Biomedical subjects

Marlena Creusere

Publications and source records attributed to Marlena Creusere.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Semantic features in fast-mapping: performance of preschoolers with specific language impairment versus preschoolers with normal language.

This study examined the receptive language skills of young children (4-6 years old) with specific language impairment (SLI). Specifically, the authors looked at their ability to fast-map semantic features of objects and actions and compared it to the performance of age-matched peers with normally developing language (NL). Children completed a computer task during which they were exposed to novel objects and actions with novel names. The children then were asked questions about the semantic features of these novel objects and actions. Overall, the questions about actions were more difficult for children than objects. The children with SLI were able to recognize fewer semantic features than were their peers with NL. They also performed poorly relative to their peers on a lexical label recognition task. These results lend support to the idea that children with SLI have broader difficulties with receptive vocabulary than simply a reduced ability to acquire labels.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2002

Dissociating sentential prosody from sentence processing: activation interacts with task demands.

Sentence processing was contrasted with processing of syntactic prosody under two task conditions in order to examine the representation of these components of language and their interaction with working memory load. Twelve adults received fMDI scans while they listened to low-pass filtered and unfiltered sentences either passively, or during tasks that required subjects to remember and recognize information contained in the stimuli. Results indicated that temporal activation for prosodic stimuli differed compared to activation for sentence stimuli only during passive listening tasks. The inclusion of memory demands was associated with frontal activation, which was differentially lateralized for sentence and prosodic stimuli. The results demonstrate differential brain activation for prosodic vs sentential stimuli which interacts with the memory demands placed on the subjects.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Recognition of vocal and facial cues to affect in language-impaired and normally-developing preschoolers.

UNLABELLED: The current study was designed to investigate whether reported difficulties in language-impaired children's ability to identify vocal and facial cues to emotion could be explained at least partially by nonparalinguistic factors. Children with specific language impairment (SLI) and control participants received an affect discrimination task, which consisted of the following cue situations: (1) facial expression and unfiltered speech; (2) lowpass-filtered speech only; (3) facial expression only; and (4) facial expression and filtered speech. The results of the study indicated that impaired and nonimpaired group performance differed only for the items including facial expression and nonfiltered speech. Developmental and investigative implications of this finding are addressed. LEARNING OUTCOMES: As a result of this activity, the participant will be able to summarize the findings from existing research on affect comprehension in children with language impairments (LI). As a result of this activity, the participant will be able to discuss ways in which language impairment and difficulties in understanding emotion cues are associated and propose how these associations might influence social interactions.

Affect↗