The current study investigates the influence of L2 proficiency on cognitive control among three matched groups of unbalanced Chinese-English bilinguals. Flanker task was administered to measure ...conflict monitoring and inhibition, and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) to measure mental set shifting. ANOVA analyses of the Flanker results showed no differences in inhibition across all groups and no interaction between group and condition. However, the Flanker results showed faster performance for the highest L2 proficiency group relative to the lowest L2 proficiency group in all conditions (incongruent, neutral, and congruent), which reflects better ability of conflict monitoring. Finally, ANOVA analyses of the WCST results showed no differences across all groups. These results altogether suggest that L2 proficiency has significant influence on cognitive control, but only in conflict monitoring, not in inhibition or mental set shifting.
The relationship between bilingualism and cognitive control has been controversial. We believe that the discrepant findings are likely driven by the complexities of the bilingual experience, which is ...consistent with the Adaptive Control Hypothesis. The current study investigates whether the natural language immersion experience and the classroom intensive language training experience have differential impacts on cognitive control. Among unbalanced Chinese-English bilingual students, a natural L2 (second language) immersion group, an L2 public speaking training group, and a control bilingual group without immersion or training experience were compared on their cognitive control abilities, with the participants’ demographic factors strictly controlled. The results showed that the L2 immersion group and the L2 speaking group had faster speed than the control group in the Flanker task, whereas the L2 immersion group had fewer errors than the other two groups in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). These results generally provide evidence in favour of the Adaptive Control Hypothesis, specifying that natural L2 immersion and L2 public speaking training experiences are distinctively related to cognitive control. The current study is the first of its kind to link specific bilingual experiences (natural L2 immersion vs. intensive L2 public speaking) with different components of cognitive control.
Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions:
This study investigates whether bilingualism and bidialectalism influence cognitive control, and whether the two variables interact.
...Design/methodology/approach:
The study compared two matched groups differing in second language (L2) proficiency through the Flanker and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). The two groups were further divided into four groups differing in dialect proficiency, so that the effects of L2 proficiency and dialect proficiency and the interactive effect were examined.
Data and analysis:
A mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to the Flanker task data, with the task condition as the within-subject variable and the participant group as the between-subject variable. Independent t-test and ANOVA analyses were used to compare the performance differences between groups on the WCST.
Findings/conclusion:
The high L2 proficiency group performed better than the low L2 proficiency group both in the Flanker task and the WCST, reflecting better monitoring and shifting ability. L2 proficiency effect on cognitive control was significant. However, no dialect effect was observed, and no interaction effect was found. Further multiple regression results confirmed the role of L2 proficiency but not dialect proficiency.
Originality:
This is one of the first bilingual studies to incorporate both bilingualism and bidialectalism simultaneously.
Significance/implications:
The current research provides robust evidence that bilingualism is related to the enhancement of cognitive control, but questions the effect of bidialectalism.
A highly enantioselective tandem Michael addition of tryptamine‐derived oxindoles to alkynones was developed by taking advantage of a chiral N,N′‐dioxide Sc(OTf)3 catalyst. The reaction enables the ...facile preparation of enantioenriched spiropyrrolidine‐3,3′‐oxindole compounds, which provides a novel strategy for the synthesis of monoterpenoid indole alkaloids. As a demonstration, the asymmetric synthesis of strychnos alkaloids (−)‐tubifoline, (−)‐tubifolidine, (−)‐dehydrotubifoline was achieved in 10–11 steps.
Give me a ring: A novel method for synthesizing strychnos alkaloids was developed in which a chiral N,N′‐dioxide Sc(OTf)3 complex catalyzes the enantioselective tandem Michael addition of tryptamine‐derived oxindoles to alkynones. The reaction enables the facile preparation of enantioenriched spiropyrrolidine‐3,3′‐oxindole compounds, which provides a novel strategy for the synthesis of monoterpenoid indole alkaloids.
Previous studies have suggested a bilingual advantage in cognitive control as a result of the bilinguals' language experience. However, the results are controversial as there are various factors ...(language proficiency, SES, culture, and intelligence, etc.) affecting cognitive control. In the current study, after between-group comparisons, we adopted a within-group approach by multiple regressions to investigate whether the performance by 10-to-75-year-old participants (
= 91) of tasks measuring inhibition, monitoring, and mental set shifting could be predicted by bilingualism, or demographic factors, or both. The results of multiple stepwise regression analyses showed that L2 proficiency was a significant predictor for conflict monitoring and inhibition, education and age were significant predictors for mental set shifting, and SES was a minor predictor for inhibition. These findings provide evidence that cognitive control is affected by both bilingualism and demographic factors. Future studies are encouraged to further identify the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive control from specific bilingual experience.
Most previous studies focused on foreign language learning anxiety, whereas relatively few have ever examined the foreign language teaching anxiety (FLTA), particularly experienced by pre-service EFL ...(English as a Foreign Language) teachers. By administering the “Foreign Language Teaching Anxiety Scale” (FLTAS) and a semi-structured interview, the current study examined whether the EFL teaching practicum had an influence on FLTA by comparing the differences of FLTA between pre-service EFL teachers who had 4 months of practicum experience and those without the practicum, and explored the potential factors contributing to FLTA. Results of descriptive analyses showed that overall the pre-service teachers had a relatively high level of FLTA. Results of independent sample t-test analyses indicated that the practicum group had significantly higher FLTA compared to the non-practicum group. Furthermore, within the two groups, female teachers consistently showed higher FLTA than the male teachers. Results of the interview content analyses revealed that anxiety-provoking factors primarily originated from fear of negative evaluation, low self-perception of language proficiency, and teaching inexperience. The findings of the current study provide insights of anxiety research in EFL context and implications for teachers to better reduce anxiety in English teaching practice.
The current study investigates how second-language (L2) proficiency contributes to cognitive control differences among three groups of unbalanced Chinese–English bilinguals matched for socioeconomic ...status (SES), intelligence (IQ), education, age, culture, and L1 background. A Flanker task and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) were administered to measure conflict monitoring, inhibition, and mental set shifting. ANOVA analyses revealed faster performance for the High-L2 Group compared to the Low-L2 Group in the congruent, neutral, and incongruent conditions of the Flanker task. However, there were no group differences on the WCST. Multiple step-wise regression analyses showed that L2 proficiency was a predictor for the Flanker task performance in all three conditions, SES in the neutral and the incongruent condition, and IQ in the congruent condition. These results suggest that L2 proficiency, along with SES and IQ, contribute significantly to cognitive control differences in conflict monitoring among young-adult bilinguals.
As one of the most widely used media types, images play an important role in the era of the Internet. And hence how to enhance the security of images has become a hot topic in the field of ...information security. However, due to some intrinsic characteristics of images, image security is still a challenging task. For the purpose of coping with this issue, in this paper, we propose a novel algorithm that combines a hyperchaotic system, dynamic filtering, and bit cuboid operations, namely, DFBC, for image encryption. Specifically, the proposed DFBC consists of four steps: firstly, a 7D Lorenz hyperchaotic system is utilized to generate a pseudorandom sequence; secondly, variable 1D filters are derived from the pseudorandom sequence, and dynamic filtering is conducted on each pixel of an image; thirdly, a diffusion scheme is performed and then the image is transformed to a bit cuboid; and, finally, various types of permutation (rearranging, symmetry, rotation, zigzag, and global bit permutation) are performed on the bit cuboid. The experiments on several testing images demonstrate that the DFBC achieves state-of-the-art results in terms of several evaluation criteria, showing that the DFBC is promising for image encryption.
The present study investigates how two important aspects of bilingualism, second language (L2) proficiency and language interpreting experience, contribute to cognitive control differences among ...young adult bilinguals. By requiring participants to complete the Flanker task (testing inhibition in cognitive control) and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST; testing mental set shifting in cognitive control), we compared four groups of Chinese-English bilinguals who varied in L2 proficiency and interpreting experience. The results showed that there was no significant group difference across all groups in the Flanker task. However, in the WCST, although there was no group difference between bilinguals differing in L2 proficiency, there was a significant difference between groups differing in interpreting experience, including groups differing in years of interpreting training. The results indicate that language interpreting experience, as part of bilinguals' language use ecology, significantly contributes to mental set shifting enhancement in cognitive control among young adult bilinguals. The findings motivate further research into the processing mechanism involved in language interpreting.
Image compression and image encryption are two essential tasks in image processing. The former aims to reduce the cost for storage or transmission of images while the latter aims to change the ...positions or values of pixels to protect image content. Nowadays, an increasing number of researchers are focusing on the combination of these two tasks. In this paper, we propose a novel joint image compression and encryption approach that integrates a quantum chaotic system, sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) and a bit-level 3D Arnold cat map, so-called QSBLA, for such a purpose. Specifically, the QSBLA consists of 6 stages. First, a quantum chaotic system is employed to generate chaotic sequences for subsequent compression and encryption. Second, as one method of compressive sensing, SBL is used to compress images. Third, an operation of diffusion is performed on the compressed image. Fourth, the compressed and diffused image is transformed into several bit-level cubes. Fifth, 3D Arnold cat maps are used to permute each bit-level cube. Finally, all the bit-level cubes are integrated and transformed into a 2D pixel-level image, resulting in the compressed and encrypted image. Extensive experiments on 8 publicly-accessed images demonstrate that the proposed QSBLA is superior or comparable to some state-of-the-art approaches in terms of several measurement indices, indicating that the QSBLA is promising for joint image compression and encryption.
PDF
