Reproduction Task Research Articles

Neural correlates of aftereffects induced by adaptations to single and average durations.

Duration perception can be heavily distorted owing to repetitive exposure to a relatively long or short sensory event, often causing a duration aftereffect. Here, we used a novel procedure to show that adaptations to both single and average durations produced the duration aftereffect. Participants completed a duration reproduction task (Experiment 1) or a duration category rating task (Experiment 2) after long-term adaptations to a stimulus of medium duration and to stimuli of averagely medium duration. We found that adaptations to both single and average durations resulted in duration aftereffects. The simultaneously recorded functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data revealed that the reduction in neural activity due to long-term adaptation to single duration was observed in the right supramarginal gyrus (SMG) of the parietal lobe, while adaptation to average duration resulted in fMRI adaptations in the left postcentral gyrus (PCG) and middle cingulate gyrus (MCG). At the individual level, the magnitude of the behavioral aftereffect was positively correlated with the magnitude of fMRI adaptation in the right SMG after adaptation to single duration, while there were no significantly positive correlations between the behavioral aftereffect and fMRI adaptations in the left PCG and MCG. These results suggest that there are different neural mechanisms for aftereffects caused by adaptations to single and average durations.

Cognitive and plastic recurrent neural network clock model for the judgment of time and its variations

The aim of this study in the field of computational neurosciences was to simulate and predict inter-individual variability in time judgements with different neuropsychological properties. We propose and test a Simple Recurrent Neural Network-based clock model that is able to account for inter-individual variability in time judgment by adding four new components into the clock system: the first relates to the plasticity of the neural system, the second to the attention allocated to time, the third to the memory of duration, and the fourth to the learning of duration by iteration. A simulation with this model explored its fit with participants’ time estimates in a temporal reproduction task undertaken by both children and adults, whose varied cognitive abilities were assessed with neuropsychological tests. The simulation successfully predicted 90% of temporal errors. Our Cognitive and Plastic RNN-Clock model (CP-RNN-Clock), that takes into account the interference arising from a clock system grounded in cognition, was thus validated.

The Functional Brain Network of Subcortical and Cortical Regions Underlying Time Estimation: An Functional MRI Study

Time estimation is fundamental for human survival. There have been increasing studies suggesting that distributed brain regions, such as the basal ganglia, cerebellum and the parietal cortex, may contribute to a dedicated neural mechanism of time estimation. However, evidence on the specific function of the subcortical and cortical brain regions and the interplay of them is scare. In this work, we explored how the subcortical and cortical networks function in time estimation during a time reproduction task using functional MRI (fMRI). Thirty healthy participants performed the time reproduction task in both auditory and visual modalities. Results showed that time estimation in visual and auditory modality recruited a subcortical-cortical brain network including the left caudate, left cerebellum, and right precuneus. Besides, the superior temporal gyrus (STG) was found essential in the difference between time estimation in visual and auditory modality. Using psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis, we observed an increase in the connection between left caudate and left precuneus using the left caudate as the seed region in temporal reproduction task than control task. This suggested that the left caudate is the key region connecting and transmitting information to other brain regions in the dedicated brain network of time estimation.

Role of the subthalamic nucleus in perceiving and estimating the passage of time

Sense of time (temporal sense) is believed to be processed by various brain regions in a complex manner, among which the basal ganglia, including the striatum and subthalamic nucleus (STN), play central roles. However, the precise mechanism for processing sense of time has not been clarified. To examine the role of the STN in temporal processing of the sense of time by directly manipulating STN function by switching a deep brain stimulation (DBS) device On/Off in 28 patients with Parkinson's disease undergoing STN-DBS therapy. The test session was performed approximately 20 min after switching the DBS device from On to Off or from Off to On. Temporal sense processing was assessed in three different tasks (time reproduction, time production, and bisection). In the three temporal cognitive tasks, switching STN-DBS to Off caused shorter durations to be produced compared with the switching to the On condition in the time production task. In contrast, no effect of STN-DBS was observed in the time bisection or time reproduction tasks. These findings suggest that the STN is involved in the representation process of time duration and that the role of the STN in the sense of time may be limited to the exteriorization of memories formed by experience.

Annual molt period and seasonal color variation in the Eared Dove´s crown.

Molting is an important process in which old and worn feathers are exchanged for new ones. Plumage color is determined by pigments such as carotenes, melanin and by the ultrastructure of the feather. The importance of plumage coloration has been widely studied in different groups of birds, generally at a particular time of the year. However, plumage coloration is not static and few studies have addressed the change in plumage color over time and its relationship to reproductive tasks. The Eared Dove (Zenaida auriculata, Des Murs, 1847) has a melanistic coloration with sexual dichromatism in different body regions. The Eared Dove´s crown is the most exposed body region during the bowing display. Our objective was therefore to accurately determine the molting period of the crown feathers and study the seasonal variation in their coloration in females and males. Our findings indicate a molting period of 6 months (January to June). The new feathers are undergoing changes in their coloration from July to December. During that period we apply an avian vision model then enabled us to reveal a seasonal variation in the coloration of the crown feathers in both sexes, as given by a change in the chromatic distances. The highest values in the chromatic distances towards the reproductive period are given by a change in the UV-violet component of the spectrum, indicating changes in the microstructure of the feather. This change in crown coloration towards the breeding season could be linked to reproductive behaviors.

Working Memory Precision and Associative Binding in Mild Cognitive Impairment

ABSTRACT To better understand working memory (WM) deficits in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), we examined information precision and associative binding in WM in 21 participants with MCI, compared to 16 healthy controls, using an item-location delayed reproduction task. WM, along with other executive functions (i.e. Trail Making Task (TMT) and Stroop task), were measured before and after a 2-h nap. The napping manipulation was intended as an exploratory element to this study exploring potential impacts of napping on executive functions. Compared to healthy participants, participants with MCI exhibited inferior performance not only in identifying encoded WM items but also on item-location associative binding and location precision even when only one item was involved. We also found changes on TMT and Stroop tasks in MCI, reflecting inferior attention and inhibitory control. Post-napping performance improved in most of these WM and other executive measures, both in MCI and their healthy peers. Our study shows that associative binding and WM precision can reliably differentiate MCIs from their healthy peers. Additionally, most measures showed no differential effect of group pre- and post-napping. These findings may contribute to better understanding cognitive deficits in MCI therefore improving the diagnosis of MCI.

Rhythmic tapping difficulties in adults who stutter: A deficit in beat perception, motor execution, or sensorimotor integration?

The study aims to better understand the rhythmic abilities of people who stutter and to identify which processes potentially are impaired in this population: (1) beat perception and reproduction; (2) the execution of movements, in particular their initiation; (3) sensorimotor integration. Finger tapping behavior of 16 adults who stutter (PWS) was compared with that of 16 matching controls (PNS) in five rhythmic tasks of various complexity: three synchronization tasks - a simple 1:1 isochronous pattern, a complex non-isochronous pattern, and a 4 tap:1 beat isochronous pattern -, a reaction task to an aperiodic and unpredictable pattern, and a reproduction task of an isochronous pattern after passively listening. PWS were able to reproduce an isochronous pattern on their own, without external auditory stimuli, with similar accuracy as PNS, but with increased variability. This group difference in variability was observed immediately after passive listening, without prior motor engagement, and was not enhanced or reduced after several seconds of tapping. Although PWS showed increased tapping variability in the reproduction task as well as in synchronization tasks, this timing variability did not correlate significantly with the variability in reaction times or tapping force. Compared to PNS, PWS exhibited larger negative mean asynchronies, and increased synchronization variability in synchronization tasks. These group differences were not affected by beat hierarchy (i.e., "strong" vs. "weak" beats), pattern complexity (non-isochronous vs. isochronous) or presence versus absence of external auditory stimulus (1:1 vs. 1:4 isochronous pattern). Differences between PWS and PNS were not enhanced or reduced with sensorimotor learning, over the first taps of a synchronization task. Our observations support the hypothesis of a deficit in neuronal oscillators coupling in production, but not in perception, of rhythmic patterns, and a larger delay in multi-modal feedback processing for PWS.

Evidence of abnormal scalar timing property in alexithymia.

Evidence suggests that incidental modulation of affective states affects the ability to keep track of time. Alexithymia represents an ideal condition to further address the emotion-time processing link, as it refers to a trait characterized by a deficit of affective processing. 31 healthy participants completed an online version of the TAS-20 scale, which measures alexithymia, and a time reproduction task of visual stimuli related to positive (i.e., happiness) and negative (i.e., anger) facial expressions. Results documented a positive correlation between TAS-20 score and the variability in reproducing sub-second durations of the anger expression stimuli We also found an overestimation of sub-second durations of non-affective expressions in borderline/alexithymic participants. Finally, in line with the literature, we confirmed the overall tendency to overestimate the duration of anger expression stimuli. These findings, which can be interpreted in terms of abnormal scalar timing property in alexithymia, expand previous investigations linking this personality trait with abnormal processing of negative emotions. The evidence that alexithymia predicts the reproduction variability of sub-second durations of negative affective stimuli corroborates previous neuroimaging studies documenting cerebellar deficits in these individuals.

Raízes da Exaustão de Mulheres Trabalhadoras Brasileiras: Contribuições do Materialismo Histórico Dialético

ABSTRACT Objective: in this essay, we analyze the roots of the exhaustion of Brazilian working women from the point of view of the dialectical historical materialism method. We investigate the exhaustion in terms of physical, emotional, and mental fatigue of Brazilian working women by using the concepts of social reproduction and dependent capitalism to reveal that women’s overtiredness is not a novelty inaugurated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thesis: even before this global health crisis, the overload of work, inside and outside the domestic space, was already a reality for Brazilian women. We suggest that super-exploitation, essential to dependent capitalism, implies a growing intensification of the working time of Brazilian women workers, at the same time that dependence relegates them to the task of internal and external social reproduction in globalized capitalism. Conclusions: the rupture with these processes demands the radical transformation of the current social order and economic system, for which the political organization to demand payment from the state for reproductive work is an important step in the social battle against the depletion of women.

ПУБЛИЧНАЯ ДИСКУССИЯ КАК СРЕДСТВО РАЗВИТИЯ РЕЧЕВОЙ КРЕАТИВНОСТИ: ОПЫТ МОЛОДОГО УЧИТЕЛЯ

Modern education in the 21st century is shaped by the trend of universality. The pedagogical community is preparing for the realities where a fundamental skill of future teachers is the ability to “see the big picture.” However, the dominance of reproductive tasks suppresses the personal and professional initiative of educators. This results in a loss of the ability to express professional positions creatively and independently, leading to a lack of creativity in solving complex pedagogical situations. It is important to remember that the speech of a future teacher is not only the primary tool in educational activities but also an example for students to learn and emulate. The development of the future teacher’s speech creativity through discussion helps mitigate the identified shortcomings. Speech creativity in this context encompasses the ability to engage in dialogue with various audiences (colleagues, students, parents, administration), mastery of intonation and voice tone (as factors influencing engagement), and the ability to speak spontaneously, coherently, and clearly. Achieving these skills for future teachers is facilitated by public discussion as a platform for practicing their communicative competencies. Public discussions offer advantages such as the opportunity to prepare in advance, develop a presentation strategy, and simultaneously prepare spontaneous responses to audience questions, engage in discussions with colleagues, and receive feedback. Thus, the central purpose of public discussion as a means of developing speech creativity is practical training, self-development, and active participation in the academic sphere of higher education. Changes in sociocultural situations, consideration of intercultural communication contexts, and modern educational trends in higher education highlight the challenge of preparing future teachers professionally. Developing the speech creativity of future teachers through public discussion enables the production of prepared and contemporary specialists capable of addressing educational challenges.

Humans can monitor trial-based but not global timing errors: Evidence for relative judgements in temporal error monitoring.

Humans can monitor the magnitude and direction of their temporal errors in individual trials. Based on the predictions of our model of temporal error monitoring that rely on a relative comparison of internal clock readings, we predict that participants would monitor their timing errors in individual trials, but not the direction of their global timing errors without external feedback. One study has indeed found that accurate self-monitoring of average timing biases required external feedback with directional information. The current study investigates how different sources of feedback (i.e., internal or external) affect performance in the self-monitoring of average timing bias. Four groups of participants were tested in a temporal reproduction task. Participants in the self-evaluation condition evaluated the direction and size of their time reproduction errors in individual trials. In the accurate feedback condition, participants received explicit trial-based feedback regarding the direction of their error while participants in the partially accurate feedback condition received trial-based feedback according to the accuracy of short-long judgements of another participant in the self-evaluation condition. Participants in the control condition reproduced only the target duration without making any judgements regarding their reproduction performance or receiving any external feedback about it. Results showed that while participants accurately monitor timing errors in individual trials, in none of the experimental conditions were they more accurate than the chance level in terms of evaluating the direction of their average temporal bias. We discuss these results in terms of the temporal error monitoring model introduced by Akdoğan and Balcı. Thus, our findings suggest that external directional feedback does not have any informational value for global temporal bias judgements above and beyond internal self-monitoring.

The impact of early aging on visual perception of space and time.

Visual perception of space and time has been shown to rely on context dependency, an inferential process by which the average magnitude of a series of stimuli previously experienced acts as a prior during perception. This article aims to investigate the presence and evolution of this phenomenon in early aging. Two groups of participants belonging to two different age ranges (Young Adults: average age 28.8 years old; Older Adults: average age 62.8 years old) participated in the study performing a discrimination and a reproduction task, both in a spatial and temporal conditions. In particular, they were asked to evaluate lengths in the spatial domain and interval durations in the temporal one. Early aging resulted to be associated to a general decline of the perceptual acuity, which is particularly evident in the temporal condition. The context dependency phenomenon was preserved also during aging, maintaining similar levels as those exhibited by the younger group in both space and time perception. However, the older group showed a greater variability in context dependency among participants, perhaps due to different strategies used to face a higher uncertainty in the perceptual process.

Preliminary findings of accelerated visual memory decline and baseline brain correlates in middle-age and older adults with autism: The case for hippocampal free-water.

Research aimed at understanding cognitive and brain aging in adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is growing, but critical longitudinal work is scant. Adults with ASD struggle with tasks involving visual memory compared with neurotypical adults (NT). This may be related to differences in size or integrity of the hippocampus and its' primary structural connectivity pathway, the fornix. The aim of this study was to describe preliminary findings of longitudinal aging trajectories in short- and long-term visual memory abilities in middle-age and older adults with ASD, compared with matched NT adults. We then evaluated baseline multi-modal imaging metrics of the hippocampal system, including the relatively novel metric of free-water, as potential correlates of longitudinal memory change in the ASD group. Middle-age and older adults with ASD (n = 25) and matched NT adults (n = 25) between the ages of 40 and 70 years were followed longitudinally at ~2-year intervals (range 2-5 years). Participants completed the Wechsler Memory Scale III Visual Reproduction task. Longitudinal mixed models were utilized to detect group differences in memory change with baseline age and sex as covariates. Hippocampal volume was measured via T1-weighted MRI images with FreeSurfer. Fornix fractional anisotropy and hippocampal and fornix free-water were measured from diffusion tensor imaging scans. Exploratory correlations were run between individual hippocampal system metrics and longitudinal slopes of visual memory change. There was a significant group by time interaction for long-term visual memory, such that middle-age and older adults with ASD declined faster than matched NT adults. There was no group by time interaction for short-term visual memory. Baseline hippocampal free-water was the only hippocampal system metric that correlated with long-term visual memory change in the ASD group. As one of the first longitudinal cognitive and brain aging studies in middle-age and older adults with ASD, our findings suggest vulnerabilities for accelerated long-term visual memory decline, compared to matched NT adults. Further, baseline hippocampal free-water may be a predictor of visual memory change in middle-age and older adults with ASD. These preliminary findings lay the groundwork for future prognostic applications of MRI for cognitive aging in middle-age and older adults with ASD.

Memory decay enhances central bias in time perception.

Temporal expectations are essential for appropriately interacting with the environment, but they can be biased. This tendency, called central bias, places higher weights on expected rather than actual duration distributions when perceiving incoming sensory stimuli. In particular, the central bias is strengthened in order to decrease total response error when incoming sensory stimuli are unclear. In the present study, we investigated whether the central bias was enhanced via memory decay. For this, we used a delayed reproduction task, manipulating retention periods by introducing delays between the sample interval and the reproduction phase (0.4, 2, 4 s in Experiment 1; 0.4, 2, 8 s in Experiments 2 and 3). Through three experiments, we found the gradual strengthening of the central bias as a function of the retention period (i.e., short-term memory decay). This suggests that the integration of temporal expectation, generated from past trials and stored sensory stimuli, in a current trial occurs in the reproduction phase in the delayed reproduction task.

The metropolitan production of “urban” sustainability: Exploring industrial regionalism across the Puget Sound

This article engages governance visions for green urbanism and sustainability through the concept of “industrial regionalism”. Bringing together emerging research on the importance of manufacturing to inclusive economies and critiques of “methodological cityism”, we explore the relational production of the iconic “green city” of Seattle. Here we consider how secondary cities, suburbs, and other peripheral spaces get subsumed within the metropolitan production of “urban” sustainability in ways that go unacknowledged and underappreciated. By absorbing tasks of production and social reproduction, such peripheral spaces may enable primate cities like Seattle to claim the mantle of sustainability, highlighting the rain gardens, bike lanes, urban green spaces, and other infrastructures that score high on walkability indices. In contrast, the working-class livelihoods on the periphery are often marginalized from sustainability discourses, if not actively disparaged for their inability to measure up to the green city ideal. This paper aims to offer a corrective by exploring how peripheral spaces are involved in the production of primate city sustainability. Employing the concept of intra-regional relationality, and drawing from census and geospatial data as well as regional planning analyses and reports, we illustrate that “urban” sustainability is produced regionally and relationally. The aim here is to consider how the “industrial region” might gain purchase as an important component of the governance of urban sustainability.

How do signers mark conditionals in German Sign Language? Insights from a Sentence Reproduction Task on the use of nonmanual and manual markers

This paper presents the results of a Sentence Reproduction Task (SRT) investigating conditional sentences in German Sign Language (DGS). We found that participants mark conditional sentences in DGS by systematically using different non-manual markers on the antecedent and the consequent. In addition, these non-manual markers were frequently used in combination with one or two manual signs. However, the manual markers were omitted in the test sentences, i.e., the input stimuli the participants were asked to reproduce. The results of our experimental study are, on the one hand, consistent with descriptions of manual and non-manual strategies used to mark conditional sentences in different unrelated sign languages. On the other hand, our findings provide new insights on the multi-layered marking of conditional sentences in DGS.

RUSSIAN POSTGRADUATE STUDIES IN THE FACE OF MODERN CHALLENGES

The article touches upon the problem of the state of the domestic graduate school as a stage of education, which is highly susceptible to various managerial changes and other factors. The relevance of the study is due, firstly, to the task of effective reproduction of scientific personnel, which the state is facing, and secondly, the active transformational processes that have been taking place within the Institute of Postgraduate Studies in recent years. The purpose of the study is to identify the key challenges and problems that graduate school faces today. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on higher education in general and the delivery of graduate programs in particular. However, this challenge for the system of training highly qualified personnel is only a temporary negative factor, in contrast to the systemic problems and difficulties that have accompanied the development of postgraduate studies for a long time since the collapse of the USSR. It is concluded that digitalization, on the one hand, has become a challenge for the education system as a whole, on the other hand, this process has contributed to the adaptation of educational and scientific organizations to the difficult epidemiological conditions in the country. The analysis of the essence and consequences of the current stage of domestic postgraduate education reform, associated with the changes in the legal framework that took place in 2020-2022, as well as the preparation of recommendations to mitigate the difficulties of the transition period of modernization of the third stage of higher education can be a promising direction for further study of this problematic.

Measuring embodied conceptualizations of pitch in singing performances: Insights from an OpenPose study

People conceptualize auditory pitch as vertical space: low and high pitch correspond to low and high space, respectively. The strength of this cross-modal correspondence, however, seems to vary across different cultural contexts and a debate on the different factors underlying this variation is currently taking place. According to one hypothesis, pitch mappings are semantically mediated. For instance, the use of conventional metaphors such as “falling” or “rising” melodies strengthens a pitch-height mapping to the detriment of other possible mappings (e.g., pitch as bright/dark color or small/big size). Hence, entrenched pitch terms shape specific conceptualizations. The deterministic role of language is called into question by the hypothesis that different pitch mappings share a less constraining conceptual basis. As such, conceptual primitives may be concretizedad hocinto specific domains so that more local variation is possible. This claim is supported, for instance, by the finding that musicians use language-congruent (conventional) and language-incongruent (ad hoc) mappings interchangeably. The present paper substantiates this observation by investigating the head movements of musically trained and untrained speakers of Dutch in a melody reproduction task, as embodied instantiations of a vertical conceptualization of pitch. The OpenPose algorithm was used to track the movement trajectories in detail. The results show that untrained participants systematically made language-congruent movements, while trained participants showed more diverse behaviors, including language-incongruent movements. The difference between the two groups could not be attributed to the level of accuracy in the singing performances. In sum, this study argues for a joint consideration of more entrenched (e.g., linguistic metaphors) and more context-dependent (e.g., musical training and task) factors in accounting for variability in pitch representations.

The Pandemic as Financial Laboratory

COVID-19 quarantine measures impacted incomes, labour and housing situations in different ways, particularly in the domestic sphere. In Argentina, “financial inclusion” polices” were linked, on one hand to the “bankarization” of new sectors to access relief funds, and on the other to the proliferation of fintech to mediate the receipt of funds. Debt, as a way of privatizing the crisis in the ability to eat, protect and heal oneself, solves emergencies in the here and now and exploits and conditions future time. Household debt, as a specific articulation of gender mandates, extracts value from reproductive tasks. Household debt is also an index of public debt, its cascading down the social hierarchy, and, as such, allows for a simultaneous analysis of the micro and macro planes. Even prior to the health emergency, the expansion of financial technologies targeting the most precarious sectors was becoming an accelerator for taking out non-banking debt.

The use of digital solutions to realize the task of reproduction of production potential: application of software and hardware complexes for land monitoring

The article is devoted to the study of import substitution problems in the system-forming sectors of the economy. Special attention in this matter should be given to agricultural production, which is the basic industry for the formation of the country’s production potential and ensuring food security. The issue of the application of new domestic technologies for monitoring arable land is of particular relevance in the context of economic sanctions. The article presents theses and proposals for the implementation of the project of the introduction of domestic technologies for the organization of monitoring of arable land.