Patterns of Language Impairment in Early ALS

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.

scholarly journals Task-Dependent Modulation of Regions in the Left Inferior Frontal Cortex during Semantic Processing

2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 829-843 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. L. Roskies ◽  
J. A. Fiez ◽  
D. A. Balota ◽  
M. E. Raichle ◽  
S. E. Petersen
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Inferior Frontal Cortex ◽  
Semantic Judgment ◽  
The Right

To distinguish areas involved in the processing of word meaning (semantics) from other regions involved in lexical processing more generally, subjects were scanned with positron emission tomography (PET) while performing lexical tasks, three of which required varying degrees of semantic analysis and one that required phonological analysis. Three closely apposed regions in the left inferior frontal cortex and one in the right cerebellum were significantly active above baseline in the semantic tasks, but not in the nonsemantic task. The activity in two of the frontal regions was modulated by the difficulty of the semantic judgment. Other regions, including some in the left temporal cortex and the cerebellum, were active across all four language tasks. Thus, in addition to a number of regions known to be active during language processing, regions in the left inferior frontal cortex were specifically recruited during semantic processing in a task-dependent manner. A region in the right cerebellum may be functionally related to those in the left inferior frontal cortex. Discussion focuses on the implications of these results for current views regarding neural substrates of semantic processing.

Linguistic Predictors of Single-Word Spelling in First-Grade Students With Speech and/or Language Impairments

2020 ◽  
pp. 074193252091885
Author(s):  
Krystal L. Werfel ◽  
Stephanie Al Otaiba ◽  
Young-Suk Kim ◽  
Jeanne Wanzek
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Typical Development ◽  
Speech Impairment ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Spelling Performance ◽  
Language Status ◽  
Word Spelling

The purpose of this study was (a) to compare the single-word spelling performance of first graders across four groups that varied by speech and language status; and (b) to determine the linguistic predictors of first-grade spelling for children with speech and/or language impairment compared to children with typical development. First-grade children ( N = 529) completed measures of spelling, early word reading, expressive vocabulary, phonological awareness, and morphosyntactic knowledge. Children with language impairment, with or without speech impairments, demonstrated lower spelling performance than children with typical development; children with speech impairment only did not differ from children with typical development. In addition, early word reading and phonological awareness predicted spelling performance, regardless of group. Study findings indicate that language status, but not speech status, is a risk factor for low spelling performance in first grade, and that first-grade spelling instruction should focus on developing early word reading and phonological awareness.

Lexical Processing as Revealed by Lateralized Event-Related Brain Potentials

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 148-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Koppehele-Gossel ◽  
Robert Schnuerch ◽  
Henning Gibbons
Keyword(s):  
Word Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Time Range ◽  
Processing Negativity ◽  
Written Word ◽  
Single Word Reading

Abstract. Neurocognitive models of written-word processing from low-level perceptual up to semantic analysis include the notion of a strongly left-lateralized posterior-to-anterior stream of activation. Two left-lateralized components in the event-related brain potential (ERP), N170 and temporo-parietal PSA (posterior semantic asymmetry; peak at 300 ms), have been suggested to reflect sublexical analysis and semantic processing, respectively. However, for intermediate processing steps, such as lexical access, no posterior left-lateralized ERP signature has yet been observed under single-word reading conditions. In combination with a recognition task, lexicality and depth of processing were varied. Left-minus-right difference ERPs optimally suited to accentuate left-lateralized language processes revealed an occipito-temporal processing negativity (210–270 ms) for all stimuli except alphanumerical strings. This asymmetry showed greater sensitivity to the combined effects of attention and lexicality than other ERPs in this time range (i.e., N170, P1, and P2). It is therefore introduced as “lexical asymmetry.”

scholarly journals Age of acquisition effects on traditional Chinese character naming and lexical decision

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 1317-1324
Author(s):  
Ya-Ning Chang ◽  
Chia-Ying Lee
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
English Language ◽  
Chinese Character ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Age Of Acquisition ◽  
Chinese Character Naming

AbstractAcross languages, age of acquisition (AoA) is a critical psycholinguistic factor in lexical processing, reflecting the influence of learning experience. Early-acquired words tend to be processed more quickly and accurately than late-acquired words. Recently, an integrated view proposed that both the mappings between representations and the construction of semantic representations contribute to AoA effects, thus, predicting larger AoA effects for words with arbitrary mappings between representations as well as for tasks requiring greater semantic processing. We investigated how these predictions generalize to the Chinese language system that differs from alphabetic languages regarding the ease of mappings and semantic involvement in lexical processing. A cross-task investigation of differential psycholinguistic effects was conducted with large character naming and lexical decision datasets to establish the extent to which semantics is involved in the two tasks. We focused on examining the effect sizes of lexical-semantic variables and AoA, and the interaction between AoA and consistency. The results demonstrated that semantics influenced Chinese character naming more than lexical decision, which is in contrast with the findings related to English language, though, critically, AoA effects were more pronounced for character naming than for lexical decision. Additionally, an interaction between AoA and consistency was found in character naming. Our findings provide cross-linguistic evidence supporting the view of multiple origins of AoA effects in the language-processing system.

Foveal Word Reading Requires Interhemispheric Communication

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (8) ◽  
pp. 1373-1387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoë R. Hunter ◽  
Marc Brysbaert ◽  
Stefan Knecht
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Transcranial Doppler Sonography ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Word Naming ◽  
Generation Task ◽  
Interhemispheric Communication ◽  
Language Representation

The left cerebral hemisphere is dominant for language processing in most individuals. It has been suggested that this asymmetric language representation can influence behavioral performance in foveal word-naming tasks. We carried out two experiments in which we obtained laterality indices by means of functional imaging during a mental word-generation task, using functional transcranial Doppler sonography and functional magnetic resonance imaging, respectively. Subsequently, we administered a behavioral word-naming task, where participants had to name foveally presented words of different lengths shown in different fixation locations shifted horizontally across the screen. The optimal viewing position for left language dominant individuals is located between the beginning and the center of a word. It is shifted toward the end of a word for right language dominant individuals and, to a lesser extent, for individuals with bilateral language representation. These results demonstrate that interhemispheric communication is required for foveal word recognition. Consequently, asymmetric representations of language and processes of interhemispheric transfer should be taken into account in theoretical models of visual word recognition to ensure neurological plausibility.

scholarly journals Sound change in the individual: Effects of exposure on cross-dialect speech processing

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia G. Clopper
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
National Standard ◽  
Standard Variety ◽  
Local Variety ◽  
The Individual

AbstractSpeech perception is highly robust to variation, but familiarity with a particular source of variation can nevertheless lead to significant processing benefits. In the domain of cross-dialect speech perception, familiar local and standard varieties have been shown to facilitate lexical and semantic processing relative to unfamiliar dialects. However, more recent research suggests that individuals with exposure to both a local non-standard variety and a regional or national standard variety exhibit a mix of lexical processing costs and benefits, suggesting that familiarity with multiple different linguistic systems can result in both independent processing benefits for each variety as well as competition among variable multi-dialect representations. In an exemplar model of language processing, this complex pattern of results suggests several loci for sound change within an individual language user. Although the processing benefits associated with the local variety may contribute to long-term maintenance of variation through divergence from a regional or national standard, the processing benefits associated with the standard may contribute to dialect leveling and convergence towards the standard. Competition between these forces for maintenance and leveling will be observed most strongly in individuals with extensive exposure to both a non-standard local variety and a regional or national standard.

Metacognitive Strategies

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Schiff ◽  
Yohi Nuri Ben-Shushan ◽  
Elisheva Ben-Artzi
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Reading Skills ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Metacognitive Strategies ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Reading Tests ◽  
Spelling Instruction ◽  
Word Spelling

This study assessed the effect of metacognitive instruction on the spelling and word reading of Hebrew-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI). Participants were 67 kindergarteners with SLI in a supported learning context. Children were classified into three spelling instruction groups: (a) metalinguistic instruction (ML), (b) ML that integrates metacognitive strategies (MCML), and (c) a control group. Letter naming, letter sounding, word spelling, and word recognition were assessed at pretest and posttest. Findings from spelling and reading tests as well as interviews indicated that both the ML and MCML groups made statistically significant gains in all measures, whereas the control group did not. However, children with SLI who received training in metacognitive strategies significantly outperformed those who received ML alone in spelling and reading skills. This study provides evidence that children with SLI benefit from applying of metacognitive strategies to spelling practices when acquiring early spelling and reading skills.

Oral Reading and Story Retelling of Students With Specific Language Impairment

1997 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald B. Gillam ◽  
Rebekah M. Carlile
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Oral Reading ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Reading Ability ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Story Retelling ◽  
Single Word Reading

Students with specific language impairment (SL) and students matched for single-word reading ability read and retold stories that were approximately one grade level above their reading level. Children with SLI produced a significantly greater percentage of oral reading discrepancies (miscues) between printed and read words. Their miscues were less graphophonemically, syntactically, semantically, and pragmatically consistent with the original texts than the miscues produced by their reading-matched peers. Despite these differences in oral reading story retellings by students in the two groups were similar in terms of percentages of recalled vocabulary, story elements, and problem-resolution pairs. Holistic analysis of the retellings indicated that fewer retellings by students in the SLI group were complete, and more of their retellings were confusing. Lack of prior knowledge regarding the topics of the stories that were read, slowed language processing and/or working memory deficiencies could account for these results.

scholarly journals Nonverbal Semantics Test (NVST)—A Novel Diagnostic Tool to Assess Semantic Processing Deficits: Application to Persons with Aphasia after Cerebrovascular Accident

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 359
Author(s):  
Katharina Hogrefe ◽  
Georg Goldenberg ◽  
Ralf Glindemann ◽  
Madleen Klonowski ◽  
Wolfram Ziegler
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Cerebrovascular Accident ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Verbal Abilities ◽  
Verbal Tasks ◽  
Alternative Means ◽  
The Relationship

Assessment of semantic processing capacities often relies on verbal tasks which are, however, sensitive to impairments at several language processing levels. Especially for persons with aphasia there is a strong need for a tool that measures semantic processing skills independent of verbal abilities. Furthermore, in order to assess a patient’s potential for using alternative means of communication in cases of severe aphasia, semantic processing should be assessed in different nonverbal conditions. The Nonverbal Semantics Test (NVST) is a tool that captures semantic processing capacities through three tasks—Semantic Sorting, Drawing, and Pantomime. The main aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between the NVST and measures of standard neurolinguistic assessment. Fifty-one persons with aphasia caused by left hemisphere brain damage were administered the NVST as well as the Aachen Aphasia Test (AAT). A principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted across all AAT and NVST subtests. The analysis resulted in a two-factor model that captured 69% of the variance of the original data, with all linguistic tasks loading high on one factor and the NVST subtests loading high on the other. These findings suggest that nonverbal tasks assessing semantic processing capacities should be administered alongside standard neurolinguistic aphasia tests.

scholarly journals Implicit Semantic Processing of Linguistic and Non-linguistic Stimuli in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emme O’Rourke ◽  
Emily L. Coderre
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Autistic Traits ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Adults With Autism ◽  
Priming Task ◽  
Adults With Asd

AbstractWhile many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience difficulties with language processing, non-linguistic semantic processing may be intact. We examined neural responses to an implicit semantic priming task by comparing N400 responses—an event-related potential related to semantic processing—in response to semantically related or unrelated pairs of words or pictures. Adults with ASD showed larger N400 responses than typically developing adults for pictures, but no group differences occurred for words. However, we also observed complex modulations of N400 amplitude by age and by level of autistic traits. These results offer important implications for how groups are delineated and compared in autism research.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document