Search

Although declarative memory declines with age, sex and education might moderate these weaknesses. We investigated effects of sex and education on nonverbal declarative (recognition) memory in 704 older adults (aged 58–98, 0–17 years of education). Items were drawings of real and made-up objects. Age negatively impacted declarative memory, though this age effect was moderated by sex and object-type: it was steeper for males than females, but only for real objects. Education was positively associated with memory, but also interacted with sex and object-type: education benefited women more than men (countering the age effects, especially for women), and remembering real more than made-up objects. The findings suggest that nonverbal memory in older adults is associated negatively with age but positively with education; both effects are modulated by sex, and by whether learning relates to preexisting or new information. The study suggests downstream benefits from education, especially for girls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim was to investigate the long-term outcome after corrective osteotomy for malunion of distal radius fractures. Radiological findings, function, activity performance, pain, health-related quality of life and self-efficacy were studied. Evaluation of 37 patients 3–10 years after osteotomy fixated with a volar plate. Conventional radiographs were taken. Grip strength and range of motion were evaluated. Scores from the Patient Rated Wrist Evaluation (PRWE) were compared with normative values. The RAND-36 was used for evaluation of health-related quality of life and the General Self-Efficacy scale (S-GSE) for self-efficacy. Radial height, volar tilt, and ulnar variance improved postoperatively. In the long term, the corrections were maintained. Radiographs showed significantly more advanced osteoarthritis. Mean grip strength was 31 kg (SD 13) 89%, and range of motion varied between 80% and 95% compared to the uninjured side. The median PRWE was 12 points (0–99). The study group experienced higher levels of pain than reference values. There was a moderate correlation between the PRWE and volar tilt (rs = 0.453, p =.006) and grip strength (rs = 0.40, p =.014). At long-term follow-up functional outcome after a corrective osteotomy is generally good, but patients may experience some degree of pain. Corrective osteotomy might be considered for patients with a poor functional outcome after a distal radius fracture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Second language (L2) grammar learning is difficult. Two frameworks—the psycholinguistic lexical bottleneck hypothesis and the neurocognitive declarative/procedural model—predict that faster L2 lexical processing should facilitate L2 incidental grammar learning. We tested these predictions in a pretest–posttest syntactic adaptation study of English relative‐clause attachment preferences. First‐language German speakers listened to relative clauses disambiguated to the English low‐attachment preference (secretaries of the professor who is/naps at home)—via either a copula (e.g., is), which should be processed rapidly (copula group; n = 48), or a lexical verb (e.g., naps), which should be processed more slowly (lexical group; n = 48). Only the copula group showed significant pretest‐to‐posttest learning. Moreover, the amount of learning was predicted by procedural learning abilities in the copula group, but by vocabulary size in the lexical group. The results, which are consistent with both frameworks, show that the L2 lexicon impacts L2 grammar learning, and reveal moderating psycholinguistic and neurocognitive variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working memory (WM), which underlies the temporary storage and manipulation of information, is critical for multiple aspects of cognition and everyday life. Nevertheless, research examining WM specifically in older adults remains limited, despite the global rapid increase in human life expectancy. We examined WM in a large sample (N = 754) of healthy older adults (aged 58-89) in a non-Western population (Chinese speakers) in Taiwan, on a digit n -back task. We tested not only the influence of age itself and of load (1-back vs. 2-back) but also the effects of both sex and education, which have been shown to modulate WM abilities. Mixed-effects regression revealed that, within older adulthood, age negatively impacted WM abilities (with linear, not nonlinear, effects), as did load (worse performance at 2-back). In contrast, education level was positively associated with WM. Moreover, both age and education interacted with sex. With increasing age, males showed a steeper WM decline than females; with increasing education, females showed greater WM gains than males. Together with other findings, the evidence suggests that age, sex, and education all impact WM in older adults, but interact in particular ways. The results have both basic research and translational implications and are consistent with particular benefits from increased education for women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detonative combustors, such as rotating detonation engines, have increasingly been viewed as next-generation propulsion and power generation systems because they offer higher theoretical thermal efficiencies than conventional constant-pressure combustors. In order for these systems to be realized in a practical context, the impacts of inflow and outlet conditions, reactant mixing, and interactions between counter-propagating waves must be better understood. To examine these phenomena in a simplified geometry, the present work considers a methane-oxygen reflective shuttling detonation combustor with an open-closed chamber configuration. High-fidelity simulations are conducted for two equivalence ratio conditions (lean and rich), and comparisons are made to complementary experiments. The results show that self-sustained steady-state wave behavior consists of minimally-reacting left-running waves and right-running detonation waves. The lean case is found to establish steady-state operation after a shorter time and exhibit detonation waves after a shorter distance from the closed end of the chamber. The simulations are able to predict the experimentally observed trends in the wave velocity in the direction of propagation. Wave-relative averaged flow fields show considerable reactant stratification and parasitic combustion ahead of the waves, likely contributing to their low speeds and pressures relative to ideal detonations. Conditional statistics ahead and behind the waves indicate that peaks in heat release occur at both lean and rich conditions near the open end of the chamber, and incomplete fuel oxidation in the primary detonation waves leads to delayed oxygen consumption and higher temperatures downstream. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lingua ex Machina Reconciling Darwin and Chomsky with the Human Brain by William H. Calvin and Derek Bickerton MIT Press, Cambridge, HA, 2000. 306 pp. $26.95, 17.95 £. ISBN 0-262-03273-2. [...]

We discuss problematic theoretical and empirical issues and consider alternative explanations for Grodzinsky's hypotheses regarding receptive and expressive syntactic mechanisms in agrammatic aphasia. We also explore his claims pertaining to domain-specificity and neuroanatomical localization.