Perturbing the consistency of auditory feedback in speech.

Sensory information, including auditory feedback, is used by talkers to maintain fluent speech articulation. Current models of speech motor control posit that speakers continually adjust their motor commands based on discrepancies between the sensory predictions made by a forward model and the sensory consequences of their speech movements. Here, in two within-subject design experiments, we used a real-time formant manipulation system to explore how reliant speech articulation is on the accuracy or predictability of auditory feedback information.

Data on swan arrival, departure, and population size on the Asadokoro tidal flat, Aomori Prefecture, Japan, from 1956 to 2010.

The arrival and departure dates and the daily maximum populations of migrating swans () on the Asadokoro tidal flat, Hiranai town, Aomori Prefecture, Japan, were recorded by elementary school students for more than 50 years between 1956 and 2010. The Asadokoro tidal flat, which lies along the coast of Mutsu Bay, has been designated a National Special Natural Monument, known as "The swans of Kominato and their migration grounds." This long history of observation unfortunately came to an end with the closure of the elementary school in 2012.

Total endoscopic thyroidectomy after open neck biopsy of the follicular lymphoma of the thyroid gland.

Remote-access total endoscopic thyroidectomy (TET) is a recently established approach that can avoid producing scars in the neck. There are no clear surgical indications for TET for benign nodules or for malignant tumors at present. We report a successful TET in a 50-year-old Japanese woman with follicular lymphoma of the thyroid gland after an open neck biopsy.

Exposure to Auditory Feedback Delay while Speaking Induces Perceptual Habituation but does not Mitigate the Disruptive Effect of Delay on Speech Auditory-motor Learning.

Perceiving the sensory consequences of our actions with a delay alters the interpretation of these afferent signals and impacts motor learning. For reaching movements, delayed visual feedback of hand position reduces the rate and extent of visuomotor adaptation, but substantial adaptation still occurs. Moreover, the detrimental effect of visual feedback delay on reach motor learning-selectively affecting its implicit component-can be mitigated by prior habituation to the delay.