Sex differences in language competence of 4-year-old children: Female advantages are mediated by phonological short-term memory

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Benjamin P. Lange ◽  
Eugen Zaretsky
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Speech Comprehension ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Female Advantage ◽  
German Children ◽  
Better Than

Abstract For some time now, psycholinguistic research has involved the study of sex differences in language development. Overall, girls seem to have an early advantage over boys, mainly in regard to vocabulary, which appears to decrease and, eventually, vanish with age. While there are numerous studies on sex differences in the acquisition of vocabulary as well as grammar, early sex differences in phonological short-term memory (PSTM) have been mostly neglected, or if research was conducted, it resulted in null findings, for the most part. In the present study, we examined sex differences in language competence (in a wide array of linguistic domains) of German children 4 years of age. Several tests were administered to assess articulation, vocabulary, grammar, speech comprehension, and, most importantly, PSTM (by means of the repetition of non-words and sentences). Girls performed better than boys in all domains, although some effect sizes were small. Most importantly, we found evidence for a female advantage in PSTM performance. Furthermore, mediation analyses revealed that the obtained sex differences in articulation, vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension were partially or fully mediated by (sex differences in) PSTM.

Sex differences in language competence of 3- to 6-year-old children

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 1417-1438 ◽  
Author(s):  
BENJAMIN P. LANGE ◽  
HARALD A. EULER ◽  
EUGEN ZARETSKY
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Speech Comprehension ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
Large Samples ◽  
German Children ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Slight Advantage

ABSTRACTFor decades, developmental research has involved the study of sex differences in language acquisition. Many studies of these differences have found a slight advantage in competence for females early in life that seems to wane with age. However, because most of these studies have focused on sex differences in mean values, they have mostly neglected sex differences in variance with males being more variable. In the current study, we examined sex differences in language competence in terms of mean values and variance in large samples (N> 10,000) of German children aged 3–6 years. We administered several tests to assess the children's vocabulary, grammar, speech comprehension, pronunciation, and the processing of sentences and nonce words. Girls performed better than boys in all domains, most often to a statistically significant degree, although the effect sizes were small. Differences decreased with age. Boys varied significantly more than girls in their language competence. In response, we discuss explanations for these findings, as well as recommend directions for future research.

Hearing the Beat

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen M. Einarson ◽  
Laurel J. Trainor
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
Perceptual Sensitivity ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Phase Errors ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Better Than

Adults can extract the underlying beat from music, and entrain their movements with that beat. Although infants and children are poor at synchronizing their movements to auditory stimuli, recent findings suggest they are perceptually sensitive to the beat. We examined five-year-old children’s perceptual sensitivity to musical beat alignment (adapting the adult task of Iversen & Patel, 2008). We also examined whether sensitivity is affected by metric complexity, and whether perceptual sensitivity correlates with cognitive skills. On each trial of the complex Beat Alignment Test (cBAT) children were presented with two successive videos of puppets drumming to music with simple or complex meter. One puppet’s drumming was synchronized with the beat of the music while the other had either incorrect tempo or incorrect phase, and children were asked to select the better drummer. In two experiments, five-year-olds were able to detect beat misalignments in simple meter music significantly better than beat misalignments in complex meter music for both phase errors and tempo errors, with performance for complex meter music at chance levels. Although cBAT performance correlated with short-term memory in Experiment One, the relationship held for both simple and complex meter, so cannot explain the superior performance for culturally typical meters.

scholarly journals The left superior temporal gyrus is a shared substrate for auditory short-term memory and speech comprehension: evidence from 210 patients with stroke

Brain ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 132 (12) ◽  
pp. 3401-3410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander P. Leff ◽  
Thomas M. Schofield ◽  
Jennifer T. Crinion ◽  
Mohamed L. Seghier ◽  
Alice Grogan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Speech Comprehension ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory

Pupillary Measurement and Release from Proactive Inhibition

1975 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 835-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall Engle
Keyword(s):  
Pupil Size ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Proactive Inhibition ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Better Than

One of the explanations of release from proactive inhibition in short-term memory is that the subjects re-attend to the items on the release trial because the items are different from the previous ones. It is further assumed that this increase in attention causes the release items to be learned better than the preceding items. This experiment measured the pupils of the subjects' eyes while they were participating in a proactive-inhibition release-type task. The results showed no increase in attention, as indexed by pupil size, on the release trial. This did not support the attentional explanation of the proactive-inhibition release phenomenon.

Personality Differences in Serial Learning under Distraction

1969 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Howarth
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Serial Learning ◽  
Response Competition ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Personality Differences ◽  
Number Pair ◽  
Better Than

Previous work by Shanmugan had indicated that extraverts were able to perform better than introverts while under distraction. This experiment used serial learning of number groups, with a previously learned list of number pairs as a distractor in the final part of the experiment. It was found that greater percentage savings were obtained by extraverts under these conditions. In a third group of Ss initial distraction was arranged by placing a number pair in a group of four numbers. Extraverts also learned faster under these conditions. Several explanations of the present data are possible: (1) Jensen proposed that extraverts are more resistent to response competition, (2) Eysenck suggested that arousal, and hence, consolidation processes are less marked and intertere less in short-term memory in extraverts, (3) differences in strength of initial registration in very short-term memory may underlie the effect.

scholarly journals Cognitive profile partly mediates allergy-associated decrease in mental health

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin S. Dalmaijer ◽  
Camilla L. Nord ◽  
Giacomo Bignardi ◽  
Alexander L. Anwyl-Irvine ◽  
Roma Siugzdaite ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Food Allergies ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
The Uk

AbstractBackgroundThere is a well-established link between allergies and mental health. While both atopic and food allergies are associated with increased levels of depression and anxiety, it is unclear what the mechanism behind this relationship is. Several theories touch upon potential psychological mechanisms, but until now putative cognitive mechanisms of the link between mental health and allergies have been unexplored.MethodsWe employed tablet-based deep cognitive phenotyping, and also recorded mental health, socio-economic status, and allergies in 533 children aged 7-9 years. We then employed mediation analyses to test whether cognitive mechanisms mediated the association between allergies and mental health.FindingsIn line with previous research, we found children with allergies reported higher levels of anxiety and depression. Furthermore, compared to children without allergies, they showed faster processing speed, equal verbal short-term memory, and worse performance on tests of fluid reasoning, number sense, search organisation, and spatial short-term memory. We confirmed that these variables predicted allergic state using logistic regression. Most importantly, we found that cognition partially mediated the relationship between allergy and both anxiety and depression.InterpretationOur results suggest that allergies bias children towards particular cognitive profiles, which in turn are risk factors for anxiety and depression. This supports the view that early cognitive interventions could reduce the number of allergic children that develops comorbid psychiatric conditions.FundingThis study was supported by grant TWCF0159 from the Templeton World Charity Foundation to DEA, and by the UK Medical Research Council.

Modeling the Relations Among Sustained Attention, Short-Term Memory, and Language in Down Syndrome

2019 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gayle G. Faught ◽  
Frances A. Conners
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Sustained Attention ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Language Therapy ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Point Estimates ◽  
Improved Outcomes

Abstract Sustained attention (SA) and short-term memory (STM) contribute to language function in Down syndrome (DS). We proposed models in which relations of SA to language in DS are mediated by STM. Thirty-seven youth with DS aged 10–22 years (M = 15.59) completed SA, STM, and language tasks. Cross-sectional mediation analyses were run with the bootstrapping method. We found significant indirect effects of SA separately on vocabulary and syntax through auditory STM with point estimates of −.30 and −.31, respectively. Results suggest lapses in SA compromise auditory STM, which in turn impacts vocabulary and syntax in youth with DS; however, further research is needed to confirm causality. Addressing SA and STM in language therapy with youth with DS could lead to improved outcomes.

The Hard Fall Effect

2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noémylle Thomassin ◽  
Corentin Gonthier ◽  
Michel Guerraz ◽  
Jean-Luc Roulin
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Simple Task ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Task Conditions ◽  
Better Than

Participants with a high working memory span tend to perform better than low spans in a variety of tasks. However, their performance is paradoxically more impaired when they have to perform two tasks at once, a phenomenon that could be labeled the “hard fall effect.” The present study tested whether this effect exists in a short-term memory task, and investigated the proposal that the effect is due to high spans using efficient facilitative strategies under simple task conditions. Ninety-eight participants performed a spatial short-term memory task under simple and dual task conditions; stimuli presentation times either allowed for the use of complex facilitative strategies or not. High spans outperformed low spans only under simple task conditions when presentation times allowed for the use of facilitative strategies. These results indicate that the hard fall effect exists on a short-term memory task and may be caused by individual differences in strategy use.

Further Study of Short-Term Memory for Various Types of Stimuli as a Function of Repression-Sensitization

1971 ◽  
Vol 29 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1163-1169 ◽  
Author(s):  
William H. Bergquist ◽  
Peter M. Lewinsohn ◽  
Braddie Benson
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Geometric Design ◽  
Visual Displays ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Better Than

Sensitizers were hypothesized to perform significantly better than repressors on a short-term memory task. Ss were presented with pairs of visual displays for brief durations (.75 sec. per display). Each display contained one word, picture, geometric design, and color. After 0, 7.5, or 15 sec., Ss were instructed to recall these display elements. Differences in rate of recall between repression-sensitization (R-S) groups (as measured by the Byrne R-S scale) were not found to be significant. Results were discussed with reference to previous findings (Bergquist, et al., 1968).

scholarly journals Air Pollution and Cardiorespiratory Hospitalization, Modeling and Analysis Using Artificial Intelligence Techniques

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raja Sher Afgun Usmani ◽  
Thulasyammal Ramiah Pillai ◽  
Ibrahim Abaker Targio Hashem ◽  
Mohsen Marjani ◽  
Rafiza Shaharudin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Human Welfare ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Modeling And Analysis ◽  
Klang Valley ◽  
Long Short Term Memory ◽  
Better Than

Abstract Air pollution has a serious and adverse effect on human health, and it has become a risk to human welfare and health throughout the globe. In this paper, we present the modeling and analysis of air pollution and cardiorespiratory hospitalization. This study aims to investigate the association between cardiorespiratory hospitalization and air pollution, and predict cardiorespiratory hospitalization based on air pollution using the Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques. We propose the Enhanced Long Short-Term Memory (ELSTM) model and provide a comparison with other AI techniques, i.e., Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Deep Learning (DL), and Vector Autoregressive (VAR). This study was conducted at seven study locations in Klang Valley, Malaysia. The prediction results show that the ELSTM model performed significantly better than other models in all study locations, with the best RMSE scores in Klang study location (ELSTM: 0.002, LSTM: 0.013, DL: 0.006, VAR: 0.066). The results also indicated that the proposed ELSTM model was able to detect and predict the trends of monthly hospitalization significantly better than the LSTM and other models in the study. Hence, we can conclude that we can utilize AI techniques to accurately predict cardiorespiratory hospitalization based on air pollution in Klang Valley, Malaysia.

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