scholarly journals Bilingual and monolingual children process pragmatic cues differently when learning novel adjectives

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 384-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
AGNES GROBA ◽  
ANNICK DE HOUWER ◽  
JAN MEHNERT ◽  
SONJA ROSSI ◽  
HELLMUTH OBRIG
Keyword(s):  
Near Infrared ◽  
Posterior Part ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Challenging Tasks ◽  
Forced Choice Task ◽  
The Right ◽  
Higher Sensitivity

Previous studies have shown bilingually and monolingually developing children to differ in their sensitivity to referential pragmatic deixis in challenging tasks, with bilinguals exhibiting a higher sensitivity. The learning of adjectives is particularly challenging, but has rarely been investigated in bilingual children. In the present study we presented a pragmatic cue supporting the learning of novel adjectives to 32 Spanish–German bilingual and 28 German monolingual 5-year-olds. The children's responses to a descriptive hand gesture highlighting an object's property were measured behaviorally using a forced choice task and neurophysiologically through functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS). While no group differences emerged on the behavioral level, fNIRS revealed a higher activation in bilingual than monolingual children in the vicinity of the posterior part of the right superior temporal sulcus (STS). This result supports the prominent role of the STS in processing pragmatic gestures and suggests heightened pragmatic sensitivity for bilingual children.

scholarly journals A Willingness-to-Pay Associated Right Prefrontal Activation During a Single, Real Use of Lipsticks as Assessed Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazue Hirabayashi ◽  
Tatsuya Tokuda ◽  
Tomomi Nishinuma ◽  
Keith Kawabata Duncan ◽  
Keiko Tagai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Positive Correlation ◽  
Consistent Group ◽  
The Right

Understanding consumer preferences and behavior is a major goal of consumer-oriented companies. The application of neuroscience to this goal is a promising avenue for companies. Previously, we observed a positive correlation during actual cosmetic use between the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) activity, measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and the associated willingness-to-pay (WTP) values. However, we were unable to find any consistent group differences in the right dlPFC between different powdery foundations. Thus, the main objective of this study was to replicate the previous study and in addition, we aimed to refine the method of the previous study to increase the chance that a difference in valuation between different products can be detected. Twenty-five frequent lipstick using females were asked to apply six different lipsticks to their lips and to record how much they were willing to pay. To maximize the variation of the subjective experience of the products and the associated brain activity, the most preferred color lipstick and a less preferred color lipstick were chosen for each participant, and each color of lipstick had three different textures (Lo, Mid, and Hi). The time series was analyzed with the general linear model (GLM) and the correlation between the right dlPFC beta scores for the lipsticks and their respective WTP values conducted for each participant. This revealed a significant positive correlation and replicated our previous study. Surprisingly, the lipstick color and the texture manipulations did not result in any consistent differences in WTP and similarly no consistent group differences in brain activations. This study replicates our previous study extending it to a different type of cosmetic. The right dlPFC activity during the use of cosmetics may be a potential brain-based personalization or product selection process biomarker.

scholarly journals Bilingual and Monolingual First Language Acquisition Experience Differentially Shapes Children’s Property Term Learning: Evidence from Behavioral and Neurophysiological Measures

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnes Groba ◽  
Annick De Houwer ◽  
Hellmuth Obrig ◽  
Sonja Rossi
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
First Language ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Neurophysiological Data ◽  
Forced Choice Task

Studies of novel noun learning show bilingual children rely less on the Mutual Exclusivity Constraint (MEC) for word learning than monolinguals. Shifting the focus to learning novel property terms (adjectives), the present study compared 3.5- and five-year-old bilingual and monolingual preschoolers’ adherence to the MEC. We found no bilingual-monolingual differences on a behavioral forced-choice task for the 3.5-year-olds, but five-year-old monolinguals adhered more to the MEC than bilinguals did. Older bilinguals adhered less to the MEC than younger ones, while there was no difference in MEC adherence between the younger and older monolinguals. In the 5-year-olds, we additionally acquired neurophysiological data using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to allow for a first explorative look at potential neuronal underpinnings. The data show that, compared to bilinguals, monolinguals reveal higher activation over three brain regions (right frontal, left temporo-parietal, and left prefrontal) that may be involved in exploiting the MEC, building on conflict detection, inhibition, solution of a disjunction, and working memory processes. Taken together, our behavioral and neurophysiological findings reveal different paths towards novel property term learning depending on children’s language acquisition context.

Phonological awareness in young second language learners

1995 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maggie Bruck ◽  
Fred Genesee
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Phoneme Awareness ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Bilingual Group ◽  
English Speaking

ABSTRACTEnglish-speaking children (N = 91) who were attending French schools (bilingual group) were given a battery of phonological awareness tests in kindergarten and in grade 1. At the time of kindergarten testing the mean age of the children was 5:9. Their performance was compared to age-matched English-speaking children (N = 72) attending English schools (monolingual group). The bilingual children showed heightened levels of phonological awareness skills in kindergarten in the area of onset-rime awareness. By grade 1, the pattern of group differences was more complex. The monolingual and bilingual children performed similarly on onset-rime segmentation tasks. The monolingual children had higher phoneme awareness scores than their French-schooled peers; this result is interpreted to reflect the role of literacy instruction on phoneme awareness development. In comparison, the bilingual children had higher syllable segmentation scores than their monolingual peers. This result is interpreted to reflect the role of second language input on phonological awareness.

scholarly journals Interpersonal Synchrony Special Issue The role of anterior prefrontal cortex (area 10) in face-to-face deception measured with fNIRS

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Pinti ◽  
Andrea Devoto ◽  
Isobel Greenhalgh ◽  
Ilias Tachtsidis ◽  
Paul W Burgess ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Lie Detection ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Interpersonal Synchrony ◽  
Anterior Prefrontal Cortex

Abstract Anterior prefrontal cortex (PFC, Brodmann area 10) activations are often, but not always, found in neuroimaging studies investigating deception, and the precise role of this area remains unclear. To explore the role of the PFC in face-to-face deception, we invited pairs of participants to play a card game involving lying and lie detection while we used functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to record brain activity in the PFC. Participants could win points for successfully lying about the value of their cards or for detecting lies. We contrasted patterns of brain activation when the participants either told the truth or lied, when they were either forced into this or did so voluntarily and when they either succeeded or failed to detect a lie. Activation in the anterior PFC was found in both lie production and detection, unrelated to reward. Analysis of cross-brain activation patterns between participants identified areas of the PFC where the lead player’s brain activity synchronized their partner’s later brain activity. These results suggest that during situations that involve close interpersonal interaction, the anterior PFC supports processing widely involved in deception, possibly relating to the demands of monitoring one’s own and other people’s behaviour.

The neural correlates of inhibitory control in 10-month-old infants: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abigail Fiske ◽  
Carina de Klerk ◽  
Katie Y. K. Lui ◽  
Liam H Collins-Jones ◽  
Alexandra Hendry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Response Inhibition ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Inhibition Performance ◽  
The Right

Inhibitory control, a core executive function, emerges in infancy and develops rapidly across childhood. Methodological limitations have meant that studies investigating the neural correlates underlying inhibitory control in infancy are rare. Employing functional near-infrared spectroscopy alongside a novel touchscreen task that measures response inhibition, this study aimed to uncover the neural underpinnings of inhibitory control in 10-month-old infants (N = 135). We found that when inhibition is required, the right prefrontal and parietal cortices were more activated than when there is no inhibitory demand. Further, activation in right prefrontal areas was associated with individual differences in response inhibition performance. This demonstrates that inhibitory control in infants as young as 10 months of age is supported by similar brain areas as in older children and adults. With this study we have lowered the age-boundary for localising the neural substrates of response inhibition to the first year of life.

scholarly journals New Directions in Exercise Prescription: Is There a Role for Brain-Derived Parameters Obtained by Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy?

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabian Herold ◽  
Thomas Gronwald ◽  
Felix Scholkmann ◽  
Hamoon Zohdi ◽  
Dominik Wyser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Physical Exercise ◽  
Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Exercise Prescription ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Brain Health ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Internal Load

In the literature, it is well established that regular physical exercise is a powerful strategy to promote brain health and to improve cognitive performance. However, exact knowledge about which exercise prescription would be optimal in the setting of exercise–cognition science is lacking. While there is a strong theoretical rationale for using indicators of internal load (e.g., heart rate) in exercise prescription, the most suitable parameters have yet to be determined. In this perspective article, we discuss the role of brain-derived parameters (e.g., brain activity) as valuable indicators of internal load which can be beneficial for individualizing the exercise prescription in exercise–cognition research. Therefore, we focus on the application of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), since this neuroimaging modality provides specific advantages, making it well suited for monitoring cortical hemodynamics as a proxy of brain activity during physical exercise.

scholarly journals Brief Relaxation Practice Induces Significantly More Prefrontal Cortex Activation during Arithmetic Tasks Comparing to Viewing Greenery Images as Revealed by Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS)

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (22) ◽  
pp. 8366
Author(s):  
Zhisong Zhang ◽  
Agnieszka Olszewska-Guizzo ◽  
Syeda Fabeha Husain ◽  
Jessica Bose ◽  
Jongkwan Choi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Control Task ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Frontopolar Cortex ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Relaxation Practice ◽  
The Right ◽  
And Control

Background: There is little understanding on how brief relaxation practice and viewing greenery images would affect brain responses during cognitive tasks. In the present study, we examined the variation in brain activation of the prefrontal cortex during arithmetic tasks before and after viewing greenery images, brief relaxation practice, and control task using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Method: This randomized controlled study examined the activation patterns of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in three groups of research participants who were exposed to viewing greenery images (n = 10), brief relaxation practice (n = 10), and control task (n = 11). The activation pattern of the PFC was measured pre- and post-intervention using a portable fNIRS device and reported as mean total oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO μm). Primary outcome of the study is the difference in HbO μm between post- and pre-intervention readings during a cognitive task that required the research participants to perform arithmetic calculation. Results: In terms of intervention-related differences, there was significant difference in average HbO μm when performing arithmetic tasks before and after brief relaxation practice (p < 0.05). There were significant increases in average HbO μm in the right frontopolar cortex (p = 0.029), the left frontopolar cortex (p = 0.01), and the left orbitofrontal cortex (p = 0.033) during arithmetic tasks after brief relaxation practice. In contrast, there were no significant differences in average HbO μm when performing arithmetic tasks before and after viewing greenery images (p > 0.05) and the control task (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Our preliminary findings show that brief relaxation practice but not viewing greenery images led to significant frontal lobe activation during arithmetic tasks. The present study demonstrated, for the first time, that there was an increase in activation in neuroanatomical areas including the combined effort of allocation of attentional resources, exploration, and memory performance after the brief relaxation practice. Our findings suggest the possibility that the right frontopolar cortex, the left frontopolar cortex, and the left orbitofrontal cortex may be specifically associated with the benefits of brief relaxation on the brain.

scholarly journals Neural synchrony in mother–child conversation: Exploring the role of conversation patterns

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trinh Nguyen ◽  
Hanna Schleihauf ◽  
Ezgi Kayhan ◽  
Daniel Matthes ◽  
Pascal Vrtička ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Family Environment ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Neural Synchrony ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Neural Synchronization ◽  
Turn Taking ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Parent Child

Abstract Conversations are an essential form of communication in daily family life. Specific patterns of caregiver–child conversations have been linked to children’s socio-cognitive development and child-relationship quality beyond the immediate family environment. Recently, interpersonal neural synchronization has been proposed as a neural mechanism supporting conversation. Here, we present a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning study looking at the temporal dynamics of neural synchrony during mother–child conversation. Preschoolers (20 boys and 20 girls, M age 5;07 years) and their mothers (M age 36.37 years) were tested simultaneously with fNIRS hyperscanning while engaging in a free verbal conversation lasting for 4 min. Neural synchrony (using wavelet transform coherence analysis) was assessed over time. Furthermore, each conversational turn was coded for conversation patterns comprising turn-taking, relevance, contingency and intrusiveness. Results from linear mixed-effects modeling revealed that turn-taking, but not relevance, contingency or intrusiveness predicted neural synchronization during the conversation over time. Results are discussed to point out possible variables affecting parent–child conversation quality and the potential functional role of interpersonal neural synchronization for parent–child conversation.

Bilingual effects on cognitive shifting and prefrontal activations in young children

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 729-739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuke Moriguchi ◽  
Kanda Lertladaluck
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Nursery School ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Cognitive Shifting

Aims and objectives: Bilingual children constantly experience spontaneous switching between languages in everyday settings, and some researchers suggest that this experience leads to an advantage in task performance during executive function tasks. Neural processing during executive function tasks remains largely unknown, especially in young bilingual children. Methodology: Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, this study examined whether young children who attended an immersion second-language program demonstrated enhanced cognitive shifting and lateral prefrontal activation. Data and analysis: We recruited children ( N = 24) who attended an international nursery school, and examined whether their performance on cognitive shifting, and whether the oxygenated hemoglobin changes in the prefrontal regions during the task, were correlated with the children’s second-language verbal age and the length of time the children had been speaking the second language. Findings: Results revealed that the verbal age of the second language and the length of time speaking it were significantly correlated with behavioral performances of cognitive shifting tasks. However, they were not correlated with the activations in the lateral prefrontal regions. Originality: We examined the neural correlates of bilingual effects on cognitive shifting and prefrontal activations in young children. Implications: The results suggest that second-language experience may not be directly related to neural processing in the lateral prefrontal cortex, at least in young children.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document