When does an ostrich become a bird? The role of typicality in early word comprehension

Which objects and animals are are children willing to accept as referents for words they know? To answer this question, the authors assessed early word comprehension using the preferential looking task. Children were shown 2 stimuli side by side (a target and a distractory) and heard the target stimulus named. The target stimulus was either a typical or an atypical exemplar of the named category. It was predicted that children first connect typical examples with the target name and broaden the extension of the name as they get older to include less typical examples. Experiment 1 shows that when targets are named, 12-month-olds display an increase in target looking for typical but not atypical targets whereas 24-month-olds display an increase for both. Experiment 2 shows that 18-month-old display a pattern similar to that of 24-month-olds. Implications for the early development of word comprehension are discussed

How acoustically reduced forms activate the lexicon : evidence from eye-tracking

Most research on spoken word comprehension has focused on carefully articulated speech that is read aloud by selected speakers (Cutler, 1998). But the type of speech we most often encounter is spontaneous speech, in which no attention is paid to careful pronunciation. The production of a word shorter than its citation form is called reduction, which is highly frequent in casual speech (Ernestus, 2000; Johnson, 2004). The challenge for models of word comprehension is to explain how listeners recognize reduced forms such as [pjutǝr] which deviate drastically from their canonical counterpart [kɔmpjutǝr] 'computer'.peer-reviewe

VOCABULARY EXPANSION AND WORD COMPREHENSION FORMATION TO THE FIRST GRADE CHILDREN WITH INSUFFICIENT DEVELOPMENT OF THE LANGUAGE SYSTEM FOR ACQUIRING THE MATHEMATICS

The title of the master’s work is „Vocabulary expansion and word comprehension formation to the first grade children with insufficient development of the language system for acquiring the mathematics”. The aim of the master’s work is to analyze theory and to gather methods of vocabulary expansion and word comprehension formation to children with insufficient development of the language system and to test usefulness of methodological material made by master’s work author. The master’s work contains the theory of development and characteristics of the first grade children with insufficient development of the language system, there are methods of vocabulary expansion described and there are words that are indispensable for acquiring the mathematics detected in master’s work. The master’s work also contains methodological material for vocabulary expansion and word comprehension formation to the first grade children with insufficient development of the language system for acquiring the mathematics made by master’s work author. There was proved usefulness of methodological material made by author by making pedagogical work. Material can be used by speech therapists at speech therapy classes and teacher of mathematics at lessons of math, in the second chapter of master’s work. The master’s work consists of 157 pages, 25 pictures, 7 tables, 73 information sources, 1 appendix

The Language Profile of Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia

BACKGROUND: The language profile of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) remains to be fully defined. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to quantify the extent of language deficits in this patient group. METHODS: We assessed a cohort of patients with bvFTD (n = 24) in relation to patients with semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA; n = 14), nonfluent variant primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA; n = 18), and healthy age-matched individuals (n = 24) cross-sectionally and longitudinally using a comprehensive battery of language and general neuropsychological tests. Neuroanatomical associations of language performance were assessed using voxel-based morphometry of patients' brain magnetic resonance images. RESULTS: Relative to healthy controls, and after accounting for nonverbal executive performance, patients with bvFTD showed deficits of noun and verb naming and single word comprehension, diminished spontaneous propositional speech, and deterioration in naming performance over time. Within the bvFTD group, patients with MAPT mutations had more severe impairments of noun naming and single word comprehension than patients with C9orf72 mutations. Overall the bvFTD group had less severe language deficits than patients with PPA, but showed a language profile that was qualitatively similar to svPPA. Neuroanatomical correlates of naming and word comprehension performance in bvFTD were identified predominantly in inferior frontal and antero-inferior temporal cortices within the dominant hemispheric language network. CONCLUSIONS: bvFTD is associated with a language profile including verbal semantic impairment that warrants further evaluation as a novel biomarker

Communicative and linguistic development in preterm children: a longitudinal study from 12 to 24 months.

BACKGROUND: Research conducted on preterm children's linguistic skills has provided varying pictures, and the question of whether and to what extent preterm children are delayed in early language acquisition remains largely unresolved. AIMS: To examine communicative and linguistic development during the second year in a group of Italian children born prematurely using the 'Primo Vocabolario del Bambino' (PVB), the Italian version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory. The primary goal was to compare action/gesture production, word comprehension, and word production, and the relationship between these three domains in preterm children and to normative data obtained from a large sample of Italian children born at term. A second aim was to address the longstanding debate regarding the use of chronological versus corrected gestational age in the assessment of preterm children's abilities. METHODS & PROCEDURES: Parents of twelve preterm children completed the PVB questionnaire at five age points during the children's second year, and scores were compared with those from a normative sample of full-term children and those of 59 full-term children selected as a control group from the normative sample for the PVB. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Preterm children exhibited a delay in all three aspects of communication and language. In particular, communicative-linguistic age tended to lag approximately 3 months behind chronological age when children were between the ages of 12 and 24 months. When chronological age was used, preterm children's percentile scores for all three components of communication and language fell within the lower limits of the normal range, while scores calculated using corrected age either fell at or above the 50th percentile. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: Findings suggest that despite the significant biological risk engendered by premature birth, early communicative and linguistic development appears to proceed in a relatively robust fashion among preterm children, with tight relations across communicative domains as in full-term children. Employing both chronological and corrected gestational age criteria in the evaluation of preterm children's abilities may provide important information about their progress in language acquisition. This may be especially important during the initial stages of communicative and linguistic development, inasmuch as comparisons of the two sets of scores may provide clinicians with a way to distinguish children who may be at risk for language problems from those who may be expected to progress normally

Does early object exploration support gesture and language development in extremely preterm infants and full-term infants?

Background: An increasing body of research on typically and atypically developing infants has shown that motor skills play an important role in language development. To date, however, the role of specific object exploration skills for early gesture and vocabulary development has not been investigated in extremely low gestational age infants (ELGA, GA < 28 weeks), who are at greater risk for motor and language delays than full-term (FT) infants. Purpose: This longitudinal study examined relations between 6-month active exploratory behaviors and 12- month word comprehension, gestures and vocal production, controlling for cognitive performance and neonatal condition (ELGA vs FT). Methods: Forty infants, 20 ELGA and 20 FT, and their mothers participated in the study. Mother-infant play interaction was video-recorded at 6 and 12 months. Oral and manual object exploration at 6 months and spontaneous gestures and vocal production at 12 months were coded. Word comprehension was evaluated with the Italian version of the MacArthur-Bates CDI parent questionnaire at 12 months. Cognitive performance was examined with the Griffiths Mental Developmental Scales at 6 months and the Bayley-III Scales at 12 months. Results: Regression analyses showed that after accounting for cognitive performance and neonatal condition, oral exploration was related to word comprehension, and manual exploration to gestures and vocal production in the overall sample. Conclusions: Cascading effects of specific object exploration skills on gestures and language comprehension and production in preterm infants and FT infants are discussed. Clinical implications for early assessment of and interventions involving object exploration skills, which may affect language development, are considered for the preterm population

Teaching NeuroImages: Nonfluent variant primary progressive aphasia: A distinctive clinico-anatomical syndrome

A 66-year-old woman presented with 4 years of progressive speech difficulty. She had nonfluent speech with phonemic errors but intact single-word comprehension and object knowledge. Her grammar was impaired in both speech and writing, and she exhibited orofacial apraxia. A clinico-radiologic (see figure) diagnosis of nonfluent variant primary progressive aphasia was made