scholarly journals Improving the robustness of infant lexical processing speed measures

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 2188-2201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Egger ◽  
Caroline F. Rowland ◽  
Christina Bergmann

Abstract Visual reaction times to target pictures after naming events are an informative measurement in language acquisition research, because gaze shifts measured in looking-while-listening paradigms are an indicator of infants’ lexical speed of processing. This measure is very useful, as it can be applied from a young age onwards and has been linked to later language development. However, to obtain valid reaction times, the infant is required to switch the fixation of their eyes from a distractor to a target object. This means that usually at least half the trials have to be discarded—those where the participant is already fixating the target at the onset of the target word—so that no reaction time can be measured. With few trials, reliability suffers, which is especially problematic when studying individual differences. In order to solve this problem, we developed a gaze-triggered looking-while-listening paradigm. The trials do not differ from the original paradigm apart from the fact that the target object is chosen depending on the infant’s eye fixation before naming. The object the infant is looking at becomes the distractor and the other object is used as the target, requiring a fixation switch, and thus providing a reaction time. We tested our paradigm with forty-three 18-month-old infants, comparing the results to those from the original paradigm. The Gaze-triggered paradigm yielded more valid reaction time trials, as anticipated. The results of a ranked correlation between the conditions confirmed that the manipulated paradigm measures the same concept as the original paradigm.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Egger ◽  
Caroline F Rowland ◽  
Christina Bergmann

Visual reaction times to target pictures after naming events are an informative measurement in language acquisition research, because gaze shifts measured in looking-while-listening paradigms are an indicator of infants’ lexical speed of processing. This measure is very useful as it can be applied from a young age onwards and has been linked to later language development. However, to obtain valid reaction times, the infant is required to switch the fixation of their eyes from a distractor to a target object. This means that usually at least half the trials have to be discarded - those where the participant is already fixating the target at the onset of the target word - so that no reaction time can be measured. With few trials, reliability suffers, which is especially problematic when studying individual differences.In order to solve this problem, we developed a gaze-triggered looking-while-listening paradigm. The trials do not differ from the original paradigm apart from the fact that the target object is chosen depending on the infant’s eye fixation before naming. The object the infant is looking at becomes the distractor and the other object is used as the target, requiring a fixation switch, and thus providing a reaction time. We tested our paradigm with forty-three 18-month-old infants, comparing the results to those from the original paradigm. The gaze-triggered paradigm yielded more valid reaction time trials, as anticipated. The results of a ranked correlation between the conditions confirmed that the manipulated paradigm measures the same concept as the original paradigm.


Author(s):  
Drew McRacken ◽  
Maddie Dyson ◽  
Kevin Hu

Over the past few decades, there has been a significant number of reports that suggested that reaction times for different sensory modalities were different – e.g., that visual reaction time was slower than tactile reaction time. A recent report by Holden and colleagues stated that (1) there has been a significant historic upward drift in reaction times reported in the literature, (2) that this drift or degradation in reaction times could be accounted for by inaccuracies in the methods used and (3) that these inaccurate methods led to inaccurate reporting of differences between visual and tactile based reaction time testing.  The Holden study utilized robotics (i.e., no human factors) to test visual and tactile reaction time methods but did not assess how individuals would perform on different sensory modalities.  This study utilized three different sensory modalities: visual, auditory, and tactile, to test reaction time. By changing the way in which the subjects were prompted and measuring subsequent reaction time, the impact of sensory modality could be analyzed. Reaction time testing for two sensory modalities, auditory and visual, were administered through an Arduino Uno microcontroller device, while tactile-based reaction time testing was administered with the Brain Gauge. A range of stimulus intensities was delivered for the reaction times delivered by each sensory modality. The average reaction time and reaction time variability was assessed and a trend could be identified for the reaction time measurements of each of the sensory modalities. Switching the sensory modality did not result in a difference in reaction time and it was concluded that this was due to the implementation of accurate circuitry used to deliver each test. Increasing stimulus intensity for each sensory modality resulted in faster reaction times. The results of this study confirm the findings of Holden and colleagues and contradict the results reported in countless studies that conclude that (1) reaction times are historically slower now than they were 50 years ago and (2) that there are differences in reaction times for different sensory modalities (vision, hearing, tactile). The implications of this are that utilization of accurate reaction time methods could have a significant impact on clinical outcomes and that many methods in current clinical use are basically perpetuating poor methods and wasting time and money of countless subjects or patients.


2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 596-600
Author(s):  
Varun Malhotra ◽  
Neera Goel ◽  
Usha Dhar ◽  
Rinku Garg ◽  
Yogish Tripathi

Background: Every activity requires a certain amount of concentration and no effective action may be performed without deep concentration. Businessman or artists or students in school must know the art of focusing all powers of attention on a single point in order to succeed in their respective vocation.Methods: We wanted to find the best technique to increase the concentration scientifically. We thus, endeavored to study and compare the reaction times in maneuvers of anuloma viloma pranayama, kapalbhatti pranayama, gayatri chanting and exercise. Reaction time test was taken online before anuloma viloma pranayama, kapalbhatti pranayama, gayatri chanting and exercise and compared after.Results: Reaction times decreased significantly and was least during gayatri mantra. Concentration as seen by a decrease in visual reaction time denotes first a withdrawal of attention from objects of distraction and then focusing all attention upon one thing at a time. Just 30 minutes of physical activity each day offers substantial benefits to your health.Conclusions: Pranayama or devotional music chanting also decreases fatigue keeps the mind alert, and active.Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.15(4) 2016 p.596-600


1968 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 447-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter A. Busby ◽  
Donald E. Hurd

To determine the relationship between reading achievement and the reaction time of an individual responding to auditory and visual stimuli present in his perceptual field Ss were selected at random from Grades 2, 4 and 6. S lifted his finger from a key as rapidly as possible at the onset of any one of four stimuli (red or green light, high or low tone). Shifting reaction time was not independent of reaction time in either the auditory or visual channel. Hence, the possibility that relative perceptual difficulties could exist in shifting behavior while no defect existed in either single channel was not supported. Perception defined as the reaction time of an individual responding to auditory and visual stimuli was not significantly related to reading achievement.


1979 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armand V. Cardello

An experiment was conducted to compare visual reaction time and visual brightness within the same subjects. Simple reaction times and magnitude estimates of brightness were obtained in response to 1000-msec. flashes of 60.7, 67.5, 76.4, 85.1, and 93.4 dB re 10−10L white light. The relationship between reaction time and stimulus intensity was best described by a negative logarithmic function, while the relationship between magnitude estimates of brightness and stimulus intensity was best described by a power function. Linear correlations between reaction times and magnitude estimates indicated that visual reaction time and brightness are not proportional within all subjects. Previous reports of proportionality between these two measures were discussed as possibly being the result of inappropriate cross-experiment comparisons.


1995 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 739-745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nobuyuki Inui ◽  
Masah Yamanishi ◽  
Shinji Tada

The purpose of this study was to examine the serial information processing in adolescents with mental retardation, autism, and Down syndrome by using a serially patterned tracking task. Analyses indicated that 7 adolescents with mental retardation, 8 with autism, and 3 with Down syndrome had significantly slower and more variable simple reaction times than did 10 college students. Also, the autistic adolescents had significantly faster mean simple reaction time than those with Down syndrome. On a task of tracking serial light stimulation, mentally retarded adolescents had significantly faster reaction time than college students. The autistic subjects excessively had faster anticipatory reaction times than did the subjects in the other three groups. On the other hand, adolescents with Down syndrome had markedly slower and more variable reaction times than did adolescents with non-Down-syndrome mental retardation. As for motor organization of keystrokes on the tracking task, mentally retarded adolescents responded with six movements, in which these individuals pressed a series of keys 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, as a chunk, as exhibited by college students. Adolescents with autism and Down syndrome, however, did not produce this movement-output chunking.


1992 ◽  
Vol 160 (5) ◽  
pp. 647-653 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. King ◽  
Geraldine Henry

The effects of haloperidol (1 mg), benzhexol (5 mg), diazepam (10 mg) and caffeine (400 mg) on subjective and objective measures of cognitive and psychomotor function were compared with placebo in 20 healthy volunteers. While both diazepam and benzhexol were associated with highly significant impairments in subjective alertness, critical flicker fusion threshold and choice reaction time (CRT), haloperidol could not be distinguished from placebo in most tests but was actually associated with an apparent improvement in CRT (in males) and simple visual reaction time. The perceptual maze test detected impairment by benzhexol on processing speed but was not sensitive to any other drug effects. Multiple-dose studies are required to establish if there is a true activating effect of haloperidol using a test of sustained attention. No effect of Eysenck personality subtype or life events on baseline or drug response data was detected.


1973 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Spring ◽  
Lawrence Greenberg ◽  
Jimmy Scott ◽  
John Hopwood

In Exp. I, 22 poor readers and 22 normal readers of elementary-school age were matched on age, IQ, and sex and tested with a visual reaction-time task requiring same-different judgments. On initial trials poor readers were slower than normal readers. In addition, the performance of poor readers deteriorated faster than that of normal readers as testing progressed. In Exp. II, 20 hyperactive boys taking methylphenidate medication, 19 hyperactive boys whose medication was temporarily discontinued, and 19 normal boys were tested. Reaction time on early trials was not significantly different for boys in the on-medication and off-medication groups; however, both hyperactive groups were slower than the normal group. As testing progressed, reaction times of normal boys and boys taking medication remained fairly stable, while the performance of hyperactive boys not taking medication declined. The significance of these results to reading and spelling is discussed.


Author(s):  
Helena Pardina Torner ◽  
Xavier Carbonell ◽  
Marcos Castejón

Speed is an essential cognitive skill in our day to day life, as such, it has been extensively studied. The uncertainty of whether the processing speed can be increased with appropriate training-within one individual, across a range of tasks, and without compromising accuracy- remains to this day. The aim of the present study was to analyse the processing speed of video game players and compare it to non-video game players to see if there are any significant differences between these two groups. To this end, a questionnaire on gaming habits and sociodemographic data, and two tests that evaluate the processing speed were administered to a sample of 50 university students from different degrees. The scores were then compared and, taking into account the possible errors, results showed that video game players have a shorter reaction time than non-video game players and that neither of the groups made more mistakes than the other.


2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
António VencesBrito ◽  
Carlos Silva ◽  
Luis Cid ◽  
Dora Ferreira ◽  
Ana Marques

The aim of this study is to analyze the attention capacity and the reaction time in Portuguese karate Shotokan athletes. Participated 96 Shotokan athletes from the Portuguese Karate Association. We physically characterized the sample (weight, height, body mass index, and body fat mass percentage) and evaluated Simple Reaction Time (TRS), Choice Reaction Time (TRE), Decision Time (TD) and the Distributed Attention (AD). Data was analyzed according to athletes’ group age (15 to 19 yr, 20 to 35 yr and more than 35 yr), level of graduation (9<sup>th</sup> to 4<sup>th</sup> kyu, 3<sup>rd</sup> to 1<sup>st</sup> kyu, DAN) and by gender (male and female). Male athletes present significant differences from female athletes in height, weight, years of practice and body fat mass. In relation to TRS all groups tend to a value near to 300 ms without significant differences among them, but the TRE and the TD are significantly higher in the Dan athletes and in the +35 yrs athletes than in the other groups. On the other hand the Dan and +35 yrs athletes tend to do less mistakes. Gender does not influence significantly the reaction time in the Shotokan karate athletes, but it seems that women tend to have smaller reaction times than men. Athletes with more years of practice and more graduation need more time to reply to the stimulus than the other athletes, but they tend to do fewer mistakes on their choices than other subjects. As for distributed attention, no significant differences were found in function of the athlete graduation, nor in function of gender. However, for distributed attention, we found statistical significant differences in function of the age, with the oldest athletes presenting lower levels of distributed attention. Our results seem to show that is necessary to do some modifications in the training process of Portuguese Shotokan karate athletes.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document