The Cognitive Mechanism and Neural Bases of Statistical Learning*

The premise of this article is that increased understanding of the brain bases for normal speech and voice behavior will provide a sound foundation for developing therapeutic approaches to establish or re-establish these functions. The neural substrates involved in speech/voice behaviors, the types of muscle patterning for speech and voice, the brain networks involved and their regulation, and how they can be externally modulated for improving function will be addressed.

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Rapid Serial Auditory Presentation

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000295 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 62 (5) ◽

pp. 346-351 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Ana Franco ◽

Julia Eberlen ◽

Arnaud Destrebecqz ◽

Axel Cleeremans ◽

Julie Bertels

Keyword(s):

Statistical Learning ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Visual Presentation ◽

Detection Task ◽

Speech Segmentation ◽

Auditory Presentation ◽

Indirect Measure ◽

Speech Stream ◽

Adult Participants ◽

Presentation Procedure

Abstract. The Rapid Serial Visual Presentation procedure is a method widely used in visual perception research. In this paper we propose an adaptation of this method which can be used with auditory material and enables assessment of statistical learning in speech segmentation. Adult participants were exposed to an artificial speech stream composed of statistically defined trisyllabic nonsense words. They were subsequently instructed to perform a detection task in a Rapid Serial Auditory Presentation (RSAP) stream in which they had to detect a syllable in a short speech stream. Results showed that reaction times varied as a function of the statistical predictability of the syllable: second and third syllables of each word were responded to faster than first syllables. This result suggests that the RSAP procedure provides a reliable and sensitive indirect measure of auditory statistical learning.

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Cognitive Load Mediates the Effect of Emotion on Analytical Thinking

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000333 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 63 (6) ◽

pp. 343-350 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Bastien Trémolière ◽

Marie-Ève Gagnon ◽

Isabelle Blanchette

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Load ◽

Secondary Task ◽

Deleterious Effect ◽

Detrimental Effect ◽

Emotional Problems ◽

Syllogistic Reasoning ◽

Cognitive Resources ◽

Potential Explanation ◽

Cognitive Mechanism ◽

Analytical Thinking

Abstract. Although the detrimental effect of emotion on reasoning has been evidenced many times, the cognitive mechanism underlying this effect remains unclear. In the present paper, we explore the cognitive load hypothesis as a potential explanation. In an experiment, participants solved syllogistic reasoning problems with either neutral or emotional contents. Participants were also presented with a secondary task, for which the difficult version requires the mobilization of cognitive resources to be correctly solved. Participants performed overall worse and took longer on emotional problems than on neutral problems. Performance on the secondary task, in the difficult version, was poorer when participants were reasoning about emotional, compared to neutral contents, consistent with the idea that processing emotion requires more cognitive resources. Taken together, the findings afford evidence that the deleterious effect of emotion on reasoning is mediated by cognitive load.

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