Relationship between objective measures of hearing discrimination elicited by non-linguistic stimuli and speech perception in adults

Some people using hearing aids have difficulty discriminating between sounds even though the sounds are audible. As such, cochlear implants may provide greater benefits for speech perception. One method to identify people with auditory discrimination deficits is to measure discrimination thresholds using spectral ripple noise (SRN). Previous studies have shown that behavioral discrimination of SRN was associated with speech perception, and behavioral discrimination was also related to cortical responses to acoustic change or ACCs. We hypothesized that cortical ACCs could be directly related to speech perception. In this study, we investigated the relationship between subjective speech perception and objective ACC responses measured using SRNs. We tested 13 normal-hearing and 10 hearing-impaired adults using hearing aids. Our results showed that behavioral SRN discrimination was correlated with speech perception in quiet and in noise. Furthermore, cortical ACC responses to phase changes in the SRN were significantly correlated with speech perception. Audibility was a major predictor of discrimination and speech perception, but direct measures of auditory discrimination could contribute information about a listener’s sensitivity to acoustic cues that underpin speech perception. The findings lend support for potential application of measuring ACC responses to SRNs for identifying people who may benefit from cochlear implants.

PERILAKU DISKRIMINASI MASYARAKAT INDONESIA DI BIDANG HUKUM DALAM NOVEL API TAUHID KARYA HABIBURRAHMAN EL-SHIRAZY (ANALISIS DEKONSTRUKSI)

The aim of study to express discrimination behavioral Indonesian people in law. The research to explain kinds of discrimination behavioral occure in Indonesia. Excerpt in Api Tauhid novel which contain behavioral discrimination is reseach of data. Data is gathered by using dokumentasion, observation, and written method. In the research, the theory is dekonstruksion. The theory of dekonstrustion to use explain kinds of behavioral discrimination in Indonesia with base of excerpt in novel. The result of research in novel is gathered discrimination behavioral to Badiuzzaman Said Nursi character. The kind of discrimination behavioral is authoritative government. Kinds of discrimination behavioral Indonesia people is self law, authoritative government, and bribe to government.

Research on Behavioral Discrimination of Nicotine May Inform FDA Policy on Setting a Maximum Nicotine Content in Cigarettes

Introduction The Food and Drug Administration may set a maximum nicotine content in cigarettes to minimize smoking’s addictiveness. Our recent research may indirectly support setting levels applicable to the population of dependent smokers below 1 mg/g (mg nicotine/g of tobacco filler). Methods Using a within-subjects design in laboratory-based studies totaling 61 nontreatment seeking adult dependent smokers, Spectrum research cigarettes with nicotine contents ranging from 1.3 to 17 mg/g (just one per session) were compared with the lowest content available, 0.4 mg/g. Identified for each participant was the smallest difference in nicotine content, or “threshold,” between cigarettes that still supported behavioral discrimination (ie, ability to objectively distinguish their difference). The next lower nicotine content cigarette, not discriminated (by definition), was labeled their “subthreshold.” Subjective perceptions and choice behavior were also assessed. Results Thresholds varied widely among all 61 smokers but, importantly, fewer than 7% of smokers could discriminate the two lowest, 1.3 versus 0.4 mg/g nicotine, meaning more than 90% could not do so. Moreover, we found a consistent association between their nicotine discrimination threshold and their subjective perceptions and subsequent reinforcement behavior later in the session. Specifically, a participant’s discrimination threshold cigarette was also more highly rated and preferred (ie, self-administered), whereas their subthreshold cigarette was rated similarly to the 0.4 mg/g and not preferred. Conclusions Cigarette nicotine content below the threshold for perceiving nicotine’s effects (ie, its discriminability) in nearly all smokers from a no nicotine comparison is likely below 1.0 mg/g, or less than or equal to 10% of that in typical commercial cigarettes. Implications Cigarettes with nicotine contents able to be discriminated (threshold) are also reinforcing, and those unable to be discriminated are not reinforcing, as anticipated. Yet, research explicitly comparing cigarettes with contents below 1.0 mg/g versus no nicotine (ie, a “placebo”) is needed with larger samples. Results may confirm what nicotine content lower than 1.0 mg/g is below the threshold for discrimination (and self-administration) in the vast majority (>95%) of adult dependent smokers as well as teens beginning to smoke. Identifying that content would strongly support the Food and Drug Administration policy to establish a maximum nicotine content in cigarettes that will not maintain dependence.

T1R2+T1R3-independent chemosensory inputs contributing to behavioral discrimination of sugars in mice

Simple sugars are thought to elicit a unitary sensation, principally via the “sweet” taste receptor type 1 taste receptor (T1R)2+T1R3, yet we previously found that rats with experience consuming two metabolically distinct sugars, glucose and fructose, subsequently licked more for glucose than fructose, even when postingestive influences were abated. The results pointed to the existence of an orosensory receptor that binds one sugar but not the other and whose signal is channeled into neural circuits that motivate ingestion. Here we sought to determine the chemosensory nature of this signal. First, we assessed whether T1R2 and/or T1R3 are necessary to acquire this behavioral discrimination, replicating our rat study in T1R2+T1R3 double-knockout (KO) mice and their wild-type counterparts as well as in two common mouse strains that vary in their sensitivity to sweeteners [C57BL/6 (B6) and 129X1/SvJ (129)]. These studies showed that extensive exposure to multiple concentrations of glucose and fructose in daily one-bottle 30-min sessions enhanced lick responses for glucose over fructose in brief-access tests. This was true even for KO mice that lacked the canonical “sweet” taste receptor. Surgical disconnection of olfactory inputs to the forebrain (bulbotomy) in B6 mice severely disrupted the ability to express this experience-dependent sugar discrimination. Importantly, these bulbotomized B6 mice exhibited severely blunted responsiveness to both sugars relative to water in brief-access lick tests, despite the fact that they have intact T1R2+T1R3 receptors. The results highlight the importance of other sources of chemosensory and postingestive inputs in shaping and maintaining “hardwired” responses to sugar.