scholarly journals Toward a speech-motor account of the effect of Age of Pacifier Withdrawal

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Barca
Keyword(s):  
Word Processing ◽  
Motor Program ◽  
Abstract Word ◽  
Speech Development ◽  
Proprioceptive Information ◽  
Speech Acquisition ◽  
Emotional Words ◽  
Abstract Stimuli ◽  
Effect Of Age ◽  
Speech Motor

Overusing the pacifier in infancy affects abstract word processing later in life. In previous studies, we showed that using the pacifier for more than 3 years of age affects the conceptual relations used to define the meaning of words at age 6. Similarly, in semantically categorizing a set of abstract, concrete and emotional words, 8-years old children who used the pacifier for a longer period were slower in processing abstract stimuli, but not concrete and emotional ones. Children of both studies have a typical development and no diagnosis of cognitive or linguistic disorders. Here, we propose an account of the effect of Age of Pacifier Withdrawal (APW) within the DIVA neurocomputational model of speech development and production (Guenther, F.H., & Vladusich, T. (2013). A Neural Theory of speech acquisition and production. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 25 (5), 408-422.). Using the pacifier for a longer period during social interaction might hinder proprioceptive information and speech-motor program (limiting the co-articulation of speech) as well as auditory input (as the child receives an inaccurate input of his/her own speech). We suggest that auditory speech representation might be worth exploring in children using the pacifier for more than three years of age.

scholarly journals Pacifier overuse interferes with children’s abstract word processing

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Barca ◽  
Claudia Mazzuca ◽  
Anna M. Borghi
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Abstract Word ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Emotional Words ◽  
Abstract Words ◽  
Perception Action

The prolonged use of an oral device affecting facial mimicry and the position of mouth muscles (i.e. the pacifier) during the acquisition of linguistic, emotional and cognitive abilities, could have an impact on children’s conceptual representation. Here we explore if the lasting effect of pacifier overuse affects categorization. Typically developing children aged 7-8 years performed a semantic categorization task (animal vs. non-animal), where non-animal stimuli were abstract, concrete and emotional words. The speed of response of children who overused the pacifier was modulated by the type of words they had to process, with slower response time for abstract words, followed by concrete and then emotional ones. The influence of the type of word was less marked for the other groups of children, and they overall presented a similar pattern. Markedly, this is the first evidence of a long-lasting interference effect of pacifier overuse on language processing. Its influence is specific for abstract words processing, suggesting that it preventing phonoarticulatory simulations at time of language acquisition influences representation of abstract concepts. Results support the view that abstract words are grounded both in perception-action and language.

Physiologic Studies Provide New Perspectives on Early Speech Development

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-36
Author(s):  
Erin M. Wilson ◽  
Ignatius S. B. Nip
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Motor Development ◽  
Motion Tracking ◽  
Speech Development ◽  
Speech Motor Control ◽  
Therapeutic Approaches ◽  
Facial Motion ◽  
Disordered Speech ◽  
Speech Motor ◽  
Physiologic Data

Abstract Although certain speech development milestones are readily observable, the developmental course of speech motor control is largely unknown. However, recent advances in facial motion tracking systems have been used to investigate articulator movements in children and the findings from these studies are being used to further our understanding of the physiologic basis of typical and disordered speech development. Physiologic work has revealed that the emergence of speech is highly dependent on the lack of flexibility in the early oromotor system. It also has been determined that the progression of speech motor development is non-linear, a finding that has motivated researchers to investigate how variables such as oromotor control, cognition, and linguistic factors affect speech development in the form of catalysts and constraints. Physiologic data are also being used to determine if non-speech oromotor behaviors play a role in the development of speech. This improved understanding of the physiology underlying speech, as well as the factors influencing its progression, helps inform our understanding of speech motor control in children with disordered speech and provide a framework for theory-driven therapeutic approaches to treatment.

scholarly journals Corroborating behavioral evidence for the interplay of representational richness and semantic control in semantic word processing

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Bechtold ◽  
Christian Bellebaum ◽  
Paul Hoffman ◽  
Marta Ghio
Keyword(s):  
Word Processing ◽  
Context Effects ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Abstract Word ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Healthy Adults ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Contextual Cues ◽  
Semantic Judgment ◽  
Behavioral Evidence

AbstractThis study aimed to replicate and validate concreteness and context effects on semantic word processing. In Experiment 1, we replicated the behavioral findings of Hoffman et al. (Cortex 63,250–266, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2014.09.001, 2015) by applying their cueing paradigm with their original stimuli translated into German. We found concreteness and contextual cues to facilitate word processing in a semantic judgment task with 55 healthy adults. The two factors interacted in their effect on reaction times: abstract word processing profited more strongly from a contextual cue, while the concrete words’ processing advantage was reduced but still present. For accuracy, the descriptive pattern of results suggested an interaction, which was, however, not significant. In Experiment 2, we reformulated the contextual cues to avoid repetition of the to-be-processed word. In 83 healthy adults, the same pattern of results emerged, further validating the findings. Our corroborating evidence supports theories integrating representational richness and semantic control mechanisms as complementary mechanisms in semantic word processing.

The effects of emotionality and lexical category on L2 word processing in different tasks: Evidence from late Chinese–English bilinguals

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110418
Author(s):  
Xiaogen Liao ◽  
Chuanbin Ni
Keyword(s):  
Stroop Task ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
English Word ◽  
Task Type ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Emotional Stroop ◽  
Emotional Words ◽  
Emotional Stroop Task ◽  
Lexical Categories

Although it has been well established that emotional content influences language comprehension, the effects of emotionality on L2 (second language: English) word processing require further clarification. Notably, most previous studies unsystematically mixed words of different lexical categories, although they often showed processing differences. Here, using the same set of tightly matched negative, positive, and neutral words across three lexical categories (i.e., nouns, verbs, adjectives), we examined the effects of emotionality and lexical category on L2 word processing by conducting three experiments. In these experiments, three groups of late Chinese–English bilinguals performed three tasks: the emotional Stroop task (Experiment 1), the lexical decision task (Experiment 2), and the emotional categorisation task (Experiment 3), respectively. Overall, our data suggested that emotionality and lexical category exerted no influence on L2 word processing in the emotional Stroop task, but acted interactively to influence it in the other two tasks. The results evidenced that the processing of L2 emotional words was sensitive to task type. Therefore, we conclude that future research on L2 word processing should fully consider the emotionality, lexical category, and task type.

scholarly journals Distinct developmental profiles in typical speech acquisition

2012 ◽  
Vol 107 (10) ◽  
pp. 2885-2900 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennell C. Vick ◽  
Thomas F. Campbell ◽  
Lawrence D. Shriberg ◽  
Jordan R. Green ◽  
Hervé Abdi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Development ◽  
Developmental Pathways ◽  
Subgroup Discovery ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Speech Acquisition ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Lower Lip ◽  
Syllable Duration ◽  
High Level ◽  
Syllable Stress

Three- to five-year-old children produce speech that is characterized by a high level of variability within and across individuals. This variability, which is manifest in speech movements, acoustics, and overt behaviors, can be input to subgroup discovery methods to identify cohesive subgroups of speakers or to reveal distinct developmental pathways or profiles. This investigation characterized three distinct groups of typically developing children and provided normative benchmarks for speech development. These speech development profiles, identified among 63 typically developing preschool-aged speakers (ages 36–59 mo), were derived from the children's performance on multiple measures. These profiles were obtained by submitting to a k-means cluster analysis of 72 measures that composed three levels of speech analysis: behavioral (e.g., task accuracy, percentage of consonants correct), acoustic (e.g., syllable duration, syllable stress), and kinematic (e.g., variability of movements of the upper lip, lower lip, and jaw). Two of the discovered group profiles were distinguished by measures of variability but not by phonemic accuracy; the third group of children was characterized by their relatively low phonemic accuracy but not by an increase in measures of variability. Analyses revealed that of the original 72 measures, 8 key measures were sufficient to best distinguish the 3 profile groups.

scholarly journals Learning to control an articulatory synthesizer by imitating real speech

2005 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 63-78
Author(s):  
Ian S. Howard ◽  
Mark A. Huckvale
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Control Level ◽  
Speech Development ◽  
Inverse Model ◽  
Control Parameters ◽  
Speech Acquisition ◽  
Phonological Structure ◽  
Random Manner ◽  
Motor Representations ◽  
Initial Results

The goal of our current project is to build a system that can learn to imitate a version of a spoken utterance using an articulatory speech synthesiser. The approach is informed and inspired by knowledge of early infant speech development. Thus we expect our system to reproduce and exploit the utility of infant behaviours such as listening, vocal play, babbling and word imitation. We expect our system to develop a relationship between the sound-making capabilities of its vocal tract and the phonetic/phonological structure of imitated utterances. At the heart of our approach is the learning of an inverse model that relates acoustic and motor representations of speech. The acoustic to auditory mappings uses an auditory filter bank and a self-organizing phase of learning. The inverse model from auditory to vocal tract control parameters is estimated using a babbling phase, in which the vocal tract is essentially driven in a random manner, much like the babbling phase of speech acquisition in infants. The complete system can be used to imitate simple utterances through a direct mapping from sound to control parameters. Our initial results show that this procedure works well for sounds generated by its own voice. Further work is needed to build a phonological control level and achieve better performance with real speech.  

A neurophonetic perspective on articulation planning

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfram Ziegler
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Speech Development ◽  
Word Production ◽  
Apraxia Of Speech ◽  
Clinical Model ◽  
Motor Processes ◽  
Speech Motor Learning ◽  
Speech Motor ◽  
Production Accuracy

This paper gives an overview of a model that predicts articulation ease for German phonological words on the basis of error data from patients with apraxia of speech (AOS). AOS is introduced as a clinical model of higher order motor processes for articulation. Word production accuracy in AOS is considered as a window into the structure of articulation plans as acquired through speech motor learning in childhood. The NLG model of apraxia of speech is explained. Applications in speech development and adult speech are outlined.

scholarly journals Modern Recognized Methods of Working with Non-Speaking Children of Early Age Internationally

2019 ◽  
Vol 70 ◽  
pp. 10008
Author(s):  
Elena Timofeeva ◽  
Ksenia Timofeeva
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Speech Development ◽  
Early Age ◽  
Speech Acquisition ◽  
Parent Child Relations ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Parent Child

This article deals with issues of organization and implementation of correctional care for young children with delayed speech development; we explore the key aspects of brain mechanisms which are fundamental to the child’s speech acquisition. Here we describe modern internationally recognized methods (Tomatis, Floortime, Theraplay) which can significantly increase the effectiveness of correctional and pedagogical work with non-speaking children. Substantial attention is paid to issues of parent-child relations.

Towards an Articulation-Based Developmental Robotics Approach for Word Processing in Face-to-Face Communication

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernd J. Kröger ◽  
Peter Birkholz ◽  
Christiane Neuschaefer-Rube
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Acquisition ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Current Literature ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Humanoid Robots ◽  
Developmental Robotics ◽  
Speech Acquisition ◽  
Body Movements ◽  
Basic Scenario ◽  
Face To Face

AbstractWhile we are capable of modeling the shape, e.g. face, arms, etc. of humanoid robots in a nearly natural or human-like way, it is much more difficult to generate human-like facial or body movements and human-like behavior like e.g. speaking and co-speech gesturing. In this paper it will be argued for a developmental robotics approach for learning to speak. On the basis of current literature a blueprint of a brain model will be outlined for this kind of robots and preliminary scenarios for knowledge acquisition will be described. Furthermore it will be illustrated that natural speech acquisition mainly results from learning during face-to-face communication and it will be argued that learning to speak should be based on human-robot face-to-face communication. Here the human acts like a caretaker or teacher and the robot acts like a speech-acquiring toddler. This is a fruitful basic scenario not only for learning to speak, but also for learning to communicate in general, including to produce co-verbal manual gestures and to produce co-verbal facial expressions.

scholarly journals Social and emotion dimensional organizations in the abstract semantic space: the neuropsychological evidence

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaosha Wang ◽  
Guochao Li ◽  
Gang Zhao ◽  
Yunqian Li ◽  
Bijun Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Semantic Space ◽  
Abstract Word ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Word Meanings ◽  
Neural Organization ◽  
Semantic Judgment ◽  
Neuropsychological Evidence

AbstractAn essential aspect of human cognition is supported by a rich reservoir of abstract concepts without tangible external referents (e.g., “honor”, “relationship”, “direction”). While decades of research showed that the neural organization of conceptual knowledge referring to concrete words respects domains of evolutionary salience and sensorimotor attributes, the organization principles of abstract word meanings are poorly understood. Here, we provide neuropsychological evidence for a domain (sociality) and attribute (emotion) structure in abstract word processing. Testing 34 brain-damaged patients on a word-semantic judgment task, we observed double dissociations between social and nonsocial words and a single dissociation of sparing of emotional (relative to non-emotional) words. The lesion profiles of patients with specific dissociations suggest potential neural correlates positively or negatively associated with each dimension. These results unravel a general domain-attribute architecture of word meanings and highlight the roles of the social domain and the emotional attribute in the non-object semantic space.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document