Still no phonological typicality effect on word reading time (and no good explanation of one, either): A rejoinder to Farmer, Monaghan, Misyak, and Christiansen.

In this brief rejoinder, we respond to Farmer, Monaghan, Misyak, and Christiansen (2011). We argue that the data still do not support the claim that reading time is affected by the phonological typicality of a word for its part of speech. We also question Farmer et al.'s claim that interleaving syntactic structures in an experiment modifies grammatically based syntactic expectations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dynamic prototypicality effects in visual search.

In recent studies, researchers have discovered a larger neural activation for stimuli that are more extreme exemplars of their stimulus class, compared with stimuli that are more prototypical. This has been shown for faces as well as for familiar and novel shape classes. We used a visual search task to look for a behavioral correlate of these findings regarding both simple geometrical shapes and more complex, novel shape classes. The latter stimulus set enabled us to control for the physical properties of the shapes, establishing that the effects are solely due to the positions of the particular stimuli in a particular shape space (i.e., more extreme versus more central in shape space) and not to specific shape features. The results indicate that finding an atypical instance of a shape class among more prototypical ones is easier and faster than the other way around. The prototypical status of a shape in our experiment could change very quickly, that is, within minutes, depending on the subset of shapes that was shown to the participants. Manipulating the degree of familiarity toward the shapes by selectively increasing familiarity for the extreme shapes did not influence our results. In general, we show that the prototypical status of a stimulus in visual search is a highly dynamic property, depending on the distribution of stimuli within a shape space but not on familiarity with the prototype. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ecology of Vastedda della valle del Belìce cheeses: A review and recent findings to stabilize the traditional production

The increasing request for classic foods has led to a higher demand for cheeses enjoying a “recognition of quality” status. This phenomenon has also affected Sicilian dairy products, in particular protected designation of origin (PDO) “Vastedda della valle del Belìce” (VdB), a cheese traditionally available only during the summer season, but requested year round. The variations of the microbial populations of raw milk among the seasons influence the microbiological quality of the cheeses produced. This review article reports the historical importance of cheeses and the traditional equipment used for dairy productions in Sicily with a specific focus on VdB. The microbial ecology of this cheese is thoroughly discussed. The recent findings to stabilize the traditional VdB production protocol with regards to the microbial composition and the organoleptic characteristics of the final cheeses are reviewed. The selection of starter lactic acid bacteria from PDO cheeses, their in vitro and in vivo application, and, overall, the setup of their inoculation, have all generated a novel production protocol. The innovation was respectful of the traditional discipline, essentially based on the ad hoc biofilm formation on the traditional wooden equipment, and allowed the preservation of VdB typicality. Future prospects are summarized.     

Influence of fruit ripeness and juice chaptalisation on the sensory properties and degree of typicality expressed by Sauvignon Blanc wines from Marlborough,New Zealand

Background and Aims: Interest in the typical sensory properties exhibited by Sauvignon Blanc wines from Marlborough, New Zealand, is increasing. Although critical from a winemaking standpoint, there is a significant lack of data concerning the extent to which these typical sensory characteristics are affected by fruit ripeness at harvest and juice chaptalisation. Methods and Results: Experimental Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc wines fermented from fruits at three different ripeness stages, with or without juice chaptalisation, were assessed by a panel of wine professionals from Marlborough. Results suggest that the balance between green and fruity ripe flavours that makes a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc typical of its style would originate from the fruit ripeness at harvest. We also report that juice chaptalisation can modulate the wines' taste and mouthfeel properties and significantly affect their typicality as Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Conclusions: The production of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc wines that well represent their specific style relies primarily on the ripeness of the fruit at harvest, the impact of which can be modulated by juice chaptalisation. Significance of the Study: This is the only study that has considered fruit ripeness and juice chaptalisation as two factors that condition the sensory properties and degree of typicality expressed by Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc wines.     

Phonological typicality influences sentence processing in predictive contexts: Reply to Staub, Grant, Clifton, and Rayner (2009).

In 2 separate self-paced reading experiments, Farmer, Christiansen, and Monaghan (2006) found that the degree to which a word's phonology is typical of other words in its lexical category influences online processing of nouns and verbs in predictive contexts. Staub, Grant, Clifton, and Rayner (2009) failed to find an effect of phonological typicality when they combined stimuli from the separate experiments into a single experiment. We replicated Staub et al.'s experiment and found that the combination of stimulus sets affects the predictiveness of the syntactic context; this reduces the phonological typicality effect as the experiment proceeds, although the phonological typicality effect was still evident early in the experiment. Although an ambiguous context may diminish sensitivity to the probabilistic relationship between the sound of a word and its lexical category, phonological typicality does influence online sentence processing during normal reading when the syntactic context is predictive of the lexical category of upcoming words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Applying the value of equality unequally: Effects of value instantiations that vary in typicality.

Across 4 experiments, the authors investigated the role of value instantiation in bridging the gap between abstract social values and behavior in specific situations. They predicted and found that participants engaged in more egalitarian behavior (point allocation using the minimal group paradigm) after contemplating a typical instantiation of the value of equality compared to an atypical instantiation or a control condition that simply made the value salient. This effect occurred when participants generated reasons for valuing equality in the instantiation (Experiment 1) and when participants merely read about hypothetical examples of the instantiation context (Experiments 2, 3, and 4). Results across experiments indicated that the effect of prior instantiations was not mediated by changes in the abstract value; instead, the process of applying the abstract value was crucial (Experiment 4). Together, the experiments show that the process of applying an abstract value to a specific situation can be influenced by seemingly unrelated prior episodes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding pilot response to flight safety events using categorisation theory

Categorisation theory explains our ability to recognise events in terms of a similarity overlap between either a prototypical, ideal case or a stored exemplar derived from experience. Evidence from aviation accident reports indicate that pilots are not always able to recognise flight safety events in real-time and this can lead to undesirable pilot behaviour. Flight safety events may not always arise in recognisable formats, especially as rare and unusual cue combinations are possible. Correspondence with prototypes or exemplars may be weak, creating borderline cases and harming recognition. In this article we extend categorisation theory to develop a new framework which characterises flight safety events. We model three case studies using the new framework to demonstrate how categorisation theory can be used to understand flight safety events of different types. Finally, we propose a roadmap for future research and discuss how categorisation theory could be applied to training or the organisation of flight crew reference material to improve response to inflight events.     

THE TYPICALITY OF PHASE TRANSITIONS IN SEARCH

Search is fundamental to artificial intelligence (AI) and numerous sophisticated search methods have been developed. We present a general, simple model of search processes and use it to analytically determine some typical behavior when applied to large problems. In particular, this identifies abrupt changes in overall search cost as small improvements are made in the underlying method. We also examine the robustness of this model's predictions in a range of more realistic cases. More generally, we introduce a criterion for determining when average case results reflect typical behavior which allows the method developed here to be used for investigating other large-scale behaviors of complex AI systems.     

Reply to Strain, Patterson, and Seidenberg (2002).

E. Strain, K. E. Patterson, and M. S. Seidenberg (2002) reported an effect of imageability and a Regularity X Imageability interaction in a regression analysis of naming latencies to 120 words. One of their items (couth) was named correctly by just 5 of their 24 participants, and its reaction time was an outlier on their distribution. When that single item is removed, the significant predictors are age of acquisition (AoA), word frequency, regularity, and length. Analyses of the combined data from J. Monaghan and A. W. Ellis's (2002) Experiments 1-3 indicate that AoA predicts naming latencies for exception words but not consistent words. E. Strain et al.'s other points are considered in the light of these observations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phenolic Compounds in Fresh and Dried Figs from Cilento (Italy), by Considering Breba Crop and Full Crop,in Comparison to Turkish and Greek Dried Figs

Fresh and dried figs are important components of the Mediterranean diet. In Cilento (Southern Italy), figs belonging to cultivar “Dottato” are used for the production of “PDO Cilento white figs,” as dried figs. In this article, we reported the characterization of the phenolic compounds in 19 fig samples: 9 fresh figs cultivar “Dottato” from Cilento (Italy), 10 dried fig samples from Cilento (2), Turkey (6), and Greece (2). The following phenolic compounds were identified and quantified by high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)/UV‐DAD: chlorogenic acid, protocatechuic acid, vanillic acid, luteolin‐3,7‐di‐O‐glucoside, luteolin 7‐glucoside, apigenin‐7‐O‐rutinoside, rutin, quercetin‐3‐glucoside, and cyanidin‐3‐O‐rutinoside. A discriminative analysis between the peel and pulp of the samples was carried out. The 1st crop (“breba”) and the 2nd one (full crop) from Dottato figs were considered, as well as the effect of fig pollination. The majority of the phenolic compounds were predominant in the fig peel. Significant quantitative differences were found among fresh figs, whereas also some qualitative differences were obtained between fresh and dried figs from the same origin in Dottato cultivar, and among dried figs from different origins. Breba crop resulted richer in phenolics than figs of the 2nd crop. Considering the dried figs, the Turkish ones had the highest concentration in phenolic compounds. Other compounds such as the aminoacids tyrosine and tryptophan were also detected by HPLC‐DAD analysis in Dottato figs, probably due to the similarity of their chemical structure.