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When we feel connected or engaged during social behavior, are our brains in fact “in sync” in a formal, quantifiable sense? Most studies addressing this question use highly controlled tasks with homogenous subject pools. In an effort to take a more naturalistic approach, we collaborated with art institutions to crowdsource neuroscience data: Over the course of 5 years, we collected electroencephalogram (EEG) data from thousands of museum and festival visitors who volunteered to engage in a 10-min face-to-face interaction. Pairs of participants with various levels of familiarity sat inside the Mutual Wave Machine—an artistic neurofeedback installation that translates real-time correlations of each pair's EEG activity into light patterns. Because such inter-participant EEG correlations are prone to noise contamination, in subsequent offline analyses we computed inter-brain coupling using Imaginary Coherence and Projected Power Correlations, two synchrony metrics that are largely immune to instantaneous, noise-driven correlations. When applying these methods to two subsets of recorded data with the most consistent protocols, we found that pairs’ trait empathy, social closeness, engagement, and social behavior (joint action and eye contact) consistently predicted the extent to which their brain activity became synchronized, most prominently in low alpha (~7–10 Hz) and beta (~20–22 Hz) oscillations. These findings support an account where shared engagement and joint action drive coupled neural activity and behavior during dynamic, naturalistic social interactions. To our knowledge, this work constitutes a first demonstration that an interdisciplinary, real-world, crowdsourcing neuroscience approach may provide a promising method to collect large, rich datasets pertaining to real-life face-to-face interactions. Additionally, it is a demonstration of how the general public can participate and engage in the scientific process outside of the laboratory. Institutions such as museums, galleries, or any other organization where the public actively engages out of self-motivation, can help facilitate this type of citizen science research, and support the collection of large datasets under scientifically controlled experimental conditions. To further enhance the public interest for the out-of-the-lab experimental approach, the data and results of this study are disseminated through a website tailored to the general public (wp.nyu.edu/mutualwavemachine).

Previous studies have confirmed stem morphemes (e.g., book ) are identified in any position (e.g., in both bookmark and textbook ) but prefixes and suffixes (e.g., re - in replay and - er in player ) cannot be recognized when moved from their typical word-initial or word-final locations. However, English words with multiple affixes (e.g., unresolved, mindfulness ) suggest there must be further nuance to the positional constraints imposed on affixes in the reading system to facilitate cases where affixes occur in atypical locations but still convey meaning. We used two lexical decision experiments ( N  = 90 native English-speaking participants each) to investigate the positional encoding of mid-embedded suffixes. In Experiment 1 , transposed tri-morphemic nonwords ending in a chain of two suffixes (e.g., spitenessful [derived from spitefulness ]), and transposed nonwords with string-initial suffixes (e.g., fulyouthness [derived from youthfulness ]) were compared against orthographic controls (e.g., spitementdom / domyouthment ). In Experiment 2 , transposed tri-morphemic nonwords ending in a stem (e.g., bestersell [derived from bestseller ]) and transposed nonwords with string-initial suffixes (e.g., erwalksleep [derived from sleepwalker ]) were compared against orthographic controls (e.g., bestalsell / enwalksleep ). Across both experiments, the results revealed a significantly larger morpheme transposition effect relative to controls for the mid-embedded compared with the string-initial suffix conditions. Items like bestersell activated the corresponding lexical representation of “bestseller” and made it more difficult to reject the target nonword, revealing that suffixes are not as strictly positionally encoded as previously assumed. These findings challenge existing predictions of positional requirements for affixes and provide evidence calling for more nuanced theoretical models of morphological processing.

The current study explored cross-language morphological transfer mechanisms using a similar-script morphological translation priming paradigm in highly proficient unbalanced Turkish (first language; L1)–English (second language; L2) bilinguals. Using noncognate English and Turkish stimuli that shared a similar meaning with no form overlap (e.g., ice [Eng.] – buz [Tur.]), in Experiment 1 , L2 English stem targets (e.g., ICE ) were primed by affixed L1 nonwords (e.g., buzca [ iceish ]), nonaffixed L1 nonwords (e.g., buznak [ iceald ]), and unrelated L1 nonwords (e.g., tuşku [keyment] ). The results revealed priming effects in both the affixed and nonaffixed nonword conditions relative to the unrelated control, and significantly larger priming in the affixed than the nonaffixed condition. In addition, enhanced cross-language morphological transfer effects were evidenced in bilinguals with an earlier age of L2 acquisition. In Experiment 2 , English stem targets (e.g., ICE ) were primed by nonaffixed L1 nonwords including translated stems (e.g., buznak [ iceald ]), semantically related stems (e.g., suzur [waterew] ), and unrelated L1 nonwords (e.g., tuşzur [keyew] ). The results showed significantly larger priming effects in the translated condition compared with the semantic and unrelated control conditions, with no priming in the semantic condition relative to the unrelated condition, suggesting that cross-language morphological priming effects were specifically due to the lexico-semantic relationship between the embedded word and its translation equivalent.

Research into nonnative (L2) morphological processing has produced largely conflicting findings. To contribute to the discussions surrounding the contradictory findings in the literature, we examined L2 morphological priming effects along with a transposed-letter (TL) methodology. Critically, we also explored the potential effects of individual differences in the reading networks of L2 speakers using a test battery of reading proficiency. A masked primed lexical decision experiment was carried out in which the same target (e.g., ALLOW) was preceded by a morphological prime (allowable), a TL-within prime (allwoable), an substituted letter (SL)-within prime (allveable), a TL-across prime (alloawble), an SL-across prime (alloimble), or an unrelated prime (believable). The average data yielded morphological priming but no significant TL priming. However, the results of an exploratory analysis of the potential effects of individual differences suggested that individual variability mediated the group-level priming patterns in L2 speakers. TL-within and TL-across priming effects were obtained only when the performance of participants on nonword reading was considered, while the magnitude of the morphological priming effects diminished as the knowledge of vocabulary expanded. The results highlight the importance of considering individual differences while testing L2 populations.

Using a multiple case study approach, this short research article describes the experiences of three teachers (of German, French, and Korean) in a Turkish university where English is also mandatorily taught. Three themes common to the participants’ experiences emerged: use of the Turkish language, integrative adaptability, and international self-awareness. We suggest that understanding these themes may help teachers, students, and administrators better understand the rich and potentially unique fonts of knowledge that international teachers could bring into Turkish language classrooms in a university context.

The aim of this study was to examine how native speakers (L1) of Turkish, a morphologically rich language, process a second language (L2) which is morphologically less productive such as English. Critically, the study examined morphological priming effects together with a transposed-letter (TL) methodology using the same target word and compared the processing of derived word forms in L1 English speakers to that of L1 Turkish speakers of L2 English. Two masked primed lexical decision experiments were conducted in which the same target (e.g., BRAVE) was preceded by a morphological prime (braveness), a TL-within prime (braevness), an SL-within prime (braocness), a TL-across prime (bravneess), an SL-across prime (bravruess) or an Unrelated prime (directness). Furthermore, to clarify the conflicting empirical evidence in L1 and L2 morphological processing, the potential impact of individual differences in the reading networks of individuals was explored. The average group data yielded robust morphological priming in both L1 and L2 speakers, while significant TL priming for within-morpheme transpositions was obtained only in L1 speakers. Nevertheless, the findings of exploratory analyses into the potential effects of individual variability suggested individual differences might indeed moderate the size and the magnitude of group-level priming in L1 and L2 speakers, leading to the emergence of TL priming effects for particular groups in L2 speakers. These results provided some resolution to the earlier inconsistent empirical evidence, highlighting the importance of considering individual differences while testing L1 and L2 populations.

The use of taboo words represents one of the most common and arguably universal linguistic behaviors, fulfilling a wide range of psychological and social functions. However, in the scientific literature, taboo language is poorly characterized, and how it is realized in different languages and populations remains largely unexplored. Here we provide a database of taboo words, collected from different linguistic communities (Study 1, N = 1046), along with their speaker-centered semantic characterization (Study 2, N = 455 for each of six rating dimensions), covering 13 languages and 17 countries from all five permanently inhabited continents. Our results show that, in all languages, taboo words are mainly characterized by extremely low valence and high arousal, and very low written frequency. However, a significant amount of cross-country variability in words’ tabooness and offensiveness proves the importance of community-specific sociocultural knowledge in the study of taboo language.

ABSTRACT When we feel connected or engaged during social behavior, are our brains in fact “in sync” in a formal, quantifiable sense? Most studies addressing this question use highly controlled tasks with homogenous subject pools. In an effort to take a more naturalistic approach, we collaborated with art institutions to crowd-source neuroscience data: Over the course of 5 years, we collected electroencephalogram (EEG) data from thousands of museum and festival visitors who volunteered to engage in a 10-minute face-to-face interaction. Pairs of participants with various levels of familiarity sat inside the Mutual Wave Machine—an art/science neurofeedback installation that uses Brain-Computer Interface technology (BCI) to translate real-time correlations of each pair’s EEG activity into light patterns. Because such inter-participant EEG correlations are prone to noise contamination, in subsequent offline analyses we computed inter-brain synchrony using Imaginary Coherence and Projected Power Correlations, two synchrony metrics that are largely immune to instantaneous, noise-driven correlations. When applying these methods to two subsets of recorded data with the most consistent protocols, we found that pairs’ trait empathy, social closeness, engagement, and social behavior (joint action and eye contact) consistently predicted the extent to which their brain activity became synchronized, most prominently in low alpha (∼7-10 Hz) and beta (∼20-22 Hz) oscillations. These findings support an account where shared engagement and joint action drive coupled neural activity and behavior during dynamic, naturalistic social interactions. To our knowledge, this work constitutes a first demonstration that an interdisciplinary, real-world, crowdsourcing neuroscience approach may provide a promising method to collect large, rich datasets pertaining to real-life face-to-face interactions. Additionally, it is a demonstration of how the general public can participate and engage in the scientific process outside of the laboratory. Institutions such as museums, galleries, or any other organization where the public actively engages out of self-motivation, can help facilitate this type of citizen science research, and support the collection of large datasets under scientifically controlled experimental conditions. To further enhance the public interest for the out-of-the-lab experimental approach, the data and results of this study are disseminated through a website tailored to the general public (wp.nyu.edu/mutualwavemachine). Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Footnotes * https://osf.io/hpgkt/ * http://wp.nyu.edu/mutualwavemachine