1,243 research outputs found
Keeping your eye on the rail: gaze behaviour of horse riders approaching a jump
The gaze behaviour of riders during their approach to a jump was investigated using a mobile eye tracking device (ASL Mobile Eye). The timing, frequency and duration of fixations on the jump and the percentage of time when their point of gaze (POG) was located elsewhere were assessed. Fixations were identified when the POG remained on the jump for 100 ms or longer. The jumping skill of experienced but non-elite riders (n=10) was assessed by means of a questionnaire. Their gaze behaviour was recorded as they completed a course of three identical jumps five times. The speed and timing of the approach was calculated. Gaze behaviour throughout the overall approach and during the last five strides before take-off was assessed following frame-by-frame analyses. Differences in relation to both round and jump number were found. Significantly longer was spent fixated on the jump during round 2, both during the overall approach and during the last five strides (p , 0.05). Jump 1 was fixated on significantly earlier and more frequently than jump 2 or 3 (p , 0.05). Significantly more errors were made with jump 3 than with jump 1 (p=0.01) but there was no difference in errors made between rounds
Training flexibility in fixed expressions in non-fluent aphasia: A case series report
Background:
Many speakers with non-fluent aphasia (NFA) are able to produce some well-formed word combinations such as âI like itâ or âI don't knowâ, although they may not use variations such as âHe likes itâ or âI don't know that personâ. This suggests that these utterances represent fixed forms.
Aims:
This case series investigation explored the impact of a novel intervention aimed at enhancing the connected speech of individuals with NFA. The intervention, motivated by usage-based principles, involved filling open slots in semi-fixed sentence frames.
Methods & Procedures:
Five participants with NFA completed a 6-week intervention programme. The intervention trained participants to insert a range of different lexical items into the open slots of high-frequency phrases such as âI like itâ to enable more productive sentences (e.g., âthey like flowersâ). The outcomes and acceptability were examined: The primary outcome measure focused on changes in connected narrative, and the availability of trained constructions (e.g., âI like itâ) was explored through a story completion test. Two baseline measures of behaviour were taken prior to intervention, and outcomes assessed immediately after intervention and at a 6-week maintenance assessment.
Outcome & Results:
A pre-/post-treatment comparison of connected speech measures showed evidence of enhanced connected speech for two of the five participants (P2 and P5). An analysis of story completion test scores revealed positive change for two participants (P1 and P2). Findings were mixed with regard to baseline stability of outcome measures and post-intervention stability of language changes. The intervention was acceptable to all participants.
Conclusion & Implications:
While this pilot study yielded promising findings with regard to the intervention's acceptability and increased connected speech for some participants, the findings were mixed across the sample of five participants. This research helps inform hypotheses and selection criteria for future studies
Using multi-word utterances more creatively in non-fluent aphasia: Findings from a case series investigation
Dynamics of a map with power-law tail
We analyze a one-dimensional piecewise continuous discrete model proposed
originally in studies on population ecology. The map is composed of a linear
part and a power-law decreasing piece, and has three parameters. The system
presents both regular and chaotic behavior. We study numerically and, in part,
analytically different bifurcation structures. Particularly interesting is the
description of the abrupt transition order-to-chaos mediated by an attractor
made of an infinite number of limit cycles with only a finite number of
different periods. It is shown that the power-law piece in the map is at the
origin of this type of bifurcation. The system exhibits interior crises and
crisis-induced intermittency.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figure
Agrammatic but numerate
A central question in cognitive neuroscience concerns the extent to
which language enables other higher cognitive functions. In the
case of mathematics, the resources of the language faculty, both
lexical and syntactic, have been claimed to be important for exact
calculation, and some functional brain imaging studies have shown
that calculation is associated with activation of a network of
left-hemisphere language regions, such as the angular gyrus and
the banks of the intraparietal sulcus. We investigate the integrity
of mathematical calculations in three men with large left-hemisphere
perisylvian lesions. Despite severe grammatical impairment
and some difficulty in processing phonological and orthographic
number words, all basic computational procedures were intact
across patients. All three patients solved mathematical problems
involving recursiveness and structure-dependent operations (for
example, in generating solutions to bracket equations). To our
knowledge, these results demonstrate for the first time the remarkable
independence of mathematical calculations from language
grammar in the mature cognitive system
"I don't know": a usage-based approach to familiar collocations in non-fluent aphasia
Background: Familiar collocations (e.g., âitâs alrightâ) are an important part of everyday conversation. Such word combinations are often retained in speakers with Brocaâs aphasia. However, only few investigations have studied the forms and functions of familiar collocations available to speakers with Brocaâs aphasia. //
Aims: We first apply a frequency-based perspective to word combinations produced by speakers with Brocaâs aphasia and their conversation partners (CPs), and compare the frequency characteristics of word combinations in dyadic and non-dyadic speech. Second, we investigate the conversational functions of one prominent familiar collocation, âI donât knowâ (IDK). //
Methods & Procedures: In the first analysis, speech samples from interactions of nine dyads (each a speaker with Brocaâs aphasia and their CP) were examined. Non-dyadic samples were selected from 39 speakers with Brocaâs aphasia from AphasiaBank (MacWhinney et al., 2011). The Frequency in Language Analysis Tool (FLAT; Zimmerer & Wibrow, 2015) was used to estimate collocation strength (the degree of association between words in a combination) of well-formed bigrams (two-word combinations) and trigrams (three-word combinations). The second analysis presents a qualitative investigation of uses of IDK in dyadic exchanges. //
Outcomes & Results: Analysis 1 revealed that residual trigrams in Brocaâs aphasia were more strongly collocated in comparison to language produced by CPs. There was no difference in frequency-based profiles between dyadic and non-dyadic aphasic speech. Analysis 2 indicated that speakers with Brocaâs aphasia and CPs used IDK to achieve a variety of communicative functions. However, patterns specific to each participant group were found. //
Conclusions: These findings highlight that frequency-based analysis is useful in explaining residual, grammatically well-formed word combinations in Brocaâs aphasia. This study provides evidence that IDK can aid turn construction in aphasia
"It has no meaning to me". How do researchers understand the effectiveness of literature searches? A qualitative analysis and preliminary typology of understandings
This study aimed to address the question: what does âeffectivenessâ mean to researchers in the context of literature searching for systematic reviews?
We conducted a thematic analysis of responses to an eâmail survey. Eightyânine study authors, whose studies met inclusion in a recent review (2018), were contacted via eâmail and asked three questions; one directly asking the question: in literature searching, what does effective (or effectiveness in) literature searching mean to you?
Thirtyâeight (46%) responses were received from diverse professional groups, including: literature searchers, systematic reviewers, clinicians and researchers. A shared understanding of what effectiveness means was not identified. Instead, five themes were developed from data: 1) effectiveness is described as a metric; 2) effectiveness is a balance between metrics; 3) effectiveness can be categorised by search purpose; 4) effectiveness is an outcome; and, 5) effectiveness is an experimental concept. We propose that these themes constitute a preliminary typology of understandings.
No single definition of effectiveness was identified. The proposed typology suggests that different researchers have differing understandings of effectiveness. This could lead to uncertainty as to the aim and the purpose of literature searches and confusion about the outcomes. The typology offers a potential route for further exploration
Azacitidine for treating acute myeloid leukaemia with more than 30% bone marrow blasts: A Single Technology Appraisal
Report commissioned by the NIHR HTA ProgrammeThis report was commissioned by the NIHR HTA Programme as project
number 15/64/10
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