Creation of Chemically Tri-Layered Collagen Crosslinked Membranes and Their Comparison with Ionically Tri-Layered Chitosan Crosslinked Membranes to Study Human Skin Properties.

In 2009, a new European regulation came into force that forbade the use of animals in the cosmetics industry. As a result, new alternatives were sought, taking into account the new ethical considerations. The main objective of this article is to continue a line of research that aims to build a physical model of skin from a biomaterial scaffold composed of collagen, chitosan or a combination to investigate whether they offer similar behavior to human skin. Collagen, the major component in the dermis, was crosslinked with glutaraldehyde (GTA) to develop three formulations for studying some properties of the skin through rheological tests like swelling index, elasticity or water loss. In addition, this article makes a comparison with the results obtained in the previous article where the membranes were made of chitosan and tripolyphosphate (TPP). The results obtained highlight that the tri-layered membranes scaffold better than the mono-layered ones to increase the elastic modulus (G') and the permeability. Furthermore, they offer a protective effect against water loss compared to mono-layered membranes. As regards chitosan membranes, these have a higher G' modulus than collagen membranes when the degree of deacetylation (DDA) is 85%. However, collagen membranes are more elastic when the DDA of chitosan is 76%, and their linear viscoelastic limit (LVL) doubles that of chitosan membranes, both for the degree of acetylation of 76 and 85%.

Study of Elastin, Hydrolyzed Collagen and Collagen-like Products in a Tri-Layered Chitosan Membrane to Test Anti-Aging Skin Properties.

The use of animal testing in the cosmetic industry is already prohibited in more than 40 countries, including those of the EU. The pressure for it to be banned worldwide in the future is increasing, so the need for animal alternatives is of great interest today. In addition, using animals and humans in scientific research is ethically reprehensible. This study aimed to prove some of the anti-aging properties of elastin (EL), hydrolyzed collagen (HC), and two vegan collagen-like products (Veg Col) in a tri-layered chitosan membrane that was ionically crosslinked with sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP). In the first approach, as a way of representing different layers of a biological system, such as the epidermis and the two dermis sublayers, EL, HC, or Veg Col were independently introduced into the two inner layers (2L(i+b)). Their effects were compared with those of their introduction into three layers (3L). Different experiments were performed on the membrane to test its elasticity, hydration, moisture retention, and pore reduction at different concentrations of EL, HC, and Veg Col, and the results were normalized vs. a blank membrane. This new alternative to animal or human testing can be suitable for proving certain efficacy claims for active ingredients or products in the pharmaceutical, nutritional, and cosmetic fields.

Languages and Psychotherapy: The Effect of Foreign Language on Fear Extinction.

BACKGROUND: Using a foreign language can influence emotion modulation, but whether different psychotherapy processes would be affected by a foreign language is still unclear. The current study explored the foreign language effect on the extinction of fear. METHOD: During the conditioning phase, part of the neutral stimuli presented to the participants were associated with a threat, while they performed a countdown task in their native language. In the extinction phase, participants performed the same task either in their native/foreign language and were informed that the threat would no longer appear. We collected self-reports of fear, and pupil dilation and electrodermal activity as physiological measures of arousal. RESULTS: Extinction was successful, indicated by greater self-reported fear and pupil dilation during the threat condition compared to neutral in the conditioning phase, but no significant differences during extinction. Although the foreign language group presented higher arousal, fear extinction occurred regardless of the linguistic context. CONCLUSIONS: Fear extinction via verbal instructions is equally effective in a foreign and a native language context. These results indicate that evidence should be continue to be gathered on the role of foreign languages using basic paradigms with clinical applications.

Languages and Psychotherapy: The Effect of Foreign Language on Fear Extinction / Lenguas y Psicoterapia: El Efecto de la Lengua Extranjera en la Extinción del Miedo

Background: Using a foreign language can influence emotion modulation, but whether different psychotherapy processes would be affected by a foreign language is still unclear. The current study explored the foreign language effect on the extinction of fear. Method: During the conditioning phase, part of the neutral stimuli presented to the participants were associated with a threat, while they performed a countdown task in their native language. In the extinction phase, participants performed the same task either in their native/foreign language and were informed that the threat would no longer appear. We collected self-reports of fear, and pupil dilation and electrodermal activity as physiological measures of arousal. Results: Extinction was successful, indicated by greater self-reported fear and pupil dilation during the threat condition compared to neutral in the conditioning phase, but no significant differences during extinction. Although the foreign language group presented higher arousal, fear extinction occurred regardless of the linguistic context. Conclusions: Fear extinction via verbal instructions is equally effective in a foreign and a native language context. These results indicate that evidence should be continue to be gathered on the role of foreign languages using basic paradigms with clinical applications.(AU)

Antecedentes: Usar un idioma extranjero puede influir la modulación de las emociones, pero no está claro si su uso podría influir diferentes procesos psicoterapéuticos. Este estudio explora el efecto de la lengua extranjera en la extinción del miedo. Método: Durante el condicionamiento, parte de los estímulos presentados se asociaron a amenaza, mientras los participantes realizaban una tarea de cuenta regresiva en un contexto de lengua nativa. En la fase de extinción, se realizó la misma tarea en su lengua nativa/extranjera, y se informó de que ya no habría amenaza. Se recogieron autoinformes de miedo, así como dilatación de pupila y actividad electrodérmica como medidas fisiológicas de excitación. Resultados: La extinción fue satisfactoria, como muestran una mayor dilatación pupilar y los autoinformes de miedo al comparar las condiciones de amenaza y neutral en la fase de condicionamiento, y no encontrar diferencias significativas durante la extinción. Aunque el grupo de lengua extranjera presentó una mayor excitación, la extinción del miedo ocurre independientemente del contexto lingüístico. Conclusiones: La extinción del miedo mediante instrucciones verbales es igualmente eficaz en contexto de lengua extranjera y nativa. Estos resultados invitan a seguir reuniendo pruebas sobre el papel de las lenguas extranjeras mediante paradigmas con aplicaciones clínicas.(AU)

Estigma dirigido a pessoas com transtornos mentais: uma proposta para a formação médica do século XXI / Stigma towards the mentally ill: a proposal for the medical formation of the 21st century / Stigmatisation des porteurs de troubles mentaux: une proposition pour la formation médicale du XXIe siècle / El estigma dirigido a las personas con trastornos mentales: una propuesta para la formación médica del siglo XXI

Uma visão estigmatizada das pessoas com transtornos mentais está presente em parcelas significativas da sociedade, incluindo os profissionais de saúde, o que pode contribuir para uma baixa qualidade assistencial e dificuldade de acesso à saúde por parte dessa população. Diante desse problema, o artigo apresenta o relato de experiência curricular de uma escola médica privada, situada em uma capital do Sudeste brasileiro, de metodologia ativa, cujo cenário de prática ocorre inteiramente em uma Rede de Saúde Mental Comunitária do Sistema Único de Saúde - SUS. A avaliação dessa experiência concluiu que um modelo proposto contribuiu para a redução do estigma direcionada a portadores de transtornos mentais, além de ter sido avaliada positivamente pelos alunos. Para tanto, foi necessário a inclusão de estratégias educacionais que promovessem o convívio direto dos alunos com os portadores de transtornos mentais e o início do curso indicou ser um momento oportuno para oferecer esse tipo de atividade. A experiência também aponta que a colaboração eficaz entre a Universidade e o SUS pode promover mudanças positivas na formação em saúde mental de futuros médicos brasileiros.

Resumos Medical literature has shown that significant portions of the general population, including healthcare professionals, have a highly stigmatized view of mentally ill patients, which can lead to low quality health care and difficult access to treatment. To address this issue, we evaluated the mental health syllabus of a private medical school located in the capital city of a Southeastern Brazil State. That syllabus was conceived based on active educational methodology and in partnership with the local public mental health system, where all the practical academic activities took place. We conclude that the suggested model decreased stigmatization of the mentally ill among medical students and was positively evaluated by them. To achieve that goal, educational strategies had to be included that promote direct interaction of students with mentally ill patients and the beginning of medical school seems to be the right moment to offer this type of activity. This experience also showed that an efficient collaboration between the university and the Brazilian public health system may promote positive changes in mental health training of future Brazilian physicians.

Une grande partie de la société, y compris les professionnels de santé, stigmatise les porteurs de troubles mentaux. Cette attitude peut contribuer à diminuer la qualité de leur prise en charge et complique leur accès au système de santé. Dans ce contexte, cet article présente le cas d'une expérience de cursus au sein d'une faculté de médecine privée située dans une capitale de la région Sud-Est du Brésil. Il s'agit d'une méthodologie active dont les activités pratiques ont été réalisées au sein du Réseau de Santé Mentale Communautaire du Système Unique de Santé. L'évaluation de cette expérience a conclu que ce nouveau modèle proposé a contribué à diminuer la stigmatisation envers les porteurs de troubles mentaux. Les étudiants se sont également manifestés en faveur de cette approche. Pour mener à bien ce projet, il a été nécessaire de faire usage de stratégies éducationnelles qui ont permis de mettre en contact direct les étudiants et les porteurs de troubles mentaux. Le début du cours de médecine s'est avéré être le bon moment pour offrir ce type d'activités. Cette expérience a également démontré qu'une collaboration efficace entre l'Université et le Système Public de Santé peut donner lieu à des changements positifs dans le cadre de la formation en santé mentale des médecins brésiliens du futur.

La visión estigmatizada de las personas con trastornos mentales está presente en una parte significativa de la sociedad, incluyendo en los profesionales de salud, fenómeno que puede contribuir a una baja calidad asistencial y a la dificultad de acceso a la salud por parte de esa población. Ante esta problemática, el artículo presenta el relato de la experiencia curricular de una facultad privada de medicina, una facultad de metodología activa ubicada en una capital de la región sureste de Brasil, cuyo escenario de práctica ocurre en su totalidad en una Red Comunitaria de Salud Mental del Sistema Público de Salud. La evaluación de esta experiencia concluyó que un modelo propuesto contribuyó a la reducción del estigma dirigido a las personas con trastornos mentales, además de haber sido evaluado positivamente por los estudiantes. Para ello, fue necesario incluir estrategias educativas que promovieran el contacto directo entre los estudiantes y las personas con trastornos mentales, y el inicio del curso se mostró como el momento oportuno para ofrecer este tipo de actividad. La experiencia también señala que la colaboración efectiva entre la universidad y el sistema público de salud puede promover cambios positivos en la formación en salud mental de los futuros médicos brasileños.

On the flexibility of the sound-to-meaning mapping when listening to native and foreign-accented speech.

Extracting linguistic information from the speech signal is critical to successfully communicate with others. We usually carry out this sound-to-meaning mapping easily, but this process may be hampered under adverse listening conditions. Thus, exploring whether foreign accents might affect the sound-to-meaning mapping is particularly relevant, as interactions with these speakers are increasingly common in the globalized world. In this study, we conducted a cross-modal priming task, in which participants (N = 24) were presented with auditory primes uttered by a native or by a French foreign-accented speaker of Spanish, and with visual targets that had different degrees of relatedness to the prime: repeated, semantically related, or unrelated words. Behavioral and EEG measures were analyzed, and we found a significant relatedness effect (i.e., a processing advantage for repeated compared to related words, and for the latter compared to unrelated words). However, speakers' accents had no effect on the results. To further explore the potential effect of speakers' accent on the sound-to-meaning mapping, we conducted a second study, in which participants (N = 22) were presented with the same task, although in this case primes were uttered by the same native speaker as in the previous experiment, and by a German foreign-accented speaker with a stronger accent. We replicated the results observed in the first study. Taken together, our results show moderate evidence that speakers' accent does not affect the sound-to-meaning mapping, suggesting that this is a robust and flexible process that is not compromised by auditory variables related to speakers' characteristics.

The source of attention modulations in bilingual language contexts.

Bilinguals who switch from a monolingual context to a bilingual context enhance their domain-general attentional system. But what drives the adaptation process and translates into the observed increased efficiency of the attentional system? To uncover the origin of the plasticity in a bilingual's language experience, we investigated whether switching between other types of categories also modulated domain-general attentional processes. We compared performance of Catalan-Spanish bilinguals across three experiments in which participants performed the Attentional Network Test in a mixed context and in two single contexts that were created by interleaving words with flankers. The contexts were related to switching (or not) between languages (Experiment-1) or between low-level perceptual color categories (Experiment-2) or between linguistic categories (Experiment-3). Both switching between languages and linguistic categories revealed increased target-P3 amplitudes in mixed contexts compared to single contexts. These findings can inform the Inhibitory Control model regarding the locus and domain-generality of attentional adaptations.

Rapid attentional adaptations due to language (monolingual vs bilingual) context.

Does our general attentional system adapt to the language context we are in? Bilinguals switch between contexts in which only one language is present or both languages are equiprobable. Previous research by Wu and Thierry (2013) suggested that the bilingual language context can modify the workings of inhibitory control mechanisms. Here we investigate whether this can be replicated and whether other attentional mechanisms (alerting and orienting) also adjust depending on whether we are in a bilingual or a monolingual situation. Bilinguals performed the Attentional Network Task (ANT) task, which allows us to measure three types of attentional processes: alerting, orienting and executive control. Crucially, while performing the ANT task, participants also saw words presented in only one language (e.g., Catalan; monolingual context) or in two languages (Catalan and Spanish; bilingual context); this allowed us to assess whether the three attentional processes would be modified by language context. Compared to the monolingual context, in the bilingual context the target-P3 amplitude was enhanced for the alerting and executive control networks but not for the orienting network. This suggests that bilinguals' state of alertness was enhanced when surrounded by words from two languages. Exploratory analyses reveal that within the bilingual context, language switches have an alerting effect, as indexed by a greater target-N1, thus impacting upcoming visual processing of the flanker. Response hand activation is speeded up for congruent trials in a similar way that arbitrary alerting cues speed them up. This speed-up was reflected in a greater LRP in the bilingual context, but it was not reflected in behavioral measures (RTs or ACC). Thus, a bilingual context can enhance attentional capacity towards non-linguistic information. It also reveals how flexible the cognitive system is.

Early detection of language categories in face perception.

Does language categorization influence face identification? The present study addressed this question by means of two experiments. First, to establish language categorization of faces, the memory confusion paradigm was used to create two language categories of faces, Spanish and English. Subsequently, participants underwent an oddball paradigm, in which faces that had been previously paired with one of the two languages (Spanish or English), were presented. We measured EEG perceptual differences (vMMN) between standard and two types of deviant faces: within-language category (faces sharing language with standards) or between-language category (faces paired with the other language). Participants were more likely to confuse faces within the language category than between categories, an index that faces were categorized by language. At the neural level, early vMMN were obtained for between-language category faces, but not for within-language category faces. At a later stage, however, larger vMMNs were obtained for those faces from the same language category. Our results showed that language is a relevant social cue that individuals used to categorize others and this categorization subsequently affects face perception.

Creation of Ionically Crosslinked Tri-Layered Chitosan Membranes to Simulate Different Human Skin Properties.

In 2023, new legislation will ban the use of animals in the cosmetic industry worldwide. This fact, together with ethical considerations concerning the use of animals or humans in scientific research, highlights the need to propose new alternatives for replacing their use. The aim of this study is to create a tri-layered chitosan membrane ionically crosslinked with sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) in order to simulate the number of layers in human skin. The current article highlights the creation of a membrane where pores were induced by a novel method. Swelling index, pore creation, and mechanical property measurements revealed that the swelling index of chitosan membranes decreased and, their pore formation and elasticity increased with an increase in the Deacetylation Grade (DDA). Additionally, the results demonstrate that chitosan's origin can influence the elastic modulus value and reproducibility, with higher values being obtained with seashell than snow crab or shrimp shells. Furthermore, the data show that the addition of each layer, until reaching three layers, increases the elastic modulus. Moreover, if layers are crosslinked, the elastic modulus increases to a much greater extent. The characterization of three kinds of chitosan membranes was performed to find the most suitable material for studying different human skin properties.

Foreign Language Processing Undermines Affect Labeling.

Identifying emotional states and explicitly putting them into words, known as affect labeling, reduces amygdala activation. Crucially, bilinguals do not only label emotions in their native language; they sometimes do it in their foreign language as well. However, one's foreign languages are less emotional and more cognitively demanding than one's native language. Because of these differences, it is unclear whether labeling emotions in a foreign language will also cause downregulation of affect. Here, 26 unbalanced bilinguals were scanned while labeling emotional faces either in their native or foreign languages. Results on affect labeling in a foreign language revealed that not only did it not reduce amygdala activation, but it also evoked higher activation than affect labeling in a native language. Overall, foreign language processing undermines affect labeling, and it suggests that the language in which people name their emotions has important consequences in how they experience them. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-021-00039-9.

Active bilingualism delays the onset of mild cognitive impairment.

Lifelong bilingualism may contribute to cognitive reserve (CR) in neurodegenerative diseases as shown by a delay of the age at symptom onset in bilinguals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). However, some studies have failed to show this bilingual advantage, suggesting that it might depend on the type and degree of bilingualism. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that active bilingualism, defined as the continuous use of the two languages as opposed to second language exposition only, may protect against cognitive decline. Moreover, we investigated whether bilingualism as a CR factor may be explained by an advantage within the executive control (EC) system. To do so, we collected clinical measures (age at onset of cognitive symptoms, age at the first medical visit for cognitive impairments, and age at diagnosis) in patients with MCI and patients with AD with different degrees of language experience and usage of Catalan and Spanish. Additionally, all participants were tested on four EC tasks and one long-term memory recognition task. First, results from multiple regression analyses showed that active bilingualism was a significant predictor of delay in the age at onset for all the clinical measures in MCI, but not AD patients. Second, the effect of active bilingualism was independent of occupation, educational level and job attainment across the individuals' lifespan. Finally, although we did not find an effect of active bilingualism across all EC tasks, we did find an effect for conflict resolution. These results are discussed in the context of CR hypotheses, suggesting that compensatory mechanisms may play a role in protecting against cognitive decline.

A cross-sectional and longitudinal study on the protective effect of bilingualism against dementia using brain atrophy and cognitive measures.

BACKGROUND: Evidence from previous studies suggests that bilingualism contributes to cognitive reserve because bilinguals manifest the first symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD) up to 5 years later than monolinguals. Other cross-sectional studies demonstrate that bilinguals show greater amounts of brain atrophy and hypometabolism than monolinguals, despite sharing the same diagnosis and suffering from the same symptoms. However, these studies may be biased by possible pre-existing between-group differences. METHODS: In this study, we used global parenchymal measures of atrophy and cognitive tests to investigate the protective effect of bilingualism against dementia cross-sectionally and prospectively, using a sample of bilinguals and monolinguals in the same clinical stage and matched on sociodemographic variables. RESULTS: Our results suggest that the two groups did not differ in their cognitive status at baseline, but bilinguals had less parenchymal volume than monolinguals, especially in areas related to brain atrophy in dementia. In addition, a longitudinal prospective analysis revealed that monolinguals lost more parenchyma and had more cognitive decline than bilinguals in a mean follow-up period of 7 months. CONCLUSION: These results provide the first prospective evidence that bilingualism may act as a neuroprotective factor against dementia and could be considered a factor in cognitive reserve.

Influence of Gesture and Linguistic Experience on Sign Perception.

In the past years, there has been a significant increase in the number of people learning sign languages. For hearing second language (L2) signers, acquiring a sign language involves acquiring a new language in a different modality. Exploring how L2 sign perception is accomplished and how newly learned categories are created is the aim of the present study. In particular, we investigated handshape perception by means of two tasks, identification and discrimination. In two experiments, we compared groups of hearing L2 signers and groups with different knowledge of sign language. Experiment 1 explored three groups of children-hearing L2 signers, deaf signers, and hearing nonsigners. All groups obtained similar results in both identification and discrimination tasks regardless of sign language experience. In Experiment 2, two groups of adults-Catalan sign language learners (LSC) and nonsigners-perceived handshapes that could be permissible (either as a sign or as a gesture) or not. Both groups obtained similar results in both tasks and performed significantly different perceiving handshapes depending on their permissibility. The results obtained here suggest that sign language experience is not a determinant factor in handshape perception and support other hypotheses considering gesture experience.

Honesty Speaks a Second Language.

Theories of dishonest behavior implicitly assume language independence. Here, we investigated this assumption by comparing lying by people using a foreign language versus their native tongue. Participants rolled a die and were paid according to the outcome they reported. Because the outcome was private, they could lie to inflate their profit without risk of repercussions. Participants performed the task either in their native language or in a foreign language. With native speakers of Hebrew, Korean, Spanish, and English, we discovered that, on average, people inflate their earnings less when they use a foreign language. The outcome is explained by a dual system account that suggests that self-serving dishonesty is an automatic tendency, which is supported by a fast and intuitive system. Because using a foreign language is less intuitive and automatic, it might engage more deliberation and reduce the temptation to lie. These findings challenge theories of ethical behavior to account for the role of the language in shaping ethical behavior.

On the Nature of the Word-Reduction Phenomenon: The Contribution of Bilingualism.

Word reduction refers to how predictable words are shortened in features such as duration, intensity, or pitch. However, its origin is still unclear: Are words reduced because it is the second time that conceptual representations are activated, or because words are articulated twice? If word reduction is conceptually driven, it would be irrelevant whether the same referent is mentioned twice but using different words. However, if is articulatory, using different words for the same referent could prevent word reduction. In the present work, we use bilingualism to explore the conceptual or articulatory origin of word reduction in language production. Word reduction was compared in two conditions: a non-switch condition, where the two mentions of a referent were uttered in the same language, and a switch condition, where the referent was said in both languages. Dyads of participants completed collaborative maps in which words were uttered twice in Catalan or in Spanish, either repeating or switching the language between mentions. Words were equally reduced in duration, intensity, and pitch in non-switch and in switch conditions. Furthermore, the cognate status of words did not play any role. These findings support the theory that word reduction is conceptually driven.

Semantic Processing in Bilingual Aphasia: Evidence of Language Dependency.

Individuals with aphasia frequently show lexical retrieval deficits due to increased interference of semantically related competitors, a phenomenon that can be observed in tasks such as naming pictures grouped by semantic category. These deficits are explained in terms of impaired semantic control, a set of abilities that are to some extent dependent upon executive control (EC). However, the extent to which semantic control abilities can be affected in a second and non-dominant language has not been extensively explored. Additionally, findings in healthy individuals are inconclusive regarding the degree to which semantic processing is shared between languages. In this study, we explored the effect of brain damage on semantic processing by comparing the performance of bilingual individuals with aphasia on tasks involving semantic control during word production and comprehension. Furthermore, we explored whether semantic deficits are related to domain-general EC deficits. First, we investigated the naming performance of Catalan-Spanish bilinguals with fluent aphasia and age-matched healthy controls on a semantically blocked cyclic naming task in each of their two languages (Catalan and Spanish). This task measured semantic interference in terms of the difference in naming latencies between pictures grouped by the same semantic category or different categories. Second, we explored whether lexical deficits extend to comprehension by testing participants in a word-picture matching task during a mixed language condition. Third, we used a conflict monitoring task to explore the presence of EC deficits in patients with aphasia. We found two main results. First, in both language tasks, bilingual patients' performances were more affected than those of healthy controls when they performed the task in their non-dominant language. Second, there was a significant correlation between the speed of processing on the EC task and the magnitude of the semantic interference effect exclusively in the non-dominant language. Taken together, these results suggest that lexical retrieval may be selectively impaired in bilinguals within those conditions where semantic competition is higher, i.e.,- in their non-dominant language; this could possibly be explained by an excessive amount of inhibition placed upon this language. Moreover, lexico-semantic impairments seem to be at least somewhat related to conflict monitoring deficits, suggesting a certain degree of overlap between EC and semantic control.

Are you really cursing? Neural processing of taboo words in native and foreign language.

The use of socially opprobrious words (taboo words) is a cross-cultural phenomenon occurring between individuals from almost all social extractions. The neurocognitive correlates of using taboo words in the native language (L1) as compared to their use in a second (L2) language are largely unknown. We used fMRI to investigate the processing of taboo and non-taboo stimuli in monolinguals (Experiment 1) and highly proficient bilinguals (Experiment 2) engaged in lexical decision tasks. We report that for L1 socio-pragmatic knowledge is automatically conveyed and taboo words are processed with less effort than non-taboo words. For L2 the processing of taboo words is more effortful and engages additional structures (anterior cingulate cortex, insula) involved in social-norm representation and evaluation. Our results contribute to understand the interface between language and social-norm processing indicating that lexical processing is affected by socio-pragmatic knowledge, but only when the speaker has a contextual use of the language.

Brain networks involved in accented speech processing.

We investigated the neural correlates of accented speech processing (ASP) with an fMRI study that overcame prior limitations in this line of research: we preserved intelligibility by using two regional accents that differ in prosody but only mildly in phonetics (Latin American and Castilian Spanish), and we used independent component analysis to identify brain networks as opposed to isolated regions. ASP engaged a speech perception network composed primarily of structures related with the processing of prosody (cerebellum, putamen, and thalamus). This network also included anterior fronto-temporal areas associated with lexical-semantic processing and a portion of the inferior frontal gyrus linked to executive control. ASP also recruited domain-general executive control networks related with cognitive demands (dorsal attentional and default mode networks) and the processing of salient events (salience network). Finally, the reward network showed a preference for the native accent, presumably revealing people's sense of social belonging.

Error-based learning and lexical competition in word production: Evidence from multilingual naming.

We tested whether learning associated to lexical selection is error-based, and whether lexical selection is competitive by assessing the after-effects of producing words on subsequent production of semantic competitors differing in degree of error (translation equivalents). Speakers named pictures or words in one language (part A), and then named the same set of pictures (old set) and a new set in another language (part B). RTs for the old set (i.e., translation equivalents) were larger than for the new set (i.e., items which not have been named previously in another language). Supporting that learning is error-based, this cost was mostly larger after naming in a language with a higher degree of error (L2 vs. L1). Supporting that lexical selection is competitive, after naming in a language with a high degree of error (L3), the cost was larger for naming in another language with a high degree of error (L2 vs. L1).