Fragmenten uit het verleden. Een empirisch onderzoek naar de persoonlijke levensgeschiedenissen van ouderen in de derde en vierde fase van dementie

Het doel van deze studie is om te verkennen in hoeverre persoonlijke levensgeschiedenissen van oudere verpleeghuisbewoners in de derde of vierde fase van dementie waar te nemen zijn in de interactie die zij hebben met hun familieleden en met zorgmedewerkers en in hoeverre deze narratieve kenmerken hebben. Daarbij worden persoonlijke levensgeschiedenissen, in lijn met de kritiek op het dominante coherentieparadigma (Hyvärinen, Hydén, Saarenheimo & Tamboukou, 2010; Hyvärinen, 2012), niet alleen opgevat als een verhaal met begin, midden en eind dat gebeurtenissen in opeenvolging weergeeft, maar mogelijk waarneembaar in non-verbale uitingen (Hydén, 2013; Örulv & Hydén, 2006) en in de vorm van sociale activiteit (Aaltonen, 2010; Hydén, 2010; Medved & Brockmeier, 2010; Ochs & Capps, 2001; Randall, 2009). Uit participerende observaties en interviews in een verpleeghuis gespecialiseerd in psychogeriatrische zorg, blijkt dat persoonlijke levensgeschiedenissen inderdaad waar te nemen zijn. Familieleden en zorgmedewerkers helpen de bewoner in toenemende mate met vertellen of nemen het vertellen geheel over, naar gelang het dementieproces vordert. Daarnaast komen levensgeschiedenissen op impliciete wijze naar voren in handelingen, door persoonlijke spullen, of door lichamelijke uitdrukking en lichaamstaal van de bewoner. De bewoners, familieleden en zorgmedewerkers construeren een gezamenlijke narrated storyworld, oftewel een betekeniskader, door en voor de interpretatie van de waar te nemen persoonlijke levensgeschiedenissen van de bewoner. Levensgeschiedenissen zijn zodoende niet los te weken van de menselijke interpretatie en narrativiteit. Hiermee opent deze studie niet alleen de discussie over andere narratieve kenmerken dan coherentie, maar vestigt tevens aandacht op alternatieve betekeniskanalen zodat men, luisterend naar een oudere men dementie, werkelijk ontvankelijk is en de oudere met dementie niet langer diskwalificeert als onbekwame verteller

Regularisation, Systematicity and Naturalness in a Silent Gesture Learning Task

Typological analysis of the world’s language shows that, of the 6 possible basic word orders, SOV and SVO orders are predominant, a preference supported by experimental studies in which participants improvise gestures to describe events. Silent gesture studies have also provided evidence for natural ordering patterns, where SOV and SVO orders are used selectively depending on the semantics of the event, a finding recently supported by data from natural sign languages. We present an artificial language learning task using gesture to ask to what extent preferences for natural ordering patterns, in addition to biases for regular languages, are at play during learning in the manual modality

Application of the Scale for Assessment and Rating of Ataxia in toddlers

Introduction: In young children with early onset ataxia (EOA), quantitative rating of ataxia by the Scale for Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) is longitudinally influenced by the physiological age effect on motor coordination. To enable longitudinal quantitative interpretation of ataxia by SARA in children with EOA, the EPNS ataxia working group has previously determined SARA-scores in typically developing children (4-16 years of age). In toddlers, this information is still lacking. We therefore aimed to investigate the feasibility and reliability of SARA-scores in typically developing toddlers. Methods: In 57 typically developing toddlers (2-4 years), we aimed to determine the: 1. feasibility of SARA -scores, 2. age-related pre-requisites to obtain SARA-scores in toddlers over all domains, 3. SARA-score reliability, 4. mathematical age connection of SARA-scores in toddlers and older children. Results: In typically developing toddlers, the feasibility of SARA is strongly age-dependent (p < .000). After computing compensations for two age-related, unfeasible and therefore un-assessable kinetic subtasks and after allowing the videotaping of non-kinetic SARA sub-task performances at home, the SARA was fully reliably assessable in all (n = 57) toddlers (ICC = 0.732). From two to 16 years of age, SARA-scores were mathematically represented by one continuous, exponentially decreasing trend line approaching the adult-optimum at 16 years of age. Conclusion: In toddlers, SARA-scores are reliably assessable, by using two age-compensations and allowing the videotaping of SARA-performances partly at home. In children with EOA, these data enable longitudinal quantification and interpretation of quantitative ataxia-scores by SARA from 2 years of age throughout childhood

Lithospheric Structure and Evolution of Southern Africa: Constraints from Joint Inversion of Rayleigh Wave Dispersion and Receiver Functions

We conduct a joint inversion of teleseismic receiver functions and Rayleigh wave phase velocity dispersion from both ambient noise and earthquakes using data from 79 seismic stations in southern Africa, which is home to some of the world\u27s oldest cratons and orogenic belts. The area has experienced two of the largest igneous activities in the world (the Okavango dyke swarm and Bushveld mafic intrusion) and thus is an ideal locale for investigating continental formation and evolution. The resulting 3-D shear wave velocities for the depth range of 0—100Â km and crustal thickness measurements show a clear spatial correspondence with known geological features observed on the surface. Higher than normal mantle velocities found beneath the southern part of the Kaapvaal craton are consistent with the basalt removal model for the formation of cratonic lithosphere. In contrast, the Bushveld complex situated within the northern part of the craton is characterized by a thicker crust and higher crustal Vp/Vs but lower mantle velocities, which are indicative of crustal underplating of mafic materials and lithospheric refertilization by the world\u27s largest layered mafic igneous intrusion. The thickened crust and relatively low elevation observed in the Limpopo belt, which is a late Archean collisional zone between the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe cratons, can be explained by eclogitization of the basaltic lower crust. The study also finds evidence for the presence of a stalled segment of oceanic lithosphere beneath the southern margin of the Proterozoic Namaqua-Natal mobile belt

Culture and biology in the origins of linguistic structure

Language is systematically structured at all levels of description, arguably setting it apart from all other instances of communication in nature. In this article, I survey work over the last 20 years that emphasises the contributions of individual learning, cultural transmission, and biological evolution to explaining the structural design features of language. These 3 complex adaptive systems exist in a network of interactions: individual learning biases shape the dynamics of cultural evolution; universal features of linguistic structure arise from this cultural process and form the ultimate linguistic phenotype; the nature of this phenotype affects the fitness landscape for the biological evolution of the language faculty; and in turn this determines individuals’ learning bias. Using a combination of computational simulation, laboratory experiments, and comparison with real-world cases of language emergence, I show that linguistic structure emerges as a natural outcome of cultural evolution once certain minimal biological requirements are in place