ScienceDaily: Language Acquisition News

Clouds in the head: New model of brain's thought processes

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:54:54 EDT

A new model of the brain's thought processes explains the apparently chaotic activity patterns of individual neurons. They do not correspond to a simple stimulus/response linkage, but arise from the networking of different neural circuits.

How bilinguals switch between languages

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:38:38 EDT

Individuals who learn two languages at an early age seem to switch back and forth between separate "sound systems" for each language, according to new research. The research addresses enduring questions in bilingual studies about how bilingual speakers hear and process sound in two different languages.

Brain makes call on which ear is used for cell phone

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:16:16 EDT

If you're a left-brain thinker, chances are you use your right hand to hold your cell phone up to your right ear, according to a newly published study. The study shows a strong correlation between brain dominance and the ear used to listen to a cell phone.

Brain frontal lobes not sole center of human intelligence, comparative research suggests

Mon, 13 May 2013 15:28:28 EDT

Human intelligence cannot be explained by the size of the brain's frontal lobes, say researchers. Research into the comparative size of the frontal lobes in humans and other species has determined that they are not -- as previously thought -- disproportionately enlarged relative to other areas of the brain, according to the most accurate and conclusive study of this area of the brain. It concludes that the size of our frontal lobes cannot solely account for humans' superior cognitive abilities.

Grammar errors? The brain detects them even when you are unaware

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:15:15 EDT

Your brain often works on autopilot when it comes to grammar. That theory has been around for years, but neuroscientists have now captured elusive hard evidence that people indeed detect and process grammatical errors with no awareness of doing so.

Laughter perception networks in brain different for mocking, joyful or ticklish laughter

Wed, 08 May 2013 17:21:21 EDT

A laugh may signal mockery, humor, joy or simply be a response to tickling, but each kind of laughter conveys a wealth of auditory and social information. These different kinds of laughter also spark different connections within the "laughter perception network" in the human brain depending on their context, according to new research.

Brain anatomy of dyslexia is not the same in men and women, boys and girls

Wed, 08 May 2013 13:18:18 EDT

Using MRI, neuroscientists have found significant differences in brain anatomy when comparing men and women with dyslexia to their non-dyslexic control groups. Their study is the first to directly compare brain anatomy of females with and without dyslexia.

Ice Age ancestors might have used words in common with us

Tue, 07 May 2013 07:46:46 EDT

New research shows that Ice Age people living in Europe 15,000 years ago might have used forms of some common words including I, you, we, man and bark, that in some cases could still be recognized today.

Don't txt n drive: Teens not getting msg: 43 percent of youths admit to texting while driving

Sat, 04 May 2013 16:33:33 EDT

Teens can get hundreds of text messages a day, but one message they aren't getting is that they shouldn't text and drive. Nearly 43 percent of high school students of driving age who were surveyed in 2011 reported texting while driving at least once in the past 30 days, according to a new study.

Monkey math: Baboons show brain's ability to understand numbers

Fri, 03 May 2013 13:27:27 EDT

Opposing thumbs, expressive faces, complex social systems: it's hard to miss the similarities between apes and humans. Now a new study with a troop of zoo baboons and lots of peanuts shows that a less obvious trait -- the ability to understand numbers -- also is shared by humans and their primate cousins.

Early intervention found cost effective through school years

Wed, 01 May 2013 11:28:28 EDT

The Early Start Denver Model, a comprehensive behavioral early intervention program that is appropriate for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as young as 12 months, has been found to reduce the need for ASD therapies and special education services through the school years following their early intervention compared to early intervention services typically available in the community.

Encountering connections may make life feel more meaningful

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:16:16 EDT

Experiencing connections, regularities, and coherence in their environment may lead people to feel a greater sense of meaning in life, according to a new study.

Musical memory deficits start in auditory cortex

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:13:13 EDT

Congenital amusia is a disorder characterized by impaired musical skills, which can extend to an inability to recognize very familiar tunes. The neural bases of this deficit are now being deciphered. According to a new study amusics exhibit altered processing of musical information in two regions of the brain: the auditory cortex and the frontal cortex, particularly in the right cerebral hemisphere. These alterations seem to be linked to anatomical anomalies in these same cortices.

Happiness: There’s an app for that; Boston bombings unhappiest day in five years, new sensor shows

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:11:11 EDT

The day of the Boston Marathon was the saddest day in nearly 5 years of observations by a team of scientists from the University of Vermont and The MITRE Corporation. For the first time, results from their "hedonometer" are being made available to the public for free at a new website.

How we decode 'noisy' language in daily life: How people rationally interpret linguistic input

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:49:49 EDT

Suppose you hear someone say, "The man gave the ice cream the child." Does that sentence seem plausible? Or do you assume it is missing a word? Such as: "The man gave the ice cream to the child." People use an array of strategies to make sense of confusing statements.

Reading wordless storybooks to toddlers may expose them to richer language

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:48:48 EDT

Researchers have found that children hear more complex language from parents when they read a storybook with only pictures compared to a picture-vocabulary book.

New hope for Autistic children who never learn to speak

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 22:25:25 EDT

Scientists are showing that while not all of the current interventions used to improve language among Autistic children are effective, there is real hope for progress by using interventions based on understanding natural language development and the role of motor and "motor mirroring" behavior in toddlers.

Clenching right fist may give better grip on memory

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:51:51 EDT

Clenching your right hand may help form a stronger memory of an event or action, and clenching your left may help you recollect the memory later, according to new research.

Body size conveyed by voice determines vocal attractiveness

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:51:51 EDT

Deep male voices and high-pitched female voices are perceived as more attractive because listeners gauge the speaker's body size from the frequency of their voice, according to new research.

Intractable seizures halted with experimental treatment for rare pediatric 'Pretzel syndrome'

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:09:09 EDT

With a better understanding of underlying mechanisms that cause a rare neurodevelopmental disorder in the Old Order Mennonite population, referred to as Pretzel syndrome, a new study reports that five children were successfully treated with a drug that modifies the disease process, minimizing seizures and improving receptive language.

Learning disabilities affect up to 10 percent of children

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:23:23 EDT

Up to 10 percent of the population are affected by specific learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and autism, translating to 2 or 3 pupils in every classroom, according to a new review.

Role-playing game brings new life to a 'dead' language

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:42:42 EDT

In one Latin class, students learn Latin playing heroes from Graeco-Roman myth — bringing a ‘dead’ language to life through a role-playing game. The application of game theory in the classroom can be used to teach any foreign language.

Scientists pinpoint brain's area for numeral recognition

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:00:00 EDT

Scientists have determined the precise anatomical coordinates of a brain "hot spot," measuring only about one-fifth of an inch across, that is preferentially activated when people view the ordinary numerals we learn early on in elementary school, like "6" or "38."

Language instruction improved with fun and games

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 08:53:53 EDT

Playing simple games using words and pictures can help people to learn a new language with greater ease, researchers have shown.

Reactivating memories during sleep: Memory rehearsal during sleep can make a big difference in remembering later

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:24:24 EDT

Why do some memories last a lifetime while others disappear quickly? A new study suggests that memories rehearsed, during sleep or waking, can have an impact on memory consolidation and on what is remembered later. A new study shows that when the information that makes up a memory has a high value, the memory is more likely to be rehearsed and consolidated during sleep and remembered later.

Bad behavior in kids with hearing implants doesn't predict slowed language development

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 08:42:42 EDT

A new study is challenging a long held belief among speech therapists and audiologists that bad behavior in young children with hearing implants is an indicator of device failure and a predictor of poor language development.

What happens in the brain to make music rewarding?

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:30:30 EDT

A new study reveals what happens in our brain when we decide to purchase a piece of music when we hear it for the first time. The study pinpoints the specific brain activity that makes new music rewarding and predicts the decision to purchase music.

Different brains have similar responses to music

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:57:57 EDT

Do the brains of different people listening to the same piece of music actually respond in the same way? An imaging study says the answer is yes, which may in part explain why music plays such a big role in our social existence.

Subconscious mental categories help brain sort through everyday experiences

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 14:15:15 EDT

Researchers found that the brain breaks experiences into the "events," or related groups that help us mentally organize the day's many situations, using subconscious mental categories it creates. These categories are based on how the brain considers people, objects and actions are related in terms of how they tend to — or tend not to — pop up near one another at specific times.

Young children have grammar and chimpanzees don't

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:13:13 EDT

A new study has shown that children as young as two understand basic grammar rules when they first learn to speak and are not simply imitating adults. The study also applied the same statistical analysis on data from one of the most famous animal language-acquisition experiments -- Project Nim -- and showed that Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee who was taught sign language over the course of many years, never grasped rules like those in a two-year-old's grammar.

Rare primate's vocal lip-smacks share features of human speech

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:31:31 EDT

The vocal lip-smacks that geladas use in friendly encounters have surprising similarities to human speech, according to a new study. The geladas, which live only in the mountains of Ethiopia, are the only nonhuman primate known to communicate with such a speech-like, undulating rhythm. Calls of other monkeys and apes are typically one or two syllables and lack those rapid fluctuations in pitch and volume.

Non-invasive mapping helps to localize language centers before brain surgery

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:23:23 EDT

A new functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique may provide neurosurgeons with a non-invasive tool to help in mapping critical areas of the brain before surgery, reports a new study.

Shift of language function to right hemisphere impedes post-stroke aphasia recovery

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:19:19 EDT

In a study designed to differentiate why some stroke patients recover from aphasia and others do not, investigators have found that a compensatory reorganization of language function to right hemispheric brain regions bodes poorly for language recovery. Patients who recovered from aphasia showed a return to normal left-hemispheric language activation patterns.

Language by mouth and by hand

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:02:02 EDT

Humans favor speech as the primary means of linguistic communication. Spoken languages are so common many think language and speech are one and the same. But the prevalence of sign languages suggests otherwise. Not only can Deaf communities generate language using manual gestures, but their languages share some of their design and neural mechanisms with spoken languages.

Speaking a tonal language (such as Cantonese) primes the brain for musical training

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 18:26:26 EDT

Non-musicians who speak tonal languages may have a better ear for learning musical notes, according to researchers.

Personalized brain mapping technique preserves function following brain tumor surgery

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 12:09:09 EDT

In a new paper, researchers review research showing that this ability to visualize relevant white matter tracts during glioma resection surgeries can improve accuracy.

Teachers' gestures boost math learning

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:51:51 EDT

Students perform better when their instructors use hand gestures -- a simple teaching tool that could yield benefits in higher-level math such as algebra.

In solving social dilemmas, vervet monkeys get by with a little patience

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:50:50 EDT

People could learn a lot from vervet monkeys. When vervets need to work together, they don't tell each other what to do or punish uncooperative behavior. But according to new evidence, they do get by, with a little patience.

Multiple moves found harmful to poor young children

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 08:02:02 EDT

Poor children who move three or more times before age five have more behavior problems than their peers, according to a longitudinal, representative study of children born in 20 large US cities between 1998 and 2000. Children who moved three or more times exhibited more attention problems, anxiousness, and aggressiveness at age 5.

Prekindergarten program boosts children's skills

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 08:02:02 EDT

Boston Public Schools' prekindergarten program is substantially improving children's readiness to start kindergarten, according to a new study of more than 2,000 children enrolled there. The program uses research-based curricula and teacher coaching, is taught primarily by masters-level teachers, and is open to any child. This study suggests that efforts to increase the enrollment of underrepresented Latino children in high-quality prekindergarten programs, such as the one studied here, may be beneficial.

Language used in immigration debates may be as important as the policies

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 07:55:55 EDT

The language activists and politicians use in immigration debates may be as important as the policies they are debating when it comes to long-term effects, according to the author of a new study in the April issue of the American Sociological Review.

Researchers scoring a win-win with novel set of concussion diagnostic tools

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 15:11:11 EDT

Scientists have developed a tablet-based testing system that captures the voice of an individual and analyzes the speech for signs of a potential concussion anytime, anywhere, in real-time.

Philadelphia shifts to a Northern accent

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 10:15:15 EDT

The traditional Southern inflections associated with the Philadelphia regional accent are increasingly being displaced by Northern influences. A recent study documents this trend through an analysis of Philadelphia neighborhood speech patterns over more than a century.

Language acquisition: Nouns before verbs?

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 18:40:40 EDT

Researchers are digging deeper into whether infants' ability to learn new words is shaped by the language being acquired. A new study cites a promising new research agenda aimed at bringing researchers closer to discovering the impact of different languages on early language and cognitive development. Researchers have asked why infants learn new nouns more rapidly than new verbs, with many researchers asserting that the early noun-advantage is a universal feature of human language.

Fear factor increases, emotions decrease in books written in last 50 years

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:28:28 EDT

The use of words with emotional content in books has steadily decreased throughout the last century, according to new research. The emotional content of published English has been steadily decreasing over the past century, with the exception of words associated with fear, an emotion which has resurged over the past decades.

Robot-delivered speech and physical therapy a success

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:26:26 EDT

In one of the earliest experiments using a humanoid robot to deliver speech and physical therapy to a stroke patient, researchers saw notable speech and physical therapy gains and significant improvement in quality of life.

'Brain waves' challenge area-specific view of brain activity

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:51:51 EDT

Our understanding of brain activity has traditionally been linked to brain areas – when we speak, the speech area of the brain is active. New research shows that this view may be overly rigid. The entire cortex, not just the area responsible for a certain function, is activated when a given task is initiated. Furthermore, activity occurs in a pattern: waves of activity roll from one side of the brain to the other.

Face of the future rears its head: Digital talking head expresses human emotions on demand

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 16:00:00 EDT

Meet Zoe: a digital talking head which can express human emotions on demand with "unprecedented realism" and could herald a new era of human-computer interaction.

Similar neuro outcomes in preterm infants with low-grade brain bleeding as infants with no bleeding

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:30:30 EDT

A new study suggests that preterm infants with a low-grade bleeding in the brain may have similar neurodevelopmental outcomes as infants with no bleeding.

How can we stlil raed words wehn teh lettres are jmbuled up?

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 07:46:46 EDT

Researchers have taken an important step towards understanding how the human brain 'decodes' letters on a page to read a word. The work will help psychologists unravel the subtle thinking mechanisms involved in reading, and could provide solutions for helping people who find it difficult to read, for example in conditions such as dyslexia.

New research discovers the emergence of Twitter 'tribes'

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 08:50:50 EDT

Linguists have found evidence of how people form into tribe-like communities on social network sites such as Twitter.

Garbled text messages may be the only symptoms of stroke

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 08:49:49 EDT

Difficulty or inability to write a coherent text message, even in patients who have no problem speaking, may become a "vital" tool in diagnosing a type of crippling stroke, according to new research.

Hiding secret messages in email jokes

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 13:49:49 EDT

It is possible to hide secret messages in simple jokes, according to new research.

Mom's sensitivity helps language development in children with hearing loss

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 10:34:34 EST

Psychologists demonstrate the impact sensitive parenting has on language growth for children who receive cochlear implants.

Solving the 'Cocktail Party Problem': How we can focus on one speaker in noisy crowds

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:42:42 EST

In the din of a crowded room, paying attention to just one speaker's voice can be challenging. Research demonstrates how the brain homes in on one speaker to solve this "Cocktail Party Problem." Researchers discovered that brain waves are shaped so the brain can selectively track the sound patterns from the speaker of interest while excluding competing sounds from other speakers. The findings could have important implications for helping individuals with a range of deficits.

Help in reading foreign languages

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 08:39:39 EST

Recent research into how we learn is set to help people in their efforts to read a second or foreign language (SFL) more effectively. This will be good news for those struggling to develop linguistic skills in preparation for a move abroad, or to help in understanding foreign language forms, reports, contracts and instructions.

Mental picture of others can be seen using fMRI, finds new study

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 09:10:10 EST

It is possible to tell who a person is thinking about by analyzing images of his or her brain. Our mental models of people produce unique patterns of brain activation, which can be detected using advanced imaging techniques according to a new study.

Brain adds cells in puberty to navigate adult world

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:18:18 EST

The brain adds new cells during puberty to help navigate the complex social world of adulthood, neuroscientists report.

Why your brain tires when exercising

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:18:18 EST

For the first time ever, a research team is able to explain why our brains feel tired when we exercise. By mapping the mechanism behind so-called central fatigue, the researchers are hoping, among other things, to learn more about how to identify doping use.

Speech emerges in children on the autism spectrum with severe language delay at greater rate than previously thought

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:49:49 EST

Study could reveals key predictors of speech gains. New findings reveal that 70 percent of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who have a history of severe language delay, achieved phrase or fluent speech by age eight.