Brain Activation for Consonants and Vowels

from Cerebral Cortex

Previous behavioral and electrophysiological studies have shown dissociation between consonants and vowels. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate whether vowel and consonant processing differences are expressed in the neuronal activation pattern and whether they are modulated by task. The experimental design involved reading aloud and lexical decision on visually presented pseudowords created by transposing or replacing consonants or vowels in words. During reading aloud, changing vowels relative to consonants increased activation in a right middle temporal area previously associated with prosodic processing of speech input. In contrast, during lexical decision, changing consonants relative to vowels increased activation in a right middle frontal area associated with inhibiting go-responses. The task-sensitive nature of these effects demonstrates that consonants and vowels differ at a processing, rather than stimulus, level. We argue that prosodic processing of vowel changes arise during self-monitoring of speech output, whereas greater inhibition of go-responses to consonant changes follows insufficient lexico-semantic processing when nonwords looking particularly like words must be rejected. Our results are consistent with claims that vowels and consonants place differential demands on prosodic and lexico-semantic processing, respectively. They also highlight the different types of information that can be drawn from functional imaging and neuropsychological studies.

Language Control and Lexical Competition in Bilinguals: An Event-Related fMRI Study

from Cerebral Cortex

Language selection (or control) refers to the cognitive mechanism that controls which language to use at a given moment and context. It allows bilinguals to selectively communicate in one target language while minimizing the interferences from the nontarget language. Previous studies have suggested the participation in language control of different brain areas. However, the question remains whether the selection of one language among others relies on a language-specific neural module or general executive regions that also allow switching between different competing behavioral responses including the switching between various linguistic registers. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we investigated the neural correlates of language selection processes in German–French bilingual subjects during picture naming in different monolingual and bilingual selection contexts. We show that naming in the first language in the bilingual context (compared with monolingual contexts) increased activation in the left caudate and anterior cingulate cortex. Furthermore, the activation of these areas is even more extended when the subjects are using a second weaker language. These findings show that language control processes engaged in contexts during which both languages must remain active recruit the left caudate and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in a manner that can be distinguished from areas engaged in intralanguage task switching.

Comparison of two-step transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE) and automated auditory brainstem response (AABR) for universal newborn hearing screening programs

from the International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology

Objective
Both transitory auditory otoemissions (TEOAE) and automated auditory brainstem responses (AABR) are considered adequate methods for universal hearing screening. The goal of this study was to compare the results obtained with each device, applying the same screening procedure.

Materials and methods
From 2001 to 2003, all the newborns in our health area (2454 infants) were evaluated with TEOAE (ILO92, otodynamics) and all those born from 2004 to 2006 (3117) were evaluated with AABR (AccuScreen, Fischer-Zoth). The population studied included all well newborns and those admitted to neonatal intensive care units (NICU). The first screening was normally undertaken with well babies during the first 48 h of life, before hospital discharge. Infants referred from this first step underwent a second screening after hospital discharge, before they were a month old.

Results
The results from each study group were compared and analyzed for significant differences. TEOAE screening yielded 10.2% fail results from the first screening step; AABR gave 2.6%. In the second screening step, 2% of the newborns screened with TEOAE were referred, whereas 0.32% of those screened with AABR were referred. These differences are statistically significant.

Conclusions
Although AABR screening tests involve a slightly higher cost in time and money than TEOAE, the results obtained compensate this difference. AABR gives fewer false positives and a lower referral rate; the percent of infants lost during follow-up is consequently smaller. Therefore, in our environment, universal newborn auditory screening with AABR is more effective than that with TEOAE.

Perception Of Musical Consonance And Dissonance: An Outcome Of Neural Synchronization

from Medical News Today.com

While a number of theories have been advanced to account for why musical consonance is related to simple frequency ratios, as yet there is no completely satisfying explanation.

Transfer Of Learning Traced To Areas Of The Brain

from Medical News Today.com

Practice makes perfect, but a question that still remains a mystery is why it is so difficult to transfer learning from a trained to an untrained task?

The influence of maternal depression, caregiving, and socioeconomic status in the post-natal year on children’s language development

from Child: Care, Health and Development

Background Post-natal depression is common and has been associated with adverse effects on children’s later emotional and behavioural development. The evidence for effects on children’s cognitive development is unclear but this could potentially be a major public health issue. The aim was to examine whether maternal depression and maternal caregiving during the first year of life are associated with children’s subsequent language development.

Methods One thousand two hundred and one women were recruited from antenatal and post-natal baby clinics in two areas in England, and followed up until their babies were 3 years. Mothers and children were assessed by questionnaire, interview and home observation; 999 children’s language was assessed at 36 months, although 55 were excluded principally because they had been exposed to insufficient English.

Results In bivariate analyses maternal depressive symptomatology in the post-natal year but not at 36 months was associated with poorer child language at 36 months; maternal caregiving, was positively associated with language. Structural Equation Modelling revealed that depression was associated with poorer caregiving but was not independently associated with language. Higher quality caregiving at 10 months was associated with better language. When the sample was split by socioeconomic factors the effects of depression on caregiving were stronger in the less advantaged group. In both groups poorer quality early caregiving predicted lower language outcome.

Conclusions Post-natal depression had a negative effect on caregiving, which in turn affected language; post-natal depression did not have an additional direct effect on language. Socioeconomic factors moderated the effects of depression on caregiving. When targeting interventions at mothers with post-natal depression, it may be strategic to focus on lower socioeconomic groups at higher risk.

Fricatives, affricates, and vowels in Croatian children with cochlear implants

from Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics

The aim of the research was to analyse the speech of children with cochlear implants over approximately a 46-month period, and compare it with the speech of hearing controls. It focused on three categories of sounds in Croatian: vowels (F1 and F2 of /i/, /e/, /a/, /o/ and /u/), fricatives /s/ and /∫/ (spectral differences expressed in terms of center of gravity), and affricates /ts/ and /t∫/ (accuracy, total duration, and pattern of stop-fricative components). One group of subjects were 10 implanted children who had been profoundly deaf before implantation. There were four recordings per child. Group two children were hearing controls matched for age and sex. The results show that the implanted children are closest to unimpaired children in terms of their formant-defined vowel space. Their fricatives exhibit poor distinction in terms of the noise spectrum, and the affricates are the most difficult to produce.

Czech dysplasia: Report of a large family and further delineation of the phenotype

from the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A

Abstract
Czech dysplasia (OMIM 609162) is a recently delineated COL2A1 disorder characterized by early-onset progressive pseudorheumatoid arthritis, platyspondyly, short third and fourth metatarsals, normal height, and the absence of ophthalmological problems or cleft palate. Czech dysplasia is caused by a specific missense mutation (R275C, c.823C > T) in the triple helical domain of the COL2A1 gene. We report on a large family with 11 patients with typical Czech dysplasia and sensorineural hearing loss. Hearing loss has hitherto not been considered as a major manifestation of Czech dysplasia. Mutation analysis documented the COL2A1 c.823C > T (R275C) mutation in all affected individuals. Thus, Czech dysplasia is possibly caused exclusively by the R275C mutation, which is a unique situation among the COL2A1 disorders. The family provides further evidence for the remarkably uniform manifestation of the clinical and radiological abnormalities and adds hearing loss to the list of major anomalies of Czech dysplasia. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The Stability, Reliability, and Validity of Videofluoroscopy Measures for Patients with Head and Neck Cancer

from Dysphagia

Abstract The purpose of this study was to contrast the psychometric properties (stability, test-retest reliability, construct, and concurrent validity) of three different tools used for evaluating videofluoroscopy swallowing studies (VFSS): (1) rating the presence or absence of a swallowing disorder, (2) the Bethlehem Assessment Scale (BAS), and (3) biomechanical measures. These three tools were applied to the same three examinations of two different consistencies (liquid and semisolid), taken from 40 VFSSs of patients with head and neck (H&N) cancer. Stability of swallowing across three swallows was a concern for three measures with the liquid consistency and nine measures with the semisolid consistency. Test-retest reliability was found to vary considerably for the two consistencies (liquids, 0.53–1.00; semisolids, 0.45–1.00). Examination of construct validity of the BAS and biomechanical measures indicated that six factors represented swallowing function, but different factors represented swallowing under liquid and semisolid conditions. Concurrent validity of the presence/absence of disorder variables was less than adequate. These results are discussed in the following contexts: (1) psychometric properties of VFSS may not be adequate for clinical and research environments and (2) psychometric properties of VFSS measures appear to vary as a function of bolus consistency.