The Impact of Phonological and Orthographic Processing on Reading Speed in Russian-Speaking Children

Phonological and orthographic processing are reported to be among the strongest predictors of reading development across different Indo-European languages. The relative impact of these factors can be modulated by cross-linguistic script and orthographic differences, as evidenced by many studies in European languages. The present study investigates the effect of phonological and orthographic processing on reading speed in 6- to 12-year-old (1 – 5 grades) Russian-speaking children (N = 117), taking into account age as a factor as well. Phonological and orthographic processing were assessed with behavioral tests. The results revealed that both skills predict reading speed in Russian. Moreover, the age of young readers can also be a non-linguistic predictor of reading speed in Russian, especially in children between 6 and 10 years old. Children aged 10 to 12 also demonstrated some variability in reading speed, although an increase in reading speed was no longer observed.

Storytelling in speakers with and without brain damage: A macrolinguistic approach

Narrative discourse is investigated in clinical and healthy populations. This study explored the discourse strategies used to tell stories, comparing the patterns of people with left- and right-hemisphere brain damage, as well as healthy speakers. We analyzed picture-elicited discourses by four people with aphasia, two people with right hemisphere damage, and four healthy speakers. We examined their microlinguistic properties, as well as macrolinguistic features, such as the discourse production type of utterances and patterns of story component usage. We identified two storytelling strategies used by the speakers: a narrative strategy marked by a prevalence of narrative discourse production type utterances and scarce use of evaluation clauses, and a quasi-narrative strategy with the opposite pattern. These strategies were used by both healthy speakers and participants with brain damage

Explanations of an Unfamiliar Phenomenon Based on Categorical Names and Metaphors

A study by Giffin and colleagues (2017) found the effect of a verbal label on the explanation of an unfamiliar phenomenon: when a name is used, people's judgments are more likely to express the belief that the phenomenon has an objective cause. This effect was demonstrated in behavior descriptions of a mental disorder that was either labeled with the fictional name “depataphy” or left unlabeled. In the present study, we replicated this effect (N = 110) and added new conditions in order to assess whether another linguistic form, a metaphor, could cause the same effect. A separate group (N = 119) evaluated two conditions wherein, instead of a verbal label, we informed participants that the internal state of the person behaving abnormally can be compared to some other event (e.g., a fire). One condition (the so-called nonconventional metaphor) emphasized that this comparison is made by the character of the story himself, and the second condition emphasized other people with a similar behavioral disorder (the so-called conventional metaphor). According to our hypothesis, only the conventional metaphor could affect the formation of explanations, because the conventionality would give the metaphor the status of a category name. The hypothesis was partially confirmed: in the condition with a nonconventional metaphor no significant effect was found, and in the condition with a conventional metaphor it was found in the answers to only one question. The results of the study are generally consistent with the interpretation by Giffin and colleagues that judgments are primarily influenced by a category label rather than other linguistic forms.

Effect of Speaker’s Fatigue on Features of Spoken Discourse

In clinical linguistics, spoken discourse analysis is a crucial part of diagnostics as well as fundamental research of speech produced by people with various language impairments. The most common features for assessment are speech fluency, speech failures, errors, and syntactic complexity measures. However, several studies have shown that some of these parameters can be affected by fatigue or physical stress. Our study on narrative and procedural spoken discourse by healthy speakers with different levels of fatigue has shown a significant effect of fatigue level on speech tempo, and the elicitation task significantly affected multiple characteristics of spoken discourse

Transcranial magnetic stimulation in cognitive neuroscience: Methodological basis and safety

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is an intensively developing method of non-invasive brain stimulation. TMS is widely used in cognitive neuroscience to study the causal role of various cortical areas in visual perception, memory, attention, speech, and other cognitive functions. The article discusses the general principles and main directions of TMS applications in cognitive research as well as the modern aspects of using online TMS protocols for the creation of a temporary “virtual lesion”, functional brain mapping, and chronometric studies. Possible applications of offline TMS protocols for long-term modulation of the stimulated cortical area activity are also discussed. Methodological features of TMS studies, including targeting methods, as well as the frequency and intensity of stimulation, are highlighted. The article also describes the possibilities of combining TMS with other methods. Finally, the safety aspects of TMS in healthy subjects in the context of cognitive studies are discussed

No Association Between Structural Properties of Corpus Callosum and Handedness: Evidence from the Constrained Spherical Deconvolution Approach

Handedness is the most prominent trait of functional asymmetry in humans, associated with lateralized cognitive functions and considered in relation to mental disorders. However, the neuroanatomical correlates of handedness are still unclear. It has been hypothesized that the structural properties of sub-regions of the corpus callosum (CC) are linked to handedness. Nevertheless, tractography studies of the relation between directly measured structural properties of CC subregions and handedness are lacking. The Constrained Spherical Deconvolution (CSD) approach enables full reconstruction of the sub-regions of the CC. The current study aimed to investigate the relation between the structural properties of the CC, such as volume and the CSD metric, referred to as hindrance modulated orientational anisotropy (HMOA), and handedness. Handedness was considered in two dimensions: direction (right-handed, ambidextrous, left-handed) and degree (the absolute values of Handedness quotient). We found no association between 1) volume or HMOA as a proxy of microstructural properties, namely the axonal diameter and fiber dispersion, of each sub-region and 2) either the direction or the degree of handedness. These findings suggest the absence of a direct relation between sub-regions of the CC and handedness, demonstrating the necessity of future tractography studies.

Ensemble Perception: A Review of the Field

Ensemble perception refers to the ability of an observer to precisely estimate summary statistics of multiple objects (average, range, numerosity, etc.) at a glance. This article reviews the properties and research methodology of ensemble perception. Further, we consider the theoretical debate around mechanisms of information sampling and summary statistics calculation. One theory suggests a coarse, parallel and exhaustive mechanism, whereas another theory assumes high-precision processing of a small subsample of items to accomplish proxy statistics for the entire ensemble. We describe the evolving view of the internal ensemble representation that initially was viewed as a single magnitude (e.g., average) but later thought of as the entire feature distribution of all items. We also discuss the role of ensemble representations in various perceptual tasks. Finally, we describe potential neural correlates and neurally plausible models of ensemble perception.

Adaptation of the Aphasia Bedside Check for Russian

The Aphasia Bedside Check for Russian (ABC-Ru) is a screening test that allows the medical staff of a neurological ward to detect speech/language disorders in the first days post-stroke onset. To evaluate whether this test follows modern psychometric standards, we performed two studies. In Study 1, we reported the results of the standardization of the ABC-Ru in a clinical group of people with chronic speech/language disorders (N = 80) and a cohort of neurologically healthy individuals (N = 120). In Study 2, we validated the results in a group of people in the acute post-stroke period (N = 20) with and without speech/language disorders. According to the results of the study, the ABC-Ru can be considered as a valid instrument and can potentially be used in neurological departments for the screening of speech and language disorders

Intuitive Feeling of Closeness to Solution Preceding Insight in Anagram Tasks

One of the main research questions related to creativity is the dilemma of specificity vs. non-specificity of the mechanisms underlying insight solutions as compared to analytical solutions of a problem. The first goal of our study was to verify insight solution specificity on solving anagram tasks. The second goal was to test a hypothesis about the existence of unconscious processing prior to insight solutions. We presented two types of stimuli to participants: anagrams and pseudowords. During the experiment, participants had to perform two successive tasks. First they had to judge whether they were being shown an anagram or a pseudoword, and then they had to solve the anagram. Anagrams and pseudowords differed in some visual features, of which the participants were not aware. It was expected that unconscious processing (if it exists) would be influenced by the implicit difference between the appearance of stimulus categories. During the solving process, participants had to rate how close they were to a solution. After a successful solution, they also had to indicate which way they found it: analytically or with insight. Our results showed that prior to an insight solution, participants felt that they were farther from the final solution than in the case of an analytical solution. These results confirm Metcalfe and Wiebe’s (1987) conclusions on the difference between insight and analytical solutions. According to these data, we can propose different specific mechanisms for insight solutions and analytical solutions in anagram tasks. At the same time, the presence of visual differences between stimulus categories did not influence the anagram solving process. The current results did not show evidence for an important role of unconscious processing before insight solutions of anagrams

Semantic Conflict and Response Conflict in the Stroop Task

The most common ways researchers explain the Stroop effect are either through semantic or through response conflict. According to the literature, there are several methods capable of disentangling these conflicts: to use words outside of the response set, to use associatively related colors and words, or to use a “2:1” paradigm (requiring the same response for two types of stimuli). However, we believe that these methods cannot entirely differentiate semantic and response conflicts. We propose the following alternative method: when naming the color of a printed word (e.g., red, yellow, etc.) in the Stroop test, participants were asked to use different color names for some colors. For example, the red-colored stimuli had to be named by the word “yellow”. This approach allowed us to create semantically congruent stimuli, but with the conflict at the response level (the word red appears in red, but the participants have to say “yellow” because of the rule). Some stimuli remain congruent at the response level, but with the conflict at the semantic level (the word yellow appears in red, and the participants have to say “yellow” because of the rule). The results showed that semantically congruent stimuli do not produce the Stroop effect even if the meaning of the word corresponds to an incorrect response. In turn, congruence at the response level reduces the interference effect, but interference remains significant. Thus, the response conflict affects the magnitude of the Stroop effect only when there is a semantic conflict. Our data do not correspond to models that assume direct activation of responses corresponding to word meaning