(2012). Apraxia of Speech: Concepts and Controversies. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, v55 n5 pS1485-S1501 Oct. Purpose: This article was written as an editorial to a collection of original articles on apraxia of speech (AOS) in which some of the more recent advancements in the understanding of this syndrome are discussed. It covers controversial issues concerning the theoretical foundations of AOS. Our approach was motivated by a change of perspective on motor speech that has taken place in neurobiology, neurolinguistics, phonology, and phonetics during the past few decades. Method: The literature on AOS is reviewed from 3 different but overlapping perspectives–that is, a disconnection, a motor memory, and a fine motor skill perspective. Separate sections are devoted to the delimitations of AOS from oral facial apraxia, dysarthria, and phonological impairment. Conclusions: We conclude that many of the still unresolved conceptual issues about AOS arise from an underspecification of existing models of spoken language production. We suggest that phonological and motor impairments of sound… [Direct]
(2013). Neurobiological Bases of Reading Comprehension: Insights from Neuroimaging Studies of Word-Level and Text-Level Processing in Skilled and Impaired Readers. Reading & Writing Quarterly, v29 n2 p145-167. For accurate reading comprehension, readers must first learn to map letters to their corresponding speech sounds and meaning, and then they must string the meanings of many words together to form a representation of the text. Furthermore, readers must master the complexities involved in parsing the relevant syntactic and pragmatic information necessary for accurate interpretation. Failure in this process can occur at multiple levels, and cognitive neuroscience has been helpful in identifying the underlying causes of success and failure in reading single words and in reading comprehension. In general, neurobiological studies of skilled reading comprehension indicate a highly overlapping language circuit for single-word reading, reading comprehension, and listening comprehension, with largely quantitative differences in a number of reading- and language-related areas. This article reviews relevant research from studies that have used neuroimaging techniques to study reading with a… [Direct]
(2012). The Neuronal Infrastructure of Speaking. Brain and Language, v122 n2 p71-80 Aug. Models of speaking distinguish producing meaning, words and syntax as three different linguistic components of speaking. Nevertheless, little is known about the brain's integrated neuronal infrastructure for speech production. We investigated semantic, lexical and syntactic aspects of speaking using fMRI. In a picture description task, we manipulated repetition of sentence meaning, words, and syntax separately. By investigating brain areas showing response adaptation to repetition of each of these sentence properties, we disentangle the neuronal infrastructure for these processes. We demonstrate that semantic, lexical and syntactic processes are carried out in partly overlapping and partly distinct brain networks and show that the classic left-hemispheric dominance for language is present for syntax but not semantics. (Contains 4 figures and 2 tables.)… [Direct]
(2012). Psychometric Functions for Shortened Administrations of a Speech Recognition Approach Using Tri-Word Presentations and Phonemic Scoring. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, v55 n3 p879-891 Jun. Method: Complete psychometric functions for phoneme and word recognition scores at 8 signal-to-noise ratios from -15 dB to 20 dB were generated for the first 10, 20, and 25, as well as all 50, three-word presentations of the Tri-Word or Computer Assisted Speech Recognition Assessment (CASRA) Test (Gelfand, 1998) based on the results of 12 normal-hearing young adult participants from the original study. Results: The psychometric functions for both phoneme and word scores were very similar and essentially overlapping for all set sizes. Performance on the shortened tests accounted for 98.8% to 99.5% of the full (50-set) test variance with phoneme scoring, and 95.8% to 99.2% of the full test variance with word scoring. Shortening the tests accounted for little if any of the variance in the slopes of the functions. Conclusions: The psychometric functions for abbreviated versions of the Tri-Word speech recognition test using 10, 20, and 25 presentation sets were described and are… [Direct]
(2010). Connecting Cues: Overlapping Regularities Support Cue Discovery in Infancy. Child Development, v81 n3 p727-736 May-Jun. The present work examined the discovery of linguistic cues during a word segmentation task. Whereas previous studies have focused on sensitivity to individual cues, this study addresses how individual cues may be used to discover additional, correlated cues. Twenty-four 9-month-old infants were familiarized with a speech stream in which syllable-level transitional probabilities and an overlapping novel cue served as cues to word boundaries. Infants' behavior at test indicated that they were able to discover the novel cue. Additional experiments showed that infants did not have a preexisting preference for specific test items and that transitional probability information was necessary to acquire the novel cue. Results suggest one way learners can discover relevant linguistic structure amid the multiple overlapping properties of natural language…. [Direct]
(2010). Representation of the Speech Effectors in the Human Motor Cortex: Somatotopy or Overlap?. Brain and Language, v113 n1 p39-44 Apr. Somatotopy within the orofacial region of the human motor cortex has been a central concept in interpreting the results of neuroimaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation studies of normal and disordered speech. Yet, somatotopy has been challenged by studies showing overlap among the effectors within the homunculus. In order to address this dichotomy, we performed four voxel-based meta-analyses of 54 functional neuroimaging studies of non-speech tasks involving respiration, lip movement, tongue movement, and swallowing, respectively. While the centers of mass of the clusters supported the classic homuncular view of the motor cortex, there was significant variability in the locations of the activation-coordinates among studies, resulting in an overlapping arrangement. This \somatotopy with overlap\ might reflect the intrinsic functional interconnectedness of the oral effectors for speech production. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)… [Direct]
(2023). When Red Apples Are Green: Generalization by Picture Type. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Western New England University. Matching related stimuli is a foundational skill upon which a wide variety of critical repertoires are constructed. For learners with complex communication needs, including many children with autism, learned relations between pictorial stimuli and their referents are the basis for communication (Andzik et al., 2017; Crowe et al., 2021). Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tools enable such learners to engage in verbal behavior through the use of two-dimensional images, hereafter, pictures. These pictures are used to indicate real-world objects, persons, or activities to a communication partner. The form of these pictures varies widely; some pictures share many stimulus features with their real-world referents (e.g., photographs), whereas others share no discernable features (e.g., alphanumeric characters; McIlvane et al., 1993). Some children struggle to learn relations between pictures and their real-world referents, which can impede their access to such communication… [Direct]
(2010). Vowel Formant Values in Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Children: A Discriminant Analysis. Deafness and Education International, v12 n2 p99-128 Jun. Hearing-impaired speakers show changes in vowel production and formant pitch and variability, as well as more cases of overlapping between vowels and more restricted formant space, than hearing speakers; consequently their speech is less intelligible. The purposes of this paper were to determine the differences in vowel formant values between 32 hearing speakers, 14 severely hearing-impaired speakers, and 25 profoundly hearing impaired speakers, and to investigate the influence of perceptual constraints on the contrastiveness of spoken vowels in speakers with hearing loss, as these underline the importance of good phonation, articulation, and resonance in speech production. Several differences in formant values were confirmed with Anova-Welch tests, except for the F1 of open /e/ and /a/, the most open and loud vowels in Slovene. In addition, discriminant analysis showed real differences in vowel production (97.1% classification success), thus making it possible to differentiate… [Direct]
(2012). Patterns of Impairments in AOS and Mechanisms of Interaction between Phonological and Phonetic Encoding. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, v55 n5 pS1535-S1543 Oct. Purpose: One reason why the diagnosis of apraxia of speech (AOS) and its underlying impairment are often debated may lie in the fact that most patients do not display pure patterns of AOS. Mixed patterns are clearly acknowledged at other levels of impairment (e.g., lexical-semantic and lexical-phonological), and they have contributed to debate about the degree of interaction between encoding levels; by contrast, mixed impairments and mechanisms of interaction are less acknowledged at the levels of phonological and phonetic processes. Here, the author aims at bringing together empirical evidence in favor of an interaction between phonological and phonetic encoding and of the predominance of mixed patterns of impairment over pure phonetic impairment. Method: The author reviews empirical results from acoustic and psycholinguistic studies, both with healthy speakers and speakers with brain damage, favoring independent phonological and phonetic encoding and separable impairments as well… [Direct]
(2012). Oral Language Competence, Young Speakers, and the Law. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, v43 n4 p496-506 Oct. Purpose: This paper highlights the forensic implications of language impairment in 2 key (and overlapping) groups of young people: identified victims of maltreatment (abuse and/or neglect) and young offenders. Method: Two lines of research pertaining to oral language competence and young people's interface with the law are considered: 1 regarding investigative interviewing with children as victims or witnesses in the context of serious allegations of sexual abuse, and the other pertaining to adolescent offenders as suspects, witnesses, or victims. The linguistic demands that forensic interviewing places on these young people are also considered. Literature concerning the impact of early maltreatment on early language acquisition is briefly reviewed, as is the role of theory of mind in relation to the requirements of investigative interviewing of children and adolescents. Implications: High-risk young people (i.e., those who are subject to child protection orders because of suspected… [Direct]
(2010). Bivariate Genetic Analyses of Stuttering and Nonfluency in a Large Sample of 5-Year-Old Twins. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, v53 n3 p609-619 Jun. Purpose: Behavioral genetic studies of speech fluency have focused on participants who present with clinical stuttering. Knowledge about genetic influences on the development and regulation of normal speech fluency is limited. The primary aims of this study were to identify the heritability of stuttering and high nonfluency and to assess the relative contribution of genetic and environmental factors to the correlation between these 2 fluency phenotypes. Method: Information on 6 specific speech fluency behaviors was obtained by maternal report for over 10,500 5-year-old Dutch twin pairs. Results: Genetic analyses revealed that both fluency phenotypes were moderately heritable, with heritability estimates of 42% and 45% for probable stuttering and high nonfluency, respectively. Shared environmental factors were also significant, explaining 44% of the individual differences in probable stuttering and 32% in nonfluency. For both phenotypes, the magnitude of the genetic and environmental… [Direct]
(2011). Talk in Blended-Space Speech Communities: An Exploration of Discursive Practices of a Professional Development Group. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Colorado at Boulder. This study is an exploration of alternative teacher professional development. While using symbolic interactionism for a research lens, it characterizes the discursive practices commonly found in formal, informal, and blended-space speech communities based on the talk within a leadership-development program comprised of five female, church-based small group leaders. The author designed, facilitated, and researched the discourse accounting for the formal professional development design and informal discursive practices which comprised this blended-space speech community. The author provides an overview of the leadership-development program design along with the sociolinguistic research methods. The analysis describes both above-the-sentence and turn-by-turn discursive practices for the group's talk. This includes above-the-sentence discursive practices of managing the conversational floor, enacting discursive power, offering representations of reality, and maintaining appropriate… [Direct]
(2010). Progranulin-Associated Primary Progressive Aphasia: A Distinct Phenotype?. Neuropsychologia, v48 n1 p288-297 Jan. The neuropsychological features of the primary progressive aphasia (PPA) syndromes continue to be defined. Here we describe a detailed neuropsychological case study of a patient with a mutation in the progranulin (\GRN\) gene who presented with progressive word-finding difficulty. Key neuropsychological features in this case included gravely impoverished propositional speech with anomia and prolonged word-finding pauses, impaired speech repetition most marked for sentences, and severely impaired verbal (with preserved spatial) short-term memory. There was a dissociated profile of performance on semantic processing tasks: visual semantic processing was intact, while within the verbal domain, verb comprehension was impaired and processing of nouns was intact on tasks requiring direct semantic processing but impaired on tasks requiring associative or inferential processing. Brain MRI showed asymmetric left cerebral atrophy particularly affecting the temporo-parietal junction,… [Direct]
(2013). The Occurrence of "What", '"Where'", "What House" and Other Repair Initiations in the Home Environment of Hearing-Impaired Individuals. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, v48 n1 p66-77 Jan. Background: Even though research has increasingly focused on the qualitative features of natural conversations, which have improved the communication therapy for hearing-impaired individuals (HI) and familiar partners (FP), very little is known about the interactions that occur outside clinical settings. Aims: [Direct]
(2008). Does Input Influence Uptake? Links between Maternal Talk, Processing Speed and Vocabulary Size in Spanish-Learning Children. Developmental Science, v11 n6 pF31-F39 Nov. It is well established that variation in caregivers' speech is associated with language outcomes, yet little is known about the learning principles that mediate these effects. This longitudinal study (n = 27) explores whether Spanish-learning children's early experiences with language predict efficiency in real-time comprehension and vocabulary learning. Measures of mothers' speech at 18 months were examined in relation to children's speech processing efficiency and reported vocabulary at 18 and 24 months. Children of mothers who provided more input at 18 months knew more words and were faster in word recognition at 24 months. Moreover, multiple regression analyses indicated that the influences of caregiver speech on speed of word recognition and vocabulary were largely overlapping. This study provides the first evidence that input shapes children's lexical processing efficiency and that vocabulary growth and increasing facility in spoken word comprehension work together to support… [Direct]