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Lindfors H, Hansson K, Pakulak E, Cohn N, Andersson A. Semantic processing of verbal narratives compared to semantic processing of visual narratives: an ERP study of school-aged children. Front Psychol 2024; 14:1253509. [PMID: 38282837 PMCID: PMC10812112 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1253509] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2023] [Accepted: 12/22/2023] [Indexed: 01/30/2024] Open
Abstract
There is a misconception that pictures are easy to comprehend, which is problematic in pedagogical practices that include pictures. For example, if a child has difficulties with verbal narration to picture sequences, it may be interpreted as specific to spoken language even though the child may have additional difficulties with comprehension of visual narratives in the form of picture sequences. The purpose of the present study was therefore to increase our understanding of semantic processing in the pictorial domain in relation to semantic processing in the verbal domain, focusing on 9-13 years-old children with typical language development. To this end, we measured electrical brain responses (event related potentials, ERPs) in 17 children to (i) pictures (panels) that were predicted versus unpredicted in sequences of panels that conveyed visual narratives and (ii) words that were predicted versus unpredicted in sentences that conveyed verbal narratives. Results demonstrated similarities as there were no significant difference in the magnitude of the N400 effect across domains. The only difference between domains was the predicted difference in distribution, that is, a more posterior N400 effect in the verbal domain than in the pictorial domain. The study contributes to an increased understanding of the complexity of processing of visual narratives and its shared features with processing of verbal narratives, which should be considered in pedagogical practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanna Lindfors
- Linnaeus Language Processing Lab, Department of Swedish, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden
| | - Kristina Hansson
- Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Eric Pakulak
- Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Neil Cohn
- Visual Language Lab, Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences, Department of Communication and Cognition, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands
| | - Annika Andersson
- Linnaeus Language Processing Lab, Department of Swedish, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden
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2
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Bechtold L, Cosper SH, Malyshevskaya A, Montefinese M, Morucci P, Niccolai V, Repetto C, Zappa A, Shtyrov Y. Brain Signatures of Embodied Semantics and Language: A Consensus Paper. J Cogn 2023; 6:61. [PMID: 37841669 PMCID: PMC10573703 DOI: 10.5334/joc.237] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2022] [Accepted: 07/29/2022] [Indexed: 10/17/2023] Open
Abstract
According to embodied theories (including embodied, embedded, extended, enacted, situated, and grounded approaches to cognition), language representation is intrinsically linked to our interactions with the world around us, which is reflected in specific brain signatures during language processing and learning. Moving on from the original rivalry of embodied vs. amodal theories, this consensus paper addresses a series of carefully selected questions that aim at determining when and how rather than whether motor and perceptual processes are involved in language processes. We cover a wide range of research areas, from the neurophysiological signatures of embodied semantics, e.g., event-related potentials and fields as well as neural oscillations, to semantic processing and semantic priming effects on concrete and abstract words, to first and second language learning and, finally, the use of virtual reality for examining embodied semantics. Our common aim is to better understand the role of motor and perceptual processes in language representation as indexed by language comprehension and learning. We come to the consensus that, based on seminal research conducted in the field, future directions now call for enhancing the external validity of findings by acknowledging the multimodality, multidimensionality, flexibility and idiosyncrasy of embodied and situated language and semantic processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Bechtold
- Institute for Experimental Psychology, Department for Biological Psychology, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Samuel H. Cosper
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Anastasia Malyshevskaya
- Centre for Cognition and Decision making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Russian Federation
- Potsdam Embodied Cognition Group, Cognitive Sciences, University of Potsdam, Germany
| | | | | | - Valentina Niccolai
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Claudia Repetto
- Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
| | - Ana Zappa
- Laboratoire parole et langage, Aix-Marseille Université, Aix-en-Provence, France
| | - Yury Shtyrov
- Centre for Cognition and Decision making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Russian Federation
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Denmark
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Kallioinen P, Olofsson JK, von Mentzer CN. Semantic processing in children with Cochlear Implants: A review of current N400 studies and recommendations for future research. Biol Psychol 2023; 182:108655. [PMID: 37541539 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2023.108655] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2023] [Revised: 07/28/2023] [Accepted: 08/01/2023] [Indexed: 08/06/2023]
Abstract
Deaf and hard of hearing children with cochlear implants (CI) often display impaired spoken language skills. While a large number of studies investigated brain responses to sounds in this population, relatively few focused on semantic processing. Here we summarize and discuss findings in four studies of the N400, a cortical response that reflects semantic processing, in children with CI. A study with auditory target stimuli found N400 effects at delayed latencies at 12 months after implantation, but at 18 and 24 months after implantation effects had typical latencies. In studies with visual target stimuli N400 effects were larger than or similar to controls in children with CI, despite lower semantic abilities. We propose that in children with CI, the observed large N400 effect reflects a stronger reliance on top-down predictions, relative to bottom-up language processing. Recent behavioral studies of children and adults with CI suggest that top-down processing is a common compensatory strategy, but with distinct limitations such as being effortful. A majority of the studies have small sample sizes (N < 20), and only responses to image targets were studied repeatedly in similar paradigms. This precludes strong conclusions. We give suggestions for future research and ways to overcome the scarcity of participants, including extending research to children with conventional hearing aids, an understudied group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petter Kallioinen
- Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; Lund University Cognitive Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
| | - Jonas K Olofsson
- Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
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Zhang Q, Dong X, Song Y, Wang C, Ji S, Mei H, Wang R. Improvement of semantic processing ability of Chinese characters in school children: A comparative study based on 2009 and 2019 data. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1110674. [PMID: 36968480 PMCID: PMC10030507 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1110674] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2022] [Accepted: 02/21/2023] [Indexed: 03/10/2023] Open
Abstract
To explore the characteristics of semantic cognitive development of school children by observing the development changes over 10 years, a retrospective event-related potential (ERP) study was conducted on the semantic processing characteristics of Chinese characters in children aged 7–11 years with the same study design in 2009 and 2019. For the EEGs recorded in 2009, the N400 amplitude of semantic processing in children aged 7–11 years showed an approximately inverted U-shaped development trend with a slow rise at the age of 7–9, a peak at the age of 10, then a rapid decline at the age of 11. However, for the EEGs recorded in 2019, the N400 amplitude showed a gradually decreasing development trend with a slow decline for the 7–11 years class. Our data suggested that the semantic processing of Chinese characters in children aged 7–11 years in 2019 was one age stage earlier than that in 2009. The children’s brain cognition is in the process of development and change with high plasticity. 10 years of favorable social and educational environmental factors have significantly improved children’s semantic processing ability of Chinese characters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qinfen Zhang
- Children’s Health Research Center, Changzhou Children’s Hospital of Nantong University, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China
- *Correspondence: Qinfen Zhang,
| | - Xuan Dong
- Children’s Health Research Center, Changzhou Children’s Hospital of Nantong University, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China
| | - Yan Song
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Chaoqun Wang
- Children’s Health Research Center, Changzhou Children’s Hospital of Nantong University, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China
| | - Shiyan Ji
- Children’s Health Research Center, Changzhou Children’s Hospital of Nantong University, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China
| | - Haitian Mei
- Children’s Health Research Center, Changzhou Children’s Hospital of Nantong University, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China
| | - Rui Wang
- Children’s Health Research Center, Changzhou Children’s Hospital of Nantong University, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China
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Gao J, Leung HK, Fan J, Wu BWY, Sik HH. The neurophysiology of the intervention strategies of Awareness Training Program on emotion regulation. Front Psychol 2022; 13:891656. [PMID: 35936346 PMCID: PMC9355299 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.891656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2022] [Accepted: 07/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Emotion regulation is essential for healthy living. Previous studies have found that mental training such as compassion meditation could help with emotion regulation. However, the underlying neural mechanism and possible intervention strategies of group-based Mahayana Buddhist intervention involved in emotion regulation are still unclear. This event-related potential (ERP) study investigated how compassion and wisdom meditations, two key components of the Awareness Training Program (ATP), may regulate emotion during different mental processing stages, namely attention deployment, cognitive change, and response modification. Eighty-five middle-aged working adults with moderate stress were voluntarily recruited for this study, using a 128-channel electroencephalogram system. After 7 weeks of training, participants (ATP attendance, n = 42; waitlist control, n = 43) were instructed to view negative pictures while practicing compassion or wisdom meditation, with corresponding priming words. Another normal priming condition and a neutral picture condition were set as control conditions. ERP results in the ATP group showed that negative pictures induced greater prefrontal activity (N400 component) in both compassion and wisdom meditation conditions compared with the normal condition, while the control group showed little difference between the conditions. Significantly higher heart rate variability was found in the compassion but not wisdom meditation when compared with the neutral priming condition. Correspondent changes in behavioural data were also found. Converging evidence showed that compassion meditation training could modulate negative emotion processing in stages of attention deployment, cognitive change, and behavioural responses. The prefrontal lobe could play an important role in the process of emotion regulation by compassion meditation, possibly due to the emphasis of the ATP on contemplative practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junling Gao
- Buddhism and Science Research Lab, Centre of Buddhist Studies, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Hang Kin Leung
- Buddhism and Science Research Lab, Centre of Buddhist Studies, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Jicong Fan
- School of Data Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China
| | - Bonnie Wai Yan Wu
- Buddhism and Science Research Lab, Centre of Buddhist Studies, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China
- *Correspondence: Bonnie Wai Yan Wu,
| | - Hin Hung Sik
- Buddhism and Science Research Lab, Centre of Buddhist Studies, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Hin Hung Sik,
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Wass SV, Goupil L. Studying the Developing Brain in Real-World Contexts: Moving From Castles in the Air to Castles on the Ground. Front Integr Neurosci 2022; 16:896919. [PMID: 35910339 PMCID: PMC9326302 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2022.896919] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2022] [Accepted: 06/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Most current research in cognitive neuroscience uses standardized non-ecological experiments to study the developing brain. But these approaches do a poor job of mimicking the real-world, and thus can only provide a distorted picture of how cognitive operations and brain development unfold outside of the lab. Here we consider future research avenues which may lead to a better appreciation of how developing brains dynamically interact with a complex real-world environment, and how cognition develops over time. We raise several problems faced by current mainstream methods in the field, before briefly reviewing novel promising approaches that alleviate some of these issues. First, we consider research that examines perception by measuring entrainment between brain activity and temporal patterns in naturalistic stimuli. Second, we consider research that examines our ability to parse our continuous experience into discrete events, and how this ability develops over time. Third, we consider the role of children as active agents in selecting what they sample from the environment from one moment to the next. Fourth, we consider new approaches that measure how mutual influences between children and others are instantiated in suprapersonal brain networks. Finally, we discuss how we may reduce adult biases when designing developmental studies. Together, these approaches have great potential to further our understanding of how the developing brain learns to process information, and to control complex real-world behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sam V. Wass
- Department of Psychology, University of East London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Louise Goupil
- LPNC, Université Grenoble Alpes/CNRS, Grenoble, France
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Vergilova Y, Jachmann TK, Mani N, Kray J. Age-related differences in expectation-based novel word learning. Psychophysiology 2022; 59:e14030. [PMID: 35274301 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2021] [Revised: 12/02/2021] [Accepted: 01/25/2022] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Adult language users can infer the meaning of a previously unfamiliar word from a single exposure to this word in a semantically and thematically constrained context, henceforth, predictive context (Borovsky et al., 2010 Cognition, 116(2), 289-296; Borovsky et al., 2012 Language Learning and Development, 8(3), 278-302). Children use predictive contexts to anticipate upcoming stimuli (Borovsky et al., 2012 Language Learning and Development, 8(3), 278-302; Mani & Huettig, 2012 Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 38(4), 843-847), but the extent to which they rely on prediction to learn novel word forms is unclear (Gambi et al., 2021 Cognition, 211, 104650). Here, we examine children's one-shot learning from predictive contexts using a modified version of the one-shot learning ERP paradigm for children aged 7-13 years. In a first learning phase, we presented audio recordings of expected words and unexpected novel pseudowords in strongly and weakly constraining sentence contexts. In the following priming phase, the same recorded words and pseudowords were used as primes to identical/synonymous, related, and unrelated target words. We measured N400 modulations to the word and pseudoword continuations in the learning phase and to the identical/synonymous, related, or unrelated target words in the priming phase. When initially presented in strongly constraining sentences, novel pseudowords primed synonymous targets equally well as word primes of the same intended meaning. This pattern was particularly pronounced in older children. Our findings suggest that, around early adolescence, children can use single exposures to constraining contexts to infer the meaning of novel words and to integrate these novel words in their lexicons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yoana Vergilova
- Psychology Department, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Torsten K Jachmann
- Language Science and Technology Department, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Nivedita Mani
- Research Group Psychology of Language, Georg-August-University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Jutta Kray
- Psychology Department, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
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8
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Soares AP, Gutiérrez-Domínguez FJ, Lages A, Oliveira HM, Vasconcelos M, Jiménez L. Learning Words While Listening to Syllables: Electrophysiological Correlates of Statistical Learning in Children and Adults. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:805723. [PMID: 35280206 PMCID: PMC8905652 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.805723] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2021] [Accepted: 01/11/2022] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
From an early age, exposure to a spoken language has allowed us to implicitly capture the structure underlying the succession of speech sounds in that language and to segment it into meaningful units (words). Statistical learning (SL), the ability to pick up patterns in the sensory environment without intention or reinforcement, is thus assumed to play a central role in the acquisition of the rule-governed aspects of language, including the discovery of word boundaries in the continuous acoustic stream. Although extensive evidence has been gathered from artificial languages experiments showing that children and adults are able to track the regularities embedded in the auditory input, as the probability of one syllable to follow another syllable in the speech stream, the developmental trajectory of this ability remains controversial. In this work, we have collected Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) while 5-year-old children and young adults (university students) were exposed to a speech stream made of the repetition of eight three-syllable nonsense words presenting different levels of predictability (high vs. low) to mimic closely what occurs in natural languages and to get new insights into the changes that the mechanisms underlying auditory statistical learning (aSL) might undergo through the development. The participants performed the aSL task first under implicit and, subsequently, under explicit conditions to further analyze if children take advantage of previous knowledge of the to-be-learned regularities to enhance SL, as observed with the adult participants. These findings would also contribute to extend our knowledge of the mechanisms available to assist SL at each developmental stage. Although behavioral signs of learning, even under explicit conditions, were only observed for the adult participants, ERP data showed evidence of online segmentation in the brain in both groups, as indexed by modulations in the N100 and N400 components. A detailed analysis of the neural data suggests, however, that adults and children rely on different mechanisms to assist the extraction of word-like units from the continuous speech stream, hence supporting the view that SL with auditory linguistic materials changes through development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Paula Soares
- Human Cognition Lab, CIPsi, School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
- *Correspondence: Ana Paula Soares,
| | | | - Alexandrina Lages
- Human Cognition Lab, CIPsi, School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Helena M. Oliveira
- Human Cognition Lab, CIPsi, School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Margarida Vasconcelos
- Psychological Neuroscience Lab, CIPsi, School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Luis Jiménez
- Department of Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
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Sanchez-Alonso S, Aslin RN. Towards a model of language neurobiology in early development. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2022; 224:105047. [PMID: 34894429 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2021.105047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2021] [Revised: 10/24/2021] [Accepted: 10/27/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Understanding language neurobiology in early childhood is essential for characterizing the developmental structural and functional changes that lead to the mature adult language network. In the last two decades, the field of language neurodevelopment has received increasing attention, particularly given the rapid advances in the implementation of neuroimaging techniques and analytic approaches that allow detailed investigations into the developing brain across a variety of cognitive domains. These methodological and analytical advances hold the promise of developing early markers of language outcomes that allow diagnosis and clinical interventions at the earliest stages of development. Here, we argue that findings in language neurobiology need to be integrated within an approach that captures the dynamic nature and inherent variability that characterizes the developing brain and the interplay between behavior and (structural and functional) neural patterns. Accordingly, we describe a framework for understanding language neurobiology in early development, which minimally requires an explicit characterization of the following core domains: i) computations underlying language learning mechanisms, ii) developmental patterns of change across neural and behavioral measures, iii) environmental variables that reinforce language learning (e.g., the social context), and iv) brain maturational constraints for optimal neural plasticity, which determine the infant's sensitivity to learning from the environment. We discuss each of these domains in the context of recent behavioral and neuroimaging findings and consider the need for quantitatively modeling two main sources of variation: individual differences or trait-like patterns of variation and within-subject differences or state-like patterns of variation. The goal is to enable models that allow prediction of language outcomes from neural measures that take into account these two types of variation. Finally, we examine how future methodological approaches would benefit from the inclusion of more ecologically valid paradigms that complement and allow generalization of traditional controlled laboratory methods.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Richard N Aslin
- Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, USA; Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA; Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
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