Priming word order by thematic roles: no evidence for an additional involvement of phrase structure.

Three experiments are reported that studied the priming of word order in German. Experiment 1 demonstrated priming of the order of case-marked verb arguments. However, order of noun phrases and order of thematic roles were confounded. In Experiment 2, we therefore aimed at disentangling the impact of these two possible factors. By using primes that differed from targets in phrase structure but were parallel with regard to the order of thematic roles, we nevertheless found priming demonstrating the critical impact of thematic roles. Experiment 3 replicated the priming effects from Experiments 1 and 2 within participants and revealed no evidence for a modulation of priming by phrase structure. Consequently, our findings suggest that word order priming crucially depends on the structural outline of thematic roles rather than on the linearization of phrases.

Using a staircase procedure for the objective measurement of auditory stream integration and segregation thresholds.

Auditory scene analysis describes the ability to segregate relevant sounds out from the environment and to integrate them into a single sound stream using the characteristics of the sounds to determine whether or not they are related. This study aims to contrast task performances in objective threshold measurements of segregation and integration using identical stimuli, manipulating two variables known to influence streaming, inter-stimulus-interval (ISI) and frequency difference (Δf). For each measurement, one parameter (either ISI or Δf) was held constant while the other was altered in a staircase procedure. By using this paradigm, it is possible to test within-subject across multiple conditions, covering a wide Δf and ISI range in one testing session. The objective tasks were based on across-stream temporal judgments (facilitated by integration) and within-stream deviance detection (facilitated by segregation). Results show the objective integration task is well suited for combination with the staircase procedure, as it yields consistent threshold measurements for separate variations of ISI and Δf, as well as being significantly related to the subjective thresholds. The objective segregation task appears less suited to the staircase procedure. With the integration-based staircase paradigm, a comprehensive assessment of streaming thresholds can be obtained in a relatively short space of time. This permits efficient threshold measurements particularly in groups for which there is little prior knowledge on the relevant parameter space for streaming perception.

Externality, internality, and (in)dispensability of grammatical features in speech production: evidence from Czech declension and conjugation.

In 3 picture-word experiments, the authors explored the activation of 2 grammatical features in Czech during lexical access: declensional class of nouns and conjugational class of verbs. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated congruency effects of declensional and conjugational class, respectively. Picture naming times were reliably longer if the declensional or conjugational classes of the pictures' names and the distractors were incongruent. Experiment 3 explored the origin of the congruency effect in more detail. Congruency effects were obtained for declensional class regardless of whether the target name and the distractor differed in form, speaking for competition at the lemma level. These findings are discussed in comparison with gender congruency effects. The authors propose a differentiation between externally and internally specified features of lemmas, especially with respect to the time course of their activation. Internal features that become available only when the lemma is activated (e.g., gender, declensional or conjugational class of nouns and verbs) can be bypassed or not, depending on the grammatical specification of the earlier available external features (like case or number). Following this argument, supposedly inconsistent findings regarding grammatical gender and declensional or conjugational class can be explained straightforwardly.

Grammatical gender in speech production: evidence from Czech.

Three experiments demonstrate gender congruency effects (i.e., naming times of a picture are faster when the name of the target picture and a distractor noun are gender congruent) in Czech. In the first experiment, subjects named the pictures by producing gender-marked demonstrative pronouns and a noun. In the second and third experiments, subjects produced a gender-marked numeral (marked with a suffix) plus a noun. Two types of such suffixes exist in Czech. Some numerals vary in nominative singular with gender, others do not. The results show significant gender congruency effects in all experiments. They suggest that gender congruency effects can be obtained not only with free, but also with bound morphemes. In the second and third experiment the effect only emerged when the suffix was gender-marked (as opposed to gender-invariant), supporting the view that the gender congruency effect is due to competition at the level of phonological forms rather than at the grammatical level.

Different interference effects in musicians and a control group.

In the present study musicians and normal control subjects performed an S1-S2 pitch comparison task, which included the presentation of intervening tones during the retention interval. The time for encoding and storing the pitch of S1 was varied between 200 and 1,500 ms by changing the pause between the S1 offset and the onset of the intervening tones. Although musicians outperformed the control group with longer pauses after the S1 offset, this advantage was relatively small with shorter pauses. These results suggest that the advantage of musicians in storing auditory information is not solely due to their superior encoding of information but also to improved working memory operations.

Gender processing in first and second languages: the role of noun termination.

In 2 picture-naming and 2 grammaticality judgment experiments, the authors explored how the phonological form of a word, especially its termination, affects gender processing by monolinguals and unbalanced bilinguals speaking German. The results of the 2 experiments with native German speakers yielded no significant differences: The reaction times were statistically identical for items from gender typical, ambiguous, and gender atypical groups. The 2 experiments with English bilinguals who had learned German as a second language (L2), however, provided evidence that the L2 word's termination plays a role in L2 gender processing. Participants were fastest when producing gender-marked noun phrases containing a noun with a gender typical termination and slowest when the noun had a gender atypical termination. Analogous results were obtained in the grammaticality judgment experiment. These findings support the assumption that there is interaction between the levels of phonological encoding and grammatical encoding at least in bilingual processing.

Extending the coordination capabilities of tertiary phosphines and arsines: preparation, molecular structure, and reactivity of dinuclear rhodium complexes with PR3 and AsR3 in a doubly bridging coordination mode.

The reactions of [Rh2(kappa2-acac)2(mu-CPh2)2(mu-PR3)] (PR3= PMe34, PMe2Ph 7, PEt38) with an equimolar amount of Me3SiX (X = Cl, Br, I) afforded the unsymmetrical complexes [Rh2X(kappa2-acac)(mu-CPh2)2(mu-PR3)]5, 9-12, which contain the phosphine in a semi-bridging coordination mode. From 4 and excess Me3SiCl, the tetranuclear complex [[Rh2Cl(mu-Cl)(mu-CPh2)2(mu-PMe3)]2]6 was obtained. In contrast, the reaction of 4 with an excess of Me3SiX (X = Br, I) yielded the dinuclear complexes [Rh2X2(mu-CPh2)2(mu-PMe3)]13, 14 in which, as shown by the X-ray crystal structure analysis of 14, the bridging phosphine is coordinated in a truly symmetrical bonding mode. While related compounds with PEt3 and PMe2Ph as bridging ligands were prepared on a similar route, the complex [Rh2Cl2(mu-CPh2)2(mu-PiPr3)]19 was obtained from the mixed-valence species [(PiPr3)Rh(mu-CPh2)2Rh(kappa2-acac)2]17 and HCl. The reaction of [Rh2(kappa2-acac)2(mu-CPh2)2(mu-SbiPr3)]3 with AsMe3 gave the related Rh(mu-AsMe3)Rh compound 21. With Me3SiCl, the acac ligands of 21 can be replaced stepwise by chloride to give [Rh2Cl(kappa2-acac)(mu-CPh2)2(mu-AsMe3)]23 and [[Rh2Cl(mu-Cl)(mu-CPh2)2(mu-AsMe3)]2]24, the latter being isomorphous to the phosphine-bridged dimer 6.

The time course of recovery for grammatical category information during lexical processing for syntactic construction.

In the experiments outlined in this article, the authors investigate lexical access processes in language production. In their earlier work, T. Pechmann and D. Zerbst (2002) reported evidence for grammatical category constraints in a picture-word interference task. Although grammatical category information was not activated when subjects produced bare noun descriptions of simple objects, a robust effect arose when the target word had to be embedded in a syntactic frame. The current experiments demonstrate that compilation of a simple noun phrase (NP) yields word class effects in picture-word interference experiments in the same time frame as that generally observed for semantic processing. Most significantly, the effect emerges both in German and English with very similar profiles. On these grounds, it is implausible that the effect depends on syntactic gender activation, because such constraints are lacking in the English language version of the experiments.

A new family of dinuclear rhodium complexes containing tertiary phosphanes in a semibridging or doubly bridging bonding mode.

The reactions of [Rh(2)Cl(kappa(2)-acac)(mu-CPh(2))(2)(mu-SbiPr(3))] (3) and [Rh(2)(kappa(2)-acac)(2)(mu-CPh(2))(2)(mu-SbiPr(3))] (4) with PMe(3) lead to exchange of the bridging ligand and afford the novel PMe(3)-bridged counterparts 5 and 6, in which the phosphane occupies a semibridging (5) or a doubly bridging (6) position. In both cases, the bonding mode was confirmed crystallographically. Treatment of 6 with CO causes a shift of PMe(3) from a bridging to a terminal position and gives the unsymmetrical complex [(kappa(2)-acac)Rh(mu-CPh(2))(2)(mu-CO)Rh(PMe(3))(kappa(2)-acac)] (7). Similarly to 5 and 6, the related compounds 10 and 11 with one or two acac-f(3) ligands were prepared. While both PEt(3) and PnBu(3) react with 3 by exchange of the bridging stibane for phosphane to give compounds 12 and 13, the reactions of 4 with PMePh(2) and PnBu(3) afford the mixed-valent Rh(0)Rh(II) complexes [(PR(3))Rh(mu-CPh(2))(2)Rh(kappa(2)-acac)(2)] (17, 18) in high yields. In contrast, treatment of 4 with PEt(3) and PMe(2)Ph generates the phosphane-bridged compounds [Rh(2)(kappa(2)-acac)(2)(mu-CPh(2))(2)(mu-PR(3))] (14, 15) exclusively. Stirring a solution of 14 (R=Et) in benzene for 15 h at room temperature leads to complete conversion to the mixed-valent isomer 16. The reaction of 6 with an equimolar amount of CR(3)CO(2)H (R=F, H) or phenol in the molar ratio of 1:10 results in substitution of one acac by one trifluoracetate, acetate, or phenolate ligand without disturbing the [Rh(2)(mu-CPh(2))(2)(mu-PR(3))] core. From 6 and an excess of CR(3)CO(2)H, the symmetrical bis(trifluoracetato) and bis(acetate) derivatives [Rh(2)(kappa(2)-O(2)CCR(3))(2)(mu-CPh(2))(2)(mu-PMe(3))] (21, 22) were obtained.

A new on-line resource for psycholinguistic studies.

Picture naming is a widely used technique in psycholinguistic studies. Here, we describe new on-line resources that our project has compiled and made available to researchers on the world wide web at http://crl.ucsd.edu/~aszekely/ipnp/. The website provides access to a wide range of picture stimuli and related norms in seven languages. Picture naming norms, including indices of name agreement and latency, for 520 black-and-white drawings of common objects and 275 concrete transitive and intransitive actions are presented. Norms for age-of-acquisition, word-frequency, familiarity, goodness-of-depiction, and visual complexity are included. An on-line database query system can be used to select a specific range of stimuli, based on parameters of interest for a wide range of studies on healthy and clinical populations, as well as studies of language development.

Timed picture naming in seven languages.

Timed picture naming was compared in seven languages that vary along dimensions known to affect lexical access. Analyses over items focused on factors that determine cross-language universals and cross-language disparities. With regard to universals, number of alternative names had large effects on reaction time within and across languages after target-name agreement was controlled, suggesting inhibitory effects from lexical competitors. For all the languages, word frequency and goodness of depiction had large effects, but objective picture complexity did not. Effects of word structure variables (length, syllable structure, compounding, and initial frication) varied markedly over languages. Strong cross-language correlations were found in naming latencies, frequency, and length. Other-language frequency effects were observed (e.g., Chinese frequencies predicting Spanish reaction times) even after within-language effects were controlled (e.g., Spanish frequencies predicting Spanish reaction times). These surprising cross-language correlations challenge widely held assumptions about the lexical locus of length and frequency effects, suggesting instead that they may (at least in part) reflect familiarity and accessibility at a conceptual level that is shared over languages.

The truly symmetrical doubly-bridging mode of trimethylphosphine in a dinuclear rhodium complex.

The dinuclear complex [Rh2I2(mu-CPh2)2(mu-PMe3)] was prepared from the Rh2(acac)2 counterpart and Me3SiI and shown crystallographically to contain the PMe3 ligand in a truly symmetrical bridging position; a new synthetic route to migrate more bulky phosphines such as PPh3 and PiPr3 from a terminal into a bridging site is also described.

The activation of word class information during speech production.

In 5 picture-word interference experiments the activation of word class information was investigated. The first experiment, in which subjects used bare nouns to describe the pictures, failed to reveal any interference effect of noun distractor words as opposed to closed-class distractor words. In the next 4 experiments the pictures were named by using a definite determiner and the noun completing a sentence fragment. The data demonstrate that noun distractors interfere more strongly with picture naming than do non-noun distractors. This held for both visual and auditory presentation of the distractor words. The interference effect showed up in a time window where semantic interference can usually be observed, supporting the assumption that at an early stage of lexical access semantic and syntactic activation processes overlap.

A new family of mixed-valence dinuclear rhodium complexes containing the two metal centers in different stereochemical environments.

A series of dinuclear chelate complexes of the general composition [Rh2(kappa2-L)2(mu-CR2)2(mu-SbiPr3)] (R = Ph, p-Tol; L = CF3CO2-, acac-, acac-f3-) and [Rh2Cl(kappa2-L)(mu-CR2)2(mu-SbiPr3)] (R = Ph, p-Tol; L = acac-, acac-f3-) has been prepared by replacement of the chloro ligands in the precursors [Rh2Cl2(mu-CR2)2(mu-SbiPr3)] by anionic chelates. The lability of the SbiPr3 bridge in the rhodium dimers is illustrated by the reactions of [Rh2(kappa2-acac)2(mu-CR2)2(mu-SbiPr3)] (7, 8) with Lewis bases such as CO, CNtBu, and SbEt3 which lead to the formation of the substitution products [Rh2(kappa2-acac)2(mu-CR2)2(mu-L')] (13-16) in excellent yields. Treatment of 7 and 8 with sterically demanding tertiary phosphanes PR3 (R3 = iPr3, iPr2Ph, iPrPh2, Ph3) affords the mixed-valence Rh0-RhII complexes [(kappa2-acac)2Rh(mu-CPh2)2Rh(PR3)] (21-24) and [(kappa2-acac)2Rh(mu-C(p-Tol)2]2Rh(PiPr3)] (25) for which there is no precedence. The terminal PiPr3 ligand of 21 is easily displaced by alkynes, CNtBu, and CO to give, by preserving the [(kappa2-acac)2Rh(mu-CPh2)2Rh] molecular core, the related dinuclear compounds 26-31 in which the coordination number of the Rh0 center is 3, 4, or 5. The molecular structures of [Rh2Cl(kappa2-acac)(mu-CPh2)2(mu-SbiPr3)] (5), [Rh2(kappa2-acac)2(mu-CPh2)2(mu-CO)] (13), [(kappa2-acac)2Rh(mu-CPh2)2Rh(PiPr3)] (21), and [(kappa2-acac)2Rh(mu-CPh2)2Rh(CNtBu)2] (30) have been determined crystallographically.