Middle-schoolers' reading and lexical-semantic processing depth in response to digital and print media: An N400 study.

We report the first use of ERP measures to identify text engagement differences when reading digitally or in print. Depth of semantic encoding is key for reading comprehension, and we predicted that deeper reading of expository texts would facilitate stronger associations with subsequently-presented related words, resulting in enhanced N400 responses to unrelated probe words and a graded attenuation of the N400 to related and moderately related words. In contrast, shallow reading would produce weaker associations between probe words and text passages, resulting in enhanced N400 responses to both moderately related and unrelated words, and an attenuated response to related words.

The Audiovisual Mismatch Negativity in Predictive and Non-Predictive Speech Stimuli in Older Adults With and Without Hearing Loss.

Adults with aging-related hearing loss (ARHL) experience adaptive neural changes to optimize their sensory experiences; for example, enhanced audiovisual (AV) and predictive processing during speech perception. The mismatch negativity (MMN) event-related potential is an index of central auditory processing; however, it has not been explored as an index of AV and predictive processing in adults with ARHL. In a pilot study we examined the AV MMN in two conditions of a passive oddball paradigm - one AV condition in which the visual aspect of the stimulus can predict the auditory percept and one AV control condition in which the visual aspect of the stimulus cannot predict the auditory percept.

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor as a Clinical Biomarker in Predicting the Development of Post-Stroke Depression: A Review of Evidence.

Studying the relationship between brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and post-stroke depression (PSD) may help determine the potential for depression in stroke patients at the earliest stage possible. Current research has identified changes in BDNF levels in PSD patients. Thus, this article was intended as a review of evidence with respect to changes in the expression of BDNF in patients with PSD by integrating extant findings.

Evaluation of mismatch negativity as a marker for language impairment in autism spectrum disorder.

Background: The identification of an early and objective marker of language impairment in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has the potential to lead to earlier language intervention for affected children. The mismatch negativity (MMN), a passive auditory evoked potential, offers insight into the brain's ability to direct attention to novel sounds. Since exposure to speech is necessary for learning to map meaning onto phonemes, we predicted slower MMN responses to speech sounds would indicate presence of language impairment in ASD.

Neural Correlates of Modality-Sensitive Deviance Detection in the Audiovisual Oddball Paradigm.

The McGurk effect, an incongruent pairing of visual /ga/-acoustic /ba/, creates a fusion illusion /da/ and is the cornerstone of research in audiovisual speech perception. Combination illusions occur given reversal of the input modalities-auditory /ga/-visual /ba/, and percept /bga/. A robust literature shows that fusion illusions in an oddball paradigm evoke a mismatch negativity (MMN) in the auditory cortex, in absence of changes to acoustic stimuli.

Visually Evoked Response Differences to Contrast and Motion in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

High-density electroencephalography (EEG) was used to examine the utility of the P1 event-related potential (ERP) as a marker of visual motion sensitivity to luminance defined low-spatial frequency drifting gratings in 16 children with autism and 16 neurotypical children. Children with autism displayed enhanced sensitivity to large, high-contrast low-spatial frequency stimuli as indexed by significantly shorter P1 response latencies to large vs. small gratings.

Perception of American English vowels by sequential Spanish-English bilinguals.

Research on American-English (AE) vowel perception by Spanish-English bilinguals has focused on the vowels /i/-/ɪ/ (e.g., in /).

Categorical perception of lexical tones by English learners of Mandarin Chinese.

Whether native speakers of non-tonal languages can acquire categorical representations of lexical tones remains controversial. This study investigates the acquisition of lexical tone categories by native English speakers learning Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language by comparing the categorical perception (CP) of lexical tones between three groups of listeners: (1) native English speakers who had taken advanced Mandarin courses in colleges; (2) native English speakers with no knowledge of Mandarin Chinese; and (3) native Mandarin speakers. Two tonal continua derived from natural speech within carrier phrases were created through interpolation within two tonal contrasts (tone 1/tone 4, T1/T4; tone 2/tone 3, T2/T3).

Mismatch negativity responses in children with a diagnosis of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS).

Purpose: To evaluate whether a hypothesis suggesting that apraxia of speech results from phonological overspecification could be relevant for childhood apraxia of speech (CAS).

Method: High-density EEG was recorded from 5 children with CAS and 5 matched controls, ages 5-8 years, with and without CAS, as they listened to randomized sequences of CV syllables in two oddball paradigms: phonemic (/ba/, /pa/) and allophonic (/pa/, /p(h)a/).

Results: In the phonemic contrast condition, mismatch negativity (MMN) responses to oddball sounds were observed for the typically developing (comparison) group but not the CAS group, although a component similar to an immature mismatch response was apparent.

Acquiring diglossia: mutual influences of formal and colloquial Arabic on children's grammaticality judgments.

There are differences and similarities between Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and spoken varieties of Arabic, in all language domains. To obtain preliminary insights into interactions between the acquisition of spoken and standard varieties of a language in a diglossic situation, we employed forced-choice grammaticality judgments to investigate morphosyntactic knowledge of MSA and the local variant of Palestinian Colloquial Arabic (PCA), in 60 Arabic-speaking children aged 6 ; 4 to 12 ; 4, from a school in Nazareth. We used morphosyntactic structures which either differed or were similar between PCA and standard Arabic.

Brain/behavior Asymmetry in Schizophrenia: A MEG Study of Cross-modal Semantic Priming.

Semantic priming has long been used to investigate how concepts and ideas are related at the level of language, and has become a convenient tool for assessing conceptual and semantic dysfunction in cognitive disorders, including schizophrenia. The study of semantic priming in schizophrenia has led to diverse results: enhanced priming, reduced priming, and priming equivalent to that found in nonpsychiatric comparison groups. A number of hypotheses have been proposed to explain some of the observed deficits in schizophrenia patients.

Evidence of the voice-related cortical potential: an electroencephalographic study.

The Bereitschaftspotential (BP) is a slow negative-going cortical potential associated with preparation for volitional movement. Studies since the 1960s have provided evidence for a BP preceding speech-related volitional motor acts. However, the BP associated specifically with phonation [corrected] has not to date been systematically investigated.

The count-mass distinction in typically developing and grammatically specifically language impaired children: new evidence on the role of syntax and semantics.

Unlabelled: By the age of three, typically developing children can draw conceptual distinctions between "kinds of individual" and "kinds of stuff" on the basis of syntactic structures. They differ from adults only in the extent to which syntactic knowledge can be over-ridden by semantic properties of the referent. However, the relative roles of syntax and semantics in determining the nature of the count-mass distinction in language acquisition are still not well-understood.

Development of the Grammar and Phonology Screening (GAPS) test to assess key markers of specific language and literacy difficulties in young children.

Background: Despite a large body of evidence regarding reliable indicators of language deficits in young children, there has not been a standardized, quick screen for language impairment. The Grammar and Phonology Screening (GAPS) test was therefore designed as a short, reliable assessment of young children's language abilities.

Aims: GAPS was designed to provide a quick screening test to assess whether pre- and early school entry children have the necessary grammar and pre-reading phonological skills needed for education and social development.

The syntax of single words: Evidence from a patient with a selective function word reading deficit.

We describe the reading performance of a patient who has selective deficits for reading nonwords, function words, and morphologically complex words in isolation. His reading of highly abstract nouns and verbs, however, is relatively well preserved. He can recognise and comprehend the meaning of written function words, of derivational morphology, and of most inflectional morphology.