scholarly journals Speech-in-Speech Recognition and Spatially Selective Attention in Children and Adults

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Stacey G. Kane ◽  
Kelly M. Dean ◽  
Emily Buss
Keyword(s):  
Speech Recognition ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Noise Burst ◽  
Spatial Cues ◽  
The One ◽  
Child Age

Purpose Knowing target location can improve adults' speech-in-speech recognition in complex auditory environments, but it is unknown whether young children listen selectively in space. This study evaluated masked word recognition with and without a pretrial cue to location to characterize the influence of listener age and masker type on the benefit of spatial cues. Method Participants were children (5–13 years of age) and adults with normal hearing. Testing occurred in a 180° arc of 11 loudspeakers. Targets were spondees produced by a female talker and presented from a randomly selected loudspeaker; that location was either known, based on a pretrial cue, or unknown. Maskers were two sequences comprising spondees or speech-shaped noise bursts, each presented from a random loudspeaker. Speech maskers were produced by one male talker or by three talkers, two male and one female. Results Children and adults benefited from the pretrial cue to target location with the three-voice masker, and the magnitude of benefit increased with increasing child age. There was no benefit of location cues in the one-voice or noise-burst maskers. Incorrect responses in the three-voice masker tended to correspond to masker words produced by the female talker, and in the location-known condition, those masker intrusions were more likely near the cued loudspeaker for both age groups. Conclusions Increasing benefit of the location cue with increasing child age in the three-voice masker suggests maturation of spatially selective attention, but error patterns do not support this idea. Differences in performance in the location-unknown condition could play a role in the differential benefit of the location cue.

Foot preference across the lifespan: Effects of target location and task complexity

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 238-244
Author(s):  
Sana Ghamgui ◽  
Riadh Dahmen ◽  
Nizar Souissi
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Biological Factor ◽  
Environmental Constraints ◽  
Complex Task ◽  
Spatial Locations ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
And Task

This study was designed to determine the factor(s) that influence the choice of the foot throughout the lifespan. To achieve this purpose, 86 right-footed participants (young children (5– 8), adolescents (10–14), young adults (18–25) and older adults (over 50) were tested on two tasks of different levels of difficulty, performed in three spatial locations (left, right, and midline) according to two levels of body posture: sitting and standing. Results revealed that the participants favored their preferred foot when the object was located in the ipsilateral hemispace and at the midline. They selected their non-preferred foot when the object was located in the contralateral hemispace. The participants used their preferred foot to a greater extent during the most complex task than during the easiest one and more often while standing rather than sitting. Finally, we have found a significant age effect. Young children often used the preferred foot more frequently than the other age groups. In conclusion, the findings of this study suggest that foot selection depends on task demand, environmental constraints, and a biological factor associated with motor dominance.

scholarly journals Recipe Components and Parents’ Infant and Young Child Feeding Concerns: A Mixed-Methods Study of Recipe Posts Shared in Thai Facebook Groups for Parents

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1186
Author(s):  
Abhirat Supthanasup ◽  
Cathy Banwell ◽  
Matthew Kelly ◽  
Vasoontara Sbirakos Yiengprugsawan
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Parental Perceptions ◽  
Child Feeding ◽  
Food Ingredients ◽  
Young Child Feeding ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Child Age

Social media is increasingly becoming a significant source of information for parents, including about feeding young children. However, little attention has been given to the characteristics of recipes for infants and young children and how they interact with parental perceptions regarding food decisions shared by users on social media. Building on findings related to shared recipe components and parental food choices, between December 2019 and July 2020, this study retrospectively collected 80 shared recipes each from five Thai Facebook groups. This extraction created 379 shared recipes with 1751 peers’ commentaries on the shared recipes’ posts. The shared recipes were classified and components quantified across child age groups, then the textual contents around the reasons behind the food choices were described qualitatively. The results showed that there were differences in meal types, food ingredients, and seasoning used across child age groups. Further analysis found that food allergy awareness was one driving concern behind parental perceptions on food choices in children’s diets. These concerns resulted in delays in the introduction of animal-source foods. Moreover, peers’ commentaries on shared recipes offered a venue for exchanging experiences with food products. Because of the potential influence on parental beliefs and perceptions, further studies are required to understand the impact of existing online communities on actual feeding practices.

scholarly journals Cognitive and Linguistic Contributions to Masked Speech Recognition in Children

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (10) ◽  
pp. 3525-3538
Author(s):  
Ryan W. McCreery ◽  
Margaret K. Miller ◽  
Emily Buss ◽  
Lori J. Leibold
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Speech Recognition ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Cognitive Demands ◽  
Sentence Recognition ◽  
Attention Skills

Purpose The goal of this study was to examine the effects of cognitive and linguistic skills on masked speech recognition for children with normal hearing in three different masking conditions: (a) speech-shaped noise (SSN), (b) amplitude-modulated SSN (AMSSN), and (c) two-talker speech (TTS). We hypothesized that children with better working memory and language skills would have better masked speech recognition than peers with poorer skills in these areas. Selective attention was predicted to affect performance in the TTS masker due to increased cognitive demands from informational masking. Method A group of 60 children in two age groups (5- to 6-year-olds and 9- to 10-year-olds) with normal hearing completed sentence recognition in SSN, AMSSN, and TTS masker conditions. Speech recognition thresholds for 50% correct were measured. Children also completed standardized measures of language, memory, and executive function. Results Children's speech recognition was poorer in the TTS relative to the SSN and AMSSN maskers. Older children had lower speech recognition thresholds than younger children for all masker conditions. Greater language abilities were associated with better sentence recognition for the younger children in all masker conditions, but there was no effect of language for older children. Better working memory and selective attention skills were associated with better masked sentence recognition for both age groups, but only in the TTS masker condition. Conclusions The decreasing influence of vocabulary on masked speech recognition for older children supports the idea that this relationship depends on an interaction between the language level of the stimuli and the listener's vocabulary. Increased cognitive demands associated with perceptually isolating the target talker and two competing masker talkers with a TTS masker may result in the recruitment of working memory and selective attention skills, effects that were not observed in SSN or AMSSN maskers. Future research should evaluate these effects across a broader range of stimuli or with children who have hearing loss.

Spearman's Law of Diminishing Returns

2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 199-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Hartmann
Keyword(s):  
Principal Axis ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Longitudinal Survey ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Diminishing Returns ◽  
The One ◽  
Armed Services ◽  
Principal Axis Factor

Spearman's Law of Diminishing Returns (SLODR) with regard to age was tested in two different databases from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The first database consisted of 6,980 boys and girls aged 12–16 from the 1997 cohort ( NLSY 1997 ). The subjects were tested with a computer-administered adaptive format (CAT) of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) consisting of 12 subtests. The second database consisted of 11,448 male and female subjects aged 15–24 from the 1979 cohort ( NLSY 1979 ). These subjects were tested with the older 10-subtest version of the ASVAB. The hypothesis was tested by dividing the sample into Young and Old age groups while keeping IQ fairly constant by a method similar to the one developed and employed by Deary et al. (1996) . The different age groups were subsequently factor-analyzed separately. The eigenvalue of the first principal component (PC1) and the first principal axis factor (PAF1), and the average intercorrelation of the subtests were used as estimates of the g saturation and compared across groups. There were no significant differences in the g saturation across age groups for any of the two samples, thereby pointing to no support for this aspect of Spearman's “Law of Diminishing Returns.”

Blocking Is Sensitive to Causal Structure in 4-Year-Old and 8-Year-Old Children

2005 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 264-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Beckers ◽  
Uschi Van den Broeck ◽  
Marij Renne ◽  
Stefaan Vandorpe ◽  
Jan De Houwer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Associative Learning ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Causal Structure ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Contingency Learning

Abstract. In a contingency learning task, 4-year-old and 8-year-old children had to predict the outcome displayed on the back of a card on the basis of cues presented on the front. The task was embedded in either a causal or a merely predictive scenario. Within this task, either a forward blocking or a backward blocking procedure was implemented. Blocking occurred in the causal but not in the predictive scenario. Moreover, blocking was affected by the scenario to the same extent in both age groups. The pattern of results was similar for forward and backward blocking. These results suggest that even young children are sensitive to the causal structure of a contingency learning task and that the occurrence of blocking in such a task defies an explanation in terms of associative learning theory.

Older workers in the Russian labor market: Trends in employment reallocation

2019 ◽  
pp. 5-34
Author(s):  
Anna L. Lukyanova ◽  
Rostislav I. Kapeliushnikov
Keyword(s):  
Older Workers ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
Intellectual Labor ◽  
Market Trends ◽  
Trade Education ◽  
The One

The paper analyzes changes in job opportunities of older workers in Russia in the period 2005—2017. The study uses the data from the Russian Labor Force Survey conducted by Rosstat. Changes in the occupational and industrial composition of elderly workers follow the trends pursued by other age groups: employment shifts from low- to high-skilled occupations, from physical to intellectual labor, and from material production to the service sector. We find a stronger polarization among older workers as their occupational structure is biased in favor of, on the one hand, the most and, on the other hand, the least qualified types of jobs. Employment of the elderly has fallen sharply in agriculture and manufacturing with a significant increase in trade, education, and health. Although the employment structure of older workers is generally more “traditionalist”, recent decades have witnessed its transformation in “progressive” directions, similarly to other age groups. These findings suggest that the legislated increase in the state retirement age is not likely to give rise to sizeable unemployment among the elderly. Most of them will be able to work in the occupations and industries previously dominated by young and prime-age workers.

Review of the Micronutrient Situation in Rwanda

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-154
Author(s):  
Joanne E. Arsenault ◽  
Deanna K. Olney
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Vitamin A ◽  
Vitamin A Deficiency ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Reproductive Age ◽  
Micronutrient Deficiencies ◽  
Micronutrient Malnutrition ◽  
Context Specific

Background: Rwanda’s commitment to reducing malnutrition is evident in their multisectoral nutrition policy and wide array of nutrition partners. However, the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies and the suitability of current strategies to address existing deficiencies is unclear. Objective: To review the available evidence related to the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies across the life cycle and strategies in place to address them. Methods: We reviewed scientific and grey literature on nutritional problems in Rwanda, emphasizing micronutrient deficiencies and anemia, and current strategies to address micronutrient malnutrition. Results: Overall, there is scant evidence related to the types and prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies among populations across the life cycle in Rwanda. Existing evidence is primarily limited to outdated or small regional surveys focusing on iron or vitamin A among women and young children. Surveys have assessed the prevalence of anemia and indicate that anemia is very high among young children and moderately high among other age-groups. However, there are limited data on the context-specific causes of anemia in Rwanda across population groups. Current nutrition strategies mainly target women and young children and are primarily designed to reduce vitamin A deficiency and/or anemia caused by micronutrient deficiencies. Conclusions: Rwanda has many nutrition programs in place that address micronutrient deficiencies in young children and a few for women of reproductive age. However, gaps exist in knowledge of the extent of different types of micronutrient deficiencies among all populations across the life cycle and whether the delivery of nutrients through current programs is meeting actual needs.

scholarly journals 1465. Age-Dependent Interactions Among Clinical Characteristics, Viral Loads and Disease Severity in Young Children with Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection (RSV) Infection

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S734-S735
Author(s):  
Helena Brenes-Chacon ◽  
Cristina Garcia-Maurino ◽  
Melissa Moore-Clingenpeel ◽  
Sara Mertz ◽  
Fang Ye ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Disease Severity ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Panel Member ◽  
Signs And Symptoms ◽  
Research Support ◽  
Review Panel ◽  
Viral Loads ◽  
Age Dependent ◽  
Rsv Infection

Abstract Background Differences in clinical presentation and viral loads according to age in young children with RSV, and their correlation with disease severity are poorly defined. The aim of this study was to define age-dependent the differences in demographic, clinical factors and viral loads between children < 2 years of age with mild RSV infection evaluated as outpatients versus those hospitalized with severe RSV infection. Figure 1. Sign and Symptoms according to disease severity and age in infants with RSV infection. Most relevant signs and symptoms were stratified in outpatients (orange) vs inpatients (blue) by age in (A) < 3 months, (B) between 3 and 6 months, and (C) > 6 to 24 months of age. The Y axis represents the signs and symptoms in the two disease severity groups and the X axis the frequency of that specific symptom (%). Numbers next to bars represent the exact number of patients with that specific sign/symptom. Comparisons by Fisher exact test. Symbol (*) indicate significant 2-sided p values Figure 2. Viral load differences according to age in infants with RSV infection. The Y axis represents RSV loads in log10 copies/mL and the X axis differences in viral loads in outpatients (orange) and inpatients (blue) in the three age groups. Comparisons by Mann Whitney test. Methods Previously healthy children < 2 years old with mild (outpatients) and severe (inpatients) RSV infection were enrolled and nasopharyngeal swabs were obtained for RSV typing and quantitation by real-time PCR. Patients were stratified by age (0-< 3, 3-6, and >6-24 months) and multivariable analyses were performed to identify clinical and viral factors associated with severe disease. Results From 2014-2018 we enrolled 534 children with RSV infection: 130 outpatients and 404 inpatients. Median duration of illness was 4 days for both groups, yet viral loads were higher in outpatients than inpatient in the three age groups (Fig 1). Wheezing was more frequent in outpatients of older age (>3 months) than in inpatients (p< 0.01), while fever was more common in inpatients that outpatients (p< 0.01) and increased with age (Fig 2). Adjusted analyses confirmed that increased work of breathing and fever were consistently associated with hospitalization irrespective of age, while wheezing in infants >3 months, and higher RSV loads in children >6-24 months were independently associated with reduced disease severity. Conclusion Age had a significant impact defining the interactions among viral loads, specific clinical manifestations and disease severity in children with RSV infection. These observations highlight the importance of patient stratification when evaluating interventions against RSV. Disclosures Octavio Ramilo, MD, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Grant/Research Support)Janssen (Grant/Research Support, Advisor or Review Panel member)Medimmune (Grant/Research Support)Merck (Advisor or Review Panel member)NIH/NIAID (Grant/Research Support)Pfizer (Consultant, Advisor or Review Panel member)Sanofi/Medimmune (Consultant, Advisor or Review Panel member) Asuncion Mejias, MD, PhD, MsCS, Janssen (Grant/Research Support, Advisor or Review Panel member)Merck (Advisor or Review Panel member)Roche (Advisor or Review Panel member)

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document