References for the seminar on language
December 4, 2013
(1) Aram DM, Ekelman BL, Nation JE. Preschoolers with language disorders: 10
years later. Journal of Speech & Hearing Research 27[2], 232-244. 1984.
Abstract: Language, intelligence, academic achievement, and behavioral adjustment were
assessed in a group of 20 adolescents originally studied 10 years earlier as
preschoolers with language disorders. At follow-up, 20% had WISC-R IQ scores
in the mentally deficient range and were being educated in EMR classrooms. Of
the remaining 16, 11 (69%) had required special tutoring, grade retention, or LD
class placement. The majority of non-EMR subjects continued to evidence
persistent deficits in language and academic achievement and were rated by their
parents as being less socially competent and having more behavioral problems
than their peers. Of the initial preschool measures available, the Leiter was found
to be the best single predictor of intelligence, language, class placement, and
reading achievement in adolescence, although the NSST: Expressive subtest also
was a strong predictor of adolescent language
(2) Battaglia FP, Borensztajn G, Bod R. Structured cognition and neural systems:
from rats to language. Neurosci.Biobehav.Rev. 36[7], 1626-1639. 2012.
Abstract: Much of animal and human cognition is compositional in nature: higher order,
complex representations are formed by (rule-governed) combination of more
primitive representations. We review here some of the evidence for
compositionality in perception and memory, motivating an approach that takes
ideas and techniques from computational linguistics to model aspects of structural
representation in cognition. We summarize some recent developments in our
work that, on the one hand, use algorithms from computational linguistics to
model memory consolidation and the formation of semantic memory, and on the
other hand use insights from the neurobiology of memory to develop a neurally
inspired model of syntactic parsing that improves over existing (not cognitively
motivated) models in computational linguistics. These two theoretical studies
highlight interesting analogies between language acquisition, semantic memory
and memory consolidation, and suggest possible neural mechanisms,
implemented in computational algorithms that may underlie memory
consolidation
(3) Bishop DV, Clarkson B. Written language as a window into residual language
deficits: a study of children with persistent and residual speech and language
impairments. Cortex 39[2], 215-237. 2003.
Abstract: Previous work has suggested that, because writing is a late-acquired and
complex skill, it may be a particularly sensitive index of language difficulties in
children. Evidence in support of this view was obtained in a study contrasting 161
normally-developing control children aged from 7.5 to 13 years with 75 twin
children of the same age who either had specific speech-language impairments, or
were co-twins of affected children. Written narratives were elicited from children
using a sequence of five photographs depicting a simple story, and were analysed
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for grammatical complexity and accuracy, intelligibility, and semantic content.
Only 42 of the twins could spell well enough to attempt the narrative task. Some
co-twins of affected children had deficits in written language, despite normal
performance on oral language tests. Most children with language impairments
were poor at writing, with particularly marked deficits on a measure of spelling
and punctuation. Children with language impairments made a relatively high
proportion of phonologically inaccurate spelling errors when compared with
younger children at a similar vocabulary level. Those who did poorly on a
nonword repetition test were especially likely to have poor written language.
However, four children with pure speech difficulties produced age-appropriate
written narratives
(4) Child ND, Benarroch EE. Anterior nucleus of the thalamus: Functional
organization and clinical implications. Neurology 81[21], 1869-1876. 11-192013.
Abstract: The anterior nucleus of thalamus (ANT) is a key component of the
hippocampal system for episodic memory. The ANT consist of 3 subnuclei with
distinct connectivity with the subicular cortex, retrosplenial cortex, and
mammillary bodies. Via its connections with the anterior cingulate and
orbitomedial prefrontal cortex, the ANT may also contribute to reciprocal
hippocampal-prefrontal interactions involved in emotional and executive
functions. As in other thalamic nuclei, neurons of the ANT have 2 different statedependent patterns of discharge, tonic and burst-firing; some ANT neurons also
contribute to propagation of the theta rhythm, which is important for mechanisms
of synaptic plasticity of the hippocampal circuit. Clinical and experimental
evidence indicate that damage of the ANT or its inputs from the mammillary
bodies are primarily responsible for the episodic memory deficit observed in
Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome and thalamic stroke. Experimental models also
indicate that the ANT may have a role in the propagation of seizure activity both
in absence and in focal seizures. Because of its central connectivity and possible
role in propagation of seizure activity, the ANT has become an attractive target
for deep brain stimulation (DBS) for treatment of medically refractory epilepsy.
The ANT is one of the nuclei preferentially affected in prion disorders, such as
fatal familial insomnia, but the relationship between ANT involvement and the
clinical manifestations of these disorders remains unclear. The connectivity
patterns and electrophysiology of the ANT have been the subject of several
reviews.(1-4.)
(5) Coplan J. ELM Scale: The Early Language Milestone Scale (Revised). 1987.
Tulsa, OK, Modern Education Corporation.
Ref Type: Book, Whole
(6) Fenson L, Dale PS, Reznick JS, Thal D, Bates E, Hartung JP, Pethick S, Reilly
JS. The MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories: User's guide and
technical manual. 1993. San Diego CA, Singular Publishing Group.
Ref Type: Book, Whole
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(7) Gow DW, Jr. The cortical organization of lexical knowledge: a dual lexicon
model of spoken language processing. Brain Lang 121[3], 273-288. 2012.
Abstract: Current accounts of spoken language assume the existence of a lexicon where
wordforms are stored and interact during spoken language perception,
understanding and production. Despite the theoretical importance of the wordform
lexicon, the exact localization and function of the lexicon in the broader context
of language use is not well understood. This review draws on evidence from
aphasia, functional imaging, neuroanatomy, laboratory phonology and behavioral
results to argue for the existence of parallel lexica that facilitate different
processes in the dorsal and ventral speech pathways. The dorsal lexicon, localized
in the inferior parietal region including the supramarginal gyrus, serves as an
interface between phonetic and articulatory representations. The ventral lexicon,
localized in the posterior superior temporal sulcus and middle temporal gyrus,
serves as an interface between phonetic and semantic representations. In addition
to their interface roles, the two lexica contribute to the robustness of speech
processing
(8) Hickok G, Poeppel D. The cortical organization of speech processing. Nature
Reviews in Neuroscience 8, 393-4. 2007.
(9) Hickok G. The functional neuroanatomy of language. Phys.Life Rev. 6[3], 121143. 2009.
Abstract: There has been substantial progress over the last several years in understanding
aspects of the functional neuroanatomy of language. These advances are
summarized in this review. It will be argued that recognizing speech sounds is
carried out in the superior temporal lobe bilaterally, that the superior temporal
sulcus bilaterally is involved in phonological-level aspects of this process, that the
frontal/motor system is not central to speech recognition although it may
modulate auditory perception of speech, that conceptual access mechanisms are
likely located in the lateral posterior temporal lobe (middle and inferior temporal
gyri), that speech production involves sensory-related systems in the posterior
superior temporal lobe in the left hemisphere, that the interface between
perceptual and motor systems is supported by a sensory-motor circuit for vocal
tract actions (not dedicated to speech) that is very similar to sensory-motor
circuits found in primate parietal lobe, that verbal short-term memory can be
understand as an emergent property of this sensory-motor circuit. These
observations are understood within the context of a dual stream model of speech
processing in which one pathway supports speech comprehension and the other
supports sensory-motor integration. Additional topics of discussion include the
functional organization of the planum temporale for spatial hearing and speechrelated sensory-motor processes, the anatomical and functional basis of a form of
acquired language disorder, conduction aphasia, the neural basis of vocabulary
development, and sentence-level/grammatical processing
(10) Poeppel D, Emmorey K, Hickok G, Pylkkanen L. Towards a new neurobiology of
language. Journal of Neuroscience 32[41], 14125-14131. 10-10-2012.
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Abstract: Theoretical advances in language research and the availability of increasingly
high-resolution experimental techniques in the cognitive neurosciences are
profoundly changing how we investigate and conceive of the neural basis of
speech and language processing. Recent work closely aligns language research
with issues at the core of systems neuroscience, ranging from neurophysiological
and neuroanatomic characterizations to questions about neural coding. Here we
highlight, across different aspects of language processing (perception, production,
sign language, meaning construction), new insights and approaches to the
neurobiology of language, aiming to describe promising new areas of
investigation in which the neurosciences intersect with linguistic research more
closely than before. This paper summarizes in brief some of the issues that
constitute the background for talks presented in a symposium at the Annual
Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. It is not a comprehensive review of any
of the issues that are discussed in the symposium
(11) Rapin I. Practitioner review: Developmental language disorders: A clinical
update. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines 37[6],
643-655. 1996.
(12) Silva PA, Williams S, McGee R. A longitudinal study of children with
developmental language delay at age three: Later intelligence, reading, and
behavior problems. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology 29, 630-640.
1987.
(13) Stothard SE, Snowling MJ, Bishop DVM, Chipchase BB, Kaplan CA. Languageimpaired preschoolers: a follow-up into adolescence. Journal of Speech,
Language and Hearing Research 41, 407-418. 1998.
Abstract: This paper reports a longitudinal follow-up of 71 adolescents with a preschool
history of speech-language impairment, originally studied by Bishop and
Edmundson (1987). These children had been subdivided at 4 years into those with
nonverbal IQ 2 SD below the mean (General Delay group), and those with normal
nonverbal intelligence (SLI group). At age 5;6 the SLI group was subdivided into
those whose language problems had resolved, and those with persistent SLI. The
General Delay group was also followed up. At age 15-16 years, these children
were compared with age-matched normal-language controls on a battery of tests
of spoken language and literacy skills. Children whose language problems had
resolved did not differ from controls on tests of vocabulary and language
comprehension skills. However, they performed significantly less well on tests of
phonological processing and literacy skill. Children who still had significant
language difficulties at 5;6 had significant impairments in all aspects of spoken
and written language functioning, as did children classified as having a general
delay. These children fell further and further behind their peer group in
vocabulary growth over time.
(14) Snowling MJ, Bishop DV, Stothard SE, Chipchase B, Kaplan C. Psychosocial
outcomes at 15 years of children with a preschool history of speech-language
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impairment. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines
47[8], 759-765. 2006.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests there is a heightened risk of psychiatric
disorder in children with speech-language impairments. However, not all forms of
language impairment are strongly associated with psychosocial difficulty, and
some psychiatric disorders (e.g., attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD))
are more prevalent than others in language-impaired populations. The present
study assessed the psychosocial adjustment in adolescence of young people with
history of speech-language impairment, and investigated specific relationships
between language deficits and psychiatric disorders. METHODS: Seventy-one
young people (aged 15-16 years) with a preschool history of speech-language
impairment were assessed using a psychiatric interview (K-SADS) supplemented
by questionnaires probing social encounters and parental reports of behaviour and
attention. Their psycho-social adjustment was compared with that of a crosssectional control group of age-matched controls. RESULTS: Overall the rate of
psychiatric disorder was low in the clinical sample and children whose language
delay had resolved by 5.5 years had a good outcome. For those whose language
difficulties persisted through the school years, there was a raised incidence of
attention and social difficulties. These difficulties were partially independent and
associated with different language profiles. The group with attention problems
showed a profile of specific expressive language difficulties; the group with social
difficulties had receptive and expressive language difficulties; and the group with
both attention and social difficulties was of low IQ with global language
difficulties. CONCLUSIONS: Amongst children with speech-language delays at
5.5 years, those with more severe and persistent language difficulties and low
nonverbal IQ are at higher risk of psychiatric morbidity in adolescence
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