Mobilize Is a Verb: The Use of Verbs and Concrete Language Is Associated With Authors' and Readers' Perceptions of a Text's Action Orientation and Persuasiveness.

In three studies, we investigated the role of linguistic features characterizing texts aiming to mobilize others. In Study 1 (N = 728), participants produced a leaflet either mobilizing others to engage in an action or expressing their thoughts about that action, and evaluated how action-oriented their text was. Mobilizing texts included more verbs and concrete words, and the presence of these linguistic characteristics was positively linked to participants' evaluations of their messages as action-oriented. In Studies 2 and 3 (N = 557 and N = 556), independent groups of participants evaluated texts produced in Study 1. Readers' perceptions of texts as action-oriented were associated with the same linguistic features as in Study 1 and further positively linked to perceived message effectiveness (Study 2) and behavioral intention (Study 3). The studies reveal how encoding and decoding of verbs and concrete words serve as distinct persuasive tools in calls to action.

Why do owls have it worse? Mediating role of self-perceptions in the links between diurnal preference and features of mental health.

Recent research provides evidence for the negative social perceptions of evening chronotypes and their consequences on mental health. However, there is a lack of studies indicating whether these negative, socially shared beliefs may become internalized in negative self-perceptions of evening-types (E-types). The present article provides a seminal empirical analysis of the role of self-liking and self-competence in the associations between chronotype and both depressiveness and well-being. In the first part of the study, the participants completed the Composite Scale of Morningness. On the basis of the chronotype cut-off criteria for Composite Scale of Morningness distribution, 100 individuals were classified as morning-types (M-types) and 66 individuals as E-types. Therefore, 166 participants (80 women and 86 men) aged 18-36 years (M ± SD: 29.27 ± 4.81 years) took part in the second part of the study, and completed questionnaires measuring self-liking, self-competence, life satisfaction, positive and negative affect, and depressiveness. Results show that E-types scored lower in self-liking, self-competence and subjective well-being, and higher in depressive symptoms than M-types. Controlling for age and gender, we obtained significant mediation effects, showing that the relationship between chronotype and subjective well-being might stem from the lower levels of self-liking and self-competence among E-types, and that the relationship between chronotype and depressive symptoms might stem from the lower level of self-liking among E-types. Our results suggest that self-liking and self-competence are important antecedents of lower well-being and higher depressiveness reported by E-types. Socially shared stereotypes of M-types and E-types can be internalized by the extreme chronotypes, which may significantly affect their psychological health.

Linguistic and emotional responses evoked by pseudoword presentation: An EEG and behavioral study.

When the semantic properties of words are turned off, such as in pseudowords, the grammatical properties of the stimuli indicated through suffixes may provide cues to the meaning. The application of electroencephalography (EEG), combined with the pseudoword paradigm, allows for evaluating the effects of verbs and nouns as linguistic categories within the time course of processing. To contribute to the ongoing discussion regarding the functional processing of words from different grammatical classes, we conducted an EEG experiment, followed by a behavioral lexical decision task (LDT). The EEG and LDT indicated different neural and behavioral reactions to the presented grammar classes, allowing for a deeper understanding of the neuro- and psycholinguistic dimensions of grammar.

Resting-state fMRI functional connectivity of the left temporal parietal junction is associated with visual temporal order threshold.

The study aimed to determine the relationship between the millisecond timing, measured by visual temporal order threshold (TOT), i.e. a minimum gap between two successive stimuli necessary to judge a before-after relation, and resting-state fMRI functional connectivity (rsFC). We assume that the TOT reflects a relatively stable feature of local internal state networks and is associated with rsFC of the temporal parietal junction (TPJ). Sixty five healthy young adults underwent the visual TOT, fluid intelligence (Gf) and an eyes-open resting-state fMRI examination. After controlling for the influence of gender, the higher the TOT, the stronger was the left TPJ's rsFC with the left postcentral and the right precentral gyri, bilateral putamen and the right supplementary motor area. When the effects of Gf and TOT × Gf interaction were additionally controlled, the TOT-left TPJ's rsFC relationship survived for almost all above regions with the exception of the left and right putamen. This is the first study demonstrating that visual TOT is associated with rsFC between the areas involved both in sub-second timing and motor control. Current outcomes indicate that the local neural networks are prepared to process brief, rapidly presented, consecutive events, even in the absence of such stimulation.

Constructing Pseudowords with Constraints on Morphological Features - Application for Polish Pseudonouns and Pseudoverbs.

Pseudowords allow researchers to investigate multiple grammatical or syntactic aspects of language processing. In order to serve that purpose, pseudoword stimuli need to preserve certain properties of real language. We provide a Python-based pipeline for the generation of pseudoword stimuli that sound/read naturally in a given language. The pseudowords are designed to resemble real words and clearly indicate their grammatical class for languages that use specific suffixes from parts of speech. We also provide two sets of pseudonouns and pseudoverbs in Polish that are outcomes of the applied pipeline. The sets are equipped with psycholinguistically relevant properties of words, such as orthographic Levenshtein distance 20. We also performed two studies (overall N = 640) to test the validity of the algorithmically constructed stimuli in a human sample. Thus, we present stimuli that were deprived of direct meaning yet are clearly classifiable as grammatical categories while being orthographically and phonologically plausible.

The verb-self link: An implicit association test study.

Agency is defined as the ability to assign and pursue goals. Given people's focus on achieving their own goals, agency has been found to be strongly linked to the self. In two studies (N = 168), we examined whether this self-agency link is visible from a linguistic perspective. As the preferred grammatical category to convey agency is verbs, we hypothesize that, in the Implicit Association Test (IAT), verbs (vs. nouns) would be associated more strongly with the self (vs. others). Our results confirmed this hypothesis. Participants exhibited particularly fast responses when reading self-related stimuli (e.g., "me" or "my") and verb stimuli (e.g., "deflect" or "contemplate") both necessitated pressing an identical rather than different response keys in the IAT (d = .25). The finding connects two streams of literature-on the link between agency and verbs and on the link between self and agency-suggesting a triad between self, agency, and verbs. We argue that this verb-self link (1) opens up new perspectives for understanding linguistic expressions of agency and (2) expands our understanding of how word choice impacts socio-cognitive processing.

SUPFUNSIM: Spatial Filtering Toolbox for EEG.

Brain activity pattern recognition from EEG or MEG signal analysis is one of the most important method in cognitive neuroscience. The SUPFUNSIM library is a new MATLAB toolbox which generates accurate EEG forward model and implements a collection of spatial filters for EEG source reconstruction, including the linearly constrained minimum-variance (LCMV), eigenspace LCMV, nulling (NL), and minimum-variance pseudo-unbiased reduced-rank (MV-PURE) filters in various versions. It also enables source-level directed connectivity analysis using partial directed coherence (PDC) measure. The SUPFUNSIM library is based on the well-known FIELDTRIP toolbox for EEG and MEG analysis and is written using object-oriented programming paradigm. The resulting modularity of the toolbox enables its simple extensibility. This paper gives a complete overview of the toolbox from both developer and end-user perspectives, including description of the installation process and use cases.

Spatiotemporal complexity patterns of resting-state bioelectrical activity explain fluid intelligence: Sex matters.

Neural complexity is thought to be associated with efficient information processing but the exact nature of this relation remains unclear. Here, the relationship of fluid intelligence (gf) with the resting-state EEG (rsEEG) complexity over different timescales and different electrodes was investigated. A 6-min rsEEG blocks of eyes open were analyzed. The results of 119 subjects (57 men, mean age = 22.85 ± 2.84 years) were examined using multivariate multiscale sample entropy (mMSE) that quantifies changes in information richness of rsEEG in multiple data channels at fine and coarse timescales. gf factor was extracted from six intelligence tests. Partial least square regression analysis revealed that mainly predictors of the rsEEG complexity at coarse timescales in the frontoparietal network (FPN) and the temporo-parietal complexities at fine timescales were relevant to higher gf. Sex differently affected the relationship between fluid intelligence and EEG complexity at rest. In men, gf was mainly positively related to the complexity at coarse timescales in the FPN. Furthermore, at fine and coarse timescales positive relations in the parietal region were revealed. In women, positive relations with gf were mostly observed for the overall and the coarse complexity in the FPN, whereas negative associations with gf were found for the complexity at fine timescales in the parietal and centro-temporal region. These outcomes indicate that two separate time pathways (corresponding to fine and coarse timescales) used to characterize rsEEG complexity (expressed by mMSE features) are beneficial for effective information processing.

Electrophysiological correlates of focused attention on low- and high-distressed tinnitus.

OBJECTIVES: The study aimed at determining the EEG correlates of concentration on either low or high-distressed tinnitus. METHODS: Sixty-seven patients (36 women, mean age = 50.34 ± 12.94 years) with chronic tinnitus were assigned to either a high (HD) or low (LD) tinnitus-related distress group based on THI results. All participants took part in the EEG study comprising two 3-4 min blocks of focusing on either tinnitus (Tinnitus Focus Condition, TFC) or the sensations from one's own body (Body Focus Condition, BFC). The absolute power and current density of 8 frequency bands in 7 clusters were compared between conditions and groups. RESULTS: The most pronounced differences were found in the HD patients in the TFC, relative to the BFC, i.e. reduced power of frontally distributed low alpha (8-10 Hz) and posterior high alpha (10-12 Hz) as well as lower current density of 8-10 Hz rhythm over the right frontal/anterior cingulate cortex and higher middle beta (15-18 Hz) density in the precuneus. The HD, relative to LD patients, in both conditions, exhibited increased low beta (12-15 Hz) power over the left middle area and greater higher beta (15-25 Hz) power in the left posterior region. CONCLUSIONS: The present study contrasted bioelectrical activity, acquired when concentrating on tinnitus with EEG data collected whilst patients focused on their body. Decreased alpha power and current density in the frontal/cingulate cortex when listening to bothersome tinnitus might reflect greater cortical arousal whereas increased beta power and density in the precuneus/posterior cingulate activity in this condition could be indicative for elevated tension or augmented cognitive/emotional processing of tinnitus sound. Enhanced beta rhythm in patients with high versus low tinnitus distress, observed independently of the study condition, may be due to greater self-focused attention or more active processing of sensations derived from the own body.

The levels of perceptual processing and the neural correlates of increasing subjective visibility.

According to the levels-of-processing hypothesis, transitions from unconscious to conscious perception may depend on stimulus processing level, with more gradual changes for low-level stimuli and more dichotomous changes for high-level stimuli. In an event-related fMRI study we explored this hypothesis using a visual backward masking procedure. Task requirements manipulated level of processing. Participants reported the magnitude of the target digit in the high-level task, its color in the low-level task, and rated subjective visibility of stimuli using the Perceptual Awareness Scale. Intermediate stimulus visibility was reported more frequently in the low-level task, confirming prior behavioral results. Visible targets recruited insulo-fronto-parietal regions in both tasks. Task effects were observed in visual areas, with higher activity in the low-level task across all visibility levels. Thus, the influence of level of processing on conscious perception may be mediated by attentional modulation of activity in regions representing features of consciously experienced stimuli.

Transition of the functional brain network related to increasing cognitive demands.

Network neuroscience provides tools that can easily be used to verify main assumptions of the global workspace theory (GWT), such as the existence of highly segregated information processing during effortless tasks performance, engagement of multiple distributed networks during effortful tasks and the critical role of long-range connections in workspace formation. A number of studies support the assumptions of GWT by showing the reorganization of the whole-brain functional network during cognitive task performance; however, the involvement of specific large scale networks in the formation of workspace is still not well-understood. The aims of our study were: (1) to examine changes in the whole-brain functional network under increased cognitive demands of working memory during an n-back task, and their relationship with behavioral outcomes; and (2) to provide a comprehensive description of local changes that may be involved in the formation of the global workspace, using hub detection and network-based statistic. Our results show that network modularity decreased with increasing cognitive demands, and this change allowed us to predict behavioral performance. The number of connector hubs increased, whereas the number of provincial hubs decreased when the task became more demanding. We also found that the default mode network (DMN) increased its connectivity to other networks while decreasing connectivity between its own regions. These results, apart from replicating previous findings, provide a valuable insight into the mechanisms of the formation of the global workspace, highlighting the role of the DMN in the processes of network integration. Hum Brain Mapp 38:3659-3674, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.