37 research outputs found
Intentional Training With Speech Production Supports Childrenâs Learning the Meanings of Foreign Words : A Comparison of Four Learning Tasks
To determine the best techniques to teach children foreign words, we compared the effectiveness of four different learning tasks on their foreign-word learning (i.e., learning word forms and word meanings). The tasks included incidental learning, intentional learning with production, intentional learning without production, and crosssituational statistical learning. We also analyzed whether childrenâs age and cognitive skills correlate with the learning of word forms and word meanings. Forty-four 5â8-yearold children participated in the study. The results reveal that the children were able to learn the correct word forms from all four tasks and no differences emerged between the effectiveness of the tasks on the learning of word-forms. The children also learned the word meanings with all four tasks, yet the intentional task with production was more effectivethantheincidentaltask. Thissuggeststhattheabilityofchildrentolearnforeign words beneïŹted from them knowing that they were supposed to learn new words and producingthemaloudwhiletraining.Theageofthechildrencorrelatedwiththeirlearning results for word forms and meanings on the intentional task without production. The older children learned more effectively than the younger children in this task. Childrenâs phonological processing skills were correlated with learning the word meanings from the incidental task, suggesting that children with better phonological skills were able to beneïŹt from incidental learning more than children with poorer phonological skills. Altogether, the results suggest that childrenâs foreign-language learning beneïŹts from intentional training with speech production regardless of their age or cognitive skills.Peer reviewe
Predictive coding accelerates word recognition and learning in the early stages of language development
The ability to predict future events in the environment and learn from them is a fundamental component of adaptive behavior across species. Here we propose that inferring predictions facilitates speech processing and word learning in the early stages of language development. Twelve- and 24-month olds' electrophysiological brain responses to heard syllables are faster and more robust when the preceding word context predicts the ending of a familiar word. For unfamiliar, novel word forms, however, word-expectancy violation generates a prediction error response, the strength of which significantly correlates with children's vocabulary scores at 12 months. These results suggest that predictive coding may accelerate word recognition and support early learning of novel words, including not only the learning of heard word forms but also their mapping to meanings. Prediction error may mediate learning via attention, since infants' attention allocation to the entire learning situation in natural environments could account for the link between prediction error and the understanding of word meanings. On the whole, the present results on predictive coding support the view that principles of brain function reported across domains in humans and non-human animals apply to language and its development in the infant brain. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: http://hy.fi/unitube/video/e1cbb495-41d8-462e-8660-0864a1abd02c. [Correction added on 27 January 2017, after first online publication: The video abstract link was added.]Peer reviewe
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Non-game like training benefits spoken foreign-language processing in children with dyslexia
Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2023 Junttila, Smolander, Karhila, Kurimo and Ylinen.Children with dyslexia often face difficulties in learning foreign languages, which is reflected as weaker neural activation. However, digital language-learning applications could support learning-induced plastic changes in the brain. Here we aimed to investigate whether plastic changes occur in children with dyslexia more readily after targeted training with a digital language-learning game or similar training without game-like elements. We used auditory event-related potentials (ERPs), specifically, the mismatch negativity (MMN), to study learning-induced changes in the brain responses. Participants were 24 school-aged Finnish-speaking children with dyslexia and 24 age-matched typically reading control children. They trained English speech sounds and words with âSay it again, kid!â (SIAK) language-learning game for 5 weeks between ERP measurements. During the game, the players explored game boards and produced English words aloud to score stars as feedback from an automatic speech recognizer. To compare the effectiveness of the training type (game vs. non-game), we embedded in the game some non-game levels stripped of all game-like elements. In the dyslexia group, the non-game training increased the MMN amplitude more than the game training, whereas in the control group the game training increased the MMN response more than the non-game training. In the dyslexia group, the MMN increase with the non-game training correlated with phonological awareness: the children with poorer phonological awareness showed a larger increase in the MMN response. Improved neural processing of foreign speech sounds as indicated by the MMN increase suggests that targeted training with a simple application could alleviate some spoken foreign-language learning difficulties that are related to phonological processing in children with dyslexia.Peer reviewe
Diminished brain responses to second-language words are linked with native-language literacy skills in dyslexia
Dyslexia is characterized by poor reading skills, yet often also difficulties in second-language learning. The differences between native- and second-language speech processing and the establishment of new brain representations for spoken second language in dyslexia are not, however, well understood. We used recordings of the mismatch negativity component of event-related potential to determine possible differences between the activation of long-term memory representations for spoken native- and second-language word forms in Finnish-speaking 9-11-year-old children with or without dyslexia, studying English as their second language in school. In addition, we sought to investigate whether the bottleneck of dyslexic readers' second-language learning lies at the level of word representations or smaller units and whether the amplitude of mismatch negativity is correlated with native-language literacy and related skills. We found that the activation of brain representations for familiar second-language words, but not for second-language speech sounds or native-language words, was weaker in children with dyslexia than in typical readers. Source localization revealed that dyslexia was associated with weak activation of the right temporal cortex, which has been previously linked with word-form learning. Importantly, the amplitude of the mismatch negativity for familiar second-language words correlated with native-language literacy and rapid naming scores, suggesting a close link between second-language processing and these skills.Peer reviewe
User Experiences from L2 Children Using a Speech Learning Application : Implications for Developing Speech Training Applications for Children
We investigated user experiences from 117 Finnish children aged between 8 and 12 years in a trial of an English language learning programme that used automatic speech recognition (ASR). We used measures that encompassed both affective reactions and questions tapping into the children' sense of pedagogical utility. We also tested their perception of sound quality and compared reactions of game and nongame-based versions of the application. Results showed that children expressed higher affective ratings for the game compared to nongame version of the application. Children also expressed a preference to play with a friend compared to playing alone or playing within a group. They found that assessment of their speech is useful although they did not necessarily enjoy hearing their own voices. The results are discussed in terms of the implications for user interface (UI) design in speech learning applications for children.Peer reviewe
Diminished brain responses to second-language words are linked with native-language literacy skills in dyslexia
Dyslexia is characterized by poor reading skills, yet often also difficulties in second-language learning. The differences between native- and second-language speech processing and the establishment of new brain representations for spoken second language in dyslexia are not, however, well understood. We used recordings of the mismatch negativity component of event-related potential to determine possible differences between the activation of long-term memory representations for spoken native- and second-language word forms in Finnish-speaking 9â11-year-old children with or without dyslexia, studying English as their second language in school. In addition, we sought to investigate whether the bottleneck of dyslexic readers' second-language learning lies at the level of word representations or smaller units and whether the amplitude of mismatch negativity is correlated with native-language literacy and related skills. We found that the activation of brain representations for familiar second-language words, but not for second-language speech sounds or native-language words, was weaker in children with dyslexia than in typical readers. Source localization revealed that dyslexia was associated with weak activation of the right temporal cortex, which has been previously linked with word-form learning. Importantly, the amplitude of the mismatch negativity for familiar second-language words correlated with native-language literacy and rapid naming scores, suggesting a close link between second-language processing and these skills.</p
Toddlersâ diurnal cortisol levels affected by out-of-home, center-based childcare and at-home, guardian-supervised childcare: comparison between different caregiving contexts
Previous research suggests that attending non-parental out-of-home
childcare is associated with elevated cortisol levels for some children.
We aimed to compare diurnal saliva cortisol levels between children
having out-of-home, center-based childcare or those having at-home,
guardian-supervised childcare in Finland. A total of 213 children, aged
2.1Â years (SDâ=â0.6), were drawn from the ongoing Finnish birth cohort
study. Saliva samples were collected over 2 consecutive days (Sunday and
Monday), with four samples drawn during each day: 30Â min after waking
up in the morning, at 10 am, between 2 and 3 pm, and in the evening
before sleep. These results suggest that the shapes of the diurnal
cortisol profiles were similar in both childcare groups following a
typical circadian rhythm. However, the overall cortisol levels were on
average 30% higher (95% CI: [9%, 54%], pâ=â.004)
with the at-home childcare in comparison with the out-of-home childcare
group. Furthermore, a slight increase in the diurnal cortisol pattern
was noticed in both groups and in both measurement days during the
afternoon. This increase was 27% higher ([2%, 57%], pâ=â.031)
in the out-of-home childcare group during the out-of-home childcare day
in comparison with the at-home childcare day. The elevated afternoon
cortisol levels were partly explained by the afternoon naps, but there
were probably other factors as well producing the cortisol rise during
the afternoon hours. Further research is needed to define how a childâs
individual characteristic as well as their environmental factors
associate with cortisol secretion patterns in different caregiving
contexts.</p
Child Temperament and Total Diurnal Cortisol in Out-of-Home Center-Based Child Care and in At-Home Parental Care
The association between child temperament characteristics and total diurnal saliva cortisol in 84 children (M = 2.3 years, SD = 0.6) attending out-of-home, center-based child care and 79 children (M = 2.0 years, SD = 0.5) attending at-home parental care was examined. Saliva samples were collected during two consecutive days, that is, Sunday and Monday, with four samples taken per day. While children higher in surgency had higher total diurnal cortisol production, we did not find evidence that temperament moderated the associations between child-care context and total diurnal cortisol. Negative affectivity and effortful control were not related to cortisol output. Our findings suggest that temperamental surgency may be associated with higher total cortisol production in early childhood across child-care settings.</p