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Using two-character Chinese word targets in a masked priming lexical-decision task, Gu and colleagues (2015) demonstrated a significant transposed character (TC) priming effect. More importantly, the priming effect was the same size for single-morpheme words and multiple-morpheme words, suggesting that TC priming effects are not influenced by morphemic structure. In Chinese, there are, however, two types of single-morpheme words, single-morpheme simple words (e.g., [Chinese characters omitted] [similar to "practice" in English]) and single-morpheme complex words (e.g., [Chinese characters omitted] [similar to "carpet" in English in that both components are words themselves and, hence, when presented in transposed order, may activate morphological information reflecting the individual components rather than the word itself]), a contrast that Gu et al. did not examine. In Experiment 1, we replicated Gu et al.'s finding of equal TC priming effects for their single- and multiple-morpheme words, although our priming effects were noticeably smaller than theirs. In Experiment 2, we split the single-morpheme condition in order to examine the TC priming effects for single-morpheme simple words, single-morpheme complex words and multiple-morpheme words. The results showed that the single-morpheme complex words produced the smallest priming effect, indicating that transposed morphemes can influence masked priming in Chinese; however, apparently only in an inhibitory fashion.

The "recycling hypothesis" posits that the word recognition system is built upon minimal modifications to the neural architecture used in object recognition. In two masked priming lexical decision studies, we examined whether "mirror generalization," a phenomenon in object recognition, occurs in word recognition. In Study 1, we found that mirrored repetition and mirrored transposed letter primes elicited significant and equivalent priming effects for mirrored targets. In Study 2, we found that mirrored and non-mirrored repetition primes both significantly facilitated processing of mirrored targets, but the priming effect was much larger for non-mirrored primes. In both studies, we also found evidence of gender differences as females showed faster response times and a larger mirror priming effect compared to males. Taken together, we conclude that mirror generalization occurs in the early orthographic stage of word recognition, but not in the later stage of lexical access, and there is a gender difference when reading mirror words.

Perceptual learning accounts of orthographic coding predict that transposed-letter (TL) priming effects should be smaller when the prime and target stimuli are not presented in their canonical (left-to-right horizontal in English) orientation (Dehaene, Cohen, Sigman, & Vinckier, 2005; Grainger & Holcomb, 2009). In contrast, abstract letter unit accounts would propose that TL priming effects should be essentially unaffected by presenting stimuli in most unfamiliar text orientations (Witzel, Qiao, & Forster, 2011). In the present experiments, we examined masked TL priming effects with primes and targets presented in 3 different text orientations (e.g., 0 degrees, as well as 90 degrees and 180 degrees rotations). Results revealed that the magnitude of the TL priming effect with native English readers was equivalent for stimuli presented in these three orientations, providing support for abstract letter unit accounts of orthographic coding.

Does visuospatial orientation influence repetition and transposed character (TC) priming effects in logographic scripts? According to perceptual learning accounts, the nature of orthographic (form) priming effects should be influenced by text orientation (Dehaene, Cohen, Sigman, & Vinckier, 2005; Grainger & Holcomb, 2009). In contrast, Witzel, Qiao, and Forster's (2011) abstract letter unit account argues that the mechanism responsible for such effects acts at a totally abstract orthographic level (i.e., the visuospatial orientation is irrelevant to the nature of the relevant orthographic code). The present experiments expanded this debate beyond alphabetic scripts and the syllabic Kana script used by Witzel et al. to a logographic script (Chinese). Experiment 1 showed masked repetition and TC priming effects with primes and targets presented in both the conventional left-to-right horizontal orientation and the vertical top-to-bottom orientation, replicating Witzel et al. Experiment 2 showed masked repetition and TC priming effects even when both the primes and targets were presented in the right-to-left orientation, a rare but existent text orientation in Chinese. In Experiment 3, the primes, but not the targets, were presented in the right-to-left orientation. Priming effects were again obtained regardless of the fact that the primes and targets appeared in different orientations. Experiment 4, which involved primes and targets presented in a completely novel bottom-to-top orientation, also produced a TC priming effect. These results support abstract letter/character unit accounts of form priming effects while failing to support perceptual learning accounts.

Neurons can detect weak signals in noisy cellular environments and complex backgrounds. Channel blocks have a great impact on the initiation and propagation of action potentials for neurons. The effects of channel blocks and electromagnetic stimulus on weak signal detection are studied in Hodgkin–Huxley neuronal network. The results suggest that the weak signal detection and the neural discharge behaviors of the neural network can be suppressed by the sodium channel blockage, whereas the block of potassium channels will have a positive impact on the signal detection and neuronal firing. For moderate membrane patch size, there is an optimal ratio of non-blocked potassium channels that maximize improvement in the detection of weak signals and the regularity of the neuronal activities. The combined influence of the two channel blocks on weak signal detection can be modulated by the ratio between the number of the sodium channels and potassium channels that function properly. The electromagnetic stimulus can significantly ameliorate the damage caused by the poisoning of sodium ion channels. In addition, synchronization of the neural network can promote weak signal detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work focuses on a consensus problem of multi-agent systems (MASs) under an event-triggered control (ETC) subject to denial-of-service (DoS) jamming attacks. To reduce the communication cost, a novel event-triggering mechanism (ETM) is applied to determine whether the sampled signal should be transmitted or not. Unlike the periodic DoS jamming attacks strategy, the occurrence of DoS jamming attacks is irregular in this article, where attack attributes such as attack frequency and attack ratio are uncertain. Moreover, compared with some existing related results considering fixed undirected topologies, the communication topologies may change due to DoS jamming attacks in this work. In view of this, based on the piecewise Lyapunov function, sufficient conditions are derived to guarantee that the consensus problem of the MASs can be solved. Finally, the effectiveness and correctness of the theoretical results are verified by a numerical example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sweeping No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation seeks to impact U.S. education on a broad scale through provisions and mandates that target both resources and student outcomes. One NCLB mandate is to provide every student with a "highly qualified teacher." The mandate arises from growing evidence of the relationship between teacher qualifications and student achievement. Research draws a significant association between differences in student achievement and teacher effectiveness in the classroom (Wright, Horn, and Sanders 1997). Three reports--a 1999 study that used data from a fifty-state survey of policies, the 1993-94 Schools and Staffing Surveys (SASS), and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)--all expanded upon these findings. These studies found that teacher-quality variables accounted for 67 to 87 percent of total variance in student achievement (Darling Hammond 1999). Darling-Hammond determined that such teacher-quality characteristics as certification status and degree in a specific teaching field significantly and positively correlate with student outcomes. Furthermore, significant relationships with student achievement were evident even after controlling for student poverty and language background. This research highlights the critical importance of highly qualified teachers. In summary, the data indicated that overall, schools at risk had less-qualified new teachers. The less-qualified teaching force would further exacerbate the inequity already existing in those schools at risk. As a result, the teaching profession and the broader society face a serious equity issue.