Chronometric Studies Research Articles

Perceptual latencies of object recognition and affect measured with the rotating spot method: Chronometric evidence for semantic primacy.

According to the semantic primacy hypothesis of emotion generation, stimuli must be semantically categorized to evoke emotions. This hypothesis was tested in two chronometric studies, using the rotating spot method of timing subjective events. Participants saw pleasant and unpleasant pictures while a spot rotated around the edge of the picture. In different blocks of trials, they indicated when they experienced the pleasant or unpleasant feeling evoked by the pictures, or recognized the depicted objects, by reporting the position of the spot at the time when these mental events occurred. In both experiments, the latency of object recognition was found to be shorter than the latency of affect for nearly all participants and pictures, and the two latencies were positively correlated across participants. Experiment 2 replicated these findings and additionally showed that an experimental manipulation that delayed object recognition, blurring the pictures, also delayed the onset of affect. A mediation analysis suggested that this effect was at least partly mediated by the delayed recognition of the objects. The findings support the semantic primacy hypothesis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Constraining the chronology and ecology of Late Acheulean and Middle Palaeolithic occupations at the margins of the monsoon

South Asia hosts the world’s youngest Acheulean sites, with dated records typically restricted to sub-humid landscapes. The Thar Desert marks a major adaptive boundary between monsoonal Asia to the east and the Saharo-Arabian desert belt to the west, making it a key threshold to examine patterns of hominin ecological adaptation and its impacts on patterns of behaviour, demography and dispersal. Here, we investigate Palaeolithic occupations at the western margin of the South Asian monsoon at Singi Talav, undertaking new chronometric, sedimentological and palaeoecological studies of Acheulean and Middle Palaeolithic occupation horizons. We constrain occupations of the site between 248 and 65 thousand years ago. This presents the first direct palaeoecological evidence for landscapes occupied by South Asian Acheulean-producing populations, most notably in the main occupation horizon dating to 177 thousand years ago. Our results illustrate the potential role of the Thar Desert as an ecological, and demographic, frontier to Palaeolithic populations.

Increase in <sup>14</sup>C dating accuracy of prehistoric skeletal remains by optimised bone sampling: Chronometric studies on eneolithic burials from Mikulin 9 (Poland) and Urziceni-Vada Ret (Romania)

In this research, sampling optimisation and modelling based thereon follow from the assumption that each human skeleton can be treated as a set of heterochronous carbon reservoirs capable of supplying at least an elementary sequence consisting of two <sup>14</sup>C dates corresponding to the moment of birth (otic capsule) and that of demise (ribs), as well as an anthropologically defined lag between them. Two case studies demonstrate that the approach can raise the precision of <sup>14</sup>C dates related to the death of the individuals. The benefits and main issues of this sampling strategy as well as the involved bioarchaeological conflict potential are taken under discussion.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation in cognitive neuroscience: Methodological basis and safety

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is an intensively developing method of non-invasive brain stimulation. TMS is widely used in cognitive neuroscience to study the causal role of various cortical areas in visual perception, memory, attention, speech, and other cognitive functions. The article discusses the general principles and main directions of TMS applications in cognitive research as well as the modern aspects of using online TMS protocols for the creation of a temporary “virtual lesion”, functional brain mapping, and chronometric studies. Possible applications of offline TMS protocols for long-term modulation of the stimulated cortical area activity are also discussed. Methodological features of TMS studies, including targeting methods, as well as the frequency and intensity of stimulation, are highlighted. The article also describes the possibilities of combining TMS with other methods. Finally, the safety aspects of TMS in healthy subjects in the context of cognitive studies are discussed

Funnel Beaker Culture tombs in the eastern part of Wodzisław Hummock

            The paper sums up the field research carried out at the complex of ceremonial-funerary sites at Malżyce and Zagaje Stradowskie in the northern part of the western Lesser Poland loess upland. The research revealed differences in construction among chamberless Funnel Beaker Culture (FBC) tombs in western Lesser Poland. The results obtained at these sites were later confirmed by data from other sites explored in recent years. Typological and chronometric studies point towards a similar age of all the distinguished tomb types: around 3650-3350 BC. In addition, a chronological sequence of transformations in the megalithic burial rite of FBC communities is proposed.

Semantic interference in speech error production in a randomised continuous naming task: evidence from aphasia

ABSTRACTNaming pictures from the same semantic category hinders subsequent naming from that category (i.e. semantic interference), irrespective of the number of intervening different-category exemplars named. Persistent semantic interference has been well documented in chronometric studies, and has been attributed to experience-driven adjustments in the strength of connections between semantic and lexical representations. However, whether parallel effects exist in speech error data remains unclear. In the current study, people with aphasia, a speaker population prone to naming errors, provided naming responses to a large picture corpus presented in random order that comprised multiple exemplars drawn from several different categories. We found persistent semantic interference in the task in semantic error rates specifically, and that semantic similarity between consecutive related exemplars modulated the effect. The results provide further evidence for the presumed lexical-semantic locus and mechanism(s) underlying semantic interference.

Effects of caffeine on reaction time are mediated by attentional rather than motor processes

BackgroundCaffeine has a well-established effect on reaction times (RTs) but the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying this are unclear.MethodsIn the present study, 15 female participants performed an oddball task after ingesting caffeine or a placebo, and electroencephalographic data were obtained. Single-trial P3b latencies locked to the stimulus and to the response were extracted and mediation models were fitted to the data to test whether caffeine’s effect on RTs was mediated by its effect on either type of P3b latencies.ResultsStimulus-locked latencies showed clear evidence of mediation, with approximately a third of the effect of caffeine on RTs running through the processes measured by stimulus-locked latencies. Caffeine did not affect response-locked latencies, so could not mediate the effect.DiscussionThese findings are consistent with caffeine’s effect on RTs being a result of its effect on perceptual-attentional processes, rather than motor processes. The study is the first to apply mediation analysis to single-trial P3b data and this technique holds promise for mental chronometric studies into the effects of psychopharmacological agents. The R code for performing the single trial analysis and mediation analysis are included as supplementary materials.

P220 Cortical time course of reading processing by navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation

Introduction The time scale at which reading processes operate is matter of intense debate. Chronometric TMS studies can be used to understand the global reading as well as temporal coordinates of sub processes involved in word reading. Objectives The aim of our TMS study was to investigate timing of cortical areas involvement in process of reading words in healthy subjects. The study was designed to provide timing of activity in predefined cortical areas involved in reading aloud as a global process. Materials and Methods Twelve healthy and right-handed volunteers (6 men, mean age 29.67 ± 9.82 years, and 6 females, mean age 28 ± 5.8 years) underwent patterned protocol of rTMS over the specific brain areas related to reading process identified intraoperatiely, namely to: posterior part of superior temporal gyrus (PSTG), posterior part of middle temporal gyrus (PMTG), left supramarginal gyrus (SMG), angular gyrus (AnG), and posterior part of inferior frontal gyrus (opercular part of Broca’s area) (OpIFG), while participants were reading words (overt reading of presented words). Modified patterned rTMS stimulation protocol consisted of 4 bursts of 4 stimuli each, with an interstimulus interval of 6 ms, and a burst repetition rate of 4 Hz. The rTMS protocol was applied at four time points: 150–175–200 ms, 225–250–275 ms, 300–325–350 ms, 400–425–450 ms) following word presentation, including the 0 ms as the control condition. Results While stimulating OpIFG the reading latency was significantly prolonged for time point of 300–325–350 ms (F(1) = 9.2, p = .0) compared to control time condition. Stimulation of PSTG and PMTG revealed a significantly prolonged reading latencies for time points of 300–325–350 (PSTG: F(1) = 5.1, p = .0; PMTG: F(1) = 8.6, p = .0) and 400–425–450 ms (PSTG: F(1) = 26.1, p = .0; PMTG: F(1) = 11.1, p = .0) compared to control. When stimulating AnG reading latency significantly increased for time points of 150–175–200 ms (F(1) = 6.5, p = .0), 300–325-350 (F(1) = 8.9, p = .0) and 400–425–450 ms (F(1) = 7.6, p = .0) compared to control. Stimulation of SMG did not reveal significant differences when comparing time points and control condition. Conclusion Our results document significant effect on word reading latency during application of modifed rTMS on OpIFG, PSTG, PMTG, and AnG in healthy subjects. The results of this study might be used in upgrading/constructing theoretical models of reading and assessing functional connectivity between brain regions involved in reading process.

Zircon U–Pb dating of the Shipu limestone in Zhejiang Province, coastal southeast China: Implications for the Early Cretaceous environment

The age of the Shipu limestone-bearing section in Zhejiang Province, coastal southeast China, which is commonly called the Shipu limestone, is important for understanding the depositional environment and tectonic background of the region. However, previous chronostratigraphic and chronometric studies have produced competing results from the Palaeozoic to the Cenozoic. In order to provide some constraints, 115 zircon grains from tuff interbeds within the three limestone units and of the base and the top of the section were selected for U–Pb dating. A total of 86 valid results were obtained. The results demonstrate that the base of the section is no older than 119±2Ma and the top is approximately 99±3Ma. These dates are possibly the best time constraints on the section so far. They are generally comparable to the upper part of the Lower Cretaceous Jiuliping, Guantou and the lower part of the Chaochuan formations in neighbouring areas. The zircon ages in combination with new stratigraphic correlation suggest that a transgression most likely took place widely in coastal southeast China during the Aptian–Albian. In addition, the three limestone units in the section are roughly synchronous with high stages of Pacific sea levels, according to the zircon ages (i.e., 113±3Ma, 109±2Ma and 100±2Ma). It appears, therefore, that the transgression may have been caused sea-level changes in the Pacific Ocean. These results have broad implications for regional Cretaceous geological studies in general.

Time- and space-order effects in timed discrimination of brightness and size of paired visual stimuli.

Despite the importance of both response probability and response time for testing models of choice, there is a dearth of chronometric studies examining systematic asymmetries that occur over time- and space-orders in the method of paired comparisons. In this study, systematic asymmetries in discriminating the magnitude of paired visual stimuli are examined by way of log odds ratios of binary responses as well as by signed response speed. Hierarchical Bayesian modeling is used to map response probabilities and response speed onto constituent psychological process, and processing capacity is also assessed using response time distribution hazard functions. The findings include characteristic order effects that change systematically in magnitude and direction with changes in the magnitude and separation of the stimuli. After Hellström (1979, 2000), sensation weighting (SW) model analyses show that such order effects are reflected in the weighted accumulation of noisy information about the difference between stimulus values over time, and interindividual differences in weightings asymmetries are related to the relative processing capacity of participants. An account of SW based on the use of reference level information and maximization of signal-to-noise ratios is posited, which finds support from theoretically driven analyses of behavioral data.

Attention demands of spoken word planning: a review

Attention and language are among the most intensively researched abilities in the cognitive neurosciences, but the relation between these abilities has largely been neglected. There is increasing evidence, however, that linguistic processes, such as those underlying the planning of words, cannot proceed without paying some form of attention. Here, we review evidence that word planning requires some but not full attention. The evidence comes from chronometric studies of word planning in picture naming and word reading under divided attention conditions. It is generally assumed that the central attention demands of a process are indexed by the extent that the process delays the performance of a concurrent unrelated task. The studies measured the speed and accuracy of linguistic and non-linguistic responding as well as eye gaze durations reflecting the allocation of attention. First, empirical evidence indicates that in several task situations, processes up to and including phonological encoding in word planning delay, or are delayed by, the performance of concurrent unrelated non-linguistic tasks. These findings suggest that word planning requires central attention. Second, empirical evidence indicates that conflicts in word planning may be resolved while concurrently performing an unrelated non-linguistic task, making a task decision, or making a go/no-go decision. These findings suggest that word planning does not require full central attention. We outline a computationally implemented theory of attention and word planning, and describe at various points the outcomes of computer simulations that demonstrate the utility of the theory in accounting for the key findings. Finally, we indicate how attention deficits may contribute to impaired language performance, such as in individuals with specific language impairment.

The Late Paleolithic-Neolithic Transition in Korea: Current Archaeological and Radiocarbon Perspectives

The application of chronometric dating studies in Korean archaeology has lagged behind similar research in China and Japan. The focus of this article is to provide an update on the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates derived from Korean Paleolithic and Early Neolithic sites. One of the major highlights from recent AMS 14C studies in Korea is that blade (and microblade) technologies may have diffused directly from Siberia, rather than through northern China as originally thought. In addition, a Neolithic wooden boat has been discovered in Korea that is as old as, if not older than, similar discoveries from eastern China. More detailed archaeological and chronometric studies in Korea in the coming years will certainly clarify many of the points mentioned here. In particular, through more detailed studies, we will be able to further evaluate the causal factors that provided the impetus for the Late Paleolithic-Neolithic transition in Korea.

Anticipated Effort in Imagined Self-Rotation

Chronometric studies provide strong support that mental imagery recruits perceptual processes [Shepard and Cooper, 1982 Mental Images and Their Transformations (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press)]. Recent studies suggest that anticipated effort influences perception (Proffitt et al, 2003 Psychological Science 14 106-112). If anticipated effort influences perception and perception supports imagery, then anticipated effort may influence imagery. To examine the role of effort in mental imagery, participants in experiment 1 imagined self-rotation across two conditions of distance. Simulated rotation took 156 ms longer in larger settings, even though the amount of imagined angular rotation was the same in both settings. This finding suggests the start-to-goal arc is incorporated when imagining rotation through a given angle. Experiment 2 replicated the distance effect (232 ms) and added a variable for load. Simulated rotation took 167 ms longer with imaginary heavy loads. The results suggest that both spatial metrics and anticipated effort may play a role in the coding of mental imagery.

Données sur la représentation morale du dopage chez l’enfant et l’adolescent

Two chronometric studies are described with the goal of outlining a moral representation of doping for children and adolescents. The first study, a moral chronometric task, was proposed to a sample of participants from children to adults. The conclusions indicated that children had a superficial understanding and a lack of internalisation concerning doping. A second study, a moral Stroop task, focalised on adolescence, which is a significant period of risk for doping and drug addiction. The aim of this study was to investigate whether young adolescents displayed an attentional bias to doping words and whether this attentional bias was related to physical self-esteem. Results indicated carry-over effects in young adolescents only for doping words. In addition, a poor physical self-esteem significantly enhanced carry-over effects. Finally, the results emphasise the complexity and at the same time the singularity of the morality of doping in terms of moral judgement.

The spatial representation of numbers: evidence from neglect and pseudoneglect

The aim of the present paper is to provide an overview of the evidence that links spatial representation with representation of number magnitude. This aim is achieved by reviewing the literature concerning the number interval bisection task in patients with left hemispatial neglect and in healthy participants (pseudoneglect). Phenomena like the Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect and the shifts of covert spatial attention caused by number processing are thought to support the notion that number magnitude is represented along a spatially organized mental number line. However, the evidence provided by chronometric studies is not univocal and is open to alternative, non-spatial interpretations. In contrast, neuropsychological studies have offered convincing evidence that humans indeed represent numbers on a mental number line oriented from left to right. Neglect patients systematically misplace the midpoint of a numerical interval they are asked to bisect (e.g., they say that [5] is halfway between [2] and [6]) and their mistakes closely resemble the typical pattern found in bisection of true visual lines. The presence of dissociations between impaired explicit knowledge and spared implicit knowledge supports the notion that neglect produces a deficit in accessing an intact mental number line, rather than a distortion in the representation of that line. Other results show that the existence of a strong spatial connotation constitutes a specific property of number representations rather than a general characteristic of all ordered sequences.

Attention to Spoken Word Planning: Chronometric and Neuroimaging Evidence

AbstractThis article reviews chronometric and neuroimaging evidence on attention to spoken word planning, using the WEAVER++ model as theoretical framework. First, chronometric studies on the time to initiate vocal responding and gaze shifting suggest that spoken word planning may require some attention, even though it is one of our most highly practiced psychomotor skills. Second, neuroimaging studies that localized brain activity during word planning suggest that attention enhances activity in perisylvian cortical areas. What word to enhance and for how long is determined by an executive control system located in anterior cingulate and lateral prefrontal cortex. Commonalities of anterior cingulate function across verbal vocalizations (speech) and nonverbal vocalizations (e.g. human crying, laughter, and monkey calls) are outlined.

Beyond mean response latency: Response time distributional analyses of semantic priming

Chronometric studies of language and memory processing typically emphasize changes in mean response time (RT) performance across conditions. However, changes in mean performance (or the lack thereof) may reflect distinct patterns at the level of underlying RT distributions. In seven experiments, RT distributional analyses were used to better understand how distributions change across related and unrelated conditions in standard semantic priming paradigms. In contrast to most other lexical variables, semantic priming in standard conditions simply shifts the RT distribution, implicating a headstart mechanism. However, when targets are degraded, the priming effect increases across the RT distribution, a pattern more consistent with current computational models of semantic priming. Interestingly, priming effects also increase across the RT distribution when targets are degraded and primes are highly masked, supporting a memory retrieval account of priming under degraded conditions. Finally, strengths and limitations of alternative approaches for modeling RT distributions are discussed.

High loads induce differences between actual and imagined movement duration

Actual and imagined action may be governed by common information and neural processes. This hypothesis has found strong support from a range of chronometric studies showing that it takes the same amount of time to actually move and to imagine moving. However, exceptions have been observed when actual and imagined movements were made under conditions of inertial loading: sometimes the equivalency of actual and imagined movement durations (MDs) has been preserved, and other times it has been disrupted. The purpose of the current study was to test the hypothesis that the appearance and magnitude of actual-imagined MD differences in those studies was dependent on the level of load relative to the maximum loading capacity of the involved effector system [the maximum voluntary load (MVL)]. The experiment required 12 young, healthy humans to actually produce, and to imagine producing, single degree of freedom index finger movements under a range of loads (0, 5, 10, 20, 40, and 80% MVL). As predicted, statistically significant actual-imagined MD differences were absent at lower loads (0-20% MVL), but differences appeared and increased in magnitude with further increases in %MVL (40 and 80% MVL). That pattern of results may relate to the common, everyday experience individuals have in interacting with loads. Participants are likely to have extensive experience interacting with very low loads, but not high loads. It follows that the control of low inertial loads should be governed by complete central representations of action, while representations should be less complete for high loads. A consequence may be increases in the uncertainty of predicting motor output with increases in load. Compensation for the increased uncertainty may appear as increases in the MD values selected during both the preparation and imagery of action--according to a speed-uncertainty trade-off. Then, during actual action, MD may be reduced if movement-related feedback indicates that a faster movement would succeed.

Distinguishing tectonic from climatic controls on range‐front sedimentation

ABSTRACTGeologic and chronometric studies of alluvial fan sequences in south‐central Australia provide insights into the roles of tectonics and climate in continental landscape evolution. The most voluminous alluvial fans in the Flinders Ranges region have developed adjacent to catchments uplifted by Plio‐Quaternary reverse faults, implying that young tectonic activity has exerted a first‐order control on long‐term sediment accumulation rates along the range front. However, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of alluvial fan sequences indicates that late Quaternary facies changes and intervals of sediment aggradation and dissection are not directly correlated with individual faulting events. Fan sequences record a transition from debris flow deposition and soil formation to clast‐supported conglomeritic sedimentation by ∼30 ka. This transition is interpreted to reflect a landscape response to increasing climatic aridity, coupled with large flood events that episodically stripped previously weathered regolith from the landscape. Late Pleistocene to Holocene cycles of fan incision and aggradation post‐date the youngest‐dated surface ruptures and are interpreted to reflect changes in the frequency and magnitude of large floods. These datasets indicate that tectonic activity controlled long‐term sediment supply but climate governed the spatial and temporal patterns of range‐front sedimentation. Mild intraplate tectonism appears to have influenced Plio‐Quaternary sedimentation patterns across much of the southern Australian continent, including the geometry and extent of alluvial fans and sea‐level incursions.

Compound frequency effect in word production: Evidence from anomia

The issue of what kind of frequency affects compound word (e.g., ‘‘butterfly’’) production has recently received special attention in the context of distinguishing two major types of speech production models. The frequency effect is widely assumed to originate from the lexical system (Jescheniak & Levelt, 1994), and one model (IN, Caramazza, 1997) predicts that the frequency of the compound words themselves (‘‘butterfly’’) determines naming performance and another model (WEAVER++, Levelt, Roelofs, & Meyer, 1999) predicts the frequencies of the constituents (/butter/ and /fly/) are the effective frequency. Such predictions are deduced from the following combinations of assumptions of the two models. WEAVER++ assumes that compounds are decomposed into its constituents at a lexeme level where phonological (or orthographic) forms are represented, and this is also the level at which frequency effect locates. IN assumes that a compound is represented by one node (‘‘butterfly’’) in its only lexical layer, which is also the locus of the frequency effect. Chronometric studies have yielded inconsistent results (e.g., Bien, Levelt, & Baayen, 2005; Janssen, Bi, & Caramazza, submitted for publication). Here we present convergent evidence from the perspective of aphasia. It has been assumed that the same mechanism underlie the frequency effect in predicting the naming latencies of unimpaired speakers and the frequency effect in affecting the accuracy of anomic patients (see Miozzo, Jacobs, & Singer, 2004; Nickels, 2001). We report two Chinese patients with whom we studied oral compound production and written compound production respectively. The question is whether compound frequency or the frequencies of the constituents best predict the naming accuracy in the two modalities of output.