Purpose: As evidenced by perceptual learning studies involving adult listeners and speakers with dysarthria, adaptation to dysarthric speech is driven by signal predictability (speaker property) and a flexible speech perception system (listener property). Here, we extend adaptation investigations to adolescent populations and examine whether adult…

Purpose: Speech motor skill is refined over the course of practice, which is commonly reflected by increased accuracy and consistency. This research examined the relationship between auditory-perceptual ratings of word accuracy and measures of speech motor timing and variability at pre- and posttreatment in children with childhood apraxia of…

Modality-specific models of conceptual memory propose close links between concepts and the sensory-motor systems. Neuroimaging studies found, in different subject groups, that action-related and sound-related concepts activated different parts of posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG), suggesting a modality-specific representation of conceptual…

Classical cognitive accounts of verbal short-term memory (STM) invoke an abstract, phonological level of representation which, although it may be derived differently via different modalities, is itself amodal. Key evidence for this view is that serial recall of phonologically similar verbal items (e.g., the letter sounds "b",…

In this paper we examine two long-standing assumptions of the information processing perspective of perceptual-motor development, namely that: (1) the amount of noise in children's sensori-motor system decreases with increases in age up to adulthood; and (2) this age-related reduction in noise level leads to associated improvements in the accuracy…

This paper describes a neural model of speech acquisition and production that accounts for a wide range of acoustic, kinematic, and neuroimaging data concerning the control of speech movements. The model is a neural network whose components correspond to regions of the cerebral cortex and cerebellum, including premotor, motor, auditory, and…

Provides evidence indicating a strong connection between a high level of ambient household noise and intellectual deficits at stages of infant development. Observers rated noise level from all household sources (stereos, appliances, etc.). Delays were found in sensorimotor development with high levels of noise. (Author/JN)

A possible role of the cerebellum in detecting and recognizing event sequences has been proposed. The present study sought to determine whether patients with cerebellar lesions are impaired in the acquisition and discrimination of sequences of sensory stimuli of different modalities. A group of 26 cerebellar patients and 26 controls matched for…

As one of a regular series, this report focuses on the status and progress of studies on the nature of speech, instrumentation for its investigation, and practical applications. Drawn from the period of July 1 to December 31, 1981, the 15 manuscripts cover the following topics: (1) phonetic trading relations and context effects; (2) temporal…

This report is one of a regular series on the status and progress of studies on the nature of speech, instrumentation for its investigation, and practical applications. Drawn from the period of January 1 to March 31, 1980, the 14 manuscripts cover the following topics: (1) acoustics in human communication; (2) motor-sensory feedback formulations;…