scholarly journals Individual Differences in the Balance of GABA to Glutamate in pFC Predict the Ability to Select among Competing Options

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 2490-2502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro de la Vega ◽  
Mark S. Brown ◽  
Hannah R. Snyder ◽  
Debra Singel ◽  
Yuko Munakata ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Resonance Spectroscopy ◽  
National Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Excitatory Neurotransmitters ◽  
Neural Transmission ◽  
Neural Underpinnings ◽  
Relevant Word

Individuals vary greatly in their ability to select one item or response when presented with a multitude of options. Here we investigate the neural underpinnings of these individual differences. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we found that the balance of inhibitory versus excitatory neurotransmitters in pFC predicts the ability to select among task-relevant options in two language production tasks. The greater an individual's concentration of GABA relative to glutamate in the lateral pFC, the more quickly he or she could select a relevant word from among competing options. This outcome is consistent with our computational modeling of this task [Snyder, H. R., Hutchison, N., Nyhus, E., Curran, T., Banich, M. T., O'Reilly, R. C., et al. Neural inhibition enables selection during language processing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A., 107, 16483–16488, 2010], which predicts that greater net inhibition in pFC increases the efficiency of resolving competition among task-relevant options. Moreover, the association with the GABA/glutamate ratio was specific to selection and was not observed for executive function ability in general. These findings are the first to link the balance of excitatory and inhibitory neural transmission in pFC to specific aspects of executive function.

Processing linguistic variation through dual mechanisms of cognitive control

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (s1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant M. Berry
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Connectionist Model ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Reactive Control ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
Control Hypothesis

AbstractWhile rarely difficult for the average speaker/listener, the ubiquity of variation at all levels of linguistic production is a challenge for modern psycholinguistic models of language processing. Variation is perhaps most extreme at the levels of phonetics and phonology, but many models of language processing all but eschew these levels altogether. The current paper posits that cognitive control mechanisms, when divided into proactive and reactive control via a dual mechanisms framework may effectively describe the strategies individuals use to process linguistic variation and, when incorporated into language processing models, can generate novel, testable predictions regarding the origin and propagation of individual differences. By means of example, I illustrate how dual mechanisms of control could be incorporated into a connectionist model of language production. I then describe how dual mechanisms of cognitive control might be relevant for the Adaptive Control Hypothesis and how individual differences in processing strategies may modulate participation in language changes-in-progress.

Putting up barriers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Lobina
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Cognitive Domain ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Levels Of Explanation ◽  
Real Time Processing ◽  
Time Processing ◽  
Neural Underpinnings ◽  
Different Levels

The study of cognitive phenomena is best approached in an orderly manner. It must begin with an analysis of the function in intension at the heart of any cognitive domain (its knowledge base), then proceed to the manner in which such knowledge is put into use in real-time processing, concluding with a domain’s neural underpinnings, its development in ontogeny, etc. Such an approach to the study of cognition involves the adoption of different levels of explanation/description, as prescribed by David Marr and many others, each level requiring its own methodology and supplying its own data to be accounted for. The study of recursion in cognition is badly in need of a systematic and well-ordered approach, and this chapter lays out the blueprint to be followed in the book by focusing on a strict separation between how this notion applies in linguistic knowledge and how it manifests itself in language processing.

scholarly journals Letter transpositions and morphemic boundaries in the second language processing of derived words: An exploratory study of individual differences

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-446
Author(s):  
Hasibe Kahraman ◽  
Bilal Kırkıcı
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Reading Proficiency ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Morphological Processing ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Morphological Priming

AbstractResearch into nonnative (L2) morphological processing has produced largely conflicting findings. To contribute to the discussions surrounding the contradictory findings in the literature, we examined L2 morphological priming effects along with a transposed-letter (TL) methodology. Critically, we also explored the potential effects of individual differences in the reading networks of L2 speakers using a test battery of reading proficiency. A masked primed lexical decision experiment was carried out in which the same target (e.g., ALLOW) was preceded by a morphological prime (allowable), a TL-within prime (allwoable), an substituted letter (SL)-within prime (allveable), a TL-across prime (alloawble), an SL-across prime (alloimble), or an unrelated prime (believable). The average data yielded morphological priming but no significant TL priming. However, the results of an exploratory analysis of the potential effects of individual differences suggested that individual variability mediated the group-level priming patterns in L2 speakers. TL-within and TL-across priming effects were obtained only when the performance of participants on nonword reading was considered, while the magnitude of the morphological priming effects diminished as the knowledge of vocabulary expanded. The results highlight the importance of considering individual differences while testing L2 populations.

scholarly journals Early intervention and the growth of children's fluid intelligence: A cognitive developmental perspective

2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth M. Ford
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Early Intervention ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Developmental Perspective ◽  
Effective Intervention ◽  
General Development ◽  
Developmental Theories ◽  
The Mind

From the stance of cognitive developmental theories, claims that general g is an entity of the mind are compatible with notions about domain-general development and age-invariant individual differences. Whether executive function is equated with general g or fluid g, research into the mechanisms by which development occurs is essential to elucidate the kinds of environmental inputs that engender effective intervention.

scholarly journals The combined effects of prenatal drug exposure and early adversity on neurobehavioral disinhibition in childhood and adolescence

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 777-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip A. Fisher ◽  
Barry M. Lester ◽  
David S. DeGarmo ◽  
Linda L. Lagasse ◽  
Hai Lin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Early Adversity ◽  
Combined Effects ◽  
Prenatal Substance Exposure ◽  
Substance Exposure ◽  
Behavioral Dysregulation ◽  
Prenatal Drug Use ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal

AbstractThe negative effects of prenatal substance exposure on neurobiological and psychological development and of early adversity are clear, but little is known about their combined effects. In this study, multilevel analyses of the effects of prenatal substance exposure and early adversity on the emergence of neurobehavioral disinhibition in adolescence were conducted. Neurobehavioral disinhibition has previously been observed to occur frequently in multiproblem youth from high-risk backgrounds. In the present study, neurobehavioral disinhibition was assessed via behavioral dysregulation and poor executive function composite measures. Data were drawn from a prospective longitudinal investigation of prenatal substance exposure that included 1,073 participants followed from birth through adolescence. The results from latent growth modeling analyses showed mean stability but significant individual differences in behavioral dysregulation and mean decline with individual differences in executive function difficulties. Prior behavioral dysregulation predicted increased executive function difficulties. Prenatal drug use predicted the emergence and growth in neurobehavioral disinhibition across adolescence (directly for behavioral dysregulation and indirectly for executive function difficulties via early adversity and behavioral dysregulation). Prenatal drug use and early adversity exhibited unique effects on growth in behavioral dysregulation; early adversity uniquely predicted executive function difficulties. These results are discussed in terms of implications for theory development, social policy, and prevention science.

Neural Basis of Rhythm Perception

2018 ◽  
pp. 164-186
Author(s):  
Christina M. Vanden Bosch der Nederlanden ◽  
J. Eric T. Taylor ◽  
Jessica A. Grahn
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Mirror Neurons ◽  
Auditory Information ◽  
Language Outcomes ◽  
Rhythm Perception ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Oscillatory Dynamics ◽  
Motor Excitability ◽  
Neural Underpinnings

To understand and enjoy music, it is important to be able to hear the beat and move your body to the rhythm. However, impaired rhythm processing has a broader impact on perception and cognition beyond music-specific tasks. We also experience rhythms in our everyday interactions, through the lip and jaw movements of watching someone speak, the syllabic structure of words on the radio, and in the movements of our limbs when we walk. Impairments in the ability to perceive and produce rhythms are related to poor language outcomes, such as dyslexia, and they can provide an index of a primary symptom in movement disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease. The chapter summarizes a growing body of literature examining the neural underpinnings of rhythm perception and production. It highlights the importance of auditory-motor relationships in finding and producing a beat in music by reviewing evidence from a number of methodologies. These approaches illustrate how rhythmic auditory information capitalizes on auditory-motor interactions to influence motor excitability, and how beat perception emerges as a function of nonlinear oscillatory dynamics of the brain. Together these studies highlight the important role of rhythm in human development, evolutionary comparisons, multi-modal perception, mirror neurons, language processing, and music.

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