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Bornkessel-Schlesewsky I, Sharrad I, Howlett CA, Alday PM, Corcoran AW, Bellan V, Wilkinson E, Kliegl R, Lewis RL, Small SL, Schlesewsky M. Rapid adaptation of predictive models during language comprehension: Aperiodic EEG slope, individual alpha frequency and idea density modulate individual differences in real-time model updating. Front Psychol 2022; 13:817516. [PMID: 36092106 PMCID: PMC9461998 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.817516] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2021] [Accepted: 07/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Predictive coding provides a compelling, unified theory of neural information processing, including for language. However, there is insufficient understanding of how predictive models adapt to changing contextual and environmental demands and the extent to which such adaptive processes differ between individuals. Here, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to track prediction error responses during a naturalistic language processing paradigm. In Experiment 1, 45 native speakers of English listened to a series of short passages. Via a speaker manipulation, we introduced changing intra-experimental adjective order probabilities for two-adjective noun phrases embedded within the passages and investigated whether prediction error responses adapt to reflect these intra-experimental predictive contingencies. To this end, we calculated a novel measure of speaker-based, intra-experimental surprisal (“speaker-based surprisal”) as defined on a trial-by-trial basis and by clustering together adjectives with a similar meaning. N400 amplitude at the position of the critical second adjective was used as an outcome measure of prediction error. Results showed that N400 responses attuned to speaker-based surprisal over the course of the experiment, thus indicating that listeners rapidly adapt their predictive models to reflect local environmental contingencies (here: the probability of one type of adjective following another when uttered by a particular speaker). Strikingly, this occurs in spite of the wealth of prior linguistic experience that participants bring to the laboratory. Model adaptation effects were strongest for participants with a steep aperiodic (1/f) slope in resting EEG and low individual alpha frequency (IAF), with idea density (ID) showing a more complex pattern. These results were replicated in a separate sample of 40 participants in Experiment 2, which employed a highly similar design to Experiment 1. Overall, our results suggest that individuals with a steep aperiodic slope adapt their predictive models most strongly to context-specific probabilistic information. Steep aperiodic slope is thought to reflect low neural noise, which in turn may be associated with higher neural gain control and better cognitive control. Individuals with a steep aperiodic slope may thus be able to more effectively and dynamically reconfigure their prediction-related neural networks to meet current task demands. We conclude that predictive mechanisms in language are highly malleable and dynamic, reflecting both the affordances of the present environment as well as intrinsic information processing capabilities of the individual.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Australian Research Centre for Interactive and Virtual Environments, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia
- *Correspondence: Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky
| | - Isabella Sharrad
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Australian Research Centre for Interactive and Virtual Environments, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Caitlin A. Howlett
- Innovation, Implementation and Clinical Translation (IIMPACT) in Health, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | | | - Andrew W. Corcoran
- Cognition and Philosophy Laboratory, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Monash Centre for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Valeria Bellan
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Australian Research Centre for Interactive and Virtual Environments, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia
- Innovation, Implementation and Clinical Translation (IIMPACT) in Health, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Erica Wilkinson
- Innovation, Implementation and Clinical Translation (IIMPACT) in Health, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Reinhold Kliegl
- Division of Training and Movement Science, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Richard L. Lewis
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
- Weinberg Institute for Cognitive Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Steven L. Small
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, United States
| | - Matthias Schlesewsky
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Australian Research Centre for Interactive and Virtual Environments, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia
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Cross ZR, Corcoran AW, Schlesewsky M, Kohler MJ, Bornkessel-Schlesewsky I. Oscillatory and Aperiodic Neural Activity Jointly Predict Language Learning. J Cogn Neurosci 2022; 34:1630-1649. [PMID: 35640095 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01878] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Memory formation involves the synchronous firing of neurons in task-relevant networks, with recent models postulating that a decrease in low-frequency oscillatory activity underlies successful memory encoding and retrieval. However, to date, this relationship has been investigated primarily with face and image stimuli; considerably less is known about the oscillatory correlates of complex rule learning, as in language. Furthermore, recent work has shown that nonoscillatory (1/ƒ) activity is functionally relevant to cognition, yet its interaction with oscillatory activity during complex rule learning remains unknown. Using spectral decomposition and power-law exponent estimation of human EEG data (17 females, 18 males), we show for the first time that 1/ƒ and oscillatory activity jointly influence the learning of word order rules of a miniature artificial language system. Flexible word-order rules were associated with a steeper 1/ƒ slope, whereas fixed word-order rules were associated with a shallower slope. We also show that increased theta and alpha power predicts fixed relative to flexible word-order rule learning and behavioral performance. Together, these results suggest that 1/ƒ activity plays an important role in higher-order cognition, including language processing, and that grammar learning is modulated by different word-order permutations, which manifest in distinct oscillatory profiles.
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Blumenfeld HK, Sanabria AA, Nip ISB. Native Language and Second Language Convergence and Second Language Instruction Shape Speech-Language Performance in Adult Learners. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2022; 65:970-981. [PMID: 35104422 DOI: 10.1044/2021_jslhr-21-00382] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE We examined native language (L1) and second language (L2) convergence of underlying skills in adult L2 learners as well as the contribution of instructional L2 level on L2 attainment across speech motor, lexical, and narrative levels. METHOD Thirty-four adult Spanish L2 learners who had completed at least 1 year of college Spanish participated in this preliminary study. Learners were tested at the speech motor, lexical, and narrative levels in their L1 (English) and L2 (Spanish). L1-L2 convergence was indexed by associative links between corresponding L1 and L2 skills. In regression analyses, the level of Spanish instruction at the time of the study was also considered as a predictor of L2 attainment across speech motor, lexical, and narrative levels. RESULTS L1-L2 convergence was identified for some speech motor skills (distance, maximum speed) and for lexical skills but was limited for other speech motor skills (duration, spatiotemporal index) and for narrative measures. Furthermore, lexical and narrative measures, but not speech motor measures, showed improvements with Spanish (L2) instruction. CONCLUSIONS L1-L2 convergence and instructional level are predictors of L2 performance in adult language learners. These factors play somewhat different roles across speech motor, lexical, and narrative levels, warranting further "all-system" research across processing and proficiency levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Henrike K Blumenfeld
- School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, San Diego State University, CA
| | | | - Ignatius S B Nip
- School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, San Diego State University, CA
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4
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Williams E, McAuliffe M, Theys C. Language changes in Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review of verb processing. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2021; 223:105041. [PMID: 34688957 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2021.105041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2020] [Revised: 09/30/2021] [Accepted: 10/09/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD) results in language impairments and higher-level communication problems. Research into the language of people with AD (pwAD) has mainly focused on nouns; however, improved understanding of verb processing by pwAD could improve diagnostic assessments and communicative interventions. This systematic review synthesizes findings of AD's effects on verbs from single-word, sentence, and discourse tasks. Review of 57 studies revealed that pwAD were less accurate than controls on single-word tasks and less accurate with verbs than nouns on these tasks. They had difficulty comprehending sentences featuring multiple verbs or verbs with reversible thematic roles. Discourse production by pwAD was marked by vagueness, including declines in total output and propositional content and a preference for generic verbs and simple syntax. Few studies examining sentence production or discourse comprehension were found. Future research should address relationships between long-term memory and language preservation as well as verb use in discourse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric Williams
- School of Psychology, Speech, and Hearing, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
| | - Megan McAuliffe
- School of Psychology, Speech, and Hearing, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand; New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain and Behaviour, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
| | - Catherine Theys
- School of Psychology, Speech, and Hearing, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand; New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain and Behaviour, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
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5
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Muralikrishnan R, Idrissi A. Salience-weighted agreement feature hierarchy modulates language comprehension. Cortex 2021; 141:168-189. [PMID: 34058618 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.03.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2019] [Revised: 03/01/2020] [Accepted: 03/21/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
The brain establishes relations between elements of an unfolding sentence in order to incrementally build a representation of who is doing what based on various linguistic cues. Many languages systematically mark the verb and/or its arguments to imply the manner in which they are related. A common mechanism to this end is subject-verb agreement, whereby the marking on the verb covaries with one or more of the features such as person, number and gender of the subject argument in a sentence. The cross-linguistic variability of these features would suggest that they may modulate language comprehension differentially based on their relative weightings in a given language. To test this, we investigated the processing of subject-verb agreement in simple intransitive Arabic sentences in a visual event-related brain potential (ERP) study. Specifically, we examined the differences, if any, that ensue in the processing of person, number and gender features during online comprehension, employing sentences in which the verb either showed full agreement with the subject noun (singular or plural) or did not agree in one of the features. ERP responses were measured at the post-nominal verb. Results showed a biphasic negativity-late-positivity effect when the verb did not agree with its subject noun in either of the features, in line with similar findings from other languages. Crucially however, the biphasic effect for agreement violations was systematically graded based on the feature that was violated, which is a novel finding in view of results from other languages. Furthermore, this graded effect was qualitatively different for singular and plural subjects based on the differing salience of the features for each subject-type. These results suggest that agreement features, varying in their salience due to their language-specific weightings, differentially modulate language comprehension. We postulate a Salience-weighted Feature Hierarchy based on our findings and argue that this parsimoniously accounts for the diversity of existing cross-linguistic neurophysiological results on verb agreement processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Muralikrishnan
- Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt, Germany.
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6
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EmoPro - Emotional prototypicality for 1286 Spanish words: Relationships with affective and psycholinguistic variables. Behav Res Methods 2021; 53:1857-1875. [PMID: 33629205 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-020-01519-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/06/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
We present EmoPro, a normative study of the emotion lexicon of the Spanish language. We provide emotional prototypicality ratings for 1286 emotion words (i.e., those that refer to human emotions such as "fear" or "happy"), belonging to different grammatical categories. This is the largest data set for this variable so far. Each word was rated by at least 20 participants, and adequate reliability and validity rates for prototypicality scores were found. We also provide new affective (valence, arousal, emotionality, happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, and anger) and psycholinguistic (Age-of-Acquisition, frequency and concreteness) ratings for those words without prior data in the extant literature, and analyze which of the given variables contribute the most to prototypicality. A factor analysis on the affective and psycholinguistic variables has shown that prototypicality loads in a factor associated to the emotional salience of words. Furthermore, a regression analysis reveals a significant role of both dimensional and discrete- emotion-related variables, as well as a modest effect of AoA and frequency on the prediction of prototypicality. Cross-linguistic comparisons show that the pattern obtained here is similar to that observed in other languages. EmoPro norms will be highly valuable for researchers in the field, providing them with a tool to select the most representative emotion words in Spanish for their experimental (e.g., for a comparison with emotion-laden words, such as "murder" or "party") or applied studies (e.g., to examine the acquisition of emotion words/concepts in children). The full set of norms is available as supplementary material.
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Mini Pinyin: A modified miniature language for studying language learning and incremental sentence processing. Behav Res Methods 2020; 53:1218-1239. [PMID: 33021699 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-020-01473-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Artificial grammar learning (AGL) paradigms are used extensively to characterise (neuro)cognitive bases of language learning. However, despite their effectiveness in characterising the capacity to learn complex structured sequences, AGL paradigms lack ecological validity and typically do not account for cross-linguistic differences in sentence comprehension. Here, we describe a new modified miniature language paradigm - Mini Pinyin - that mimics natural language as it is based on an existing language (Mandarin Chinese) and includes both structure and meaning. Mini Pinyin contains a number of cross-linguistic elements, including varying word orders and classifier-noun rules. To evaluate the effectiveness of Mini Pinyin, 76 (mean age = 24.9; 26 female) monolingual native English speakers completed a learning phase followed by a sentence acceptability judgement task. Generalised mixed effects modelling revealed that participants attained a moderate degree of accuracy on the judgement task, with performance scores ranging from 25% to 100% accuracy depending on the word order of the sentence. Further, sentences compatible with the canonical English word order were learned more efficiently than non-canonical word orders. We controlled for inter-individual differences in statistical learning ability, which accounted for ~20% of the variance in performance on the sentence judgement task. We provide stimuli and statistical analysis scripts as open-source resources and discuss how future research can utilise this paradigm to study the neurobiological basis of language learning. Mini Pinyin affords a convenient tool for improving the future of language learning research by building on the parameters of traditional AGL or existing miniature language paradigms.
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8
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Filippi R, Periche Tomas E, Papageorgiou A, Bright P. A role for the cerebellum in the control of verbal interference: Comparison of bilingual and monolingual adults. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0231288. [PMID: 32315339 PMCID: PMC7173859 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231288] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2019] [Accepted: 03/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
We evaluate brain structure sensitivity to verbal interference in a sentence interpretation task, building on previously reported evidence that those with better control of verbal interference show higher grey matter density in the posterior paravermis of the right cerebellum. We compare brain structure sensitivity to verbal interference control across two groups, English monolingual (N = 41) and multilingual (N = 46) adults. Using voxel-based morphometry, our primary goal was to identify and explore differences in regional patterns of grey matter sensitivity to performance on the sentence interpretation task, controlling for group variability in age, nonverbal reasoning and vocabulary knowledge. There was no group difference in performance but there was a significant group effect in grey matter sensitivity to task performance in our region of interest: stronger sensitivity in the paravermis in bilinguals compared to monolinguals in accuracy performance in the high (relative to low) verbal interference condition. This effect was observed when the linguistic interference was presented in an unfamiliar language (Greek) but not when presented in the familiar language (English). Our findings suggest that multilanguage acquisition mediates regional involvement within the language network, conferring enhanced functional plasticity within structures (including the paravermis) in the service of control of linguistic interference.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto Filippi
- Institute of Education, University College London, London, England, United Kingdom
- MULTAC (Multilanguage and Cognition Lab), Institute of Education, University College London, London, England, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - Eva Periche Tomas
- Institute of Education, University College London, London, England, United Kingdom
- MULTAC (Multilanguage and Cognition Lab), Institute of Education, University College London, London, England, United Kingdom
| | - Andriani Papageorgiou
- Institute of Education, University College London, London, England, United Kingdom
- MULTAC (Multilanguage and Cognition Lab), Institute of Education, University College London, London, England, United Kingdom
| | - Peter Bright
- MULTAC (Multilanguage and Cognition Lab), Institute of Education, University College London, London, England, United Kingdom
- Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
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9
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Weekes BSH. Aphasia in Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias (ADOD): Evidence From Chinese. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen 2020; 35:1533317520949708. [PMID: 33040568 PMCID: PMC10624002 DOI: 10.1177/1533317520949708] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Speech and language impairments (aphasia) are typical of patients with Alzheimer's Disease and other dementias (ADOD) and in some pathologies are diagnostic e.g. Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). One question concerns the reliability and validity of symptomatology across typologically different languages. A review of aphasia in ADOD across languages suggests a similar pattern of word comprehension, naming and word finding difficulties but also evidence of language specific features in symptomatology e.g. processing of tone in Chinese languages. Given differences in linguistic impairments across languages, it is recommended that screening for aphasia in community and epidemiological studies use a Short ScreeningTest (SST) that can be delivered across dialects and languages in indigenous languages and also multilingual populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brendan Stuart Hackett Weekes
- University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
- University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Arantzeta M, Howard D, Webster J, Laka I, Martínez-Zabaleta M, Bastiaanse R. Bilingual aphasia: Assessing cross-linguistic asymmetries and bilingual advantage in sentence comprehension deficits. Cortex 2019; 119:195-214. [PMID: 31154078 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2018] [Revised: 02/01/2019] [Accepted: 04/03/2019] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
People with aphasia frequently have difficulties understanding semantically reversible sentences presented in derived word order. This impairment may be related to the inconsistent processing of morphological information, as well as to difficulties inhibiting the inverse interpretation of the sentence. Studies on bilingual aphasia may contribute to our understanding of these issues by shedding light on i) differences in processing of morphology across languages; ii) enhanced control mechanisms. We studied early Basque-Spanish bilingual speakers with aphasia and monolingual Spanish speakers with aphasia, as well as unimpaired individuals. Using comparable sets of materials across languages, we combined behavioural and eye-tracking methods. Results indicate that i) at the group level, bilingual speakers perform better in Spanish than in Basque, particularly in sentences with Theme-Agent argument order. Individual case analysis shows a pattern of weak dissociation across languages in several participants; ii) bilingual people with aphasia do not outperform monolingual people with aphasia in comprehension accuracy, although gaze data suggests that bilingual speakers exhibit higher inhibition and monitoring abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miren Arantzeta
- International Doctorate for Experimental Approaches into Brain and Language (IDEALAB), Universities of Groningen (NL), Newcastle (UK), Potsdam (DE), Trento (IT) & Macquarie University Sydney (AU), Groningen, the Netherlands.
| | - David Howard
- Speech and Language Sciences, School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
| | - Janet Webster
- Speech and Language Sciences, School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
| | - Itziar Laka
- Department of Linguistics and Basque Studies, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
| | - Maite Martínez-Zabaleta
- Biodonostia Health Research Institute, San Sebastian University Hospital, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
| | - Roelien Bastiaanse
- Centre for Language and Cognition Groningen (CLCG), University of Groningen, the Netherlands; Centre for Language and Brain, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation
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11
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Asadi IA, Shany M. Examining the double-deficit hypothesis in vowelized-transparent Arabic in a national representative sample of Grades 3 and 4. DYSLEXIA (CHICHESTER, ENGLAND) 2018; 24:234-249. [PMID: 30027673 DOI: 10.1002/dys.1594] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2017] [Revised: 06/22/2018] [Accepted: 06/27/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
We examined the double-deficit hypothesis in Arabic by investigating the reading and cognitive profiles of readers with selective deficits in naming speed, phonological awareness, or both. In a nationally representative sample of 486 children in the third and fourth grades, we identified 171 children with reading difficulties: 20 (12%) were classified as having a phonological deficit, 31 (18%) as having a naming speed deficit, and 41 (24%) as having a double deficit. Differences between the subgroups extended to reading, cognitive, and linguistic processes beyond phonological and naming abilities. Children with a double deficit performed worse than those with a naming speed deficit but similar to those with a phonological deficit. Numerous unconfirmed theories led to an in-depth analysis of the nature of rapid automatized naming and its relation to orthographic processing. Surprisingly, our findings revealed that orthographic processing may be considered a novel and separate core deficit, suggesting a triple deficit in Arabic rather than a double deficit. The findings are discussed in light of the uniqueness and complexity of Arabic orthography and orthographic transparency in the Arabic language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ibrahim A Asadi
- Department of Special Education and Learning Disabilities, The Academic Arab College for Education in Israel, Haifa, Israel
- The Unit for the Study of Arabic Language, Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Michal Shany
- Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, Department of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
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12
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Cross ZR, Kohler MJ, Schlesewsky M, Gaskell MG, Bornkessel-Schlesewsky I. Sleep-Dependent Memory Consolidation and Incremental Sentence Comprehension: Computational Dependencies during Language Learning as Revealed by Neuronal Oscillations. Front Hum Neurosci 2018; 12:18. [PMID: 29445333 PMCID: PMC5797781 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2017] [Accepted: 01/15/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
We hypothesize a beneficial influence of sleep on the consolidation of the combinatorial mechanisms underlying incremental sentence comprehension. These predictions are grounded in recent work examining the effect of sleep on the consolidation of linguistic information, which demonstrate that sleep-dependent neurophysiological activity consolidates the meaning of novel words and simple grammatical rules. However, the sleep-dependent consolidation of sentence-level combinatorics has not been studied to date. Here, we propose that dissociable aspects of sleep neurophysiology consolidate two different types of combinatory mechanisms in human language: sequence-based (order-sensitive) and dependency-based (order-insensitive) combinatorics. The distinction between the two types of combinatorics is motivated both by cross-linguistic considerations and the neurobiological underpinnings of human language. Unifying this perspective with principles of sleep-dependent memory consolidation, we posit that a function of sleep is to optimize the consolidation of sequence-based knowledge (the when) and the establishment of semantic schemas of unordered items (the what) that underpin cross-linguistic variations in sentence comprehension. This hypothesis builds on the proposal that sleep is involved in the construction of predictive codes, a unified principle of brain function that supports incremental sentence comprehension. Finally, we discuss neurophysiological measures (EEG/MEG) that could be used to test these claims, such as the quantification of neuronal oscillations, which reflect basic mechanisms of information processing in the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zachariah R Cross
- Centre for Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Mark J Kohler
- Centre for Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia.,Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory, School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Matthias Schlesewsky
- Centre for Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - M G Gaskell
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky
- Centre for Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia
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13
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Does sound structure affect word learning? An eye-tracking study of Danish learning toddlers. J Exp Child Psychol 2017; 167:180-203. [PMID: 29175718 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2017.10.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2017] [Revised: 10/16/2017] [Accepted: 10/16/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Previous research has shown that Danish-learning children lag behind in early lexical acquisition compared with children learning a number of other languages. This delay has been ascribed to the opaque phonetic structure of Danish, which appears to have fewer reliable segmentation cues than other closely related languages. In support of this hypothesis, recent work has shown that the phonetic properties of Danish negatively affect online language processing in young Danish children. In this study, we used eye-tracking to investigate whether the challenges associated with processing Danish also affect how Danish-learning children between 24 and 35 months of age establish and learn novel label-object mappings. The children were presented with a series of novel mappings, either ostensively (one novel object presented alone on the screen) or ambiguously (one novel object presented together with a familiar one), through carrier phrases with different phonetic structures (more vs less opaque). Our results showed two main trends. First, Danish-learning children performed poorly on the task of mapping novel labels onto novel objects. Second, when learning did occur, accuracy was affected by the phonetic opacity of the speech stimuli. We suggest that this finding results from the interplay of a perceptually challenging speech input and a slower onset of early vocabulary experience, which in turn may delay the onset of word learning skills in Danish-learning children.
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14
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Ouzia J, Filippi R. Chapter 12. The bilingual advantage in the auditory domain. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016. [DOI: 10.1075/bpa.2.13ouz] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/23/2023]
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15
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Schumacher R, Cazzoli D, Eggenberger N, Preisig B, Nef T, Nyffeler T, Gutbrod K, Annoni JM, Müri RM. Cue Recognition and Integration - Eye Tracking Evidence of Processing Differences in Sentence Comprehension in Aphasia. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0142853. [PMID: 26562795 PMCID: PMC4642964 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0142853] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2015] [Accepted: 10/26/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Purpose We aimed at further elucidating whether aphasic patients’ difficulties in understanding non-canonical sentence structures, such as Passive or Object-Verb-Subject sentences, can be attributed to impaired morphosyntactic cue recognition, and to problems in integrating competing interpretations. Methods A sentence-picture matching task with canonical and non-canonical spoken sentences was performed using concurrent eye tracking. Accuracy, reaction time, and eye tracking data (fixations) of 50 healthy subjects and 12 aphasic patients were analysed. Results Patients showed increased error rates and reaction times, as well as delayed fixation preferences for target pictures in non-canonical sentences. Patients’ fixation patterns differed from healthy controls and revealed deficits in recognizing and immediately integrating morphosyntactic cues. Conclusion Our study corroborates the notion that difficulties in understanding syntactically complex sentences are attributable to a processing deficit encompassing delayed and therefore impaired recognition and integration of cues, as well as increased competition between interpretations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rahel Schumacher
- Perception and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Neurology and Clinical Research, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, and University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Division of Cognitive and Restorative Neurology, Department of Neurology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, and University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Dario Cazzoli
- Gerontechnology and Rehabilitation Group, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- University Hospital of Old Age Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Noëmi Eggenberger
- Perception and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Neurology and Clinical Research, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, and University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Basil Preisig
- Perception and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Neurology and Clinical Research, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, and University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Tobias Nef
- Gerontechnology and Rehabilitation Group, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Nyffeler
- Perception and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Neurology and Clinical Research, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, and University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Neurology and Neurorehabilitation Center, Luzerner Kantonsspital, Luzern, Switzerland
| | - Klemens Gutbrod
- Division of Cognitive and Restorative Neurology, Department of Neurology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, and University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Jean-Marie Annoni
- Neurology Unit, Laboratory for Cognitive and Neurological Sciences, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Science, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - René M. Müri
- Perception and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Neurology and Clinical Research, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, and University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Division of Cognitive and Restorative Neurology, Department of Neurology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, and University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Gerontechnology and Rehabilitation Group, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Center for Cognition, Learning and Memory, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- * E-mail:
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Animacy-based predictions in language comprehension are robust: Contextual cues modulate but do not nullify them. Brain Res 2015; 1608:108-37. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2014.11.046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2014] [Revised: 11/19/2014] [Accepted: 11/23/2014] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Tune S, Schlesewsky M, Small SL, Sanford AJ, Bohan J, Sassenhagen J, Bornkessel-Schlesewsky I. Cross-linguistic variation in the neurophysiological response to semantic processing: evidence from anomalies at the borderline of awareness. Neuropsychologia 2014; 56:147-66. [PMID: 24447768 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.01.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2012] [Revised: 01/02/2014] [Accepted: 01/09/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
The N400 event-related brain potential (ERP) has played a major role in the examination of how the human brain processes meaning. For current theories of the N400, classes of semantic inconsistencies which do not elicit N400 effects have proven particularly influential. Semantic anomalies that are difficult to detect are a case in point ("borderline anomalies", e.g. "After an air crash, where should the survivors be buried?"), engendering a late positive ERP response but no N400 effect in English (Sanford, Leuthold, Bohan, & Sanford, 2011). In three auditory ERP experiments, we demonstrate that this result is subject to cross-linguistic variation. In a German version of Sanford and colleagues' experiment (Experiment 1), detected borderline anomalies elicited both N400 and late positivity effects compared to control stimuli or to missed borderline anomalies. Classic easy-to-detect semantic (non-borderline) anomalies showed the same pattern as in English (N400 plus late positivity). The cross-linguistic difference in the response to borderline anomalies was replicated in two additional studies with a slightly modified task (Experiment 2a: German; Experiment 2b: English), with a reliable LANGUAGE×ANOMALY interaction for the borderline anomalies confirming that the N400 effect is subject to systematic cross-linguistic variation. We argue that this variation results from differences in the language-specific default weighting of top-down and bottom-up information, concluding that N400 amplitude reflects the interaction between the two information sources in the form-to-meaning mapping.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Tune
- Department of Germanic Linguistics, University of Marburg, Deutschhausstrasse 3, 35032 Marburg, Germany
| | - Matthias Schlesewsky
- Department of English and Linguistics, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Steven L Small
- Department of Neurology, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | | | - Jason Bohan
- School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Jona Sassenhagen
- Department of Germanic Linguistics, University of Marburg, Deutschhausstrasse 3, 35032 Marburg, Germany
| | - Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky
- Department of Germanic Linguistics, University of Marburg, Deutschhausstrasse 3, 35032 Marburg, Germany.
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Marmolejo-Ramos F, Elosúa MR, Yamada Y, Hamm NF, Noguchi K. Appraisal of space words and allocation of emotion words in bodily space. PLoS One 2013; 8:e81688. [PMID: 24349112 PMCID: PMC3859505 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0081688] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2012] [Accepted: 10/25/2013] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The body-specificity hypothesis (BSH) predicts that right-handers and left-handers allocate positive and negative concepts differently on the horizontal plane, i.e., while left-handers allocate negative concepts on the right-hand side of their bodily space, right-handers allocate such concepts to the left-hand side. Similar research shows that people, in general, tend to allocate positive and negative concepts in upper and lower areas, respectively, in relation to the vertical plane. Further research shows a higher salience of the vertical plane over the horizontal plane in the performance of sensorimotor tasks. The aim of the paper is to examine whether there should be a dominance of the vertical plane over the horizontal plane, not only at a sensorimotor level but also at a conceptual level. In Experiment 1, various participants from diverse linguistic backgrounds were asked to rate the words "up", "down", "left", and "right". In Experiment 2, right-handed participants from two linguistic backgrounds were asked to allocate emotion words into a square grid divided into four boxes of equal areas. Results suggest that the vertical plane is more salient than the horizontal plane regarding the allocation of emotion words and positively-valenced words were placed in upper locations whereas negatively-valenced words were placed in lower locations. Together, the results lend support to the BSH while also suggesting a higher saliency of the vertical plane over the horizontal plane in the allocation of valenced words.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - María Rosa Elosúa
- Department of Psychology, National University of Distance Education, Madrid, Spain
| | - Yuki Yamada
- Faculty of Arts and Science, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Nicholas Francis Hamm
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
| | - Kimihiro Noguchi
- Department of Statistics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States of America
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Wang S, Mo D, Xiang M, Xu R, Chen HC. The time course of semantic and syntactic processing in reading Chinese: Evidence from ERPs. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2013. [DOI: 10.1080/01690965.2012.660169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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Shook A, Marian V. The Bilingual Language Interaction Network for Comprehension of Speech. BILINGUALISM (CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND) 2013; 16:10.1017/S1366728912000466. [PMID: 24363602 PMCID: PMC3866103 DOI: 10.1017/s1366728912000466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
During speech comprehension, bilinguals co-activate both of their languages, resulting in cross-linguistic interaction at various levels of processing. This interaction has important consequences for both the structure of the language system and the mechanisms by which the system processes spoken language. Using computational modeling, we can examine how cross-linguistic interaction affects language processing in a controlled, simulated environment. Here we present a connectionist model of bilingual language processing, the Bilingual Language Interaction Network for Comprehension of Speech (BLINCS), wherein interconnected levels of processing are created using dynamic, self-organizing maps. BLINCS can account for a variety of psycholinguistic phenomena, including cross-linguistic interaction at and across multiple levels of processing, cognate facilitation effects, and audio-visual integration during speech comprehension. The model also provides a way to separate two languages without requiring a global language-identification system. We conclude that BLINCS serves as a promising new model of bilingual spoken language comprehension.
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Early Predictors of Reading in Three Groups of Native Spanish Speakers: Spaniards, Gypsies, and Latin Americans. SPANISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2013; 12:84-95. [DOI: 10.1017/s1138741600001505] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
The main purpose of the study reported here was to examine the early linguistic predictors of reading (e.g., Knowledge About Print, Listening Comprehension, Receptive Vocabulary, Rapid Naming of Objects and Letters, and Phonological Awareness), for a sample of 77 Spaniards, 48 Latinos, and 30 Gypsies kindergartens (mean age = 5 years 9 months) living in Spain. The relative contribution of ethnic background, neighbourhood socioeconomic status (SES), age, and gender was assessed. Findings revealed that ethnic background, neighborhood SES, and age differentially predicted children's pre-literacy skills. The implications of these results for understanding the role played by these demographic and socio-cultural variables in alphabetic literacy acquisition are discussed. The second purpose of this study was to add to the growing literature on the nature of reading challenges in children who are learning to read a transparent orthography-Spanish. Cross-linguistic research between different subtypes of readers will add to understand the impact of language characteristics in reading acquisition. Finally, the present study suggested that early assessment of pre-literacy skills can be a highly effective way to determine the instructional needs of students who are at risk for reading failure before formal reading instruction begins.
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Danelli L, Cossu G, Berlingeri M, Bottini G, Sberna M, Paulesu E. Is a lone right hemisphere enough? Neurolinguistic architecture in a case with a very early left hemispherectomy. Neurocase 2013; 19:209-31. [PMID: 22519521 DOI: 10.1080/13554794.2011.654226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
We studied the linguistic profile and neurolinguistic organization of a 14-year-old adolescent (EB) who underwent a left hemispherectomy at the age of 2.5 years. After initial aphasia, his language skills recovered within 2 years, with the exception of some word finding problems. Over the years, the neuropsychological assessments showed that EB's language was near-to-normal, with the exception of lexical competence, which lagged slightly behind for both auditory and written language. Moreover, EB's accuracy and speed in both reading and writing words and non-words were within the normal range, whereas difficulties emerged in reading loan words and in tasks with homophones. EB's functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) patterns for several linguistic and metalinguistic tasks were similar to those observed in the dominant hemisphere of controls, suggesting that his language network conforms to a left-like linguistic neural blueprint. However, a stronger frontal recruitment suggests that linguistic tasks are more demanding for him. Finally, no specific reading activation was found in EB's occipitotemporal region, a finding consistent with the surface dyslexia-like behavioral pattern of the patient. While a lone right hemisphere may not be sufficient to guarantee full blown linguistic competences after early hemispherectomy, EB's behavioral and fMRI patterns suggest that his lone right hemisphere followed a left-like blueprint of the linguistic network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Danelli
- Psychology Department, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
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Facon B, Nuchadee ML, Bollengier T. A qualitative analysis of general receptive vocabulary of adolescents with Down syndrome. AMERICAN JOURNAL ON INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2012; 117:243-259. [PMID: 22716266 DOI: 10.1352/1944-7558-117.3.243] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
This study aimed to discover whether general receptive vocabulary is qualitatively phenotypical in Down syndrome. Sixty-two participants with Down syndrome (M age=16.74 years, SD=3.28) were individually matched on general vocabulary raw total score with 62 participants with intellectual disability of undifferentiated etiology (M age=16.20 years, SD=3.08) and 62 typical children (M age=5.32 years, SD=0.82). Item analyses using the transformed item difficulties method to detect differential item functioning across groups showed that the groups' rank orders of item difficulty were highly similar. It was concluded that the general receptive vocabulary of older children and adolescents with Down syndrome is not qualitatively distinguished when its overall size is held constant. Methodological and theoretical implications of this finding are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruno Facon
- Université Lille Nord de France, UDL3, URECA, Villeneuve d'Ascq, France.
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Kroll JF, Dussias PE, Bogulski CA, Kroff JRV. Juggling Two Languages in One Mind. PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING AND MOTIVATION 2012. [DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-394393-4.00007-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 163] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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Kail M, Kihlstedt M, Bonnet P. On-line sentence processing in Swedish: cross-linguistic developmental comparisons with French. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2012; 39:28-60. [PMID: 21473806 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000910000723] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
This study examined on-line processing of Swedish sentences in a grammaticality-judgement experiment within the framework of the Competition Model. Three age groups from 6 to 11 and an adult group were asked to detect grammatical violations as quickly as possible. Three factors concerning cue cost were studied: violation position (early vs. late), violation span (intraphrasal vs. interphrasal) and violation type (agreement vs. word order). Developmental results showed that children were always slower at detecting grammatical violations. Irrespective of age, participants were faster at judging sentences with late violations, especially in the younger groups. Intraphrasal violations were more rapidly detected than interphrasal ones, particularly in adults. Finally, agreement violations and word order ones did not differ. The hierarchy of cue cost factors indicated that violation span was the dominant one. A cross-linguistic analysis with French (Kail, 2004) underlines the developmental processing abilities and the interdependence between cue cost and cue validity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michèle Kail
- Laboratoire Structures Formelles du Langage, CNRS, UMR 7023 and Université de Paris VIII Saint Denis, Paris, France.
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27
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Bleses D, Basbøll H, Vach W. Is Danish difficult to acquire? Evidence from Nordic past-tense studies. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2011. [DOI: 10.1080/01690965.2010.515107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Abstract
Auditory and written language in humans' comprehension necessitates attention to the message of interest and suppression of interference from distracting sources. Investigating the brain areas associated with the control of interference is challenging because it is inevitable that activation of the brain regions that control interference co-occurs with activation related to interference per se. To isolate the mechanisms that control verbal interference, we used a combination of structural and functional imaging techniques in Italian and German participants who spoke English as a second language. First, we searched structural MRI images of Italian participants for brain regions in which brain structure correlated with the ability to suppress interference from the unattended dominant language (Italian) while processing heard sentences in their weaker language (English). This revealed an area in the posterior paravermis of the right cerebellum in which gray matter density was higher in individuals who were better at controlling verbal interference. Second, we found functional activation in the same region when our German participants made semantic decisions on written English words in the presence of interference from unrelated words in their dominant language (German). This combination of structural and functional imaging therefore highlights the contribution of the right posterior paravermis to the control of verbal interference. We suggest that the importance of this region for language processing has previously been missed because most fMRI studies limit the field of view to increase sensitivity, with the lower part of the cerebellum being the region most likely to be excluded.
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Bornkessel-Schlesewsky I, Kretzschmar F, Tune S, Wang L, Genç S, Philipp M, Roehm D, Schlesewsky M. Think globally: cross-linguistic variation in electrophysiological activity during sentence comprehension. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2011; 117:133-152. [PMID: 20970843 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2010.09.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2010] [Revised: 08/16/2010] [Accepted: 09/18/2010] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
This paper demonstrates systematic cross-linguistic differences in the electrophysiological correlates of conflicts between form and meaning ("semantic reversal anomalies"). These engender P600 effects in English and Dutch (e.g. Kolk et al., 2003; Kuperberg et al., 2003), but a biphasic N400 - late positivity pattern in German (Schlesewsky and Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, 2009), and monophasic N400 effects in Turkish (Experiment 1) and Mandarin Chinese (Experiment 2). Experiment 3 revealed that, in Icelandic, semantic reversal anomalies show the English pattern with verbs requiring a position-based identification of argument roles, but the German pattern with verbs requiring a case-based identification of argument roles. The overall pattern of results reveals two separate dimensions of cross-linguistic variation: (i) the presence vs. absence of an N400, which we attribute to cross-linguistic differences with regard to the sequence-dependence of the form-to-meaning mapping and (ii) the presence vs. absence of a late positivity, which we interpret as an instance of a categorisation-related late P300, and which is observable when the language under consideration allows for a binary well-formedness categorisation of reversal anomalies. We conclude that, rather than reflecting linguistic domains such as syntax and semantics, the late positivity vs. N400 distinction is better understood in terms of the strategies that serve to optimise the form-to-meaning mapping in a given language.
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O'Connell DC, Kowal S. Sources of history for "a psychology of verbal communication". JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2011; 40:29-47. [PMID: 20593239 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-010-9153-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
There is a standard version of the history of modern mainstream psycholinguistics that emphasizes an extraordinary explosion of research in mid twentieth century under the guidance and leadership of George A. Miller and Noam Chomsky. The narrative is cast as a dramatic shift away from behavioristic principles and toward mentalistic principles based largely on transformational linguistics. A closer view of the literature diminishes the historical importance of behaviorism, shows a prevailing "written language bias" (Linell in The written language bias in linguistics: Its nature, origins and transformations, Routledge, London, 2005, p. 4) in psycholinguistic research, and elevates some theoretical and empirical thinking of the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries on language and language use to a far more important role than has heretofore been acknowledged. In keeping with the theoretical and methodological perspective of the present article, it is particularly appropriate that the German philologist Philipp Wegener be "given his due in the annals of linguistic sciences" (Koerner 1991, p. VI*). In his (1885/1991) Untersuchungen über die Grundfragen des Sprachlebens (Investigations regarding the fundamental questions of the life of language; our translation), he began his philological research with the investigation of actual speaking in everyday settings rather than with analyses of purely formal structure. Moreover, he emphasized understanding language and localized this function in the listener. Compatible with Wegener's own investigations is another aspect of speaking that has been most seriously neglected throughout the history of research on the psychology of verbal communication. For him, as well as for Esper (In C. Murchison [Ed.], A handbook of social psychology, Clark University Press, Worchester, MA, 1935), the basic and primary genre of dialogical discourse was not ongoing conversation, but the occasional use of speech in association with other activities. Both Bühler (Sprachtheorie, Fischer, Stuttgart, 1934/1982) and Wittgenstein (Philosophische Untersuchungen/Philosophical investigations, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1958) have also emphasized the importance of the genre of occasional speaking. The article concludes with a discussion of historical shifts in the relationship between psychology and linguistics.
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The myth of language universals: language diversity and its importance for cognitive science. Behav Brain Sci 2010; 32:429-48; discussion 448-494. [PMID: 19857320 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x0999094x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 380] [Impact Index Per Article: 27.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Talk of linguistic universals has given cognitive scientists the impression that languages are all built to a common pattern. In fact, there are vanishingly few universals of language in the direct sense that all languages exhibit them. Instead, diversity can be found at almost every level of linguistic organization. This fundamentally changes the object of enquiry from a cognitive science perspective. This target article summarizes decades of cross-linguistic work by typologists and descriptive linguists, showing just how few and unprofound the universal characteristics of language are, once we honestly confront the diversity offered to us by the world's 6,000 to 8,000 languages. After surveying the various uses of "universal," we illustrate the ways languages vary radically in sound, meaning, and syntactic organization, and then we examine in more detail the core grammatical machinery of recursion, constituency, and grammatical relations. Although there are significant recurrent patterns in organization, these are better explained as stable engineering solutions satisfying multiple design constraints, reflecting both cultural-historical factors and the constraints of human cognition. Linguistic diversity then becomes the crucial datum for cognitive science: we are the only species with a communication system that is fundamentally variable at all levels. Recognizing the true extent of structural diversity in human language opens up exciting new research directions for cognitive scientists, offering thousands of different natural experiments given by different languages, with new opportunities for dialogue with biological paradigms concerned with change and diversity, and confronting us with the extraordinary plasticity of the highest human skills.
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Rivera SM, Bates EA, Orozco-Figueroa A, Wicha NYY. Spoken verb processing in Spanish: An analysis using a new online resource. APPLIED PSYCHOLINGUISTICS 2010; 31:29-57. [PMID: 23002318 PMCID: PMC3446816 DOI: 10.1017/s0142716409990154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Verbs are one of the basic building blocks of grammar, yet few studies have examined the grammatical, morphological, and phonological factors contributing to lexical access and production of Spanish verb inflection. This report describes an online data set that incorporates psycholinguistic dimensions for 50 of the most common early-acquired Spanish verbs. Using this data set, predictors of response time (RT) from stimulus onset and mean differences at offset are examined. Native Spanish speakers, randomly assigned to one of two tasks, listened to prerecorded verbs and either repeated the verb (single word shadowing) or produced its corresponding pronoun. Factors such as stimulus duration, number of syllables, syllable stress position, and specific levels of initial phoneme facilitated both shadowing of a verb and production of its pronoun. Higher frequency verbs facilitated faster verb repetition, whereas verbs with alternative pronouns increased RT to pronoun production. Mean differences at offset (stimulus duration is removed) indicated that listeners begin speaking earlier when the verb is longer and multisyllabic compared to shorter, monosyllabic words. These results highlight the association between psycholinguistic factors and RT measures of verb processing, in particular, features unique to languages like Spanish, such as alternative pronoun and tense.
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Affiliation(s)
- Semilla M Rivera
- University of Texas at San Antonio and University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
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Erdocia K, Laka I, Mestres-Missé A, Rodriguez-Fornells A. Syntactic complexity and ambiguity resolution in a free word order language: behavioral and electrophysiological evidences from Basque. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2009; 109:1-17. [PMID: 19223065 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2008.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2008] [Revised: 12/09/2008] [Accepted: 12/21/2008] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
In natural languages some syntactic structures are simpler than others. Syntactically complex structures require further computation that is not required by syntactically simple structures. In particular, canonical, basic word order represents the simplest sentence-structure. Natural languages have different canonical word orders, and they vary in the degree of word order freedom they allow. In the case of free word order, whether canonical word order plays any role in processing is still unclear. In this paper, we present behavioral and electrophysiological evidence that simpler, canonical word order preference is found even in a free word order language. Canonical and derived structures were compared in two self-paced reading and one ERPs experiment. Non-canonical sentences required further syntactic computation in Basque, they showed longer reading times and a modulation of anterior negativities and P600 components providing evidence that even in free word order, case-marking grammars, underlying canonical word order can play a relevant role in sentence processing. These findings could signal universal processing mechanisms because similar processing patterns are found in typologically very distant grammars. We also provide evidence from syntactically fully ambiguous sequences. Our results on ambiguity resolution showed that fully ambiguous sequences were processed as canonical sentences. Moreover, when fully ambiguous sequences were forced to complex interpretation by means of the world knowledge of the participants, a frontal negativity distinguished simple and complex ambiguous sequences. Thus the preference of simple structures is presumably a universal design property for language processing, despite differences on parametric variation of a given grammar.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kepa Erdocia
- INSERM, Unité 562, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
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Abstract
We report the adaptation of the Aachen Aphasia Test (AAT) to the Portuguese language (PAAT) and the results of its standardization in 125 persons with aphasia and 153 healthy controls. Patients with aphasia had a previous syndromic diagnosis, obtained through a Portuguese aphasia battery, which served as a reference. The control group was stratified by age and educational level. Hierarchical cluster analyses showed good construct validity. The increasing degree of difficulty and complexity throughout the item sets comprising subtests was confirmed. The discriminatory power of the PAAT for the selection of aphasic from non-aphasic persons proved to be as high as for the AAT versions in other languages. Classification of standard aphasic syndromes by means of discriminant analyses was good. Internal consistency, measured by means of Cronbach's alpha coefficient, was high to very high for the different PAAT subtests. Performance differences caused by age or educational level among the healthy control persons emphasized the need for correction factors. In conclusion, the PAAT showed robust psychometric properties, comparable to the original German and to adaptations to other languages. It constitutes a useful tool for cross-linguistic and multicenter studies.
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Leech R, Aydelott J, Symons G, Carnevale J, Dick F. The development of sentence interpretation: effects of perceptual, attentional and semantic interference. Dev Sci 2007; 10:794-813. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00628.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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36
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Escribano CL. Evaluation of the double-deficit hypothesis subtype classification of readers in Spanish. JOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES 2007; 40:319-30. [PMID: 17713131 DOI: 10.1177/00222194070400040301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
The double-deficit hypothesis acknowledges both phonological processing deficits and serial naming speed deficits as two dimensions associated with reading disabilities. The purpose of this study was to examine these two dimensions of reading as they were related to the reading skills of 29 Spanish average readers and poor readers (mean age 9 years 7 months) who met the criteria for either single phonological deficit (PD), double deficit (DD), or no deficit. DD children were the slowest readers and had the weakest orthography processing skills. No significant differences were found between PD and DD groups on word and pseudoword reading. Word reading and reading comprehension skills were average or above average in the three studied groups. As in previous studies in transparent orthographies, word reading was not a salient problem for Spanish poor readers, whereas for the DD group, reading speed and orthographic recognition skills were significantly affected.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carmen López Escribano
- Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Educacíon, Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educacíon, Spain.
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Silva-Pereyra J, Conboy BT, Klarman L, Kuhl PK. Grammatical Processing without Semantics? An Event-related Brain Potential Study of Preschoolers using Jabberwocky Sentences. J Cogn Neurosci 2007; 19:1050-65. [PMID: 17536974 DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2007.19.6.1050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Behavioral studies have demonstrated that children develop a nearly adult-like grammar between 36 and 42 months, but few studies have addressed how the child's brain processes semantic versus syntactic information. In previous research, Silva-Pereyra and colleagues showed that distinct event-related potentials (ERPs) are elicited by semantic and syntactic violations in sentences in children as young as 30, 36, and 48 months, following the patterns displayed by adults. In the current study, we examined ERPs to syntactic phrase structure violations in real and jabberwocky sentences in 36-month-old children. Jabberwocky sentences are sentences in which content (open-class) words are replaced by pseudowords while function (closed-class) words are retained. Results showed that syntactically anomalous real sentences elicited two positive ERP effects: left-distributed effects from 500 to 750 msec and 1050 to 1300 msec, whereas syntactically anomalous jabberwocky sentences elicited two negative ERP effects: a left-distributed effect from 750 to 900 msec and a later broadly distributed effect from 950 to 1150 msec. The results indicate that when preschoolers process real English sentences, ERPs resembling the positive effects previously reported for adults are noted, although at longer latencies and with broader scalp distributions. However, when preschoolers process jabberwocky sentences with altered lexical-semantic content, a negative-going ERP component similar to one typically associated with the extraction of meaning is noted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan Silva-Pereyra
- Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-7988, USA.
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Vigliocco G, Warren J, Siri S, Arciuli J, Scott S, Wise R. The Role of Semantics and Grammatical Class in the Neural Representation of Words. Cereb Cortex 2006; 16:1790-6. [PMID: 16421329 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhj115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
On the basis of neuropsychological and functional imaging evidence, meaning and grammatical class (particularly the verb-noun distinction) have been proposed as organizational principles of linguistic knowledge in the brain. However, previous studies investigating verb and noun processing have been confounded by the presence of systematic correlations between word meaning and grammatical class. In this positron emission tomography study, we investigated implicit word processing using stimuli that allowed the effects of semantic and grammatical properties to be examined independently, without grammatical-semantic confounds. We found that left hemisphere cortical activation during single-word processing was modulated by word meaning, but not by grammatical class. Motor word processing produced significant activation in left precentral gyrus, whereas sensory word processing produced significant activation in left inferior temporal and inferior frontal regions. In contrast to previous studies, there were no effects of grammatical class in left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Instead, we found semantic-based differences within left IFG: anterior, but not posterior, left IFG regions responded preferentially to sensory words. These findings demonstrate that the neural substrates of implicit word processing are determined by semantic rather than grammatical properties and suggest that word comprehension involves the activation of modality-specific representations linked to word meaning.
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Justus T. The cerebellum and English grammatical morphology: evidence from production, comprehension, and grammaticality judgments. J Cogn Neurosci 2004; 16:1115-30. [PMID: 15453968 PMCID: PMC2811412 DOI: 10.1162/0898929041920513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Three neuropsychological experiments on a group of 16 cerebellar patients and 16 age- and education-matched controls investigated the effects of damage to the cerebellum on English grammatical morphology across production, comprehension, and grammaticality judgment tasks. In Experiment 1, participants described a series of pictures previously used in studies of cortical aphasic patients. The cerebellar patients did not differ significantly from the controls in the total number of words produced or in the proportion of closed-class words. They did differ to a marginally significant extent in the production of required articles. In Experiment 2, participants identified the agent in a series of aurally presented sentences in which three agency cues (subject-verb agreement, word order, and noun animacy) were manipulated. The cerebellar patients were less affected than the controls were by the manipulation of subject-verb agreement to a marginally significant extent. In Experiment 3, participants performed a grammaticality judgment task on a series of aurally presented sentences. The cerebellar patients were significantly less able to discriminate grammatical and ungrammatical sentences than the controls were, particularly when the error was of subject-verb agreement as opposed to word order. The results suggest that damage to the cerebellum can result in subtle impairments in the use of grammatical morphology, and are discussed in light of hypothesized roles for the cerebellum in language.
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Dick F, Wulfeck B, Krupa-Kwiatkowski M, Bates E. The development of complex sentence interpretation in typically developing children compared with children with specific language impairments or early unilateral focal lesions. Dev Sci 2004; 7:360-77. [PMID: 15595375 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2004.00353.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
This study compared sentence comprehension skills in typically developing children 5-17 years of age, children with language impairment (LI) and children with focal brain injuries (FL) acquired in the pre/perinatal period. Participants were asked to process sentences 'on-line', choosing the agent in sentences that varied in syntactic complexity (actives, passives, subject clefts and object clefts), and in the presence or absence of a subject-verb agreement contrast. Results revealed that accuracy and processing speeds vary with syntactic complexity in all groups, reflecting the frequency and regularity of sentence types. Developmental changes continued throughout childhood, as children became faster and more accurate at processing more complex sentence structures. Children with LI and children with FL were quite profoundly delayed, displaying profiles similar to, or more impaired than those of younger children, but there was no evidence in the FL group for a disadvantage in left- vs. right-hemisphere-damaged children. Children with LI showed one unique pattern: higher than normal costs (reflected in reaction times) in using converging information from subject-verb agreement, in line with studies suggesting special vulnerabilities in grammatical morphology in this group. Results are discussed in terms of the Competition Model, a theory of language processing designed to account for the statistical changes in performance that are observed during development, and the probabilistic deficits in children with language impairments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederic Dick
- Center for Research in Language, University of California, San Diego, USA
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Székely A, D'Amico S, Devescovi A, Federmeier K, Herron D, Iyer G, Jacobsen T, Bates E. Timed picture naming: Extended norms and validation against previous studies. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2003; 35:621-33. [PMID: 14748507 DOI: 10.3758/bf03195542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Anna Székely
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
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Dick F, Bates E, Ferstl EC. Spectral and temporal degradation of speech as a simulation of morphosyntactic deficits in English and German. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2003; 85:535-542. [PMID: 12744964 DOI: 10.1016/s0093-934x(03)00093-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Spectral and temporal degradation of the speech stream is increasingly used to model receptive language deficits such as aphasia and developmental language disorders. As with results from patient studies, the specific pattern of receptive deficits can reveal underlying structural and processing characteristics of different languages. Here, we test English- and German-speaking college students' auditory comprehension of complex morphosyntactic structures under normal and 'dual-degradation' conditions. The resulting profiles of strength and vulnerability in the two languages highlight the cross-linguistic differences in reliability of syntactic and morphological cues, and closely resemble the deficits observed in previous studies of receptive aphasia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederic Dick
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, 9500 Gilman Drive, Mail Code 0526, La Jolla, San Diego, CA 92093-0526, USA.
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Bates E, D'Amico S, Jacobsen T, Székely A, Andonova E, Devescovi A, Herron D, Lu CC, Pechmann T, Pléh C, Wicha N, Federmeier K, Gerdjikova I, Gutierrez G, Hung D, Hsu J, Iyer G, Kohnert K, Mehotcheva T, Orozco-Figueroa A, Tzeng A, Tzeng O. Timed picture naming in seven languages. Psychon Bull Rev 2003; 10:344-80. [PMID: 12921412 PMCID: PMC3392189 DOI: 10.3758/bf03196494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 293] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Timed picture naming was compared in seven languages that vary along dimensions known to affect lexical access. Analyses over items focused on factors that determine cross-language universals and cross-language disparities. With regard to universals, number of alternative names had large effects on reaction time within and across languages after target-name agreement was controlled, suggesting inhibitory effects from lexical competitors. For all the languages, word frequency and goodness of depiction had large effects, but objective picture complexity did not. Effects of word structure variables (length, syllable structure, compounding, and initial frication) varied markedly over languages. Strong cross-language correlations were found in naming latencies, frequency, and length. Other-language frequency effects were observed (e.g., Chinese frequencies predicting Spanish reaction times) even after within-language effects were controlled (e.g., Spanish frequencies predicting Spanish reaction times). These surprising cross-language correlations challenge widely held assumptions about the lexical locus of length and frequency effects, suggesting instead that they may (at least in part) reflect familiarity and accessibility at a conceptual level that is shared over languages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth Bates
- Center for Research in Language, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0526, USA.
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D'Amico S, Devescovi A, Bates E. Picture Naming and Lexical Access in Italian Children and Adults. JOURNAL OF COGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT 2001. [DOI: 10.1207/s15327647jcd0201_4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/31/2022]
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