Vigilant attention mediates the association between resting EEG alpha oscillations and word learning ability.

Individuals exhibit considerable variability in their capacity to learn and retain new information, including novel vocabulary. Prior research has established the importance of vigilance and electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha rhythm in the learning process. However, the interplay between vigilant attention, EEG alpha oscillations, and an individual's word learning ability (WLA) remains elusive. To address this knowledge gap, here we conducted two experiments with a total of 140 young and middle-aged adults who underwent resting EEG recordings prior to completing a paired-associate word learning task and a psychomotor vigilance test (PVT). The results of both experiments consistently revealed significant positive correlations between WLA and resting EEG alpha oscillations in the occipital and frontal regions. Furthermore, the association between resting EEG alpha oscillations and WLA was mediated by vigilant attention, as measured by the PVT. These findings provide compelling evidence supporting the crucial role of vigilant attention in linking EEG alpha oscillations to an individual's learning ability.

Exploring Pragmatic Factors on the Logical Relationships of Conditional Reasoning: A Study of Counterfactual and Hypothetical Conditionals.

Previous theories have established the mental model activation of processing different types of conditionals, stating that counterfactual conditionals expressing events that contradict known facts (e.g., "If it had rained, then they would not go to the park.") are considered to trigger two mental models: (1) a hypothetical but factually wrong model (e.g., "rain" and "did not go to the park") and (2) a corresponding real-world model (e.g., "did not rain" and "went to the park"). This study aimed to investigate whether pragmatic factors differentially influence readers' comprehension and distinction between counterfactual and hypothetical conditional sentences in Mandarin Chinese. Participants were required to read and judge the comprehensibility of Chinese hypothetical and counterfactual conditionals, which were different in temporal indicators (past vs. future temporal indicators) in the antecedent. Different polarities (with vs. without negators) and different moving directions (different directional verbs: lai2 [come] vs. qu4 [go]) in the consequent were also manipulated. Linear mixed-effects models (LMEM) revealed that hypothetical conditionals (with future temporal indicators) were more comprehensible than counterfactual conditionals (with past temporal indicators). The semantic similarities within the subordinate clause revealed future temporal indicators had higher lexical-semantic co-occurrence than past indicators, suggesting that temporal indicators impact comprehension partly through lexical semantics in the premise, and hypothetical conditionals are more easily processed. However, the semantic similarity analysis of the main and the subordinate clauses showed no effect of temporal indicators, suggesting that lexical-semantic co-occurrence across clauses may not substantially contribute to the distinction between hypothetical conditionals and counterfactual conditionals. In conclusion, this study offers insights into the comprehension of Chinese conditional sentences by shedding light on the pragmatic factors influencing the activation of different mental models.

On-demand transposition across light-matter interaction regimes in bosonic cQED.

The diverse applications of light-matter interactions in science and technology stem from the qualitatively distinct ways these interactions manifest, prompting the development of physical platforms that can interchange between regimes on demand. Bosonic cQED employs the light field of high-Q superconducting cavities coupled to nonlinear circuit elements, harnessing the rich dynamics of their interaction for quantum information processing. However, implementing fast switching of the interaction regime without deteriorating the cavity coherence is a significant challenge. We present an experiment that achieves this feat, combining nanosecond-scale frequency tunability of a transmon coupled to a cavity with lifetime of hundreds of microseconds. Our implementation affords a range of useful capabilities for quantum information processing; from fast creation of cavity Fock states using resonant interaction and interchanging tomography techniques at qualitatively distinct interaction regimes on the fly, to the suppression of unwanted cavity-transmon dynamics during idle evolution. By bringing flux tunability into the bosonic cQED toolkit, our work opens up the possibility to probe the full range of light-matter interaction dynamics within a single platform and provides valuable pathways towards robust and versatile quantum information processing.

Temporal Shift Length and Antecedent Occurrence Likelihood Modulate Counterfactual Conditional Comprehension: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials.

Counterfactual conditionals posit hypothetical scenarios in which antecedent events contradict reality. This study examined whether and how the processing difficulty of Chinese counterfactual conditionals (yaobushi, equivalent to if it had not been for in English) can be affected by the length of temporal shifts of the events across clauses and the likelihood of the antecedent occurrence. Participants read Chinese counterfactuals that contained either long (e.g., qunian-xianzai [last year-right now]) or short temporal shifts (e.g., zuotian-xianzai [yesterday-right now]) within highly likely (e.g., sign up for school activity) or less likely contexts (e.g., sign up for Arctic scientific research). ERP results revealed a significant N400 interaction between the temporal shift length and antecedent likelihood on the temporal indicators in the consequent and the sentence-ending verbs. Specifically, the less likely events elicited larger negativity than highly likely events with short temporal shifts on the temporal indicator. On the sentence-ending word, the long temporal shift elicited enlarged negativity than the short temporal shift when the antecedent was highly likely. These findings have two key implications regarding the interplay of implied causality and falsity constraints during counterfactual comprehension. First, salient falsity constraints can override effects of causal coherence on processing. Second, greater negativity for unlikely antecedents suggests that counterfactual markers concurrently activate factual and hypothetical representations.

Insight-HXMT observations of jet-like corona in a black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070.

A black hole X-ray binary produces hard X-ray radiation from its corona and disk when the accreting matter heats up. During an outburst, the disk and corona co-evolves with each other. However, such an evolution is still unclear in both its geometry and dynamics. Here we report the unusual decrease of the reflection fraction in MAXI J1820+070, which is the ratio of the coronal intensity illuminating the disk to the coronal intensity reaching the observer, as the corona is observed to contrast during the decay phase. We postulate a jet-like corona model, in which the corona can be understood as a standing shock where the material flowing through. In this dynamical scenario, the decrease of the reflection fraction is a signature of the corona's bulk velocity. Our findings suggest that as the corona is observed to get closer to the black hole, the coronal material might be outflowing faster.