Auditory Verbal Experience and Agency in Waking,Sleep Onset,REM, and Non‐REM Sleep

We present one of the first quantitative studies on auditory verbal experiences (“hearing voices”) and auditory verbal agency (inner speech, and specifically “talking to (imaginary) voices or characters”) in healthy participants across states of consciousness. Tools of quantitative linguistic analysis were used to measure participants’ implicit knowledge of auditory verbal experiences (VE) and auditory verbal agencies (VA), displayed in mentation reports from four different states. Analysis was conducted on a total of 569 mentation reports from rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, non‐REM sleep, sleep onset, and waking. Physiology was controlled with the nightcap sleep–wake mentation monitoring system. Sleep‐onset hallucinations, traditionally at the focus of scientific attention on auditory verbal hallucinations, showed the lowest degree of VE and VA, whereas REM sleep showed the highest degrees. Degrees of different linguistic‐pragmatic aspects of VE and VA likewise depend on the physiological states. The quantity and pragmatics of VE and VA are a function of the physiologically distinct state of consciousness in which they are conceived.     

音乐训练延缓言语感知老龄化

听力正常的老年人常常受到噪声环境中言语感知能力下降的困扰。延缓这一类型的听觉老龄化具有重要的心理和社会意义。经历过音乐训练的老年人在噪声环境中的言语识别成绩显著高于听力相当但是未经历过音乐训练的老年人。此外, 音乐训练也伴随着老年人的听觉脑干对言语信号的加工速度和时间精度的明显提高。这一言语信号神经表征的增强可能在音乐训练延缓老年人言语感知能力下降的过程中发挥了重要作用。     

Maternal expression of communicative intentions and pragmatic fine tuning in early infancy

This study focuses on pragmatic characteristics of infant-directed speech and pragmatic fine tuning during the first 18 months of life. The subjects of the study were a mother–child dyad involved in a longitudinal/observational study in a familial context. Audiovisual recordings were transcribed according to the conventions of the Child Language Data Exchange System ([MacWhinney, 2000] and [MacWhinney and Snow, 1990]). The Ninio and Wheeler's (1988) system for coding communicative intentions was adapted.The results of this research show that most of the communicative exchanges identified at 14, 20 and 32 months by Snow, Pan, Imbens-Bailey, and Herman (1996) appear in mother–child interaction from the beginning, while other communicative interchanges appear later. With respect to speech acts, the results highlight, from an early age, the general tendencies discussed by Snow et al. and some novelties. Interestingly, changes in some pragmatic measures were identified around 8 months of age, and the appearance of new communicative interchanges also took place around this age. These changes are interpreted as maternal adjustments to the child's communicative competence.     

修饰语的焦点和重音对话语理解的影响

本研究分别采用韵律合适度判断和理解任务,通过两个实验探讨修饰语的焦点和重音之间的关系对话语理解的影响。实验通过操纵答句中的论元是否出现在问句中,变化问句的信息状态;通过操纵答句的不同句子成份重读,变化答句的重读位置。实验结果发现：新的修饰语重读,旧的修饰语不重读;修饰语不投射焦点,即修饰语重读不将焦点投射到修饰语的中心语上。     

Co‐development of child‐mother gestures over the second and the third years

This study looks at whether there is a relationship between mother and infant gesture production. Specifically, it addresses the extent of articulation in the maternal gesture repertoire and how closely it supports the infant production of gestures. Eight Spanish mothers and their 1‐ and 2‐year‐old babies were studied during 1 year of observations. Maternal and child verbal production, gestures and actions were recorded at their homes on five occasions while performing daily routines. Results indicated that mother and child deictic gestures (pointing and instrumental) and representational gestures (symbolic and social) were very similar at each age group and did not decline across groups. Overall, deictic gestures were more frequent than representational gestures. Maternal adaptation to developmental changes is specific for gesturing but not for acting. Maternal and child speech were related positively to mother and child pointing and representational gestures, and negatively to mother and child instrumental gestures. Mother and child instrumental gestures were positively related to action production, after maternal and child speech was partialled out. Thus, language plays an important role for dyadic communicative activities (gesture–gesture relations) but not for dyadic motor activities (gesture–action relations). Finally, a comparison of the growth curves across sessions showed a closer correspondence for mother–child deictic gestures than for representational gestures. Overall, the results point to the existence of an articulated maternal gesture input that closely supports the child gesture production. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Maternal beliefs concerning young children's private speech

The goal of this study was to understand maternal reports, beliefs, and attitudes about their young children's use of private speech. Mothers of 48 children between the ages of 3 and 5 participated in a semi‐structured interview in which they reported on the frequency and context of their child's use of private speech, maternal responses toward such speech use in children, and beliefs about the utility of such speech for children. Interviews were transcribed and responses coded. Mothers also completed surveys on children's self control and parenting style. Results indicated that practically all parents reported that their child engaged in private speech and that such speech was more likely to appear during fantasy play than during problem‐solving activities. Parents varied in their personal responses to children's self talk and, as a group, do not appear to actively discourage or encourage its use. Ignoring/allowing child private speech use was common and this response was positively associated with authoritative parenting. Parental reports of the frequency with which their child talks to himself were negatively associated with parental reports of children's self‐control. Crib speech, or bedtime monologue, was reported to be very common and was negatively associated with children's self‐control and positively associated with children's private speech use. Parents were uniformly positive in their belief that private speech serves important functions and that it helps young children during task activities. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The power of powerless speech: The effects of speech style and task interdependence on status conferral

Two studies examine the effects of speech styles and task interdependence on status conferral judgments. In both studies, participants were exposed to an individual who used either a powerful or powerless speech style in a low or high task interdependence group, and made judgments about the amount of status to confer to the individual. When task interdependence was low, participants conferred more status to powerful speakers, whereas when interdependence was high, participants conferred more status to powerless speakers. Furthermore, Study 2 demonstrated that speech styles influenced trait inferences about the speaker (agency and communality), but these traits were weighted differently in status conferral judgments across groups. These findings provide insight into both the relationship between observed behaviors and status positions and the decision process underlying status conferral judgments.     

双语言语产生中的词汇提取机制

文章主要介绍了双语言语产生中词汇提取机制的两种理论：非特定语言提取的理论和特定语言提取的理论。重点围绕着双语言语产生中词汇提取的一个关键问题,即非目标语言的词汇是否对目标语言的词汇提取形成竞争或者干扰详细地论述了二者的理论分歧,非特定语言提取的理论认为非目标语言的词汇会对目标语言的词汇提取形成竞争,而特定语言提取的理论认为不会形成竞争。文章最后介绍了双语言语产生中词汇提取机制的最新研究趋势,表明了非特定语言提取的理论和特定语言提取的理论逐步走向融和     

Disruption of writing by background speech: Does sound source location and number of voices matter?

It is not unusual that people have to write in an environment where background speech is present. Background speech can vary in both speech intelligibility and location of the sound source. Earlier research has shown disruptive effects of background speech on writing performance. To expand and reinforce this knowledge, the present study investigated the role of number of voices and sound source location in the relation between background speech and writing performance. Participants wrote texts in quiet or in background speech consisting of one or seven voices talking simultaneously located in front of or behind them. Overall, one voice was more disruptive than seven voices talking simultaneously. Self‐reports showed that sound from the front was more disruptive compared with sound from behind. Results are in line with theory of interference‐by‐process, attentional capture, and the cross‐modal theory of attention. The relevance of the results for open‐office environments is discussed.     

Parent coaching at 6 and 10 months improves language outcomes at 14 months: A randomized controlled trial

Previous studies reveal an association between particular features of parental language input and advances in children's language learning. However, it is not known whether parent coaching aimed to enhance specific input components would (a) successfully increase these components in parents' language input and (b) result in concurrent increases in children's language development. The present randomized controlled trial assigned families of typically developing 6‐month‐old infants to Intervention (parent coaching) and Control (no coaching) groups. Families were equivalent on socioeconomic status, infants' gender, and infants' age. Parent coaching took place when infants were 6 and 10 months of age, and included quantitative and qualitative linguistic feedback on the amount of child‐directed speech, back‐and‐forth interactions, and parentese speech style. These variables were derived from each family's first‐person LENA recordings at home. Input variables and infant language were measured at 6, 10, and 14 months. Parent coaching significantly enhanced language input as measured by two social interaction variables: percentage of speech directed to the child and percentage of parentese speech. These two variables were correlated, and were both related to growth in infant babbling between 6 and 14 months. Intervention infants showed greater growth in babbling than Control infants. Furthermore, at 14 months, Intervention infants produced significantly more words than Control infants, as indicated by LENA recordings and parent report via the MacArthur‐Bates Communicative Developmental Inventory. Together, these results indicate that parent coaching can enrich specific aspects of parental language input, and can immediately and positively impact child language outcomes. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/7wqR28gPiwo