Acquiring musical knowledge increases music liking: Evidence from a neurophysiological study.

People possessing musical knowledge tend to enjoy music more, but the linkage remains to be determined. Based on the shared affective motion experience model for music appreciation, we hypothesized that acquiring musical knowledge about the music itself, for example, an analytical understanding of music elements and the related emotional expressions, would increase music liking. To test the hypothesis, we asked 48 participants to learn analytical or historical information about a piece of music by watching a pre-recorded teaching video. Learners' physiological responses, such as skin conductance and heart rate, were recorded during learning. The increase of music liking was observed after both types of knowledge acquisition, but more so for analytical knowledge. Notably, acquiring analytical knowledge made learners' skin conductance more similar, indicating the alignment of physiological responses. This physiological similarity, correlated with analytical knowledge similarity, could mediate the effect of knowledge acquisition on music liking. In sum, this study reveals the impact of analytical knowledge on music enjoyment and the associated neurophysiological mechanism. It extends the theoretical framework of shared affective motion experience to explain how musical knowledge influences music appreciation.

The acquired dyad inclination and decreased interpersonal brain communication in the pursuit of collective benefit.

People perform better collectively than individually, a phenomenon known as the collective benefit. To pursue the benefit, they may learn from previous behaviors, come to know whose initial opinion should be valued, and develop the inclination to take it as the collective one. Such learning may affect interpersonal brain communication. To test these hypotheses, this study recruited participant dyads to conduct a perceptual task on which they made individual decisions first and then the collective one. The enhanced interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) between participants was explored when individual decisions were in disagreement vs. agreement. Computational modeling revealed that participant dyads developed the dyad inclination of taking the higher-able participants', not the lower-able ones' decisions as their collective ones. Brain analyses unveiled the enhanced IBS at frontopolar areas, premotor areas, supramarginal gyri, and right temporal-parietal junctions. The premotor IBS correlated negatively with dyad inclination and collective benefit in the absence of correction. The Granger causality analyses further supported the negative relation of dyad inclination with inter-brain communication. This study highlights that dyads learn to weigh individuals' decisions, resulting in dyad inclinations, and explores associated inter-brain communication, offering insights into the dynamics of collective decision-making.

An optical study on the enhanced light trapping performance of the perovskite solar cell using nanocone structure.

Photon management strategies are crucial to improve the efficiency of perovskite thin film (PTF) solar cell. In this work, a nano-cone (NC) based 2D photonic nanostructure is designed and simulated aiming at achieve superior light trapping performance by introducing strong light scattering and interferences within perovskite active layer. Compared to the planar PTF solar cell, the NC nanostructured device with 45 degrees half apex angle obtains highest short-circuit current density, which improved over 20% from 15.00 mA/cm2 to 18.09 mA/cm2. This work offers an alternative design towards effective light trapping performance using 2D photonic nanostructure for PTF solar cell and could potentially be adopted as the nano-structuring strategy for the future perovskite solar cell industry.

Reciprocal and Dynamic Associations between Social Isolation, Loneliness, and Disability among Chinese Older Adults.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine reciprocal and dynamic associations between Social Isolation (SI), loneliness, and disability among Chinese older adults. DESIGN: This is a prospective cohort study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: The global trend of population aging has resulted in a significant rise in the prevalence of disabilities, SI, and loneliness among older adults. These factors can severely impact the health and well-being of older adults. Therefore, it is crucial to implement more efficient interventions aimed at reducing disabilities, addressing SI, and combating loneliness among older adults in order to improve their overall health and well-being. METHODS: Using a large, nationally representative sample spanning 16 years, we employed the general cross-lagged panel model to explore the relationships among 50,348 older adults with a mean age of 81.83 at baseline. Disability was measured by a comprehensive index tool that incorporated multiple dimensions. SI was measured using an SI index, and loneliness was evaluated using a single-item measure. RESULTS: SI emerged as a stronger predictor of disability than loneliness. Longitudinal analysis revealed accumulative disadvantages in the association between SI and disability. Additionally, disability was found to contribute to increased SI and loneliness. However, our study did not detect any variance in the strength of the cross-lagged effects between social isolation and disability. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The findings suggest that reducing SI is crucial for reducing disability among older adults. Initiating early interventions to minimize initial SI could aid in preventing later-life disability. Additionally, addressing disabilities may positively impact the reduction of loneliness and SI within this population.

Deterministic Single-Row-Droplet Catalyst Formation for Uniform Growth Integration of High-Density Silicon Nanowires.

Planar silicon nanowires (SiNWs), grown by using low temperature catalytic approaches, are excellent 1D channel materials for developing high-performance logics and sensors. However, a deterministic position and size control of the metallic catalyst droplets, that lead to the growth of SiNWs, remains still a significant challenge for reliable device integration. In this work, we present a convenient but powerful edge-trimming catalyst formation strategy, which can help to produce a rather uniform single-row of indium (In) catalyst droplets of Dcat = 67 ± 5 nm in diameter, with an exact one-droplet-on-one-step arrangement. This approach marks a significant achievement in self-assembled catalyst formation and offers a foundation to attain a reliable and scalable growth of density SiNW channels, via an in-plane solid-liquid-solid (IPSLS) mechanism, with a uniform diameter down to Dnw = 35 ± 4 nm, and do not rely on high-precision lithography techniques. Prototype SiNW-based field effect transistors (FETs) are also fabricated, with a high Ion/Ioff current ratio and small subthreshold swing of >107 and 262 mV·dec-1, respectively, indicating a reliable new routine to integrate a wide range of SiNW-based logic, sensor, and display applications.

Alexithymia modulates emotion concept activation during facial expression processing.

Alexithymia is characterized by difficulties in emotional information processing. However, the underlying reasons for emotional processing deficits in alexithymia are not fully understood. The present study aimed to investigate the mechanism underlying emotional deficits in alexithymia. Using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, we recruited college students with high alexithymia (n = 24) or low alexithymia (n = 24) in this study. Participants judged the emotional consistency of facial expressions and contextual sentences while recording their event-related potentials. Behaviorally, the high alexithymia group showed longer response times versus the low alexithymia group in processing facial expressions. The event-related potential results showed that the high alexithymia group had more negative-going N400 amplitudes compared with the low alexithymia group in the incongruent condition. More negative N400 amplitudes are also associated with slower responses to facial expressions. Furthermore, machine learning analyses based on N400 amplitudes could distinguish the high alexithymia group from the low alexithymia group in the incongruent condition. Overall, these findings suggest worse facial emotion perception for the high alexithymia group, potentially due to difficulty in spontaneously activating emotion concepts. Our findings have important implications for the affective science and clinical intervention of alexithymia-related affective disorders.

Bidirectional and dynamic relationships between social isolation and activities of daily living among older adults in China.

Background: Social isolation and disability in performing activities of daily living are increasingly recognised as significant public health concerns globally. We aimed to investigate their bidirectional associations and the related temporal dynamics in Chinese older adults. Methods: We retrieved data from the six waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (2002-18) and used generalised cross-lagged modelling (GCLM) to assess the bidirectional associations between social isolation and disability in performing activities of daily living. Results: We found that higher levels of social isolation were predictive of increased scores in disabilities in performing activities of daily living. Conversely, disabilities in performing activities of daily living showed less predictive power in relation to social isolation. The temporal dynamics analysis indicated a peak in the bidirectional associations after approximately six years, followed by decreasing trends. Conclusions: Our results indicate that social isolation is dominant in the bidirectional relationship. Efforts focusing on reducing it can potentially minimise disabilities in performing activities of daily living among older adults. Reinstating preventive interventions beyond the six-year mark could help maintain their effectiveness.

Editorial for the Special Issue "Amorphous and Nanocrystalline Semiconductors: Selected Papers from ICANS 29".

The 29th International Conference on Amorphous and Nanocrystalline Semiconductors served as a continuation of the biennial conference that has been held since 1965 [...].

Single-nanowire-morphed mechanical slingshot for directional shooting delivery of micro-payloads.

Stretching elastomer bands to accumulate strain energy, for a sudden projectile launching, has been an old hunting skill that will continue to find new applications in miniaturized worlds. In this work, we explore the use of highly resilient and geometry-tailored ultrathin crystalline silicon nanowires (SiNWs) as elastic medium to fabricate the first, and the smallest, mechanical slingshot. These NW-morphed slingshots were first grown on a planar surface, with desired layout, and then mounted upon standing pillar frames, with a unique self-hooking structure that allows for a facile and reliable assembly, loading and shooting maneuver of microsphere payloads. Impressively, the elastic spring design can help to store 10 times more strain energy into the NW springs, compared with the straight ones under the same pulling force, which has been strong enough to overcome the sticky van der Waals (vdW) force at the touching interfaces that otherwise will hinder a reliable releasing onto soft surface with low-surface energy or adhesion force, and to achieve a directional shooting delivery of precise amount of tiny payload units onto delicate target with the least impact damage. This NW-morphing construction strategy also provides a generic protocol/platform to fast design, prototype, and deploy new nanoelectromechanical and biological applications at extremely low costs.

Ultracompact single-nanowire-morphed grippers driven by vectorial Lorentz forces for dexterous robotic manipulations.

Ultracompact and soft pairwise grippers, capable of swift large-amplitude multi-dimensional maneuvering, are widely needed for high-precision manipulation, assembly and treatment of microscale objects. In this work, we demonstrate the simplest construction of such robotic structures, shaped via a single-nanowire-morphing and powered by geometry-tailored Lorentz vectorial forces. This has been accomplished via a designable folding growth of ultralong and ultrathin silicon NWs into single and nested omega-ring structures, which can then be suspended upon electrode frames and coated with silver metal layer to carry a passing current along geometry-tailored pathway. Within a magnetic field, the grippers can be driven by the Lorentz forces to demonstrate swift large-amplitude maneuvers of grasping, flapping and twisting of microscale objects, as well as high-frequency or even resonant vibrations to overcome sticky van de Waals forces in microscale for a reliable releasing of carried payloads. More sophisticated and functional teamwork of mutual alignment, precise passing and selective light-emitting-diode unit testing and installation were also successfully accomplished via pairwise gripper collaborations. This single-nanowire-morphing strategy provides an ideal platform to rapidly design, construct and prototype a wide range of advanced ultracompact nanorobotic, mechanical sensing and biological manipulation functionalities.

School bullying and its risk and protective factors in Chinese early adolescents: A latent transition analysis.

Bullying perpetration and victimization are common and problematic occurrences during adolescence. Typically, bullying incidents involve different bullying roles. However, little is known about the developmental stability and changes in these roles. In the present study, we aimed to assess the stability and changes in bullying roles and examine risk and protective factors associated with bullying involvement. A total of 1711 Chinese early adolescents (47.4% girls, Mage = 11.99) participated in the study at two time points approximately 6 months apart. Three subgroups of bullying were identified: bully-victims, victims, and the uninvolved. In terms of stability and changes, the uninvolved were the most stable over time, while victims and bully-victims tended to become the uninvolved. Bully-victims also tended to become victims. Early adolescents with higher levels of parental psychological control and depression symptoms were more likely to be victims or bully-victims. Higher levels of depression symptoms increased the risk of transitioning from being the uninvolved or bully-victims to becoming victims. Higher levels of friendship quality were associated with higher odds of being the uninvolved or transitioning from being victims or bully-victims to becoming the uninvolved. Our findings indicate that bullying roles were relatively stable, with some changes over time. The results also highlight the important function that parental psychological control, friendship quality, and depression symptoms can play in preventing and intervening in bullying.

Time course of attentional bias in social anxiety: Evidence from visuocortical dynamics.

Threat-related attentional bias is thought to have a causal influence on the etiology of social anxiety. However, there is uncertainty on whether attention dwells on or diverts away from threats, and the measurements typically utilized to explore attentional bias cannot continuously quantify changes in attention. Here, we used steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs) as a continuous neurophysiological measure of visual attentional processing to examine the time course of attentional bias in social anxiety. Participants with high (n = 18) and low (n = 18) social anxiety passively viewed two faces flickering at 15 and 20 Hz frequency to evoke ssVEPs, and completed Attentional Control Scale. The results showed that angry faces, as compared to happy and neutral faces, elicited larger ssVEP amplitudes for the time window of 180-500 ms after facial stimuli onset only in the high socially anxious individuals, and the effect extended to the next two periods of 500-1000 ms and 1000-1500 ms. The ssVEP amplitudes differed most when individuals with high social anxiety viewed angry-neutral expression combinations. Additionally, attentional control was negatively correlated with social anxiety and threat-related attentional bias. The results suggested that individuals with social anxiety initially oriented attention toward the threat and subsequently exhibited difficulty in disengaging attention from it, possibly due to impaired attentional control.

Neural response and representation: Facial expressions in scenes.

Previous studies have shown that the brain generates expectations based on scenes, which affects facial expression recognition. However, although facial expressions are known to interact with perception, the mechanism underlying this interaction remains poorly understood. Here, we used frequency labeling and decoding techniques to reveal the effects of scene-based expectation on the amplitude and representational strength of neural activity. We also reduced the relative reliability between expectation and sensory input by blurring facial expressions to further investigate the effects of this relative reliability on the pattern of neural activation and representation. Participants viewed emotional changes in unblurred or blurred facial expressions, which flickered at a rate of 6 Hz within a scene. We found that facial expressions that were congruent with the emotional significance of the scene elicited a larger steady-state visual evoked potential amplitude than did facial expressions that were incongruent with the emotional significance of a scene, in both unblurred and blurred conditions. We also found that expected facial expression representations were stronger than unexpected representations during the unblurred condition. In the blurred condition, unexpected representations were stronger than expected representations. Taken together, these results suggested that facial expression processing in the visual cortex is modulated by top-down signals. The relative reliability of expectation and sensory input moderated the influence of a scene on facial expression representation. Furthermore, our study showed that neural activation amplitudes did not correspond to representational strength.

Ultra-Confined Catalytic Growth Integration of Sub-10 nm 3D Stacked Silicon Nanowires Via a Self-Delimited Droplet Formation Strategy.

Fabricating ultrathin silicon (Si) channels down to critical dimension (CD) <10 nm, a key capability to implementing cutting-edge microelectronics and quantum charge-qubits, has never been accomplished via an extremely low-cost catalytic growth. In this work, 3D stacked ultrathin Si nanowires (SiNWs) are demonstrated, with width and height of Wnw  = 9.9 ± 1.2 nm (down to 8 nm) and Hnw  = 18.8 ± 1.8 nm, that can be reliably grown into the ultrafine sidewall grooves, approaching to the CD of 10 nm technology node, thanks to a new self-delimited droplet control strategy. Interestingly, the cross-sections of the as-grown SiNW channels can also be easily tailored from fin-like to sheet-like geometries by tuning the groove profile, while a sharply folding guided growth indicates a unique capability to produce closely-packed multiple rows of stacked SiNWs, out of a single run growth, with the minimal use of catalyst metal. Prototype field effect transistors are also successfully fabricated, achieving Ion/off ratio and sub-threshold swing of >106 and 125 mV dec-1 , respectively. These results highlight the unexplored potential of versatile catalytic growth to compete with, or complement, the advanced top-down etching technology in the exploitation of monolithic 3D integration of logic-in-memory, neuromorphic and charge-qubit applications.

Emotion concept in perception of facial expressions: Effects of emotion-label words and emotion-laden words.

Emotion perception, the ability to detect and categorize the emotions of others, is an important component of social competence. The basic emotion theory and constructed emotion theory remain controversial over the role of emotional semantic information in the processing of facial expressions. In the present study, in order to explore the mechanism of emotional semantic information in different processing stages of facial expressions, we used the ERPs to investigate the effects of emotion-label words (e.g., happy, disgusted) and emotion-laden words (e.g., flower, maggot) on the perception of happy and disgusted faces. The results showed that disgusted faces were more susceptible to emotion words, and there were differences between word types and consistency conditions in the N170 component. More importantly, disgusted faces showed a significant N400 effect in the emotion-label words condition, that is, the amplitude in the emotion inconsistent condition was negative compared with that in the emotion consistent condition. The processing of happy faces was not significantly affected by the emotional information of words, and no significant effects related to consistency or to word types were found. These results found that disgusted faces exhibited emotional semantic conflict in the inconsistent emotion-label words condition, suggesting that emotion words moderated the perception of disgusted faces, supporting the hypothesis that emotional semantic information influenced the perception of facial expressions.

Emotional violation of faces, emojis, and words: Evidence from N400.

Human social interactions depend on the construction of emotional meaning. The present study used event-related potentials to investigate the neural features of emotional violation processing in facial expressions, emojis, and emotion words. Behavioral results showed emotion congruency effects among facial expressions, emojis, and emotion words. Emotional violations resulted in a longer response time than emotion congruent conditions in happy context conditions. Responses to angry faces were slower in angry sentences than in happy sentences. As expected, the classic N400 effect was obtained for the emotional violations among facial expressions, emojis, and emotion words. Emotional violations resulted in more negative-going N400 amplitudes. Moreover, the N400 effects elicited by facial expressions and emojis were significantly smaller than emotion words, and there were no significant differences in N400 effects between facial expressions and emojis. The findings suggest that the emotional violation processing of facial expressions, emojis, and emotion words could be reflected in an electrophysiological index of semantic processing, and that emotional violation elicited higher levels of semantic retrieval. In addition, there were differences between nonverbal and verbal information processing in emotional violation, while the emotional violation of words induced greater semantic retrieval demands than facial expressions and emojis.

Non-invasive digital etching of van der Waals semiconductors.

The capability to finely tailor material thickness with simultaneous atomic precision and non-invasivity would be useful for constructing quantum platforms and post-Moore microelectronics. However, it remains challenging to attain synchronized controls over tailoring selectivity and precision. Here we report a protocol that allows for non-invasive and atomically digital etching of van der Waals transition-metal dichalcogenides through selective alloying via low-temperature thermal diffusion and subsequent wet etching. The mechanism of selective alloying between sacrifice metal atoms and defective or pristine dichalcogenides is analyzed with high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. Also, the non-invasive nature and atomic level precision of our etching technique are corroborated by consistent spectral, crystallographic, and electrical characterization measurements. The low-temperature charge mobility of as-etched MoS2 reaches up to 1200 cm2 V-1s-1, comparable to that of exfoliated pristine counterparts. The entire protocol represents a highly precise and non-invasive tailoring route for material manipulation.

Review on 3D growth engineering and integration of nanowires for advanced nanoelectronics and sensor applications.

Recent years have witnessed increasing efforts devoted to the growth, assembly and integration of quasi-one dimensional (1D) nanowires (NWs), as fundamental building blocks in advanced three-dimensional (3D) architecture, to explore a series of novel nanoelectronic and sensor applications. An important motivation behind is to boost the integration density of the electronic devices by stacking more functional units in theout-of-plane z-direction, where the NWs are supposed to be patterned or grown as vertically standing or laterally stacked channels to minimize their footprint area. The other driving force is derived from the unique possibility of engineering the 1D NWs into more complex, as well as more functional, 3D nanostructures, such as helical springs and kinked probes, which are ideal nanostructures for developping advanced nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS), bio-sensing and manipulation applications. This Review will first examine the recent progresses made in the construction of 3D nano electronic devices, as well as the new fabrication and growth technologies established to enable an efficient 3D integration of the vertically standing or laterally stacked NW channels. Then, the different approaches to produce and tailor more sophisticated 3D helical springs or purposely-designed nanoprobes will be revisited, together with their applications in NEMS resonators, bio sensors and stimulators in neural system.

Tapering-free monocrystalline Ge nanowires synthesized via plasma-assisted VLS using In and Sn catalysts.

In and Sn are the type of catalysts which do not introduce deep level electrical defects within the bandgap of germanium (Ge). However, Ge nanowires produced using these catalysts usually have a large diameter, a tapered morphology, and mixed crystalline and amorphous phases. In this study, we show that plasma-assisted vapor-liquid-solid (PA-VLS) method can be used to synthesize Ge nanowires. Moreover, at certain parameter domains, the sidewall deposition issues of this synthesis method can be avoided and long, thin tapering-free monocrystalline Ge nanowires can be obtained with In and Sn catalysts. We find two quite different parameter domains where Ge nanowire growth can occur via PA-VLS using In and Sn catalysts: (i) a low temperature-low pressure domain, below âˆ¼235 °C at a GeH4partial pressure of âˆ¼6 mTorr, where supersaturation in the catalyst occurs thanks to the low solubility of Ge in the catalysts, and (ii) a high temperature-high pressure domain, at ∼400 °C and a GeH4partial pressure above âˆ¼20 mTorr, where supersaturation occurs thanks to the high GeH4concentration. While growth at 235 °C results in tapered short wires, operating at 400 °C enables cylindrical nanowire growth. With the increase of growth temperature, the crystalline structure of the nanowires changes from multi-crystalline to mono-crystalline and their growth rate increases from ∼0.3 nm s-1to 5 nm s-1. The cylindrical Ge nanowires grown at 400°C usually have a length of few microns and a radius of around 10 nm, which is well below the Bohr exciton radius in bulk Ge (24.3 nm). To explain the growth mechanism, a detailed growth model based on the key chemical reactions is provided.

Highly Stretchable High-Performance Silicon Nanowire Field Effect Transistors Integrated on Elastomer Substrates.

Quasi-1D silicon nanowires (SiNWs) field effect transistors (FETs) integrated upon large-area elastomers are advantageous candidates for developing various high-performance stretchable electronics and displays. In this work, it is demonstrated that an orderly array of slim SiNW channels, with a diameter of <80 nm, can be precisely grown into desired locations via an in-plane solid-liquid-solid (IPSLS) mechanism, and reliably batch-transferred onto large area polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomers. Within an optimized discrete FETs-on-islands architecture, the SiNW-FETs can sustain large stretching strains up to 50% and repetitive testing for more than 1000 cycles (under 20% strain), while achieving a high hole carrier mobility, Ion /Ioff current ratio and subthreshold swing (SS) of ≈70 cm2 V-1 s-1 , >105  and 134 - 277 mV decade-1 , respectively, working stably in an ambient environment over 270 days without any passivation protection. These results indicate a promising new routine to batch-manufacture and integrate high-performance, scalable and stretchable SiNW-FET electronics that can work stably in harsh and large-strain environments, which is a key capability for future practical flexible display and wearable electronic applications.