Language Experience Changes Language and Cognitive Ability

Even young children make multiple predictions in the complex visual world

Children can anticipate upcoming input in sentences with semantically constraining verbs. In the visual world, the sentence context is used to anticipatorily fixate the only object matching potential sentence continuations. Adults can process even multiple visual objects in parallel when predicting language. This study examined whether young children can also maintain multiple prediction options in parallel during language processing. In addition, we aimed at replicating the finding that children's receptive vocabulary size modulates their prediction. German children (5-6 years, n = 26) and adults (19-40 years, n = 37) listened to 32 subject-verb-object sentences with semantically constraining verbs (e.g., "The father eats the waffle") while looking at visual scenes of four objects. The number of objects being consistent with the verb constraints (e.g., being edible) varied among 0, 1, 3, and 4. A linear mixed effects model on the proportion of target fixations with the effect coded factors condition (i.e., the number of consistent objects), time window, and age group revealed that upon hearing the verb, children and adults anticipatorily fixated the single visual object, or even multiple visual objects, being consistent with the verb constraints, whereas inconsistent objects were fixated less. This provides first evidence that, comparable to adults, young children maintain multiple prediction options in parallel. Moreover, children with larger receptive vocabulary sizes (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test) anticipatorily fixated potential targets more often than those with smaller ones, showing that verbal abilities affect children's prediction in the complex visual world.

An exploratory study of predictors of cognition in two low-income samples of infants across the first year of life

OBJECTIVE

In this exploratory longitudinal study we assessed cognitive development in a community sample of infants born into predominantly low-income families from two different urban sites, to identify family and community factors that may associate with outcomes by 1 year of age.

METHOD

Infant-mother dyads (n = 109) were recruited in Boston and Los Angeles community pediatric practices. Infant cognition was measured using the Mullen Scales of Early Learning when the infant was aged 2, 6, 9, and 12 months. Longitudinal linear mixed effects modeling and linear regression models explored potential predictors of cognitive outcomes.

RESULTS

Cognitive scores were lower than the reference population mean at both 6 and 12 months. There were site differences in demographics and cognitive performance. Maternal education predicted expressive language in Boston, and speaking Spanish and lower rates of community poverty were associated with greater increases in overall cognition in Los Angeles.

CONCLUSION

This exploratory study identified a number of drivers of child development that are both shared across cohorts and unique to specific community samples. Factors influencing heterogeneity within and across populations both may be important contributors to prevention and intervention in supporting healthy development among children.

Introduction to the Neuropsychological Norms for the US-Mexico Border Region in Spanish (NP-NUMBRS) Project

OBJECTIVE

The present introduction to the Neuropsychological Norms for the U.S.-Mexico Border Region in Spanish (NP-NUMBRS) project aims to provide an overview of the conceptual framework and rationale that guided the development of this project.

METHODS

We describe important aspects of our conceptual framework, which was guided by some of the main purposes of neuropsychological testing, including the identification of underlying brain dysfunction, and the characterization of cognitive strengths and weakness relevant to everyday functioning. We also provide our rationale for focusing this norm development project on Spanish-speakers in the United States, and provide an outline of the articles included in this Special Issue focused on the NP-NUMBRS project.

CONCLUSIONS

The data presented in this Special Issue represent an important tool for clinicians and researchers working in the neuropsychological assessment of Spanish-speakers in the United States.

Receptive and productive speech and language abilities in hearing-impaired children with German as a second language

OBJECTIVES

Many studies examining early bilingualism in migrant populations focus on the development of the first language. As language acquisition is closely related to the hearing development, there is a critical need to investigate language development in hearing-impaired children being raised bilingually who were fitted with cochlear implants and/or hearing aids. Therefore, this research project aimed to study the linguistic development of hearing-impaired children being raised with German as a second language who were provided with hearing aids or cochlear implants. Further, the language development of these children is compared with that of hearing-impaired children being raised in a monolingual environment and with normal-hearing children being raised bilingually.

METHODS

In this prospective study, we analyzed data from 95 typically developing children with hearing loss (43 bilingual and 52 monolingual) aged 3;0 to 10;11 (years; months) on four language measures in German: receptive vocabulary, productive vocabulary, receptive grammar, productive grammar (sentence repetition). Additionally, 30 bilingual children with normal hearing were included in this study.

RESULTS

44 children were provided with hearing aids in both ears; 34 used cochlear implants bilaterally and 17 were fitted bimodally. Statistical analysis showed that bilingual hearing-impaired children scored significantly poorer than monolingual hearing-impaired children.

CONCLUSION

Hearing-impaired children being raised bilingually should have speech and language examinations on a regular basis. An examination of both languages would be desirable in order to be able to fully assess speech and language acquisition.

Effects of Bilingualism on Verbal and Nonverbal Memory Measures in Mild Cognitive Impairment

OBJECTIVES

Maintaining two active languages may increase cognitive and brain reserve among bilingual individuals. We explored whether such a neuroprotective effect was manifested in the performance of memory tests for participants with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI).

METHODS

We compared 42 bilinguals to 25 monolinguals on verbal and nonverbal memory tests. We used: (a) the Loewenstein-Acevedo Scales for Semantic Interference and Learning (LASSI-L), a sensitive test that taps into proactive, retroactive, and recovery from proactive semantic interference (verbal memory), and (b) the Benson Figure delayed recall (nonverbal memory). A subsample had volumetric MRI scans.

RESULTS

The bilingual group significantly outperformed the monolingual group on two LASSI-L cued recall measures (Cued A2 and Cued B2). A measure of maximum learning (Cued A2) showed a correlation with the volume of the left hippocampus in the bilingual group only. Cued B2 recall (sensitive to recovery from proactive semantic interference) was correlated with the volume of the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex of both cerebral hemispheres in the bilingual group, as well as with the left and right hippocampus in the monolingual group. The memory advantage in bilinguals on these measures was associated with higher inhibitory control as measured by the Stroop Color-Word test.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results demonstrated a superior performance of aMCI bilinguals over aMCI monolinguals on selected verbal memory tasks. This advantage was not observed in nonverbal memory. Superior memory performance of bilinguals over monolinguals suggests that bilinguals develop a different and perhaps more efficient semantic association system that influences verbal recall. (JINS, 2019, 25, 15-28).

The Influence of Second Language (L2) Proficiency on Cognitive Control Among Young Adult Unbalanced Chinese-English Bilinguals

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.

Functional Connectivity in the Left Dorsal Stream Facilitates Simultaneous Language Translation: An EEG Study

Cortical speech processing is dependent on the mutual interdependence of two distinctive processing streams supporting sound-to-meaning (i.e., ventral stream) and sound-to-articulation (i.e., dorsal stream) mapping. Here, we compared the strengths of intracranial functional connectivity between two main hubs of the dorsal stream, namely the left auditory-related cortex (ARC) and Broca’s region, in a sample of simultaneous interpreters (SIs) and multilingual control subjects while the participants performed a mixed and unmixed auditory semantic decision task. Under normal listening conditions such kind of tasks are known to initiate a spread of activation along the ventral stream. However, due to extensive and specific training, here we predicted that SIs will more strongly recruit the dorsal pathway in order to pre-activate the speech codes of the corresponding translation. In line with this reasoning, EEG results demonstrate increased left-hemispheric theta phase synchronization in SLI compared to multilingual control participants during early task-related processing stages. In addition, within the SI group functional connectivity strength in the left dorsal pathway was positively related to the cumulative number of training hours across lifespan, and inversely correlated with the age of training commencement. Hence, we propose that the alignment of neuronal oscillations between brain regions involved in “hearing” and “speaking” results from an intertwining of training, sensitive period, and predisposition.