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Whilst there has been extensive study of the mechanisms underlying the regulation for pictures, the ability and the mechanisms beyond the regulation of words remains to be clarified. Similarly, the effect of strategy when applying a regulatory process is still poorly explored. The present study seeks to elucidate these issues comparing the effect of regulation and of strategy to both neutral and emotional words and pictures. Thirty young adults applied the strategy of distancing to the emotions elicited by unpleasant and neutral pictures and words while their subjective ratings and ERPs were recorded. At a behavioral level, participants successfully regulated the arousal and the valence of both pictures and words. At a neural level, unpleasant pictures produced an increase in the late positive potential modulated during the regulate condition. Unpleasant linguistic stimuli elicited a posterior negativity as compared to neutral stimuli, but no effect of regulation on ERP was detectable. More importantly, the effect of strategy independently of stimulus type, produced a significant larger Stimulus Preceding Negativity. Dipole reconstruction localized this effect in the middle frontal areas of the brain. As such, these new psychophysiological findings might help to understand how pictures and words can be regulated by distancing in daily life and clinical contexts, and the neural bases of the effect of strategy for which we suggest an integrative model.

Empirical research had initially shown that English listeners are able to identify the speakers' sexual orientation based on voice cues alone. However, the accuracy of this voice-based categorization, as well as its generalizability to other languages (language-dependency) and to non-native speakers (language-specificity), has been questioned recently. Consequently, we address these open issues in 5 experiments: First, we tested whether Italian and German listeners are able to correctly identify sexual orientation of same-language male speakers. Then, participants of both nationalities listened to voice samples and rated the sexual orientation of both Italian and German male speakers. We found that listeners were unable to identify the speakers' sexual orientation correctly. However, speakers were consistently categorized as either heterosexual or gay on the basis of how they sounded. Moreover, a similar pattern of results emerged when listeners judged the sexual orientation of speakers of their own and of the foreign language. Overall, this research suggests that voice-based categorization of sexual orientation reflects the listeners' expectations of how gay voices sound rather than being an accurate detector of the speakers' actual sexual identity. Results are discussed with regard to accuracy, acoustic features of voices, language dependency and language specificity.

In order to memorize sentences we use both processes of language comprehension during encoding and processes of language production during maintenance. While the former processes are easily testable via controlled presentation of the input, the latter are more difficult to assess directly as language production is typically initiated and controlled internally. In the present event-related potential (ERP) study we track subvocal rehearsal of sentences, with the goal of studying the concomitant planning processes with the help of a silent cued-production task. Native German participants read different types of sentences word-by-word, then were prompted by a visual cue to silently repeat each individual word, in a . In order to assess both local and global effects of sentence planning, we presented correct sentences, syntactically or semantically violated sentences, or random word order sequences. Semantic violations during reading elicited an N400 effect at the noun violating the selectional restrictions of the preceding verb. Syntactic violations, induced by a gender incongruency between determiner and noun, led to a P600 effect at the same position. Different ERP patterns occurred during the silent production phase. Here, semantically violated sentences elicited an early fronto-central negativity at the verb, while syntactically violated sentences elicited a late right-frontal positivity at the determiner. Random word order was accompanied by long-lasting slow waves during the production phase. The findings are consistent with models of hierarchical sentence planning and further indicate that the ongoing working memory processes are qualitatively distinct from comprehension mechanisms and neurophysiologically specific for syntactic and lexical-semantic level planning. In conclusion, active working memory maintenance of sentences is likely to comprise specific stages of sentence production that are indicated by ERP correlates of syntactic and semantic planning at the phrasal and clausal level respectively.

Most models of language comprehension assume that the linguistic system is able to pre-activate phonological information. However, the evidence for phonological prediction is mixed and controversial. In this study, we implement a paradigm that capitalizes on the fact that foreign speakers usually make phonological errors. We investigate whether speaker identity (native vs. foreign) is used to make specific phonological predictions. Fifty-two participants were recruited to read sentence frames followed by a last spoken word which was uttered by either a native or a foreign speaker. They were required to perform a lexical decision on the last spoken word, which could be either semantically predictable or not. Speaker identity (native vs. foreign) may or may not be cued by the face of the speaker. We observed that the face cue is effective in speeding up the lexical decision when the word is predictable, but it is not effective when the word is not predictable. This result shows that speech prediction takes into account the phonological variability between speakers, suggesting that it is possible to pre-activate in a detailed and specific way the phonological representation of a predictable word.

Introduction The aim of this study was to grade magnetic resonance white matter abnormalities (WMAs) of classical phenylketonuria (cPKU) patients treated from birth and to compare sensitivity and specificity of T2-weighted and diffusion-weighted images (DWI). Methods Twenty early-treated cPKU patients still on a low-phenylalanine diet (12 males; mean age 21.2 years) and 26 normal subjects (ten males; mean age 25.1 years) were enrolled. Typical T2- and diffusion-weighted WMAs were semiquantitatively graded according to Thompson score (TS). Besides, a regional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) score (mTS) was developed according to extension and intensity of WMAs. Phenylalanine and tyrosine plasma concentrations before performing MRI and the amino acid mean levels collected the year before MRI (Tyr year and Phe year ) were measured. Results No patient with Phe year concentration below 460 μmol/L showed WMAs. In cPKU patients, TS and mTS were significantly higher on DWI than on T2 images (3.50 vs 2.65 and 23.65 vs 15.85, respectively, p  < 0.002, Wilcoxon test). All controls were scored 0 on DWI, while in T2 images, TS and mTS were 0.19 and 1.70. DWI evaluated by mTS disclosed a frontotemporal, occipital, and parietal WM progressive involvement. TS and mTS, both on T2 images and on DWI, showed no correlation with tyrosine while they proved to have a strong correlation with phenylalaninemia and an excellent one with Phe year levels. Conclusion Among the different MR sequences, DWI seems to be the most sensitive and reliable in detecting and grading the typical WMAs of cPKU patients.

Prediction models usually assume that highly constraining contexts allow the pre-activation of phonological information. However, the evidence for phonological prediction is mixed and controversial. In this study, we implement a paradigm that capitalizes on the phonological errors produced by non-native speakers to investigate whether speaker-specific phonological predictions are made based on speaker identity (native-vs-foreign). EEG data was recorded from 42 healthy native Italian speakers. Participants were asked to read sentence fragments after which a final word was spoken by either a native- or a foreign-accented speaker. The spoken final word could be predictable or not, depending on the sentence context. The identity of the speaker (native-vs-foreign) may or may not be cued by an image of the face of the speaker. Our main analysis indicated that cueing the speaker identity was associated with a larger N400 predictability effect, possibly reflecting an easier processing of predictable words due to phonological preactivation. As visual inspection of the waveforms revealed a more complex pattern than initially anticipated, we used temporal EFA (Exploratory Factor Analysis) to identify and disentangle the ERP components underlying the effect observed. In the native-accent condition, predictable words elicited a posterior positivity relative to unpredictable words, possibly reflecting a P3b response, which was more pronounced when the speaker identity was cued. In the foreign-accent condition, cueing the speaker identity was associated with a smaller N1 and a larger P3a response. These results suggest that phonological prediction for native- and foreign-accented speakers likely involve different cognitive processes.

This study provides the first neurophysiological evidence of how cochlear implant (CI) input affects predictive processing during audiovisual language comprehension in deaf individuals. Using EEG, we compared 18 CI users with 18 normal-hearing (NH) controls during sentence comprehension where final word predictability was determined by high or low semantic constraint (HC vs. LC) of the preceding sentence frame. Between sentence frame and final word, a 800 ms silent gap was introduced. Mouth visibility was manipulated during sentence frames (visible or digitally occluded; V+ vs. V-), while the final words were always presented with the mouth visible. In NH participants, lower-beta power (12-15 Hz) in left frontal and central sensors decreased for HC vs. LC contexts during the pre-target silent gap, but only when the mouths was visible, suggesting active prediction generation. In CI users, this lower beta power decrease was absent. After final word presentation, both groups showed N400 predictability effects, indicating preserved prediction evaluation. However, CI users exhibited extended N400 effects in the V+ condition, suggesting additional processing demands. Across all participants, pre-target beta modulations correlated with language production abilities, supporting prediction-by-production frameworks. Within CI users, poorer audiometric thresholds correlated with larger N400 constraint effects, possibly indicating greater reliance on contextual prediction to compensate for degraded sensory input. These findings demonstrate that CI-mediated perception alters the neural mechanisms of prediction generation. The link between production skills and predictive mechanisms suggests that strengthening expressive language abilities may enhance predictive processing in CI users.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.Footnotes* https://osf.io/g2kbj/overview?view_only=3606247f01524feb9d2e60d0c364797eFunder Information DeclaredMinistero dell'università e della ricerca, 20177894ZHFondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo, CUP_C93C23003190005

Whilst there has been extensive study of the mechanisms underlying the effect of regulation for the emotions elicited by pictures, the ability and the mechanisms beyond the regulation of words remains to be clarified. Similarly, the effect of strategy when applying a regulatory process is still poorly explored. The present study seeks to elucidate these issues comparing the effect of regulation and of strategy to both neutral and emotional words and pictures. Thirty young adults observed and took the distance from unpleasant and neutral pictures and words while their subjective ratings and ERPs were recorded. At a behavioral level, participants successfully regulated the arousal and the valence of both pictures and words. At a neural level, unpleasant pictures produced an increase in the late positive potential modulated during the regulate condition. Unpleasant linguistic stimuli elicited a posterior negativity as compared to neutral stimuli, but no effect of regulation on ERP was detectable. More importantly, the effect of strategy independently of stimulus type, produced a significant larger Stimulus Preceding Negativity. Dipole reconstruction localized this effect in the middle frontal areas of the brain. As such, these new psychophysiological findings might help to understand how pictures and words can be regulated by distancing in daily life and clinical contexts, and the neural bases of the effect of strategy for which we suggest an integrative model.

This paper proposes world steel production as an indicator of global real economic activity. World steel production data is published with only a one-month delay, thereby providing timely information for world real GDP forecasters. We find that world steel production and Lutz Kilian’s (2009) index of global real economic activity generate large gains in forecasting world real GDP, relative to an autoregressive benchmark. A forecast combination of world steel production, Kilian’s (2009) index of global real economic activity and an index of the industrial production of OECD countries plus six non-OECD emerging economies produces significant gains in forecasting world real GDP, relative to an autoregressive benchmark Cet article propose d’utiliser la production mondiale d’acier comme indicateur de l’activité économique internationale réelle. Les données relatives à la production mondiale d’acier étant publiées dans un délai d’un mois, les prévisionnistes du PIB mondial réel peuvent ainsi profiter de renseignements en temps opportun. Nos travaux montrent que la production mondiale d’acier, ainsi que l’indice d’activité économique globale réelle développé par Kilian en 2009, permettent de mieux prévoir le PIB mondial par rapport à un modèle de référence autoregressif. Ainsi, la combinaison d’outils tels que la production mondiale d’acier, l’indice d’activité économique globale réelle de Killian ainsi qu’un indice de production des pays de l’OCDE plus six économies émergentes non OCDE permet de mieux estimer le PIB mondial réel comparativement à un modèle de référence autoregressif.

In 2022, a global outbreak of mpox occurred, predominantly impacting men who have sex with men (MSM). The rapid decline of this epidemic is yet to be fully understood. We investigated the Italian outbreak by means of an individual-based mathematical model calibrated to surveillance data. The model accounts for transmission within the MSM sexual contact network, in recreational and sex clubs attended by MSM, and in households. We indicate a strong spontaneous reduction in sexual transmission (61-87%) in affected MSM communities as the possible driving factor for the rapid decline in cases. The MSM sexual contact network was the main responsible for transmission (about 80%), with clubs and households contributing residually. Contact tracing prevented about half of the potential cases, and a higher success rate in tracing contacts could significantly amplify its effectiveness. Notably, immunizing the 23% of MSM with the highest sexual activity (10 or more partners per year) could completely prevent new mpox resurgences. This research underscores the importance of augmenting contact tracing, targeted immunization campaigns of high-risk groups, and fostering reactive behavioral changes as key strategies to manage and prevent the spread of emerging sexually transmitted pathogens like mpox within the MSM community. Mpox cases in Italy rapidly declined following a peak in summer 2022. Here, the authors investigate potential reasons for the decline in cases using an individual-based model of a sexual contact network of men who have sex with men.