A functional near-infrared spectroscopic investigation of speech production during reading.

Science.gov (United States)

Wan, Nick; Hancock, Allison S; Moon, Todd K; Gillam, Ronald B

2018-03-01

This study was designed to test the extent to which speaking processes related to articulation and voicing influence Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) measures of cortical hemodynamics and functional connectivity. Participants read passages in three conditions (oral reading, silent mouthing, and silent reading) while undergoing fNIRS imaging. Area under the curve (AUC) analyses of the oxygenated and deoxygenated hemodynamic response function concentration values were compared for each task across five regions of interest. There were significant region main effects for both oxy and deoxy AUC analyses, and a significant region × task interaction for deoxy AUC favoring the oral reading condition over the silent reading condition for two nonmotor regions. Assessment of functional connectivity using Granger Causality revealed stronger networks between motor areas during oral reading and stronger networks between language areas during silent reading. There was no evidence that the hemodynamic flow from motor areas during oral reading compromised measures of language-related neural activity in nonmotor areas. However, speech movements had small, but measurable effects on fNIRS measures of neural connections between motor and nonmotor brain areas across the perisylvian region, even after wavelet filtering. Therefore, researchers studying speech processes with fNIRS should use wavelet filtering during preprocessing to reduce speech motion artifacts, incorporate a nonspeech communication or language control task into the research design, and conduct a connectivity analysis to adequately assess the impact of functional speech on the hemodynamic response across the perisylvian region. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The effects of whispering-to-oneself and silent reading on text memory and comprehension in children

OpenAIRE

Matsumi, Norio; Furumoto, Yumi; Mitsuke, Ai

2005-01-01

An experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of whispering-to-oneself reading on text memory and comprehension in children (6th grade). A2×2 factorial design was used in the experiment: the first independent variable was whispering-to-oneself or silent reading, the second was large- or small-working memory span which were measured by the reading span test (RST). Four aspects of the text memory and comprehension were observed as dependent variables: text memory both on the literal ...

Clinical evidence of the role of the cerebellum in the suppression of overt articulatory movements during reading. A study of reading in children and adolescents treated for cerebellar pilocytic astrocytoma.

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Ait Khelifa-Gallois, N; Puget, S; Longaud, A; Laroussinie, F; Soria, C; Sainte-Rose, C; Dellatolas, G

2015-04-01

It has been suggested that the cerebellum is involved in reading acquisition and in particular in the progression from automatic grapheme-phoneme conversion to the internalization of speech required for silent reading. This idea is in line with clinical and neuroimaging data showing a cerebellar role in subvocal rehearsal for printed verbalizable material and with computational "internal models" of the cerebellum suggesting its role in inner speech (i.e. covert speech without mouthing the words). However, studies examining a possible cerebellar role in the suppression of articulatory movements during silent reading acquisition in children are lacking. Here, we report clinical evidence that the cerebellum plays a part in this transition. Reading performances were compared between a group of 17 paediatric patients treated for benign cerebellar tumours and a group of controls matched for age, gender, and parental socio-educational level. The patients scored significantly lower on all reading, but the most striking difference concerned silent reading, perfectly acquired by almost all controls, contrasting with 41 % of the patients who were unable to read any item silently. Silent reading was correlated with the Working Memory Index. The present findings converge with previous reports on an implication of the cerebellum in inner speech and in the automatization of reading. This cerebellar implication is probably not specific to reading, as it also seems to affect non-reading tasks such as counting.

Designing reading tasks to foster critical thinking Designing reading tasks to foster critical thinking

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Leda Maria Braga Tomitch

2008-04-01

Full Text Available What else is there besides multiple choice exercises, questions or true-false statements? What kind of readers do we EFL/ESL teachers, want to develop? Fortunately, there are alternative possibilities for designing reading activities which, besides being more interesting and fun for the students than the traditional tasks, can help develop more active and critical readers. A search in EFL/ESL reading textbooks has revealed that the most frequently encountered types of reading activities are comprehension questions, multiple-choice exercises, and true-false statements (Tomitch, in press a. These tasks have been used throughout the history of language teaching, and one must agree that they have their merits. However, there are reasons why they should not be used as the only source of activity in the classroom. What else is there besides multiple choice exercises, questions or true-false statements? What kind of readers do we EFL/ESL teachers, want to develop? Fortunately, there are alternative possibilities for designing reading activities which, besides being more interesting and fun for the students than the traditional tasks, can help develop more active and critical readers. A search in EFL/ESL reading textbooks has revealed that the most frequently encountered types of reading activities are comprehension questions, multiple-choice exercises, and true-false statements (Tomitch, in press a. These tasks have been used throughout the history of language teaching, and one must agree that they have their merits. However, there are reasons why they should not be used as the only source of activity in the classroom.

Measuring theory of mind across middle childhood: Reliability and validity of the Silent Films and Strange Stories tasks.

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Devine, Rory T; Hughes, Claire

2016-09-01

Recent years have seen a growth of research on the development of children's ability to reason about others' mental states (or "theory of mind") beyond the narrow confines of the preschool period. The overall aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of a task battery composed of items from Happé's Strange Stories task and Devine and Hughes' Silent Film task. A sample of 460 ethnically and socially diverse children (211 boys) between 7 and 13years of age completed the task battery at two time points separated by 1month. The Strange Stories and Silent Film tasks were strongly correlated even when verbal ability and narrative comprehension were taken into account, and all items loaded onto a single theory-of-mind latent factor. The theory-of-mind latent factor provided reliable estimates of performance across a wide range of theory-of-mind ability and showed no evidence of differential item functioning across gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. The theory-of-mind latent factor also exhibited strong 1-month test-retest reliability, and this stability did not vary as a function of child characteristics. Taken together, these findings provide evidence for the validity and reliability of the Strange Stories and Silent Film task battery as a measure of individual differences in theory of mind suitable for use across middle childhood. We consider the methodological and conceptual implications of these findings for research on theory of mind beyond the preschool years. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Punctuation and Implicit Prosody in Silent Reading: An ERP Study Investigating English Garden-Path Sentences.

Science.gov (United States)

Drury, John E; Baum, Shari R; Valeriote, Hope; Steinhauer, Karsten

2016-01-01

This study presents the first two ERP reading studies of comma-induced effects of covert (implicit) prosody on syntactic parsing decisions in English. The first experiment used a balanced 2 × 2 design in which the presence/absence of commas determined plausibility (e.g., John, said Mary, was the nicest boy at the party vs. John said Mary was the nicest boy at the party ). The second reading experiment replicated a previous auditory study investigating the role of overt prosodic boundaries in closure ambiguities (Pauker et al., 2011). In both experiments, commas reliably elicited CPS components and generally played a dominant role in determining parsing decisions in the face of input ambiguity. The combined set of findings provides further evidence supporting the claim that mechanisms subserving speech processing play an active role during silent reading.

Effects of reading-oriented tasks on students' reading comprehension of geometry proof

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Kai-Lin; Lin, Fou-Lai

2012-06-01

This study compared the effects of reading-oriented tasks and writing-oriented tasks on students' reading comprehension of geometry proof (RCGP). The reading-oriented tasks were designed with reading strategies and the idea of problem posing. The writing-oriented tasks were consistent with usual proof instruction for writing a proof and applying it. Twenty-two classes of ninth-grade students ( N = 683), aged 14 to 15 years, and 12 mathematics teachers participated in this quasi-experimental classroom study. While the experimental group was instructed to read and discuss the reading tasks in two 45-minute lessons, the control group was instructed to prove and apply the same propositions. Generalised estimating equation (GEE) method was used to compare the scores of the post-test and the delayed post-test with the pre-test scores as covariates. Results showed that the total scores of the delayed post-test of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group. Furthermore, the scores of the experimental group on all facets of reading comprehension except the application facet were significantly higher than those of the control group for both the post-test and delayed post-test.

[Developmental changes in reading ability of Japanese elementary school children--analysis of 4 kana reading tasks].

Science.gov (United States)

Kobayashi, Tomoka; Inagaki, Masumi; Gunji, Atsuko; Yatabe, Kiyomi; Kaga, Makiko; Goto, Takaaki; Koike, Toshihide; Wakamiya, Eiji; Koeda, Tatsuya

2010-01-01

Five hundred and twenty-eight Japanese elementary school children aged from 6 (Grade 1) to 12 (Grade 6) were tested for their abilities to read Hiragana characters, words, and short sentences. They were typically developing children whom the classroom teachers judged to have no problems with reading and writing in Japanese. Each child was asked to read four tasks which were written in Hiragana script: single mora reading task, four syllable non-word reading task, four syllable word reading task, and short sentence reading task. The total articulation time for reading and performance in terms of accuracy were measured for each task. Developmental changes in these variables were evaluated. The articulation time was significantly longer for the first graders, and it gradually shortened as they moved through to the upper grades in all tasks. The articulation time reached a plateau in the 4th grade for the four syllable word and short sentence reading tasks, while it did so for the single mora and four syllable non-word reading tasks in the 5th grade. The articulation times for the four syllable word and short sentence reading tasks correlated strongly. There were very few clear errors for all tasks, and the number of such errors significantly changed between the school grades only for the single mora and four syllable word reading tasks. It was noted that more than half of the children read the beginning portion of the word or phrase twice or more, in order to read it accurately, and developmental changes were also seen in this pattern of reading. This study revealed that the combination of these reading tasks may function as a screening test for reading disorders such as developmental dyslexia in children below the age of ten or eleven years old.

Punctuation and Implicit Prosody in Silent Reading: An ERP Study Investigating English Garden-Path Sentences

Science.gov (United States)

Drury, John E.; Baum, Shari R.; Valeriote, Hope; Steinhauer, Karsten

2016-01-01

This study presents the first two ERP reading studies of comma-induced effects of covert (implicit) prosody on syntactic parsing decisions in English. The first experiment used a balanced 2 × 2 design in which the presence/absence of commas determined plausibility (e.g., John, said Mary, was the nicest boy at the party vs. John said Mary was the nicest boy at the party). The second reading experiment replicated a previous auditory study investigating the role of overt prosodic boundaries in closure ambiguities (Pauker et al., 2011). In both experiments, commas reliably elicited CPS components and generally played a dominant role in determining parsing decisions in the face of input ambiguity. The combined set of findings provides further evidence supporting the claim that mechanisms subserving speech processing play an active role during silent reading. PMID:27695428

Punctuation and implicit prosody in silent reading: An ERP study investigating English garden-path sentences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John E. Drury

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This study presents the first two ERP reading studies of comma-induced effects of covert (implicit prosody on syntactic parsing decisions in English. The first experiment used a balanced 2 x 2 design in which the presence/absence of commas determined plausibility (e.g., John, said Mary, was the nicest boy at the party versus John said Mary was the nicest boy at the party. The second reading experiment replicated a previous auditory study investigating the role of overt prosodic boundaries in closure ambiguities (Pauker et al., 2011. In both experiments, commas reliably elicited CPS components and generally played a dominant role in determining parsing decisions in the face of input ambiguity. The combined set of findings provides further evidence supporting the claim that mechanisms subserving speech processing play an active role during silent reading.

Enhancing Reading Comprehension of Iranian Advanced EFL Learners through Task-based Reading Activities

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Vahid Fallah Golchin

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Language learning has experienced a shift of focus from a form-focused to a meaning-focused approach, and the necessity of using task-based learning, a relatively recent approach, has emerged. The vital role of task-based materials makes it obligatory not to exclude them from the language learning syllabi.  The current study aims at investigating whether task-based reading can contribute significantly to the development of reading comprehension of Iranian advanced EFL learners of English. An experimental study was carried out in order to scrutinize the applicability of task-based language teaching. To this end, 60 female advanced EFL learners, selected from among a pool of 100 learners, were assigned equally and randomly into two groups of thirty, consisting of an experimental and a control group. The selection of the participants was based on the results of a standard and piloted version of Paper-based TOEFL. The participant’s mean age was about 23, ranging from 20 to 27 years of age. Both groups received a pretest and a post-test of reading. During the treatment period the experimental group received task-based reading activities while the control group received reading instructions through traditional methods. The impact of the treatment upon the reading comprehension ability of the participants was analyzed through an independent-samples t-test, and comparisons between groups were made. The results clearly indicated the development of reading comprehension ability of the participants in the first group (the experimental group through the application of task-based reading activities.

The Compensatory Effectiveness of Optical Character Recognition/Speech Synthesis on Reading Comprehension of Postsecondary Students with Learning Disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Higgins, Eleanor L.; Raskind, Marshall H.

1997-01-01

Thirty-seven college students with learning disabilities were given a reading comprehension task under the following conditions: (1) using an optical character recognition/speech synthesis system; (2) having the text read aloud by a human reader; or (3) reading silently without assistance. Findings indicated that the greater the disability, the…

Writing-Reading Relationships: Effectiveness of Writing Activities As Pre-Reading Tasks to Enhance L2 Inferential Reading Comprehension

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Thilina Indrajie Wickramaarachchi

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The study examines the interaction between reading and writing processes in general and more specifically the impact of pre-reading tasks incorporating writing tasks (referred to as “prw tasks” in helping the development of inferential reading comprehension. A sample of 70 first year ESL students of the University of Kelaniya were initially selected with one group (experimental group engaging in “prw tasks” while the other group (control group performing the tasks without a pre-reading component. The intervention was for 6 sessions (one hour in each session. At the end of each session, the performance of the two groups was measured and the test scores were analyzed using the data analysis package SPSS to determine the effectiveness of the intervention. The results indicated that the experimental group had significantly performed better than the control group which indicated the effectiveness of the prw tasks in improving reading comprehension.

Abnormal motor cortex excitability during linguistic tasks in adductor-type spasmodic dysphonia.

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Suppa, A; Marsili, L; Giovannelli, F; Di Stasio, F; Rocchi, L; Upadhyay, N; Ruoppolo, G; Cincotta, M; Berardelli, A

2015-08-01

In healthy subjects (HS), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applied during 'linguistic' tasks discloses excitability changes in the dominant hemisphere primary motor cortex (M1). We investigated 'linguistic' task-related cortical excitability modulation in patients with adductor-type spasmodic dysphonia (ASD), a speech-related focal dystonia. We studied 10 ASD patients and 10 HS. Speech examination included voice cepstral analysis. We investigated the dominant/non-dominant M1 excitability at baseline, during 'linguistic' (reading aloud/silent reading/producing simple phonation) and 'non-linguistic' tasks (looking at non-letter strings/producing oral movements). Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the contralateral hand muscles. We measured the cortical silent period (CSP) length and tested MEPs in HS and patients performing the 'linguistic' tasks with different voice intensities. We also examined MEPs in HS and ASD during hand-related 'action-verb' observation. Patients were studied under and not-under botulinum neurotoxin-type A (BoNT-A). In HS, TMS over the dominant M1 elicited larger MEPs during 'reading aloud' than during the other 'linguistic'/'non-linguistic' tasks. Conversely, in ASD, TMS over the dominant M1 elicited increased-amplitude MEPs during 'reading aloud' and 'syllabic phonation' tasks. CSP length was shorter in ASD than in HS and remained unchanged in both groups performing 'linguistic'/'non-linguistic' tasks. In HS and ASD, 'linguistic' task-related excitability changes were present regardless of the different voice intensities. During hand-related 'action-verb' observation, MEPs decreased in HS, whereas in ASD they increased. In ASD, BoNT-A improved speech, as demonstrated by cepstral analysis and restored the TMS abnormalities. ASD reflects dominant hemisphere excitability changes related to 'linguistic' tasks; BoNT-A returns these excitability changes to normal. © 2015 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John

Silent store detection and recording in memory storage

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bose, Pradip; Cher, Chen-Yong; Nair, Ravi

2017-03-14

An aspect includes receiving a write request that includes a memory address and write data. Stored data is read from a memory location at the memory address. Based on determining that the memory location was not previously modified, the stored data is compared to the write data. Based on the stored data matching the write data, the write request is completed without writing the write data to the memory and a corresponding silent store bit, in a silent store bitmap is set. Based on the stored data not matching the write data, the write data is written to the memory location, the silent store bit is reset and a corresponding modified bit is set. At least one of an application and an operating system is provided access to the silent store bitmap.

Silent store detection and recording in memory storage

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bose, Pradip; Cher, Chen-Yong; Nair, Ravi

2017-03-07

An aspect includes receiving a write request that includes a memory address and write data. Stored data is read from a memory location at the memory address. Based on determining that the memory location was not previously modified, the stored data is compared to the write data. Based on the stored data matching the write data, the write request is completed without writing the write data to the memory and a corresponding silent store bit, in a silent store bitmap is set. Based on the stored data not matching the write data, the write data is written to the memory location, the silent store bit is reset and a corresponding modified bit is set. At least one of an application and an operating system is provided access to the silent store bitmap.

Language differences in the brain network for reading in naturalistic story reading and lexical decision.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiaojuan; Yang, Jianfeng; Yang, Jie; Mencl, W Einar; Shu, Hua; Zevin, Jason David

2015-01-01

Differences in how writing systems represent language raise important questions about whether there could be a universal functional architecture for reading across languages. In order to study potential language differences in the neural networks that support reading skill, we collected fMRI data from readers of alphabetic (English) and morpho-syllabic (Chinese) writing systems during two reading tasks. In one, participants read short stories under conditions that approximate natural reading, and in the other, participants decided whether individual stimuli were real words or not. Prior work comparing these two writing systems has overwhelmingly used meta-linguistic tasks, generally supporting the conclusion that the reading system is organized differently for skilled readers of Chinese and English. We observed that language differences in the reading network were greatly dependent on task. In lexical decision, a pattern consistent with prior research was observed in which the Middle Frontal Gyrus (MFG) and right Fusiform Gyrus (rFFG) were more active for Chinese than for English, whereas the posterior temporal sulcus was more active for English than for Chinese. We found a very different pattern of language effects in a naturalistic reading paradigm, during which significant differences were only observed in visual regions not typically considered specific to the reading network, and the middle temporal gyrus, which is thought to be important for direct mapping of orthography to semantics. Indeed, in areas that are often discussed as supporting distinct cognitive or linguistic functions between the two languages, we observed interaction. Specifically, language differences were most pronounced in MFG and rFFG during the lexical decision task, whereas no language differences were observed in these areas during silent reading of text for comprehension.

The Habit of Reading: A Neglected Dimension of Adult Reading Instruction.

Science.gov (United States)

Fink, Katherine T.; Devine, Thomas G.

1993-01-01

Less competent adult readers have not developed the habit of reading. Ways to cultivate adult reading habits include relevant material, environment saturated with reading material, reading aloud to adults, having them read to children, sustained silent reading, modeling, book sharing, author conferences, and recognition. (SK)

Language differences in the brain network for reading in naturalistic story reading and lexical decision.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaojuan Wang

Full Text Available Differences in how writing systems represent language raise important questions about whether there could be a universal functional architecture for reading across languages. In order to study potential language differences in the neural networks that support reading skill, we collected fMRI data from readers of alphabetic (English and morpho-syllabic (Chinese writing systems during two reading tasks. In one, participants read short stories under conditions that approximate natural reading, and in the other, participants decided whether individual stimuli were real words or not. Prior work comparing these two writing systems has overwhelmingly used meta-linguistic tasks, generally supporting the conclusion that the reading system is organized differently for skilled readers of Chinese and English. We observed that language differences in the reading network were greatly dependent on task. In lexical decision, a pattern consistent with prior research was observed in which the Middle Frontal Gyrus (MFG and right Fusiform Gyrus (rFFG were more active for Chinese than for English, whereas the posterior temporal sulcus was more active for English than for Chinese. We found a very different pattern of language effects in a naturalistic reading paradigm, during which significant differences were only observed in visual regions not typically considered specific to the reading network, and the middle temporal gyrus, which is thought to be important for direct mapping of orthography to semantics. Indeed, in areas that are often discussed as supporting distinct cognitive or linguistic functions between the two languages, we observed interaction. Specifically, language differences were most pronounced in MFG and rFFG during the lexical decision task, whereas no language differences were observed in these areas during silent reading of text for comprehension.

The Silent Spring of Rachel Carson.

Science.gov (United States)

Kerstetter, Ned

1996-01-01

Presents a lesson plan examining Rachel Carson's call to arms concerning the harmful consequences of pesticides. Students view a video documentary on Carson's work and read a synopsis of her book, "Silent Spring." Assessment is provided by various activities including writing assignments, creating posters, and editorial cartoons. (MJP)

Implications of Schema-based Pre-Reading Tasks in Facilitating ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Ethiopian Journal of Education and Sciences ... A One-Group Pre-Test-Post-test Design (Creswell, 2009:160) was used to test the significance of schema-based pre-reading tasks (SBPRT) in facilitating reading comprehension. ... It was meant to identify the level of achievement of the students in reading comprehension.

The Impact of Enactive /Vicarious pre-reading Tasks on Reading Comprehension and Self-Efficacy of Iranian Pre-Intermediate EFL Learners

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Arezoo Eshghipour

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the effect of enactive pre-reading tasks on Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension and self-efficacy. Moreover, it explored whether Iranian per-intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension and self-efficacy are influenced by vicarious pre-reading tasks. The required data was gathered through a reading comprehension passage entailing 20 comprehension questions and a 30-item self-efficacy questionnaire with 5-point Likert-scale response options. A total of 66 participants (including 34 individuals in the enactive group and 32 leaners in the vicarious one took part in this study. The Pearson formula, an independent T-Test, paired T-test, and the Mann-Whitney U test were used to analyze the data. Based on the findings of the study, enactive pre-reading tasks played a key role in the Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension ability. Moreover, it was found that vicarious pre-reading tasks served an important role in the Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners’ self-efficacy.

Types and sequences of self-regulated reading of low-achieving adolescents in relation to reading task achievement

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Milliano, Ilona; van Gelderen, Amos; Sleegers, P.J.C.

2016-01-01

This study examines the relationship between types and sequences of self-regulated reading activities in task-oriented reading with quality of task achievement of 51 low-achieving adolescents (Grade 8). The study used think aloud combined with video observations to analyse the students' approach of

Mining Student Behavior Patterns in Reading Comprehension Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Peckham, Terry; McCalla, Gord

2012-01-01

Reading comprehension is critical in life-long learning as well as in the workplace. In this paper, we describe how multidimensional k-means clustering combined with Bloom's Taxonomy can be used to determine positive and negative cognitive skill sets with respect to reading comprehension tasks. This information could be used to inform environments…

Enhancing the Reading Fluency and Comprehension of Children with Reading Disabilities in an Orthographically Transparent Language

Science.gov (United States)

Snellings, Patrick; van der Leij, Aryan; de Jong, Peter F.; Blok, Henk

2009-01-01

Breznitz (2006) demonstrated that Hebrew-speaking adults with reading disabilities benefited from a training in which reading rate was experimentally manipulated. In the present study, the authors examine whether silent reading training enhances the sentence reading rate and comprehension of children with reading disabilities and whether results…

Reimagining Reading: Creating a Classroom Culture That Embraces Independent Choice Reading

Science.gov (United States)

Dickerson, Katie

2015-01-01

Many of us are plagued by negative memories of sustained silent reading. In some of these memories, we are the students, attempting to read a book that didn't hold our interest or trying to read over the din of our disengaged classmates. In other memories, we are the teachers, suffering through a ten-minute classroom management nightmare, deciding…

Strategies identification in an experimental reading comprehension task

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Stanković Sanda

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Standardized reading comprehension tests (RCTs usually consist of a small number of texts each accompanied by several multiple-choice questions, with texts and questions simultaneously presented. The score the common measure of reading comprehension ability in RCTs is the score. Literature review suggests that strategies subjects employ may influence their performance on RCT, however the score itself provides no information on the specific strategy employed. Knowledge of test-taking strategies could have impact on understanding of the actual purpose and benefits of using RCTs in pedagogical and psychological practice. With the ultimate objective of constructing a first standard RCT in Serbian language, the preliminary step we took was to conduct an experimental reading comprehension task (ERCT consisting of 27 short texts displayed in succession, each followed by a single multiplechoice question. Using qualitative analysis of subjects’ responses in semi-structured postexperimental interview, we identified four overall strategies used on ERCT. Our results show that groups of students who used specific strategies differed significantly from one another in text reading time, with no differences found regarding the question reading and answering time. More importantly, there were no significant between-group differences found in terms of ERCT score. These findings suggest that choice of strategy is a way to optimize the relation between one’s own potential and ERCT task requirements. RCT based on ERCT principles would allow for a flexible choice of strategy which would not influence the final score.

Measuring College Students' Reading Comprehension Ability Using Cloze Tests

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Williams, Rihana Shiri; Ari, Omer; Santamaria, Carmen Nicole

2011-01-01

Recent investigations challenge the construct validity of sustained silent reading tests. Performance of two groups of post-secondary students (e.g. struggling and non-struggling) on a sustained silent reading test and two types of cloze test (i.e. maze and open-ended) was compared in order to identify the test format that contributes greater…

Patterns of cerebral activation during lexical and phonological reading in Portuguese

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Senaha M.L.H.

2005-01-01

Full Text Available According to the concepts of cognitive neuropsychology, there are two principal routes of reading processing: a lexical route, in which global reading of words occurs and a phonological route, responsible for the conversion of the graphemes into their respective phonemes. In the present study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI was used to investigate the patterns of cerebral activation in lexical and phonological reading by 13 healthy women with a formal educational level greater than 11 years. Participants were submitted to a silent reading task containing three types of stimuli: real words (irregular and foreign words, nonwords and illegitimate graphic stimuli. An increased number of activated voxels were identified by fMRI in the word reading (lexical processing than in the nonword reading (phonological processing task. In word reading, activation was greater than for nonwords in the following areas: superior, middle and inferior frontal gyri, and bilateral superior temporal gyrus, right cerebellum and the left precentral gyrus, as indicated by fMRI. In the reading of nonwords, the activation was predominant in the right cerebellum and in the left superior temporal gyrus. The results of the present study suggest the existence of differences in the patterns of cerebral activation during lexical and phonological reading, with greater involvement of the right hemisphere in reading words than nonwords.

Matching is not naming: a direct comparison of lexical manipulations in explicit and implicit reading tasks.

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Vogel, Alecia C; Petersen, Steven E; Schlaggar, Bradley L

2013-10-01

The neurobiological basis of reading is of considerable interest, yet analyzing data from subjects reading words aloud during functional MRI data collection can be difficult. Therefore, many investigators use surrogate tasks such as visual matching or rhyme matching to eliminate the need for spoken output. Use of these tasks has been justified by the presumption of "automatic activation" of reading-related neural processing when a word is viewed. We have tested the efficacy of using a nonreading task for studying "reading effects" by directly comparing blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) activity in subjects performing a visual matching task and an item naming task on words, pseudowords (meaningless but legal letter combinations), and nonwords (meaningless and illegal letter combinations). When compared directly, there is significantly more activity during the naming task in "reading-related" regions such as the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and supramarginal gyrus. More importantly, there are differing effects of lexicality in the tasks. A whole-brain task (matching vs. naming) by string type (word vs. pseudoword vs. nonword) by BOLD timecourse analysis identifies regions showing this three-way interaction, including the left IFG and left angular gyrus (AG). In the majority of the identified regions (including the left IFG and left AG), there is a string type × timecourse interaction in the naming but not the matching task. These results argue that the processing performed in specific regions is contingent on task, even in reading-related regions and is thus nonautomatic. Such differences should be taken into consideration when designing studies intended to investigate reading. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Interplay of Silent Reading, Reading-While-Listening and Listening-Only

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Nakashima, Kohji; Stephens, Meredith; Kamata, Suzanne

2018-01-01

Leading scholars (Gilbert, 2009; Walter, 2008) have highlighted the importance of phonological processing in learning to read. Nevertheless, reading in Japan has traditionally been taught without adequate attention to the role of phonological processing. Accordingly, it was speculated that Japanese university students would demonstrate superior…

Differences between child and adult large-scale functional brain networks for reading tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xin; Gao, Yue; Di, Qiqi; Hu, Jiali; Lu, Chunming; Nan, Yun; Booth, James R; Liu, Li

2018-02-01

Reading is an important high-level cognitive function of the human brain, requiring interaction among multiple brain regions. Revealing differences between children's large-scale functional brain networks for reading tasks and those of adults helps us to understand how the functional network changes over reading development. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 17 adults (19-28 years old) and 16 children (11-13 years old), and graph theoretical analyses to investigate age-related changes in large-scale functional networks during rhyming and meaning judgment tasks on pairs of visually presented Chinese characters. We found that: (1) adults had stronger inter-regional connectivity and nodal degree in occipital regions, while children had stronger inter-regional connectivity in temporal regions, suggesting that adults rely more on visual orthographic processing whereas children rely more on auditory phonological processing during reading. (2) Only adults showed between-task differences in inter-regional connectivity and nodal degree, whereas children showed no task differences, suggesting the topological organization of adults' reading network is more specialized. (3) Children showed greater inter-regional connectivity and nodal degree than adults in multiple subcortical regions; the hubs in children were more distributed in subcortical regions while the hubs in adults were more distributed in cortical regions. These findings suggest that reading development is manifested by a shift from reliance on subcortical to cortical regions. Taken together, our study suggests that Chinese reading development is supported by developmental changes in brain connectivity properties, and some of these changes may be domain-general while others may be specific to the reading domain. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Relation between Reading Skills and Eye Movement Patterns in Adolescent Readers: Evidence from a Regular Orthography.

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Magdalena Krieber

Full Text Available Over the past decades, the relation between reading skills and eye movement behavior has been well documented in English-speaking cohorts. As English and German differ substantially with regard to orthographic complexity (i.e. grapheme-phoneme correspondence, we aimed to delineate specific characteristics of how reading speed and reading comprehension interact with eye movements in typically developing German-speaking (Austrian adolescents. Eye movements of 22 participants (14 females; mean age = 13;6 years;months were tracked while they were performing three tasks, namely silently reading words, texts, and pseudowords. Their reading skills were determined by means of a standardized German reading speed and reading comprehension assessment (Lesegeschwindigkeits- und -verständnistest für Klassen 6-12. We found that (a reading skills were associated with various eye movement parameters in each of the three reading tasks; (b better reading skills were associated with an increased efficiency of eye movements, but were primarily linked to spatial reading parameters, such as the number of fixations per word, the total number of saccades and saccadic amplitudes; (c reading speed was a more reliable predictor for eye movement parameters than reading comprehension; (d eye movements were highly correlated across reading tasks, which indicates consistent reading performances. Contrary to findings in English-speaking cohorts, the reading skills neither consistently correlated with temporal eye movement parameters nor with the number or percentage of regressions made while performing any of the three reading tasks. These results indicate that, although reading skills are associated with eye movement patterns irrespective of language, the temporal and spatial characteristics of this association may vary with orthographic consistency.

Semantic interference in picture naming during dual-task performance does not vary with reading ability.

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Piai, Vitória; Roelofs, Ardi; Roete, Ingeborg

2015-01-01

Previous dual-task studies examining the locus of semantic interference of distractor words in picture naming have obtained diverging results. In these studies, participants manually responded to tones and named pictures while ignoring distractor words (picture-word interference, PWI) with varying stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between tone and PWI stimulus. Whereas some studies observed no semantic interference at short SOAs, other studies observed effects of similar magnitude at short and long SOAs. The absence of semantic interference in some studies may perhaps be due to better reading skill of participants in these than in the other studies. According to such a reading-ability account, participants' reading skill should be predictive of the magnitude of their interference effect at short SOAs. To test this account, we conducted a dual-task study with tone discrimination and PWI tasks and measured participants' reading ability. The semantic interference effect was of similar magnitude at both short and long SOAs. Participants' reading ability was predictive of their naming speed but not of their semantic interference effect, contrary to the reading ability account. We conclude that the magnitude of semantic interference in picture naming during dual-task performance does not depend on reading skill.

Working Memory Deficits in Children with Reading Difficulties: Memory Span and Dual Task Coordination

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Wang, Shinmin; Gathercole, Susan E.

2013-01-01

The current study investigated the cause of the reported problems in working memory in children with reading difficulties. Verbal and visuospatial simple and complex span tasks, and digit span and reaction times tasks performed singly and in combination, were administered to 46 children with single word reading difficulties and 45 typically…

Emergence of Reading and Writing in Illiterate Adults After Matching-to-Sample Tasks

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Carmen Silvia Motta Bandini

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Reading and writing are behaviors that provide an individual with the opportunity for inclusion in many social environments. Despite the importance of these behaviors, statistical indices show that, in Brazil, 8.6% of the people aged 15-24 are illiterate. The purpose of this manuscript, which is divided into two studies, was to assess the effects of a Portuguese language reading curriculum for simple (Study 1 and complex words (Study 2 in illiterate adults. Four participants took part in each study. In both studies, reading was taught mainly by training dictated words to printed words relations. Overall, there was an increase in the percentage of correct responses in reading and writing tasks when pre-tests and post-tests were compared; results were more consistent in reading tasks. Future studies should continue to investigate procedures with these goals for this population.

The Role of Reading Strategies in Integrated L2 Writing Tasks

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Plakans, Lia

2009-01-01

Integrated second-language writing tasks elicit writing performances that involve other abilities such as reading or listening. Thus, understanding the role of these other abilities is necessary for interpreting performance on such tasks. This study used an inductive analysis of think-aloud protocol data and interviews to uncover the reading…

Reading vocabulary in children with and without hearing loss: the roles of task and word type.

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Coppens, Karien M; Tellings, Agnes; Verhoeven, Ludo; Schreuder, Robert

2013-04-01

To address the problem of low reading comprehension scores among children with hearing impairment, it is necessary to have a better understanding of their reading vocabulary. In this study, the authors investigated whether task and word type differentiate the reading vocabulary knowledge of children with and without severe hearing loss. Seventy-two children with hearing loss and 72 children with normal hearing performed a lexical and a use decision task. Both tasks contained the same 180 words divided over 7 clusters, each cluster containing words with a similar pattern of scores on 8 word properties (word class, frequency, morphological family size, length, age of acquisition, mode of acquisition, imageability, and familiarity). Whereas the children with normal hearing scored better on the 2 tasks than the children with hearing loss, the size of the difference varied depending on the type of task and word. Performance differences between the 2 groups increased as words and tasks became more complex. Despite delays, children with hearing loss showed a similar pattern of vocabulary acquisition as their peers with normal hearing. For the most precise assessment of reading vocabulary possible, a range of tasks and word types should be used.

Beyond the initial 140 ms, lexical decision and reading aloud are different tasks: An ERP study with topographic analysis.

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Mahé, Gwendoline; Zesiger, Pascal; Laganaro, Marina

2015-11-15

Most of our knowledge on the time-course of the mechanisms involved in reading derived from electrophysiological studies is based on lexical decision tasks. By contrast, very few ERP studies investigated the processes involved in reading aloud. It has been suggested that the lexical decision task provides a good index of the processes occurring during reading aloud, with only late processing differences related to task response modalities. However, some behavioral studies reported different sensitivity to psycholinguistic factors between the two tasks, suggesting that print processing could differ at earlier processing stages. The aim of the present study was thus to carry out an ERP comparison between lexical decision and reading aloud in order to determine when print processing differs between these two tasks. Twenty native French speakers performed a lexical decision task and a reading aloud task with the same written stimuli. Results revealed different electrophysiological patterns on both waveform amplitudes and global topography between lexical decision and reading aloud from about 140 ms after stimulus presentation for both words and pseudowords, i.e., as early as the N170 component. These results suggest that only very early, low-level visual processes are common to the two tasks which differ in core processes. Taken together, our main finding questions the use of the lexical decision task as an appropriate paradigm to investigate reading processes and warns against generalizing its results to word reading. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The prevalence and quality of silent, socially silent, and disclosed autobiographical memories across adulthood.

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Alea, Nicole

2010-02-01

Two separate studies examined the prevalence and quality of silent (infrequently recalled), socially silent (i.e., recalled but not shared), and disclosed autobiographical memories. In Study 1 young and older men and women remembered positive events. Positive memories were more likely to be disclosed than to be kept socially silent or completely silent. However, socially silent and disclosed memories did not differ in memory quality: the memories were equally vivid, significant, and emotional. Silent memories were less qualitatively rich. This pattern of results was generally replicated in Study 2 with a lifespan sample for both positive and negative memories, and with additional qualitative variables. The exception was that negative memories were kept silent more often. Age differences were minimal. Women disclosed their autobiographical memories more, but men told a greater variety of people. Results are discussed in terms of the functions that memory telling and silences might serve for individuals.

Teacher Modeling: Its Impact on an Extensive Reading Program

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Loh, Jason Kok Khiang

2009-01-01

This case study investigates whether teachers model reading in 1 Singapore primary school during an exercise called "uninterrupted sustained silent reading" (USSR) carried out in the classroom. Even though reading is an important determinant of a student's growth in language skills and ability, and modeling the act of reading is…

Distractions, distractions: does instant messaging affect college students' performance on a concurrent reading comprehension task?

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Fox, Annie Beth; Rosen, Jonathan; Crawford, Mary

2009-02-01

Instant messaging (IM) has become one of the most popular forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and is especially prevalent on college campuses. Previous research suggests that IM users often multitask while conversing online. To date, no one has yet examined the cognitive effect of concurrent IM use. Participants in the present study (N = 69) completed a reading comprehension task uninterrupted or while concurrently holding an IM conversation. Participants who IMed while performing the reading task took significantly longer to complete the task, indicating that concurrent IM use negatively affects efficiency. Concurrent IM use did not affect reading comprehension scores. Additional analyses revealed that the more time participants reported spending on IM, the lower their reading comprehension scores. Finally, we found that the more time participants reported spending on IM, the lower their self-reported GPA. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Reading and company

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kuzmičová, Anežka; Dias, Patrícia; Vogrinčič Čepič, Ana

2017-01-01

in the environment where one engages in individual silent reading. The primary goal of the study was to explore the role and possible associations of a number of variables (text type, purpose, device) in selecting generic (e.g. indoors vs outdoors) as well as specific (e.g. home vs library) reading environments....... Across all six samples included in the study, participants spontaneously attested to varied, and partly surprising, forms of sensitivity to company and social space in their daily efforts to align body with mind for reading. The article reports these emergent trends and discusses their potential...

The effect of task-based instruction on reading comprehension of Iranian EFL learners

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Azizeh Chalak

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Developing reading comprehension ability is an important aspect in acquisition of a language. The present study focused on improving reading comprehension ability through Task-based Instruction (TBI. TBI is a methodology that develops from a focus on classroom tasks. The participants of the study were 135 Iranian female students at different levels selected from high schools in Isfahan, Iran, through a quasi-experimental design. The participants were divided into four groups, two control groups (CGs and two experimental groups (EGs. They received a pre-test, the instruction, and a post-test. The participants in EGs were taught through TBI, whereas CGs were exposed to a traditional method. The comparison between CGs and EGs were made through paired sample t-tests. The results revealed that the students in EGs outperformed CGs. The difference between the two grades was also investigated by independent sample t-test. The results showed that students at first-grade outperformed fourth-graders. The findings suggest that using flexible and interactive tasks in English classes improves reading comprehension ability of Iranian EFL learners. This study may have pedagogical implications for practitioners in the field and for syllabus designers to include appropriate tasks in English textbooks.

Effect of Kanji and Kana reading on cerebral blood flow patterns measured by PET

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kiyosawa, Motohiro; Itoh, Masatoshi; Nakagawa, Youichi; Kobayashi, Naoki; Tamai, Makoto.

1995-01-01

To investigate the respective functions of pathways in processing visual information from different types of symbols, by positron emission tomography (PET) we examined the effect on cerebral blood flow (CBF) of reading the Japanese morphogram (kanji) versus the syllabogram (kana). Nine Japanese men were presented with three visual conditions in random order 2 minutes before the scan: eyes open controls, kanji morphogram reading, and kana syllabogram reading. Three words written in kanji or kana were shown, and subjects were instructed to read them silently and to identify the word unrelated logically to the other two. The reading and analyzing tasks activated wide areas of vision-related cortices. The comparison of the kanji and kana readings showed higher metabolism, with the former only in the posterior part of the primary visual cortex. Most of the CBF increases were common for both stimuli, although the patterns of these increases differed slightly. The correlation matrix of CBF change in the left hemisphere showed a ventral connection in kanji reading and a dorsal connection in kana reading. Our results suggest there is a functional differentiation in the brain between patterned and sequential perception when reading Japanese morphograms and syllabograms. (author)

Reading Speed of Contracted French Braille

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Laroche, Louise; Boule, Jacinthe; Wittich, Walter

2012-01-01

This study was designed to address three hypotheses: (1) The reading speed of both readers of French braille and readers of French print will be faster in the silent condition; however, this gain in speed will be larger for print readers; (2) Individuals who acquired braille before age 10 will display faster reading speeds at lower error rates…

The effects of age on processing and storage in working memory span tasks and reading comprehension.

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Schroeder, Paul J

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: Declines in verbal working memory span task performance have been associated with deficits in the language processing abilities of healthy older adults, but it is unclear how storage and processing contribute to this relationship. Moreover, recent studies of the psychometric properties of span measures in the general cognitive literature highlight the need for a critical reassessment of age-related differences in working memory task performance. Forty-two young (Mage = 19.45 years) and 42 older participants (Mage = 73.00 years) completed a series of neuropsychological screening measures, four memory span tasks (one-syllable word span, three-syllable word span, reading span, and sentence span), and a measure of reading comprehension. Each span measure was completed under self-paced and timed encoding conditions. A 2 (age) × 2 (task type) × 2 (encoding conditions) mixed-model design was used. (1) Age effects were reliable for both simple and complex span task performance; (2) limiting the available encoding time yielded lower recall scores across tasks and exacerbated age differences in simple span performance; and (3) both encoding condition and age affected the relationship between each of the span measures and the relationship between span and reading comprehension. Declines in both storage and processing abilities contributed to age differences in span task performance and the relationship between span and reading comprehension. Although older people appear to benefit from task administration protocols that promote successful memory encoding, researchers should be aware of the potential risks to validity posed by such accommodations.

Imitated prosodic fluency predicts reading comprehension ability in good and poor high school readers

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Mara Breen

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Researchers have established a relationship between beginning readers’ silent comprehension ability and their prosodic fluency, such that readers who read aloud with appropriate prosody tend to have higher scores on silent reading comprehension assessments. The current study was designed to investigate this relationship in two groups of high school readers: Specifically Poor Comprehenders (SPCs, who have adequate word level and phonological skills but poor reading comprehension ability, and a group of age- and decoding skill-matched controls. We compared the prosodic fluency of the two groups by determining how effectively they produced prosodic cues to syntactic and semantic structure in imitations of a model speaker’s production of syntactically and semantically varied sentences. Analyses of pitch and duration patterns revealed that speakers in both groups produced the expected prosodic patterns; however, controls provided stronger durational cues to syntactic structure. These results demonstrate that the relationship between prosodic fluency and reading comprehension continues past the stage of early reading instruction. Moreover, they suggest that prosodically fluent speakers may also generate more fluent implicit prosodic representations during silent reading, leading to more effective comprehension.

'Silent mentors'

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Douglas-Jones, Rachel

2017-01-01

Unlike cadaver donation in the West, which has to a large degree maintained the anonymity of the body used to teach medical students, the Taiwanese Tzu Chi Buddhist Silent Mentor programme at the centre of this article foregrounds the identity of the training cadaver as an essential element in me...... for medical pedagogy, body donation, and Buddhist practices prompted by this programme, putting the ‘Silent Mentors’ into conversation with the ‘new immortalities’ of this special issue....

Silent Films and Strange Stories: Theory of Mind, Gender, and Social Experiences in Middle Childhood

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Devine, Rory T.; Hughes, Claire

2013-01-01

In this study of two hundred and thirty 8- to 13-year-olds, a new "Silent Films" task is introduced, designed to address the dearth of research on theory of mind in older children by providing a film-based analogue of F. G. E. Happe's (1994) Strange Stories task. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that all items from both tasks loaded…

Functionally distinct contributions of the anterior and posterior putamen during sublexical and lexical reading

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Marion eOberhuber

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Previous studies have investigated orthographic-to-phonological mapping during reading by comparing brain activation for (1 reading words to object naming, or (2 reading pseudowords (e.g. phume to words (e.g. plume. Here we combined both approaches to provide new insights into the underlying neural mechanisms. In fMRI data from 25 healthy adult readers, we first identified activation that was greater for reading words and pseudowords relative to picture and color naming. The most significant effect was observed in the left putamen, extending to both anterior and posterior borders. Second, consistent with previous studies, we show that both the anterior and posterior putamen are involved in articulating speech with greater activation during our overt speech production tasks (reading, repetition, object naming and color naming than silent one-back-matching on the same stimuli. Third, we compared putamen activation for words versus pseudowords during overt reading and auditory repetition. This revealed that the anterior putamen was most activated by reading pseudowords, whereas the posterior putamen was most activated by words irrespective of whether the task was reading words or auditory word repetition. The pseudoword effect in the anterior putamen is consistent with prior studies that associated this region with the initiation of novel sequences of movements. In contrast, the heightened word response in the posterior putamen is consistent with other studies that associated this region with memory guided movement. Our results illustrate how the functional dissociation between the anterior and posterior putamen supports sublexical and lexical processing during reading.

Predicting Growth in Word Level Reading Skills in Children With Developmental Dyslexia Using an Object Rhyming Functional Neuroimaging Task.

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Farris, Emily A; Ring, Jeremiah; Black, Jeffrey; Lyon, G Reid; Odegard, Timothy N

2016-04-01

An object rhyming task that does not require text reading and is suitable for younger children was used to predict gains in word level reading skills following an intensive 2-year reading intervention for children with developmental dyslexia. The task evoked activation in bilateral inferior frontal regions. Growth in untimed pseudoword reading was associated with increased pre-intervention activation of the left inferior frontal gyrus, and growth in timed word reading was associated with pre-intervention activation of the left and right inferior frontal gyri. These analyses help identify pre-intervention factors that facilitate reading skill improvements in children with developmental dyslexia.

The threat of silent earthquakes

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Cervelli, Peter

2004-01-01

Not all earthquakes shake the ground. The so-called silent types are forcing scientists to rethink their understanding of the way quake-prone faults behave. In rare instances, silent earthquakes that occur along the flakes of seaside volcanoes may cascade into monstrous landslides that crash into the sea and trigger towering tsunamis. Silent earthquakes that take place within fault zones created by one tectonic plate diving under another may increase the chance of ground-shaking shocks. In other locations, however, silent slip may decrease the likelihood of destructive quakes, because they release stress along faults that might otherwise seem ready to snap.

Some implications of an experimental reading comprehension task

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Lalović Dejan

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Standardized reading comprehension tests (RCTs are indispensable instruments in language abilities assessment. Nevertheless, we do not have such an instrument in Serbian. In the present paper, we attempted to verify the basic assumptions of the RCT conception we proposed: the reading material consisting of a relatively large selection of short newspaper articles followed by a single multiplechoice question each, displayed in temporal succession, not simultaneously. We argued that RCT consisting of such item form and content, as well as the administration procedure, should be of equal or even better construct validity than well-known RTCs in foreign languages, also possessing some other practical advantages. These assumptions were implemented in a computer-ran experimental reading comprehension task (ERCT, in a student sample. ERCT psychometric properties analyses showed good discriminability and somewhat less than preferable reliability. The structure and strength of ERCT x other intelligence tests correlations suggest ERCT belonging to the core of verbal abilities tests. Different strategies subjects employed showed no impact on major performance measure  number correct answers. Our findings obtained by ERCT implementation support the RCT conception we propose. We therefore suggest possible further research towards the construction of standardized RCT in Serbian.

Silent ischaemia and hypertension

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boon, D.; Piek, J. J.; van Montfrans, G. A.

2000-01-01

For many years now, silent ischaemia has been recognized as a distinct clinical entity, and its relevance in different patient groups has been established. However, a number of basic questions have not been answered. In explaining the pathophysiology of silent ischaemia, factors affecting both the

Reading Vocabulary in Children with and without Hearing Loss: The Roles of Task and Word Type

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Coppens, Karien M.; Tellings, Agnes; Verhoeven, Ludo; Schreuder, Robert

2013-01-01

Purpose: To address the problem of low reading comprehension scores among children with hearing impairment, it is necessary to have a better understanding of their reading vocabulary. In this study, the authors investigated whether task and word type differentiate the reading vocabulary knowledge of children with and without severe hearing loss.…

Progress Monitoring Instrument Development: Silent Reading Fluency, Vocabulary, and Reading Comprehension. Technical Report #1110

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Nese, Joseph F. T.; Anderson, Daniel; Hoelscher, Kyle; Tindal, Gerald; Alonzo, Julie

2011-01-01

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is designed to measure students' academic status and growth so the effectiveness of instruction may be evaluated. In the most popular forms of reading CBM, the student's oral reading fluency is assessed. This behavior is difficult to sample in a computer-based format, a limitation that may be a function of the…

SSR: Its Effects on Students' Reading Habits after They Complete the Program.

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Wiesendanger, Katherine D.; Bader, Lois

1989-01-01

Studies the effect of sustained silent reading (SSR) on recreational reading habits after termination of instruction. Finds that SSR students read more than those not in the program, and that SSR has no impact on above average readers, great impact on average readers, and little impact on below average readers. (RS)

The way we encounter reading material influences how frequently we mind wander

OpenAIRE

Trish L Varao Sousa; Jonathan S A Carriere; Dan eSmilek

2013-01-01

We examined whether different encounters of reading material influence the likelihood of mind wandering, memory for the material, and the ratings of interest in the material. In a within-subjects design participants experienced three different reading encounters: (1) reading a passage aloud, (2) listening to a passage being read to them, and (3) reading a passage silently. Throughout each reading encounter probes were given in order to identify mind wandering. After finishing the passage part...

Electrophysiological correlates of grapheme-phoneme conversion.

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Huang, Koongliang; Itoh, Kosuke; Suwazono, Shugo; Nakada, Tsutomu

2004-08-19

The cortical processes underlying grapheme-phoneme conversion were investigated by event-related potentials (ERPs). The task consisted of silent reading or vowel-matching of three Japanese hiragana characters, each representing a consonant-vowel syllable. At earlier latencies, typical components of the visual ERP, namely, P1 (110 ms), N1 (170 ms) and P2 (300 ms), were elicited in the temporo-occipital area for both tasks as well as control task (observing the orthographic shapes of three Korean characters). Following these earlier components, two sustained negativities were identified. The earlier sustained negativity, referred here to as SN1, was found in both the silent-reading and vowel-matching task but not in the control task. The scalp distribution of SN1 was over the left occipito-temporal area, with maximum amplitude over O1. The amplitude of SN1 was larger in the vowel-matching task compared to the silent-reading task, consistent with previous reports that ERP amplitude correlates with task difficulty. SN2, the later sustained negativity, was only observed in the vowel-matching task. The scalp distribution of SN2 was over the midsagittal centro-parietal area with maximum amplitude over Cz. Elicitation of SN2 in the vowel-matching task suggested that the vowel-matching task requires a wider range of neural activities exceeding the established conventional area of language processing.

Contextual modulation of reading rate for direct versus indirect speech quotations.

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Yao, Bo; Scheepers, Christoph

2011-12-01

In human communication, direct speech (e.g., Mary said: "I'm hungry") is perceived to be more vivid than indirect speech (e.g., Mary said [that] she was hungry). However, the processing consequences of this distinction are largely unclear. In two experiments, participants were asked to either orally (Experiment 1) or silently (Experiment 2, eye-tracking) read written stories that contained either a direct speech or an indirect speech quotation. The context preceding those quotations described a situation that implied either a fast-speaking or a slow-speaking quoted protagonist. It was found that this context manipulation affected reading rates (in both oral and silent reading) for direct speech quotations, but not for indirect speech quotations. This suggests that readers are more likely to engage in perceptual simulations of the reported speech act when reading direct speech as opposed to meaning-equivalent indirect speech quotations, as part of a more vivid representation of the former. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

I read, you read, we read: the history of reading in Slovenia

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Anja Dular

2013-03-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACTPurpose: The aim of the article is to research reading habits in Slovenia in the period between 16th and 19th century and to find similarities with Austria and other European countries of that time.Methodology/approach: For the purpose of the analysis different resources were used – study books, catechisms, prayer books and manuals. We were focused on introductions in which readers are advised how to read, explaining to whom the work is intended and emphasizing the importance of meditation on the texts.Results: Historically the laud reading was prefered, as to continue the folk tradition. However, the 16th century texts were transmitted by women while the folk tradition was narrated by males. In the 18th century the higher level of literacy and greater book production and availability caused that the books were not a privilege of a few. At that time more texts were intended for silent, individual reading. Interestingly, the authors emphasized the importance of meditation on the texts, too. It was also advised when to read – it wasrecommedend to read in leisure time on Sundays, and on holidays. The role of books was also to breakaway with the reality and to forget everyday problems. Due to the overproduction of books in the 17th centrury it was concerned that books are misleading the crowds. The church considered the reading of books as inappropriate, and criticized fiction, novels and adventure stories mostly read by women.Research limitation: The study is based on Slovenian texts only, although the foreign literature, especially in German, was generally available, too.Originality/practical implications: The study is fullfiling the gap in the history of reading in Slovenia.

An Experimental Study on the Effects of Different Reading Tasks on L2 Vocabulary Acquisition

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Jianping

2009-01-01

This empirical study was undertaken to test the Involvement Load Hypothesis (Laufer and Hulstijn, 2001) by examining the impact of three tasks on vocabulary acquisition. It was designed to test and develop the involvement load hypothesis by examining the impact of different reading tasks on the L2 vocabulary acquisition. The results show that…

Memory Retention after Reading Alould and its Effects on the Internalization of New Items

OpenAIRE

佐藤, あずさ; Azusa, SATO; 安田女子大学大学院

2014-01-01

This paper reports the results of two studies focusing on internalization of newly learned items. In study 1, internalization was not confirmed, but reading and memory retention abilities of the reading-aloud subgroup (i.e., students with lower reading proficiency) improved significantly more than the reading-silently subgroup. In study 2 the same effects were confirmed in the reading-aloud subgroup, and internalization of newly learned items was finally confirmed in the reading-aloud group.

Effects of sequential and discrete rapid naming on reading in Japanese children with reading difficulty.

Science.gov (United States)

Wakamiya, Eiji; Okumura, Tomohito; Nakanishi, Makoto; Takeshita, Takashi; Mizuta, Mekumi; Kurimoto, Naoko; Tamai, Hiroshi

2011-06-01

To clarify whether rapid naming ability itself is a main underpinning factor of rapid automatized naming tests (RAN) and how deep an influence the discrete decoding process has on reading, we performed discrete naming tasks and discrete hiragana reading tasks as well as sequential naming tasks and sequential hiragana reading tasks with 38 Japanese schoolchildren with reading difficulty. There were high correlations between both discrete and sequential hiragana reading and sentence reading, suggesting that some mechanism which automatizes hiragana reading makes sentence reading fluent. In object and color tasks, there were moderate correlations between sentence reading and sequential naming, and between sequential naming and discrete naming. But no correlation was found between reading tasks and discrete naming tasks. The influence of rapid naming ability of objects and colors upon reading seemed relatively small, and multi-item processing may work in relation to these. In contrast, in the digit naming task there was moderate correlation between sentence reading and discrete naming, while no correlation was seen between sequential naming and discrete naming. There was moderate correlation between reading tasks and sequential digit naming tasks. Digit rapid naming ability has more direct effect on reading while its effect on RAN is relatively limited. The ratio of how rapid naming ability influences RAN and reading seems to vary according to kind of the stimuli used. An assumption about components in RAN which influence reading is discussed in the context of both sequential processing and discrete naming speed. Copyright © 2010 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ocoee Junior High School's Total School Reading Program on a Shoestring.

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Hinson, Bess; Williams, Robert W.

The total school reading program described in this booklet includes a program for remedial, developmental, and special education students. Faculty members and students not participating in this program spend one half hour a day in a silent reading program. The booklet outlines each facet of the program, lists the equipment and materials used,…

Scaffolded Silent Reading (ScSR): Advocating a Policy for Adolescents' Independent Reading

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Karen P.

2013-01-01

Structured independent reading among students is often a vital missing component in many school districts' literacy curriculum. The nationwide implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) requires districts to re-think their literacy curriculum and what instruction might entail in order for students to demonstrate proficiency in…

Imaging seizure activity: a combined EEG/EMG-fMRI study in reading epilepsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Salek-Haddadi, Afraim; Mayer, Thomas; Hamandi, Khalid; Symms, Mark; Josephs, Oliver; Fluegel, Dominique; Woermann, Friedrich; Richardson, Mark P; Noppeney, Uta; Wolf, Peter; Koepp, Matthias J

2009-02-01

To characterize the spatial relationship between activations related to language-induced seizure activity, language processing, and motor control in patients with reading epilepsy. We recorded and simultaneously monitored several physiological parameters [voice-recording, electromyography (EMG), electrocardiography (ECG), electroencephalography (EEG)] during blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in nine patients with reading epilepsy. Individually tailored language paradigms were used to induce and record habitual seizures inside the MRI scanner. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used for structural brain analysis. Reading-induced seizures occurred in six out of nine patients. One patient experienced abundant orofacial reflex myocloni during silent reading in association with bilateral frontal or generalized epileptiform discharges. In a further five patients, symptoms were only elicited while reading aloud with self-indicated events. Consistent activation patterns in response to reading-induced myoclonic seizures were observed within left motor and premotor areas in five of these six patients, in the left striatum (n = 4), in mesiotemporal/limbic areas (n = 4), in Brodmann area 47 (n = 3), and thalamus (n = 2). These BOLD activations were overlapping or adjacent to areas physiologically activated during language and facial motor tasks. No subtle structural abnormalities common to all patients were identified using VBM, but one patient had a left temporal ischemic lesion. Based on the findings, we hypothesize that reflex seizures occur in reading epilepsy when a critical mass of neurons are activated through a provoking stimulus within corticoreticular and corticocortical circuitry subserving normal functions.

Neural correlates reveal sub-lexical orthography and phonology during reading aloud: A review

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Kalinka eTimmer

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The sub-lexical conversion of graphemes-to-phonemes (GPC during reading has been investigated extensively with behavioral measures, as well as event-related potentials (ERPs. Most research utilizes silent reading (e.g., lexical decision task for which phonological activation is not a necessity. However, recent research employed reading aloud to capture sub-lexical GPC. The masked priming paradigm avoids strategic processing and is therefore well suitable for capturing sub-lexical processing instead of lexical effects. By employing ERPs, the on-line time course of sub-lexical GPC can be observed before the overt response. ERPs have revealed that besides phonological activation, as revealed by behavioral studies, there is also early orthographic activation. This review describes studies in one’s native language, in one’s second language, and in a cross-language situation. We discuss the implications the ERP results have on different (computational models. First, the ERP results show that computational models should assume an early locus of the grapheme-to-phoneme-conversion (GPC. Second, cross-language studies reveal that the phonological representations from both languages of a bilingual become activated automatically and the phonology belonging to the context is selected rapidly. Therefore, it is important to extend the scope of computational models of reading (aloud to multiple lexicons.

Characteristics of silent countingin synchronized swimmers

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Sergey V. Leonov

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This article describes the temporal characteristics of silent counting as used duringa competition by the Russian youth team of synchronized swimmers. Theathletes listened to the music that accompanied their performance at the competition.Diff erent indices of silent counting were defi ned, such as the beginningand cessation of diff erent periods of counting, counting frequency, the stabilityof the temporal structure of silent counting, the degree of synchronization of silentcounting at diff erent moments during the sports program. We studied therelationship of these characteristics of counting with expert estimates of the athletes’sense of tempo, coordination of movements, and choreographic abilities.

Myocardial perfusion in silent myocardial ischemia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Narita, Michihiro; Kurihara, Tadashi; Murano, Kenichi; Usami, Masahisa

1989-01-01

To investigate myocardial perfusion in silent myocardial ischemia, we performed exercise stress myocardial tomography with thallium-201 (Tl) in 85 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Exercise stress myocardial tomography was obtained both immediately after exercise and three hours later. Patients were classified into two groups according to the presence (Symptomatic Group, n=36) or absence (Silent Group, n=49) of chest pain during exercise stress. Clinical features (age, gender and history of myocardial infarction) and arteriographically determined severity of CAD were the same in both groups. The extent of myocardial ischemia (% Ischemia) estimated by exercise stress myocardial tomography was the same in each group (30±10 % in Silent Group, 28±12 % in Symptomatic Group, NS). The severity of exercise-induced myocardial ischemia was expressed as a minimal value of myocardial Tl washout rate (minimal WOR) of each patient. Although exercise heart rate was identical in both groups, minimal WOR in Silent Group was significantly higher than that of Symptomatic Group (4±10% vs -16±14%, p<0.001). The study in patients who exhibited both silent and symptomatic ischemia showed the same results. These findings suggest that the severity of ischemia is a fundamental factor in determining the presence or absence of pain during exercise induced ischemia. (author)

Unusual ocular manifestations of silent sinus syndrome

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Fonseca, Fabricio Lopes da; Mazoti, Luciana; Polati, Mariza

2014-01-01

Silent sinus syndrome is an acquired condition in which there is a gradual collapse of the orbital floor and inward retraction of the maxillary sinus (atelectasis of the maxillary sinus). This in turn may cause associated ocular occurrences of enophthalmos and hypotropia. This is a report of an 8 year-old boy with silent sinus syndrome and associated ocular motility disorders. The association between silent sinus syndrome and ocular motility disturbance has been recently described in the lite...

Silent communication: toward using brain signals.

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Pei, Xiaomei; Hill, Jeremy; Schalk, Gerwin

2012-01-01

From the 1980s movie Firefox to the more recent Avatar, popular science fiction has speculated about the possibility of a persons thoughts being read directly from his or her brain. Such braincomputer interfaces (BCIs) might allow people who are paralyzed to communicate with and control their environment, and there might also be applications in military situations wherever silent user-to-user communication is desirable. Previous studies have shown that BCI systems can use brain signals related to movements and movement imagery or attention-based character selection. Although these systems have successfully demonstrated the possibility to control devices using brain function, directly inferring which word a person intends to communicate has been elusive. A BCI using imagined speech might provide such a practical, intuitive device. Toward this goal, our studies to date addressed two scientific questions: (1) Can brain signals accurately characterize different aspects of speech? (2) Is it possible to predict spoken or imagined words or their components using brain signals?

Improving Students’ Reading Comprehension Through Text Structure Tasks

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Abdul Rohman

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Reading skill is one of the four main language skills taught in the classes of the English Department of Faculty of Education of Islamic University of Malang (FKIP Unisma. As the result of teaching reading had not achieved satisfactory result, the researcher conducted a study to find out how texts structure tasks can improve the students’ reading comprehension.            The method employed in this research was a classroom action research. It comprised four phases: planning, implementation, observation and reflection. The steps were adopted from Kemmis and Taggart’s action research model (1988. The subjects of the study were the four semester students of the English Department of FKIP Unisma in 2006 academic year. In the procedures and implementation process, one cycle consisting of four actions was done.            The instruments used in the study were observation sheets and test. The observation sheets were made two forms. One form of observation sheets was to observe the teacher in implementing the action and the other observation sheets were used to observe the students’ activities or reaction to the teachers’ activities during the learning-teaching process. The second instrument used was a test. It was to evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy used.After four actions were conducted, a test was given to the students. The test result showed that the students’ mean score was 75.88 and the lowest score the students obtained was 65. The researcher decided that no more cycle was needed for the study had met the criteria of success. The action was considered successful if the students’ mean score reached 75 or under the category of B+, and the lowest score the student obtain was not less than 65.00.

Predicting the reading skill of Japanese children.

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Ogino, Tatsuya; Hanafusa, Kaoru; Morooka, Teruko; Takeuchi, Akihito; Oka, Makio; Ohtsuka, Yoko

2017-02-01

To clarify cognitive processes underlining the development of reading in children speaking Japanese as their first language, we examined relationships between performances of cognitive tasks in the preschool period and later reading abilities. Ninety-one normally developing preschoolers (41 girls and 50 boys; 5years 4months to 6years 4months, mean 5years 10months) participated as subjects. We conducted seven cognitive tasks including phonological awareness tasks, naming tasks, and working memory tasks in the preschool period. In terms of reading tasks, the hiragana naming task was administered in the preschool period; the reading times, which is a composite score of the monomoraic syllable reading task, the word and the non-word reading tasks, and the single sentence reading task, was evaluated in first and second grade; and the kanji reading task (naming task) was tested in second grade. Raven's colored progressive matrices and picture vocabulary test revised were also conducted in first grade. Correlation analyses between task scores and stepwise multiple regression analyses were implemented. Tasks tapping phonological awareness, lexical access, and verbal working memory showed significant correlations with reading tasks. In the multiple regression analyses the performances in the verbal working memory task played a key role in predicting character naming task scores (the hiragana naming task and the kanji reading task) while the digit naming task was an important predictor of reading times. Unexpectedly, the role of phonological (mora) awareness was modest among children speaking Japanese. Cognitive functions including phonological awareness, digit naming, and verbal working memory (especially the latter two) were involved in the development of reading skills of children speaking Japanese. Copyright © 2016 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Relationships between Spontaneous Note-Taking, Self-Reported Strategies and Comprehension When Reading Multiple Texts in Different Task Conditions

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Hagen, Åste M.; Braasch, Jason L. G.; Bråten, Ivar

2014-01-01

This study investigated note-taking during multiple-text reading across two different task conditions in relation to comprehension performance and self-reports of strategy use. Forty-four undergraduates read multiple texts about climate change to write an argument or a summary. Analysis of students' spontaneous note-taking during reading…

Poor Performance on Serial Visual Tasks in Persons with Reading Disabilities: Impaired Working Memory?

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Ram-Tsur, Ronit; Faust, Miriam; Zivotofsky, Ari Z.

2008-01-01

The present study investigates the performance of persons with reading disabilities (PRD) on a variety of sequential visual-comparison tasks that have different working-memory requirements. In addition, mediating relationships between the sequential comparison process and attention and memory skills were looked for. Our findings suggest that PRD…

Is Neural Activity Detected by ERP-Based Brain-Computer Interfaces Task Specific?

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Markus A Wenzel

Full Text Available Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs that are based on event-related potentials (ERPs can estimate to which stimulus a user pays particular attention. In typical BCIs, the user silently counts the selected stimulus (which is repeatedly presented among other stimuli in order to focus the attention. The stimulus of interest is then inferred from the electroencephalogram (EEG. Detecting attention allocation implicitly could be also beneficial for human-computer interaction (HCI, because it would allow software to adapt to the user's interest. However, a counting task would be inappropriate for the envisaged implicit application in HCI. Therefore, the question was addressed if the detectable neural activity is specific for silent counting, or if it can be evoked also by other tasks that direct the attention to certain stimuli.Thirteen people performed a silent counting, an arithmetic and a memory task. The tasks required the subjects to pay particular attention to target stimuli of a random color. The stimulus presentation was the same in all three tasks, which allowed a direct comparison of the experimental conditions.Classifiers that were trained to detect the targets in one task, according to patterns present in the EEG signal, could detect targets in all other tasks (irrespective of some task-related differences in the EEG.The neural activity detected by the classifiers is not strictly task specific but can be generalized over tasks and is presumably a result of the attention allocation or of the augmented workload. The results may hold promise for the transfer of classification algorithms from BCI research to implicit relevance detection in HCI.

Unusual ocular manifestations of silent sinus syndrome

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Fabricio Lopes da Fonseca

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Silent sinus syndrome is an acquired condition in which there is a gradual collapse of the orbital floor and inward retraction of the maxillary sinus (atelectasis of the maxillary sinus. This in turn may cause associated ocular occurrences of enophthalmos and hypotropia. This is a report of an 8 year-old boy with silent sinus syndrome and associated ocular motility disorders. The association between silent sinus syndrome and ocular motility disturbance has been recently described in the literature. However, this is an infrequent association, mainly in childhood.

Does the component processes task assess text-based inferences important for reading comprehension? A path analysis in primary school children

NARCIS (Netherlands)

S.I. Wassenburg (Stephanie); B.B. de Koning (Björn); de Vries, M.H. (Meinou H.); M. van der Schoot (Menno)

2016-01-01

textabstractUsing a component processes task (CPT) that differentiates between higher-level cognitive processes of reading comprehension provides important advantages over commonly used general reading comprehension assessments. The present study contributes to further development of the CPT by

Silent Synapse-Based Circuitry Remodeling in Drug Addiction.

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Dong, Yan

2016-05-01

Exposure to cocaine, and likely other drugs of abuse, generates α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor-silent glutamatergic synapses in the nucleus accumbens. These immature synaptic contacts evolve after drug withdrawal to redefine the neurocircuital properties. These results raise at least three critical questions: (1) what are the molecular and cellular mechanisms that mediate drug-induced generation of silent synapses; (2) how are neurocircuits remodeled upon generation and evolution of drug-generated silent synapses; and (3) what behavioral consequences are produced by silent synapse-based circuitry remodeling? This short review analyzes related experimental results, and extends them to some speculations. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of CINP.

Does the component processes task assess text-based inferences important for reading comprehension? A path analysis in primary school children

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wassenburg, Stephanie I.; de Koning, Björn B.; de Vries, Meinou H.; van der Schoot, Menno

2016-01-01

Using a component processes task (CPT) that differentiates between higher-level cognitive processes of reading comprehension provides important advantages over commonly used general reading comprehension assessments. The present study contributes to further development of the CPT by evaluating the

Modification of hormonal secretion in clinically silent pituitary adenomas.

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Daems, Tania; Verhelst, Johan; Michotte, Alex; Abrams, Pascale; De Ridder, Dirk; Abs, Roger

2009-01-01

Silent pituitary adenomas are a subtype of adenomas characterized by positive immunoreactivity for one or more hormones classically secreted by normal pituitary cells but without clinical expression, although in some occasions enhanced or changed secretory activity can develop over time. Silent corticotroph adenomas are the classical example of this phenomenon. A series of about 500 pituitary adenomas seen over a period of 20 years were screened for modification in hormonal secretion. Biochemical and immunohistochemical data were reviewed. Two cases were retrieved, one silent somatotroph adenoma and one thyrotroph adenoma, both without specific clinical features or biochemical abnormalities, which presented 20 years after initial surgery with evidence of acromegaly and hyperthyroidism, respectively. While the acromegaly was controlled by a combination of somatostatin analogs and growth hormone (GH) receptor antagonist therapy, neurosurgery was necessary to manage the thyrotroph adenoma. Immunohistochemical examination demonstrated an increase in the number of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH)-immunoreactive cells compared to the first tissue. Apparently, the mechanisms responsible for the secretory modifications are different, being a change in secretory capacity in the silent somatotroph adenoma and a quantitative change in the silent thyrotroph adenoma. These two cases, one somatotroph and one thyrotroph adenoma, are an illustration that clinically silent pituitary adenomas may in rare circumstances evolve over time and become active, as previously demonstrated in silent corticotroph adenomas.

Eye Movements Reveal Readers' Lexical Quality and Reading Experience

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Taylor, Jessica Nelson; Perfetti, Charles A.

2016-01-01

Two experiments demonstrate that individual differences among normal adult readers, including lexical quality, are expressed in silent reading at the word level. In the first of two studies we identified major dimensions of variability among college readers and among words using factor analysis. We then examined the effects of these dimensions of…

Recurrent Silent Thyroiditis as a Sequela of Postpartum Thyroiditis

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Kim, Paul

2014-01-01

Thyroiditis encompasses a group of disorders characterized by thyroid inflammation. Though clinically indistinguishable from silent thyroiditis, postpartum thyroiditis occurs in women within 12 months after delivery. Recurrent postpartum thyroiditis in subsequent pregnancies is common, but recurrent silent thyroiditis is rare. We reported a case of patient with recurrent episodes of thyroiditis, unrelated to pregnancy, after an episode of postpartum thyroiditis. It is of interest that postpartum thyroiditis and silent thyroiditis could occur closely to each other; however, the link between these disorders is not well established. This report is to remind physicians of the possibility of recurrent silent thyroiditis in women with a history of postpartum thyroiditis. PMID:24987536

Assessment of Silent T1-weighted head imaging at 7 T

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Costagli, Mauro; Tiberi, Gianluigi; Tosetti, Michela [Imago7 Foundation, Pisa (Italy); IRCCS Stella Maris, Laboratory of Medical Physics and Biotechnologies for Magnetic Resonance, Pisa (Italy); Symms, Mark R. [GE Applied Science Laboratory, Pisa (Italy); Angeli, Lorenzo [University of Pisa, Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, Pisa (Italy); Kelley, Douglas A.C. [GE Healthcare Technologies, San Francisco, CA (United States); Biagi, Laura [IRCCS Stella Maris, Laboratory of Medical Physics and Biotechnologies for Magnetic Resonance, Pisa (Italy); Farnetani, Andrea [University of Ferrara, Engineering Department, Ferrara (Italy); Materiacustica s.r.l., Ferrara (Italy); Rua, Catarina [University of Pisa, Department of Physics, Pisa (Italy); Donatelli, Graziella [Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Pisana (AOUP), Neuroradiology Unit, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Pisa (Italy); Cosottini, Mirco [Imago7 Foundation, Pisa (Italy); University of Pisa, Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, Pisa (Italy)

2016-06-15

This study aimed to assess the performance of a ''Silent'' zero time of echo (ZTE) sequence for T1-weighted brain imaging using a 7 T MRI system. The Silent sequence was evaluated qualitatively by two neuroradiologists, as well as quantitatively in terms of tissue contrast, homogeneity, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and acoustic noise. It was compared to conventional T1-weighted imaging (FSPGR). Adequacy for automated segmentation was evaluated in comparison with FSPGR acquired at 7 T and 1.5 T. Specific absorption rate (SAR) was also measured. Tissue contrast and homogeneity in Silent were remarkable in deep brain structures and in the occipital and temporal lobes. Mean tissue contrast was significantly (p < 0.002) higher in Silent (0.25) than in FSPGR (0.11), which favoured automated tissue segmentation. On the other hand, Silent images had lower SNR with respect to conventional imaging: average SNR of FSPGR was 2.66 times that of Silent. Silent images were affected by artefacts related to projection reconstruction, which nevertheless did not compromise the depiction of brain tissues. Silent acquisition was 35 dB(A) quieter than FSPGR and less than 2.5 dB(A) louder than ambient noise. Six-minute average SAR was <2 W/kg. The ZTE Silent sequence provides high-contrast T1-weighted imaging with low acoustic noise at 7 T. (orig.)

Identifying Children in Middle Childhood Who Are at Risk for Reading Problems.

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Speece, Deborah L; Ritchey, Kristen D; Silverman, Rebecca; Schatschneider, Christopher; Walker, Caroline Y; Andrusik, Katryna N

2010-06-01

The purpose of this study was to identify and evaluate a universal screening battery for reading that is appropriate for older elementary students in a response to intervention model. Multiple measures of reading and reading correlates were administered to 230 fourth-grade children. Teachers rated children's reading skills, academic competence, and attention. Children were classified as not-at-risk or at-risk readers based on a three-factor model reflecting reading comprehension, word recognition/decoding, and word fluency. Predictors of reading status included group-administered tests of reading comprehension, silent word reading fluency, and teacher ratings of reading problems. Inclusion of individually administered tests and growth estimates did not add substantial variance. The receiver-operator characteristic curve analysis yielded an area under the curve index of 0.90, suggesting this model may both accurately and efficiently screen older elementary students with reading problems.

Evidence for presynaptically silent synapses in the immature hippocampus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoon, Jae Young; Choi, Sukwoo

2017-01-01

Silent synapses show NMDA receptor (NMDAR)-mediated synaptic responses, but not AMPAR-mediated synaptic responses. A prevailing hypothesis states that silent synapses contain NMDARs, but not AMPARs. However, alternative presynaptic hypotheses, according to which AMPARs are present at silent synapses, have been proposed; silent synapses show slow glutamate release via a fusion pore, and glutamate spillover from the neighboring synaptic terminals. Consistent with these presynaptic hypotheses, the peak glutamate concentrations at silent synapses have been estimated to be ≪170 μM, much lower than those seen at functional synapses. Glutamate transients predicted based on the two presynaptic mechanisms have been shown to activate only high-affinity NMDARs, but not low-affinity AMPARs. Interestingly, a previous study has developed a new approach to distinguish between the two presynaptic mechanisms using dextran, an inert macromolecule that reduces the diffusivity of released glutamate: postsynaptic responses through the fusion pore mechanism, but not through the spillover mechanism, are potentiated by reduced glutamate diffusivity. Therefore, we reasoned that if the fusion pore mechanism underlies silent synapses, dextran application would reveal AMPAR-mediated synaptic responses at silent synapses. In the present study, we recorded AMPAR-mediated synaptic responses at the CA3-CA1 synapses in neonatal rats in the presence of blockers for NMDARs and GABAARs. Bath application of dextran revealed synaptic responses at silent synapses. GYKI53655, a selective AMPAR-antagonist, completely inhibited the unsilenced synaptic responses, indicating that the unsilenced synaptic responses are mediated by AMPARs. The dextran-mediated reduction in glutamate diffusivity would also lead to the activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs), which might induce unsilencing via the activation of unknown intracellular signaling. Hence, we determined whether mGluR-blockers alter

Usefulness of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty in silent myocardial ischemia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hou, Mami

1996-01-01

The usefulness of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) was assessed in patients with exercise-induced asymptomatic myocardial ischemia (silent ischemia) and compared with exercise-induced symptomatic myocardial ischemia (symptomatic ischemia). Patients with single vessel coronary artery disease (51 with angina pectoris, 40 with old myocardial infarction) and evidence of stress-induced ischemia on thallium-201 single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) underwent successful PTCA. Thirty-seven percent of angina patients and 60% of infarction patients showed asymptomatic exercise-induced ischemia. There was no significant difference in population characteristics between silent and symptomatic patients. Patients with silent angina had significantly higher percentage thallium uptake and washout rate than symptomatic patients. After PTCA, both percentage diameter stenosis and percentage thallium uptake were improved in all patients with angina irrespective of the presence or absence of symptoms. There were no significant differences in percentage thallium uptake and washout rate between patients with silent and symptomatic infarction. After PTCA, percentage diameter stenosis, percentage thallium uptake, and washout rate improved in all infarction patients irrespective of the symptoms. Zero percent of silent angina patients, 12% of symptomatic angina patients, 12% of silent infarction patients, 19% of symptomatic infarction patients had cardiac events during about 4.5 years after PTCA. The incidence of cardiac events did not significantly differ in any patient group. PTCA improved myocardial perfusion in all patients, and the incidence of cardiac events did not differ between the silent and symptomatic groups. Revascularization with PTCA is suitable for patients with silent as well as symptomatic ischemia. (author)

Reading Comics

Science.gov (United States)

Tilley, Carol L.

2008-01-01

Many adults, even librarians who willingly add comics to their collections, often dismiss the importance of comics. Compared to reading "real" books, reading comics appears to be a simple task and compared to reading no books, reading comics might be preferable. After all, comics do have words, but the plentiful pictures seem to carry most of the…

A Study to Determine the Existence and Characteristics of Distinctively Different Subpopulations Subsumed within the Reading Disabled Population.

Science.gov (United States)

Steinberg, Laurie S.

Forty-five third-grade and fourth-grade boys identified by their schools as being both normal in intelligence and severely disabled in reading were given a battery of tests of language, visual perception, silent reading comprehension, and finger agnosia. Three consistent groups of subjects emerged from cluster analyses of the results. One group…

Neural Signatures of the Reading-Writing Connection: Greater Involvement of Writing in Chinese Reading than English Reading.

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Fan; Perfetti, Charles A

2016-01-01

Research on cross-linguistic comparisons of the neural correlates of reading has consistently found that the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) is more involved in Chinese than in English. However, there is a lack of consensus on the interpretation of the language difference. Because this region has been found to be involved in writing, we hypothesize that reading Chinese characters involves this writing region to a greater degree because Chinese speakers learn to read by repeatedly writing the characters. To test this hypothesis, we recruited English L1 learners of Chinese, who performed a reading task and a writing task in each language. The English L1 sample had learned some Chinese characters through character-writing and others through phonological learning, allowing a test of writing-on-reading effect. We found that the left MFG was more activated in Chinese than English regardless of task, and more activated in writing than in reading regardless of language. Furthermore, we found that this region was more activated for reading Chinese characters learned by character-writing than those learned by phonological learning. A major conclusion is that writing regions are also activated in reading, and that this reading-writing connection is modulated by the learning experience. We replicated the main findings in a group of native Chinese speakers, which excluded the possibility that the language differences observed in the English L1 participants were due to different language proficiency level.

Neural Signatures of the Reading-Writing Connection: Greater Involvement of Writing in Chinese Reading than English Reading.

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Fan Cao

Full Text Available Research on cross-linguistic comparisons of the neural correlates of reading has consistently found that the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG is more involved in Chinese than in English. However, there is a lack of consensus on the interpretation of the language difference. Because this region has been found to be involved in writing, we hypothesize that reading Chinese characters involves this writing region to a greater degree because Chinese speakers learn to read by repeatedly writing the characters. To test this hypothesis, we recruited English L1 learners of Chinese, who performed a reading task and a writing task in each language. The English L1 sample had learned some Chinese characters through character-writing and others through phonological learning, allowing a test of writing-on-reading effect. We found that the left MFG was more activated in Chinese than English regardless of task, and more activated in writing than in reading regardless of language. Furthermore, we found that this region was more activated for reading Chinese characters learned by character-writing than those learned by phonological learning. A major conclusion is that writing regions are also activated in reading, and that this reading-writing connection is modulated by the learning experience. We replicated the main findings in a group of native Chinese speakers, which excluded the possibility that the language differences observed in the English L1 participants were due to different language proficiency level.

Linking Task-based Language Teaching and Sociocultural Theory: Private Speech and Scaffolding in Reading Comprehension

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Soheila Tahmasebi

2011-01-01

Full Text Available In Sociocultural Theory, mediations in second language learning include (1 mediation by others (2 mediation by self (3 and mediation by artifacts, which incorporates brilliant insights for EFL contexts (Lantolf, 2000. Putting these ideas in a task-based method, the present study aimed at examining the contribution of scaffolding and private speech in improving EFL learners’ skills and seeking how learners performance might link to  social or interpersonal activities they engage in. Screened through an Oxford Placement Test, 54 EFL freshmen taking a reading comprehension course participated in this study and formed two randomly divided groups and pretested using a 30-item TOEFL test of reading comprehension. The control group benefited from a teacher, who paraphrased, summarized and provided the meaning of the new words and expressions. The experimental group was asked to do the same tasks through collaboration, private speech and artifacts. Students' performances were video-taped to be used for discourse analyses and provide measures of fluency, accuracy and complexity (Iwashita, Elder, & McNamara, 2001. Two types of measurements were used: 1 a final test of reading comprehension, 2 an oral presentation of a text whose readability matched that of the texts used during the experiment. The students' performances on presenting the text orally were rated based on the idea units recalled (Johnson, 1970. The data analysis revealed no difference between the two groups in the final test, but in oral presentation, the experimental group outperformed the control group.

Basic Concepts of Reading Instruction

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Gökhan ARI

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Reading act is performed by connected physiological, psychological and cognitive processes. The operations taking place in these processes are expected to continue for life by being developed with certain strategies. A lot of information is gained with reading skill in education life. Therefore, basic concepts that constitute reading education in teaching and improving reading are important for teachers. The aim of this study is to submit information compiled from the literature about reading education process and which basic concepts are used in reading education. While teaching reading from part to whole, from whole to part and interactional approaches are used. From part to whole approach is at the forefront. Then with interactional approach strategies, both code solving and making sense is improved. Teachers should know the characteristics of bouncing, stopping, turning back, and scanning movements of the eye both in code solving and making sense. The teacher should configure the teaching for the students to gain fluid reading elements by making use of reading out and reading silently. After reading act is acquired; good reader characteristics should be gained by improving asking questions, guessing, summarizing, interpretation skills in integrated readings. Reading skill is improved by studies on the text. Therefore, the students should come across texts that are suitable to their levels, textuality and readability criteria. The vocabulary of children should be improved in a planned way with text-based word and meaning studies. Fluid reading, making sense and interpretation skills of children should be pursued with different evaluation types. In the long term, work should be done to make reading a habit for them.

Relativistic numerical cosmology with silent universes

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Bolejko, Krzysztof

2018-01-01

Relativistic numerical cosmology is most often based either on the exact solutions of the Einstein equations, or perturbation theory, or weak-field limit, or the BSSN formalism. The silent universe provides an alternative approach to investigate relativistic evolution of cosmological systems. The silent universe is based on the solution of the Einstein equations in 1  +  3 comoving coordinates with additional constraints imposed. These constraints include: the gravitational field is sourced by dust and cosmological constant only, both rotation and magnetic part of the Weyl tensor vanish, and the shear is diagnosable. This paper describes the code simsilun (free software distributed under the terms of the reposi General Public License), which implements the equations of the silent universe. The paper also discusses applications of the silent universe and it uses the Millennium simulation to set up the initial conditions for the code simsilun. The simulation obtained this way consists of 16 777 216 worldlines, which are evolved from z  =  80 to z  =  0. Initially, the mean evolution (averaged over the whole domain) follows the evolution of the background ΛCDM model. However, once the evolution of cosmic structures becomes nonlinear, the spatial curvature evolves from ΩK =0 to ΩK ≈ 0.1 at the present day. The emergence of the spatial curvature is associated with ΩM and Ω_Λ being smaller by approximately 0.05 compared to the ΛCDM.

Silent Flange Coupling Design Used for the Schenck Eddy Current Dynamometer

Science.gov (United States)

Schinteie, D.; Croitorescu, V.

2016-11-01

The silent flange used for coupling different machines/systems to an eddy current dynamometer represents one of the modular components each test-bench should use. By introducing a silent flange into a dynamometer, the coupling steps are easier and faster. For an appropriate design, the silent flange was analyzed using dedicated software during different operation procedures and scenarios, for materials that allow easy manufacturing. This study shows that the design for this silent flange model has no danger of failure due to the small deformation and the values for the equivalent stresses. The silent flange coupling is suitable for the dynamometer for his high positioning accuracy, the zero backlash and the fact that there is no motion between the shafts.

Multiple Silent Lacunes Are Associated with Recurrent Ischemic Stroke

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Søren Due; Skjøth, Flemming; Yavarian, Yousef

2016-01-01

ackground: Silent lacunes are a common finding on brain imaging in ischemic stroke patients, but the prognostic significance of these lesions is uncertain. We aimed at investigating the association of silent lacunes and the risk of ischemic stroke recurrence, death, and cardiovascular events...... in a cohort of patients with incident ischemic stroke and no atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods: We included 786 patients (mean age 59.5 (SD 14.0); 42.9% females) in a registry-based, observational cohort study on patients with first-ever ischemic stroke. On brain MRI we assessed the number of silent lacunes...... as none, single, or multiple and we calculated stratified incidence rates of the outcomes. Cox proportional hazard ratios (HRs) adjusted for age, gender, congestive heart failure, hypertension, diabetes, and vascular disease were calculated with no silent lacunes as reference. In additional analyses, we...

Understanding Performance Decrements in a Letter-Canceling Task: Overcoming Habits or Inhibition of Reading.

Science.gov (United States)

Myers, Larry; Downie, Steven; Taylor, Grant; Marrington, Jessica; Tehan, Gerald; Ireland, Michael J

2018-01-01

The importance of self-regulation in human behavior is readily apparent and diverse theoretical accounts for explaining self-regulation failures have been proposed. Typically, these accounts are based on a sequential task methodology where an initial task is presented to deplete self-regulatory resources, and carryover effects are then examined on a second outcome task. In the aftermath of high profile replication failures using a popular letter-crossing task as a means of depleting self-regulatory resources and subsequent criticisms of that task, current research into self-control is currently at an impasse. This is largely due to the lack of empirical research that tests explicit assumptions regarding the initial task. One such untested assumption is that for resource depletion to occur, the initial task must first establish an habitual response and then this habitual response must be inhibited, with behavioral inhibition being the causal factor in inducing depletion. This study reports on four experiments exploring performance on a letter-canceling task, where the rules for target identification remained constant but the method of responding differed (Experiment 1) and the coherence of the text was manipulated (Experiments 1-4). Experiment 1 established that habit forming and behavioral inhibition did not produce any performance decrement when the targets were embedded in random letter strings. Experiments 2-4 established that target detection was sensitive to language characteristics and the coherence of the background text, suggesting that participants' automatic reading processes is a key driver of performance in the letter-e task.

Differences in autonomic nerve function in patients with silent and symptomatic myocardial ischaemia.

Science.gov (United States)

Shakespeare, C. F.; Katritsis, D.; Crowther, A.; Cooper, I. C.; Coltart, J. D.; Webb-Peploe, M. W.

1994-01-01

BACKGROUND--Autonomic neuropathy provides a mechanism for the absence of symptoms in silent myocardial ischaemia, but characterisation of the type of neuropathy is lacking. AIM--To characterise and compare autonomic nerve function in patients with silent and symptomatic myocardial ischaemia. METHODS AND RESULTS--The Valsalva manoeuvre, heart rate variation (HRV) in response to deep breathing and standing, lower body negative pressure, isometric handgrip, and the cold pressor test were performed by patients with silent (n = 25) and symptomatic (n = 25) ambulatory ischaemia and by controls (n = 21). No difference in parasympathetic efferent function between patients with silent and symptomatic ischaemia was recorded, but both had significantly less HRV in response to standing than the controls (p < 0.005 for silent and p < 0.01 for symptomatic). Patients with silent ischaemia showed an increased propensity for peripheral vasodilatation compared with symptomatic patients (p < 0.02) and controls (p < 0.04). Impaired sympathetic function was found in patients with pure silent ischaemia (n = 4) compared with the remaining patients with silent ischaemia whose pain pathways were presumed to be intact. CONCLUSIONS--Patients with silent ischaemia and pain pathways presumed to be intact have an enhanced peripheral vasodilator response, and if this applied to the coronary vasculature it could provide a mechanism for limiting ischaemia to below the pain threshold. Patients with pure silent ischaemia have evidence of sympathetic autonomic dysfunction. Images PMID:8297687

Music Reading in Digital Environments; Apps for Tablets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Javier Félix MERCHÁN SÁNCHEZ-JARA

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Reading music allows, through different processes, learnt abilities and previous experiences, for the recreation or interpretation of the musical message which had been previously coded using one of the many notation systems available. In the same way, reading music enables the experienced musician to generate musical images internally, which silently represent the coded message. The most generic processes and characteristics amongst musical reading will be analysed, along with the most common forms and applications of these reading models and the most widely used codes and notation systems. In the second part, the development and use of new tecnologies for reading music in electronic devices are described and the penetration of these tools in the musical community analysed and classified, bearing in mind the most common types and functions and the characteristics and basic functionalities of the most representative applications. Some solutions, developed in order to deal with historical problems within the reading of music, such as the turning over of the page, are also considered.

Do Tasks Make a Difference? Accounting for Heterogeneity of Performance of Children with Reading Difficulties on Tasks of Executive Function: Findings from a Meta-Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Booth, Josephine N.; Boyle, James M. E.; Kelly, Steve W.

2010-01-01

Research studies have implicated executive functions in reading difficulties (RD). But while some studies have found children with RD to be impaired on tasks of executive function other studies report unimpaired performance. A meta-analysis was carried out to determine whether these discrepant findings can be accounted for by differences in the…

Early auditory change detection implicitly facilitated by ignored concurrent visual change during a Braille reading task.

Science.gov (United States)

Aoyama, Atsushi; Haruyama, Tomohiro; Kuriki, Shinya

2013-09-01

Unconscious monitoring of multimodal stimulus changes enables humans to effectively sense the external environment. Such automatic change detection is thought to be reflected in auditory and visual mismatch negativity (MMN) and mismatch negativity fields (MMFs). These are event-related potentials and magnetic fields, respectively, evoked by deviant stimuli within a sequence of standard stimuli, and both are typically studied during irrelevant visual tasks that cause the stimuli to be ignored. Due to the sensitivity of MMN/MMF to potential effects of explicit attention to vision, however, it is unclear whether multisensory co-occurring changes can purely facilitate early sensory change detection reciprocally across modalities. We adopted a tactile task involving the reading of Braille patterns as a neutral ignore condition, while measuring magnetoencephalographic responses to concurrent audiovisual stimuli that were infrequently deviated either in auditory, visual, or audiovisual dimensions; 1000-Hz standard tones were switched to 1050-Hz deviant tones and/or two-by-two standard check patterns displayed on both sides of visual fields were switched to deviant reversed patterns. The check patterns were set to be faint enough so that the reversals could be easily ignored even during Braille reading. While visual MMFs were virtually undetectable even for visual and audiovisual deviants, significant auditory MMFs were observed for auditory and audiovisual deviants, originating from bilateral supratemporal auditory areas. Notably, auditory MMFs were significantly enhanced for audiovisual deviants from about 100 ms post-stimulus, as compared with the summation responses for auditory and visual deviants or for each of the unisensory deviants recorded in separate sessions. Evidenced by high tactile task performance with unawareness of visual changes, we conclude that Braille reading can successfully suppress explicit attention and that simultaneous multisensory changes can

From a WebQuest to a ReadingQuest: learners' reactions in an EFL extensive reading class

OpenAIRE

Barros, Ana Cláudia; Amorim Carvalho, Ana Amélia

2007-01-01

Most students don’t like reading in a foreign language. They find it a difficult task, mainly due to the high number of unknown words they encounter when reading a text. They consider reading classes boring and uninteresting and as a result our students are poor readers. Concerned with this situation, we conducted a study on the impact of a learning environment based on the WebQuest, a ReadingQuest, and on student engagement in an extensive reading task. The results show that the ReadingQuest...

Middle School Students' Perceptions of Their Interests in Reading as Defined by Engagement and Social Interaction When Using Sustained Silent Reading, SSR, and Peer Interests Reading Strategies, PIRS

Science.gov (United States)

Ware, Regina J.

2012-01-01

Alarming statistics report that middle school students are not reading as much as they should be reading. This study is an examination of two interventions that were incorporated into the regular curriculum to determine if these two reading interventions would encourage this researcher's students to read more. The "Nation's Report Card"…

The Influence of Age of Acquisition in Word Reading and Other Tasks: A Never Ending Story?

Science.gov (United States)

Bonin, Patrick; Barry, Christopher; Meot, Alain; Chalard, Marylene

2004-01-01

This paper concerns the influence of age of acquisition (AoA) in word reading and other tasks, and attempts to develop a number of issues raised by Zevin and Seidenberg (2002). Analyses performed on both rated and objective measures of AoA show that the frequency trajectory of words is a reliable predictor of their order of acquisition, which…

Reading in developmental prosopagnosia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Starrfelt, Randi; Klargaard, Solja K; Petersen, Anders

2018-01-01

exposure durations (targeting the word superiority effect), and d) text reading. RESULTS: Participants with developmental prosopagnosia performed strikingly similar to controls across the four reading tasks. Formal analysis revealed a significant dissociation between word and face recognition......, that is, impaired reading in developmental prosopagnosia. METHOD: We tested 10 adults with developmental prosopagnosia and 20 matched controls. All participants completed the Cambridge Face Memory Test, the Cambridge Face Perception test and a Face recognition questionnaire used to quantify everyday face...... recognition experience. Reading was measured in four experimental tasks, testing different levels of letter, word, and text reading: (a) single word reading with words of varying length,(b) vocal response times in single letter and short word naming, (c) recognition of single letters and short words at brief...

The "Silent Dog" Method: Analyzing the Impact of Self-Generated Rules when Teaching Different Computer Chains to Boys with Autism

Science.gov (United States)

Arntzen, Erik; Halstadtro, Lill-Beathe; Halstadtro, Monica

2009-01-01

The purpose of the study was to extend the literature on verbal self-regulation by using the "silent dog" method to evaluate the role of verbal regulation over nonverbal behavior in 2 individuals with autism. Participants were required to talk-aloud while performing functional computer tasks.Then the effects of distracters with increasing demands…

Do tasks make a difference? Accounting for heterogeneity of performance of children with reading difficulties on tasks of executive function: findings from a meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Booth, Josephine N; Boyle, James M E; Kelly, Steve W

2010-03-01

Research studies have implicated executive functions in reading difficulties (RD). But while some studies have found children with RD to be impaired on tasks of executive function other studies report unimpaired performance. A meta-analysis was carried out to determine whether these discrepant findings can be accounted for by differences in the tasks of executive function that are utilized. A total of 48 studies comparing the performance on tasks of executive function of children with RD with their typically developing peers were included in the meta-analysis, yielding 180 effect sizes. An overall effect size of 0.57 (SE .03) was obtained, indicating that children with RD have impairments on tasks of executive function. However, effect sizes varied considerably suggesting that the impairment is not uniform. Moderator analysis revealed that task modality and IQ-achievement discrepancy definitions of RD influenced the magnitude of effect; however, the age and gender of participants and the nature of the RD did not have an influence. While the children's RD were associated with executive function impairments, variation in effect size is a product of the assessment task employed, underlying task demands, and definitional criteria.

Using Early Silent Film to Teach French: The Language of "Cinema Muet."

Science.gov (United States)

Bloom, Michelle E.

1995-01-01

Discusses the use of early silent films in second-language classrooms, focusing on the experiences of one instructor in using early French silents in elementary and intermediate French courses. Sample lesson plans and information on the availability of French silents are also provided. (Contains 17 references.) (MDM)

Investigating the Reading-to-Write Processes and Source Use of L2 Postgraduate Students in Real-Life Academic Tasks: An Exploratory Study

Science.gov (United States)

McCulloch, Sharon

2013-01-01

Existing studies of source use in academic student writing tend to i), focus more on the writing than the reading end of the reading-to-write continuum and ii), involve the use of insufficiently "naturalistic" writing tasks. Thus, in order to explore the potential of an alternative approach, this paper describes an exploratory case study…

Current practice for diagnosis and management of silent atrial fibrillation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dobreanu, Dan; Svendsen, Jesper Hastrup; Lewalter, Thorsten

2013-01-01

for the diagnosis and management of silent AF. This survey is based on an electronic questionnaire sent to the European Heart Rhythm Association Research Network partners. Responses were received from 33 centres in 16 countries. The preferred screening methods for silent AF in patients with rhythm control...... for such patients. Most responders preferred rate control over rhythm control in patients with silent AF, although some favoured pulmonary vein isolation in young patients. However, oral anticoagulant therapy in patients at high thromboembolic risk was considered mandatory by most, provided that at least one......Although it is well known that silent atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with morbidity and mortality rates similar to those of symptomatic AF, no specific strategy for screening and management of this form of AF has been advocated. The purpose of this survey was to identify current practices...

Visual supports for shared reading with young children: the effect of static overlay design.

Science.gov (United States)

Wood Jackson, Carla; Wahlquist, Jordan; Marquis, Cassandra

2011-06-01

This study examined the effects of two types of static overlay design (visual scene display and grid display) on 39 children's use of a speech-generating device during shared storybook reading with an adult. This pilot project included two groups: preschool children with typical communication skills (n = 26) and with complex communication needs (n = 13). All participants engaged in shared reading with two books using each visual layout on a speech-generating device (SGD). The children averaged a greater number of activations when presented with a grid display during introductory exploration and free play. There was a large effect of the static overlay design on the number of silent hits, evidencing more silent hits with visual scene displays. On average, the children demonstrated relatively few spontaneous activations of the speech-generating device while the adult was reading, regardless of overlay design. When responding to questions, children with communication needs appeared to perform better when using visual scene displays, but the effect of display condition on the accuracy of responses to wh-questions was not statistically significant. In response to an open ended question, children with communication disorders demonstrated more frequent activations of the SGD using a grid display than a visual scene. Suggestions for future research as well as potential implications for designing AAC systems for shared reading with young children are discussed.

Implications of Schema-based Pre-Reading Tasks in Facilitating ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The subjects of the study were 56 students taking the Reading. Skills (FLEn ... The available research on reading suggests that reading .... a whole. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND ..... Mixed Methods Approaches. (3rd ed.). ... A Concise.

Silent pituitary macroadenoma co-secreting growth hormone and thyroid stimulating hormone.

Science.gov (United States)

Sen, Orhan; Ertorer, M Eda; Aydin, M Volkan; Erdogan, Bulent; Altinors, Nur; Zorludemir, Suzan; Guvener, Nilgun

2005-04-01

Silent pituitary adenomas are a group of tumors showing heterogenous morphological features with no hormonal function observed clinically. To date no explanation has been provided as to why these tumors remain "silent". We report a case of a silent macroadenoma with both growth hormone (GH) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) staining and secretion but with no clinical manifestations, in particular, the absence of features of acromegaly or hyperthyroidism. The relevant literature is reviewed.

Some Semi-Deep Thoughts about Deep Reading: Rejoinder to "Digital Technology and Student Cognitive Development: The Neuroscience of the University Classroom"

Science.gov (United States)

Mannheimer, Steve

2016-01-01

The author of this thought-provoking article joins an impressive cohort of current commentators and scholars united in their concern over the state of the art of reading. Mostly, they are concerned with the sustained, silent, generally solitary process of reading in which the reader is deeply focused on and immersed in the text. Their fear is that…

Mental juggling: when does multitasking impair reading comprehension?

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Kit W; Altarriba, Jeanette; Popiel, Maximilian

2015-01-01

The present study investigated the conditions under which multitasking impairs reading comprehension. Participants read prose passages (the primary task), some of which required them to perform a secondary task. In Experiment 1, we compared two different types of secondary tasks (answering trivia questions and solving math problems). Reading comprehension was assessed using a multiple-choice test that measured both factual and conceptual knowledge. The results showed no observable detrimental effects associated with multitasking. In Experiment 2, the secondary task was a cognitive load task that required participants to remember a string of numbers while reading the passages. Performance on the reading comprehension test was lower in the cognitive load conditions relative to the no-load condition. The present study delineates the conditions under which multitasking can impair or have no effect on reading comprehension. These results further our understanding of our capacity to multitask and have practical implications in our technologically advanced society in which multitasking has become commonplace.

Silent films and strange stories: theory of mind, gender, and social experiences in middle childhood.

Science.gov (United States)

Devine, Rory T; Hughes, Claire

2013-01-01

In this study of two hundred and thirty 8- to 13-year-olds, a new "Silent Films" task is introduced, designed to address the dearth of research on theory of mind in older children by providing a film-based analogue of F. G. E. Happé's (1994) Strange Stories task. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that all items from both tasks loaded onto a single theory-of-mind latent factor. With effects of verbal ability and family affluence controlled, theory-of-mind latent factor scores increased significantly with age, indicating that mentalizing skills continue to develop through middle childhood. Girls outperformed boys on the theory-of-mind latent factor, and the correlates of individual differences in theory of mind were gender specific: Low scores were related to loneliness in girls and to peer rejection in boys. © 2012 The Authors. Child Development © 2012 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Silent stroke and advance in neuroimaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Okada, Yasushi; Sadoshima, Seizo; Hasuo, Kanehiro; Saku, Yoshisuke; Fujishima, Masatoshi (Kyushu Univ., Fukuoka (Japan). Faculty of Medicine)

1990-10-01

Recently, silent strokes are more frequently demonstrated by CT and MRI with the advance of neuroimaging. The infarcted lesions unrelated to the neurological symptoms were detected in 8, 30, 28, 34, 60, 63% of the patients with cerebral infarction in 1977-78, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, respectively, by CT and/or MRI, and the asymptomatic patients with incidentally diagnosed cerebral infarction were amounted to 16% (8 of 51 cases) in 1988. Of the recent 50 patients with cerebral infarction examined by CT and MRI, asymptomatic cerebrovascular lesions were detected in 25 (50%) by CT and in 35 (70%) by MRI. MRI also revealed asymptomatic old hemorrhage in 7 (14%). The clinical significance of silent stroke was discussed. (author).

Left ventricular function abnormalities as a manifestation of silent myocardial ischemia.

Science.gov (United States)

Lambert, C R; Conti, C R; Pepine, C J

1986-11-01

A large body of evidence exists indicating that left ventricular dysfunction is a common occurrence in patients with severe coronary artery disease and represents silent or asymptomatic myocardial ischemia. Such dysfunction probably occurs early in the time course of every ischemic episode in patients with coronary artery disease whether symptoms are eventually manifested or not. The pathophysiology of silent versus symptomatic left ventricular dysfunction due to ischemia appears to be identical. Silent ischemia-related left ventricular dysfunction can be documented during spontaneous or stress-induced perturbations in the myocardial oxygen supply/demand ratio. It also may be detected by nitroglycerin-induced improvement in ventricular function or by salutary changes in wall motion following revascularization. Silent left ventricular dysfunction is a very early occurrence during ischemia and precedes electrocardiographic abnormalities. In this light, its existence should always be kept in mind when dealing with patients with ischemic heart disease. It can be hypothesized that because silent ischemia appears to be identical to ischemia with symptoms in a pathophysiologic sense, prognosis and treatment in both cases should be the same.

EFFICACY OF METOPROLOL AND DILTIAZEM IN TREATING SILENT-MYOCARDIAL-ISCHEMIA

NARCIS (Netherlands)

PORTEGIES, MCM; SIJBRING, P; GOBEL, JAM; VIERSMA, JW; LIE, KI

1994-01-01

Recent studies strongly support the prognostic importance of transient silent ischemia. Because patients with silent ischemia are at higher risk of a cardiac event, they are likely to benefit not only from control of symptoms, but also from treatment directed at prevention of ischemia. The efficacy

(In-)Secure messaging with the Silent Circle instant messaging protocol

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verschoor, S.R.; Lange, T.

2016-01-01

Silent Text, the instant messaging application by the company Silent Circle, provides its users with end-to-end encrypted communication on the Blackphone and other smartphones. The underlying protocol, SCimp, has received many extensions during the update to version 2, but has not been subjected to

Reading Journal as A Way to Improve Students’ Comprehension toward A Textbook Reading Material

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Menik Winiharti

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Reading journal is one way to record students’ independent learning based on text they read. This study was conducted to find out the students’ level of reading comprehension through some notes written in the reading journal, the extent to which the activity of writing reading journals improved students’ reading comprehension, whether the students got benefit from reading journal. There were 104 respondents coming from four different departments in Bina Nusantara University were asked to read a text related to the subject they learned in a certain session. Then they were assigned to write a journal that records the things they had read. When this task was finished, the lecturer ran a quiz containing related questions to check whether they really understood the content of the text. Afterwards, students were to fill in a questionnaire regarding their opinion on the impact of the reading journal toward their reading comprehension. The findings indicate that more than half of the participants appear to understand the material well, and the task plays a certain role in improving students’ understanding. The most crucial thing is that most students think they get benefit by writing the reading journal.

Recurrent Silent Thyroiditis as a Sequela of Postpartum Thyroiditis

OpenAIRE

Hanseree, Preaw; Salvador, Vincent Bryan; Sachmechi, Issac; Kim, Paul

2014-01-01

Thyroiditis encompasses a group of disorders characterized by thyroid inflammation. Though clinically indistinguishable from silent thyroiditis, postpartum thyroiditis occurs in women within 12 months after delivery. Recurrent postpartum thyroiditis in subsequent pregnancies is common, but recurrent silent thyroiditis is rare. We reported a case of patient with recurrent episodes of thyroiditis, unrelated to pregnancy, after an episode of postpartum thyroiditis. It is of interest that postpar...

The production effect in long-list recall: In no particular order?

Science.gov (United States)

Lambert, Angela M; Bodner, Glen E; Taikh, Alexander

2016-06-01

The production effect reflects a memory advantage for words read aloud versus silently. We investigated how production influences free recall of a single long list of words. In each of 4 experiments, a production effect occurred in a mixed-list group but not across pure-list groups. When compared to the pure-list groups, the mixed-list effects typically reflected a cost to silent words rather than a benefit to aloud words. This cost persisted when participants had to perform a generation or imagery task for the silent items, ruling out a lazy reading explanation. This recall pattern challenges both distinctiveness and strength accounts, but is consistent with an item-order account. By this account, the aloud words in a mixed list disrupt the encoding of item-order information for the silent words, thus impairing silent word recall. However, item-order measures and a forced-choice order test did not provide much evidence that recall was guided by retrieval of item-order information. We discuss our pattern of results in light of another recent study of the effects of production on long-list recall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Davies, Florence (1995. Introducing Reading. Davies, Florence (1995. Introducing Reading.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sonia Maria Gomes Ferreira

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Arising at a time of unprecedented growth of interest in fostering critical thinking, Introducing Reading offers a clear introduction and thorough account of contemporary developments in the field of reading. While overtly focusing on the special demands of social and human aspects of the reading practice, the issues raised have crucial resonance in the sphere of critical reading. Explicitly addressed to teachers of mother tongue and foreign language contexts, the book claims to elaborate on aspects of reading which have received meager attention to date: individual readers engaged in different real-world reading tasks, the social contexts where such readers engage and interact with texts, and the nature and variety of texts, here regarded as “participants” in the interaction between reader and writer. To this extent, the book successfully reaches the ambitious aim of “socializing and humanizing reading and the teaching of reading” (p. xi. Arising at a time of unprecedented growth of interest in fostering critical thinking, Introducing Reading offers a clear introduction and thorough account of contemporary developments in the field of reading. While overtly focusing on the special demands of social and human aspects of the reading practice, the issues raised have crucial resonance in the sphere of critical reading. Explicitly addressed to teachers of mother tongue and foreign language contexts, the book claims to elaborate on aspects of reading which have received meager attention to date: individual readers engaged in different real-world reading tasks, the social contexts where such readers engage and interact with texts, and the nature and variety of texts, here regarded as “participants” in the interaction between reader and writer. To this extent, the book successfully reaches the ambitious aim of “socializing and humanizing reading and the teaching of reading” (p. xi.

Silent Conversations in the Labyrinth of Artistic Research and Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Eis, Andrea

2013-01-01

This essay explores silent conversations with the past, but also navigates through the labyrinth of artistic process, with its manifold passages of research, chance occurrence and aesthetic experimentation. The double metaphors of silent conversations and labyrinths apply to the essay and the artwork within it, to the research and to the practice.…

Phrasing in the speech and reading of the hearing impaired.

Science.gov (United States)

Gregory, J F

1986-08-01

The study reported here explored a partial explanation for the fourth-grade "bottleneck" in literacy advancement by hearing-impaired students. Speech samples from 21 deaf subjects were rated for degree of evident phrasal quality. Likewise, reading comprehension scores for each student were obtained under four reading conditions: reading in whole sentences, in phrases, in fragmented word groups, and in single words. Degree of rated speech phrasality was found to relate significantly and positively to correct recall answers to questions based upon silent reading of passages typed in meaningful word groups (but not when the passages were typed in whole sentences, fragmented word groups, or in single words). The results were taken to suggest that--whereas staccato-speaking deaf students may lack a sense of the phrase altogether--phrasal-speaking deaf youngsters fail to independently apply their phrase sense in the normal reading situation. Thus, both types of deaf youngsters have difficulty affecting the transition to phrase reading that is common for hearing students at or about the fourth-grade level. Finally, I argue that this phrase sense can be instilled in hearing-impaired students and that they can be trained to use it in reading.

Correlation between increased platelet ADP aggregability and silent brain infarcts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ono, Kenichiro; Arimoto, Hirohiko; Shirotani, Toshiki

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between platelet aggregability and silent brain infarcts. The study subjects were 445 people (264 men, 181 women; mean age, 53±14 years) with no neurologic signs, history of brain tumor, trauma, cerebrovascular disease, or antiplatelet medications. Adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-induced platelet aggregation was measured by the aggregation-size analytic method. Platelet aggregability was classified into 9 classes. The presence of headache/vertigo, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, or smoking was elicited by questioning or blood sampling. A head MRI scan was performed, and if marked atherosclerosis or obvious stenosis in the intracranial vessels was detected, it was defined as a positive MR angiography (MRA) finding. Silent brain infarcts were detected in 26.3% of subjects. Hyperaggregability defined as that above class 6, 7, and 8 was present in 43.8%, 30.8%, and 15.7% of subjects, respectively. The risk factors for silent brain infarcts by multiple logistic regression analysis were aging, hypertension, positive MRA findings, and hyperaggregability. Platelet ADP hyperaggregability might be a risk factor for silent brain infarcts. (author)

Silent (painless) thyroiditis. Evidence of a geographic variation in frequency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vitug, A.C.; Goldman, J.M.

1985-03-01

Recent reports suggest that 14% to 23% of thyrotoxic patients have silent (painless) thyroiditis, a newly described syndrome characterized by transient thyrotoxicosis with a low radioactive iodine uptake. A three-year review at a Brooklyn (NY) hospital showed only one definite and three possible cases of silent thyroiditis among 86 thyrotoxic patients. At most, 4% to 5% of thyrotoxic patients had silent thyroiditis. The authors suggest a geographic variation in this syndrome. Most cases and the largest series are from Japan and the Great Lakes area of North America. The latter may be related to increased iodine intake over many years in a previously endemic area of hypoiodidism and goiter, although other local factors may also be involved.

Silent (painless) thyroiditis. Evidence of a geographic variation in frequency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vitug, A.C.; Goldman, J.M.

1985-01-01

Recent reports suggest that 14% to 23% of thyrotoxic patients have silent (painless) thyroiditis, a newly described syndrome characterized by transient thyrotoxicosis with a low radioactive iodine uptake. A three-year review at a Brooklyn (NY) hospital showed only one definite and three possible cases of silent thyroiditis among 86 thyrotoxic patients. At most, 4% to 5% of thyrotoxic patients had silent thyroiditis. The authors suggest a geographic variation in this syndrome. Most cases and the largest series are from Japan and the Great Lakes area of North America. The latter may be related to increased iodine intake over many years in a previously endemic area of hypoiodidism and goiter, although other local factors may also be involved

The Role of RAN and Reading Rate in Predicting Reading Self-Concept

Science.gov (United States)

Kasperski, Ronen; Shany, Michal; Katzir, Tami

2016-01-01

Social identity theory states that a person's self-concept is created from comparison with others (Walsh & Gordon, 2008). In the case of reading, oral reading is a salient feature young children have to compare themselves on to their classroom peer group. The current study was set to explore the ability of oral reading tasks such as rapid…

Reading from electronic devices versus hardcopy text.

Science.gov (United States)

Hue, Jennifer E; Rosenfield, Mark; Saá, Gianinna

2014-01-01

The use of electronic reading devices has increased dramatically. However, some individuals report increased visual symptoms when reading from electronic screens. This investigation compared reading from two electronic devices (Amazon Kindle or Apple Ipod) versus hardcopy text in two groups of 20 subjects. Subjects performed a 20 min reading task for each condition. Both the accommodative response and reading rate were monitored during the trial. Immediately post-task, subjects completed a questionnaire concerning the ocular symptoms experienced during the task. In comparing the Kindle with hardcopy, no significant difference in the total symptom score was observed, although the mean score for the symptoms of tired eyes and eye discomfort was significantly higher with the Kindle. No significant differences in reading rate were found. When comparing the Ipod with hardcopy, no significant differences in symptom scores were found. The mean reading rate with the Ipod was significantly slower than for hardcopy while the mean lag of accommodation was significantly larger for the Ipod. Given the significant increase in symptoms with the Kindle, and larger lag of accommodation and reduced reading rate with the Ipod, one may conclude that reading from electronic devices is not equivalent to hardcopy.

Migraine with aura and silent brain infarcts lack of mediation of patent foramen ovale.

Science.gov (United States)

Calviere, L; Tall, P; Massabuau, P; Bonneville, F; Larrue, V

2013-12-01

Population-based studies have shown a heightened prevalence of clinically silent brain infarcts in subjects who have migraine with aura (MA). We sought to determine whether this association could be confirmed in young patients with cryptogenic ischemic stroke, and explored the role of patent foramen ovale (PFO) as a potential underlying mechanism. Patients were selected from a registry of young patients consecutively treated for ischemic stroke in a tertiary university hospital among those without definite cause of stroke. Patients with PFO were matched for age and gender with patients with normal atrial septum. Migraine and MA were evaluated after patient selection and matching. Silent brain infarcts were independently evaluated on MRI. We included 100 patients [60 men; mean age (SD), 44.8 years (8.3)], 50 patients with PFO. We found silent brain infarcts in 36 patients and MA in 13 patients. MA was more frequent in patients with silent brain infarcts than in patients without silent brain infarcts (25.0% vs. 6.3%; OR, 5; 95% CI, 1.4-17.6; P = 0.01). Traditional cardiovascular risk factors were not associated with silent brain infarcts. PFO was neither associated with MA (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 0.5-5.3) nor silent brain infarcts (OR, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.3-1.5). The association of MA with silent brain infarcts was not altered after adjustment for PFO. Findings suggest that silent brain infarcts in young patients with cryptogenic stroke is associated with MA. We found no evidence for a mediating effect of PFO on this association. © 2013 The Author(s) European Journal of Neurology © 2013 EFNS.

Guided Reading and Motivation

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Hauptman, Allyson L.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between Guided Reading and student motivation to read across fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. The study defined literacy motivation as: (a) task value; (b) self-perceived competence; (c) students' perceptions of the Guided Reading format. Factor analysis and repeated measures ANOVAs were…

Lexical-Semantic Processing and Reading: Relations between Semantic Priming, Visual Word Recognition and Reading Comprehension

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Nobre, Alexandre de Pontes; de Salles, Jerusa Fumagalli

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate relations between lexical-semantic processing and two components of reading: visual word recognition and reading comprehension. Sixty-eight children from private schools in Porto Alegre, Brazil, from 7 to 12 years, were evaluated. Reading was assessed with a word/nonword reading task and a reading…

Reading-Strategy Use by English as a Second Language Learners in Online Reading Tasks

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Park, Ho-Ryong; Kim, Deoksoon

2011-01-01

This study investigates adult English language learners' reading-strategy use when they read online texts in hypermedia learning environments. The learners joined the online Independent English Study Group (IESG) and worked both individually and collaboratively. This qualitative case study aims (a) to assess college-level ESL learners' use of…

Distinct transmitter release properties determine differences in short-term plasticity at functional and silent synapses.

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Cabezas, Carolina; Buño, Washington

2006-05-01

Recent evidence suggests that functional and silent synapses are not only postsynaptically different but also presynaptically distinct. The presynaptic differences may be of functional importance in memory formation because a proposed mechanism for long-term potentiation is the conversion of silent synapses into functional ones. However, there is little direct experimentally evidence of these differences. We have investigated the transmitter release properties of functional and silent Schaffer collateral synapses and show that on the average functional synapses displayed a lower percentage of failures and higher excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC) amplitudes than silent synapses at +60 mV. Moreover, functional but not silent synapses show paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) at +60 mV and thus presynaptic short-term plasticity will be distinct in the two types of synapse. We examined whether intraterminal endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ stores influenced the release properties of these synapses. Ryanodine (100 microM) and thapsigargin (1 microM) increased the percentage of failures and decreased both the EPSC amplitude and PPF in functional synapses. Caffeine (10 mM) had the opposite effects. In contrast, silent synapses were insensitive to both ryanodine and caffeine. Hence we have identified differences in the release properties of functional and silent synapses, suggesting that synaptic terminals of functional synapses express regulatory molecular mechanisms that are absent in silent synapses.

Reading with a Purpose: Communicative Reading Tasks for the Foreign Language Classroom. ERIC Digest.

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Knutson, Elizabeth M.

In describing reading proficiency--the relative difficulty or ease that an individual reader experiences reading a particular text--researchers have recognized the importance of both text- and reader-based factors. This digest focuses on the factor of purpose, as determined by the reader or the instructional context. Having a purpose means having…

Gender effects on phonological processing and reading development in Northern Sotho children learning to read in English: A case study of Grade 3 learners

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Carien Wilsenach

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Gender differences in reading development are a global phenomenon, with girls typically performing better than boys. Some studies have reported gender differences favouring girls in reading comprehension in South Africa, but little systematic evidence exists about gender differences in the cognitive-linguistic abilities that underlie reading development. This study investigated the effect of gender on phonological processing and reading development in Northern Sotho–English bilingual children. Grade 3 learners who received their literacy instruction in English were tested on various phonological processing and reading measures. Phonological awareness was assessed using phoneme isolation and elision tasks. Phonological working memory was assessed using memory for digits and non-word repetition tests while rapid automatised naming was tested using rapid letter, rapid digit, rapid object and rapid colour naming tasks. Reading achievement was assessed with various word reading tasks and with a fluent reading task. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed that gender had a significant effect on the phonological processing and reading abilities of Northern Sotho– English bilingual children. Girls performed significantly better than boys on all the reading measures, as well as on some aspects of phonological processing. The findings provide behavioural evidence in support of biological theories of gender differences, in that girls seemed to have developed some of the cognitive-linguistic skills associated with reading before boys. The girls also coped better with tasks that required increased cognitive processing. This study suggests that sex differences in reading development cannot be ignored in South Africa and need to be addressed in future curriculum development.

Reflex reading epilepsy: effect of linguistic characteristics on spike frequency.

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Safi, Dima; Lassonde, Maryse; Nguyen, Dang Khoa; Denault, Carole; Macoir, Joël; Rouleau, Isabelle; Béland, Renée

2011-04-01

Reading epilepsy is a rare reflex epilepsy in which seizures are provoked by reading. Several cases have been described in the literature, but the pathophysiological processes vary widely and remain unclear. We describe a 42-year-old male patient with reading epilepsy evaluated using clinical assessments and continuous video/EEG recordings. We administered verbal, nonverbal, and reading tasks to determine factors precipitating seizures. Linguistic characteristics of the words were manipulated. Results indicated that reading-induced seizures were significantly more numerous than those observed during verbal and nonverbal tasks. In reading tasks, spike frequency significantly increased with involvement of the phonological reading route. Spikes were recorded predominantly in left parasagittal regions. Future cerebral imaging studies will enable us to visualize the spatial localization and temporal course of reading-induced seizures and brain activity involved in reading. A better understanding of reading epilepsy is crucial for reading rehabilitation in these patients. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Reading and visual search: a developmental study in normal children.

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Magali Seassau

Full Text Available Studies dealing with developmental aspects of binocular eye movement behaviour during reading are scarce. In this study we have explored binocular strategies during reading and during visual search tasks in a large population of normal young readers. Binocular eye movements were recorded using an infrared video-oculography system in sixty-nine children (aged 6 to 15 and in a group of 10 adults (aged 24 to 39. The main findings are (i in both tasks the number of progressive saccades (to the right and regressive saccades (to the left decreases with age; (ii the amplitude of progressive saccades increases with age in the reading task only; (iii in both tasks, the duration of fixations as well as the total duration of the task decreases with age; (iv in both tasks, the amplitude of disconjugacy recorded during and after the saccades decreases with age; (v children are significantly more accurate in reading than in visual search after 10 years of age. Data reported here confirms and expands previous studies on children's reading. The new finding is that younger children show poorer coordination than adults, both while reading and while performing a visual search task. Both reading skills and binocular saccades coordination improve with age and children reach a similar level to adults after the age of 10. This finding is most likely related to the fact that learning mechanisms responsible for saccade yoking develop during childhood until adolescence.

Effectiveness of ESL Students' Performance by Computational Assessment and Role of Reading Strategies in Courseware-Implemented Business Translation Tasks

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Tsai, Shu-Chiao

2017-01-01

This study reports on investigating students' English translation performance and their use of reading strategies in an elective English writing course offered to senior students of English as a Foreign Language for 100 minutes per week for 12 weeks. A courseware-implemented instruction combined with a task-based learning approach was adopted.…

Reading strategies of Chinese students with severe to profound hearing loss.

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Cheung, Ka Yan; Leung, Man Tak; McPherson, Bradley

2013-01-01

The present study investigated the significance of auditory discrimination and the use of phonological and orthographic codes during the course of reading development in Chinese students who are deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH). In this study, the reading behaviors of D/HH students in 2 tasks-a task on auditory perception of onset rime and a synonym decision task-were compared with those of their chronological age-matched and reading level (RL)-matched controls. Cross-group comparison of the performances of participants in the task on auditory perception suggests that poor auditory discrimination ability may be a possible cause of reading problems for D/HH students. In addition, results of the synonym decision task reveal that D/HH students with poor reading ability demonstrate a significantly greater preference for orthographic rather than phonological information, when compared with the D/HH students with good reading ability and their RL-matched controls. Implications for future studies and educational planning are discussed.

Why Do Boys and Girls Perform Differently on PISA Reading in Finland? The Effects of Reading Fluency, Achievement Behaviour, Leisure Reading and Homework Activity

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Torppa, Minna; Eklund, Kenneth; Sulkunen, Sari; Niemi, Pekka; Ahonen, Timo

2018-01-01

The present study examined gender gap in Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) Reading and mediators of the gender gap in a Finnish sample (n = 1,309). We examined whether the gender gap in PISA Reading performance can be understood via the effects of reading fluency, achievement behaviour (mastery orientation and task-avoidant…

Emotion recognition in body dysmorphic disorder: application of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task.

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Buhlmann, Ulrike; Winter, Anna; Kathmann, Norbert

2013-03-01

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is characterized by perceived appearance-related defects, often tied to aspects of the face or head (e.g., acne). Deficits in decoding emotional expressions have been examined in several psychological disorders including BDD. Previous research indicates that BDD is associated with impaired facial emotion recognition, particularly in situations that involve the BDD sufferer him/herself. The purpose of this study was to further evaluate the ability to read other people's emotions among 31 individuals with BDD, and 31 mentally healthy controls. We applied the Reading the Mind in the Eyes task, in which participants are presented with a series of pairs of eyes, one at a time, and are asked to identify the emotion that describes the stimulus best. The groups did not differ with respect to decoding other people's emotions by looking into their eyes. Findings are discussed in light of previous research examining emotion recognition in BDD. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The clinical dilemma of "silent desensitization" in aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease.

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White, Andrew A; Bosso, John V; Stevenson, Donald D

2013-01-01

Aspirin desensitization is a treatment option for patients with aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD). Some patients with an excellent history of aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) reactions have negative aspirin challenges/desensitization. This study discusses the clinical entity of silent desensitization in AERD and the dilemma that this presents to the practicing allergist/immunologist. We discuss a series of patients with a strong history of NSAID reactions who initially underwent a negative challenge/silent desensitization. These patients were subsequently proven to have AERD after a second positive aspirin challenge. Silent desensitization is an uncommon but important outcome to recognize in AERD. Clinicians performing aspirin desensitization should understand that this can occur and consider a second confirmatory aspirin challenge in some patients.

Processing rhythmic pattern during Chinese sentence reading: An eye movement study

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Yingyi eLuo

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Prosodic constraints play a fundamental role during both spoken sentence comprehension and silent reading. In Chinese, the rhythmic pattern of the verb-object (V-O combination has been found to rapidly affect the semantic access/integration process during sentence reading (Luo and Zhou, 2010. Rhythmic pattern refers to the combination of words with different syllabic lengths, with certain combinations disallowed (e.g., [2+1]; numbers standing for the number of syllables of the verb and the noun respectively and certain combinations preferred (e.g., [1+1] or [2+2]. This constraint extends to the situation in which the combination is used to modify other words. A V-O phrase could modify a noun by simply preceding it, forming a V-O-N compound; when the verb is disyllabic, however, the word order has to be O-V-N and the object is preferred to be disyllabic. In this study, we investigated how the reader processes the rhythmic pattern and word order information by recording the reader’s eye-movements. We created four types of sentences by crossing rhythmic pattern and word order in compounding. The compound, embedding a disyllabic verb, could be in the correct O-V-N or the incorrect V-O-N order; the object could be disyllabic or monosyllabic. We found that the reader spent more time and made more regressions on and after the compounds when either type of anomaly was detected during the first pass reading. However, during re-reading (after all the words in the sentence have been viewed, less regressive eye movements were found for the anomalous rhythmic pattern, relative to the correct pattern; moreover, only the abnormal rhythmic pattern, not the violated word order, influenced the regressive eye movements. These results suggest that while the processing of rhythmic pattern and word order information occurs rapidly during the initial reading of the sentence, the process of recovering from the rhythmic pattern anomaly may ease the reanalysis

Processing Rhythmic Pattern during Chinese Sentence Reading: An Eye Movement Study.

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Luo, Yingyi; Duan, Yunyan; Zhou, Xiaolin

2015-01-01

Prosodic constraints play a fundamental role during both spoken sentence comprehension and silent reading. In Chinese, the rhythmic pattern of the verb-object (V-O) combination has been found to rapidly affect the semantic access/integration process during sentence reading (Luo and Zhou, 2010). Rhythmic pattern refers to the combination of words with different syllabic lengths, with certain combinations disallowed (e.g., [2 + 1]; numbers standing for the number of syllables of the verb and the noun respectively) and certain combinations preferred (e.g., [1 + 1] or [2 + 2]). This constraint extends to the situation in which the combination is used to modify other words. A V-O phrase could modify a noun by simply preceding it, forming a V-O-N compound; when the verb is disyllabic, however, the word order has to be O-V-N and the object is preferred to be disyllabic. In this study, we investigated how the reader processes the rhythmic pattern and word order information by recording the reader's eye-movements. We created four types of sentences by crossing rhythmic pattern and word order in compounding. The compound, embedding a disyllabic verb, could be in the correct O-V-N or the incorrect V-O-N order; the object could be disyllabic or monosyllabic. We found that the reader spent more time and made more regressions on and after the compounds when either type of anomaly was detected during the first pass reading. However, during re-reading (after all the words in the sentence have been viewed), less regressive eye movements were found for the anomalous rhythmic pattern, relative to the correct pattern; moreover, only the abnormal rhythmic pattern, not the violated word order, influenced the regressive eye movements. These results suggest that while the processing of rhythmic pattern and word order information occurs rapidly during the initial reading of the sentence, the process of recovering from the rhythmic pattern anomaly may ease the reanalysis processing at the

Silent method for mathematics instruction: An overview of teaching subsets

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Sugiman, Apino, Ezi

2017-05-01

Generally, teachers use oral communication for teaching mathematics. Taking an opposite perspective, this paper describes how instructional practices for mathematics can be carried out namely a silent method. Silent method uses body language, written, and oral communication for classroom interaction. This research uses a design research approach consisting of four phases: preliminary, prototyping and developing the instruction, and assessment. There are four stages of silent method. The first stage is conditioning stage in which the teacher introduces the method and makes agreement about the `rule of the game'. It is followed by the second one, elaborating stage, where students guess and explore alternative answers. The third stage is developing mathematical thinking by structuring and symbolizing. Finally, the method is ended by reinforcing stage which aims at strengthening and reflecting student's understanding. In this paper, every stage is described on the basis of practical experiences in a real mathematics classroom setting.

Screening for silent myocardial ischemia caseof diabetics : interest of myocardial perfusion scintigraphy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bahri, Haifa

2007-01-01

Silent myocardial ischemia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients. Its diagnosis by noninvasive means such as myocardial SPECT would improve the management of these patients. The purpose of this study is to assess the frequency of silent myocardial ischemia in asymptomatic diabetics and their evolution. As a result, the myocardial SPECT is a reliable tool for screening for silent myocardial ischemia in diabetic patients. Its prognostic value allows to stratify the cardiac risk and guide therapeutic management. Its integration into a screening strategy in Tunisia seems limited by its low availability and cost. The latter could be reduced by better patient selection.

Eye movement analysis of reading from computer displays, eReaders and printed books.

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Zambarbieri, Daniela; Carniglia, Elena

2012-09-01

To compare eye movements during silent reading of three eBooks and a printed book. The three different eReading tools were a desktop PC, iPad tablet and Kindle eReader. Video-oculographic technology was used for recording eye movements. In the case of reading from the computer display the recordings were made by a video camera placed below the computer screen, whereas for reading from the iPad tablet, eReader and printed book the recording system was worn by the subject and had two cameras: one for recording the movement of the eyes and the other for recording the scene in front of the subject. Data analysis provided quantitative information in terms of number of fixations, their duration, and the direction of the movement, the latter to distinguish between fixations and regressions. Mean fixation duration was different only in reading from the computer display, and was similar for the Tablet, eReader and printed book. The percentage of regressions with respect to the total amount of fixations was comparable for eReading tools and the printed book. The analysis of eye movements during reading an eBook from different eReading tools suggests that subjects' reading behaviour is similar to reading from a printed book. © 2012 The College of Optometrists.

Teaching children with dyslexia to spell in a reading-writers' workshop.

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Berninger, Virginia W; Lee, Yen-Ling; Abbott, Robert D; Breznitz, Zvia

2013-04-01

To identify effective treatment for both the spelling and word decoding problems in dyslexia, 24 students with dyslexia in grades 4 to 9 were randomly assigned to treatments A (n=12) or B (n=12) in an after-school reading-writers' workshop at the university (thirty 1-h sessions twice a week over 5 months). First, both groups received step 1 treatment of grapheme-phoneme correspondences (gpc) for oral reading. At step 2, treatment A received gpc training for both oral reading and spelling, and treatment B received gpc training for oral reading and phonological awareness. At step 3, treatment A received orthographic spelling strategy and rapid accelerated reading program (RAP) training, and treatment B continued step 2 training. At step 4, treatment A received morphological strategies and RAP training, and treatment B received orthographic spelling strategy training. Each treatment also had the same integrated reading-writing activities, which many school assignments require. Both groups improved significantly in automatic letter writing, spelling real words, compositional fluency, and oral reading (decoding) rate. Treatment A significantly outperformed treatment B in decoding rate after step 3 orthographic training, which in turn uniquely predicted spelling real words. Letter processing rate increased during step 3 RAP training and correlated significantly with two silent reading fluency measures. Adding orthographic strategies with "working memory in mind" to phonics helps students with dyslexia spell and read English words.

Silent ischemic brain lesions after transcatheter aortic valve replacement : lesion distribution and predictors

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Samim, Mariam; Hendrikse, Jeroen; van der Worp, H. Bart; Agostoni, Pierfrancesco; Nijhoff, Freek; Doevendans, Pieter A.; Stella, Pieter R.

Silent ischemic brain lesions and ischemic stroke are known complications of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). We aimed to investigate the occurrence and distribution of TAVR-related silent ischemic brain lesions using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI). Consecutive

What Discrete and Serial Rapid Automatized Naming Can Reveal about Reading

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de Jong, Peter F.

2011-01-01

Serial rapid automized naming (RAN) has been often found to correlate more strongly with reading than discrete RAN. This study aimed to demonstrate that the strength of the RAN-reading fluency relationship is dependent on the format of both RAN and the reading task if the reading task consists of sight words. Seventy-one first-grade, 74…

Production improves memory equivalently following elaborative vs non-elaborative processing.

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Forrin, Noah D; Jonker, Tanya R; MacLeod, Colin M

2014-01-01

Words that are read aloud are better remembered than those read silently. Recent research has suggested that, rather than reflecting a benefit for produced items, this production effect may reflect a cost to reading silently in a list containing both aloud and silent items (Bodner, Taikh, & Fawcett, 2013). This cost is argued to occur because silent items are lazily read, receiving less attention than aloud items which require an overt response. We examined the possible role of lazy reading in the production effect by testing whether the effect would be reduced under elaborative encoding, which precludes lazy reading of silent items. Contrary to a lazy reading account, we found that production benefited generated words as much as read words (Experiment 1) and deeply imagined words as much as shallowly imagined words (Experiment 2). We conclude that production stands out as equally distinct-and consequently as equally memorable-regardless of whether it accompanies deep or shallow processing, evidence that is inconsistent with a lazy reading account.

Reading by Children with Low Vision

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Gompel, Marjolein; van Bon, Wim H. J.; Schreuder, Robert

2004-01-01

This study of the reading of text found that despite their lower reading speed on a reading-comprehension task, the children with low vision comprehended texts at least as well as did the sighted children. Children with low vision need more time to read and comprehend a text, but they seem to use this time with enough efficiency to process the…

Purely Magnetic Silent Universes do not Exist

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Vu, K. T.; Carminati, J.

2008-09-01

We present a new Maple package called STeM (Symbolic Tetrad Manipulation). Using STeM, we outline, using a formalism which is a hybrid of the NP and Orthonormal ones, the proof of the nonexistence of purely magnetic silent universes.

Using quality scores and longer reads improves accuracy of Solexa read mapping

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Xuan Zhenyu

2008-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Second-generation sequencing has the potential to revolutionize genomics and impact all areas of biomedical science. New technologies will make re-sequencing widely available for such applications as identifying genome variations or interrogating the oligonucleotide content of a large sample (e.g. ChIP-sequencing. The increase in speed, sensitivity and availability of sequencing technology brings demand for advances in computational technology to perform associated analysis tasks. The Solexa/Illumina 1G sequencer can produce tens of millions of reads, ranging in length from ~25–50 nt, in a single experiment. Accurately mapping the reads back to a reference genome is a critical task in almost all applications. Two sources of information that are often ignored when mapping reads from the Solexa technology are the 3' ends of longer reads, which contain a much higher frequency of sequencing errors, and the base-call quality scores. Results To investigate whether these sources of information can be used to improve accuracy when mapping reads, we developed the RMAP tool, which can map reads having a wide range of lengths and allows base-call quality scores to determine which positions in each read are more important when mapping. We applied RMAP to analyze data re-sequenced from two human BAC regions for varying read lengths, and varying criteria for use of quality scores. RMAP is freely available for downloading at http://rulai.cshl.edu/rmap/. Conclusion Our results indicate that significant gains in Solexa read mapping performance can be achieved by considering the information in 3' ends of longer reads, and appropriately using the base-call quality scores. The RMAP tool we have developed will enable researchers to effectively exploit this information in targeted re-sequencing projects.

Pseudo-synesthesia through reading books with colored letters.

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Olympia Colizoli

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Synesthesia is a phenomenon where a stimulus produces consistent extraordinary subjective experiences. A relatively common type of synesthesia involves perception of color when viewing letters (e.g. the letter 'a' always appears as light blue. In this study, we examine whether traits typically regarded as markers of synesthesia can be acquired by simply reading in color. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Non-synesthetes were given specially prepared colored books to read. A modified Stroop task was administered before and after reading. A perceptual crowding task was administered after reading. Reading one book (>49,000 words was sufficient to induce effects regarded as behavioral markers for synesthesia. The results of the Stroop tasks indicate that it is possible to learn letter-color associations through reading in color (F(1, 14 = 5.85, p = .030. Furthermore, Stroop effects correlated with subjective reports about experiencing letters in color (r(13 = 0.51, p = .05. The frequency of viewing letters is related to the level of association as seen by the difference in the Stroop effect size between upper- and lower-case letters (t(14 = 2.79, p = .014 and in a subgroup of participants whose Stroop effects increased as they continued to read in color. Readers did not show significant performance advantages on the crowding task compared to controls. Acknowledging the many differences between trainees and synesthetes, results suggest that it may be possible to acquire a subset of synesthetic behavioral traits in adulthood through training. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of acquiring letter-color associations through reading in color. Reading in color appears to be a promising avenue in which we may explore the differences and similarities between synesthetes and non-synesthetes. Additionally, reading in color is a plausible method for a long-term 'synesthetic' training program.

Silent Thyroiditis

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Walker, Peter

1984-01-01

Silent or painless thyroiditis is a frequent cause of transient hyperthyroidism, which is characterized by recent onset of symptoms in a patient with a normal to modestly enlarged and firm thyroid gland. The hallmarks of the disease are the absence of thyroidal pain or tenderness and a markedly reduced radioiodine uptake. Histologically, the gland is characterized by an important lymphocytic infiltration, occasionally to the point of lymphoid follicle formation. However, other indices of an autoimmune cause are usually absent. The disease appears to have a predilection for the postpartum period. Relapses may occur with subsequent pregnancies. Otherwise, the course is usually benign and transient, requiring moderate doses of β-adrenergic blocking agents for symptomatic relief. No pathogenetic factors are known, but the disease may conceivably have an autoimmune basis, particularly in the postpartum patient. PMID:21278944

The Neural Substrates for Letter String Readings in The Normal and Reverse Directions: An fMRI Study

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Ge, Sheng; Saito, Takashi; Wu, Jing-Long; Ogasawara, Jun-Ichi; Yamauchi, Shuichi; Matsunaga, Naofumi; Iramina, Keiji

In order to investigate the difference in cortical activations between reading letter strings in the normal direction and the reverse direction, an fMRI study was conducted. In this study, the cortical activations elicited by Japanese letter string reading and Chinese letter string reading were investigated. The subjects performed the normal direction reading task (read letter strings from left to right), and the reverse direction reading task (read letter strings from right to left). According to the experimental results, the activated brain regions during the normal and the reverse direction reading tasks were compared. It was found that visuospatial transformation was involved in the reverse direction reading task, while this function was not significant during the normal direction reading task. Furthermore, we found that there was no significant difference in cortical activation between Japanese and Chinese letter string readings.

Transluminal coronary angioplasty in the treatment of silent ischemia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergin, P.; Myler, R.K.; Shaw, R.E.; Stertzer, S.H.; Clark, D.A.; Ryan, C.; Murphy, M.C.

1988-01-01

Fifty-four asymptomatic patients with positive thallium exercise tests underwent coronary angiography followed by coronary angioplasty (PTCA), as the primary therapy for silent ischemia. The procedure was technically successful in 89% of these patients. Emergency bypass graft surgery was necessary in 2 (3.6%) and q-wave myocardial infarction occurred in 1 (1.8%) of these. All fifty-four patients have been followed for a mean of 35 months since angioplasty. Of the 48 patients with initially successful PTCA, 12 had either clinical restenosis (9/14 or 19%) or a new lesion (3/48 or 6%) during follow-up, which required a repeat PTCA. At the longest follow-up, 46 (85%) had been successfully treated with on or more PTCA procedures. Two patients (3.6%) had sustained late q-wave myocardial infarction and two additional patients reported angina pectoris. There were no deaths. Angioplasty as a primary therapy for silent ischemia appears efficacious, with success and restenosis rates comparable to those in the symptomatic population. Event-free survival is improved, compared with natural history data for patients with silent ischemia from other studies. Prudent risk/benefit analysis may help to define subgroups most likely to benefit from this intervention

Cortical areas involved in Arabic number reading.

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Roux, F-E; Lubrano, V; Lauwers-Cances, V; Giussani, C; Démonet, J-F

2008-01-15

Distinct functional pathways for processing words and numbers have been hypothesized from the observation of dissociated impairments of these categories in brain-damaged patients. We aimed to identify the cortical areas involved in Arabic number reading process in patients operated on for various brain lesions. Direct cortical electrostimulation was prospectively used in 60 brain mappings. We used object naming and two reading tasks: alphabetic script (sentences and number words) and Arabic number reading. Cortical areas involved in Arabic number reading were identified according to location, type of interference, and distinctness from areas associated with other language tasks. Arabic number reading was sustained by small cortical areas, often extremely well localized (area (Brodmann area 45), the anterior part of the dominant supramarginal gyrus (Brodmann area 40; p area (Brodmann area 37; p areas.

A predictive study of reading comprehension in third-grade Spanish students.

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López-Escribano, Carmen; Elosúa de Juan, María Rosa; Gómez-Veiga, Isabel; García-Madruga, Juan Antonio

2013-01-01

The study of the contribution of language and cognitive skills to reading comprehension is an important goal of current reading research. However, reading comprehension is not easily assessed by a single instrument, as different comprehension tests vary in the type of tasks used and in the cognitive demands required. This study examines the contribution of basic language and cognitive skills (decoding, word recognition, reading speed, verbal and nonverbal intelligence and working memory) to reading comprehension, assessed by two tests utilizing various tasks that require different skill sets in third-grade Spanish-speaking students. Linguistic and cognitive abilities predicted reading comprehension. A measure of reading speed (the reading time of pseudo-words) was the best predictor of reading comprehension when assessed by the PROLEC-R test. However, measures of word recognition (the orthographic choice task) and verbal working memory were the best predictors of reading comprehension when assessed by means of the DARC test. These results show, on the one hand, that reading speed and word recognition are better predictors of Spanish language comprehension than reading accuracy. On the other, the reading comprehension test applied here serves as a critical variable when analyzing and interpreting results regarding this topic.

Reading to Write an Argumentation: The Role of Epistemological, Reading and Writing Beliefs

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Mateos, Mar; Cuevas, Isabel; Martin, Elena; Martin, Ana; Echeita, Gerardo; Luna, Maria

2011-01-01

The general aim of this study was to examine the relations among epistemological, reading and writing beliefs held by psychology undergraduates and the role played by these three types of belief in influencing the degree of perspectivism manifested in a written argumentation task based on reading two texts presenting conflicting perspectives on…

Impact of cognitive function and dysarthria on spoken language and perceived speech severity in multiple sclerosis

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Feenaughty, Lynda

Purpose: The current study sought to investigate the separate effects of dysarthria and cognitive status on global speech timing, speech hesitation, and linguistic complexity characteristics and how these speech behaviors impose on listener impressions for three connected speech tasks presumed to differ in cognitive-linguistic demand for four carefully defined speaker groups; 1) MS with cognitive deficits (MSCI), 2) MS with clinically diagnosed dysarthria and intact cognition (MSDYS), 3) MS without dysarthria or cognitive deficits (MS), and 4) healthy talkers (CON). The relationship between neuropsychological test scores and speech-language production and perceptual variables for speakers with cognitive deficits was also explored. Methods: 48 speakers, including 36 individuals reporting a neurological diagnosis of MS and 12 healthy talkers participated. The three MS groups and control group each contained 12 speakers (8 women and 4 men). Cognitive function was quantified using standard clinical tests of memory, information processing speed, and executive function. A standard z-score of ≤ -1.50 indicated deficits in a given cognitive domain. Three certified speech-language pathologists determined the clinical diagnosis of dysarthria for speakers with MS. Experimental speech tasks of interest included audio-recordings of an oral reading of the Grandfather passage and two spontaneous speech samples in the form of Familiar and Unfamiliar descriptive discourse. Various measures of spoken language were of interest. Suprasegmental acoustic measures included speech and articulatory rate. Linguistic speech hesitation measures included pause frequency (i.e., silent and filled pauses), mean silent pause duration, grammatical appropriateness of pauses, and interjection frequency. For the two discourse samples, three standard measures of language complexity were obtained including subordination index, inter-sentence cohesion adequacy, and lexical diversity. Ten listeners

Silent Film in the German Classroom.

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Caldwell, David

In addition to using films in the German classroom to introduce students to German culture and history, it is important to show and study the film as film. This procedure emphasizes the importance of the film as a part of creative arts in Germany and demands student participation in observation and discussion. Many German silent films are…

Effect of phonological and morphological awareness on reading comprehension in Hebrew-speaking adolescents with reading disabilities.

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Schiff, Rachel; Schwartz-Nahshon, Sarit; Nagar, Revital

2011-06-01

This research explored phonological and morphological awareness among Hebrew-speaking adolescents with reading disabilities (RD) and its effect on reading comprehension beyond phonological and word-reading abilities. Participants included 39 seventh graders with RD and two matched control groups of normal readers: 40 seventh graders matched for chronological age (CA) and 38 third graders matched for reading age (RA). We assessed phonological awareness, word reading, morphological awareness, and reading comprehension. Findings indicated that the RD group performed similarly to the RA group on phonological awareness but lower on phonological decoding. On the decontextualized morphological task, RD functioned on par with RA, whereas in a contextualized task RD performed above RA but lower than CA. In reading comprehension, RD performed as well as RA. Finally, results indicated that for normal readers contextual morphological awareness uniquely contributed to reading comprehension beyond phonological and word-reading abilities, whereas no such unique contribution emerged for the RD group. The absence of an effect of morphological awareness in predicting reading comprehension was suggested to be related to a different recognition process employed by RD readers which hinder the ability of these readers to use morphosemantic structures. The lexical quality hypothesis was proposed as further support to the findings, suggesting that a low quality of lexical representation in RD students leads to ineffective reading skills and comprehension. Lexical representation is thus critical for both lexical as well as comprehension abilities.

Musical, language and reading abilities in early Portuguese readers

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Jennifer eZuk

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Early language and reading abilities have been shown to correlate with a variety of musical skills and elements of music perception in children. It has also been shown that reading impaired children can show difficulties with music perception. However, it is still unclear to what extent different aspects of music perception are associated with language and reading abilities. Here we investigated the relationship between cognitive-linguistic abilities and a music discrimination task that preserves an ecologically valid musical experience. Forty-three Portuguese-speaking students from an elementary school in Brazil participated in this study. Children completed a comprehensive cognitive-linguistic battery of assessments. The music task was presented live in the music classroom, and children were asked to code sequences of four sounds on the guitar. Results show a strong relationship between performance on the music task and a number of linguistic variables. A Principle Component Analysis of the cognitive-linguistic battery revealed that the strongest component (Prin1 accounted for 33% of the variance and Prin1 was significantly related to the music task. Highest loadings on Prin1 were found for reading measures such as Reading Speed and Reading Accuracy. Interestingly, twenty-two children recorded responses for more than four sounds within a trial on the music task, which was classified as Superfluous Responses (SR. SR was negatively correlated with a variety of linguistic variables and showed a negative correlation with Prin1. When analyzing children with and without SR separately, only children with SR showed a significant correlation between Prin1 and the music task. Our results provide implications for the use of an ecologically valid music-based screening tool for the early identification of reading disabilities in a classroom setting.

Evaluation of use of reading comprehension strategies to improve reading comprehension of adult college students with acquired brain injury.

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Griffiths, Gina G; Sohlberg, McKay Moore; Kirk, Cecilia; Fickas, Stephen; Biancarosa, Gina

2016-01-01

Adults with mild to moderate acquired brain injury (ABI) often pursue post-secondary or professional education after their injuries in order to enter or re-enter the job market. An increasing number of these adults report problems with reading-to-learn. The problem is particularly concerning given the growing population of adult survivors of ABI. Despite the rising need, empirical evaluation of reading comprehension interventions for adults with ABI is scarce. This study used a within-subject design to evaluate whether adult college students with ABI with no more than moderate cognitive impairments benefited from using reading comprehension strategies to improve comprehension of expository text. Integrating empirical support from the cognitive rehabilitation and special education literature, the researchers designed a multi-component reading comprehension strategy package. Participants read chapters from an introductory-level college anthropology textbook in two different conditions: strategy and no-strategy. The results indicated that reading comprehension strategy use was associated with recall of more correct information units in immediate and delayed free recall tasks; more efficient recall in the delayed free recall task; and increased accuracy recognising statements from a sentence verification task designed to reflect the local and global coherence of the text. The findings support further research into using reading comprehension strategies as an intervention approach for the adult ABI population. Future research needs include identifying how to match particular reading comprehension strategies to individuals, examining whether reading comprehension performance improves further through the incorporation of systematic training, and evaluating texts from a range of disciplines and genres.

STUDY OF IMMUNITY TO POLIOVIRUSES ON CERTAIN "SILENT" TERRITORIES OF RUSSIA

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N. I. Romanenkova

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract. The degree of immunity to polioviruses of three serotypes among children of different ages was analysed on certain "controlled" and "silent" territories of Russia in different periods of Polio Eradication Initiative. It was shown that the levels of immunity of children’s population to polioviruses on "controlled" and "silent" territories had no significant difference. It was stated that on the phase which preceded the certification for the absence of circulation of wild polioviruses, when the National Immunisation Days were conducted in the country, the percentage of eronegative children to polioviruses of different serotypes was low on all the territories of Russia. After Russia as a part of the WHO European region was certified as a polio free country and mass immunisation was stopped thepercentage of seronegative children increased, especially to poliovirus of serotype 3, both on the "controlled" and on the "silent" territories.

A Comparative Study of Task-based vs. Task- supported Teaching Approaches in an EFL Context

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Mahdieh Shafipoor

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In spite of the numerous merits of task-based language instruction as claimed by its supporters in the last few decades, task-supported teaching approach as an alternative was introduced. Since then, there have been controversial debates over the superiority of each of these two approaches. Thus, in the current research project, the purpose was to consider these two teaching approaches in the scope of English language teaching, with the purpose of exploring the most efficient one in an Iranian EFL context. To this end, 120 sophomore students, majoring in English language translation course at Islamic Azad University, Shar-e-Qods branch were selected among 4 intact reading comprehension II classes. Next, they were divided into two experimental groups. The first experimental group received task-based instruction and for the second experimental group, task-trusted teaching approach was applied. The results of the data analyses turned out that task-trusted teaching approach was superior to task-based teaching in teaching reading to EFL learners.

Connected text reading and differences in text reading fluency in adult readers.

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Sebastian Wallot

Full Text Available The process of connected text reading has received very little attention in contemporary cognitive psychology. This lack of attention is in parts due to a research tradition that emphasizes the role of basic lexical constituents, which can be studied in isolated words or sentences. However, this lack of attention is in parts also due to the lack of statistical analysis techniques, which accommodate interdependent time series. In this study, we investigate text reading performance with traditional and nonlinear analysis techniques and show how outcomes from multiple analyses can used to create a more detailed picture of the process of text reading. Specifically, we investigate reading performance of groups of literate adult readers that differ in reading fluency during a self-paced text reading task. Our results indicate that classical metrics of reading (such as word frequency do not capture text reading very well, and that classical measures of reading fluency (such as average reading time distinguish relatively poorly between participant groups. Nonlinear analyses of distribution tails and reading time fluctuations provide more fine-grained information about the reading process and reading fluency.

Reading skill related to left ventral occipitotemporal cortex during a phonological awareness task in 5–6-year old children

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Jin Wang

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The left ventral occipitotemporal cortex (vOT is important in visual word recognition. Studies have shown that the left vOT is generally observed to be involved in spoken language processing in skilled readers, suggesting automatic access to corresponding orthographic information. However, little is known about where and how the left vOT is involved in the spoken language processing of young children with emerging reading ability. In order to answer this question, we examined the relation of reading ability in 5–6-year-old kindergarteners to the activation of vOT during an auditory phonological awareness task. Two experimental conditions: onset word pairs that shared the first phoneme and rhyme word pairs that shared the final biphone/triphone, were compared to allow a measurement of vOT’s activation to small (i.e., onsets and large grain sizes (i.e., rhymes. We found that higher reading ability was associated with better accuracy of the onset, but not the rhyme, condition. In addition, higher reading ability was only associated with greater sensitivity in the posterior left vOT for the contrast of the onset versus rhyme condition. These results suggest that acquisition of reading results in greater specialization of the posterior vOT to smaller rather than larger grain sizes in young children. Keywords: Left vOT, Grain size, Phonological awareness, Spoken language

Integrating Reading and Technology: The Development of "Pamanpintermu"

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Arifani, Yudhi; Rosyid, Harunur

2016-01-01

Reading as one of English skills has paramount features in shaping EFL English competence. Referring to the importance for reading, it is inevitable that teaching method, assessments tools, reading material and activities have indispensable tasks to attain EFL learners' reading objectives. This study is intended to develop integrated reading…

The effects of interaction with the device described by procedural text on recall, true/false, and task performance.

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Diehl, V A; Mills, C B

1995-11-01

In two experiments, subjects interacted to different extents with relevant devices while reading two complex multistep procedural texts and were then tested with task performance time, true/false, and recall measures. While reading, subjects performed the task (read and do), saw the experimenter perform the task (read and see experimenter do), imagined doing the task (read and imagine), looked at the device while reading (read and see), or only read (read only). Van Dijk and Kintsch's (1983) text representation theory led to the prediction that exposure to the task device (in the read-and-do, read-and-see, and read-and-see-experimenter-do conditions) would lead to the development of a stronger situation model and therefore faster task performance, whereas the read-only and read-and-see conditions would lead to a better textbase, and therefore better performance on the true/false and recall tasks. Paivio's (1991) dual coding theory led to the opposite prediction for recall. The results supported the text representation theory with task performance and recall. The read-and-see condition produced consistently good performance on the true/false measure. Amount of text study time contributed to recall performance. These findings support the notion that information available while reading leads to differential development of representations in memory, which, in turn, causes differences in performance on various measures.

Incidence and implications of silent hydronephrosis following percutaneous nephrolithotomy
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Dagrosa, Lawrence; Moses, Rachel; Pais, Vernon M

2017-01-01

While routine renal imaging following ureteroscopy for urinary calculi has been recommended to screen for asymptomatic "silent" obstruction, the rate of silent obstruction following percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) remains poorly defined, and no consensus recommendations exist on routine postoperative imaging. At our institution, we sought to assess the incidence of silent hydronephrosis (SH), as a screen for obstruction, following PCNL. The records of all 162 patients who met study inclusion criteria were reviewed. Of this group, 112 patients presented for their scheduled renal ultrasonography 4 - 6 weeks following stent removal to screen for SH. Asymptomatic patients found to have ultrasonographic evidence of hydronephrosis were further analyzed. SH was noted in 16% (18/112) of patients. Two required subsequent ureteroscopic stone extraction (1.8%), one of which also underwent endoureterotomy for a ureteral stricture. Four patients (22%) had stable hydronephrosis and declined functional imaging, 2 patients (11%) had a known partial ureteropelvic junction obstruction and declined intervention. SH resolved spontaneously in 50% (9/18) with a mean time to resolution of 6.3 months. There was no difference in stone complexity based on Guy's stone score between groups, 2.8 (± 0.92) vs. 2.4 (± 1.03), p = 0.34. Although not statistically significant, patients with SH were more likely to have had residual stone fragments postoperatively, 39% (7/18) vs. 19% (18/94), p = 0.067. SH following, PCNL was identified in 16% of this screened population, with the majority requiring no intervention. However, SH may be attributed to residual stone or stricture, which may have been otherwise unrecognized in up to 2% of patients undergoing PCNL. Consideration should be given for routine postoperative ultrasound to screen for silent obstruction following PCNL.
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The neural basis of task switching changes with skill acquisition

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Koji eJimura

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Learning novel skills involves reorganization and optimization of cognitive processing involving a broad network of brain regions. Previous work has shown asymmetric costs of switching to a well-trained task versus a poorly-trained task, but the neural basis of these differential switch costs is unclear. The current study examined the neural signature of task switching in the context of acquisition of new skill. Human participants alternated randomly between a novel visual task (mirror-reversed word reading and a highly practiced one (plain word reading, allowing the isolation of task switching and skill set maintenance. Two scan sessions were separated by two weeks, with behavioral training on the mirror reading task in between the two sessions. Broad cortical regions, including bilateral prefrontal, parietal, and extrastriate cortices, showed decreased activity associated with learning of the mirror reading skill. In contrast, learning to switch to the novel skill was associated with decreased activity in a focal subcortical region in the dorsal striatum. Switching to the highly practiced task was associated with a non-overlapping set of regions, suggesting substantial differences in the neural substrates of switching as a function of task skill. Searchlight multivariate pattern analysis also revealed that learning was associated with decreased pattern information for mirror versus plain reading tasks in fronto-parietal regions. Inferior frontal junction and posterior parietal cortex showed a joint effect of univariate activation and pattern information. These results suggest distinct learning mechanisms task performance and executive control as a function of learning.

When does picture naming take longer than word reading?

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Andrea eValente

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Differences between the cognitive processes involved in word reading and picture naming are well established (e.g. visual or lexico-semantic stages. Still, it is commonly thought that retrieval of phonological forms is shared across tasks. We report a test of this second hypothesis based on the time course of electroencephalographic (EEG neural activity, reasoning that similar EEG patterns might index similar processing stages.Seventeen participants named objects and read aloud the corresponding words while their behavior and EEG activity were recorded. The latter was analyzed from stimulus onset onwards (stimulus-locked analysis and from response onset backwards (response-locked analysis, using non-parametric statistics and the spatio-temporal segmentation of ERPs.Behavioral results confirmed that reading entails shorter latencies than naming. The analysis of EEG activity within the stimulus-to-response period allowed distinguishing three phases, broadly successive. Early on, we observed identical distribution of electric field potentials (i.e. topographies albeit with large amplitude divergences between tasks. Then, we observed sustained cross-task differences in topographies accompanied by extended amplitude differences. Finally, the two tasks again revealed the same topographies, with significant cross-task delays in their onsets and offsets, and still significant amplitude differences. In the response-locked ERPs, the common topography displayed an offset closer to response articulation in word reading compared with picture naming, that is the transition between the offset of this shared map and the onset of articulation was significantly faster in word reading.The results suggest that the degree of cross-task similarity varies across time. The first phase suggests similar visual processes of variable intensity and time course across tasks, while the second phase suggests marked differences. Finally, similarities and differences within the

Improvement of ozone yield by a multi-discharge type ozonizer using superposition of silent discharge plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, Hyun-Jig; Chun, Byung-Joon; Lee, Kwang-Sik

2004-01-01

In order to improve ozone generation, we experimentally investigated the silent discharge plasma and ozone generation characteristics of a multi-discharge type ozonizer. Ozone in a multi-discharge type ozonizer is generated by superposition of a silent discharge plasma, which is simultaneously generated in separated discharge spaces. A multi-discharge type ozonizer is composed of three different kinds of superposed silent discharge type ozonizers, depending on the method of applying power to each electrode. We observed that the discharge period of the current pulse for a multi discharge type ozonizer can be longer than that of silent discharge type ozonizer with two electrodes and one gap. Hence, ozone generation is improved up to 17185 ppm and 783 g/kwh in the case of the superposed silent discharge type ozonizer for which an AC high voltages with a 180 .deg. phase difference were applied to the internal electrode and the external electrode, respectively, with the central electrode being grounded.

Pseudo-Synesthesia through Reading Books with Colored Letters

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Colizoli, Olympia; Murre, Jaap M. J.; Rouw, Romke

2012-01-01

Background Synesthesia is a phenomenon where a stimulus produces consistent extraordinary subjective experiences. A relatively common type of synesthesia involves perception of color when viewing letters (e.g. the letter ‘a’ always appears as light blue). In this study, we examine whether traits typically regarded as markers of synesthesia can be acquired by simply reading in color. Methodology/Principal Findings Non-synesthetes were given specially prepared colored books to read. A modified Stroop task was administered before and after reading. A perceptual crowding task was administered after reading. Reading one book (>49,000 words) was sufficient to induce effects regarded as behavioral markers for synesthesia. The results of the Stroop tasks indicate that it is possible to learn letter-color associations through reading in color (F(1, 14) = 5.85, p = .030). Furthermore, Stroop effects correlated with subjective reports about experiencing letters in color (r(13) = 0.51, p = .05). The frequency of viewing letters is related to the level of association as seen by the difference in the Stroop effect size between upper- and lower-case letters (t(14) = 2.79, p = .014) and in a subgroup of participants whose Stroop effects increased as they continued to read in color. Readers did not show significant performance advantages on the crowding task compared to controls. Acknowledging the many differences between trainees and synesthetes, results suggest that it may be possible to acquire a subset of synesthetic behavioral traits in adulthood through training. Conclusion/Significance To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of acquiring letter-color associations through reading in color. Reading in color appears to be a promising avenue in which we may explore the differences and similarities between synesthetes and non-synesthetes. Additionally, reading in color is a plausible method for a long-term ‘synesthetic’ training program. PMID

Silent Atrial Fibrillation in Elderly Pacemaker Users: A Randomized Trial Using Home Monitoring.

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Lima, Ceb; Martinelli, M; Peixoto, G L; Siqueira, S F; Wajngarten, Maurício; Silva, Rodrigo Tavares; Costa, Roberto; Filho, Roberto; Ramires, José Antônio Franchini

2016-05-01

Pacemaker with remote monitoring (PRM) may be useful for silent atrial fibrillation (AF) detection. The aims of this study were to evaluate the incidence of silent AF, the role of PRM, and to determine predictors of silent AF occurrence. Three hundred elderly patients with permanent pacemaker (PPM) were randomly assigned to the remote group (RG) or control group (CG). All patients received PPM with remote monitoring capabilities. Primary end point was AF occurrence rate and the secondary end points were time to AF detection and number of days with AF. During the average follow-up of 15.7±7.7 months, AF episodes were detected in 21.6% (RG = 24% vs CG = 19.3%, P = 0.36]. There was no difference in the time to detect the first AF episode. However, the median time to detect AF recurrence in the RG was lower than that in the CG (54 days vs 100 days, P = 0.004). The average number of days with AF was 16.0 and 51.2 in the RG and CG, respectively (P = 0.028). Predictors of silent AF were left atrial diameter (odds ratio [OR] 1.2; 95% CI = 1.1-1.3; P pacemaker; left atrial diameter and diastolic dysfunction were predictors of its occurrence. AF monitoring by means of pacemaker is a valuable tool for silent AF detection and continuous remote monitoring allows early AF recurrence detection and reduces the number of days with AF. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Automatic and creative skills in reading Automatic and creative skills in reading

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Leonor Scliar Cabral

2008-04-01

Full Text Available In this article I will discuss the automatic and creative skills in reading, focusing on the differences between 1 processes involved while learning how to read and processes employed by the proficient reader and 2 knowledge for using language and metalinguistic awareness. The arguments will derive mainly from the definition of reading as a process where the receivers combine the information extracted from the written material with their specialized knowledge activated during this process (i.e. linguistic systems and correspondent rules and enciclopedic knowledge in order to comprehend, interpret and internalize structured new information and/or to experience aesthetic pleasure. Evidence to illustrate the arguments comes from experiments (1 with pre-school children and beginning readers on narrativity and on the dichotic paradigm, and with illiterate and literate adults with diferent levels of proficiency of reading in a task of erasing an initial syllable and an initial consonant. In this article I will discuss the automatic and creative skills in reading, focusing on the differences between 1 processes involved while learning how to read and processes employed by the proficient reader and 2 knowledge for using language and metalinguistic awareness. The arguments will derive mainly from the definition of reading as a process where the receivers combine the information extracted from the written material with their specialized knowledge activated during this process (i.e. linguistic systems and correspondent rules and enciclopedic knowledge in order to comprehend, interpret and internalize structured new information and/or to experience aesthetic pleasure. Evidence to illustrate the arguments comes from experiments (1 with pre-school children and beginning readers on narrativity and on the dichotic paradigm, and with illiterate and literate adults with diferent levels of proficiency of reading in a task of erasing an initial syllable

The Role of Visual-Spatial Abilities in Dyslexia: Age Differences in Children's Reading?

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Giovagnoli, Giulia; Vicari, Stefano; Tomassetti, Serena; Menghini, Deny

2016-01-01

Reading is a highly complex process in which integrative neurocognitive functions are required. Visual-spatial abilities play a pivotal role because of the multi-faceted visual sensory processing involved in reading. Several studies show that children with developmental dyslexia (DD) fail to develop effective visual strategies and that some reading difficulties are linked to visual-spatial deficits. However, the relationship between visual-spatial skills and reading abilities is still a controversial issue. Crucially, the role that age plays has not been investigated in depth in this population, and it is still not clear if visual-spatial abilities differ across educational stages in DD. The aim of the present study was to investigate visual-spatial abilities in children with DD and in age-matched normal readers (NR) according to different educational stages: in children attending primary school and in children and adolescents attending secondary school. Moreover, in order to verify whether visual-spatial measures could predict reading performance, a regression analysis has been performed in younger and older children. The results showed that younger children with DD performed significantly worse than NR in a mental rotation task, a more-local visual-spatial task, a more-global visual-perceptual task and a visual-motor integration task. However, older children with DD showed deficits in the more-global visual-perceptual task, in a mental rotation task and in a visual attention task. In younger children, the regression analysis documented that reading abilities are predicted by the visual-motor integration task, while in older children only the more-global visual-perceptual task predicted reading performances. Present findings showed that visual-spatial deficits in children with DD were age-dependent and that visual-spatial abilities engaged in reading varied across different educational stages. In order to better understand their potential role in affecting reading

Comparisons of an open-ended vs. forced-choice 'mind reading' task: implications for measuring perspective-taking and emotion recognition.

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Tracy G Cassels

Full Text Available Perspective-taking and emotion recognition are essential for successful social development and have been the focus of developmental research for many years. Although the two abilities often overlap, they are distinct and our understanding of these abilities critically rests upon the efficacy of existing measures. Lessons from the literature differentiating recall versus recognition memory tasks led us to hypothesize that an open-ended emotion recognition measure would be less reliant on compensatory strategies and hence a more specific measure of emotion recognition abilities than a forced-choice task. To this end, we compared an open-ended version of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task with the original forced-choice version in two studies: 118 typically-developing 4- to 8-year-olds (Study 1 and 139 5- to 12-year-olds; 85 typically-developing and 54 with learning disorders (Study 2. We found that the open-ended version of the task was a better predictor of empathy and more reliably discriminated typically-developing children from those with learning disorders. As a whole, the results suggest that the open-ended version is a more sensitive measure of emotion recognition specifically.

Enhancing reading performance through action video games: the role of visual attention span.

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Antzaka, A; Lallier, M; Meyer, S; Diard, J; Carreiras, M; Valdois, S

2017-11-06

Recent studies reported that Action Video Game-AVG training improves not only certain attentional components, but also reading fluency in children with dyslexia. We aimed to investigate the shared attentional components of AVG playing and reading, by studying whether the Visual Attention (VA) span, a component of visual attention that has previously been linked to both reading development and dyslexia, is improved in frequent players of AVGs. Thirty-six French fluent adult readers, matched on chronological age and text reading proficiency, composed two groups: frequent AVG players and non-players. Participants performed behavioural tasks measuring the VA span, and a challenging reading task (reading of briefly presented pseudo-words). AVG players performed better on both tasks and performance on these tasks was correlated. These results further support the transfer of the attentional benefits of playing AVGs to reading, and indicate that the VA span could be a core component mediating this transfer. The correlation between VA span and pseudo-word reading also supports the involvement of VA span even in adult reading. Future studies could combine VA span training with defining features of AVGs, in order to build a new generation of remediation software.

Many Neighbors are not Silent. fMRI Evidence for Global Lexical Activity in Visual Word Recognition.

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Mario eBraun

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Many neurocognitive studies investigated the neural correlates of visual word recognition, some of which manipulated the orthographic neighborhood density of words and nonwords believed to influence the activation of orthographically similar representations in a hypothetical mental lexicon. Previous neuroimaging research failed to find evidence for such global lexical activity associated with neighborhood density. Rather, effects were interpreted to reflect semantic or domain general processing. The present fMRI study revealed effects of lexicality, orthographic neighborhood density and a lexicality by orthographic neighborhood density interaction in a silent reading task. For the first time we found greater activity for words and nonwords with a high number of neighbors. We propose that this activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex reflects activation of orthographically similar codes in verbal working memory thus providing evidence for global lexical activity as the basis of the neighborhood density effect. The interaction of lexicality by neighborhood density in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex showed lower activity in response to words with a high number compared to nonwords with a high number of neighbors. In the light of these results the facilitatory effect for words and inhibitory effect for nonwords with many neighbors observed in previous studies can be understood as being due to the operation of a fast-guess mechanism for words and a temporal deadline mechanism for nonwords as predicted by models of visual word recognition. Furthermore, we propose that the lexicality effect with higher activity for words compared to nonwords in inferior parietal and middle temporal cortex reflects the operation of an identification mechanism and based on local lexico-semantic activity.

Neocortical inhibitory activities and long-range afferents contribute to the synchronous onset of silent states of the neocortical slow oscillation.

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Lemieux, Maxime; Chauvette, Sylvain; Timofeev, Igor

2015-02-01

During slow-wave sleep, neurons of the thalamocortical network are engaged in a slow oscillation (<1 Hz), which consists of an alternation between the active and the silent states. Several studies have provided insights on the transition from the silent, which are essentially periods of disfacilitation, to the active states. However, the conditions leading to the synchronous onset of the silent state remain elusive. We hypothesized that a synchronous input to local inhibitory neurons could contribute to the transition to the silent state in the cat suprasylvian gyrus during natural sleep and under ketamine-xylazine anesthesia. After partial and complete deafferentation of the cortex, we found that the silent state onset was more variable among remote sites. We found that the transition to the silent state was preceded by a reduction in excitatory postsynaptic potentials and firing probability in cortical neurons. We tested the impact of chloride-mediated inhibition in the silent-state onset. We uncovered a long-duration (100-300 ms) inhibitory barrage occurring about 250 ms before the silent state onset in 3-6% of neurons during anesthesia and in 12-15% of cases during natural sleep. These inhibitory activities caused a decrease in cortical firing that reduced the excitatory drive in the neocortical network. That chain reaction of disfacilitation ends up on the silent state. Electrical stimuli could trigger a network silent state with a maximal efficacy in deep cortical layers. We conclude that long-range afferents to the neocortex and chloride-mediated inhibition play a role in the initiation of the silent state. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

Scanpath Based N-Gram Models for Predicting Reading Behavior

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mishra, Abhijit; Bhattacharyya, Pushpak; Carl, Michael

2013-01-01

Predicting reading behavior is a difficult task. Reading behavior depends on various linguistic factors (e.g. sentence length, structural complexity etc.) and other factors (e.g individual's reading style, age etc.). Ideally, a reading model should be similar to a language model where the model i...

Frontal brain activation in young children during picture book reading with their mothers.

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Ohgi, S; Loo, K K; Mizuike, C

2010-02-01

This study was to measure changes in frontal brain activation in young children during picture book reading with their mothers. The cross-sectional sample consisted of 15 young Japanese children (eight girls and seven boys, mean age 23.1 +/- 3.4). Two experimental tasks were presented as follows: Task 1 (picture book reading with their mothers); Task 2 (viewing of book-on-video). Duration of task stimulus was 180-sec and the 60-sec interval was filled. Brain activation was measured using an optical topography system. Significant increases in oxy-Hb were observed in both right and left frontal areas in response to Task 1 compared with Task 2. There were significant correlations between child's brain activity and mothers' and children's verbal-nonverbal behaviours. There was greater frontal lobe activation in children when they were engaged in a picture book reading task with their mothers, as opposed to passive viewing of a videotape in which the story was read to them. Social and verbal engagement of the mother in reading picture books with her young child may mediate frontal brain activity in the child.

Preservation of memory-based automaticity in reading for older adults.

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Rawson, Katherine A; Touron, Dayna R

2015-12-01

Concerning age-related effects on cognitive skill acquisition, the modal finding is that older adults do not benefit from practice to the same extent as younger adults in tasks that afford a shift from slower algorithmic processing to faster memory-based processing. In contrast, Rawson and Touron (2009) demonstrated a relatively rapid shift to memory-based processing in the context of a reading task. The current research extended beyond this initial study to provide more definitive evidence for relative preservation of memory-based automaticity in reading tasks for older adults. Younger and older adults read short stories containing unfamiliar noun phrases (e.g., skunk mud) followed by disambiguating information indicating the combination's meaning (either the normatively dominant meaning or an alternative subordinate meaning). Stories were repeated across practice blocks, and then the noun phrases were presented in novel sentence frames in a transfer task. Both age groups shifted from computation to retrieval after relatively few practice trials (as evidenced by convergence of reading times for dominant and subordinate items). Most important, both age groups showed strong evidence for memory-based processing of the noun phrases in the transfer task. In contrast, older adults showed minimal shifting to retrieval in an alphabet arithmetic task, indicating that the preservation of memory-based automaticity in reading was task-specific. Discussion focuses on important implications for theories of memory-based automaticity in general and for specific theoretical accounts of age effects on memory-based automaticity, as well as fruitful directions for future research. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Reading with a simulated 60-channel implant

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Angelica ePerez Fornos

2011-05-01

Full Text Available First generation retinal prostheses containing 50-60 electrodes are currently in clinical trials. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the theoretical upper limit (best possible reading performance attainable with a state-of-the-art 60-channel retinal implant and to find the optimum viewing conditions for the task. Four normal volunteers performed full-page text reading tasks with a low resolution, 60-pixel viewing window that was stabilized in the central visual field. Two parameters were systematically varied: (1 spatial resolution (image magnification and (2 the orientation of the rectangular viewing window. Performance was measured in terms of reading accuracy (% of correctly read words and reading rates (words/min. Maximum reading performances were reached at spatial resolutions between 3.6 and 6 pixels/char. Performance declined outside this range for all subjects. In optimum viewing conditions (4.5 pixels/char, subjects achieved almost perfect reading accuracy and mean reading rates of 26 words/min for the vertical viewing window and of 34 words/min for the horizontal viewing window. These results suggest that, theoretically, some reading abilities can be restored with actual state-of-the-art retinal implant prototypes if image magnification is within an optimum range. Future retinal implants providing higher pixel resolutions, thus allowing for a wider visual span might allow faster reading rates.

Malaria - Africa's silent tsunami | IDRC - International Development ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2011-01-12

Jan 12, 2011 ... Less well known is the continuous “silent tsunami” of malaria in Africa ... This means almost 3 lives per minute lost from an easily preventable and treatable disease. It was gratifying to see the beginnings of similar passion to deal with ... often in shapes, sizes, and colours unpopular in African households.

Pathways of the inferior frontal occipital fasciculus in overt speech and reading.

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Rollans, Claire; Cheema, Kulpreet; Georgiou, George K; Cummine, Jacqueline

2017-11-19

In this study, we examined the relationship between tractography-based measures of white matter integrity (ex. fractional anisotropy [FA]) from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and five reading-related tasks, including rapid automatized naming (RAN) of letters, digits, and objects, and reading of real words and nonwords. Twenty university students with no reported history of reading difficulties were tested on all five tasks and their performance was correlated with diffusion measures extracted through DTI tractography. A secondary analysis using whole-brain Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) was also used to find clusters showing significant negative correlations between reaction time and FA. Results showed a significant relationship between the left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus FA and performance on the RAN of objects task, as well as a strong relationship to nonword reading, which suggests a role for this tract in slower, non-automatic and/or resource-demanding speech tasks. There were no significant relationships between FA and the faster, more automatic speech tasks (RAN of letters and digits, and real word reading). These findings provide evidence for the role of the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus in tasks that are highly demanding of orthography-phonology translation (e.g., nonword reading) and semantic processing (e.g., RAN object). This demonstrates the importance of the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus in basic naming and suggests that this tract may be a sensitive predictor of rapid naming performance within the typical population. We discuss the findings in the context of current models of reading and speech production to further characterize the white matter pathways associated with basic reading processes. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Morphology and Spelling in French Students with Dyslexia: The Case of Silent Final Letters

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Quémart, Pauline; Casalis, Séverine

2017-01-01

Spelling is a challenge for individuals with dyslexia. Phoneme-to-grapheme correspondence rules are highly inconsistent in French, which make them very difficult to master, in particular for dyslexics. One recurrent manifestation of this inconsistency is the presence of silent letters at the end of words. Many of these silent letters perform a…

[Developmental changes of rapid automatized naming and Hiragana reading of Japanese in elementary-school children].

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Kobayashi, Tomoka; Inagaki, Masumi; Gunji, Atsuko; Yatabe, Kiyomi; Kita, Yosuke; Kaga, Makiko; Gotoh, Takaaki; Koike, Toshihide

2011-11-01

Two hundred and seven Japanese elementary school children aged from 6 (Grade 1) to 12 (Grade 6) years old were tested for their abilities to name numbers and pictured objects along with reading Hiragana characters and words. These children all showed typical development and their classroom teachers judged that they were not having any problems with reading or writing. The children were randomly divided into two groups, the first group was assigned to two naming tasks;the rapid automatized naming (RAN) of "numbers" and "pictured objects," the second group was assigned to two rapid alternative stimulus (RAS) naming tasks using numbers and pictured objects. All children were asked to perform two reading tasks that were written in Hiragana script: single mora reading task and four syllable word reading task. The total articulation time for naming and reading and performance in terms of accuracy were measured for each task. Developmental changes in these variables were evaluated. The articulation time was significantly longer for the first graders, and it gradually shortened as they moved through to the upper grades in all tasks. The articulation time reached a plateau in the 5th grade for the number naming, while gradual change continued after drastic change in the lower grades for the pictured object naming. The articulation times for the single mora reading and RAN of numbers correlated strongly. The articulation time for the RAS naming was significantly longer compared to that for the RAN, though there were very few errors. The RAS naming showed the highest correlation with the four syllable word reading. This study demonstrated that the performance in rapid automatized naming of numbers and pictures were closely related with performance on reading tasks. Thus Japanese children with reading disorders such as developmental dyslexia should also be evaluated for rapid automatized naming.

Reading Test-taking Strategies in General Training IELTS

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Vahede Nosrati

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The significance of gaining a better understanding of how test-taking strategies are used has been recognized by researchers. Considering this fact, this study aimed at investigating the test-taking strategies which were employed by IELTS candidates in reading comprehension test. Besides, it tried to take into account the differences among strategies used for different tasks. In order to gather data, two instruments were employed: the think-aloud protocol, and an IELTS reading test. The obtained data were analyzed and interpreted qualitatively by the researcher. The findings indicated that candidates employed 15 different strategies which were categorized in 3 stages, pre-reading, reading, and post-reading stages. Furthermore, it was revealed that test-takers used certain strategies differently, depending on the type of the task. The findings provide a better understanding of strategy use among IELTS candidates and help teachers to improve their approaches toward teaching and learning goals. Keywords: Test-taking Strategy, Test-taker, Reading Comprehension, Language Learning Strategy, IELTS

Assessing reading comprehension in adolescent low achievers : Subskills identification and task specificity

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van Steensel, R.; Oostdam, R.; van Gelderen, A.

2013-01-01

On the basis of a validation study of a new test for assessing low-achieving adolescents’ reading comprehension skills – the SALT-reading – we analyzed two issues relevant to the field of reading test development. Using the test results of 200 seventh graders, we examined the possibility of

How professionals read online documents to formulate recommendations

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Melenhorst, M.S.; van der Geest, Thea

2003-01-01

Professionals often read with the purpose of formulating a judgment based on what they have read. Increasingly, the documents to be used are available electronically. This adds to the complexity of the task. In the presented study, seven participants read two sets of articles that were used to

The Effect of Task-based Activities on EFL Learners' Reading Comprehension

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Naemeh Nahavandi

2011-01-01

the major problems is students' unwillingness to take part in reading classes. Reading classes seem boring for students who find no occasion to show their ability and no need to challenge their brain to answer teachers' display questions.

The eye-voice span during reading aloud

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Jochen eLaubrock

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Although eye movements during reading are modulated by cognitive processing demands, they also reflect visual sampling of the input, and possibly preparation of output for speech or the inner voice. By simultaneously recording eye movements and the voice during reading aloud, we obtained an output measure that constrains the length of time spent on cognitive processing. Here we investigate the dynamics of the eye-voice span (EVS, the distance between eye and voice. We show that the EVS is regulated immediately during fixation of a word by either increasing fixation duration or programming a regressive eye movement against the reading direction. EVS size at the beginning of a fixation was positively correlated with the likelihood of regressions and refixations. Regression probability was further increased if the EVS was still large at the end of a fixation: if adjustment of fixation duration did not sufficiently reduce the EVS during a fixation, then a regression rather than a refixation followed with high probability. We further show that the EVS can help understand cognitive influences on fixation duration during reading: in mixed model analyses, the EVS was a stronger predictor of fixation durations than either word frequency or word length. The EVS modulated the influence of several other predictors on single fixation durations. For example, word-N frequency effects were larger with a large EVS, especially when word N-1 frequency was low. Finally, a comparison of single fixation durations during oral and silent reading showed that reading is governed by similar principles in both reading modes, although EVS maintenance and articulatory processing also cause some differences. In summary, the eye-voice span is regulated by adjusting fixation duration and/or by programming a regressive eye movement when the eye-voice span gets too large. Overall, the EVS appears to be directly related to updating of the working memory buffer during reading.

The role of speech prosody and text reading prosody in children's reading comprehension.

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Veenendaal, Nathalie J; Groen, Margriet A; Verhoeven, Ludo

2014-12-01

Text reading prosody has been associated with reading comprehension. However, text reading prosody is a reading-dependent measure that relies heavily on decoding skills. Investigation of the contribution of speech prosody - which is independent from reading skills - in addition to text reading prosody, to reading comprehension could provide more insight into the general role of prosody in reading comprehension. The current study investigates how much variance in reading comprehension scores is explained by speech prosody and text reading prosody, after controlling for decoding, vocabulary, and syntactic awareness. A battery of reading and language assessments was performed by 106 Dutch fourth-grade primary school children. Speech prosody was assessed using a storytelling task and text reading prosody by oral text reading performance. Decoding skills, vocabulary, syntactic awareness, and reading comprehension were assessed using standardized tests. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that text reading prosody explained 6% of variance and that speech prosody explained 8% of variance in reading comprehension scores, after controlling for decoding, vocabulary, and syntactic awareness. Phrasing was the significant factor in both speech and text reading. When added in consecutive order, phrasing in speech added 5% variance to phrasing in reading. In contrast, phrasing in reading added only 3% variance to phrasing in speech. The variance that speech prosody explained in reading comprehension scores should not be neglected. Speech prosody seems to facilitate the construction of meaning in written language. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

The Impact of Visual-Spatial Attention on Reading and Spelling in Chinese Children

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Liu, Duo; Chen, Xi; Wang, Ying

2016-01-01

The present study investigated the associations of visual-spatial attention with word reading fluency and spelling in 92 third grade Hong Kong Chinese children. Word reading fluency was measured with a timed reading task whereas spelling was measured with a dictation task. Results showed that visual-spatial attention was a unique predictor of…

Mind Wandering in Text Comprehension under Dual-Task Conditions

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Peter eDixon

2013-10-01

Full Text Available In two experiments, subjects responded to on-task probes while reading under dual-task conditions. The secondary task was to monitor the text for occurrences of the letter e. In Experiment 1, reading comprehension was assessed with a multiple-choice recognition test; in Experiment 2, subjects recalled the text. In both experiments, the secondary task replicated the well-known missing-letter effect in which detection of e’s was less effective for the word the. Letter detection was also more effective when subjects were on task, but this effect did not interact with the missing-letter effect. Comprehension was assessed in both the dual-task conditions and in a control single-task conditions. In the single-task conditions, both recognition (Experiment 1 and recall (Experiment 2 was better when subjects were on task, replicating previous research on mind wandering. Surprisingly, though, comprehension under dual-task conditions only showed an effect of being on task when measured with recall; there was no effect on recognition performance. Our interpretation of this pattern of results is that subjects generate their response to on-task probes on the basis of a retrospective assessment of the contents of working memory. Further, we argue that under dual-task conditions, the contents of working memory is not related to the reading processes required for accurate recognition performance. These conclusions have implications for models of text comprehension and for the interpretation of on-task probe responses.

Conceptualizing and Assessing Higher-Order Thinking in Reading

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Afflerbach, Peter; Cho, Byeong-Young; Kim, Jong-Yun

2015-01-01

Students engage in higher-order thinking as they read complex texts and perform complex reading-related tasks. However, the most consequential assessments, high-stakes tests, are currently limited in providing information about students' higher-order thinking. In this article, we describe higher-order thinking in relation to reading. We provide a…

Text-fading based training leads to transfer effects on children’s sentence reading fluency

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Telse eNagler

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Previous studies used a text-fading procedure as a training tool with the goal to increase silent reading fluency (i.e., proficient reading rate and comprehension. In recently published studies, this procedure resulted in lasting reading enhancements for adult and adolescent research samples. However, studies working with children reported mixed results. While reading rate improvements were observable for Dutch reading children in a text-fading training study, reading fluency improvements in standardized reading tests post-training attributable to the fading manipulation were not detectable. These results raise the question of whether text-fading training is not effective for children or whether research design issues have concealed possible transfer effects. Hence, the present study sought to investigate possible transfer effects resulting from a text-fading based reading training program, using a modified research design. Over a period of three weeks, two groups of German third-graders read sentences either with an adaptive text-fading procedure or at their self-paced reading rate. A standardized test measuring reading fluency at the word, sentence, and text level was conducted pre- and post-training. Text level reading fluency improved for both groups equally. Post-training gains at the word level were found for the text-fading group, however, no significant interaction between groups was revealed for word reading fluency. Sentence level reading fluency gains were found for the text-fading group, which significantly differed from the group of children reading at their self-paced reading routine. These findings provide evidence for the efficacy of text-fading as a training method for sentence reading fluency improvement also for children.

Working memory influences processing speed and reading fluency in ADHD.

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Jacobson, Lisa A; Ryan, Matthew; Martin, Rebecca B; Ewen, Joshua; Mostofsky, Stewart H; Denckla, Martha B; Mahone, E Mark

2011-01-01

Processing-speed deficits affect reading efficiency, even among individuals who recognize and decode words accurately. Children with ADHD who decode words accurately can still have inefficient reading fluency, leading to a bottleneck in other cognitive processes. This "slowing" in ADHD is associated with deficits in fundamental components of executive function underlying processing speed, including response selection. The purpose of the present study was to deconstruct processing speed in order to determine which components of executive control best explain the "processing" speed deficits related to reading fluency in ADHD. Participants (41 ADHD, 21 controls), ages 9-14 years, screened for language disorders, word reading deficits, and psychiatric disorders, were administered measures of copying speed, processing speed, reading fluency, working memory, reaction time, inhibition, and auditory attention span. Compared to controls, children with ADHD showed reduced oral and silent reading fluency and reduced processing speed-driven primarily by deficits on WISC-IV Coding. In contrast, groups did not differ on copying speed. After controlling for copying speed, sex, severity of ADHD-related symptomatology, and GAI, slowed "processing" speed (i.e., Coding) was significantly associated with verbal span and measures of working memory but not with measures of response control/inhibition, lexical retrieval speed, reaction time, or intrasubject variability. Further, "processing" speed (i.e., Coding, residualized for copying speed) and working memory were significant predictors of oral reading fluency. Abnormalities in working memory and response selection (which are frontally mediated and enter into the output side of processing speed) may play an important role in deficits in reading fluency in ADHD, potentially more than posteriorally mediated problems with orienting of attention or perceiving the stimulus.

Prevalence of silent gastrointestinal complications in maintenance renal transplant population

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Teplitsky Susan

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This study aims to determine the prevalence of silent GI complications within a stable renal transplant population and to investigate whether the conversion to enteric-coated myco-phenolate sodium (EC-MPS, Myfortic; would improve symptom scores. This was a single-center, open-label, non-randomized, prospective study. Patients without any history of GI com-plaints were evaluated by means of the gastrointestinal symptom rating scale (GSRS, with subse-quent switch to EC-MPS in a group of patients. Silent complications were defined as patients who voiced no GI complaints at clinic visits despite a score of ≥ 2 on GSRS scale. A total of 236 stable patients participated in the trial. The prevalence of baseline scores ≥ 2 was relatively high with abdominal pain 29.66%, reflux 37.28%, indigestion 50%, constipation 58.47% and diarrhea 33.4%. Of 236 patients, 80 were converted to EC-MPS. There was statistically significant improvement on all scales in the subgroup of patients with GSRS score ≥ 2 (P< 0.05. In conclusion, the GSRS scale identified a high percentage of silent gastrointestinal complications in this renal transplant population. The converted patients with higher GSRS scores reported a sustained improvement.

The Application of Task- oriented Teaching Approach to Enhancing Communicative Competence of EFL

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LI Mingxin

2014-02-01

Full Text Available To communicate is the primary goal of most foreign language learning (EFL. As an important component of the four macro skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing, reading should also serve this purpose. However, traditional methodology still dominates extensive reading teaching in most of the universities. To promote a communicative extensive reading class, we may start by designing various tasks and activities. This paper introduces a task-oriented approach in English extensive reading class. According to Nunan, task-oriented teaching involves learners in the classroom to comprehend, manipulate, produce or interact in the target language, but the focus is on the meaning rather than the form. In light of psycholinguistic model and schema theory model, the methodology covers information-gap activity, opinion-gap activity and reasoning-gap activity which can be run in the class. The task-approaches make the interaction between teacher and students, students and students more active and meaningful. Skills of reading to solve communicative problems are always treated consciously. This approach may hopefully result in some improvement on the teaching of English reading.

Task-based incidental vocabulary learning in L2 Arabic: The role of proficiency and task performance

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Ayman A. Mohamed

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This study tests the claim that word learning in a second language are contingent upon a task’s involvement load (i.e. the amount of need, search, and evaluation it imposes, as proposed by Laufer and Hulstijn (2001. Fifty-three English-speaking learners of Arabic were assigned to one of three vocabulary learning tasks that varied in the degree of involvement: reading comprehension with glosses (low, fill-in-the-gap task (medium, and sentence writing (high. Ten words, selected based on a pretest, were targeted in the tasks. Results showed a main effect of task, with the sentence writing task yielding the highest rates of vocabulary learning, followed by the gap-fill task, and finally the reading comprehension task. A significant correlation was found between accuracy of performance across participants and their subsequent vocabulary acquisition in the immediate posttest. Within groups, only the performance of the writing group correlated significantly with their posttest scores. Results of the present study validate the hypothesis and point to multiple factors at play in incidental vocabulary acquisition. The study provides further arguments to refine the hypothesis and implement pedagogical practices that accommodate incidental learning in foreign language settings.

Functional anatomy of listening and reading comprehension during development.

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Berl, Madison M; Duke, Elizabeth S; Mayo, Jessica; Rosenberger, Lisa R; Moore, Erin N; VanMeter, John; Ratner, Nan Bernstein; Vaidya, Chandan J; Gaillard, William Davis

2010-08-01

Listening and reading comprehension of paragraph-length material are considered higher-order language skills fundamental to social and academic functioning. Using ecologically relevant language stimuli that were matched for difficulty according to developmental level, we analyze the effects of task, age, neuropsychological skills, and post-task performance on fMRI activation and hemispheric laterality. Areas of supramodal language processing are identified, with the most robust region being left-lateralized activation along the superior temporal sulcus. Functionally, this conjunction has a role in semantic and syntactic processing, leading us to refer to this conjunction as "comprehension cortex." Different from adults, supramodal areas for children include less extensive inferior frontal gyrus but more extensive right cerebellum and right temporal pole. Broader neuroanatomical pathways are recruited for reading, reflecting the more active processing and larger set of cognitive demands needed for reading compared to listening to stories. ROI analyses reveal that reading is a less lateralized language task than listening in inferior frontal and superior temporal areas, which likely reflects the difficulty of the task as children in this study are still developing their reading skills. For listening to stories, temporal activation is stable by age four with no correlations with age, neuropsychological skills or post-task performance. In contrast, frontal activation during listening to stories occurs more often in older children, and frontal activation is positively correlated with better performance on comprehension questions, suggesting that the activation of frontal networks may reflect greater integration and depth of story processing. 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Teacher perceptions affect boys’ and girls’ reading motivation differently

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Boerma, I.E.; Mol, S.E.; Jolles, J.

2015-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between teacher perceptions and children's reading motivation, with specific attention to gender differences. The reading self-concept, task value, and attitude of 160 fifth and sixth graders were measured. Teachers rated each student's reading

Examining the Relationship between Free Recall and Immediate Serial Recall: The Effect of Concurrent Task Performance

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Bhatarah, Parveen; Ward, Geoff; Tan, Lydia

2006-01-01

In 3 experiments, participants saw lists of 16 words for free recall with or without a 6-digit immediate serial recall (ISR) task after each word. Free recall was performed under standard visual silent and spoken-aloud conditions (Experiment 1), overt rehearsal conditions (Experiment 2), and fixed rehearsal conditions (Experiment 3). The authors…

Is Reading Instruction Evidence-Based? Analyzing Teaching Practices Using T-Patterns.

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Suárez, Natalia; Sánchez, Carmen R; Jiménez, Juan E; Anguera, M Teresa

2018-01-01

The main goal of this study was to analyze whether primary teachers use evidence-based reading instruction for primary-grade readers. The study sample consisted of six teachers whose teaching was recorded. The observation instrument used was developed ad hoc for this study. The recording instrument used was Match Vision Studio. The data analysis was performed using SAS, GT version 2.0 E, and THEME. The results indicated that the teaching practices used most frequently and for the longest duration were: feedback (i.e., correcting the student when reading); fluency (i.e., individual and group reading, both out loud and silently, with and without intonation); literal or inference comprehension exercises (i.e., summarizing, asking questions); and use of educational resources (i.e., stories, songs, poems). Later, we conducted analyses of T-Patterns that showed the sequence of instruction in detail. We can conclude that practices used by the majority of teachers were based on the recommendations of the National Reading Panel (NRP). Only one teacher followed best practices. The same was the case for instructional time spent on the five essential components of reading, with the exception of teacher E., who dedicated 70.31% of class time implementing best practices. Teaching practices (i.e., learners' activities) designed and implemented to exercise and master alphabetic knowledge and phonological awareness skills were used less frequently in the classroom.

Silent Circulation of Ross River Virus in French Polynesia

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Maite Aubry

2015-08-01

Discussion: Our results support the existence of autochthonous RRV transmission and suggest that this pathogen has silently circulated in French Polynesia. These findings raise the question of possible undetected circulation of RRV in other Pacific Island Countries and Territories.

How to teach children reading and spelling

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Bosman, A.M.T.; Schraven, J.L.M.; Segers, E.; Broek, P. van den

2017-01-01

The effectiveness of the Dutch reading and spelling didactic 'How to teach children reading and spelling' (HTCRS), developed by Schraven (1994/2013) was empirically tested in children attending special education. HTCRS is based on the principles of direct and classroom instruction, and the task

Silent Bodies: Japanese taciturnity and image thinking

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Ana Došen

2017-03-01

Full Text Available A nonverbal transmission and an implicit way of communication are highly encouraged in Japanese society. The reason for this “silence prerogative” is often found in historical facts of lengthy feudal era or in ancient philosophies and religions such as Buddhism and Confucianism and their various concepts which privilege taciturn way of communication. Moreover, the unspoken comprehension is often complemented by the attitude which equates truthfulness with silence. This paper explores the silence as a communicative act in the domain of Japanese art, where the body takes over the place of the language. In traditional Japanese theatrical performance, such as noh, words are often inadequate to convey emotion and therefore the aesthetics of emptiness, understatement and abstraction is transcended by the masks with "nonmoving lips". Drawing on theoretical perspectives from both East and West, I argue that the silent bodies operate as deliberate and integral determinants of Japanese non-silent art forms – especially in cinema and theatre. In the Eastern thought, visual perception is fundamental in cognition of the world, whereas auditory discernment is secondary to "image-thinking" (Yuasa. Accustomed to taciturnity, Japanese audience effectively corresponds to the performance and "completes" it in silence.

[Attempt for development of rapid word reading test for children--evaluation of reliability and validity].

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Hashimoto, Ryusaku; Kashiwagi, Mitsuru; Suzuki, Shuhei

2008-09-01

We developed a rapid word reading test for examining the phonological processing ability of Japanese children. We prepared two versions of the test, version A and B. Each test has word and non-word tasks. Twenty-two healthy boys of third grade in primary schools participated in this validation study. For criterion related validity, we performed the serial Hiragana reading test, the sentence reading test, Raven's coloured progressive matrices (RCPM), the Token test for children, the Kana word dictation test, the standardized comprehension test of abstract words (SCTAW), and Trail Circle test. The reading times of the newly developed test correlated moderately or highly with those of the serial Hiragana reading test and the sentence reading test. However, the scores of the other tests (RCPM, Token test for children, Kana word dictation test, SCTAW, Trail Circle test) did not correlated with the reading time of the rapid word reading test. Test-retest reliabilities in the word tasks were more than moderate: 0.52 and 0.76 in versions A and B, while those in the non-word tasks were high: 0.91 and 0.88 in versions A and B. The correlation coefficient between versions A and B was 0.7 for the word tasks and 0.92 for the non-word tasks. This study showed that the rapid word reading test has substantial validity and reliability for testing the phonological processing ability of Japanese children. In addition, the non-word tasks were more suitable for selectively examining the speed of the grapheme to phoneme conversion process.

Auditory short-term memory activation during score reading.

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Simoens, Veerle L; Tervaniemi, Mari

2013-01-01

Performing music on the basis of reading a score requires reading ahead of what is being played in order to anticipate the necessary actions to produce the notes. Score reading thus not only involves the decoding of a visual score and the comparison to the auditory feedback, but also short-term storage of the musical information due to the delay of the auditory feedback during reading ahead. This study investigates the mechanisms of encoding of musical information in short-term memory during such a complicated procedure. There were three parts in this study. First, professional musicians participated in an electroencephalographic (EEG) experiment to study the slow wave potentials during a time interval of short-term memory storage in a situation that requires cross-modal translation and short-term storage of visual material to be compared with delayed auditory material, as it is the case in music score reading. This delayed visual-to-auditory matching task was compared with delayed visual-visual and auditory-auditory matching tasks in terms of EEG topography and voltage amplitudes. Second, an additional behavioural experiment was performed to determine which type of distractor would be the most interfering with the score reading-like task. Third, the self-reported strategies of the participants were also analyzed. All three parts of this study point towards the same conclusion according to which during music score reading, the musician most likely first translates the visual score into an auditory cue, probably starting around 700 or 1300 ms, ready for storage and delayed comparison with the auditory feedback.

Students with Attention Deficit Disorder Carrying out Tasks of Reading Comprehension and Text Production: A Comparative Study in 4th-Grade Students of Primary Education in Chile

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Fabián Andrés Inostroza-Inostroza

2017-01-01

The present article aims to compare the performance in students with Attention Deficit Disorder to those who do not present it, in tasks of reading comprehension and text production carried out by students attending the fourth grade of primary education. This quantitative, non-experimental comparative study aims to provide evidence regarding the way in which this condition limits the learning outcomes in the tasks of comprehension and production of texts, language, and communication. One the ...

Prediction of Learning and Comprehension when Adolescents Read Multiple Texts: The Roles of Word-Level Processing, Strategic Approach, and Reading Motivation

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Braten, Ivar; Ferguson, Leila E.; Anmarkrud, Oistein; Stromso, Helge I.

2013-01-01

Sixty-five Norwegian 10th graders used the software Read&Answer 2.0 (Vidal-Abarca et al., 2011) to read five different texts presenting conflicting views on the controversial scientific issue of sun exposure and health. Participants were administered a multiple-choice topic-knowledge measure before and after reading, a word recognition task,…

Isquemia miocárdica silente en diabéticos tipo 2 Silent myocardial ischemia in type 2 diabetes patients

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Yordanka Piña Rivera

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Objetivos: determinar la frecuencia de isquemia miocárdica silente en diabéticos tipo 2 y su relación con el control metabólico. Métodos: se realizó un estudio descriptivo transversal en 79 pacientes asintomáticos con diabetes mellitus tipo 2 sin antecedentes de cardiopatía isquémica, hipertensión arterial o de ser fumador, que acudieron a la Consulta de Endocrinología del Hospital Militar Central "Dr. Carlos J. Finlay", entre febrero de 2009 y febrero de 2011. Se les realizó ecocardiografía con doppler tisular y se determinaron los niveles de glucemia en ayunas, posprandial, hemoglobina glucosilada, colesterol y triglicéridos. Las variables clínicas analizadas en relación con la isquemia miocárdica silente fueron: edad, sexo, tiempo de evolución de la diabetes e índice de masa corporal. Para las variables cualitativas se utilizaron distribuciones de frecuencia con el cálculo del porcentaje y para establecer relación entre variables la prueba de chi cuadrado. Resultados: la edad media del total de pacientes fue de 54 años, de ellos el 69,1 % correspondió al sexo masculino y el 31,9 % al femenino. En el 20,2 % de los pacientes se observaron signos de isquemia miocárdica por doppler tisular, y de ellos, un 75 % tuvo niveles patológicos de colesterol total, con relación estadísticamente significativa (p= 0,01, sujetos que tuvieron 4,4 veces más riesgo relativo de presentar isquemia miocárdica, que los pacientes con colesterol normal. Las cifras de glucemia en ayunas, posprandial y hemoglobina glucosilada fueron significativamente mayor en el grupo con isquemia. Los pacientes con niveles elevados de glucemia en ayunas tuvieron 10,5 veces más riesgo de isquemia miocárdica que los que tenían cifras adecuadas. Igualmente, los casos con cifras elevadas de glucemia posprandial presentaron 12 veces más riesgo de enfermar. Conclusiones: la isquemia miocárdica silente es frecuente en los diabéticos tipo 2 y se relaciona

The Effect of Task-Based Activities on EFL Learners' Reading Comprehension

Science.gov (United States)

Nahavandi, Naemeh

2011-01-01

Nowadays, preparing learners to communicate successfully in language classes is of utmost importance. But teachers face a lot of difficulties in teaching English in EFL contexts. One of the major problems is students' unwillingness to take part in reading classes. Reading classes seem boring for students who find no occasion to show their ability…

Silent ischemia and beta-blockade

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Egstrup, K

1991-01-01

and should also be directed at the other coronary artery risk factors of the patients. The effects of beta-blockers, which reduce the duration and frequency of silent ischemic episodes, is well described. The effect is most pronounced in the morning, when the frequency of ischemia is highest......, and the mechanism of action seems mainly mediated through a reduction in myocardial oxygen demand. beta-Blockers have shown effectiveness in both effort-induced angina and mixed angina, and increased anti-ischemic potency may be achieved by combination therapy with a calcium antagonist. Abrupt withdrawal of beta-blockers...

γ-oscillations modulated by picture naming and word reading: intracranial recording in epileptic patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Helen C; Nagasawa, Tetsuro; Brown, Erik C; Juhasz, Csaba; Rothermel, Robert; Hoechstetter, Karsten; Shah, Aashit; Mittal, Sandeep; Fuerst, Darren; Sood, Sandeep; Asano, Eishi

2011-10-01

We measured cortical gamma-oscillations in response to visual-language tasks consisting of picture naming and word reading in an effort to better understand human visual-language pathways. We studied six patients with focal epilepsy who underwent extraoperative electrocorticography (ECoG) recording. Patients were asked to overtly name images presented sequentially in the picture naming task and to overtly read written words in the reading task. Both tasks commonly elicited gamma-augmentation (maximally at 80-100 Hz) on ECoG in the occipital, inferior-occipital-temporal and inferior-Rolandic areas, bilaterally. Picture naming, compared to reading task, elicited greater gamma-augmentation in portions of pre-motor areas as well as occipital and inferior-occipital-temporal areas, bilaterally. In contrast, word reading elicited greater gamma-augmentation in portions of bilateral occipital, left occipital-temporal and left superior-posterior-parietal areas. Gamma-attenuation was elicited by both tasks in portions of posterior cingulate and ventral premotor-prefrontal areas bilaterally. The number of letters in a presented word was positively correlated to the degree of gamma-augmentation in the medial occipital areas. Gamma-augmentation measured on ECoG identified cortical areas commonly and differentially involved in picture naming and reading tasks. Longer words may activate the primary visual cortex for the more peripheral field. The present study increases our understanding of the visual-language pathways. Copyright © 2011 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Discourse Memory and Reading Comprehension Skill

Science.gov (United States)

Perfetti, Charles A.; Goldman, Susan R.

1976-01-01

A study is reported in which short-term memory capacity, estimated by a probe digit task, and memory for structured language, measured by a probe discourse task, were investigated in an experiment with third and fifth grade IQ-matched children representing two levels of reading comprehension skill. (Author/RM)

University Students' Reading of Their First-Year Mathematics Textbooks

Science.gov (United States)

Shepherd, Mary D.; Selden, Annie; Selden, John

2012-01-01

This article reports the observed behaviors and difficulties that 11 precalculus and calculus students exhibited in reading new passages from their mathematics textbooks. To gauge the "effectiveness" of these students' reading, we asked them to attempt straightforward mathematical tasks, based directly on what they had just read. The…

SHAPING OUR READING CLASSROOM ALIVE

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Ani Purjayanti

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Reading Comprehension has been determined (by the Director of First Common Year Program to be one of the core subjects for the first year IPB students, either in semester one or two. With the objective of being able to read English texts effectively and efficiently, the teaching of reading for these undergraduate programs are basically confined to skills that can develop reading speed and improve students‘ comprehension and reasoning abilities. Thus, skills like finding both general and specific ideas, guessing unknown words, finding meanings from English-English dictionary, predicting, ad nfinding inferences are those need to be covered. Such kind of teaching, however, can sometimes become a demanding task when dealing with certain classroom conditions and with certain targets. It is, therefore, a challenge for all English teachers in my university to be able to carry out the task well so as to achieve the above teaching objectives. Meanwhile, students‘ evaluation reveals that 3 semesters ago, teachers obtained various scores in their teaching evaluation, ranging from 2 to 3.7 out of the 1-4 scale. This paper, accordingly, is written to find out the teaching method and strategies used by those obtaining relatively good scores (3.2 and above in order to disseminate them as better insights for the teaching of reading not only in my university but also other schools or colleges.

Transfer of an induced preferred retinal locus of fixation to everyday life visual tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Barraza-Bernal, Maria J; Rifai, Katharina; Wahl, Siegfried

2017-12-01

Subjects develop a preferred retinal locus of fixation (PRL) under simulation of central scotoma. If systematic relocations are applied to the stimulus position, PRLs manifest at a location in favor of the stimulus relocation. The present study investigates whether the induced PRL is transferred to important visual tasks in daily life, namely pursuit eye movements, signage reading, and text reading. Fifteen subjects with normal sight participated in the study. To develop a PRL, all subjects underwent a scotoma simulation in a prior study, where five subjects were trained to develop the PRL in the left hemifield, five different subjects on the right hemifield, and the remaining five subjects could naturally chose the PRL location. The position of this PRL was used as baseline. Under central scotoma simulation, subjects performed a pursuit task, a signage reading task, and a reading-text task. In addition, retention of the behavior was also studied. Results showed that the PRL position was transferred to the pursuit task and that the vertical location of the PRL was maintained on the text reading task. However, when reading signage, a function-driven change in PRL location was observed. In addition, retention of the PRL position was observed over weeks and months. These results indicate that PRL positions can be induced and may further transferred to everyday life visual tasks, without hindering function-driven changes in PRL position.

Scoring an Abstract Contemporary Silent Film

OpenAIRE

Frost, Crystal

2014-01-01

I composed an original digital audio film score with full sound design for a contemporary silent film called Apple Tree. The film is highly conceptual and interpretive and required a very involved, intricate score to successfully tell the story. In the process of scoring this film, I learned new ways to convey an array of contrasting emotions through music and sound. After analyzing the film's emotional journey, I determined that six defining emotions were the foundation on which to build an ...

Low fetal hemoglobin percentage is associated with silent brain lesions in adults with homozygous sickle cell disease

OpenAIRE

Calvet, David; Tuilier, Titien; Mélé, Nicolas; Turc, Guillaume; Habibi, Anoosha; Abdallah, Nassim Ait; Majhadi, Loubna; Hemery, François; Edjlali, Myriam; Galacteros, Frédéric; Bartolucci, Pablo

2017-01-01

Low %HbF is independently associated with silent WMCs on brain imaging in adults with SCD.Our results highlight the potential use of therapeutic strategies inducing HbF expression in SCD patients with silent white matter changes.

Does ability to establish sound-symbol pairings mediate the RAN reading relationship?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Poulsen, Mads; Juul, Holger; Elbro, Carsten

for animals in a paired associate learning task. These animals were then used in a rapid naming task. Results Preliminary results show that reading correlated with the amount of training required for learning the animal names (r=-.19, p=.06). RAN speed with the same animals did not correlate with reading......Performance on tests to rapidly name letters and digits has been shown to correlate with reading. One possible reason is that these tests probe the ability to learn and automatise symbol-sound associations. However, most studies have not controlled for the amount of experience with the RAN......-items, so it is unclear whether it is the experience or the ability to take advantage of the experience that is responsible for the correlation between RAN and reading. Paired associate learning tasks have been shown to differentiate dyslexics from controls, and to correlate with reading in unselected...

Processing implicit control: evidence from reading times

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Michael eMcCourt

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Sentences such as The ship was sunk to collect the insurance exhibit an unusual form of anaphora, implicit control, where neither anaphor nor antecedent is audible. The nonfinite reason clause has an understood subject, PRO, that is anaphoric; here it may be understood as naming the agent of the event of the host clause. Yet since the host is a short passive, this agent is realized by no audible dependent. The putative antecedent to PRO is therefore implicit, which it normally cannot be. What sorts of representations subserve the comprehension of this dependency? Here we present four self-paced reading time studies directed at this question. Previous work showed no processing cost for implicit versus explicit control, and took this to support the view that PRO is linked syntactically to a silent argument in the passive. We challenge this conclusion by reporting that we also find no processing cost for remote implicit control, as in: The ship was sunk. The reason was to collect the insurance. Here the dependency crosses two independent sentences, and so cannot, we argue, be mediated by syntax. Our Experiments 1-4 examined the processing of both implicit (short passive and explicit (active or long passive control in both local and remote configurations. Experiments 3 and 4 added either three days ago or just in order to the local conditions, to control for the distance between the passive and infinitival verbs, and for the predictability of the reason clause, respectively. We replicate the finding that implicit control does not impose an additional processing cost. But critically we show that remote control does not impose a processing cost either. Reading times at the reason clause were never slower when control was remote. In fact they were always faster. Thus efficient processing of local implicit control cannot show that implicit control is mediated by syntax; nor, in turn, that there is a silent but grammatically active argument in passives.

Metacognitive Online Reading Strategies Applied by EFL Students

OpenAIRE

İnceçay, Görsev

2013-01-01

ABSTRACTThe purpose of the present study is twofold. It investigated both what metacognitive online reading strategies the Turkish EFL students report using for academic purposes; and how they use the reported strategies in actual reading tasks. Data came from Online Survey of Reading Strategies (Anderson, 2003), think-aloud protocols and post-reading interview. Results of this study revealed that the students who participated in this study reported a wide range of metacognitive strategies wh...

Anamnesis and the Silent Narrator in Plato and John

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George L. Parsenios

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The Gospel of John is often compared to the dialogues of Plato by those who connect Johannine theology and Platonic philosophy. The comparison operates on the level of ideas. The present paper does not ignore issues of theology and philosophy but grounds a comparison of John and Plato first and foremost on the literary level. In several key places in John 1, 3, and 14, the Johannine narrator recedes from view and is unexpectedly silent where one would expect a narrator’s comment to organize the conversations and interactions between characters in John. Plato also renders the voice of the narrator silent in a dialogue like the Theaetetus. This paper argues that John and Plato both suppress the narrator’s voice in order to further their anamnetic efforts and to make later generations not only readers but participants in their original conversations.

Effects of reading speed on second-language sentence processing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kaan, Edith; Ballantyne, Jocelyn C.; Wijnen, Frank

2014-01-01

To test the effects of reading speed on second-language (L2) sentence processing and the potential influence of conflicting native language word order, we compared advanced L2 learners of English with native English speakers on a self-paced reading task. L2 learners read faster overall than native

Clinical study of correlation of pre-senile and senile depressive stage with silent cerebral infarction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujikawa, Tokumi; Yamawaki, Shigeto; Fujita, Yasunobu; Shibata, Youko; Touhouda, Yoshikuni.

1992-01-01

The relationship between the pre-senile/senile depressive state and silent cerebral infarction was examined by MRI. Consecutive 56 depressive patients aged 50 years or older underwnt MRI. MRI revealed silent cerebral infarction in 60.3% of patients in whom depression occurred at the age of less than 65 years. The complication rate was significantly higher in these patients than the younger patients (60.9% vs 20%). Complications of silent cerebral infarction were found in 53.6% for patients in whom depression occurred at the age of less than 65 years and symptoms were deteriorated at the age of 65 years or older and in 100% for patients in whom it occurred at the age of 65 years or older and hospitalization was simultaneously required. These figures were remarkably higher than the age-related complication rate of silent cerebral infarction in non-depressive normal persons. This suggested that approximately half of depressive patients of pre-senile onset and majority of depressive patients of senile onset might have parenchymal involvement due to silent cerebral infarction. Both perforating-type and cortical-type infarcts were found. This has a implication for the involvement of multiple infarct-related foci in depressive state. For cortical-type infarcts, partial lesions were predominant, followed by frontal and temporal lesions. The incidence of left frontal infarcts was significanly higher than that of right frontal infarcts. Infarcts in both the parietal and left frontal lobes may be responsible for depressive state. (N.K.)

Reading, syntactic, orthographic, and working memory skills of bilingual Arabic-English speaking Canadian children.

Science.gov (United States)

Abu-Rabia, Salim; Siegel, Linda S

2002-11-01

This study assessed the reading, language, and memory skills of 56 bilingual Arab-Canadian children age's 9-14. English was their main instructional language, and Arabic was the language spoken at home. All children attended a Heritage Language Program in Toronto where they were taught to read and write Arabic. The children were administered word and pseudo-word reading, language, and working memory tests in English and Arabic. The majority of the children showed at least adequate proficiency in both languages. There was a significant relationship between the acquisition of word and pseudo-word reading working memory, and syntactic awareness skills in the two languages. The poor readers in Arabic had lower scores on all linguistic tasks, except the visual task. There were no significant differences between bilingual English Arabic children and monolingual English-speaking children on the reading, language, and memory tasks. However, bilingual English Arabic children who had reading problems in English had higher scores on English pseudo-word reading and spelling tasks than monolingual English-speaking children with reading disabilities, probably because of positive transfer from the regular nature of Arabic orthography. In this case, bilingualism does not appear to have negative consequences for the development of language reading skills in both languages--Arabic and English--despite the different nature of the two orthographies.

Reading skills, creativity, and insight: exploring the connections.

Science.gov (United States)

Mourgues, Catalina V; Preiss, David D; Grigorenko, Elena L

2014-08-04

Studies of the relationship between creativity and specific reading disabilities have produced inconclusive results. We explored their relationship in a sample of 259 college students (age range: 17 to 38 years-old) from three Chilean universities. The students were tested on their verbal ability, creativity, and insight. A simple linear regression was performed on the complete sample, and on high- and low-achievement groups that were formed based on reading test scores. We observed a significant correlation in the total sample between outcomes on the verbal ability tasks, and on the creativity and insight tasks (range r =. 152 to r =. 356, ps creativity and insight tasks (range β = .315 to β = .155, ps creative tasks. Instead, higher verbal ability was found to be associated with higher creativity and insight.

From word reading to multisentence comprehension: Improvements in brain activity in children with autism after reading intervention

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Donna L. Murdaugh

2017-01-01

Conclusions: Our results provide evidence for differential recruitment of brain regions based on task demands in children with ASD, and support the potential of targeted interventions to alter brain activation in response to positive gains in treatment. Children with ASD have a different reading profile from other reading disorders that needs to be specifically targeted in interventions.

Reading comprehension in Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, Laura L; Rutledge, Stefanie

2014-05-01

Although individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) self-report reading problems and experience difficulties in cognitive-linguistic functions that support discourse-level reading, prior research has primarily focused on sentence-level processing and auditory comprehension. Accordingly, the authors investigated the presence and nature of reading comprehension in PD, hypothesizing that (a) individuals with PD would display impaired accuracy and/or speed on reading comprehension tests and (b) reading performances would be correlated with cognitive test results. Eleven adults with PD and 9 age- and education-matched control participants completed tests that evaluated reading comprehension; general language and cognitive abilities; and aspects of attention, memory, and executive functioning. The PD group obtained significantly lower scores on several, but not all, reading comprehension, language, and cognitive measures. Memory, language, and disease severity were significantly correlated with reading comprehension for the PD group. Individuals in the early stages of PD without dementia or broad cognitive deficits can display reading comprehension difficulties, particularly for high- versus basic-level reading tasks. These reading difficulties are most closely related to memory, high-level language, and PD symptom severity status. The findings warrant additional research to delineate further the types and nature of reading comprehension impairments experienced by individuals with PD.

Development and Evaluation of a Remedial Reading Workbook for Navy Training.

Science.gov (United States)

1979-12-01

effective. Currently the Navy is considering establishing remedial programs for class "A" schools and apprentice training schools and also expanding the...add silent e) 6. stem (add silent a) 3. rip (add silent e) 7. strip (add silent e) 4. per (add silent i) 8. for (add silent e) Exercise 3 WHAT TO DO...lungs. Quickly I slid my chair behind his, and placed my arms around his body from behind, with my right hand, curled in a fist, positioned slightly

Symbol-String Sensitivity and Children's Reading

Science.gov (United States)

Pammer, Kristen; Lavis, Ruth; Hansen, Peter; Cornelissen, Piers L.

2004-01-01

In this study of primary school children, a novel "symbol-string" task is used to assess sensitivity to the position of briefly presented non-alphabetic but letter-like symbols. The results demonstrate that sensitivity in the symbol-string task explains a unique proportion of the variability in children's contextual reading accuracy. Moreover,…

Adult reading teachers’ beliefs about how less-skilled adult readers can be taught to read.

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Janet McHardy

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Despite large-scale interventions, significant numbers of adults worldwide continue to have problems with basic literacy, in particular in the area of reading. To be effective, adult reading teachers need expert knowledge at practitioner level. However, practices in adult reading education vary widely, often reflecting the individual beliefs of each teacher about how an adult can learn to read. In this study, phenomenographic analysis was used to identify categories of approaches to teaching adult reading, used by a group of 60 teachers in Western Australia and New Zealand. Four approaches were identified: reassurance, task-based, theory-based and responsive. It is argued that for teachers to become effective and consistent in responding to learner needs, they must understand their own beliefs and the consequences of these. The identification of different approaches in adult reading education is an important step in this process.

The eye movements of dyslexic children during reading and visual search: impact of the visual attention span.

Science.gov (United States)

Prado, Chloé; Dubois, Matthieu; Valdois, Sylviane

2007-09-01

The eye movements of 14 French dyslexic children having a VA span reduction and 14 normal readers were compared in two tasks of visual search and text reading. The dyslexic participants made a higher number of rightward fixations in reading only. They simultaneously processed the same low number of letters in both tasks whereas normal readers processed far more letters in reading. Importantly, the children's VA span abilities related to the number of letters simultaneously processed in reading. The atypical eye movements of some dyslexic readers in reading thus appear to reflect difficulties to increase their VA span according to the task request.

Detecting Silent Data Corruption for Extreme-Scale Applications through Data Mining

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bautista-Gomez, Leonardo [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Cappello, Franck [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

2014-01-16

Supercomputers allow scientists to study natural phenomena by means of computer simulations. Next-generation machines are expected to have more components and, at the same time, consume several times less energy per operation. These trends are pushing supercomputer construction to the limits of miniaturization and energy-saving strategies. Consequently, the number of soft errors is expected to increase dramatically in the coming years. While mechanisms are in place to correct or at least detect some soft errors, a significant percentage of those errors pass unnoticed by the hardware. Such silent errors are extremely damaging because they can make applications silently produce wrong results. In this work we propose a technique that leverages certain properties of high-performance computing applications in order to detect silent errors at the application level. Our technique detects corruption solely based on the behavior of the application datasets and is completely application-agnostic. We propose multiple corruption detectors, and we couple them to work together in a fashion transparent to the user. We demonstrate that this strategy can detect the majority of the corruptions, while incurring negligible overhead. We show that with the help of these detectors, applications can have up to 80% of coverage against data corruption.

Cross-lagged relations between teacher and parent ratings of children's task avoidance and different literacy skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Georgiou, George K; Hirvonen, Riikka; Manolitsis, George; Nurmi, Jari-Erik

2017-09-01

Task avoidance is a significant predictor of literacy skills. However, it remains unclear whether the relation between the two is reciprocal and whether it is affected by the type of literacy outcome, who is rating children's task avoidance, and the children's gender. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the cross-lagged relations between teacher and parent ratings of children's task avoidance and different literacy skills. One hundred and seventy-two Greek children (91 girls, 81 boys) were followed from Grade 1 to Grade 3. Children were assessed on reading accuracy, reading fluency, and spelling to dictation. Parents and teachers rated the children's task-avoidant behaviour. Results of structural equation modelling showed that the cross-lagged relations varied as a function of the literacy outcome, who rated the children's task avoidance, and children's gender. Earlier reading and spelling performance predicted subsequent parent-rated task avoidance, but parent-rated task avoidance did not predict subsequent reading and spelling performance (with the exception of spelling in Grade 3). Teacher-rated task avoidance and reading fluency/spelling had a reciprocal relationship over time. In addition, the effects of teacher-rated task avoidance on future spelling were significantly stronger in boys than in girls. This suggests that poor reading and spelling performance can lead to subsequent task avoidance in both classroom and home situations. The fact that task avoidance permeates across different learning environments is alarming and calls for joint action from both parents and teachers to mitigate its negative impact on learning. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Exploring the association between visual perception abilities and reading of musical notation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Horng-Yih

2012-06-01

In the reading of music, the acquisition of pitch information depends primarily upon the spatial position of notes as well as upon an individual's spatial processing ability. This study investigated the relationship between the ability to read single notes and visual-spatial ability. Participants with high and low single-note reading abilities were differentiated based upon differences in musical notation-reading abilities and their spatial processing; object recognition abilities were then assessed. It was found that the group with lower note-reading abilities made more errors than did the group with a higher note-reading abilities in the mental rotation task. In contrast, there was no apparent significant difference between the two groups in the object recognition task. These results suggest that note-reading may be related to visual spatial processing abilities, and not to an individual's ability with object recognition.

Contextual knowledge reduces demands on working memory during reading.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Lisa M Soederberg; Cohen, Jason A; Wingfield, Arthur

2006-09-01

An experiment is reported in which young, middle-aged, and older adults read and recalled ambiguous texts either with or without the topic title that supplied contextual knowledge. Within each of the age groups, the participants were divided into those with high or low working memory (WM) spans, with available WM capacity further manipulated by the presence or absence of an auditory target detection task concurrent with the reading task. Differences in reading efficiency (reading time per proposition recalled) between low WM span and high WM span groups were greater among readers who had access to contextual knowledge relative to those who did not, suggesting that contextual knowledge reduces demands on WM capacity. This position was further supported by the finding that increased age and attentional demands, two factors associated with reduced WM capacity, exaggerated the benefits of contextual knowledge on reading efficiency. The relative strengths of additional potential predictors of reading efficiency (e.g., interest, effort, and memory beliefs), along with knowledge, WM span, and age, are reported. Findings showed that contextual knowledge was the strongest predictor of reading efficiency even after controlling for the effects of all of the other predictors.

〈Articles〉The Utility of Reading Strategies and Its Connection to Reading Self-Efficacy

OpenAIRE

Lance, Burrows

2016-01-01

[Abstract] Self-efficacy is the expectation that one can successfully complete a particular task within a specific domain.　Although it has been used to predict human behavior in several different contexts, e.g., educational psychology and medicine, it has not been widely utilized in second language research.　There has been some promising research that has shown preliminarily that reading strategy intervention may help promote higher levels of reading self-efficacy.　But the studies that have b...

Association between fine motor skills and binocular visual function in children with reading difficulties.

Science.gov (United States)

Niechwiej-Szwedo, Ewa; Alramis, Fatimah; Christian, Lisa W

2017-12-01

Performance of fine motor skills (FMS) assessed by a clinical test battery has been associated with reading achievement in school-age children. However, the nature of this association remains to be established. The aim of this study was to assess FMS in children with reading difficulties using two experimental tasks, and to determine if performance is associated with reduced binocular function. We hypothesized that in comparison to an age- and sex-matched control group, children identified with reading difficulties will perform worse only on a motor task that has been shown to rely on binocular input. To test this hypothesis, motor performance was assessed using two tasks: bead-threading and peg-board in 19 children who were reading below expected grade and age-level. Binocular vision assessment included tests for stereoacuity, fusional vergence, amplitude of accommodation, and accommodative facility. In comparison to the control group, children with reading difficulties performed significantly worse on the bead-threading task. In contrast, performance on the peg-board task was similar in both groups. Accommodative facility was the only measure of binocular function significantly associated with motor performance. Findings from our exploratory study suggest that normal binocular vision may provide an important sensory input for the optimal development of FMS and reading. Given the small sample size tested in the current study, further investigation to assess the contribution of binocular vision to the development and performance of FMS and reading is warranted. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Deeper Processing for Better EFL Reading Comprehension.

Science.gov (United States)

Oded, Brenda; Walters, Joel

2001-01-01

Investigates the extent to which tasks involving processing differences in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) reading result in differences in performance on comprehension. Processing differences were created by the assignment of two tasks--writing a text summary and listing the examples in the text. (Author/VWL)

Is Reading Instruction Evidence-Based? Analyzing Teaching Practices Using T-Patterns

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Natalia Suárez

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The main goal of this study was to analyze whether primary teachers use evidence-based reading instruction for primary-grade readers. The study sample consisted of six teachers whose teaching was recorded. The observation instrument used was developed ad hoc for this study. The recording instrument used was Match Vision Studio. The data analysis was performed using SAS, GT version 2.0 E, and THEME. The results indicated that the teaching practices used most frequently and for the longest duration were: feedback (i.e., correcting the student when reading; fluency (i.e., individual and group reading, both out loud and silently, with and without intonation; literal or inference comprehension exercises (i.e., summarizing, asking questions; and use of educational resources (i.e., stories, songs, poems. Later, we conducted analyses of T-Patterns that showed the sequence of instruction in detail. We can conclude that <50% of the teaching practices used by the majority of teachers were based on the recommendations of the National Reading Panel (NRP. Only one teacher followed best practices. The same was the case for instructional time spent on the five essential components of reading, with the exception of teacher E., who dedicated 70.31% of class time implementing best practices. Teaching practices (i.e., learners' activities designed and implemented to exercise and master alphabetic knowledge and phonological awareness skills were used less frequently in the classroom.

Agreement of the silent partnership – tax and legal consequences of its conclusion and execution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monika Zieniewicz

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The institution of the silent partnership is not currently regulated by any legal act in the Polish legal system, although its importance in practice is not in doubt. As every action made in the economic sphere and economic execution of the contract is associated with specific effects on the basis of the tax laws. However, due to the lack of statutory regulation of the institution of silent partnership problematic is the question of determining the effects of tax legislation. Therefore, special attention is needed to determine the issue of these effects on the basis of income tax, tax on goods and services, transfer tax and the tax on inheritance and donations, as well as the question of liability for the tax liabilities of the silent partnership.

Application of TBT in Reading Class

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Hong-qin

2007-01-01

"TBT" means "task-based teaching". In a TBT class, students play the central role. In the class where students are provided with plenty of chances to be engaged in activities, the teacher is more like a patient listener rather than a talkative speaker. This paper mainly explores how task-based teaching is used in English reading class.

Extensive Reading in Enhancing Lexical Chunks Acquisition

Science.gov (United States)

Pereyra, Nilsa

2015-01-01

The purpose of this action research was to investigate the effect of extensive reading and related activities on the acquisition of lexical chunks in EFL students. Seven adult EFL learners with an Intermediate level volunteered to take part in the 16 week project following Extensive Reading principles combined with tasks based on the Lexical…

An Examination of Offline And Online Reading Strategies in EFL Contexts

OpenAIRE

Ching-Yi Tien; Paul Talley

2014-01-01

With the increasing use of the internet for reading texts, the habit of reading has been greatly influenced. More and more readers are choosing to read online rather than reading paper texts. In a pedagogical context, some research suggest that an increased number of second language (L2) classrooms are engaging learners through online reading tasks. This paper aims to examine the differences between offline (paper) reading and online (computer-assisted language learning) reading strategies as...

An evaluation of reading comprehension of expository text in adults with traumatic brain injury.

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Sohlberg, McKay Moore; Griffiths, Gina G; Fickas, Stephen

2014-05-01

This project was conducted to obtain information about reading problems of adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI) with mild-to-moderate cognitive impairments and to investigate how these readers respond to reading comprehension strategy prompts integrated into digital versions of text. Participants from 2 groups, adults with TBI (n = 15) and matched controls (n = 15), read 4 different 500-word expository science passages linked to either a strategy prompt condition or a no-strategy prompt condition. The participants' reading comprehension was evaluated using sentence verification and free recall tasks. The TBI and control groups exhibited significant differences on 2 of the 5 reading comprehension measures: paraphrase statements on a sentence verification task and communication units on a free recall task. Unexpected group differences were noted on the participants' prerequisite reading skills. For the within-group comparison, participants showed significantly higher reading comprehension scores on 2 free recall measures: words per communication unit and type-token ratio. There were no significant interactions. The results help to elucidate the nature of reading comprehension in adults with TBI with mild-to-moderate cognitive impairments and endorse further evaluation of reading comprehension strategies as a potential intervention option for these individuals. Future research is needed to better understand how individual differences influence a person's reading and response to intervention.

Patterns of Reading Performance in Acute Stroke: A Descriptive Analysis

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Lauren L. Cloutman

2010-01-01

Full Text Available One of the main sources of information regarding the underlying processes involved in both normal and impaired reading has been the study of reading deficits that occur as a result of brain damage. However, patterns of reading deficits found acutely after brain injury have been little explored. The observed patterns of performance in chronic stroke patients might reflect reorganization of the cognitive processes underlying reading or development of compensatory strategies that are not normally used to read. Method: 112 acute left hemisphere stroke patients were administered a task of oral reading of words and pseudowords within 1–2 days of hospital admission; performance was examined for error rate and type, and compared to that on tasks involving visual lexical decision, visual/auditory comprehension, and naming. Results: Several distinct patterns of performance were identified. Although similarities were found between the patterns of reading performance observed acutely and the classical acquired dyslexias generally identified more chronically, some notable differences were observed. Of interest was the finding that no patient produced any pure semantic errors in reading, despite finding such errors in comprehension and naming.

Reading in the dark: neural correlates and cross-modal plasticity for learning to read entire words without visual experience.

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Sigalov, Nadine; Maidenbaum, Shachar; Amedi, Amir

2016-03-01

Cognitive neuroscience has long attempted to determine the ways in which cortical selectivity develops, and the impact of nature vs. nurture on it. Congenital blindness (CB) offers a unique opportunity to test this question as the brains of blind individuals develop without visual experience. Here we approach this question through the reading network. Several areas in the visual cortex have been implicated as part of the reading network, and one of the main ones among them is the VWFA, which is selective to the form of letters and words. But what happens in the CB brain? On the one hand, it has been shown that cross-modal plasticity leads to the recruitment of occipital areas, including the VWFA, for linguistic tasks. On the other hand, we have recently demonstrated VWFA activity for letters in contrast to other visual categories when the information is provided via other senses such as touch or audition. Which of these tasks is more dominant? By which mechanism does the CB brain process reading? Using fMRI and visual-to-auditory sensory substitution which transfers the topographical features of the letters we compare reading with semantic and scrambled conditions in a group of CB. We found activation in early auditory and visual cortices during the early processing phase (letter), while the later phase (word) showed VWFA and bilateral dorsal-intraparietal activations for words. This further supports the notion that many visual regions in general, even early visual areas, also maintain a predilection for task processing even when the modality is variable and in spite of putative lifelong linguistic cross-modal plasticity. Furthermore, we find that the VWFA is recruited preferentially for letter and word form, while it was not recruited, and even exhibited deactivation, for an immediately subsequent semantic task suggesting that despite only short sensory substitution experience orthographic task processing can dominate semantic processing in the VWFA. On a wider

Reading in Developmental Prosopagnosia: Evidence for a Dissociation Between Word and Face Recognition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Starrfelt, Randi; Klargaard, Solja; Petersen, Anders

2018-01-01

exposure durations (targeting the word superiority effect), and d) text reading. Results: Participants with developmental prosopagnosia performed strikingly similar to controls across the four reading tasks. Formal analysis revealed a significant dissociation between word and face recognition......, that is, impaired reading in developmental prosopagnosia. Method: We tested 10 adults with developmental prosopagnosia and 20 matched controls. All participants completed the Cambridge Face Memory Test, the Cambridge Face Perception test and a Face recognition questionnaire used to quantify everyday face...... recognition experience. Reading was measured in four experimental tasks, testing different levels of letter, word, and text reading: a) single word reading with words of varying length, b) vocal response times in single letter and short word naming, c) recognition of single letters and short words at brief...

silent no more: sexual violence in conflict as a challenge

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Rights (FIDH), Violence Against Women in Syria: Breaking the Silence, Briefing. Paper Based on an .... not perceived as the church's concern”, Silent No More, p. 8. .... travel all night to retrieve the bodies and bury them with dignity.23 In the.

Compositionality for Markov reward chains with fast and silent transitions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Markovski, J.; Sokolova, A.; Trcka, N.; Vink, de E.P.

2009-01-01

A parallel composition is defined for Markov reward chains with stochastic discontinuity, and with fast and silent transitions. In this setting, compositionality with respect to the relevant aggregation preorders is established. For Markov reward chains with fast transitions the preorders are

Measuring the prevalence of regional mutation rates: an analysis of silent substitutions in mammals, fungi, and insects

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Tuch Brian B

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The patterns of mutation vary both within and across genomes. It has been shown for a few mammals that mutation rates vary within the genome, while for unknown reasons, the sensu stricto yeasts have uniform rates instead. The generality of these observations has been unknown. Here we examine silent site substitutions in a more expansive set (20 mammals, 27 fungi, 4 insects to determine why some genomes demonstrate this mosaic distribution and why others are uniform. Results We applied several intragene and intergene correlation tests to measure regional substitution patterns. Assuming that silent sites are a reasonable approximation to neutrally mutating sequence, our results show that all multicellular eukaryotes exhibit mutational heterogeneity. In striking contrast, all fungi are mutationally uniform – with the exception of three Candida species: C. albicans, C. dubliniensis, and C. tropicalis. We speculate that aspects of replication timing may be responsible for distinguishing these species. Our analysis also reveals classes of genes whose silent sites behave anomalously with respect to the mutational background in many species, indicating prevalent selective pressures. Genes associated with nucleotide binding or gene regulation have consistently low silent substitution rates in every mammalian species, as well as multiple fungi. On the other hand, receptor genes repeatedly exhibit high silent substitution rates, suggesting they have been influenced by diversifying selection. Conclusion Our findings provide a framework for understanding the regional mutational properties of eukaryotes, revealing a sharp difference between fungi and multicellular species. They also elucidate common selective pressures acting on eukaryotic silent sites, with frequent evidence for both purifying and diversifying selection.

Discovery of high-level tasks in the operating room

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Bouarfa, L.; Jonker, P.P.; Dankelman, J.

2010-01-01

Recognizing and understanding surgical high-level tasks from sensor readings is important for surgical workflow analysis. Surgical high-level task recognition is also a challenging task in ubiquitous computing because of the inherent uncertainty of sensor data and the complexity of the operating

Braille in the Sighted: Teaching Tactile Reading to Sighted Adults.

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Bola, Łukasz; Siuda-Krzywicka, Katarzyna; Paplińska, Małgorzata; Sumera, Ewa; Hańczur, Paweł; Szwed, Marcin

2016-01-01

Blind people are known to have superior perceptual abilities in their remaining senses. Several studies suggest that these enhancements are dependent on the specific experience of blind individuals, who use those remaining senses more than sighted subjects. In line with this view, sighted subjects, when trained, are able to significantly progress in relatively simple tactile tasks. However, the case of complex tactile tasks is less obvious, as some studies suggest that visual deprivation itself could confer large advantages in learning them. It remains unclear to what extent those complex skills, such as braille reading, can be learnt by sighted subjects. Here we enrolled twenty-nine sighted adults, mostly braille teachers and educators, in a 9-month braille reading course. At the beginning of the course, all subjects were naive in tactile braille reading. After the course, almost all were able to read whole braille words at a mean speed of 6 words-per-minute. Subjects with low tactile acuity did not differ significantly in braille reading speed from the rest of the group, indicating that low tactile acuity is not a limiting factor for learning braille, at least at this early stage of learning. Our study shows that most sighted adults can learn whole-word braille reading, given the right method and a considerable amount of motivation. The adult sensorimotor system can thus adapt, to some level, to very complex tactile tasks without visual deprivation. The pace of learning in our group was comparable to congenitally and early blind children learning braille in primary school, which suggests that the blind's mastery of complex tactile tasks can, to a large extent, be explained by experience-dependent mechanisms.

Teen Depression and Suicide, A SILENT CRISIS.

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Kroning, Maureen; Kroning, Kayla

2016-01-01

Adolescent depression is a serious problem affecting 10.7% of all teens and 29.9% of high school students; 17% of high school students have contemplated suicide. Yet, depression in teens is often unrecognized. This article relays the tragic death of a 17-year-old, along with symptoms of depression and suicide in adolescents; DSM-5 criteria for depression; treatments including protective factors, psychotherapy, and medications; and imparts interventions for addressing this huge but silent crisis.

Risk factors associated with the occurrence of silent pulmonary embolism in patients with deep venous thrombosis of the lower limb.

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Li, Fenghe; Wang, Xuehu; Huang, Wen; Ren, Wei; Cheng, Jun; Zhang, Mao; Zhao, Yu

2014-08-01

The aim of our study is to investigate the prevalence of silent pulmonary embolism in patients with deep venous thrombosis in the lower limbs and to evaluate the associated risk factors. A total of 322 patients with acute deep venous thrombosis confirmed by CT venography or Doppler ultrasonography were studied. The diagnosis of silent pulmonary embolism was established by computed tomography pulmonary arteriography (CTPA). The association between covariates and the prevalence of silent pulmonary embolism in patients with deep venous thrombosis in lower limbs were assessed using chi-square test and multivariable regression. The incidence of silent pulmonary embolism was 33.5% (108 in 322 patients) in all patients with deep venous thrombosis in lower limbs. Chi-square test showed male gender, the right lower limb, proximal location of the thrombus, unprovoked venous thrombosis and coexisting heart diseases were related to a higher incidence of silent pulmonary embolism in patients with deep venous thrombosis in lower limbs. The multivariate regression analysis confirmed that the risk factors associated with silent pulmonary embolism in deep venous thrombosis patients included the right side and proximal location of the thrombus (odds ratio: 2.023, 95% CI: 1.215-3.368; odds ratio: 3.610, 95% CI: 1.772-7.354), unprovoked venous thrombosis (odds ratio: 2.037, 95% CI: 1.188-3.493), coexisting heart diseases (odds ratio: 4.507, 95% CI: 2.667-7.618). Silent pulmonary embolism occurred frequently in patients with deep venous thrombosis in lower limbs. The right side, the proximal location of the thrombus, unprovoked venous thrombosis and coexisting heart diseases increased the risk for the occurrence of silent pulmonary embolism. © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

Harmony hurts: participation and silent conflict at an Indonesian fish pond.

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Tam, Chui-Ling

2006-07-01

Participatory environmental and resource management is premised on open communication to reach consensus. However, deliberate and open communication cannot adequately address silent conflict. This begs two questions. First, how is the existence of covert communication and silent conflict to be recognized and addressed? Second, how are the wider social relations and traditions that encompass communication and conflict to be described and explained? These questions revolve around communicative power. Communication of environmental knowledge is deeply embedded in social power structures, with direct implications for participatory resource planning and implementation. Ethnographic research conducted at a failed community-managed fish farming project in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia shows that a culture of harmony and respect for authority can silence environmental conflict in the hierarchical "community." Three propositions are offered. First, communication amnesia and exclusion jeopardize participation. Second, cultures of harmony and silent conflict shape planning processes and outcomes. Third, the weak use manipulation and communication strategy to acquire a "voice" while preserving harmony. These propositions address five unresolved issues in participatory resource management: analysis of groups, contextuality, social relationships, nonparticipants, and informal communication. Power, tradition, and social networks affect the valuing of knowledge relative to the power of different individuals and institutions to communicate priorities, values, and needs. These factors are critical to the inclusion of both participants and nonparticipants.

Observing documentary reading by verbal protocol

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Fujita Mariangela Spotti Lopes

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Verifies the applicability to research on indexers' reading strategies of the process observing technique known as Verbal Protocol or Thinking Aloud. This interpretative-qualitative data collecting technique allows the observation of different kinds of process during the progress of different kinds of tasks. Presents a theoretical investigation into "reading" and into formal methodological procedures to observe reading processes. Describes details of the methodological procedures adopted in five case studies with analysis of samples of data. The project adopted three kinds of parameters for data analysis: theoretical, normative, empirical (derived from observations made in the first case study. The results are compared, and important conclusions regarding documentary reading are drawn.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TASK AVERSIVENESS AND ACADEMIC PROCRASTINATION

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Magvirasari Lestari Linra

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Academic procrastination occurs when certain tasks are considered unpleasant, an unpleasant task and the usual delayed them is the task of writing, reading, studying for the exam, meetings, and administrative. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of the task aversiveness with academic procrastination. Subject of the study were 100 students out of a population of 516 students of the Faculty of Psychology class of 2012-2014. The method used in this research is quantitative by using Spearman rho as data analysis techniques. The research instrument consists of academic procrastination scale and the scale of the task aversiveness. Based on the results of correlation is known that there is a positive relationship between task aversiveness with academic procrastination with a correlation coefficient r = 0.508; p = 0.000. The results showed that of the 100 students of the Faculty of Psychology University of Makassar has a degree of relationship between task aversiveness with academic procrastination is on the very low category (25, 8%. Area / types of tasks delayed is not necessarily an unpleasant task and otherwise unpleasant task may not be postponed. Area task the highest level of aversive and delays are areas the task of writing and reading. This study illustrates that academic procrastination can be lowered by a change in the mindset of an unpleasant task.

Silent Warning: Understanding the National Terrorism Advisory System

Science.gov (United States)

2014-12-01

NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited SILENT WARNING...PERFORMING OR GANIZATION NA:i\\ti E (S) AND ADDRESS(ES) Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, CA 93943-5000 9. SP ONSORING /MONIT ORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND...Homeland Sectu’ity Advisory System, Boston Marathon bombing, Christmas Day bomber, tmderwear bomber, hum cane , cotmteiteiTO!’ism, CT AB

The Development of Reading and Spelling in Arabic Orthography: Two Parallel Processes?

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Taha, Haitham

2016-01-01

The parallels between reading and spelling skills in Arabic were tested. One-hundred forty-three native Arab students, with typical reading development, from second, fourth, and sixth grades were tested with reading, spelling and orthographic decision tasks. The results indicated a full parallel between the reading and spelling performances within…

Reading Performances between Novices and Experts in Different Media Multitasking Environments

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Lin, Lin; Robertson, Tip; Lee, Jennifer

2009-01-01

This experimental study investigated connections between subject expertise and multitasking ability among college students. One hundred thirty college students participated in the study. Participants were assessed on their subject expertise and reading tasks under three conditions: (a) reading only (silence condition), (b) reading with a video…

The processing of morphology in children with and without reading disabilities

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Miguel Lázaro

2011-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the results of an experiment carried out to study the morphological processing of children with, and without, reading disorders. Is it the case that children use the morphological constituents of a word to understand it, and how is this usage influenced by reading ability? We have studied this issue by presenting novel complex words in a semantic definition task with eight years old children. Our results show that, even in a no time pressure task, proficient readers were better at constructing the meaning of novel complex words than children with a reading impairment. These results show that differences between proficient and reading disabled children are not only related to lexical access, but also to the lexical and semantic processing.

A Critical Overview of Models of Reading Comprehension with a Focus on Cognitive Aspects

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Mohammad Taghi Shahnazari

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Reading is a cognitive activity involving skills, strategies, attentional resources, knowledge resources and their integration. The reader’s role is to decode the written symbols to allow for the recovery of information from long-term memory to construct a plausible interpretation of the writer’s message. Various number of reading models have been proposed by researchers among which some focus on motivational and emotional aspects of reading. Others highlight the cognitive aspects of reading. In this study, the models characterizing reading in terms of cognitive aspects are revieweded, and different viewpoints on the reading process are described. This may help EFL/ESL teachers to improve their understanding of the reading process, update their perspectives on teaching reading tasks which in turn might result in more efficient learning by not putting too much cognitively demanding reading tasks on EFL/ESL learners.

Improving reading and writing learning in underprivileged pluri-ethnic settings.

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Armand, Françoise; Lefrançois, Pascale; Baron, Agnès; Gomez, Maria-Cécilia; Nuckle, Sylvie

2004-09-01

Many studies carried out in first language contexts tend to demonstrate the positive effects of activity programmes aimed at (1) developing metaphonological abilities and (2) developing language skills through active story listening on learning to read and to spell by first-grade students. This study seeks to extend previous findings by (a) including children, the majority of whom have French as a second language, who attend plurilingual schools and have not been included in previous studies, and (b) providing training based on three essential principles shared by the two kinds of programmes: integrating activities into realistic literacy practice contexts; encouraging active student participation through tasks which very often require problem solving; and tackling, one after the other, different kinds of operations or strategies. Three groups of students were created out a pool of 202 children enrolled in nine first-grade classes in three underprivileged pluri-ethnic schools. The control group was composed of 46 students who received typical, first-grade methods for teaching reading and spelling. Experimental group 1 (DMPA), 91 students, received a training programme aimed at metaphonological abilities development. Experimental group 2 (DLS), 65 students, received a training intended to develop language skills through active story listening and production. The students from the three groups were evaluated at the beginning (metaphonological task I, pre-reading task) and at the end (metaphonological task II, word recognition task, text comprehension task, word spelling task) of their first year in elementary school. The programme for the development of metaphonological abilities enabled DMPA group students to obtain significantly higher scores than the control group on metaphonological task II and word recognition task. The DMPA group children also did significantly better than the control and the DLS groups on the word spelling task. However, the DLS group, who

Electrocardiographically and symptomatically silent myocardial ischemia during exercise testing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kurata, Chinori; Tawarahara, Kei; Sakata, Kazuyuki; Taguchi, Takahisa; Fukumoto, Yoshihiro; Kobayashi, Akira; Yamazaki, Noboru; Tanaka, Hiroshi

1991-01-01

Certain patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) may have neither ST depression nor chest pain during exercise despite the presence of myocardial ischemia. The frequency and characteristics of such electrocardiographically and symptomatically silent ischemia were studied in 171 patients with both angiographically documented CAD and scintigraphically documented ischemia. Fifty-six (33%) of 171 patients had neither ST depression nor chest pain (Group N), and 115 (67%) had ST depression and/or chest pain (Group P). The two groups were similar with respect to age, gender, the prevalence of prior infarction, and peak systolic blood pressure. Group N patients, however, had a higher mean peak heart rate and rate-pressure product, less severe scintigraphic ischemia, a lower lung thallium-201 uptake, and a smaller number of diseased vessels. Stepwise discriminant analysis showed a history of effort angina, lung thallium-201 uptake, and scintigraphic severity of ischemia to be significant discriminators between Groups N and P. In conclusion, electrocardiographically and symptomatically silent ischemia may be common during exercise in patients with CAD, and less severe ischemia may be one of important determinants. (author)

Towards a Dynamic Model of Skills Involved in Sight Reading Music

Science.gov (United States)

Kopiez, Reinhard; Lee, Ji In

2006-01-01

This study investigates the relationship between selected predictors of achievement in playing unrehearsed music (sight reading) and the changing complexity of sight reading tasks. The question under investigation is, how different variables gain or lose significance as sight reading stimuli become more difficult. Fifty-two piano major graduates…

Characterisation of silent and active genes for a variable large protein of Borrelia recurrentis

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Scragg Ian G

2002-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background We report the characterisation of the variable large protein (vlp gene expressed by clinical isolate A1 of Borrelia recurrentis; the agent of the life-threatening disease louse-borne relapsing fever. Methods The major vlp protein of this isolate was characterised and a DNA probe created. Use of this together with standard molecular methods was used to determine the location of the vlp1B. recurrentis A1 gene in both this and other isolates. Results This isolate was found to carry silent and expressed copies of the vlp1B. recurrentis A1 gene on plasmids of 54 kbp and 24 kbp respectively, whereas a different isolate, A17, had only the silent vlp1B. recurrentis A17 on a 54 kbp plasmid. Silent and expressed vlp1 have identical mature protein coding regions but have different 5' regions, both containing different potential lipoprotein leader sequences. Only one form of vlp1 is transcribed in the A1 isolate of B. recurrentis, yet both 5' upstream sequences of this vlp1 gene possess features of bacterial promoters. Conclusion Taken together these results suggest that antigenic variation in B. recurrentis may result from recombination of variable large and small protein genes at the junction between lipoprotein leader sequence and mature protein coding region. However, this hypothetical model needs to be validated by further identification of expressed and silent variant protein genes in other B. recurrentis isolates.

Accuracy of Ultrasonography and Rectal Palpation in the Diagnosis of Silent Heat in Cows Compared to Plasma Progesterone Concentration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zdunczyk, S.; Janowski, T.; Ras, A.; Baranski, W.

2009-01-01

The study was carried out on five dairy herds in the North-East Poland. The cows, which showed no visible oestrus signs until day 60 postpartum, were examined by ultrasonography and rectal palpation twice, at a 10-d interval. A real-time, B-mode scanner with a 5 MHz probe was used. The plasma progesterone concentration was determined using RIA. A high progesterone level on the first examination, but low on the second, or low on the first and high on the second examination were interpreted as a silent heat. Based on the progesterone values, silent heat was diagnosed in 145 anoestrous cows, whereas ultrasonographically, 106 cows were found to have silent heat. The accuracy of the ultrasonography and rectal palpation in the diagnosis of silent heat in cows was 89.0 % and 69.7 %, respectively (P ≤ 0.05). For the diagnosis of the corpus luteum, the sensitivity and specificity of the ultrasonography was 94.7 % and 84.0 %, and for rectal palpation 86.2 % and 70.3 %, respectively (P ≤ 0.05). Our results showed that ultrasonography is a useful tool in the diagnosis of silent heat in cows. (authors)

Shared vs. specific brain activation changes in dyslexia after training of phonology, attention, or reading.

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Heim, Stefan; Pape-Neumann, Julia; van Ermingen-Marbach, Muna; Brinkhaus, Moti; Grande, Marion

2015-07-01

Whereas the neurobiological basis of developmental dyslexia has received substantial attention, only little is known about the processes in the brain during remediation. This holds in particular in light of recent findings on cognitive subtypes of dyslexia which suggest interactions between individual profiles, training methods, and also the task in the scanner. Therefore, we trained three groups of German dyslexic primary school children in the domains of phonology, attention, or visual word recognition. We compared neurofunctional changes after 4 weeks of training in these groups to those in untrained normal readers in a reading task and in a task of visual attention. The overall reading improvement in the dyslexic children was comparable over groups. It was accompanied by substantial increase of the activation level in the visual word form area (VWFA) during a reading task inside the scanner. Moreover, there were activation increases that were unique for each training group in the reading task. In contrast, when children performed the visual attention task, shared training effects were found in the left inferior frontal sulcus and gyrus, which varied in amplitude between the groups. Overall, the data reveal that different remediation programmes matched to individual profiles of dyslexia may improve reading ability and commonly affect the VWFA in dyslexia as a shared part of otherwise distinct networks.

Linguistic and perceptual-motor contributions to the kinematic properties of the braille reading finger.

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, Barry; Van Gemmert, Arend W A; Stelmach, George E

2011-08-01

Recordings of the dominant finger during the reading of braille sentences by experienced readers reveal that the velocity of the finger changes frequently during the traverse of a line of text. These changes, not previously reported, involve a multitude of accelerations and decelerations, as well as reversals of direction. We investigated the origin of these velocity intermittencies (as well as movement reversals) by asking readers to twice read out-loud or silently sentences comprising high- or low-frequency words which combined to make grammatical sentences that were either meaningful or nonmeaningful. In a control condition we asked braille readers to smoothly scan lines of braille comprised of meaningless cell combinations. Word frequency and re-reading each contribute to the kinematics of finger movements, but neither sentence meaning nor the mode of reading do so. The velocity intermittencies were so pervasive that they are not easily attributable either to linguistic processing, text familiarity, mode of reading, or to sensory-motor interactions with the textured patterns of braille, but seem integral to all braille finger movements except reversals. While language-related processing can affect the finger movements, the effects are superimposed on a highly intermittent velocity profile whose origin appears to lie in the motor control of slow movements. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Biologically Realistic Cortical Model of Eye Movement Control in Reading

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Heinzle, Jakob; Hepp, Klaus; Martin, Kevan A. C.

2010-01-01

Reading is a highly complex task involving a precise integration of vision, attention, saccadic eye movements, and high-level language processing. Although there is a long history of psychological research in reading, it is only recently that imaging studies have identified some neural correlates of reading. Thus, the underlying neural mechanisms…

Scintigraphic diagnosis of silent aspiration following double-sided lung transplantation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toenshoff, G.; Stock, U.; Bohuslavizki, K.H.; Brenner, W.; Costard-Jaeckle, A.; Cremer, J.; Clausen, M.

1996-01-01

We present a case of a 25 year old patient who underwent double-sided lung transplantation and suffered from recurrent pneumonia. Silent aspiration was suspected clinically. Aspiration was proved by scintigraphy enabling to discriminate between direct oro-pulmonal aspiration and aspiration after gastro-esophageal reflux. (orig.) [de

The Role of CLEAR Thinking in Learning Science from Multiple-Document Inquiry Tasks

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Thomas D. GRIFFIN

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The main goal for the current study was to investigate whether individual differences in domaingeneral thinking dispositions might affect learning from multiple-document inquiry tasks in science.Middle school students were given a set of documents and were tasked with understanding how and why recent patterns in global temperature might be different from what has been observed in the past from those documents. Understanding was assessed with two measures: an essay task and an inference verification task. Domain-general thinking dispositions were assessed with a Commitment to Logic, Evidence, and Reasoning (CLEAR thinking scale. The measures of understanding wereuniquely predicted by both reading skills and CLEAR thinking scores, and these effects were not attributable to prior knowledge or interest. The results suggest independent roles for thinkingdispositions and reading ability when students read to learn from multiple-document inquiry tasks in science.

Gated single photon emission computer tomography for the detection of silent myocardial ischemia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pena Q, Yamile; Coca P, Marco Antonio; Batista C, Juan Felipe; Fernandez-Britto, Jose; Quesada P, Rodobaldo; Pena C; Andria

2009-01-01

Background: Asymptomatic patients with severe coronary atherosclerosis may have a normal resting electrocardiogram and stress test. Aim: To assess the yield of Gated Single Photon Emission Computer Tomography (SPECT) for the screening of silent myocardial ischemia in type 2 diabetic patients. Material and methods: Electrocardiogram, stress test and gated-SPECT were performed on 102 type 2 diabetic patients aged 60 ± 8 years without cardiovascular symptoms. All subjects were also subjected to a coronary angiography, whose results were used as gold standard. Results: Gated-SPECT showed myocardial ischemia on 26.5% of studied patients. The sensibility, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 92.3%, 96%, 95%, 88.8%, 97.3%, respectively. In four and six patients ischemia was detected on resting electrocardiogram and stress test, respectively. Eighty percent of patients with doubtful resting electrocardiogram results and 70% with a doubtful stress test had a silent myocardial ischemia detected by gated-SPECT. There was a good agreement between the results of gated-SPECT and coronary angiography (k =0.873). Conclusions: Gated-SPECT was an useful tool for the screening of silent myocardial ischemia

The Effect of Learning Modality and Auditory Feedback on Word Memory: Cochlear-Implanted versus Normal-Hearing Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Taitelbaum-Swead, Riki; Icht, Michal; Mama, Yaniv

2017-03-01

In recent years, the effect of cognitive abilities on the achievements of cochlear implant (CI) users has been evaluated. Some studies have suggested that gaps between CI users and normal-hearing (NH) peers in cognitive tasks are modality specific, and occur only in auditory tasks. The present study focused on the effect of learning modality (auditory, visual) and auditory feedback on word memory in young adults who were prelingually deafened and received CIs before the age of 5 yr, and their NH peers. A production effect (PE) paradigm was used, in which participants learned familiar study words by vocal production (saying aloud) or by no-production (silent reading or listening). Words were presented (1) in the visual modality (written) and (2) in the auditory modality (heard). CI users performed the visual condition twice-once with the implant ON and once with it OFF. All conditions were followed by free recall tests. Twelve young adults, long-term CI users, implanted between ages 1.7 and 4.5 yr, and who showed ≥50% in monosyllabic consonant-vowel-consonant open-set test with their implants were enrolled. A group of 14 age-matched NH young adults served as the comparison group. For each condition, we calculated the proportion of study words recalled. Mixed-measures analysis of variances were carried out with group (NH, CI) as a between-subjects variable, and learning condition (aloud or silent reading) as a within-subject variable. Following this, paired sample t tests were used to evaluate the PE size (differences between aloud and silent words) and overall recall ratios (aloud and silent words combined) in each of the learning conditions. With visual word presentation, young adults with CIs (regardless of implant status CI-ON or CI-OFF), showed comparable memory performance (and a similar PE) to NH peers. However, with auditory presentation, young adults with CIs showed poorer memory for nonproduced words (hence a larger PE) relative to their NH peers. The

Investigation on the Relationship between Information Communication Technology and Reading Literacy for Northeast Asian Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lai Yi-Horng

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of internet communication technologies (ICT usage and reading literacy of Northeast Asian Students in PISA 2009. ICT was crucial for all governments in the world towards promoting equity. ICT had been considered a low cost opportunity towards equalizing educational systems. A multilevel modelling (MLM was applied to identify at which school-level the largest variations in the three indicators exist in this study. With MLM, it could be examine simultaneously the effects of different hierarchical school-level variables; to take account of possible correlations of students’ reading literacy in this study within higher levels (Urbanization, Total number of students Computers for education which may otherwise lead to incorrect standard errors and inefficient estimates; to treat higher levels as related; and to examine inter-area variations at each level. The empirical results include the different between group components was significant. Self-confidence in ICT high level tasks was positive with students’ reading literacy, and self-confidence in ICT high level tasks was negative with students’ reading literacy. The urbanization of schools’ area and total number of students of schools were positive with students’ reading literacy. The urbanization of schools’ area was negative with the relationship of ICT for school related tasks and students’ reading literacy. Total number of students was negative with the relationship of ICT for school related tasks and students’ reading literacy, and ICT availability in school and students’ reading literacy.

Quantum reading capacity: General definition and bounds

OpenAIRE

Das, Siddhartha; Wilde, Mark M.

2017-01-01

Quantum reading refers to the task of reading out classical information stored in a classical memory. In any such protocol, the transmitter and receiver are in the same physical location, and the goal of such a protocol is to use these devices, coupled with a quantum strategy, to read out as much information as possible from a classical memory, such as a CD or DVD. In this context, a memory cell is a collection of quantum channels that can be used to encode a classical message in a memory. Th...

Why Does Working Memory Capacity Predict Variation in Reading Comprehension? On the Influence of Mind Wandering and Executive Attention

Science.gov (United States)

McVay, Jennifer C.; Kane, Michael J.

2012-01-01

Some people are better readers than others, and this variation in comprehension ability is predicted by measures of working memory capacity (WMC). The primary goal of this study was to investigate the mediating role of mind wandering experiences in the association between WMC and normal individual differences in reading comprehension, as predicted by the executive-attention theory of WMC (e.g., Engle & Kane, 2004). We used a latent-variable, structural-equation-model approach, testing skilled adult readers on three WMC span tasks, seven varied reading comprehension tasks, and three attention-control tasks. Mind wandering was assessed using experimenter-scheduled thought probes during four different tasks (two reading, two attention-control tasks). The results support the executive-attention theory of WMC. Mind wandering across the four tasks loaded onto a single latent factor, reflecting a stable individual difference. Most importantly, mind wandering was a significant mediator in the relationship between WMC and reading comprehension, suggesting that the WMC-comprehension correlation is driven, in part, by attention control over intruding thoughts. We discuss implications for theories of WMC, attention control, and reading comprehension. PMID:21875246

The Effect of the Reader's Background on Reading Comprehension Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bushra Saadoon Mohammed Al-Noori

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This study aims at measuring the amount of the effect of the reader's background knowledge on performance in reading comprehension tests through the assessment of information gained in reading comprehension (RC tests across-four testing techniques, short answer questions ,true-false items , multiple - choice items , and cloze test and re-test. This technique involves the examinees in two types of tasks, i.e. pre-reading and post -reading task. Two hypotheses have been proposed to achieve the aims of this study. They are  1-There are no significant differences between the pre-reading and post-reading performances of examinees on reading comprehension(RC. 2-There are no significant differences in information gain scores across the different techniques of testing reading comprehension (RC in EFL. To verify the validity of these two hypotheses, a number of statistical procedures have been used such as arithmetical mean, t-test for correlated and independent samples to analyze the performance of third and fourth year College students studying at the Department of English at University of Baghdad /Ibn Rushd College of Education for Humanities on two reading passages taken from TOEFL practice tests (2011. The analysis of the data has shown the following results: 1-The background knowledge has an effect on the performance on reading comprehension (RC. 2-There is a significant difference in students' performance on reading comprehension (RC. 3-The effect of background knowledge is investable on reading comprehension (RC tests, but it can be identified or neutralized. Based on these conclusions, the researcher presented a number of recommendations.

Working memory contributions to reading comprehension components in middle childhood children.

Science.gov (United States)

Chrysochoou, Elisavet; Bablekou, Zoe; Tsigilis, Nikolaos

2011-01-01

This study examined working memory contributions to reading comprehension subskills in Greek children (mean age 9 years, 1 month). The phonological loop of the Baddeley and Hitch working memory model was assessed with 3 recall tasks (words, nonwords, and digits) and a word list matching task. The central executive (CE) was assessed with 3 tasks (listening, counting, and backward digit recall). Participants were also given a receptive vocabulary task, a reading fluency task, and written stories accompanied by comprehension questions. Canonical correlation analyses showed that the comprehension variables were related to the CE rather than the phonological loop measures. CE functions were more strongly associated with elaborative inference generation (involving significant offline processing) and comprehension control (involving metacognitive monitoring). Smaller yet significant associations were observed between the CE and the necessary inference and literal comprehension measures, whereas a moderate relationship was found in the case of the simile comprehension variable. Among the CE variables, listening recall demonstrated the highest loading on the canonical function, followed by moderate yet significant counting and backward digit recall loadings. Vocabulary was found to fully mediate several associations between working memory and comprehension measures; however, the relationship between listening recall and elaborative inferences was partly mediated. Reading fluency and, on several occasions, Greek vocabulary knowledge did not mediate the relationships between CE measures and comprehension skills assessed. This study demonstrates the usefulness of CE measures for identifying young children's possible difficulties in carrying out specific reading comprehension processes.

“Silent” Diabetes and Clinical Outcome After Treatment With Contemporary Drug-Eluting Stents : The BIO-RESORT Silent Diabetes Study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

von Birgelen, Clemens; Kok, Marlies M.; Sattar, Naveed; Zocca, Paolo; Doelman, Cees; Kant, Gert D.; Löwik, Marije M.; van der Heijden, Liefke C.; Sen, Hanim; van Houwelingen, Gert K.; Stoel, Martin G.; Louwerenburg, J. (Hans) W.; Hartmann, Marc; de Man, Frits H.A.F.; Linssen, Gerard C.M.; Doggen, Carine J.M.; Tandjung, Kenneth

2018-01-01

Objectives: This study sought to assess the prevalence and clinical impact of silent diabetes and pre-diabetes in “nondiabetic” percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) all-comers. Background: Patients with undetected and thus untreated (silent) diabetes may have higher event risks after PCI with

Executive functions in becoming writing readers and reading writers: note taking and report writing in third and fifth graders.

Science.gov (United States)

Altemeier, Leah; Jones, Janine; Abbott, Robert D; Berninger, Virginia W

2006-01-01

Results are reported for a study of 2 separate processes of report writing-taking notes while reading source material and composing a report from those notes-and related individual differences in executive functions involved in integrating reading and writing during these writing activities. Third graders (n = 122) and 5th graders (n = 106; overall, 127 girls and 114 boys) completed two reading-writing tasks-read paragraph (mock science text)-write notes and use notes to generate written report, a reading comprehension test, a written expression test, four tests of executive functions (inhibition, verbal fluency, planning, switching attention), and a working memory test. For the read-take notes task, the same combination of variables was best (explained the most variance and each variable added unique variance) for 3rd graders and 5th graders: Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Second Edition (WIAT-II) Reading Comprehension, Process Assessment of the Learner Test for Reading and Writing (PAL) Copy Task B, WIAT-II Written Expression, and Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) Inhibition. For the use notes to write report task, the best combinations of variables depended on grade level: For 3rd graders, WIAT-II Reading Comprehension, WIAT-II Written Expression, D-KEFS Verbal Fluency, and Tower of Hanoi; for 5th graders, WIAT-II Reading Comprehension, D-KEFS Verbal Fluency, WIAT-II Written Expression, and PAL Alphabet Task. These results add to prior research findings that executive functions contribute to the writing development of elementary-grade students and additionally support the hypothesis that executive functions play a role in developing reading-writing connections.

Agreement of the silent partnership – tax and legal consequences of its conclusion and execution

OpenAIRE

Monika Zieniewicz

2016-01-01

The institution of the silent partnership is not currently regulated by any legal act in the Polish legal system, although its importance in practice is not in doubt. As every action made in the economic sphere and economic execution of the contract is associated with specific effects on the basis of the tax laws. However, due to the lack of statutory regulation of the institution of silent partnership problematic is the question of determining the effects of tax legislation. Therefore, speci...

Silent, indirect strategic processes in small and medium sized enterprises

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Mette Vinther; Madsen, Charlotte Øland; Rasmussen, Jørgen Gulddahl

Based on empirical data we in this paper explore day-to-day strategising with an emphasis on phronesis. This way we shed some light on the nearly silent, quiet, indirect strategic change processes as they are practiced and reflected upon by leaders in small companies in their daily practice...

Perspectives on the "Silent Period" for Emergent Bilinguals in England

Science.gov (United States)

Bligh, Caroline; Drury, Rose

2015-01-01

This article draws together the research findings from two ethnographic studies as a means to problematize the "silent period" as experienced by young bilingual learners in two English speaking early-years settings in England. Most teachers and senior early-years practitioners in England are monolingual English speakers. The children…

What’s in a name depends on the type of name: The relationships between semantic and phonological access, reading fluency and reading comprehension

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Poulsen, Mads; Elbro, Carsten

2013-01-01

examined both components in naming tasks – with isolated letters (phonological) and pictures (semantic). Seventy-five Grade 5 students were administered measures of letter and picture naming speed, word and nonword reading fluency, reading comprehension, together with control measures of vocabulary....... The results showed that letter naming was a unique predictor of word reading fluency, while picture naming was not. Conversely, picture naming speed contributed unique variance to reading comprehension, while letter naming did not. The results indicate that phonological and semantic lexical access speed...

The Rachel Carson Letters and the Making of Silent Spring

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John Paull

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Environment, conservation, green, and kindred movements look back to Rachel Carson’s 1962 book Silent Spring as a milestone. The impact of the book, including on government, industry, and civil society, was immediate and substantial, and has been extensively described; however, the provenance of the book has been less thoroughly examined. Using Carson’s personal correspondence, this paper reveals that the primary source for Carson’s book was the extensive evidence and contacts compiled by two biodynamic farmers, Marjorie Spock and Mary T. Richards, of Long Island, New York. Their evidence was compiled for a suite of legal actions (1957-1960 against the U.S. Government and that contested the aerial spraying of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT. During Rudolf Steiner’s lifetime, Spock and Richards both studied at Steiner’s Goetheanum, the headquarters of Anthroposophy, located in Dornach, Switzerland. Spock and Richards were prominent U.S. anthroposophists, and established a biodynamic farm under the tutelage of the leading biodynamics exponent of the time, Dr. Ehrenfried Pfeiffer. When their property was under threat from a government program of DDT spraying, they brought their case, eventually lost it, in the process spent US$100,000, and compiled the evidence that they then shared with Carson, who used it, and their extensive contacts and the trial transcripts, as the primary input for Silent Spring. Carson attributed to Spock, Richards, and Pfeiffer, no credit whatsoever in her book. As a consequence, the organics movement has not received the recognition, that is its due, as the primary impulse for Silent Spring, and it is, itself, unaware of this provenance.

Estimation of cortical silent period following transcranial magnetic stimulation using a computerised cumulative sum method.

Science.gov (United States)

King, Nicolas K K; Kuppuswamy, Annapoorna; Strutton, Paul H; Davey, Nick J

2006-01-15

The cortical silent period (CSP) following transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the motor cortex can be used to measure intra-cortical inhibition and changes in a number of important pathologies affecting the central nervous system. The main drawback of this technique has been the difficulty in accurately identifying the onset and offset of the cortical silent period leading to inter-observer variability. We developed an automated method based on the cumulative sum (Cusum) technique to improve the determination of the duration and area of the cortical silent period. This was compared with experienced raters and two other automated methods. We showed that the automated Cusum method reliably correlated with the experienced raters for both duration and area of CSP. Compared with the automated methods, the Cusum also showed the strongest correlation with the experienced raters. Our results show the Cusum method to be a simple, graphical and powerful method of detecting low-intensity CSP that can be easily automated using standard software.

Diagnosis of silent myocardial ischemia in type 2 diabetic patients by electrocardiogram, ergometry and Gated-SPECT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Penna Quian, Yamile; Fernandez-Britto Rodriguez, Jose; Bacallao Gallestey, Jorge; Batista Cuellar, Juan Felipe; Coca Perez, Marco Antonio; Toirac Garcia, Noresma; Penna Coego, Andria

2008-01-01

31 asymptomatic type 2 diabetic patients were studied by lab tests, electrocardiogram, ergometry, Gated-SPECT and coronariography to determine the relation between the atherosclerotic risk factors and the silent myocardial ischemia. Patients were classified into two groups: positive SPECT and negative SPECT. Association tests were made for each variable and ROC curves were constructed to identify risk markers. In 35.5% of the patients silent myocardial ischemia was detected with a good angiographic correlation. A significant association was evidenced between positive SPECT and the atherosclerotic risk factors, namely, low values of HDLc, family pathological history of ischemic heart disease and peripheral vascular disease. The logistic regression models showed that low values of HDLc together with family pathological history of ischemic heart disease may be strong predictors of silent myocardial ischemia in asymptomatic type 2 diabetic patients

An introduction to silent speech interfaces

CERN Document Server

Freitas, João; Dias, Miguel Sales; Silva, Samuel

2017-01-01

This book provides a broad and comprehensive overview of the existing technical approaches in the area of silent speech interfaces (SSI), both in theory and in application. Each technique is described in the context of the human speech production process, allowing the reader to clearly understand the principles behind SSI in general and across different methods. Additionally, the book explores the combined use of different data sources, collected from various sensors, in order to tackle the limitations of simpler SSI approaches, addressing current challenges of this field. The book also provides information about existing SSI applications, resources and a simple tutorial on how to build an SSI.

Quantum reading of unitary optical devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dall'Arno, Michele; Bisio, Alessandro; D'Ariano, Giacomo Mauro

2014-01-01

We address the problem of quantum reading of optical memories, namely the retrieving of classical information stored in the optical properties of a media with minimum energy. We present optimal strategies for ambiguous and unambiguous quantum reading of unitary optical memories, namely when one's task is to minimize the probability of errors in the retrieved information and when perfect retrieving of information is achieved probabilistically, respectively. A comparison of the optimal strategy with coherent probes and homodyne detection shows that the former saves orders of magnitude of energy when achieving the same performances. Experimental proposals for quantum reading which are feasible with present quantum optical technology are reported

Whole Language-Based English Reading Materials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dian Erlina

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This Research and Development (R&D aims at developing English reading materials for undergraduate EFL students of Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN Raden Fatah Palembang, Indonesia. Research data were obtained through questionnaires, tests, and documents. The results of the research show that the existing materials are not relevant to the students’ need, so there is a need for developing new materials based on whole language principles. In general, the new developed materials are considered reliable by the experts, students, and lecturers. The materials are also effective in improving students’ reading achievement. The final product of the materials consists of a course book entitled Whole Language Reading (WLR and a teacher’s manual. WLR provides rich input of reading strategies, variety of topics, concepts, texts, activities, tasks, and evaluations. Using this book makes reading more holistic and meaningful as it provides integration across language skills and subject areas.

Reading speed and phonological awareness deficits among Arabic-speaking children with dyslexia.

Science.gov (United States)

Layes, Smail; Lalonde, Robert; Rebaï, Mohamed

2015-02-01

Although reading accuracy of isolated words and phonological awareness represent the main criteria of subtyping developmental dyslexia, there is increasing evidence that reduced reading speed also represents a defining characteristic. In the present study, reading speed and accuracy were measured in Arabic-speaking phonological and mixed dyslexic children matched with controls of the same age. Participants in third and fourth grades, aged from 9-10 to 9-8 years, were given single frequent and infrequent word and pseudo-word reading and phonological awareness tasks. Results showed that the group with dyslexia scored significantly lower than controls in accuracy and speed in reading tasks. Phonological and mixed dyslexic subgroups differed in infrequent and frequent word reading accuracy, the latter being worse. In contrast, the subgroups were comparable in pseudo-word identification and phonological awareness. Delayed phonological and recognition processes of infrequent and frequent words, respectively, were placed in the context of the dual route model of reading and the specific orthographic features of the Arabic language. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Competent Adolescent Readers' Use of Internet Reading Strategies: A Think-Aloud Study

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Byeong-Young

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the type, pattern, and complexity of Internet reading strategies used by seven accomplished high school readers. Individual participants performed an academic Internet reading task with the goal of developing critical questions about their chosen controversial topic. Strategies for Internet reading were…

Orthographic learning in children with isolated and combined reading and spelling deficits.

Science.gov (United States)

Mehlhase, Heike; Bakos, Sarolta; Landerl, Karin; Schulte-Körne, Gerd; Moll, Kristina

2018-05-07

Dissociations between reading and spelling problems are likely to be associated with different underlying cognitive deficits, and with different deficits in orthographic learning. In order to understand these differences, the current study examined orthographic learning using a printed-word learning paradigm. Children (4th grade) with isolated reading, isolated spelling and combined reading and spelling problems were compared to children with age appropriate reading and spelling skills on their performance during learning novel words and symbols (non-verbal control condition), and during immediate and delayed reading and spelling recall tasks. No group differences occurred in the non-verbal control condition. In the verbal condition, initial learning was intact in all groups, but differences occurred during recall tasks. Children with reading fluency deficits showed slower reading times, while children with spelling deficits were less accurate, both in reading and spelling recall. Children with isolated spelling problems showed no difficulties in immediate spelling recall, but had problems in remembering the spellings 2 hours later. The results suggest that different orthographic learning deficits underlie reading fluency and spelling problems: Children with isolated reading fluency deficits have no difficulties in building-up orthographic representations, but access to these representations is slowed down while children with isolated spelling deficits have problems in storing precise orthographic representations in long-term memory.

Silent infarction on a second CT scan in 91 patients without manifest stroke in the Dutch TIA trial

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Herderscheê, D.; Hijdra, A.; Algra, A.; Kappelle, L. J.; Koudstaal, P. J.; van Gijn, J.

1994-01-01

The frequency of silent infarction is an important issue because it is a marker of vascular disease. We studied the occurrence of silent infarction in a sample of patients from the Dutch TIA trial, in which patients were randomized between 30 and 283 mg of aspirin. A total of 91 patients with TIA or

Role of Working Memory in Explaining the Performance of Individuals with Specific Reading Comprehension Difficulties: A Meta-Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Carretti, Barbara; Borella, Erika; Cornoldi, Cesare; De Beni, Rossana

2009-01-01

It is well established that working memory is related to reading comprehension ability. However, its role in explaining specific reading comprehension difficulties is still under debate: the issue mainly concerns whether the contribution of working memory is dependent on task modality (verbal tasks being more predictive than visuo-spatial tasks)…

Altered Modulation of Silent Period in Tongue Motor Cortex of Persistent Developmental Stuttering in Relation to Stuttering Severity.

Science.gov (United States)

Busan, Pierpaolo; Del Ben, Giovanni; Bernardini, Simona; Natarelli, Giulia; Bencich, Marco; Monti, Fabrizio; Manganotti, Paolo; Battaglini, Piero Paolo

2016-01-01

Motor balance in developmental stuttering (DS) was investigated with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), with the aim to define novel neural markers of persistent DS in adulthood. Eleven DS adult males were evaluated with TMS on tongue primary motor cortex, compared to 15 matched fluent speakers, in a "state" condition (i.e. stutterers vs. fluent speakers, no overt stuttering). Motor and silent period thresholds (SPT), recruitment curves, and silent period durations were acquired by recording tongue motor evoked potentials. Tongue silent period duration was increased in DS, especially in the left hemisphere (Pstuttering severity. Pre-TMS electromyography data gave overlapping evidence. Findings suggest the existence of a complex intracortical balance in DS tongue primary motor cortex, with a particular interplay between excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms, also in neural substrates related to silent periods. Findings are discussed with respect to functional and structural impairments in stuttering, and are also proposed as novel neural markers of a stuttering "state" in persistent DS, helping to define more focused treatments (e.g. neuro-modulation).

Lexical-Semantic Reading in a Shallow Orthography: Evidence from a Girl with Williams Syndrome

Science.gov (United States)

Barca, Laura; Bello, Arianna; Volterra, Virginia; Burani, Cristina

2010-01-01

The reading skills of a girl with Williams Syndrome are assessed by a timed word-naming task. To test the efficiency of lexical and nonlexical reading, we considered four marker effects: Lexicality (better reading of words than nonwords), frequency (better reading of high than low frequency words), length (better reading of short than long words),…

Using E-Z Reader to Simulate Eye Movements in Nonreading Tasks: A Unified Framework for Understanding the Eye-Mind Link

Science.gov (United States)

Reichle, Erik D.; Pollatsek, Alexander; Rayner, Keith

2012-01-01

Nonreading tasks that share some (but not all) of the task demands of reading have often been used to make inferences about how cognition influences when the eyes move during reading. In this article, we use variants of the E-Z Reader model of eye-movement control in reading to simulate eye-movement behavior in several of these tasks, including…

INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY LEARNING THROUGH READING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Holly Warzecha, M.A. TESOL

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the following paper is to take a closer look at the benefits of incidental learning through reading, with a specific focus on vocabulary acquisition. The teaching of vocabulary has traditionally been an explicit process where the target vocabulary is taken out of context and taught separately. However, this kind of explicit teaching and learning may only take into account a form-meaning connection. Therefore, this paper explores research on incidental learning and specifically looks at what it takes to acquire new vocabulary incidentally through reading while considering the coverage rates of texts, how many words must be known already from the text, how many repetitions it takes to learn a word, types of texts that promote learning, and the effects of pairing students‘ reading with learner tasks. After reviewing many studies, it can be concluded that more reading is better. More specifically, extensive reading of chosen novels at an appropriate level and interest to the students showed important gains in vocabulary. In addition, readings that were supplemented with additional activities that focused on both form and meaning showed an even higher increase in word retention.

Dynamic wind turbine models in power system simulation tool DIgSILENT

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Anca Daniela; Iov, F.; Sørensen, Poul Ejnar

, connection of the wind turbine at different types of grid and storage systems. Different control strategies have been developed and implemented for these wind turbine concepts, their performance in normal or fault operation being assessed and discussed by means of simulations. The described control......This report presents a collection of models and control strategies developed and implemented in the power system simulation tool PowerFactory DIgSILENT for different wind turbine concepts. It is the second edition of Risø-R-1400(EN) and it gathers and describes a whole wind turbine model database...... of the interaction between the mechanical structure of the wind turbine and the electrical grid during different operational modes. The report provides thus a description of the wind turbines modelling, both at a component level and at a system level. The report contains both the description of DIgSILENT built...

Human Schedule Performance, Protocol Analysis, and the "Silent Dog" Methodology

Science.gov (United States)

Cabello, Francisco; Luciano, Carmen; Gomez, Inmaculada; Barnes-Holmes, Dermot

2004-01-01

The purpose of the current experiment was to investigate the role of private verbal behavior on the operant performances of human adults, using a protocol analysis procedure with additional methodological controls (the "silent dog" method). Twelve subjects were exposed to fixed ratio 8 and differential reinforcement of low rate 3-s schedules. For…

Working memory training improves reading processes in typically developing children.

Science.gov (United States)

Loosli, Sandra V; Buschkuehl, Martin; Perrig, Walter J; Jaeggi, Susanne M

2012-01-01

The goal of this study was to investigate whether a brief cognitive training intervention results in a specific performance increase in the trained task, and whether there are transfer effects to other nontrained measures. A computerized, adaptive working memory intervention was conducted with 9- to 11-year-old typically developing children. The children considerably improved their performance in the trained working memory task. Additionally, compared to a matched control group, the experimental group significantly enhanced their reading performance after training, providing further evidence for shared processes between working memory and reading.

Stopping the Silent Killer: Hepatitis B Among Asian Americans

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

This podcast discusses an underappreciated health threat to many Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States: chronic infection with the hepatitis B virus. Dr. John Ward, director of CDC's Division of Viral Hepatitis, and Dr. Sam So, founder of the Asian Liver Center at Stanford University, address the importance of testing, vaccination, and care to prevent serious health consequences from this "silent" disease.

The nature of mind wandering during reading varies with the cognitive control demands of the reading strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Moss, Jarrod; Schunn, Christian D; Schneider, Walter; McNamara, Danielle S

2013-11-20

Prior studies of mind wandering find the default network active during mind wandering, but these studies have yielded mixed results concerning the role of cognitive control brain regions during mind wandering. Mind wandering often interferes with reading comprehension, and prior neuroimaging studies of discourse comprehension and strategic reading comprehension have shown that there are at least two networks of brain regions that support strategic discourse comprehension: a domain-general control network and a network of regions supporting coherence-building comprehension processes. The present study was designed to further examine the neural correlates of mind wandering by examining mind wandering during strategic reading comprehension. Participants provided ratings of mind wandering frequency that were used to investigate interactions between the strategy being performed and brain regions whose activation was modulated by wind wandering. The results support prior findings showing that cognitive control regions are at times more active during mind wandering than during a task with low control demands, such as rereading. This result provides an initial examination of the neural correlates of mind wandering during discourse comprehension and shows that the processes being engaged by the primary task need to be considered when studying mind wandering. The results also replicate, in a different learning domain, prior findings of key brain areas associated with different reading strategies. © 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Wh-question intonation in Peninsular Spanish: Multiple contours and the effect of task type

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicholas C. Henriksen

2009-06-01

Full Text Available This paper reports on an experimental investigation of wh-question intonation in Peninsular Spanish. Speech data were collected from six León, Spain Peninsular Spanish speakers, and oral production data were elicited under two conditions: a computerized sentence reading task and an information gap task-oriented dialogue. The latter task was an adaptation of the HCRC Map Task method (cf. Anderson et al., 1991 and was designed to elicit multiple wh-question productions in an unscripted and more spontaneous speech style than the standard sentence reading task. Results indicate that four contours exist in the tonal inventory of the six speakers. The two most frequent contours were a final rise contour and a nuclear circumflex contour. Systematic task-based differences were found for four of the six speakers, indicating that sentence reading task data alone may not accurately reflect spontaneous speech tonal patterns (cf. Cruttenden, 2007; but see also Lickley, Schepman, & Ladd, 2005. The experimental findings serve to clarify a number of assumptions about the syntax-prosody interface underlying wh-question utterance signaling; they also have implications for research methods in intonation and task-based variation in laboratory phonology.

Training improves reading speed in peripheral vision: Is it due to attention?

OpenAIRE

Lee, Hye-Won; Kwon, MiYoung; Legge, Gordon E.; Gefroh, Joshua J.

2010-01-01

Previous research has shown that perceptual training in peripheral vision, using a letter-recognition task, increases reading speed and letter recognition (Chung, Legge, & Cheung, 2004). We tested the hypothesis that enhanced deployment of spatial attention to peripheral vision explains this training effect. Subjects were pre- and post-tested with 3 tasks at 10° above and below fixation—RSVP reading speed, trigram letter recognition (used to construct visual-span profiles), and deployment of ...

Motivation to Read: How Does It Change for Struggling Readers with and without Disabilities?

Science.gov (United States)

Melekoglu, Macid A.; Wilkerson, Kimber L.

2013-01-01

Lack of reading motivation impedes upper elementary and secondary school students' willingness to improve critical reading skills and strategies to be successful in school. Struggling readers often show a negative attitude towards reading tasks and manifest low motivation to read. Although the importance of motivation is clear, there is limited…

Interdisciplinary Instructional Reading Strategies: An Applied Application for Business Education

Science.gov (United States)

Polkinghorne, Frederick W.; Bland, Zinna L.

2011-01-01

The contemporary workforce requires technical and reading skills (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008; The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, Partnership for 21st Century Skills, Society of Human Resource Management, 2006). Technical skills allow workers to perform specific workforce tasks, while reading skills are generally needed by…

The default modes of reading: Modulation of posterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex connectivity associated with subjective and objective differences in reading experience

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Jonathan eSmallwood

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Reading is a fundamental human capacity and yet it can easily be derailed by the simple act of mind-wandering. A large-scale brain network, referred to as the default mode network (DMN, has been shown to be involved in both mind-wandering and reading, raising the question as to how the same neural system could be implicated in processes with both costs and benefits to narrative comprehension. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI was used to explore whether the intrinsic functional connectivity of the two key midline hubs of the DMN — the posterior cingulate (PCC and medial prefrontal cortex (aMPFC — was predictive of individual differences in reading effectiveness (better comprehension, superior and task focus recorded outside of the scanner. Worse comprehension was associated with greater functional connectivity between the PCC and a region of the ventral striatum. By contrast reports of increasing task focus were associated with functional connectivity from the aMPFC to clusters in the PCC, the left parietal and temporal cortex, and the cerebellum. Our results suggest that the DMN has both costs (such as poor comprehension and benefits to reading (such as an on-task focus because its midline core can couple its activity with other regions to form distinct functional communities that allow seemingly opposing mental states to occur. This flexible coupling allows the DMN to participate in cognitive states that complement the act of reading as well as others that do not.

The dual reading of general conditionals: The influence of abstract versus concrete contexts.

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Wang, Moyun; Yao, Xinyun

2018-04-01

A current main issue on conditionals is whether the meaning of general conditionals (e.g., If a card is red, then it is round) is deterministic (exceptionless) or probabilistic (exception-tolerating). In order to resolve the issue, two experiments examined the influence of conditional contexts (with vs. without frequency information of truth table cases) on the reading of general conditionals. Experiment 1 examined the direct reading of general conditionals in the possibility judgment task. Experiment 2 examined the indirect reading of general conditionals in the truth judgment task. It was found that both the direct and indirect reading of general conditionals exhibited the duality: the predominant deterministic semantic reading of conditionals without frequency information, and the predominant probabilistic pragmatic reading of conditionals with frequency information. The context of general conditionals determined the predominant reading of general conditionals. There were obvious individual differences in reading general conditionals with frequency information. The meaning of general conditionals is relative, depending on conditional contexts. The reading of general conditionals is flexible and complex so that no simple deterministic and probabilistic accounts are able to explain it. The present findings are beyond the extant deterministic and probabilistic accounts of conditionals.

Why does working memory capacity predict variation in reading comprehension? On the influence of mind wandering and executive attention.

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McVay, Jennifer C; Kane, Michael J

2012-05-01

Some people are better readers than others, and this variation in comprehension ability is predicted by measures of working memory capacity (WMC). The primary goal of this study was to investigate the mediating role of mind-wandering experiences in the association between WMC and normal individual differences in reading comprehension, as predicted by the executive-attention theory of WMC (e.g., Engle & Kane, 2004). We used a latent-variable, structural-equation-model approach, testing skilled adult readers on 3 WMC span tasks, 7 varied reading-comprehension tasks, and 3 attention-control tasks. Mind wandering was assessed using experimenter-scheduled thought probes during 4 different tasks (2 reading, 2 attention-control). The results support the executive-attention theory of WMC. Mind wandering across the 4 tasks loaded onto a single latent factor, reflecting a stable individual difference. Most important, mind wandering was a significant mediator in the relationship between WMC and reading comprehension, suggesting that the WMC-comprehension correlation is driven, in part, by attention control over intruding thoughts. We discuss implications for theories of WMC, attention control, and reading comprehension.

Hydrocoele: A Silent Disability Affecting Quality of Life in Katakwi ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Katakwi district is one of the rural districts in eastern Uganda in Teso Sub Region. The district is heavily infested with filarial worms a major cause for hydrocoele and elephantiasis if the infection is left untreated. Hydrocoele in Katakwi district are still a big cause of silent morbidity though it's an operable ...

How restful is it with all that noise? Comparison of Interleaved silent steady state (ISSS) and conventional imaging in resting-state fMRI.

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Andoh, J; Ferreira, M; Leppert, I R; Matsushita, R; Pike, B; Zatorre, R J

2017-02-15

Resting-state fMRI studies have become very important in cognitive neuroscience because they are able to identify BOLD fluctuations in brain circuits involved in motor, cognitive, or perceptual processes without the use of an explicit task. Such approaches have been fruitful when applied to various disordered populations, or to children or the elderly. However, insufficient attention has been paid to the consequences of the loud acoustic scanner noise associated with conventional fMRI acquisition, which could be an important confounding factor affecting auditory and/or cognitive networks in resting-state fMRI. Several approaches have been developed to mitigate the effects of acoustic noise on fMRI signals, including sparse sampling protocols and interleaved silent steady state (ISSS) acquisition methods, the latter being used only for task-based fMRI. Here, we developed an ISSS protocol for resting-state fMRI (rs-ISSS) consisting of rapid acquisition of a set of echo planar imaging volumes following each silent period, during which the steady state longitudinal magnetization was maintained with a train of relatively silent slice-selective excitation pulses. We evaluated the test-retest reliability of intensity and spatial extent of connectivity networks of fMRI BOLD signal across three different days for rs-ISSS and compared it with a standard resting-state fMRI (rs-STD). We also compared the strength and distribution of connectivity networks between rs-ISSS and rs-STD. We found that both rs-ISSS and rs-STD showed high reproducibility of fMRI signal across days. In addition, rs-ISSS showed a more robust pattern of functional connectivity within the somatosensory and motor networks, as well as an auditory network compared with rs-STD. An increased connectivity between the default mode network and the language network and with the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) network was also found for rs-ISSS compared with rs-STD. Finally, region of interest analysis showed

An investigation into the English reading comprehension of Grade 10 English first additional language learners at a senior secondary school

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Chaka Chaka

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Poor levels of English first additional language (EFAL reading comprehension amongst school learners at most public schools in South Africa are a great concern. In fact, for learning to be successful and effective, learners need to be able to read well in EFAL. This is more so as EFAL serves as a language of learning and teaching (LOLT for most learning areas in South Africa’s public schools. Against this background, this study set out in 2012 to investigate the English reading comprehension of Grade 10 EFAL learners at a senior secondary school. Using purposive and voluntary sampling techniques, the study had 17 EFAL learners(M = 10, F–7 as its participants. It employed three reading measures, a recall task, a summary and a comprehension test, which were based on three English extracts, to assess participants’ reading comprehension. It then assessed and scored participants’ responses to the three tasks by using an oral reading rubric and two prepared marking memoranda. One of the findings of this study was that, of the three reading tasks administered, participants did slightly above average in the comprehension test, but performed below average in the two other tasks – the recall and summary tasks.

Syntactic comprehension in reading and listening: a study with French children with dyslexia.

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Casalis, Séverine; Leuwers, Christel; Hilton, Heather

2013-01-01

This study examined syntactic comprehension in French children with dyslexia in both listening and reading. In the first syntactic comprehension task, a partial version of the Epreuve de Compréhension syntaxico-sémantique (ECOSSE test; French adaptation of Bishop's test for receptive grammar test) children with dyslexia performed at a lower level in the written but not in the spoken modality, compared to reading age-matched children, suggesting a difficulty in handling syntax while reading. In the second task, syntactic processing was further explored through a test of relative clause processing, in which inflectional markers could aid in attributing roles to the elements in a complex syntactic structure. Children with dyslexia were insensitive to inflectional markers in both reading and listening, as was the reading age control group, while only the older normal reader group appeared to make use of the inflectional markers. Overall, the results support the hypothesis that difficulties in comprehension in dyslexia are strongly related to poor reading skills.

Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition: The Effects of Task Type, Word Occurrence and Their Combination

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Laufer, Batia; Rozovski-Roitblat, Bella

2011-01-01

We investigated how long-term retention of new words was affected by task type, number of word occurrences in the teaching materials and the combination of the two factors. The tasks were: reading a text with occasional Focus on Form when learners used dictionaries (T+F), or reading a text with Focus on Forms, i.e. word focused exercises (T+Fs).…

IELTS Preparation Courses in China : the Reading Comprehension Task

OpenAIRE

Zhou, Ying

2011-01-01

More and more private language schools provide IELTS preparation courses for candidates who want to sit the test for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate courses in English-speaking countries. This essay investigates whether the IELTS preparation course in a language school in China offers an adequate preparation for candidates. The study focuses on one preparation course for the IELTS reading test (other modules are beyond the scope of the present study). A questionnaire and interview...

Metacognitive awareness of TOEFL reading comprehension strategies

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Sungatullina Dilyana D.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The rising demand for exchange and mobility programs as well as double diploma opportunities with world leading universities highlights the importance of ESL proficiency. TOEFL iBT as a test of EAP is accepted by most of the HEI in various countries. The aim of the present study is to determine students’ metacognitive awareness of global academic reading strategies, namely the use of context clues, within the framework of preparation for TOEFL reading section. The article establishes the connection between success in reading comprehension and the degree of students’ metacognitive awareness. The authors concentrate on expository texts from TOEFL reading section as a testing material and provide detailed description of single context clues types and double context clues patterns typical for this text structure. The following study is concerned with comparison and interpretation of the results obtained in three focus groups of students, who have accomplished reading comprehension task from TOEFL iBT with and without learning to employ the context clues reading strategy.

Reading Social wMaps.w

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Clements, Millard

1982-01-01

What should social studies teachers be trying to teach students how to do? Every culture provides its members with social "maps" that explain how things are--e.g., school materials, advertisements. Teaching students how to read these social "maps" should be the central task for social studies education. (RM)

Does Visual Attention Span Relate to Eye Movements during Reading and Copying?

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Bosse, Marie-Line; Kandel, Sonia; Prado, Chloé; Valdois, Sylviane

2014-01-01

This research investigated whether text reading and copying involve visual attention-processing skills. Children in grades 3 and 5 read and copied the same text. We measured eye movements while reading and the number of gaze lifts (GL) during copying. The children were also administered letter report tasks that constitute an estimation of the…

The effect of divided attention on novices and experts in laparoscopic task performance.

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Ghazanfar, Mudassar Ali; Cook, Malcolm; Tang, Benjie; Tait, Iain; Alijani, Afshin

2015-03-01

Attention is important for the skilful execution of surgery. The surgeon's attention during surgery is divided between surgery and outside distractions. The effect of this divided attention has not been well studied previously. We aimed to compare the effect of dividing attention of novices and experts on a laparoscopic task performance. Following ethical approval, 25 novices and 9 expert surgeons performed a standardised peg transfer task in a laboratory setup under three randomly assigned conditions: silent as control condition and two standardised auditory distracting tasks requiring response (easy and difficult) as study conditions. Human reliability assessment was used for surgical task analysis. Primary outcome measures were correct auditory responses, task time, number of surgical errors and instrument movements. Secondary outcome measures included error rate, error probability and hand specific differences. Non-parametric statistics were used for data analysis. 21109 movements and 9036 total errors were analysed. Novices had increased mean task completion time (seconds) (171 ± 44SD vs. 149 ± 34, p 0.05). Divided attention conditions in theatre environment require careful consideration during surgical training as the junior surgeons are less able to focus their attention during these conditions.

Veratridine activates a silent sodium-channel in rat isolated aorta

NARCIS (Netherlands)

WERMELSKIRCHEN, D; WILFFERT, B; NEBEL, U; LEIDIG, A; WIRTH, A; Peters, Thies

1992-01-01

To investigate the existence of silent Na+ channels, isolated rat aorta was treated with veratridine (0.1 mM) and the resulting Ca2+ uptake was determined. After 30-min incubation the total tissue uptake of Ca2+ and Ca2+ uptake increased from 2.325 +/- 0.017 to 2.614 +/- 0.080 nmol/mg wet weight

Health Education Films of the Silent Era: A Historical Analysis

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Sofalvi, Alan

2011-01-01

Films have been used to present health messages throughout the history of the medium. The purpose of this article is to describe pictures from the silent film era that were designed to educate people about health issues. Films still available in at least one format were reviewed. Published reviews were also used to obtain information about these…

THE EFFECT OF USING SHORT SILENT ANIMATIONS ON EFL LEARNERS WRITING

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Hamid Marashi

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the effect of short silent animations on pre-intermediate EFL learners writing. A homogenized group of 60 participants was non-randomly chosen and assigned as the control and experimental groups. Those in the control group watched five short animations with dialogue, while those in the experimental group had five short animations which were silent. The procedure lasted 10 sessions. In both groups, the participants were asked to write five writings regarding the subjects of the animations during the term and each of the writings should have contained a minimum of 90 and maximum of 140 words. The participants were provided both oral and written feedback. At the end of the instruction, a sample PET writing posttest was administered to both groups, an independent samples t-test was run on the mean scores of the two groups, and the results (t = -2.02, p = 0.037˂0.05 revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group.

Typical and atypical (silent) subacute thyroiditis in a wife and husband

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morrison, J.; Caplan, R.H.

1978-01-01

Typical subacute thyroiditis was diagnosed in a woman. Three weeks later, signs and symptoms of hyperthyroidism developed in her husband. Although the right lobe of his thyroid gland was slightly enlarged, pain and tenderness were absent throughout the course of his illness. The free thyroxine equivalent (FTE) value and the sedimentation rate were elevated; the low uptake of radioactive iodine by the thyroid gland was consistent with ''silent'' subacute thyroiditis. We postulate that a common etiology, probably viral, was operative in both cases. Nine additional cases of hyperthyroidism with low levels of thyroidal uptake of radioactive iodine are described. The thyroid glands of these patients were normal or slightly enlarged. Antithyroglobulin antibody levels determined in seven patients were not substantially elevated. The clinical course of these patients was characteristic of ''silent'' subacute thyroiditis. Although the origin of the syndrome remains unclear, the disease is self-limited and therapy, if any, is supportive

Typical and atypical (silent) subacute thyroiditis in a wife and husband

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Morrison, J.; Caplan, R.H.

1978-01-01

Typical subacute thyroiditis was diagnosed in a woman. Three weeks later, signs and symptoms of hyperthyroidism developed in her husband. Although the right lobe of his thyroid gland was slightly enlarged, pain and tenderness were absent throughout the course of his illness. The free thyroxine equivalent (FTE) value and the sedimentation rate were elevated; the low uptake of radioactive iodine by the thyroid gland was consistent with ''silent'' subacute thyroiditis. We postulate that a common etiology, probably viral, was operative in both cases. Nine additional cases of hyperthyroidism with low levels of thyroidal uptake of radioactive iodine are described. The thyroid glands of these patients were normal or slightly enlarged. Antithyroglobulin antibody levels determined in seven patients were not substantially elevated. The clinical course of these patients was characteristic of ''silent'' subacute thyroiditis. Although the origin of the syndrome remains unclear, the disease is self-limited and therapy, if any, is supportive.

Developmental change in cognitive organization underlying stroop tasks of Japanese orthographies.

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Toma, C; Toshima, T

1989-01-01

Cognitive processes underlying Stroop interference tasks of two Japanese orthographies, hiragana (a phonetic orthography) and kanji (a logographic orthography) were studied from the developmental point of view. Four age groups (first, second, third graders, and university students) were employed as subjects. Significant interference was yielded both in the hiragana and in the kanji version. Performance time on interference task decreased with age. For elementary school children, the error frequency on the interference task was higher than that on the task of naming patch colors or on the task of reading words printed in black ink, but the error frequencies did not differ among tasks for university students. In the interference task more word reading errors were yielded in the kanji version than in the hiragana version during and after third grade. The findings suggested that (1) the recognition system of hiragana and of kanji becomes qualitatively different during and after third grade, (2) the integrative system, which organizes cognitive processes underlying Stroop task, develops with age, and (3) efficiency of the organization increases with age.

Detection of silent cells, synchronization and modulatory activity in developing cellular networks.

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Hjorth, Johannes J J; Dawitz, Julia; Kroon, Tim; Pires, Johny; Dassen, Valerie J; Berkhout, Janna A; Emperador Melero, Javier; Nadadhur, Aish G; Alevra, Mihai; Toonen, Ruud F; Heine, Vivi M; Mansvelder, Huibert D; Meredith, Rhiannon M

2016-04-01

Developing networks in the immature nervous system and in cellular cultures are characterized by waves of synchronous activity in restricted clusters of cells. Synchronized activity in immature networks is proposed to regulate many different developmental processes, from neuron growth and cell migration, to the refinement of synapses, topographic maps, and the mature composition of ion channels. These emergent activity patterns are not present in all cells simultaneously within the network and more immature "silent" cells, potentially correlated with the presence of silent synapses, are prominent in different networks during early developmental periods. Many current network analyses for detection of synchronous cellular activity utilize activity-based pixel correlations to identify cellular-based regions of interest (ROIs) and coincident cell activity. However, using activity-based correlations, these methods first underestimate or ignore the inactive silent cells within the developing network and second, are difficult to apply within cell-dense regions commonly found in developing brain networks. In addition, previous methods may ignore ROIs within a network that shows transient activity patterns comprising both inactive and active periods. We developed analysis software to semi-automatically detect cells within developing neuronal networks that were imaged using calcium-sensitive reporter dyes. Using an iterative threshold, modulation of activity was tracked within individual cells across the network. The distribution pattern of both inactive and active, including synchronous cells, could be determined based on distance measures to neighboring cells and according to different anatomical layers. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Making a Case for the Teaching of Reading across the Curriculum in Higher Education

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Bharuthram, Sharita

2012-01-01

Over the past two decades there has been much written in the literature about the importance of reading and the importance of teaching students reading strategies to improve their reading comprehension. Reading is one of the most important academic tasks encountered by students. In higher education, students are exposed to a number of texts and…

Relations among student attention behaviors, teacher practices, and beginning word reading skill.

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Sáez, Leilani; Folsom, Jessica Sidler; Al Otaiba, Stephanie; Schatschneider, Christopher

2012-01-01

The role of student attention for predicting kindergarten word reading was investigated among 432 students. Using Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD Symptoms and Normal Behavior Rating Scale behavior rating scores, the authors conducted an exploratory factor analysis, which yielded three distinct factors that reflected selective attention. In this study, the authors focused on the role of one of these factors, which they labeled attention-memory, for predicting reading performance. Teacher ratings of attention-memory predicted word reading above and beyond the contribution of phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge. In addition, the relations between four teacher practices and attention ratings for predicting reading performance were examined. Using hierarchical linear modeling, the authors found significant interactions between student attention and teacher practices observed during literacy instruction. In general, as ratings of attention improved, better kindergarten word reading performance was associated with high levels of classroom behavior management. However, better word reading performance was not associated with high levels of teacher task orienting. A significant three-way interaction was also found among attention, individualized instruction, and teacher task redirections. The role of regulating kindergarten student attention to support beginning word reading skill development is discussed.

Enhancing the production effect in memory.

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Quinlan, Chelsea K; Taylor, Tracy L

2013-01-01

The production effect is the finding that subsequent memory is better for words that are produced than for words that are not produced. Whereas the current literature demonstrates that reading aloud is the most effective form of production, the distinctiveness account used to explain the production effect predicts that there is nothing special about reading aloud per se: Other forms of vocal production that include an additional distinct element should produce even greater subsequent memory benefits than reading aloud. To test this, we presented participants with study words that they were instructed to read aloud loudly, read aloud, or read silently (Experiment 1); sing, read aloud, or read silently (Experiment 2); and sing, read aloud loudly, read aloud, or read silently (Experiment 3). We observed that both reading items aloud loudly (Experiments 1 and 3) and singing items (Experiments 2 and 3) at study resulted in greater subsequent recognition than reading items aloud in a normal voice; singing had a larger memory benefit than reading aloud loudly (Experiment 3). Our findings support the distinctiveness hypothesis by demonstrating that there are other forms of production, such as singing and reading aloud loudly that have a more pronounced effect on memory than reading aloud.

Metacognitive deficits in categorization tasks in a population with impaired inner speech.

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Langland-Hassan, Peter; Gauker, Christopher; Richardson, Michael J; Dietz, Aimee; Faries, Frank R

2017-11-01

This study examines the relation of language use to a person's ability to perform categorization tasks and to assess their own abilities in those categorization tasks. A silent rhyming task was used to confirm that a group of people with post-stroke aphasia (PWA) had corresponding covert language production (or "inner speech") impairments. The performance of the PWA was then compared to that of age- and education-matched healthy controls on three kinds of categorization tasks and on metacognitive self-assessments of their performance on those tasks. The PWA showed no deficits in their ability to categorize objects for any of the three trial types (visual, thematic, and categorial). However, on the categorial trials, their metacognitive assessments of whether they had categorized correctly were less reliable than those of the control group. The categorial trials were distinguished from the others by the fact that the categorization could not be based on some immediately perceptible feature or on the objects' being found together in a type of scenario or setting. This result offers preliminary evidence for a link between covert language use and a specific form of metacognition. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Immaturity of the Oculomotor Saccade and Vergence Interaction in Dyslexic Children: Evidence from a Reading and Visual Search Study

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Bucci, Maria Pia; Nassibi, Naziha; Gerard, Christophe-Loic; Bui-Quoc, Emmanuel; Seassau, Magali

2012-01-01

Studies comparing binocular eye movements during reading and visual search in dyslexic children are, at our knowledge, inexistent. In the present study we examined ocular motor characteristics in dyslexic children versus two groups of non dyslexic children with chronological/reading age-matched. Binocular eye movements were recorded by an infrared system (mobileEBT®, e(ye)BRAIN) in twelve dyslexic children (mean age 11 years old) and a group of chronological age-matched (N = 9) and reading age-matched (N = 10) non dyslexic children. Two visual tasks were used: text reading and visual search. Independently of the task, the ocular motor behavior in dyslexic children is similar to those reported in reading age-matched non dyslexic children: many and longer fixations as well as poor quality of binocular coordination during and after the saccades. In contrast, chronological age-matched non dyslexic children showed a small number of fixations and short duration of fixations in reading task with respect to visual search task; furthermore their saccades were well yoked in both tasks. The atypical eye movement's patterns observed in dyslexic children suggest a deficiency in the visual attentional processing as well as an immaturity of the ocular motor saccade and vergence systems interaction. PMID:22438934

Silent Patent Ductus Arteriosus Aneurysm

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Aline Medeiros Botta

2002-09-01

Full Text Available Ductus arteriosus aneurysm, a rare and potentially fatal condition, has been reported as a complication after surgical ductus arteriosus closure. Its spontaneous appearance as a septic complication, which was common in the presurgical and preantibiotic era, has been rarely reported in the contemporary literature. Persistence of silent ductus arteriosus in healthy children and adults is a frequent condition that currently has an increasing diagnostic possibility due to the availability of more accurate investigative methods, especially echocardiography. We report the case of a 1-year-old child, in whom no previous heart disease was known, who developed a giant aneurysm of the ductus arteriosus during a staphylococcal infection. This complication appeared after craniotomy for emptying an accidental subdural hematoma. This report associates the persistence of ductus arteriosus with a complication considered rare, which has a rapidly fatal evolution.

Comparison of different speech tasks among adults who stutter and adults who do not stutter

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Ana Paula Ritto

2016-03-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVES: In this study, we compared the performance of both fluent speakers and people who stutter in three different speaking situations: monologue speech, oral reading and choral reading. This study follows the assumption that the neuromotor control of speech can be influenced by external auditory stimuli in both speakers who stutter and speakers who do not stutter. METHOD: Seventeen adults who stutter and seventeen adults who do not stutter were assessed in three speaking tasks: monologue, oral reading (solo reading aloud and choral reading (reading in unison with the evaluator. Speech fluency and rate were measured for each task. RESULTS: The participants who stuttered had a lower frequency of stuttering during choral reading than during monologue and oral reading. CONCLUSIONS: According to the dual premotor system model, choral speech enhanced fluency by providing external cues for the timing of each syllable compensating for deficient internal cues.

Phonological coding during reading.

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Leinenger, Mallorie

2014-11-01

The exact role that phonological coding (the recoding of written, orthographic information into a sound based code) plays during silent reading has been extensively studied for more than a century. Despite the large body of research surrounding the topic, varying theories as to the time course and function of this recoding still exist. The present review synthesizes this body of research, addressing the topics of time course and function in tandem. The varying theories surrounding the function of phonological coding (e.g., that phonological codes aid lexical access, that phonological codes aid comprehension and bolster short-term memory, or that phonological codes are largely epiphenomenal in skilled readers) are first outlined, and the time courses that each maps onto (e.g., that phonological codes come online early [prelexical] or that phonological codes come online late [postlexical]) are discussed. Next the research relevant to each of these proposed functions is reviewed, discussing the varying methodologies that have been used to investigate phonological coding (e.g., response time methods, reading while eye-tracking or recording EEG and MEG, concurrent articulation) and highlighting the advantages and limitations of each with respect to the study of phonological coding. In response to the view that phonological coding is largely epiphenomenal in skilled readers, research on the use of phonological codes in prelingually, profoundly deaf readers is reviewed. Finally, implications for current models of word identification (activation-verification model, Van Orden, 1987; dual-route model, e.g., M. Coltheart, Rastle, Perry, Langdon, & Ziegler, 2001; parallel distributed processing model, Seidenberg & McClelland, 1989) are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Cognitive neuropsychological analysis of differential reading and spelling disorder mechanisms in a patient with aphasia.

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Hashimoto, Kosei; Uno, Akira

2016-06-01

The purpose of this study was to determine if differential reading and spelling mechanisms were involved in a Japanese patient with aphasia. In our case, the patient scored low on all of the administered reading tasks, suggesting that both the reading lexical and non-lexical routes were impaired. In contrast, his writing-to-dictation score for Kana nonwords was high, suggesting that the spelling non-lexical route was intact. However, the patient scored low on a writing-to-dictation task comprised of high-familiarity Kanji words. The spelling lexical route was thought to be impaired. Therefore, the mechanism(s) involved in reading and spelling may differ in this case.

Art of reading a journal article: Methodically and effectively

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Subramanyam, RV

2013-01-01

Background: Reading scientific literature is mandatory for researchers and clinicians. With an overflow of medical and dental journals, it is essential to develop a method to choose and read the right articles. Objective: To outline a logical and orderly approach to reading a scientific manuscript. By breaking down the task into smaller, step-by-step components, one should be able to attain the skills to read a scientific article with ease. Methods: The reader should begin by reading the title, abstract and conclusions first. If a decision is made to read the entire article, the key elements of the article can be perused in a systematic manner effectively and efficiently. A cogent and organized method is presented to read articles published in scientific journals. Conclusion: One can read and appreciate a scientific manuscript if a systematic approach is followed in a simple and logical manner. PMID:23798833

Processing Determinants of Reading Speed.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Mark D.; McClelland, James L.

1979-01-01

Two groups of undergraduates differing in reading ability were tested on a number of reaction-time tasks designed to determine the speed of encoding visual information at several different levels, tests of sensory functions, verbal and quantitative reasoning ability, short-term auditory memory span, and ability to comprehend spoken text.…

Order information is used to guide recall of long lists: Further evidence for the item-order account.

Science.gov (United States)

Forrin, Noah D; MacLeod, Colin M

2016-06-01

Differences in memory for item order have been used to explain the absence of between-subjects (i.e., pure-list) effects in free recall for several encoding techniques, including the production effect, the finding that reading aloud benefits memory compared with reading silently. Notably, however, evidence in support of the item-order account (Nairne, Riegler, & Serra, 1991) has derived primarily from short-list paradigms. We provide novel evidence that the item-order account also applies when recalling long lists. In Experiment 1, participants studied and then free recalled 3 different long lists of words: pure aloud, pure silent, and mixed (half aloud, half silent). A Bayesian analysis supported a null pure-list production effect, and subsequent order analyses were largely consistent with the item-order account. These findings indicate that order information is retained in long-term memory and is useful in guiding subsequent free recall. In Experiment 2, a distractor task was inserted between the study and test phases, ensuring that only long-term memory processes were involved in recall: The pattern of results remained consistent with the item-order account. Order information can be retained in long-term memory for long lists, and is useful in guiding subsequent free recall, extending the domain of the item-order account. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Brain-Behavior Relationships in Reading Acquisition Are Modulated by Socioeconomic Factors

Science.gov (United States)

Noble, Kimberly G.; Wolmetz, Michael E.; Ochs, Lisa G.; Farah, Martha J.; McCandliss, Bruce D.

2006-01-01

Functional neuroimaging may provide insights into the achievement gap in reading skill commonly observed across socioeconomic status (SES). Brain activation during reading tasks is known to be associated with individual differences in children's phonological language skills. By selecting children of equivalent phonological skill, yet diverse…

Dynamic wind turbine models in power system simulation tool DIgSILENT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hansen, A.C.; Jauch, C.; Soerensen, P.; Iov, F.; Blaabjerg, F.

2003-12-01

The present report describes the dynamic wind turbine models implemented in the power system simulation tool DIgSILENT (Version 12.0). The developed models are a part of the results of a national research project, whose overall objective is to create a model database in different simulation tools. This model database should be able to support the analysis of the interaction between the mechanical structure of the wind turbine and the electrical grid during different operational modes. The report provides a description of the wind turbines modelling, both at a component level and at a system level. The report contains both the description of DIgSILENT built-in models for the electrical components of a grid connected wind turbine (e.g. induction generators, power converters, transformers) and the models developed by the user, in the dynamic simulation language DSL of DIgSILENT, for the non-electrical components of the wind turbine (wind model, aerodynamic model, mechanical model). The initialisation issues on the wind turbine models into the power system simulation are also presented. However, the main attention in this report is drawn to the modelling at the system level of two wind turbine concepts: 1. Active stall wind turbine with induction generator 2. Variable speed, variable pitch wind turbine with doubly fed induction generator. These wind turbine concept models can be used and even extended for the study of different aspects, e.g. the assessment of power quality, control strategies, connection of the wind turbine at different types of grid and storage systems. For both these two concepts, control strategies are developed and implemented, their performance assessed and discussed by means of simulations. (au)

Epilogue: Reading Comprehension Is Not a Single Ability-Implications for Assessment and Instruction.

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Kamhi, Alan G; Catts, Hugh W

2017-04-20

In this epilogue, we review the 4 response articles and highlight the implications of a multidimensional view of reading for the assessment and instruction of reading comprehension. We reiterate the problems with standardized tests of reading comprehension and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of recently developed authentic tests of reading comprehension. In the "Instruction" section, we review the benefits and limitations of strategy instruction and highlight suggestions from the response articles to improve content and language knowledge. We argue that the only compelling reason to administer a standardized test of reading comprehension is when these tests are necessary to qualify students for special education services. Instruction should be focused on content knowledge, language knowledge, and specific task and learning requirements. This instruction may entail the use of comprehension strategies, particularly those that are specific to the task and focus on integrating new knowledge with prior knowledge.

Neural responses to silent lipreading in normal hearing male and female subjects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruytjens, Liesbet; Albers, Frans; van Dijk, Pim; Wit, Hero; Willemsen, Antoon

In the past, researchers investigated silent lipreading in normal hearing subjects with functional neuroimaging tools and showed how the brain processes visual stimuli that are normally accompanied by an auditory counterpart. Previously, we showed activation differences between males and females in

Reading while Watching Video: The Effect of Video Content on Reading Comprehension and Media Multitasking Ability

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Lin, Lin; Lee, Jennifer; Robertson, Tip

2011-01-01

Media multitasking, or engaging in multiple media and tasks simultaneously, is becoming an increasingly popular phenomenon with the development and engagement in social media. This study examines to what extent video content affects students' reading comprehension in media multitasking environments. One hundred and thirty university students were…

fMRI brain response during sentence reading comprehension in children with benign epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes.

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Malfait, D; Tucholka, A; Mendizabal, S; Tremblay, J; Poulin, C; Oskoui, M; Srour, M; Carmant, L; Major, P; Lippé, S

2015-11-01

Children with benign epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes (BECTS) often have language problems. Abnormal epileptic activity is found in central and temporal brain regions, which are involved in reading and semantic and syntactic comprehension. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined reading networks in BECTS children with a new sentence reading comprehension task involving semantic and syntactic processing. Fifteen children with BECTS (age=11y 1m ± 16 m; 12 boys) and 18 healthy controls (age=11 y 8m ± 20 m; 11 boys) performed an fMRI reading comprehension task in which they read a pair of syntactically complex sentences and decided whether the target sentence (the second sentence in the pair) was true or false with respect to the first sentence. All children also underwent an exhaustive neuropsychological assessment. We demonstrated weaknesses in several cognitive domains in BECTS children. During the sentence reading fMRI task, left inferior frontal regions and bilateral temporal areas were activated in BECTS children and healthy controls. However, additional brain regions such as the left hippocampus and precuneus were activated in BECTS children. Moreover, specific activation was found in the left caudate and putamen in BECTS children but not in healthy controls. Cognitive results and accuracy during the fMRI task were associated with specific brain activation patterns. BECTS children recruited a wider network to perform the fMRI sentence reading comprehension task, with specific activation in the left dorsal striatum. BECTS cognitive performance differently predicted functional activation in frontal and temporal regions compared to controls, suggesting differences in brain network organisation that contribute to reading comprehension. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of spatial perception abilities on reading in school-age children

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Arnaud Saj

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Spatial perception abilities enable individuals to explore a visual field, to detect spatial position and to infer relationships between visual stimuli. Written words and text are conceptualized spatially along a horizontal mental line, but little is known about the way children develop these representations. The exact relationship between visuo-spatial perception and academic achievement has never been directly assessed. Therefore, our aim was to study the developmental trajectory of space perception abilities by assessing perceptual, attentional and memory components, the relationship between these abilities and reading achievement in school-age children. Forty-nine children aged between 6.5 and 11 years old were divided into four age groups and were assessed with visual bisection, visual search and visual memory location tasks. The results showed that the groups of older children, from the age of nine, improved significantly on the bisection and visual search tasks with respect to all visual fields, while the groups of younger children showed more errors in the left visual field (LVF. Performances on these tasks were correlated with reading level and age. Older children with a low reading score showed a LVF bias, similar to the youngest children. These results demonstrate how abnormal space perception might distort space representation and in turn affect reading and learning processes.

Parent-child picture-book reading, mothers' mental state language and children's theory of mind.

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Adrian, Juan E; Clemente, Rosa A; Villanueva, Lidon; Rieffe, Carolien

2005-08-01

This study focuses on parent-child book reading and its connection to the development of a theory of mind. First, parents were asked to report about frequency of parent-child storybook reading at home. Second, mothers were asked to read four picture-books to thirty-four children between 4;0 and 5;0. Both frequency of parent-child storybook reading at home, and mother's use of mental state terms in picture-books reading tasks were significantly associated with success on false belief tasks, after partialling out a number of potential mediators such as age of children, verbal IQ, paternal education, and words used by mothers in joint picture-book reading. Among the different mental state references (cognitive terms, desires, emotions and perceptions), it was found that the frequency and variety of cognitive terms, but also the frequency of emotional terms correlated positively with children's false belief performance. Relationships between mental state language and theory of mind are discussed.

Brain bases of reading fluency in typical reading and impaired fluency in dyslexia.

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Joanna A Christodoulou

Full Text Available Although the neural systems supporting single word reading are well studied, there are limited direct comparisons between typical and dyslexic readers of the neural correlates of reading fluency. Reading fluency deficits are a persistent behavioral marker of dyslexia into adulthood. The current study identified the neural correlates of fluent reading in typical and dyslexic adult readers, using sentences presented in a word-by-word format in which single words were presented sequentially at fixed rates. Sentences were presented at slow, medium, and fast rates, and participants were asked to decide whether each sentence did or did not make sense semantically. As presentation rates increased, participants became less accurate and slower at making judgments, with comprehension accuracy decreasing disproportionately for dyslexic readers. In-scanner performance on the sentence task correlated significantly with standardized clinical measures of both reading fluency and phonological awareness. Both typical readers and readers with dyslexia exhibited widespread, bilateral increases in activation that corresponded to increases in presentation rate. Typical readers exhibited significantly larger gains in activation as a function of faster presentation rates than readers with dyslexia in several areas, including left prefrontal and left superior temporal regions associated with semantic retrieval and semantic and phonological representations. Group differences were more extensive when behavioral differences between conditions were equated across groups. These findings suggest a brain basis for impaired reading fluency in dyslexia, specifically a failure of brain regions involved in semantic retrieval and semantic and phonological representations to become fully engaged for comprehension at rapid reading rates.

Towards Contactless Silent Speech Recognition Based on Detection of Active and Visible Articulators Using IR-UWB Radar.

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Shin, Young Hoon; Seo, Jiwon

2016-10-29

People with hearing or speaking disabilities are deprived of the benefits of conventional speech recognition technology because it is based on acoustic signals. Recent research has focused on silent speech recognition systems that are based on the motions of a speaker's vocal tract and articulators. Because most silent speech recognition systems use contact sensors that are very inconvenient to users or optical systems that are susceptible to environmental interference, a contactless and robust solution is hence required. Toward this objective, this paper presents a series of signal processing algorithms for a contactless silent speech recognition system using an impulse radio ultra-wide band (IR-UWB) radar. The IR-UWB radar is used to remotely and wirelessly detect motions of the lips and jaw. In order to extract the necessary features of lip and jaw motions from the received radar signals, we propose a feature extraction algorithm. The proposed algorithm noticeably improved speech recognition performance compared to the existing algorithm during our word recognition test with five speakers. We also propose a speech activity detection algorithm to automatically select speech segments from continuous input signals. Thus, speech recognition processing is performed only when speech segments are detected. Our testbed consists of commercial off-the-shelf radar products, and the proposed algorithms are readily applicable without designing specialized radar hardware for silent speech processing.

Influence of reading habits on cerebral plasticity for discourse comprehension in aging

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Charles-Olivier Martin

2012-12-01

Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2012n63p101   The goal of this study was to evaluate the influence of reading habits on cerebral plasticity in the performance of a discourse comprehension task in aging. The main hypothesis was that participants with higher frequency and quality of reading habits should exhibit reduced brain activity because the task should be easier for them. two groups of native French speakers, 16 young adults and 16 elderly adults, participated in a task using the nirS (near-infrared spectroscopy technique. They read short stories and answered true or false probes after each one. They also completed a questionnaire about their previous reading habits. The results show that the more experienced readers had higher activation in the superior left region of the prefrontal cortex while they were reading the stories but lower activation in the same region when they were retrieving the information to answer the probe. Thus, more effort is required to acquire and maintain the information needed to answer, and this effort makes it easier to give the answer. These results reinforce the hypothesis that brain plasticity is promoted by cognitive activities throughout the lifespan.

Silent and a audible stereotypes: The constitution of "ethnic character" in Serbian epic poetry

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Đerić Gordana

2005-01-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the explanatory relevance of the concept of stereotype in one of its original meanings - as a "mental image". This meaning of the term is the starting point for further differentiations, such as: between linguistic and behavioral stereotypes (in the sense of nonverbal, expected responses; universal and particular stereotypes; self representative and introspective stereotypes; permanent and contemporary stereotypes; and finally, what is most important for our purposes, the difference between silent and audible stereotypes. These distinctions, along with the functions of stereotype, are discussed in the first part of the paper. In the second part, the relations of silent and audible stereotypes are tested against the introduction of "innovative vocabularies" in popular lore. In other words, the explanatory power of this differentiation is checked through an analysis of unconventional motives in Serbian epic poems. The goal of the argument is to clarify the procedure of self creation of masculinity as a relevant feature of the "national character" through "tactic games" of silent and audible stereotypes. The examination of these "poetic strategies" serves a twofold purpose: to illustrate the process of constructing particular features of the "ethno type", on one hand, and to check hypotheses and models which are taken as frameworks in analyzing stereotypes, on the other.

When Spiders Bite: The Use, Misuse, and Unintended Consequences of ``Silent Information''

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Keenan, Thomas P.

Spiders are the workhorses of the Internet, silently (and almost invisibly) traversing the online world, 24 hours a day, looking for information that may be of interest to someone. It is being archived, organized, and sold, usually without the knowledge or consent of the subject of the information. Serious consequences are starting to appear, such as the withdrawal of three candidates from the October 2008 Canadian Federal election because of previous online indiscretions. While these were intentional if mis-guided postings, information made available without our consent can have equally devastating effects. Advances in artificial intelligence, as well as the increasing tendency to post more and more information, such as videos, will make the gathering, aggregation, and republishing of this “silent information” an increasingly important issue that must be addressed from the technical, social, ethical and legal perspectives, and sooner rather than later.

Reading Performance Profile of Children with Dyslexia in Primary and Secondary School Students

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Balci, Emine; Çayir, Aybala

2018-01-01

The purpose of the present research was to provide information to the community about the reading subskill profiles of children with dyslexia in primary and secondary school students. 175 children (aged 7-15 yrs) were examined on a varied set of phonological coding, spelling and fluent reading tasks. For this purpose, students' fluent reading were…

Construction, integration, and mind wandering in reading.

Science.gov (United States)

Dixon, Peter; Bortolussi, Marisa

2013-03-01

In two experiments, we investigated how text recall was related to moment-to-moment variations in mental state while reading, and how both recall and mental state were related to the interest value of the text. In both experiments, subjects read either an interesting text (a segment of Rice's Interview with the Vampire [A. Rice, 1997, Interview with the vampire, New York. NY: Ballantine Books] or a less interesting text (a segment of Thackery's The History of Pendennis [W. M. Thackery, 2009/1914, The history of Pendennis, Project Gutenberg, Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7265]). The texts were read sentence-by-sentence on a computer screen, and subjects were periodically interrupted to answer a probe question. In Experiment 1, the probe asked whether subjects were attending to the text; in Experiment 2, the probe asked whether subjects were engaged with the story world. After reading the text, subjects were asked to recall as much of the story as possible. Recall of the material just prior to the probe was examined as a function of the whether the ratings were high, medium, or low. As expected, both on-task ratings and engagement ratings were higher for Interview than for Pendennis, but there were a substantial number of medium ratings given to both stories. In Experiment 1, there was a clear effect of story on recall over and above the effect of on-task rating. However, in Experiment 2, recall was purely a function of engagement rating. The results were interpreted in terms of a model in which recall is largely determined by the situation model representation of the narrative and in which engagement ratings (but not on-task ratings) provide a relatively pure index of the allocation of resources to processing of the situation model.

The prevalence and the clinical characteristics of silent myocardial ischemia detected by stress thallium scintigraphy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsuo, Hitoshi; Watanabe, Sachiro; Nishida, Yoshio

1992-01-01

The prevalence of silent myocardial ischemia was retrospectively assessed in a group of 100 consecutive patients with angiographically proved coronary artery disease, and diagnostic ECG, by symptom-limited exercise thallium-201 scintigraphy. Twenty-four patients had no evidence of ischemia despite adequate exercise level. So among 76 patients with exercise induced ischemia, only 33 patients (43%) stopped exercise due to anginal pain (symptomatic ischemia: Group 3). And 43 patients with asymptomatic ischemia composed of 23 patients (30%) with ECG change (Group 2B) and 20 patients (26%) without ECG change (Group 2A). Patients background including the history of old myocardial infarction and diabetes mellitus, were similar among Group 2A, 2B, and Group 3. Our Major observation was that the extent and severity of quantified SPECT perfusion defects was nearly identified between 3 groups. Thus in this study group, there was a rather high prevalence rate of silent ischemia (57%) by exercise thallium-201 criteria. Patients with silent ischemia, associated with positive and negative exercise ECG findings, and those with exercise angina had similar background and comparable amount of jeopardized myocardium. (author)

Silent Speech Recognition as an Alternative Communication Device for Persons with Laryngectomy.

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Meltzner, Geoffrey S; Heaton, James T; Deng, Yunbin; De Luca, Gianluca; Roy, Serge H; Kline, Joshua C

2017-12-01

Each year thousands of individuals require surgical removal of their larynx (voice box) due to trauma or disease, and thereby require an alternative voice source or assistive device to verbally communicate. Although natural voice is lost after laryngectomy, most muscles controlling speech articulation remain intact. Surface electromyographic (sEMG) activity of speech musculature can be recorded from the neck and face, and used for automatic speech recognition to provide speech-to-text or synthesized speech as an alternative means of communication. This is true even when speech is mouthed or spoken in a silent (subvocal) manner, making it an appropriate communication platform after laryngectomy. In this study, 8 individuals at least 6 months after total laryngectomy were recorded using 8 sEMG sensors on their face (4) and neck (4) while reading phrases constructed from a 2,500-word vocabulary. A unique set of phrases were used for training phoneme-based recognition models for each of the 39 commonly used phonemes in English, and the remaining phrases were used for testing word recognition of the models based on phoneme identification from running speech. Word error rates were on average 10.3% for the full 8-sensor set (averaging 9.5% for the top 4 participants), and 13.6% when reducing the sensor set to 4 locations per individual (n=7). This study provides a compelling proof-of-concept for sEMG-based alaryngeal speech recognition, with the strong potential to further improve recognition performance.

Ventricular Fibrillation Associated With Dynamic Changes in J-Point Elevation in a Patient With Silent Thyroiditis.

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Karashima, Shigehiro; Tsuda, Toyonobu; Wakabayashi, Yusuke; Kometani, Mitsuhiro; Demura, Masashi; Ichise, Taro; Kawashiri, Masa-Aki; Takeda, Yoshiyu; Hayashi, Kenshi; Yoneda, Takashi

2018-02-01

A J wave is a common electrocardiographic finding in the general population. Individuals with prominent J waves in multiple electrocardiogram (ECG) leads have a higher risk of lethal arrhythmias than those with low-amplitude J waves. There are few reports about the relationship between thyroid function and J-wave amplitude. We report the case of a 45-year-old man who had unexpected ventricular fibrillation (VF). He had dynamic J-point elevation in multiple ECG leads. Possible early repolarization syndrome was diagnosed. He also had thyrotoxicosis caused by silent thyroiditis, and his J-wave amplitude decreased according to changes in thyroid function because of spontaneous remission of silent thyroiditis. There was a positive correlation between serum triiodothyronine levels and J-wave amplitudes. The findings in case suggested silent thyroiditis may contribute to the occurrence of VF in a patient with dynamic changes in J-point elevation in multiple ECG leads. Thyrotoxicosis is a relatively common endocrine disease; therefore, clinicians should pay attention to J-wave amplitude in the ECG of patients with thyrotoxicosis.

Ventricular Fibrillation Associated With Dynamic Changes in J-Point Elevation in a Patient With Silent Thyroiditis

Science.gov (United States)

Tsuda, Toyonobu; Wakabayashi, Yusuke; Kometani, Mitsuhiro; Demura, Masashi; Ichise, Taro; Kawashiri, Masa-aki; Takeda, Yoshiyu; Hayashi, Kenshi; Yoneda, Takashi

2018-01-01

A J wave is a common electrocardiographic finding in the general population. Individuals with prominent J waves in multiple electrocardiogram (ECG) leads have a higher risk of lethal arrhythmias than those with low-amplitude J waves. There are few reports about the relationship between thyroid function and J-wave amplitude. We report the case of a 45-year-old man who had unexpected ventricular fibrillation (VF). He had dynamic J-point elevation in multiple ECG leads. Possible early repolarization syndrome was diagnosed. He also had thyrotoxicosis caused by silent thyroiditis, and his J-wave amplitude decreased according to changes in thyroid function because of spontaneous remission of silent thyroiditis. There was a positive correlation between serum triiodothyronine levels and J-wave amplitudes. The findings in case suggested silent thyroiditis may contribute to the occurrence of VF in a patient with dynamic changes in J-point elevation in multiple ECG leads. Thyrotoxicosis is a relatively common endocrine disease; therefore, clinicians should pay attention to J-wave amplitude in the ECG of patients with thyrotoxicosis. PMID:29383332

Performance Effects of Display Incogruity in a Digital and Analog Clock Reading Task

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Comstock, J. Raymond, Jr.; Derks, Peter L.

2004-01-01

In an era of increasing automation, it is important to design displays and input devices that minimize human error. In this context, information concerning the human response to the detection of incongruous information is important. Such incongruous information can be operationalized as unexpected (perhaps erroneous) information on which a decision by the human or operation by an automated system is based. In the aviation environment, decision making when faced with inadequate, incomplete, or incongruous information may occur in a failure scenario. An additional challenge facing the human operator in automated environments is maintaining alertness or vigilance. The vigilance issue is of particular concern as a factor that may interact with performance when faced with inadequate, incomplete, or incongruous information. From the literature on eye-scan behavior we know that the time spent looking at a particular display or indicator is a function of the type of information one is trying to discern from the display. For example, quick glances are all it takes for confirming that an indicator is in a normal position or range, whereas a continuous look of several seconds may be required for confirmation that a complex control input is having the desired effect. Important to consider is that while an extended look takes place, visual input from other sources may be missed. Much like an extended look, the interpretation of incongruous information may require extra time. The present experiment was designed to explore the performance consequences of a decision making task when incongruous information was presented. For this experiment a display incongruity was created on a subset of trials of a clock reading laboratory task. Display incongruity was made possible through presentation of 'impossible' times (e.g. 1:65 or 11:90). Subjects made 'same' 'different' decisions and keyboard responses to pairings of Analog-Analog (AA), Digital-Digital (DD), and Analog- Digital (AD

Hidden Language Impairments in Children: Parallels between Poor Reading Comprehension and Specific Language Impairment?

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Nation, Kate; Clarke, Paula; Marshall, Catherine M.; Durand, Marianne

2004-01-01

This study investigates the oral language skills of 8-year-old children with impaired reading comprehension. Despite fluent and accurate reading and normal nonverbal ability, these children are poor at understanding what they have read. Tasks tapping 3 domains of oral language, namely phonology, semantics, and morphosyntax, were administered,…

Shared Reading Quality and Brain Activation during Story Listening in Preschool-Age Children.

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Hutton, John S; Phelan, Kieran; Horowitz-Kraus, Tzipi; Dudley, Jonathan; Altaye, Mekibib; DeWitt, Tom; Holland, Scott K

2017-12-01

To explore the relationship between maternal shared reading quality (verbal interactivity and engagement) and brain function during story listening in at-risk, preschool-age children, in the context of behavioral evidence and American Academy of Pediatrics, recommendations. In this cross-sectional study, 22 healthy, 4-year-old girls from low socioeconomic status households completed functional magnetic resonance imaging using an established story listening task, followed by videotaped observation of uncoached mother-daughter reading of the same, age-appropriate picture book. Shared reading quality was independently scored applying dialogic reading and other evidence-based criteria reflecting interactivity and engagement, and applied as a predictor of neural activation during the functional magnetic resonance imaging task, controlling for income and maternal education. Shared reading quality scores were generally low and negatively correlated with maternal distraction by smartphones (P reading quality is positively correlated with brain activation supporting complex language, executive function, and social-emotional processing in at-risk, preschool-age children. These findings represent novel neural biomarkers of how this modifiable aspect of home reading environment may influence foundational emergent literacy skills, reinforce behavioral evidence and American Academy of Pediatrics, recommendations, and underscore the potential of dialogic reading interventions to promote healthy brain development, especially in at-risk households. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Silent Corticotroph Adenomas After Stereotactic Radiosurgery: A Case–Control Study

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Xu, Zhiyuan; Ellis, Scott; Lee, Cheng-Chia; Starke, Robert M.; Schlesinger, David; Lee Vance, Mary; Lopes, M. Beatriz; Sheehan, Jason

2014-01-01

Purpose: To investigate the safety and effectiveness of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in patients with a silent corticotroph adenoma (SCA) compared with patients with other subtypes of non–adrenocorticotropic hormone staining nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma (NFA). Methods and Materials: The clinical features and outcomes of 104 NFA patients treated with SRS in our center between September 1994 and August 2012 were evaluated. Among them, 34 consecutive patients with a confirmatory SCA were identified. A control group of 70 patients with other subtypes of NFA were selected for review based on comparable baseline features, including sex, age at the time of SRS, tumor size, margin radiation dose to the tumor, and duration of follow-up. Results: The median follow-up after SRS was 56 months (range, 6-200 months). No patients with an SCA developed Cushing disease during the follow-up. Tumor control was achieved in 21 of 34 patients (62%) in the SCA group, compared with 65 of 70 patients (93%) in the NFA group. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 58 months in the SCA group. The actuarial PFS was 73%, 46%, and 31% in the SCA group and was 94%, 87%, and 87% in the NFA group at 3, 5, and 8 years, respectively. Silent corticotroph adenomas treated with a dose of ≥17 Gy exhibited improved PFS. New-onset loss of pituitary function developed in 10 patients (29%) in the SCA group, whereas it occurred in 18 patients (26%) in the NFA group. Eight patients (24%) in the SCA group experienced worsening of a visual field deficit or visual acuity attributed to the tumor progression, as did 6 patients (9%) in the NFA group. Conclusion: Silent corticotroph adenomas exhibited a more aggressive course with a higher progression rate than other subtypes of NFAs. Stereotactic radiosurgery is an important adjuvant treatment for control of tumor growth. Increased radiation dose may lead to improved tumor control in SCA patients

Silent Corticotroph Adenomas After Stereotactic Radiosurgery: A Case–Control Study

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Xu, Zhiyuan; Ellis, Scott; Lee, Cheng-Chia; Starke, Robert M. [Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (United States); Schlesinger, David [Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (United States); Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (United States); Lee Vance, Mary [Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (United States); Department of Internal Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (United States); Lopes, M. Beatriz [Division of Neuropathology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (United States); Sheehan, Jason, E-mail: jsheehan@virginia.edu [Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (United States); Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (United States)

2014-11-15

Purpose: To investigate the safety and effectiveness of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in patients with a silent corticotroph adenoma (SCA) compared with patients with other subtypes of non–adrenocorticotropic hormone staining nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma (NFA). Methods and Materials: The clinical features and outcomes of 104 NFA patients treated with SRS in our center between September 1994 and August 2012 were evaluated. Among them, 34 consecutive patients with a confirmatory SCA were identified. A control group of 70 patients with other subtypes of NFA were selected for review based on comparable baseline features, including sex, age at the time of SRS, tumor size, margin radiation dose to the tumor, and duration of follow-up. Results: The median follow-up after SRS was 56 months (range, 6-200 months). No patients with an SCA developed Cushing disease during the follow-up. Tumor control was achieved in 21 of 34 patients (62%) in the SCA group, compared with 65 of 70 patients (93%) in the NFA group. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 58 months in the SCA group. The actuarial PFS was 73%, 46%, and 31% in the SCA group and was 94%, 87%, and 87% in the NFA group at 3, 5, and 8 years, respectively. Silent corticotroph adenomas treated with a dose of ≥17 Gy exhibited improved PFS. New-onset loss of pituitary function developed in 10 patients (29%) in the SCA group, whereas it occurred in 18 patients (26%) in the NFA group. Eight patients (24%) in the SCA group experienced worsening of a visual field deficit or visual acuity attributed to the tumor progression, as did 6 patients (9%) in the NFA group. Conclusion: Silent corticotroph adenomas exhibited a more aggressive course with a higher progression rate than other subtypes of NFAs. Stereotactic radiosurgery is an important adjuvant treatment for control of tumor growth. Increased radiation dose may lead to improved tumor control in SCA patients.

Explaining Phonology and Reading in Adult Learners: Introducing Prosodic Awareness and Executive Functions to Reading Ability

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Chan, Jessica S.; Wade-Woolley, Lesly

2018-01-01

Background: This study was designed to extend our understanding of phonology and reading to include suprasegmental awareness using measures of prosodic awareness, which are complex tasks that tap into the rhythmic aspects of phonology. By requiring participants to access, reflect on and manipulate word stress, the prosodic awareness measures used…

Playing Reading, Using Hands: Which Activities are Linked to Number-Space Processing in Preschool Children?

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Patro Katarzyna

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Literate subjects from Western cultures form spatial-numerical associations (SNA in left-to-right direction, which follows their reading habits. In preliterate children, sources of SNA directionality are more disputable. One possibility is that SNA follows children's early knowledge about text orientation. It could also reflect ipsilateral/contralateral tendencies in manual task execution. Furthermore, SNA's characteristics could differ depending on the evaluation method used. In this study, we test SNA in preliterate preschoolers using object counting, finger counting, and numerosity arrangement tasks. We examined the relations of SNA to children's directional reading knowledge and their manual response tendencies. Left-to-right SNA was pronounced for object counting, disappeared for the numerosity task, and was reversed for finger counting. In all tasks, left-to-right SNA dominated in children who responded contralaterally with their hand. Reading knowledge was partially related to numerosity-based SNA, but not to other SNAs. Based on these findings, we discuss developmental characteristics of different forms of number-space associations.

A patient with aphasia using the nonsemantic lexical route for Kanji reading.

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Hashimoto, Kosei; Uno, Akira; Sambai, Ami; Mizumoto, Go

We report a patient with aphasia, caused by cerebral hemorrhage, who probably used the nonsemantic lexical route when reading words aloud. To investigate the mechanisms underlying her reading dysfunction, we analyzed her reading abilities using the Dual-Route Cascaded Model. Language tests resulted in low correct percentages for both reading comprehension and reading nonwords aloud, suggesting problems in the semantic system and the nonlexical route. Conversely, the patient showed high scores on the reading words aloud task. Although she failed to understand many inconsistent-atypical words in the reading comprehension test, she correctly read most words aloud, suggesting that she used the nonsemantic lexical route. In addition, the lexical reading route was analyzed in detail by using inconsistent-atypical Kanji words as stimuli. Finally, we analyzed her reading dysfunction compared with previous cases.

Vocabulary Acquisition and Task Effectiveness in Involvement Load Hypothesis: A case in Iran

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Hassan Soleimani

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Involvement load hypothesis as a cognitive construct states that tasks with higher involvements yield better results in vocabulary retention. This comparison group designed study examined the immediate and delayed effects of tasks with different involvements in involvement load hypothesis (Laufer & Hulstijn, 2001. Applying a version of Nelson Proficiency Test as a homogenizing exclusion criterion, 33 low proficiency Iranian EFL learners were randomly assigned to three experimental groups: blank-filling, sentence making, and reading comprehension. The results of ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis tests supported task-induced involvement in immediate posttest since the sentence making task (M=5.72 yielded better results in comparison with the other two blank-filling (M=5.45 and reading comprehension (M=3.18 tasks. Nevertheless, sentence making and blank-filling tasks of which the involvements were somehow similar did not yield significant superiority to each other. It is inferred that tasks with nearer involvements yield somehow similar results in vocabulary acquisition.

Silent cerebral infarction, income, and grade retention among students with sickle cell anemia

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King, Allison A.; Rodeghier, Mark J.; Panepinto, Julie Ann; Strouse, John J.; Casella, James F.; Quinn, Charles T.; Dowling, Michael M.; Sarnaik, Sharada A.; Thompson, Alexis A.; Woods, Gerald M.; Minniti, Caterina P.; Redding-Lallinger, Rupa C.; Kirby-Allen, Melanie; Kirkham, Fenella J.; McKinstry, Robert; Noetzel, Michael J.; White, Desiree A.; Kwiatkowski, Janet K.; Howard, Thomas H.; Kalinyak, Karen A.; Inusa, Baba; Rhodes, Melissa M.; Heiny, Mark E.; Fuh, Ben; Fixler, Jason M.; Gordon, Mae O.; DeBaun, Michael R.

2014-01-01

Children with sickle cell anemia have a higher-than-expected prevalence of poor educational attainment. We test two key hypotheses about educational attainment among students with sickle cell anemia, as measured by grade retention and use of special education services: (1) lower household per capita income is associated with lower educational attainment; (2) the presence of a silent cerebral infarct is associated with lower educational attainment. We conducted a multicenter, cross-sectional study of cases from 22 U.S. sites included in the Silent Infarct Transfusion Trial. During screening, parents completed a questionnaire that included sociodemographic information and details of their child’s academic status. Of 835 students, 670 were evaluable; 536 had data on all covariates and were used for analysis. The students’ mean age was 9.4 years (range: 5–15) with 52.2% male; 17.5% of students were retained one grade level and 18.3% received special education services. A multiple variable logistic regression model identified that lower household per capita income (odds ratio [OR] of quartile 1 = 6.36, OR of quartile 2 = 4.7, OR of quartile 3 = 3.87; P = 0.001 for linear trend), age (OR = 1.3; P sickle cell anemia, household per capita income is associated with grade retention, whereas the presence of a silent cerebral infarct is not. Future educational interventions will need to address both the medical and socioeconomic issues that affect students with sickle cell anemia. PMID:25042018

Eye movements when reading sentences with handwritten words.

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Perea, Manuel; Marcet, Ana; Uixera, Beatriz; Vergara-Martínez, Marta

2016-10-17

The examination of how we read handwritten words (i.e., the original form of writing) has typically been disregarded in the literature on reading. Previous research using word recognition tasks has shown that lexical effects (e.g., the word-frequency effect) are magnified when reading difficult handwritten words. To examine this issue in a more ecological scenario, we registered the participants' eye movements when reading handwritten sentences that varied in the degree of legibility (i.e., sentences composed of words in easy vs. difficult handwritten style). For comparison purposes, we included a condition with printed sentences. Results showed a larger reading cost for sentences with difficult handwritten words than for sentences with easy handwritten words, which in turn showed a reading cost relative to the sentences with printed words. Critically, the effect of word frequency was greater for difficult handwritten words than for easy handwritten words or printed words in the total times on a target word, but not on first-fixation durations or gaze durations. We examine the implications of these findings for models of eye movement control in reading.

Adaptive working-memory training benefits reading, but not mathematics in middle childhood.

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Karbach, Julia; Strobach, Tilo; Schubert, Torsten

2015-01-01

Working memory (WM) capacity is highly correlated with general cognitive ability and has proven to be an excellent predictor for academic success. Given that WM can be improved by training, our aim was to test whether WM training benefited academic abilities in elementary-school children. We examined 28 participants (mean age = 8.3 years, SD = 0.4) in a pretest-training-posttest-follow-up design. Over 14 training sessions, children either performed adaptive WM training (training group, n = 14) or nonadaptive low-level training (active control group, n = 14) on the same tasks. Pretest, posttest, and follow-up at 3 months after posttest included a neurocognitive test battery (WM, task switching, inhibition) and standardized tests for math and reading abilities. Adaptive WM training resulted in larger training gains than nonadaptive low-level training. The benefits induced by the adaptive training transferred to an untrained WM task and a standardized test for reading ability, but not to task switching, inhibition, or performance on a standardized math test. Transfer to the untrained WM task was maintained over 3 months. The analysis of individual differences revealed compensatory effects with larger gains in children with lower WM and reading scores at pretest. These training and transfer effects are discussed against the background of cognitive processing resulting from WM span training and the nature of the intervention.

Reading and reading instruction for children from low-income and non-English-speaking households.

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Lesaux, Nonie K

2012-01-01

Although most young children seem to master reading skills in the early grades of elementary school, many struggle with texts as they move through middle school and high school. Why do children who seem to be proficient readers in third grade have trouble comprehending texts in later grades? To answer this question, Nonie Lesaux describes what is known about reading development and instruction, homing in on research conducted with children from low-income and non-English-speaking homes. Using key insights from this research base, she offers two explanations. The first is that reading is a dynamic and multifaceted process that requires continued development if students are to keep pace with the increasing demands of school texts and tasks. The second lies in the role of reading assessment and instruction in U.S. schools. Lesaux draws a distinction between the "skills-based competencies" that readers need to sound out and recognize words and the "knowledge-based competencies" that include the conceptual and vocabulary knowledge necessary to comprehend a text's meaning. Although U.S. schools have made considerable progress in teaching skills-based reading competencies that are the focus of the early grades, most have made much less progress in teaching the knowledge-based competencies students need to support reading comprehension in middle and high school. These knowledge-based competencies are key sources of lasting individual differences in reading outcomes, particularly among children growing up in low-income and non-English-speaking households. Augmenting literacy rates, Lesaux explains, will require considerable shifts in the way reading is assessed and taught in elementary and secondary schools. First, schools must conduct comprehensive reading assessments that discern learners' (potential) sources of reading difficulties--in both skills-based and knowledge-based competencies. Second, educators must implement instructional approaches that offer promise for

Flash Memory Reliability: Read, Program, and Erase Latency Versus Endurance Cycling

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Heidecker, Jason

2010-01-01

This report documents the efforts and results of the fiscal year (FY) 2010 NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging Program (NEPP) task for nonvolatile memory (NVM) reliability. This year's focus was to measure latency (read, program, and erase) of NAND Flash memories and determine how these parameters drift with erase/program/read endurance cycling.

Assessment of working memory components at 6years of age as predictors of reading achievements a year later.

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Nevo, Einat; Breznitz, Zvia

2011-05-01

The ability of working memory skills (measured by tasks assessing all four working memory components), IQ, language, phonological awareness, literacy, rapid naming, and speed of processing at 6years of age, before reading was taught, to predict reading abilities (decoding, reading comprehension, and reading time) a year later was examined in 97 children. Among all working memory components, phonological complex memory contributed most to predicting all three reading abilities. A capacity measure of phonological complex memory, based on passing a minimum threshold in those tasks, contributed to the explained variance of decoding and reading comprehension. Findings suggest that a minimal ability of phonological complex memory is necessary for children to attain a normal reading level. Adding assessment of phonological complex memory, before formal teaching of reading begins, to more common measures might better estimate children's likelihood of future academic success. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Inhibition and Shifting in Children with Learning Deficits in Arithmetic and Reading

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van der Sluis, Sophie; de Jong, Peter F.; van der Leij, Aryan

2004-01-01

The executive functions of inhibition and shifting were studied in arithmetic-disabled children, reading-disabled children, reading plus arithmetic-disabled children, and controls (N = 74). Measures involved the rapid naming of objects, digits, letters, or quantities with or without additional task requirements that reflected inhibition or…

The specific role of inhibition in reading comprehension in good and poor comprehenders.

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Borella, Erika; Carretti, Barbara; Pelegrina, Santiago

2010-01-01

Difficulties in inhibitory processes have been shown to characterize the performance of poor comprehenders. However, the inhibitory inefficiency of poor comprehenders is most often assessed by their resistance to proactive interference, that is, the ability to suppress off-goal task information from working memory (WM). In two studies tasks assessing resistance to proactive interference (intrusion errors), response to distracters (Text With Distracters task) and prepotent response inhibition (Stroop and Hayling tests), along with WM measures, were administered to children aged 10 to 11, both good and poor comprehenders. The aim of the study was to specifically determine whether general or specific inhibitory factors affect poor comprehenders' reading difficulties. Results showed that poor comprehenders, compared to good ones, are impaired in WM tasks and in inhibitory tasks that assess resistance to proactive interference. This suggests that reading comprehension difficulties of poor comprehenders are related to specific inhibitory problems.

Reading Test-taking Strategies in General Training IELTS

OpenAIRE

Vahede Nosrati

2015-01-01

The significance of gaining a better understanding of how test-taking strategies are used has been recognized by researchers. Considering this fact, this study aimed at investigating the test-taking strategies which were employed by IELTS candidates in reading comprehension test. Besides, it tried to take into account the differences among strategies used for different tasks. In order to gather data, two instruments were employed: the think-aloud protocol, and an IELTS reading test. The obtai...

Stillelesing i norskfaget – pustepause for læreren eller veiledningsøkt i lesing?

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Ingvill Krogstad Svanes

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Denne studien undersøker hva fire lærere på barnetrinnet gjør når elevene leser stille. Stillelesing er en vanlig aktivitet i norske klasserom, men kunnskapen om hva læreren gjør i denne tiden og hvordan hun veileder faglig, er begrenset. Studien ønsker å bidra til økt viten om dette. For å belyse lærerens rolle under stillelesing, kombinerer studien forskning på stillelesing fra amerikanske klasserom med forskning på læreres tilbakemeldinger når elevene leser. De fire lærerne arbeider på 3. trinn. De er observert i en uke hver, og materialet består av videoopptak fra stillelesingsstundene i den uka lærerne er observert. Videoopptakene analyseres i lys av de fem grunnpilarene for leseopplæring (National reading panel, 2000: fonologisk bevissthet, avkoding, ordforråd, flyt og leseforståelse. Studien viser at lærerne bruker tiden under stillelesing svært forskjellig. To av lærerne bruker det aller meste av tiden på å høre på elevene lese og veilede dem faglig. De to andre lærerne bruker den største delen av tiden på organisering eller annet forefallende arbeid der de ikke kommuniserer med elever, for eksempel å rydde i klasserommet. Gjennom næranalyser av lærernes faglige veiledning finner studien at lærerne veileder i alle de relevante grunnpilarene for leseopplæring, men i ulik grad. Lærerne varierer også i hva slags type tilbakemeldinger de gir, og de bruker både ‘endelige’ tilbakemeldinger og ‘støttende’ tilbakemeldinger. Lærerne varierer veiledningen i større grad enn tidligere klasseromsstudier tilsier. Det kan imidlertid se ut som at lærere ville tjene på en bevisstgjøring rundt stillelesing som undervisningstid, og om ulike typer tilbakemeldinger.Nøkkelord: stillelesing, muntlige tilbakemeldinger, leseopplæring, barnetrinnet, norskfagetAbstractThis study explores what four teachers in primary school do when the pupils read silently. Silent reading (independent reading is a common

Word reading skill predicts anticipation of upcoming spoken language input: a study of children developing proficiency in reading.

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Mani, Nivedita; Huettig, Falk

2014-10-01

Despite the efficiency with which language users typically process spoken language, a growing body of research finds substantial individual differences in both the speed and accuracy of spoken language processing potentially attributable to participants' literacy skills. Against this background, the current study took a look at the role of word reading skill in listeners' anticipation of upcoming spoken language input in children at the cusp of learning to read; if reading skills affect predictive language processing, then children at this stage of literacy acquisition should be most susceptible to the effects of reading skills on spoken language processing. We tested 8-year-olds on their prediction of upcoming spoken language input in an eye-tracking task. Although children, like in previous studies to date, were successfully able to anticipate upcoming spoken language input, there was a strong positive correlation between children's word reading skills (but not their pseudo-word reading and meta-phonological awareness or their spoken word recognition skills) and their prediction skills. We suggest that these findings are most compatible with the notion that the process of learning orthographic representations during reading acquisition sharpens pre-existing lexical representations, which in turn also supports anticipation of upcoming spoken words. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Is Morphological Awareness a Relevant Predictor of Reading Fluency and Comprehension? New Evidence From Italian Monolingual and Arabic-Italian Bilingual Children

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Mirta Vernice

2018-03-01

Full Text Available In this study, we examined the contribution of morphological awareness to reading competence in a group of Italian L1 and Arabic-Italian early L2 children, i.e., exposed to Italian before 3 years of age. Children from first to fifth grade (age range: 6–11 years old were tested on a range of morphological awareness and lexical tasks. Reading ability was tested through standardized tests of reading fluency and comprehension. Results showed that L1 children outperformed L2 on every measure of morphological awareness, as well as on reading tests. Regression analyses revealed that morphological awareness contributed to a different extent to reading ability across groups. Accuracy in the morphological awareness tasks was a significant predictor of word (and non-word reading fluency in L1 and L2 first and second graders, while only in L1 third to fifth graders, response times and accuracy to a morphological awareness task explained a unique amount of variance in reading comprehension. Our results highlight the critical role of morphological processing in reading efficiency and suggest that a training inspired by morphological awareness may improve reading skills also in bilingual students.

L2 Reading Ability: Further Insight into the Short-Circuit Hypothesis.

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Taillefer, Gail F.

1996-01-01

Discusses the notion of a language proficiency threshold that short circuits the transfer of reading ability from the native language (L1) to a second language (L2). This study, in which cognitive complexity of tasks and students' L2 proficiency levels vary, focuses on university students in France reading preprofessional English texts. (39…

Task complexity, student perceptions of vocabulary learning in EFL, and task performance.

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Wu, Xiaoli; Lowyck, Joost; Sercu, Lies; Elen, Jan

2013-03-01

The study deepened our understanding of how students' self-efficacy beliefs contribute to the context of teaching English as a foreign language in the framework of cognitive mediational paradigm at a fine-tuned task-specific level. The aim was to examine the relationship among task complexity, self-efficacy beliefs, domain-related prior knowledge, learning strategy use, and task performance as they were applied to English vocabulary learning from reading tasks. Participants were 120 second-year university students (mean age 21) from a Chinese university. This experiment had two conditions (simple/complex). A vocabulary level test was first conducted to measure participants' prior knowledge of English vocabulary. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of the learning tasks. Participants were administered task booklets together with the self-efficacy scales, measures of learning strategy use, and post-tests. Data obtained were submitted to multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and path analysis. Results from the MANOVA model showed a significant effect of vocabulary level on self-efficacy beliefs, learning strategy use, and task performance. Task complexity showed no significant effect; however, an interaction effect between vocabulary level and task complexity emerged. Results from the path analysis showed self-efficacy beliefs had an indirect effect on performance. Our results highlighted the mediating role of self-efficacy beliefs and learning strategy use. Our findings indicate that students' prior knowledge plays a crucial role on both self-efficacy beliefs and task performance, and the predictive power of self-efficacy on task performance may lie in its association with learning strategy use. © 2011 The British Psychological Society.

Silent Localization of Underwater Sensors Using Magnetometers

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Jonas Callmer

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Sensor localization is a central problem for sensor networks. If the sensor positions are uncertain, the target tracking ability of the sensor network is reduced. Sensor localization in underwater environments is traditionally addressed using acoustic range measurements involving known anchor or surface nodes. We explore the usage of triaxial magnetometers and a friendly vessel with known magnetic dipole to silently localize the sensors. The ferromagnetic field created by the dipole is measured by the magnetometers and is used to localize the sensors. The trajectory of the vessel and the sensor positions are estimated simultaneously using an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF. Simulations show that the sensors can be accurately positioned using magnetometers.

Soundless Speech/ Wordless Writing: Language and German Silent Cinema

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