Previous Picture Research Articles

Ultrafast Observation of a Solvent Dependent Spin State Equilibrium in CpCo(CO)

We report the observation of a solvent-dependent spin state equilibrium in the 16-electron photoproduct CpCo(CO). Time-resolved infrared spectroscopy has been used to observe the concurrent formation of two distinct solvated monocarbonyl photoproducts, both of which arise from the same triplet CpCo(CO) precursor. Experiments in different solvent environments, combined with electronic structure theory calculations, allow us to assign the two solvated photoproducts to singlet and triplet CpCo(CO)(solvent) complexes. These results add to our previous picture of triplet reactivity for 16-electron organometallic photoproducts, in which triplets were not believed to interact strongly with solvent molecules. In the case of this photoproduct, it appears that spin crossover does not present a significant barrier to reactivity, and relative thermodynamic stabilities determine the spin state of the CpCo(CO) photoproduct in solution on the picosecond time scale. While the existence of transition metal complexes with two thermally accessible spin states is well-known, this is, to our knowledge, the first observation of a transient photoproduct that exhibits an equilibrium between two stable spin states, and also the first observed case in which a solvent has been able to coordinate as a token ligand to two spin states of the same photoproduct.

RBF-Based QP Estimation Model for VBR Control in H.264/SVC

In this paper, we propose a novel variable bit rate (VBR) controller for real-time H.264/scalable video coding (SVC) applications. The proposed VBR controller relies on the fact that consecutive pictures within the same scene often exhibit similar degrees of complexity, and consequently should be encoded using similar quantization parameter (QP) values for the sake of quality consistency. In order to prevent unnecessary QP fluctuations, the proposed VBR controller allows for just an incremental variation of QP with respect to that of the previous picture, focusing on the design of an effective method for estimating this QP variation. The implementation in H.264/SVC requires to locate a rate controller at each dependency layer (spatial or coarse grain scalability). In particular, the QP increment estimation at each layer is computed by means of a radial basis function (RBF) network that is specially designed for this purpose. Furthermore, the RBF network design process was conceived to provide an effective solution for a wide range of practical real-time VBR applications for scalable video content delivery. In order to assess the proposed VBR controller, two real-time application scenarios were simulated: mobile live streaming and Internet protocol television broadcast. It was compared to constant QP encoding and a recently proposed constant bit rate (CBR) controller for H.264/SVC. The experimental results show that the proposed method achieves remarkably consistent quality, outperforming the reference CBR controller in the two scenarios for all the spatio-temporal resolutions considered.

Fluoroquinolone-resistant acute prostatitis requiring hospitalization after transrectal prostate biopsy: effect of previous fluoroquinolone use as prophylaxis or long-term treatment

This study aims to scrutinize the hospitalized patients with the diagnosis of acute prostatitis after transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy of the prostate (TRUSBP) focusing their history of previous antibiotic use, clinical pictures, microbiologic features, and resistance patterns of the isolates. A retrospective evaluation of the records between 2005 and 2010 revealed 13 patients. All patients received ciprofloxacin 500 mg twice a day starting from the day before TRUSBP for 5 days. Positive 13 urine and 7 blood samples (Escherichia coli in 12 patients, Enterococcus species in one) were evaluated for resistance patterns. All were resistant to fluoroquinolones. Extended spectrum beta-lactamase producing E. coli isolated in 4 patients were treated with carbapenems. Empirical ceftriaxone was shifted to carbapenem (4 patients), vancomycin (1 patient). Empirical carbapenem was maintained in 5 patients. Seven patients with elevated PSA received fluoroquinolones for 4 weeks before TRUSBP on the assumption that they had subclinical infectious prostatitis. Previous exposure to fluoroquinolones did not lead to important differences in respect to the studied parameters. The prompt initiation of effective treatment is essential to decrease morbidity and mortality. Empirical treatment would be a second or third generation cephalosporins, or carbapenems according to clinical severity of patients.

Fake or Fantasy: Rapid Dissociation between Strategic Content Monitoring and Reality Filtering in Human Memory

Memory verification is crucial for meaningful behavior. Orbitofrontal damage may impair verification and induce confabulation and inappropriate acts. The strategic retrieval account explains this state by deficient monitoring of memories' precise content, whereas the reality filter hypothesis explains it by a failure of an orbitofrontal mechanism suppressing the interference of memories that do not pertain to reality. The distinctiveness of these mechanisms has recently been questioned. Here, we juxtaposed these 2 mechanisms using high-resolution evoked potentials in healthy subjects who performed 2 runs of a continuous recognition task which contained pictures that precisely matched or only resembled previous pictures. We found behavioral and electrophysiological dissociation: Strategic content monitoring was maximally challenged by stimuli resembling previous ones, whereas reality filtering was maximally challenged by identical stimuli. Evoked potentials dissociated at 200-300 ms: Strategic monitoring induced a strong frontal negativity and a distinct cortical map configuration, which were particularly weakly expressed in reality filtering. Recognition of real repetitions was expressed at 300-400 ms, associated with ventromedial prefrontal activation. Thus, verification of a memory's concordance with the past (its content) dissociates from the verification of its concordance with the present. The role of these memory control mechanisms in the generation of confabulations and disorientation is discussed.

PSNR Improvement using Different Prediction Coding in Image Compression

Differential Pulse Code Modulation (DPCM) is one of the predictive coding techniques. The number of previous pixels employed in the estimate operation is referred to as the order of the predictor. Predictor using one pixel for estimation is called “first order predictor”. A “second order predictor” utilizes two pixels and an “nth order predictor” would employ n previous pixels. From the results computed in this work, by testing the prediction mean square error (MSE) using different numbers of previous picture elements. The results show that the MSE decreases significantly by using up to three pixels, and further decreases of MSE are rather small by using more than three pixels that means the performance improvement becomes negligible and only a marginal gain beyond a third-order predictor can be achieved. That means, Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) increases significantly by increasing the predictor order, the performance improvement becomes negligible beyond third order predictor.

Mid-Cenomanian vertebrate faunas of the Western Interior Seaway of North America and their evolutionary, paleobiogeographical, and paleoecological implications

The Western Interior Seaway (WIS) was an epicontinental sea that extended north–south through the middle of North America during the last half of the Cretaceous, linking the Tethys Sea to the south with the boreal paleo-Arctic Ocean to the north. Aptian–Maastrichtian sedimentary deposits from the seaway crop out in the Western Interior Basin of Canada and the United States. Vertebrate remains are commonly well-preserved, and in certain stratigraphic units, abundant. The classic vertebrate fauna of the WIS, from the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Chalk, has been studied for 150 years, but relatively little has been known of the seaway's earlier faunas until recent years. Studies of mid-Cenomanian vertebrate faunas, particularly from lag deposits (bonebeds and calcarenites) in Canada and the United States have significantly altered the previous picture of the overall biodiversity and biogeography of the WIS during the ‘mid-Cretaceous.’ These mid-Cenomanian faunas include diverse fish assemblages of chondrichthyans (cartilaginous fishes) and osteichthyans (bony fishes) as well as various forms of tetrapods, including marine turtles, plesiosaurs, and hesperornithiform and ichthyornithiform birds. Our compilation of faunas indicates that at least 70 vertebrate taxa are recorded from five mid-Cenomanian WIS ‘localities’ situated in Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Black Hills region of South Dakota and Wyoming, Kansas, and Colorado. The faunas include 41 chondrichthyans, 21 osteichthyans, 10 non-avian tetrapods, and five avian taxa. Our study, combined with previous faunal studies, suggests that the combination of the following eight chondrichthyan species characterizes mid-Cenomanian time, which has been referred to as the ‘Woodbinian Age’ in the marine realm of North America: Ptychodus decurrens, P. occidentalis, Squalicorax curvatus, Cretodus semiplicatus, Carcharias amonensis, C. saskatchewanensis, Eostriatolamia tenuiplicatus, and Cretomanta canadensis. This is the geologic time when non-ptychodontid hybodonts became rare faunal components in most areas, and when a number of other fish lineages, particularly teleosts, emerged and diversified. Many of these persisted into the early Campanian, or the ‘Niobrara Age’ that followed the Woodbinian. Therefore, mid-Cenomanian time in the WIS can also be characterized by the genesis of the ‘Niobraran fauna,’ a significant radiation and diversification of fish taxa. The five mid-Cenomanian WIS ‘localities’ highlighted in this study are separated by as much as 18° latitude, a north–south distance of more than 2300 km. These faunas demonstrate some clinal trends, such as more diverse faunas of benthic chondrichthyans mixed with dolichosaurid lizards to the south, and a more diverse fauna of birds to the north. However, the faunas overall show strong taxonomic homogeneity, particularly among many chondrichthyans that were cosmopolitan, indicating that passage throughout the seaway as well as to both the Boreal and Tethys oceans was utilized. These faunas also demonstrate high osteichthyan diversity in the northern waters of the WIS, which were once thought to have supported only a depauperate, cold-adapted fauna. Because of the surprisingly great diversity in vertebrate taxa, ecosystem structure and dynamics of the WIS during the mid-Cenomanian were unquestionably complex.

The temporal sequence of magnetic brain activity for food categorization and memorization — an exploratory study

The importance of food stimuli for all living organisms is defined by their relevance for survival. Therefore, visual processing of food stimuli is influenced by many factors, such as cultural and societal background. In this magnetoencephalography (MEG) study, we examined the categorization and memorization of visual food and non-food stimuli in lean subjects, using a one-back working memory task. We found an increase in neural activity in several different regions of the brain elicited by food stimuli in comparison to non-food stimuli. The first observed significant difference was found in low-level visual areas as early as 120ms after stimulus onset. The stimulus category of the previous picture did not influence this effect. However, preceding stimuli modulated behavioral measures (reaction time and accuracy of responses) and later components of the evoked responses around 350ms. The evoked magnetic field of this late component showed a significant increase inactivity in the temporal cortex for food versus non-food objects. This late component exhibited a significant correlation with the reaction time. The difference of category-specific effects in the early components and the behavioral modulation of late components could be useful for further investigations of the cortical activity in response to food stimuli, e.g. in subjects with eating disorders or obesity.

P01-403 - Systematic of basic personality disorders

Classification of personality manifestations is impossible without considering theoretic-methodological problems of contemporary personology, first of all, its clinical branch. Its scientific development will help clarification of complex causal interrelationships, carrying out practical therapeutic-diagnostic work, heightening quality of social-correcting interventions. Base for this work may be theory and methodology of young science of valeopsychology and clinical psychology, elucidating type in nosological concepts (unit, variants etc.). Clinical-pathogenetic grouping of borderline states (Semke V. Ya., 1978, 1987, 1999) with subsequent extrapolation of obtained results onto zone of normal personology has allowed distinguishing four groups of borderline states - neurotic, pathocharacterological, neurosis-like, psychopath-like). Especially it is important to mention stage of pre-illness where question is about emergence of abnormal, non-differentiated in their content of personality reactions which clinical manifestations reflect early, “pre-nosological” period of disease development.Scale of distinguished personality characteristics encompasses pathocharacterological reactions, states, developments and “residua” or type. With positive influence of microenvironment, contrary (in prognostic relation) variant of dynamic in the kind of smoothing and then complete removal of psychopathic aspect (process of “depsychopathization”) is gradually achieved. One of the most important tools of subtle cognition of borders between healthy and ill personality is dynamic analysis of basic studied typologies. Idea of development triumphing in past century in psychology and natural science, allows assessing the most vulnerable “main” moments in evolutional considering normal and abnormal characters. “Dynamic” represents every change, be it a short-term (phase) deviation from initial status or more prolonged and stable, periodically emerging reform of previous clinical picture.

IMPLICATIONS OF TEMPORAL DEVELOPMENT OF LOCALIZED ULTRAVIOLET AND HARD X-RAY EMISSION FOR LARGE SOLAR FLARES

Ultraviolet and hard X-ray (HXR) emissions in solar flares provide observational signatures of the interaction of flare-accelerated particles with the chromospheric plasma. Earlier studies have shown clear evidence of temporal and spatial relationships between UV and HXR emission, suggesting a common physical origin. However, more recent spatially resolved case studies suggest significant variations in the spatial distributions of the emission signatures, implying that the large-scale magnetic topology of the flaring region must play a crucial role in the spatial and temporal development of the localized UV and HXR emission. We present here an analysis of spatially resolved HXR emission and localized UV emission sources from 11 M and X class flares with observations from RHESSI and high-cadence 1600 ? observations from TRACE. Within each flare we address the overall temporal development of individual UV sources and relate them to associated impulsive bursts within the HXR flare profile. We find, for these large flares, that in the initial impulsive bursts of flare activity, the majority of the temporally correlated emission evolves in a series of localized co-spatial sources along the UV ribbons consistent with previous two-dimensional reconnection pictures. However, observations of impulses late in flares, show significant departures from the traditional co-spatial/co-temporal picture. The new results include extended UV ribbons with no corresponding HXR emission and marked spatial separations between temporally correlated sources of UV and HXR emission. In seven of the multi-burst events, we observe the development of independent sets of UV and HXR sources corresponding to the individual impulses seen in the temporal profile. The observed separations and the spatial development of co-temporal emission in multi-burst events emphasize the importance of a complex and time varying magnetic topology in shaping the observed emission distributions in both wavelengths. In four of the events, we observe late developing UV sources which show no relationship with the HXR emission. In these events, the emission sources show a strong relationship with lower energy, more spatially extended X-ray emission believed to be of thermal origin. This suggests that, in the later phase of these complex flares, emission from thermal processes comes to dominate non-thermal processes in the production of the UV emission.

Electronic Structure, Binding Energy, and Solvation Structure of the Streptavidin−Biotin Supramolecular Complex: ONIOM and 3D-RISM Study

We studied the electronic structure of the binding site of the streptavidin-biotin complex by using the ONIOM method at the HF/STO-3G:UFF level and obtained the solvation structure of the complex by using the statistical-mechanical, three-dimensional molecular theory of solvation (aka three-dimensional reference interaction site model, 3D-RISM-KH). All the streptavidin residues located within 3 A of the biotin residue were included in the quantum mechanical (QM) layer. In total, 16 residues including biotin with 274 atoms were in the QM layer, in which five residues are responsible for the hydrophobic interactions and nine residues for the hydrogen-bonding/electrostatic interaction with biotin. We found a geometry change of the urea moiety of the biotin bound in the network of van der Waals and polar interactions. Compared to the isolated biotin, the bridging C-C bond of the biotin urea moiety in the binding site increases in length as a result of the pi-sigma interaction with the surrounding streptavidin Trp residues. This extends the previous picture of the geometry change from the ureido group to the whole bicyclic urea moiety. We have evaluated the performance of 15 density functional methods and 11 basis sets by single point calculation for the binding energy of the optimized cooperative binding complex structure. Closest to the experimental value of 18.3 kcal/mol is the binding free energy of 19.6 kcal/mol obtained for the AN model at B3LYP/6-31G(d):UFF//HF/STO-3G:UFF level. The hybrid DFT methods with enhanced assessment for nonbonded interactions such as PBE1PBE, MPW1B95, and MPWB1K can also give accurate binding energy with the use of diffuse functionals (i.e., mPWB1K/6-31+G(d)). The 3D hydration structure of the unliganded streptavidin and the streptavidin-biotin complex obtained by using the 3D-RISM-KH molecular theory of solvation shows there is one immobilized water molecule at the biotin urea moiety, acting as a water bridge between the sulfur and the nitrogen of the NH group close to Ser45. This suggests that, in the docking process, biotin replaces six of the seven water molecules attached to the unliganded streptavidin binding site, and one remaining water molecule is squeezed into the gap between the Btn, Tyr43, Ser45, Trp92, and Trp79 residues in the binding pocket.

Inflation and preheating in supergravity with MSSM flat directions

Motivated by a recent discussion about the role of flat directions, a typical feature of supersymmetric models, in the process of particle production in the early universe a consistent model of inflation and preheating in supergravity with MSSM fields has been built. It is based on a model proposed by M. Kawasaki, M. Yamaguchi and T. Yanagida. In the inflationary stage, the flat directions acquire large vacuum expectation values (VEVs) without spoiling the background of slow-roll, high-scale inflation consistent with the latest WMAP5 observational data. In the stage of particle production, naturally following inflation, the role of flat direction large VEVs depends strongly on effects connected with the supergravity framework and non-renormalizable terms in the superpotential, which have been neglected so far in the literature. Such effects turn out to be very important, changing the previous picture of preheating in the presence of large flat direction VEVs by allowing for efficient preheating from the inflaton.

Annual cycle of circulations in Lake Biwa, part 2: mechanisms

We investigate the mechanisms of circulations in Lake Biwa using model results that are driven by the momentum and heat fluxes evaluated from meteorological parameters observed around and on the lake. The kinetic energy budget shows that the wind stress over the lake, which has positive (negative) curl over the northern (southern) region of the lake throughout the year, generates the current system of multiple gyres in the stratified season (May–January), while the thermal forcing makes a minor contribution. This mechanism is quite different from the previous picture, in which the thermal forcing was dominant in forming the gyre system during the heating season. In the cooling season, the overturning of the lake occurs not in a simple one-dimensional (vertical) process, but in a time-dependent three-dimensional one. Cold water that is formed in the shallow eastern region descends the bottom slope to the deep lake in December to March while such a descent hardly occurs in the western region. A large shallow area (small heat capacity) as well as intense cooling in the eastern region effectively produces cold water. Wind again plays an important role by intensifying the cooling through its higher speed and by driving slope current. Further, the fluctuating wind direction causes significantly time-dependent behaviors of the slope current or bottom water formation.

Die Bedeutung der digitalen Integrationsmethode (DIM) von OCT und FLA für die klinische Anwendung

We describe the establishment of a new digital integration method (DIM) for the anatomically precise and objective correlation of OCT and FLA. The aim of the study was to evaluate the clinical impact of DIM and deduce possible new knowledge in unclear angiographic findings. DIM uses a newly developed software for the integration of OCT and FLA images of the same date. Corresponding vascular bifurcations and OCT scan position are marked in OCT and FLA images. Pathological areas in OCT or FLA can be marked and compared. A fundus enhancement system (FES) was developed for a better fundus image quality in OCT. Using a retinal tracking system (RTS) eye movements can be compensated. DIM was evaluated in 225 patients with macular diseases. Using FES, the DIM was successful in 95 % of the patients in contrast to 25 % without FES. Using the video system of RTS eye movement artefacts could be compensated in all patients. Cases with clear angiographic findings showed a high correspondence (66 %) with the OCT findings. A discrepancy between FLA and OCT findings was found in 33 %, especially in leakages of unknown origin. DIM was of high value in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), detecting a heterogeneous morphology of serous, solid RPE detachments, retinal cystoid formation and choroidal neovascularisation (CNV) and differentiating it in a precise topography. The lesion size of classic CNV with a hypofluorescent halo was in OCT always larger than in FLA. Through the correction of the eye movement artefacts by DIM and FES, a fundamental weak point in the previous OCT pictures is counterbalanced. Using DIM the OCT scan position for the follow-up can now be assessed in a safe and reliable manner which is mandatory for the evidence of OCT studies. The detection of precise morphology (serous RPE detachments) in angiographically unclear phenomena can lead to treatment consequences, e. g., avoiding contraindicated areas in photodynamic therapy. Using the new morphological information new knowledge is obtained on uncertain angiographic phenomena by this integration method (DIM).

Concealment of Whole-Picture Loss in Hierarchical B-Picture Scalable Video Coding

H.264/AVC scalable video coding (H.264/AVC SVC), as the scalable extension of H.264/AVC, offers the flexible adaptivity in terms of spatial, temporal and SNR scalabilities for the generated bitstream. However, such compressed video still suffers from the bad playback quality when packet loss occurs over unreliable networks. In this paper, we present an error concealment algorithm to tackle the whole-picture loss problem in H.264/AVC SVC when hierarchical B-picture coding is used to support temporal scalability. In the proposed algorithm, by taking advantage of the temporal relationship among the adjacent video pictures, the motion information of the lost picture is derived simply and efficiently based on the principle of temporal direct mode. Utilizing the derived motion information, the lost picture is concealed by performing motion compensation on the correctly received temporally previous and future video pictures. The experimental results demonstrate that as a post-processing tool, the proposed error concealment algorithm is able to significantly improve both the objective and subjective qualities of the decoded video pictures in the presence of packet losses when compared to the error concealment algorithm used in H.264/AVC SVC reference software. The proposed method can also be applied to H.264/AVC with hierarchical B-picture coding for error concealment.

Nucleotide sequence, structural organization and length heterogeneity of ribosomal DNA intergenic spacer in Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl. and Q. robur L.

18S-5.8S-26S rDNA family comprises tandemly arranged, repeating units separated by an intergenic spacer (IGS) that contains transcription initiation/termination signals and usually repeating elements. In this study, we performed for the first time thorough sequence analysis of rDNA IGS region in two dominant European oaks, Quercus petraea and Q. robur, in order to investigate (1) if IGS sequence composition allows discrimination between these two species, and (2) if there is an rDNA length heterogeneity arising from IGS sequence. Two spacer length variants (slvs), 2 and 4 kb in length, were found in the genomes of both species. Inter-comparison of both slvs revealed no species-specificity in sequence or structural organization. Both slvs could be divided into four subregions; (1) the subrepeat region containing three repeated elements, (2) the AT-rich region containing matrix attachment sites and putative origin of replication, (3) the promoter region containing putative transcription initiation site and (4) the 5'ETS region. In the 4-kb slvs all four subregions are extended, and the subrepeat, AT-rich and promoter regions are duplicated. This is unique compared to other known IGS sequences where the variation in number of subrepeats is responsible for slvs creation. We also propose a possible evolutionary scenario to explain the formation of the subrepeat region in oak IGS. Results obtained in this work add to the previous picture of low-genetic differentiation of the two oaks and provide important data for further analyses of the function of IGS in control of rRNA gene expression.

Tapestries once at Chastleton House and Their Influence on the Image of the Tapestries Called Sheldon: A Reassessment

The intentions expressed in William Sheldon's will of 1570 suggest an attempt to introduce tapestry weaving at Barcheston, Warwickshire. Interpreted in the 1920s as resulting in a commercial venture – the only production centre in Elizabethan England – tapestries were attributed to it without documentary evidence, without stylistic comparison with continental work and without study of the records of émigré Flemish weavers settling in London from 1559 onwards. Their presence and more easily available comparative material, in both documentary and tapestry form, combine W question the previous picture, never revised. On re-examination, the historical evidence used to link tapestries found at Chastleton House with Sheldon's enterprise appears weak. Challenging the time-honoured belief that those tapestries should be regarded as key pieces in the Sheldon corpus also calls into question subsequent attributions made by association, and opens the way for a new exploration of the tapestry industry in sixteenth-century England.

Long lifetimes in high-efficiency Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells

Time-resolved photoluminescence measurements on polycrystalline Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin films corresponding to high-efficiency solar cells indicate recombination lifetimes as long as 250ns, far exceeding previous measurements for this material. The lifetime decreases by two orders of magnitude when exposed to air. Charge separation effects can be observed on CIGS∕CdS∕ZnO devices in low-intensity conditions. The ZnO layer forms a robust junction critical for charge separation, whereas the CdS layer alone forms a much weaker junction. Recombination at the CIGS/CdS interface is negligible. The results significantly adjust the previous picture of recombination in CIGS solar cells.

The development of a method to measure speed adaptation to traffic complexity: Identifying novice, unsafe, and overconfident drivers

To monitor novice driver performance in the first years of solo driving, a test aimed at assessing speed adaptation to the traffic situation was developed and evaluated. The Adaptation Test consisted of 18 traffic scenes presented in two (almost) identical photographs, which differed in one single detail, increasing the situation's complexity. As the pictures were presented randomly and participants could not return to previous pictures, participants were kept unaware of the complexity differences in the pictures. The difference in reported speed between the two pictures was used as an indication of drivers’ inclination to adapt their speed to the complexity of the traffic situation. Results showed that novice drivers ( n = 434) performed worse on the Adaptation Test (i.e. less often reported a lower speed in the more complex situation) than experienced drivers ( n = 173). In addition, unsafe drivers and overconfident drivers, as identified in an on-road driving assessment, performed worse on the Adaptation Test. This indicates that the Adaptation Test is effective at measuring adaptation of driving speed to the complexity of the situation; and that incorrect self-assessment, and overestimating driving skills in particular, may have a negative effect on speed adaptation.

Grammatical gender in translation

In three experiments native speakers of Czech translated bare nouns and gender-marked adjective + noun phrases into German, their second language (L2). In Experiments 1-3 we explored the so-called gender interference effect from first language (L1) as observed in previous picture naming studies (naming latencies were longer when the L1 noun and its L2 translation had different genders than when their genders were congruent). In Experiments 2 and 3 we investigated the influence of gender transparency in L2 (longer latencies when an L2 noun has a gender-atypical or gender-ambiguous termination than when its termination is gender-typical). Although both effects were observed in L2 picture naming, only the gender transparency effect could be demonstrated in L1 to L2 translation tasks. The resulting constraints on L2 gender processing during translation are discussed in the framework of bilingual speech production models.

Affective visual event-related potentials: Arousal, valence, and repetition effects for normal and distorted pictures

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to assess arousal (low, high), valence (negative, positive), and stimulus repetition effects for normal and distorted images from the International Affective Pictures System (IAPS). Distorted stimuli were constructed by dividing each image into small squares and rearranging the segments randomly to produce a “scrambled” picture. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were elicited by presenting the normal and scrambled images as target stimuli, with a repeated visual pattern used as the standard stimulus. Participants ( N = 32) were instructed to press a button to the targets and ignore the standard. Stimulus repetition effects were assessed by presenting each stimulus twice in the normal and scrambled condition. High-arousal stimuli yielded larger late positive components for both the normal and scrambled pictures. No overall valence effects were obtained, but arousal and valence influenced component amplitudes for middle-latency ERPs from the scrambled stimuli. For the normal pictures, stimulus repetition was associated with increased component amplitudes for all potentials and decreased RTs of all affective categories. For the scrambled pictures, no repetition changes were obtained. The findings suggest that stimulus arousal level contributes more than valence to affective ERP measures for normal as well as perceptually distorted pictures. Stimulus repetition engages memory for previous normal picture items but is not influenced by affective category. Theoretical implications are discussed.