Screen exposure exacerbates ADHD symptoms indirectly through increased sleep disturbance

The aim of this study was twofold. First, to confirm the deleterious aspect of evening screen exposure in school-aged children, in particular the effect of screens in the bedroom. Second, to explore the three-way association between degree of screen exposure, sleep disturbance, and ADHD symptoms. Solid evidence exists on the link between sleep disturbance and ADHD symptoms, and screen exposure and sleep disturbance. However, no studies have formally assessed the impact of screen exposure on ADHD symptoms in children, as a function of sleep disturbance

Processing of natural fast speech and time-compressed speech in children with speech output disorders

International audienc

Atypical hemispheric asymmetries for the processing of phonological features in children with rolandic epilepsy.

International audienceWe assessed language lateralization in 177 healthy 4- to 11-year-old children and adults and atypical asymmetries associated with unilateral epileptic foci in 18 children with benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS). Dichotic listening results revealed two indices of immature functional asymmetry when the focus was left-sided (BECTS-L). First, children with BECTS-L did not show left hemisphere dominance for the processing of place of articulation, which was recorded in children with BECTS-R and control children. On the contrary, healthy children exhibited a gradual increase in left hemisphere dominance for place processing during childhood, which is consistent with the shift from global to finer-grained acoustic analysis predicted by the Developmental Weighting Shift model. Second, children with BECTS-L showed atypical left hemisphere involvement in the processing of the voiced value (+V), associated with a long acoustic event in French stop consonants, whereas right hemisphere dominance increased with age for +V processing in healthy children. BECTS-L, therefore, interferes with the development of left hemisphere dominance for specific phonological mechanisms

Une épreuve d’écoute dichotique pour diagnostiquer les modifications d’asymétrie hémisphérique dans l’épilepsie bénigne de l’enfance

International audienc

Une épreuve d’écoute dichotique pour diagnostiquer les modifications d’asymétrie hémisphérique dans l’épilepsie bénigne de l’enfance

International audienc

Une épreuve d’écoute dichotique pour diagnostiquer les modifications d’asymétrie hémisphérique dans l’épilepsie bénigne de l’enfance

International audienc

Interest of the BLAST paradigm and salivary markers for the evaluation of sleepiness in drivers

International audienceObjectives: Sleepiness is associated with decreased cognitive abilities and remains one of the main causes of fatal road accidents. The tools currently available to assess sleepiness, such as questionnaires, are subject to intra- and inter-individual variability, while multiple sleep latency tests are only feasible in few sleep laboratories. The main objective of this study was to explore new potential markers (neurocognitive, biological) to objectively assess sleepiness in drivers. Methods: A total of 186 drivers (median age 44 years, range 20–74 years, 73% men, 14% obese) were included during a break at a highway service area, in the morning, while on the road for vacation. Questionnaires on sleepiness and sleep characteristics (habitual and on the night before travel), the Bron-Lyon Attention Stability Test (BLAST), and two salivary samples (α-amylase and oxalate) were collected. Associations between measures of sleepiness [Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and Stanford Sleepiness Scale (SSS)], sleep characteristics, neurocognitive, and biological markers were tested using regression models adjusted for confounding factors. Results: The night before travel, 83% of the drivers reduced their sleep time and 30% slept 5 h or less. The higher the number of miles to be traveled, the higher the decrease, and the shorter the sleep time. The night before travel, 18 and 24% of the drivers complained of poor sleep quality and difficulty falling asleep. The sleep characteristics on the night before travel were associated with the habitual sleep characteristics. At the time of the test, 47% of the drivers scored pathologically on the SSS. Poor sleep quality and difficulty falling asleep the night before travel were associated with increased sleepiness as assessed by the SSS and decreased attentional ability as assessed by the BLAST. No association between salivary markers and acute sleepiness was observed. Conclusions: The sleep characteristics of the night before travel were associated with sleepiness and attentional performance. The SSS and the BLAST could be used by individual drivers in a self-evaluation context. Biological markers showed a high variability and limited association with sleep parameters across subjects, emphasizing the need for within-subject designs to assess their usefulness

Don’t speak too fast! Processing of fast rate speech in children with specific language impairment

International audienceBackground: Perception of speech rhythm requires the auditory system to track temporal envelope fluctuations, which carry syllabic and stress information. Reduced sensitivity to rhythmic acoustic cues has been evidenced in children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI), impeding syllabic parsing and speech decoding. Our study investigated whether these children experience specific difficulties processing fast rate speech as compared with typically developing (TD) children.Method: Sixteen French children with SLI (8–13 years old) with mainly expressive phonological disorders and with preserved comprehension and 16 age-matched TD children performed a judgment task on sentences produced 1) at normal rate, 2) at fast rate or 3) time-compressed. Sensitivity index (d′) to semantically incongruent sentence-final words was measured.Results: Overall children with SLI perform significantly worse than TD children. Importantly, as revealed by the significant Group × Speech Rate interaction, children with SLI find it more challenging than TD children to process both naturally or artificially accelerated speech. The two groups do not significantly differ in normal rate speech processing.Conclusion: In agreement with rhythm-processing deficits in atypical language development, our results suggest that children with SLI face difficulties adjusting to rapid speech rate. These findings are interpreted in light of temporal sampling and prosodic phrasing frameworks and of oscillatory mechanisms underlying speech perception

Don't speak too fast! Processing of fast rate speech in children with specific language impairment.

Perception of speech rhythm requires the auditory system to track temporal envelope fluctuations, which carry syllabic and stress information. Reduced sensitivity to rhythmic acoustic cues has been evidenced in children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI), impeding syllabic parsing and speech decoding. Our study investigated whether these children experience specific difficulties processing fast rate speech as compared with typically developing (TD) children.Sixteen French children with SLI (8-13 years old) with mainly expressive phonological disorders and with preserved comprehension and 16 age-matched TD children performed a judgment task on sentences produced 1) at normal rate, 2) at fast rate or 3) time-compressed. Sensitivity index (d') to semantically incongruent sentence-final words was measured.Overall children with SLI perform significantly worse than TD children. Importantly, as revealed by the significant Group × Speech Rate interaction, children with SLI find it more challenging than TD children to process both naturally or artificially accelerated speech. The two groups do not significantly differ in normal rate speech processing.In agreement with rhythm-processing deficits in atypical language development, our results suggest that children with SLI face difficulties adjusting to rapid speech rate. These findings are interpreted in light of temporal sampling and prosodic phrasing frameworks and of oscillatory mechanisms underlying speech perception