The bizarreness effect with complex sentences: Temporal effects.

Author(s):  
Charles L. Richman
Author(s):  
Margreet Vogelzang ◽  
Christiane M. Thiel ◽  
Stephanie Rosemann ◽  
Jochem W. Rieger ◽  
Esther Ruigendijk

Purpose Adults with mild-to-moderate age-related hearing loss typically exhibit issues with speech understanding, but their processing of syntactically complex sentences is not well understood. We test the hypothesis that listeners with hearing loss' difficulties with comprehension and processing of syntactically complex sentences are due to the processing of degraded input interfering with the successful processing of complex sentences. Method We performed a neuroimaging study with a sentence comprehension task, varying sentence complexity (through subject–object order and verb–arguments order) and cognitive demands (presence or absence of a secondary task) within subjects. Groups of older subjects with hearing loss ( n = 20) and age-matched normal-hearing controls ( n = 20) were tested. Results The comprehension data show effects of syntactic complexity and hearing ability, with normal-hearing controls outperforming listeners with hearing loss, seemingly more so on syntactically complex sentences. The secondary task did not influence off-line comprehension. The imaging data show effects of group, sentence complexity, and task, with listeners with hearing loss showing decreased activation in typical speech processing areas, such as the inferior frontal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus. No interactions between group, sentence complexity, and task were found in the neuroimaging data. Conclusions The results suggest that listeners with hearing loss process speech differently from their normal-hearing peers, possibly due to the increased demands of processing degraded auditory input. Increased cognitive demands by means of a secondary visual shape processing task influence neural sentence processing, but no evidence was found that it does so in a different way for listeners with hearing loss and normal-hearing listeners.


2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (Spring) ◽  
pp. 44-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan A. Steffani ◽  
Louis A. Dachtyl, III
Keyword(s):  

2020 ◽  
Vol 635 ◽  
pp. 187-202
Author(s):  
T Brough ◽  
W Rayment ◽  
E Slooten ◽  
S Dawson

Many species of marine predators display defined hotspots in their distribution, although the reasons why this happens are not well understood in some species. Understanding whether hotspots are used for certain behaviours provides insights into the importance of these areas for the predators’ ecology and population viability. In this study, we investigated the spatiotemporal distribution of foraging behaviour in Hector’s dolphin Cephalorhynchus hectori, a small, endangered species from New Zealand. Passive acoustic monitoring of foraging ‘buzzes’ was carried out at 4 hotspots and 6 lower-use, ‘reference areas’, chosen randomly based on a previous density analysis of visual sightings. The distribution of buzzes was modelled among spatial locations and on 3 temporal scales (season, time of day, tidal state) with generalised additive mixed models using 82000 h of monitoring data. Foraging rates were significantly influenced by all 3 temporal effects, with substantial variation in the importance and nature of each effect among locations. The complexity of the temporal effects on foraging is likely due to the patchy nature of prey distributions and shows how foraging is highly variable at fine scales. Foraging rates were highest at the hotspots, suggesting that feeding opportunities shape fine-scale distribution in Hector’s dolphin. Foraging can be disrupted by anthropogenic influences. Thus, information from this study can be used to manage threats to this vital behaviour in the locations and at the times where it is most prevalent.


Author(s):  
Muthia Damaiyanti ◽  
Edwar Kemal

Speaking is one of the activities conducted by human everyday. In speaking, the sentences can be simple sentences and even complex sentences. Sometimes, in speaking the words and phrases are used to fill a syntactic position without having a meaning or referent. It is called expletive. The research analyzes the form and function of expletive in utterances of kubang society. The data were collected through interviews and recording technique and the theory used from Azar and Manser. The data were presented in written form. The research shows that there are fiften expletive words used by Kubang society in conversation. Expletive often appears in adverb. Though, it is only a filler, expletive words are often used by Kubang society.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Facon

The aim was to investigate whether a progressive dissociation between the cognitive level and syntax comprehension occurs during the development of persons with intellectual disabilities (ID). Two cross-sectional developmental trajectory analyses were successively conducted. Study 1 comprised 615 typically developing participants and 615 participants with ID. Their total scores on a syntax comprehension test were regressed on a nonverbal cognitive measure and the slopes of the two groups’ regression lines were compared. In Study 2, logistic regression curves of the two groups for each of the 92 test items were compared. Results showed only negligible between-groups differences of developmental trajectories, whatever the level of analysis. The idea of a progressive dissociation between cognitive level and receptive syntactic skills of people with ID is not confirmed. However, a syntax test evaluating more complex sentences than those used in this study might show such a dissociation.


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