Difficulties in Monitoring Conspecifics Mediate the Effects of Visual Obstruction on the Level and Synchronization of Vigilance

Speech Perception through Face Masks by Children and Adults

10.33774/coe-2021-l88qk ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Julia Schwarz ◽

Katrina (Kechun) Li ◽

Jasper Hong Sim ◽

Yixin Zhang ◽

Elizabeth Buchanan-Worster ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Speech Perception ◽

Acoustic Signal ◽

Speech Processing ◽

Face Mask ◽

Semantic Context ◽

Final Position ◽

Semantic Cues ◽

Visual Obstruction ◽

First Results ◽

Processing Language

Face masks can cause speech processing difficulties. However, it is unclear to what extent these difficulties are caused by the visual obstruction of the speaker’s mouth or by changes of the acoustic signal, and whether the effects can be found regardless of semantic context. In the present study, children and adults performed a cued shadowing task online, repeating the last word of English sentences. Target words were embedded in sentence-final position and manipulated visually, acoustically, and by semantic context (cloze probability). First results from 16 children and 16 adults suggest that processing language through face masks leads to slower responses in both groups, but visual, acoustic, and semantic cues all significantly reduce the mask effect. Although children were less proficient in predictive speech processing overall, they were still able to use semantic cues to compensate for face mask effects in a similar fashion to adults.

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Greater Sage-Grouse nest bowls buffer microclimate in a post-megafire landscape although effects on nest survival are marginal

The Condor ◽

10.1093/ornithapp/duaa068 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 123 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Christopher R Anthony ◽

Christian A Hagen ◽

Katie M Dugger ◽

R Dwayne Elmore

Keyword(s):

Site Selection ◽

Nest Site ◽

Spatial Scales ◽

Nest Success ◽

Nest Survival ◽

Nest Site Selection ◽

Bare Ground ◽

Sage Grouse ◽

Burned Areas ◽

Visual Obstruction

Abstract Temperature at fine spatial scales is an important driver of nest site selection for many avian species during the breeding season and can influence nest success. Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) communities have areas with high levels of vegetation heterogeneity and high thermal variation; however, fire removes vegetation that provides protection from predators and extreme environmental conditions. To examine the influence of microclimates on Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) nest site selection and nest success in a fire-affected landscape, we measured black bulb temperature (Tbb) and vegetation attributes (e.g., visual obstruction) at 3 spatial scales (i.e. nest bowl, microsite, and landscape) in unburned and burned areas. Nest bowls exhibited greater buffering of Tbb than both nearby microsites and the broader landscape. Notably, nest bowls were warmer in cold temperatures, and cooler in hot temperatures, than nearby microsites and the broader landscape, regardless of burn stage. Nest survival (NS) was higher for nests in unburned areas compared to nests in burned areas (unburned NS = 0.43, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.33–0.54; burned NS = 0.24, 95% CI: 0.10–0.46). The amount of bare ground was negatively associated with NS, but effects diminished as the amount of bare ground reached low levels. Shrub height and visual obstruction were positively associated with NS during the entire study period, whereas minimum Tbb had a weaker effect. Our findings demonstrate that thermoregulatory selection by Greater Sage-Grouse at nest sites had marginal effects on their NS. However, given that increases in vegetation structure (e.g., shrub height) provide thermal refuge and increase NS, vegetation remnants or regeneration in a post-fire landscape could be critical to Greater Sage-Grouse nesting ecology.

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Control of adaptive locomotion: effect of visual obstruction and visual cues in the environment

Experimental Brain Research ◽

10.1007/s00221-005-0345-y ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 169 (2) ◽

pp. 272-278 ◽

Cited By ~ 71

Author(s):

Shirley Rietdyk ◽

Chris K. Rhea

Keyword(s):

Visual Cues ◽

Adaptive Locomotion ◽

Visual Obstruction

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Using visual obstruction to estimate heathland fuel load and structure

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf07021 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 17 (3) ◽

pp. 380 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

G. M. Davies ◽

A. Hamilton ◽

A. Smith ◽

C. J. Legg

Keyword(s):

Vertical Distribution ◽

Canopy Structure ◽

Fuel Load ◽

Vegetation Density ◽

Fire Behaviour ◽

Fuel Loading ◽

Simple Method ◽

Visual Obstruction ◽

Non Destructive ◽

The Vertical Distribution

We present a simple non-destructive technique for assessing fuel load and critical aspects of vegetation structure that play important roles in determining fire behaviour. The method is tested in a Scottish Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull heathland but could be applied to any vegetation up to ~1 m high. Visual obstruction of a banded measurement stick (the FuelRule) placed vertically through a stand of vegetation is governed by a combination of the height of the vegetation and its density. The vertical distribution of visual obstruction is calibrated to give estimates of total fuel loading, the loading of separate size categories and the vertical distribution and horizontal heterogeneity of fuels. The present paper provides a quick and simple method for estimating total aboveground biomass and structure that may be useful not just in studies of fire behaviour but where non-destructive assessment of biomass, vegetation density or canopy structure is needed. Calibration equations can be rapidly created for use in other vegetation or fuel types.

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