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Phonological Representations (phonological + representation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Psychology	50%
Medical Sciences	40%

Selected Abstracts

Abilities underlying decoding differences in children with intellectual disability

JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH, Issue 4 2001
F. A. Conners
Abstract Researchers in recent years have made much progress towards understanding why some children struggle to learn to read. However, little of this research has involved children with intellectual disability associated with an IQ < 70 (ID, also called mental retardation). In the present analysis, the authors examined cognitive similarities and differences between stronger and weaker decoders, all of whom have ID. The 65 children with ID in the present analysis were initially referred by their teachers for a study that involved training basic phonological reading skills. The present analysis compares 21 children who were excluded from the training study because their decoding skills were already too high with 44 children whose decoding skills were low enough for the training study. The groups were compared on general intelligence, language ability, phonemic awareness and phonological memory. Initial analyses showed that the stronger decoders were significantly better than weaker decoders in language ability, phonemic awareness and rehearsal in phonological memory, but not in intelligence. They were also significantly older than weaker decoders. When age was covaried out, the groups differed significantly only in rehearsal in phonological memory, although the difference for phonemic awareness was marginally significant when the poorest performers were excluded. When intelligence is substantially limited, the ability to rehearse or refresh phonological codes in working memory plays a major role in determining children's success in learning to read. This ability appears to be more important than intelligence, language ability and phonemic awareness. It is possible that the reason the phonemic awareness measure was not as good at distinguishing the groups as the phonological rehearsal measure was because the former did not involve assembling phonological output. It is suggested that it is the combination of poor phonological representation and poor phonological output assembly that makes decoding difficult for some children with ID. [source]

Accommodating variability in voice and foreign accent: flexibility of early word representations

DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 4 2009
Rachel Schmale
In six experiments with English-learning infants, we examined the effects of variability in voice and foreign accent on word recognition. We found that 9-month-old infants successfully recognized words when two native English talkers with dissimilar voices produced test and familiarization items (Experiment 1). When the domain of variability was shifted to include variability in voice as well as in accent, 13-, but not 9-month-olds, recognized a word produced across talkers when only one had a Spanish accent (Experiments 2 and 3). Nine-month-olds accommodated some variability in accent by recognizing words when the same Spanish-accented talker produced familiarization and test items (Experiment 4). However, 13-, but not 9-month-olds, could do so when test and familiarization items were produced by two distinct Spanish-accented talkers (Experiments 5 and 6). These findings suggest that, although monolingual 9-month-olds have abstract phonological representations, these representations may not be flexible enough to accommodate the modifications found in foreign-accented speech. [source]

German-learning infants' ability to detect unstressed closed-class elements in continuous speech

DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2003
Barbara Höhle
The paper reports on two experiments with the head turn preference method which provide evidence that already at 7 to 9 months, but not yet at 6 months, German-learning infants do recognize unstressed closed-class lexical elements in continuous speech. These findings support the view that even preverbal children are able to compute at least phonological representations for closed-class functional elements. They also suggest that these elements must be available to the language learning mechanisms of the child from very early on, allowing the child to make use of the distributional properties of closed-class lexical elements for further top-down analysis of the linguistic input, e.g. segmentation and syntactic categorization. [source]

Exploring dyslexics' phonological deficit I: lexical vs sub-lexical and input vs output processes

DYSLEXIA, Issue 4 2005
Gayaneh Szenkovits
Abstract We report a series of experiments designed to explore the locus of the phonological deficit in dyslexia. Phonological processing of dyslexic adults is compared to that of age- and IQ-matched controls. Dyslexics' impaired performance on tasks involving nonwords suggests that sub-lexical phonological representations are deficient. Contrasting nonword repetition vs auditory nonword discrimination suggests that dyslexics are specifically impaired in input phonological processing. These data are compatible with the hypothesis that the deficit initially affects input sub-lexical processes, and further spreads to output and lexical processes in the course of language acquisition. Further longitudinal research is required to confirm this scenario as well as to tease apart the role of the quality of phonological representations from that of verbal short-term memory processes. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

From language to reading and dyslexia,

DYSLEXIA, Issue 1 2001
Margaret J. Snowling
Abstract This paper reviews evidence in support of the phonological deficit hypothesis of dyslexia. Findings from two experimental studies suggest that the phonological deficits of dyslexic children and adults cannot be explained in terms of impairments in low-level auditory mechanisms, but reflect higher-level language weaknesses. A study of individual differences in the pattern of reading skills in dyslexic children rejects the notion of ,sub-types'. Instead, the findings suggest that the variation seen in reading processes can be accounted for by differences in the severity of individual children's phonological deficits, modified by compensatory factors including visual memory, perceptual speed and print exposure. Children at genetic risk who go on to be dyslexic come to the task of reading with poorly specified phonological representations in the context of a more general delay in oral language development. Their prognosis (and that of their unaffected siblings) depends upon the balance of strengths and difficulties they show, with better language skills being a protective factor. Taken together, these findings suggest that current challenges to the phonological deficit theory can be met. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Late acquisition of literacy in a native language

HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING, Issue 1 2007
Jubin Abutalebi
Abstract With event-related functional MRI (fMRI) and with behavioral measures we studied the brain processes underlying the acquisition of native language literacy. Adult dialect speakers were scanned while reading words belonging to three different conditions: dialect words, i.e., the native language in which subjects are illiterate (dialect), German words, i.e., the second language in which subjects are literate, and pseudowords. Investigating literacy acquisition of a dialect may reveal how novel readers of a language build an orthographic lexicon, i.e., establish a link between already available semantic and phonological representations and new orthographic word forms. The main results of the study indicate that a set of regions, including the left anterior hippocampal formation and subcortical nuclei, is involved in the buildup of orthographic representations. The repeated exposure to written dialect words resulted in a convergence of the neural substrate to that of the language in which these subjects were already proficient readers. The latter result is compatible with a "fast" brain plasticity process that may be related to a shift of reading strategies. Hum Brain Mapp, 2007. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Computational Modeling of Statistical Learning: Effects of Transitional Probability Versus Frequency and Links to Word Learning

INFANCY, Issue 5 2010
Daniel Mirman
Statistical learning mechanisms play an important role in theories of language acquisition and processing. Recurrent neural network models have provided important insights into how these mechanisms might operate. We examined whether such networks capture two key findings in human statistical learning. In Simulation 1, a simple recurrent network (SRN) performed much like human learners: it was sensitive to both transitional probability and frequency, with frequency dominating early in learning and probability emerging as the dominant cue later in learning. In Simulation 2, an SRN captured links between statistical segmentation and word learning in infants and adults, and suggested that these links arise because phonological representations are more distinctive for syllables with higher transitional probability. Beyond simply simulating general phenomena, these models provide new insights into underlying mechanisms and generate novel behavioral predictions. [source]

Verbal short-term memory in Down's syndrome: An articulatory loop deficit?

JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH, Issue 2 2004
S. Vicari
Abstract Background Verbal short-term memory, as measured by digit or word span, is generally impaired in individuals with Down's syndrome (DS) compared to mental age-matched controls. Moving from the working memory model, the present authors investigated the hypothesis that impairment in some of the articulatory loop sub-components is at the base of the deficient maintenance and recall of phonological representations in individuals with DS. Methods Two experiments were carried out in a group of adolescents with DS and in typically developing children matched for mental age. In the first experiment, the authors explored the reliance of these subjects on the subvocal rehearsal mechanism during a word-span task and the effects produced by varying the frequency of occurrence of the words on the extension of the word span. In the second experiment, they investigated the functioning of the phonological store component of the articulatory loop in more detail. Results A reduced verbal span in DS was confirmed. Neither individuals with DS nor controls engaged in spontaneous subvocal rehearsal. Moreover, the data provide little support for defective functioning of the phonological store in DS. Conclusions No evidence was found suggesting that a dysfunction of the articulatory loop and lexical-semantic competence significantly contributed to verbal span reduction in subjects with DS. Alternative explanations of defective verbal short-term memory in DS, such as a central executive system impairment, must be considered. [source]

On the clinical relevance of early deficits in critical linguistic functions

ACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 12 2005
Francisco Lacerda
Abstract The clinical significance of patterns of deficits in semantic and phonological representations observed by Miniscalco et al. is discussed in light of an ecological approach to language development. Conclusion: Deficits in semantic representations reflect problems in capturing the core linguistic referential function and should be taken as serious early warning signals for language delay. [source]