Optimal measurements of hemodynamic response latency in fNIRS using the jackknife approach

Sex differences in neural processing of speech in neonates

The large majority of studies shows that girls develop their language skills faster than boys in the first few years of life. Are girls born with this advantage in language development? The present study used fNIRS in neonates to investigate sex differences in neural processing of speech within the first days of life. We found that speech stimuli elicited significantly more brain activity than non-speech stimuli in both groups of male and female neonates. However, whereas girls showed significant HbO changes to speech stimuli only within the left hemisphere, boys exhibited simultaneous neural activations in both hemispheres, with a larger and more significant fronto-temporal cluster in the right hemisphere. Furthermore, in boys, the variation in time-to-peak latencies was considerably greater than in girls. These findings suggest an earlier maturation of language-related brain areas in girls and highlight the importance of sex-specific investigations of neural language networks in infants.

Introduction to the special issue on recentering science: Replication, robustness, and reproducibility in psychophysiology

In recent years, the psychological and behavioral sciences have increased efforts to strengthen methodological practices and publication standards, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the value and reproducibility of published reports. These issues are especially important in the multidisciplinary field of psychophysiology, which yields rich and complex data sets with a large number of observations. In addition, the technological tools and analysis methods available in the field of psychophysiology are continually evolving, widening the array of techniques and approaches available to researchers. This special issue presents articles detailing rigorous and systematic evaluations of tasks, measures, materials, analysis approaches, and statistical practices in a variety of subdisciplines of psychophysiology. These articles highlight challenges in conducting and interpreting psychophysiological research and provide data-driven, evidence-based recommendations for overcoming those challenges to produce robust, reproducible results in the field of psychophysiology.