ORCID Profile
0000-0002-2448-4033
Current Organisation
University of Oxford
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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Psychology | Learning, Memory, Cognition And Language | Biological Psychology (Neuropsychology, Psychopharmacology, Physiological Psychology) | Developmental Psychology and Ageing | Mental Health | Biological Psychology (Neuropsychology, Psychopharmacology, | Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences | Developmental Psychology And Ageing | Mental Health | Educational Psychology | Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Expanding Knowledge in Psychology and Cognitive Sciences | Behavioural and cognitive sciences | Child Health | Mental health | Early childhood education | Biological sciences |
Related Links
Publications
Psychophysical indices of perceptual functioning in dyslexia: A psychometric analysis
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2006
Maturation of Visual and Auditory Temporal Processing in School-Aged Children
Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Date: 08-2008
DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2008/073)
Abstract: To examine development of sensitivity to auditory and visual temporal processes in children and the association with standardized measures of auditory processing and communication. Normative data on tests of visual and auditory processing were collected on 18 adults and 98 children aged 6–10 years of age. Auditory processes included detection of pitch from temporal cues using iterated rippled noise and frequency modulation detection at 2 Hz, 40 Hz, and 240 Hz. Visual processes were coherent form and coherent motion detection. Test–retest data were gathered on 21 children. Performance on perceptual tasks improved with age, except for fine temporal processing (iterated rippled noise) and coherent form perception, both of which were relatively stable over the age range. Within-subject variability (as assessed by track width) did not account for age-related change. There was no evidence for a common temporal processing factor, and there were no significant associations between perceptual task performance and communication level (Children’s Communication Checklist, 2nd ed. D. V. M. Bishop, 2003) or speech-based auditory processing (SCAN-C R. W. Keith, 2000). The auditory tasks had different developmental trajectories despite a common procedure, indicating that age-related change was not solely due to responsiveness to task demands. The 2-Hz frequency modulation detection task, previously used in dyslexia research, and the visual tasks had low reliability compared to other measures.
Temporal Auditory and Visual Motion Processing of Children Diagnosed with Auditory Processing Disorder and Dyslexia
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 12-2009
Auditory Development between 7 and 11 years: An Event-Related Potential (ERP) Study
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 09-05-2011
Which People with Specific Language Impairment have Auditory Processing Deficits?
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-2004
DOI: 10.1080/02643290342000087
Abstract: An influential theory attributes developmental disorders of language and literacy to low-level auditory perceptual difficulties. However, evidence to date has been inconsistent and contradictory. We investigated whether this mixed picture could be explained in terms of heterogeneity in the language-impaired population. In Experiment 1, the behavioural responses of 16 people with specific language impairment (SLI) and 16 control listeners (aged 10 to 19 years) to auditory backward recognition masking (ABRM) stimuli and unmasked tones indicated that a subgroup of people with SLI are less able to discriminate between the frequencies of sounds regardless of their rate of presentation. Further, these people tended to be the younger participants, and were characterised by relatively poor nonword reading. In Experiment 2, the auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) of the same groups to unmasked tones were measured. Listeners with SLI tended to have age-inappropriate waveforms in the N1-P2-N2 region, regardless of their auditory discrimination scores in Experiment 1. Together, these results suggest that SLI may be characterised by immature development of auditory cortex, such that adult-level frequency discrimination performance is attained several years later than normal.
Electrophysiological evidence implicates automatic low-level feature detectors in perceptual asymmetry
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2005
DOI: 10.1016/J.COGBRAINRES.2004.12.007
Abstract: Perceptual asymmetry has been demonstrated behaviorally using frequency modulated (FM) stimuli: a modulated tone is easier to detect among unmodulated distracters than the converse. We demonstrate perceptual asymmetry for FM tones in the mismatch negativity (MMN) component of the event-related potential, regardless of whether the participant attends to the tones. These results suggest that perceptual asymmetry reflects the automatic activation of low-level feature detectors in the auditory system.
Does cerebral lateralization develop? A study using functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound assessing lateralization for language production and visuospatial memory
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-04-2012
DOI: 10.1002/BRB3.56
Auditory Deficit as a Consequence Rather than Endophenotype of Specific Language Impairment: Electrophysiological Evidence
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 09-05-2012
Stage 2 Registered Report: There is no appreciable relationship between strength of hand preference and language ability in 6- to 7-year-old children [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]
Publisher: F1000 Research Ltd
Date: 13-05-2019
DOI: 10.12688/WELLCOMEOPENRES.15254.1
Abstract: Background: Weak or inconsistent hand preference has been postulated to be a risk factor for developmental language delay. Following on from our Registered Stage 1 report this study assessed the extent to which variations in language skills are associated with the strength of hand preference. Methods: Data are drawn from a large s le ( N = 569) of 6- to 7-year-old children unselected for ability, assessed at two time points, 6 months apart. Hand preference was assessed using the Quantitative Hand Preference (QHP) task and five uni-manual motor tasks. Language skills (expressive and receptive vocabulary, receptive grammar, and morphological awareness) were assessed with standardized measures. Results: We found QHP scores did not distinguish children with weaker language skills from those with stronger language skills and the correlation between QHP scores and language ability was negligible in this study. Hand preference on the QHP task was significantly stronger among right-handed than left-handed children and left-handed children were typically inconsistent in the hand used across different tasks. Conclusions: The findings presented here fail to provide any support for the theory that weak cerebral lateralisation (as assessed here by the QHP task) places children at risk of language difficulties . Stage 1 report: 0.12688/wellcomeopenres.15077.1
Inconsistent language lateralisation – Testing the dissociable language laterality hypothesis using behaviour and lateralised cerebral blood flow
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.CORTEX.2022.05.013
Abstract: Most people have strong left-brain lateralisation for language, with a minority showing right- or bilateral language representation. On some receptive language tasks, however, lateralisation appears to be reduced or absent. This contrasting pattern raises the question of whether and how language laterality may fractionate within in iduals. Building on our prior work, we postulated (a) that there can be dissociations in lateralisation of different components of language, and (b) these would be more common in left-handers. A subsidiary hypothesis was that laterality indices will cluster according to two underlying factors corresponding to whether they involve generation of words or sentences, versus receptive language. We tested these predictions in two stages: At Step 1 an online laterality battery (Dichotic listening, Rhyme Decision and Word Comprehension) was given to 621 in iduals (56% left-handers) At Step 2, functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound (fTCD) was used with 230 of these in iduals (51% left-handers). 108 left-handers and 101 right-handers gave useable data on a battery of three language generation and three receptive language tasks. Neither the online nor fTCD measures supported the notion of a single language laterality factor. In general, for both online and fTCD measures, tests of language generation were left-lateralised. In contrast, the receptive tasks were at best weakly left-lateralised or, in the case of Word Comprehension, slightly right-lateralised. The online measures were only weakly correlated, if at all, with fTCD measures. Most of the fTCD measures had split-half reliabilities of at least .7, and showed a distinctive pattern of intercorrelation, supporting a modified two-factor model in which Phonological Decision (generation) and Sentence Decision (reception) loaded on both factors. The same factor structure fitted data from left- and right-handers, but mean scores on the two factors were lower (less left-lateralised) in left-handers. There are at least two factors influencing language lateralization in in iduals, but they do not correspond neatly to language generation and comprehension. Future fMRI studies could help clarify how far they reflect activity in specific brain regions.
Is auditory discrimination mature by middle childhood? A study using time‐frequency analysis of mismatch responses from 7 years to adulthood
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-08-2010
CNTNAP2 variants affect early language development in the general population
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2012
Effect of Attentional State on Frequency Discrimination: A Comparison of Children With ADHD On and Off Medication
Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Date: 10-2006
DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2006/076)
Abstract: Debate continues over the hypothesis that children with language or literacy difficulties have a genuine auditory processing deficit. Several recent studies have reported deficits in frequency discrimination (FD), but it is unclear whether these are genuine perceptual impairments or reflective of the comorbid attentional problems that exist in many children with language and literacy difficulties. The present study investigated FD in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) when their attentional state was altered with stimulant medication. Auditory thresholds were obtained using FD and frequency modulation detection (FM) tasks. In the FD task, participants judged which of 2 pairs contained a high–low frequency sound, and in the FM task, children judged which of two tones “wobbled” (i.e., modulated). Children with ADHD had significantly poorer and more variable FD performance when off compared to on stimulant medication, and did significantly worse than controls on all FD runs when off but not on stimulant medication. However, children with ADHD did not differ from controls on the FM task. These findings demonstrate that certain auditory discrimination tasks are influenced by the child’s attentional status. In addition, significant relationships between FD and measures of language and reading were abolished when comorbid attentional difficulties were taken into account. The study has implications for design and interpretation of studies investigating links between auditory discrimination and difficulties in language and literacy.
Phase 2 of CATALISE: a multinational and multidisciplinary Delphi consensus study of problems with language development: Terminology
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-03-2017
DOI: 10.1111/JCPP.12721
Maturation of auditory temporal integration and inhibition assessed with event-related potentials (ERPs)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-04-2010
Psychometric profile of children with auditory processing disorder and children with dyslexia
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 25-05-2010
Do video sounds interfere with auditory event-related potentials?
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-2003
DOI: 10.3758/BF03202561
Abstract: To make the electroencephalogram (EEG) recording procedure more tolerable, listeners have been allowed in some experiments to watch an audible video while their auditory P1, N1, P2, and mismatch negativity (MMN) event-related potentials (ERPs) to experimental sounds have been measured. However, video sounds may degrade auditory ERPs to experimental sounds. This concern was tested with 19 adults who were instructed to ignore standard and deviant tones presented through headphones while they watched a video with the soundtrack audible in one condition and silent in the other. Video sound impaired the size, latency, and split-half reliability of the MMN, and it decreased the size of the P2. However, it had little effect on the P1 or N1 or on the split-half reliability of the P1-N1-P2 waveform, which was significantly more reliable than the MMN waveform regardless of whether the video sound was on or off. The impressive reliability of the P1 and N1 components allows for the use of video sound during EEG recording, and they may prove useful for assessing auditory processing in listeners who cannot tolerate long testing sessions.
Speech and non-speech processing in people with specific language impairment: A behavioural and electrophysiological study
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2005
DOI: 10.1016/J.BANDL.2005.01.002
Abstract: McArthur and Bishop (2004) found that people with specific language impairment (SLI) up to 14 years of age have poor behavioural frequency discrimination (FD) thresholds for 25-ms pure tones, while people with SLI upto 20 years of age have abnormal auditory N1--P2--N2 event-related potential (ERP) responses to the same tones. In the present study, we extended these findings to more complex non-speech and speech sounds by comparing younger (around 13 years) and older (around 17 years) teenagers with SLI and controls for their behavioural FD thresholds and N1-P2 ERPs to 25 and 250-ms pure tones, vowels, and non-harmonic complex tones. We found that a subgroup of people with SLI had abnormal responses to tones and vowels at the level of behaviour and the brain, and that poor processing was associated with the spectral complexity of auditory stimuli rather than their phonetic significance. We suggest that both the age of listeners and the sensitivity of psychoacoustic tasks to age-related changes in auditory skills may be crucial factors in studies of sound processing in SLI.
Autism and diagnostic substitution: evidence from a study of adults with a history of developmental language disorder
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-2008
DOI: 10.1111/J.1469-8749.2008.02057.X
Abstract: Rates of diagnosis of autism have risen since 1980, raising the question of whether some children who previously had other diagnoses are now being diagnosed with autism. We applied contemporary diagnostic criteria for autism to adults with a history of developmental language disorder, to discover whether diagnostic substitution has taken place. A total of 38 adults (aged 15-31y 31 males, seven females) who had participated in studies of developmental language disorder during childhood were given the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule--Generic. Their parents completed the Autism Diagnostic Interview--Revised, which relies largely on symptoms present at age 4 to 5 years to diagnose autism. Eight in iduals met criteria for autism on both instruments, and a further four met criteria for milder forms of autistic spectrum disorder. Most in iduals with autism had been identified with pragmatic impairments in childhood. Some children who would nowadays be diagnosed unambiguously with autistic disorder had been diagnosed with developmental language disorder in the past. This finding has implications for our understanding of the epidemiology of autism.
Phonological categorization of vowels: A mismatch negativity study
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 10-2004
DOI: 10.1097/00001756-200410050-00010
Abstract: There is electrophysiological evidence that phonological categorization has occurred within 100-200 ms post stimulus onset for the syllables /tae/ and /dae/, which vary in voice onset time. Using a similar paradigm, this study investigated when phonological categorization occurred for the contrast between /I/ and /epsilon/, using synthesized speech tokens that differed in the frequency of the first formant. Here we show that phonological categorization of these tokens has not occurred 100-200 ms after stimulus onset. However, the presence of a late mismatch negativity (350 ms after stimulus onset) indicated that phonological categorization had taken place by this time.
Stage 1 registered report: The relationship between handedness and language ability in children [version 1; referees: 2 approved]
Publisher: F1000 Research Ltd
Date: 14-02-2019
DOI: 10.12688/WELLCOMEOPENRES.15077.1
Abstract: Weak or inconsistent hand preference may be a risk factor for developmental language delay. This study will test the extent to which variations in language skills are associated with the strength of hand preference. Data are drawn from a large s le (n = 569) of 6- to 7-year-old children unselected for ability, assessed at two time points, 6 months apart. Hand preference is assessed using the Quantitative Hand Preference task (QHP) and five uni-manual motor tasks. Language skills (expressive and receptive vocabulary, receptive grammar, and morphological awareness) are assessed with standardized measures. If weak cerebral lateralisation (as assessed by the QHP task) is a risk factor for language difficulties, it should be possible to detect such effects in the large representative s le of children examined here.
Laterality indices consensus initiative (LICI): A Delphi expert survey report on recommendations to record, assess, and report asymmetry in human behavioural and brain research
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-05-2023
Cerebral dominance for language function in adults with specific language impairment or autism
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 25-10-2008
DOI: 10.1093/BRAIN/AWN266
Delayed Retention of New Word-Forms Is Better in Children than Adults Regardless of Language Ability: A Factorial Two-Way Study
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 16-05-2012
Auditory processing disorder in relation to developmental disorders of language, communication and attention: a review and critique
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-07-2009
DOI: 10.1080/13682820902929073
Abstract: Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) does not feature in mainstream diagnostic classifications such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV), but is frequently diagnosed in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and is becoming more frequently diagnosed in the United Kingdom. To familiarize readers with current controversies surrounding APD, with an emphasis on how APD might be conceptualized in relation to language and reading problems, attentional problems and autistic spectrum disorders. Different conceptual and diagnostic approaches adopted by audiologists and psychologists can lead to a confusing picture whereby the child who is regarded as having a specific learning disability by one group of experts may be given an APD diagnosis by another. While this could be indicative of co-morbidity, there are concerns that different professional groups are using different labels for the same symptoms. APD, as currently diagnosed, is not a coherent category, but that rather than abandoning the construct, we need to develop improved methods for assessment and diagnosis, with a focus on interdisciplinary evaluation.
Characteristics of the broader phenotype in autism: A study of siblings using the children's communication checklist‐2
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-01-2006
DOI: 10.1002/AJMG.B.30267
Abstract: Non-autistic relatives of people with autistic disorder have an increased risk of social and communicative difficulties: this is known as the "broad phenotype." Better methods for characterizing the broad phenotype are needed to facilitate identification of risk genes for autism. 29 siblings of 20 children with autistic disorder, 13 siblings of 9 children with PDDNOS, and 46 typically developing control children from 26 families were assessed by parental report using the Children's Communication Checklist-2 (CCC-2). Groups were matched on age and IQ and siblings with autism were excluded. Group mean scores on the CCC-2 differed on only one subscale, syntax. However, siblings of children with autism or PDDNOS were over-represented in the tails of the distributions of several scales, and 10 (24%) scored more than 2 SD below the control mean on a total score based on all 10 subscales. Only two of these 10 children scored above threshold on one or more scales of the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R). Children with abnormal scores on the CCC-2 total were characterized by low-verbal IQ and their fathers tended to score high on the social and communication scales of the Autism Quotient, a measure of the broad phenotype in adults. The CCC-2 shows promise as a quick screening device for the broad phenotype in non-autistic siblings of children with autism.
Using self‐report to identify the broad phenotype in parents of children with autistic spectrum disorders: a study using the Autism‐Spectrum Quotient
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2004
CATALISE: A multinational and multidisciplinary Delphi consensus study. Identifying language impairments in children
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 08-07-2016
Using functional transcranial Doppler ultrasonography to assess language lateralisation: Influence of task and difficulty level
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 11-2012
Auditory perceptual processing in people with reading and oral language impairments: current issues and recommendations
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-2001
DOI: 10.1002/DYS.200
Abstract: A popular hypothesis holds that specific reading disability (SRD) and specific language impairment (SLI) result from an impaired ability to process rapid and brief sounds. However, the results of experiments that have tested this hypothesis are incongruous. A number of factors could explain these contradictory findings, including the questionable reliability and validity of rapid auditory processing tasks, in idual differences in the auditory processing abilities of SRD and SLI populations, the age of listeners, the quality of control groups, and the relationship between verbal and non-verbal auditory processing abilities. These issues highlight the need for future studies to (1) establish the reliability and validity of psychophysical tasks used to assess rapid auditory processing (2) report the rapid auditory processing scores of in iduals rather than just group means (3) include a wide range of reading and spoken language tests to determine the literacy and oral language profile of people who demonstrate an auditory processing deficit (4) include clinical comparison groups to determine whether a rapid auditory processing deficit is related specifically to written and spoken language impairments and (5) examine the relationship between low-level non-verbal, verbal, and phonological processing abilities.
Qualitative aspects of developmental language impairment relate to language and literacy outcome in adulthood
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-07-2009
Is discrimination training necessary to cause changes in the P2 auditory event-related brain potential to speech sounds?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2005
DOI: 10.1016/J.COGBRAINRES.2005.08.007
Abstract: Previous studies have found that the P2 component of the auditory event-related potential (ERP) increases after speech discrimination training. We compared electrophysiological and behavioral outcomes of in iduals undergoing speech discrimination training (N = 8) with an untrained control group (N = 9). Significant improvements on the behavioral speech discrimination task were found only in the trained group however, there were similar increases in P2 litude in both groups. Simple exposure to repeated instances of a speech sound during the ERP recording seems sufficient lead to enhancement of P2. This interpretation was bolstered by the finding of significant change in P2 during the first and second halves of the initial ERP recording, when listeners were not required to make any discriminative response. However, the largest change in P2 occurred between rather than within recording sessions, suggesting that the effects of exposure to a speech stimulus on ERPs may have a slow time-course and are most evident after a delay. Our data challenge the view that increased P2 litude reflects enhanced perceptual discrimination by auditory cortex.
Profile and aetiology of children diagnosed with auditory processing disorder (APD)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2008
DOI: 10.1016/J.IJPORL.2007.12.007
Abstract: Auditory processing disorder (APD) is characterised by listening difficulties despite a normal audiogram. APD is becoming ever more widely diagnosed in children, though there is a controversy over definition, diagnosis and aetiology. This study sought to describe presenting features and investigate aetiological factors for children diagnosed with APD compared to those for whom APD was excluded. Medical notes for children referred to a specialist hospital-based APD clinic were reviewed in relation to presenting features and potential aetiological factors. 32 children diagnosed with APD and 57 non-APD children were compared. They reported similar symptoms and similarly had high rates of co-morbid learning problems. No aetiological factor (including history of otitis media, adverse obstetric history or familial history of listening problems) predicted APD group membership. Children identified with APD on the basis of commonly used APD tests cannot be distinguished on the basis of presenting features or the aetiological factors examined here. One explanation is that learning problems exist independently of auditory processing difficulties and the aetiological factors do not have a strong causal role in APD. However, no gold standard for APD testing exists and an alternative explanation is that the commonly used APD tests used as selection criteria in this study may be unreliable.
Corrigendum to “Hemispheric division of function is the result of independent probabilistic biases” [Neuropsychologia 47 (2009) 1938–1943]
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2012
Associations between Handedness and Cerebral Lateralisation for Language: A Comparison of Three Measures in Children
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 30-05-2013
Frequency Discrimination Deficits in People With Specific Language Impairment
Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Date: 06-2004
DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2004/041)
Abstract: The reliability and validity of a frequency discrimination (FD) task were tested in 16 people with specific language impairment (SLI) and 16 people with normal spoken language (controls). The FD thresholds of the 2 groups indicated that FD thresholds for 25-ms and 250-ms tones were remarkably stable across 18 months. The FD thresholds were lower for control listeners than for listeners with SLI for both duration conditions, and the FD thresholds for both groups of listeners were lower for 250-ms tones than for 25-ms tones. Moreover, the FD thresholds were influenced little by nonperceptual, task-related abilities (e.g., paired-associative learning, memory for temporal order, sustained attention, and control of attention) of the listener groups. The significant group difference between the mean FD thresholds of the SLI and control groups was explained by a subgroup of people with SLI who had particularly poor thresholds compared with those of controls and the majority of the SLI group. This subgroup did not differ from the remainder of the SLI s le in terms of age or nonverbal ability but was characterized by very poor reading that was associated with poor phonemic awareness.
Co-localisation of abnormal brain structure and function in specific language impairment
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2012
The broader language phenotype of autism: a comparison with specific language impairment
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-2007
Where were those rabbits? A new paradigm to determine cerebral lateralisation of visuospatial memory function in children
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2011
Duration of auditory sensory memory in parents of children with SLI: A mismatch negativity study
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2008
DOI: 10.1016/J.BANDL.2007.02.006
Abstract: In a previous behavioral study, we showed that parents of children with SLI had a subclinical deficit in phonological short-term memory. Here, we tested the hypothesis that they also have a deficit in nonverbal auditory sensory memory. We measured auditory sensory memory using a paradigm involving an electrophysiological component called the mismatch negativity (MMN). The MMN is a measure of the brain's ability to detect a difference between a frequent standard stimulus (1000 Hz tone) and a rare deviant one (1200 Hz tone). Memory effects were assessed by varying the inter-stimulus interval (ISI) between the standard and deviant. We predicted that parents of children with SLI would have a smaller MMN than parents of typically developing children at a long ISI (3000 ms), but not at a short one (800 ms). This was broadly confirmed. However, in idual differences in MMN litude did not correlate with measures of phonological short-term memory. Attenuation of MMN litude at the longer ISI thus did not provide unambiguous support for the hypothesis of a reduced auditory sensory memory in parents of affected children. We conclude by reviewing possible explanations for the observed group effects.
Narrowing the broader autism phenotype
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 05-10-2010
Abstract: This study investigated whether the Communication Checklist — Adult (CC-A) could identify subtypes of social and communication dysfunction in autism probands and their parents. The CC-A is ided into subscales measuring linguistic ability as well as two aspects of social communication: the Pragmatic Skills subscale assesses the level of pragmatic oddities (e.g. excessive talking), while the Social Engagement subscale picks up on those behaviours that reflect a more passive communication style (e.g. failure to engage in social interactions). CC-A data were collected for 69 autism probands, 238 parents of autism probands and 187 typical participants. The CC-A proved sensitive to the communication difficulties of autism probands and a proportion of their parents. The majority of parents who demonstrated the broader phenotype scored poorly on either the Pragmatic Skills or Social Engagement scale only. The Social Engagement scale was particularly sensitive to the difficulties of the parents, indicating that social-communicative passivity may be an important part of the broader autism phenotype. The findings provide evidence for the existence of more constrained pragmatic phenotypes in autism. Molecular genetic studies in this area may benefit from stratifying s les according to these phenotypes.
Research integrity: Don't let transparency damage science
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-01-2016
DOI: 10.1038/529459A
Lateralised visual attention is unrelated to language lateralisation, and not influenced by task difficulty – A functional transcranial Doppler study
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2012
Adult psychosocial outcomes of children with specific language impairment, pragmatic language impairment and autism
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-07-2009
Profiles of executive function in parents and siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorders
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-10-2006
Terminological debate over language impairment in children: forward movement and sticking points.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-2014
dopOSCCI: A functional transcranial Doppler ultrasonography summary suite for the assessment of cerebral lateralization of cognitive function
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2012
Hemispheric division of function is the result of independent probabilistic biases
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2009
Reliability of a novel paradigm for determining hemispheric lateralization of visuospatial function
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 11-2009
DOI: 10.1017/S1355617709990555
Abstract: In most in iduals, language production and visuospatial skills are subserved predominantly by the left and right hemispheres, respectively. Functional Transcranial Doppler (fTCD) provides a noninvasive and relatively low-cost method for measuring functional lateralization. However, while the silent word generation task provides an accurate and reliable paradigm for investigating lateralization of language production, there is no comparable gold-standard method for measuring visuospatial skills. Thirty undergraduate students (19 females) completed a task of spatial memory while undergoing fTCD recording. Participants completed this task at two different time points, separated by between 26 to 155 days. The relative activation between hemispheres averaged across all participants was found to be consistent across testing sessions. This was observed at the in idual level also, with a quantitative index of lateralization showing high reproducibility. These findings indicate that the use of the spatial memory task with fTCD is a robust methodology for examining laterality of visuospatial skills. ( JINS , 2009, 15 , 1028–1032.)
Maturation of rapid auditory temporal processing and subsequent nonword repetition performance in children
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 23-11-2012
DOI: 10.1111/J.1467-7687.2011.01117.X
Abstract: According to the rapid auditory processing theory, the ability to parse incoming auditory information underpins learning of oral and written language. There is wide variation in this low-level perceptual ability, which appears to follow a protracted developmental course. We studied the development of rapid auditory processing using event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by tone pairs presented at varying inter-stimulus intervals (25, 50, 100, 200, and 400 ms) in a s le of children (N = 103) aged 7-9 years initially and again at 9-11 years. We also assessed their ability to repeat nonsense words at both time-points. The amount of difference between the ERP to single tones and paired tones (as assessed by the intra-class correlation coefficient, ICC) provided a measure of the brain's capacity to discriminate auditory information delivered at different presentation rates. Results showed that older children showed greater neural discrimination to tone pairs than younger children at rapid presentation rates, although these differences were reduced at slower presentation rates. The ICC at time 1 significantly predicted nonword repetition scores two years later, providing support for the view that rapid auditory temporal processing ability affects oral language development in typically developing children.
Sensitivity of Four Subtests of the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA‐Ch) to Stimulant Medication in Children with ADHD
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-2006
CNTNAP2 variants affect early language development in the general population
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2011
The SCAN-C in testing for auditory processing disorder in a sample of British children
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2007
DOI: 10.1080/14992020701545906
Abstract: The SCAN-C is a test for auditory processing disorders in children developed in the USA. There are concerns that the SCAN-C may over-diagnose auditory processing disorders in UK children. There are also questions concerning the impact of language level and interpretation of SCAN-C results. SCAN-C results from 99 Oxfordshire school children aged 6 to 10 were compared to US-based normative data. Across all age bands, the UK s le scored significantly worse on two subtests: the filtered words (FW) and auditory figure-ground (AFG) sections as well as on the composite score. Differences in performance were largely due to accent effects. Applying US norms to UK children's performance results in a high rate of over-identification of listening difficulties. However, we show that US norms can be used provided SCAN-C scores for children in the UK are adjusted by adding a constant. Using factor analysis, SCAN-C subtests mapped onto two factors FW and AFG onto a 'monaural low-redundancy degradation' factor, and CW and CS onto a 'binaural separation/competition' factor. Implications for use of the SCAN-C with UK children are discussed.
No population bias to left-hemisphere language in 4-year-olds with language impairment
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 07-08-2014
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.507
Late, not early mismatch responses to changes in frequency are reduced or deviant in children with dyslexia: an event-related potential study
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-07-2014
Event-related potentials reflect individual differences in age-invariant auditory skills
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 06-2002
DOI: 10.1097/00001756-200206120-00021
Abstract: Previous work has found that auditory event-related potentials show maturational changes, with latency and litude of late components (N1 and P2) decreasing and increasing with age respectively. Our goal was to test the hypothesis that these changes reflect increased speed of neural processing in the auditory system. Thirty-three listeners, aged 10-50 years, were tested on a frequency discrimination task and an auditory backward recognition masking task. P1 and N1b event-related potential components were measured to tones. The N1b became larger and earlier with age, and the latency of P1 decreased with age. However, thresholds on the behavioural tasks did not change with age. Nevertheless, in idual differences in the peak litude of N1b were independently related to frequency discrimination and degree of masking. Thus, the relationship that does exist between in idual differences in psychoacoustic performance and the auditory N1b reflect a stable characteristic of the in idual rather than a maturational change.
Further defining the language impairment of autism: Is there a specific language impairment subtype?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2008
DOI: 10.1016/J.JCOMDIS.2008.01.002
Abstract: Some children with autism demonstrate poor nonword repetition--a deficit considered to be a psycholinguistic marker of specific language impairment (SLI). The present study examined whether there is an SLI subtype among children with autism. We compared the language abilities of children with SLI (n=34, M age=11 S.D.=2 ), and children with autism with (Apoor, n=18, M age=10 S.D.=3 ) and without (Aapp, n=16, M age=10 S.D.=2 ) structural language difficulties. Participants were administered battery of standardized language and memory tests. Although there were some similarities in the language profile of the SLI and Apoor groups, the two groups differed on the tests of oromotor ability and verbal short-term memory and showed a different pattern of errors on the nonword repetition task. These findings providing evidence against the idea of an SLI subtype in autism. Further analyses suggested that the nonword repetition deficits experienced by some children with autism may arise when there is substantial impairment in multiple autistic domains. Readers will be introduced to (a) the current state of behavioral, cognitive and genetic research that has investigated the relation between SLI and autism, and (b) three hypotheses of why there exists similarity in the language characteristics of children with SLI and autism. Readers will then be taken through a detailed comparison of the language and memory abilities of group of children with each diagnosis. A theoretical model that seeks to explain the relation between these two disorders will be discussed.
Assessment of Cerebral Lateralization in Children using Functional Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound (fTCD)
Publisher: MyJove Corporation
Date: 27-09-2010
DOI: 10.3791/2161
Individual Differences in Auditory Processing in Specific Language Impairment: A Follow-Up Study using Event-Related Potentials and Behavioural Thresholds
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2005
DOI: 10.1016/S0010-9452(08)70270-3
Abstract: It has frequently been claimed that children with specific language impairment (SLI) have impaired auditory perception, but there is much controversy about the role of such deficits in causing their language problems, and it has been difficult to establish solid, replicable findings in this area. Discrepancies in this field may arise because (a) a focus on mean results obscures the heterogeneity in the population and (b) insufficient attention has been paid to maturational aspects of auditory processing. We conducted a study of 16 young people with specific language impairment (SLI) and 16 control participants, 24 of whom had had auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) and frequency discrimination thresholds assessed 18 months previously. When originally assessed, around one third of the listeners with SLI had poor behavioural frequency discrimination thresholds, and these tended to be the younger participants. However, most of the SLI group had age-inappropriate late components of the auditory ERP, regardless of their frequency discrimination. At follow-up, the behavioural thresholds of those with poor frequency discrimination improved, though some remained outside the control range. At follow-up, ERPs for many of the in iduals in the SLI group were still not age-appropriate. In several cases, waveforms of in iduals in the SLI group resembled those of younger typically-developing children, though in other cases the waveform was unlike that of control cases at any age. Electrophysiological methods may reveal underlying immaturity or other abnormality of auditory processing even when behavioural thresholds look normal. This study emphasises the variability seen in SLI, and the importance of studying in idual cases rather than focusing on group means.
Immature cortical responses to auditory stimuli in specific language impairment: evidence from ERPs to rapid tone sequences
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-08-2004
DOI: 10.1111/J.1467-7687.2004.00356.X
Abstract: Event-related potentials (ERPs) to tone pairs and single tones were measured for 16 participants with specific language impairment (SLI) and 16 age-matched controls aged from 10 to 19 years The tone pairs were separated by an inter-stimulus interval (ISI) of 20, 50 or 150 ms. The intraclass correlation (ICC) was computed for each participant between the ERP to a single tone and the ERP to the tone pair. A high ICC indicates that the brain response to a tone pair is similar to that for a single tone. ICCs were significantly higher at short than at long ISIs. At 50-ms ISI, ICCs were higher for younger than older participants. Age and ISI interacted with SLI status: ERPs of older participants with SLI differed from age-matched controls, and resembled ERPs of younger controls, consistent with a theory of immature auditory processing in SLI.
An integrative framework for planning and conducting Non-Intervention, Reproducible, and Open Systematic Reviews (NIRO-SR).
Publisher: Linnaeus University
Date: 10-07-2023
Abstract: Most of the commonly used and endorsed guidelines for systematic review protocols and reporting standards have been developed for intervention research. These excellent guidelines have been adopted as the gold-standard for systematic reviews as an evidence synthesis method. In the current paper, we highlight some issues that may arise from adopting these guidelines beyond intervention designs, including in basic behavioural, cognitive, experimental, and exploratory research. We have adapted and built upon the existing guidelines to establish a complementary, comprehensive, and accessible tool for designing, conducting, and reporting Non-Intervention, Reproducible, and Open Systematic Reviews (NIRO-SR). NIRO-SR is a checklist composed of two parts that provide itemised guidance on the preparation of a systematic review protocol for pre-registration (Part A) and reporting the review (Part B) in a reproducible and transparent manner. This paper, the tool, and an open repository (osf.io/f3brw) provide a comprehensive resource for those who aim to conduct a high quality, reproducible, and transparent systematic review of non-intervention studies.
Mismatch Response to Polysyllabic Nonwords: A Neurophysiological Signature of Language Learning Capacity
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 17-07-2009
Do children with autism ‘switch off’ to speech sounds? An investigation using event‐related potentials
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-06-2008
DOI: 10.1111/J.1467-7687.2008.00697.X
Abstract: Autism is a disorder characterized by a core impairment in social behaviour. A prominent component of this social deficit is poor orienting to speech. It is unclear whether this deficit involves an impairment in allocating attention to speech sounds, or a sensory impairment in processing phonetic information. In this study, event-related potentials of 15 children with high functioning autism (mean nonverbal IQ = 109.87) and 15 typically developing children (mean nonverbal IQ = 115.73) were recorded in response to sounds in two oddball conditions. Participants heard two stimulus types: vowels and complex tones. In each condition, repetitive 'standard' sounds (condition 1: vowel condition 2: complex tone) were replaced by a within stimulus-type 'deviant' sound and a between stimulus-type 'novel' sound. Participants' level of attention was also varied between conditions. Children with autism had significantly diminished obligatory components in response to the repetitive speech sound, but not to the repetitive nonspeech sound. This difference disappeared when participants were required to allocate attention to the sound stream. Furthermore, the children with autism showed reduced orienting to novel tones presented in a sequence of speech sounds, but not to novel speech sounds presented in a sequence of tones. These findings indicate that high functioning children with autism can allocate attention to novel speech sounds. However, they use top-down inhibition to attenuate responses to repeated streams of speech. This suggests that problems with speech processing in this population involve efferent pathways.
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