokoll för distribuering och hantering av data från JAS 39 Gripen

On board the aircraft JAS 39 Gripen a measuring system, Data Acquisition System (DAS), is sending sensor data to a server on the ground. In this master thesis, a unified API for distribution and handling of the sensor data is designed and implemented. The work has been carried out at Saab Aeronautics, Linköping during, 2014. During flights with the aircraft the engineers at Saab need to monitor different sensors in the aircraft, including the exact commands of the pilots. All that data is serialized and sent via radio link to a server at Saab. The current data distribution solution includes several clients that need to connect to the server. Each client has its own connection protocol, making the system complex and difficult to maintain. An API is needed in order to make the clients connect in a unified manner. This would also enable future clients to implement the API and start receiving sensor data from the server. The research conducted in the thesis project was centered on the different choices that exist for designing such an API. The question that needed answering was; how can an existing complex system can be replaced by a publish-subscribe system and what the benefits would be in terms of latency and flexibility of the system? The design would have to be flexible enough to support multiple clients. The investigated research question was answered with a design utilizing ZMQ, pthreads and a design pattern. The result is a flexible system that was sufficiently fast for the requirements set at Saab and open to future extensions. The thesis work also included designing a unified API with requirements on latency and functionality. The resulting API was designed using the publish-subscribe design pattern, the network library Zero Message Queue (ZMQ) and the threading library pthreads. The resulting system supports multiple coexisting servers and clients that request sensor data. A new feature is that the clients can start sending calculations performed on samples to other clients. To demonstrate that the solution provides a unified framework, two existing clients and the server were developed with the proposed API. To test the latency requirements, tests were performed in the control room at Saab.