An Investigation of Pulse Oximetry Levels During Swallowing in Healthy Adults and in Individuals with Severe and Very Severe Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

To compare pulse oximetry (PO) levels during swallowing in healthy adults and adults with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Participants included two groups of 60 healthy adults, balanced for gender. The young group ranged from 18 to 38 years, and the older group from 60 to 87 years.

Assessing Physiological Stress Responses to Word Retrieval in Individuals with Aphasia: A Preliminary Study.

Objective: Word retrieval difficulty can be distressing for individuals with aphasia. However, physiological stress responses to word retrieval are relatively unstudied. This study aims to measure the physiological response (i.

Spatial-Temporal Parameters of Gait Associated With Alzheimer Disease: A Longitudinal Analysis.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the biggest social and medical concerns in the aging world. A dual task of walking and talking is a particularly practical means to assess AD considering the cognitive and behavioral changes that characterize the disease. The purpose of the study was to assess the effect of the dual task of walking and talking on people with early stage AD under differing cognitive load levels of talking.

The Influence of Oropalatal Dimensions on the Measurement of Tongue Strength.

Tongue strength is routinely evaluated in clinical swallowing evaluations since lingual weakness is an established contributor to dysphagia. Tongue strength may be clinically quantified by the maximum isometric tongue pressure (MIP) generated by the tongue against the palate; however, wide ranges in normal performance remain to be fully explained. Although orthodontic theory has long suggested a relation between lingual function and oral cavity dimensions, little attention has been given to the potential influence of oral and palatal structure(s) on healthy variance in MIP generation.

Effects of Lingual Effort on Swallow Pressures Following Radiation Treatment.

Purpose: This article investigated the effects of increased oral lingual pressure on pharyngeal pressures during swallowing in patients who have undergone radiotherapy for head and neck cancer. It was hypothesized that increased oral lingual pressure would result in increased pharyngeal pressures.

Method: A within-subject experimental design was used with 20 participants who were status post external beam radiotherapy for head and neck cancer.

Re-establishing Broca's initial findings.

The importance of the left inferior pre-frontal cortex (LIPC) for speech production was first popularized by Paul Broca, providing a cornerstone of behavioral neurology and laying the foundation for future research examining brain-behavior relationships. Although Broca's findings were rigorously challenged, comprehensive contradictory evidence was not published until 130years later. This evidence suggested that damage to left anterior insula was actually the best predictor of motor speech impairment.

Lingual propulsive pressures across consistencies generated by the anteromedian and posteromedian tongue by healthy young adults.

Purpose: In the present study, the authors investigated lingual propulsive pressures generated in the normal swallow by the anterior and posterior lingual segments for various consistencies and maximum isometric tasks.

Method: Lingual pressures for saliva, thin, and honey-thick liquid boluses were measured via the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument (IOPI Medical, Carnation, WA) at both anteromedian and posteromedian lingual segments of 62 healthy participants, ages 18-34 years (30 men, 32 women).

Results: A repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed that all lingual swallowing pressures were significantly greater at the anteromedian segment than at the posteromedian segment.

The effect of feedback and practice on the acquisition of novel speech behaviors.

Purpose: This study examined the effect of manipulating several parameters of motor learning theory on participants' phonetic acquisition and retention of utterances in a foreign language (Korean).

Method: Thirty-two native English-speaking participants naïve to the Korean language were each given 10 Korean sentences to practice and learn. The independent variables in the study were the number of practice trials and the feedback schedule.

Email intervention following traumatic brain injury: two case reports.

An email intervention for two individuals with TBI was conducted to investigate if this electronic medium shows potential as a therapeutic delivery method. Specifically, this study measured participants' compliance with a plan that incorporated email and a reading assignment. Prior to the email intervention, the clinician and participants designed an intervention plan which included specific guidelines for scheduled email correspondence regarding a daily reading task.

Talking while walking: Cognitive loading and injurious falls in Parkinson's disease.

Multitasking has become a way of life, from operating multiple software packages simultaneously on a computer, to carrying on a conversation on a cell phone while driving. Perhaps one of the most common dual tasks performed is talking while walking. In isolation, neither task would be considered difficult to perform, yet when coupled, the relative ease of each task may change.

Effects of a cell phone conversation on cognitive processing performances.

Background: The ability to apportion cognitive resources to process multiple visual and auditory stimuli is essential for human communication in competing conditions.

Purpose: The purpose of the current research was to examine the effects of a cell phone conversation on a battery of cognitive tests, using both timing (RT) and accuracy (A') as dependent measures.

Research Design: A repeated measures ANOVA was conducted.

Effects of auditory distraction on cognitive processing of young adults.

Objective: The effects of interference, competition, and distraction on cognitive processing are unclearly understood, particularly regarding type and intensity of auditory distraction across a variety of cognitive processing tasks.

Method: The purpose of this investigation was to report two experiments that sought to explore the effects of types of distraction (4-talker babble; word repetition; combined 4-talker babble with word repetition) when compared to a control condition of quiet on a range of computerized measures (simple reaction time; choice reaction time; serial pattern matching; lexical decision-making; visual selective attention; response reversal and rapid visual scanning; and form discrimination) in 40 young adults (Experiment 1).

Results: Few distraction effects were found on cognitive processing at the comfortable loudness level (40dB SL).

Lingual kinematic strategies used to increase speech rate: comparison between younger and older adults.

The primary objective of this study was to assess the lingual kinematic strategies used by younger and older adults to increase rate of speech. It was hypothesised that the strategies used by the older adults would differ from the young adults either as a direct result of, or in response to a need to compensate for, age-related changes in the tongue. Electromagnetic articulography was used to examine the tongue movements of eight young (M = 26.

The effects of auditory distraction on visual cognitive performance in multiple sclerosis.

Background: A subset of individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) endures degradation of cognitive function during disease progression. The purpose of this study was to compare visual cognitive reaction time performance during three conditions of auditory distraction (four-talker babble; word repetition; babble combined with word repetition) to a quiet, undistracted condition.

Methods: Twenty-two patients with mild relapsing-remitting MS (Expanded Disability Status Scale mean of 3.

Effects of speaking rate on EMA-derived lingual kinematics: a preliminary investigation.

Electromagnetic articulography (EMA) was used to investigate how tongue movement characteristics (i.e., velocity, acceleration, duration, distance) change with, or indeed affect, increased rates of speech.