Afasiaren azterketa hizkuntza ezberdinetan neurozientzia kognitiboaren ikuspegitik (Aphasia research in different languages from the perspective of cognitive neuroscience)

Jasoa: 2016-05-14The goal of this paper is to define aphasia and aphasiology from the perspective of cognitive neuroscience. In addition, it emphasizes the need to study aphasia in different languages for a better understanding of brain and language relationships. For this purpose, I take the example of agrammatic verb processing assessment. Finally, I mention some future lines of research regarding Basque aphasiology and the assessment of multilingual people with aphasia

Experimental methods to study atypical language development

In this chapter we present current issues on experimental methods in the study of atypical language development with a focus on developmental language disorders (DLD). We first present a short history of terminology surrounding DLD and follow this with a discussion of critical topics related to DLD assessment including cross-linguistic research, multilingualism, persisting disorders in teenagers, age-differences (pre-school, school age, adolescence, and adults) in manifestations and domains studied, language comprehension versus production, and cognitive assessment. We also bring focus to the question of matching control groups in the study of atypical language development. We present the most common methods used in the investigation of language impairments from the behavioural and neurocognitive perspectives. We provide an overview of the issues related to establishing equivalence between groups with and without language impairments. We conclude with recommendations for practice and future directions in the study of atypical language development

No “Self” Advantage for Audiovisual Speech Aftereffects

Published: 22 March 2019.Although the default state of the world is that we see and hear other people talking, there is evidence that seeing and hearing ourselves rather than someone else may lead to visual (i.e., lip-read) or auditory “self” advantages. We assessed whether there is a “self” advantage for phonetic recalibration (a lip-read driven cross-modal learning effect) and selective adaptation (a contrastive effect in the opposite direction of recalibration). We observed both aftereffects as well as an on-line effect of lip-read information on auditory perception (i.e., immediate capture), but there was no evidence for a “self” advantage in any of the tasks (as additionally supported by Bayesian statistics). These findings strengthen the emerging notion that recalibration reflects a general learning mechanism, and bolster the argument that adaptation depends on rather low-level auditory/acoustic features of the speech signal.This work was supported by the Severo Ochoa program grant SEV-2015-049 awarded to the BCBL. MB and MP were supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO, grant PSI2014-51874-P), and MB was also supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO, VENI grant 275-89-027)

No “Self” Advantage for Audiovisual Speech Aftereffects

Although the default state of the world is that we see and hear other people talking, there is evidence that seeing and hearing ourselves rather than someone else may lead to visual (i.e., lip-read) or auditory “self” advantages. We assessed whether there is a “self” advantage for phonetic recalibration (a lip-read driven cross-modal learning effect) and selective adaptation (a contrastive effect in the opposite direction of recalibration). We observed both aftereffects as well as an on-line effect of lip-read information on auditory perception (i.e., immediate capture), but there was no evidence for a “self” advantage in any of the tasks (as additionally supported by Bayesian statistics). These findings strengthen the emerging notion that recalibration reflects a general learning mechanism, and bolster the argument that adaptation depends on rather low-level auditory/acoustic features of the speech signal

Basque-Spanish bilingual children’s expressive and receptive grammatical abilities

Published online: 26 Nov 2018Expressive-receptive gaps in lexical abilities have been documented for bilingual children, but few studies have investigated whether a similar gap is observed at the grammatical level. The current study assessed grammatical abilities through sentence production and comprehension tasks in both languages in 17 Basque-Spanish simultaneous bilingual 6- through 9-year-olds (both languages acquired before three years of age). The children scored lower in Basque than Spanish for sentence production, but no significant differences were found for sentence comprehension. While an expressive-receptive gap was found for both languages, this gap was larger in Basque than in Spanish. Object-verb agreement errors were especially prevalent in Basque production, possibly because verbs in Spanish only agree with the subject. These results demonstrate that expressive-receptive gaps are also observed in bilingual children’s grammatical abilities and may vary depending on the structural similarity between the two languages.The authors acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the Severo Ochoa Programme for Centres/Units of Excellence in R&D (SEV-2015-490)

The WHHERE coactivator complex is required for retinoic acid-dependent regulation of embryonic symmetry

Bilateral symmetry is a striking feature of the vertebrate body plan organization. Vertebral precursors, called somites, provide one of the best illustrations of embryonic symmetry. Maintenance of somitogenesis symmetry requires retinoic acid (RA) and its coactivator Rere/Atrophin2. Here, using a proteomic approach we identify a protein complex, containing Wdr5, Hdac1, Hdac2 and Rere (named WHHERE), which regulates RA signaling and controls embryonic symmetry. We demonstrate that Wdr5, Hdac1, and Hdac2 are required for RA signaling in vitro and in vivo. Mouse mutants for Wdr5 and Hdac1 exhibit asymmetrical somite formation characteristic of RA-deficiency. We also identify the Rere-binding histone methyltransferase Ehmt2/G9a, as a RA coactivator controlling somite symmetry. Upon RA treatment, WHHERE and Ehmt2 become enriched at RA target genes to promote RNA polymerase II recruitment. Our work identifies a protein complex linking key epigenetic regulators acting in the molecular control of embryonic bilateral symmetry