Bilateral tDCS over the DLPFC enhances baroreceptor reflex sensitivity and inhibits blood pressure-related hypoalgesia.

Objective: This study investigated the impact of transcranial direct stimulation (tDCS) on pain perception, baroreflex sensitivity (BRS), and blood pressure (BP)-related hypoalgesia.

Method: Fifty-eight healthy participants were randomized to receive 1) bi-hemispheric tDCS over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) at 2 mA for 20 min, or 2) non-stimulation (Sham). Pain measures (threshold, tolerance, intensity and unpleasantness), emotional state (anxiety and mood), continuous BP, and electrocardiogram (ECG) data were recorded before, during, and after stimulation.

Linguistic and non-linguistic prosodic skills in Spanish children with developmental dyslexia.

Background: The deficit on segmental phonology in developmental dyslexia is well established and according to recent studies this deficit extends to suprasegmental phonology or prosody. However, these studies have focused on word-level prosody. Further research is needed concerning prosodic deficit in dyslexia, especially with a Spanish-speaking population.

Priming stress patterns in word recognition.

This study addresses the lexical representation of stress in a series of 5 intramodal and cross-modal priming experiments in the Greek language using lexical decision tasks with auditory and visual targets. Three-syllable primes and targets were matched in first syllable segments, length, and other variables, and differed segmentally in the second and third syllable. Primes matched or mismatched targets in stress, which was placed on the penultimate or antepenultimate syllable.

Impaired stress awareness in Spanish children with developmental dyslexia.

The role of segmental phonology in developmental dyslexia (DD) is well established (e.g., deficit in phonological awareness), but the role of suprasegmental phonology (prosody) has been less widely investigated.

The interaction of subsyllabic encoding and stress assignment: A new examination of an old problem in Spanish.

This study employs a naming task to examine the role of the syllable in speech production, focusing on a lesser-studied aspect of syllabic processing, the interaction of subsyllabic patterns (i.e. syllable phonotactics) and higher-level prosody, in this case, stress assignment in Spanish.

Prosodic awareness skills and literacy acquisition in Spanish.

There has been very little research in Spanish on the potential role of prosodic skills in reading and spelling acquisition, which is the subject of the present study. A total of 85 children in 5th year of Primary Education (mean age 10 years and 9 months) performed tests assessing memory, stress awareness, phonological awareness, reading and spelling. In written language tests, errors were classified as phonological (grapheme-to-phoneme conversion rules) or stress-related (placement of the stress mark).