Search results for " INTEGRATION"
showing 10 items of 1034 documents
Meaningful physical changes mediate lexical-semantic integration: top-down and form-based bottom-up information sources interact in the N400
2011
Models of how the human brain reconstructs an intended meaning from a linguistic input often draw upon the N400 event-related potential (ERP) component as evidence. Current accounts of the N400 emphasise either the role of contextually induced lexical preactivation of a critical word (Lau, Phillips,& Poeppel, 2008) or the ease of integration into the overall discourse context including a wide variety of influencing factors (Hagoort & van Berkum, 2007). The present ERP study challenges both types of accounts by demonstrating a contextually independent and purely form-based bottom-up influence on the N400: the N400 effect for implausible sentence-endings was attenuated when the critical sente…
The EEG and fMRI signatures of neural integration: An investigation of meaningful gestures and corresponding speech
2015
Abstract One of the key features of human interpersonal communication is our ability to integrate information communicated by speech and accompanying gestures. However, it is still not fully understood how this essential combinatory process is represented in the human brain. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have unanimously attested the relevance of activation in the posterior superior temporal sulcus/middle temporal gyrus (pSTS/MTG), while electroencephalography (EEG) studies have shown oscillatory activity in specific frequency bands to be associated with multisensory integration. In the current study, we used fMRI and EEG to separately investigate the anatomical and o…
Object size modulates fronto-parietal activity during reaching movements
2014
In both monkeys and humans, reaching-related sensorimotor transformations involve the activation of a wide fronto-parietal network. Recent neurophysiological evidence suggests that some components of this network host not only neurons encoding the direction of arm reaching movements, but also neurons whose involvement is modulated by the intrinsic features of an object (e.g. size and shape). To date, it has yet to be investigated whether a similar modulation is evident in the human reaching-related areas. To fill this gap, we asked participants to reach towards either a small or a large object while kinematic and electroencephalographic signals were recorded. Behavioral results showed that …
Electrophysiological correlates of cross-linguistic semantic integration in hearing signers : N400 and LPC
2014
We explored semantic integration mechanisms in native and non-native hearing users of sign language and non-signing controls. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants performed a semantic decision task for priming lexeme pairs. Pairs were presented either within speech or across speech and sign language. Target-related ERP responses were subjected to principal component analyses (PCA), and neurocognitive basis of semantic integration processes were assessed by analyzing the N400 and the late positive complex (LPC) components in response to spoken (auditory) and signed (visual) antonymic and unrelated targets. Semantically-related effects triggered across modali…
Differences in health status, health behaviour and healthcare utilisation between Immigrant and native homeless people in Spain: An exploratory study
2021
Few studies have examined the differences between immigrant and native-born homeless populations. Our aim was to conduct an exploratory study to examine the differences in health status, health behaviour and healthcare utilisation in a sample of Spanish immigrant and native homeless people. Study was conducted in eight different temporary accommodations in the Valencia region in August 2018. Overall, 86 participants were included in the analysis who answered questionnaires concerning socio-demographic characteristics, immigration status, health status and behaviour, healthcare utilisation and experienced discrimination in healthcare and health literacy. In total, 76.7% were men with a mean …
Contour integration with corners.
2016
Contour integration refers to the ability of the visual system to bind disjoint local elements into coherent global shapes. In cluttered images containing randomly oriented elements a contour becomes salient when its elements are coaligned with a smooth global trajectory, as described by the Gestalt law of good continuation. Abrupt changes of curvature strongly diminish contour salience. Here we show that by inserting local corner elements at points of angular discontinuity, a jagged contour becomes as salient as a straight one. We report results from detection experiments for contours with and without corner elements which indicate their psychophysical equivalence. This presents a challeng…
The Auditory Kuleshov Effect: Multisensory Integration in Movie Editing
2016
Almost a hundred years ago, the Russian filmmaker Lev Kuleshov conducted his now famous editing experiment in which different objects were added to a given film scene featuring a neutral face. It is said that the audience interpreted the unchanged facial expression as a function of the added object (e.g., an added soup made the face express hunger). This interaction effect has been dubbed “Kuleshov effect.” In the current study, we explored the role of sound in the evaluation of facial expressions in films. Thirty participants watched different clips of faces that were intercut with neutral scenes, featuring either happy music, sad music, or no music at all. This was crossed with the facia…
Subjective, behavioral, and physiological responses to the rubber hand illusion do not vary with age in the adult phase.
2018
[EN] The Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI) is a perceptual illusion that enables integration of artificial limbs into the body representation through combined multisensory integration. Most previous studies investigating the RHI have involved young healthy adults within a very narrow age range (typically 20-30 years old). The purpose of this paper was to determine the influence of age on the RHI. The RHI was performed on 93 healthy adults classified into three groups of age (20-35 years old, N = 41; 36-60 years old, N = 28; and 61-80 years old, N = 24), and its effects were measured with subjective (Embodiment of Rubber Hand Questionnaire), behavioral (proprioceptive drift), and physiological (cha…
Cortical Proprioceptive Processing Is Altered by Aging
2018
Proprioceptive perception is impaired with aging, but little is known about aging-related deterioration of proprioception at the cortical level. Corticokinematic coherence (CKC) between limb kinematic and magnetoencephalographic (MEG) signals reflects cortical processing of proprioceptive afference. We, thus, compared CKC strength to ankle movements between younger and older subjects, and examined whether CKC predicts postural stability. Fifteen younger (range 18-31 years) and eight older (66-73 years) sedentary volunteers were seated in MEG, while their right and left ankle joints were moved separately at 2 Hz (for 4 min each) using a novel MEG-compatible ankle-movement actuator. Coherence…
THE CAUSAL ROOTS OF INTEGRATION AND THE UNITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS
2016
A fundamental feature of consciousness is unity. The problem is whether unity is compatible both with the physical underpinnings of conscious experience and with the fabric of the physical world in general.