DCDC2
            READ1 regulatory element: how temporal processing differences may shape language

Classic linguistic theory ascribes language change and diversity to population migrations, conquests, and geographical isolation, with the assumption that human populations have equivalent language processing abilities. We hypothesize that spectral and temporal characteristics make some consonant manners vulnerable to differences in temporal precision associated with specific population allele frequencies. To test this hypothesis, we modelled association between RU1-1 alleles of DCDC2 and manner of articulation in 51 populations spanning five continents, and adjusting for geographical proximity, and genetic and linguistic relatedness. RU1-1 alleles, acting through increased expression of DCDC2 , appear to increase auditory processing precision that enhances stop-consonant discrimination, favouring retention in some populations and loss by others. These findings enhance classical linguistic theories by adding a genetic dimension, which until recently, has not been considered to be a significant catalyst for language change.

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Homophone auditory processing in cross-linguistic perspective

Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America ◽

10.3765/plsa.v5i1.4733 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 529

Author(s):

Youtao Lu ◽

James L. Morgan

Keyword(s):

Language Processing ◽

Auditory Processing ◽

Word Processing ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Learning Task ◽

Decision Task ◽

Intrinsic Properties ◽

Native Japanese Speakers ◽

Processing Abilities ◽

Chinese And English

Previous studies reported conflicting results for the effects of homophony on visual word processing across languages. On finding significant differences in homophone density in Japanese, Mandarin Chinese and English, we conducted two experiments to compare native speakers’ competence in homophone auditory processing across these three languages. A lexical decision task showed that the effect of homophony on word processing in Japanese was significantly less detrimental than in Mandarin and English. A word-learning task showed that native Japanese speakers were the fastest in learning novel homophones. These results suggest that language-intrinsic properties influence corresponding language processing abilities of native speakers.

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The correlation between central auditory processing in autistic children and their language processing abilities

International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology ◽

10.1016/j.ijporl.2014.10.039 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 78 (12) ◽

pp. 2297-2300 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Hanan Galal Azouz ◽

Hesham kozou ◽

Mona Khalil ◽

Rania M. Abdou ◽

Mohamed Sakr

Keyword(s):

Language Processing ◽

Auditory Processing ◽

Central Auditory Processing ◽

Autistic Children ◽

Processing Abilities

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Spoken Language Processing: A Convergent Approach to Conceptualizing (Central) Auditory Processing

ASHA Leader ◽

10.1044/leader.ftr2.11082006.6 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 11 (8) ◽

pp. 6-33 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Larry Medwetsky

Keyword(s):

Language Processing ◽

Auditory Processing ◽

Spoken Language ◽

Central Auditory Processing ◽

Spoken Language Processing ◽

Convergent Approach

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Neural Mechanisms of Music and Language

The Oxford Handbook of Neurolinguistics ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190672027.013.35 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 906-952

Author(s):

Mattson Ogg ◽

L. Robert Slevc

Keyword(s):

Auditory Cortex ◽

Language Processing ◽

Auditory Processing ◽

Cortical Plasticity ◽

Speaker Identification ◽

Auditory Pathway ◽

Cognitive Mechanisms ◽

Cross Domain ◽

Music And Language ◽

Cortical Regions

Music and language are uniquely human forms of communication. What neural structures facilitate these abilities? This chapter conducts a review of music and language processing that follows these acoustic signals as they ascend the auditory pathway from the brainstem to auditory cortex and on to more specialized cortical regions. Acoustic, neural, and cognitive mechanisms are identified where processing demands from both domains might overlap, with an eye to examples of experience-dependent cortical plasticity, which are taken as strong evidence for common neural substrates. Following an introduction describing how understanding musical processing informs linguistic or auditory processing more generally, findings regarding the major components (and parallels) of music and language research are reviewed: pitch perception, syntax and harmonic structural processing, semantics, timbre and speaker identification, attending in auditory scenes, and rhythm. Overall, the strongest evidence that currently exists for neural overlap (and cross-domain, experience-dependent plasticity) is in the brainstem, followed by auditory cortex, with evidence and the potential for overlap becoming less apparent as the mechanisms involved in music and speech perception become more specialized and distinct at higher levels of processing.

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Language impairments in ASD resulting from a failed domestication of the human brain

10.1101/046037 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Antonio Benítez-Burraco ◽

Wanda Lattanzi ◽

Elliot Murphy

Keyword(s):

Human Brain ◽

Neural Crest ◽

Language Processing ◽

Expression Profiles ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Human Populations ◽

Altered Expression ◽

Domestication Syndrome ◽

High Prevalence ◽

The Brain

AbstractAutism spectrum disorders (ASD) are pervasive neurodevelopmental disorders entailing social and cognitive deficits, including marked problems with language. Numerous genes have been associated with ASD, but it is unclear how language deficits arise from gene mutation or dysregulation. It is also unclear why ASD shows such high prevalence within human populations. Interestingly, the emergence of a modern faculty of language has been hypothesised to be linked to changes in the human brain/skull, but also to the process of self-domestication of the human species. It is our intention to show that people with ASD exhibit less marked domesticated traits at the morphological, physiological, and behavioural levels. We also discuss many ASD candidates represented among the genes known to be involved in the domestication syndrome (the constellation of traits exhibited by domesticated mammals, which seemingly results from the hypofunction of the neural crest) and among the set of genes involved in language function closely connected to them. Moreover, many of these genes show altered expression profiles in the brain of autists. In addition, some candidates for domestication and language-readiness show the same expression profile in people with ASD and chimps in different brain areas involved in language processing. Similarities regarding the brain oscillatory behaviour of these areas can be expected too. We conclude that ASD may represent an abnormal ontogenetic itinerary for the human faculty of language resulting in part from changes in genes important for the domestication syndrome and, ultimately, from the normal functioning of the neural crest.

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Functional connectivity in task-negative network of the Deaf: effects of sign language experience

10.7287/peerj.preprints.405 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Evie Malaia ◽

Thomas M Talavage ◽

Ronnie B Wilbur

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Sign Language ◽

Language Processing ◽

Auditory Processing ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Parietal Lobe ◽

Sensory Deprivation ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Visual Signal ◽

Deaf Signers

Prior studies investigating cortical processing in Deaf signers suggest that life-long experience with sign language and/or auditory deprivation may alter the brain’s anatomical structure and the function of brain regions typically recruited for auditory processing (Emmorey et al., 2010; Pénicaud, et al., 2012 inter alia). We report the first investigation of the task-negative network in Deaf signers and its functional connectivity – the temporal correlations among spatially remote neurophysiological events. We show that Deaf signers manifest increased functional connectivity between posterior cingulate/precuneus and left medial temporal gyrus (MTG), but also inferior parietal lobe and medial temporal gyrus in the right hemisphere- areas that have been found to show functional recruitment specifically during sign language processing. These findings suggest that the organization of the brain at the level of inter-network connectivity is likely affected by experience with processing visual language, although sensory deprivation could be another source of the difference. We hypothesize that connectivity alterations in the task negative network reflect predictive/automatized processing of the visual signal.

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Strong conceptual ability reduces the effect of lexical impairments on verb retrieval in aphasia

10.31234/osf.io/pmyvk ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Haley C. Dresang ◽

William D. Hula ◽

Tessa Warren ◽

Michael Walsh Dickey

Keyword(s):

Left Hemisphere ◽

Language Processing ◽

Brain Injuries ◽

Conceptual Processing ◽

Action Processing ◽

Processing Abilities ◽

Conceptual Ability ◽

Chronic Aphasia ◽

Left Hemisphere Stroke ◽

Open Question

Verb-retrieval impairments are pervasive deficits that can negatively impact communicative function for individuals living with aphasia. Unfortunately, the neurocognitive basis of these deficits remains poorly understood. One open question is the degree to which verb-retrieval impairments might be rooted in lexical- versus conceptual-processing deficits. These deficits can be co-present and correlated in people with aphasia, but they have also been found to be dissociated in patients with a variety of acquired brain injuries. This study examined the degree to which conceptual versus lexical action-processing abilities are impaired and may contribute to verb-retrieval impairments in adults with chronic aphasia due to left-hemisphere stroke. The results indicate that conceptual action processing can be impaired in aphasia and may contribute to verb-retrieval impairments. Furthermore, relatively unimpaired conceptual processing can ameliorate the influence of lexical impairments on verb-retrieval impairments. These findings are consistent with models in which conceptual representations play a key role in language processing and may be leveraged to improve verb retrieval in adults with chronic aphasia.

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Central Auditory Processing Abilities of Low-Achieving Gifted Adolescents

Journal of Secondary Gifted Education ◽

10.1177/1932202x9801000102 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 217-225 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Thomas G. Rigo ◽

Shalini Arehole ◽

Phebe A. Hayes

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

High School Students ◽

Auditory Processing ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Learning Disabled ◽

Central Auditory Processing ◽

School Students ◽

Disabled Students ◽

Processing Abilities ◽

Gifted Adolescents

In this study, the central auditory processing (CAP) abilities of a group of low-achieving gifted high school students were measured and compared to matching groups of achieving gifted, average, and learning-disabled students. CAP skills were measured behaviorally, utilizing the Test for Auditory Processing Disorders in Adolescents and Children (SCAN:A). Results revealed significant CAP deficits in the low-achieving gifted group when compared to the achieving gifted and the average subjects. Furthermore, the CAP ability of the low-achieving gifted group was similar to that of the learning-disabled subjects. The nature of CAP disorders and suggested management strategies are discussed.

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Patterns of Language Impairment in Early ALS

Neurology Clinical Practice ◽

10.1212/cpj.0000000000001006 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 10.1212/CPJ.0000000000001006

Author(s):

Marta Pinto-Grau ◽

Bronagh Donohoe ◽

Sarah O’Connor ◽

Lisa Murphy ◽

Emmet Costello ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Language Processing ◽

Language Impairment ◽

Semantic Processing ◽

Language Change ◽

Lexical Processing ◽

Word Reading ◽

Executive Dysfunction ◽

Population Based ◽

Word Naming ◽

Word Spelling

ABSTRACTObjective.To investigate the incidence and nature of language change and its relationship to executive dysfunction in a population-based incident ALS sample, with the hypothesis that patterns of frontotemporal involvement in early ALS extend beyond areas of executive control to regions associated with language processing.Methods.One hundred and seventeen population-based incident ALS cases without dementia and 100 controls matched by age, sex and education were included in the study. A detailed assessment of language processing including lexical processing, word spelling, word reading, word naming, semantic processing and syntactic/grammatical processing was undertaken. Executive domains of phonemic verbal fluency, working memory, problem-solving, cognitive flexibility and social cognition were also evaluated.Results.Language processing was impaired in this incident cohort of individuals with ALS, with deficits in the domains of word naming, orthographic processing and syntactic/grammatical processing. Conversely, phonological lexical processing and semantic processing were spared. While executive dysfunction accounted in part for impairments in grammatical and orthographic lexical processing, word spelling, reading and naming, primary language deficits were also present.Conclusions.Language impairment is characteristic of ALS at early stages of the disease, and can develop independently of executive dysfunction, reflecting selective patterns of frontotemporal involvement at disease onset. Language change is therefore an important component of the frontotemporal syndrome associated with ALS.

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