Specialized Cognitive Function and Reading Achievement in Hearing-Impaired Adolescents

This study evaluated the performance of hearing-impaired adolescents on tests of specialized cognitive functioning and explored the linkage between cognitive profile and reading achievement. Other variables noted were mathematics achievement, speech production, etiology, and age of onset of hearing loss. Subjects were 62 severely-to-profoundly hearing-impaired students between 15 and 20 years of age, 31 "high readers" and 31 "low readers." Results indicated that, for this sample, cognitive function was below average for the verbal and sequential skills associated with the left hemisphere but above average for the "visuospatial" skills associated with the right hemisphere. Reading performance proved to be highly correlated with cognitive profile, as did mathematics performance and, to a lesser extent, speech and age of onset. Ramifications for instruction are discussed—in particular, development of strategies for using the right hemispheric cognitive strengths, as identified in this sample, to help overcome the deficits in "verbosequential" processing and reading achievement traditionally associated with hearing-impaired students.

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WAIS Results for Ss with Longstanding, Chronic, Lateralized and Diffuse Cerebral Dysfunction

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1964.19.3.735 ◽

1964 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 735-739 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Kathleen B. Fitzhugh ◽

Loren C. Fitzhugh

Keyword(s):

Right Hemisphere ◽

Age Of Onset ◽

Lesion Group ◽

Clinical Samples ◽

Performance Tasks ◽

Cerebral Dysfunction ◽

The Mean ◽

The Right ◽

Total Performance Scores ◽

Diffuse Lesion

Several studies utilizing W-B I results have shown differential impairment on verbal or performance tasks associated with lateralized cerebral dysfunction. Only modest differential impairment, however, has been found among patients with longstanding, chronic brain damage. Increased use of the newer scale, the WAIS, warrants evaluation of possible differential impairment of selected clinical samples on this scale. WAIS results were compared for 28 Ss with longstanding maximal cerebral damage of the left hemisphere, 24 with maximal damage of the right hemisphere, and 46 with diffuse damage. Significant differences between group means were rare. However, the mean intra-individual difference between total Verbal and total Performance scores was highly significant for the right-lesion group, moderately significant for the diffuse-lesion group, and non-significant for the left-lesion group. Further investigation with the instrument is needed on groups which differ from those in the present study with respect to variables such as duration of cerebral dysfunction, type of lesion, and age of onset, in order to improve our understanding of relationships between cerebral dysfunction and ability deficits.

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The right hemisphere is important for driving-related cognitive function after stroke

Neurosurgical Review ◽

10.1007/s10143-020-01272-9 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Koji Shimonaga ◽

Seiji Hama ◽

Toshio Tsuji ◽

Kazumasa Yoshimura ◽

Shinya Nishino ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Function ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

The Right

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A-256 A Unique Bilingual Phenotype in the Context of Late Onset MELAS

Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology ◽

10.1093/arclin/acaa068.256 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 35 (6) ◽

pp. 1051-1051

Author(s):

Patino Y ◽

Diaz-Santos M

Keyword(s):

English Language ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Parietal Lobe ◽

Late Onset ◽

Verbal Learning ◽

Background Information ◽

Industrial Engineer ◽

Visuospatial Skills ◽

The Right

Abstract Objective Mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) is a progressive disease with typical onset before age 40 characterized by eventual neurocognitive deterioration. This case study highlights bilingual-bicultural neuropsychological principles within the Socially Responsible Neuropsychology (SRN) model to illustrate the phenotypic presentation of bilingual late-onset MELAS. Method The case is a 56-year-old, right-handed, bilingual Latino male (L1 Spanish, L2 English) with 16 years of education in his country of origin and 22 years as an industrial engineer in the U.S. At age 52, he was diagnosed with MELAS after an abrupt episode of olfactory hallucinations and dysgraphia in both languages. MRI revealed acute infarcts in the right parietal lobe and left cerebellum. He was referred for neuropsychological assessment 4 years later to evaluate reported neurocognitive decline and deterioration of L2, and to assist in targeted treatment planning. Results The clinical interview revealed significant decline in both receptive and expressive L2 English language capabilities, particularly relative to baseline as an industrial engineer, with relative sparing of L1 Spanish. Consistent with prior acute right hemisphere strokes, the neurocognitive profile also revealed lateralized impairment in visuospatial skills and memory. Notably verbal learning and memory in the mesial temporal system was preserved. Conclusions This case study illustrates how late L2 acquisition can lead to bilateral language representation, altering the phenotype of late-onset MELAS. Application of the SRN model highlights the importance of including background information regarding language acquisition and current language use to illustrate a unique bilingual MELAS phenotype and its impact on language loss and recovery.

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Suprasegmental Speech Prosody and the Human Brain

The Oxford Handbook of Voice Perception ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198743187.013.7 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 142-166

Author(s):

Martin Meyer ◽

Matthias Keller ◽

Nathalie Giroud

Keyword(s):

Human Brain ◽

Language Processing ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Spoken Language ◽

Speech Prosody ◽

Prosodic Cues ◽

Age Related ◽

Functional Lateralization ◽

Highly Correlated ◽

The Right

Prosody is a unique feature of spoken language and can be conceived as an umbrella term that covers several modulations of acoustic speech signals which mark paralinguistic information—namely stress, sentence accent, sentence mode, and phrasing—which are highly correlated with the semantic, syntactic, phonological organization and emotional tone of spoken and signed languages all over the world. Neuropsychological and neuroimaging research has grossly attributed prosodic functions to the right hemisphere (RH) of the human brain. The RH has been historically considered the site of emotions and this view is still the foundation of the widely held belief that prosody is primarily emotional in origin and nature. This chapter means to replace this ancient view by an innovative, parameter-based approach that considers prosody as an acoustic modulator that primarily serves as a cardinal structuring device to chunk suprasegmental units in spoken language. The chapter offers evidence from recent research that shows how the human brain exploits prosodic cues in spoken language during language acquisition, processing of foreign languages, and language processing under aversive listening conditions (e.g. age-related hearing loss). More importantly, it sketches how the human brain processes suprasegmental information during prelexical stages of language comprehension. In support of this view lies in the stunning fit between functional lateralization of computing prosodic cues and neuroanatomical asymmetry of auditory-related cortex (PARC). Finally, the chapter describes the essential role that prosodic modulations play in spoken language during early infancy and older age.

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Mirrored brain organization: Statistical anomaly or reversal of hemispheric functional segregation bias?

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.2002981117 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 117 (25) ◽

pp. 14057-14065 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Robin Gerrits ◽

Helena Verhelst ◽

Guy Vingerhoets

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Function ◽

Hemispheric Asymmetry ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

The Other ◽

Segregation Pattern ◽

Emotional Prosody ◽

Brain Organization ◽

Language Dominance ◽

The Right ◽

Biological Advantage

Humans demonstrate a prototypical hemispheric functional segregation pattern, with language and praxis lateralizing to the left hemisphere and spatial attention, face recognition, and emotional prosody to the right hemisphere. In this study, we used fMRI to determine laterality for all five functions in each participant. Crucially, we recruited a sample of left-handers preselected for atypical (right) language dominance (n= 24), which allowed us to characterize hemispheric asymmetry of the other functions and compare their functional segregation pattern with that of left-handers showing typical language dominance (n= 39). Our results revealed that most participants with left language dominance display the prototypical pattern of functional hemispheric segregation (44%) or deviate from this pattern in only one function (35%). Similarly, the vast majority of right language dominant participants demonstrated a completely mirrored brain organization (50%) or a reversal for all but one cognitive function (32%). Participants deviating by more than one function from the standard segregation pattern showed poorer cognitive performance, in line with an oft-presumed biological advantage of hemispheric functional segregation.

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Investigation of the Effect of Mode and Tempo on Emotional Responses to Music Using EEG Power Asymmetry

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803/a000099 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 27 (3) ◽

pp. 142-148 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Konstantinos Trochidis ◽

Emmanuel Bigand

Keyword(s):

Left Hemisphere ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Emotional Responses ◽

Interactive Effects ◽

Eeg Activity ◽

Musical Excerpt ◽

Major Mode ◽

Musical Modes ◽

Slow Tempo ◽

The Right

The combined interactions of mode and tempo on emotional responses to music were investigated using both self-reports and electroencephalogram (EEG) activity. A musical excerpt was performed in three different modes and tempi. Participants rated the emotional content of the resulting nine stimuli and their EEG activity was recorded. Musical modes influence the valence of emotion with major mode being evaluated happier and more serene, than minor and locrian modes. In EEG frontal activity, major mode was associated with an increased alpha activation in the left hemisphere compared to minor and locrian modes, which, in turn, induced increased activation in the right hemisphere. The tempo modulates the arousal value of emotion with faster tempi associated with stronger feeling of happiness and anger and this effect is associated in EEG with an increase of frontal activation in the left hemisphere. By contrast, slow tempo induced decreased frontal activation in the left hemisphere. Some interactive effects were found between mode and tempo: An increase of tempo modulated the emotion differently depending on the mode of the piece.

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Right-Hemisphere Specialization for Contour Grouping

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000252 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 61 (5) ◽

pp. 331-339 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Gregor Volberg

Keyword(s):

Right Hemisphere ◽

Contour Detection ◽

Global Processing ◽

Detection Accuracy ◽

Frequency Spectra ◽

Visual Hemifield ◽

Spatial Frequencies ◽

A Chain ◽

The Right ◽

Hemisphere Specialization

Previous studies often revealed a right-hemisphere specialization for processing the global level of compound visual stimuli. Here we explore whether a similar specialization exists for the detection of intersected contours defined by a chain of local elements. Subjects were presented with arrays of randomly oriented Gabor patches that could contain a global path of collinearly arranged elements in the left or in the right visual hemifield. As expected, the detection accuracy was higher for contours presented to the left visual field/right hemisphere. This difference was absent in two control conditions where the smoothness of the contour was decreased. The results demonstrate that the contour detection, often considered to be driven by lateral coactivation in primary visual cortex, relies on higher-level visual representations that differ between the hemispheres. Furthermore, because contour and non-contour stimuli had the same spatial frequency spectra, the results challenge the view that the right-hemisphere advantage in global processing depends on a specialization for processing low spatial frequencies.

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