偏侧化颜色范畴知觉不依赖于语言?

本研究探讨了偏左脑颜色范畴知觉依赖于语言还是范畴。三组被试分别完成无干扰、语言加工干扰和范畴加工干扰视觉搜索任务。结果发现：无干扰组、语言加工干扰组和范畴加工干扰组的视觉搜索任务中分别出现了偏左脑颜色范畴知觉、左脑劣势颜色范畴知觉和无偏侧化颜色范畴知觉。此结果表明,偏左脑颜色范畴知觉可能主要是语言范畴作为一种范畴对颜色知觉的影响效应,但语言范畴的语言属性也会对颜色知觉产生影响。     

Effects of right and left hemisphere damage on performance of the "Right Hemisphere Communication Battery"

A Hebrew adaptation of Gardner and Brownell's (1986) "Right Hemisphere Communication Battery" (HRHCB) was administered to 27 right brain-damaged (RBD) patients, 31 left brain-damaged (LBD) patients, and 21 age-matched normal controls. Both patient groups showed deficits relative to controls and overall there was no difference between the two patient groups. A factor analysis of patients' scores on the HRHCB yielded two interpretable factors, a verbal and a nonverbal one. These factors were not lateralized. Performance of patients on the HRHCB correlated significantly and positively with performance on most tests of basic language functions, measured with a Hebrew adaptation of the "Western Aphasia Battery" (HWAB) and with other cognitive functions measured with standardized neuropsychological tests. There were stronger correlations of HRHCB with subtests of the HWAB in LBD patients and with nonlanguage cognitive tests in RBD patients. In the LBD group, HRHCB subtests' scores correlated negatively with lesion extent in frontal and temporal perisylvian regions. Such localization was not observed in RBD patients. The results argue against selective right hemisphere (RH) involvement in the RHCB, alleged to measure pragmatic aspects of language use, and show, instead, bilateral involvement. The results also argue against a modular organization of these functions of language use, especially in the RH.     

Does right hemisphere damaged patients' impaired performance on a sentence insertion task indicate a syntactic or a lexical level deficit?

The present paper focuses on two studies, one on English (Schneiderman & Saddy, 1988) and the other on Italian (De Vreese, Neri Rubichi, & Salvioli, 1996), which report on right hemisphere damaged subjects' inability to correctly insert a word or phrase into an already well-formed sentence under certain stimulus conditions. Despite their strikingly similar findings, the results of the studies are interpreted quite differently. Schneiderman & Saddy consider the deficit to be syntactic, while De Vreese et al. view it as occurring at the lexical category or morphological level. An analysis and regrouping of the stimulus items from both studies indicate that a single syntactic interpretation could account for their results. Suggestions are made for further analyses and research to increase our understanding of the syntactic capacities of the intact right hemisphere.     

Defining face perception areas in the human brain: a large-scale factorial fMRI face localizer analysis

A number of human brain areas showing a larger response to faces than to objects from different categories, or to scrambled faces, have been identified in neuroimaging studies. Depending on the statistical criteria used, the set of areas can be overextended or minimized, both at the local (size of areas) and global (number of areas) levels. Here we analyzed a whole-brain factorial functional localizer obtained in a large sample of right-handed participants (40). Faces (F), objects (O; cars) and their phase-scrambled counterparts (SF, SO) were presented in a block design during a one-back task that was well matched for difficulty across conditions. A conjunction contrast at the group level {(F-SF) and (F-O)} identified six clusters: in the pulvinar, inferior occipital gyrus (so-called OFA), middle fusiform gyrus (so-called FFA), posterior superior temporal sulcus, amygdala, and anterior infero-temporal cortex, which were all strongly right lateralized. While the FFA showed the largest difference between faces and cars, it also showed the least face-selective response, responding more to cars than scrambled cars. Moreover, the FFA's larger response to scrambled faces than scrambled cars suggests that its face-sensitivity is partly due to low-level visual cues. In contrast, the pattern of activation in the OFA points to a higher degree of face-selectivity. A BOLD latency mapping analysis suggests that face-sensitivity emerges first in the right FFA, as compared to all other areas. Individual brain analyses support these observations, but also highlight the large amount of interindividual variability in terms of number, height, extent and localization of the areas responding preferentially to faces in the human ventral occipito-temporal cortex. This observation emphasizes the need to rely on different statistical thresholds across the whole brain and across individuals to define these areas, but also raises some concerns regarding any objective labeling of these areas to make them correspond across individual brains. This large-scale analysis helps understanding the set of face-sensitive areas in the human brain, and encourages in-depth single participant analyses in which the whole set of areas is considered in each individual brain.     

Building phrases in language production: An MEG study of simple composition

Although research on language production has developed detailed maps of the brain basis of single word production in both time and space, little is known about the spatiotemporal dynamics of the processes that combine individual words into larger representations during production. Studying composition in production is challenging due to difficulties both in controlling produced utterances and in measuring the associated brain responses. Here, we circumvent both problems using a minimal composition paradigm combined with the high temporal resolution of magnetoencephalography (MEG). With MEG, we measured the planning stages of simple adjective–noun phrases (‘red tree’), matched list controls (‘red, blue’), and individual nouns (‘tree’) and adjectives (‘red’), with results indicating combinatorial processing in the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and left anterior temporal lobe (LATL), two regions previously implicated for the comprehension of similar phrases. These effects began relatively quickly (∼180 ms) after the presentation of a production prompt, suggesting that combination commences with initial lexical access. Further, while in comprehension, vmPFC effects have followed LATL effects, in this production paradigm vmPFC effects occurred mostly in parallel with LATL effects, suggesting that a late process in comprehension is an early process in production. Thus, our results provide a novel neural bridge between psycholinguistic models of comprehension and production that posit functionally similar combinatorial mechanisms operating in reversed order.     

Cerebral perfusion and neuropsychological follow up in mild traumatic brain injury: Acute versus chronic disturbances?

In a subgroup of patients with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) residual symptoms, interfering with outcome and return to work, are found. With neuropsychological assessment cognitive deficits can be demonstrated although the pathological underpinnings of these cognitive deficits are not fully understood. As the admission computed tomography (CT) often is normal, perfusion CT imaging may be a useful indicator of brain dysfunction in the acute phase after injury in these patients.In the present study, directly after admission perfusion CT imaging was performed in mild TBI patients with follow-up neuropsychological assessment in those with complaints and a normal non-contrast CT. Neuropsychological tests comprised the 15 Words test Immediate Recall, Trailmaking test part B, Zoo Map test and the FEEST, which were dichotomized into normal and abnormal. Perfusion CT results of patients with normal neuropsychological test scores were compared to those with abnormal test scores.In total eighteen patients were included. Those with an abnormal score on the Zoo Map test had a significant lower CBV in the right frontal and the bilateral parieto-temporal white matter. Patients with an abnormal score on the FEEST had a significant higher MTT in the bilateral frontal white matter and a significant decreased CBF in the left parieto-temporal grey matter. No significant relation between the perfusion CT parameters and the 15 Words test and the Trailmaking test part B was present.In conclusion, impairments in executive functioning and emotion perception assessed with neuropsychological tests during follow up were related to differences in cerebral perfusion at admission in mild TBI. The pathophysiological concept of these findings is discussed.     

Repetition priming reveals hemispheric differences in compound word processing

The left (LH) and right (RH) hemispheres are thought to implement different mechanisms for visual word recognition; the LH’s parallel encoding strategy is more efficient than the RH’s serial, letter-by-letter analysis. Here we examine differences in hemispheric language processing strategy by investigating repetition priming of compound words (e.g. buttercup) and their constituents (e.g. butter, cup). Eighty-eight right-handed participants (29 M, 59 F) completed a lexical decision experiment in which centrally-presented compounds primed related (whole compound, first constituent, second constituent) and unrelated targets presented laterally to the left or right visual field; participants made button-press word/nonword decisions. Consistent with the LH parallel/RH serial distinction, repetition priming prompted an RH advantage for first constituents, whereas the LH performed equally efficiently in response to both first and second constituents. These data thus highlight differences in the hemispheres’ language processing strategies, offering new evidence supporting a relative parallel/serial distinction in LH/RH visual word recognition.     

Inter-hemispheric remapping between arm proprioception and vision of the hand is disrupted by single pulse TMS on the left parietal cortex

Parietal cortical areas are involved in sensori-motor transformations for their respective contralateral hemifield/body. When arms of the subjects are crossed while their gaze is fixed straight ahead, vision of the hand is processed by the hemisphere ipsilateral to the arm position and proprioception of the arm by the contralateral hemisphere. It induces interhemispheric transfer and remapping. Our objective was to investigate whether a single pulse TMS applied to the left parietal cortical area would disturb interhemispheric remapping in a similar case, and would increase a simple reaction time (RT) with respect to a control single pulse TMS applied to the frontal cortical area. Two LED were superimposed and located in front of the subjects on the saggital axis. Subjects were asked to carefully fixate on these LED during each trial. The lighting of the red LED was used as a warning signal. Following the green one was illuminated after a variable delay and served as a go-signal. The hand for the response was determined before the start of each trial. TMS was applied to the left parietal, the left frontal cortical areas, or not applied to the subject. Results revealed that: (1) Irrespective of its location, single pulse TMS induced a non-specific effect similar to a startle reflex and reduced RT substantially (15 ms on average) with respect to a control condition without TMS (mean value = 153 ms). (2) Irrespective of TMS, RT were shorter when the right or the left hand was positioned in the right visual hemi-field (i.e. normal and crossed positions respectively). (3) Finally, RT increased when single pulse TMS was applied to the left parietal area and when hands were crossed irrespective of which hand was used. We concluded that interhemispheric sensori-motor remapping was disrupted by a single pulse TMS that was applied to the left parietal cortex. This effect was also combined with some visual attention directed towards the hand located on the right visual hemi-field.     

The Role of Demographics and Opportunities to Learn in Predicting Performance on a High-Stakes Test

Abstract

High-stakes testing has emerged as a central feature of the educational landscape in primary and secondary schools in the United States. Despite this prominence, there is a paucity of guidance available to practitioners on how they can best make predictions about student performance based on available test data. While achievement gaps based on demographics are widely known, less commonly analyzed are differences in opportunities to learn. Results from the first group of students in Massachusetts required to take a state-created exam in order to graduate from high school indicated that both demographics and courses taken were significant predictors of performance. Recommendations for analyzing test data and for promoting more comprehensive and culturally responsive assessment and curriculum practices are offered.     

Age-related changes in the appreciation of novel metaphoric semantic relations

ABSTRACT

In the present study we tested the possibility that older adults differ from younger adults in their appreciation of metaphoric semantic relations, and that age-related changes occur due to the perception of novel metaphors. In the first experiment 35 younger (mean age?=?23.1) and 35 older adults (mean age?=?75.3) were asked to rate the plausibility of metaphoric, literal, and unrelated word pairs. Relative to young participants, older participants rated fewer expressions as metaphorically plausible. The second experiment was conducted to examine whether the findings of the first experiment could be accounted for by an age-associated difference in the appreciation of metaphors with different levels of familiarity. In the second experiment, 25 younger (mean age?=?24.4) and 25 older adults (mean age?=?77.5) were asked to rate the familiarity level of the plausible metaphoric expressions. Relative to young participants, older participants rated fewer expressions as novel and more expressions as familiar. The results suggest that novelty plays an important role in appreciating the plausibility of semantic relationships, and age-related changes are associated with the appreciation of the novelty of expressions.