Speech segmentation by statistical learning is supported by domain-general processes within working memory

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which working memory resources are recruited during statistical learning (SL). Participants were asked to identify novel words in an artificial speech stream where the transitional probabilities between syllables provided the only segmentation cue. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that segmentation performance improved when the speech rate was slowed down, suggesting that SL is supported by some form of active processing or maintenance mechanism that operates more effectively under slower presentation rates. In Experiment 3 we investigated the nature of this mechanism by asking participants to perform a two-back task while listening to the speech stream. Half of the participants performed a two-back rhyme task designed to engage phonological processing, whereas the other half performed a comparable two-back task on un-nameable visual shapes. It was hypothesized that if SL is dependent only upon domain-specific processes (i.e., phonological rehearsal), the rhyme task should impair speech segmentation performance more than the shape task. However, the two loads were equally disruptive to learning, as they both eradicated the benefit provided by the slow rate. These results suggest that SL is supported by working-memory processes that rely on domain-general resources.     

Statewide Implementation of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis Through a Learning Collaborative Model

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis (CBTp) is an evidence-based psychotherapeutic intervention (EBPI) for adults with schizophrenia spectrum disorders that remains under-implemented in the United States (U.S.). There has been little empirical attention on implementation and dissemination strategies for this EBPI. The Learning Collaborative (LC) model is a method of implementing evidence-based practices across agencies and geographic regions that may facilitate CBTp implementation and dissemination in the US.We applied the LC model in an attempt to enhance the accessibility of CBTp in community mental health settings statewide. Providers (N = 56) from 12 agencies voluntarily participated in an in-person, CBTp workshop followed by 6 months of biweekly phone-based consultation sessions (Phase 1). Twenty-one providers opted to participate in an additional 6-month CBTp LC immediately following completion of the initial CBTp LC (Phase 2). Adoption, penetration, provider-perceived skill development, fidelity, as well as provider-perceived implementation barriers were re-assessed during and 6 months after completion of Phase 2.One year after the completion of the Phase 2 LC, 21% of the original trainee group across 3 of the 12 participating agencies continued to offer CBTp to clients. CBTp trainees were treating between one and two clients each. Self-assessed CBTp skills improved modestly over the Phase 2 consultation period. On average, both clinicians and supervisors reached an acceptable fidelity score on the sessions reviewed. Participating providers identified multiple barriers to CBTp implementation, including features of the training and consultation, the agency, the intervention itself, and psychosocial and clinical challenges associated with the client population.Few CBTp implementation studies have applied a framework to CBTp implementation. The authors adapted the LC model in an attempt to promote adoption of CBTp in community mental health clinics across a large, populous state with poor access to mental health services. Identified challenges and recommendations should be considered in future implementation efforts.     

Specific effects of the Trier Social Stress Test on speech fluency in young and older adults

The notion that speech becomes less fluent during stressful speaking conditions has received little empirical test, and no research has tested this relationship in older adult participants. We analyzed speeches produced during the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) or during a less stressful placebo (pTSST) version of the task. We measured young and older adults’ speech fillers (e.g., um), unfilled pauses (at least 1 s in duration), and other disfluencies (e.g., repetitions, repairs). Neither young nor older adult participants rated themselves as having greater stress in the TSST than pTSST condition, but behavioral effects were obtained. Participants in the TSST condition produced more mid-phrase speech fillers and unfilled pauses than participants in the pTSST condition. Young adults produced more unfilled pauses than older adults overall, and older adults produced more mid-phrase fillers than young adults. Critically, age group interacted with experimental condition, such that older speakers produced disproportionately more mid-phrase fillers than young adults in the TSST compared to the pTSST condition. In sum, the negative effects of the TSST on fluency were generally similar across age, but this specific age-related increase in mid-phrase fillers indicates that older adults’ word retrieval may have been particularly negatively affected. Findings are generally consistent with previous research and add to understanding of how factors internal to the speaker (i.e., demographic, personality, and cognitive variables) and factors external to the speaker (i.e., variables regarding the situation, context, or content of speech) combine to affect speech fluency.     

Therapeutic response to Cognitive Processing Therapy in White and Black female veterans with military sexual trauma-related PTSD

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is an evidence-based treatment (EBT) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which has been validated for female veterans with military-related PTSD. Existing trials have enrolled predominantly White veterans with some studies documenting higher rates of early termination from EBTs among Black females when compared to White females. Data from a previously published randomized clinical trial were used to evaluate the effectiveness of CPT for Black female veterans with military sexual trauma (MST)-related PTSD. Reductions in PTSD symptom severity, number of sessions attended, and early termination rates were compared between Black (n = 20) and White (n = 16) female veterans. A hierarchical linear modeling approach was used, with PTSD symptom severity over the course of treatment and follow-up entered as a level-1 variable and race (Black or White) entered as a level-2 predictor. Piecewise growth curves analyses revealed that both Black and White female veterans experienced significant reductions in PTSD symptom severity over the course of treatment and gains were maintained up to 6 months post-treatment. Race was not found to be a significant predictor of change in the slope of PTSD symptom severity over the course of CPT treatment. Additionally, number of sessions attended and rates of early termination did not significantly differ based on race. Results suggest that CPT was a well-tolerated and effective psychotherapeutic treatment for this sample regardless of racial self-identification.     

The influence of speech rate and accent on access and use of semantic information

Circumstances in which the speech input is presented in sub-optimal conditions generally lead to processing costs affecting spoken word recognition. The current study indicates that some processing demands imposed by listening to difficult speech can be mitigated by feedback from semantic knowledge. A set of lexical decision experiments examined how foreign accented speech and word duration impact access to semantic knowledge in spoken word recognition. Results indicate that when listeners process accented speech, the reliance on semantic information increases. Speech rate was not observed to influence semantic access, except in the setting in which unusually slow accented speech was presented. These findings support interactive activation models of spoken word recognition in which attention is modulated based on speech demands.     

The Primacy of Discourse in the Study of Gender in Family Therapy

Family therapists and scholars increasingly adopt poststructural and postmodern conceptions of social reality, challenging the notion of stable, universal dynamics within family members and families and favoring a view of reality as produced through social interaction. In the study of gender and diversity, many envision differences as social constructed rather than as “residing” in people or groups. There is a growing interest in discourse or people's everyday use of language and how it may reflect and advance interests of dominant groups in a society. Despite this shift from structures to discourse, therapists struggle to locate the dynamics of power in concrete actions and interactions. By leaving undisturbed the social processes through which gendered and other subjectivities and relations of power are produced, therapists may inadvertently become complicit in the very dynamics of power they seek to undermine. In this article, we argue that discourse analysis can help family therapy scholars and practitioners clarify the link between language and power. We present published examples of discourse analytic studies of gender and sexism and examine the relevance of these ideas for family therapy practice and research.