scholarly journals Effects of Meditation on Temporal Processing and Speech Perceptual Skills in Younger and Older Adults

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uppunda Ajith Kumar ◽  
A. V. Sangamanatha ◽  
Jai Vikas
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
Temporal Processing ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Detection Task ◽  
Gap Detection ◽  
Backward Masking ◽  
Modulation Detection ◽  
Age Range

The purpose of this study was to assess the temporal processing and speech perception abilities in older adults who were practicing meditation for more than five years. Participants were comprised of three groups, 30 young adults (“YA”) in the age range of 20–30 years, 30 older adults in the age range of 50–65 years who practiced meditation for a period of five years or more (effective meditators “EM”), and 51 age matched older adults who did not have any experience of meditation (non-meditators “NM”). Temporal processing was evaluated using gap detection in noise, duration discrimination, modulation detection, and backward masking and duration pattern tests. Speech perception was measured in presence of a four-talker babble at −5 dB signal to noise ratio and with the vocoded stimuli. Results revealed that EM group performed significantly better than NM group in all psychophysical and speech perception tasks except in gap detection task. In the gap detection task, two groups did not differ significantly. Furthermore, EM group showed significantly better modulation detection thresholds compared to YA. Results of the study demonstrate that the practice of meditation not only offsets the decline in temporal and speech processing abilities due to aging process but also improves the ability to perceive the modulations compared to young adults.

scholarly journals Cingulo‐opercular adaptive control for younger and older adults during a challenging gap detection task

2019 ◽  
Vol 98 (4) ◽  
pp. 680-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth I. Vaden ◽  
Mark A. Eckert ◽  
Judy R. Dubno ◽  
Kelly C. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Adaptive Control ◽  
Detection Task ◽  
Gap Detection

scholarly journals Rapid Perceptual Learning: A Potential Source of Individual Differences in Speech Perception Under Adverse Conditions?

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 233121652093054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tali Rotman ◽  
Limor Lavie ◽  
Karen Banai
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
Perceptual Learning ◽  
Rapid Learning ◽  
Adverse Conditions ◽  
Speech In Noise ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Age Related Hearing Loss

Challenging listening situations (e.g., when speech is rapid or noisy) result in substantial individual differences in speech perception. We propose that rapid auditory perceptual learning is one of the factors contributing to those individual differences. To explore this proposal, we assessed rapid perceptual learning of time-compressed speech in young adults with normal hearing and in older adults with age-related hearing loss. We also assessed the contribution of this learning as well as that of hearing and cognition (vocabulary, working memory, and selective attention) to the recognition of natural-fast speech (NFS; both groups) and speech in noise (younger adults). In young adults, rapid learning and vocabulary were significant predictors of NFS and speech in noise recognition. In older adults, hearing thresholds, vocabulary, and rapid learning were significant predictors of NFS recognition. In both groups, models that included learning fitted the speech data better than models that did not include learning. Therefore, under adverse conditions, rapid learning may be one of the skills listeners could employ to support speech recognition.

Role of Auditory Temporal Processing for Reading and Spelling Disability

1998 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 1043-1047 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerd Schulte-Körne ◽  
Wolfgang Deimel ◽  
Jürgen Bartling ◽  
Helmut Remschmidt
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Processing ◽  
Detection Threshold ◽  
Detection Task ◽  
Gap Detection ◽  
Auditory Temporal Processing ◽  
Spelling Disability ◽  
Processing Deficit ◽  
Reading And Spelling

The role of auditory temporal processing in reading and spelling was investigated in a sample of 30 children and one of 31 adults, using a gap-detection task with nonspeech stimuli. There was no evidence for a relationship between reading and spelling disability (dyslexia) and the gap-detection threshold. The results were discussed regarding the relevance for the popular hypothesis of an auditory temporal processing deficit underlying dyslexia.

scholarly journals Turning Difficulty Characteristics of Adults Aged 65 Years or Older

2000 ◽  
Vol 80 (12) ◽  
pp. 1174-1187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary T Thigpen ◽  
Kathye E Light ◽  
Gwenda L Creel ◽  
Sheryl M Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Hip Fracture ◽  
Early Identification ◽  
Elderly Adults ◽  
Total Absence ◽  
Movement Characteristics ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Group Methods ◽  
Age Range

Abstract Background and Purpose. Falls that occur while walking have been associated with an increased risk of hip fracture in elderly people. This study's purpose was to describe movement characteristics in older adults that serve as indicators of difficulty in turning while walking. Subjects. Three groups were assessed: young adults who had no difficulty in turning (age range=20–30 years, n=20) (YNDT group), elderly adults who had no difficulty in turning (age range=65–87 years, n=15) (ENDT group), and elderly adults who had difficulty in turning (age range=69–92 years, n=15) (EDT group). Methods. All subjects were videotaped performing a self-paced 180-degree turn during the Timed “Up & Go” Test. Movement characteristics of each group were identified. Four characteristics were used to identify difficulty in turning: (1) the type of turn, (2) the number of steps taken during the turn, (3) the time taken to accomplish the turn, and (4) staggering during the turn. Results. In general, the EDT group took more steps during the turn and more time to accomplish the turn than the YNDT and ENDT groups did. Although the only turning strategy used by the YNDT group was a pivot type of turn, there was an almost total absence of a pivot type of turn in the EDT group. No differences were found among the groups on the staggering item, yet the EDT group was the only group in which staggering was present. We believe these changes observed in the 4 characteristics only in the EDT group are indicators of difficulty in turning while walking. Conclusion and Discussion. These indicators of difficulty may be useful for the early identification of individuals aged 65 years or older who are having difficulty in turning and may well serve as the basis for the development of a scale for difficulty in turning in older adults. Preliminary findings indicate the need for further study into the reliability, validity, and sensitivity of measurements obtained with such a scale.

scholarly journals Oxytocin’s dynamic role across the lifespan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Audunsdottir ◽  
Daniel S Quintana
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Signaling System ◽  
Treatment Target ◽  
Novel Treatment ◽  
Youth And Young Adults ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Signaling Activity

Older adults have been neglected in biobehavioral oxytocin research. Emerging research indicates that oxytocin signaling activity fluctuates over the lifespan, which suggests that results from studies investigating youth and young adults cannot be easily generalized to older adults. The recruitment of a wider age range of research participants using a variety of research tools is required to uncover the role of the oxytocin signaling system over the lifespan and may reveal novel treatment target candidates in older adults, beyond social cognition and behavior.

Age-Related Changes in Presynaptic Inhibition During Gait Initiation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Solival Santos Filho ◽  
Daniel Boari Coelho ◽  
Carlos Ugrinowitsch ◽  
Caroline Ribeiro de Souza ◽  
Fernando Henrique Magalhães ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Presynaptic Inhibition ◽  
Gait Initiation ◽  
Quiet Stance ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Contraction Ratio ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Age Related Changes ◽  
Presynaptic Control

Abstract Age-related changes in presynaptic inhibition (PSI) have not been observed during gait initiation, which requires anticipatory postural adjustment (APA). As APA is centrally modulated and is impaired in older compared to young adults, here we aimed to study the presynaptic control and co-contraction levels in the ankle muscles during gait initiation in older compared to young adults. Fifteen older (age range 65–80 years) and 15 young adults (age range 19–30 years) performed a gait initiation task on a force platform under 3 conditions: (i) without electrical stimulation; (ii) test Hoffman reflex (H-reflex); and (iii) conditioned H-reflex. H-reflexes were evoked on the soleus muscle when the APA amplitude exceeded 10%–20% of the average baseline mediolateral force. Participants also performed quiet stance as a control task. Results showed that both age groups presented similar PSI levels during quiet stance (p = .941), while in the gait initiation older adults presented higher PSI levels, longer duration, and lower amplitude of APA than young adults (p < .05). Older adults presented higher co-contraction ratio in both tasks than young adults (p < .05). Correlations between the PSI levels and the APA amplitude (r = −0.61, p = .008), and between the PSI levels and the co-contraction ratio during gait initiation (r = −0.64, p = .005) were found for older adults only. APA amplitude explained 49% of the variance of the PSI levels (p = .003). Our findings suggest that older compared to young adults have increased presynaptic control to compensate for the decreased supraspinal modulation on impaired APAs during gait initiation.

scholarly journals Age-related differences in the neural network dynamics underlying the predictability gain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Uta Rysop ◽  
Lea-Maria Schmitt ◽  
Jonas Obleser ◽  
Gesa Hartwigsen
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Effective Connectivity ◽  
Network Dynamics ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Speech Comprehension ◽  
Inhibitory Influence ◽  
Degraded Speech ◽  
Age Related

AbstractSpeech comprehension is often challenged by increased background noise, but can be facilitated via the semantic context of a sentence. This predictability gain relies on an interplay of language-specific semantic and domain-general brain regions. However, age-related differences in the interactions within and between semantic and domain-general networks remain poorly understood. Here we investigated commonalities and differences in degraded speech processing in healthy young and old participants. Participants performed a sentence repetition task while listening to sentences with high and low predictable endings and varying intelligibility. Stimulus intelligibility was adjusted to individual hearing abilities. Older adults showed an undiminished behavioural predictability gain. Likewise, both groups recruited a similar set of semantic and cingulo-opercular brain regions. However, we observed age-related differences in effective connectivity for high predictable speech of increasing intelligibility. Young adults exhibited stronger coupling within the cingulo-opercular network and between a cingulo-opercular and a posterior temporal semantic node. Moreover, these interactions were excitatory in young adults but inhibitory in old adults. Finally, the degree of the inhibitory influence between cingulo-opercular regions was predictive of the behavioural sensitivity towards changes in intelligibility for high predictable sentences in older adults only. Our results demonstrate that the predictability gain is relatively preserved in older adults when stimulus intelligibility is individually adjusted. While young and old participants recruit similar brain regions, differences manifest in network dynamics. Together, these results suggest that ageing affects the network configuration rather than regional activity during successful speech comprehension under challenging listening conditions.

scholarly journals Effects of aging and emotional valence on item directed forgetting and source attributions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara N. Gallant
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Directed Forgetting ◽  
Detection Task ◽  
Probe Detection ◽  
Intentional Forgetting ◽  
Effects Of Aging ◽  
Emotional Effects

Two experiments investigated the effects of aging and emotion on intentional forgetting. Experiment 1 compared 36 young (aged 18-28, M = 20.22, SD = 3.12) and 36 older adults (aged 65-85, M = 71.53, SD = 5.44) on item directed forgetting and source attributions (i.e., assigning a 'remember', 'forget', or 'new' tag during recognition) of positive, negative, and neutral words. Older adults' directed forgetting was reduced for positive words and their source attributions were differentially affected by emotion. Emotion had no effect on young adults' performance. Experiment 2 examined the role of attention in older adults' intentional forgetting. Thirty-six older adults (aged 65-91, M = 73.92, SD = 7.55) completed an emotional item directed forgetting task that incorporated a probe-detection task during encoding to assess the allocation of attention across valence conditions. Older adults again showed reduced directed forgetting for positive words and emotional effects in source attributions; however, results from the probe-detection task indicated the older adults' attention may not have been influenced by the emotional tone of stimuli during encoding.

scholarly journals Perception of Deep Band Modulated Speech in the Presence of Noise by Elderly Individuals with Hearing Impairment

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Temporal Resolution ◽  
Temporal Processing ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Recognition Score ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Processing Ability ◽  
Age Range

Background: Deep band modulation (DBM) is an envelope enhancement strategy that enhances temporal modulation and may provide a cue for speech understanding among individuals who suffer from temporal processing deficits. Objective: To investigate the effect of deep band modulation on phrase recognition scores at different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) among older adults having hearing loss classified as good and poor performers based on temporal resolution ability. Method: Phrase recognition score was obtained for unprocessed and DBM phrases at three SNRs (4, 5, and - 4 dB signal to noise ratio) in 25 (age range 60 to 82 years, mean age 71.48 years) older adults having bilateral mild to moderately severe sloping sensorineural hearing loss. In addition, the gap detection test was also administered to the study participants. Results: A significant better recognition score was obtained in DBM than the unprocessed phrase. The magnitude of improvement from DBM was not the same in all the participants. Thus, the participants were classified into good and poor performers based on their temporal processing ability. The mean unprocessed and DBM phrase recognition scores in each SNR were higher for good performers than the poor performers. The benefit of deep band modulation was evident for the good performers, especially at high SNR, which was moderately correlated with age and temporal processing ability. Conclusion: The benefit from DBM on recognition score for the good performers is predicted from the temporal resolution abilities and age. However, the benefit is minuscule for the poor performers in noise.

Effects of wisdom and religiosity on subjective well-being in old age and young adulthood: exploring the pathways through mastery and purpose in life

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (04) ◽  
pp. 477-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Ardelt ◽  
Michel Ferrari
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Alternative Pathway ◽  
Purpose In Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Path Model ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Sense Of Mastery

ABSTRACTObjectives:Prior research found that the positive association between wisdom and subjective well-being might at least partially be explained by a greater sense of mastery and purpose in life. This study tested whether religiosity provides an alternative pathway to well-being and whether the associations are moderated by age cohort and nation of residency.Design and Participants:A quota sample design was used, stratified by age group, sex, and nation of residency, to collect cross-sectional survey data of 111 older adults (age range 62–99 years, M = 77.20, SD = 8.98) and 100 young adults (age range 21–30 years, M = 24.05, SD = 2.69) from Canada and the United States.Measurements:Face-to-face interviews were conducted to administer the survey. All measures consisted of validated scales and items.Results:Multi-group path analysis confirmed that mastery and purpose in life partially mediated the association between wisdom and well-being. Religiosity offered an alternative pathway to well-being, also partially through a greater sense of mastery and purpose in life. Wisdom was statistically more strongly related to mastery among older adults, whereas the association between mastery and purpose in life was statistically stronger among young adults. The mediated pathways from wisdom and religiosity to well-being did not differ by nation of residency.Conclusions:These results highlight the importance of internal strengths for subjective well-being among both young and older adults and add confidence to the generalizability of the mediated path model for North America.

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