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<title>onestopblogs - latest papers</title>
<link href='http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/'/>
<updated>2012-05-16T20:09:47Z</updated>
<author>
	<name>Republished content</name>
	<email>webeditor@macmillan.com</email>
	<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/</uri>
</author>
<link rel='self' href='http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/'/>
<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/-228206ec20a7673c613e1957c4a9a06d</id>

	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Unknown]]></title>
		<author>unknown</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/04/23/1201575109"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1039</id>
		<updated>2012-05-01T12:12:23Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>unknown</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=unknown</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Cognitive gains in 7-month-old bilingual infants.]]></title>
		<author>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.pnas.org/content/106/16/6556"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1038</id>
		<updated>2012-03-23T20:11:20Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Children exposed to bilingual input typically learn 2 languages without obvious difficulties. However, it is unclear how preverbal infants cope with the inconsistent input and how bilingualism affects early development. In 3 eye-tracking studies we show that 7-month-old infants, raised with 2 languages from birth, display improved cognitive control abilities compared with matched monolinguals. Whereas both monolinguals and bilinguals learned to respond to a speech or visual cue to anticipate a reward on one side of a screen, only bilinguals succeeded in redirecting their anticipatory looks when the cue began signaling the reward on the opposite side. Bilingual infants rapidly suppressed their looks to the first location and learned the new response. These findings show that processing representations from 2 languages leads to a domain-general enhancement of the cognitive control system well before the onset of speech.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Proc.+Natl.+Acad.+Sci.+U.S.A.</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Behavioral priming: it's all in the mind, but whose mind?]]></title>
		<author>PLoS ONE</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0029081"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1037</id>
		<updated>2012-03-17T20:10:08Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[The perspective that behavior is often driven by unconscious determinants has become widespread in social psychology. Bargh, Chen, and Burrows' (1996) famous study, in which participants unwittingly exposed to the stereotype of age walked slower when exiting the laboratory, was instrumental in defining this perspective. Here, we present two experiments aimed at replicating the original study. Despite the use of automated timing methods and a larger sample, our first experiment failed to show priming. Our second experiment was aimed at manipulating the beliefs of the experimenters: Half were led to think that participants would walk slower when primed congruently, and the other half was led to expect the opposite. Strikingly, we obtained a walking speed effect, but only when experimenters believed participants would indeed walk slower. This suggests that both priming and experimenters' expectations are instrumental in explaining the walking speed effect. Further, debriefing was suggestive of awareness of the primes. We conclude that unconscious behavioral priming is real, while real, involves mechanisms different from those typically assumed to cause the effect.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>PLoS ONE</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=PLoS+ONE</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Cultural variation in eye movements during scene perception.]]></title>
		<author>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.pnas.org/content/102/35/12629.long"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1036</id>
		<updated>2012-02-16T20:10:24Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[In the past decade, cultural differences in perceptual judgment and memory have been observed: Westerners attend more to focal objects, whereas East Asians attend more to contextual information. However, the underlying mechanisms for the apparent differences in cognitive processing styles have not been known. In the present study, we examined the possibility that the cultural differences arise from culturally different viewing patterns when confronted with a naturalistic scene. We measured the eye movements of American and Chinese participants while they viewed photographs with a focal object on a complex background. In fact, the Americans fixated more on focal objects than did the Chinese, and the Americans tended to look at the focal object more quickly. In addition, the Chinese made more saccades to the background than did the Americans. Thus, it appears that differences in judgment and memory may have their origins in differences in what is actually attended as people view a scene.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Proc.+Natl.+Acad.+Sci.+U.S.A.</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Modelling the recent common ancestry of all living humans.]]></title>
		<author>Nature</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v431/n7008/abs/nature02842.html"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1035</id>
		<updated>2012-02-09T08:10:29Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[If a common ancestor of all living humans is defined as an individual who is a genealogical ancestor of all present-day people, the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) for a randomly mating population would have lived in the very recent past. However, the random mating model ignores essential aspects of population substructure, such as the tendency of individuals to choose mates from the same social group, and the relative isolation of geographically separated groups. Here we show that recent common ancestors also emerge from two models incorporating substantial population substructure. One model, designed for simplicity and theoretical insight, yields explicit mathematical results through a probabilistic analysis. A more elaborate second model, designed to capture historical population dynamics in a more realistic way, is analysed computationally through Monte Carlo simulations. These analyses suggest that the genealogies of all living humans overlap in remarkable ways in the recent past. In particular, the MRCA of all present-day humans lived just a few thousand years ago in these models. Moreover, among all individuals living more than just a few thousand years earlier than the MRCA, each present-day human has exactly the same set of genealogical ancestors.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Nature</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Nature</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Neural correlates of effective learning in experienced medical decision-makers.]]></title>
		<author>PLoS ONE</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0027768"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1034</id>
		<updated>2011-12-10T00:12:31Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Accurate associative learning is often hindered by confirmation bias and success-chasing, which together can conspire to produce or solidify false beliefs in the decision-maker. We performed functional magnetic resonance imaging in 35 experienced physicians, while they learned to choose between two treatments in a series of virtual patient encounters. We estimated a learning model for each subject based on their observed behavior and this model divided clearly into high performers and low performers. The high performers showed small, but equal learning rates for both successes (positive outcomes) and failures (no response to the drug). In contrast, low performers showed very large and asymmetric learning rates, learning significantly more from successes than failures; a tendency that led to sub-optimal treatment choices. Consistently with these behavioral findings, high performers showed larger, more sustained BOLD responses to failed vs. successful outcomes in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and inferior parietal lobule while low performers displayed the opposite response profile. Furthermore, participants' learning asymmetry correlated with anticipatory activation in the nucleus accumbens at trial onset, well before outcome presentation. Subjects with anticipatory activation in the nucleus accumbens showed more success-chasing during learning. These results suggest that high performers' brains achieve better outcomes by attending to informative failures during training, rather than chasing the reward value of successes. The differential brain activations between high and low performers could potentially be developed into biomarkers to identify efficient learners on novel decision tasks, in medical or other contexts.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>PLoS ONE</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=PLoS+ONE</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Bee threat elicits alarm call in African elephants.]]></title>
		<author>PLoS ONE</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0010346"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1033</id>
		<updated>2011-09-30T12:09:54Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Unlike the smaller and more vulnerable mammals, African elephants have relatively few predators that threaten their survival. The sound of disturbed African honeybees Apis meliffera scutellata causes African elephants Loxodonta africana to retreat and produce warning vocalizations that lead other elephants to join the flight. In our first experiment, audio playbacks of bee sounds induced elephants to retreat and elicited more head-shaking and dusting, reactive behaviors that may prevent bee stings, compared to white noise control playbacks. Most importantly, elephants produced distinctive &quot;rumble&quot; vocalizations in response to bee sounds. These rumbles exhibited an upward shift in the second formant location, which implies active vocal tract modulation, compared to rumbles made in response to white noise playbacks. In a second experiment, audio playbacks of these rumbles produced in response to bees elicited increased headshaking, and further and faster retreat behavior in other elephants, compared to control rumble playbacks with lower second formant frequencies. These responses to the bee rumble stimuli occurred in the absence of any bees or bee sounds. This suggests that these elephant rumbles may function as referential signals, in which a formant frequency shift alerts nearby elephants about an external threat, in this case, the threat of bees.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>PLoS ONE</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=PLoS+ONE</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[The dynamics of social networks among female Asian elephants.]]></title>
		<author>BMC Ecol.</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6785/11/17/abstract"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1032</id>
		<updated>2011-09-01T00:29:02Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>BMC Ecol.</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=BMC+Ecol.</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Estimating the number of unseen variants in the human genome.]]></title>
		<author>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.pnas.org/content/106/13/5008.full"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1031</id>
		<updated>2011-08-24T12:28:19Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[The different genetic variation discovery projects (The SNP Consortium, the International HapMap Project, the 1000 Genomes Project, etc.) aim to identify as much as possible of the underlying genetic variation in various human populations. The question we address in this article is how many new variants are yet to be found. This is an instance of the species problem in ecology, where the goal is to estimate the number of species in a closed population. We use a parametric beta-binomial model that allows us to calculate the expected number of new variants with a desired minimum frequency to be discovered in a new dataset of individuals of a specified size. The method can also be used to predict the number of individuals necessary to sequence in order to capture all (or a fraction of) the variation with a specified minimum frequency. We apply the method to three datasets: the ENCODE dataset, the SeattleSNPs dataset, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences SNPs dataset. Consistent with previous descriptions, our results show that the African population is the most diverse in terms of the number of variants expected to exist, the Asian populations the least diverse, with the European population in-between. In addition, our results show a clear distinction between the Chinese and the Japanese populations, with the Japanese population being the less diverse. To find all common variants (frequency at least 1%) the number of individuals that need to be sequenced is small ( approximately 350) and does not differ much among the different populations; our data show that, subject to sequence accuracy, the 1000 Genomes Project is likely to find most of these common variants and a high proportion of the rarer ones (frequency between 0.1 and 1%). The data reveal a rule of diminishing returns: a small number of individuals ( approximately 150) is sufficient to identify 80% of variants with a frequency of at least 0.1%, while a much larger number (&amp;gt; 3,000 individuals) is necessary to find all of those variants. Finally, our results also show a much higher diversity in environmental response genes compared with the average genome, especially in African populations.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Proc.+Natl.+Acad.+Sci.+U.S.A.</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Motivating voter turnout by invoking the self.]]></title>
		<author>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/07/13/1103343108"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1030</id>
		<updated>2011-07-22T08:27:24Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Three randomized experiments found that subtle linguistic cues have the power to increase voting and related behavior. The phrasing of survey items was varied to frame voting either as the enactment of a personal identity (e.g., &quot;being a voter&quot;) or as simply a behavior (e.g., &quot;voting&quot;). As predicted, the personal-identity phrasing significantly increased interest in registering to vote (experiment 1) and, in two statewide elections in the United States, voter turnout as assessed by official state records (experiments 2 and 3). These results provide evidence that people are continually managing their self-concepts, seeking to assume or affirm valued personal identities. The results further demonstrate how this process can be channeled to motivate important socially relevant behavior.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Proceedings+of+the+National+Academy+of+Sciences+of+the+United+States+of+America</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Grooming analysis algorithm for neurobehavioural stress research.]]></title>
		<author>Brain Res. Brain Res. Protoc.</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresprot.2004.04.002"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1029</id>
		<updated>2011-07-13T12:29:45Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Since rodent self-grooming behaviours are elicited by both comfort and stressful conditions, traditional measures such as duration, latency of onset and the number of bouts may be not suitable to dissociate between these opposite conditions. The aim of the current study was to improve and optimize ethological measurement of self-grooming in neurobehavioural stress research enabling differentiation between stress and no-stress situations. This protocol assists in the correct interpretation of animal grooming behaviours and detection of stress by measuring alterations in grooming microstructure in different test situations. While a general pattern of self-grooming uninterrupted cephalocaudal progression is normally observed in no-stress (comfort) conditions in mice and other rodents, the percentage of &quot;incorrect&quot; transitions between different stages and the percentage of interrupted grooming bouts may be used as behavioural marker of stress. The protocol can be a useful tool in neurobehavioural stress research including modelling stress-evoked states, pharmacological screening of potential antistress drugs or behavioural phenotyping of genetically modified animals.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Brain Res. Brain Res. Protoc.</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Brain+Res.+Brain+Res.+Protoc.</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Songbirds possess the spontaneous ability to discriminate syntactic rules.]]></title>
		<author>Nature neuroscience</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.2869.html"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1028</id>
		<updated>2011-07-13T12:29:38Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Whether the computational systems in language perception involve specific abilities in humans is debated. The vocalizations of songbirds share many features with human speech, but whether songbirds possess a similar computational ability to process auditory information as humans is unknown. We analyzed their spontaneous discrimination of auditory stimuli and found that the Bengalese finch (Lonchura striata var. domestica) can use the syntactical information processing of syllables to discriminate songs). These finches were also able to acquire artificial grammatical rules from synthesized syllable strings and to discriminate novel auditory information according to them. We found that a specific brain region was involved in such discrimination and that this ability was acquired postnatally through the encounter with various conspecific songs. Our results indicate that passerine songbirds spontaneously acquire the ability to process hierarchical structures, an ability that was previously supposed to be specific to humans.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Nature neuroscience</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Nature+neuroscience</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Evolved structure of language shows lineage-specific trends in word-order universals.]]></title>
		<author>Nature</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature09923.html"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1027</id>
		<updated>2011-04-15T08:07:08Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Languages vary widely but not without limit. The central goal of linguistics is to describe the diversity of human languages and explain the constraints on that diversity. Generative linguists following Chomsky have claimed that linguistic diversity must be constrained by innate parameters that are set as a child learns a language. In contrast, other linguists following Greenberg have claimed that there are statistical tendencies for co-occurrence of traits reflecting universal systems biases, rather than absolute constraints or parametric variation. Here we use computational phylogenetic methods to address the nature of constraints on linguistic diversity in an evolutionary framework. First, contrary to the generative account of parameter setting, we show that the evolution of only a few word-order features of languages are strongly correlated. Second, contrary to the Greenbergian generalizations, we show that most observed functional dependencies between traits are lineage-specific rather than universal tendencies. These findings support the view that-at least with respect to word order-cultural evolution is the primary factor that determines linguistic structure, with the current state of a linguistic system shaping and constraining future states.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Nature</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Nature</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='2' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Stuttering studies support treatment.]]></title>
		<author>Nature</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v470/n7335/full/470465b.html"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1026</id>
		<updated>2011-03-09T12:22:18Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Nature</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Nature</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[The double-edged sword of pedagogy: Instruction limits spontaneous exploration and discovery.]]></title>
		<author>Cognition</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2010.10.001"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1025</id>
		<updated>2011-01-19T08:06:25Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Motivated by computational analyses, we look at how teaching affects exploration and discovery. In Experiment 1, we investigated children's exploratory play after an adult pedagogically demonstrated a function of a toy, after an interrupted pedagogical demonstration, after a na??ve adult demonstrated the function, and at baseline. Preschoolers in the pedagogical condition focused almost exclusively on the target function; by contrast, children in the other conditions explored broadly. In Experiment 2, we show that children restrict their exploration both after direct instruction to themselves and after overhearing direct instruction given to another child; they do not show this constraint after observing direct instruction given to an adult or after observing a non-pedagogical intentional action. We discuss these findings as the result of rational inductive biases. In pedagogical contexts, a teacher's failure to provide evidence for additional functions provides evidence for their absence; such contexts generalize from child to child (because children are likely to have comparable states of knowledge) but not from adult to child. Thus, pedagogy promotes efficient learning but at a cost: children are less likely to perform potentially irrelevant actions but also less likely to discover novel information.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Cognition</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Cognition</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Rapid cortical plasticity underlying novel word learning.]]></title>
		<author>J. Neurosci.</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/abstract/30/50/16864"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1024</id>
		<updated>2010-12-17T04:07:25Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Humans are unique in developing large lexicons as their communication tool. To achieve this, they are able to learn new words rapidly. However, neural bases of this rapid learning, which may be an expression of a more general cognitive mechanism, are not yet understood. To address this, we exposed our subjects to familiar words and novel spoken stimuli in a short passive perceptual learning session and compared automatic brain responses to these items throughout the learning exposure. Initially, we found enhanced activity for known words, indexing the ignition of their underlying memory traces. However, just after 14 min of learning exposure, the novel items exhibited a significant increase in response magnitude matching in size with that to real words. This activation increase, as we would like to propose, reflects rapid mapping of new word forms onto neural representations. Similar to familiar words, the neural activity subserving rapid learning of new word forms was generated in the left-perisylvian language cortex, especially anterior superior-temporal areas. This first report of a neural correlate of rapid learning suggests that our brain may effectively form new neuronal circuits online as it gets exposed to novel patterns in the sensory input. Understanding such fast learning is key to the neurobiological explanation of the human language faculty and learning mechanisms in general.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>J. Neurosci.</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=J.+Neurosci.</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Parieto-frontal gamma band activity during the perceptual emergence of speech forms.]]></title>
		<author>Neuroimage</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.03.063"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1023</id>
		<updated>2010-12-08T08:08:00Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[The multistable perception of speech refers to the perceptual changes experienced while listening to a speech form cycled in rapid and continuous repetition, the so-called Verbal Transformation Effect. Because distinct interpretations of the same repeated stimulus alternate spontaneously, this effect provides an invaluable tool to examine how speech percepts are formed in the listener's mind. In order to track the temporal dynamics of brain activity specifically linked to perceptual changes, intracerebral EEG activity was recorded from two implanted epileptic patients while performing a verbal transformation task. To this aim, they were asked to carefully listen to a speech sequence played repeatedly and to press a button whenever they perceived a change in the repeated utterance. For both patients, 300-800 ms prior to the reported perceptual transitions, high frequency activity in the gamma band range (&amp;gt;40 Hz) was observed within the left inferior frontal and supramarginal gyri. An additional auditory decision task was used to rule out the possibility that the increased gamma band activity was due to the patients' motor responses. These results suggest that articulatory-based representations play a key part in the endogenously driven emergence of auditory speech percepts. The findings are interpreted in relation to theories assuming a link between perception and action in the human speech processing system.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Neuroimage</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Neuroimage</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Impact of singular excessive computer game and television exposure on sleep patterns and memory performance of school-aged children.]]></title>
		<author>Pediatrics</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/120/5/978"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1022</id>
		<updated>2010-11-23T20:06:12Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[OBJECTIVE: Television and computer game consumption are a powerful influence in the lives of most children. Previous evidence has supported the notion that media exposure could impair a variety of behavioral characteristics. Excessive television viewing and computer game playing have been associated with many psychiatric symptoms, especially emotional and behavioral symptoms, somatic complaints, attention problems such as hyperactivity, and family interaction problems. Nevertheless, there is insufficient knowledge about the relationship between singular excessive media consumption on sleep patterns and linked implications on children. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of singular excessive television and computer game consumption on sleep patterns and memory performance of children. METHODS: Eleven school-aged children were recruited for this polysomnographic study. Children were exposed to voluntary excessive television and computer game consumption. In the subsequent night, polysomnographic measurements were conducted to measure sleep-architecture and sleep-continuity parameters. In addition, a visual and verbal memory test was conducted before media stimulation and after the subsequent sleeping period to determine visuospatial and verbal memory performance. RESULTS: Only computer game playing resulted in significant reduced amounts of slow-wave sleep as well as significant declines in verbal memory performance. Prolonged sleep-onset latency and more stage 2 sleep were also detected after previous computer game consumption. No effects on rapid eye movement sleep were observed. Television viewing reduced sleep efficiency significantly but did not affect sleep patterns. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that television and computer game exposure affect children's sleep and deteriorate verbal cognitive performance, which supports the hypothesis of the negative influence of media consumption on children's sleep, learning, and memory.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Pediatrics</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Pediatrics</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Childhood poverty: specific associations with neurocognitive development.]]></title>
		<author>Brain Res.</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2006.06.072"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1021</id>
		<updated>2010-10-16T12:06:11Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Growing up in poverty is associated with reduced cognitive achievement as measured by standardized intelligence tests, but little is known about the underlying neurocognitive systems responsible for this effect. We administered a battery of tasks designed to tax-specific neurocognitive systems to healthy low and middle SES children screened for medical history and matched for age, gender and ethnicity. Higher SES was associated with better performance on the tasks, as expected, but the SES disparity was significantly nonuniform across neurocognitive systems. Pronounced differences were found in Left perisylvian/Language and Medial temporal/Memory systems, along with significant differences in Lateral/Prefrontal/Working memory and Anterior cingulate/Cognitive control and smaller, nonsignificant differences in Occipitotemporal/Pattern vision and Parietal/Spatial cognition.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Brain Res.</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Brain+Res.</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Ghostwriting at elite academic medical centers in the United States.]]></title>
		<author>PLoS Med.</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000230"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1020</id>
		<updated>2010-08-25T12:06:57Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>PLoS Med.</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=PLoS+Med.</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Asymmetrical involvement of frontal lobes in social reasoning.]]></title>
		<author>Brain</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/127/4/783"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1019</id>
		<updated>2010-07-15T12:05:32Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[The frontal lobes are widely implicated in logical reasoning. Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that frontal lobe involvement in reasoning is asymmetric (L&amp;gt;R) and increases with the presence of familiar, meaningful content in the reasoning situation. However, neuroimaging data can only provide sufficiency criteria. To determine the necessity of prefrontal involvement in logical reasoning, we tested 19 patients with focal frontal lobe lesions and 19 age- and education-matched normal controls on the Wason Card Selection Task, while manipulating social knowledge. Patients and controls performed equivalently on the arbitrary rule condition. Normal controls showed the expected improvement in the social knowledge conditions, but frontal lobe patients failed to show this facilitation in performance. Furthermore, left hemisphere patients were more affected than right hemisphere patients, suggesting that frontal lobe involvement in reasoning is asymmetric (L&amp;gt;R) and necessary for reasoning about social situations.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Brain</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Brain</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Genetic Signatures of Exceptional Longevity in Humans.]]></title>
		<author>Science (New York, N.Y.)</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/science.1190532?ijkey=su1cvScg1VYF6&amp;keytype=ref&amp;siteid=sci"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1018</id>
		<updated>2010-07-04T05:57:21Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Healthy aging is thought to reflect the combined influence of environmental factors (lifestyle choices) and genetic factors. To explore the genetic contribution, we undertook a genome-wide association study of exceptional longevity (EL) in 1055 centenarians and 1267 controls. Using these data, we built a genetic model that includes 150 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and found that it could predict EL with 77% accuracy in an independent set of centenarians and controls. Further in silico analysis revealed that 90% of centenarians can be grouped into 19 clusters characterized by different combinations of SNP genotypes-or genetic signatures-of varying predictive value. The different signatures, which attest to the genetic complexity of EL, correlated with differences in the prevalence and age of onset of age-associated diseases (e.g., dementia, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease) and may help dissect this complex phenotype into subphenotypes of healthy aging.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Science (New York, N.Y.)</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Science+%28New+York%2C+N.Y.%29</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Individual differences in degree of handedness and somesthetic asymmetry predict individual differences in left-right confusion.]]></title>
		<author>Behav. Brain Res.</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2009.06.004"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1017</id>
		<updated>2010-06-29T13:23:55Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Confusion or frustration connected with daily demands involving left-right discrimination is a common observation even in neurologically intact adults. We aimed to test the hypothesis that the degree of left-right confusion is associated with bodily asymmetry. Sixty-two female volunteers performed a left-right decision task that required fast responses to visually presented directional words (left, right, up, down) or pictograms (&amp;lt;--, --&amp;gt;, upward arrow, downward arrow). Participants also performed several tests that measured asymmetry of handedness, grip strength, and tactile sensitivity, and completed self-reports on left-right confusion and perceived bodily asymmetry. Results showed significant correlations between left-right confusion and the degree of handedness and asymmetry in tactile sensitivity. These results suggest that individuals who reveal a stronger internal bias between both sides of the body show less left-right confusion than people with less salient bodily asymmetry.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Behav. Brain Res.</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Behav.+Brain+Res.</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[CP violation in B_s mixing from heavy Higgs exchange]]></title>
		<author>arXiv</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.arxiv.org/abs/1005.4238"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1016</id>
		<updated>2010-06-23T16:49:35Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[ The anomalous dimuon charge asymmetry reported by the D0 Collaboration may bedue to the tree-level exchange of some spin-0 particles that mediate CPviolation in B_s-\bar{B}_s meson mixing. We show that for a range of couplingsand masses, the heavy neutral states in a two Higgs doublet model can generatea large charge asymmetry. This range is natural in &quot;uplifted supersymmetry&quot;,and may enhance the B^- -&amp;gt; tau nu and B_s -&amp;gt; mu^+ mu^- decay rates. However, wepoint out that on general grounds the reported central value of the chargeasymmetry requires new physics not only in B_s-\bar{B}_s mixing but also in\Delta B = 1 transitions or in B_d-\bar{B}_d mixing.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. v2: Equations (17)-(19) included to clarify the flavor structure of uplifted supersymmetry]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>arXiv</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=arXiv</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[A double-blind, placebo-controlled study investigating the effects of omega-3 supplementation in children aged 8-10 years from a mainstream school population.]]></title>
		<author>Res Dev Disabil</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2010.01.014"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1015</id>
		<updated>2010-06-07T12:05:46Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Despite the increased interest in the effects of omega-3 supplementation on children's learning and behaviour, there are a lack of controlled studies of this kind that have utilised a typically developing population. This study investigated the effects of omega-3 supplementation in 450 children aged 8-10 years old from a mainstream school population, using a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled design. Participants were supplemented with either active supplements (containing docosahexaenoic acid, DHA and eicosapentaenoic acid, EPA) or a placebo for 16 weeks. Cheek cell fatty acid levels were recorded pre- and post-supplementation and a range of cognitive tests and parent and teacher questionnaires were used as outcome measures. After supplementation, changes in the relationship between omega-6 and omega-3 were significant in the active group. Despite the wide range of cognitive and behavioural outcome measures employed, only three significant differences between groups were found after 16 weeks, one of which was in favour of the placebo condition. Exploring the associations between changes in fatty acid levels and changes in test and questionnaire scores also produced equivocal results. These findings are discussed in relation to previous findings with clinical populations and future implications for research.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Res Dev Disabil</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Res+Dev+Disabil</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Evidence that a West-East admixed population lived in the Tarim Basin as early as the early Bronze Age.]]></title>
		<author>BMC Biol.</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/8/15"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1014</id>
		<updated>2010-05-24T00:05:16Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[BACKGROUND: The Tarim Basin, located on the ancient Silk Road, played a very important role in the history of human migration and cultural communications between the West and the East. However, both the exact period at which the relevant events occurred and the origins of the people in the area remain very obscure. In this paper, we present data from the analyses of both Y chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) derived from human remains excavated from the Xiaohe cemetery, the oldest archeological site with human remains discovered in the Tarim Basin thus far. RESULTS: Mitochondrial DNA analysis showed that the Xiaohe people carried both the East Eurasian haplogroup (C) and the West Eurasian haplogroups (H and K), whereas Y chromosomal DNA analysis revealed only the West Eurasian haplogroup R1a1a in the male individuals. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrated that the Xiaohe people were an admixture from populations originating from both the West and the East, implying that the Tarim Basin had been occupied by an admixed population since the early Bronze Age. To our knowledge, this is the earliest genetic evidence of an admixed population settled in the Tarim Basin.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>BMC Biol.</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=BMC+Biol.</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Reinforcement learning or active inference?]]></title>
		<author>PLoS ONE</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0006421"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1013</id>
		<updated>2010-04-23T12:05:04Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[This paper questions the need for reinforcement learning or control theory when optimising behaviour. We show that it is fairly simple to teach an agent complicated and adaptive behaviours using a free-energy formulation of perception. In this formulation, agents adjust their internal states and sampling of the environment to minimize their free-energy. Such agents learn causal structure in the environment and sample it in an adaptive and self-supervised fashion. This results in behavioural policies that reproduce those optimised by reinforcement learning and dynamic programming. Critically, we do not need to invoke the notion of reward, value or utility. We illustrate these points by solving a benchmark problem in dynamic programming; namely the mountain-car problem, using active perception or inference under the free-energy principle. The ensuing proof-of-concept may be important because the free-energy formulation furnishes a unified account of both action and perception and may speak to a reappraisal of the role of dopamine in the brain.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>PLoS ONE</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=PLoS+ONE</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Prenatal exposure to testosterone and functional cerebral lateralization: a study in same-sex and opposite-sex twin girls.]]></title>
		<author>Psychoneuroendocrinology</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2003.07.001"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1012</id>
		<updated>2010-04-04T08:02:46Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[In animals it has been shown that exposure to sex hormones is influenced by intrauterine position. Thus fetuses located between two male fetuses are exposed to higher levels of testosterone (T) than fetuses situated between two female fetuses or one female and one male fetus. In a group of opposite-sex (OS) twin girls and same-sex (SS) twin girls a potential effect of prenatal exposure to testosterone (T) on functional cerebral lateralization was investigated. We hypothesized that prenatal exposure to T would result in a more masculine, i.e. a more lateralized pattern of cerebral lateralization in OS twin girls than in SS twin girls. An auditory-verbal dichotic listening task (DLT) was used as an indirect method to study hemispheric specialization. Firstly, we established a sex difference on the DLT. Compared with SS girls, OS twin boys showed a more lateralized pattern of processing verbal stimuli. Secondly, as predicted OS girls had a more masculine pattern of cerebral lateralization, than SS girls. These findings support the notion of an influence of prenatal T on early brain organization in girls.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Psychoneuroendocrinology</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Psychoneuroendocrinology</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Gender differences in lateralization of mismatch negativity in dichotic listening tasks.]]></title>
		<author>Int J Psychophysiol</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.01.006"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1010</id>
		<updated>2010-04-04T08:02:45Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[OBJECTIVE: With the aim of investigating gender differences in the functional lateralization subserving preattentive processing of language stimuli, we compared auditory mismatch negativities (MMNs) using dichotic listening tasks. METHODS: Forty-four healthy volunteers, including 23 males and 21 females, participated in the study. MMNs generated by pure-tone and phonetic stimuli were compared, to check for the existence of language-specific gender differences in lateralization. Both EEG amplitude and scalp current density (SCD) data were analyzed. RESULTS: With phonetic MMNs, EEG findings revealed significantly larger amplitude in females than males, especially in the right hemisphere, while SCD findings revealed left hemisphere dominance and contralateral dominance in males alone. With pure-tone MMNs, no significant gender differences in hemispheric lateralization appeared in either EEG or SCD findings. CONCLUSION: While males exhibited left-lateralized activation with phonetic MMNs, females exhibited more bilateral activity. Further, the contralateral dominance of the SCD distribution associated with the ear receiving deviant stimuli in males indicated that ipsilateral input as well as interhemispheric transfer across the corpus callosum to the ipsilateral side was more suppressed in males than in females. SIGNIFICANCE: The findings of the present study suggest that functional lateralization subserving preattentive detection of phonetic change differs between the genders. These results underscore the significance of considering the gender differences in the study of MMN, especially when phonetic stimulus is adopted. Moreover, they support the view of Voyer and Flight [Voyer, D., Flight, J., 2001. Gender differences in laterality on a dichotic task: the influence of report strategies. Cortex 37, 345-362.] in that the gender difference in hemispheric lateralization of language function is observed in a well-managed-attention condition, which fits the condition adopted in the MMN measurement; subjects are required to focus attention to a distraction task and thereby ignore the phonetic stimuli that elicit MMN.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Int J Psychophysiol</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Int+J+Psychophysiol</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Early experience of sex hormones as a predictor of reading, phonology, and auditory perception.]]></title>
		<author>Brain Lang</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2005.08.006"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1011</id>
		<updated>2010-04-04T08:02:45Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Previous research has indicated possible reciprocal connections between phonology and reading, and also connections between aspects of auditory perception and reading. The present study investigates these associations further by examining the potential influence of prenatal androgens using measures of digit ratio (the ratio of the lengths of the index and ring fingers). Those with low digit ratios (shorter index finger and therefore in the masculine direction) are hypothesised to have experienced greater &quot;masculinisation&quot; in the uterus. ANCOVA analyses using a verbal reasoning task as a covariate showed that only phonology was influenced by digit ratio in the right hand indicating that hypothesised androgen effects were inhibiting phonology; however this effect in the left hand was reduced and instead there was an effect indicating an inhibition of androgens on reading. Furthermore, subjects with low right-hand digit ratios were also impaired compared to those with high right-hand digit ratios in an auditory saltation task. These findings are discussed in terms of the possible effects of androgens on early brain development impairing aspects of the temporal processing of sounds by the left hemisphere, which could also have a secondary influence on developing phonology and literacy skills.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Brain Lang</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Brain+Lang</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Sexual dimorphism in the adolescent brain: Role of testosterone and androgen receptor in global and local volumes of grey and white matter.]]></title>
		<author>Horm Behav</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2009.08.004"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1009</id>
		<updated>2010-04-04T08:02:42Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Here we examined sex differences in the volumes of grey and white matter, and in grey-matter &quot;density,&quot; in a group of typically developing adolescents participating in the Saguenay Youth Study (n=419; 12-18 years). In male adolescents, we also investigated the role of a functional polymorphism in androgen-receptor gene (AR) in moderating the effect of testosterone on volumes of grey and white matter and grey-matter density. Overall, both absolute and relative volumes of white matter were larger in male vs. females adolescents. The relative grey-matter volumes were slightly larger in female than male adolescents and so was the grey-matter density in a large number of cortical regions. In male adolescents, functional polymorphism of AR moderated the effect of testosterone on relative white- and grey-matter volumes. Following a discussion of several methodological and interpretational issues, we outline future directions in investigating brain-behavior relationships vis-??-vis psychopathology.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Horm Behav</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Horm+Behav</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Estrogen masculinizes neural pathways and sex-specific behaviors.]]></title>
		<author>Cell</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2009.07.036"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1008</id>
		<updated>2010-04-04T08:02:41Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Sex hormones are essential for neural circuit development and sex-specific behaviors. Male behaviors require both testosterone and estrogen, but it is unclear how the two hormonal pathways intersect. Circulating testosterone activates the androgen receptor (AR) and is also converted into estrogen in the brain via aromatase. We demonstrate extensive sexual dimorphism in the number and projections of aromatase-expressing neurons. The masculinization of these cells is independent of AR but can be induced in females by either testosterone or estrogen, indicating a role for aromatase in sexual differentiation of these neurons. We provide evidence suggesting that aromatase is also important in activating male-specific aggression and urine marking because these behaviors can be elicited by testosterone in males mutant for AR and in females subjected to neonatal estrogen exposure. Our results suggest that aromatization of testosterone into estrogen is important for the development and activation of neural circuits that control male territorial behaviors.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Cell</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Cell</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Sex differences in brain control of prosody.]]></title>
		<author>Neuropsychologia</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.08.021"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1007</id>
		<updated>2010-04-04T08:02:38Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Affective (emotional) prosody is a neuropsychological function that encompasses non-verbal aspects of language that are necessary for recognizing and conveying emotions in communication, whereas non-affective (linguistic) prosody indicates whether the sentence is a question, an order or a statement. Considerable evidence points to a dominant role for the right hemisphere in both aspects of prosodic function. However, it has yet to be established whether separate parts of the right hemisphere are involved in processing different kinds of emotional intonation. The aim of this study was to answer this question. In addition, the issue of sex differences in the ability to understand prosody was considered. Fifty-two patients with damage to frontal, temporo-parietal or subcortical (basal) parts of the right hemisphere and 26 controls were tested for their ability to assess prosody information in normal (well-formed) sentences and in pseudo-sentences. General impairment of prosody processing was seen in all patient groups but the effect of damage was more apparent for emotional rather than linguistic prosody. Interestingly, appreciation of emotional prosody appeared to depend on the type of emotional expression and the location of the brain lesion. The patients with frontal damage were mostly impaired in comprehension of happy intonations; those with temporo-parietal damage in assessment of sad intonations, while subcortical lesions mostly affected comprehension of angry intonations. Differential effects of lesion location on the performance of men and women were also observed. Frontal lesions were more detrimental to women, whereas subcortical lesions led to stronger impairment in men. This suggests sex differences in brain organization of prosodic functions.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Neuropsychologia</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Neuropsychologia</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[To signal or not to signal? Chemical communication by urine-borne signals mirrors sexual conflict in crayfish.]]></title>
		<author>BMC biology</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/8/25/abstract"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1006</id>
		<updated>2010-04-01T12:02:46Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Sexual selection theory predicts that females, being the limiting sex, invest less in courtship signals than males. However, when chemical signals are involved it is often the female that initiates mating by producing stimuli that inform about sex and/or receptivity. This apparent contradiction has been discussed in the literature as 'the female pheromone fallacy'. Because the release of chemical stimuli may not have evolved to elicit the male's courtship response, whether these female stimuli represent signals remains an open question. Using techniques to visualise and block release of urine, we studied the role of urine signals during fighting and mating interactions of crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus). Test individuals were blindfolded to exclude visual disturbance from dye release and artificial urine introduction. RESULTS: Staged female-male pairings during the reproductive season often resulted in male mating attempts. Blocking female urine release in such pairings prevented any male courtship behaviour. Artificial introduction of female urine re-established male mating attempts. Urine visualisation showed that female urine release coincides with aggressive behaviours but not with female submissive behaviour in reproductive interactions as well as in intersexual and intrasexual fights. In reproductive interactions, females predominately released urine during precopulatory aggression; males subsequently released significantly less urine during mating than in fights. CONCLUSIONS: Urine-blocking experiments demonstrate that female urine contains sex-specific components that elicit male mating behaviour. The coincidence of chemical signalling and aggressive behaviour in both females and males suggests that urine release has evolved as an aggressive signal in both sexes of crayfish. By limiting urine release to aggressive behaviours in reproductive interactions females challenge their potential mating partners at the same time as they trigger a sexual response. These double messages should favour stronger males that are able to overcome the resistance of the female. We conclude that the difference between the sexes in disclosing urine-borne information reflects their conflicting interests in reproduction. Males discontinue aggressive urine signalling in order to increase their chances of mating. Females resume urine signalling in connection with aggressive behaviour, potentially repelling low quality or sexually inactive males while favouring reproduction with high quality males.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>BMC biology</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=BMC+biology</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Sex differences in the brain: the relation between structure and function.]]></title>
		<author>Horm Behav</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2009.03.012"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1005</id>
		<updated>2010-03-29T16:02:47Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[In the fifty years since the organizational hypothesis was proposed, many sex differences have been found in behavior as well as structure of the brain that depend on the organizational effects of gonadal hormones early in development. Remarkably, in most cases we do not understand how the two are related. This paper makes the case that overstating the magnitude or constancy of sex differences in behavior and too narrowly interpreting the functional consequences of structural differences are significant roadblocks in resolving this issue.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Horm Behav</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Horm+Behav</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[A genome-wide survey does not show the genetic distinctiveness of Basques.]]></title>
		<author>Human genetics</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.springerlink.com/content/k24743n504551128/"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1004</id>
		<updated>2010-02-21T08:02:31Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Basques are a cultural isolate, and, according to mainly allele frequencies of classical polymorphisms, also a genetic isolate. We investigated the differentiation of Spanish Basques from the rest of Iberian populations by means of a dense, genome-wide SNP array. We found that F (ST) distances between Spanish Basques and other populations were similar to those between pairs of non-Basque populations. The same result is found in a PCA of individuals, showing a general distinction between Iberians and other South Europeans independently of being Basques. Pathogen-mediated natural selection may be responsible for the high differentiation previously reported for Basques at very specific genes such as ABO, RH, and HLA. Thus, Basques cannot be considered a genetic outlier under a general genome scope and interpretations on their origin may have to be revised.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Human genetics</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Human+genetics</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[A new view of language acquisition.]]></title>
		<author>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.pnas.org/content/97/22/11850.full"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1003</id>
		<updated>2010-01-30T12:02:45Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[At the forefront of debates on language are new data demonstrating infants' early acquisition of information about their native language. The data show that infants perceptually &quot;map&quot; critical aspects of ambient language in the first year of life before they can speak. Statistical properties of speech are picked up through exposure to ambient language. Moreover, linguistic experience alters infants' perception of speech, warping perception in the service of language. Infants' strategies are unexpected and unpredicted by historical views. A new theoretical position has emerged, and six postulates of this position are described.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Proc.+Natl.+Acad.+Sci.+U.S.A.</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[The effects of very early Alzheimer's disease on the characteristics of writing by a renowned author.]]></title>
		<author>Brain</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/128/2/250"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1002</id>
		<updated>2009-12-15T12:02:17Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Iris Murdoch (I.M.) was among the most celebrated British writers of the post-war era. Her final novel, however, received a less than enthusiastic critical response on its publication in 1995. Not long afterwards, I.M. began to show signs of insidious cognitive decline, and received a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, which was confirmed histologically after her death in 1999. Anecdotal evidence, as well as the natural history of the condition, would suggest that the changes of Alzheimer's disease were already established in I.M. while she was writing her final work. The end product was unlikely, however, to have been influenced by the compensatory use of dictionaries or thesauri, let alone by later editorial interference. These facts present a unique opportunity to examine the effects of the early stages of Alzheimer's disease on spontaneous written output from an individual with exceptional expertise in this area. Techniques of automated textual analysis were used to obtain detailed comparisons among three of her novels: her first published work, a work written during the prime of her creative life and the final novel. Whilst there were few disparities at the levels of overall structure and syntax, measures of lexical diversity and the lexical characteristics of these three texts varied markedly and in a consistent fashion. This unique set of findings is discussed in the context of the debate as to whether syntax and semantics decline separately or in parallel in patients with Alzheimer's disease.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Brain</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Brain</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Bias in genetic association studies and impact factor.]]></title>
		<author>Mol. Psychiatry</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/v14/n2/abs/mp200877a.html"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1001</id>
		<updated>2009-12-11T00:02:19Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Mol. Psychiatry</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Mol.+Psychiatry</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Distance Measures for Dynamic Citation Networks]]></title>
		<author>arXiv</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.arxiv.org/abs/0909.1819"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=1000</id>
		<updated>2009-12-04T16:02:27Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[ Acyclic digraphs arise in many natural and artificial processes. Among thebroader set, dynamic citation networks represent a substantively important formof acyclic digraphs. For example, the study of such networks includes thespread of ideas through academic citations, the spread of innovation throughpatent citations, and the development of precedent in common law systems. Thespecific dynamics that produce such acyclic digraphs not only differentiatethem from other classes of graphs, but also provide guidance for thedevelopment of meaningful distance measures. In this article, we develop andapply our sink distance measure together with the single-linkage hierarchicalclustering algorithm to both a two-dimensional directed preferential attachmentmodel as well as empirical data drawn from the first quarter century ofdecisions of the United States Supreme Court. Despite applying the simplestcombination of distance measures and clustering algorithms, analysis revealsthat more accurate and more interpretable clusterings are produced by thisscheme.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Revision: Added application to the network of the first quarter-century of Supreme Court citations. Revision 2: Significantly expanded, includes application on random model as well]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>arXiv</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=arXiv</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Simple rules can explain discrimination of putative recursive syntactic structures by a songbird species.]]></title>
		<author>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/11/13/0908113106.abstract"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=999</id>
		<updated>2009-11-24T12:02:30Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[According to a controversial hypothesis, a characteristic unique to human language is recursion. Contradicting this hypothesis, it has been claimed that the starling, one of the two animal species tested for this ability to date, is able to distinguish acoustic stimuli based on the presence or absence of a center-embedded recursive structure. In our experiment we show that another songbird species, the zebra finch, can also discriminate between artificial song stimuli with these structures. Zebra finches are able to generalize this discrimination to new songs constructed using novel elements belonging to the same categories, similar to starlings. However, to demonstrate that this is based on the ability to detect the putative recursive structure, it is critical to test whether the birds can also distinguish songs with the same structure consisting of elements belonging to unfamiliar categories. We performed this test and show that seven out of eight zebra finches failed it. This suggests that the acquired discrimination was based on phonetic rather than syntactic generalization. The eighth bird, however, must have used more abstract, structural cues. Nevertheless, further probe testing showed that the results of this bird, as well as those of others, could be explained by simpler rules than recursive ones. Although our study casts doubts on whether the rules used by starlings and zebra finches really provide evidence for the ability to detect recursion as present in &quot;context-free&quot; syntax, it also provides evidence for abstract learning of vocal structure in a songbird.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Proc.+Natl.+Acad.+Sci.+U.S.A.</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Computational constraints on syntactic processing in a nonhuman primate.]]></title>
		<author>Science</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/303/5656/377"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=998</id>
		<updated>2009-11-24T12:02:29Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[The capacity to generate a limitless range of meaningful expressions from a finite set of elements differentiates human language from other animal communication systems. Rule systems capable of generating an infinite set of outputs (&quot;grammars&quot;) vary in generative power. The weakest possess only local organizational principles, with regularities limited to neighboring units. We used a familiarization/discrimination paradigm to demonstrate that monkeys can spontaneously master such grammars. However, human language entails more sophisticated grammars, incorporating hierarchical structure. Monkeys tested with the same methods, syllables, and sequence lengths were unable to master a grammar at this higher, &quot;phrase structure grammar&quot; level.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Science</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Science</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[The neonate brain detects speech structure.]]></title>
		<author>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.pnas.org/content/105/37/14222.abstract"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=997</id>
		<updated>2009-11-24T12:02:25Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[What are the origins of the efficient language learning abilities that allow humans to acquire their mother tongue in just a few years very early in life? Although previous studies have identified different mechanisms underlying the acquisition of auditory and speech patterns in older infants and adults, the earliest sensitivities remain unexplored. To address this issue, we investigated the ability of newborns to learn simple repetition-based structures in two optical brain-imaging experiments. In the first experiment, 22 neonates listened to syllable sequences containing immediate repetitions (ABB; e.g., &quot;mubaba,&quot; &quot;penana&quot;), intermixed with random control sequences (ABC; e.g., &quot;mubage,&quot; &quot;penaku&quot;). We found increased responses to the repetition sequences in the temporal and left frontal areas, indicating that the newborn brain differentiated the two patterns. The repetition sequences evoked greater activation than the random sequences during the first few trials, suggesting the presence of an automatic perceptual mechanism to detect repetitions. In addition, over the subsequent trials, activation increased further in response to the repetition sequences but not in response to the random sequences, indicating that recognition of the ABB pattern was enhanced by repeated exposure. In the second experiment, in which nonadjacent repetitions (ABA; e.g., &quot;bamuba,&quot; &quot;napena&quot;) were contrasted with the same random controls, no discrimination was observed. These findings suggest that newborns are sensitive to certain input configurations in the auditory domain, a perceptual ability that might facilitate later language development.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Proc.+Natl.+Acad.+Sci.+U.S.A.</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Rule learning by rats.]]></title>
		<author>Science</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/319/5871/1849"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=996</id>
		<updated>2009-11-24T12:02:23Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Using rules extracted from experience to solve problems in novel situations involves cognitions such as analogical reasoning and language learning and is considered a keystone of humans' unique abilities. Nonprimates, it has been argued, lack such rule transfer. We report that Rattus norvegicus can learn simple rules and apply them to new situations. Rats learned that sequences of stimuli consistent with a rule (such as XYX) were different from other sequences (such as XXY or YXX). When novel stimuli were used to construct sequences that did or did not obey the previously learned rule, rats transferred their learning. Therefore, rats, like humans, can transfer structural knowledge from sequential experiences.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Science</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Science</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Syntax-induced pattern deafness.]]></title>
		<author>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/11/16/0908963106.abstract"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=995</id>
		<updated>2009-11-24T12:02:15Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Perceptual systems often force systematically biased interpretations upon sensory input. These interpretations are obligatory, inaccessible to conscious control, and prevent observers from perceiving alternative percepts. Here we report a similarly impenetrable phenomenon in the domain of language, where the syntactic system prevents listeners from detecting a simple perceptual pattern. Healthy human adults listened to three-word sequences conforming to patterns readily learned even by honeybees, rats, and sleeping human neonates. Specifically, sequences either started or ended with two words from the same syntactic category (e.g., noun-noun-verb or verb-verb-noun). Although participants readily processed the categories and learned repetition patterns over nonsyntactic categories (e.g., animal-animal-clothes), they failed to learn the repetition pattern over syntactic categories, even when explicitly instructed to look for it. Further experiments revealed that participants successfully learned the repetition patterns only when they were consistent with syntactically possible structures, irrespective of whether these structures were attested in English or in other languages unknown to the participants. When the repetition patterns did not match such syntactically possible structures, participants failed to learn them. Our results suggest that when human adults hear a string of nouns and verbs, their syntactic system obligatorily attempts an interpretation (e.g., in terms of subjects, objects, and predicates). As a result, subjects fail to perceive the simpler pattern of repetitions-a form of syntax-induced pattern deafness that is reminiscent of how other perceptual systems force specific interpretations upon sensory input.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Proc.+Natl.+Acad.+Sci.+U.S.A.</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Human-specific transcriptional regulation of CNS development genes by FOXP2.]]></title>
		<author>Nature</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v462/n7270/abs/nature08549.html"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=994</id>
		<updated>2009-11-16T00:02:22Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[The signalling pathways controlling both the evolution and development of language in the human brain remain unknown. So far, the transcription factor FOXP2 (forkhead box P2) is the only gene implicated in Mendelian forms of human speech and language dysfunction. It has been proposed that the amino acid composition in the human variant of FOXP2 has undergone accelerated evolution, and this two-amino-acid change occurred around the time of language emergence in humans. However, this remains controversial, and whether the acquisition of these amino acids in human FOXP2 has any functional consequence in human neurons remains untested. Here we demonstrate that these two human-specific amino acids alter FOXP2 function by conferring differential transcriptional regulation in vitro. We extend these observations in vivo to human and chimpanzee brain, and use network analysis to identify novel relationships among the differentially expressed genes. These data provide experimental support for the functional relevance of changes in FOXP2 that occur on the human lineage, highlighting specific pathways with direct consequences for human brain development and disease in the central nervous system (CNS). Because FOXP2 has an important role in speech and language in humans, the identified targets may have a critical function in the development and evolution of language circuitry in humans.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Nature</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Nature</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Naming the extrasolar planets]]></title>
		<author>arXiv</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.arxiv.org/abs/0910.3989"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=993</id>
		<updated>2009-11-05T16:02:45Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[ Extrasolar planets are not named and are referred to only by their assignedscientific designation. The reason given by the IAU to not name the planets isthat it is considered impractical as planets are expected to be common. Iadvance some reasons as to why this logic is flawed, and suggest names for the403 extrasolar planet candidates known as of Oct 2009. The names follow ascheme of association with the constellation that the host star pertains to,and therefore are mostly drawn from Roman-Greek mythology. Other mythologiesmay also be used given that a suitable association is established.Comment: Opinion essay, not submitted to any journal or bulletin. Nature of replacement: abstract expanded to emphasize that other mythologies other than Roman-Greek are used as well. Table 1 with the name list can also be found at http://www.mpia.de/homes/lyra/planet_naming.html]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>arXiv</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=arXiv</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Why didn't Darwin discover Mendel's laws?]]></title>
		<author>J. Biol.</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://jbiol.com/content/8/2/15"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=992</id>
		<updated>2009-10-17T12:02:14Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Darwin's focus on small quantitative variations as the raw material of evolution may have prevented him from discovering the laws of inheritance.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>J. Biol.</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=J.+Biol.</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Cognitive control in media multitaskers.]]></title>
		<author>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/08/21/0903620106.abstract?sid=860c73f0-d511-4722-bfab-7eb8a9fad9c3"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=991</id>
		<updated>2009-10-06T12:02:10Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[Chronic media multitasking is quickly becoming ubiquitous, although processing multiple incoming streams of information is considered a challenge for human cognition. A series of experiments addressed whether there are systematic differences in information processing styles between chronically heavy and light media multitaskers. A trait media multitasking index was developed to identify groups of heavy and light media multitaskers. These two groups were then compared along established cognitive control dimensions. Results showed that heavy media multitaskers are more susceptible to interference from irrelevant environmental stimuli and from irrelevant representations in memory. This led to the surprising result that heavy media multitaskers performed worse on a test of task-switching ability, likely due to reduced ability to filter out interference from the irrelevant task set. These results demonstrate that media multitasking, a rapidly growing societal trend, is associated with a distinct approach to fundamental information processing.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Proc.+Natl.+Acad.+Sci.+U.S.A.</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='2' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	
	<entry>
		<title><![CDATA[Pimp Your Vocab!]]></title>
		<author>Portico</author>
		<link rel='alternate' href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pimp-Your-Vocab-Lucy-Tobin/dp/1906032726"/>
		<id>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/paper.php?paper_id=990</id>
		<updated>2009-09-16T16:01:58Z</updated>
		<summary><![CDATA[An old English proverb says 'he that converses not, know nothing' - but you might be forgiven for thinking that young people nowadays speak a completely different language from the English you were taught at school. A vast number of bewildering terms, with no apparent relevance to the rules of grammar or sense, have proliferated among 'the youth of today'. You might hear this strange new language on the back of the bus, in student bars across the land, and online - indeed, wherever teens chat breeze (make conversation) together. And how to decipher this cryptic talk? Unfortunately, a trawl through Webster's or the OED won't enlighten you as to what a milf is, things that are alternately sick and skankaroo, or what it means to get poked on Facebook. As for expletives, well, in the modern age the F-word is the most versatile part of speech around - a handy verb, adjective or noun. &quot;Pimp Your Vocab!&quot; is your insider's guide to making sense of Teenglish. To bridge the communication gap between teachers and students, parents and kids, here is a dictionary of the words du jour...standard.]]></summary>
		<contributor>
			<name>Portico</name>
			<uri>http://blogs.onestopenglish.com/journal_search.php?journal_id=Portico</uri>
		</contributor>
		<gd:rating value='1' min='0' max='100'/>
	</entry>
	</feed>
