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The effective operation of auditory verbal working memory processes is essential to both understanding and communicating in everyday life. These processes are particularly vulnerable to disruption in a wide range of clinical conditions that affect brain functioning. Problems with working memory are frequently the primary reason why people with brain dysfunction are referred for neuropsychological assessment; consequently, verbal memory has been ranked as the second most frequently assessed cognitive ability. However, current psychometric approaches, predominantly serial recall, paired-associate- and list-learning tasks have been designed mainly to detect the presence (and severity) or absence of memory impairment rather than identifying intact or impaired processes. Performance is usually measured by scores of free recall and recognition, with testing procedures that are often lengthy and time-consuming for both patients and clinicians. When assessing working memory, the span tasks have been viewed as “a complete assessment of the function of phonological short-term memory” (Vallar & Papagno, 2002). Digit span, in particular, has come to be regarded as the principal neuropsychological methodology for evaluating the capacity of auditory working memory (Andrewes, 2001), despite doubts about its lack of sensitivity (Lezak, Howieson, & Loring, 2004) and potential to overestimate capacity (Andrewes, 2001). Theoretical advances regarding the underlying component processes of encoding and retrieval have only slowly been incorporated into clinical practice but have not been applied in any systematic or coherent manner. Concepts of working memory have been extended to include semantic, phonological and temporal aspects. One potentially useful approach examined the role of phonological and semantic codes and cues and their susceptibility and immunity to interference effects (Tehan & Humphreys, 1995). Alternatively, another study investigated patients’ ability to accurately retrieve visual information by keeping track of the current episode, differentiating it from previous similar episodes that had the potential to reduce effective performance because of interference effects or poor discrimination (Parkin, Leng, & Hunkin, 1990). The aim of the research reported in this thesis was to develop a more compact cuedretrieval procedure to directly measure the phonological, semantic and temporal aspects of working memory and to examine its clinical usefulness by administering the task to brain injury rehabilitation patients. The conceptual section of the introductory chapter commences with a discussion on memory systems, particularly working memory, and is followed by an examination of some of the core processes involved in successful and unsuccessful remembering (forgetting). The applied section examines traditional and current approaches to memory assessment in clinical practice and their limitations in addressing the clinical needs of patients with memory impairments. Finally, an alternative approach that focuses on specific encoding and cueing processes rather than overall recall, is proposed. Empirical studies are reported in the following four chapters; Chapter 2 described the development and implementation of the initial studies with non-clinical participants, while Chapter 3 described the refinement of the procedure. Semantic and phonological coding and cueing effects were examined within a temporal context. The findings clearly demonstrated that semantic and phonological processes acted in quite distinct and consistent ways, irrespective of the degree of prior exposure to the word stimuli. Participants had more difficulty keeping track of the current episode when the codes and cues were phonological. Following refinements to the stimuli and procedure, replication of the previous results confirmed that cued-retrieval using semantic, phonological and temporal cues was a legitimate approach to memory assessment. Furthermore, differential effects were still found even after significantly shortening the procedure, thus adding support for its potential usefulness in clinical settings. The next two chapters examined the clinical application of this alternative approach in brain injury rehabilitation patients. The ability of non-clinical participants and brain injury rehabilitation patients to effectively use codes and cues to retrieve verbal information was compared. Quite distinct profiles indicated that the cued-retrieval procedure clearly differentiated clinical and non-clinical participants. Brain injury patients obviously performed more poorly on both semantic and phonological tasks but they also demonstrated a reduced ability to effectively use phonological codes and cues in retrieving information, as their performance declined across successive episodes due to increasing interference effects. Finally, the cued-retrieval procedure was administered to brain injury patients in the context of routine, post-injury, comprehensive neuropsychological assessment to examine the comparative value of this process approach in relation to other currently used clinical tests of verbal and working memory. The results clearly indicated that cued-retrieval was more sensitive in detecting memory impairments than most of the other tests in current use and, due to its brevity, was able to provide this information relatively quickly. The closing chapter summarized and integrated the empirical findings of these research studies and highlighted the implications for future clinical practice and further research. The preliminary evidence clearly indicated that this brief and sensitive method of examining the underlying processes of verbal working memory has clinical and theoretical potential.

In their first year, infants’ ability to follow eye gaze to allocate attention shifts from being a response to low-level perceptual cues, to a deeper understanding of social intent. By 4 months infants look longer to uncued versus cued targets following a gaze cuing event, suggesting that infants better encode targets cued by shifts in eye gaze compared to targets not cued by eye gaze. From 6 to 9 months of age infants develop biases in face processing such that they show increased differentiation of faces within highly familiar groups (e.g., own-race) and a decreased differentiation of faces within unfamiliar or infrequently experienced groups (e.g., other-race). Although the development of cued object learning and face biases are both important social processes, they have primarily been studied independently. The current study examined whether early face processing biases for familiar compared to unfamiliar groups influences object encoding within the context of a gaze-cuing paradigm. Five- and 10-month-old infants viewed videos of adults, who varied by race and sex, shift their eye gaze towards one of two objects. The two objects were then presented side-by-side and fixation duration for the cued and uncued object was measured. Results revealed 5-month-old infants look significantly longer to uncued versus cued objects when the cuing face was a female. Additionally, 10-month-old infants displayed significantly longer looking to the uncued relative to the cued object when the cuing face was a female and from the infant’s own-race group. These findings are the first to demonstrate that perceptual narrowing based on sex and race shape infants’ use of social cues for allocating visual attention to objects in their environment.

Recent studies on pronunciation teaching in ESL classrooms have found that the teaching of suprasegmentals, namely stress, pausing, and intonation, has a great effect on improving intelligibility (Derwing, Munro, & Wiebe, 1998; Kang, Rubin, & Pickering, 2010; Morley, 1991). The current project describes the development and implementation of computer-based pronunciation materials used for an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) program. The pronunciation program made use of cued pronunciation readings (CPRs) which used suprasegmentals and were developed for English as a second language (ESL) missionaries at the Provo, Utah, Missionary Training Center (MTC). Because there was no pronunciation program in place at the MTC, instructional materials that focused on prosodic features were greatly needed. Missionaries participated in the program anywhere from three to six weeks. Results from the implementation period revealed that missionaries made medium to large gains in their ability to perceive suprasegmentals after using the practice tasks and small-medium gains in their ability to produce suprasegmentals during this short time period. Recommendations for further development, implementation, and testing of similar materials are made for use with individuals in other ESP settings like these missionaries at the MTC.

Methods A standardised measurement tool was developed by identifying aspects of self that can be measured, and research methods that are effective at investigating self in people without dementia. The measure consists of three sets of illustrated ‘I am…’ statements representing Activities, Traits and Physical Characteristics, and Relationships and Occupations. Participants were asked to (i) sort these according to whether each was ‘just like me’, ‘a bit like me’ or ‘not at all like me’ (ii) sort their ‘just like me’ choices to identify the statement most like them; (iii) describe memories associated with this statement. The measure was tested with 20 people with dementia to inform refinement. The refined measure was tested for reliability and validity by comparing results from five people with dementia and six age-matched people without dementia. Results Outcome measures were strength, complexity and quality of self and an ‘episodicity’ score reflecting the descriptive richness of memories. The initial administration to 20 people indicated that the measure was suitable for people with mild to moderate dementia, and the outcomes were meaningful and reliable. An ‘Observational Framework’ was developed to enable measurement of self via gestures and expressions of people with limited verbal abilities. The second study indicated that the new measure has good test-retest reliability, but convergent validity was not demonstrated. Participants with dementia demonstrated strength, complexity and quality of self scores comparable to participants without dementia. The results suggest that providing visual cues bypasses the cognitive processes required for effortful recall. / Alzheimer’s Society

A Brain Computer Interface (BCI) provides a means, to control external devices, through the electrical activity of the brain, bypassing motor movement. Recent years have seen an increase in the application of P300 cognitive potential as a control and/or communication signal for the motor restoration in paralyzed patients, such as those in the later stages of ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Although many of these patients are in locked-in state i.e. where motor control is not possible, their cognition is known to remain intact. The P300 speller paradigm explored in this study relying on this cognition represented by the P300 peak potential in EEG (Electroencephalography) signals to restore communication. The conventional visual oddball paradigms used to elicit P300 potential may not be the optimum choice due to their need for precise eye-gazing, which may be challenge for many patients. This study introduces a novel paradigm with motor imagery as a secondary after-stimulus task in a traditional visual oddball paradigm for P300 Speller application. We observed increased P300 peak amplitude as well as the event-related desynchronization (ERD) associated with motor imagery in six healthy novice subjects. Acceptable detection accuracy was obtained in the five-trial averaged signals from 250 ms to 750 ms after the visual stimulation, whereby the early visual evoked potentials were excluded from classification. As an enhancement, efforts are being made to assess implementation by motor imagery embedded in an auditory oddball paradigm which would minimize the need for eye-gazing further. We can conclude from the results of this study that the proposed paradigm with motor imagery embedded in a traditional visual oddball paradigm might be a feasible option for communication restoration in paralyzed patients.

Le langage parlé complété (LPC) est un système de communication visuel qui utilise des formes de main placés dans différentes positions près du visage, en combinaison avec le discours de la lecture labiale naturel, pour améliorer la perception de la parole à partir de l'entrée visuelle pour les personnes sourdes. Cependant l'un des défis importants est la question de la communication de la parole entre les personnes normo-entendant qui ne pratiquent pas LPC mais produisent discours acoustique et les personnes sourdes qui utilisent la lecture labiale complété par code LPC pour la perception de la parole sans audition résiduelle. Dans notre travail, nous appliquons la méthode de régression linéaire multiple (MLR) et modèle gaussien de mélange (GMM) approche pour mapper des paramètres spectraux acoustiques à la position de la main dans LPC et la forme de la lèvre d’accompagnement. Nous donc contribué à la mise au point d'un système de traduction automatique dans le cadre de la synthèse de la parole visuelle.Cela prouve que l'approche MLR est bonne pour l'estimation des paramètres pour les lèvres à partir des paramètres spectraux car il y a forte corrélation linéaire entre les paramètres des lèvres et des paramètres spectraux. Cependant, la performance de l'approche MLR pour estimer la position de la main est faible car il n'y a pas de relation entre les positions de la main et des paramètres spectraux. En introduisant un espace intermédiaire, il s'avère que la structure de topologie similaire est la clé de la MLR. Afin de libérer de la contrainte linéaire de l'approche MLR, nous appliquons la méthode de cartographie basée sur GMM qui possède à la fois les propriétés de classification et de régression. Les paramètres de GMM sont estimés par les méthodes de formation supervisées, non supervisées et semi- supervisés séparément dans la vue de la théorie de l'apprentissage de la machine. La méthode de formation supervisée montre une grande efficacité et une bonne robustesse. Le Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) et Maximum A Posteriori Probabilité (MAP) sont utilisés comme critères de régression séparément dans l'approche de la cartographie basée sur GMM. Cela prouve que l'approche MLR est un cas particulier de l'approche de GMM lorsque le nombre de gaussiennes est égal à un. Ainsi, l'approche de la cartographie sur GMM peut améliorer la performance significative en comparaison avec le MLR en augmentant le nombre de gaussiennes. Enfin, les différentes approches de cartographie utilisées dans ce travail sont comparées dans une transition continue. Il montre que l'approche sur GMM peut effectuer bien grâce à la propriété de classification lorsque les données source et cible n'a pas de " relation" comme dans le cas de l'estimation de la position de la main, et il peut également améliorer les performances par la propriété de régression local lorsque la source et les données cible a forte corrélation comme dans le cas du paramètre de lèvre estimation. En outre, une prédiction directe de la géométrie des lèvres comporte de l'image naturelle de la bouche région d'intérêt (ROI) sur la base de la 2D transformée en cosinus discrète (DCT) combinée à une analyse en composante principale (ACP) est proposé. Les résultats montrent la possibilité d'estimer les caractéristiques géométriques de la lèvre avec une bonne précision en utilisant un ensemble réduit de prédicteurs dérivés des coefficients DCT. / Cued Speech (CS) is a visual communication system that uses hand shapes placed in different positions near the face, in combination with the natural speech lip-reading, to enhance speech perception from visual input for deaf people. However one of the important challenges is the question of speech communication between normal hearing people who do not practice CS but produce acoustic speech and deaf people who use lip-reading complemented by CS code for speech perception with no residual audition. In our work, we apply the multi-linear regression approach (MLR) and Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM)-based mapping approach to map acoustic spectral parameters to the hand position in CS and the accompanying lip shape. We hence contributed to the development of automatic translation system in the framework of visual speech synthesis. It proves that the MLR approach is good for estimating the lip parameters from the spectral parameters since there is strong linear correlation between the lip parameters and spectral parameters. However, the performance of MLR approach for estimating the hand position is poor since there is no relationship between the hand positions and spectral parameters. By introducing an intermediate space, it proves that the similar topology structure is the key of the MLR. In order to release the linear constraint of the MLR approach, we apply the GMM-based mapping approach which has both the classification-partition and regression properties. The parameters of GMM are estimated by the supervised, unsupervised and semi-supervised training methods separately in the view of the machine learning theory. The supervised training method shows high efficiency and good robustness. The Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) and Maximum A Posteriori Probability (MAP) are used as regression criteria separately in GMM-based mapping approach. It proves that the MLR approach is a special case of GMM-based mapping approach when the number of the Gaussians equals to one. Thus the GMM-based mapping approach can improve the performance significantly in comparison with the MLR by increasing the number of the Gaussians. Finally, a continuous transition achieved by the linear interpolation in the acoustic space is introduced to compare the different mapping approaches used in this work. It shows that the GMM-based mapping approach can perform well thanks to the classification-partitioning property when the source and target data has “no relationship” such as the case of the hand position estimation; and it can also improve the performance by the local regression property when the source and target data has strong correlation such as the case of the lip parameter estimation. Besides, a direct prediction of lip geometry features from the natural image of mouth region-of-interest (ROI) based on the 2D Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) combined with a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is proposed. The results show the possibility to estimate the geometric lip features with good accuracy using a reduced set of predictors derived from the DCT coefficients.

Under frameworks such as Alcohol Myopia Theory, a body of literature has developed demonstrating how alcohol intoxication can increase behavioral risk-taking, potentially via impaired inhibition of prepotent behavioral responses. A separate area of research has shown that responses to alcohol intoxication are not homogenous across the population. Whereas most previous research has considered alcohol responses in relation to risk for alcohol use disorders, the present investigation tested whether they may additionally contribute to the acute effects of alcohol on drinking-episode-specific cognitive and behavioral consequences. We recruited 82 moderate-to-heavy drinking emerging adults to each complete 2 research protocols: a placebo-controlled, within-subject, counterbalanced alcohol challenge in a simulated bar laboratory and a 21-day, event-level self-monitoring follow-up. Replicating previous research, the alcohol challenge increased heart rate and subjective stimulant-like and sedative-like responses and impaired psychomotor performance and response inhibition. Individual differences in subjective stimulation but not sedation were significantly associated with inhibitory impairment. In the event-level follow-up, we found little evidence that alcohol responses elevated risk for adverse behavioral outcomes, although evidence was stronger that alcohol responses were associated with alcohol-induced memory blackout. Whether and how alcohol responses relate to the physiological, cognitive, and behavioral consequences of alcohol intoxication may depend on a) the quality of the response (e.g., stimulation vs. sedation), b) the type of outcome (e.g., response inhibition vs. blackout vs. behavioral risk-taking), and c) whether perceptions of alcohol-induced effects may contribute to emerging adults' evaluations of risk (e.g., driving after drinking and riding with a drinking driver). / text

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of time-compressed narration and representational adjunct images on undergraduate college students' 1) ability to recall and recognize information in a multimedia learning environment, and 2) overall satisfaction with this type of learning environment. The goals of this research were to shed light on time-compression technology incorporated into multimedia learning environments, help fill the existing gap in the research literature by merging two disjoint bodies of research, and aid instructors and instructional designers to better understand time-compression technology while creating rigorous multimedia materials. This research was guided by the underlying principles of multimedia learning. The experiment was a 4 Audio Speeds (1.0 = normal vs. 1.5 = moderate vs. 2.0 = fast vs. 2.5 = fastest rate) x Adjunct Image (Image Present vs. Image Absent) factorial design. Audio speed and adjunct image both served as between subject conditions. Cued-recall, content recognition and learner satisfaction served as the dependent measures. Multimedia interventions were developed to execute this design. A total of 305 research participants were recruited from a public, southeastern university in the United States in this study. Fifty-five percent of the participants were male and 92% indicated that English was their primary language. Forty-nine percent of the participants were junior classification, 4% were freshman, 19% were sophomore, 26% were seniors, with the remaining indicating other. The median age of the participants was 22, and ranges in age from 18 to 53 years old. Data were analyzed using a series of factorial Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) procedures. Results showed statistically significant differences at 2.5 times the normal audio speed, in which performance on cued-recall and content recognition tasks was significantly lower than other audio speeds. Furthermore, representational adjunct images had a significant positive effect on cued-recall, but not content recognition. Participants in the normal audio speed and picture present groups were significantly more satisfied than other treatments. Recommendations for future research are provided as well as advice for instructors, instructional designers and learners interested in time-compression technology.

<p>Verbal information has predominantly been the to-be-remembered materials in human memory research for more than a century. In recent years some interesting deviations from the established rules of verbal memory have been observed in subjects who have been asked to motorically self-perform (enact) action sentences at the encoding phase of the memory task, instead of only hearing or reading them as in a traditional verbal task (VT). Marked enhancements in recall were also consistently demonstrated in such studies and the effect was named the subject-performed task (SPT) effect. Presently, the body of SPT research is large but little agreement has been reached regarding the mechanism at work in producing the SPT phenomenon. The present thesis addresses two major issues in SPT research. The enhancement of associative information and the significance of the motor component are evaluated. In Study A, the SPT effect was studied in two cued-recall tasks that relied on item-specific association and relational association, respectively. The results showed that SPT encoding interacts with item-specific associative cues at recall to produce a larger SPT effect as compared to free recall. This supports the notion that part of the SPT effect is due to enhanced item-specific association. In Study B, the associative effect in SPT was studied amongst age cohorts comprised of subjects between 40 and 85 years old. Normal age-related decline in episodic memory has elsewhere been suggested to be caused mainly by associative deficits connected with ageing. The results of Study B indicate that the item-specific associative effect in SPT was more age sensitive than recall of VT and the relational associative effect in SPT. In Study C, the question over whether the SPT effect is dependent on motor modality or not was addressed. Self-produced sign language encoding was argued to be qualitatively the same as self-produced oral/verbal encoding, with the motor modality component being the only exception. It was also argued that the motor modality component was the main similarity to performing SPT. Since the signing subjects performed at the same level as the SPT condition at recall, and better than the control conditions (e.g., VT), the conclusion was made that motor activation per se can contribute to memory enhancement in SPT. Whether SPT encoding results in qualitatively different memory traces is discussed as well as the effect of SPT on other types of associative information. The results are also briefly related to other controversies in SPT research. It is concluded, finally, that enactment produces differential effects on different types of associations. The association between verb and noun is clearly enhanced by SPT encoding. Moreover, it is concluded that overt motor activation is necessary for obtaining a full SPT effect. To explore these interactions further and to build upon these conclusions, an increased focus on motor processes and their relation to verbal processes is called for in future cognitive research.</p>