MORFOLOGINEN PROSESSOINTI YKSI- JA KAKSIKIELISILLÄ: NEUROKOGNITIIVISIA TUTKIMUKSIA SUOMEN JA RUOTSIN KIELESSÄ

Tämä katsaus esittelee tutkimuksia morfologisesta prosessoinnista suomen ja ruotsinkielissä yksi- ja kaksikielisillä. Käsitellyt tutkimukset ovat behavioraalisia visuaalisenleksikaalisen päätöksenteon kokeita, joista kahdessa käytettiin menetelmänä myöstoiminnallista magneettikuvantamista (fMRI) tai tapahtumasidonnaisia herätevasteita(ERP). Suomen kielen taivutetut substantiivit on aiemmissa tutkimuksissa todettutunnistettavan pääasiassa pilkkomalla sanavartaloon ja päätteeseen (dekompositioreitti),mutta ruotsin kielessä kokosanahahmoina. Sanan yleisyyden eli frekvenssintodettiin kuitenkin vaikuttavan käytettyyn tunnistusreittiin molemmissa kielissä:korkeafrekventtisille sanamuodoille oli muodostunut kokosanaedustumat, muttamatalafrekventtiset tunnistettiin dekompositioreitin kautta. Taivutusmorfologialtaanrikkaassa suomen kielessä kokosanaedustumien muodostuminen tosin näyttäävaativan korkeamman frekvenssin kuin ruotsin kielessä. Kaksikieliset käyttivät muutenvastaavaa prosessointitapaa eri kielillään kuin yksikielisetkin, mutta vähempi kokemussanamuodoista aiheutti sen, että dekompositiota tapahtui korkeammilla frekvensseilläkuin yksikielisillä. Aivokuvantamistutkimukset selvittivät, kumpi suomen kielendekomposition vaiheista, visuaalisen sanamuodon analyysi vai osien merkityksenintegrointi, on kuormittavampi. Sekä fMRI- että ERP-kokeen tulokset viittaavat siihen,että molemmat tasot osallistuvat prosessiin, mutta näyttö on selvempää jälkimmäisentason puolesta.Avainsanat: Morfologinen prosessointi, pilkkominen, sanayleisyys,kaksikielisyys, aivokuvantaminen, suomi, ruotsiKeywords: Morphological processing, decomposition, word frequency, bilingualism,brain imaging, Finnish, Swedis

The Relationship of Anxiety and Stress With Working Memory Performance in a Large Non-depressed Sample

Clinical anxiety and acute stress caused by major life events have well-documented detrimental effects on cognitive processes, such as working memory (WM). However, less is known about the relationships of state anxiety or everyday stress with WM performance in non-clinical populations. We investigated the associations between these two factors and three WM composites (verbal WM, visuospatial WM, and n-back updating performance) in a large online sample of non-depressed US American adults. We found a trend for a negative association between WM performance and anxiety, but not with stress. Thus, WM performance appears rather robust against normal variation in anxiety and everyday stress

Trouble with autonomy in behavioral insurance

In this article, we study how people define, negotiate, and perform autonomy in relation to digital technologies, specifically in connection with behavioral insurance policies that involve forms of data tracking and health services. The article builds on focus group discussions, which we treat as a dynamic site of ethico-political deliberation to test ideas, talk about boundaries of acceptable control, and envision future scenarios. The ethico-political deliberations assess the legitimacy and usability of new behavioral tools. Concern over the nature and limits of autonomy is activated when people discuss how wellbeing-related decisions are delegated to algorithmically controlled systems. We argue for appreciating autonomy as a relational and ambiguous notion that is sensed and enacted in collaborations with devices in the form of distributed autonomy. Moreover, as reflected by the experiences of the insured, "autonomy" cannot be analyzed solely in the form transmitted by the liberal tradition; that is, as a clear-cut entity that can simply be "had", "exerted", or "controlled". Consequently, research, ethical considerations, and governance initiatives should pay attention to how values are "done" in the affect-laden technologically mediated relations and practices.Peer reviewe

Pedagoginen perusta kielenoppimisessa

Non peer reviewe

The impact of three evidence-based programmes delivered in public systems in Birmingham, UK

The Birmingham Brighter Futures strategy was informed by epidemiological data on child well-being and evidence on “what works,” and included the implementation and evaluation of three evidence-based programmes in regular children’s services systems, as well as an integrated prospective cost-effectiveness analysis (reported elsewhere). A randomised controlled trial (RCT) of the Incredible Years BASIC parenting programme involved 161 children aged three and four at risk of a social-emotional or behavioural disorder. An RCT of the universal PATHS social-emotional learning curriculum involved children aged four–six years in 56 primary schools. An RCT of the Level 4 Group Triple-P parenting programme involved parents of 146 children aged four–nine years with potential social-emotional or behavioural disorders. All three studies used validated standardised measures. Both parenting programme trials used parentcompleted measures of child and parenting behaviour. The school-based trial used teacher reports of children’s behaviour, emotions, and social competence. Incredible Years yielded reductions in negative parenting behaviours among parents, reductions in child behaviour problems, and improvements in children’s relationships. In the PATHS trial, modest improvements in emotional health and behavioural development after one year disappeared by the end of year two. There were no effects for Triple-P. Much can be learned from the strengths and limitations of the Birmingham experience

Is Bilingualism Associated With Enhanced Executive Functioning in Adults? A Meta-Analytic Review

This article was published Online First March 1, 2018. Supplemental materials: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/bul0000142.suppBecause of enduring experience of managing two languages, bilinguals have been argued to develop superior executive functioning compared with monolinguals. Despite extensive investigation, there is, however, no consensus regarding the existence of such a bilingual advantage. Here we synthesized comparisons of bilinguals’ and monolinguals’ performance in six executive domains using 891 effect sizes from 152 studies on adults. We also included unpublished data, and considered the potential influence of a number of study-, task-, and participant-related variables. Before correcting estimates for observed publication bias, our analyses revealed a very small bilingual advantage for inhibition, shifting, and working memory, but not for monitoring or attention. No evidence for a bilingual advantage remained after correcting for bias. For verbal fluency, our analyses indicated a small bilingual disadvantage, possibly reflecting less exposure for each individual language when using two languages in a balanced manner. Moreover, moderator analyses did not support theoretical presuppositions concerning the bilingual advantage. We conclude that the available evidence does not provide systematic support for the widely held notion that bilingualism is associated with benefits in cognitive control functions in adults.The study was financially supported by Academy of Finland (grant 288880), Emil Aaltonen Foundation project grant, and University of Helsinki 3-year grants to Minna Lehtonen. We thank Benny Salo for statistical consultation, and Matti Laine, Jussi Jylkkä, and the rest of the BrainTrain research group for valuable discussions

Beyond volume : A surface-based approach to bilingualism-induced grey matter changes

Bilingualism is a sustained experience associated with structural changes in cortical grey matter (GM) morphology. Apart from a few studies, a dominant method used to assess bilingualism-induced GM changes has been the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis. While VBM is sensitive to GM volume/density differences in general, it cannot be used to identify whether the observed difference is due to relative changes in, e.g., cortical thickness, area or folding, as it uses a single combined measure of them all. Here, we used surface-based analysis (SBA) approach to investigate whether early acquisition of a second language (L2) affects the cortical GM morphology relative to late L2 acquisition. More specifically, our aim was to test a hypothesis that early acquisition of two languages induces GM changes that are predominantly surface area-driven, while late acquisition is supposedly characterised with primarily thickness-driven changes. To this end, several surface-based measures were concurrently compared between the groups. In line with the hypothesis, the results revealed that early bilingual experience is associated with significantly extended cortical surface area over the left pars opercularis and the right superior temporal gyrus. Contrary to our expectations, however, we found no evidence supporting the postulated association between late L2 acquisition and increased cortical thickness. Nevertheless, our study highlights the importance of including cortical surface measures when investigating bilingualism related GM modulations.Peer reviewe

The Relationship of Anxiety and Stress With Working Memory Performance in a Large Non-depressed Sample

Clinical anxiety and acute stress caused by major life events have well-documented detrimental effects on cognitive processes, such as working memory (WM). However, less is known about the relationships of state anxiety or everyday stress with WM performance in non-clinical populations. We investigated the associations between these two factors and three WM composites (verbal WM, visuospatial WM, and n-back updating performance) in a large online sample of non-depressed US American adults. We found a trend for a negative association between WM performance and anxiety, but not with stress. Thus, WM performance appears rather robust against normal variation in anxiety and everyday stress.Peer reviewe