Comprehension of Degraded Speech Matures During Adolescence

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 1012-1022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Jones Huyck
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Speech Comprehension ◽  
Degraded Speech

Purpose The aim of the study was to compare comprehension of spectrally degraded (noise-vocoded [NV]) speech and perceptual learning of NV speech between adolescents and young adults and examine the role of phonological processing and executive functions in this perception. Method Sixteen younger adolescents (11–13 years), 16 older adolescents (14–16 years), and 16 young adults (18–22 years) listened to 40 NV sentences and repeated back what they heard. They also completed tests assessing phonological processing and a variety of executive functions. Results Word-report scores were generally poorer for younger adolescents than for the older age groups. Phonological processing also predicted initial word-report scores. Learning (i.e., improvement across training times) did not differ with age. Starting performance and processing speed predicted learning, with greater learning for those who started with the lowest scores and those with faster processing speed. Conclusions Degraded (NV) speech comprehension is not mature even by early adolescence; however, like adults, adolescents are able to improve their comprehension of degraded speech with training. Thus, although adolescents may have initial difficulty in understanding degraded speech or speech as presented through hearing aids or cochlear implants, they are able to improve their perception with experience. Processing speed and phonological processing may play a role in degraded speech comprehension in these age groups.

scholarly journals The Cognitive Connectome in Healthy Aging

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eloy Garcia-Cabello ◽  
Lissett Gonzalez-Burgos ◽  
Joana B. Pereira ◽  
Juan Andres Hernández-Cabrera ◽  
Eric Westman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Graph Theory ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Middle Age ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Cognitive Variables

Objectives: Cognitive aging has been extensively investigated using both univariate and multivariate analyses. Sophisticated multivariate approaches such as graph theory could potentially capture unknown complex associations between multiple cognitive variables. The aim of this study was to assess whether cognition is organized into a structure that could be called the “cognitive connectome,” and whether such connectome differs between age groups.Methods: A total of 334 cognitively unimpaired individuals were stratified into early-middle-age (37–50 years, n = 110), late-middle-age (51–64 years, n = 106), and elderly (65–78 years, n = 118) groups. We built cognitive networks from 47 cognitive variables for each age group using graph theory and compared the groups using different global and nodal graph measures.Results: We identified a cognitive connectome characterized by five modules: verbal memory, visual memory—visuospatial abilities, procedural memory, executive—premotor functions, and processing speed. The elderly group showed reduced transitivity and average strength as well as increased global efficiency compared with the early-middle-age group. The late-middle-age group showed reduced global and local efficiency and modularity compared with the early-middle-age group. Nodal analyses showed the important role of executive functions and processing speed in explaining the differences between age groups.Conclusions: We identified a cognitive connectome that is rather stable during aging in cognitively healthy individuals, with the observed differences highlighting the important role of executive functions and processing speed. We translated the connectome concept from the neuroimaging field to cognitive data, demonstrating its potential to advance our understanding of the complexity of cognitive aging.

scholarly journals Association of Age-Related Hearing Loss with Cognitive Decline

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-153
Author(s):  
Juyong Chung
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Microvascular Disease ◽  
Single Mechanism ◽  
Hearing Aid Use ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Age Related Hearing Loss

A number of studies have demonstrated a significant association between age-related hearing loss (ARHL) and cognitive decline. However their relationship is not clear. In this review, we focused on the etiological mechanisms between ARHL and cognitive decline to explain the nature of this relationship: 1) causal mechanisms (e.g., cognitive load hypothesis, cascade hypothesis); 2) common cause mechanisms (e.g., microvascular disease); 3) overdiagnosis or harbinger hypothesis. We conclude that no single mechanism is sufficient and hearing and cognition related to each other in several different ways. In addition, we reviewed the effectiveness of hearing intervention (e.g., hearing aids and cochlear implants) on cognition function, and the role of hearing aid use and cochlear implant depends on the relevant mechanism.

scholarly journals Brain Training Game Boosts Executive Functions, Working Memory and Processing Speed in the Young Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PLoS ONE ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. e55518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Nouchi ◽  
Yasuyuki Taki ◽  
Hikaru Takeuchi ◽  
Hiroshi Hashizume ◽  
Takayuki Nozawa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Randomized Controlled Trial ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Brain Training ◽  
Randomized Controlled

scholarly journals EXPLORING AGE, GENDER, AND RELATIONSHIP CLOSENESS DIFFERENCES IN RESPONSES TO IGNORED DISRESPECT

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S305-S305
Author(s):  
Jenessa C Steele ◽  
Amanda Chappell ◽  
Rachel Scott
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Negative Emotions ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Relationship Closeness ◽  
Close Condition

Abstract Emotional responses to disrespect tend to be negative (Hawkins, 2015). Little is known about how responses to disrespect vary across age groups and relationship closeness. It is unknown whether older adults have more emotional protection against disrespectful experiences, or are more deeply affected due to relationship closeness. Overall, we might expect that older adults react less negatively to disrespect compared to young adults, as they are more-skilled emotion regulators (Carstensen, 1991; English & Carstensen, 2014). We aimed to explore if, and under which circumstances, older adults are more or less sensitive to disrespect compared to younger adults. Three hundred participants responded to six scenarios illustrating ignored disrespect. Participants were randomly assigned to close or distant relationship disrespect scenarios. Relationship closeness was first determined by requesting participants identify a person in each layer of Kahn and Antonucci’s (1980) Social Convoy Model. Identified names were then automatically inserted into the six scenarios. Emotional responses and sensitivity to each scenario were recorded. Participants in the close condition reported more sensitivity to disrespect and negative emotions than participants in the distant condition. Females reported more sensitivity to disrespect and negative emotions than males. We did not find overwhelming support for age differences in responses to disrespect. A single scenario indicated younger participants more sensitive to disrespect than older participants. Findings suggest it is more hurtful to be disrespected by someone close to you and females may be more sensitive to disrespect than males. More research investigating the role of age in disrespect is needed.

scholarly journals Youth Suicide, Subjective Well-Being and the Role of Place in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anne-Marie Snider
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Satisfaction With Life ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Housing Tenure ◽  
Relative Distribution ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Geographical Variations

<p>One of the major shifts in our social structure over the last 50 years has been a switch in the relative well-being positions of young and old. This is reflected in their suicide rates where, in contrast to the gradual decline in the propensity of older populations to take their own lives, that of the young has risen dramatically. Not confined to New Zealand, this ‘generational switch’ raises important questions about the changing relative distribution of incentives and rewards for living across the age domain. The purpose of my thesis is to document this change and explore its implications. I do so by analysing the current distribution of subjective well-being across contemporary age groups including differences between men and women and Māori and non-Māori. Of particular interest is the link between suicide, subjective well-being and social capital – the levels of social connectedness that prevail in the lives of the young adults relative to their parents’ generation. As a geographer I’m particularly concerned with the role of local capital (community connectedness and trust) in nurturing well-being, and hence the variation that well-being exhibits across places within a country. While thoroughly investigated between nations, relatively few studies document geographical variations in subjective well-being within countries, particularly in terms of how these statistics differ by age. I find that not only does dissatisfaction with life (unhappiness and other measures of subjective well-being) rise as teenagers approach adulthood, but that it peaks in the 30s and declines slowly thereafter in a pattern reflective of the prevailing pattern of suicide. Moreover I find that, in addition to partnership, income, employment status and housing tenure, satisfaction with life among young adults in particular also varies across local communities, and cities. As such, the young exhibit a heightened sensitivity to place in ways that raise important questions about the nature of communities in which children are raised. It is this new information which I bring to a discussion of current initiatives dealing with mental health and the prevailing strategies advocated in New Zealand.</p>

scholarly journals Peers Matter: Links Between Classmates’ and Individual Students’ Executive Functions in Elementary School

AERA Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 233285841982943 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenna E. Finch ◽  
Elisa B. Garcia ◽  
Michael J. Sulik ◽  
Jelena Obradović
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
School Success ◽  
School Context ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
School Year

Students’ executive functions (EFs) are linked to school success. Although school-age children spend much of their time interacting with peers, few studies have explored how children’s classmates may promote EF development in elementary school. In this study, we test whether mean levels and variability in classmates’ EF skills are associated with growth in individual students’ accuracy and speed on EF tasks among third, fourth, and fifth graders (N = 806). We find that classmates’ speed, but not accuracy, on EF tasks is linked to significant improvements in individual students’ EFs over the school year. Classmates’ average EFs, as indexed by faster accurate responses on EF tasks, are associated with improvements in individual students’ speed on EF tasks. These results were robust to the inclusion of individual students’ general processing speed. In contrast, variability in classmates’ accuracy and speed on EF tasks was not associated with individual students’ EF growth. Our results highlight the role of peers and the school context for EF development in middle childhood.

Adapting to Changed Hearing: The Potential Role of Formal Training

2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (09) ◽  
pp. 601-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur Boothroyd
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Formal Training ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Everyday Communication ◽  
Language Output ◽  
Optimal Adaptation

Changed hearing occurs when sensorineural loss is acquired or increases, when hearing aids or cochlear implants are first acquired, when hearing aids are reprogrammed, and when cochlear implants are remapped. The changes affect speech perception—a process in which decisions about a talker's language output are made on the basis of sensory and contextual evidence, using knowledge and skill. The importance of spoken communication dictates speedy and optimal adaptation to changed hearing. Adaptation is a process in which the individual acquires new knowledge and modifies skill. Formal training provides the listener with the opportunity to enhance both knowledge and skill by spending time on speech perception tasks without the demands, constraints, uncertainties, and risks associated with everyday communication. Benefits of such training have been demonstrated in terms of improvement on trained tasks and talkers, generalization to untrained tasks and talkers, improvements in self-perceived competence, and reduction of self-perceived handicap. So far, however, we lack information on which aspects of training are responsible for benefit, which aspects of perception are changed, how individual differences interact with the foregoing, and whether these benefits translate into significantly increased participation and quality of life.

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