A review of recommendations for sequencing receptive and expressive language instruction

We review recommendations for sequencing instruction in receptive and expressive language objectives in early and intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) programs. Several books recommend completing receptive protocols before introducing corresponding expressive protocols. However, this recommendation has little empirical support, and some evidence exists that the reverse sequence may be more efficient. Alternative recommendations include teaching receptive and expressive skills simultaneously (M. L. Sundberg & Partington, 1998) and building learning histories that lead to acquisition of receptive and expressive skills without direct instruction (Greer & Ross, 2008). Empirical support for these recommendations also is limited. Future research should assess the relative efficiency of receptive-before-expressive, expressive-before-receptive, and simultaneous training with children who have diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders. In addition, further evaluation is needed of the potential benefits of multiple-exemplar training and other variables that may influence the efficiency of receptive and expressive instruction.     

Mapping Uncertainties in the Upstream: The Case of PLGA Nanoparticles in Salmon Vaccines

The diversity of nanotechnologies and of the governance challenges that their applications raise calls for exploration and learning across different cases. We present an Upstream Oversight Assessment (UOA) of expected benefits and potential harms of nanoparticles made of a synthetic polymer (PLGA) to improve vaccines for farmed salmon. Suggested by Jennifer Kuzma and colleagues, an UOA may help identify and prioritise research needs, and it may support evaluations of the adequacy of relevant existing regulatory frameworks. In this work, the UOA approach is modified and supported with elements from the uncertainty analysis framework developed by Warren Walker and colleagues. Empirically, we draw on relevant available published literature and insights generated in an ongoing nanoparticle salmon vaccine project, in which one of the authors participates. Nanotechnologies have not previously been encountered in the regulatory context of fish vaccines, which in part raises unique challenges due to prospective large scale vaccine use in semi-open aquatic systems. Strengthened through cooperation between ELSA and technology researchers we found the UOA useful for an early mapping of benefits and concerns, and for identifying areas in need of further research prior to a nanoparticle based salmon vaccine is developed and taken into use. We consider our approach to represent one among several complementing initiatives that seek to contribute to early stage evaluations of possible negative side effects, broadly conceived, in order to facilitate a more robust nanotechnology development.     

Functional topography of early periventricular brain lesions in relation to cytoarchitectonic probabilistic maps

Early periventricular brain lesions can not only cause cerebral palsy, but can also induce a reorganization of language. Here, we asked whether these different functional consequences can be attributed to topographically distinct portions of the periventricular white matter damage. Eight patients with pre- and perinatally acquired left-sided periventricular brain lesions underwent focal transcranial magnetic stimulation to assess the integrity of cortico-spinal hand motor projections, and functional MRI to determine the hemispheric organization of language production. MRI lesion-symptom mapping revealed that two distinct portions of the periventricular lesions were critically involved in the disruption of cortico-spinal hand motor projections on the one hand and in the induction of language reorganization into the contra-lesional right hemisphere on the other hand. Both regions are located in a position compatible with the course of cortico-spinal/cortico-nuclear projections of the primary motor cortex in the periventricular white matter, as determined by the stereotaxic probabilistic cytoarchitectonic atlas developed by the Jülich group.     

Combined functional and causal connectivity analyses of language networks in children: a feasibility study

Instead of assessing activation in distinct brain regions, approaches to investigating the networks underlying distinct brain functions have come into the focus of neuroscience research. Here, we provide a completely data-driven framework for assessing functional and causal connectivity in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, employing Granger's causality. We investigate the networks underlying story processing in 17 healthy children (8f, 9m, 10.4+/-2.8 years, 6.5-15.4 years). Extensive functional connectivity exists between brain regions, including some not detected in standard random effects analyses. Causal connectivity analyses demonstrate a clear dominance of left-sided language regions for both forward and backward interactions with other network nodes. We believe our approach to be useful in helping to assess language networks in the normal or pathological setting; it may also aid in providing better starting estimates for the more hypothesis-driven approaches like structural equation or dynamic causal modeling.     

Intensität und Qualität in der Geruchswahrnehmung

Zusammenfassung Vier unterschiedliche Geruchsstoffe in je 4 Konzentrationen wurden von 23 Versuchspersonen nach Intensität beurteilt und paarweise auf ihre relative Ähnlichkeit hin verglichen. Eine Systematik der Versuchspersonenvarianz konnte weder in den Intensitäts- noch in den Ähnlichkeitsurteilen mit dem Tucker-Messick-Verfahren nachgewiesen werden. Mit den Medianwerten der Ähnlichkeitsurteile wurde das Skalierungsverfahren von Kruskal durchgeführt. Unter 25 Lösungen wurde diejenige mit einem Exponenten (Minkowski-Metrik) von r=2,5 und 5 Dimensionen als optimal ausgewählt und zur Grundlage der Interpretation genommen. Als wichtigstes Ergebnis erhielten wir eine unabhängige Intensitätsdimension mit Ursprung außerhalb der Reizkonfiguration, die eine hohe Übereinstimmung zur Intensitätsskalierung aufwies. Weiter konnte ein Qualitätswechsel jeweils innerhalb eines Stoffes zwischen den Konzentrationen festgestellt werden. Dieser Qualitätswechsel ist bei den einzelnen Stoffen unterschiedlich stark ausgeprägt.

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Quality and intensity in olfactory perception

Summary In an experiment on olfaction 23 subjects judged 16 odors (four chemicals each in four concentrations) with respect to intensity and with respect to similarity for each pair of stimuli. Systematic interindividual variation can he found neither in the intensity nor in the similarity data. Multidimensional scaling according to Kruskal's procedure reveals a configuration in 5 dimensions, the exponent of the optimal Minkowski-metric (out of 25 alternative solutions) is r=2.5. This scaling is based on the medians of similarity judgments. One of the dimensions corresponds to a subjective scale of intensity, with a zero-point lying outside of the configuration. The quality of the stimuli depends on their concentrations. The perceived quality-changes differ in amount and directions for each of the chemicals.

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Von der Philosophischen Fakultät der Universität des Saarlandes auf Antrag von Prof. Dr. K. Eyferth angenommene Dissertation.     

Chain of Care for Patients with Intentional Self‐Harm: An Effective Strategy to Reduce Suicide Rates?

Chain of care for patients with intentional self‐harm was important in the Norwegian national action plan to prevent suicide. In this study there were two aims: (1) to calculate the potential effects of chain of care on reducing suicide rates, and (2) to assess whether suicide rates decreased more in areas where chain of care had been implemented than in other areas. We observed no differences in changes in suicide rates between areas with and without the intervention. The calculated potential effects of chain of care on national suicide rates were very small, even under unrealistically favorable conditions.     

An evaluation of intraverbal training and listener training for teaching categorization skills

The effects of vocal intraverbal training and listener training on the emergence of untrained categorization skills were evaluated. Five typically developing preschool children initially learned to name a number of previously unfamiliar visual stimuli. Each child then received one of two types of training. Intraverbal training involved reinforcing vocally emitted category names by the child in the presence of a spoken exemplar name. Listener training involved reinforcing the selection of visual stimuli by the child in the presence of a spoken category name. A multiple baseline design was used to evaluate the effects of training on each child's intraverbal category naming and stimulus selection. Pre- and posttests were used to assess additional emergent relations. Four of 5 participants did not demonstrate the emergence of any untrained relations. The current findings suggest that additional research is needed to determine the optimal sequencing of conditions in programs designed to teach categorization skills.     

Baseline training sequence affects speed of emergent conditional discriminations

We examined the effects of baseline training sequence on the emergence of conditional discriminations in an intraverbal naming task. Thirty‐two college students were randomly assigned to two groups. The tact‐intraverbal (TI) group first learned to vocally tact eight visual stimuli using a unique verbal label for each stimulus, and then to intraverbally relate four pairs of verbal labels. The intraverbal‐tact (IT) group received the same training but in the opposite sequence. Both groups then received a match‐to‐sample test involving the visual stimuli alone. On average, the TI group had significantly shorter reaction times than the IT group throughout all four test blocks, even when controlling for intraverbal retention, which was lower in the IT group. Accuracy on the MTS test did not differ significantly between groups when controlling for intraverbal retention. However, MTS accuracy and intraverbal retention were strongly correlated in the IT group but uncorrelated in the TI group. We suggest the effect of training sequence reflects different sources of stimulus control available to subjects in different groups when confronted with the novel MTS trials.