Effect of Interpersonal Touch on Third-party Observers

Effect of Interpersonal Touch on Third-party ObserversObserving Touch Boosts Social InterestsSun YatingAbstractThe coating of this subscribe to is to investigate the effect interpersonal evoke on third-party observers. Specifically, we aim to screen whether observing interactions with edge prepossesses individuals towards cordial study in their environment. To this obliterate, participants leave behind be presented with prime images that entail furbish up and no- striking interactions. Primes go out be followed by a set of target images comprising social (i.e., breasts) and non-social (i.e., vehicles) elements. Participants processing of these images will be explored using behavioral measures (e.g., recognition accuracy) and eye-gaze data obtained through eye-tracking. We expect stimulus recognition and gazing to be enhanced when presented with face than with vehicle stimuli. Moreover this difference should be more pronounce for stimuli ready with touch as compared w ith no-touch images.Keywords Interpersonal touch Social information Facial bias Eye-gazing.Observing touch boosts social interestsTouch is crucial to our day by day life, as it allows us to communicate with the external world (Barnett, 1972). By doing so, we are able to feel the warmth of a gracious hand to tap the strain of a smart phone to send messages to a friend to feel the sharpness of the tip of a pencil or to feel the softness of a comfortable mattress. Among antithetical types of touch, the interpersonal touch is the social sub-area of touch that primary(prenominal)ly embroils our interaction with an other people (Field, 2001). For example, a strong handshake, an encouraging pat on ones back, a short tap on ones forearm, or a comforting pat on ones shoulder. Research has strained on how interpersonal touch influences our social perception, social behaviour, as well as our social brain.For the social perception, Fisher, Rytting and Heslin (1976) have conducted a behav ioural content when handing back the library card, library clerk any coolly affected the forearm of the subject or did not touch the subject. The results illustrated that subjects felt higher level of affective and gave more positive evaluation towards the clerk, when they had been casually touched, in compared with the no touch situation. In other words, interpersonal touch enhances our positive social perception towards others. For the social behaviour, Cruso and Wetzel (1984) have asked waitresses to either briefly touch customers hands and shoulders, or behaving in the controlled manner (no touch). They have found that, regardless of the place cosmos touched (hand or shoulder), customers gave higher rate of tipping fee when they had been touched by the waitresses, compared with the control group (where customers had not been touched). The above results suggested that interpersonal touch affects our social behaviour, which maybe a practical knowledge that we could use in our fooling life.For the social brain search area, both(prenominal) neuroimaging studies and EEG studies have shed light on the role of interpersonal touch. For example, Olausson et al. (2010) conducted an fMRI conceive and identified a transcription of unmyelinated low threshold mechanoreceptors (C tactile, CT afferents) which contri howevere to pleasant touch and provide an important sensory underpinning of social behaviour. It is important to note that their essay was not strictly an interpersonal touch. In fact, it was a robot arm that held a brush that was stimulating participants. The brush touch was a slow, dynamic quality of light touch in hairy skin. However, this kind of touch has been suggested to be salient in tactile interactions between individuals (Gallace and Spence, 2010 Vallbo et al., 1999). Also, as social processing include multiple mechanisms (e.g. vocal, seventh cranial nerve, and olfactory), Olausson et al. (2010) have only suggested the CT afferents func tion in interpersonal touch. Thus, it is possible that the CT afferents do not wholly support the social processing, simply only partially contri juste to one specific aspect (i.e. the interpersonal touch aspect). Although having the above issues, the study done by Olausson et al. (2010) generally suggested that CT afferents (in undersurface and middle insular cortex) is the brain system which works for both interpersonal touch and social processing. For the EEG evidence, Maria et al. (in progress) have conducted an experimentation with facial stimuli. They asked participants to focus on the facial images displayed on a computer screen. At the meantime, they used a brush to briefly touch the forearm area of participants. According to the results, being touched by the brush enhanced the N170 ERP component, which has been proved to reflect the processes of neutral faces (Rossion et al., 2000). Again, the above study used a brush instead of a original human hand to touch participan ts, which may be not good for the consideration of validity. However, previous study has shown the similarity between being touched by a brush and a human hand. Therefore, this EEG study suggested that our social perception of faces could be enhanced after being touched.With the knowledge of how interpersonal touch influences our social life, it is kindle to keep out whether such influence could be extended, so that individuals are not being touched with ones own experience, but precisely observing a vicarious interpersonal touching interaction performed by another two people. It is important to figure out the vicarious interpersonal touch problem, as this is the social interaction that we have to process in everyday life. For example, the mess media propose thousands of news, which including pictures capturing the interpersonal touch interactions between politicians. When observing such pictures, readers may form stereotypes towards both politicians inside in this interaction. S ometimes, being the toucher or the receiver in such a simple picture can determine the publics social-emotional attitudes towards politicians, which will later greatly affect the voting rates toward them. Therefore, having the knowledge of vicarious interpersonal touch is important for us to guide our behaviour pattern in our social life.To support both the real and vicarious experiences, a same neural system should be activated for both procedures, which is called the Mirror system. According to Blakemore et al. (2005), the mirror system lies in our Primary Somatosensory Cortext (SI). Moreover, Keyser, Kaas and Gazzola (2010) suggested that different sub-regions in SI make different contributions BA2 functions to the perception of others experiences, whilst BA3 processes signals originate in our own body. Furthermore, Scharfer, Heinze and Rotte (2012) conducted an fMRI experiment that they assigned participants to either observe a painful vicarious touch (using a paintbrush to touc h a hand), a non-painful vicarious touch, or become in the real touch condition (where participant waited no ocular display and was touched by a paintbrush). The results suggested that, for the contrast between observed/ real touch, on that point was a significant overlap in SI. In other words, SI is the mirror neuron system for non-painful touch. Also, among all sub-regions within SI, BA2 made around 50% contribution to the overlap activation.However, this fMRI study, as previous studies, risked validity by using paintbrush instead of a more realistic interpersonal communication stimulus. Also, although this study hinted the influence of vicarious touch on the social perception, it did not directly test any social-emotional issue as dependent variable. A recent study by Schirmer et al. (2014) has developed the Social Touch Picture Set (SToPS), which contain two characters within severally image. The interaction between the two characters can be either touch or no-touch. Also, t he interaction can be reciprocal (where there is no toucher and receiver) or non-reciprocal (where one character is a toucher while the other one is a receiver). This picture set enables the presentation of a more realistic vicarious interpersonal touch scene, compared with the previously used paintbrush one. In their study, they asked participants to watch the SToPS images, then rate the perceived valence, arousal, and likeability of the characters and the interaction procedure. They found that, when participants observed touch images, the image characters and interaction procedure seemed more positive, aroused, and likable, compared to the observation of no-touch images. Moreover, they used eye-tracking system to record the gazing pattern when participants were observing the touch/ no-touch images. The results illustrated more and longer fixations towards the hurrying body area rather than the expected touching area.With such unexpected results, it is interesting to locate the ex act position(s) within the upper body area that people focus on, after they observed vicarious touch images. Among all human upper body areas, perhaps the facial area is the most important one for our social information processing. As Allison, Puce and McCarthy (2000) mentioned in their review about social perception, the flat coat why facial information is crucial to our daily communication is because human face not only provides multiple explicit information (i.e. age, sex, emotional state, etc), but also includes some implicit information. Therefore, it is likely that face is the key area in the upper body part that we focus on, after primed with a vicarious interpersonal touch scene. More specifically, the enhanced social processing (by observing interpersonal touch) may bias our attention towards faces and help us to deep process facial related information.As no previous study has focused on the link between vicarious interpersonal touch and our facial information processing procedure, the current study is interested in such topic and will test 1) whether observing touch biases individuals to attend to faces, and 2) whether a voltage face bias facilitates the retrieval of facial information.MethodsParticipantsRun pilot study with 10 participants. Depending on the effect size to decide the sample size for the main study. A balanced fig of male and female participants will be preferred, as sex difference may influence the results of current experiment. Also, as the face images will all be Asian, we will only include Asian participants.Experimental designatedThe current experiment is a 2 (Touch touch/no-touch) X 2 (Stimulus face/car) X 8 (AOIs) X 2 (Old target face/car) within subject design, with dependent variables of looking age, numerate of fixations, and d value for the facial recognition data.StimuliSToPS Images (vicarious interpersonal touch images). There are 480 SToPS images (see figure 1 as an example), which could be divided evenly into diff erent within participant conditions in the current study. The SToPS images contain ten different gestures, which could be either touch or no-touch. There are three different actors versions for separately type of image. Each version has four female and male dyads female-female/female-male/male-female/male-male. Therefore, there are 10*2*3*4 = 240 images. Also, a reverberate version for for each one of the above images serves to avoid the left-handiness/right-handiness issues. In total, there are 480 vicarious interpersonal touch images.Face and vehicle recognition task images. sooner of using traditional houses in the control condition, vehicle images will be used in the current experiment. This is because the shape of the frontal vehicle images is comparable to human faces. This will enable us to standardize face images and vehicle images in the same manner (see figure 2 as an example).Figure1 Example of touch/no-touch images in SToPS picture set.Figure 2 Example of face and ve hicle images.ProcedureThe experiment will contain two phases the study phase and the test phase. For the study phase, each experimental trial will start with a 200 ms presentation of a white fixation cross in the middle of the screen against a gray background. Participants will be presented with either a face image or a car image for 1 s. Participants will then be asked to explore the picture and try to remember it. In total, we will present 60 face images and 60 car images during the study phase. The inter-trial interval will be 1-3 s with a blank screen displayed. The study phase will last 6-7 mins for the 120 images. Then, participants will be told that this is the end of study phase and they will begin the test phase (see figure 3 for an illustration).Figure 3 The procedure of the study phase.For the test phase, there will be 240 trials. During each trial, a fixation cross will be presented for 200ms. Then, participants will be primed with a Touch or No-touch image for 1 s. Afte r priming, we will display a pair of target face/car image on a computer screen for 1 s. For each of the Touch/No Touch priming, target image pair could be one of the following combinations FaceNew/CarOld (30 trials), FaceOld/CarNew (30 trials), or FaceNew/CarNew (60 trials). We will present target images with primes in a counterbalanced manner. After watching the target image pair, participants will have to decide whether they have encountered an old image or not. To show their decision, they will collect to press the left button or the right button to indicate whether the left image or the right image is an old one. Alternatively, if they decide both images are new, they press Enter to start the next trial. During the inter-trial interval, we will present a gray blank screen for 1-3 s. Based on the above design, each trial will last around 5 seconds. Therefore, the total length for test phase will be around 20 mins (see figure 4 for an illustration).Figure 4 The procedure of the test phase.MeasurementsEye-tracking system. Eye-tracking data will be analysed using 8 AOIs (see figure 5 for illustration). We will measure the looking duration and number of fixations during the test phase.Figure 5 There will be 8 AOIs for face image as well as for vehicle image. Among the 8 AOIs, our interest will focus on the eye and mouth areas.D value for facial recognition. We will use d-prime as the data analysis rule to find the difference in sensitivity towards facial images. We will compute the H values (hit / hit + miss), the F values (FA / FA + CR), and the d values for each trial.Expected resultsFor the looking duration, we expect to find out the Stimulus main effect and an interaction effect between Touch and Stimulus (figure 6).Figure 6 We expect to see 1) in general, participants look at face images longer than vehicle images 2) primed with touch images will increase the looking duration towards faces.For the number of fixations, we expect to see a Stimulus main ef fect and an interaction effect between Touch and Stimulus (figure 7).Figure 7 We expect to find out that 1) the number of fixations on face images will be larger than the number of fixations on vehicle images 2) the priming of touch images will increase the number of fixations on face images.For the facial recognition, we expect to find out the Stimulus main effect, and an interaction effect between Touch and Stimulus on the d values (figure 8).Figure 8 We expect to see that 1) participants are more sensitive to face images, rather than vehicle images 2) the sensitivity towards face images will be enhanced by touch priming, but not no-touch priming.DiscussionThe current study aims at seeking the relationship between observing an interpersonal touch and the social information procedure. We expect stimulus recognition and gazing to be enhanced when presented with face than with vehicle stimuli. Moreover this difference should be more pronounced for stimuli primed with touch as compare d with no-touch images. If the results will be the same as our expectations, we can conclude that observing touch biases individuals to attend to faces, and a potential face bias facilitates the retrieval of facial information. These possible findings will provide us knowledge on the link between observing an interpersonal touch and our facial information processing. Future studies could use fMRI to locate the brain areas that work for both observing an interpersonal touch and our facial information processing.ReferencesAllison, T., Puce, A., McCarthy, G. (2000). Social perception from visual cues role of the STS region.Trends in cognitive sciences,4(7), 267-278.Barnett, K. (1972). A theoretical construct of the concepts of touch as they relate to nursing.Nursing research,21(2), 102-109.Blakemore, S. J., Bristow, D., Bird, G., Frith, C., Ward, J. (2005). Somatosensory activations during the observation of touch and a case of day-dreamtouch synaesthesia.Brain,128(7), 1571-1583.Cru sco, A. H., Wetzel, C. G. (1984). The Midas Touch The Effects of Interpersonal touch on Restaurant Tipping.Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,10(4), 512-517.Field, T. (2001). Touch. Cambridge, MA MIT Press.Fisher, J. D., Rytting, M., Heslin, R. (1976). Hands touching hands Affective and evaluative effects of an interpersonal touch.Sociometry, 416-421.Gallace, A., Spence, C. (2010). The science of interpersonal touch an overview.Neuroscience Biobehavioral Reviews,34(2), 246-259.Gobbini, M. I., Haxby, J. V. (2007). Neural systems for recognition of familiar faces.Neuropsychologia,45(1), 32-41.Keysers, C., Kaas, J. H., Gazzola, V. (2010). Somatosensation in social perception.Nature Reviews Neuroscience,11(6), 417-428.Kleinke, C. L. (1986). Gaze and eye contact a research review.Psychological bulletin,100(1), 78.Perrett, D. I., Smith, P. A. J., Potter, D. D., Mistlin, A. J., Head, A. S., Milner, A. D., Jeeves, M. A. (1985). Visual cells in the temporal cortex sensitive t o face view and gaze direction. Proc. R. Soc. London B 223 293317.Rossion, B., Gauthier, I., Tarr, M. J., Despland, P., Bruyer, R., Linotte, S., Crommelinck, M. (2000). The N170 occipito-temporal component is delayed and enhanced to inverted faces but not to inverted objects an electrophysiological account of face-specific processes in the human brain.Neuroreport,11(1), 69-72.Schaefer, M., Heinze, H. J., Rotte, M. (2012). Embodied empathy for tactile events interindividual differences and vicarious somatosensory responses during touch observation.Neuroimage,60(2), 952-957.Schirmer, A., Reece, C., Zhao, C., Ng, E., Wu, E., Yen, S. C. (2014). Reach out to one and you reach out to many Social touch affects third-party observers.British Journal of Psychology.Vallbo, . B., Olausson, H., Wessberg, J. (1999). Unmyelinated afferents constitute a second system coding tactile stimuli of the human hairy skin. Journal of Neurophysiology,81(6), 2753-2763.

Language transfer

Language dislodgeIntroductionThe title of this explore article has caught my attention because it talks more or less row impart which is an argona I am always interested in knowing more about it. Also, being an ESL t to each oneer, it is definitely beneficial for me to study this article as it particular(prenominal)ally investigates the cross- talking to and constitution governance transfer amidst Chinese and face. This paper consists of devil main parts. Part whizz is a verbal description of the article itself. The circumstance and details of the enquiry get out be summarized and presented here. Part two is a critique of the article. Various parts of the query leave behind be analyzed and, hopefully, modifications and suggestions finish be made to fracture the research design and generate ideas for further investigation into this topic.Part One The article itselfContextualizationAccording to the insertion made by Wang, Perfetti, Liu (2005), various studies conduc ted in the nineties take on tried to investigate whether there is a relationship between teaching to read and the orthography and phonology of a language. As cited in Wang et al. (2005), plastered studies (Adams, 1990 Perfetti, 1992 Treiman, 1993) control said that learning to read is actually learning to match the phonological form with the orthographic form of the language. This has also been claimed as language-specific, i.e. subject to the reputation and indite system of the language (Chen Tzeng, 1992 Feldman, 1987 Frith, Wimmer, Landerl, 1998 Goswami, Gombert, Barrera, 1998 Leong Tamaoka, 1998 Perfetti, 1999 as cited in Wang et al., 2005). However, recent studies (Cisero Royer, 1995 Durgunoglu, Nagy, Hancin-Bhatt, 1993 Durgunoglu, 2002 as cited in Wang et al., 2005) have ensnare that cross-language transfer of phonological skills does take place when one is learning to read two alphabetic languages, like Spanish and face. These findings have aroused the researc hers (Wang et al., 2005) interest in canvass whether there is cross-language and writing system transfer when one is learning to read Chinese and position, i.e. acquiring biliteracy.Background in the Literature To prepare for their in-depth research on the topic, Wang et al. (2005) have conducted a literature go over focusing on the following three aspects(i)The orthography and phonology of ChineseA number of studies (Perfetti, 1999 Perfetti, Zhang, Berent, 1992 Defrancis, 1989 Mattingly, 1992 Perfetti, Liu, Tan, 2005 as cited in Wang et al., 2005) have been reviewed by Wang et al. (2005) in ordination to produce the following general overview of the Chinese orthography. It has been found that Chinese is a nonalphabetic writing system, in which the basic unit is the face. Each character consists of basic strokes, which plunder be combined to form one or more component radicals. A character which is composed of two or more component radicals is called a compound character. Th e structure of the component radicals in these compound characters are usually left(p)-right or top-bottom.Wang et al. (2005) have also reviewed accredited studies (Hanely, Tzeng, Huang, 1999 Taylor Taylor, 1995 as cited in Wang et al., 2005) so as to offer a clear introduction of the Chinese phonology. It is now being summarized below.The basic speech unit of Mandarin Chinese is the syllable which is made up of the onslaught and the rime. Very often, the infringement is a single consonant while the rime is composed of vowels. As a result, the number of syllables in Mandarin Chinese is attractive small (i.e. around 400) whereas the number of homophones is quite prodigious. Fortunately, the use of the four tones in Mandarin Chinese (i.e. 1. high level 2. high-rising 3. falling-rising 4. high-falling) have successfully reduced the large number of homophones. Yet, one should none that the tones are not shown in written Chinese, i.e. they are not part of the written characters. Thus, they will not help learners bring up the characters.(ii)Different cognitive demands involved in learning to read the Chinese and face writing systems According to Wang et al. (2005), there are three main contrasts between the two guide language and writing systems.ContrastsChinese inclineGrapheme mapping principlesyllabic morphemesphonemesGraphic form and special layoutnonlinearlinear refreshful featuretonalnontonal **This table is a simplified version of Table 1 (Wang et al., 2005, p. 69)As suggested by Wang et al. (2005), these contrastive differences are bound to cause differences in learning to read these two languages. First, studies (Byrne Fielding-Barnsley, 1995 Hulme et al., 2002 Lundburg, Frost, Peterson, 1988 Muter, Hulme, Snowling, Taylor, 1998 Huang Hanley, 1994 as cited in Wang et al., 2005) have discovered that childrens ability to read English dope be predicted by their skills in treat the phonemes (i.e. the small phonological units) and phonological awareness. On the contrary, studies about Chinese denotation (Perfetti et al., 2005 Taft, Zhu, Peng, 1999 as cited in Wang et al., 2005) have found that the phonological and meaning information gage only be activated after the orthographic representation has been recognized. Then, Wang et al. (2005) have concluded that graphemic information and visual skills are essential for learning how to read Chinese. in spite of these front studies, Wang et al. (2005) have mentioned that recent studies (Ho Bryant, 1997 Hu Catts, 1998 McBride-Chang Ho, 2000 Shu, Anderson, Wu, 2000 as cited in Wang et al., 2005) have indicated that phonological information and early phonological skills such as rhyme mathematical operationing do play a part in Chinese meter reading acquisition.(iii)Cross-language transfer in bilingual and biliteracy acquisition Wang et al. (2005) have obtained two key findings about cross-language transfer through reviewing numerous studies (Durgunoglu et al., 1993 Ciser o Royer, 1995 Ganschow Sparks, 1995 Comeau, Cormier, Grandmaison, Lacroix, 1999 DAngiulli, Siegel, Serra, 2001 Geva Siegel, 2000 as cited in Wang et al., 2005). First, Wang et al. (2005) have found that a clear phonological relationship exists between two alphabetic languages such as Spanish-English, French-English, English-French, English-Italian, etc. This means the phonological skills of one language are highly related to those of the other language.Second, Wang et al. (2005) have discovered that phonological skills of one language can help with the word reading skills of the other language.Yet, Wang et al. (2005) have failed to figure out whether there is such cross-language transfer existing in Chinese and English as there is little research done in this area and the two language systems are contrastive in nature.Besides that, certain studies (Wydell Butterworth, 1999 Liow Poon, 1998 Liow, 1999 as cited in Wang et al., 2005) have tried to argue that there is dissociation or even a negative transfer from the nonalphabetic first language (L1, Chinese) to the alphabetic second language (L2, English).Nevertheless, Wang et al. (2005) have finally justified their research topic by saying that these previous studies have failed to test the cross-language and writing system transfer as they did not investigate the phonological and orthographic processing skills of the learners L1 and L2.Research HypothesesWang et al. (2005) have hypothesized that bilingual reading acquisition is a joint function of shared phonological skills and writing system specific skills (p. 72). They have particularly predicted that sensitivity in English and in Chinese to onset and rime, common linguistic units in both languages, will be correlated and Pinyin reading skills will correlate with English word reading, since the two systems share the alphabetic principle (p. 72). However, Wang et al. (2005) have estimated that orthographic skills are writing system and script specific s kills (p. 72).Details of the Research(i)Research designThe design of this research is mainly quantitative in nature. A number of experimental tasks were trustworthyised by the participants in order to obtain data in objective ways.(ii)Setting ParticipantsAs reported by Wang et al. (2005), the forty-six participants came from the Washington, DC area and they were Chinese immigrant children consisting of 24 boys and 22 girls with the mean age of 8 years and 2 months (SD = 9.1 months). All of them learned Chinese as their first language and had developed normal English proficiency. They attended English classes in public schools and weekend Chinese schools in which the Pinyin systems and a simplified version of Chinese characters were taught and used. It should be noted that forty-two of them speak both Mandarin Chinese and English at home while the other four only spoke Mandarin Chinese at home.(iii)MethodologyReferring to the description habituated by Wang et al. (2005), the par ticipants were tested in two 30-minute sessions in which they had to complete a set of Chinese or English experimental tasks in each session in a language science lab. The list below has summarized the various experimental tasks adopted by Wang et al. (2005).Chinese experimental tasksFocusReference phonologic tasks onset, rime, and tone twin(a)Participants ability to manipulate and distinguish between the phonological units in spoken Chinese characters.Wang et al., 2005, p. 72-74Orthographic choice taskParticipants sensitivity to the fair play of the radical position and form. Character namingParticipants familiarity with the characters.Pinyin namingParticipants ability to match letters with sounds in Pinyin.English experimental tasksFocusReferencePhonological tasks onset and rime matchingParticipants ability to manipulate and distinguish between the phonological units in spoken English words.Wang et al., 2005, p. 74-76Phonological task -phoneme deletionNot tending(p)Orthograp hic choice taskParticipants sensitivity to various orthographic patterns in English.Real word namingNot givenPseudoword namingNot givenAccording to Wang et al. (2005), there was also a nonverbal skill test which was used to test the participants nonverbal ability.(iv)Analytic proceduresAs mentioned by Wang et al. (2005) in the presentation of the research results, several measures were adopted to analyze the quantitative data collected from those experimental tasks. First, means and standard deviations were used to show the participants performance in the Chinese and English language and reading tasks.Second, the bivariate Pearson correlations were used to measure the correlations Chinese and English tasks.Third, the stepwise regression analyses were adopted to find out the best predictors for Chinese and English reading.Finally, the hierarchical regression analyses were used to explore (a) whether Chinese phonological and orthographic processing would run English word reading and (b) whether English phonological and orthographic processing would affect Chinese character reading.(v)ResultsWith the help of the bivariate Pearson correlations, Wang et al. (2005) found that there was a significant correlation between the Chinese onset matching skill and English onset and rime matching skill. Moreover, another significant correlation was found between Chinese orthographic choice and Chinese character naming. Furthermore, Pinyin was found highly correlated with the pseudoword reading in English whereas the English phoneme deletion task was also found highly correlated with English real word and pseudoword naming. Last but not least, Chinese tone was found correlated with character reading as well.Through the stepwise regression analyses, Wang et al. (2005) found Chinese orthographic processing to be the best predictor for Chinese character reading while the phoneme deletion skill was the best predictor for English real word and pseudoword reading.Consequently, by u sing the hierarchical regression analyses, Wang et al. (2005) found that only Chinese tone processing skill, but not orthographic skill, could affect English pseudoword reading. They could not find any cross-language influence of the English tasks on Chinese character reading.(vi)DiscussionWang et al. (2005) have concluded that the findings of this research do support their hypothesis.Specifically, Wang et al. (2005) have discussed the three significant findings (i.e. the significant correlations between Chinese onset, English onset, and rime matching skills the significant influence of Chinese tone processing skill on English pseudoword reading and the significant correlation between Pinyin and English pseudoword reading) and derived the implication that phonological awareness and skills are not language-specific but shared between Chinese and English reading when bilingual reading acquisition is taking place. Besides that, based on Wang et al. (2005), the finding of orthographic s kills being unable to affect English reading skills has also supported the hypothesis proposed by Wang et al. (2005). This has been explained by Wang et al. (2005) who has cited a study (Liu Perfetti, 2003 as cited in Wang et al., 2005) to show that the orthographic skills of Chinese and English are language-specific as Chinese reading requires the use of both the left and right occipital brain areas while English reading mainly involves the use of the left occipital brain area. Part Two The CritiqueAssessment of the Researchs Internal ValidityBased on my psycho analytic thinking, this research done by Wang et al. (2005) is considered to be a good research which has demonstrated a high level of interior(a) harshness. The following is a detailed critique of the various parts of the research.(i)High correspondence between the research hypotheses and the findingsAs reflected from the previous session, the findings generated from this research are highly related to the research hyp otheses established beforehand. Actually, they have successfully confirmed the hypotheses, proving that there is a certain degree of cross-language transfer in Chinese-English biliteracy acquisition. (ii)In-depth literature reviewWang et al. (2005) have done a detailed and in-depth literature review on Chinese phonology and orthography, and previous studies related to the cross-language transfer in bilingual and biliteracy acquisition. This certainly helps lay down a good foundation for the later data analysis and countersign.However, it may be better if Wang et al. (2005) can provide the audience with a more comprehensive literature review by describing the English phonology and orthography in great detail. In this way, the audience can have a clearer picture of the phonology and orthography of these two language systems. This can then enhance the audiences understanding of the research findings.(iii)Well-constructed and clear research hypothesesThe research hypotheses of this st udy are well-constructed with clear predictions made about the relationship among the variables mentioned. This can certainly help increase the internal validity as this has given clear directions for the development of research design, measurement tools and analytic procedures.(iv)A well-selected stem of participantsThe participants are well-selected with little variation in their background and learning profile. It is very(prenominal) wise for Wang et al. (2005) to study bilingual children as this can minimize the dominance of L1 over L2, which might affect the findings of the research. Moreover, the sample size is big enough for fashioning generalizations. And, the number of male participants is similar to that of the female participants. This can help reduce the gender influence on the findings.(v)Carefully-designed measurement toolsObviously, the large number of Chinese and English experimental tasks and methods for data analysis are carefully designed and chosen. As shown f rom the results, the Chinese and English tasks are highly correlated, indicating a high level of internal validity.Nevertheless, it is thought that the tasks are cognitively or mentally too demanding for the young participants. This is because they are required to process a number of tasks and a large core of information and instructions within a short period of time. (vi)Variable overlooked gender differenceAccording to Skaalvik Rankin (1994), girls have been found to be more actuate to study language than boys. One may then wonder if this gender difference would affect the level of cross-language transfer in bilingual reading acquisition. Since Wang et al. (2005) have recruited a similar amount of boys and girls as participants, they may also take a look at the influence of this variable. Assessment of the Researchs External ValidityAlthough this research enjoys a high level of internal validity, its external validity is relatively low and limited. The reasons are as follows(i )Findings are limited to learners with a similar background or learning profileAs mentioned in the above, the background (e.g. age and family background) and learning profile of the selected participants are more or less the same receivable to the careful selection done by Wang et al. (2005) to avoid the research findings being affected by the individual differences among the participants. As a consequence, the research findings derived from this specific group of participants can only be applied to learners with a similar background and learning profile.(ii)Findings may not be able to make generalizations in the actual learning contextIn this research, Wang et al. (2005) have conducted all the Chinese and English experimental tasks in a language laboratory in a complot to minimize the influence of the numerous factors which may affect the participants cross-language transfer in the actual learning context. For instance, in the real learning context, learners cross-language transf er in the process of language acquisition can be affected by their learning environment, teachers teaching methodologies, peer influence, learning materials, etc. Hence, the research findings derived from tasks conducted in the language laboratory which keeps the other factors constant may not be able to contribute to making generalizations in the actual learning context.(iii)Few implications can be derived for language learning and teachingFew implications can be generated from this research for language learning and teaching as the findings can only be applied to a specific type of learners (i.e. bilingual Chinese-English learners with a particular background and learning profile). Besides that, the experimental tasks conducted are all at word level and this definitely does not resemble the actual reading acquisition in language learning, which is usually at sentence level or discourse level.Suggested Modifications for the ResearchWith reference to my analysis shown in the above, certain modifications can be made in the different parts of the research mentioned below.(i)Literature ReviewIt is suggested that Wang et al. (2005) may also give the audience an introduction on the English phonology and orthography instead of simply describing English as an alphabetic, nontonal language with phonemes as the smallest basic speech units in the language. This is because this introduction can help to make this research more complete as the audience are then allowed to make a clearer comparison between the two target language systems and better understand the findings obtained from this research. (ii)Measurement toolsAs mentioned previously, the Chinese and English experimental tasks can be cognitively or mentally too demanding for the young participants as they need to process a lot of information and instructions within a short time. Therefore, it is suggested that Wang et al. (2005) may either simplify the content and instructions of the tasks or lengthen the period of time given to participants for completing the tasks. In this way, the influence of frustration and fatigue on participants performance in the tasks can be avoided. (iii)DiscussionFor the discussion part, it is recommended that Wang et al. (2005) can also analyze the data collected and see if there is any influence of gender difference on the cross-language transfer between Chinese and English reading acquisition. By doing so, significant implications may be derived and this will in turn provide utilizable implications for language learning and teaching in the real learning context. Suggestions for an Extension StudyAfter having studied this research and its findings, it is believed that further research can be done in the following areas in order to derive more implications for language learning.(i)Chinese and English reading at sentence level or discourse levelReferring to what mentioned beforehand, this research done by Wang et al. (2005) focuses on Chinese and English reading acquisition at word level only as all the experimental tasks are designed at word level. However, it is a well-known fact that learning to read may proceed to sentence level or discourse level. Thus, it is definitely worth investigating whether cross-language transfer still occurs when Chinese and English reading acquisition is done at sentence level or discourse level.(ii)Bilingual children whose first language is English Since bilingual reading acquisition is the main focus of this research, it is believed that similar research can also be done to study bilingual Chinese-English children whose first language is English and see if similar findings about the cross-language transfer can be generated. In this way, the findings generated may help confirm the findings produced by Wang et al. (2005) and enhance the external validity of the study done by Wang et al. (2005).(iii)Children with dyslexia or other language learning problemsLikewise, will there be any changes to the present fi ndings of the research conducted by Wang et al. (2005) if the bilingual participants suffer from dyslexia or other language learning problems? It is thought to be a good idea to further research on this group of participants. Hopefully, useful implications can be derived to help enhance the learning effectiveness for this group of learners.(iv)Reading fluency and comprehensionAs mentioned in the above, research on bilingual reading acquisition should not be limited to word-level as reading occurs more often at sentence level or discourse level. In addition, reading acquisition should not be limited to phonological and orthographic skills of individual words only. Actually, reading fluency and comprehension are two important aspects in reading acquisition. So, it is worth researching on these two aspects and figure out if there is any cross-language transfer in these areas of Chinese and English language learning.ConclusionCritiquing a research article is indeed a challenging but tho ught-provoking task to me. Through working on this assignment, I have learned about how a quantitative research can be conducted in the area of language acquisition, and gradually developed a better set of critical analysis skills when writing the critique. I would surely bear in mind the research and analytical skills that I have learned from the study of Wang et al. (2005) and put them into use when I am given a chance to conduct a research on my own.

Comparing and Contrasting Dickinson’s Poems, Because I Could Not Stop f

Comparing and Contrasting Dickinsons Poems, Because I Could Not hold for Death and I Heard a Fly Buzz - When I DiedEmily Elizabeth Dickinson was born on 10th December, 1830, in the town of Amherst, Massachusetts. As a upstart child, she showed a bright intelligence, and was able to create many recognizable writings. Many close friends and relatives in Emilys animation were taken away from her by death. animated a life of simplicity and aloofness, she wrote poetry of great power questioning the nature of immortality and death. Although her work was influenced by great poets of the time, she published many strong poems herself. both of Emily Dickinsons famous poems, Because I Could Not Stop for Death and I Heard a Fly Buzz- When I Died, are both about lifes one few certainties, death, and that is where the similarities end.Although both poems were written by the same poet around the same time, their idea of what lies after death differs. In one of the poems, in that location appe ars to be an afterlife, while in the other poem, there is nothing. For example, in her work of, Because I Could Not Stop for Death, Dickinson tells the reader a tale of a cleaning lady being taken away by Death. The Death would either take the women to hell or heaven, giving us our first indication of an afterlife. as well as in the fifth stanza, Death and the woman make a stop before a house where they see The Roof was scarcely visible The furnish in the Ground- the woman is lying in the soil beneath, where her Soul and Spirits are looking towards the house, representing an afterlife. As the poem proceeds to the sixth stanza, the reader is presumption a conclusive evidence of the afterlife when the woman revives how it has been centuries since the death has come to visit... ...ritings. For example, in her work of Because I Could Not Stop for Death, Dickinson used prosopopoeia to resemble Death as a person. Also, in her poem of I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died, she uses the Win dows (423) as eyes when the woman dies. Although Emily Dickinson was a private person throughout her life, some critics gave a negative view to her work. For example, the work of Because I Could Not Stop for Death is dissenting toward the nineteenth century woman. Critics imply that this work of Dickinson had a negative influence on marriage and independent women. They believe the proper place for a woman was beside her husband, scarcely a husbandless woman, according to Dickinson, was uncertain of herself. Although the independent woman has a life, she is literally speaking through a grave. She has been deceived, driven to her death, and has been abandoned.

William Wallace :: essays research papers

Patriot, Thief, Guardian, Traitor William Wallace has been many things to many people. However, since Mel Gibsons 1995 film, Braveheart, to most he is a freedom maven and icon of Scottish independence. Little contemporary record remains, and what information we do have comes, in the main, from biographers like Blind Harry, written over two ampere-second years later with their own agenda.What is known about Wallaces early years is that, unlike the other potential leaders of the Scots at the time, he was of unimportant birth. Whilst not the peasant or man of the people of legend, Wallace was a mere knight and nowhere near the aristocratic league of Robert the Bruce, for example. His opinion of the English was hardly improved when, in 1291, his father was killed in a skirmish with English troops.With Edward Is assumption of feudal lordship over Scotland and the subsequent humiliation of John of Gaunt, the rightful king, the political scene was prepare for rebellion. Edward, through his treasurer, Hugh Cressingham, squeezed taxation from the Scots and popular support was on the side of the rebels. Wallaces first act of note was a strike against the imposed English authorities, when he killed William Heselrig, the English Sheriff of Lanark.Gathering men around him as his rebellion gathered momentum, Wallaces greatest victory came at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. This 1297 rout of the larger English twitch brought Wallace to national prominence. However, the Scots fought under the command of Andrew Murray, rather than the unproven Wallace. Murrays death in the battle left all the credit to Wallace.The battle of Falkirk, the next year, aphorism Wallace in sole control of the Scottish forces and tactics. His use of schiltrons, or dense formations of troops, failed to repel the English cavalry and the Scots were defeated, taking heavy losses. This defeat squeeze Wallace to resign the Guardianship of Scotland that he had been awarded after Stirling Bridge.As the rebellion continued, the Scottish nobility decided in increasing numbers to look for a via media with Edward. Failure to obtain an alliance with France against the English led Robert the Bruce to reconcile with the English king, in 1302. Wallaces refusal to brook any compromise or accomodation with the English began to look progressively isolated and exposed.Edward declared Wallace to be an outlaw and traitor. Legally, he could now be killed without guilt, and harbouring him was also an act of treason.

United Nations Security Council Reform :: UN World Politics Essays

Chief responsibility for the maintenance of peace and security lies with the Security Council. It is therefore essential to its legitimacy that its membership reflect the state of the world. French President Chiracs address to the United Nations General Assembly.ObjectiveThe focus of this paper is on the United Nations Security Council reform issue. It will start by giving some history on the United Nations charter and the Security Council. This background will set up a debateion on the past and present proposals to reform the Security Council. I will also offer analysis on the feasibility of these reform proposals. I will then(prenominal) discuss what the key countries think about Security Council reform. stage settingUnited Nations BackgroundThe United Nations was born out of the turmoil of two devastating world wars. It was realised in the hopes that a strong international organization could foster enough cooperation between nations in order to prevent future conflicts. In 1 945, representatives from 50 countries met in San Francisco to draw up the United Nations pursue. Those delegates deliberated on the proposals worked out by the representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States at Dumbarton Oaks, United States in August and October of 1944. The Charter was signed on June, 26 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries. Poland, which was not represented at the Conference, signed it later and became one of the original 51 Member States. Since then the United Nations has grown significantly. The United Nations General Assembly now consists of 191 Member States.The predecessor of the United Nations was the ill-fated League of Nations, which was conceived under similar circumstances afterwards World War I. The League of Nations ceased its activities after failing to prevent World War II.Fifty-eight years after the signing of the Charter, the world has changed dramatically. Its universal typeface and comprehensiv eness make the United Nations a unique and indispensable forum for governments to work together to address global issues. At the same time, there remain a large gap between aspiration and real accomplishment. There have been many successes and many failures. The United Nations is a bureaucracy that struggles understandably in its attempt to bring together 191 countries. It must come at no surprise, therefore, that a consensus cannot always be reached with so many different competing voices. Security Council BackgroundThe Security Council of the United Nations has the primary responsibility under the United Nations Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security.

Process Essay - How to Recognize and Eliminate Macro Viruses

Process Essay - How to Recognize and Eliminate Macro VirusesImagine starting up your computer only to see the grasp on the screen melt while eerie music plays. The hard drive crunches away. What is it doing in there? Before you turn off the machine, most of your commits put one over been deleted. Your computer is the victim of a computer virus. But where did the virus come from? It may have been that game you borrowed or, more likely, it came from an electronic document. Most viruses infect programs, notwithstanding newer viruses washbowl infect documents as well. This is the case with large viruses that infect Microsoft battle cry files. In fact, the number of these viruses has increased from 40 in 1996 to over 1,300 in 1998. Anyone who reads Word files created by others can be at risk. Infected documents spread easily and quickly, especially in environments where documents are shared. What is a macro virus? A macro virus is a program that infects documents and spre ads by copying itself. When a document containing a macro virus is opened on your computer, the virus copies itself into something called the global template, which is apply to save Word settings. Once this template is infected, all documents you save will contain the virus. If you distribute an infected document, the virus will spread even further. in any case making copies of themselves, viruses can have other harmful effects. They can delete or change document contents, change Word settings, set passwords on your documents so that you cant read them, or delete all of your files the next time you start your computer. How can I tell if my computer has a macro virus? Many viruses are so good at covering their tracks that you may not even realize they are t... ...e all macros found in a document. Unless you need to use the macros in a document, you should disable them. Make the normal.dot file read-only. This file is where viruses reside in an infected system. A virus c ant copy itself into this file if it is read-only. Here is how to do this in Windows 98 - First click the Start button, then click Find, and then click Files or Folders. - Type normal.dot into the Named box and then click Find Now. - At the bottom of the window should be the normal.dot file with an icon next to it. Click on this file with the right mouse button and then click Properties. - Check the Read-only box and click OK. Preventing macro viruses is easy compared to the amount of time and frustration involved in removing them. For more information on macro virus prevention, read the Macro Virus FAQ at http//www.look.com/mfaq.html.

Frank Sinatra Essay -- essays research papers

Frank Sinatra     As we inch towards the year 2000, we look back to the pre-dominant individuals of the 20th century. cadence magazine voted Frank Sinatra as the worlds most influential vocalist of the 20th century. Frank Sinatra not only excelled but transcended music and became a true personality of our time. Whether youre talking about recorded music, live performances, movies or simply living large, Frank Sinatra has done that all. He has become an world(prenominal) figure, having the reputation as a celebrity, icon, bad boy and the greatest singer of American popular songs. He is gon as being Americas first teen idol and also as a true American Legend. You whitethorn all know the name "Frank Sinatra" but you may all not know why Frank Sinatra is a cultural icon. later reading the book "SinatraBehind the Legend" by Randy Tarabelli, I learned a corporation about this American legend.Francis Albert Sinatra was born on Dec.12th,1915 in Hobo ken, New Jersey. His parents were Italian immigrants and he grew up poor in the streets of Hoboken. Those hard early years do him all the more determined to work hard and make something of his life. He was a very ambitious person. Since he was a little boy he loved to sing. In his teen years he attended a Bing Crosby concert and that is when he decided that he overly would become a singer. At the age of 19 the first break of his musical career came on when he sang with a band called the Hoboken Four. After ... Frank Sinatra Essay -- essays research papers Frank Sinatra     As we inch towards the year 2000, we look back to the pre-dominant individuals of the 20th century. Time magazine voted Frank Sinatra as the worlds most influential vocalist of the 20th century. Frank Sinatra not only excelled but transcended music and became a true personality of our time. Whether youre talking about recorded music, live performances, movies or simply living large, Frank Sinatra has done that all. He has become an international figure, having the reputation as a celebrity, icon, bad boy and the greatest singer of American popular songs. He is known as being Americas first teen idol and also as a true American Legend. You may all know the name "Frank Sinatra" but you may all not know why Frank Sinatra is a cultural icon. After reading the book "SinatraBehind the Legend" by Randy Tarabelli, I learned a lot about this American legend.Francis Albert Sinatra was born on Dec.12th,1915 in Hoboken, New Jersey. His parents were Italian immigrants and he grew up poor in the streets of Hoboken. Those tough early years made him all the more determined to work hard and make something of his life. He was a very ambitious person. Since he was a little boy he loved to sing. In his teen years he attended a Bing Crosby concert and that is when he decided that he too would become a singer. At the age of 19 the first break of his musical c areer came on when he sang with a band called the Hoboken Four. After ...