scholarly journals What Box: a task for assessing language lateralisation in young children

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas A Badcock ◽  
Rachael Spooner ◽  
Jessica Hofmann ◽  
Atlanta J Flitton ◽  
Scott Elliott ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Simple Procedure ◽  
Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound ◽  
Generation Task ◽  
Good Correspondence ◽  
Word Generation ◽  
Imaging Tool

The assessment of active language lateralisation in infants and toddlers is challenging. It requires an imaging tool that is unintimidating, quick to setup, and robust to movement, in addition to an engaging and cognitively simple procedure that elicits language processing. Functional Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound (fTCD) offers a suitable technique and here we report on a suitable method to elicit active language production in young children. The 34-second ‘What Box’ trial presents an animated face ‘searching’ for an object. The face ‘finds’ a box that opens to reveal an object, which may be labelled spontaneously, in response to a “What’s this?” prompt, or in response to the object label. What Box conducted with 95 children (1 to 5 years-of-age, completing a median of 7 trials), who were left-lateralised on average. The task was validated (ρ = 0.4) against the gold standard Word Generation task in a group of older adults (n = 65, 60 to 85 years-of-age, median of 24 trials). Existing methods for assessing lateralisation of active language production have been used with 4-year-old children while passive listening has been conducted with sleeping 6-month-olds. This is the first active method to be successfully employed with infants, toddlers, and pre-schoolers, and show good correspondence to Word Generation in older adults.

scholarly journals What Box: a task for assessing language lateralisation in young children

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas A Badcock ◽  
Rachael Spooner ◽  
Jessica Hofmann ◽  
Atlanta J Flitton ◽  
Scott Elliott ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Simple Procedure ◽  
Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound ◽  
Generation Task ◽  
Good Correspondence ◽  
Word Generation ◽  
Imaging Tool

The assessment of active language lateralisation in infants and toddlers is challenging. It requires an imaging tool that is unintimidating, quick to setup, and robust to movement, in addition to an engaging and cognitively simple procedure that elicits language processing. Functional Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound (fTCD) offers a suitable technique and here we report on a suitable method to elicit active language production in young children. The 34-second ‘What Box’ trial presents an animated face ‘searching’ for an object. The face ‘finds’ a box that opens to reveal an object, which may be labelled spontaneously, in response to a “What’s this?” prompt, or in response to the object label. What Box conducted with 95 children (1 to 5 years-of-age, completing a median of 7 trials), who were left-lateralised on average. The task was validated (ρ = 0.4) against the gold standard Word Generation task in a group of older adults (n = 65, 60 to 85 years-of-age, median of 24 trials). Existing methods for assessing lateralisation of active language production have been used with 4-year-old children while passive listening has been conducted with sleeping 6-month-olds. This is the first active method to be successfully employed with infants, toddlers, and pre-schoolers, and show good correspondence to Word Generation in older adults.

scholarly journals What Box: a task for assessing language lateralisation in young children

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas A Badcock ◽  
Rachael Spooner ◽  
Jessica Hofmann ◽  
Atlanta J Flitton ◽  
Scott Elliott ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Simple Procedure ◽  
Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound ◽  
Generation Task ◽  
Good Correspondence ◽  
Word Generation ◽  
Imaging Tool

The assessment of active language lateralisation in infants and toddlers is challenging. It requires an imaging tool that is unintimidating, quick to setup, and robust to movement, in addition to an engaging and cognitively simple procedure that elicits language processing. Functional Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound (fTCD) offers a suitable technique and here we report on a suitable method to elicit active language production in young children. The 34-second ‘What Box’ trial presents an animated face ‘searching’ for an object. The face ‘finds’ a box that opens to reveal an object, which may be labelled spontaneously, in response to a “What’s this?” prompt, or in response to the object label. What Box conducted with 95 children (1 to 5 years-of-age, completing a median of 7 trials), who were left-lateralised on average. The task was validated (ρ = 0.4) against the gold standard Word Generation task in a group of older adults (n = 65, 60 to 85 years-of-age, median of 24 trials). Existing methods for assessing lateralisation of active language production have been used with 4-year-old children while passive listening has been conducted with sleeping 6-month-olds. This is the first active method to be successfully employed with infants, toddlers, and pre-schoolers, and show good correspondence to Word Generation in older adults.

scholarly journals A novel tablet computer platform for advanced language mapping during awake craniotomy procedures

2016 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 938-944 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie A. Morrison ◽  
Fred Tam ◽  
Marco M. Garavaglia ◽  
Laleh Golestanirad ◽  
Gregory M. T. Hare ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Standardized Testing ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Awake Craniotomy ◽  
Language Mapping ◽  
Generation Task ◽  
Testing Platform ◽  
Word Generation ◽  
Intraoperative Mapping ◽  
Mapping Techniques ◽  
Written Word

A computerized platform has been developed to enhance behavioral testing during intraoperative language mapping in awake craniotomy procedures. The system is uniquely compatible with the environmental demands of both the operating room and preoperative functional MRI (fMRI), thus providing standardized testing toward improving spatial agreement between the 2 brain mapping techniques. Details of the platform architecture, its advantages over traditional testing methods, and its use for language mapping are described. Four illustrative cases demonstrate the efficacy of using the testing platform to administer sophisticated language paradigms, and the spatial agreement between intraoperative mapping and preoperative fMRI results. The testing platform substantially improved the ability of the surgeon to detect and characterize language deficits. Use of a written word generation task to assess language production helped confirm areas of speech apraxia and speech arrest that were inadequately characterized or missed with the use of traditional paradigms, respectively. Preoperative fMRI of the analogous writing task was also assistive, displaying excellent spatial agreement with intraoperative mapping in all 4 cases. Sole use of traditional testing paradigms can be limiting during awake craniotomy procedures. Comprehensive assessment of language function will require additional use of more sophisticated and ecologically valid testing paradigms. The platform presented here provides a means to do so.

scholarly journals Predicting the Semantic Category of Internally Generated Words from Neuromagnetic Recordings

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Simanova ◽  
Marcel A. J. van Gerven ◽  
Robert Oostenveld ◽  
Peter Hagoort
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Semantic Category ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Generation Task ◽  
Word Generation

In this study, we explore the possibility to predict the semantic category of words from brain signals in a free word generation task. Participants produced single words from different semantic categories in a modified semantic fluency task. A Bayesian logistic regression classifier was trained to predict the semantic category of words from single-trial MEG data. Significant classification accuracies were achieved using sensor-level MEG time series at the time interval of conceptual preparation. Semantic category prediction was also possible using source-reconstructed time series, based on minimum norm estimates of cortical activity. Brain regions that contributed most to classification on the source level were identified. These were the left inferior frontal gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, and left posterior middle temporal gyrus. Additionally, the temporal dynamics of brain activity underlying the semantic preparation during word generation was explored. These results provide important insights about central aspects of language production.

Interindividual Differences in Cognitive Functioning Are Associated with Autobiographical Memory Retrieval Specificity in Older Adults

GeroPsych ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Peters ◽  
Signy Sheldon
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Generation Task ◽  
Interindividual Differences ◽  
Retrieval Cues ◽  
Contextual Support

Abstract. We examined whether interindividual differences in cognitive functioning among older adults are related to episodic memory engagement during autobiographical memory retrieval. Older adults ( n = 49, 24 males; mean age = 69.93; mean education = 15.45) with different levels of cognitive functioning, estimated using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), retrieved multiple memories (generation task) and the details of a single memory (elaboration task) to cues representing thematic or event-specific autobiographical knowledge. We found that the MoCA score positively predicted the proportion of specific memories for generation and episodic details for elaboration, but only to cues that represented event-specific information. The results demonstrate that individuals with healthy, but not unhealthy, cognitive status can leverage contextual support from retrieval cues to improve autobiographical specificity.

Improved Framework using Rider Optimization Algorithm for Precise Image Caption Generation

2021 ◽  
pp. 2250021
Author(s):  
Chaitrali Prasanna Chaudhari ◽  
Satish Devane
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Optimization Algorithm ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Activation Function ◽  
Input Image ◽  
Image Captioning ◽  
Word Generation ◽  
Adopted Model ◽  
Conventional Models ◽  
Image Caption

“Image Captioning is the process of generating a textual description of an image”. It deploys both computer vision and natural language processing for caption generation. However, the majority of the image captioning systems offer unclear depictions regarding the objects like “man”, “woman”, “group of people”, “building”, etc. Hence, this paper intends to develop an intelligent-based image captioning model. The adopted model comprises of few steps like word generation, sentence formation, and caption generation. Initially, the input image is subjected to the Deep learning classifier called Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). Since the classifier is already trained in the relevant words that are related to all images, it can easily classify the associated words of the given image. Further, a set of sentences is formed with the generated words using Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) model. The likelihood of the formed sentences is computed using the Maximum Likelihood (ML) function, and the sentences with higher probability are taken, which is further used for generating the visual representation of the scene in terms of image caption. As a major novelty, this paper aims to enhance the performance of CNN by optimally tuning its weight and activation function. This paper introduces a new enhanced optimization algorithm Rider with Randomized Bypass and Over-taker update (RR-BOU) for this optimal selection. In the proposed RR-BOU is the enhanced version of the Rider Optimization Algorithm (ROA). Finally, the performance of the proposed captioning model is compared over other conventional models with respect to statistical analysis.

scholarly journals Measurement of language laterality using functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound: a comparison of different tasks

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoe V.J. Woodhead ◽  
Holly A. Rutherford ◽  
Dorothy V.M. Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Transcranial Doppler ◽  
Cerebral Arteries ◽  
Transcranial Doppler Sonography ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Generation Task ◽  
Good Reliability ◽  
Sentence Generation ◽  
Directional Bias ◽  
Word Generation ◽  
Language Laterality

Background: Relative blood flow in the two middle cerebral arteries can be measured using functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD) to give an index of lateralisation as participants perform a specific task. Language laterality has mostly been studied with fTCD using a word generation task, but it is not clear whether this is optimal. Methods: Using fTCD, we evaluated a sentence generation task that has shown good reliability and strong left lateralisation in fMRI. We interleaved trials of word generation, sentence generation and list generation and assessed agreement of these tasks in 31 participants (29 right-handers). Results: Although word generation and sentence generation both gave robust left-lateralisation, Bland-Altman analysis showed that these two methods were not equivalent. The comparison list generation task was not systematically lateralised, but nevertheless laterality indices (LIs) from this task were significantly correlated with the other two tasks. Subtracting list generation LI from sentence generation LI did not affect the strength of the laterality index. Conclusions: This was a pre-registered methodological study designed to explore novel approaches to optimising measurement of language lateralisation using fTCD. It confirmed that sentence generation gives robust left lateralisation in most people, but is not equivalent to the classic word generation task. Although list generation does not show left-lateralisation at the group level, the LI on this task was correlated with left-lateralised tasks. This suggests that word and sentence generation involve adding a constant directional bias to an underlying continuum of laterality that is reliable in individuals but not biased in either direction. In future research we suggest that consistency of laterality across tasks might have more functional significance than strength or direction of laterality on any one task.

scholarly journals Can Virtual Assistants Perform Cognitive Assessment in Older Adults? A Review

Medicina ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (12) ◽  
pp. 1310
Author(s):  
Carmen Moret-Tatay ◽  
Isabel Iborra-Marmolejo ◽  
María José Jorques-Infante ◽  
José Vicente Esteve-Rodrigo ◽  
Carla H. A. Schwanke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Cognitive Assessment ◽  
Chronic Conditions ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Screening Process ◽  
Digital Devices ◽  
The Given ◽  
Community Dwelling Older Adults

Community-dwelling older adults have raised the scientific community’s interest during the COVID-19 era as their chronic conditions might be aggravated by the consequences of confinement. Digital devices in this field to monitor cognitive impairment are an emerging reality of an innovative nature. However, some groups may not have benefited from these developments as much as, for example, younger people. The aim of this manuscript is to carry out a review on the development of digital devices, and specifically virtual assistants, for the detection of cognitive impairment in older adults. After a screening process, eight studies were found under the given criteria, and this number was even smaller for those using virtual assistants. Given the opportunities offered by virtual assistants through techniques such as natural language processing, it seems imperative to take advantage of this opportunity for groups such as older adults.

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