• MeSH
• Aphasia rehabilitation   therapy   MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity rehabilitation   therapy   MeSH
• Language Therapy * methods   MeSH
• Language Tests standards   MeSH
• Speech-Language Pathology methods   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Longitudinal Studies MeSH
• Child, Preschool MeSH
• Prognosis * MeSH
• Socioeconomic Factors MeSH
• Language Development Disorders * rehabilitation   therapy   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Adult MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Child, Preschool MeSH

The Children's Test of Nonword Repetition (CNRep) is one of the most popular tests of nonword repetition. The test is composed of nonwords of different length, and normative data suggest that children experience more difficulties in repeating long nonwords. An analysis of the distribution of phonological clusters in the test shows that noninitial clusters are unequally distributed in the test: They only appear in long nonwords (four and five syllables). For this reason, we hypothesized that the difficulties children encounter with long nonwords may be influenced by the phonological complexity of the clusters and not just by the challenge for working memory associated with length. To test the hypothesis, we compared repetition performance in long nonwords with and without a noninitial cluster in 18 children with language impairment and 18 typically developing children. The analysis shows that long nonwords with noninitial clusters are repeated less accurately by both groups. In addition, there was an interaction between cluster and age: The effect of cluster is absent in younger children and gradually increases with age. These findings suggest that phonological complexity may be having an impact on the length effect normally observed in the CNRep, and this impact may be particularly evident in older children.

• MeSH
• Acoustic Stimulation MeSH
• Child MeSH
• Language Tests * MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Predictive Value of Tests * MeSH
• Case-Control Studies MeSH
• Language Development Disorders diagnosis   physiopathology   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

• MeSH
• Philosophy MeSH
• Linguistics MeSH

• Conspectus
• Věda. Všeobecnosti. Základy vědy a kultury. Vědecká práce
• NML Fields
• humanitní vědy a umění

Individual differences in the ability to process language have long been discussed. Much of the neural basis of these, however, is yet unknown. Here we investigated the relationship between long-range white matter connectivity of the brain, as revealed by diffusion tractography, and the ability to process syntactically complex sentences in the participants' native language as well as the improvement thereof by multiday training. We identified specific network motifs by singular value decomposition that indeed related white matter structural connectivity to individual language processing performance. First, for two such motifs, one in the left and one in the right hemisphere, their individual prevalence significantly predicted the individual language performance, suggesting an anatomical predisposition for the individual ability to process syntactically complex sentences. Both motifs comprise a number of cortical regions, but seem to be dominated by areas known for the involvement in working memory rather than the classical language network itself. Second, we identified another left hemispheric network motif, whose change of prevalence over the training period significantly correlated with the individual change in performance, thus reflecting training induced white matter plasticity. This motif comprises diverse cortical areas including regions known for their involvement in language processing, working memory and motor functions. The present findings suggest that individual differences in language processing and learning can be explained, in part, by individual differences in the brain's white matter structure. Brain structure may be a crucial factor to be considered when discussing variations in human cognitive performance, more generally.

• MeSH
• White Matter * diagnostic imaging   MeSH
• Language MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Brain diagnostic imaging   MeSH
• Learning MeSH
• Diffusion Tensor Imaging MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH

Is negation more difficult to process than affirmation? If it is, does processing negation in a second language (L2) compound the difficulty compared to the first language (L1)? This article addresses the issues of difficulties in processing different types of negation in the L1 and L2 by looking at the differences in the ways in which comprehenders anticipate upcoming visual information during sentence processing. Using a blank-screen paradigm, we recorded eye fixations of Croatian native speakers and Croatian learners of English while they were anticipating matching or mismatching pictures to sentences with various types of negation in L1 (Croatian) and L2 (English). Using a between-group design, we manipulated sentence polarity (affirmative vs. negative), negation type (sentential vs. negative quantifier) within both L1 Croatian and L2 English so that we could observe potential anticipation effects varying as a function of the two predictors. In line with previous studies, affirmation in the L1 was easier to process than negation, and participants were able to anticipate sentence-picture matches in both the L1 and the L2 group. In contrast with our prediction, anticipatory looks did not significantly vary across negation types in Croatian based on the number of structural cues. In L2 English, learners exhibited prediction ability across negation types. These findings go against the view that comprehension in L2 comes with a reduced ability to generate expectations, and they highlight the robustness of mental simulations in both L1 and L2 negation processing.

• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

Purpose This study examined two markers of language impairment (LI) in a single experiment, testing sentence imitation and grammatical morphology production using an imitation task with masked morphemes. One goal was to test predictions of the morphological richness account of LI in Czech. We also tested the independent contributions of language and memory skills to sentence imitation performance. Method Seventeen children with LI (5;1-7;6 [years;months]) and 17 vocabulary-matched typically developing (TD) children (3;8-4;11) were administered a sentence imitation task where each sentence had one noun or verb ending replaced by a coughing sound. In addition, a receptive vocabulary and the digit span (backward and forward) tasks were administered. Results Children with LI were significantly less accurate than TD children in sentence imitation task. Both vocabulary and digit span had unique effects on sentence imitation scores. Children with LI were less successful in imitating the target words, especially verbs. However, if they succeeded, their completions of the masked morphemes were no less accurate than in TD children. The accuracy of completions was affected by the morpheme frequency and homophony, but these effects were similar in TD and affected children. Conclusions Sentence imitation is a measure of language skills and verbal memory. Results on morpheme completions are consistent with processing models of LI, but some predictions of the morphological richness model were not confirmed. The results suggest that children with LI might have a deficit in organizing morphosyntactic relations in sentences, rather than in morphological processing proper.

• MeSH
• Child MeSH
• Language MeSH
• Language Tests MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Imitative Behavior * MeSH
• Vocabulary MeSH
• Language Development Disorders * MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic MeSH

• MeSH
• Blood Banks MeSH
• Blood Transfusion MeSH
• Temperature MeSH
• Publication type
• Collected Work MeSH

• Conspectus
• Patologie. Klinická medicína
• NML Fields
• hematologie a transfuzní lékařství

The human genome contains approximately 20,000 protein-coding genes, of which more than 15,000 (3/4) are expressed, among others, in the central nervous system. Variants that damage the function of these genes (called pathogenic variants) can lead to various forms of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD), including speech and language disorders. These can occur alone or in various combinations. In this review article, we provide information on the possibilities, limits and importance of genetic testing in patients with NDD.

• MeSH
• Genetic Variation MeSH
• Genetic Diseases, Inborn diagnosis   genetics   MeSH
• Genetic Testing methods   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Abnormalities, Multiple diagnosis   genetics   MeSH
• Mutation MeSH
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders * diagnosis   etiology   genetics   MeSH
• Language Development Disorders diagnosis   etiology   genetics   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The impact of dopaminergic medication on language in Parkinson's disease (PD) remains poorly understood. This observational, naturalistic study aimed to investigate the effects of long-term dopaminergic therapy on language performance in patients with de-novo PD based on a high-level linguistic analysis of natural spontaneous discourse. METHODS: A fairy-tale narration was recorded at baseline and a 12-month follow-up. The speech samples were automatically analyzed using six representative lexical and syntactic features based on automatic speech recognition and natural language processing. RESULTS: We enrolled 109 de-novo PD patients compared to 68 healthy controls. All subjects completed the 12-month follow-up; 92 PD patients were on stable dopaminergic medication (PD-treated), while 17 PD patients remained without medication (PD-untreated). At baseline, the PD-treated group exhibited abnormalities in syntactic domains, particularly in sentence length (p = 0.018) and sentence development (p = 0.042) compared to healthy controls. After 12 months of dopaminergic therapy, PD-treated showed improvements in the syntactic domain, including sentence length (p = 0.012) and sentence development (p = 0.030). Of all PD-treated patients, 37 were on monotherapy with dopamine agonists and manifested improvement in sentence length (p = 0.048), while 32 were on monotherapy with levodopa and had no language amelioration. No changes in language parameters over time were seen in both the PD-untreated group and healthy controls. DISCUSSION: Initiation of dopaminergic therapy improved high-language syntactic deficits in de-novo PD, confirming the role of dopamine in cognitive-linguistic processing. Automated linguistic analysis of spontaneous speech via natural language processing can assist in improving the prediction and management of language deficits in PD.

• MeSH
• Dopamine Agonists * therapeutic use   MeSH
• Antiparkinson Agents * therapeutic use   MeSH
• Dopamine Agents * therapeutic use   MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Follow-Up Studies MeSH
• Parkinson Disease * drug therapy   complications   MeSH
• Speech * drug effects   MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Treatment Outcome MeSH
• Check Tag
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Observational Study MeSH

According to one theory, synaesthesia develops, or is preserved, because it helps children learn. If so, it should be more common among adults who faced greater childhood learning challenges. In the largest survey of synaesthesia to date, the incidence of synaesthesia was compared among native speakers of languages with transparent (easier) and opaque (more difficult) orthographies. Contrary to our prediction, native speakers of Czech (transparent) were more likely to be synaesthetes than native speakers of English (opaque). However, exploratory analyses suggested that this was because more Czechs learned non-native second languages, which was strongly associated with synaesthesia, consistent with the learning hypothesis. Furthermore, the incidence of synaesthesia among speakers of opaque languages was double that among speakers of transparent languages other than Czech, also consistent with the learning hypothesis. These findings contribute to an emerging understanding of synaesthetic development as a complex and lengthy process with multiple causal influences.

• MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Multilingualism * MeSH
• Perceptual Disorders epidemiology   MeSH
• Prevalence MeSH
• Learning physiology   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Adult MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic epidemiology   MeSH
• Canada epidemiology   MeSH