A relationship between brain responses at birth and later emerging language and reading skills have been shown, but questions remain whether changes in brain responses after birth continue to predict the mastery of language-related skills such as reading development. To determine whether developmental changes in the brain-based perceptual skills…

Using 12 participants we conducted an fMRI study involving two tasks, word reversal and rhyme judgment, based on pairs of natural speech stimuli, to study the neural correlates of manipulating auditory imagery under taxing conditions. Both tasks engaged the left anterior superior temporal gyrus, reflecting previously established perceptual…

In speech perception, children give particular patterns of weight to different acoustic cues (their cue weighting). These patterns appear to change with increased linguistic experience. Previous speech perception research has found a positive correlation between more analytical cue weighting strategies and the ability to consciously think about…

In this article, we describe a pilot study that investigated the effectiveness of group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for auditory hallucinations. Eleven inpatients with either chronic schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder participated in 2 CBT groups of differing treatment duration (i.e., 7 versus 20 sessions). The results showed that…

Fifteen children diagnosed with specific language impairment (SLI) and 15 typically developing (TD) children were tested for identification performance on 2 synthetic speech continual varying in formant transition durations (FTDs). One continuum varied from /ba/ to /wa/, and the other varied from /da/ to /ja/. Various d'-related measures from…

Previous research has suggested that children with specific language impairments (SLI) have deficits in basic speech perception abilities, and this may be an underlying source of their linguistic deficits. These findings have come from studies in which perception of synthetic versions of meaningless syllables was typically examined in tasks with…

We introduce a new paradigm for the assessment of auditory and visual categories in 6-month-old infants using a 2-alternative anticipatory eye-movement response. Infants were trained by 2 different methods to anticipate the location of a visual reinforcer at 1 of 2 spatial locations (right or left) based on the identity of 2 cuing stimuli. After a…

This paper compares the production and perception of the rise-fall contour of contrastive statements and the final rise-fall part of polar questions in Greek. The results show that these superficially similar rise-falls exhibit fine phonetic differences in the alignment of tonal targets with the segmental string, and that these differences can be…

It is acknowledged that contrast plays an important role in understanding discourse and information structure. While it is commonly assumed that contrast can be marked by intonation only, our understanding of the intonational realization of contrast is limited. For German there is mainly introspective evidence that the rising theme accent (or…

Pavlovian stimuli can markedly elevate instrumental responding, an effect known as Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT). As the role of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) in PIT is yet unknown, we examined the effects of transient VTA inactivation by direct microinjections of a mixture of the GABA[subscript A] and GABA[subscript B] receptor…

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to determine if amplifying beyond 2 kHz affected the objective and subjective performance of hearing instrument users with varying degrees of mild-to-severe high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss. Method: Twenty participants were fitted binaurally with digital completely-in-the-canal devices with…

The goal of this study was to examine the ability to combine temporal-envelope information across frequency channels. Three areas were addressed: (a) the effects of hearing loss, (b) the effects of age and (c) whether such effects increase with the number of frequency channels. Twenty adults aged 23-80 years with hearing loss ranging from mild to…

This paper reviews research on the use of white sounds (relaxing background sounds such as water or ocean waves) with people in a variety of situations and in the education of children with learning disabilities. Applications reported include the following: toilet-training toddlers; encouraging sleep in neonates; inducing relaxation in dental…

Whether judgments made by complete strangers as to the intelligence of subjects are accurate or merely illusory was studied in Germany. Target subjects were 50 female and 50 male adults recruited through a newspaper article. Eighteen judges, who did not know the subjects, were recruited from a university community. Videorecordings of the subjects,…