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Brain and Cognition Mar 2023The current study examined the relationship between gray matter volume (GMV) and rate of word generation over the course of three consecutive 20-sec intervals in 60-sec...
The current study examined the relationship between gray matter volume (GMV) and rate of word generation over the course of three consecutive 20-sec intervals in 60-sec letter and category verbal fluency (VF) tasks. Attenuated rate of within-person word generation in VF provides incremental information beyond total scores and predicts increased risk of incident Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). No studies to date, however, have determined the structural neural substrates underlying word generation rate in VF. Participants were 70 community-residing adults ≥ 65 years, who completed the letter and category VF tasks and a 3 T structural MRI scan. Linear mixed effects models (LMEMs) were used to determine the moderating effect of GMV on word generation rate. Whole brain voxel-wise LMEMs, adjusted for age, gender, education, Wide-Range Achievement Test - reading subtest score (WRAT3), and global health score, were run using permutation methods to correct for multiple comparisons. Lower GMV, primarily in frontal regions (superior frontal, rostral middle frontal, frontal pole, medial orbitofrontal, and pars orbitalis), were related to attenuated word generation rate, especially for letter VF. We propose that lower frontal GMV underlies inefficient executive word search processes reflected by attenuated word generation slope in letter VF amongst older adults.
Topics: Humans; Aged; Gray Matter; Verbal Behavior; Brain; Cerebral Cortex; Task Performance and Analysis; Neuropsychological Tests
PubMed: 36868129
DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2023.105960 -
Acta Psychologica Oct 2022Research on the interrelation between language and other components of cognition makes frequent use of verbal interference paradigms. In this, participants are engaged...
Research on the interrelation between language and other components of cognition makes frequent use of verbal interference paradigms. In this, participants are engaged in a primary nonverbal task, while simultaneously repeating non-sense syllables from memory or playback to occupy their articulatory buffer, which is assumed to block internal language use. However, language production involves different subprocesses and levels of representation, and no previous study has explicitly investigated which of these are affected by an occupied articulatory buffer. Thus, the current study addresses the question whether an occupied articulatory buffer significantly interferes with conceptualization. In Experiment 1, speakers name simple objects as fast and as accurately as they can under three conditions. In an interference condition, the verbalization task runs in parallel to a secondary, syllable memorization/recall task, which was expected to induce a situation in which the articulatory buffer temporarily holds phonological information while speakers engage in conceptualization. The articulatory buffer was not occupied in two control conditions. In Experiment 2, speakers performed a similar but more complex task. They verbally responded to visual depictions of actions, again under an interference condition and two control conditions. Results obtained in both experiments suggested no interference. Taken together, the findings suggest that an occupied articulatory buffer does not significantly affect conceptualization.
Topics: Humans; Verbal Behavior; Mental Recall; Cognition; Linguistics
PubMed: 36257102
DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103774 -
American Journal of Speech-language... Aug 2015In this observational study, we examined the interactions of 16 young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their parents to investigate (a) differences in... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
PURPOSE
In this observational study, we examined the interactions of 16 young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their parents to investigate (a) differences in verbal responsiveness used by fathers and mothers in interactions with their children with ASD and (b) concurrent associations between the language skills of children with ASD and the verbal responsiveness of both fathers and mothers.
METHOD
Parent verbal responsiveness was coded from video recordings of naturalistic parent-child play sessions using interval-based coding. Child language skills were measured by the Preschool Language Scale-Fourth Edition (Zimmerman, Steiner, & Pond, 2002).
RESULTS
For both fathers and mothers, parent verbal responsiveness was positively associated with child language skills. Mothers' responsiveness was also significantly associated with child cognition. After controlling for child cognition, fathers' verbal responsiveness continued to be significantly related to child language skills.
CONCLUSIONS
Although other studies have documented associations between mothers' responsiveness and child language, this is the 1st study to document a significant concurrent association between child language skills of children with ASD and the verbal responsiveness of fathers. Findings of this study warrant the inclusion of fathers in future research on language development and intervention to better understand the potential contributions fathers may make to language growth for children with ASD over time as well as to determine whether coaching fathers to use responsive verbal strategies can improve language outcomes for children with ASD.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Child, Preschool; Communication; Female; Humans; Language Development Disorders; Male; Maternal Behavior; Middle Aged; Parent-Child Relations; Paternal Behavior; Play and Playthings; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 25836377
DOI: 10.1044/2015_AJSLP-13-0138 -
Behavior Genetics Mar 2021Despite the relevance of semantic fluency measures to risk for dementia and psychiatric disorders, little is known about their genetic and environmental architecture in...
Despite the relevance of semantic fluency measures to risk for dementia and psychiatric disorders, little is known about their genetic and environmental architecture in mid-to-late life. Participants represent 21,684 middle-aged and older adult twins (M = 60.84 years, SD = 11.21; Range 40-89) from six studies from three countries participating in the Interplay of Genes and Environment across Multiple Studies (IGEMS) consortium. All completed the same measure of semantic fluency (naming animals in 60 seconds). Results revealed small-to-moderate phenotypic associations with age and education, with education more strongly and positively associated with fluency performance in females than males. Heritability and environmental influences did not vary by age. Environmental variance was smaller with higher levels of education, but this effect was observed only in males. This is the largest study to examine the genetic and environmental architecture of semantic fluency, and the first to demonstrate that environmental influences vary based on levels of education.
Topics: Aged; Aging; Australia; Cognition; Databases, Factual; Databases, Genetic; Denmark; Female; Gene-Environment Interaction; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Semantics; Speech; Twins; United States; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 33547998
DOI: 10.1007/s10519-021-10048-w -
Cognition Sep 2017Individual differences in children's math performance have been associated with math anxiety, attention problems, working memory (WM), and reading skills, but the...
Individual differences in children's math performance have been associated with math anxiety, attention problems, working memory (WM), and reading skills, but the mechanisms by which these factors jointly contribute to children's math achievement are unknown. Here, we use structural equation modeling to characterize the relation between these factors and their influence on non-verbal Numerical Operations (NO) and verbal Math Reasoning (MR) in 330 children (M=8.34years). Our findings indicate that WM plays a central role in both non-verbal NO and verbal MR, whereas math anxiety and reading comprehension have unique and more pronounced influences on MR, compared to NO. Our study elucidates how affective and cognitive factors distinctly influence non-verbal and verbal mathematical problem solving.
Topics: Affect; Attention; Child; Cognition; Female; Humans; Male; Mathematics; Memory, Short-Term; Problem Solving; Reading; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 28558312
DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.05.016 -
Journal of Physiotherapy Jul 2018
Topics: Humans; Physical Therapists; Professional Role; Professional-Patient Relations; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 29895417
DOI: 10.1016/j.jphys.2018.04.002 -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... Oct 2023Human cognition is underpinned by structured internal representations that encode relationships between entities in the world (cognitive maps). Clinical features of...
Human cognition is underpinned by structured internal representations that encode relationships between entities in the world (cognitive maps). Clinical features of schizophrenia-from thought disorder to delusions-are proposed to reflect disorganization in such conceptual representations. Schizophrenia is also linked to abnormalities in neural processes that support cognitive map representations, including hippocampal replay and high-frequency ripple oscillations. Here, we report a computational assay of semantically guided conceptual sampling and exploit this to test a hypothesis that people with schizophrenia (PScz) exhibit abnormalities in semantically guided cognition that relate to hippocampal replay and ripples. Fifty-two participants [26 PScz (13 unmedicated) and 26 age-, gender-, and intelligence quotient (IQ)-matched nonclinical controls] completed a category- and letter-verbal fluency task, followed by a magnetoencephalography (MEG) scan involving a separate sequence-learning task. We used a pretrained word embedding model of semantic similarity, coupled to a computational model of word selection, to quantify the degree to which each participant's verbal behavior was guided by semantic similarity. Using MEG, we indexed neural replay and ripple power in a post-task rest session. Across all participants, word selection was strongly influenced by semantic similarity. The strength of this influence showed sensitivity to task demands (category > letter fluency) and predicted performance. In line with our hypothesis, the influence of semantic similarity on behavior was reduced in schizophrenia relative to controls, predicted negative psychotic symptoms, and correlated with an MEG signature of hippocampal ripple power (but not replay). The findings bridge a gap between phenomenological and neurocomputational accounts of schizophrenia.
Topics: Humans; Schizophrenia; Semantics; Psychotic Disorders; Verbal Behavior; Learning
PubMed: 37816054
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2305290120 -
NeuroImage. Clinical 2018The Cognitive Avoidance Theory of Worry argues that worry is a cognitive strategy adopted to control the physiological arousal associated with anxiety. According to this...
BACKGROUND
The Cognitive Avoidance Theory of Worry argues that worry is a cognitive strategy adopted to control the physiological arousal associated with anxiety. According to this theory, pathological worry, as in Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), is verbal in nature, negative and abstract, rather than concrete. Neuroimaging studies link the expression of worry to characteristic modes of brain functional connectivity, especially in relation to the amygdala. However, the distinctive features of worry (verbal, abstract, negative), and their relationship to physiological arousal, have not so far been mapped to brain function.
METHODS
We addressed this omission by undertaking a resting-state functional magnetic resonance neuroimaging study of 19 patients with GAD and 21 controls, before and after induction of perseverative cognitions, while measuring emotional bodily arousal from heart rate (HR). Seed-based analyses quantified brain changes in whole brain functional connectivity from the amygdala.
RESULTS
In GAD, the induction increased negative thoughts and their verbal content. In line with predictions, the verbal expression of worry in GAD was associated with higher HR at baseline and attenuated HR increases after induction of perseverative cognitions. Within brain, the increased use of words during worry, and the associated dampening of HR after induction were mediated by the strength of functional connectivity between the amygdala and default mode network 'hubs' and the opercular cortex. The negative content of worry was further related to functional communication between amygdala and cingulo-opercular and temporal cortices.
CONCLUSIONS
Findings provide a neurobiological basis for the impact of verbal worry on HR in GAD.
Topics: Adult; Anxiety Disorders; Brain; Emotions; Female; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Oxygen; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Statistics, Nonparametric; Surveys and Questionnaires; Verbal Behavior; Vocabulary; Young Adult
PubMed: 29527493
DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2017.12.014 -
NeuroImage May 2017Humans rely on at least two modes of thought: verbal (inner speech) and visual (imagery). Are these modes independent, or does engaging in one entail engaging in the...
Humans rely on at least two modes of thought: verbal (inner speech) and visual (imagery). Are these modes independent, or does engaging in one entail engaging in the other? To address this question, we performed a behavioral and an fMRI study. In the behavioral experiment, participants received a prompt and were asked to either silently generate a sentence or create a visual image in their mind. They were then asked to judge the vividness of the resulting representation, and of the potentially accompanying representation in the other format. In the fMRI experiment, participants had to recall sentences or images (that they were familiarized with prior to the scanning session) given prompts, or read sentences and view images, in the control, perceptual, condition. An asymmetry was observed between inner speech and visual imagery. In particular, inner speech was engaged to a greater extent during verbal than visual thought, but visual imagery was engaged to a similar extent during both modes of thought. Thus, it appears that people generate more robust verbal representations during deliberate inner speech compared to when their intent is to visualize. However, they generate visual images regardless of whether their intent is to visualize or to think verbally. One possible interpretation of these results is that visual thinking is somehow primary, given the relatively late emergence of verbal abilities during human development and in the evolution of our species.
Topics: Adult; Brain; Brain Mapping; Female; Humans; Imagination; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Mental Recall; Thinking; Verbal Behavior; Visual Perception; Young Adult
PubMed: 28323162
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.03.029 -
CoDAS Aug 2017To compare the evolution of vocalization in preterm and full-term infants, with and without risk for development, analyzing the possible association of sociodemographic,... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
PURPOSE
To compare the evolution of vocalization in preterm and full-term infants, with and without risk for development, analyzing the possible association of sociodemographic, obstetric and psychosocial variables with vocalization.
METHODS
The study sample consisted of 30 infants, aged 3 months and 1 day to 4 months and 29 days (Phase 1) and 6 months and 1 day to 7 months and 29 days (Phase 2), of both genders, with gestational age <37 weeks (preterm group) and >37 weeks (full-term group). The following instruments were used for data collection: Child Development Risk Indicators (IRDl), the Denver II Test, an interview on the experience of motherhood with sociodemographic, obstetric and psychosocial data, as well as filming of the mother-infant dyad at the two phases of the research. Footage was analyzed using the EUDICO Linguistic Annotator (ELAN) software and the results were statistically analyzed on the STATISTICA 9.0 software.
RESULTS
The larger the total number of Phase II infants' and mothers' vocalizations using motherese, the greater the number of IRDls present. Significant increase in vocalizations without motherese was also observed in Phase 2. Sociodemographic variables, gestational age, weight at birth, maternal schooling, and the Brazil Criterion did not directly affect the infants' vocalization level.
CONCLUSION
Analysis of the infants' vocalizations was sensitive to risk development and Child Development Risk Indicators in Phase 1; the Denver-language test was more effective in Phase 2. No influence of the sociodemographic variables was observed in the phases studied.
Topics: Brazil; Child Language; Educational Status; Female; Gestational Age; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infant, Premature; Language Development Disorders; Male; Mother-Child Relations; Pregnancy; Risk Factors; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 28902228
DOI: 10.1590/2317-1782/20172016075