The Brain Dynamics of Syllable Duration and Semantic Predictability in Spanish.

This study examines the neural dynamics underlying the prosodic (duration) and the semantic dimensions in Spanish sentence perception. Specifically, we investigated whether adult listeners are aware of changes in the duration of a pretonic syllable of words that were either semantically predictable or unpredictable from the preceding sentential context. Participants listened to the sentences with instructions to make prosodic or semantic judgments, while their EEG was recorded. For both accuracy and RTs, the results revealed an interaction between duration and semantics. ERP analysis exposed an interactive effect between task, duration and semantic, showing that both processes share neural resources. There was an enhanced negativity on semantic process (N400) and an extended positivity associated with anomalous duration. Source estimation for the N400 component revealed activations in the frontal gyrus for the semantic contrast and in the parietal postcentral gyrus for duration contrast in the metric task, while activation in the sub-lobar insula was observed for the semantic task. The source of the late positive components was located on posterior cingulate. Hence, the ERP data support the idea that semantic and prosodic levels are processed by similar neural networks, and the two linguistic dimensions influence each other during the decision-making stage in the metric and semantic judgment tasks.

Corrigendum: Exploring the Co-occurrence of Manual Verbs and Actions in Early Mother-Child Communication.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.596080.].

Exploring the Co-occurrence of Manual Verbs and Actions in Early Mother-Child Communication.

The embodiment approach has shown that motor neural networks are involved in the processing of action verbs. There is developmental evidence that embodied effects on verb processing are already present in early years. Yet, the ontogenetic origin of this motor reuse in action verbs remains unknown. This longitudinal study investigates the co-occurrence of manual verbs and actions during mother-child daily routines (free play, bathing, and dining) when children were 1 to 2 (Group 1) and 2 to 3 (Group 2) years old. Eight mother-child dyads were video-recorded in 3-month intervals across 12 months (27 recording hours), and the timing of verbs and manual actions (21,876 entries) were coded by independent observers. Results showed that the probability of matched verb-action co-occurrences were much higher (0.80 and 0.77) than that of random co-occurrences (0.13 and 0.15) for Group 1 and Group 2, respectively. The distributions of the verb-action temporal intervals in both groups were quite symmetrical and skewed with the peak corresponding to both 0.00 s synchronic intervals (8% of the cases) and the shortest +5 s interval (40% of the cases). Mother-led instances occurred in both groups whereas child-led instances were restricted to Group 2. Mothers pragmatically aligned their verbal productions, since they repeatedly used (74%) those verbs they shared with their children's repertoire (31%). In conclusion, the early multisensory communicative and manipulative scene affords grounding of verb meanings on the ongoing actions, facilitating verb-action pairing in the realm of social interactions, providing a new dimension to the prevailing solipsistic approach to embodiment.

Estudio normativo de la familiaridad subjetiva en niños de segundo grado de Educación Primaria en Medellín (Colombia) / A Normative Study of Subjective Familiarity in Children of the Second Grade of School in Medellin (Colombia)

Resumen El objetivo de este estudio, consistió en evaluar la familiaridad subjetiva (FS) de 827 palabras en 187 niños de segundo grado de educación primaria de la ciudad de Medellín. Las palabras, fueron extraídas de diferentes textos escolares y se ajustaron a tres parámetros psicolingüísticos: consistencia ortográfica, estructura silábica y longitud. En la prueba realizada, los niños debían indicar si conocían nada, poco, mucho o muchísimo cada una de las palabras seleccionadas. De acuerdo con esto, se asignó un valor numérico a cada palabra. Un análisis estadístico de las medianas de las palabras, permitió seleccionar 405 palabras con FS alta y 422 palabras con FS baja. Los resultados, muestran que los parámetros psicolingüísticos propuestos se relacionan con la FS.

Abstract The aim of this study was to assess the subjective familiarity of 827 words in 187 second-grade children from the city of Medellín. The words were taken from textbooks and adjusted to three psycholinguistic parameters: orthographic consistency, syllabic structure and length. In these tests, the children had to indicate whether they knew each of the words and according to their responses, a numerical value was assigned. A statistical analysis of the medians allowed the selection of 405 words of high subjective familiarity y 422 words of low subjective familiarity. The results show that the proposed psycholinguistic parameters relate to subjective familiarity.

Sentential negation modulates inhibition in a stop-signal task. Evidence from behavioral and ERP data.

Embodiment theories claim that language meaning involves sensory-motor simulation processes in the brain. A challenge for these theories, however, is to explain how abstract words, such as negations, are processed. In this article, we test the hypothesis that understanding sentential negation (e.g., You will not cut the bread) reuses the neural circuitry of response inhibition. Participants read manual action sentences with either affirmative or negative polarity, embedded in a Stop-Signal paradigm, while their EEG was recorded. The results showed that the inhibition-related N1 and P3 components were enhanced by successful inhibition. Most important, the early N1 amplitude was also modulated by sentence polarity, producing the largest values for successful inhibitions in the context of negative sentences, whereas no polarity effect was found for failing inhibition or go trials. The estimated neural sources for N1 effects revealed activations in the right inferior frontal gyrus, a typical inhibition-related area. Also, the estimated stop-signal reaction time was larger in trials with negative sentences. These results provide strong evidence that action-related negative sentences consume neural resources of response inhibition, resulting in less efficient processing in the Stop-Signal task.

Functions of the pointing gesture in mothers and their 12 to 36-month-old children during everyday activities.

This study longitudinally examined the production of pointing in four Spanish 1-year-old and four Spanish 2-year-old children in interactive situations with their mothers at home over the course of one year. Three aspects were analyzed: a) the functions of the pointing gesture, their accurate comprehension by the interlocutor (mother or child), and their order of emergence in the child; b) whether or not there were differences in the production of pointing according to who initiated the interaction; and c) whether maternal and child speech were related to maternal and child pointing production. The results showed that the pointing function of showing is the most frequent for both children and mothers from groups 1 and 2, and the first to emerge followed by the informing, requesting object, requesting action, and requesting cooperation functions. The accuracy with which these intentions were comprehended was found to be very high for both mother and child. Pointing production was greater when the speaker initiated the interaction than when the other person did, indicating that gestures follow the turn-taking system. Finally, the production of pointing to showing in children and mothers was found to be related to maternal and child speech, while pointing to request cooperation triggered the process of joint activity between mother and child.

Functions of the pointing gesture in mothers and their 12 to 36-month-old children during everyday activities

This study longitudinally examined the production of pointing in four Spanish 1-year-old and four Spanish 2-year-old children in interactive situations with their mothers at home over the course of one year. Three aspects were analyzed: a) the functions of the pointing gesture, their accurate comprehension by the interlocutor (mother or child), and their order of emergence in the child; b) whether or not there were differences in the production of pointing according to who initiated the interaction; and c) whether maternal and child speech were related to maternal and child pointing production. The results showed that the pointing function of showing is the most frequent for both children and mothers from groups 1 and 2, and the first to emerge followed by the informing, requesting object, requesting action, and requesting cooperation functions. The accuracy with which these intentions were comprehended was found to be very high for both mother and child. Pointing production was greater when the speaker initiated the interaction than when the other person did, indicating that gestures follow the turn-taking system. Finally, the production of pointing to showing in children and mothers was found to be related to maternal and child speech, while pointing to request cooperation triggered the process of joint activity between mother and child (AU)

Se examinó longitudinalmente durante un año la producción de gestos de señalamiento de 8 niños (4 de 1 años y 4 de 2 años) en situaciones interactivas con sus madres en el hogar. Se analizaron tres aspectos: a) las funciones del señalamiento, su uso y comprensión por parte de la madre y del niño y su edad de emergencia; b) si existían cambios en la producción de señalamientos de la madre y del niño en función de quién inicia la interacción; y c) si había relación entre las funciones del señalamiento y la producción verbal de la madre y del niño. Los resultados sugieren que el señalamiento de mostrar tiene una mayor producción tanto en la madre como en el niño y a nivel evolutivo emerge primero, seguido del de informar, pedir objeto, pedir acción y cooperación. La madre y el niño interpretan con precisión las diferentes funciones de los gestos de señalamiento. Iniciar la interacción verbal incrementa la probabilidad de producir señalamientos lo que indica que los gestos también se articulan según el sistema de turnos. Por último, la función de mostrar está más relacionado con el desarrollo lingüístico, mientras que la de cooperar dispara el proceso de colaboración entre madre e hijo (AU)