Children's rehearsal development parallels that of self-talk in other executive functions.

Rehearsal is a form of self-talk used to support short-term memory. Historically, the study of rehearsal development has diverged from the study of self-talk more generally. The current experiment examines whether two characteristics of self-talk (impact of task difficulty and self-talk's narrative vs. planning purpose) are also observed in rehearsal. Eighty children, ages 4-7, were tasked with remembering the three-item and six-item lists over a 15-s delay. Children's spontaneous use of fixed rehearsal (i.e., immediate repetition of a just-presented item) and cumulative rehearsal (i.e., cycling through multiple items at a time) was documented from video recordings. Four-year-olds narrated item presentations using fixed rehearsal. Six- and seven-year-olds proactively planned for recall by engaging cumulative rehearsal. Five-year-olds used both forms of rehearsal, but their frequency of cumulative rehearsal was dependent on list length. Therefore, rehearsal is susceptible to task manipulations that affect other forms of self-talk. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Self-generated strategies in the phonological similarity effect.

Strategy use is an important source of individual differences during immediate serial reconstruction. However, not all strategies are equally suited for all tasks. Therefore, assessing participants' dynamic strategy selection across contexts is an important next step for reliable interpretation of individual differences in short-term memory span - in both experimental and clinical settings. Strategy use during reconstruction of phonologically similar and phonologically distinct word sets was directly assessed using a self-report questionnaire. In two experiments, participants reported consistent use of phonological strategies across word sets; however, participants reported additionally using non-phonological strategies (i.e., mental imagery and sentence generation) when tasked with remembering phonologically similar words. In particular, strategy selection was most impacted when the phonologically similar word set was either the only word set or the first word set participants received. When the phonologically similar lists were presented after a classic list of phonologically distinct words, participants continued using the phonological strategies that had been effective for the distinct lists. Moreover, in both experiments, accuracy of phonologically similar lists was better predicted by use of non-phonological strategies than use of phonological strategies. Specifically, reported use of verbalization or rehearsal did not predict accuracy, but participants who reported regularly using mental imagery and/or sentence generation (typically in conjunction with rehearsal) displayed greater serial memory for similar words. These results do not undermine the general assumptions of the phonological similarity effect, but they do indicate that its interpretation is less straightforward than previously thought.

Emission ratio determination from road vehicles using a range of remote emission sensing techniques.

The development of remote emission sensing techniques such as plume chasing and point sampling has progressed significantly and is providing new insight into vehicle emissions behaviour. However, the analysis of remote emission sensing data can be highly challenging and there is currently no standardised method available. In this study we present a single data processing approach to quantify vehicle exhaust emissions measured using a range of remote emission sensing techniques. The method uses rolling regression calculated over short time intervals to derive the characteristics of diluting plumes. We apply the method to high time-resolution plume chasing and point sampling data to quantify gaseous exhaust emission ratios from individual vehicles. Data from a series of vehicle emission characterisation experiments conducted under controlled conditions is used to demonstrate the potential of this approach. First, the method is validated through comparison with on-board emission measurements. Second, the ability of this approach to detect changes in NOx / CO2 ratios associated with aftertreatment system tampering and different engine operating conditions is shown. Third, the flexibility of the approach is demonstrated by varying the pollutants used as regression variables and quantifying the NO2 / NOx ratios for different vehicle types. A higher proportion of total NOx is emitted as NO2 when the selective catalytic reduction system of the measured heavy duty truck is tampered. In addition, the applicability of this approach to urban environments is illustrated using mobile measurements conducted in Milan, Italy in 2021. Emissions from local combustion sources are distinguished from a complex urban background and the spatiotemporal variability in emissions is shown. The mean NOx / CO2 ratio of 1.61 ppb/ppm is considered representative of the local vehicle fleet. It is envisaged that this approach can be used to quantify emissions from a range of mobile and stationary fuel combustion sources, including non-road vehicles, ships, trains, boilers and incinerators.

Verification of a National Emission Inventory and Influence of On-road Vehicle Manufacturer-Level Emissions.

Road vehicles make important contributions to a wide range of pollutant emissions from the street level to global scales. The quantification of emissions from road vehicles is, however, highly challenging given the number of individual sources involved and the myriad factors that influence emissions such as fuel type, emission standard, and driving behavior. In this work, we use highly detailed and comprehensive vehicle emission remote sensing measurements made under real driving conditions to develop new bottom-up inventories that can be compared to official national inventory totals. We find that the total UK passenger car and light-duty van emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) are underestimated by 24-32%, and up to 47% in urban areas, compared with the UK national inventory, despite agreement within 1.5% for total fuel used. Emissions of NOx at a country level are also shown to vary considerably depending on the mix of vehicle manufacturers in the fleet. Adopting the on-road mix of vehicle manufacturers for six European countries results in up to a 13.4% range in total emissions of NOx. Accounting for the manufacturer-specific fleets at a country level could have a significant impact on emission estimates of NOx and other pollutants across the European countries, which are not currently reflected in emission inventories.

Underestimated Ammonia Emissions from Road Vehicles.

In this study, we use comprehensive vehicle emission remote sensing measurements of over 230,000 passenger cars to estimate total UK ammonia (NH3) emissions. Estimates are made using "top-down" and "bottom-up" methods that demonstrate good agreement to within 1.1% for total fuel consumed or CO2 emitted. A central component of this study is the comprehensive nature of the bottom-up emission estimates that combine highly detailed remote sensing emission data with over 4000 km of 1 Hz real driving data. Total annual UK NH3 emissions from gasoline passenger cars are estimated to be 7.8 ± 0.3 kt from the bottom-up estimate compared with 3.0 ± 1.7 kt reported by the UK national inventory. An important conclusion from the analysis is that both methodologies confirm that gasoline passenger car NH3 emissions are underestimated by a factor of about 2.6 compared with the 2018 UK National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory. Furthermore, we find that inventory estimates of urban emissions of NH3 for passenger cars are underestimated by a factor of 17.