Publications

Displaying 301 - 400 of 452
  • Poletiek, F. H. (1998). De geest van de jury. Psychologie en Maatschappij, 4, 376-378.
  • Poletiek, F. H. (1997). De wet 'bijzondere opnemingen in psychiatrische ziekenhuizen' aan de cijfers getoetst. Maandblad voor Geestelijke Volksgezondheid, 4, 349-361.
  • Poletiek, F. H. (in preparation). Inside the juror: The psychology of juror decision-making [Bespreking van De geest van de jury (1997)].
  • Poletiek, F. H., Conway, C. M., Ellefson, M. R., Lai, J., Bocanegra, B. R., & Christiansen, M. H. (2018). Under what conditions can recursion be learned? Effects of starting small in artificial grammar learning of recursive structure. Cognitive Science, 42(8), 2855-2889. doi:10.1111/cogs.12685.

    Abstract

    It has been suggested that external and/or internal limitations paradoxically may lead to superior learning, that is, the concepts of starting small and less is more (Elman, 1993; Newport, 1990). In this paper, we explore the type of incremental ordering during training that might help learning, and what mechanism explains this facilitation. We report four artificial grammar learning experiments with human participants. In Experiments 1a and 1b we found a beneficial effect of starting small using two types of simple recursive grammars: right‐branching and center‐embedding, with recursive embedded clauses in fixed positions and fixed length. This effect was replicated in Experiment 2 (N = 100). In Experiment 3 and 4, we used a more complex center‐embedded grammar with recursive loops in variable positions, producing strings of variable length. When participants were presented an incremental ordering of training stimuli, as in natural language, they were better able to generalize their knowledge of simple units to more complex units when the training input “grew” according to structural complexity, compared to when it “grew” according to string length. Overall, the results suggest that starting small confers an advantage for learning complex center‐embedded structures when the input is organized according to structural complexity.
  • Popov, T., Jensen, O., & Schoffelen, J.-M. (2018). Dorsal and ventral cortices are coupled by cross-frequency interactions during working memory. NeuroImage, 178, 277-286. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.05.054.

    Abstract

    Oscillatory activity in the alpha and gamma bands is considered key in shaping functional brain architecture. Power
    increases in the high-frequency gamma band are typically reported in parallel to decreases in the low-frequency alpha
    band. However, their functional significance and in particular their interactions are not well understood. The present
    study shows that, in the context of an N-backworking memory task, alpha power decreases in the dorsal visual stream
    are related to gamma power increases in early visual areas. Granger causality analysis revealed directed interregional
    interactions from dorsal to ventral stream areas, in accordance with task demands. Present results reveal a robust,
    behaviorally relevant, and architectonically decisive power-to-power relationship between alpha and gamma activity.
    This relationship suggests that anatomically distant power fluctuations in oscillatory activity can link cerebral network
    dynamics on trial-by-trial basis during cognitive operations such as working memory
  • Popov, T., Oostenveld, R., & Schoffelen, J.-M. (2018). FieldTrip made easy: An analysis protocol for group analysis of the auditory steady state brain response in time, frequency, and space. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 12: 711. doi:10.3389/fnins.2018.00711.

    Abstract

    The auditory steady state evoked response (ASSR) is a robust and frequently utilized
    phenomenon in psychophysiological research. It reflects the auditory cortical response
    to an amplitude-modulated constant carrier frequency signal. The present report
    provides a concrete example of a group analysis of the EEG data from 29 healthy human
    participants, recorded during an ASSR paradigm, using the FieldTrip toolbox. First, we
    demonstrate sensor-level analysis in the time domain, allowing for a description of the
    event-related potentials (ERPs), as well as their statistical evaluation. Second, frequency
    analysis is applied to describe the spectral characteristics of the ASSR, followed by
    group level statistical analysis in the frequency domain. Third, we show how timeand
    frequency-domain analysis approaches can be combined in order to describe
    the temporal and spectral development of the ASSR. Finally, we demonstrate source
    reconstruction techniques to characterize the primary neural generators of the ASSR.
    Throughout, we pay special attention to explaining the design of the analysis pipeline
    for single subjects and for the group level analysis. The pipeline presented here can be
    adjusted to accommodate other experimental paradigms and may serve as a template
    for similar analyses.
  • Popov, V., Ostarek, M., & Tenison, C. (2018). Practices and pitfalls in inferring neural representations. NeuroImage, 174, 340-351. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.03.041.

    Abstract

    A key challenge for cognitive neuroscience is deciphering the representational schemes of the brain. Stimulus-feature-based encoding models are becoming increasingly popular for inferring the dimensions of neural representational spaces from stimulus-feature spaces. We argue that such inferences are not always valid because successful prediction can occur even if the two representational spaces use different, but correlated, representational schemes. We support this claim with three simulations in which we achieved high prediction accuracy despite systematic differences in the geometries and dimensions of the underlying representations. Detailed analysis of the encoding models' predictions showed systematic deviations from ground-truth, indicating that high prediction accuracy is insufficient for making representational inferences. This fallacy applies to the prediction of actual neural patterns from stimulus-feature spaces and we urge caution in inferring the nature of the neural code from such methods. We discuss ways to overcome these inferential limitations, including model comparison, absolute model performance, visualization techniques and attentional modulation.
  • St Pourcain, B., Eaves, L. J., Ring, S. M., Fisher, S. E., Medland, S., Evans, D. M., & Smith, G. D. (2018). Developmental changes within the genetic architecture of social communication behaviour: A multivariate study of genetic variance in unrelated individuals. Biological Psychiatry, 83(7), 598-606. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.09.020.

    Abstract

    Background: Recent analyses of trait-disorder overlap suggest that psychiatric dimensions may relate to distinct sets of genes that exert their maximum influence during different periods of development. This includes analyses of social-communciation difficulties that share, depending on their developmental stage, stronger genetic links with either Autism Spectrum Disorder or schizophrenia. Here we developed a multivariate analysis framework in unrelated individuals to model directly the developmental profile of genetic influences contributing to complex traits, such as social-communication difficulties, during a ~10-year period spanning childhood and adolescence. Methods: Longitudinally assessed quantitative social-communication problems (N ≤ 5,551) were studied in participants from a UK birth cohort (ALSPAC, 8 to 17 years). Using standardised measures, genetic architectures were investigated with novel multivariate genetic-relationship-matrix structural equation models (GSEM) incorporating whole-genome genotyping information. Analogous to twin research, GSEM included Cholesky decomposition, common pathway and independent pathway models. Results: A 2-factor Cholesky decomposition model described the data best. One genetic factor was common to SCDC measures across development, the other accounted for independent variation at 11 years and later, consistent with distinct developmental profiles in trait-disorder overlap. Importantly, genetic factors operating at 8 years explained only ~50% of the genetic variation at 17 years. Conclusion: Using latent factor models, we identified developmental changes in the genetic architecture of social-communication difficulties that enhance the understanding of ASD and schizophrenia-related dimensions. More generally, GSEM present a framework for modelling shared genetic aetiologies between phenotypes and can provide prior information with respect to patterns and continuity of trait-disorder overlap
  • St Pourcain, B., Robinson, E. B., Anttila, V., Sullivan, B. B., Maller, J., Golding, J., Skuse, D., Ring, S., Evans, D. M., Zammit, S., Fisher, S. E., Neale, B. M., Anney, R., Ripke, S., Hollegaard, M. V., Werge, T., iPSYCH-SSI-Broad Autism Group, Ronald, A., Grove, J., Hougaard, D. M., Børglum, A. D. and 3 moreSt Pourcain, B., Robinson, E. B., Anttila, V., Sullivan, B. B., Maller, J., Golding, J., Skuse, D., Ring, S., Evans, D. M., Zammit, S., Fisher, S. E., Neale, B. M., Anney, R., Ripke, S., Hollegaard, M. V., Werge, T., iPSYCH-SSI-Broad Autism Group, Ronald, A., Grove, J., Hougaard, D. M., Børglum, A. D., Mortensen, P. B., Daly, M., & Davey Smith, G. (2018). ASD and schizophrenia show distinct developmental profiles in common genetic overlap with population-based social-communication difficulties. Molecular Psychiatry, 23, 263-270. doi:10.1038/mp.2016.198.

    Abstract

    Difficulties in social communication are part of the phenotypic overlap between autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and
    schizophrenia. Both conditions follow, however, distinct developmental patterns. Symptoms of ASD typically occur during early childhood, whereas most symptoms characteristic of schizophrenia do not appear before early adulthood. We investigated whether overlap in common genetic in fluences between these clinical conditions and impairments in social communication depends on
    the developmental stage of the assessed trait. Social communication difficulties were measured in typically-developing youth
    (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children,N⩽5553, longitudinal assessments at 8, 11, 14 and 17 years) using the Social
    Communication Disorder Checklist. Data on clinical ASD (PGC-ASD: 5305 cases, 5305 pseudo-controls; iPSYCH-ASD: 7783 cases,
    11 359 controls) and schizophrenia (PGC-SCZ2: 34 241 cases, 45 604 controls, 1235 trios) were either obtained through the
    Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) or the Danish iPSYCH project. Overlap in genetic in fluences between ASD and social
    communication difficulties during development decreased with age, both in the PGC-ASD and the iPSYCH-ASD sample. Genetic overlap between schizophrenia and social communication difficulties, by contrast, persisted across age, as observed within two independent PGC-SCZ2 subsamples, and showed an increase in magnitude for traits assessed during later adolescence. ASD- and schizophrenia-related polygenic effects were unrelated to each other and changes in trait-disorder links reflect the heterogeneity of
    genetic factors in fluencing social communication difficulties during childhood versus later adolescence. Thus, both clinical ASD and schizophrenia share some genetic in fluences with impairments in social communication, but reveal distinct developmental profiles in their genetic links, consistent with the onset of clinical symptoms

    Additional information

    mp2016198x1.docx
  • Pouw, W., Van Gog, T., Zwaan, R. A., Agostinho, S., & Paas, F. (2018). Co-thought gestures in children's mental problem solving: Prevalence and effects on subsequent performance. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 32(1), 66-80. doi:10.1002/acp.3380.

    Abstract

    Co-thought gestures are understudied as compared to co-speech gestures yet, may provide insight into cognitive functions of gestures that are independent of speech processes. A recent study with adults showed that co-thought gesticulation occurred spontaneously during mental preparation of problem solving. Moreover, co-thought gesturing (either spontaneous or instructed) during mental preparation was effective for subsequent solving of the Tower of Hanoi under conditions of high cognitive load (i.e., when visual working memory capacity was limited and when the task was more difficult). In this preregistered study (), we investigated whether co-thought gestures would also spontaneously occur and would aid problem-solving processes in children (N=74; 8-12years old) under high load conditions. Although children also spontaneously used co-thought gestures during mental problem solving, this did not aid their subsequent performance when physically solving the problem. If these null results are on track, co-thought gesture effects may be different in adults and children.

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  • Praamstra, P., Plat, E. M., Meyer, A. S., & Horstink, M. W. I. M. (1999). Motor cortex activation in Parkinson's disease: Dissociation of electrocortical and peripheral measures of response generation. Movement Disorders, 14, 790-799. doi:10.1002/1531-8257(199909)14:5<790:AID-MDS1011>3.0.CO;2-A.

    Abstract

    This study investigated characteristics of motor cortex activation and response generation in Parkinson's disease with measures of electrocortical activity (lateralized readiness potential [LRP]), electromyographic activity (EMG), and isometric force in a noise-compatibility task. When presented with stimuli consisting of incompatible target and distracter elements asking for responses of opposite hands, patients were less able than control subjects to suppress activation of the motor cortex controlling the wrong response hand. This was manifested in the pattern of reaction times and in an incorrect lateralization of the LRP. Onset latency and rise time of the LRP did not differ between patients and control subjects, but EMG and response force developed more slowly in patients. Moreover, in patients but not in control subjects, the rate of development of EMG and response force decreased as reaction time increased. We hypothesize that this dissociation between electrocortical activity and peripheral measures in Parkinson's disease is the result of changes in motor cortex function that alter the relation between signal-related and movement-related neural activity in the motor cortex. In the LRP, this altered balance may obscure an abnormal development of movement-related neural activity.
  • Praamstra, P., Stegeman, D. F., Cools, A. R., Meyer, A. S., & Horstink, M. W. I. M. (1998). Evidence for lateral premotor and parietal overactivity in Parkinson's disease during sequential and bimanual movements: A PET study. Brain, 121, 769-772. doi:10.1093/brain/121.4.769.
  • Quinn, S., Donnelly, S., & Kidd, E. (2018). The relationship between symbolic play and language acquisition: A meta-analytic review. Developmental Review, 49, 121-135. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2018.05.005.

    Abstract

    A developmental relationship between symbolic play and language has been long proposed, going as far back as the writings of Piaget and Vygotsky. In the current paper we build on recent qualitative reviews of the literature by reporting the first quantitative analysis of the relationship. We conducted a three-level meta-analysis of past studies that have investigated the relationship between symbolic play and language acquisition. Thirty-five studies (N = 6848) met the criteria for inclusion. Overall, we observed a significant small-to-medium association between the two domains (r = .35). Several moderating variables were included in the analyses, including: (i) study design (longitudinal, concurrent), (ii) the manner in which language was measured (comprehension, production), and (iii) the age at which this relationship is measured. The effect was weakly moderated by these three variables, but overall the association was robust, suggesting that symbolic play and language are closely related in development.

    Additional information

    Quinn_Donnelly_Kidd_2018sup.docx
  • Ravignani, A. (2018). Darwin, sexual selection, and the origins of music. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 33(10), 716-719. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2018.07.006.

    Abstract

    Humans devote ample time to produce and perceive music. How and why this behavioral propensity originated in our species is unknown. For centuries, speculation dominated the study of the evolutionary origins of musicality. Following Darwin’s early intuitions, recent empirical research is opening a new chapter to tackle this mystery.
  • Ravignani, A. (2018). Comment on “Temporal and spatial variation in harbor seal (Phoca vitulina L.) roar calls from southern Scandinavia” [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 141, 1824-1834 (2017)]. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 143, 504-508. doi:10.1121/1.5021770.

    Abstract

    In their recent article, Sabinsky and colleagues investigated heterogeneity in harbor seals' vocalizations. The authors found seasonal and geographical variation in acoustic parameters, warning readers that recording conditions might account for some of their results. This paper expands on the temporal aspect of the encountered heterogeneity in harbor seals' vocalizations. Temporal information is the least susceptible to variable recording conditions. Hence geographical and seasonal variability in roar timing constitutes the most robust finding in the target article. In pinnipeds, evidence of timing and rhythm in the millisecond range—as opposed to circadian and seasonal rhythms—has theoretical and interdisciplinary relevance. In fact, the study of rhythm and timing in harbor seals is particularly decisive to support or confute a cross-species hypothesis, causally linking the evolution of vocal production learning and rhythm. The results by Sabinsky and colleagues can shed light on current scientific questions beyond pinniped bioacoustics, and help formulate empirically testable predictions.
  • Ravignani, A., Chiandetti, C., & Gamba, M. (2018). L'evoluzione del ritmo. Le Scienze, (04 maggio 2018).
  • Ravignani, A., Thompson, B., Grossi, T., Delgado, T., & Kirby, S. (2018). Evolving building blocks of rhythm: How human cognition creates music via cultural transmission. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1423(1), 176-187. doi:10.1111/nyas.13610.

    Abstract

    Why does musical rhythm have the structure it does? Musical rhythm, in all its cross-cultural diversity, exhibits
    commonalities across world cultures. Traditionally, music research has been split into two fields. Some scientists
    focused onmusicality, namely the human biocognitive predispositions formusic, with an emphasis on cross-cultural
    similarities. Other scholars investigatedmusic, seen as a cultural product, focusing on the variation in worldmusical
    cultures.Recent experiments founddeep connections betweenmusicandmusicality, reconciling theseopposing views.
    Here, we address the question of how individual cognitive biases affect the process of cultural evolution of music.
    Data from two experiments are analyzed using two complementary techniques. In the experiments, participants
    hear drumming patterns and imitate them. These patterns are then given to the same or another participant to
    imitate. The structure of these initially random patterns is tracked along experimental “generations.” Frequentist
    statistics show how participants’ biases are amplified by cultural transmission, making drumming patterns more
    structured. Structure is achieved faster in transmission within rather than between participants. A Bayesian model
    approximates the motif structures participants learned and created. Our data and models suggest that individual
    biases for musicality may shape the cultural transmission of musical rhythm.

    Additional information

    nyas13610-sup-0001-suppmat.pdf
  • Ravignani, A., Thompson, B., & Filippi, P. (2018). The evolution of musicality: What can be learned from language evolution research? Frontiers in Neuroscience, 12: 20. doi:10.3389/fnins.2018.00020.

    Abstract

    Language and music share many commonalities, both as natural phenomena and as subjects of intellectual inquiry. Rather than exhaustively reviewing these connections, we focus on potential cross-pollination of methodological inquiries and attitudes. We highlight areas in which scholarship on the evolution of language may inform the evolution of music. We focus on the value of coupled empirical and formal methodologies, and on the futility of mysterianism, the declining view that the nature, origins and evolution of language cannot be addressed empirically. We identify key areas in which the evolution of language as a discipline has flourished historically, and suggest ways in which these advances can be integrated into the study of the evolution of music.
  • Ravignani, A. (2018). Spontaneous rhythms in a harbor seal pup calls. BMC Research Notes, 11: 3. doi:10.1186/s13104-017-3107-6.

    Abstract

    Objectives: Timing and rhythm (i.e. temporal structure) are crucial, though historically neglected, dimensions of animal communication. When investigating these in non-human animals, it is often difficult to balance experimental control and ecological validity. Here I present the first step of an attempt to balance the two, focusing on the timing of vocal rhythms in a harbor seal pup (Phoca vitulina). Collection of this data had a clear aim: To find spontaneous vocal rhythms in this individual in order to design individually-adapted and ecologically-relevant stimuli for a later playback experiment. Data description: The calls of one seal pup were recorded. The audio recordings were annotated using Praat, a free software to analyze vocalizations in humans and other animals. The annotated onsets and offsets of vocalizations were then imported in a Python script. The script extracted three types of timing information: the duration of calls, the intervals between calls’ onsets, and the intervals between calls’ maximum-intensity peaks. Based on the annotated data, available to download, I provide simple descriptive statistics for these temporal measures, and compare their distributions.
  • Ravignani, A., & Verhoef, T. (2018). Which melodic universals emerge from repeated signaling games?: A Note on Lumaca and Baggio (2017). Artificial Life, 24(2), 149-153. doi:10.1162/ARTL_a_00259.

    Abstract

    Music is a peculiar human behavior, yet we still know little as to why and how music emerged. For centuries, the study of music has been the sole prerogative of the humanities. Lately, however, music is being increasingly investigated by psychologists, neuroscientists, biologists, and computer scientists. One approach to studying the origins of music is to empirically test hypotheses about the mechanisms behind this structured behavior. Recent lab experiments show how musical rhythm and melody can emerge via the process of cultural transmission. In particular, Lumaca and Baggio (2017) tested the emergence of a sound system at the boundary between music and language. In this study, participants were given random pairs of signal-meanings; when participants negotiated their meaning and played a “ game of telephone ” with them, these pairs became more structured and systematic. Over time, the small biases introduced in each artificial transmission step accumulated, displaying quantitative trends, including the emergence, over the course of artificial human generations, of features resembling properties of language and music. In this Note, we highlight the importance of Lumaca and Baggio ʼ s experiment, place it in the broader literature on the evolution of language and music, and suggest refinements for future experiments. We conclude that, while psychological evidence for the emergence of proto-musical features is accumulating, complementary work is needed: Mathematical modeling and computer simulations should be used to test the internal consistency of experimentally generated hypotheses and to make new predictions.
  • Ravignani, A., Thompson, B., Lumaca, M., & Grube, M. (2018). Why do durations in musical rhythms conform to small integer ratios? Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, 12: 86. doi:10.3389/fncom.2018.00086.

    Abstract

    One curious aspect of human timing is the organization of rhythmic patterns in small integer ratios. Behavioral and neural research has shown that adjacent time intervals in rhythms tend to be perceived and reproduced as approximate fractions of small numbers (e.g., 3/2). Recent work on iterated learning and reproduction further supports this: given a randomly timed drum pattern to reproduce, participants subconsciously transform it toward small integer ratios. The mechanisms accounting for this “attractor” phenomenon are little understood, but might be explained by combining two theoretical frameworks from psychophysics. The scalar expectancy theory describes time interval perception and reproduction in terms of Weber's law: just detectable durational differences equal a constant fraction of the reference duration. The notion of categorical perception emphasizes the tendency to perceive time intervals in categories, i.e., “short” vs. “long.” In this piece, we put forward the hypothesis that the integer-ratio bias in rhythm perception and production might arise from the interaction of the scalar property of timing with the categorical perception of time intervals, and that neurally it can plausibly be related to oscillatory activity. We support our integrative approach with mathematical derivations to formalize assumptions and provide testable predictions. We present equations to calculate durational ratios by: (i) parameterizing the relationship between durational categories, (ii) assuming a scalar timing constant, and (iii) specifying one (of K) category of ratios. Our derivations provide the basis for future computational, behavioral, and neurophysiological work to test our model.
  • Raviv, L., & Arnon, I. (2018). Systematicity, but not compositionality: Examining the emergence of linguistic structure in children and adults using iterated learning. Cognition, 181, 160-173. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2018.08.011.

    Abstract

    Recent work suggests that cultural transmission can lead to the emergence of linguistic structure as speakers’ weak individual biases become amplified through iterated learning. However, to date no published study has demonstrated a similar emergence of linguistic structure in children. The lack of evidence from child learners constitutes a problematic
    2
    gap in the literature: if such learning biases impact the emergence of linguistic structure, they should also be found in children, who are the primary learners in real-life language transmission. However, children may differ from adults in their biases given age-related differences in general cognitive skills. Moreover, adults’ performance on iterated learning tasks may reflect existing (and explicit) linguistic biases, partially undermining the generality of the results. Examining children’s performance can also help evaluate contrasting predictions about their role in emerging languages: do children play a larger or smaller role than adults in the creation of structure? Here, we report a series of four iterated artificial language learning studies (based on Kirby, Cornish & Smith, 2008) with both children and adults, using a novel child-friendly paradigm. Our results show that linguistic structure does not emerge more readily in children compared to adults, and that adults are overall better in both language learning and in creating linguistic structure. When languages could become underspecified (by allowing homonyms), children and adults were similar in developing consistent mappings between meanings and signals in the form of structured ambiguities. However, when homonimity was not allowed, only adults created compositional structure. This study is a first step in using iterated language learning paradigms to explore child-adult differences. It provides the first demonstration that cultural transmission has a different effect on the languages produced by children and adults: While children were able to develop systematicity, their languages did not show compositionality. We focus on the relation between learning and structure creation as a possible explanation for our findings and discuss implications for children’s role in the emergence of linguistic structure.

    Additional information

    results A results B results D stimuli
  • Raviv, L., & Arnon, I. (2018). The developmental trajectory of children’s auditory and visual statistical learning abilities: Modality-based differences in the effect of age. Developmental Science, 21(4): e12593. doi:10.1111/desc.12593.

    Abstract

    Infants, children and adults are capable of extracting recurring patterns from their environment through statistical learning (SL), an implicit learning mechanism that is considered to have an important role in language acquisition. Research over the past 20 years has shown that SL is present from very early infancy and found in a variety of tasks and across modalities (e.g., auditory, visual), raising questions on the domain generality of SL. However, while SL is well established for infants and adults, only little is known about its developmental trajectory during childhood, leaving two important questions unanswered: (1) Is SL an early-maturing capacity that is fully developed in infancy, or does it improve with age like other cognitive capacities (e.g., memory)? and (2) Will SL have similar developmental trajectories across modalities? Only few studies have looked at SL across development, with conflicting results: some find age-related improvements while others do not. Importantly, no study to date has examined auditory SL across childhood, nor compared it to visual SL to see if there are modality-based differences in the developmental trajectory of SL abilities. We addressed these issues by conducting a large-scale study of children's performance on matching auditory and visual SL tasks across a wide age range (5–12y). Results show modality-based differences in the development of SL abilities: while children's learning in the visual domain improved with age, learning in the auditory domain did not change in the tested age range. We examine these findings in light of previous studies and discuss their implications for modality-based differences in SL and for the role of auditory SL in language acquisition. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kg35hoF0pw.

    Additional information

    Video abstract of the article
  • Redl, T., Eerland, A., & Sanders, T. J. M. (2018). The processing of the Dutch masculine generic zijn ‘his’ across stereotype contexts: An eye-tracking study. PLoS One, 13(10): e0205903. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0205903.

    Abstract

    Language users often infer a person’s gender when it is not explicitly mentioned. This information is included in the mental model of the described situation, giving rise to expectations regarding the continuation of the discourse. Such gender inferences can be based on two types of information: gender stereotypes (e.g., nurses are female) and masculine generics, which are grammatically masculine word forms that are used to refer to all genders in certain contexts (e.g., To each his own). In this eye-tracking experiment (N = 82), which is the first to systematically investigate the online processing of masculine generic pronouns, we tested whether the frequently used Dutch masculine generic zijn ‘his’ leads to a male bias. In addition, we tested the effect of context by introducing male, female, and neutral stereotypes. We found no evidence for the hypothesis that the generically-intended masculine pronoun zijn ‘his’ results in a male bias. However, we found an effect of stereotype context. After introducing a female stereotype, reading about a man led to an increase in processing time. However, the reverse did not hold, which parallels the finding in social psychology that men are penalized more for gender-nonconforming behavior. This suggests that language processing is not only affected by the strength of stereotype contexts; the associated disapproval of violating these gender stereotypes affects language processing, too.

    Additional information

    pone.0205903.s001.pdf data files
  • Rietbergen, M., Roelofs, A., Den Ouden, H., & Cools, R. (2018). Disentangling cognitive from motor control: Influence of response modality on updating, inhibiting, and shifting. Acta Psychologica, 191, 124-130. doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2018.09.008.

    Abstract

    It is unclear whether cognitive and motor control are parallel and interactive or serial and independent processes. According to one view, cognitive control refers to a set of modality-nonspecific processes that act on supramodal representations and precede response modality-specific motor processes. An alternative view is that cognitive control represents a set of modality-specific operations that act directly on motor-related representations, implying dependence of cognitive control on motor control. Here, we examined the influence of response modality (vocal vs. manual) on three well-established subcomponent processes of cognitive control: shifting, inhibiting, and updating. We observed effects of all subcomponent processes in reaction times. The magnitude of these effects did not differ between response modalities for shifting and inhibiting, in line with a serial, supramodal view. However, the magnitude of the updating effect differed between modalities, in line with an interactive, modality-specific view. These results suggest that updating represents a modality-specific operation that depends on motor control, whereas shifting and inhibiting represent supramodal operations that act independently of motor control.
  • Rodenas-Cuadrado, P., Mengede, J., Baas, L., Devanna, P., Schmid, T. A., Yartsev, M., Firzlaff, U., & Vernes, S. C. (2018). Mapping the distribution of language related genes FoxP1, FoxP2 and CntnaP2 in the brains of vocal learning bat species. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 526(8), 1235-1266. doi:10.1002/cne.24385.

    Abstract

    Genes including FOXP2, FOXP1 and CNTNAP2, have been implicated in human speech and language phenotypes, pointing to a role in the development of normal language-related circuitry in the brain. Although speech and language are unique human phenotypes, a comparative approach is possible by addressing language-relevant traits in animal model systems. One such trait, vocal learning, represents an essential component of human spoken language, and is shared by cetaceans, pinnipeds, elephants, some birds and bats. Given their vocal learning abilities, gregarious nature, and reliance on vocalisations for social communication and navigation, bats represent an intriguing mammalian system in which to explore language-relevant genes. We used immunohistochemistry to detail the distribution of FoxP2, FoxP1 and Cntnap2 proteins, accompanied by detailed cytoarchitectural histology in the brains of two vocal learning bat species; Phyllostomus discolor and Rousettus aegyptiacus. We show widespread expression of these genes, similar to what has been previously observed in other species, including humans. A striking difference was observed in the adult Phyllostomus discolor bat, which showed low levels of FoxP2 expression in the cortex, contrasting with patterns found in rodents and non-human primates. We created an online, open-access database within which all data can be browsed, searched, and high resolution images viewed to single cell resolution. The data presented herein reveal regions of interest in the bat brain and provide new opportunities to address the role of these language-related genes in complex vocal-motor and vocal learning behaviours in a mammalian model system.
  • Roelofs, A., Meyer, A. S., & Levelt, W. J. M. (1998). A case for the lemma/lexeme distinction in models of speaking: Comment on Caramazza and Miozzo (1997). Cognition, 69(2), 219-230. doi:10.1016/S0010-0277(98)00056-0.

    Abstract

    In a recent series of papers, Caramazza and Miozzo [Caramazza, A., 1997. How many levels of processing are there in lexical access? Cognitive Neuropsychology 14, 177-208; Caramazza, A., Miozzo, M., 1997. The relation between syntactic and phonological knowledge in lexical access: evidence from the 'tip-of-the-tongue' phenomenon. Cognition 64, 309-343; Miozzo, M., Caramazza, A., 1997. On knowing the auxiliary of a verb that cannot be named: evidence for the independence of grammatical and phonological aspects of lexical knowledge. Journal of Cognitive Neuropsychology 9, 160-166] argued against the lemma/lexeme distinction made in many models of lexical access in speaking, including our network model [Roelofs, A., 1992. A spreading-activation theory of lemma retrieval in speaking. Cognition 42, 107-142; Levelt, W.J.M., Roelofs, A., Meyer, A.S., 1998. A theory of lexical access in speech production. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, (in press)]. Their case was based on the observations that grammatical class deficits of brain-damaged patients and semantic errors may be restricted to either spoken or written forms and that the grammatical gender of a word and information about its form can be independently available in tip-of-the-tongue stales (TOTs). In this paper, we argue that though our model is about speaking, not taking position on writing, extensions to writing are possible that are compatible with the evidence from aphasia and speech errors. Furthermore, our model does not predict a dependency between gender and form retrieval in TOTs. Finally, we argue that Caramazza and Miozzo have not accounted for important parts of the evidence motivating the lemma/lexeme distinction, such as word frequency effects in homophone production, the strict ordering of gender and pho neme access in LRP data, and the chronometric and speech error evidence for the production of complex morphology.
  • Roelofs, A., & Meyer, A. S. (1998). Metrical structure in planning the production of spoken words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 24, 922-939. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.24.4.922.

    Abstract

    According to most models of speech production, the planning of spoken words involves the independent retrieval of segments and metrical frames followed by segment-to-frame association. In some models, the metrical frame includes a specification of the number and ordering of consonants and vowels, but in the word-form encoding by activation and verification (WEAVER) model (A. Roelofs, 1997), the frame specifies only the stress pattern across syllables. In 6 implicit priming experiments, on each trial, participants produced 1 word out of a small set as quickly as possible. In homogeneous sets, the response words shared word-initial segments, whereas in heterogeneous sets, they did not. Priming effects from shared segments depended on all response words having the same number of syllables and stress pattern, but not on their having the same number of consonants and vowels. No priming occurred when the response words had only the same metrical frame but shared no segments. Computer simulations demonstrated that WEAVER accounts for the findings.
  • Roelofs, A. (1998). Rightward incrementality in encoding simple phrasal forms in speech production. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 24, 904-921. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.24.4.904.

    Abstract

    This article reports 7 experiments investigating whether utterances are planned in a parallel or rightward incremental fashion during language production. The experiments examined the role of linear order, length, frequency, and repetition in producing Dutch verb–particle combinations. On each trial, participants produced 1 utterance out of a set of 3 as quickly as possible. The responses shared part of their form or not. For particle-initial infinitives, facilitation was obtained when the responses shared the particle but not when they shared the verb. For verb-initial imperatives, however, facilitation was obtained for the verbs but not for the particles. The facilitation increased with length, decreased with frequency, and was independent of repetition. A simple rightward incremental model accounts quantitatively for the results.
  • Roelofs, A. (1997). The WEAVER model of word-form encoding in speech production. Cognition, 64, 249-284. doi:10.1016/S0010-0277(97)00027-9.

    Abstract

    Lexical access in speaking consists of two major steps: lemma retrieval and word-form encoding. In Roelofs (Roelofs, A. 1992a. Cognition 42. 107-142; Roelofs. A. 1993. Cognition 47, 59-87.), I described a model of lemma retrieval. The present paper extends this work by presenting a comprehensive model of the second access step, word-form encoding. The model is called WEAVER (Word-form Encoding by Activation and VERification). Unlike other models of word-form generation, WEAVER is able to provide accounts of response time data, particularly from the picture-word interference paradigm and the implicit priming paradigm. Its key features are (1) retrieval by spreading activation, (2) verification of activated information by a production rule, (3) a rightward incremental construction of phonological representations using a principle of active syllabification, syllables are constructed on the fly rather than stored with lexical items, (4) active competitive selection of syllabic motor programs using a mathematical formalism that generates response times and (5) the association of phonological speech errors with the selection of syllabic motor programs due to the failure of verification.
  • Rommers, J., & Federmeier, K. D. (2018). Lingering expectations: A pseudo-repetition effect for words previously expected but not presented. NeuroImage, 183, 263-272. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.08.023.

    Abstract

    Prediction can help support rapid language processing. However, it is unclear whether prediction has downstream
    consequences, beyond processing in the moment. In particular, when a prediction is disconfirmed, does it linger,
    or is it suppressed? This study manipulated whether words were actually seen or were only expected, and probed
    their fate in memory by presenting the words (again) a few sentences later. If disconfirmed predictions linger,
    subsequent processing of the previously expected (but never presented) word should be similar to actual word
    repetition. At initial presentation, electrophysiological signatures of prediction disconfirmation demonstrated that
    participants had formed expectations. Further downstream, relative to unseen words, repeated words elicited a
    strong N400 decrease, an enhanced late positive complex (LPC), and late alpha band power decreases. Critically,
    like repeated words, words previously expected but not presented also attenuated the N400. This “pseudorepetition
    effect” suggests that disconfirmed predictions can linger at some stages of processing, and demonstrates
    that prediction has downstream consequences beyond rapid on-line processing
  • Rommers, J., & Federmeier, K. D. (2018). Predictability's aftermath: Downstream consequences of word predictability as revealed by repetition effects. Cortex, 101, 16-30. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2017.12.018.

    Abstract

    Stimulus processing in language and beyond is shaped by context, with predictability having a
    particularly well-attested influence on the rapid processes that unfold during the presentation
    of a word. But does predictability also have downstream consequences for the quality of the
    constructed representations? On the one hand, the ease of processing predictablewordsmight
    free up time or cognitive resources, allowing for relatively thorough processing of the input. On
    the other hand, predictabilitymight allowthe systemto run in a top-down “verificationmode”,
    at the expense of thorough stimulus processing. This electroencephalogram (EEG) study
    manipulated word predictability, which reduced N400 amplitude and inter-trial phase clustering
    (ITPC), and then probed the fate of the (un)predictable words in memory by presenting
    them again. More thorough processing of predictable words should increase repetition effects,
    whereas less thorough processing should decrease them. Repetition was reflected in N400 decreases,
    late positive complex (LPC) enhancements, and late alpha/beta band power decreases.
    Critically, prior predictability tended to reduce the repetition effect on the N400, suggesting less
    priming, and eliminated the repetition effect on the LPC, suggesting a lack of episodic recollection.
    These findings converge on a top-down verification account, on which the brain processes
    more predictable input less thoroughly. More generally, the results demonstrate that
    predictability hasmultifaceted downstreamconsequences beyond processing in the moment
  • Rossi, G. (2018). Composite social actions: The case of factual declaratives in everyday interaction. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 51(4), 379-397. doi:10.1080/08351813.2018.1524562.

    Abstract

    When taking a turn at talk, a speaker normally accomplishes a sequential action such as a question, answer, complaint, or request. Sometimes, however, a turn at talk may accomplish not a single but a composite action, involving a combination of more than one action. I show that factual declaratives (e.g., “the feed drip has finished”) are recurrently used to implement composite actions consisting of both an informing and a request or, alternatively, a criticism and a request. A key determinant between these is the recipient’s epistemic access to what the speaker is describing. Factual declaratives afford a range of possible responses, which can tell us how the composite action has been understood and give us insights into its underlying structure. Evidence for the stacking of composite actions, however, is not always directly available in the response and may need to be pieced together with the help of other linguistic and contextual considerations. Data are in Italian with English translation.
  • Rowland, C. F. (2018). The principles of scientific inquiry. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 8(6), 770-775. doi:10.1075/lab.18056.row.
  • Rubio-Fernández, P. (2018). Trying to discredit the Duplo task with a partial replication: Reply to Paulus and Kammermeier (2018). Cognitive Development, 48, 286-288. doi:10.1016/j.cogdev.2018.07.006.

    Abstract

    Kammermeier and Paulus (2018) report a partial replication of the results of Rubio-Fernández and Geurts (2013) but present their study as a failed replication. Paulus and Kammermeier (2018) insist on a negative interpretation of their findings, discrediting the Duplo task against their own empirical evidence. Here I argue that Paulus and Kammermeier may try to make an impactful contribution to the field by adding to the growing skepticism towards early Theory of Mind studies, but fail to make any significant contribution to our understanding of young children’s Theory of Mind abilities.
  • Rubio-Fernández, P. (2018). What do failed (and successful) replications with the Duplo task show? Cognitive Development, 48, 316-320. doi:10.1016/j.cogdev.2018.07.004.
  • San Roque, L., Kendrick, K. H., Norcliffe, E., & Majid, A. (2018). Universal meaning extensions of perception verbs are grounded in interaction. Cognitive Linguistics, 29, 371-406. doi:10.1515/cog-2017-0034.
  • Schaeffer, J., van Witteloostuijn, M., & Creemers, A. (2018). Article choice, theory of mind, and memory in children with high-functioning autism and children with specific language impairment. Applied Psycholinguistics, 39(1), 89-115. doi:10.1017/S0142716417000492.

    Abstract

    Previous studies show that young, typically developing (TD) children (age 5) make errors in the choice between a definite and an indefinite article. Suggested explanations for overgeneration of the definite article include failure to distinguish speaker from hearer assumptions, and for overgeneration of the indefinite article failure to draw scalar implicatures, and weak working memory. However, no direct empirical evidence for these accounts is available. In this study, 27 Dutch-speaking children with high-functioning autism, 27 children with SLI, and 27 TD children aged 5–14 were administered a pragmatic article choice test, a nonverbal theory of mind test, and three types of memory tests (phonological memory, verbal, and nonverbal working memory). The results show that the children with high-functioning autism and SLI (a) make similar errors, that is, they overgenerate the indefinite article; (b) are TD-like at theory of mind, but (c) perform significantly more poorly than the TD children on phonological memory and verbal working memory. We propose that weak memory skills prevent the integration of the definiteness scale with the preceding discourse, resulting in the failure to consistently draw the relevant scalar implicature. This in turn yields the occasional erroneous choice of the indefinite article a in definite contexts.
  • Schijven, D., Kofink, D., Tragante, V., Verkerke, M., Pulit, S. L., Kahn, R. S., Veldink, J. H., Vinkers, C. H., Boks, M. P., & Luykx, J. J. (2018). Comprehensive pathway analyses of schizophrenia risk loci point to dysfunctional postsynaptic signaling. Schizophrenia Research, 199, 195-202. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2018.03.032.

    Abstract

    Large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have implicated many low-penetrance loci in schizophrenia. However, its pathological mechanisms are poorly understood, which in turn hampers the development of novel pharmacological treatments. Pathway and gene set analyses carry the potential to generate hypotheses about disease mechanisms and have provided biological context to genome-wide data of schizophrenia. We aimed to examine which biological processes are likely candidates to underlie schizophrenia by integrating novel and powerful pathway analysis tools using data from the largest Psychiatric Genomics Consortium schizophrenia GWAS (N=79,845) and the most recent 2018 schizophrenia GWAS (N=105,318). By applying a primary unbiased analysis (Multi-marker Analysis of GenoMic Annotation; MAGMA) to weigh the role of biological processes from the Molecular Signatures Database (MSigDB), we identified enrichment of common variants in synaptic plasticity and neuron differentiation gene sets. We supported these findings using MAGMA, Meta-Analysis Gene-set Enrichment of variaNT Associations (MAGENTA) and Interval Enrichment Analysis (INRICH) on detailed synaptic signaling pathways from the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and found enrichment in mainly the dopaminergic and cholinergic synapses. Moreover, shared genes involved in these neurotransmitter systems had a large contribution to the observed enrichment, protein products of top genes in these pathways showed more direct and indirect interactions than expected by chance, and expression profiles of these genes were largely similar among brain tissues. In conclusion, we provide strong and consistent genetics and protein-interaction informed evidence for the role of postsynaptic signaling processes in schizophrenia, opening avenues for future translational and psychopharmacological studies.
  • Schilberg, L., Engelen, T., Ten Oever, S., Schuhmann, T., De Gelder, B., De Graaf, T. A., & Sack, A. T. (2018). Phase of beta-frequency tACS over primary motor cortex modulates corticospinal excitability. Cortex, 103, 142-152. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2018.03.001.

    Abstract

    The assessment of corticospinal excitability by means of transcranial magnetic stimulation-induced motor evoked potentials is an established diagnostic tool in neurophysiology and a widely used procedure in fundamental brain research. However, concern about low reliability of these measures has grown recently. One possible cause of high variability of MEPs under identical acquisition conditions could be the influence of oscillatory neuronal activity on corticospinal excitability. Based on research showing that transcranial alternating current stimulation can entrain neuronal oscillations we here test whether alpha or beta frequency tACS can influence corticospinal excitability in a phase-dependent manner. We applied tACS at individually calibrated alpha- and beta-band oscillation frequencies, or we applied sham tACS. Simultaneous single TMS pulses time locked to eight equidistant phases of the ongoing tACS signal evoked MEPs. To evaluate offline effects of stimulation frequency, MEP amplitudes were measured before and after tACS. To evaluate whether tACS influences MEP amplitude, we fitted one-cycle sinusoids to the average MEPs elicited at the different phase conditions of each tACS frequency. We found no frequency-specific offline effects of tACS. However, beta-frequency tACS modulation of MEPs was phase-dependent. Post hoc analyses suggested that this effect was specific to participants with low (<19 Hz) intrinsic beta frequency. In conclusion, by showing that beta tACS influences MEP amplitude in a phase-dependent manner, our results support a potential role attributed to neuronal oscillations in regulating corticospinal excitability. Moreover, our findings may be useful for the development of TMS protocols that improve the reliability of MEPs as a meaningful tool for research applications or for clinical monitoring and diagnosis. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
  • Schiller, N. O. (1998). The effect of visually masked syllable primes on the naming latencies of words and pictures. Journal of Memory and Language, 39, 484-507. doi:10.1006/jmla.1998.2577.

    Abstract

    To investigate the role of the syllable in Dutch speech production, five experiments were carried out to examine the effect of visually masked syllable primes on the naming latencies for written words and pictures. Targets had clear syllable boundaries and began with a CV syllable (e.g., ka.no) or a CVC syllable (e.g., kak.tus), or had ambiguous syllable boundaries and began with a CV[C] syllable (e.g., ka[pp]er). In the syllable match condition, bisyllabic Dutch nouns or verbs were preceded by primes that were identical to the target’s first syllable. In the syllable mismatch condition, the prime was either shorter or longer than the target’s first syllable. A neutral condition was also included. None of the experiments showed a syllable priming effect. Instead, all related primes facilitated the naming of the targets. It is concluded that the syllable does not play a role in the process of phonological encoding in Dutch. Because the amount of facilitation increased with increasing overlap between prime and target, the priming effect is accounted for by a segmental overlap hypothesis.
  • Schiller, N. O., Meyer, A. S., & Levelt, W. J. M. (1997). The syllabic structure of spoken words: Evidence from the syllabification of intervocalic consonants. Language and Speech, 40(2), 103-140.

    Abstract

    A series of experiments was carried out to investigate the syllable affiliation of intervocalic consonants following short vowels, long vowels, and schwa in Dutch. Special interest was paid to words such as letter ['leter] ''id.,'' where a short vowel is followed by a single consonant. On phonological grounds one may predict that the first syllable should always be closed, but earlier psycholinguistic research had shown that speakers tend to leave these syllables open. In our experiments, bisyllabic word forms were presented aurally, and participants produced their syllables in reversed order (Experiments 1 through 5), or repeated the words inserting a pause between the syllables (Experiment 6). The results showed that participants generally closed syllables with a short vowel. However, in a significant number of the cases they produced open short vowel syllables. Syllables containing schwa, like syllables with a long vowel, were hardly ever closed. Word stress, the phonetic quality of the vowel in the first syllable, and the experimental context influenced syllabification. Taken together, the experiments show that native speakers syllabify bisyllabic Dutch nouns in accordance with a small set of prosodic output constraints. To account for the variability of the results, we propose that these constraints differ in their probabilities of being applied.
  • Schillingmann, L., Ernst, J., Keite, V., Wrede, B., Meyer, A. S., & Belke, E. (2018). AlignTool: The automatic temporal alignment of spoken utterances in German, Dutch, and British English for psycholinguistic purposes. Behavior Research Methods, 50(2), 466-489. doi:10.3758/s13428-017-1002-7.

    Abstract

    In language production research, the latency with which speakers produce a spoken response to a stimulus and the onset and offset times of words in longer utterances are key dependent variables. Measuring these variables automatically often yields partially incorrect results. However, exact measurements through the visual inspection of the recordings are extremely time-consuming. We present AlignTool, an open-source alignment tool that establishes preliminarily the onset and offset times of words and phonemes in spoken utterances using Praat, and subsequently performs a forced alignment of the spoken utterances and their orthographic transcriptions in the automatic speech recognition system MAUS. AlignTool creates a Praat TextGrid file for inspection and manual correction by the user, if necessary. We evaluated AlignTool’s performance with recordings of single-word and four-word utterances as well as semi-spontaneous speech. AlignTool performs well with audio signals with an excellent signal-to-noise ratio, requiring virtually no corrections. For audio signals of lesser quality, AlignTool still is highly functional but its results may require more frequent manual corrections. We also found that audio recordings including long silent intervals tended to pose greater difficulties for AlignTool than recordings filled with speech, which AlignTool analyzed well overall. We expect that by semi-automatizing the temporal analysis of complex utterances, AlignTool will open new avenues in language production research.
  • Schmitt, B. M., Meyer, A. S., & Levelt, W. J. M. (1999). Lexical access in the production of pronouns. Cognition, 69(3), 313-335. doi:doi:10.1016/S0010-0277(98)00073-0.

    Abstract

    Speakers can use pronouns when their conceptual referents are accessible from the preceding discourse, as in 'The flower is red. It turns blue'. Theories of language production agree that in order to produce a noun semantic, syntactic, and phonological information must be accessed. However, little is known about lexical access to pronouns. In this paper, we propose a model of pronoun access in German. Since the forms of German pronouns depend on the grammatical gender of the nouns they replace, the model claims that speakers must access the syntactic representation of the replaced noun (its lemma) to select a pronoun. In two experiments using the lexical decision during naming paradigm [Levelt, W.J.M., Schriefers, H., Vorberg, D., Meyer, A.S., Pechmann, T., Havinga, J., 1991a. The time course of lexical access in speech production: a study of picture naming. Psychological Review 98, 122-142], we investigated whether lemma access automatically entails the activation of the corresponding word form or whether a word form is only activated when the noun itself is produced, but not when it is replaced by a pronoun. Experiment 1 showed that during pronoun production the phonological form of the replaced noun is activated. Experiment 2 demonstrated that this phonological activation was not a residual of the use of the noun in the preceding sentence. Thus, when a pronoun is produced, the lemma and the phonological form of the replaced noun become reactivated.
  • Schoenmakers, G.-J., & Piepers, J. (2018). Echter kan het wel. Levende Talen Magazine, 105(4), 10-13.
  • Schweinfurth, M. K., De Troy, S. E., Van Leeuwen, E. J. C., Call, J., & Haun, D. B. M. (2018). Spontaneous social tool use in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 132(4), 455-463. doi:10.1037/com0000127.

    Abstract

    Although there is good evidence that social animals show elaborate cognitive skills to deal with others, there are few reports of animals physically using social agents and their respective responses as means to an end—social tool use. In this case study, we investigated spontaneous and repeated social tool use behavior in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). We presented a group of chimpanzees with an apparatus, in which pushing two buttons would release juice from a distantly located fountain. Consequently, any one individual could only either push the buttons or drink from the fountain but never push and drink simultaneously. In this scenario, an adult male attempted to retrieve three other individuals and push them toward the buttons that, if pressed, released juice from the fountain. With this strategy, the social tool user increased his juice intake 10-fold. Interestingly, the strategy was stable over time, which was possibly enabled by playing with the social tools. With over 100 instances, we provide the biggest data set on social tool use recorded among nonhuman animals so far. The repeated use of other individuals as social tools may represent a complex social skill linked to Machiavellian intelligence.
  • Seeliger, K., Fritsche, M., Güçlü, U., Schoenmakers, S., Schoffelen, J.-M., Bosch, S. E., & Van Gerven, M. A. J. (2018). Convolutional neural network-based encoding and decoding of visual object recognition in space and time. NeuroImage, 180, 253-266. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.07.018.

    Abstract

    Representations learned by deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for object recognition are a widely
    investigated model of the processing hierarchy in the human visual system. Using functional magnetic resonance
    imaging, CNN representations of visual stimuli have previously been shown to correspond to processing stages in
    the ventral and dorsal streams of the visual system. Whether this correspondence between models and brain
    signals also holds for activity acquired at high temporal resolution has been explored less exhaustively. Here, we
    addressed this question by combining CNN-based encoding models with magnetoencephalography (MEG).
    Human participants passively viewed 1,000 images of objects while MEG signals were acquired. We modelled
    their high temporal resolution source-reconstructed cortical activity with CNNs, and observed a feed-forward
    sweep across the visual hierarchy between 75 and 200 ms after stimulus onset. This spatiotemporal cascade
    was captured by the network layer representations, where the increasingly abstract stimulus representation in the
    hierarchical network model was reflected in different parts of the visual cortex, following the visual ventral
    stream. We further validated the accuracy of our encoding model by decoding stimulus identity in a left-out
    validation set of viewed objects, achieving state-of-the-art decoding accuracy.
  • Segaert, K., Mazaheri, A., & Hagoort, P. (2018). Binding language: Structuring sentences through precisely timed oscillatory mechanisms. European Journal of Neuroscience, 48(7), 2651-2662. doi:10.1111/ejn.13816.

    Abstract

    Syntactic binding refers to combining words into larger structures. Using EEG, we investigated the neural processes involved in syntactic binding. Participants were auditorily presented two-word sentences (i.e. pronoun and pseudoverb such as ‘I grush’, ‘she grushes’, for which syntactic binding can take place) and wordlists (i.e. two pseudoverbs such as ‘pob grush’, ‘pob grushes’, for which no binding occurs). Comparing these two conditions, we targeted syntactic binding while minimizing contributions of semantic binding and of other cognitive processes such as working memory. We found a converging pattern of results using two distinct analysis approaches: one approach using frequency bands as defined in previous literature, and one data-driven approach in which we looked at the entire range of frequencies between 3-30 Hz without the constraints of pre-defined frequency bands. In the syntactic binding (relative to the wordlist) condition, a power increase was observed in the alpha and beta frequency range shortly preceding the presentation of the target word that requires binding, which was maximal over frontal-central electrodes. Our interpretation is that these signatures reflect that language comprehenders expect the need for binding to occur. Following the presentation of the target word in a syntactic binding context (relative to the wordlist condition), an increase in alpha power maximal over a left lateralized cluster of frontal-temporal electrodes was observed. We suggest that this alpha increase relates to syntactic binding taking place. Taken together, our findings suggest that increases in alpha and beta power are reflections of distinct the neural processes underlying syntactic binding.
  • Seifart, F., Evans, N., Hammarström, H., & Levinson, S. C. (2018). Language documentation twenty-five years on. Language, 94(4), e324-e345. doi:10.1353/lan.2018.0070.

    Abstract

    This discussion note reviews responses of the linguistics profession to the grave issues of language
    endangerment identified a quarter of a century ago in the journal Language by Krauss,
    Hale, England, Craig, and others (Hale et al. 1992). Two and a half decades of worldwide research
    not only have given us a much more accurate picture of the number, phylogeny, and typological
    variety of the world’s languages, but they have also seen the development of a wide range of new
    approaches, conceptual and technological, to the problem of documenting them. We review these
    approaches and the manifold discoveries they have unearthed about the enormous variety of linguistic
    structures. The reach of our knowledge has increased by about 15% of the world’s languages,
    especially in terms of digitally archived material, with about 500 languages now
    reasonably documented thanks to such major programs as DoBeS, ELDP, and DEL. But linguists
    are still falling behind in the race to document the planet’s rapidly dwindling linguistic diversity,
    with around 35–42% of the world’s languages still substantially undocumented, and in certain
    countries (such as the US) the call by Krauss (1992) for a significant professional realignment toward
    language documentation has only been heeded in a few institutions. Apart from the need for
    an intensified documentarist push in the face of accelerating language loss, we argue that existing
    language documentation efforts need to do much more to focus on crosslinguistically comparable
    data sets, sociolinguistic context, semantics, and interpretation of text material, and on methods
    for bridging the ‘transcription bottleneck’, which is creating a huge gap between the amount we
    can record and the amount in our transcribed corpora.*
  • Sekine, K., Wood, C., & Kita, S. (2018). Gestural depiction of motion events in narrative increases symbolic distance with age. Language, Interaction and Acquisition, 9(1), 11-21. doi:10.1075/lia.15020.sek.

    Abstract

    We examined gesture representation of motion events in narratives produced by three- and nine-year-olds, and adults. Two aspects of gestural depiction were analysed: how protagonists were depicted, and how gesture space was used. We found that older groups were more likely to express protagonists as an object that a gesturing hand held and manipulated, and less likely to express protagonists with whole-body enactment gestures. Furthermore, for older groups, gesture space increasingly became less similar to narrated space. The older groups were less likely to use large gestures or gestures in the periphery of the gesture space to represent movements that were large relative to a protagonist’s body or that took place next to a protagonist. They were also less likely to produce gestures on a physical surface (e.g. table) to represent movement on a surface in narrated events. The development of gestural depiction indicates that older speakers become less immersed in the story world and start to control and manipulate story representation from an outside perspective in a bounded and stage-like gesture space. We discuss this developmental shift in terms of increasing symbolic distancing (Werner & Kaplan, 1963).
  • Senft, G. (1998). Body and mind in the Trobriand Islands. Ethos, 26, 73-104. doi:10.1525/eth.1998.26.1.73.

    Abstract

    This article discusses how the Trobriand Islanders speak about body and mind. It addresses the following questions: do the linguistic datafit into theories about lexical universals of body-part terminology? Can we make inferences about the Trobrianders' conceptualization of psychological and physical states on the basis of these data? If a Trobriand Islander sees these idioms as external manifestations of inner states, then can we interpret them as a kind of ethnopsychological theory about the body and its role for emotions, knowledge, thought, memory, and so on? Can these idioms be understood as representation of Trobriand ethnopsychological theory?
  • Senft, G. (1999). ENTER and EXIT in Kilivila. Studies in Language, 23, 1-23.
  • Senft, G. (1998). [Review of the book Anthropological linguistics: An introduction by William A. Foley]. Linguistics, 36, 995-1001.
  • Senft, G. (1999). [Review of the book Describing morphosyntax: A guide for field linguists by Thomas E. Payne]. Linguistics, 37, 181-187. doi:10.1515/ling.1999.003, 01/01/1999.
  • Senft, G. (1999). [Review of the book Pacific languages - An introduction by John Lynch]. Linguistics, 37, 979-983. doi:10.1515/ling.37.5.961.
  • Senft, G. (1997). [Review of the book The design of language: An introduction to descriptive linguistics by Terry Crowley, John Lynch, Jeff Siegel, and Julie Piau]. Linguistics, 35, 781-785.
  • Senft, G. (1999). A case study from the Trobriand Islands: The presentation of Self in touristic encounters [abstract]. IIAS Newsletter, (19). Retrieved from http://www.iias.nl/iiasn/19/.

    Abstract

    Visiting the Trobriand Islands is advertised as being the highlight of a trip for tourists to Papua New Guinea who want, and can afford, to experience this 'ultimate adventure' with 'expeditionary cruises aboard the luxurious Melanesian Discoverer. The advertisements also promise that the tourists can 'meet the friendly people' and 'observe their unique culture, dances, and art'. During my research in Kaibola and Nuwebila, two neighbouring villages on the northern tip of Kiriwina Island, I studied and analysed the encounters of tourists with Trobriand Islanders, who sing and dance for the Europeans. The analyses of the islanders' tourist performances are based on Erving Goffman's now classic study The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, which was first published in 1959. In this study Goffmann analyses the structures of social encounters from the perspective of the dramatic performance. The situational context within which the encounter between tourists and Trobriand Islanders takes place frames the tourists as the audience and the Trobriand Islanders as a team of performers. The inherent structure of the parts of the overall performance presented in the two villages can be summarized - within the framework of Goffman's approach - in analogy with the structure of drama. We find parts that constitute the 'exposition', the 'complication', and the 'resolution' of a drama; we even observe an equivalent to the importance of the 'Second Act Curtain' in modern drama theory. Deeper analyses of this encounter show that the motives of the performers and their 'art of impression management' are to control the impression their audience receives in this encounter situation. This analysis reveals that the Trobriand Islanders sell their customers the expected images of what Malinowski (1929) once termed the '...Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia' in a staged 'illusion'. With the conscious realization of the part they as performers play in this encounter, the Trobriand Islanders are in a position that is superior to that of their audience. Their merchandise or commodity is 'not real', as it is sold 'out of its true cultural context'. It is staged - and thus cannot be taken by any customer whatsoever because it (re)presents just an 'illusion'. The Trobriand Islanders know that neither they nor the core aspects of their culture will suffer any damage within a tourist encounter that is defined by the structure and the kind of their performance. Their pride and self-confidence enable them to bring their superior position into play in their dealings with tourists. With their indigenous humour, they even use this encounter for ridiculing their visitors. It turns out that the encounter is another manifestation of the Trobriand Islanders' self-consciousness, self-confidence, and pride with which they manage to protect core aspects of their cultural identity, while at the same time using and 'selling' parts of their culture as a kind of commodity to tourists.
  • Senft, G. (1997). Magical conversation on the Trobriand Islands. Anthropos, 92, 369-391.
  • Senft, G. (1999). The presentation of self in touristic encounters: A case study from the Trobriand Islands. Anthropos, 94, 21-33.
  • Senft, G. (1999). Weird Papalagi and a Fake Samoan Chief: A footnote to the noble savage myth. Rongorongo Studies: A forum for Polynesian philology, 9(1&2), 23-32-62-75.
  • Seuren, P. A. M. (1982). De spellingsproblematiek in Suriname: Een inleiding. OSO, 1(1), 71-79.
  • Seuren, P. A. M. (1998). [Review of the book Adverbial subordination; A typology and history of adverbial subordinators based on European languages by Bernd Kortmann]. Cognitive Linguistics, 9(3), 317-319. doi:10.1515/cogl.1998.9.3.315.
  • Seuren, P. A. M. (1997). [Review of the book Schets van de Nederlandse Taal. Grammatica, poëtica en retorica by Adriaen Verwer, Naar de editie van E. van Driel (1783) vertaald door J. Knol. Ed. Th.A.J.M. Janssen & J. Noordegraaf]. Nederlandse Taalkunde, 4, 370-374.
  • Seuren, P. A. M. (1998). [Review of the book The Dutch pendulum: Linguistics in the Netherlands 1740-1900 by Jan Noordegraaf]. Bulletin of the Henry Sweet Society, 31, 46-50.
  • Seuren, P. A. M. (1982). Internal variability in competence. Linguistische Berichte, 77, 1-31.
  • Seuren, P. A. M. (1998). Obituary. Herman Christiaan Wekker 1943–1997. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, 13(1), 159-162.
  • Seuren, P. A. M. (1999). Vertakkingsrichting als parameter in de grammatica. Verslagen en Mededelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde, 109(2-3), 149-166.
  • Shopen, T., Reid, N., Shopen, G., & Wilkins, D. G. (1997). Ensuring the survival of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander languages into the 21st century. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 10(1), 143-157.

    Abstract

    Aboriginal languages threatened by speakers poor economic and social conditions; some may survive through support for community development, language maintenance, bilingual education and training of Aboriginal teachers and linguists, and nonAboriginal teachers of Aboriginal and Islander students.
  • Sikora, K., & Roelofs, A. (2018). Switching between spoken language-production tasks: the role of attentional inhibition and enhancement. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 33(7), 912-922. doi:10.1080/23273798.2018.1433864.

    Abstract

    Since Pillsbury [1908. Attention. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co], the issue of whether attention operates through inhibition or enhancement has been on the scientific agenda. We examined whether overcoming previous attentional inhibition or enhancement is the source of asymmetrical switch costs in spoken noun-phrase production and colour-word Stroop tasks. In Experiment 1, using bivalent stimuli, we found asymmetrical costs in response times for switching between long and short phrases and between Stroop colour naming and reading. However, in Experiment 2, using bivalent stimuli for the weaker tasks (long phrases, colour naming) and univalent stimuli for the stronger tasks (short phrases, word reading), we obtained an asymmetrical switch cost for phrase production, but a symmetrical cost for Stroop. The switch cost evidence was quantified using Bayesian statistical analyses. Our findings suggest that switching between phrase types involves inhibition, whereas switching between colour naming and reading involves enhancement. Thus, the attentional mechanism depends on the language-production task involved. The results challenge theories of task switching that assume only one attentional mechanism, inhibition or enhancement, rather than both mechanisms.
  • Silva, S., Folia, V., Inácio, F., Castro, S. L., & Petersson, K. M. (2018). Modality effects in implicit artificial grammar learning: An EEG study. Brain Research, 1687, 50-59. doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2018.02.020.

    Abstract

    Recently, it has been proposed that sequence learning engages a combination of modality-specific operating networks and modality-independent computational principles. In the present study, we compared the behavioural and EEG outcomes of implicit artificial grammar learning in the visual vs. auditory modality. We controlled for the influence of surface characteristics of sequences (Associative Chunk Strength), thus focusing on the strictly structural aspects of sequence learning, and we adapted the paradigms to compensate for known frailties of the visual modality compared to audition (temporal presentation, fast presentation rate). The behavioural outcomes were similar across modalities. Favouring the idea of modality-specificity, ERPs in response to grammar violations differed in topography and latency (earlier and more anterior component in the visual modality), and ERPs in response to surface features emerged only in the auditory modality. In favour of modality-independence, we observed three common functional properties in the late ERPs of the two grammars: both were free of interactions between structural and surface influences, both were more extended in a grammaticality classification test than in a preference classification test, and both correlated positively and strongly with theta event-related-synchronization during baseline testing. Our findings support the idea of modality-specificity combined with modality-independence, and suggest that memory for visual vs. auditory sequences may largely contribute to cross-modal differences.
  • Sjerps, M. J., Zhang, C., & Peng, G. (2018). Lexical Tone is Perceived Relative to Locally Surrounding Context, Vowel Quality to Preceding Context. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 44(6), 914-924. doi:10.1037/xhp0000504.

    Abstract

    Important speech cues such as lexical tone and vowel quality are perceptually contrasted to the distribution of those same cues in surrounding contexts. However, it is unclear whether preceding and following contexts have similar influences, and to what extent those influences are modulated by the auditory history of previous trials. To investigate this, Cantonese participants labeled sounds from (a) a tone continuum (mid- to high-level), presented with a context that had raised or lowered F0 values and (b) a vowel quality continuum (/u/ to /o/), where the context had raised or lowered F1 values. Contexts with high or low F0/F1 were presented in separate blocks or intermixed in 1 block. Contexts were presented following (Experiment 1) or preceding the target continuum (Experiment 2). Contrastive effects were found for both tone and vowel quality (e.g., decreased F0 values in contexts lead to more high tone target judgments and vice versa). Importantly, however, lexical tone was only influenced by F0 in immediately preceding and following contexts. Vowel quality was only influenced by the F1 in preceding contexts, but this extended to contexts from preceding trials. Contextual influences on tone and vowel quality are qualitatively different, which has important implications for understanding the mechanism of context effects in speech perception.
  • Slone, L. K., Abney, D. H., Borjon, J. I., Chen, C.-h., Franchak, J. M., Pearcy, D., Suarez-Rivera, C., Xu, T. L., Zhang, Y., Smith, L. B., & Yu, C. (2018). Gaze in action: Head-mounted eye tracking of children's dynamic visual attention during naturalistic behavior. Journal of Visualized Experiments, (141): e58496. doi:10.3791/58496.

    Abstract

    Young children's visual environments are dynamic, changing moment-by-moment as children physically and visually explore spaces and objects and interact with people around them. Head-mounted eye tracking offers a unique opportunity to capture children's dynamic egocentric views and how they allocate visual attention within those views. This protocol provides guiding principles and practical recommendations for researchers using head-mounted eye trackers in both laboratory and more naturalistic settings. Head-mounted eye tracking complements other experimental methods by enhancing opportunities for data collection in more ecologically valid contexts through increased portability and freedom of head and body movements compared to screen-based eye tracking. This protocol can also be integrated with other technologies, such as motion tracking and heart-rate monitoring, to provide a high-density multimodal dataset for examining natural behavior, learning, and development than previously possible. This paper illustrates the types of data generated from head-mounted eye tracking in a study designed to investigate visual attention in one natural context for toddlers: free-flowing toy play with a parent. Successful use of this protocol will allow researchers to collect data that can be used to answer questions not only about visual attention, but also about a broad range of other perceptual, cognitive, and social skills and their development.
  • De Smedt, F., Merchie, E., Barendse, M. T., Rosseel, Y., De Naeghel, J., & Van Keer, H. (2018). Cognitive and motivational challenges in writing: Studying the relation with writing performance across students' gender and achievement level. Reading Research Quarterly, 53(2), 249-272. doi:10.1002/rrq.193.

    Abstract

    Abstract In the past, several assessment reports on writing repeatedly showed that elementary school students do not develop the essential writing skills to be successful in school. In this respect, prior research has pointed to the fact that cognitive and motivational challenges are at the root of the rather basic level of elementary students' writing performance. Additionally, previous research has revealed gender and achievement-level differences in elementary students' writing. In view of providing effective writing instruction for all students to overcome writing difficulties, the present study provides more in-depth insight into (a) how cognitive and motivational challenges mediate and correlate with students' writing performance and (b) whether and how these relations vary for boys and girls and for writers of different achievement levels. In the present study, 1,577 fifth- and sixth-grade students completed questionnaires regarding their writing self-efficacy, writing motivation, and writing strategies. In addition, half of the students completed two writing tests, respectively focusing on the informational or narrative text genre. Based on multiple group structural equation modeling (MG-SEM), we put forward two models: a MG-SEM model for boys and girls and a MG-SEM model for low, average, and high achievers. The results underline the importance of studying writing models for different groups of students in order to gain more refined insight into the complex interplay between motivational and cognitive challenges related to students' writing performance.
  • Smits, R. (1998). A model for dependencies in phonetic categorization. Proceedings of the 16th International Congress on Acoustics and the 135th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, 2005-2006.

    Abstract

    A quantitative model of human categorization behavior is proposed, which can be applied to 4-alternative forced-choice categorization data involving two binary classifications. A number of processing dependencies between the two classifications are explicitly formulated, such as the dependence of the location, orientation, and steepness of the class boundary for one classification on the outcome of the other classification. The significance of various types of dependencies can be tested statistically. Analyses of a data set from the literature shows that interesting dependencies in human speech recognition can be uncovered using the model.
  • Smulders, F. T. Y., Ten Oever, S., Donkers, F. C. L., Quaedflieg, C. W. E. M., & Van de Ven, V. (2018). Single-trial log transformation is optimal in frequency analysis of resting EEG alpha. European Journal of Neuroscience, 48(7), 2585-2598. doi:10.1111/ejn.13854.

    Abstract

    The appropriate definition and scaling of the magnitude of electroencephalogram (EEG) oscillations is an underdeveloped area. The aim of this study was to optimize the analysis of resting EEG alpha magnitude, focusing on alpha peak frequency and nonlinear transformation of alpha power. A family of nonlinear transforms, Box-Cox transforms, were applied to find the transform that (a) maximized a non-disputed effect: the increase in alpha magnitude when the eyes are closed (Berger effect), and (b) made the distribution of alpha magnitude closest to normal across epochs within each participant, or across participants. The transformations were performed either at the single epoch level or at the epoch-average level. Alpha peak frequency showed large individual differences, yet good correspondence between various ways to estimate it in 2min of eyes-closed and 2min of eyes-open resting EEG data. Both alpha magnitude and the Berger effect were larger for individual alpha than for a generic (8-12Hz) alpha band. The log-transform on single epochs (a) maximized the t-value of the contrast between the eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions when tested within each participant, and (b) rendered near-normally distributed alpha power across epochs and participants, thereby making further transformation of epoch averages superfluous. The results suggest that the log-normal distribution is a fundamental property of variations in alpha power across time in the order of seconds. Moreover, effects on alpha power appear to be multiplicative rather than additive. These findings support the use of the log-transform on single epochs to achieve appropriate scaling of alpha magnitude.
  • Snijders Blok, L., Rousseau, J., Twist, J., Ehresmann, S., Takaku, M., Venselaar, H., Rodan, L. H., Nowak, C. B., Douglas, J., Swoboda, K. J., Steeves, M. A., Sahai, I., Stumpel, C. T. R. M., Stegmann, A. P. A., Wheeler, P., Willing, M., Fiala, E., Kochhar, A., Gibson, W. T., Cohen, A. S. A. and 59 moreSnijders Blok, L., Rousseau, J., Twist, J., Ehresmann, S., Takaku, M., Venselaar, H., Rodan, L. H., Nowak, C. B., Douglas, J., Swoboda, K. J., Steeves, M. A., Sahai, I., Stumpel, C. T. R. M., Stegmann, A. P. A., Wheeler, P., Willing, M., Fiala, E., Kochhar, A., Gibson, W. T., Cohen, A. S. A., Agbahovbe, R., Innes, A. M., Au, P. Y. B., Rankin, J., Anderson, I. J., Skinner, S. A., Louie, R. J., Warren, H. E., Afenjar, A., Keren, B., Nava, C., Buratti, J., Isapof, A., Rodriguez, D., Lewandowski, R., Propst, J., Van Essen, T., Choi, M., Lee, S., Chae, J. H., Price, S., Schnur, R. E., Douglas, G., Wentzensen, I. M., Zweier, C., Reis, A., Bialer, M. G., Moore, C., Koopmans, M., Brilstra, E. H., Monroe, G. R., Van Gassen, K. L. I., Van Binsbergen, E., Newbury-Ecob, R., Bownass, L., Bader, I., Mayr, J. A., Wortmann, S. B., Jakielski, K. J., Strand, E. A., Kloth, K., Bierhals, T., The DDD study, Roberts, J. D., Petrovich, R. M., Machida, S., Kurumizaka, H., Lelieveld, S., Pfundt, R., Jansen, S., Derizioti, P., Faivre, L., Thevenon, J., Assoum, M., Shriberg, L., Kleefstra, T., Brunner, H. G., Wade, P. A., Fisher, S. E., & Campeau, P. M. (2018). CHD3 helicase domain mutations cause a neurodevelopmental syndrome with macrocephaly and impaired speech and language. Nature Communications, 9: 4619. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-06014-6.

    Abstract

    Chromatin remodeling is of crucial importance during brain development. Pathogenic
    alterations of several chromatin remodeling ATPases have been implicated in neurodevelopmental
    disorders. We describe an index case with a de novo missense mutation in CHD3,
    identified during whole genome sequencing of a cohort of children with rare speech disorders.
    To gain a comprehensive view of features associated with disruption of this gene, we use a
    genotype-driven approach, collecting and characterizing 35 individuals with de novo CHD3
    mutations and overlapping phenotypes. Most mutations cluster within the ATPase/helicase
    domain of the encoded protein. Modeling their impact on the three-dimensional structure
    demonstrates disturbance of critical binding and interaction motifs. Experimental assays with
    six of the identified mutations show that a subset directly affects ATPase activity, and all but
    one yield alterations in chromatin remodeling. We implicate de novo CHD3 mutations in a
    syndrome characterized by intellectual disability, macrocephaly, and impaired speech and
    language.
  • Snijders Blok, L., Hiatt, S. M., Bowling, K. M., Prokop, J. W., Engel, K. L., Cochran, J. N., Bebin, E. M., Bijlsma, E. K., Ruivenkamp, C. A. L., Terhal, P., Simon, M. E. H., Smith, R., Hurst, J. A., The DDD study, MCLaughlin, H., Person, R., Crunk, A., Wangler, M. F., Streff, H., Symonds, J. D., Zuberi, S. M. and 11 moreSnijders Blok, L., Hiatt, S. M., Bowling, K. M., Prokop, J. W., Engel, K. L., Cochran, J. N., Bebin, E. M., Bijlsma, E. K., Ruivenkamp, C. A. L., Terhal, P., Simon, M. E. H., Smith, R., Hurst, J. A., The DDD study, MCLaughlin, H., Person, R., Crunk, A., Wangler, M. F., Streff, H., Symonds, J. D., Zuberi, S. M., Elliott, K. S., Sanders, V. R., Masunga, A., Hopkin, R. J., Dubbs, H. A., Ortiz-Gonzalez, X. R., Pfundt, R., Brunner, H. G., Fisher, S. E., Kleefstra, T., & Cooper, G. M. (2018). De novo mutations in MED13, a component of the Mediator complex, are associated with a novel neurodevelopmental disorder. Human Genetics, 137(5), 375-388. doi:10.1007/s00439-018-1887-y.

    Abstract

    Many genetic causes of developmental delay and/or intellectual disability (DD/ID) are extremely rare, and robust discovery of these requires both large-scale DNA sequencing and data sharing. Here we describe a GeneMatcher collaboration which led to a cohort of 13 affected individuals harboring protein-altering variants, 11 of which are de novo, in MED13; the only inherited variant was transmitted to an affected child from an affected mother. All patients had intellectual disability and/or developmental delays, including speech delays or disorders. Other features that were reported in two or more patients include autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, optic nerve abnormalities, Duane anomaly, hypotonia, mild congenital heart abnormalities, and dysmorphisms. Six affected individuals had mutations that are predicted to truncate the MED13 protein, six had missense mutations, and one had an in-frame-deletion of one amino acid. Out of the seven non-truncating mutations, six clustered in two specific locations of the MED13 protein: an N-terminal and C-terminal region. The four N-terminal clustering mutations affect two adjacent amino acids that are known to be involved in MED13 ubiquitination and degradation, p.Thr326 and p.Pro327. MED13 is a component of the CDK8-kinase module that can reversibly bind Mediator, a multi-protein complex that is required for Polymerase II transcription initiation. Mutations in several other genes encoding subunits of Mediator have been previously shown to associate with DD/ID, including MED13L, a paralog of MED13. Thus, our findings add MED13 to the group of CDK8-kinase module-associated disease genes
  • Sonnenstuhl, I., Eisenbeiss, S., & Clahsen, H. (1999). Morphological priming in the German mental lexicon. Cognition, 72(3), 203-236. doi:10.1016/S0010-0277(99)00033-5.

    Abstract

    We present results from cross-modal priming experiments on German participles and noun plurals. The experiments produced parallel results for both inflectional systems. Regular inflection exhibits full priming whereas irregularly inflected word forms show only partial priming: after hearing regularly inflected words (-t participles and -s plurals), lexical decision times on morphologically related word forms (presented visually) were similar to reaction times for a base-line condition in which prime and target were identical, but significantly shorter than in a control condition where prime and target were unrelated. In contrast, prior presentation of irregular words (-n participles and -er plurals) led to significantly longer response times on morphologically related word forms than the prior presentation of the target itself. Hence, there are clear priming differences between regularly and irregularly inflected German words. We compare the findings on German with experimental results on regular and irregular inflection in English and Italian, and discuss theoretical implications for single versus dual-mechanism models of inflection.
  • Speed, L. J., & Majid, A. (2018). An exception to mental simulation: No evidence for embodied odor language. Cognitive Science, 42(4), 1146-1178. doi:10.1111/cogs.12593.

    Abstract

    Do we mentally simulate olfactory information? We investigated mental simulation of odors and sounds in two experiments. Participants retained a word while they smelled an odor or heard a sound, then rated odor/sound intensity and recalled the word. Later odor/sound recognition was also tested, and pleasantness and familiarity judgments were collected. Word recall was slower when the sound and sound-word mismatched (e.g., bee sound with the word typhoon). Sound recognition was higher when sounds were paired with a match or near-match word (e.g., bee sound with bee or buzzer). This indicates sound-words are mentally simulated. However, using the same paradigm no memory effects were observed for odor. Instead it appears odor-words only affect lexical-semantic representations, demonstrated by higher ratings of odor intensity and pleasantness when an odor was paired with a match or near-match word (e.g., peach odor with peach or mango). These results suggest fundamental differences in how odor and sound-words are represented.

    Additional information

    cogs12593-sup-0001-SupInfo.docx
  • Speed, L. J., & Majid, A. (2018). Superior olfactory language and cognition in odor-color synaesthesia. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 44(3), 468-481. doi:10.1037/xhp0000469.

    Abstract

    Olfaction is often considered a vestigial sense in humans, demoted throughout evolution to make way for the dominant sense of vision. This perspective on olfaction is reflected in how we think and talk about smells in the West, with odor imagery and odor language reported to be difficult. In the present study we demonstrate odor cognition is superior in odor-color synaesthesia, where there are additional sensory connections to odor concepts. Synaesthesia is a neurological phenomenon in which input in 1 modality leads to involuntary perceptual associations. Semantic accounts of synaesthesia posit synaesthetic associations are mediated by activation of inducing concepts. Therefore, synaesthetic associations may strengthen conceptual representations. To test this idea, we ran 6 odor-color synaesthetes and 17 matched controls on a battery of tasks exploring odor and color cognition. We found synaesthetes outperformed controls on tests of both odor and color discrimination, demonstrating for the first time enhanced perception in both the inducer (odor) and concurrent (color) modality. So, not only do synaesthetes have additional perceptual experiences in comparison to controls, their primary perceptual experience is also different. Finally, synaesthetes were more consistent and accurate at naming odors. We propose synaesthetic associations to odors strengthen odor concepts, making them more differentiated (facilitating odor discrimination) and easier to link with lexical representations (facilitating odor naming). In summary, we show for the first time that both odor language and perception is enhanced in people with synaesthetic associations to odors
  • Stivers, T. (1998). Prediagnostic commentary in veterinarian-client interaction. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 31(2), 241-277. doi:10.1207/s15327973rlsi3102_4.
  • Stoehr, A., Benders, T., Van Hell, J. G., & Fikkert, P. (2018). Heritage language exposure impacts voice onset time of Dutch–German simultaneous bilingual preschoolers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21(3), 598-617. doi:10.1017/S1366728917000116.

    Abstract

    This study assesses the effects of age and language exposure on VOT production in 29 simultaneous bilingual children aged 3;7 to 5;11 who speak German as a heritage language in the Netherlands. Dutch and German have a binary voicing contrast, but the contrast is implemented with different VOT values in the two languages. The results suggest that bilingual children produce ‘voiced’ plosives similarly in their two languages, and these productions are not monolingual-like in either language. Bidirectional cross-linguistic influence between Dutch and German can explain these results. Yet, the bilinguals seemingly have two autonomous categories for Dutch and German ‘voiceless’ plosives. In German, the bilinguals’ aspiration is not monolingual-like, but bilinguals with more heritage language exposure produce more target-like aspiration. Importantly, the amount of exposure to German has no effect on the majority language's ‘voiceless’ category. This implies that more heritage language exposure is associated with more language-specific voicing systems.
  • Stolk, A., Griffin, S., Van der Meij, R., Dewar, C., Saez, I., Lin, J. J., Piantoni, G., Schoffelen, J.-M., Knight, R. T., & Oostenveld, R. (2018). Integrated analysis of anatomical and electrophysiological human intracranial data. Nature Protocols, 13, 1699-1723. doi:10.1038/s41596-018-0009-6.

    Abstract

    Human intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) recordings provide data with much greater spatiotemporal precision
    than is possible from data obtained using scalp EEG, magnetoencephalography (MEG), or functional MRI. Until recently,
    the fusion of anatomical data (MRI and computed tomography (CT) images) with electrophysiological data and their
    subsequent analysis have required the use of technologically and conceptually challenging combinations of software.
    Here, we describe a comprehensive protocol that enables complex raw human iEEG data to be converted into more readily
    comprehensible illustrative representations. The protocol uses an open-source toolbox for electrophysiological data
    analysis (FieldTrip). This allows iEEG researchers to build on a continuously growing body of scriptable and reproducible
    analysis methods that, over the past decade, have been developed and used by a large research community. In this
    protocol, we describe how to analyze complex iEEG datasets by providing an intuitive and rapid approach that can handle
    both neuroanatomical information and large electrophysiological datasets. We provide a worked example using
    an example dataset. We also explain how to automate the protocol and adjust the settings to enable analysis of
    iEEG datasets with other characteristics. The protocol can be implemented by a graduate student or postdoctoral
    fellow with minimal MATLAB experience and takes approximately an hour to execute, excluding the automated cortical
    surface extraction.
  • Sulik, J. (2018). Cognitive mechanisms for inferring the meaning of novel signals during symbolisation. PLoS One, 13(1): e0189540. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0189540.

    Abstract

    As participants repeatedly interact using graphical signals (as in a game of Pictionary), the signals gradually shift from being iconic (or motivated) to being symbolic (or arbitrary). The aim here is to test experimentally whether this change in the form of the signal implies a concomitant shift in the inferential mechanisms needed to understand it. The results show that, during early, iconic stages, there is more reliance on creative inferential processes associated with insight problem solving, and that the recruitment of these cognitive mechanisms decreases over time. The variation in inferential mechanism is not predicted by the sign’s visual complexity or iconicity, but by its familiarity, and by the complexity of the relevant mental representations. The discussion explores implications for pragmatics, language evolution, and iconicity research.
  • Suomi, K., McQueen, J. M., & Cutler, A. (1997). Vowel harmony and speech segmentation in Finnish. Journal of Memory and Language, 36, 422-444. doi:10.1006/jmla.1996.2495.

    Abstract

    Finnish vowel harmony rules require that if the vowel in the first syllable of a word belongs to one of two vowel sets, then all subsequent vowels in that word must belong either to the same set or to a neutral set. A harmony mismatch between two syllables containing vowels from the opposing sets thus signals a likely word boundary. We report five experiments showing that Finnish listeners can exploit this information in an on-line speech segmentation task. Listeners found it easier to detect words likehymyat the end of the nonsense stringpuhymy(where there is a harmony mismatch between the first two syllables) than in the stringpyhymy(where there is no mismatch). There was no such effect, however, when the target words appeared at the beginning of the nonsense string (e.g.,hymypuvshymypy). Stronger harmony effects were found for targets containing front harmony vowels (e.g.,hymy) than for targets containing back harmony vowels (e.g.,paloinkypaloandkupalo). The same pattern of results appeared whether target position within the string was predictable or unpredictable. Harmony mismatch thus appears to provide a useful segmentation cue for the detection of word onsets in Finnish speech.
  • Swaab, T. Y., Brown, C. M., & Hagoort, P. (1997). Spoken sentence comprehension in aphasia: Event-related potential evidence for a lexical integration deficit. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 9(1), 39-66.

    Abstract

    In this study the N400 component of the event-related potential was used to investigate spoken sentence understanding in Broca's and Wernicke's aphasics. The aim of the study was to determine whether spoken sentence comprehension problems in these patients might result from a deficit in the on-line integration of lexical information. Subjects listened to sentences spoken at a normal rate. In half of these sentences, the meaning of the final word of the sentence matched the semantic specifications of the preceding sentence context. In the other half of the sentences, the sentence-final word was anomalous with respect to the preceding sentence context. The N400 was measured to the sentence-final words in both conditions. The results for the aphasic patients (n = 14) were analyzed according to the severity of their comprehension deficit and compared to a group of 12 neurologically unimpaired age-matched controls, as well as a group of 6 nonaphasic patients with a lesion in the right hemisphere. The nonaphasic brain damaged patients and the aphasic patients with a light comprehension deficit (high comprehenders, n = 7) showed an N400 effect that was comparable to that of the neurologically unimpaired subjects. In the aphasic patients with a moderate to severe comprehension deficit (low comprehenders, n = 7), a reduction and delay of the N400 effect was obtained. In addition, the P300 component was measured in a classical oddball paradigm, in which subjects were asked to count infrequent low tones in a random series of high and low tones. No correlation was found between the occurrence of N400 and P300 effects, indicating that changes in the N400 results were related to the patients' language deficit. Overall, the pattern of results was compatible with the idea that aphasic patients with moderate to severe comprehension problems are impaired in the integration of lexical information into a higher order representation of the preceding sentence context.
  • Swaab, T. Y., Brown, C. M., & Hagoort, P. (1998). Understanding ambiguous words in sentence contexts: Electrophysiological evidence for delayed contextual selection in Broca's aphasia. Neuropsychologia, 36(8), 737-761. doi:10.1016/S0028-3932(97)00174-7.

    Abstract

    This study investigates whether spoken sentence comprehension deficits in Broca's aphasics results from their inability to access the subordinate meaning of ambiguous words (e.g. bank), or alternatively, from a delay in their selection of the contextually appropriate meaning. Twelve Broca's aphasics and twelve elderly controls were presented with lexical ambiguities in three context conditions, each followed by the same target words. In the concordant condition, the sentence context biased the meaning of the sentence final ambiguous word that was related to the target. In the discordant condition, the sentence context biased the meaning of the sentence final ambiguous word that was incompatible with the target.In the unrelated condition, the sentence-final word was unambiguous and unrelated to the target. The task of the subjects was to listen attentively to the stimuli The activational status of the ambiguous sentence-final words was inferred from the amplitude of the N399 to the targets at two inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs) (100 ms and 1250 ms). At the short ISI, the Broca's aphasics showed clear evidence of activation of the subordinate meaning. In contrast to elderly controls, however, the Broca's aphasics were not successful at selecting the appropriate meaning of the ambiguity in the short ISI version of the experiment. But at the long ISI, in accordance with the performance of the elderly controls, the patients were able to successfully complete the contextual selection process. These results indicate that Broca's aphasics are delayed in the process of contextual selection. It is argued that this finding of delayed selection is compatible with the idea that comprehension deficits in Broca's aphasia result from a delay in the process of integrating lexical information.
  • Swift, M. (1998). [Book review of LOUIS-JACQUES DORAIS, La parole inuit: Langue, culture et société dans l'Arctique nord-américain]. Language in Society, 27, 273-276. doi:10.1017/S0047404598282042.

    Abstract

    This volume on Inuit speech follows the evolution of a native language of the North American Arctic, from its historical roots to its present-day linguistic structure and patterns of use from Alaska to Greenland. Drawing on a wide range of research from the fields of linguistics, anthropology, and sociology, Dorais integrates these diverse perspectives in a comprehensive view of native language development, maintenance, and use under conditions of marginalization due to social transition.
  • Tamariz, M., Roberts, S. G., Martínez, J. I., & Santiago, J. (2018). The Interactive Origin of Iconicity. Cognitive Science, 42, 334-349. doi:10.1111/cogs.12497.

    Abstract

    We investigate the emergence of iconicity, specifically a bouba-kiki effect in miniature artificial languages under different functional constraints: when the languages are reproduced and when they are used communicatively. We ran transmission chains of (a) participant dyads who played an interactive communicative game and (b) individual participants who played a matched learning game. An analysis of the languages over six generations in an iterated learning experiment revealed that in the Communication condition, but not in the Reproduction condition, words for spiky shapes tend to be rated by naive judges as more spiky than the words for round shapes. This suggests that iconicity may not only be the outcome of innovations introduced by individuals, but, crucially, the result of interlocutor negotiation of new communicative conventions. We interpret our results as an illustration of cultural evolution by random mutation and selection (as opposed to by guided variation).
  • Tan, Y., & Martin, R. C. (2018). Verbal short-term memory capacities and executive function in semantic and syntactic interference resolution during sentence comprehension: Evidence from aphasia. Neuropsychologia, 113, 111-125. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.03.001.

    Abstract

    This study examined the role of verbal short-term memory (STM) and executive function (EF) underlying semantic and syntactic interference resolution during sentence comprehension for persons with aphasia (PWA) with varying degrees of STM and EF deficits. Semantic interference was manipulated by varying the semantic plausibility of the intervening NP as subject of the verb and syntactic interference was manipulated by varying whether the NP was another subject or an object. Nine PWA were assessed on sentence reading times and on comprehension question performance. PWA showed exaggerated semantic and syntactic interference effects relative to healthy age-matched control subjects. Importantly, correlational analyses showed that while answering comprehension questions, PWA’ semantic STM capacity related to their ability to resolve semantic but not syntactic interference. In contrast, PWA’ EF abilities related to their ability to resolve syntactic but not semantic interference. Phonological STM deficits were not related to the ability to resolve either type of interference. The results for semantic STM are consistent with prior findings indicating a role for semantic but not phonological STM in sentence comprehension, specifically with regard to maintaining semantic information prior to integration. The results for syntactic interference are consistent with the recent findings suggesting that EF is critical for syntactic processing.
  • Tanaka, K., Fisher, S. E., & Craig, I. W. (1999). Characterization of novel promoter and enhancer elements of the mouse homologue of the Dent disease gene, CLCN5, implicated in X-linked hereditary nephrolithiasis. Genomics, 58, 281-292. doi:10.1006/geno.1999.5839.

    Abstract

    The murine homologue of the human chloride channel gene, CLCN5, defects in which are responsible for Dent disease, has been cloned and characterized. We isolated the entire coding region of mouse Clcn5 cDNA and approximately 45 kb of genomic sequence embracing the gene. To study its transcriptional control, the 5' upstream sequences of the mouse Clcn5 gene were cloned into a luciferase reporter vector. Deletion analysis of 1.5 kb of the 5' flanking sequence defined an active promoter region within 128 bp of the putative transcription start site, which is associated with a TATA motif but lacks a CAAT consensus. Within this sequence, there is a motif with homology to a purine-rich sequence responsible for the kidney-specific promoter activity of the rat CLC-K1 gene, another member of the chloride-channel gene family expressed in kidney. An enhancer element that confers a 10- to 20-fold increase in the promoter activity of the mouse Clcn5 gene was found within the first intron. The organization of the human CLCN5 and mouse Clcn5 gene structures is highly conserved, and the sequence of the murine protein is 98% similar to that of human, with its highest expression seen in the kidney. This study thus provides the first identification of the transcriptional control region of, and the basis for an understanding of the regulatory mechanism that controls, this kidney-specific, chloride-channel gene.
  • Teeling, E., Vernes, S. C., Davalos, L. M., Ray, D. A., Gilbert, M. T. P., Myers, E., & Bat1K Consortium (2018). Bat biology, genomes, and the Bat1K project: To generate chromosome-level genomes for all living bat species. Annual Review of Animal Biosciences, 6, 23-46. doi:10.1146/annurev-animal-022516-022811.

    Abstract

    Bats are unique among mammals, possessing some of the rarest mammalian adaptations, including true self-powered flight, laryngeal echolocation, exceptional longevity, unique immunity, contracted genomes, and vocal learning. They provide key ecosystem services, pollinating tropical plants, dispersing seeds, and controlling insect pest populations, thus driving healthy ecosystems. They account for more than 20% of all living mammalian diversity, and their crown-group evolutionary history dates back to the Eocene. Despite their great numbers and diversity, many species are threatened and endangered. Here we announce Bat1K, an initiative to sequence the genomes of all living bat species (n∼1,300) to chromosome-level assembly. The Bat1K genome consortium unites bat biologists (>132 members as of writing), computational scientists, conservation organizations, genome technologists, and any interested individuals committed to a better understanding of the genetic and evolutionary mechanisms that underlie the unique adaptations of bats. Our aim is to catalog the unique genetic diversity present in all living bats to better understand the molecular basis of their unique adaptations; uncover their evolutionary history; link genotype with phenotype; and ultimately better understand, promote, and conserve bats. Here we review the unique adaptations of bats and highlight how chromosome-level genome assemblies can uncover the molecular basis of these traits. We present a novel sequencing and assembly strategy and review the striking societal and scientific benefits that will result from the Bat1K initiative.
  • Ter Keurs, M., Brown, C. M., Hagoort, P., & Stegeman, D. F. (1999). Electrophysiological manifestations of open- and closed-class words in patients with Broca's aphasia with agrammatic comprehension: An event-related brain potential study. Brain, 122, 839-854. doi:10.1093/brain/122.5.839.

    Abstract

    This paper presents electrophysiological data on the on-line processing of open- and closed-class words in patients with Broca’s aphasia with agrammatic comprehension. Event-related brain potentials were recorded from the scalp when Broca patients and nonaphasic control subjects were visually presented with a story in which the words appeared one at a time on the screen. Separate waveforms were computed for open- and closed-class words. The non-aphasic control subjects showed clear differences between the processing of open- and closed-class words in an early (210-375 ms) and a late (400-700 ms) time-window.The early electrophysiological differences reflect the first manifestation of the availability of word-category information from the mental lexicon. The late differences presumably relate to post-lexical semantic and syntactic processing. In contrast to the control subjects, the Broca patients showed no early vocabulary class effect and only a limited late effect. The results suggest that an important factor in the agrammatic comprehension deficit of Broca’s aphasics is a delayed and/or incomplete availability of word-class information.
  • Thorin, J., Sadakata, M., Desain, P., & McQueen, J. M. (2018). Perception and production in interaction during non-native speech category learning. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 144(1), 92-103. doi:10.1121/1.5044415.

    Abstract

    Establishing non-native phoneme categories can be a notoriously difficult endeavour—in both speech perception and speech production. This study asks how these two domains interact in the course of this learning process. It investigates the effect of perceptual learning and related production practice of a challenging non-native category on the perception and/or production of that category. A four-day perceptual training protocol on the British English /æ/-/ɛ/ vowel contrast was combined with either related or unrelated production practice. After feedback on perceptual categorisation of the contrast, native Dutch participants in the related production group (N = 19) pronounced the trial's correct answer, while participants in the unrelated production group (N = 19) pronounced similar but phonologically unrelated words. Comparison of pre- and post-tests showed significant improvement over the course of training in both perception and production, but no differences between the groups were found. The lack of an effect of production practice is discussed in the light of previous, competing results and models of second-language speech perception and production. This study confirms that, even in the context of related production practice, perceptual training boosts production learning.
  • Tian, X., Ding, N., Teng, X., Bai, F., & Poeppel, D. (2018). Imagined speech influences perceived loudness of sound. Nature Human Behaviour, 2, 225-234. doi:10.1038/s41562-018-0305-8.

    Abstract

    The way top-down and bottom-up processes interact to shape our perception and behaviour is a fundamental question and remains highly controversial. How early in a processing stream do such interactions occur, and what factors govern such interactions? The degree of abstractness of a perceptual attribute (for example, orientation versus shape in vision, or loudness versus sound identity in hearing) may determine the locus of neural processing and interaction between bottom-up and internal information. Using an imagery-perception repetition paradigm, we find that imagined speech affects subsequent auditory perception, even for a low-level attribute such as loudness. This effect is observed in early auditory responses in magnetoencephalography and electroencephalography that correlate with behavioural loudness ratings. The results suggest that the internal reconstruction of neural representations without external stimulation is flexibly regulated by task demands, and that such top-down processes can interact with bottom-up information at an early perceptual stage to modulate perception.
  • Tilot, A. K., Kucera, K. S., Vino, A., Asher, J. E., Baron-Cohen, S., & Fisher, S. E. (2018). Rare variants in axonogenesis genes connect three families with sound–color synesthesia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(12), 3168-3173. doi:10.1073/pnas.1715492115.

    Abstract

    Synesthesia is a rare nonpathological phenomenon where stimulation of one sense automatically provokes a secondary perception in another. Hypothesized to result from differences in cortical wiring during development, synesthetes show atypical structural and functional neural connectivity, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are unknown. The trait also appears to be more common among people with autism spectrum disorder and savant abilities. Previous linkage studies searching for shared loci of large effect size across multiple families have had limited success. To address the critical lack of candidate genes, we applied whole-exome sequencing to three families with sound–color (auditory–visual) synesthesia affecting multiple relatives across three or more generations. We identified rare genetic variants that fully cosegregate with synesthesia in each family, uncovering 37 genes of interest. Consistent with reports indicating genetic heterogeneity, no variants were shared across families. Gene ontology analyses highlighted six genes—COL4A1, ITGA2, MYO10, ROBO3, SLC9A6, and SLIT2—associated with axonogenesis and expressed during early childhood when synesthetic associations are formed. These results are consistent with neuroimaging-based hypotheses about the role of hyperconnectivity in the etiology of synesthesia and offer a potential entry point into the neurobiology that organizes our sensory experiences.

    Additional information

    Tilot_etal_2018SI.pdf
  • Torreira, F., & Grice, M. (2018). Melodic constructions in Spanish: Metrical structure determines the association properties of intonational tones. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 48(1), 9-32. doi:10.1017/S0025100317000603.

    Abstract

    This paper explores phrase-length-related alternations in the association of tones to positions in metrical structure in two melodic constructions of Spanish. An imitation-and-completion task eliciting (a) the low–falling–rising contour and (b) the circumflex contour on intonation phrases (IPs) of one, two, and three prosodic words revealed that, although the focus structure and pragmatic context is constant across conditions, phrases containing one prosodic word differ in their nuclear (i.e. final) pitch accents and edge tones from phrases containing more than one prosodic word. For contour (a), short intonation phrases (e.g. [ Ma no lo ] IP ) were produced with a low accent followed by a high edge tone (L ∗ H% in ToBI notation), whereas longer phrases (e.g. [ El her ma no de la a m igadeMa no lo ] IP ‘Manolo’s friend’s brother’) had a low accent on the first stressed syllable, a rising accent on the last stressed syllable, and a low edge tone (L ∗ L+H ∗ L%). For contour (b), short phrases were produced with a high–rise (L+H ∗ ¡H%), whereas longer phrases were produced with an initial accentual rise followed by an upstepped rise–fall (L+H ∗ ¡H ∗ L%). These findings imply that the common practice of describing the structure of intonation contours as consisting of a constant nuclear pitch accent and following edge tone is not adequate for modeling Spanish intonation. To capture the observed melodic alternations, we argue for clearer separation between tones and metrical structure, whereby intonational tones do not necessarily have an intrinsic culminative or delimitative function (i.e. as pitch accents or as edge tones). Instead, this function results from melody-specific principles of tonal–metrical association.
  • Tribushinina, E., Mak, M., Dubinkina, E., & Mak, W. M. (2018). Adjective production by Russian-speaking children with developmental language disorder and Dutch–Russian simultaneous bilinguals: Disentangling the profiles. Applied Psycholinguistics, 39(5), 1033-1064. doi:10.1017/S0142716418000115.

    Abstract

    Bilingual children with reduced exposure to one or both languages may have language profiles that are
    apparently similar to those of children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Children with
    DLD receive enough input, but have difficulty using this input for acquisition due to processing deficits.
    The present investigation aims to determine aspects of adjective production that are differentially
    affected by reduced input (in bilingualism) and reduced intake (in DLD). Adjectives were elicited
    from Dutch–Russian simultaneous bilinguals with limited exposure to Russian and Russian-speaking
    monolinguals with andwithout DLD.Anantonymelicitation taskwas used to assess the size of adjective
    vocabularies, and a degree task was employed to compare the preferences of the three groups in the
    use of morphological, lexical, and syntactic degree markers. The results revealed that adjective–noun
    agreement is affected to the same extent by both reduced input and reduced intake. The size of adjective
    lexicons is also negatively affected by both, but more so by reduced exposure. However, production
    of morphological degree markers and learning of semantic paradigms are areas of relative strength in
    which bilinguals outperform monolingual children with DLD.We suggest that reduced input might be
    counterbalanced by linguistic and cognitive advantages of bilingualism
  • Tromp, J., Peeters, D., Meyer, A. S., & Hagoort, P. (2018). The combined use of Virtual Reality and EEG to study language processing in naturalistic environments. Behavior Research Methods, 50(2), 862-869. doi:10.3758/s13428-017-0911-9.

    Abstract

    When we comprehend language, we often do this in rich settings in which we can use many cues to understand what someone is saying. However, it has traditionally been difficult to design experiments with rich three-dimensional contexts that resemble our everyday environments, while maintaining control over the linguistic and non-linguistic information that is available. Here we test the validity of combining electroencephalography (EEG) and Virtual Reality (VR) to overcome this problem. We recorded electrophysiological brain activity during language processing in a well-controlled three-dimensional virtual audiovisual environment. Participants were immersed in a virtual restaurant, while wearing EEG equipment. In the restaurant participants encountered virtual restaurant guests. Each guest was seated at a separate table with an object on it (e.g. a plate with salmon). The restaurant guest would then produce a sentence (e.g. “I just ordered this salmon.”). The noun in the spoken sentence could either match (“salmon”) or mismatch (“pasta”) with the object on the table, creating a situation in which the auditory information was either appropriate or inappropriate in the visual context. We observed a reliable N400 effect as a consequence of the mismatch. This finding validates the combined use of VR and EEG as a tool to study the neurophysiological mechanisms of everyday language comprehension in rich, ecologically valid settings.
  • Trompenaars, T. (2018). Empathy for the inanimate. Linguistics in the Netherlands, 35, 125-138. doi:10.1075/avt.00009.tro.

    Abstract

    Narrative fiction may invite us to share the perspective of characters which are very much unlike ourselves. Inanimate objects featuring as protagonists or narrators are an extreme example of this. The way readers experience these characters was examined by means of a narrative immersion study. Participants (N = 200) judged narratives containing animate or inanimate characters in predominantly Agent or Experiencer roles. Narratives with inanimate characters were judged to be less emotionally engaging. This effect was influenced by the dominant thematic role associated with the character: inanimate Agents led to more defamiliarization compared to their animate counterparts than inanimate Experiencers. I argue for an integrated account of thematic roles and animacy in literary experience and linguistics in general.

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