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CoDAS 2021The aim of this study is to analyze and compare the performance and strategies used by control subjects and patients with unilateral brain damage on phonemic and...
PURPOSE
The aim of this study is to analyze and compare the performance and strategies used by control subjects and patients with unilateral brain damage on phonemic and semantic Verbal Fluency tasks.
METHODS
The sample consisted of 104 participants divided into four groups (26 with left hemisphere damage and aphasia- LHDa, 28 with left hemisphere damage and no aphasia- LHDna, 25 with right hemisphere damage- RHD and 25 neurologically healthy control subjects). All participants were administered the phonemic ("M" letter-based) and semantic (animals) verbal fluency tasks from the Montreal-Toulouse Language Assessment Battery (MTL-BR).
RESULTS
Patients in the LHDa group showed the worst performance (fewer words produced, fewer clusters and switches) in both types of fluency task. RHD group showed fewer switching productions when compared with controls and LHDna had fewer words productions than controls in the first 30 seconds block.
CONCLUSION
Our findings suggest that the LHDa group obtained lower scores in most measures of SVF and PVF when compared to the other groups.
Topics: Animals; Aphasia; Brain; Brain Injuries; Cluster Analysis; Humans; Neuropsychological Tests; Semantics; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 34816946
DOI: 10.1590/2317-1782/20212020365 -
Neuropsychology Review Dec 2023Verbal fluency tests are easy and quick to use in neuropsychological assessments, so they have been counted among the most classical tools in this context. To date,... (Review)
Review
Verbal fluency tests are easy and quick to use in neuropsychological assessments, so they have been counted among the most classical tools in this context. To date, several normative data for verbal fluency tests have been provided in different languages and countries. A systematic review was carried out with studies that provide normative data for verbal fluency tests. Studies were collected from Scopus, PubMed and Web of Science. 183 studies were retrieved from the database search, of which 73 finally met the inclusion criteria. An analysis of the risk of bias regarding samples selection/characterization and procedure/results reports is conducted for each article. Finally, a full description of the normative data characteristics, considering country and language, verbal fluency task characteristics (type of task) and sample characteristics (number of subjects, gender, age, education) is included. The current systematic review provides an overview and analysis of internationally published normative data that might help clinicians in their search for valid and useful norms on verbal fluency tasks, as well as updated information about qualitative aspects of the different options currently available.
Topics: Humans; Verbal Behavior; Language; Neuropsychological Tests; Educational Status
PubMed: 36098929
DOI: 10.1007/s11065-022-09549-0 -
Journal of School Psychology Feb 2021This three-year longitudinal study examined both within- and between-person effects of moral disengagement on verbal bullying perpetration in early adolescence. Data...
This three-year longitudinal study examined both within- and between-person effects of moral disengagement on verbal bullying perpetration in early adolescence. Data came from the first four waves (T1-T4, Grades 4 to 7) of an ongoing longitudinal project examining social and moral correlates of bullying in Swedish schools. Participants included 2432 Swedish early adolescents (52% girls; M at T1 = 10.55 years). Students completed self-report measures of verbal bullying perpetration and moral disengagement. Results of a multilevel growth model showed that verbal bullying increased over time (regression coefficient for Grade was b = 0.04, SE = 0.01, p < .001). Additionally, the verbal bullying trajectories of participants with higher average levels of MD were higher (regression coefficient for MD¯ was b = 0.28, SE = 0.02, p < .001) and steeper (regression coefficient for the Grade ×MD¯ interaction was b = 0.02, SE = 0.01, p = .018), indicating that these students scored higher on verbal bullying in general and increased more in verbal bullying over time, compared to students with lower levels of average MD. Variations around one's own mean of MD over time was also significantly associated with concurrent changes in verbal bullying (regression coefficient for time-varying MD was b = 0.21, SE = 0.01, p < .001).
Topics: Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior; Bullying; Child; Female; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Morals; Multilevel Analysis; Psychological Theory; Self Report; Students; Sweden; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 33581771
DOI: 10.1016/j.jsp.2020.08.006 -
American Journal of Speech-language... Aug 2020Purpose Literature was reviewed on the development of vowels in children's speech and on vowel disorders in children and adults, with an emphasis on studies using... (Review)
Review
Purpose Literature was reviewed on the development of vowels in children's speech and on vowel disorders in children and adults, with an emphasis on studies using acoustic methods. Method Searches were conducted with PubMed/MEDLINE, Google Scholar, CINAHL, HighWire Press, and legacy sources in retrieved articles. The primary search items included, but were not limited to, vowels, vowel development, vowel disorders, vowel formants, vowel therapy, vowel inherent spectral change, speech rhythm, and prosody. Results/Discussion The main conclusions reached in this review are that vowels are (a) important to speech intelligibility; (b) intrinsically dynamic; (c) refined in both perceptual and productive aspects beyond the age typically given for their phonetic mastery; (d) produced to compensate for articulatory and auditory perturbations; (e) influenced by language and dialect even in early childhood; (f) affected by a variety of speech, language, and hearing disorders in children and adults; (g) inadequately assessed by standardized articulation tests; and (h) characterized by at least three factors-articulatory configuration, extrinsic and intrinsic regulation of duration, and role in speech rhythm and prosody. Also discussed are stages in typical vowel ontogeny, acoustic characterization of rhotic vowels, a sensory-motor perspective on vowel production, and implications for clinical assessment of vowels.
Topics: Acoustics; Adult; Child; Child, Preschool; Humans; Language; Phonetics; Speech; Speech Acoustics; Speech Intelligibility; Speech Perception
PubMed: 32631070
DOI: 10.1044/2020_AJSLP-19-00178 -
International Journal of Environmental... Feb 2020Some of the more protective and favorable factors for the development and health in children and teenagers are family and sport, so family involvement in the children's...
Some of the more protective and favorable factors for the development and health in children and teenagers are family and sport, so family involvement in the children's sports activities is vital in their sports process. The purpose of this study was to analyze the verbal behavior (positive, negative, and neutral comments) of family spectators of school-age athletes regarding sociodemographic and sporting variables. The sample consisted of 190 family spectators of 215 male and female ( = 11.66; = 1.60) football, basketball, and volleyball players. The Parents' Observation Instrument at Sport Events (POISE) was used for the observation and LINCE was used to codify the verbal comments made. After registering 38,829 comments, the results showed statistically significant differences in relation to the comments made and the gender of athletes, geographical area, kind of sport, and the sporting category. The findings highlight that in a competitive environment, the comments made by spectators related to athletes do not seem to be initiators of potentially violent situations but rather are dependent on the atmosphere in question. Further research is required in this area to foster positive conduct relating to grassroots sports.
Topics: Adolescent; Athletes; Basketball; Child; Female; Humans; Male; Soccer; Verbal Behavior; Volleyball
PubMed: 32079273
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17041286 -
Journal of Alzheimer's Disease : JAD 2021The neuropsychological profile of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) patients is mainly characterized by executive dysfunction, but the relationship between the latter... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
BACKGROUND
The neuropsychological profile of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) patients is mainly characterized by executive dysfunction, but the relationship between the latter and midbrain atrophy is still unclear.
OBJECTIVE
The aims of the study were to investigate which test evaluating executive functioning is more frequently impaired in PSP patients and to evaluate the relationship between midbrain-based MRI morphometric measures and executive dysfunction.
METHODS
PSP patients who had undergone a neuropsychological battery assessing executive functioning with the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), the phonemic verbal fluency F-A-S, the Raven's Progressive Colored Matrix, and the Stroop word colors test (time and errors) were enrolled in the study. A group of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients matched by age, sex, education, and global cognitive status was selected. All the enrolled patients also underwent a volumetric T1-3D brain MRI.
RESULTS
Thirty-five PSP patients and 35 PD patients were enrolled. Patients with PSP as compared to patients with PD showed a significant greater impairment in verbal fluency (16.0±7.9 and 23.4±8.7 words/180 s; p < 0.001) and a significant lower score at the FAB total score (11.5±3.8 and 13.7±3.4; p = 0.013). Midbrain area was significantly smaller in PSP patients than in PD patients (83.9±20.1 and 134.5±19.9 mm2; p < 0.001). In PSP patients, a significant positive correlation between verbal fluency and the midbrain area (r = 0.421; p = 0.028) was observed.
CONCLUSION
Our findings suggest that the phonemic verbal fluency is among the most frequently impaired executive functions in PSP patients and is strongly correlated to midbrain atrophy.
Topics: Aged; Atrophy; Executive Function; Female; Humans; Linear Models; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Mesencephalon; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Parkinson Disease; Phonetics; Supranuclear Palsy, Progressive; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 33720901
DOI: 10.3233/JAD-210023 -
PloS One 2020Research on infant vocal development has provided notable insights into vocal interaction with caregivers, elucidating growth in foundations for language through...
Research on infant vocal development has provided notable insights into vocal interaction with caregivers, elucidating growth in foundations for language through parental elicitation and reaction to vocalizations. A role for infant vocalizations produced endogenously, potentially providing raw material for interaction and a basis for growth in the vocal capacity itself, has received less attention. We report that in laboratory recordings of infants and their parents, the bulk of infant speech-like vocalizations, or "protophones", were directed toward no one and instead appeared to be generated endogenously, mostly in exploration of vocal abilities. The tendency to predominantly produce protophones without directing them to others occurred both during periods when parents were instructed to interact with their infants and during periods when parents were occupied with an interviewer, with the infants in the room. The results emphasize the infant as an agent in vocal learning, even when not interacting socially and suggest an enhanced perspective on foundations for vocal language.
Topics: Caregivers; Child Development; Female; Humans; Infant; Infant Behavior; Language; Language Development; Male; Phonetics; Speech; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 32756591
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0224956 -
Cognitive Neuropsychology 2021Executive control is recruited for language processing, particularly in complex linguistic tasks. Although the issue of the existence of an executive control specific to...
Executive control is recruited for language processing, particularly in complex linguistic tasks. Although the issue of the existence of an executive control specific to language is still an open issue, there is much evidence that executively-demanding language tasks rely on domain-general rather than language-specific executive resources. Here, we addressed this issue by assessing verbal and non-verbal executive capacities in LG, an aphasic patient after a stroke. First, we showed that LG's performance was spared in all non-verbal tasks regardless of the executive demands. Second, by contrasting conditions of high and low executive demand in verbal tasks, we showed that LG was only impaired in verbal task with high executive demand. The performance dissociation between low and high executive demand conditions in the verbal domain, not observed in the non-verbal domain, shows that verbal executive control partly dissociates from non-verbal executive control. This language-specific executive disorder suggests that some executive processes might be language-specific.
Topics: Aphasia; Executive Function; Humans; Language; Male; Middle Aged; Stroke; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 34156916
DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2021.1941828 -
American Journal of Audiology Sep 2019Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the emotional tone and verbal behavior of social media users who self-identified as having tinnitus and/or hyperacusis...
Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the emotional tone and verbal behavior of social media users who self-identified as having tinnitus and/or hyperacusis that caused self-described negative consequences on daily life or health. Research Design and Method An explanatory mixed-methods design was utilized. Two hundred "initial" and 200 "reply" Facebook posts were collected from members of a tinnitus group and a hyperacusis group. Data were analyzed via the LIWC 2015 software program and compared to typical bloggers. As this was an explanatory mixed-methods study, we used qualitative thematic analyses to explain, interpret, and illustrate the quantitative results. Results Overall, quantitative results indicated lower overall emotional tone for all categories (tinnitus and hyperacusis, initial and reply), which was mostly influenced by higher negative emotion. Higher levels of authenticity or truth were found in the hyperacusis sample but not in the tinnitus sample. Lower levels of clout (social standing) were indicated in all groups, and a lower level of analytical thinking style (concepts and complex categories rather than narratives) was found in the hyperacusis sample. Additional analysis of the language indicated higher levels of sadness and anxiety in all groups and lower levels of anger, particularly for initial replies. These data support prior findings indicating higher levels of anxiety and depression in this patient population based on the actual words in blog posts and not from self-report questionnaires. Qualitative results identified 3 major themes from both the tinnitus and hyperacusis texts: suffering, negative emotional tone, and coping strategies. Conclusions Results from this study suggest support for the predominant clinical view that patients with tinnitus and hyperacusis have higher levels of anxiety and depression than the general population. The extent of the suffering described and patterns of coping strategies suggest clinical practice patterns and the need for research in implementing improved practice plans.
Topics: Adaptation, Psychological; Adult; Emotions; Female; Humans; Hyperacusis; Male; Natural Language Processing; Online Social Networking; Qualitative Research; Social Media; Tinnitus; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 31430190
DOI: 10.1044/2019_AJA-18-0136 -
Applied Neuropsychology. Adult 2022Off-topic verbosity (OTV) refers to extended speech lacking in relevance and focus. Previous research has found that older adults have higher levels of OTV, and some...
Off-topic verbosity (OTV) refers to extended speech lacking in relevance and focus. Previous research has found that older adults have higher levels of OTV, and some contend that OTV is indicative of cognitive decline. The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between verbal cognitive abilities and OTV speech characteristics among young adults ( = 62; age 18-28, = 20.69) and older adults ( = 76; age 60-98, = 76.46). Older adults had slower verbal speed and verbal set-shifting than young adults, and they displayed more tangentiality and egocentrism in their speech. Slower set-shifting was associated with increased tangentiality and decreased quantity of speech, particularly in older adults. These results provide some support for the age-related cognitive decline explanation of OTV, as posited by the inhibitory deficit hypothesis.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; Cognition; Humans; Middle Aged; Speech; Verbal Behavior; Young Adult
PubMed: 33621138
DOI: 10.1080/23279095.2021.1878461