Monthly Archives: July 2010
Comparison between videofluoroscopy and endoscopic evaluation of swallowing for the diagnosis of dysphagia in children
The diagnostic agreement between FEES (both observers) and VFSS was low. Regarding the analyzed parameters, laryngeal penetration and aspiration yielded the highest interobserver agreement in terms of FEES, and also showed the highest specificity and positive predictive value when compared to VFSS.
Correlating voice handicap index and quantitative videostroboscopy following injection laryngoplasty for unilateral vocal paralysis
Voice handicap index correlates best with glottic closed phase, suggesting duration of vocal fold closure during the glottic cycle best represents patients’ subjective outcome post-procedure. Progressive improvement in voice handicap index beyond six months may relate to gradual reduction in compensatory supraglottic compression, with moderate correlation.
Endolymphatic pseudohydrops of the cochlear apex
What appears to be endolymphatic hydrops of the cochlear apex is the transition area of the cochlear duct from a conical shape at the extreme apex to the triangular shape found in the rest of the cochlea. The appearance of distension is dependent upon the cochlear length and the level of the microscopic section.
Measuring disease-specific health-related quality of life to evaluate treatment outcomes in tinnitus patients: A systematic review
The HR-QoL instruments used in tinnitus trials appear not to be validated to measure effectiveness of interventions. Using tests or instruments that are valid and reliable is a crucial component of research quality, and both should therefore be studied before final conclusions can be drawn from the questionnaires in upcoming clinical trials.
Ocular vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials to bone-conducted vibration in superior vestibular neuritis show utricular function
The n10 component of the oVEMP to BCV is probably mediated by the superior vestibular nerve and so mainly by the utricular receptors. The n10 AR is almost as good as canal paresis in identifying the affected side in patients.
Long-term effects of preterm birth on language and literacy at eight years
The aims of this study were to investigate whether specific linguistic difficulties in preterm children persist at eight years and to examine the interrelationships between language and literacy in this population, compared with a control group of full-term children. Sixty-eight monolingual Italian preterms and 26 chronologically matched controls were recruited. Language (grammar comprehension, lexical production and phonological awareness), literacy (reading comprehension, reading and writing) and general cognitive development were investigated. Results showed no general delay in preterms, but slight difficulties in specific linguistic abilities (grammar, lexicon, phoneme synthesis and deletion of the first syllable), more difficulties in literacy (speed in reading and accuracy in writing) and certain correlations among competencies turning out to be different from the control group. In conclusion, our study established that a partially atypical trajectory emerged in preterms, showing specific long-term effects of preterm birth on language and literacy development.
from the Journal of Child Language
Motoric characteristics of representational gestures produced by young children in a naming task
This study explores the form of representational gestures produced by forty-five hearing children (age range 2 ; 0–3 ; 1) asked to label pictures in words. Five pictures depicting objects and five pictures depicting actions which elicited more representational gestures were chosen for more detailed analysis. The range of gestures produced for each item varied from 3 to 27 for a total of 128 gestures. Gestures have been analyzed with the same parameters used to describe signs produced by deaf children: handshape, location and movement. Results show that gestures for a given picture exhibit similarities in many of the parameters across children. Some motor characteristics found in the production of hearing toddlers’ gestures are similar to those described for early signs. Implications of this similarity between gestural and signed linguistic representations in young children are discussed.
from the Journal of Child Language
Preschoolers’ extension of novel words to animals and artifacts
We examined whether preschoolers’ ontological knowledge would influence lexical extension. In Experiment 1, four-year-olds were presented with a novel label for either an object with eyes described as an animal, or the same object without eyes described as a tool. In the animal condition, children extended the label to similar-shaped objects, whereas in the tool condition, children extended the label to similar-function objects. In Experiment 2, when four-year-olds were presented with objects with eyes described as tools, they extended the label on the basis of shared function. These experiments suggest that preschoolers’ conceptual knowledge guides their lexical extension.
from the Journal of Child Language
Segmental distribution patterns of English infant- and adult-directed speech
This study compared segmental distribution patterns for consonants and vowels in English infant-directed speech (IDS) and adult-directed speech (ADS). A previous study of Korean indicated that segmental patterns of IDS differed from ADS patterns (Lee, Davis & MacNeilage, 2008). The aim of the current study was to determine whether such differences in Korean are universal or language-specific. Results indicate that consonant distribution patterns of English IDS were significantly different from English ADS. Speakers who used IDS produced fewer fricatives, affricates, nasals and liquids, but more stops and glides, than speakers who used ADS. In terms of vowels, IDS speakers produced more high-back vowels /u Ʊ/ and /ɔI/ diphthongs than ADS speakers. These results indicate both general trends and language-specific segmental distribution patterns in IDS. When compared to previous findings on ADS and IDS in Korean, these results for English give support to a more general assertion that segmental distribution patterns in IDS seem to be mediated by linguistic and cultural factors across languages.
from the Journal of Child Language
Sensitivity to conversational maxims in deaf and hearing children
We investigated whether access to a sign language affects the development of pragmatic competence in three groups of deaf children aged 6 to 11 years: native signers from deaf families receiving bimodal/bilingual instruction, native signers from deaf families receiving oralist instruction and late signers from hearing families receiving oralist instruction. The performance of these children was compared to a group of hearing children aged 6 to 7 years on a test designed to assess sensitivity to violations of conversational maxims. Native signers with bimodal/bilingual instruction were as able as the hearing children to detect violations that concern truthfulness (Maxim of Quality) and relevance (Maxim of Relation). On items involving these maxims, they outperformed both the late signers and native signers attending oralist schools. These results dovetail with previous findings on mindreading in deaf children and underscore the role of early conversational experience and instructional setting in the development of pragmatics.
from the Journal of Child Language
The Relationship Between Tongue Trill Performance Duration and Vocal Changes in Dysphonic Women
Tongue trill performance duration interfered with the vocal response of dysphonic women, with positive response predominance at m5. At m7, there was an increase of vocal tension and a drop in vocal quality.
from the Journal of Voice
Functional anatomy of listening and reading comprehension during development
Listening and reading comprehension of paragraph-length material are considered higher-order language skills fundamental to social and academic functioning. Using ecologically relevant language stimuli that were matched for difficulty according to developmental level, we analyze the effects of task, age, neuropsychological skills, and post-task performance on fMRI activation and hemispheric laterality. Areas of supramodal language processing are identified, with the most robust region being left-lateralized activation along the superior temporal sulcus. Functionally, this conjunction has a role in semantic and syntactic processing, leading us to refer to this conjunction as “comprehension cortex.” Different from adults, supramodal areas for children include less extensive inferior frontal gyrus but more extensive right cerebellum and right temporal pole. Broader neuroanatomical pathways are recruited for reading, reflecting the more active processing and larger set of cognitive demands needed for reading compared to listening to stories. ROI analyses reveal that reading is a less lateralized language task than listening in inferior frontal and superior temporal areas, which likely reflects the difficulty of the task as children in this study are still developing their reading skills. For listening to stories, temporal activation is stable by age four with no correlations with age, neuropsychological skills or post-task performance. In contrast, frontal activation during listening to stories occurs more often in older children, and frontal activation is positively correlated with better performance on comprehension questions, suggesting that the activation of frontal networks may reflect greater integration and depth of story processing.
from Brain and Language
Prominence vs. aboutness in sequencing: A functional distinction within the left inferior frontal gyrus
Prior research on the neural bases of syntactic comprehension suggests that activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus (lIFG) correlates with the processing of word order variations. However, there are inconsistencies with respect to the specific subregion within the IFG that is implicated by these findings: the pars opercularis or the pars triangularis. Here, we examined the hypothesis that the dissociation between pars opercularis and pars triangularis activation may reflect functional differences between clause-medial and clause-initial word order permutations, respectively. To this end, we directly compared clause-medial and clause-initial object-before-subject orders in German in a within-participants, event-related fMRI design. Our results showed increased activation for object-initial sentences in a bilateral network of frontal, temporal and subcortical regions. Within the lIFG, posterior and inferior subregions showed only a main effect of word order, whereas more anterior and superior subregions showed effects of word order and sentence type, with higher activation for sentences with an argument in the clause-initial position. These findings are interpreted as evidence for a functional gradation of sequence processing within the left IFG: posterior subportions correlate with argument prominence-based (local) aspects of sequencing, while anterior subportions correlate with aboutness-based aspects of sequencing, which are crucial in linking the current sentence to the wider discourse. This proposal appears compatible with more general hypotheses about information processing gradients in prefrontal cortex (Koechlin & Summerfield, 2007).
from Brain and Language
Semantic paralexias: A group-case study on the underlying functional mechanisms, incidence and clinical features in a consecutive series of 340 Italian aphasics
We studied the reading performance of 340 consecutive, Italian-speaking aphasics in order to evaluate the clinical features of deep dyslexia, the functional impairments underlying semantic paralexias, and their neuranatomical correlates. Semantic paralexias were observed in 9/340 subjects (2.4%). Our data and a review of the literature show that most deep dyslexics suffer from superficial and deep vascular damage in the territory of the left middle cerebral artery, and that they are relatively young, well-educated individuals, in the chronic stage of their disease. In these subjects, perisylvian damage might be mainly responsible for damage to sublexical grapheme–phoneme Conversion (GPC) procedures, and extrasylvian damage for lexical–semantic impairment. Semantic paralexias might originate in the right hemisphere, or in left perilesional regions. The functional impairment underlying deep dyslexia was analyzed with specific reference to the summation hypothesis, i.e., to the hypothesis that in reading, GPC procedures interact with lexical–semantic information, thus blocking semantically incorrect responses. On this account, semantic paralexias should only occur when, in the presence of lexical–semantic damage, GPC rules are disrupted to the point that the interaction can no longer take place. In agreement with the hypothesis, only cases with co-occurring lexical–semantic and GPC damage produced semantic paralexias; and, these were the subjects with the most severe GPC damage. The inability to apply approximately 45% GPC mappings is the critical level of sublexical damage that no longer allows GPC procedures to interact with lexical–semantic information.
from Brain and Language
Why are dunkels sticky? Preschoolers infer functionality and intentional creation for artifact properties learned from generic language
Artifacts pose a potential learning problem for children because the mapping between their features and their functions is often not transparent. In solving this problem, children are likely to rely on a number of information sources (e.g., others’ actions, affordances). We argue that children’s sensitivity to nuances in the language used to describe artifacts is an important, but so far unacknowledged, piece of this puzzle. Specifically, we hypothesize that children are sensitive to whether an unfamiliar artifact’s features are highlighted using generic (e.g., “Dunkels are sticky”) or non-generic (e.g., “This dunkel is sticky”) language. Across two studies, older—but not younger—preschoolers who heard such features introduced via generic statements inferred that they are a functional part of the artifact’s design more often than children who heard the same features introduced via non-generic statements. The ability to pick up on this linguistic cue may expand considerably the amount of conceptual information about artifacts that children derive from conversations with adults.
from Cognition
