Establishing a learning foundation in a dynamically changing world: Insights from artificial language work

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gonzales, Kalim

It is argued that infants build a foundation for learning about the world through their incidental acquisition of the spatial and temporal regularities surrounding them. A challenge is that learning occurs across multiple contexts whose statistics can greatly differ. Two artificial language studies with 12-month-olds demonstrate that infants come prepared to parse statistics across contexts using the temporal and perceptual features that distinguish one context from another. These results suggest that infants can organize their statistical input with a wider range of features that typically considered. Possible attention, decision making, and memory mechanisms are discussed.

`spup' - An R Package for Analysis of Spatial Uncertainty Propagation and Application to Trace Gas Emission Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sawicka, K.; Breuer, L.; Houska, T.; Santabarbara Ruiz, I.; Heuvelink, G. B. M.

2016-12-01

Computer models have become a crucial tool in engineering and environmental sciences for simulating the behaviour of complex static and dynamic systems. However, while many models are deterministic, the uncertainty in their predictions needs to be estimated before they are used for decision support. Advances in uncertainty propagation analysis and assessment have been paralleled by a growing number of software tools for uncertainty analysis, but none has gained recognition for a universal applicability, including case studies with spatial models and spatial model inputs. Due to the growing popularity and applicability of the open source R programming language we undertook a project to develop an R package that facilitates uncertainty propagation analysis in spatial environmental modelling. In particular, the `spup' package provides functions for examining the uncertainty propagation starting from input data and model parameters, via the environmental model onto model predictions. The functions include uncertainty model specification, stochastic simulation and propagation of uncertainty using Monte Carlo techniques, as well as several uncertainty visualization functions. Here we will demonstrate that the 'spup' package is an effective and easy-to-use tool to be applied even in a very complex study case, and that it can be used in multi-disciplinary research and model-based decision support. As an example, we use the ecological LandscapeDNDC model to analyse propagation of uncertainties associated with spatial variability of the model driving forces such as rainfall, nitrogen deposition and fertilizer inputs. The uncertainty propagation is analysed for the prediction of emissions of N2O and CO2 for a German low mountainous, agriculturally developed catchment. The study tests the effect of spatial correlations on spatially aggregated model outputs, and could serve as an advice for developing best management practices and model improvement strategies.

Input and language development in bilingually developing children.

PubMed

Hoff, Erika; Core, Cynthia

2013-11-01

Language skills in young bilingual children are highly varied as a result of the variability in their language experiences, making it difficult for speech-language pathologists to differentiate language disorder from language difference in bilingual children. Understanding the sources of variability in bilingual contexts and the resulting variability in children's skills will help improve language assessment practices by speech-language pathologists. In this article, we review literature on bilingual first language development for children under 5 years of age. We describe the rate of development in single and total language growth, we describe effects of quantity of input and quality of input on growth, and we describe effects of family composition on language input and language growth in bilingual children. We provide recommendations for language assessment of young bilingual children and consider implications for optimizing children's dual language development. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

The impact of input quality on early sign development in native and non-native language learners.

PubMed

Lu, Jenny; Jones, Anna; Morgan, Gary

2016-05-01

There is debate about how input variation influences child language. Most deaf children are exposed to a sign language from their non-fluent hearing parents and experience a delay in exposure to accessible language. A small number of children receive language input from their deaf parents who are fluent signers. Thus it is possible to document the impact of quality of input on early sign acquisition. The current study explores the outcomes of differential input in two groups of children aged two to five years: deaf children of hearing parents (DCHP) and deaf children of deaf parents (DCDP). Analysis of child sign language revealed DCDP had a more developed vocabulary and more phonological handshape types compared with DCHP. In naturalistic conversations deaf parents used more sign tokens and more phonological types than hearing parents. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of early input on subsequent language abilities.

SutraPrep, a pre-processor for SUTRA, a model for ground-water flow with solute or energy transport

USGS Publications Warehouse

Provost, Alden M.

2002-01-01

SutraPrep facilitates the creation of three-dimensional (3D) input datasets for the USGS ground-water flow and transport model SUTRA Version 2D3D.1. It is most useful for applications in which the geometry of the 3D model domain and the spatial distribution of physical properties and boundary conditions is relatively simple. SutraPrep can be used to create a SUTRA main input (?.inp?) file, an initial conditions (?.ics?) file, and a 3D plot of the finite-element mesh in Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) format. Input and output are text-based. The code can be run on any platform that has a standard FORTRAN-90 compiler. Executable code is available for Microsoft Windows.

Intensive Input in Language Acquisition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trimino, Andy; Ferguson, Nancy

This paper discusses the role of input as one of the universals in second language acquisition theory. Considerations include how language instructors can best organize and present input and when certain kinds of input are more important. A self-administered program evaluation exercise using relevant theoretical and methodological contributions…

How Much Input Is Enough? Correlating Comprehension and Child Language Input in an Endangered Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meakins, Felicity; Wigglesworth, Gillian

2013-01-01

In situations of language endangerment, the ability to understand a language tends to persevere longer than the ability to speak it. As a result, the possibility of language revival remains high even when few speakers remain. Nonetheless, this potential requires that those with high levels of comprehension received sufficient input as children for…

Beyond Poverty: Engaging with Input in Generative SLA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rankin, Tom; Unsworth, Sharon

2016-01-01

A generative approach to language acquisition is no different from any other in assuming that target language input is crucial for language acquisition. This discussion note addresses the place of input in generative second language acquisition (SLA) research and the perception in the wider field of SLA research that generative SLA…

The Impact of Input Quality on Early Sign Development in Native and Non-Native Language Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lu, Jenny; Jones, Anna; Morgan, Gary

2016-01-01

There is debate about how input variation influences child language. Most deaf children are exposed to a sign language from their non-fluent hearing parents and experience a delay in exposure to accessible language. A small number of children receive language input from their deaf parents who are fluent signers. Thus it is possible to document the…

Can non-interactive language input benefit young second-language learners?

PubMed

Au, Terry Kit-Fong; Chan, Winnie Wailan; Cheng, Liao; Siegel, Linda S; Tso, Ricky Van Yip

2015-03-01

To fully acquire a language, especially its phonology, children need linguistic input from native speakers early on. When interaction with native speakers is not always possible - e.g. for children learning a second language that is not the societal language - audios are commonly used as an affordable substitute. But does such non-interactive input work? Two experiments evaluated the usefulness of audio storybooks in acquiring a more native-like second-language accent. Young children, first- and second-graders in Hong Kong whose native language was Cantonese Chinese, were given take-home listening assignments in a second language, either English or Putonghua Chinese. Accent ratings of the children's story reading revealed measurable benefits of non-interactive input from native speakers. The benefits were far more robust for Putonghua than English. Implications for second-language accent acquisition are discussed.

The Complex Relationship between Bilingual Home Language Input and Kindergarten Children's Spanish and English Oral Proficiencies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cha, Kijoo; Goldenberg, Claude

2015-01-01

This study examined how emergent bilingual children's English and Spanish proficiencies moderated the relationships between Spanish and English input at home (bilingual home language input [BHLI]) and children's oral language skills in each language. The sample comprised over 1,400 Spanish-dominant kindergartners in California and Texas. BHLI was…

'spup' - an R package for uncertainty propagation in spatial environmental modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sawicka, Kasia; Heuvelink, Gerard

2016-04-01

Computer models have become a crucial tool in engineering and environmental sciences for simulating the behaviour of complex static and dynamic systems. However, while many models are deterministic, the uncertainty in their predictions needs to be estimated before they are used for decision support. Currently, advances in uncertainty propagation and assessment have been paralleled by a growing number of software tools for uncertainty analysis, but none has gained recognition for a universal applicability, including case studies with spatial models and spatial model inputs. Due to the growing popularity and applicability of the open source R programming language we undertook a project to develop an R package that facilitates uncertainty propagation analysis in spatial environmental modelling. In particular, the 'spup' package provides functions for examining the uncertainty propagation starting from input data and model parameters, via the environmental model onto model predictions. The functions include uncertainty model specification, stochastic simulation and propagation of uncertainty using Monte Carlo (MC) techniques, as well as several uncertainty visualization functions. Uncertain environmental variables are represented in the package as objects whose attribute values may be uncertain and described by probability distributions. Both numerical and categorical data types are handled. Spatial auto-correlation within an attribute and cross-correlation between attributes is also accommodated for. For uncertainty propagation the package has implemented the MC approach with efficient sampling algorithms, i.e. stratified random sampling and Latin hypercube sampling. The design includes facilitation of parallel computing to speed up MC computation. The MC realizations may be used as an input to the environmental models called from R, or externally. Selected static and interactive visualization methods that are understandable by non-experts with limited background in statistics can be used to summarize and visualize uncertainty about the measured input, model parameters and output of the uncertainty propagation. We demonstrate that the 'spup' package is an effective and easy tool to apply and can be used in multi-disciplinary research and model-based decision support.

'spup' - an R package for uncertainty propagation analysis in spatial environmental modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sawicka, Kasia; Heuvelink, Gerard

2017-04-01

Computer models have become a crucial tool in engineering and environmental sciences for simulating the behaviour of complex static and dynamic systems. However, while many models are deterministic, the uncertainty in their predictions needs to be estimated before they are used for decision support. Currently, advances in uncertainty propagation and assessment have been paralleled by a growing number of software tools for uncertainty analysis, but none has gained recognition for a universal applicability and being able to deal with case studies with spatial models and spatial model inputs. Due to the growing popularity and applicability of the open source R programming language we undertook a project to develop an R package that facilitates uncertainty propagation analysis in spatial environmental modelling. In particular, the 'spup' package provides functions for examining the uncertainty propagation starting from input data and model parameters, via the environmental model onto model predictions. The functions include uncertainty model specification, stochastic simulation and propagation of uncertainty using Monte Carlo (MC) techniques, as well as several uncertainty visualization functions. Uncertain environmental variables are represented in the package as objects whose attribute values may be uncertain and described by probability distributions. Both numerical and categorical data types are handled. Spatial auto-correlation within an attribute and cross-correlation between attributes is also accommodated for. For uncertainty propagation the package has implemented the MC approach with efficient sampling algorithms, i.e. stratified random sampling and Latin hypercube sampling. The design includes facilitation of parallel computing to speed up MC computation. The MC realizations may be used as an input to the environmental models called from R, or externally. Selected visualization methods that are understandable by non-experts with limited background in statistics can be used to summarize and visualize uncertainty about the measured input, model parameters and output of the uncertainty propagation. We demonstrate that the 'spup' package is an effective and easy tool to apply and can be used in multi-disciplinary research and model-based decision support.

Qualitative spatial logic descriptors from 3D indoor scenes to generate explanations in natural language.

PubMed

Falomir, Zoe; Kluth, Thomas

2017-06-24

The challenge of describing 3D real scenes is tackled in this paper using qualitative spatial descriptors. A key point to study is which qualitative descriptors to use and how these qualitative descriptors must be organized to produce a suitable cognitive explanation. In order to find answers, a survey test was carried out with human participants which openly described a scene containing some pieces of furniture. The data obtained in this survey are analysed, and taking this into account, the QSn3D computational approach was developed which uses a XBox 360 Kinect to obtain 3D data from a real indoor scene. Object features are computed on these 3D data to identify objects in indoor scenes. The object orientation is computed, and qualitative spatial relations between the objects are extracted. These qualitative spatial relations are the input to a grammar which applies saliency rules obtained from the survey study and generates cognitive natural language descriptions of scenes. Moreover, these qualitative descriptors can be expressed as first-order logical facts in Prolog for further reasoning. Finally, a validation study is carried out to test whether the descriptions provided by QSn3D approach are human readable. The obtained results show that their acceptability is higher than 82%.

Comprehensible Input and Second Language Acquisition: What Is the Relationship?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loschky, Lester

1994-01-01

Examined the influence of input and interactional modifications on second-language acquisition, assigning 41 learners of Japanese to 1 of 3 experimental groups: (1) unmodified input with no interaction; (2) premodified input with no interaction; and (3) unmodified input with the chance for negotiated input. Results indicated that comprehension was…

Spatial Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fu, Zhengling

2016-01-01

Spatial language constitutes part of the basic fabric of language. Although languages may have the same number of terms to cover a set of spatial relations, they do not always do so in the same way. Spatial languages differ across languages quite radically, thus providing a real semantic challenge for second language learners. The essay first…

Language Learning from Inconsistent Input: Bilingual and Monolingual Toddlers Compared

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bree, Elise; Verhagen, Josje; Kerkhoff, Annemarie; Doedens, Willemijn; Unsworth, Sharon

2017-01-01

This study examines novel language learning from inconsistent input in monolingual and bilingual toddlers. We predicted an advantage for the bilingual toddlers on the basis of the structural sensitivity hypothesis. Monolingual and bilingual 24-month-olds performed two novel language learning experiments. The first contained consistent input, and…

Parallel language activation and inhibitory control in bimodal bilinguals.

PubMed

Giezen, Marcel R; Blumenfeld, Henrike K; Shook, Anthony; Marian, Viorica; Emmorey, Karen

2015-08-01

Findings from recent studies suggest that spoken-language bilinguals engage nonlinguistic inhibitory control mechanisms to resolve cross-linguistic competition during auditory word recognition. Bilingual advantages in inhibitory control might stem from the need to resolve perceptual competition between similar-sounding words both within and between their two languages. If so, these advantages should be lessened or eliminated when there is no perceptual competition between two languages. The present study investigated the extent of inhibitory control recruitment during bilingual language comprehension by examining associations between language co-activation and nonlinguistic inhibitory control abilities in bimodal bilinguals, whose two languages do not perceptually compete. Cross-linguistic distractor activation was identified in the visual world paradigm, and correlated significantly with performance on a nonlinguistic spatial Stroop task within a group of 27 hearing ASL-English bilinguals. Smaller Stroop effects (indexing more efficient inhibition) were associated with reduced co-activation of ASL signs during the early stages of auditory word recognition. These results suggest that inhibitory control in auditory word recognition is not limited to resolving perceptual linguistic competition in phonological input, but is also used to moderate competition that originates at the lexico-semantic level. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparison of mapping quantitative theta encephalograms during directed and required visual-verbal activity and passive period in children with different disorders of speech-language functioning.

PubMed

Radicevic, Zoran; Jelicic Dobrijevic, Ljiljana; Sovilj, Mirjana; Barlov, Ivana

2009-06-01

Aim of the research was to examine similarities and differences between the periods of experiencing visually stimulated directed speech-language information and periods of undirected attention. The examined group comprised N = 64 children, aged 4-5, with different speech-language disorders (developmental dysphasia, hyperactive syndrome with attention disorder, children with borderline intellectual abilities, autistic complex). Theta EEG was registered in children in the period of watching and describing the picture ("task"), and in the period of undirected attention ("passive period"). The children were recorded in standard EEG conditions, at 19 points of EEG registration and in longitudinal bipolar montage. Results in the observed age-operative theta rhythm indicated significant similarities and differences in the prevalence of spatial engagement of certain regions between the two hemispheres at the input and output of processing, which opens the possibility for more detailed analysis of conscious control of speech-language processing and its disorders.

Parenting Predictors of Cognitive Skills and Emotion Knowledge in Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Preschoolers

PubMed Central

Merz, Emily C.; Zucker, Tricia A.; Landry, Susan H.; Williams, Jeffrey M.; Assel, Michael; Taylor, Heather B.; Lonigan, Christopher J.; Phillips, Beth M.; Clancy-Menchetti, Jeanine; Barnes, Marcia A.; Eisenberg, Nancy; de Villiers, Jill

2014-01-01

This study examined the concurrent and longitudinal associations of parental responsiveness and inferential language input with cognitive skills and emotion knowledge among socioeconomically disadvantaged preschoolers. Parents and 2- to 4-year-old children (mean age = 3.21 years; N=284) participated in a parent-child free play session, and children completed cognitive (language, early literacy, early mathematics) and emotion knowledge assessments. One year later, children completed the same assessment battery. Parental responsiveness was coded from the videotaped parent-child free play sessions, and parental inferential language input was coded from transcripts of a subset of 127 of these sessions. All analyses controlled for child age, gender, and parental education, and longitudinal analyses controlled for initial skill level. Parental responsiveness significantly predicted all concurrent cognitive skills as well as literacy, math, and emotion knowledge one year later. Parental inferential language input was significantly positively associated with children's concurrent emotion knowledge. In longitudinal analyses, an interaction was found such that for children with stronger initial language skills, higher levels of parental inferential language input facilitated greater vocabulary development, whereas for children with weaker initial language skills, there was no association between parental inferential language input and change in children's vocabulary skills. These findings further our understanding of the roles of parental responsiveness and inferential language input in promoting children's school readiness skills. PMID:25576967

The Impact of Early Social Interactions on Later Language Development in Spanish-English Bilingual Infants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramírez-Esparza, Nairán; García-Sierra, Adrián; Kuhl, Patricia K.

2017-01-01

This study tested the impact of child-directed language input on language development in Spanish-English bilingual infants (N = 25, 11- and 14-month-olds from the Seattle metropolitan area), across languages and independently for each language, controlling for socioeconomic status. Language input was characterized by social interaction variables,…

Home Language Will Not Take Care of Itself: Vocabulary Knowledge in Trilingual Children in the United Kingdom.

PubMed

Mieszkowska, Karolina; Łuniewska, Magdalena; Kołak, Joanna; Kacprzak, Agnieszka; Wodniecka, Zofia; Haman, Ewa

2017-01-01

Language input is crucial for language acquisition and especially for children's vocabulary size. Bilingual children receive reduced input in each of their languages, compared to monolinguals, and are reported to have smaller vocabularies, at least in one of their languages. Vocabulary acquisition in trilingual children has been largely understudied; only a few case studies have been published so far. Moreover, trilingual language acquisition in children has been rarely contrasted with language outcomes of bilingual and monolingual peers. We present a comparison of trilingual, bilingual, and monolingual children (total of 56 participants, aged 4;5-6;7, matched one-to-one for age, gender, and non-verbal IQ) in regard to their receptive and expressive vocabulary (measured by standardized tests), and relative frequency of input in each language (measured by parental report). The monolingual children were speakers of Polish or English, while the bilinguals and trilinguals were migrant children living in the United Kingdom, speaking English as a majority language and Polish as a home language. The trilinguals had another (third) language at home. For the majority language, English, no differences were found across the three groups, either in the receptive or productive vocabulary. The groups differed, however, in their performance in Polish, the home language. The trilinguals had lower receptive vocabulary than the monolinguals, and lower productive vocabulary compared to the monolinguals. The trilinguals showed similar lexical knowledge to the bilinguals. The bilinguals demonstrated lower scores than the monolinguals, but only in productive vocabulary. The data on reported language input show that input in English in bilingual and trilingual groups is similar, but the bilinguals outscore the trilinguals in relative frequency of Polish input. Overall, the results suggest that in the majority language, multilingual children may develop lexical skills similar to those of their monolingual peers. However, their minority language is weaker: the trilinguals scored lower than the Polish monolinguals on both receptive and expressive vocabulary tests, and the bilinguals showed reduced expressive knowledge but leveled out with the Polish monolinguals on receptive vocabulary. The results should encourage parents of migrant children to support home language(s), if the languages are to be retained in a longer perspective.

Can Non-Interactive Language Input Benefit Young Second-Language Learners?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Au, Terry Kit-fong; Chan, Winnie Wailan; Cheng, Liao; Siegel, Linda S.; Tso, Ricky Van Yip

2015-01-01

To fully acquire a language, especially its phonology, children need linguistic input from native speakers early on. When interaction with native speakers is not always possible--e.g. for children learning a second language that is not the societal language--audios are commonly used as an affordable substitute. But does such non-interactive input…

Bimodal Bilinguals Co-Activate Both Languages during Spoken Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shook, Anthony; Marian, Viorica

2012-01-01

Bilinguals have been shown to activate their two languages in parallel, and this process can often be attributed to overlap in input between the two languages. The present study examines whether two languages that do not overlap in input structure, and that have distinct phonological systems, such as American Sign Language (ASL) and English, are…

Patterns of Adult-Child Linguistic Interaction in Integrated Day Care Groups.

PubMed

Girolametto, Luigi; Hoaken, Lisa; Weitzman, Elaine; Lieshout, Riet van

2000-04-01

This study investigated the language input of eight childcare providers to children with developmental disabilities, including language delay, who were integrated into community day care centers. Structural and discourse features of the adults' language input was compared across two groups (integrated, typical) and two naturalistic day care contexts (book reading, play dough activity). The eight children with developmental disabilities and language delay were between 33-50 months of age; 32 normally developing peers ranged in age from 32-53 months of age. Adult-child interactions were transcribed and coded to yield estimates of structural indices (number of utterances, rate, mean length of utterances, ratio of different words to total words used (TTR) and discourse features (directive, interactive, language-modelling) of their language input. The language input addressed to the children with developmental disabilities was directive and not finely tuned to their expressive language levels. In turn, these children interacted infrequently with the adult or with the other children. Contextual comparisons indicated that the play dough activity promoted adult-child interaction that was less directive and more interaction-promoting than book reading, and that children interacted more frequently in the play-dough activity. Implications for speech-language pathologists include the need for collaborative consultation in integrated settings, modification of adult-child play contexts to promote interaction, and training childcare providers to use language input that promotes communication development.

Why does parental language input style predict child language development? A twin study of gene-environment correlation.

PubMed

Dale, Philip S; Tosto, Maria Grazia; Hayiou-Thomas, Marianna E; Plomin, Robert

2015-01-01

There are well-established correlations between parental input style and child language development, which have typically been interpreted as evidence that the input style causes, or influences the rate of, changes in child language. We present evidence from a large twin study (TEDS; 8395 pairs for this report) that there are also likely to be both child-to-parent effects and shared genetic effects on parent and child. Self-reported parental language style at child age 3 and age 4 was aggregated into an 'informal language stimulation' factor and a 'corrective feedback' factor at each age; the former was positively correlated with child language concurrently and longitudinally at 3, 4, and 4.5 years, whereas the latter was weakly and negatively correlated. Both parental input factors were moderately heritable, as was child language. Longitudinal bivariate analysis showed that the correlation between the language stimulation factor and child language was significantly and moderately due to shared genes. There is some suggestive evidence from longitudinal phenotypic analysis that the prediction from parental language stimulation to child language includes both evocative and passive gene-environment correlation, with the latter playing a larger role. The reader will understand why correlations between parental language and rate of child language are by themselves ambiguous, and how twin studies can clarify the relationship. The reader will also understand that, based on the present study, at least two aspects of parental language style - informal language stimulation and corrective feedback - have substantial genetic influence, and that for informal language stimulation, a substantial portion of the prediction to child language represents the effect of shared genes on both parent and child. It will also be appreciated that these basic research findings do not imply that parental language input style is unimportant or that interventions cannot be effective. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Why does parental language input style predict child language development? A twin study of gene–environment correlation

PubMed Central

Dale, Philip S.; Tosto, Maria Grazia; Hayiou-Thomas, Marianna E.; Plomin, Robert

2015-01-01

There are well-established correlations between parental input style and child language development, which have typically been interpreted as evidence that the input style causes, or influences the rate of, changes in child language. We present evidence from a large twin study (TEDS; 8395 pairs for this report) that there are also likely to be both child-to-parent effects and shared genetic effects on parent and child. Self-reported parental language style at child age 3 and age 4 was aggregated into an ‘informal language stimulation’ factor and a ‘corrective feedback’ factor at each age; the former was positively correlated with child language concurrently and longitudinally at 3, 4, and 4.5 years, whereas the latter was weakly and negatively correlated. Both parental input factors were moderately heritable, as was child language. Longitudinal bivariate analysis showed that the correlation between the language stimulation factor and child language was significantly and moderately due to shared genes. There is some suggestive evidence from longitudinal phenotypic analysis that the prediction from parental language stimulation to child language includes both evocative and passive gene–environment correlation, with the latter playing a larger role. Learning outcomes: The reader will understand why correlations between parental language and rate of child language are by themselves ambiguous, and how twin studies can clarify the relationship. The reader will also understand that, based on the present study, at least two aspects of parental language style – informal language stimulation and corrective feedback – have substantial genetic influence, and that for informal language stimulation, a substantial portion of the prediction to child language represents the effect of shared genes on both parent and child. It will also be appreciated that these basic research findings do not imply that parental language input style is unimportant or that interventions cannot be effective. PMID:26277213

Effects of Age of English Exposure, Current Input/Output, and grade on bilingual language performance*

PubMed Central

BEDORE, LISA M.; PEÑA, ELIZABETH D.; GRIFFIN, ZENZI M.; HIXON, J. GREGORY

2018-01-01

This study evaluates the effects of Age of Exposure to English (AoEE) and Current Input/Output on language performance in a cross-sectional sample of Spanish–English bilingual children. First- (N= 586) and third-graders (N= 298) who spanned a wide range of bilingual language experience participated. Parents and teachers provided information about English and Spanish language use. Short tests of semantic and morphosyntactic development in Spanish and English were used to quantify children’s knowledge of each language. There were significant interactions between AoEE and Current Input/Output for children at third grade in English and in both grades for Spanish. In English, the relationship between AoEE and language scores were linear for first- and third-graders. In Spanish a nonlinear relationship was observed. We discuss how much of the variance was accounted for by AoEE and Current Input/Output. PMID:26916066

Parents' Spatial Language Mediates a Sex Difference in Preschoolers' Spatial-Language Use.

PubMed

Pruden, Shannon M; Levine, Susan C

2017-11-01

Do boys produce more terms than girls to describe the spatial world-that is, dimensional adjectives (e.g., big, little, tall, short), shape terms (e.g., circle, square), and words describing spatial features and properties (e.g., bent, curvy, edge)? If a sex difference in children's spatial-language use exists, is it related to the spatial language that parents use when interacting with children? We longitudinally tracked the development of spatial-language production in children between the ages of 14 and 46 months in a diverse sample of 58 parent-child dyads interacting in their homes. Boys produced and heard more of these three categories of spatial words, which we call "what" spatial types (i.e., unique "what" spatial words), but not more of all other word types, than girls. Mediation analysis revealed that sex differences in children's spatial talk at 34 to 46 months of age were fully mediated by parents' earlier spatial-language use, when children were 14 to 26 months old, time points at which there was no sex difference in children's spatial-language use.

Does linguistic input play the same role in language learning for children with and without early brain injury?

PubMed

Rowe, Meredith L; Levine, Susan C; Fisher, Joan A; Goldin-Meadow, Susan

2009-01-01

Children with unilateral pre- or perinatal brain injury (BI) show remarkable plasticity for language learning. Previous work highlights the important role that lesion characteristics play in explaining individual variation in plasticity in the language development of children with BI. The current study examines whether the linguistic input that children with BI receive from their caregivers also contributes to this early plasticity, and whether linguistic input plays a similar role in children with BI as it does in typically developing (TD) children. Growth in vocabulary and syntactic production is modeled for 80 children (53 TD, 27 BI) between 14 and 46 months. Findings indicate that caregiver input is an equally potent predictor of vocabulary growth in children with BI and in TD children. In contrast, input is a more potent predictor of syntactic growth for children with BI than for TD children. Controlling for input, lesion characteristics (lesion size, type, seizure history) also affect the language trajectories of children with BI. Thus, findings illustrate how both variability in the environment (linguistic input) and variability in the organism (lesion characteristics) work together to contribute to plasticity in language learning.

Input Skewedness, Consistency, and Order of Frequent Verbs in Frequency-Driven Second Language Construction Learning: A Replication and Extension of Casenhiser and Goldberg (2005) to Adult Second Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nakamura, Daisuke

2012-01-01

Recent usage-based models of language acquisition research has found that three frequency manipulations; (1) skewed input (Casenhiser & Goldberg 2005), (2) input consistency (Childers & Tomasello 2001), and (3) order of frequent verbs (Goldberg, Casenhiser, & White 2007) facilitated construction learning in children. The present paper addresses…

Toward a Renewed Focus. Literacy in Early Language Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Met, Mimi

2013-01-01

This article promotes literacy as a a powerful tool for learning new language. Although learners frequently think of comprehensible input as language that is heard, comprehensible input from print can also be accessed. Research has shown that reading has a powerful impact on language learning: much of the vocabulary that educated adults know has…

BASIC, Logo, and Pilot: A Comparison of Three Computer Languages.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maddux, Cleborne D.; Cummings, Rhoda E.

1985-01-01

Following a brief history of Logo, BASIC, and Pilot programing languages, common educational programing tasks (input from keyboard, evaluation of keyboard input, and computation) are presented in each language to illustrate how each can be used to perform the same tasks and to demonstrate each language's strengths and weaknesses. (MBR)

"Ser" and "Estar": Corrective Input to Children's Errors of the Spanish Copula Verbs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holtheuer, Carolina; Rendle-Short, Johanna

2013-01-01

Evidence for the role of corrective input as a facilitator of language acquisition is inconclusive. Studies show links between corrective input and grammatical use of some, but not other, language structures. The present study examined relationships between corrective parental input and children's errors in the acquisition of the Spanish copula…

Bilateral parietal contributions to spatial language.

PubMed

Conder, Julie; Fridriksson, Julius; Baylis, Gordon C; Smith, Cameron M; Boiteau, Timothy W; Almor, Amit

2017-01-01

It is commonly held that language is largely lateralized to the left hemisphere in most individuals, whereas spatial processing is associated with right hemisphere regions. In recent years, a number of neuroimaging studies have yielded conflicting results regarding the role of language and spatial processing areas in processing language about space (e.g., Carpenter, Just, Keller, Eddy, & Thulborn, 1999; Damasio et al., 2001). In the present study, we used sparse scanning event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural correlates of spatial language, that is; language used to communicate the spatial relationship of one object to another. During scanning, participants listened to sentences about object relationships that were either spatial or non-spatial in nature (color or size relationships). Sentences describing spatial relationships elicited more activation in the superior parietal lobule and precuneus bilaterally in comparison to sentences describing size or color relationships. Activation of the precuneus suggests that spatial sentences elicit spatial-mental imagery, while the activation of the SPL suggests sentences containing spatial language involve integration of two distinct sets of information - linguistic and spatial. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Home Language Will Not Take Care of Itself: Vocabulary Knowledge in Trilingual Children in the United Kingdom

PubMed Central

Mieszkowska, Karolina; Łuniewska, Magdalena; Kołak, Joanna; Kacprzak, Agnieszka; Wodniecka, Zofia; Haman, Ewa

2017-01-01

Language input is crucial for language acquisition and especially for children’s vocabulary size. Bilingual children receive reduced input in each of their languages, compared to monolinguals, and are reported to have smaller vocabularies, at least in one of their languages. Vocabulary acquisition in trilingual children has been largely understudied; only a few case studies have been published so far. Moreover, trilingual language acquisition in children has been rarely contrasted with language outcomes of bilingual and monolingual peers. We present a comparison of trilingual, bilingual, and monolingual children (total of 56 participants, aged 4;5–6;7, matched one-to-one for age, gender, and non-verbal IQ) in regard to their receptive and expressive vocabulary (measured by standardized tests), and relative frequency of input in each language (measured by parental report). The monolingual children were speakers of Polish or English, while the bilinguals and trilinguals were migrant children living in the United Kingdom, speaking English as a majority language and Polish as a home language. The trilinguals had another (third) language at home. For the majority language, English, no differences were found across the three groups, either in the receptive or productive vocabulary. The groups differed, however, in their performance in Polish, the home language. The trilinguals had lower receptive vocabulary than the monolinguals, and lower productive vocabulary compared to the monolinguals. The trilinguals showed similar lexical knowledge to the bilinguals. The bilinguals demonstrated lower scores than the monolinguals, but only in productive vocabulary. The data on reported language input show that input in English in bilingual and trilingual groups is similar, but the bilinguals outscore the trilinguals in relative frequency of Polish input. Overall, the results suggest that in the majority language, multilingual children may develop lexical skills similar to those of their monolingual peers. However, their minority language is weaker: the trilinguals scored lower than the Polish monolinguals on both receptive and expressive vocabulary tests, and the bilinguals showed reduced expressive knowledge but leveled out with the Polish monolinguals on receptive vocabulary. The results should encourage parents of migrant children to support home language(s), if the languages are to be retained in a longer perspective. PMID:28848473

The Now-or-Never bottleneck: A fundamental constraint on language.

PubMed

Christiansen, Morten H; Chater, Nick

2016-01-01

Memory is fleeting. New material rapidly obliterates previous material. How, then, can the brain deal successfully with the continual deluge of linguistic input? We argue that, to deal with this "Now-or-Never" bottleneck, the brain must compress and recode linguistic input as rapidly as possible. This observation has strong implications for the nature of language processing: (1) the language system must "eagerly" recode and compress linguistic input; (2) as the bottleneck recurs at each new representational level, the language system must build a multilevel linguistic representation; and (3) the language system must deploy all available information predictively to ensure that local linguistic ambiguities are dealt with "Right-First-Time"; once the original input is lost, there is no way for the language system to recover. This is "Chunk-and-Pass" processing. Similarly, language learning must also occur in the here and now, which implies that language acquisition is learning to process, rather than inducing, a grammar. Moreover, this perspective provides a cognitive foundation for grammaticalization and other aspects of language change. Chunk-and-Pass processing also helps explain a variety of core properties of language, including its multilevel representational structure and duality of patterning. This approach promises to create a direct relationship between psycholinguistics and linguistic theory. More generally, we outline a framework within which to integrate often disconnected inquiries into language processing, language acquisition, and language change and evolution.

Phonological memory in sign language relies on the visuomotor neural system outside the left hemisphere language network.

PubMed

Kanazawa, Yuji; Nakamura, Kimihiro; Ishii, Toru; Aso, Toshihiko; Yamazaki, Hiroshi; Omori, Koichi

2017-01-01

Sign language is an essential medium for everyday social interaction for deaf people and plays a critical role in verbal learning. In particular, language development in those people should heavily rely on the verbal short-term memory (STM) via sign language. Most previous studies compared neural activations during signed language processing in deaf signers and those during spoken language processing in hearing speakers. For sign language users, it thus remains unclear how visuospatial inputs are converted into the verbal STM operating in the left-hemisphere language network. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the present study investigated neural activation while bilinguals of spoken and signed language were engaged in a sequence memory span task. On each trial, participants viewed a nonsense syllable sequence presented either as written letters or as fingerspelling (4-7 syllables in length) and then held the syllable sequence for 12 s. Behavioral analysis revealed that participants relied on phonological memory while holding verbal information regardless of the type of input modality. At the neural level, this maintenance stage broadly activated the left-hemisphere language network, including the inferior frontal gyrus, supplementary motor area, superior temporal gyrus and inferior parietal lobule, for both letter and fingerspelling conditions. Interestingly, while most participants reported that they relied on phonological memory during maintenance, direct comparisons between letters and fingers revealed strikingly different patterns of neural activation during the same period. Namely, the effortful maintenance of fingerspelling inputs relative to letter inputs activated the left superior parietal lobule and dorsal premotor area, i.e., brain regions known to play a role in visuomotor analysis of hand/arm movements. These findings suggest that the dorsal visuomotor neural system subserves verbal learning via sign language by relaying gestural inputs to the classical left-hemisphere language network.

Encouraging Spatial Talk: Using Children's Museums to Bolster Spatial Reasoning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polinsky, Naomi; Perez, Jasmin; Grehl, Mora; McCrink, Koleen

2017-01-01

Longitudinal spatial language intervention studies have shown that greater exposure to spatial language improves children's performance on spatial tasks. Can short naturalistic, spatial language interactions also evoke improved spatial performance? In this study, parents were asked to interact with their child at a block wall exhibit in a…

Exploration as a mediator of the relation between the attainment of motor milestones and the development of spatial cognition and spatial language.

PubMed

Oudgenoeg-Paz, Ora; Leseman, Paul P M; Volman, M Chiel J M

2015-09-01

The embodied-cognition approach views cognition and language as grounded in daily sensorimotor child-environment interactions. Therefore, the attainment of motor milestones is expected to play a role in cognitive-linguistic development. Early attainment of unsupported sitting and independent walking indeed predict better spatial cognition and language at later ages. However, evidence linking these milestones with the development of spatial language and evidence regarding factors that might mediate this relation are scarce. The current study examined whether exploration of spatial-relational object properties (e.g., the possibility of containing or stacking) and exploration of the space through self-locomotion mediate the effect of, respectively, age of sitting and age of walking on spatial cognition and spatial language. Thus, we hypothesized that an earlier age of sitting and walking predicts, respectively, higher levels of spatial-relational object exploration and exploration through self-locomotion, which in turn, predict better spatial cognition and spatial language at later ages. Fifty-nine Dutch children took part in a longitudinal study. A combination of tests, observations, and parental reports was used to measure motor development, exploratory behavior (age 20 months), spatial memory (age 24 months), spatial processing (age 32 months), and spatial language (age 36 months). Results show that attainment of sitting predicted spatial memory and spatial language, but spatial-relational object exploration did not mediate these effects. Attainment of independent walking predicted spatial processing and spatial language, and exploration through self-locomotion (partially) mediated these relations. These findings extend previous work and provide partial support for the hypotheses about the mediating role of exploration. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Section 4. The GIS Weasel User's Manual

USGS Publications Warehouse

Viger, Roland J.; Leavesley, George H.

2007-01-01

INTRODUCTION The GIS Weasel was designed to aid in the preparation of spatial information for input to lumped and distributed parameter hydrologic or other environmental models. The GIS Weasel provides geographic information system (GIS) tools to help create maps of geographic features relevant to a user's model and to generate parameters from those maps. The operation of the GIS Weasel does not require the user to be a GIS expert, only that the user have an understanding of the spatial information requirements of the environmental simulation model being used. The GIS Weasel software system uses a GIS-based graphical user interface (GUI), the C programming language, and external scripting languages. The software will run on any computing platform where ArcInfo Workstation (version 8.0.2 or later) and the GRID extension are accessible. The user controls the processing of the GIS Weasel by interacting with menus, maps, and tables. The purpose of this document is to describe the operation of the software. This document is not intended to describe the usage of this software in support of any particular environmental simulation model. Such guides are published separately.

Audiovisual News, Cartoons, and Films as Sources of Authentic Language Input and Language Proficiency Enhancement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bahrani, Taher; Sim, Tam Shu

2012-01-01

In today's audiovisually driven world, various audiovisual programs can be incorporated as authentic sources of potential language input for second language acquisition. In line with this view, the present research aimed at discovering the effectiveness of exposure to news, cartoons, and films as three different types of authentic audiovisual…

The Processing Behaviours of Adult Second Language Learners and Their Relationship to Second Language Proficiency.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mangubhai, Francis

1991-01-01

Investigated the behaviors for processing language input demonstrated by five adults beginning to learn Hindi as a second language through the Total Physical Response method. The study suggests that, when adult learners are provided with comprehensive input, they engage in a variety of behaviors to extract meaning from it. (73 references) (GLR)

Comprehensible Input PLUS the Language Experience Approach: A Longterm Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moustafa, Margaret

1987-01-01

Assesses the results of using Comprehensible Input PLUS Language Experience Approach (CI plus LEA) to teach reading and language arts to non-native speakers in grades 4-6 in the early stages of language acquisition. Concludes that students demonstrated a high retention level as well as an ability to transfer what they had learned by reading…

Language input and acquisition in a Mayan village: how important is directed speech?

PubMed

Shneidman, Laura A; Goldin-Meadow, Susan

2012-09-01

Theories of language acquisition have highlighted the importance of adult speakers as active participants in children's language learning. However, in many communities children are reported to be directly engaged by their caregivers only rarely (Lieven, 1994). This observation raises the possibility that these children learn language from observing, rather than participating in, communicative exchanges. In this paper, we quantify naturally occurring language input in one community where directed interaction with children has been reported to be rare (Yucatec Mayan). We compare this input to the input heard by children growing up in large families in the United States, and we consider how directed and overheard input relate to Mayan children's later vocabulary. In Study 1, we demonstrate that 1-year-old Mayan children do indeed hear a smaller proportion of total input in directed speech than children from the US. In Study 2, we show that for Mayan (but not US) children, there are great increases in the proportion of directed input that children receive between 13 and 35 months. In Study 3, we explore the validity of using videotaped data in a Mayan village. In Study 4, we demonstrate that word types directed to Mayan children from adults at 24 months (but not word types overheard by children or word types directed from other children) predict later vocabulary. These findings suggest that adult talk directed to children is important for early word learning, even in communities where much of children's early language input comes from overheard speech. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

The relation between working memory and language comprehension in signers and speakers.

PubMed

Emmorey, Karen; Giezen, Marcel R; Petrich, Jennifer A F; Spurgeon, Erin; O'Grady Farnady, Lucinda

2017-06-01

This study investigated the relation between linguistic and spatial working memory (WM) resources and language comprehension for signed compared to spoken language. Sign languages are both linguistic and visual-spatial, and therefore provide a unique window on modality-specific versus modality-independent contributions of WM resources to language processing. Deaf users of American Sign Language (ASL), hearing monolingual English speakers, and hearing ASL-English bilinguals completed several spatial and linguistic serial recall tasks. Additionally, their comprehension of spatial and non-spatial information in ASL and spoken English narratives was assessed. Results from the linguistic serial recall tasks revealed that the often reported advantage for speakers on linguistic short-term memory tasks does not extend to complex WM tasks with a serial recall component. For English, linguistic WM predicted retention of non-spatial information, and both linguistic and spatial WM predicted retention of spatial information. For ASL, spatial WM predicted retention of spatial (but not non-spatial) information, and linguistic WM did not predict retention of either spatial or non-spatial information. Overall, our findings argue against strong assumptions of independent domain-specific subsystems for the storage and processing of linguistic and spatial information and furthermore suggest a less important role for serial encoding in signed than spoken language comprehension. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Captioned Television as Comprehensible Input: Effects of Incidental Word Learning from Context for Language Minority Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neuman, Susan B.; Koskinen, Patricia

1992-01-01

Analyzes whether comprehensible input via captioned television influences acquisition of science vocabulary and concepts using 129 bilingual seventh and eighth graders. Finds that comprehensible input is a key ingredient in language acquisition and reading development. (MG)

Input and Intake in Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gagliardi, Ann C.

2012-01-01

This dissertation presents an approach for a productive way forward in the study of language acquisition, sealing the rift between claims of an innate linguistic hypothesis space and powerful domain general statistical inference. This approach breaks language acquisition into its component parts, distinguishing the input in the environment from…

Influence of current input-output and age of first exposure on phonological acquisition in early bilingual Spanish-English-speaking kindergarteners.

PubMed

Ruiz-Felter, Roxanna; Cooperson, Solaman J; Bedore, Lisa M; Peña, Elizabeth D

2016-07-01

Although some investigations of phonological development have found that segmental accuracy is comparable in monolingual children and their bilingual peers, there is evidence that language use affects segmental accuracy in both languages. To investigate the influence of age of first exposure to English and the amount of current input-output on phonological accuracy in English and Spanish in early bilingual Spanish-English kindergarteners. Also whether parent and teacher ratings of the children's intelligibility are correlated with phonological accuracy and the amount of experience with each language. Data for 91 kindergarteners (mean age = 5;6 years) were selected from a larger dataset focusing on Spanish-English bilingual language development. All children were from Central Texas, spoke a Mexican Spanish dialect and were learning American English. Children completed a single-word phonological assessment with separate forms for English and Spanish. The assessment was analyzed for segmental accuracy: percentage of consonants and vowels correct and percentage of early-, middle- and late-developing (EML) sounds correct were calculated. Children were more accurate on vowel production than consonant production and showed a decrease in accuracy from early to middle to late sounds. The amount of current input-output explained more of the variance in phonological accuracy than age of first English exposure. Although greater current input-output of a language was associated with greater accuracy in that language, English-dominant children were only significantly more accurate in English than Spanish on late sounds, whereas Spanish-dominant children were only significantly more accurate in Spanish than English on early sounds. Higher parent and teacher ratings of intelligibility in Spanish were correlated with greater consonant accuracy in Spanish, but the same did not hold for English. Higher intelligibility ratings in English were correlated with greater current English input-output, and the same held for Spanish. Current input-output appears to be a better predictor of phonological accuracy than age of first English exposure for early bilinguals, consistent with findings on the effect of language experience on performance in other language domains in bilingual children. Although greater current input-output in a language predicts higher accuracy in that language, this interacts with sound complexity. The results highlight the utility of the EML classification in assessing bilingual children's phonology. The relationships of intelligibility ratings with current input-output and sound accuracy can shed light on the process of referral of bilingual children for speech and language services. © 2016 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Word reading skill predicts anticipation of upcoming spoken language input: a study of children developing proficiency in reading.

PubMed

Mani, Nivedita; Huettig, Falk

2014-10-01

Despite the efficiency with which language users typically process spoken language, a growing body of research finds substantial individual differences in both the speed and accuracy of spoken language processing potentially attributable to participants' literacy skills. Against this background, the current study took a look at the role of word reading skill in listeners' anticipation of upcoming spoken language input in children at the cusp of learning to read; if reading skills affect predictive language processing, then children at this stage of literacy acquisition should be most susceptible to the effects of reading skills on spoken language processing. We tested 8-year-olds on their prediction of upcoming spoken language input in an eye-tracking task. Although children, like in previous studies to date, were successfully able to anticipate upcoming spoken language input, there was a strong positive correlation between children's word reading skills (but not their pseudo-word reading and meta-phonological awareness or their spoken word recognition skills) and their prediction skills. We suggest that these findings are most compatible with the notion that the process of learning orthographic representations during reading acquisition sharpens pre-existing lexical representations, which in turn also supports anticipation of upcoming spoken words. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Parallel exploitation of a spatial-spectral classification approach for hyperspectral images on RVC-CAL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lazcano, R.; Madroñal, D.; Fabelo, H.; Ortega, S.; Salvador, R.; Callicó, G. M.; Juárez, E.; Sanz, C.

2017-10-01

Hyperspectral Imaging (HI) assembles high resolution spectral information from hundreds of narrow bands across the electromagnetic spectrum, thus generating 3D data cubes in which each pixel gathers the spectral information of the reflectance of every spatial pixel. As a result, each image is composed of large volumes of data, which turns its processing into a challenge, as performance requirements have been continuously tightened. For instance, new HI applications demand real-time responses. Hence, parallel processing becomes a necessity to achieve this requirement, so the intrinsic parallelism of the algorithms must be exploited. In this paper, a spatial-spectral classification approach has been implemented using a dataflow language known as RVCCAL. This language represents a system as a set of functional units, and its main advantage is that it simplifies the parallelization process by mapping the different blocks over different processing units. The spatial-spectral classification approach aims at refining the classification results previously obtained by using a K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) filtering process, in which both the pixel spectral value and the spatial coordinates are considered. To do so, KNN needs two inputs: a one-band representation of the hyperspectral image and the classification results provided by a pixel-wise classifier. Thus, spatial-spectral classification algorithm is divided into three different stages: a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) algorithm for computing the one-band representation of the image, a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier, and the KNN-based filtering algorithm. The parallelization of these algorithms shows promising results in terms of computational time, as the mapping of them over different cores presents a speedup of 2.69x when using 3 cores. Consequently, experimental results demonstrate that real-time processing of hyperspectral images is achievable.

Domain-General Brain Regions Do Not Track Linguistic Input as Closely as Language-Selective Regions.

PubMed

Blank, Idan A; Fedorenko, Evelina

2017-10-11

Language comprehension engages a cortical network of left frontal and temporal regions. Activity in this network is language-selective, showing virtually no modulation by nonlinguistic tasks. In addition, language comprehension engages a second network consisting of bilateral frontal, parietal, cingulate, and insular regions. Activity in this "multiple demand" (MD) network scales with comprehension difficulty, but also with cognitive effort across a wide range of nonlinguistic tasks in a domain-general fashion. Given the functional dissociation between the language and MD networks, their respective contributions to comprehension are likely distinct, yet such differences remain elusive. Prior neuroimaging studies have suggested that activity in each network covaries with some linguistic features that, behaviorally, influence on-line processing and comprehension. This sensitivity of the language and MD networks to local input characteristics has often been interpreted, implicitly or explicitly, as evidence that both networks track linguistic input closely, and in a manner consistent across individuals. Here, we used fMRI to directly test this assumption by comparing the BOLD signal time courses in each network across different people ( n = 45, men and women) listening to the same story. Language network activity showed fewer individual differences, indicative of closer input tracking, whereas MD network activity was more idiosyncratic and, moreover, showed lower reliability within an individual across repetitions of a story. These findings constrain cognitive models of language comprehension by suggesting a novel distinction between the processes implemented in the language and MD networks. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Language comprehension recruits both language-specific mechanisms and domain-general mechanisms that are engaged in many cognitive processes. In the human cortex, language-selective mechanisms are implemented in the left-lateralized "core language network", whereas domain-general mechanisms are implemented in the bilateral "multiple demand" (MD) network. Here, we report the first direct comparison of the respective contributions of these networks to naturalistic story comprehension. Using a novel combination of neuroimaging approaches we find that MD regions track stories less closely than language regions. This finding constrains the possible contributions of the MD network to comprehension, contrasts with accounts positing that this network has continuous access to linguistic input, and suggests a new typology of comprehension processes based on their extent of input tracking. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/3710000-13$15.00/0.

Domain-General Brain Regions Do Not Track Linguistic Input as Closely as Language-Selective Regions

PubMed Central

Fedorenko, Evelina

2017-01-01

Language comprehension engages a cortical network of left frontal and temporal regions. Activity in this network is language-selective, showing virtually no modulation by nonlinguistic tasks. In addition, language comprehension engages a second network consisting of bilateral frontal, parietal, cingulate, and insular regions. Activity in this “multiple demand” (MD) network scales with comprehension difficulty, but also with cognitive effort across a wide range of nonlinguistic tasks in a domain-general fashion. Given the functional dissociation between the language and MD networks, their respective contributions to comprehension are likely distinct, yet such differences remain elusive. Prior neuroimaging studies have suggested that activity in each network covaries with some linguistic features that, behaviorally, influence on-line processing and comprehension. This sensitivity of the language and MD networks to local input characteristics has often been interpreted, implicitly or explicitly, as evidence that both networks track linguistic input closely, and in a manner consistent across individuals. Here, we used fMRI to directly test this assumption by comparing the BOLD signal time courses in each network across different people (n = 45, men and women) listening to the same story. Language network activity showed fewer individual differences, indicative of closer input tracking, whereas MD network activity was more idiosyncratic and, moreover, showed lower reliability within an individual across repetitions of a story. These findings constrain cognitive models of language comprehension by suggesting a novel distinction between the processes implemented in the language and MD networks. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Language comprehension recruits both language-specific mechanisms and domain-general mechanisms that are engaged in many cognitive processes. In the human cortex, language-selective mechanisms are implemented in the left-lateralized “core language network”, whereas domain-general mechanisms are implemented in the bilateral “multiple demand” (MD) network. Here, we report the first direct comparison of the respective contributions of these networks to naturalistic story comprehension. Using a novel combination of neuroimaging approaches we find that MD regions track stories less closely than language regions. This finding constrains the possible contributions of the MD network to comprehension, contrasts with accounts positing that this network has continuous access to linguistic input, and suggests a new typology of comprehension processes based on their extent of input tracking. PMID:28871034

Memory for Nonsemantic Attributes of American Sign Language Signs and English Words

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siple, Patricia

1977-01-01

Two recognition memory experiments were used to study the retention of language and modality of input. A bilingual list of American Sign Language signs and English words was presented to two deaf and two hearing groups, one instructed to remember mode of input, and one hearing group. Findings are analyzed. (CHK)

Sociolinguistics Inputs and English as Second Language Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Onovughe, Ofodu Graceful

2012-01-01

Sociolinguistic inputs in language acquisition and use of English as Second Language in classrooms is the main focus of this study. A survey research design was adopted. The population consisted of all secondary school students in Akure Local Government of Ondo State, Nigeria. Two hundred and forty (240) students in senior secondary school classes…

Effects of Textual Enhancement and Input Enrichment on L2 Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rassaei, Ehsan

2015-01-01

Research on second language (L2) acquisition has recently sought to include formal instruction into second and foreign language classrooms in a more unobtrusive and implicit manner. Textual enhancement and input enrichment are two techniques which are aimed at drawing learners' attention to specific linguistic features in input and at the same…

Listen, Listen, Listen and Listen: Building a Comprehension Corpus and Making It Comprehensible

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mordaunt, Owen G.; Olson, Daniel W.

2010-01-01

Listening comprehension input is necessary for language learning and acculturation. One approach to developing listening comprehension skills is through exposure to massive amounts of naturally occurring spoken language input. But exposure to this input is not enough; learners also need to make the comprehension corpus meaningful to their learning…

A Frequency-Based Approach to L2 Phonological Learning: Teacher Input and Student Output in an Intensive ESL Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trofimovich, Pavel; Collins, Laura; Cardoso, Walcir; White, Joanna; Horst, Marlise

2012-01-01

Most second language (L2) researchers and teachers would agree that input, often defined as the language a learner hears or reads, plays an important role in L2 learning. There is a great deal of research investigating which types of input are most beneficial for learning, how learners process and internalize input (e.g., Schmidt, 2001), and how…

Variation in spatial language and cognition: exploring visuo-spatial thinking and speaking cross-linguistically.

PubMed

Soroli, Efstathia

2012-08-01

Languages differ strikingly in how they encode spatial information. This variability is realized with spatial semantic elements mapped across languages in very different ways onto lexical/syntactic structures. For example, satellite-framed languages (e.g., English) express MANNER: in the verb and PATH: in satellites, while verb-framed languages (e.g., French) lexicalize PATH: in the verb, leaving MANNER: implicit or peripheral. Some languages are harder to classify into these categories, rather presenting equipollently framed systems, such as Chinese (serial-verb constructions) or Greek (parallel verb- and satellite-framed structures in equally frequent contexts). Such properties seem to have implications not only on the formulation/articulation levels, but also on the conceptualization level, thereby reviving questions concerning the language-thought interface. The present study investigates the relative impact of language-independent and language-specific factors on spatial representations across three typologically different languages (English-French-Greek) combining a variety of complementary tasks (production, non-verbal, and verbal categorization). The findings show that typological properties of languages can have an impact on both linguistic and non-linguistic organization of spatial information, open new perspectives for the investigation of conceptualization, and contribute more generally to the debate concerning the universal and language-specific dimensions of cognition.

The role of spatial memory and frames of reference in the precision of angular path integration.

PubMed

Arthur, Joeanna C; Philbeck, John W; Kleene, Nicholas J; Chichka, David

2012-09-01

Angular path integration refers to the ability to maintain an estimate of self-location after a rotational displacement by integrating internally-generated (idiothetic) self-motion signals over time. Previous work has found that non-sensory inputs, namely spatial memory, can play a powerful role in angular path integration (Arthur et al., 2007, 2009). Here we investigated the conditions under which spatial memory facilitates angular path integration. We hypothesized that the benefit of spatial memory is particularly likely in spatial updating tasks in which one's self-location estimate is referenced to external space. To test this idea, we administered passive, non-visual body rotations (ranging 40°-140°) about the yaw axis and asked participants to use verbal reports or open-loop manual pointing to indicate the magnitude of the rotation. Prior to some trials, previews of the surrounding environment were given. We found that when participants adopted an egocentric frame of reference, the previously-observed benefit of previews on within-subject response precision was not manifested, regardless of whether remembered spatial frameworks were derived from vision or spatial language. We conclude that the powerful effect of spatial memory is dependent on one's frame of reference during self-motion updating. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Inferring heuristic classification hierarchies from natural language input

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hull, Richard; Gomez, Fernando

1993-01-01

A methodology for inferring hierarchies representing heuristic knowledge about the check out, control, and monitoring sub-system (CCMS) of the space shuttle launch processing system from natural language input is explained. Our method identifies failures explicitly and implicitly described in natural language by domain experts and uses those descriptions to recommend classifications for inclusion in the experts' heuristic hierarchies.

Academic Language in Shared Book Reading: Parent and Teacher Input to Mono- and Bilingual Preschoolers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aarts, Rian; Demir-Vegter, Serpil; Kurvers, Jeanne; Henrichs, Lotte

2016-01-01

The current study examined academic language (AL) input of mothers and teachers to 15 monolingual Dutch and 15 bilingual Turkish-Dutch 4- to 6-year-old children and its relationships with the children's language development. At two times, shared book reading was videotaped and analyzed for academic features: lexical diversity, syntactic…

Input, Triggering and Poverty of the Stimulus in the Second Language Acquisition of Japanese Passives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hara, Masahiro

2007-01-01

This article adopts an input perspective in examining a poverty-of-the stimulus (POS) learning situation in second language acquisition (SLA). Analysis of grammaticality judgement data from 81 English-speaking and 85 Chinese-speaking learners of Japanese isolates triggering input that informed English learners of subtle semantic properties of the…

Object orientation affects spatial language comprehension.

PubMed

Burigo, Michele; Sacchi, Simona

2013-01-01

Typical spatial descriptions, such as "The car is in front of the house," describe the position of a located object (LO; e.g., the car) in space relative to a reference object (RO) whose location is known (e.g., the house). The orientation of the RO affects spatial language comprehension via the reference frame selection process. However, the effects of the LO's orientation on spatial language have not received great attention. This study explores whether the pure geometric information of the LO (e.g., its orientation) affects spatial language comprehension using placing and production tasks. Our results suggest that the orientation of the LO influences spatial language comprehension even in the absence of functional relationships. Copyright © 2013 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Distinctive signatures of recursion.

PubMed

Martins, Maurício Dias

2012-07-19

Although recursion has been hypothesized to be a necessary capacity for the evolution of language, the multiplicity of definitions being used has undermined the broader interpretation of empirical results. I propose that only a definition focused on representational abilities allows the prediction of specific behavioural traits that enable us to distinguish recursion from non-recursive iteration and from hierarchical embedding: only subjects able to represent recursion, i.e. to represent different hierarchical dependencies (related by parenthood) with the same set of rules, are able to generalize and produce new levels of embedding beyond those specified a priori (in the algorithm or in the input). The ability to use such representations may be advantageous in several domains: action sequencing, problem-solving, spatial navigation, social navigation and for the emergence of conventionalized communication systems. The ability to represent contiguous hierarchical levels with the same rules may lead subjects to expect unknown levels and constituents to behave similarly, and this prior knowledge may bias learning positively. Finally, a new paradigm to test for recursion is presented. Preliminary results suggest that the ability to represent recursion in the spatial domain recruits both visual and verbal resources. Implications regarding language evolution are discussed.

High level language-based robotic control system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rodriguez, Guillermo (Inventor); Kruetz, Kenneth K. (Inventor); Jain, Abhinandan (Inventor)

1994-01-01

This invention is a robot control system based on a high level language implementing a spatial operator algebra. There are two high level languages included within the system. At the highest level, applications programs can be written in a robot-oriented applications language including broad operators such as MOVE and GRASP. The robot-oriented applications language statements are translated into statements in the spatial operator algebra language. Programming can also take place using the spatial operator algebra language. The statements in the spatial operator algebra language from either source are then translated into machine language statements for execution by a digital control computer. The system also includes the capability of executing the control code sequences in a simulation mode before actual execution to assure proper action at execution time. The robot's environment is checked as part of the process and dynamic reconfiguration is also possible. The languages and system allow the programming and control of multiple arms and the use of inward/outward spatial recursions in which every computational step can be related to a transformation from one point in the mechanical robot to another point to name two major advantages.

High level language-based robotic control system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rodriguez, Guillermo (Inventor); Kreutz, Kenneth K. (Inventor); Jain, Abhinandan (Inventor)

1996-01-01

This invention is a robot control system based on a high level language implementing a spatial operator algebra. There are two high level languages included within the system. At the highest level, applications programs can be written in a robot-oriented applications language including broad operators such as MOVE and GRASP. The robot-oriented applications language statements are translated into statements in the spatial operator algebra language. Programming can also take place using the spatial operator algebra language. The statements in the spatial operator algebra language from either source are then translated into machine language statements for execution by a digital control computer. The system also includes the capability of executing the control code sequences in a simulation mode before actual execution to assure proper action at execution time. The robot's environment is checked as part of the process and dynamic reconfiguration is also possible. The languages and system allow the programming and control of multiple arms and the use of inward/outward spatial recursions in which every computational step can be related to a transformation from one point in the mechanical robot to another point to name two major advantages.

Automated Generation of Technical Documentation and Provenance for Reproducible Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jolly, B.; Medyckyj-Scott, D.; Spiekermann, R.; Ausseil, A. G.

2017-12-01

Data provenance and detailed technical documentation are essential components of high-quality reproducible research, however are often only partially addressed during a research project. Recording and maintaining this information during the course of a project can be a difficult task to get right as it is a time consuming and often boring process for the researchers involved. As a result, provenance records and technical documentation provided alongside research results can be incomplete or may not be completely consistent with the actual processes followed. While providing access to the data and code used by the original researchers goes some way toward enabling reproducibility, this does not count as, or replace, data provenance. Additionally, this can be a poor substitute for good technical documentation and is often more difficult for a third-party to understand - particularly if they do not understand the programming language(s) used. We present and discuss a tool built from the ground up for the production of well-documented and reproducible spatial datasets that are created by applying a series of classification rules to a number of input layers. The internal model of the classification rules required by the tool to process the input data is exploited to also produce technical documentation and provenance records with minimal additional user input. Available provenance records that accompany input datasets are incorporated into those that describe the current process. As a result, each time a new iteration of the analysis is performed the documentation and provenance records are re-generated to provide an accurate description of the exact process followed. The generic nature of this tool, and the lessons learned during its creation, have wider application to other fields where the production of derivative datasets must be done in an open, defensible, and reproducible way.

Sixteen-month-olds can use language to update their expectations about the visual world.

PubMed

Ganea, Patricia A; Fitch, Allison; Harris, Paul L; Kaldy, Zsuzsa

2016-11-01

The capacity to use language to form new representations and to revise existing knowledge is a crucial aspect of human cognition. Here we examined whether infants can use language to adjust their representation of a recently encoded scene. Using an eye-tracking paradigm, we asked whether 16-month-old infants (N=26; mean age=16;0 [months;days], range=14;15-17;15) can use language about an occluded event to inform their expectation about what the world will look like when the occluder is removed. We compared looking time to outcome scenes that matched the language input with looking time to those that did not. Infants looked significantly longer at the event outcome when the outcome did not match the language input, suggesting that they generated an expectation of the outcome based on that input alone. This effect was unrelated to infants' vocabulary size. Thus, using language to adjust expectations about the visual world is present at an early developmental stage even when language skills are rudimentary. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Referential shift in Nicaraguan Sign Language: a transition from lexical to spatial devices

PubMed Central

Kocab, Annemarie; Pyers, Jennie; Senghas, Ann

2015-01-01

Even the simplest narratives combine multiple strands of information, integrating different characters and their actions by expressing multiple perspectives of events. We examined the emergence of referential shift devices, which indicate changes among these perspectives, in Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL). Sign languages, like spoken languages, mark referential shift grammatically with a shift in deictic perspective. In addition, sign languages can mark the shift with a point or a movement of the body to a specified spatial location in the three-dimensional space in front of the signer, capitalizing on the spatial affordances of the manual modality. We asked whether the use of space to mark referential shift emerges early in a new sign language by comparing the first two age cohorts of deaf signers of NSL. Eight first-cohort signers and 10 second-cohort signers watched video vignettes and described them in NSL. Narratives were coded for lexical (use of words) and spatial (use of signing space) devices. Although the cohorts did not differ significantly in the number of perspectives represented, second-cohort signers used referential shift devices to explicitly mark a shift in perspective in more of their narratives. Furthermore, while there was no significant difference between cohorts in the use of non-spatial, lexical devices, there was a difference in spatial devices, with second-cohort signers using them in significantly more of their narratives. This suggests that spatial devices have only recently increased as systematic markers of referential shift. Spatial referential shift devices may have emerged more slowly because they depend on the establishment of fundamental spatial conventions in the language. While the modality of sign languages can ultimately engender the syntactic use of three-dimensional space, we propose that a language must first develop systematic spatial distinctions before harnessing space for grammatical functions. PMID:25713541

Referential shift in Nicaraguan Sign Language: a transition from lexical to spatial devices.

PubMed

Kocab, Annemarie; Pyers, Jennie; Senghas, Ann

2014-01-01

Even the simplest narratives combine multiple strands of information, integrating different characters and their actions by expressing multiple perspectives of events. We examined the emergence of referential shift devices, which indicate changes among these perspectives, in Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL). Sign languages, like spoken languages, mark referential shift grammatically with a shift in deictic perspective. In addition, sign languages can mark the shift with a point or a movement of the body to a specified spatial location in the three-dimensional space in front of the signer, capitalizing on the spatial affordances of the manual modality. We asked whether the use of space to mark referential shift emerges early in a new sign language by comparing the first two age cohorts of deaf signers of NSL. Eight first-cohort signers and 10 second-cohort signers watched video vignettes and described them in NSL. Narratives were coded for lexical (use of words) and spatial (use of signing space) devices. Although the cohorts did not differ significantly in the number of perspectives represented, second-cohort signers used referential shift devices to explicitly mark a shift in perspective in more of their narratives. Furthermore, while there was no significant difference between cohorts in the use of non-spatial, lexical devices, there was a difference in spatial devices, with second-cohort signers using them in significantly more of their narratives. This suggests that spatial devices have only recently increased as systematic markers of referential shift. Spatial referential shift devices may have emerged more slowly because they depend on the establishment of fundamental spatial conventions in the language. While the modality of sign languages can ultimately engender the syntactic use of three-dimensional space, we propose that a language must first develop systematic spatial distinctions before harnessing space for grammatical functions.

Verb Schema Use and Input Dependence in 5-Year-Old Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riches, N. G.; Faragher, B.; Conti-Ramsden, G.

2006-01-01

It has been argued that children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) use language in a conservative manner. For example, they are reluctant to produce word-plus-frame combinations that they have not heard in the input. In addition, there is evidence to suggest that their utterances replicate lexical and syntactic material from the immediate…

Effects of Age of English Exposure, Current Input/Output, and Grade on Bilingual Language Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bedore, Lisa M.; Pena, Elizabeth D.; Griffin, Zenzi M.; Hixon, J. Gregory

2016-01-01

This study evaluates the effects of Age of Exposure to English (AoEE) and Current Input/Output on language performance in a cross-sectional sample of Spanish-English bilingual children. First- (N = 586) and third-graders (N = 298) who spanned a wide range of bilingual language experience participated. Parents and teachers provided information…

Children's attention to task-relevant information accounts for relations between language and spatial cognition.

PubMed

Miller, Hilary E; Simmering, Vanessa R

2018-08-01

Children's spatial language reliably predicts their spatial skills, but the nature of this relation is a source of debate. This investigation examined whether the mechanisms accounting for such relations are specific to language use or reflect a domain-general mechanism of selective attention. Experiment 1 examined whether 4-year-olds' spatial skills were predicted by their selective attention or their adaptive language use. Children completed (a) an attention task assessing attention to task-relevant color, size, and location cues; (b) a description task assessing adaptive language use to describe scenes varying in color, size, and location; and (c) three spatial tasks. There was correspondence between the cue types that children attended to and produced across description and attention tasks. Adaptive language use was predicted by both children's attention and task-related language production, suggesting that selective attention underlies skills in using language adaptively. After controlling for age, gender, receptive vocabulary, and adaptive language use, spatial skills were predicted by children's selective attention. The attention score predicted variance in spatial performance previously accounted for by adaptive language use. Experiment 2 followed up on the attention task (Experiment 2a) and description task (Experiment 2b) from Experiment 1 to assess whether performance in the tasks related to selective attention or task-specific demands. Performance in Experiments 2a and 2b paralleled that in Experiment 1, suggesting that the effects in Experiment 1 reflected children's selective attention skills. These findings show that selective attention is a central factor supporting spatial skill development that could account for many effects previously attributed to children's language use. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Developmental dyslexia and vision

PubMed Central

Quercia, Patrick; Feiss, Léonard; Michel, Carine

2013-01-01

Developmental dyslexia affects almost 10% of school-aged children and represents a significant public health problem. Its etiology is unknown. The consistent presence of phonological difficulties combined with an inability to manipulate language sounds and the grapheme–phoneme conversion is widely acknowledged. Numerous scientific studies have also documented the presence of eye movement anomalies and deficits of perception of low contrast, low spatial frequency, and high frequency temporal visual information in dyslexics. Anomalies of visual attention with short visual attention spans have also been demonstrated in a large number of cases. Spatial orientation is also affected in dyslexics who manifest a preference for spatial attention to the right. This asymmetry may be so pronounced that it leads to a veritable neglect of space on the left side. The evaluation of treatments proposed to dyslexics whether speech or oriented towards the visual anomalies remains fragmentary. The advent of new explanatory theories, notably cerebellar, magnocellular, or proprioceptive, is an incentive for ophthalmologists to enter the world of multimodal cognition given the importance of the eye’s visual input. PMID:23690677

Generic functional requirements for a NASA general-purpose data base management system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lohman, G. M.

1981-01-01

Generic functional requirements for a general-purpose, multi-mission data base management system (DBMS) for application to remotely sensed scientific data bases are detailed. The motivation for utilizing DBMS technology in this environment is explained. The major requirements include: (1) a DBMS for scientific observational data; (2) a multi-mission capability; (3) user-friendly; (4) extensive and integrated information about data; (5) robust languages for defining data structures and formats; (6) scientific data types and structures; (7) flexible physical access mechanisms; (8) ways of representing spatial relationships; (9) a high level nonprocedural interactive query and data manipulation language; (10) data base maintenance utilities; (11) high rate input/output and large data volume storage; and adaptability to a distributed data base and/or data base machine configuration. Detailed functions are specified in a top-down hierarchic fashion. Implementation, performance, and support requirements are also given.

Mapping language to the world: the role of iconicity in the sign language input.

PubMed

Perniss, Pamela; Lu, Jenny C; Morgan, Gary; Vigliocco, Gabriella

2018-03-01

Most research on the mechanisms underlying referential mapping has assumed that learning occurs in ostensive contexts, where label and referent co-occur, and that form and meaning are linked by arbitrary convention alone. In the present study, we focus on iconicity in language, that is, resemblance relationships between form and meaning, and on non-ostensive contexts, where label and referent do not co-occur. We approach the question of language learning from the perspective of the language input. Specifically, we look at child-directed language (CDL) in British Sign Language (BSL), a language rich in iconicity due to the affordances of the visual modality. We ask whether child-directed signing exploits iconicity in the language by highlighting the similarity mapping between form and referent. We find that CDL modifications occur more often with iconic signs than with non-iconic signs. Crucially, for iconic signs, modifications are more frequent in non-ostensive contexts than in ostensive contexts. Furthermore, we find that pointing dominates in ostensive contexts, and suggest that caregivers adjust the semiotic resources recruited in CDL to context. These findings offer first evidence for a role of iconicity in the language input and suggest that iconicity may be involved in referential mapping and language learning, particularly in non-ostensive contexts. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Perspective taking in language: integrating the spatial and action domains.

PubMed

Beveridge, Madeleine E L; Pickering, Martin J

2013-09-17

Language is an inherently social behavior. In this paper, we bring together two research areas that typically occupy distinct sections of the literature: perspective taking in spatial language (whether people represent a scene from their own or a different spatial perspective), and perspective taking in action language (the extent to which they simulate an action as though they were performing that action). First, we note that vocabulary is used inconsistently across the spatial and action domains, and propose a more transparent vocabulary that will allow researchers to integrate action- and spatial-perspective taking. Second, we note that embodied theories of language comprehension often make the narrow assumption that understanding action descriptions involves adopting the perspective of an agent carrying out that action. We argue that comprehenders can adopt embodied action-perspectives other than that of the agent, including those of the patient or an observer. Third, we review evidence showing that perspective taking in spatial language is a flexible process. We argue that the flexibility of spatial-perspective taking provides a means for conversation partners engaged in dialogue to maximize similarity between their situation models. These situation models can then be used as the basis for action language simulations, in which language users adopt a particular action-perspective.

Perspective taking in language: integrating the spatial and action domains

PubMed Central

Beveridge, Madeleine E. L.; Pickering, Martin J.

2013-01-01

Language is an inherently social behavior. In this paper, we bring together two research areas that typically occupy distinct sections of the literature: perspective taking in spatial language (whether people represent a scene from their own or a different spatial perspective), and perspective taking in action language (the extent to which they simulate an action as though they were performing that action). First, we note that vocabulary is used inconsistently across the spatial and action domains, and propose a more transparent vocabulary that will allow researchers to integrate action- and spatial-perspective taking. Second, we note that embodied theories of language comprehension often make the narrow assumption that understanding action descriptions involves adopting the perspective of an agent carrying out that action. We argue that comprehenders can adopt embodied action-perspectives other than that of the agent, including those of the patient or an observer. Third, we review evidence showing that perspective taking in spatial language is a flexible process. We argue that the flexibility of spatial-perspective taking provides a means for conversation partners engaged in dialogue to maximize similarity between their situation models. These situation models can then be used as the basis for action language simulations, in which language users adopt a particular action-perspective. PMID:24062676

Why talk with children matters: clinical implications of infant- and child-directed speech research.

PubMed

Ratner, Nan Bernstein

2013-11-01

This article reviews basic features of infant- or child-directed speech, with particular attention to those aspects of the register that have been shown to impact profiles of child language development. It then discusses concerns that arise when describing adult input to children with language delay or disorder, or children at risk for depressed language skills. The article concludes with some recommendations for parent counseling in such cases, as well as methods that speech-language pathologists can use to improve the quality and quantity of language input to language-learning children. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

The nature of the language input affects brain activation during learning from a natural language

PubMed Central

Plante, Elena; Patterson, Dianne; Gómez, Rebecca; Almryde, Kyle R.; White, Milo G.; Asbjørnsen, Arve E.

2015-01-01

Artificial language studies have demonstrated that learners are able to segment individual word-like units from running speech using the transitional probability information. However, this skill has rarely been examined in the context of natural languages, where stimulus parameters can be quite different. In this study, two groups of English-speaking learners were exposed to Norwegian sentences over the course of three fMRI scans. One group was provided with input in which transitional probabilities predicted the presence of target words in the sentences. This group quickly learned to identify the target words and fMRI data revealed an extensive and highly dynamic learning network. These results were markedly different from activation seen for a second group of participants. This group was provided with highly similar input that was modified so that word learning based on syllable co-occurrences was not possible. These participants showed a much more restricted network. The results demonstrate that the nature of the input strongly influenced the nature of the network that learners employ to learn the properties of words in a natural language. PMID:26257471

Top-down methodology for human factors research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sibert, J.

1983-01-01

User computer interaction as a conversation is discussed. The design of user interfaces which depends on viewing communications between a user and the computer as a conversion is presented. This conversation includes inputs to the computer (outputs from the user), outputs from the computer (inputs to the user), and the sequencing in both time and space of those outputs and inputs. The conversation is viewed from the user's side of the conversation. Two languages are modeled: the one with which the user communicates with the computer and the language where communication flows from the computer to the user. Both languages exist on three levels; the semantic, syntactic and lexical. It is suggested that natural languages can also be considered in these terms.

Understanding Language, Hearing Status, and Visual-Spatial Skills

PubMed Central

Marschark, Marc; Spencer, Linda J.; Durkin, Andreana; Borgna, Georgianna; Convertino, Carol; Machmer, Elizabeth; Kronenberger, William G.; Trani, Alexandra

2015-01-01

It is frequently assumed that deaf individuals have superior visual-spatial abilities relative to hearing peers and thus, in educational settings, they are often considered visual learners. There is some empirical evidence to support the former assumption, although it is inconsistent, and apparently none to support the latter. Three experiments examined visual-spatial and related cognitive abilities among deaf individuals who varied in their preferred language modality and use of cochlear implants (CIs) and hearing individuals who varied in their sign language skills. Sign language and spoken language assessments accompanied tasks involving visual-spatial processing, working memory, nonverbal logical reasoning, and executive function. Results were consistent with other recent studies indicating no generalized visual-spatial advantage for deaf individuals and suggested that their performance in that domain may be linked to the strength of their preferred language skills regardless of modality. Hearing individuals performed more strongly than deaf individuals on several visual-spatial and self-reported executive functioning measures, regardless of sign language skills or use of CIs. Findings are inconsistent with assumptions that deaf individuals are visual learners or are superior to hearing individuals across a broad range of visual-spatial tasks. Further, performance of deaf and hearing individuals on the same visual-spatial tasks was associated with differing cognitive abilities, suggesting that different cognitive processes may be involved in visual-spatial processing in these groups. PMID:26141071

Spatial congruence in language and species richness but not threat in the world's top linguistic hotspot.

PubMed

Turvey, Samuel T; Pettorelli, Nathalie

2014-12-07

Languages share key evolutionary properties with biological species, and global-level spatial congruence in richness and threat is documented between languages and several taxonomic groups. However, there is little understanding of the functional connection between diversification or extinction in languages and species, or the relationship between linguistic and species richness across different spatial scales. New Guinea is the world's most linguistically rich region and contains extremely high biological diversity. We demonstrate significant positive relationships between language and mammal richness in New Guinea across multiple spatial scales, revealing a likely functional relationship over scales at which infra-island diversification may occur. However, correlations are driven by spatial congruence between low levels of language and species richness. Regional biocultural richness may have showed closer congruence before New Guinea's linguistic landscape was altered by Holocene demographic events. In contrast to global studies, we demonstrate a significant negative correlation across New Guinea between areas with high levels of threatened languages and threatened mammals, indicating that landscape-scale threats differ between these groups. Spatial resource prioritization to conserve biodiversity may not benefit threatened languages, and conservation policy must adopt a multi-faceted approach to protect biocultural diversity as a whole.

ESL for Non-Academic Adults: Parallels in L1 and L2. CATESOL Occasional Papers, Number 5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bassano, Sharron

English as a second language for the non-academically oriented adult can be facilitated bY structuring their early linguistic input in a way similar to the way a parent structures input for a child learning a first language. The four components through which children learn their native language and which also concern adult learning are: (1)…

Maternal Input to Children with Specific Language Impairment during Shared Book Reading: Is Mothers' Language in Tune with Their Children's Production?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Majorano, Marinella; Lavelli, Manuela

2014-01-01

Background: The literature on input addressed to children with specific language impairment (SLI) has shown contrasting results on the role that parents assume during conversational interactions. Some studies have shown that parents compensate for the child's linguistic limitations. In contrast, other studies have indicated that mothers are…

The Impact of Bimodal Bilingual Parental Input on the Communication and Language Development of a Young Deaf Child

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levesque, Elizabeth; Brown, P. Margaret; Wigglesworth, Gillian

2014-01-01

This study explores the impact of bimodal bilingual parental input on the communication and language development of a young deaf child. The participants in this case study were a severe-to-profoundly deaf boy and his hearing parents, who were enrolled in a bilingual (English and Australian Sign Language) homebased early intervention programme. The…

A Selected Bibliography on Language Input To Young Children. CAL-ERIC/CLL Series on Languages and Linguistics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Andersen, Elaine S., Comp.

Thirty-one papers and reports dealing with recent work on language input to children are listed in this annotated bibliography. The annotations, which are descriptive rather than evaluative, summarize the design of each study, the nature of the data, and some of the results and conclusions. Entries by P. Broen, J. Bynon, L. Cherry, J. M. Crawford,…

Language learning, socioeconomic status, and child-directed speech.

PubMed

Schwab, Jessica F; Lew-Williams, Casey

2016-07-01

Young children's language experiences and language outcomes are highly variable. Research in recent decades has focused on understanding the extent to which family socioeconomic status (SES) relates to parents' language input to their children and, subsequently, children's language learning. Here, we first review research demonstrating differences in the quantity and quality of language that children hear across low-, mid-, and high-SES groups, but also-and perhaps more importantly-research showing that differences in input and learning also exist within SES groups. Second, in order to better understand the defining features of 'high-quality' input, we highlight findings from laboratory studies examining specific characteristics of the sounds, words, sentences, and social contexts of child-directed speech (CDS) that influence children's learning. Finally, after narrowing in on these particular features of CDS, we broaden our discussion by considering family and community factors that may constrain parents' ability to participate in high-quality interactions with their young children. A unification of research on SES and CDS will facilitate a more complete understanding of the specific means by which input shapes learning, as well as generate ideas for crafting policies and programs designed to promote children's language outcomes. WIREs Cogn Sci 2016, 7:264-275. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1393 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition.

PubMed

Gudde, Harmen B; Griffiths, Debra; Coventry, Kenny R

2018-02-19

The memory game paradigm is a behavioral procedure to explore the relationship between language, spatial memory, and object knowledge. Using two different versions of the paradigm, spatial language use and memory for object location are tested under different, experimentally manipulated conditions. This allows us to tease apart proposed models explaining the influence of object knowledge on spatial language (e.g., spatial demonstratives), and spatial memory, as well as understanding the parameters that affect demonstrative choice and spatial memory more broadly. Key to the development of the method was the need to collect data on language use (e.g., spatial demonstratives: "this/that") and spatial memory data under strictly controlled conditions, while retaining a degree of ecological validity. The language version (section 3.1) of the memory game tests how conditions affect language use. Participants refer verbally to objects placed at different locations (e.g., using spatial demonstratives: "this/that red circle"). Different parameters can be experimentally manipulated: the distance from the participant, the position of a conspecific, and for example whether the participant owns, knows, or sees the object while referring to it. The same parameters can be manipulated in the memory version of the memory game (section 3.2). This version tests the effects of the different conditions on object-location memory. Following object placement, participants get 10 seconds to memorize the object's location. After the object and location cues are removed, participants verbally direct the experimenter to move a stick to indicate where the object was. The difference between the memorized and the actual location shows the direction and strength of the memory error, allowing comparisons between the influences of the respective parameters.

How sensory-motor systems impact the neural organization for language: direct contrasts between spoken and signed language

PubMed Central

Emmorey, Karen; McCullough, Stephen; Mehta, Sonya; Grabowski, Thomas J.

2014-01-01

To investigate the impact of sensory-motor systems on the neural organization for language, we conducted an H215O-PET study of sign and spoken word production (picture-naming) and an fMRI study of sign and audio-visual spoken language comprehension (detection of a semantically anomalous sentence) with hearing bilinguals who are native users of American Sign Language (ASL) and English. Directly contrasting speech and sign production revealed greater activation in bilateral parietal cortex for signing, while speaking resulted in greater activation in bilateral superior temporal cortex (STC) and right frontal cortex, likely reflecting auditory feedback control. Surprisingly, the language production contrast revealed a relative increase in activation in bilateral occipital cortex for speaking. We speculate that greater activation in visual cortex for speaking may actually reflect cortical attenuation when signing, which functions to distinguish self-produced from externally generated visual input. Directly contrasting speech and sign comprehension revealed greater activation in bilateral STC for speech and greater activation in bilateral occipital-temporal cortex for sign. Sign comprehension, like sign production, engaged bilateral parietal cortex to a greater extent than spoken language. We hypothesize that posterior parietal activation in part reflects processing related to spatial classifier constructions in ASL and that anterior parietal activation may reflect covert imitation that functions as a predictive model during sign comprehension. The conjunction analysis for comprehension revealed that both speech and sign bilaterally engaged the inferior frontal gyrus (with more extensive activation on the left) and the superior temporal sulcus, suggesting an invariant bilateral perisylvian language system. We conclude that surface level differences between sign and spoken languages should not be dismissed and are critical for understanding the neurobiology of language. PMID:24904497

Input and Uptake at 7 Months Predicts Toddler Vocabulary: The Role of Child-Directed Speech and Infant Processing Skills in Language Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Newman, Rochelle S.; Rowe, Meredith L.; Ratner, Nan Bernstein

2016-01-01

Both the input directed to the child, and the child's ability to process that input, are likely to impact the child's language acquisition. We explore how these factors inter-relate by tracking the relationships among: (a) lexical properties of maternal child-directed speech to prelinguistic (7-month-old) infants (N = 121); (b) these infants'…

Understanding Language, Hearing Status, and Visual-Spatial Skills.

PubMed

Marschark, Marc; Spencer, Linda J; Durkin, Andreana; Borgna, Georgianna; Convertino, Carol; Machmer, Elizabeth; Kronenberger, William G; Trani, Alexandra

2015-10-01

It is frequently assumed that deaf individuals have superior visual-spatial abilities relative to hearing peers and thus, in educational settings, they are often considered visual learners. There is some empirical evidence to support the former assumption, although it is inconsistent, and apparently none to support the latter. Three experiments examined visual-spatial and related cognitive abilities among deaf individuals who varied in their preferred language modality and use of cochlear implants (CIs) and hearing individuals who varied in their sign language skills. Sign language and spoken language assessments accompanied tasks involving visual-spatial processing, working memory, nonverbal logical reasoning, and executive function. Results were consistent with other recent studies indicating no generalized visual-spatial advantage for deaf individuals and suggested that their performance in that domain may be linked to the strength of their preferred language skills regardless of modality. Hearing individuals performed more strongly than deaf individuals on several visual-spatial and self-reported executive functioning measures, regardless of sign language skills or use of CIs. Findings are inconsistent with assumptions that deaf individuals are visual learners or are superior to hearing individuals across a broad range of visual-spatial tasks. Further, performance of deaf and hearing individuals on the same visual-spatial tasks was associated with differing cognitive abilities, suggesting that different cognitive processes may be involved in visual-spatial processing in these groups. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

An Overview of the GIS Weasel

USGS Publications Warehouse

Viger, Roland J.

2008-01-01

This fact sheet provides a high-level description of the GIS Weasel, a software system designed to aid users in preparing spatial information as input to lumped and distributed parameter environmental simulation models (ESMs). The GIS Weasel provides geographic information system (GIS) tools to help create maps of geographic features relevant to the application of a user?s ESM and to generate parameters from those maps. The operation of the GIS Weasel does not require a user to be a GIS expert, only that a user has an understanding of the spatial information requirements of the model. The GIS Weasel software system provides a GIS-based graphical user interface (GUI), C programming language executables, and general utility scripts. The software will run on any computing platform where ArcInfo Workstation (version 8.1 or later) and the GRID extension are accessible. The user controls the GIS Weasel by interacting with menus, maps, and tables.

Sampling Assumptions Affect Use of Indirect Negative Evidence in Language Learning.

PubMed

Hsu, Anne; Griffiths, Thomas L

2016-01-01

A classic debate in cognitive science revolves around understanding how children learn complex linguistic patterns, such as restrictions on verb alternations and contractions, without negative evidence. Recently, probabilistic models of language learning have been applied to this problem, framing it as a statistical inference from a random sample of sentences. These probabilistic models predict that learners should be sensitive to the way in which sentences are sampled. There are two main types of sampling assumptions that can operate in language learning: strong and weak sampling. Strong sampling, as assumed by probabilistic models, assumes the learning input is drawn from a distribution of grammatical samples from the underlying language and aims to learn this distribution. Thus, under strong sampling, the absence of a sentence construction from the input provides evidence that it has low or zero probability of grammaticality. Weak sampling does not make assumptions about the distribution from which the input is drawn, and thus the absence of a construction from the input as not used as evidence of its ungrammaticality. We demonstrate in a series of artificial language learning experiments that adults can produce behavior consistent with both sets of sampling assumptions, depending on how the learning problem is presented. These results suggest that people use information about the way in which linguistic input is sampled to guide their learning.

Sampling Assumptions Affect Use of Indirect Negative Evidence in Language Learning

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

A classic debate in cognitive science revolves around understanding how children learn complex linguistic patterns, such as restrictions on verb alternations and contractions, without negative evidence. Recently, probabilistic models of language learning have been applied to this problem, framing it as a statistical inference from a random sample of sentences. These probabilistic models predict that learners should be sensitive to the way in which sentences are sampled. There are two main types of sampling assumptions that can operate in language learning: strong and weak sampling. Strong sampling, as assumed by probabilistic models, assumes the learning input is drawn from a distribution of grammatical samples from the underlying language and aims to learn this distribution. Thus, under strong sampling, the absence of a sentence construction from the input provides evidence that it has low or zero probability of grammaticality. Weak sampling does not make assumptions about the distribution from which the input is drawn, and thus the absence of a construction from the input as not used as evidence of its ungrammaticality. We demonstrate in a series of artificial language learning experiments that adults can produce behavior consistent with both sets of sampling assumptions, depending on how the learning problem is presented. These results suggest that people use information about the way in which linguistic input is sampled to guide their learning. PMID:27310576

Final Report: CNC Micromachines LDRD No.10793

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

JOKIEL JR., BERNHARD; BENAVIDES, GILBERT L.; BIEG, LOTHAR F.

2003-04-01

The three-year LDRD ''CNC Micromachines'' was successfully completed at the end of FY02. The project had four major breakthroughs in spatial motion control in MEMS: (1) A unified method for designing scalable planar and spatial on-chip motion control systems was developed. The method relies on the use of parallel kinematic mechanisms (PKMs) that when properly designed provide different types of motion on-chip without the need for post-fabrication assembly, (2) A new type of actuator was developed--the linear stepping track drive (LSTD) that provides open loop linear position control that is scalable in displacement, output force and step size. Several versionsmore » of this actuator were designed, fabricated and successfully tested. (3) Different versions of XYZ translation only and PTT motion stages were designed, successfully fabricated and successfully tested demonstrating absolutely that on-chip spatial motion control systems are not only possible, but are a reality. (4) Control algorithms, software and infrastructure based on MATLAB were created and successfully implemented to drive the XYZ and PTT motion platforms in a controlled manner. The control software is capable of reading an M/G code machine tool language file, decode the instructions and correctly calculate and apply position and velocity trajectories to the motion devices linear drive inputs to position the device platform along the trajectory as specified by the input file. A full and detailed account of design methodology, theory and experimental results (failures and successes) is provided.« less

Phase II Final Report on an Intelligent Tutoring System for Teaching Battlefield Command Reasoning Skills

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-03-01

and current work is that most developers see unstructured language input as a useful complement to a Socratic tutoring approach. The general...demonstrating the possibility of Socratic tactical tutoring, led us , during the second half of our Phase II effort, away from unrestricted natural language ... language use . This often leads to faster, more useful processing, that is robust in the face of real-world input (ungrammatical, misspelled, or

Wh-Questions in Child L2 French: Derivational Complexity and Its Interactions with L1 Properties, Length of Exposure, Age of Exposure, and the Input

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prévost, Philippe; Strik, Nelleke; Tuller, Laurie

2014-01-01

This study investigates how derivational complexity interacts with first language (L1) properties, second language (L2) input, age of first exposure to the target language, and length of exposure in child L2 acquisition. We compared elicited production of "wh"-questions in French in two groups of 15 participants each, one with L1 English…

Image enhancement by non-linear extrapolation in frequency space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, Charles H. (Inventor); Greenspan, Hayit K. (Inventor)

1998-01-01

An input image is enhanced to include spatial frequency components having frequencies higher than those in an input image. To this end, an edge map is generated from the input image using a high band pass filtering technique. An enhancing map is subsequently generated from the edge map, with the enhanced map having spatial frequencies exceeding an initial maximum spatial frequency of the input image. The enhanced map is generated by applying a non-linear operator to the edge map in a manner which preserves the phase transitions of the edges of the input image. The enhanced map is added to the input image to achieve a resulting image having spatial frequencies greater than those in the input image. Simplicity of computations and ease of implementation allow for image sharpening after enlargement and for real-time applications such as videophones, advanced definition television, zooming, and restoration of old motion pictures.

Spatial Language, Visual Attention, and Perceptual Simulation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coventry, Kenny R.; Lynott, Dermot; Cangelosi, Angelo; Monrouxe, Lynn; Joyce, Dan; Richardson, Daniel C.

2010-01-01

Spatial language descriptions, such as "The bottle is over the glass", direct the attention of the hearer to particular aspects of the visual world. This paper asks how they do so, and what brain mechanisms underlie this process. In two experiments employing behavioural and eye tracking methodologies we examined the effects of spatial language on…

Input and Age-Dependent Variation in Second Language Learning: A Connectionist Account.

PubMed

Janciauskas, Marius; Chang, Franklin

2017-07-26

Language learning requires linguistic input, but several studies have found that knowledge of second language (L2) rules does not seem to improve with more language exposure (e.g., Johnson & Newport, 1989). One reason for this is that previous studies did not factor out variation due to the different rules tested. To examine this issue, we reanalyzed grammaticality judgment scores in Flege, Yeni-Komshian, and Liu's (1999) study of L2 learners using rule-related predictors and found that, in addition to the overall drop in performance due to a sensitive period, L2 knowledge increased with years of input. Knowledge of different grammar rules was negatively associated with input frequency of those rules. To better understand these effects, we modeled the results using a connectionist model that was trained using Korean as a first language (L1) and then English as an L2. To explain the sensitive period in L2 learning, the model's learning rate was reduced in an age-related manner. By assigning different learning rates for syntax and lexical learning, we were able to model the difference between early and late L2 learners in input sensitivity. The model's learning mechanism allowed transfer between the L1 and L2, and this helped to explain the differences between different rules in the grammaticality judgment task. This work demonstrates that an L1 model of learning and processing can be adapted to provide an explicit account of how the input and the sensitive period interact in L2 learning. © 2017 The Authors. Cognitive Science - A Multidisciplinary Journal published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Second Language Acquisition Research and Second Language Teaching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corder, S. Pit

1985-01-01

Discusses second language acquisition, the importance of comprehensible input to this acquisition, and the inadequacy of the theory of language interference as an explanation for errors in second language speech. The role of the teacher in the language classroom and the "procedural syllabus" are described. (SED)

Plasticity of Human Spatial Cognition: Spatial Language and Cognition Covary across Cultures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haun, Daniel B. M.; Rapold, Christian J.; Janzen, Gabriele; Levinson, Stephen C.

2011-01-01

The present paper explores cross-cultural variation in spatial cognition by comparing spatial reconstruction tasks by Dutch and Namibian elementary school children. These two communities differ in the way they predominantly express spatial relations in language. Four experiments investigate cognitive strategy preferences across different levels of…

Neural Language Processing in Adolescent First-Language Learners

PubMed Central

Ferjan Ramirez, Naja; Leonard, Matthew K.; Torres, Christina; Hatrak, Marla; Halgren, Eric; Mayberry, Rachel I.

2014-01-01

The relation between the timing of language input and development of neural organization for language processing in adulthood has been difficult to tease apart because language is ubiquitous in the environment of nearly all infants. However, within the congenitally deaf population are individuals who do not experience language until after early childhood. Here, we investigated the neural underpinnings of American Sign Language (ASL) in 2 adolescents who had no sustained language input until they were approximately 14 years old. Using anatomically constrained magnetoencephalography, we found that recently learned signed words mainly activated right superior parietal, anterior occipital, and dorsolateral prefrontal areas in these 2 individuals. This spatiotemporal activity pattern was significantly different from the left fronto-temporal pattern observed in young deaf adults who acquired ASL from birth, and from that of hearing young adults learning ASL as a second language for a similar length of time as the cases. These results provide direct evidence that the timing of language experience over human development affects the organization of neural language processing. PMID:23696277

Integrated Emergy and Economic Evaluation of Lotus-Root ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Lotus (Neumbo nucifera, Gaertn) is the most important aquatic vegetable in China, with a cultivation history of over 3000 years. The emergy, energy, material, and money flows of three lotus root cultivation modes in Wanqingsha, Nansha District, Guangzhou, China were examined using Energy Systems Language models and emergy evaluation to better understand their ecological and economic characteristics on multiple spatial and temporal scales. The natural resource foundations, economic characteristics and sustainability of these modes were evaluated and compared. The results showed that although all three modes were highly dependent on purchased emergy inputs, their potential impacts as measured by the local (ELRL) and global (ELRW) environmental loading ratios were less than 1.2 and 0.7, respectively. The lotus-fish mode was the most sustainable with its emergy index of sustainable development (EISD) 2.09 and 2.13 times that of the pure lotus and lotus-shrimp modes, respectively. All three lotus-root production modes had superior economic viability, since their Output/Input ratio ranged from 2.56 to 4.95. The results indicated that agricultural systems may have different environmental impacts and sustainability characteristics at different spatial and temporal scales, and that these impacts and characteristics can be simultaneously explored using integrated emergy and economic evaluations. This study provides some major new insights about agriculture and its potenti

Quantity and Quality of Caregivers' Linguistic Input to 18-Month and 3-Year-Old Children Who Are Hard of Hearing.

PubMed

Ambrose, Sophie E; Walker, Elizabeth A; Unflat-Berry, Lauren M; Oleson, Jacob J; Moeller, Mary Pat

2015-01-01

The primary objective of this study was to examine the quantity and quality of caregiver talk directed to children who are hard of hearing (CHH) compared with children with normal hearing (CNH). For the CHH only, the study explored how caregiver input changed as a function of child age (18 months versus 3 years), which child and family factors contributed to variance in caregiver linguistic input at 18 months and 3 years, and how caregiver talk at 18 months related to child language outcomes at 3 years. Participants were 59 CNH and 156 children with bilateral, mild-to-severe hearing loss. When children were approximately 18 months and/or 3 years of age, caregivers and children participated in a 5-min semistructured, conversational interaction. Interactions were transcribed and coded for two features of caregiver input representing quantity (number of total utterances and number of total words) and four features representing quality (number of different words, mean length of utterance in morphemes, proportion of utterances that were high level, and proportion of utterances that were directing). In addition, at the 18-month visit, parents completed a standardized questionnaire regarding their child's communication development. At the 3-year visit, a clinician administered a standardized language measure. At the 18-month visit, the CHH were exposed to a greater proportion of directing utterances than the CNH. At the 3-year visit, there were significant differences between the CNH and CHH for number of total words and all four of the quality variables, with the CHH being exposed to fewer words and lower quality input. Caregivers generally provided higher quality input to CHH at the 3-year visit compared with the 18-month visit. At the 18-month visit, quantity variables, but not quality variables, were related to several child and family factors. At the 3-year visit, the variable most strongly related to caregiver input was child language. Longitudinal analyses indicated that quality, but not quantity, of caregiver linguistic input at 18 months was related to child language abilities at 3 years, with directing utterances accounting for significant unique variance in child language outcomes. Although caregivers of CHH increased their use of quality features of linguistic input over time, the differences when compared with CNH suggest that some caregivers may need additional support to provide their children with optimal language learning environments. This is particularly important given the relationships that were identified between quality features of caregivers' linguistic input and children's language abilities. Family supports should include a focus on developing a style that is conversational eliciting as opposed to directive.

Teaching Additional Languages. Educational Practices Series 6.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Judd, Elliot L.; Tan, Lihua; Walberg, Herbert J.

This booklet describes key principles of and research on teaching additional languages. The 10 chapters focus on the following: (1) "Comprehensible Input" (learners need exposure to meaningful, understandable language); (2) "Language Opportunities" (classroom activities should let students use natural and meaningful language with their…

[Prosody, speech input and language acquisition].

PubMed

Jungheim, M; Miller, S; Kühn, D; Ptok, M

2014-04-01

In order to acquire language, children require speech input. The prosody of the speech input plays an important role. In most cultures adults modify their code when communicating with children. Compared to normal speech this code differs especially with regard to prosody. For this review a selective literature search in PubMed and Scopus was performed. Prosodic characteristics are a key feature of spoken language. By analysing prosodic features, children gain knowledge about underlying grammatical structures. Child-directed speech (CDS) is modified in a way that meaningful sequences are highlighted acoustically so that important information can be extracted from the continuous speech flow more easily. CDS is said to enhance the representation of linguistic signs. Taking into consideration what has previously been described in the literature regarding the perception of suprasegmentals, CDS seems to be able to support language acquisition due to the correspondence of prosodic and syntactic units. However, no findings have been reported, stating that the linguistically reduced CDS could hinder first language acquisition.

Production Is Only Half the Story - First Words in Two East African Languages.

PubMed

Alcock, Katherine J

2017-01-01

Theories of early learning of nouns in children's vocabularies divide into those that emphasize input (language and non-linguistic aspects) and those that emphasize child conceptualisation. Most data though come from production alone, assuming that learning a word equals speaking it. Methodological issues can mean production and comprehension data within or across input languages are not comparable. Early vocabulary production and comprehension were examined in children hearing two Eastern Bantu languages whose grammatical features may encourage early verb knowledge. Parents of 208 infants aged 8-20 months were interviewed using Communicative Development Inventories that assess infants' first spoken and comprehended words. Raw totals, and proportions of chances to know a word, were compared to data from other languages. First spoken words were mainly nouns (75-95% were nouns versus less than 10% verbs) but first comprehended words included more verbs (15% were verbs) than spoken words did. The proportion of children's spoken words that were verbs increased with vocabulary size, but not the proportion of comprehended words. Significant differences were found between children's comprehension and production but not between languages. This may be for pragmatic reasons, rather than due to concepts with which children approach language learning, or directly due to the input language.

Production Is Only Half the Story — First Words in Two East African Languages

PubMed Central

Alcock, Katherine J.

2017-01-01

Theories of early learning of nouns in children’s vocabularies divide into those that emphasize input (language and non-linguistic aspects) and those that emphasize child conceptualisation. Most data though come from production alone, assuming that learning a word equals speaking it. Methodological issues can mean production and comprehension data within or across input languages are not comparable. Early vocabulary production and comprehension were examined in children hearing two Eastern Bantu languages whose grammatical features may encourage early verb knowledge. Parents of 208 infants aged 8–20 months were interviewed using Communicative Development Inventories that assess infants’ first spoken and comprehended words. Raw totals, and proportions of chances to know a word, were compared to data from other languages. First spoken words were mainly nouns (75–95% were nouns versus less than 10% verbs) but first comprehended words included more verbs (15% were verbs) than spoken words did. The proportion of children’s spoken words that were verbs increased with vocabulary size, but not the proportion of comprehended words. Significant differences were found between children’s comprehension and production but not between languages. This may be for pragmatic reasons, rather than due to concepts with which children approach language learning, or directly due to the input language. PMID:29163280

The Contribution of Two Categories of Parent Verbal Responsiveness to Later Language for Toddlers and Preschoolers on the Autism Spectrum

PubMed Central

Haebig, Eileen; McDuffie, Andrea; Weismer, Susan Ellis

2013-01-01

Purpose Longitudinal associations between two categories of parent verbal responsiveness and language comprehension and production one year later were examined in 40 toddlers and preschoolers with a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Method Parent-child play samples using a standard toy set were digitally captured and coded for child engagement with objects and communication acts and for parent verbal responses to play and communication. Results After controlling for parent education, child engagement and initial language level, only parent directives for language that followed into the child's focus of attention accounted for unique variance in predicting both comprehension and production one year later. A series of exploratory analyses revealed that parent comments that followed into the child's focus of attention also accounted for unique variance in later comprehension and production for children who were minimally verbal at the initial time period. Conclusions Child developmental level may warrant different types of linguistic input to facilitate language learning. Children with ASD who have minimal linguistic skills may benefit from parent language input that follows into the child’s focus of attention. Children with ASD who are verbally fluent may need more advanced language input to facilitate language development. PMID:22878512

Implied motion language can influence visual spatial memory.

PubMed

Vinson, David W; Engelen, Jan; Zwaan, Rolf A; Matlock, Teenie; Dale, Rick

2017-07-01

How do language and vision interact? Specifically, what impact can language have on visual processing, especially related to spatial memory? What are typically considered errors in visual processing, such as remembering the location of an object to be farther along its motion trajectory than it actually is, can be explained as perceptual achievements that are driven by our ability to anticipate future events. In two experiments, we tested whether the prior presentation of motion language influences visual spatial memory in ways that afford greater perceptual prediction. Experiment 1 showed that motion language influenced judgments for the spatial memory of an object beyond the known effects of implied motion present in the image itself. Experiment 2 replicated this finding. Our findings support a theory of perception as prediction.

Translingual Literacy, Language Difference, and Matters of Agency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lu, Min-Zhan; Horner, Bruce

2013-01-01

We argue that composition scholarship's defenses of language differences in student writing reinforce dominant ideology's spatial framework conceiving language difference as deviation from a norm of sameness. We argue instead for adopting a temporal-spatial framework defining difference as the norm of utterances, and defining languages,…

What Clinicians Need to Know about Bilingual Development

PubMed Central

Hoff, Erika; Core, Cynthia

2016-01-01

Basic research on bilingual development suggests several conclusions that can inform clinical practice with children from bilingual environments. They include the following: (1) Dual language input does not confuse children. (2) It is not necessary for the two languages to be kept separate in children’s experience to avoid confusion. (3) Learning two languages takes longer than learning one; on average, bilingual children lag behind monolingual children in single language comparisons. (4) A dominant language is not equivalent to an only language. (5) A measure of total vocabulary provides the best indicator of young bilingual children’s language learning capacity. (6) Bilingual children can have different strengths in each language. (7) The quantity and quality of bilingual children’s input in each language influence their rates of development in each language. (8) Immigrant parents should not be discouraged from speaking their native language to their children. (9) Bilingual environments vary enormously in the support they provide for each language, with the result that bilingual children vary enormously in their dual language skills. Empirical findings in support of each conclusion are presented. PMID:25922994

Songs as Ambient Language Input in Phonology Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Au, Terry Kit-fong

2013-01-01

Children cannot learn to speak a language simply from occasional noninteractive exposure to native speakers' input (e.g., by hearing television dialogues), but can they learn something about its phonology? To answer this question, the present study varied ambient hearing experience for 126 5- to 7-year-old native Cantonese-Chinese speakers…

Parental Numeric Language Input to Mandarin Chinese and English Speaking Preschool Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Alicia; Sandhofer, Catherine M.; Adelchanow, Lauren; Rottman, Benjamin

2011-01-01

The present study examined the number-specific parental language input to Mandarin- and English-speaking preschool-aged children. Mandarin and English transcripts from the CHILDES database were examined for amount of numeric speech, specific types of numeric speech and syntactic frames in which numeric speech appeared. The results showed that…

Teaching How to Apologize: EFL Textbooks and Pragmatic Input

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Limberg, Holger

2016-01-01

Learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) are exposed to a collection of materials and communicative activities in the classroom through which they learn to use the language competently and appropriately. Textbooks, in particular, are a rich source of input, offering a variety of opportunities to acquire and practice pragmatic competence in…

Frequency of Input Effects on Word Comprehension of Children with Specific Language Impairment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rice, Mabel L.; And Others

1994-01-01

This study compared factors contributing to Quick Incidental Learning of new vocabulary by 50 5-year olds with specific language impairment (SLI) and 2 comparison groups. Although SLI children exhibited a robust representational mapping ability, performance was modulated by a minimum input constraint and apparent problems with storage into…

The Comprehension and Production of Wh-Questions in Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friedmann, Naama; Szterman, Ronit

2011-01-01

Hearing loss during the critical period for language acquisition restricts spoken language input. This input limitation, in turn, may hamper syntactic development. This study examined the comprehension, production, and repetition of Wh-questions in deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. The participants were 11 orally trained Hebrew-speaking…

Visual and Auditory Input in Second-Language Speech Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hardison, Debra M.

2010-01-01

The majority of studies in second-language (L2) speech processing have involved unimodal (i.e., auditory) input; however, in many instances, speech communication involves both visual and auditory sources of information. Some researchers have argued that multimodal speech is the primary mode of speech perception (e.g., Rosenblum 2005). Research on…

Analyzing Learner Language: Towards a Flexible Natural Language Processing Architecture for Intelligent Language Tutors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amaral, Luiz; Meurers, Detmar; Ziai, Ramon

2011-01-01

Intelligent language tutoring systems (ILTS) typically analyze learner input to diagnose learner language properties and provide individualized feedback. Despite a long history of ILTS research, such systems are virtually absent from real-life foreign language teaching (FLT). Taking a step toward more closely linking ILTS research to real-life…

Insights into Second Language Acquisition Theory and Different Approaches to Language Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ponniah, Joseph

2010-01-01

This paper attempts to review second language acquisition theory and some of the methods practiced in language classes. The review substantiates that comprehensible input as the crucial determining factor for language acquisition and consciously learned linguistic knowledge can be used only to edit the output of the acquired language sometimes…

Effect of Bilingualism on Lexical Stress Pattern Discrimination in French-Learning Infants

PubMed Central

Bijeljac-Babic, Ranka; Serres, Josette; Höhle, Barbara; Nazzi, Thierry

2012-01-01

Monolingual infants start learning the prosodic properties of their native language around 6 to 9 months of age, a fact marked by the development of preferences for predominant prosodic patterns and a decrease in sensitivity to non-native prosodic properties. The present study evaluates the effects of bilingual acquisition on speech perception by exploring how stress pattern perception may differ in French-learning 10-month-olds raised in bilingual as opposed to monolingual environments. Experiment 1 shows that monolinguals can discriminate stress patterns following a long familiarization to one of two patterns, but not after a short familiarization. In Experiment 2, two subgroups of bilingual infants growing up learning both French and another language (varying across infants) in which stress is used lexically were tested under the more difficult short familiarization condition: one with balanced input, and one receiving more input in the language other than French. Discrimination was clearly found for the other-language-dominant subgroup, establishing heightened sensitivity to stress pattern contrasts in these bilinguals as compared to monolinguals. However, the balanced bilinguals' performance was not better than that of monolinguals, establishing an effect of the relative balance of the language input. This pattern of results is compatible with the proposal that sensitivity to prosodic contrasts is maintained or enhanced in a bilingual population compared to a monolingual population in which these contrasts are non-native, provided that this dimension is used in one of the two languages in acquisition, and that infants receive enough input from that language. PMID:22363500

Spatial light modulators for full cross-connections in optical networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Juday, Richard D. (Inventor)

2004-01-01

A polarization-independent optical switch is disclosed for switching at least one incoming beam from at least one input source to at least one output drain. The switch includes a polarizing beam splitter to split each of the at least one incoming beam into a first input beam and a second input beam, wherein the first input beam and the second input beams are independently polarized; a wave plate optically coupled to the second input beam for converting the polarization of the second input beam to an appropriately polarized second input beam; a beam combiner optically coupled to the first input beam and the modified second input beam, wherein the beam combiner accepts the first input beam and the modified second input beam to produce a combined beam; the combined beam is invariant to the polarization state of the input source's polarization; and a controllable spatial light modulator optically coupled to the combined beam, wherein the combined beam is diffracted by the controllable spatial light modulator to place light at a plurality of output locations.

Unsupervised texture image segmentation by improved neural network ART2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Zhiling; Labini, G. Sylos; Mugnuolo, R.; Desario, Marco

1994-01-01

We here propose a segmentation algorithm of texture image for a computer vision system on a space robot. An improved adaptive resonance theory (ART2) for analog input patterns is adapted to classify the image based on a set of texture image features extracted by a fast spatial gray level dependence method (SGLDM). The nonlinear thresholding functions in input layer of the neural network have been constructed by two parts: firstly, to reduce the effects of image noises on the features, a set of sigmoid functions is chosen depending on the types of the feature; secondly, to enhance the contrast of the features, we adopt fuzzy mapping functions. The cluster number in output layer can be increased by an autogrowing mechanism constantly when a new pattern happens. Experimental results and original or segmented pictures are shown, including the comparison between this approach and K-means algorithm. The system written in C language is performed on a SUN-4/330 sparc-station with an image board IT-150 and a CCD camera.

Phonetic Category Cues in Adult-Directed Speech: Evidence from Three Languages with Distinct Vowel Characteristics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pons, Ferran; Biesanz, Jeremy C.; Kajikawa, Sachiyo; Fais, Laurel; Narayan, Chandan R.; Amano, Shigeaki; Werker, Janet F.

2012-01-01

Using an artificial language learning manipulation, Maye, Werker, and Gerken (2002) demonstrated that infants' speech sound categories change as a function of the distributional properties of the input. In a recent study, Werker et al. (2007) showed that Infant-directed Speech (IDS) input contains reliable acoustic cues that support distributional…

Urban vs. Rural CLIL: An Analysis of Input-Related Variables, Motivation and Language Attainment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alejo, Rafael; Piquer-Píriz, Ana

2016-01-01

The present article carries out an in-depth analysis of the differences in motivation, input-related variables and linguistic attainment of the students at two content and language integrated learning (CLIL) schools operating within the same institutional and educational context, the Spanish region of Extremadura, and differing only in terms of…

Extending Talk on a Prescribed Discussion Topic in a Learner-Native Speaker eTandem Learning Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Black, Emily

2017-01-01

Opportunities for language learners to access authentic input and engage in consequential interactions with native speakers of their target language abound in this era of computer mediated communication. Synchronous audio/video calling software represents one opportunity to access such input and address the challenges of developing pragmatic and…

Gesture as Input in Language Acquisition: Learning "Who She Is" from "Where She Is"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodrich, Whitney Sarah-Iverson

2009-01-01

This dissertation explores the role co-speech gesture plays as input in language learning, specifically with respect to the acquisition of anaphoric pronouns. Four studies investigate how both adults and children interpret ambiguous pronouns, and how the order-of-mention tendency develops in children. The results suggest that gesture is a useful…

The Effectiveness of Two Comprehensible-Input Approaches to Foreign Language Instruction at the Intermediate Level

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodrigo, Victoria; Krashen, Stephen; Gribbons, Barry

2004-01-01

Fourth semester students of Spanish as a foreign language at the university level in the US participated in two kinds of comprehensible-input based instruction, an extensive reading class that combined assigned and self-selected reading, and a "Reading-Discussion" class that consisted of assigned reading, debates and discussions. Students in both…

Maturational and Non-Maturational Factors in Heritage Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moon, Ji Hye

2012-01-01

This dissertation aims to understand the maturational and non-maturational aspects of early bilingualism and language attrition in heritage speakers who have acquired their L1 incompletely in childhood. The study highlights the influential role of age and input dynamics in early L1 development, where the timing of reduction in L1 input and the…

Spatial language and converseness.

PubMed

Burigo, Michele; Coventry, Kenny R; Cangelosi, Angelo; Lynott, Dermot

2016-12-01

Typical spatial language sentences consist of describing the location of an object (the located object) in relation to another object (the reference object) as in "The book is above the vase". While it has been suggested that the properties of the located object (the book) are not translated into language because they are irrelevant when exchanging location information, it has been shown that the orientation of the located object affects the production and comprehension of spatial descriptions. In line with the claim that spatial language apprehension involves inferences about relations that hold between objects it has been suggested that during spatial language apprehension people use the orientation of the located object to evaluate whether the logical property of converseness (e.g., if "the book is above the vase" is true, then also "the vase is below the book" must be true) holds across the objects' spatial relation. In three experiments using sentence acceptability rating tasks we tested this hypothesis and demonstrated that when converseness is violated people's acceptability ratings of a scene's description are reduced indicating that people do take into account geometric properties of the located object and use it to infer logical spatial relations.

What Does Children's Spatial Language Reveal about Spatial Concepts? Evidence from the Use of Containment Expressions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johanson, Megan; Papafragou, Anna

2014-01-01

Children's overextensions of spatial language are often taken to reveal spatial biases. However, it is unclear whether extension patterns should be attributed to children's overly general spatial concepts or to a narrower notion of conceptual similarity allowing metaphor-like extensions. We describe a previously unnoticed extension of…

Language, cognitive flexibility, and explicit false belief understanding: longitudinal analysis in typical development and specific language impairment.

PubMed

Farrant, Brad M; Maybery, Murray T; Fletcher, Janet

2012-01-01

The hypothesis that language plays a role in theory-of-mind (ToM) development is supported by a number of lines of evidence (e.g., H. Lohmann & M. Tomasello, 2003). The current study sought to further investigate the relations between maternal language input, memory for false sentential complements, cognitive flexibility, and the development of explicit false belief understanding in 91 English-speaking typically developing children (M age = 61.3 months) and 30 children with specific language impairment (M age = 63.0 months). Concurrent and longitudinal findings converge in supporting a model in which maternal language input predicts the child's memory for false complements, which predicts cognitive flexibility, which in turn predicts explicit false belief understanding. © 2011 The Authors. Child Development © 2011 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Hearing versus Listening: Attention to Speech and Its Role in Language Acquisition in Deaf Infants with Cochlear Implants

PubMed Central

Houston, Derek M.; Bergeson, Tonya R.

2013-01-01

The advent of cochlear implantation has provided thousands of deaf infants and children access to speech and the opportunity to learn spoken language. Whether or not deaf infants successfully learn spoken language after implantation may depend in part on the extent to which they listen to speech rather than just hear it. We explore this question by examining the role that attention to speech plays in early language development according to a prominent model of infant speech perception – Jusczyk’s WRAPSA model – and by reviewing the kinds of speech input that maintains normal-hearing infants’ attention. We then review recent findings suggesting that cochlear-implanted infants’ attention to speech is reduced compared to normal-hearing infants and that speech input to these infants differs from input to infants with normal hearing. Finally, we discuss possible roles attention to speech may play on deaf children’s language acquisition after cochlear implantation in light of these findings and predictions from Jusczyk’s WRAPSA model. PMID:24729634

Functional correlates of the lateral and medial entorhinal cortex: objects, path integration and local-global reference frames.

PubMed

Knierim, James J; Neunuebel, Joshua P; Deshmukh, Sachin S

2014-02-05

The hippocampus receives its major cortical input from the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) and the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC). It is commonly believed that the MEC provides spatial input to the hippocampus, whereas the LEC provides non-spatial input. We review new data which suggest that this simple dichotomy between 'where' versus 'what' needs revision. We propose a refinement of this model, which is more complex than the simple spatial-non-spatial dichotomy. MEC is proposed to be involved in path integration computations based on a global frame of reference, primarily using internally generated, self-motion cues and external input about environmental boundaries and scenes; it provides the hippocampus with a coordinate system that underlies the spatial context of an experience. LEC is proposed to process information about individual items and locations based on a local frame of reference, primarily using external sensory input; it provides the hippocampus with information about the content of an experience.

"To Improve Language, You Have to Mix": Teachers' Perceptions of Language Learning in an Overseas Immersion Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roskvist, Annelies; Harvey, Sharon; Corder, Deborah; Stacey, Karen

2014-01-01

The overseas immersion environment has long been considered a superior context for language learning, supposedly providing unlimited exposure to target language (TL) input and countless opportunities for authentic interaction with expert users. This article focuses on immersion programmes (IPs) for in-service language teachers--a relatively…

Atypical hemispheric dominance for attention: functional MRI topography.

PubMed

Flöel, Agnes; Jansen, Andreas; Deppe, Michael; Kanowski, Martin; Konrad, Carsten; Sommer, Jens; Knecht, Stefan

2005-09-01

The right hemisphere is predominantly involved in tasks associated with spatial attention. However, left hemispheric dominance for spatial attention can be found in healthy individuals, and both spatial attention and language can be lateralized to the same hemisphere. Little is known about the underlying regional distribution of neural activation in these 'atypical' individuals. Previously a large number of healthy subjects were screened for hemispheric dominance of visuospatial attention and language, using functional Doppler ultrasonography. From this group, subjects were chosen who were 'atypical' for hemispheric dominance of visuospatial attention and language, and their pattern of brain activation was studied with functional magnetic resonance imaging during a task probing spatial attention. Right-handed subjects with the 'typical' pattern of brain organization served as control subjects. It was found that subjects with an inverted lateralization of language and spatial attention (language right, attention left) recruited left-hemispheric areas in the attention task, homotopic to those recruited by control subjects in the right hemisphere. Subjects with lateralization of both language and attention to the right hemisphere activated an attentional network in the right hemisphere that was comparable to control subjects. The present findings suggest that not the hemispheric side, but the intrahemispheric pattern of activation is the distinct feature for the neural processes underlying language and attention.

Repeated Reading for Japanese Language Learners: Effects on Reading Speed, Comprehension, and Comprehension Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gorsuch, Greta; Taguchi, Etsuo; Umehara, Hiroaki

2015-01-01

A perennial challenge to second language educators and learners is getting sufficient input in settings where the L2 is not widely used, in this case beginning-level American university students learning Japanese. Reading is a significant means of getting L2 input, with recent calls for attention to reading and authentic texts as curriculum…

A Usage-Based Investigation of L2 Lexical Acquisition: The Role of Input and Output

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crossley, Scott; Kyle, Kristopher; Salsbury, Thomas

2016-01-01

This study investigates relations between second language (L2) lexical input and output in terms of word information properties (i.e., lexical salience; Ellis, 2006a). The data for this study come from a longitudinal corpus of naturalistic spoken data between L2 learners and first language (L1) interlocutors collected over a year's time. The…

Input and Output in Code Switching: A Case Study of a Japanese-Chinese Bilingual Infant

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meng, Hairong; Miyamoto, Tadao

2012-01-01

Code switching (CS) (or language mixing) generally takes place in bilingual children's utterances, even if their parents adhere to the "one parent-one language" principle. The present case study of a Japanese-Chinese bilingual infant provides both quantitative and qualitative analyses on the impact of input on output, as manifested in CS. The…

Contrasting Effects of Starting Age and Input on the Oral Performance of Foreign Language Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muñoz, Carmen

2014-01-01

The present study focuses on the influence of starting age and input on foreign language learning. In relation to starting age, the study investigates whether early starters in instructional settings achieve the same kind of long-term advantage as learners in naturalistic settings and it complements previous research by using data from oral…

Age and Input Effects in the Acquisition of Mood in Heritage Portuguese

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flores, Cristina; Santos, Ana Lúcia; Jesus, Alice; Marques, Rui

2017-01-01

The present study analyzes the effect of age and amount of input in the acquisition of European Portuguese as a heritage language. An elicited production task centred on mood choice in complement clauses was applied to a group of fifty bilingual children (six- to sixteen-year-olds) who are acquiring Portuguese as a minority language in a German…

Input Processing of Chinese by "ab initio" Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Han, ZhaoHong; Liu, Zehua

2013-01-01

We report on a study of first-exposure learners with different first languages (L1s: English, Japanese) to examine their ability to process input for form and meaning. We used a rich set of tasks to tap respectively into processing, comprehension, imitation, and working memory. We show that there are advantages to having a first language (L1) that…

Computer-Mediated Input, Output and Feedback in the Development of L2 Word Recognition from Speech

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matthews, Joshua; Cheng, Junyu; O'Toole, John Mitchell

2015-01-01

This paper reports on the impact of computer-mediated input, output and feedback on the development of second language (L2) word recognition from speech (WRS). A quasi-experimental pre-test/treatment/post-test research design was used involving three intact tertiary level English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. Classes were either assigned to…

The Effects of Increasing Object Pronoun Input Frequency on the Aural Comprehension of 3rd Person Object Pronouns among Second Semester Classroom Learners of French

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barone, Olivia L.

2017-01-01

This semester-long study was designed to benefit developing Second Language Acquisition (SLA) instructional methods, specifically honing French language instruction, creating a foundation on which to explore the connection between input frequency during instruction and aural comprehension of difficultly acquired forms. Concurrently, five current…

Spatial and Facial Processing in the Signed Discourse of Two Groups of Deaf Signers with Clinical Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Penn, Claire; Commerford, Ann; Ogilvy, Dale

2007-01-01

The linguistic and cognitive profiles of five deaf adults with a sign language disorder were compared with those of matched deaf controls. The test involved a battery of sign language tests, a signed narrative discourse task and a neuropsychological test protocol administered in sign language. Spatial syntax and facial processing were examined in…

Quantify spatial relations to discover handwritten graphical symbols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jinpeng; Mouchère, Harold; Viard-Gaudin, Christian

2012-01-01

To model a handwritten graphical language, spatial relations describe how the strokes are positioned in the 2-dimensional space. Most of existing handwriting recognition systems make use of some predefined spatial relations. However, considering a complex graphical language, it is hard to express manually all the spatial relations. Another possibility would be to use a clustering technique to discover the spatial relations. In this paper, we discuss how to create a relational graph between strokes (nodes) labeled with graphemes in a graphical language. Then we vectorize spatial relations (edges) for clustering and quantization. As the targeted application, we extract the repetitive sub-graphs (graphical symbols) composed of graphemes and learned spatial relations. On two handwriting databases, a simple mathematical expression database and a complex flowchart database, the unsupervised spatial relations outperform the predefined spatial relations. In addition, we visualize the frequent patterns on two text-lines containing Chinese characters.

Increasing the odds: applying emergentist theory in language intervention.

PubMed

Poll, Gerard H

2011-10-01

This review introduces emergentism, which is a leading theory of language development that states that language ability is the product of interactions between the child's language environment and his or her learning capabilities. The review suggests ways in which emergentism provides a theoretical rationale for interventions that are designed to address developmental language delays in young children. A review of selected literature on emergentist theory and research is presented, with a focus on the acquisition of early morphology and syntax. A significant method for developing and testing emergentist theory, connectionist modeling, is described. Key themes from both connectionist and behavioral studies are summarized and applied with specific examples to language intervention techniques. A case study is presented to integrate elements of emergentism with language intervention. Evaluating the theoretical foundation for language interventions is an important step in evidence-based practice. This article introduces three themes in the emergentist literature that have implications for language intervention: (a) sufficiency of language input, (b) active engagement of the child with the input, and (c) factors that increase the odds for correctly mapping language form to meaning. Evidence supporting the importance of these factors in effective language intervention is presented, along with limitations in that evidence.

Bilingualism and Special Education: Program and Pedagogical Issues.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cummins, Jim

1983-01-01

Application of the research-based principle that first and second language cognitive and academic development are interdependent and that language acquisition is largely dependent on students receiving sufficient comprehensible input in the target language is discussed in reference to program planning for academically at risk language minority…

Spatial Language Processing in the Blind: Evidence for a Supramodal Representation and Cortical Reorganization

PubMed Central

Struiksma, Marijn E.; Noordzij, Matthijs L.; Neggers, Sebastiaan F. W.; Bosker, Wendy M.; Postma, Albert

2011-01-01

Neuropsychological and imaging studies have shown that the left supramarginal gyrus (SMG) is specifically involved in processing spatial terms (e.g. above, left of), which locate places and objects in the world. The current fMRI study focused on the nature and specificity of representing spatial language in the left SMG by combining behavioral and neuronal activation data in blind and sighted individuals. Data from the blind provide an elegant way to test the supramodal representation hypothesis, i.e. abstract codes representing spatial relations yielding no activation differences between blind and sighted. Indeed, the left SMG was activated during spatial language processing in both blind and sighted individuals implying a supramodal representation of spatial and other dimensional relations which does not require visual experience to develop. However, in the absence of vision functional reorganization of the visual cortex is known to take place. An important consideration with respect to our finding is the amount of functional reorganization during language processing in our blind participants. Therefore, the participants also performed a verb generation task. We observed that only in the blind occipital areas were activated during covert language generation. Additionally, in the first task there was functional reorganization observed for processing language with a high linguistic load. As the visual cortex was not specifically active for spatial contents in the first task, and no reorganization was observed in the SMG, the latter finding further supports the notion that the left SMG is the main node for a supramodal representation of verbal spatial relations. PMID:21935391

Producing Spatial Words Is Not Enough: Understanding the Relation between Language and Spatial Cognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Hilary E.; Vlach, Haley A.; Simmering, Vanessa R.

2017-01-01

Prior research has investigated the relation between children's language and spatial cognition by assessing the quantity of children's spatial word production, with limited attention to the context in which children use such words. This study tested whether 4-year-olds children's (N = 41, primarily white middle class) adaptive use of task-relevant…

Update on "What" and "Where" in Spatial Language: A New Division of Labor for Spatial Terms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Landau, Barbara

2017-01-01

In this article, I revisit Landau and Jackendoff's (1993) paper, "What and where in spatial language and spatial cognition," proposing a friendly amendment and reformulation. The original paper emphasized the distinct geometries that are engaged when objects are represented as members of object kinds (named by count nouns), versus when…

Motor–sensory convergence in object localization: a comparative study in rats and humans

PubMed Central

Horev, Guy; Saig, Avraham; Knutsen, Per Magne; Pietr, Maciej; Yu, Chunxiu; Ahissar, Ehud

2011-01-01

In order to identify basic aspects in the process of tactile perception, we trained rats and humans in similar object localization tasks and compared the strategies used by the two species. We found that rats integrated temporally related sensory inputs (‘temporal inputs’) from early whisk cycles with spatially related inputs (‘spatial inputs’) to align their whiskers with the objects; their perceptual reports appeared to be based primarily on this spatial alignment. In a similar manner, human subjects also integrated temporal and spatial inputs, but relied mainly on temporal inputs for object localization. These results suggest that during tactile object localization, an iterative motor–sensory process gradually converges on a stable percept of object location in both species. PMID:21969688

Productive Vocabulary among Three Groups of Bilingual American Children: Comparison and Prediction

PubMed Central

Cote, Linda R.; Bornstein, Marc H.

2015-01-01

The importance of input factors for bilingual children’s vocabulary development was investigated. Forty-seven Argentine, 42 South Korean, 51 European American, 29 Latino immigrant, 26 Japanese immigrant, and 35 Korean immigrant mothers completed checklists of their 20-month-old children’s productive vocabularies. Bilingual children’s vocabulary sizes in each language separately were consistently smaller than their monolingual peers but only Latino bilingual children had smaller total vocabularies than monolingual children. Bilingual children’s vocabulary sizes were similar to each other. Maternal acculturation predicted the amount of input in each language, which then predicted children’s vocabulary size in each language. Maternal acculturation also predicted children’s English-language vocabulary size directly. PMID:25620820

Does input influence uptake? Links between maternal talk, processing speed and vocabulary size in Spanish-learning children

PubMed Central

Hurtado, Nereyda; Marchman, Virginia A.; Fernald, Anne

2010-01-01

It is well established that variation in caregivers' speech is associated with language outcomes, yet little is known about the learning principles that mediate these effects. This longitudinal study (n = 27) explores whether Spanish-learning children's early experiences with language predict efficiency in real-time comprehension and vocabulary learning. Measures of mothers' speech at 18 months were examined in relation to children's speech processing efficiency and reported vocabulary at 18 and 24 months. Children of mothers who provided more input at 18 months knew more words and were faster in word recognition at 24 months. Moreover, multiple regression analyses indicated that the influences of caregiver speech on speed of word recognition and vocabulary were largely overlapping. This study provides the first evidence that input shapes children's lexical processing efficiency and that vocabulary growth and increasing facility in spoken word comprehension work together to support the uptake of the information that rich input affords the young language learner. PMID:19046145

Understanding Language Learning: Review of the Application of the Interaction Model in Foreign Language Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dixon, L. Quentin; Wu, Shuang

2014-01-01

Purpose: This paper examined the application of the input-interaction-output model in English-as-Foreign-Language (EFL) learning environments with four specific questions: (1) How do the three components function in the model? (2) Does interaction in the foreign language classroom seem to be effective for foreign language acquisition? (3) What…

Input Processing at First Exposure to a Sign Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ortega, Gerardo; Morgan, Gary

2015-01-01

There is growing interest in learners' cognitive capacities to process a second language (L2) at first exposure to the target language. Evidence suggests that L2 learners are capable of processing novel words by exploiting phonological information from their first language (L1). Hearing adult learners of a sign language, however, cannot fall back…

The Impact of Language Experience on Language and Reading: A Statistical Learning Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seidenberg, Mark S.; MacDonald, Maryellen C.

2018-01-01

This article reviews the important role of statistical learning for language and reading development. Although statistical learning--the unconscious encoding of patterns in language input--has become widely known as a force in infants' early interpretation of speech, the role of this kind of learning for language and reading comprehension in…

Bimodal Bilinguals Co-activate Both Languages during Spoken Comprehension

PubMed Central

Shook, Anthony; Marian, Viorica

2012-01-01

Bilinguals have been shown to activate their two languages in parallel, and this process can often be attributed to overlap in input between the two languages. The present study examines whether two languages that do not overlap in input structure, and that have distinct phonological systems, such as American Sign Language (ASL) and English, are also activated in parallel. Hearing ASL-English bimodal bilinguals’ and English monolinguals’ eye-movements were recorded during a visual world paradigm, in which participants were instructed, in English, to select objects from a display. In critical trials, the target item appeared with a competing item that overlapped with the target in ASL phonology. Bimodal bilinguals looked more at competing items than at phonologically unrelated items, and looked more at competing items relative to monolinguals, indicating activation of the sign-language during spoken English comprehension. The findings suggest that language co-activation is not modality specific, and provide insight into the mechanisms that may underlie cross-modal language co-activation in bimodal bilinguals, including the role that top-down and lateral connections between levels of processing may play in language comprehension. PMID:22770677

cluster trials v. 1.0

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mitchell, John; Castillo, Andrew

2016-09-21

This software contains a set of python modules – input, search, cluster, analysis; these modules read input files containing spatial coordinates and associated attributes which can be used to perform nearest neighbor search (spatial indexing via kdtree), cluster analysis/identification, and calculation of spatial statistics for analysis.

Relative Contribution of Perception/Cognition and Language on Spatial Categorization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choi, Soonja; Hattrup, Kate

2012-01-01

This study investigated the relative contribution of perception/cognition and language-specific semantics in nonverbal categorization of spatial relations. English and Korean speakers completed a video-based similarity judgment task involving containment, support, tight fit, and loose fit. Both perception/cognition and language served as resources…

Form-Focused Discovery Activities in English Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ogeyik, Muhlise Cosgun

2011-01-01

Form-focused discovery activities allow language learners to grasp various aspects of a target language by contributing implicit knowledge by using discovered explicit knowledge. Moreover, such activities can assist learners to perceive and discover the features of their language input. In foreign language teaching environments, they can be used…

Beyond Production: Learners' Perceptions about Interactional Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mackey, Alison

2002-01-01

The interaction hypothesis of second language acquisition and associated work by Gass (Input, Interaction, and the Second Language Learner, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, Mahwah, NJ, 1997), Long (The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition, in: W.C. Ritchie, T.K. Bhatia (Eds.), Handbook of Language Acquisition,…

The "Fundamental Pedogagical Principle" in Second Language Teaching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krashen, Stephen D.

1981-01-01

A fundamental principle of second language acquisition is stated and applied to language teaching. The principle states that learners acquire a second language when they receive comprehensible input in situations where their affective filters are sufficiently low. The theoretical background of this principle consists of five hypotheses: the…

Lexical Processing in Spanish Sign Language (LSE)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carreiras, Manuel; Gutierrez-Sigut, Eva; Baquero, Silvia; Corina, David

2008-01-01

Lexical access is concerned with how the spoken or visual input of language is projected onto the mental representations of lexical forms. To date, most theories of lexical access have been based almost exclusively on studies of spoken languages and/or orthographic representations of spoken languages. Relatively few studies have examined how…

Informal Language Learning Setting: Technology or Social Interaction?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bahrani, Taher; Sim, Tam Shu

2012-01-01

Based on the informal language learning theory, language learning can occur outside the classroom setting unconsciously and incidentally through interaction with the native speakers or exposure to authentic language input through technology. However, an EFL context lacks the social interaction which naturally occurs in an ESL context. To explore…

Input Manipulation, Enhancement and Processing: Theoretical Views and Empirical Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benati, Alessandro

2016-01-01

Researchers in the field of instructed second language acquisition have been examining the issue of how learners interact with input by conducting research measuring particular kinds of instructional interventions (input-oriented and meaning-based). These interventions include such things as input flood, textual enhancement and processing…

An Alternative to Language Learner Dependence on L2 Caption-Reading Input for Comprehension of Sitcoms in a Multimedia Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, C.-H.

2014-01-01

Most second/foreign language (L2) learners have difficulty understanding listening input because of its implicit and ephemeral nature, and they typically have better reading comprehension than listening comprehension skills. This study examines the effects of using an interactive advance-organizer activity on the DVD video comprehension of L2…

Vocabulary Input from School Textbooks as a Potential Contributor to the Small Vocabulary Uptake Gained by English as a Foreign Language Learners in Saudi Arabia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alsaif, Abdullah; Milton, James

2012-01-01

Research repeatedly reports very little vocabulary uptake by English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in public schools in Saudi Arabia. Factors such as the teaching methodology employed and learner motivation have been suggested to explain this but a further explanation, the vocabulary input these learners receive, remains uninvestigated. An…

Task-Based Language Teaching for Beginner-Level Learners of L2 French: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erlam, Rosemary; Ellis, Rod

2018-01-01

This study investigated the effect of input-based tasks on the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar by beginner-level learners of L2 French and reported the introduction of task-based teaching as an innovation in a state secondary school. The experimental group (n = 19) completed a series of focused input-based language tasks, taught by their…

CHARACTERISTIC LENGTH SCALE OF INPUT DATA IN DISTRIBUTED MODELS: IMPLICATIONS FOR MODELING GRID SIZE. (R824784)

EPA Science Inventory

The appropriate spatial scale for a distributed energy balance model was investigated by: (a) determining the scale of variability associated with the remotely sensed and GIS-generated model input data; and (b) examining the effects of input data spatial aggregation on model resp...

Plasticity of human spatial cognition: spatial language and cognition covary across cultures.

PubMed

Haun, Daniel B M; Rapold, Christian J; Janzen, Gabriele; Levinson, Stephen C

2011-04-01

The present paper explores cross-cultural variation in spatial cognition by comparing spatial reconstruction tasks by Dutch and Namibian elementary school children. These two communities differ in the way they predominantly express spatial relations in language. Four experiments investigate cognitive strategy preferences across different levels of task-complexity and instruction. Data show a correlation between dominant linguistic spatial frames of reference and performance patterns in non-linguistic spatial memory tasks. This correlation is shown to be stable across an increase of complexity in the spatial array. When instructed to use their respective non-habitual cognitive strategy, participants were not easily able to switch between strategies and their attempts to do so impaired their performance. These results indicate a difference not only in preference but also in competence and suggest that spatial language and non-linguistic preferences and competences in spatial cognition are systematically aligned across human populations. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Viewpoint in the Visual-Spatial Modality: The Coordination of Spatial Perspective

PubMed Central

Pyers, Jennie E.; Perniss, Pamela; Emmorey, Karen

2015-01-01

Sign languages express viewpoint-dependent spatial relations (e.g., left, right) iconically but must conventionalize from whose viewpoint the spatial relation is being described, the signer's or the perceiver's. In Experiment 1, ASL signers and sign-naïve gesturers expressed viewpoint-dependent relations egocentrically, but only signers successfully interpreted the descriptions non-egocentrically, suggesting that viewpoint convergence in the visual modality emerges with language conventionalization. In Experiment 2, we observed that the cost of adopting a non-egocentric viewpoint was greater for producers than for perceivers, suggesting that sign languages have converged on the most cognitively efficient means of expressing left-right spatial relations. We suggest that non-linguistic cognitive factors such as visual perspective-taking and motor embodiment may constrain viewpoint convergence in the visual-spatial modality. PMID:26981027

Viewpoint in the Visual-Spatial Modality: The Coordination of Spatial Perspective.

PubMed

Pyers, Jennie E; Perniss, Pamela; Emmorey, Karen

2015-06-01

Sign languages express viewpoint-dependent spatial relations (e.g., left, right) iconically but must conventionalize from whose viewpoint the spatial relation is being described, the signer's or the perceiver's. In Experiment 1, ASL signers and sign-naïve gesturers expressed viewpoint-dependent relations egocentrically, but only signers successfully interpreted the descriptions non-egocentrically, suggesting that viewpoint convergence in the visual modality emerges with language conventionalization. In Experiment 2, we observed that the cost of adopting a non-egocentric viewpoint was greater for producers than for perceivers, suggesting that sign languages have converged on the most cognitively efficient means of expressing left-right spatial relations. We suggest that non-linguistic cognitive factors such as visual perspective-taking and motor embodiment may constrain viewpoint convergence in the visual-spatial modality.

Support for AAC Use in Preschool, and Growth in Language Skills, for Young Children with Developmental Disabilities

PubMed Central

BARKER, R. MICHAEL; AKABA, SANAE; BRADY, NANCY C.; THIEMANN-BOURQUE, KATHY

2014-01-01

Little is known about how AAC use in preschool may impact language development for children with complex communication needs (e.g., children with autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and other developmental disabilities). We developed two surveys (a) to describe children’s use of AAC in preschool classrooms, as well as the use of prompts and question asking, and augmented input by their communication partners; and (b) to describe teachers’ experience, training, and perceived support in providing AAC. We then examined the relationship between children’s experience of AAC, including the use of prompts, question asking, and augmented input by their partners, and the growth of receptive and expressive language for 71 children with developmental disabilities over a two-year period. The use of AAC by peers to provide augmented input was associated with stronger language growth; the use of prompting and question asking by teachers was associated with weaker language growth. Teachers reported that they received little training regarding ways to support a child’s use of AAC. Results suggest the need for further research on promoting AAC use at the preschool level, including research to promote peer interactions for AAC users. PMID:24229337

Relationships between language input and letter output modes in writing notes and summaries for students in grades 4 to 9 with persisting writing disabilities.

PubMed

Thompson, Robert; Tanimoto, Steven; Abbott, Robert; Nielsen, Kathleen; Lyman, Ruby Dawn; Geselowitz, Kira; Habermann, Katrien; Mickail, Terry; Raskind, Marshall; Peverly, Stephen; Nagy, William; Berninger, Virginia

2017-01-01

This study in programmatic research on technology-supported instruction first identified, through pretesting using evidence-based criteria, students with persisting specific learning disabilities (SLDs) in written language during middle childhood (grades 4-6) and early adolescence (grades 7-9). Participants then completed computerized writing instruction and posttesting. The 12 computer lessons varied output modes (letter production by stylus alternating with hunt and peck keyboarding versus by pencil with grooves alternating with touch typing on keyboard), input (read or heard source material), and task (notes or summaries). Posttesting and coded notes and summaries showed the effectiveness of computerized writing instruction on both writing tasks for multiple modes of language input and letter production output for improving letter production and related writing skills.

Relationships between Language Input and Letter Output Modes in Writing Notes and Summaries for Students in Grades 4 to 9 with Persisting Writing Disabilities

PubMed Central

Thompson, Robert; Tanimoto, Steven; Abbott, Robert; Nielsen, Kathleen; Lyman, Ruby Dawn; Geselowitz, Kira; Habermann, Katrien; Mickail, Terry; Raskind, Marshall; Peverly, Stephen; Nagy, William; Berninger, Virginia

2017-01-01

This study in programmatic research on technology-supported instruction first identified, through pretesting using evidence-based criteria, students with persisting specific learning disabilities (SLDs) in written language during middle childhood (grades 4-6) and early adolescence (grades 7-9). Participants then completed computerized writing instruction and posttesting. The 12 computer lessons varied output modes (letter production by stylus alternating with hunt and peck keyboarding versus by pencil with grooves alternating with touch typing on keyboard), input (read or heard source material), and task (notes or summaries). Posttesting and coded notes and summaries showed the effectiveness of computerized writing instruction on both writing tasks for multiple modes of language input and letter production output for improving letter production and related writing skills. PMID:27434553

Parental Language Mixing: Its Measurement and the Relation of Mixed Input to Young Bilingual Children's Vocabulary Size

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byers-Heinlein, Krista

2013-01-01

Is parental language mixing related to vocabulary acquisition in bilingual infants and children? Bilingual parents (who spoke English and another language; n = 181) completed the Language Mixing Scale questionnaire, a new self-report measure that assesses how frequently parents use words from two different languages in the same sentence, such as…

Spatial cognition in apes and humans.

PubMed

Gentner, Dedre

2007-05-01

The debate on whether language influences cognition is sometimes seen as a simple dichotomy: cognitive development is governed either by innate predispositions or by influences of language and culture. In two recent papers on spatial cognition, Haun and colleagues break new ground in bringing together a comparative cognition approach with a cross-linguistic framework to arrive at a third position: that humans begin with the same spatial reference frames as our near relatives, the great apes, and diverge later owing to the influence of language and culture.

Sociable Interfaces

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-01-01

Interface Compatibility); the tool is written in Ocaml [10], and the symbolic algorithms for interface compatibility and refinement are built on top...automata for a fire detection and reporting system. be encoded in the input language of the tool TIC. The refinement of sociable interfaces is discussed...are closely related to the I/O Automata Language (IOA) of [11]. Interface models are games between Input and Output, and in the models, it is es

Bedtime Stories in English: Field-Testing Comprehensible Input Materials for Natural Second-Language Acquisition in Japanese Pre-School Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamilton, Robert

2014-01-01

In this study, the prototype of a new type of bilingual picture book was field-tested with two sets of mother-son subject pairs. This picture book was designed as a possible tool for providing children with comprehensible input during their critical period for second language acquisition. Context is provided by visual cues and both Japanese and…

Implicit Language Learning: Adults' Ability to Segment Words in Norwegian

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kittleson, Megan M.; Aguilar, Jessica M.; Tokerud, Gry Line; Plante, Elena; Asbjornsen, Arve E.

2010-01-01

Previous language learning research reveals that the statistical properties of the input offer sufficient information to allow listeners to segment words from fluent speech in an artificial language. The current pair of studies uses a natural language to test the ecological validity of these findings and to determine whether a listener's language…

Facebook Groups as a Supporting Tool for Language Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ekoc, Arzu

2014-01-01

This paper attempts to present a review of Facebook group pages as an educational tool for language learning. One of the primary needs of foreign language learners is to gain the opportunity to use the target language outside the classroom practice. Social media communication provides occasions for learners to receive input and produce output…

On the Way to Language: Event Segmentation in Homesign and Gesture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozyurek, Asli; Furman, Reyhan; Goldin-Meadow, Susan

2015-01-01

Languages typically express semantic components of motion events such as manner (roll) and path (down) in separate lexical items. We explore how these combinatorial possibilities of language arise by focusing on (i) gestures produced by deaf children who lack access to input from a conventional language (homesign); (ii) gestures produced by…

Authenticity and Authorship in the Computer-Mediated Acquisition of L2 Literacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kramsch, Claire

2000-01-01

Examines two tenets of communicative language teaching--authenticity of the input and authorship of the language user--in an electronic environment. Reviews research in textually-mediated second language acquisition and analyzes two cases of computer-mediated language learning: the construction of a multimedia CD-ROM by American college learners…

CONSTRUCT: In Search of a Theory of Meaning. Technical Report No. 238.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, R. L.; And Others

A new language-processing system, CONSTRUCT, is described and defined as a question-answering system for elementary mathematical language using natural language input. The primary goal is said to be an attempt to reach a better understanding of the relationship between syntactic and semantic components of natural language. The "meaning…

Language Mediation in an L3 Classroom: The Role of Task Modalities and Task Types

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Payant, Caroline; Kim, YouJin

2015-01-01

Pedagogical tasks in language learning settings promote learner-learner interaction and provide second language (L2) learners with opportunities to process authentic input and produce output (Philp, Adams, & Iwashita, 2014). During these interactions, learners use their language repertoire to mediate their output (Swain & Lapkin, 2000).…

Bridging the Language and Cultural Gaps: The Use of Blogs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garcia-Sanchez, Soraya; Rojas-Lizana, Sol

2012-01-01

This article aims to demonstrate how the use of an online journal, a bilingual blog, can contribute to filling in the language and cultural gaps of foreign language learners. This case study focuses on the participation, interaction, motivation, language acquisition, feedback and cultural input improved by students of Spanish as a Foreign Language…

Power in methods: language to infants in structured and naturalistic contexts.

PubMed

Tamis-LeMonda, Catherine S; Kuchirko, Yana; Luo, Rufan; Escobar, Kelly; Bornstein, Marc H

2017-11-01

Methods can powerfully affect conclusions about infant experiences and learning. Data from naturalistic observations may paint a very different picture of learning and development from those based on structured tasks, as illustrated in studies of infant walking, object permanence, intention understanding, and so forth. Using language as a model system, we compared the speech of 40 mothers to their 13-month-old infants during structured play and naturalistic home routines. The contrasting methods yielded unique portrayals of infant language experiences, while simultaneously underscoring cross-situational correspondence at an individual level. Infants experienced substantially more total words and different words per minute during structured play than they did during naturalistic routines. Language input during structured play was consistently dense from minute to minute, whereas language during naturalistic routines showed striking fluctuations interspersed with silence. Despite these differences, infants' language experiences during structured play mirrored the peak language interactions infants experienced during naturalistic routines, and correlations between language inputs in the two conditions were strong. The implications of developmental methods for documenting the nature of experiences and individual differences are discussed. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Time and Space in Tzeltal: Is the Future Uphill?

PubMed Central

Brown, Penelope

2012-01-01

Linguistic expressions of time often draw on spatial language, which raises the question of whether cultural specificity in spatial language and cognition is reflected in thinking about time. In the Mayan language Tzeltal, spatial language relies heavily on an absolute frame of reference utilizing the overall slope of the land, distinguishing an “uphill/downhill” axis oriented from south to north, and an orthogonal “crossways” axis (sunrise-set) on the basis of which objects at all scales are located. Does this absolute system for calculating spatial relations carry over into construals of temporal relations? This question was explored in a study where Tzeltal consultants produced temporal expressions and performed two different non-linguistic temporal ordering tasks. The results show that at least five distinct schemata for conceptualizing time underlie Tzeltal linguistic expressions: (i) deictic ego-centered time, (ii) time as an ordered sequence (e.g., “first”/“later”), (iii) cyclic time (times of the day, seasons), (iv) time as spatial extension or location (e.g., “entering/exiting July”), and (v) a time vector extending uphillwards into the future. The non-linguistic task results showed that the “time moves uphillwards” metaphor, based on the absolute frame of reference prevalent in Tzeltal spatial language and thinking and important as well in the linguistic expressions for time, is not strongly reflected in responses on these tasks. It is argued that systematic and consistent use of spatial language in an absolute frame of reference does not necessarily transfer to consistent absolute time conceptualization in non-linguistic tasks; time appears to be more open to alternative construals. PMID:22787451

Six principles of language development: implications for second language learners.

PubMed

Konishi, Haruka; Kanero, Junko; Freeman, Max R; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy

2014-01-01

The number of children growing up in dual language environments is increasing in the United States. Despite the apparent benefits of speaking two languages, children learning English as a second language (ESL) often face struggles, as they may experience poverty and impoverished language input at home. Early exposure to a rich language environment is crucial for ESL children's academic success. This article explores how six evidenced-based principles of language learning can be used to provide support for ESL children.

Sign Language Studies with Chimpanzees and Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Cantfort, Thomas E.; Rimpau, James B.

1982-01-01

Reviews methodologies of sign language studies with chimpanzees and compares major findings of those studies with studies of human children. Considers relevance of input conditions for language acquisition, evidence used to demonstrate linguistic achievements, and application of rigorous testing procedures in developmental psycholinguistics.…

Design Language for Digital Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shiva, S. G.

1985-01-01

Digital Systems Design Language (DDL) is convenient hardware description language for developing and testing digital designs and for inputting design details into design automation system. Describes digital systems at gate, register transfer, and combinational block levels. DDL-based programs written in FORTRAN IV for batch execution.

Instructional Conditions for Trilingual Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cummins, Jim

2001-01-01

Outlines a framework for academic language learning that highlights the importance of focusing instructionally on meaning, language, and use. Reviews research that suggests that to develop students' academic language proficiency in bilingual or trilingual contexts, instruction must focus extensively on the processing of comprehensible input.…

Functional correlates of the lateral and medial entorhinal cortex: objects, path integration and local–global reference frames

PubMed Central

Knierim, James J.; Neunuebel, Joshua P.; Deshmukh, Sachin S.

2014-01-01

The hippocampus receives its major cortical input from the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) and the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC). It is commonly believed that the MEC provides spatial input to the hippocampus, whereas the LEC provides non-spatial input. We review new data which suggest that this simple dichotomy between ‘where’ versus ‘what’ needs revision. We propose a refinement of this model, which is more complex than the simple spatial–non-spatial dichotomy. MEC is proposed to be involved in path integration computations based on a global frame of reference, primarily using internally generated, self-motion cues and external input about environmental boundaries and scenes; it provides the hippocampus with a coordinate system that underlies the spatial context of an experience. LEC is proposed to process information about individual items and locations based on a local frame of reference, primarily using external sensory input; it provides the hippocampus with information about the content of an experience. PMID:24366146

Regularizing Unpredictable Variation: Evidence from a Natural Language Setting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hendricks, Alison Eisel; Miller, Karen; Jackson, Carrie N.

2018-01-01

While previous sociolinguistic research has demonstrated that children faithfully acquire probabilistic input constrained by sociolinguistic and linguistic factors (e.g., gender and socioeconomic status), research suggests children regularize inconsistent input-probabilistic input that is not sociolinguistically constrained (e.g., Hudson Kam &…

Object Orientation Affects Spatial Language Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burigo, Michele; Sacchi, Simona

2013-01-01

Typical spatial descriptions, such as "The car is in front of the house," describe the position of a located object (LO; e.g., the car) in space relative to a reference object (RO) whose location is known (e.g., the house). The orientation of the RO affects spatial language comprehension via the reference frame selection process.…

Spontaneous language production of Italian children with cochlear implants and their mothers in two interactive contexts.

PubMed

Majorano, Marinella; Guidotti, Laura; Guerzoni, Letizia; Murri, Alessandra; Morelli, Marika; Cuda, Domenico; Lavelli, Manuela

2018-01-01

In recent years many studies have shown that the use of cochlear implants (CIs) improves children's skills in processing the auditory signal and, consequently, the development of both language comprehension and production. Nevertheless, many authors have also reported that the development of language skills in children with CIs is variable and influenced by individual factors (e.g., age at CI activation) and contextual aspects (e.g., maternal linguistic input). To assess the characteristics of the spontaneous language production of Italian children with CIs, their mothers' input and the relationship between the two during shared book reading and semi-structured play. Twenty preschool children with CIs and 40 typically developing children, 20 matched for chronological age (CATD group) and 20 matched for hearing age (HATD group), were observed during shared book reading and semi-structured play with their mothers. Samples of spontaneous language were transcribed and analysed for each participant. The numbers of types, tokens, mean length of utterance (MLU) and grammatical categories were considered, and the familiarity of each mother's word was calculated. The children with CIs produced shorter utterances than the children in the CATD group. Their mothers produced language with lower levels of lexical variability and grammatical complexity, and higher proportions of verbs with higher familiarity than did the mothers in the other groups during shared book reading. The children's language was more strongly related to that of their mothers in the CI group than in the other groups, and it was associated with the age at CI activation. The findings suggest that the language of children with CIs is related both to their mothers' input and to age at CI activation. They might prompt suggestions for intervention programs focused on shared-book reading. © 2017 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

An application to model traffic intensity of agricultural machinery at field scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Augustin, Katja; Kuhwald, Michael; Duttmann, Rainer

2017-04-01

Several soil-pressure-models deal with the impact of agricultural machines on soils. In many cases, these models were used for single spots and consider a static machine configuration. Therefore, a statement about the spatial distribution of soil compaction risk for entire working processes is limited. The aim of the study is the development of an application for the spatial modelling of traffic lanes from agricultural vehicles including wheel load, ground pressure and wheel passages at the field scale. The application is based on Open Source software, application and data formats, using python programming language. Minimum input parameters are GPS-positions, vehicles and tires (producer and model) and the tire inflation pressure. Five working processes were distinguished: soil tillage, manuring, plant protection, sowing and harvest. Currently, two different models (Diserens 2009, Rücknagel et al. 2015) were implemented to calculate the soil pressure. The application was tested at a study site in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 2015, field traffic were recorded by RTK-GPS and used machine set ups were noted. Using these input information the traffic lanes, wheel load and soil pressure were calculated for all working processes. For instance, the maize harvest in 2016 with a crop chopper and one transport vehicle crossed about 55 % of the total field area. At some places the machines rolled over up to 46 times. Approximately 35 % of the total area was affected by wheel loads over 7 tons and soil pressures between 163 and 193 kPa. With the information about the spatial distribution of wheel passages, wheel load and soil pressure it is possible to identify hot spots of intensive field traffic. Additionally, the use of the application enables the analysis of soil compaction risk induced by agricultural machines for long- and short-term periods.

The overlap between false belief and spatial reorientation in the temporo-parietal junction: The role of input modality and task.

PubMed

Özdem, Ceylan; Brass, Marcel; Van der Cruyssen, Laurens; Van Overwalle, Frank

2017-04-01

Neuroimaging research has demonstrated that the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) is activated when unexpected stimuli appear in spatial reorientation tasks as well as during thinking about the beliefs of other people triggered by verbal scenarios. While the role of potential common component processes subserved by the TPJ has been extensively studied to explain this common activation, the potential confounding role of input modality (spatial vs. verbal) has been largely ignored. To investigate the role of input modality apart from task processes, we developed a novel spatial false belief task based on moving shapes. We explored the overlap in TPJ activation across this novel task and traditional tasks of spatial reorientation (Posner) and verbal belief (False Belief vs. Photo stories). The results show substantial overlap across the same spatial input modality (both reorientation and false belief) as well as across the common task process (verbal and spatial belief), but no triple overlap. This suggests the potential for an overarching function of the TPJ, with some degree of specialization in different subregions due to modality, function and connectivity. The results are discussed with respect to recent theoretical models of the TPJ.

HAL/S-FC and HAL/S-360 compiler system program description

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1976-01-01

The compiler is a large multi-phase design and can be broken into four phases: Phase 1 inputs the source language and does a syntactic and semantic analysis generating the source listing, a file of instructions in an internal format (HALMAT) and a collection of tables to be used in subsequent phases. Phase 1.5 massages the code produced by Phase 1, performing machine independent optimization. Phase 2 inputs the HALMAT produced by Phase 1 and outputs machine language object modules in a form suitable for the OS-360 or FCOS linkage editor. Phase 3 produces the SDF tables. The four phases described are written in XPL, a language specifically designed for compiler implementation. In addition to the compiler, there is a large library containing all the routines that can be explicitly called by the source language programmer plus a large collection of routines for implementing various facilities of the language.

Laterality and unilateral deafness: Patients with congenital right ear deafness do not develop atypical language dominance.

PubMed

Van der Haegen, Lise; Acke, Frederic; Vingerhoets, Guy; Dhooge, Ingeborg; De Leenheer, Els; Cai, Qing; Brysbaert, Marc

2016-12-01

Auditory speech perception, speech production and reading lateralize to the left hemisphere in the majority of healthy right-handers. In this study, we investigated to what extent sensory input underlies the side of language dominance. We measured the lateralization of the three core subprocesses of language in patients who had profound hearing loss in the right ear from birth and in matched control subjects. They took part in a semantic decision listening task involving speech and sound stimuli (auditory perception), a word generation task (speech production) and a passive reading task (reading). The results show that a lack of sensory auditory input on the right side, which is strongly connected to the contralateral left hemisphere, does not lead to atypical lateralization of speech perception. Speech production and reading were also typically left lateralized in all but one patient, contradicting previous small scale studies. Other factors such as genetic constraints presumably overrule the role of sensory input in the development of (a)typical language lateralization. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

FMS: A Format Manipulation System for Automatic Production of Natural Language Documents, Second Edition. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silver, Steven S.

FMS/3 is a system for producing hard copy documentation at high speed from free format text and command input. The system was originally written in assembler language for a 12K IBM 360 model 20 using a high speed 1403 printer with the UCS-TN chain option (upper and lower case). Input was from an IBM 2560 Multi-function Card Machine. The model 20…

Input Sources of Third Person Singular –s Inconsistency in Children with and without Specific Language Impairment*

PubMed Central

Leonard, Laurence B.; Fey, Marc E.; Deevy, Patricia; Bredin-Oja, Shelley L.

2015-01-01

We tested four predictions based on the assumption that optional infinitives can be attributed to properties of the input whereby children inappropriately extract nonfinite subject-verb sequences (e.g. the girl run) from larger input utterances (e.g. Does the girl run? Let’s watch the girl run). Thirty children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 30 typically developing children heard novel and familiar verbs that appeared exclusively either in utterances containing nonfinite subject-verb sequences or in simple sentences with the verb inflected for third person singular –s. Subsequent testing showed strong input effects, especially for the SLI group. The results provide support for input-based factors as significant contributors not only to the optional infinitive period in typical development, but also to the especially protracted optional infinitive period seen in SLI. PMID:25076070

Revisiting the role of language in spatial cognition: Categorical perception of spatial relations in English and Korean speakers.

PubMed

Holmes, Kevin J; Moty, Kelsey; Regier, Terry

2017-12-01

The spatial relation of support has been regarded as universally privileged in nonlinguistic cognition and immune to the influence of language. English, but not Korean, obligatorily distinguishes support from nonsupport via basic spatial terms. Despite this linguistic difference, previous research suggests that English and Korean speakers show comparable nonlinguistic sensitivity to the support/nonsupport distinction. Here, using a paradigm previously found to elicit cross-language differences in color discrimination, we provide evidence for a difference in sensitivity to support/nonsupport between native English speakers and native Korean speakers who were late English learners and tested in a context that privileged Korean. Whereas the former group showed categorical perception (CP) when discriminating spatial scenes capturing the support/nonsupport distinction, the latter did not. An additional group of native Korean speakers-relatively early English learners tested in an English-salient context-patterned with the native English speakers in showing CP for support/nonsupport. These findings suggest that obligatory marking of support/nonsupport in one's native language can affect nonlinguistic sensitivity to this distinction, contra earlier findings, but that such sensitivity may also depend on aspects of language background and the immediate linguistic context.

Blurring the Inputs: A Natural Language Approach to Sensitivity Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kleb, William L.; Thompson, Richard A.; Johnston, Christopher O.

2007-01-01

To document model parameter uncertainties and to automate sensitivity analyses for numerical simulation codes, a natural-language-based method to specify tolerances has been developed. With this new method, uncertainties are expressed in a natural manner, i.e., as one would on an engineering drawing, namely, 5.25 +/- 0.01. This approach is robust and readily adapted to various application domains because it does not rely on parsing the particular structure of input file formats. Instead, tolerances of a standard format are added to existing fields within an input file. As a demonstration of the power of this simple, natural language approach, a Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis is performed for three disparate simulation codes: fluid dynamics (LAURA), radiation (HARA), and ablation (FIAT). Effort required to harness each code for sensitivity analysis was recorded to demonstrate the generality and flexibility of this new approach.

The Effects of Frequency, Distribution, Mode of Presentation, and First Language on Learning an Artificial Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miyata, Munehiko

2011-01-01

This dissertation presents results from a series of experiments investigating adult learning of an artificial language and the effects that input frequency (high vs. low token frequency), frequency distribution (skewed vs. balanced), presentation mode (structured vs. scrambled), and first language (English vs. Japanese) have on such learning.…

Linguistics, Computers, and the Language Teacher. A Communicative Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Underwood, John H.

This analysis of the state of the art of computer programs and programming for language teaching has two parts. In the first part, an overview of the theory and practice of language teaching, Noam Chomsky's view of language, and the implications and problems of generative theory are presented. The theory behind the input model of language…

Interdisciplinary Research at the Intersection of CALL, NLP, and SLA: Methodological Implications from an Input Enhancement Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ziegler, Nicole; Meurers, Detmar; Rebuschat, Patrick; Ruiz, Simón; Moreno-Vega, José L.; Chinkina, Maria; Li, Wenjing; Grey, Sarah

2017-01-01

Despite the promise of research conducted at the intersection of computer-assisted language learning (CALL), natural language processing, and second language acquisition, few studies have explored the potential benefits of using intelligent CALL systems to deepen our understanding of the process and products of second language (L2) learning. The…

Switching Perspectives: From a Language Teacher to a Designer of Language Learning with New Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuure, Leena; Molin-Juustila, Tonja; Keisanen, Tiina; Riekki, Maritta; Iivari, Netta; Kinnula, Marianne

2016-01-01

Despite abundant research on educational technology and strategic input in the field, various surveys have shown that (language) teachers do not seem to embrace in their teaching the full potential of information and communication technology available in our everyday life. Language students soon entering the professional field could accelerate the…

Teachers' Uses of the Target and First Languages in Second and Foreign Language Classrooms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turnball, Miles; Arnett, Katy

2002-01-01

Reviews recent theoretical and empirical literature regarding teachers' uses of the target (TL) and first languages (L1) in second and foreign language classrooms. Explores several issues related to teachers' use of the L1 and the TL in the classroom; exposure to TL input, student motivation, cognitive considerations, code switching, and…

Are Commercial "Personal Robots" Ready for Language Learning? Focus on Second Language Speech

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moussalli, Souheila; Cardoso, Walcir

2016-01-01

Today's language classrooms are challenged with limited classroom time and lack of input, and output practice in a stress-free environment (Hsu, 2015). The use of commercial, readily available tools such as Personal Robots (PRs; e.g. Amazon's Echo, Jibo) might promote language learning by freeing up class time, allowing for a more focused…

Comprehensie van Vreemdtalige Input: Een Psycholinguistische Benadering (Acquisition of Dutch as a Second Language: A Psycholinguistic Approach).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Issidorides, Diana C.

1988-01-01

Within a psycholinguistic approach to second language learning, an attempt is made to investigate the question of how morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics affect the comprehension of Dutch sentences by nonnative learners of that language. When talking to nonnative language-learners, native speakers often tend to deliberately modify their…

Talk to Me, Baby! Supporting Language Development in the First 3 Years

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bardige, Betty; Bardige, M. Kori

2008-01-01

In their first few years, almost all children learn at least one language, though not equally well. Differences in the quantity, quality, sources, and variety of language inputs and conversation opportunities have a long-lasting effect. This article provides an overview of early language development and explains how talking with babies promotes…

Mimicking Infants' Early Language Experience Does Not Improve Adult Learning Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hudson Kam, Carla L.

2018-01-01

Adult learners know that language is for communicating and that there are patterns in the language that need to be learned. This affects the way they engage with language input; they search for form-meaning linkages, and this effortful engagement could interfere with their learning, especially for things like grammatical gender that often have at…

IREP

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Busby, Lee

IREP reads external program input using the Lua C Library, organizes the input into native language structures, and shares those structures among compiled program objects written in either (or both) C/C++ or Fortran

Simulation/Gaming and the Acquisition of Communicative Competence in Another Language.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garcia-Carbonell, Amparo; Rising, Beverly; Montero, Begona; Watts, Frances

2001-01-01

Discussion of communicative competence in second language acquisition focuses on a theoretical and practical meshing of simulation and gaming methodology with theories of foreign language acquisition, including task-based learning, interaction, and comprehensible input. Describes experiments conducted with computer-assisted simulations in…

Listening Skill Development through Massive Comprehensible Input.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalivoda, Theodore B.

Foreign language listening comprehension instruction too often relies on brief selections read aloud or sporadic teacher talk interspersed with native language (NL) utterances, which fail to provide sustained listening practice. NL is overused for grammar-related talk, reducing target language exposure, encouraging translation, and hindering…

The Temporal Dimension of Linguistic Prediction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chow, Wing Yee

2013-01-01

This thesis explores how predictions about upcoming language inputs are computed during real-time language comprehension. Previous research has demonstrated humans' ability to use rich contextual information to compute linguistic prediction during real-time language comprehension, and it has been widely assumed that contextual information can…

Parental numeric language input to Mandarin Chinese and English speaking preschool children.

PubMed

Chang, Alicia; Sandhofer, Catherine M; Adelchanow, Lauren; Rottman, Benjamin

2011-03-01

The present study examined the number-specific parental language input to Mandarin- and English-speaking preschool-aged children. Mandarin and English transcripts from the CHILDES database were examined for amount of numeric speech, specific types of numeric speech and syntactic frames in which numeric speech appeared. The results showed that Mandarin-speaking parents talked about number more frequently than English-speaking parents. Further, the ways in which parents talked about number terms in the two languages was more supportive of a cardinal interpretation in Mandarin than in English. We discuss these results in terms of their implications for numerical understanding and later mathematical performance.

Spatial complexity of character-based writing systems and arithmetic in primary school: a longitudinal study

PubMed Central

Rodic, Maja; Tikhomirova, Tatiana; Kolienko, Tatiana; Malykh, Sergey; Bogdanova, Olga; Zueva, Dina Y.; Gynku, Elena I.; Wan, Sirui; Zhou, Xinlin; Kovas, Yulia

2015-01-01

Previous research has consistently found an association between spatial and mathematical abilities. We hypothesized that this link may partially explain the consistently observed advantage in mathematics demonstrated by East Asian children. Spatial complexity of the character-based writing systems may reflect or lead to a cognitive advantage relevant to mathematics. Seven hundered and twenty one 6–9-year old children from the UK and Russia were assessed on a battery of cognitive skills and arithmetic. The Russian children were recruited from specialist linguistic schools and divided into four different language groups, based on the second language they were learning (i.e., English, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese). The UK children attended regular schools and were not learning any second language. The testing took place twice across the school year, once at the beginning, before the start of the second language acquisition, and once at the end of the year. The study had two aims: (1) to test whether spatial ability predicts mathematical ability in 7–9 year-old children across the samples; (2) to test whether acquisition and usage of a character-based writing system leads to an advantage in performance in arithmetic and related cognitive tasks. The longitudinal link from spatial ability to mathematics was found only in the Russian sample. The effect of second language acquisition on mathematics or other cognitive skills was negligible, although some effect of Chinese language on mathematical reasoning was suggested. Overall, the findings suggest that although spatial ability is related to mathematics at this age, one academic year of exposure to spatially complex writing systems is not enough to provide a mathematical advantage. Other educational and socio-cultural factors might play a greater role in explaining individual and cross-cultural differences in arithmetic at this age. PMID:25859235

Spatial complexity of character-based writing systems and arithmetic in primary school: a longitudinal study.

PubMed

Rodic, Maja; Tikhomirova, Tatiana; Kolienko, Tatiana; Malykh, Sergey; Bogdanova, Olga; Zueva, Dina Y; Gynku, Elena I; Wan, Sirui; Zhou, Xinlin; Kovas, Yulia

2015-01-01

Previous research has consistently found an association between spatial and mathematical abilities. We hypothesized that this link may partially explain the consistently observed advantage in mathematics demonstrated by East Asian children. Spatial complexity of the character-based writing systems may reflect or lead to a cognitive advantage relevant to mathematics. Seven hundered and twenty one 6-9-year old children from the UK and Russia were assessed on a battery of cognitive skills and arithmetic. The Russian children were recruited from specialist linguistic schools and divided into four different language groups, based on the second language they were learning (i.e., English, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese). The UK children attended regular schools and were not learning any second language. The testing took place twice across the school year, once at the beginning, before the start of the second language acquisition, and once at the end of the year. The study had two aims: (1) to test whether spatial ability predicts mathematical ability in 7-9 year-old children across the samples; (2) to test whether acquisition and usage of a character-based writing system leads to an advantage in performance in arithmetic and related cognitive tasks. The longitudinal link from spatial ability to mathematics was found only in the Russian sample. The effect of second language acquisition on mathematics or other cognitive skills was negligible, although some effect of Chinese language on mathematical reasoning was suggested. Overall, the findings suggest that although spatial ability is related to mathematics at this age, one academic year of exposure to spatially complex writing systems is not enough to provide a mathematical advantage. Other educational and socio-cultural factors might play a greater role in explaining individual and cross-cultural differences in arithmetic at this age.

Word recognition and phonetic structure acquisition: Possible relations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morgan, James

2002-05-01

Several accounts of possible relations between the emergence of the mental lexicon and acquisition of native language phonological structure have been propounded. In one view, acquisition of word meanings guides infants' attention toward those contrasts that are linguistically significant in their language. In the opposing view, native language phonological categories may be acquired from statistical patterns of input speech, prior to and independent of learning at the lexical level. Here, a more interactive account will be presented, in which phonological structure is modeled as emerging consequentially from the self-organization of perceptual space underlying word recognition. A key prediction of this model is that early native language phonological categories will be highly context specific. Data bearing on this prediction will be presented which provide clues to the nature of infants' statistical analysis of input.

Spatial Reasoning in Tenejapan Mayans

PubMed Central

Li, Peggy; Abarbanell, Linda; Gleitman, Lila; Papafragou, Anna

2011-01-01

Language communities differ in their stock of reference frames (coordinate systems for specifying locations and directions). English typically uses egocentrically defined axes (e.g., “left-right”), especially when describing small-scale relationships. Other languages such as Tseltal Mayan prefer to use geocentrically-defined axes (e.g., “north-south”) and do not use any type of projective body-defined axes. It has been argued that the availability of specific frames of reference in language determines the availability or salience of the corresponding spatial concepts. In four experiments, we explored this hypothesis by testing Tseltal speakers’ spatial reasoning skills. Whereas most prior tasks in this domain were open-ended (allowing several correct solutions), the present tasks required a unique solution that favored adopting a frame of reference that was either congruent or incongruent with what is habitually lexicalized in the participants’ language. In these tasks, Tseltal speakers easily solved the language-incongruent problems, and performance was generally more robust for these than for the language-congruent problems that favored geocentrically-defined coordinates. We suggest thatlisteners’ probabilistic inferences when instruction is open to more than one interpretation account for why there are greater cross-linguistic differences in the solutions to open-ended spatial problems than to less ambiguous ones. PMID:21481854

Influences of indigenous language on spatial frames of reference in Aboriginal English

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Edmonds-Wathen, Cris

2014-06-01

The Aboriginal English spoken by Indigenous children in remote communities in the Northern Territory of Australia is influenced by the home languages spoken by themselves and their families. This affects uses of spatial terms used in mathematics such as `in front' and `behind.' Speakers of the endangered Indigenous Australian language Iwaidja use the intrinsic frame of reference in contexts where speakers of Standard Australian English use the relative frame of reference. Children speaking Aboriginal English show patterns of use that parallel the Iwaidja contexts. This paper presents detailed examples of spatial descriptions in Iwaidja and Aboriginal English that demonstrate the parallel patterns of use. The data comes from a study that investigated how an understanding of spatial frame of reference in Iwaidja could assist teaching mathematics to Indigenous language-speaking students. Implications for teaching mathematics are explored for teachers without previous experience in a remote Indigenous community.

Studies in First and Second Language Acquisition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eckman, Fred R., Ed.; Hastings, Ashley J., Ed.

Papers presented at a 1977 symposium on language acquisition held at the University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee are included. Contents are as follows: "Assumptions, Methods and Goals in Language Acquisition Research" (Sheldon); "The Mother as LAD: Interaction between Order and Frequency of Parental Input and Child Production"…

Teaching Language Through Comprehension.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winitz, Harris; And Others

In the comprehension approach to second language instruction, the major procedure is to provide students with comprehensible input, which it is the students' responsibility to understand. The aim is to encourage nucleation of the target language, that is the crystallization of the rule system. Teaching procedures focus on strategies for implicit…

The impact of visual sequencing of graphic symbols on the sentence construction output of children who have acquired language.

PubMed

Alant, Erna; du Plooy, Amelia; Dada, Shakila

2007-01-01

Although the sequence of graphic or pictorial symbols displayed on a communication board can have an impact on the language output of children, very little research has been conducted to describe this. Research in this area is particularly relevant for prioritising the importance of specific visual and graphic features in providing more effective and user-friendly access to communication boards. This study is concerned with understanding the impact ofspecific sequences of graphic symbol input on the graphic and spoken output of children who have acquired language. Forty participants were divided into two comparable groups. Each group was exposed to graphic symbol input with a certain word order sequence. The structure of input was either in typical English word order sequence Subject- Verb-Object (SVO) or in the word order sequence of Subject-Object-Verb (SOV). Both input groups had to answer six questions by using graphic output as well as speech. The findings indicated that there are significant differences in the PCS graphic output patterns of children who are exposed to graphic input in the SOV and SVO sequences. Furthermore, the output produced in the graphic mode differed considerably to the output produced in the spoken mode. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed

The WORM site: worm.csirc.net

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jones, T.

2000-07-01

The Write One, Run Many (WORM) site (worm.csirc.net) is the on-line home of the WORM language and is hosted by the Criticality Safety Information Resource Center (CSIRC) (www.csirc.net). The purpose of this web site is to create an on-line community for WORM users to gather, share, and archive WORM-related information. WORM is an embedded, functional, programming language designed to facilitate the creation of input decks for computer codes that take standard ASCII text files as input. A functional programming language is one that emphasizes the evaluation of expressions, rather than execution of commands. The simplest and perhaps most common examplemore » of a functional language is a spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel. The spreadsheet user specifies expressions to be evaluated, while the spreadsheet itself determines the commands to execute, as well as the order of execution/evaluation. WORM functions in a similar fashion and, as a result, is very simple to use and easy to learn. WORM improves the efficiency of today's criticality safety analyst by allowing: (1) input decks for parameter studies to be created quickly and easily; (2) calculations and variables to be embedded into any input deck, thus allowing for meaningful parameter specifications; (3) problems to be specified using any combination of units; and (4) complex mathematically defined models to be created. WORM is completely written in Perl. Running on all variants of UNIX, Windows, MS-DOS, MacOS, and many other operating systems, Perl is one of the most portable programming languages available. As such, WORM works on practically any computer platform.« less

Language, Cognitive Flexibility, and Explicit False Belief Understanding: Longitudinal Analysis in Typical Development and Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farrant, Brad M.; Maybery, Murray T.; Fletcher, Janet

2012-01-01

The hypothesis that language plays a role in theory-of-mind (ToM) development is supported by a number of lines of evidence (e.g., H. Lohmann & M. Tomasello, 2003). The current study sought to further investigate the relations between maternal language input, memory for false sentential complements, cognitive flexibility, and the development of…

Task Effects on Linguistic Complexity and Accuracy: A Large-Scale Learner Corpus Analysis Employing Natural Language Processing Techniques

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alexopoulou, Theodora; Michel, Marije; Murakami, Akira; Meurers, Detmar

2017-01-01

Large-scale learner corpora collected from online language learning platforms, such as the EF-Cambridge Open Language Database (EFCAMDAT), provide opportunities to analyze learner data at an unprecedented scale. However, interpreting the learner language in such corpora requires a precise understanding of tasks: How does the prompt and input of a…

A Methodology for Studying the Relationship between Comprehension and Second Language Development in a Comprehension-Based ESL Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paribakht, T. Sima; Wesche, Marjorie Bingham

A study investigated the role of comprehension of meaningful language input in young adults' second language learning, focusing on: (1) what kinds of measurement instruments and procedures can be used in tracking student gains in specific aspects of target language proficiency; (2) development of a reliable self-report scale capturing different…

The Effectiveness of Structured Input and Structured Output on the Acquisition of Japanese Comparative Sentences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yamashita, Taichi; Iizuka, Takehiro

2017-01-01

Discussion of the roles of input and output has been attracting a number of researchers in second language acquisition (e.g., DeKeyser, 2007; Doughty, 1991; Krashen, 1982; Long, 1983; Norris & Ortega, 2000; Swain, 2000), and VanPatten (2004) advocated that both structured input and structured output allow learners to process input properly.…

A Cognitive Neural Architecture Able to Learn and Communicate through Natural Language.

PubMed

Golosio, Bruno; Cangelosi, Angelo; Gamotina, Olesya; Masala, Giovanni Luca

2015-01-01

Communicative interactions involve a kind of procedural knowledge that is used by the human brain for processing verbal and nonverbal inputs and for language production. Although considerable work has been done on modeling human language abilities, it has been difficult to bring them together to a comprehensive tabula rasa system compatible with current knowledge of how verbal information is processed in the brain. This work presents a cognitive system, entirely based on a large-scale neural architecture, which was developed to shed light on the procedural knowledge involved in language elaboration. The main component of this system is the central executive, which is a supervising system that coordinates the other components of the working memory. In our model, the central executive is a neural network that takes as input the neural activation states of the short-term memory and yields as output mental actions, which control the flow of information among the working memory components through neural gating mechanisms. The proposed system is capable of learning to communicate through natural language starting from tabula rasa, without any a priori knowledge of the structure of phrases, meaning of words, role of the different classes of words, only by interacting with a human through a text-based interface, using an open-ended incremental learning process. It is able to learn nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns and other word classes, and to use them in expressive language. The model was validated on a corpus of 1587 input sentences, based on literature on early language assessment, at the level of about 4-years old child, and produced 521 output sentences, expressing a broad range of language processing functionalities.

Analysis and Defense of Vulnerabilities in Binary Code

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-29

language . We demonstrate our techniques by automatically generating input filters from vulnerable binary programs. vi Acknowledgments I thank my wife, family...21 2.2 The Vine Intermediate Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 ix 2.2.1 Normalized Memory...The Traditional Weakest Precondition Semantics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 3.2.1 The Guarded Command Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Early Foreign Language Learning: The Biological Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peltzer-Karpf, Annemarie

A discussion of the biological and developmental issues in early second language learning first looks at psycholinguistic research on brain growth patterns and the relationship of first and second language learning. Focus is on three phenomena observed in the self-organization of living systems: selection of input data; organization of specialized…

The Role of Consciousness in Second Language Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmidt, Richard W.

1990-01-01

Summarizes recent psychological research and theory on the topic of consciousness, and looks at three questions in second-language learning related to the role of consciousness in input processing. The discussion involves the requirement in learning a second language of subliminal learning, implicit learning, and incidental learning. (142…

Input or Intimacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Navracsics, Judit

2014-01-01

According to the critical period hypothesis, the earlier the acquisition of a second language starts, the better. Owing to the plasticity of the brain, up until a certain age a second language can be acquired successfully according to this view. Early second language learners are commonly said to have an advantage over later ones especially in…

Universal Grammar, Crosslinguistic Variation and Second Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Lydia

2012-01-01

According to generative linguistic theory, certain principles underlying language structure are innately given, accounting for how children are able to acquire their mother tongues (L1s) despite a mismatch between the linguistic input and the complex unconscious mental representation of language that children achieve. This innate structure is…

Comprehending Sentences with the Body: Action Compatibility in British Sign Language?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vinson, David; Perniss, Pamela; Fox, Neil; Vigliocco, Gabriella

2017-01-01

Previous studies show that reading sentences about actions leads to specific motor activity associated with actually performing those actions. We investigate how sign language input may modulate motor activation, using British Sign Language (BSL) sentences, some of which explicitly encode direction of motion, versus written English, where motion…

Parent Telegraphic Speech Use and Spoken Language in Preschoolers with ASD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Venker, Courtney E.; Bolt, Daniel M.; Meyer, Allison; Sindberg, Heidi; Weismer, Susan Ellis; Tager-Flusberg, Helen

2015-01-01

Purpose: There is considerable controversy regarding whether to use telegraphic or grammatical input when speaking to young children with language delays, including children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study examined telegraphic speech use in parents of preschoolers with ASD and associations with children's spoken language 1 year…

Negotiation for Meaning and Peer Assistance in Second Language Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foster, Pauline; Ohta, Amy Snyder

2005-01-01

This paper investigates the value of language classroom negotiation of meaning from both cognitive and sociocultural perspectives. According to Long (1985, 1996) comprehensible input gained through interactional adjustments such as negotiating meaning and modifying output is central to second language acquisition, and much research has been…

High-level context effects on spatial displacement: the effects of body orientation and language on memory

PubMed Central

Vinson, David W.; Abney, Drew H.; Dale, Rick; Matlock, Teenie

2014-01-01

Three decades of research suggests that cognitive simulation of motion is involved in the comprehension of object location, bodily configuration, and linguistic meaning. For example, the remembered location of an object associated with actual or implied motion is typically displaced in the direction of motion. In this paper, two experiments explore context effects in spatial displacement. They provide a novel approach to estimating the remembered location of an implied motion image by employing a cursor-positioning task. Both experiments examine how the remembered spatial location of a person is influenced by subtle differences in implied motion, specifically, by shifting the orientation of the person’s body to face upward or downward, and by pairing the image with motion language that differed on intentionality, fell versus jumped. The results of Experiment 1, a survey-based experiment, suggest that language and body orientation influenced vertical spatial displacement. Results of Experiment 2, a task that used Adobe Flash and Amazon Mechanical Turk, showed consistent effects of body orientation on vertical spatial displacement but no effect of language. Our findings are in line with previous work on spatial displacement that uses a cursor-positioning task with implied motion stimuli. We discuss how different ways of simulating motion can influence spatial memory. PMID:25071628

High-level context effects on spatial displacement: the effects of body orientation and language on memory.

PubMed

Vinson, David W; Abney, Drew H; Dale, Rick; Matlock, Teenie

2014-01-01

Three decades of research suggests that cognitive simulation of motion is involved in the comprehension of object location, bodily configuration, and linguistic meaning. For example, the remembered location of an object associated with actual or implied motion is typically displaced in the direction of motion. In this paper, two experiments explore context effects in spatial displacement. They provide a novel approach to estimating the remembered location of an implied motion image by employing a cursor-positioning task. Both experiments examine how the remembered spatial location of a person is influenced by subtle differences in implied motion, specifically, by shifting the orientation of the person's body to face upward or downward, and by pairing the image with motion language that differed on intentionality, fell versus jumped. The results of Experiment 1, a survey-based experiment, suggest that language and body orientation influenced vertical spatial displacement. Results of Experiment 2, a task that used Adobe Flash and Amazon Mechanical Turk, showed consistent effects of body orientation on vertical spatial displacement but no effect of language. Our findings are in line with previous work on spatial displacement that uses a cursor-positioning task with implied motion stimuli. We discuss how different ways of simulating motion can influence spatial memory.

Exploration as a Mediator of the Relation between the Attainment of Motor Milestones and the Development of Spatial Cognition and Spatial Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oudgenoeg-Paz, Ora; Leseman, Paul P. M.; Volman, M. J. M.

2015-01-01

The embodied-cognition approach views cognition and language as grounded in daily sensorimotor child-environment interactions. Therefore, the attainment of motor milestones is expected to play a role in cognitive-linguistic development. Early attainment of unsupported sitting and independent walking indeed predict better spatial cognition and…

Child-caregiver interaction in two remote Indigenous Australian communities

PubMed Central

Vaughan, Jill; Wigglesworth, Gillian; Loakes, Deborah; Disbray, Samantha; Moses, Karin

2015-01-01

This paper reports on a study in two remote multilingual Indigenous Australian communities: Yakanarra in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and Tennant Creek in the Barkly region of the Northern Territory. In both communities, processes of language shift are underway from a traditional language (Walmajarri and Warumungu, respectively) to a local creole variety (Fitzroy Valley Kriol and Wumpurrarni English, respectively). The study focuses on language input from primary caregivers to a group of preschool children, and on the children's productive language. The study further highlights child-caregiver interactions as a site of importance in understanding the broader processes of language shift. We use longitudinal data from two time-points, approximately 2 years apart, to explore changes in adult input over time and developmental patterns in the children's speech. At both time points, the local creole varieties are the preferred codes of communication for the dyads in this study, although there is some use of the traditional language in both communities. Results show that for measures of turn length (MLT), there are notable differences between the two communities for both the focus children and their caregivers. In Tennant Creek, children and caregivers use longer turns at Time 2, while in Yakanarra the picture is more variable. The two communities also show differing trends in terms of conversational load (MLT ratio). For measures of morphosyntactic complexity (MLU), children and caregivers in Tennant Creek use more complex utterances at Time 2, while caregivers in Yakanarra show less complexity in their language at that time point. The study's findings contribute to providing a more detailed picture of the multilingual practices at Yakanarra and Tennant Creek, with implications for understanding broader processes of language shift. They also elucidate how children's language and linguistic input varies diachronically across time. As such, we contribute to understandings of normative language development for non-Western, non middle-class children in multilingual contexts. PMID:25972828

Inputs and spatial distribution patterns of Cr in Jiaozhou Bay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Dongfang; Miao, Zhenqing; Huang, Xinmin; Wei, Linzhen; Feng, Ming

2018-03-01

Cr pollution in marine bays has been one of the critical environmental issues, and understanding the input and spatial distribution patterns is essential to pollution control. In according to the source strengths of the major pollution sources, the input patterns of pollutants to marine bay include slight, moderate and heavy, and the spatial distribution are corresponding to three block models respectively. This paper analyzed input patterns and distributions of Cr in Jiaozhou Bay, eastern China based on investigation on Cr in surface waters during 1979-1983. Results showed that the input strengths of Cr in Jiaozhou Bay could be classified as moderate input and slight input, and the input strengths were 32.32-112.30 μg L-1 and 4.17-19.76 μg L-1, respectively. The input patterns of Cr included two patterns of moderate input and slight input, and the horizontal distributions could be defined by means of Block Model 2 and Block Model 3, respectively. In case of moderate input pattern via overland runoff, Cr contents were decreasing from the estuaries to the bay mouth, and the distribution pattern was parallel. In case of moderate input pattern via marine current, Cr contents were decreasing from the bay mouth to the bay, and the distribution pattern was parallel to circular. The Block Models were able to reveal the transferring process of various pollutants, and were helpful to understand the distributions of pollutants in marine bay.

Generation of co-speech gestures based on spatial imagery from the right-hemisphere: evidence from split-brain patients.

PubMed

Kita, Sotaro; Lausberg, Hedda

2008-02-01

It has been claimed that the linguistically dominant (left) hemisphere is obligatorily involved in production of spontaneous speech-accompanying gestures (Kimura, 1973a, 1973b; Lavergne and Kimura, 1987). We examined this claim for the gestures that are based on spatial imagery: iconic gestures with observer viewpoint (McNeill, 1992) and abstract deictic gestures (McNeill, et al. 1993). We observed gesture production in three patients with complete section of the corpus callosum in commissurotomy or callosotomy (two with left-hemisphere language, and one with bilaterally represented language) and nine healthy control participants. All three patients produced spatial-imagery gestures with the left-hand as well as with the right-hand. However, unlike healthy controls and the split-brain patient with bilaterally represented language, the two patients with left-hemispheric language dominance coordinated speech and spatial-imagery gestures more poorly in the left-hand than in the right-hand. It is concluded that the linguistically non-dominant (right) hemisphere alone can generate co-speech gestures based on spatial imagery, just as the left-hemisphere can.

How Much Comprehensible Input Did Heinrich Schliemann Get?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krashen, Stephen D.

1991-01-01

Examines Heinrich Schliemann's method of acquiring a second language primarily by means of conscious learning. It is revealed that Schliemann probably obtained a great deal of comprehensible input in English. (nine references) (GLR)

Input Subject Diversity Accelerates the Growth of Tense and Agreement: Indirect Benefits From a Parent-Implemented Intervention

PubMed Central

Rispoli, Matthew; Holt, Janet K.

2017-01-01

Purpose This follow-up study examined whether a parent intervention that increased the diversity of lexical noun phrase subjects in parent input and accelerated children's sentence diversity (Hadley et al., 2017) had indirect benefits on tense/agreement (T/A) morphemes in parent input and children's spontaneous speech. Method Differences in input variables related to T/A marking were compared for parents who received toy talk instruction and a quasi-control group: input informativeness and full is declaratives. Language growth on tense agreement productivity (TAP) was modeled for 38 children from language samples obtained at 21, 24, 27, and 30 months. Parent input properties following instruction and children's growth in lexical diversity and sentence diversity were examined as predictors of TAP growth. Results Instruction increased parent use of full is declaratives (ηp 2 ≥ .25) but not input informativeness. Children's sentence diversity was also a significant time-varying predictor of TAP growth. Two input variables, lexical noun phrase subject diversity and full is declaratives, were also significant predictors, even after controlling for children's sentence diversity. Conclusions These findings establish a link between children's sentence diversity and the development of T/A morphemes and provide evidence about characteristics of input that facilitate growth in this grammatical system. PMID:28892819

Auditory scene analysis in school-aged children with developmental language disorders

PubMed Central

Sussman, E.; Steinschneider, M.; Lee, W.; Lawson, K.

2014-01-01

Natural sound environments are dynamic, with overlapping acoustic input originating from simultaneously active sources. A key function of the auditory system is to integrate sensory inputs that belong together and segregate those that come from different sources. We hypothesized that this skill is impaired in individuals with phonological processing difficulties. There is considerable disagreement about whether phonological impairments observed in children with developmental language disorders can be attributed to specific linguistic deficits or to more general acoustic processing deficits. However, most tests of general auditory abilities have been conducted with a single set of sounds. We assessed the ability of school-aged children (7–15 years) to parse complex auditory non-speech input, and determined whether the presence of phonological processing impairments was associated with stream perception performance. A key finding was that children with language impairments did not show the same developmental trajectory for stream perception as typically developing children. In addition, children with language impairments required larger frequency separations between sounds to hear distinct streams compared to age-matched peers. Furthermore, phonological processing ability was a significant predictor of stream perception measures, but only in the older age groups. No such association was found in the youngest children. These results indicate that children with language impairments have difficulty parsing speech streams, or identifying individual sound events when there are competing sound sources. We conclude that language group differences may in part reflect fundamental maturational disparities in the analysis of complex auditory scenes. PMID:24548430

Natural Language Based Multimodal Interface for UAV Mission Planning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chandarana, Meghan; Meszaros, Erica L.; Trujillo, Anna; Allen, B. Danette

2017-01-01

As the number of viable applications for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems increases at an exponential rate, interfaces that reduce the reliance on highly skilled engineers and pilots must be developed. Recent work aims to make use of common human communication modalities such as speech and gesture. This paper explores a multimodal natural language interface that uses a combination of speech and gesture input modalities to build complex UAV flight paths by defining trajectory segment primitives. Gesture inputs are used to define the general shape of a segment while speech inputs provide additional geometric information needed to fully characterize a trajectory segment. A user study is conducted in order to evaluate the efficacy of the multimodal interface.

Effects of spatial resolution ratio in image fusion

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ling, Y.; Ehlers, M.; Usery, E.L.; Madden, M.

2008-01-01

In image fusion, the spatial resolution ratio can be defined as the ratio between the spatial resolution of the high-resolution panchromatic image and that of the low-resolution multispectral image. This paper attempts to assess the effects of the spatial resolution ratio of the input images on the quality of the fused image. Experimental results indicate that a spatial resolution ratio of 1:10 or higher is desired for optimal multisensor image fusion provided the input panchromatic image is not downsampled to a coarser resolution. Due to the synthetic pixels generated from resampling, the quality of the fused image decreases as the spatial resolution ratio decreases (e.g. from 1:10 to 1:30). However, even with a spatial resolution ratio as small as 1:30, the quality of the fused image is still better than the original multispectral image alone for feature interpretation. In cases where the spatial resolution ratio is too small (e.g. 1:30), to obtain better spectral integrity of the fused image, one may downsample the input high-resolution panchromatic image to a slightly lower resolution before fusing it with the multispectral image.

Update on "What" and "Where" in Spatial Language: A New Division of Labor for Spatial Terms.

PubMed

Landau, Barbara

2017-03-01

In this article, I revisit Landau and Jackendoff's () paper, "What and where in spatial language and spatial cognition," proposing a friendly amendment and reformulation. The original paper emphasized the distinct geometries that are engaged when objects are represented as members of object kinds (named by count nouns), versus when they are represented as figure and ground in spatial expressions (i.e., play the role of arguments of spatial prepositions). We provided empirical and theoretical arguments for the link between these distinct representations in spatial language and their accompanying nonlinguistic neural representations, emphasizing the "what" and "where" systems of the visual system. In the present paper, I propose a second division of labor between two classes of spatial prepositions in English that appear to be quite distinct. One class includes prepositions such as in and on, whose core meanings engage force-dynamic, functional relationships between objects, with geometry only a marginal player. The second class includes prepositions such as above/below and right/left, whose core meanings engage geometry, with force-dynamic relationships a passing or irrelevant variable. The insight that objects' force-dynamic relationships matter to spatial terms' uses is not new; but thinking of these terms as a distinct set within spatial language has theoretical and empirical consequences that are new. I propose three such consequences, rooted in the fact that geometric knowledge is highly constrained and early-emerging in life, while force-dynamic knowledge of objects and their interactions is relatively unconstrained and needs to be learned piecemeal over a lengthy timeline. First, the two classes will engage different learning problems, with different developmental trajectories for both first and second language learners; second, the classes will naturally lead to different degrees of cross-linguistic variation; and third, they may be rooted in different neural representations. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Supporting the operational use of process based hydrological models and NASA Earth Observations for use in land management and post-fire remediation through a Rapid Response Erosion Database (RRED).

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, M. E.; Elliot, W.; Billmire, M.; Robichaud, P. R.; Banach, D. M.

2017-12-01

We have built a Rapid Response Erosion Database (RRED, http://rred.mtri.org/rred/) for the continental United States to allow land managers to access properly formatted spatial model inputs for the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP). Spatially-explicit process-based models like WEPP require spatial inputs that include digital elevation models (DEMs), soil, climate and land cover. The online database delivers either a 10m or 30m USGS DEM, land cover derived from the Landfire project, and soil data derived from SSURGO and STATSGO datasets. The spatial layers are projected into UTM coordinates and pre-registered for modeling. WEPP soil parameter files are also created along with linkage files to match both spatial land cover and soils data with the appropriate WEPP parameter files. Our goal is to make process-based models more accessible by preparing spatial inputs ahead of time allowing modelers to focus on addressing scenarios of concern. The database provides comprehensive support for post-fire hydrological modeling by allowing users to upload spatial soil burn severity maps, and within moments returns spatial model inputs. Rapid response is critical following natural disasters. After moderate and high severity wildfires, flooding, erosion, and debris flows are a major threat to life, property and municipal water supplies. Mitigation measures must be rapidly implemented if they are to be effective, but they are expensive and cannot be applied everywhere. Fire, runoff, and erosion risks also are highly heterogeneous in space, creating an urgent need for rapid, spatially-explicit assessment. The database has been used to help assess and plan remediation on over a dozen wildfires in the Western US. Future plans include expanding spatial coverage, improving model input data and supporting additional models. Our goal is to facilitate the use of the best possible datasets and models to support the conservation of soil and water.

Spatial interpolation of hourly precipitation and dew point temperature for the identification of precipitation phase and hydrologic response in a mountainous catchment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garen, D. C.; Kahl, A.; Marks, D. G.; Winstral, A. H.

2012-12-01

In mountainous catchments, it is well known that meteorological inputs, such as precipitation, air temperature, humidity, etc. vary greatly with elevation, spatial location, and time. Understanding and monitoring catchment inputs is necessary in characterizing and predicting hydrologic response to these inputs. This is true all of the time, but it is the most dramatically critical during large storms, when the input to the stream system due to rain and snowmelt creates the potential for flooding. Besides such crisis events, however, proper estimation of catchment inputs and their spatial distribution is also needed in more prosaic but no less important water and related resource management activities. The first objective of this study is to apply a geostatistical spatial interpolation technique (elevationally detrended kriging) to precipitation and dew point temperature on an hourly basis and explore its characteristics, accuracy, and other issues. The second objective is to use these spatial fields to determine precipitation phase (rain or snow) during a large, dynamic winter storm. The catchment studied is the data-rich Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed near Boise, Idaho. As part of this analysis, precipitation-elevation lapse rates are examined for spatial and temporal consistency. A clear dependence of lapse rate on precipitation amount exists. Certain stations, however, are outliers from these relationships, showing that significant local effects can be present and raising the question of whether such stations should be used for spatial interpolation. Experiments with selecting subsets of stations demonstrate the importance of elevation range and spatial placement on the interpolated fields. Hourly spatial fields of precipitation and dew point temperature are used to distinguish precipitation phase during a large rain-on-snow storm in December 2005. This application demonstrates the feasibility of producing hourly spatial fields and the importance of doing so to support an accurate determination of precipitation phase for assessing catchment hydrologic response to the storm.

Children creating language: how Nicaraguan sign language acquired a spatial grammar.

PubMed

Senghas, A; Coppola, M

2001-07-01

It has long been postulated that language is not purely learned, but arises from an interaction between environmental exposure and innate abilities. The innate component becomes more evident in rare situations in which the environment is markedly impoverished. The present study investigated the language production of a generation of deaf Nicaraguans who had not been exposed to a developed language. We examined the changing use of early linguistic structures (specifically, spatial modulations) in a sign language that has emerged since the Nicaraguan group first came together: In tinder two decades, sequential cohorts of learners systematized the grammar of this new sign language. We examined whether the systematicity being added to the language stems from children or adults: our results indicate that such changes originate in children aged 10 and younger Thus, sequential cohorts of interacting young children collectively: possess the capacity not only to learn, but also to create, language.

The Biology of Linguistic Expression Impacts Neural Correlates for Spatial Language

PubMed Central

Emmorey, Karen; McCullough, Stephen; Mehta, Sonya; Ponto, Laura L. B.; Grabowski, Thomas J.

2013-01-01

Biological differences between signed and spoken languages may be most evident in the expression of spatial information. PET was used to investigate the neural substrates supporting the production of spatial language in American Sign Language as expressed by classifier constructions, in which handshape indicates object type and the location/motion of the hand iconically depicts the location/motion of a referent object. Deaf native signers performed a picture description task in which they overtly named objects or produced classifier constructions that varied in location, motion, or object type. In contrast to the expression of location and motion, the production of both lexical signs and object type classifier morphemes engaged left inferior frontal cortex and left inferior temporal cortex, supporting the hypothesis that unlike the location and motion components of a classifier construction, classifier handshapes are categorical morphemes that are retrieved via left hemisphere language regions. In addition, lexical signs engaged the anterior temporal lobes to a greater extent than classifier constructions, which we suggest reflects increased semantic processing required to name individual objects compared with simply indicating the type of object. Both location and motion classifier constructions engaged bilateral superior parietal cortex, with some evidence that the expression of static locations differentially engaged the left intraparietal sulcus. We argue that bilateral parietal activation reflects the biological underpinnings of sign language. To express spatial information, signers must transform visual–spatial representations into a body-centered reference frame and reach toward target locations within signing space. PMID:23249348

Semantic Fluency in Deaf Children Who Use Spoken and Signed Language in Comparison with Hearing Peers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshall, C. R.; Jones, A.; Fastelli, A.; Atkinson, J.; Botting, N.; Morgan, G.

2018-01-01

Background: Deafness has an adverse impact on children's ability to acquire spoken languages. Signed languages offer a more accessible input for deaf children, but because the vast majority are born to hearing parents who do not sign, their early exposure to sign language is limited. Deaf children as a whole are therefore at high risk of language…

Compiler writing system detail design specification. Volume 2: Component specification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arthur, W. J.

1974-01-01

The logic modules and data structures composing the Meta-translator module are desribed. This module is responsible for the actual generation of the executable language compiler as a function of the input Meta-language. Machine definitions are also processed and are placed as encoded data on the compiler library data file. The transformation of intermediate language in target language object text is described.

Is Mommy Talking to Daddy or to Me? Exploring Parental Estimates of Child Language Exposure Using the Multilingual Infant Language Questionnaire

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Liquan; Kager, René

2017-01-01

Language input is a key factor in bi-/multilingual research. It roots in the definition of bi-/multilingualism and influences infant cognitive development since and even before birth. The methods used to assess language exposure among bi-/multilingual infants vary across studies. This paper discusses the parental report patterns of the…

Impacto de un programa de lectura extensiva en la adquisicion de una segunda lengua (Impact of an Extensive Reading Program on Second Language Acquisition).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coll, Ana; And Others

This study investigates the application of Krashen's Input Hypothesis, studying the relationship between exposure to the target language and language acquisition within the context of the English-as-a-foreign-language secondary classroom in Spain. The project studied the effect of additional reading instruction with emphasis on reading for…

Using features of a Creole language to reconstruct population history and cultural evolution: tracing the English origins of Sranan.

PubMed

Sherriah, André C; Devonish, Hubert; Thomas, Ewart A C; Creanza, Nicole

2018-04-05

Creole languages are formed in conditions where speakers from distinct languages are brought together without a shared first language, typically under the domination of speakers from one of the languages and particularly in the context of the transatlantic slave trade and European colonialism. One such Creole in Suriname, Sranan, developed around the mid-seventeenth century, primarily out of contact between varieties of English from England, spoken by the dominant group, and multiple West African languages. The vast majority of the basic words in Sranan come from the language of the dominant group, English. Here, we compare linguistic features of modern-day Sranan with those of English as spoken in 313 localities across England. By way of testing proposed hypotheses for the origin of English words in Sranan, we find that 80% of the studied features of Sranan can be explained by similarity to regional dialect features at two distinct input locations within England, a cluster of locations near the port of Bristol and another cluster near Essex in eastern England. Our new hypothesis is supported by the geographical distribution of specific regional dialect features, such as post-vocalic rhoticity and word-initial 'h', and by phylogenetic analysis of these features, which shows evidence favouring input from at least two English dialects in the formation of Sranan. In addition to explicating the dialect features most prominent in the linguistic evolution of Sranan, our historical analyses also provide supporting evidence for two distinct hypotheses about the likely geographical origins of the English speakers whose language was an input to Sranan. The emergence as a likely input to Sranan of the speech forms of a cluster near Bristol is consistent with historical records, indicating that most of the indentured servants going to the Americas between 1654 and 1666 were from Bristol and nearby counties, and that of the cluster near Essex is consistent with documents showing that many of the governors and important planters came from the southeast of England (including London) (Smith 1987 The Genesis of the Creole Languages of Surinam ; Smith 2009 In The handbook of pidgin and creole studies , pp. 98-129).This article is part of the theme issue 'Bridging cultural gaps: interdisciplinary studies in human cultural evolution'. © 2018 The Author(s).

Regulation of spatial selectivity by crossover inhibition.

PubMed

Cafaro, Jon; Rieke, Fred

2013-04-10

Signals throughout the nervous system diverge into parallel excitatory and inhibitory pathways that later converge on downstream neurons to control their spike output. Converging excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs can exhibit a variety of temporal relationships. A common motif is feedforward inhibition, in which an increase (decrease) in excitatory input precedes a corresponding increase (decrease) in inhibitory input. The delay of inhibitory input relative to excitatory input originates from an extra synapse in the circuit shaping inhibitory input. Another common motif is push-pull or "crossover" inhibition, in which increases (decreases) in excitatory input occur together with decreases (increases) in inhibitory input. Primate On midget ganglion cells receive primarily feedforward inhibition and On parasol cells receive primarily crossover inhibition; this difference provides an opportunity to study how each motif shapes the light responses of cell types that play a key role in visual perception. For full-field stimuli, feedforward inhibition abbreviated and attenuated responses of On midget cells, while crossover inhibition, though plentiful, had surprisingly little impact on the responses of On parasol cells. Spatially structured stimuli, however, could cause excitatory and inhibitory inputs to On parasol cells to increase together, adopting a temporal relation very much like that for feedforward inhibition. In this case, inhibitory inputs substantially abbreviated a cell's spike output. Thus inhibitory input shapes the temporal stimulus selectivity of both midget and parasol ganglion cells, but its impact on responses of parasol cells depends strongly on the spatial structure of the light inputs.

Development of Pointing Gestures in Children With Typical and Delayed Language Acquisition.

PubMed

Lüke, Carina; Ritterfeld, Ute; Grimminger, Angela; Liszkowski, Ulf; Rohlfing, Katharina J

2017-11-09

This longitudinal study compared the development of hand and index-finger pointing in children with typical language development (TD) and children with language delay (LD). First, we examined whether the number and the form of pointing gestures during the second year of life are potential indicators of later LD. Second, we analyzed the influence of caregivers' gestural and verbal input on children's communicative development. Thirty children with TD and 10 children with LD were observed together with their primary caregivers in a seminatural setting in 5 sessions between the ages of 12 and 21 months. Language skills were assessed at 24 months. Compared with children with TD, children with LD used fewer index-finger points at 12 and 14 months but more pointing gestures in total at 21 months. There were no significant differences in verbal or gestural input between caregivers of children with or without LD. Using more index-finger points at the beginning of the second year of life is associated with TD, whereas using more pointing gestures at the end of the second year of life is associated with delayed acquisition. Neither the verbal nor gestural input of caregivers accounted for differences in children's skills.

How language production shapes language form and comprehension

PubMed Central

MacDonald, Maryellen C.

2012-01-01

Language production processes can provide insight into how language comprehension works and language typology—why languages tend to have certain characteristics more often than others. Drawing on work in memory retrieval, motor planning, and serial order in action planning, the Production-Distribution-Comprehension (PDC) account links work in the fields of language production, typology, and comprehension: (1) faced with substantial computational burdens of planning and producing utterances, language producers implicitly follow three biases in utterance planning that promote word order choices that reduce these burdens, thereby improving production fluency. (2) These choices, repeated over many utterances and individuals, shape the distributions of utterance forms in language. The claim that language form stems in large degree from producers' attempts to mitigate utterance planning difficulty is contrasted with alternative accounts in which form is driven by language use more broadly, language acquisition processes, or producers' attempts to create language forms that are easily understood by comprehenders. (3) Language perceivers implicitly learn the statistical regularities in their linguistic input, and they use this prior experience to guide comprehension of subsequent language. In particular, they learn to predict the sequential structure of linguistic signals, based on the statistics of previously-encountered input. Thus, key aspects of comprehension behavior are tied to lexico-syntactic statistics in the language, which in turn derive from utterance planning biases promoting production of comparatively easy utterance forms over more difficult ones. This approach contrasts with classic theories in which comprehension behaviors are attributed to innate design features of the language comprehension system and associated working memory. The PDC instead links basic features of comprehension to a different source: production processes that shape language form. PMID:23637689

Toy talk: simple strategies to create richer grammatical input.

PubMed

Hadley, Pamela A; Walsh, Kathleen M

2014-07-01

The purpose of this initial feasibility study was to determine whether brief instruction in toy talk would change grammatical properties of adult language, specifically 3rd person lexical noun phrase (NP) subjects. Eighteen college students participated in the study. The use of 3rd person subjects was examined before and after instruction on toy talk strategies (i.e., talk about the toys, give the item its name). Change in the input informativeness for tense (i.e., the proportion of verb forms marked for tense out of all verb forms) was also examined, although adults were not instructed on use of tense/agreement morphemes. Following instruction, statistically significant increases with large effect sizes were observed for use of 3rd person subjects, lexical NP subjects, and input informativeness for tense (Cohen's d = 1.20, 2.08, and 0.89, respectively). These findings demonstrate that young adults can learn these simple strategies with relatively brief instruction, and the use of toy talk also changes the richness of tense/agreement marking in adult language input. Considerations for incorporating toy talk into existing language modeling practices and future plans for evaluating the efficacy of toy talk are discussed.

Predicting language outcomes for children learning AAC: Child and environmental factors

PubMed Central

Brady, Nancy C.; Thiemann-Bourque, Kathy; Fleming, Kandace; Matthews, Kris

2014-01-01

Purpose To investigate a model of language development for nonverbal preschool age children learning to communicate with AAC. Method Ninety-three preschool children with intellectual disabilities were assessed at Time 1, and 82 of these children were assessed one year later at Time 2. The outcome variable was the number of different words the children produced (with speech, sign or SGD). Children’s intrinsic predictor for language was modeled as a latent variable consisting of cognitive development, comprehension, play, and nonverbal communication complexity. Adult input at school and home, and amount of AAC instruction were proposed mediators of vocabulary acquisition. Results A confirmatory factor analysis revealed that measures converged as a coherent construct and an SEM model indicated that the intrinsic child predictor construct predicted different words children produced. The amount of input received at home but not at school was a significant mediator. Conclusions Our hypothesized model accurately reflected a latent construct of Intrinsic Symbolic Factor (ISF). Children who evidenced higher initial levels of ISF and more adult input at home produced more words one year later. Findings support the need to assess multiple child variables, and suggest interventions directed to the indicators of ISF and input. PMID:23785187

GLISP User's Manual. Revised.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Novak, Gordon S., Jr.

GLISP is a LISP-based language which provides high-level language features not found in ordinary LISP. The GLISP language is implemented by means of a compiler which accepts GLISP as input and produces ordinary LISP as output. This output can be further compiled to machine code by the LISP compiler. GLISP is available for several LISP dialects,…

The Spacing Effect and Its Relevance to Second Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogers, John

2017-01-01

This commentary discusses some theoretical and methodological issues related to research on the spacing effect in second language acquisition research (SLA). There has been a growing interest in SLA in how the temporal distribution of input might impact language development. SLA research in this area has frequently drawn upon the rich field of…

Designing between Pedagogies and Cultures: Audio-Visual Chinese Language Resources for Australian Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuan, Yifeng; Shen, Huizhong

2016-01-01

This design-based study examines the creation and development of audio-visual Chinese language teaching and learning materials for Australian schools by incorporating users' feedback and content writers' input that emerged in the designing process. Data were collected from workshop feedback of two groups of Chinese-language teachers from primary…

Individual and Joint Contributions of the Cerebral Hemispheres to Language Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wlotko, Edward Wesley

2009-01-01

Normal language comprehension requires contributions from and cooperation of many parts of the brain, ranging from sensory areas that receive the initial physical input, through frontal and temporal areas associated with oft-characterized language subprocesses, to brain areas involved in perspective-taking and social cognition; thus a network of…

Language and Communication-Related Problems of Aviation Safety.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cushing, Steven

A study of the problems posed by the use of natural language in various aspects of aviation is presented. The study, part of a larger investigation of the feasibility of voice input/output interfaces for communication in aviation, looks at representative real examples of accidents and near misses resulting from language confusions and omissions.…

Exploring the Value of Animated Stories with Young English Language Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yildirim, Rana; Torun, Fatma Pinar

2014-01-01

Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) through animated stories bears many prospects for an effective and meaningful language instruction as animated stories can help to contextualize the new language providing audiovisual input along with the story narration. In this study, the role of animated stories in teaching EFL (English as a Foreign…

Learning Sociolinguistically Appropriate Language through the Video Drama "Connect with English"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Caroline C.

2005-01-01

Video provides (1) simultaneous audio/visual input, and (2) complete and contextualized conversations, and thus proves to be a rich vehicle in foreign language instruction. The video drama "Connect with English" (a.k.a. "Rebecca's Dream"), created to promote English language learning, is particularly outstanding in that it contains an captivating…

Working Papers in Experimental Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jablon, Ann, Ed.; And Others

Five papers describe clinical research completed by graduate students in speech-language pathology and audiology. The first study examines the linguistic input of three adults (a mother, teacher, and clinician) to a language impaired 8-year-old. The clinician's approach, less directive than that of the other two, facilitated spontaneous speech and…

Language Learning in Mindbodyworld: A Sociocognitive Approach to Second Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atkinson, Dwight

2014-01-01

Based on recent research in cognitive science, interaction, and second language acquisition (SLA), I describe a sociocognitive approach to SLA. This approach adopts a "non-cognitivist" view of cognition: Instead of an isolated computational process in which input is extracted from the environment and used to build elaborate internal…

Function, Type, and Distribution of Teacher Questions in Dual-Language Preschool Read Alouds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gort, Mileidis; Pontier, Ryan W.; Sembiante, Sabrina F.

2012-01-01

This exploratory study investigated the nature and distribution of dual-language preschool teachers' questions across parallel Spanish- and English-medium read-aloud activities. The notions of comprehensible input (Krashen, 1985) and language output (Swain, 1985), along with a reciprocal interaction model of teaching (Cummins, 2000), guided our…

Testing the Noticing Function of the Output Hypothesis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alsulami, Sumayyah Qaed

2016-01-01

In spite of Krashen's (1985) claims that the only way to acquire a second language is through non-stressful comprehensible input, Swain (1995, 1998, 2005) and others propose that the production of language (speaking or writing), under certain circumstances, is a significant part of the second-language acquisition process. Swain also states that…

The Interpretability Hypothesis: Evidence from Wh-Interrogatives in Second Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsimpli, Ianthi Maria; Dimitrakopoulou, Maria

2007-01-01

The second language acquisition (SLA) literature reports numerous studies of proficient second language (L2) speakers who diverge significantly from native speakers despite the evidence offered by the L2 input. Recent SLA theories have attempted to account for native speaker/non-native speaker (NS/NNS) divergence by arguing for the dissociation…

The Role of Input and Output Tasks in Grammar Instruction: Theoretical, Empirical and Pedagogical Considerations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benati, Alessandro

2017-01-01

In this paper, a review of the role of input, output and instruction in second language acquisition is provided. Several pedagogical interventions in grammar instruction (e.g., processing instruction, input enhancement, structured output and collaborative output tasks) are presented and their effectiveness reviewed. A final and overall evaluation…

Going beyond Input Quantity: "Wh"-Questions Matter for Toddlers' Language and Cognitive Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rowe, Meredith L.; Leech, Kathryn A.; Cabrera, Natasha

2017-01-01

There are clear associations between the overall quantity of input children are exposed to and their vocabulary acquisition. However, by uncovering specific features of the input that matter, we can better understand the mechanisms involved in vocabulary learning. We examine whether exposure to "wh"-questions, a challenging quality of…

Impact of Cyrillic on Native English Speakers' Phono-lexical Acquisition of Russian.

PubMed

Showalter, Catherine E

2018-03-01

We investigated the influence of grapheme familiarity and native language grapheme-phoneme correspondences during second language lexical learning. Native English speakers learned Russian-like words via auditory presentations containing only familiar first language phones, pictured meanings, and exposure to either Cyrillic orthographic forms (Orthography condition) or the sequence (No Orthography condition). Orthography participants saw three types of written forms: familiar-congruent (e.g., -[kom]), familiar-incongruent (e.g., -[rɑt]), and unfamiliar (e.g., <ФИЛ>-[fil]). At test, participants determined whether pictures and words matched according to what they saw during word learning. All participants performed near ceiling in all stimulus conditions, except for Orthography participants on words containing incongruent grapheme-phoneme correspondences. These results suggest that first language grapheme-phoneme correspondences can cause interference during second language phono-lexical acquisition. In addition, these results suggest that orthographic input effects are robust enough to interfere even when the input does not contain novel phones.

The Effect of Number and Presentation Order of High-Constraint Sentences on Second Language Word Learning.

PubMed

Ma, Tengfei; Chen, Ran; Dunlap, Susan; Chen, Baoguo

2016-01-01

This paper presents the results of an experiment that investigated the effects of number and presentation order of high-constraint sentences on semantic processing of unknown second language (L2) words (pseudowords) through reading. All participants were Chinese native speakers who learned English as a foreign language. In the experiment, sentence constraint and order of different constraint sentences were manipulated in English sentences, as well as L2 proficiency level of participants. We found that the number of high-constraint sentences was supportive for L2 word learning except in the condition in which high-constraint exposure was presented first. Moreover, when the number of high-constraint sentences was the same, learning was significantly better when the first exposure was a high-constraint exposure. And no proficiency level effects were found. Our results provided direct evidence that L2 word learning benefited from high quality language input and first presentations of high quality language input.

Age and input effects in the acquisition of mood in Heritage Portuguese.

PubMed

Flores, Cristina; Santos, Ana Lúcia; Jesus, Alice; Marques, Rui

2017-07-01

The present study analyzes the effect of age and amount of input in the acquisition of European Portuguese as a heritage language. An elicited production task centred on mood choice in complement clauses was applied to a group of fifty bilingual children (six- to sixteen-year-olds) who are acquiring Portuguese as a minority language in a German dominant environment. The results show a significant effect of the age at testing and the amount of input in the acquisition of the subjunctive. In general, acquisition is delayed with respect to monolinguals, even though higher convergence with the monolingual grammar is observed after twelve years of age. Results also reveal that children with more exposure to the heritage language at home show faster acquisition than children from mixed households: the eight- to nine-year-old age boundary seems relevant for those speakers with more exposure, and the twelve- to thirteen-year-old age boundary for those with less exposure.

Acquiring and processing verb argument structure: distributional learning in a miniature language.

PubMed

Wonnacott, Elizabeth; Newport, Elissa L; Tanenhaus, Michael K

2008-05-01

Adult knowledge of a language involves correctly balancing lexically-based and more language-general patterns. For example, verb argument structures may sometimes readily generalize to new verbs, yet with particular verbs may resist generalization. From the perspective of acquisition, this creates significant learnability problems, with some researchers claiming a crucial role for verb semantics in the determination of when generalization may and may not occur. Similarly, there has been debate regarding how verb-specific and more generalized constraints interact in sentence processing and on the role of semantics in this process. The current work explores these issues using artificial language learning. In three experiments using languages without semantic cues to verb distribution, we demonstrate that learners can acquire both verb-specific and verb-general patterns, based on distributional information in the linguistic input regarding each of the verbs as well as across the language as a whole. As with natural languages, these factors are shown to affect production, judgments and real-time processing. We demonstrate that learners apply a rational procedure in determining their usage of these different input statistics and conclude by suggesting that a Bayesian perspective on statistical learning may be an appropriate framework for capturing our findings.

Are Deaf Students Visual Learners?

PubMed Central

Marschark, Marc; Morrison, Carolyn; Lukomski, Jennifer; Borgna, Georgianna; Convertino, Carol

2013-01-01

It is frequently assumed that by virtue of their hearing losses, deaf students are visual learners. Deaf individuals have some visual-spatial advantages relative to hearing individuals, but most have been are linked to use of sign language rather than auditory deprivation. How such cognitive differences might affect academic performance has been investigated only rarely. This study examined relations among deaf college students’ language and visual-spatial abilities, mathematics problem solving, and hearing thresholds. Results extended some previous findings and clarified others. Contrary to what might be expected, hearing students exhibited visual-spatial skills equal to or better than deaf students. Scores on a Spatial Relations task were associated with better mathematics problem solving. Relations among the several variables, however, suggested that deaf students are no more likely to be visual learners than hearing students and that their visual-spatial skill may be related more to their hearing than to sign language skills. PMID:23750095

Language within your reach: near-far perceptual space and spatial demonstratives.

PubMed

Coventry, Kenny R; Valdés, Berenice; Castillo, Alejandro; Guijarro-Fuentes, Pedro

2008-09-01

Spatial demonstratives (this/that) play a crucial role when indicating object locations using language. However, the relationship between the use of these proximal and distal linguistic descriptors and the near (peri-personal) versus far (extra-personal) perceptual space distinction is a source of controversy [Kemmerer, D. (1999). "Near" and "far" in language and perception. Cognition 73, 35-63], and has been hitherto under investigated. Two experiments examined the influence of object distance from speaker, tool use (participants pointed at objects with their finger/arm or with a stick), and interaction with objects (whether or not participants placed objects themselves) on spatial demonstrative use (e.g. this/that red triangle) in English (this/that) and Spanish (este/ese/aquel). The results show that the use of demonstratives across two languages is affected by distance from speaker and by both tool use and interaction with objects. These results support the view that spatial demonstrative use corresponds with a basic distinction between near and far perceptual space.

Representation of Non-Spatial and Spatial Information in the Lateral Entorhinal Cortex

PubMed Central

Deshmukh, Sachin S.; Knierim, James J.

2011-01-01

Some theories of memory propose that the hippocampus integrates the individual items and events of experience within a contextual or spatial framework. The hippocampus receives cortical input from two major pathways: the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) and the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC). During exploration in an open field, the firing fields of MEC grid cells form a periodically repeating, triangular array. In contrast, LEC neurons show little spatial selectivity, and it has been proposed that the LEC may provide non-spatial input to the hippocampus. Here, we recorded MEC and LEC neurons while rats explored an open field that contained discrete objects. LEC cells fired selectively at locations relative to the objects, whereas MEC cells were weakly influenced by the objects. These results provide the first direct demonstration of a double dissociation between LEC and MEC inputs to the hippocampus under conditions of exploration typically used to study hippocampal place cells. PMID:22065409

Science as a Second Language: Acquiring Fluency through Science Enterprises

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shope, R. E.

2012-12-01

Science Enterprises are problems that students genuinely want to solve, questions that students genuinely want to answer, that naturally entail reading, writing, exploration, investigation, and discussion. Engaging students in personally-relevant science enterprises provides both a diagnostic opportunity and a context for providing students the comprehensible input they need. We can differentiate instruction by creating science enterprise zones that are set up for the incremental increase in challenge for the students. Comprehensible input makes reachable, those just-out-of-reach concepts in the mix of the familiar and the new. We explore a series of science enterprise tools that have been developed and implemented in the context of informal science education projects that have reached over 10,000 urban youth in the Greater Los Angles area over the past six years. 1) The ED3U Science Inquiry Model, a learning cycle model that accounts for conceptual change; 2) The ¿NQUIRY Wheel, a compass of scientific inquiry strategies; 3) Inquiry Science Expeditions, a way of laying out a science learning environment, emulating a field and lab research collaboratory; 4) The Science Educative Experience Scale, a diagnostic measure of the quality of the science learning experience; and 5) Science Mimes, participatory enactment of science understanding. Practical examples of Science Enterprises will be presented, including a range of projects: Watershed Ecology; Astrobiology; Mars Rovers; Planetary Science; Icy Worlds. BACKGROUND: Language Acquisition is an informal process that occurs in the midst of exploring, solving problems, seeking answers to questions, playing, reading for pleasure, conversing, discussing, where the focus is not specifically on language development, but on the activity, which is of interest to the participant. Language Learning is a formal education process, the language arts aspect of the school day: the direct teaching of reading, writing, grammar, spelling, and speaking. Fluency results primarily from language acquisition and secondarily from language learning. We can view the problem of science education and communication as similar to language acquisition. Science Learning is a formal education process, the school science aspect of the school day: the direct teaching of standards-aligned science content. Science Acquisition is an informal process that occurs in the midst of exploring, solving problems, seeking answers to questions, playing, experimenting for pleasure, conversing, discussing, where the focus is not specifically on science content development, but on the inquiry activity, driven by the curiosity of the participant. Comprehensible input refers to the premise that we acquire language in the midst of activity when we understand the message; that is, when we understand what we hear or what we read or what we see. Acquisition is caused by comprehensible input as it occurs in the midst of a rich environment of language activity while doing something of interest to the learner. Providing comprehensible input is not the same as oversimplifying or "dumbing down." It is devising ways to create conditions where the interest of the learner is piqued.

GaAs Supercomputing: Architecture, Language, And Algorithms For Image Processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johl, John T.; Baker, Nick C.

1988-10-01

The application of high-speed GaAs processors in a parallel system matches the demanding computational requirements of image processing. The architecture of the McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company (MDAC) vector processor is described along with the algorithms and language translator. Most image and signal processing algorithms can utilize parallel processing and show a significant performance improvement over sequential versions. The parallelization performed by this system is within each vector instruction. Since each vector has many elements, each requiring some computation, useful concurrent arithmetic operations can easily be performed. Balancing the memory bandwidth with the computation rate of the processors is an important design consideration for high efficiency and utilization. The architecture features a bus-based execution unit consisting of four to eight 32-bit GaAs RISC microprocessors running at a 200 MHz clock rate for a peak performance of 1.6 BOPS. The execution unit is connected to a vector memory with three buses capable of transferring two input words and one output word every 10 nsec. The address generators inside the vector memory perform different vector addressing modes and feed the data to the execution unit. The functions discussed in this paper include basic MATRIX OPERATIONS, 2-D SPATIAL CONVOLUTION, HISTOGRAM, and FFT. For each of these algorithms, assembly language programs were run on a behavioral model of the system to obtain performance figures.

DPADL: An Action Language for Data Processing Domains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Golden, Keith; Clancy, Daniel (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

This paper presents DPADL (Data Processing Action Description Language), a language for describing planning domains that involve data processing. DPADL is a declarative object-oriented language that supports constraints and embedded Java code, object creation and copying, explicit inputs and outputs for actions, and metadata descriptions of existing and desired data. DPADL is supported by the IMAGEbot system, which will provide automation for an ecosystem forecasting system called TOPS.

From water use to water scarcity footprinting in environmentally extended input-output analysis.

PubMed

Ridoutt, Bradley George; Hadjikakou, Michalis; Nolan, Martin; Bryan, Brett A

2018-05-18

Environmentally extended input-output analysis (EEIOA) supports environmental policy by quantifying how demand for goods and services leads to resource use and emissions across the economy. However, some types of resource use and emissions require spatially-explicit impact assessment for meaningful interpretation, which is not possible in conventional EEIOA. For example, water use in locations of scarcity and abundance is not environmentally equivalent. Opportunities for spatially-explicit impact assessment in conventional EEIOA are limited because official input-output tables tend to be produced at the scale of political units which are not usually well aligned with environmentally relevant spatial units. In this study, spatially-explicit water scarcity factors and a spatially disaggregated Australian water use account were used to develop water scarcity extensions that were coupled with a multi-regional input-output model (MRIO). The results link demand for agricultural commodities to the problem of water scarcity in Australia and globally. Important differences were observed between the water use and water scarcity footprint results, as well as the relative importance of direct and indirect water use, with significant implications for sustainable production and consumption-related policies. The approach presented here is suggested as a feasible general approach for incorporating spatially-explicit impact assessment in EEIOA.

Input-dependent frequency modulation of cortical gamma oscillations shapes spatial synchronization and enables phase coding.

PubMed

Lowet, Eric; Roberts, Mark; Hadjipapas, Avgis; Peter, Alina; van der Eerden, Jan; De Weerd, Peter

2015-02-01

Fine-scale temporal organization of cortical activity in the gamma range (∼25-80Hz) may play a significant role in information processing, for example by neural grouping ('binding') and phase coding. Recent experimental studies have shown that the precise frequency of gamma oscillations varies with input drive (e.g. visual contrast) and that it can differ among nearby cortical locations. This has challenged theories assuming widespread gamma synchronization at a fixed common frequency. In the present study, we investigated which principles govern gamma synchronization in the presence of input-dependent frequency modulations and whether they are detrimental for meaningful input-dependent gamma-mediated temporal organization. To this aim, we constructed a biophysically realistic excitatory-inhibitory network able to express different oscillation frequencies at nearby spatial locations. Similarly to cortical networks, the model was topographically organized with spatially local connectivity and spatially-varying input drive. We analyzed gamma synchronization with respect to phase-locking, phase-relations and frequency differences, and quantified the stimulus-related information represented by gamma phase and frequency. By stepwise simplification of our models, we found that the gamma-mediated temporal organization could be reduced to basic synchronization principles of weakly coupled oscillators, where input drive determines the intrinsic (natural) frequency of oscillators. The gamma phase-locking, the precise phase relation and the emergent (measurable) frequencies were determined by two principal factors: the detuning (intrinsic frequency difference, i.e. local input difference) and the coupling strength. In addition to frequency coding, gamma phase contained complementary stimulus information. Crucially, the phase code reflected input differences, but not the absolute input level. This property of relative input-to-phase conversion, contrasting with latency codes or slower oscillation phase codes, may resolve conflicting experimental observations on gamma phase coding. Our modeling results offer clear testable experimental predictions. We conclude that input-dependency of gamma frequencies could be essential rather than detrimental for meaningful gamma-mediated temporal organization of cortical activity.

Input-Dependent Frequency Modulation of Cortical Gamma Oscillations Shapes Spatial Synchronization and Enables Phase Coding

PubMed Central

Lowet, Eric; Roberts, Mark; Hadjipapas, Avgis; Peter, Alina; van der Eerden, Jan; De Weerd, Peter

2015-01-01

Fine-scale temporal organization of cortical activity in the gamma range (∼25–80Hz) may play a significant role in information processing, for example by neural grouping (‘binding’) and phase coding. Recent experimental studies have shown that the precise frequency of gamma oscillations varies with input drive (e.g. visual contrast) and that it can differ among nearby cortical locations. This has challenged theories assuming widespread gamma synchronization at a fixed common frequency. In the present study, we investigated which principles govern gamma synchronization in the presence of input-dependent frequency modulations and whether they are detrimental for meaningful input-dependent gamma-mediated temporal organization. To this aim, we constructed a biophysically realistic excitatory-inhibitory network able to express different oscillation frequencies at nearby spatial locations. Similarly to cortical networks, the model was topographically organized with spatially local connectivity and spatially-varying input drive. We analyzed gamma synchronization with respect to phase-locking, phase-relations and frequency differences, and quantified the stimulus-related information represented by gamma phase and frequency. By stepwise simplification of our models, we found that the gamma-mediated temporal organization could be reduced to basic synchronization principles of weakly coupled oscillators, where input drive determines the intrinsic (natural) frequency of oscillators. The gamma phase-locking, the precise phase relation and the emergent (measurable) frequencies were determined by two principal factors: the detuning (intrinsic frequency difference, i.e. local input difference) and the coupling strength. In addition to frequency coding, gamma phase contained complementary stimulus information. Crucially, the phase code reflected input differences, but not the absolute input level. This property of relative input-to-phase conversion, contrasting with latency codes or slower oscillation phase codes, may resolve conflicting experimental observations on gamma phase coding. Our modeling results offer clear testable experimental predictions. We conclude that input-dependency of gamma frequencies could be essential rather than detrimental for meaningful gamma-mediated temporal organization of cortical activity. PMID:25679780

Containment and Support: Core and Complexity in Spatial Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Landau, Barbara; Johannes, Kristen; Skordos, Dimitrios; Papafragou, Anna

2017-01-01

Containment and support have traditionally been assumed to represent universal conceptual foundations for spatial terms. This assumption can be challenged, however: English "in" and "on" are applied across a surprisingly broad range of exemplars, and comparable terms in other languages show significant variation in their…

A Big Spatial Data Processing Framework Applying to National Geographic Conditions Monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, F.

2018-04-01

In this paper, a novel framework for spatial data processing is proposed, which apply to National Geographic Conditions Monitoring project of China. It includes 4 layers: spatial data storage, spatial RDDs, spatial operations, and spatial query language. The spatial data storage layer uses HDFS to store large size of spatial vector/raster data in the distributed cluster. The spatial RDDs are the abstract logical dataset of spatial data types, and can be transferred to the spark cluster to conduct spark transformations and actions. The spatial operations layer is a series of processing on spatial RDDs, such as range query, k nearest neighbor and spatial join. The spatial query language is a user-friendly interface which provide people not familiar with Spark with a comfortable way to operation the spatial operation. Compared with other spatial frameworks, it is highlighted that comprehensive technologies are referred for big spatial data processing. Extensive experiments on real datasets show that the framework achieves better performance than traditional process methods.

The Thaayorre think of Time Like They Talk of Space.

PubMed

Gaby, Alice

2012-01-01

Around the world, it is common to both talk and think about time in terms of space. But does our conceptualization of time simply reflect the space/time metaphors of the language we speak? Evidence from the Australian language Kuuk Thaayorre suggests not. Kuuk Thaayorre speakers do not employ active spatial metaphors in describing time. But this is not to say that spatial language is irrelevant to temporal construals: non-linguistic representations of time are shown here to covary with the linguistic system of describing space. This article contrasts two populations of ethnic Thaayorre from Pormpuraaw - one comprising Kuuk Thaayorre/English bilinguals and the other English-monolinguals - in order to distinguish the effects of language from environmental and other factors. Despite their common physical, social, and cultural context, the two groups differ in their representations of time in ways that are congruent with the language of space in Kuuk Thaayorre and English, respectively. Kuuk Thaayorre/English bilinguals represent time along an absolute east-to-west axis, in alignment with the high frequency of absolute frame of reference terms in Kuuk Thaayorre spatial description. The English-monolinguals, in contrast, represent time from left-to-right, aligning with the dominant relative frame of reference in English spatial description. This occurs in the absence of any east-to-west metaphors in Kuuk Thaayorre, or left-to-right metaphors in English. Thus the way these two groups think about time appears to reflect the language of space and not the language of time.

Dynamic changes in network activations characterize early learning of a natural language.

PubMed

Plante, Elena; Patterson, Dianne; Dailey, Natalie S; Kyle, R Almyrde; Fridriksson, Julius

2014-09-01

Those who are initially exposed to an unfamiliar language have difficulty separating running speech into individual words, but over time will recognize both words and the grammatical structure of the language. Behavioral studies have used artificial languages to demonstrate that humans are sensitive to distributional information in language input, and can use this information to discover the structure of that language. This is done without direct instruction and learning occurs over the course of minutes rather than days or months. Moreover, learners may attend to different aspects of the language input as their own learning progresses. Here, we examine processing associated with the early stages of exposure to a natural language, using fMRI. Listeners were exposed to an unfamiliar language (Icelandic) while undergoing four consecutive fMRI scans. The Icelandic stimuli were constrained in ways known to produce rapid learning of aspects of language structure. After approximately 4 min of exposure to the Icelandic stimuli, participants began to differentiate between correct and incorrect sentences at above chance levels, with significant improvement between the first and last scan. An independent component analysis of the imaging data revealed four task-related components, two of which were associated with behavioral performance early in the experiment, and two with performance later in the experiment. This outcome suggests dynamic changes occur in the recruitment of neural resources even within the initial period of exposure to an unfamiliar natural language. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Estimation and impact assessment of input and parameter uncertainty in predicting groundwater flow with a fully distributed model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Touhidul Mustafa, Syed Md.; Nossent, Jiri; Ghysels, Gert; Huysmans, Marijke

2017-04-01

Transient numerical groundwater flow models have been used to understand and forecast groundwater flow systems under anthropogenic and climatic effects, but the reliability of the predictions is strongly influenced by different sources of uncertainty. Hence, researchers in hydrological sciences are developing and applying methods for uncertainty quantification. Nevertheless, spatially distributed flow models pose significant challenges for parameter and spatially distributed input estimation and uncertainty quantification. In this study, we present a general and flexible approach for input and parameter estimation and uncertainty analysis of groundwater models. The proposed approach combines a fully distributed groundwater flow model (MODFLOW) with the DiffeRential Evolution Adaptive Metropolis (DREAM) algorithm. To avoid over-parameterization, the uncertainty of the spatially distributed model input has been represented by multipliers. The posterior distributions of these multipliers and the regular model parameters were estimated using DREAM. The proposed methodology has been applied in an overexploited aquifer in Bangladesh where groundwater pumping and recharge data are highly uncertain. The results confirm that input uncertainty does have a considerable effect on the model predictions and parameter distributions. Additionally, our approach also provides a new way to optimize the spatially distributed recharge and pumping data along with the parameter values under uncertain input conditions. It can be concluded from our approach that considering model input uncertainty along with parameter uncertainty is important for obtaining realistic model predictions and a correct estimation of the uncertainty bounds.

Enhancing Access to Drought Information Using the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schreuders, K. A.; Tarboton, D. G.; Horsburgh, J. S.; Sen Gupta, A.; Reeder, S.

2011-12-01

The National Drought Information System (NIDIS) Upper Colorado River Basin pilot study is investigating and establishing capabilities for better dissemination of drought information for early warning and management. As part of this study we are using and extending functionality from the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) Hydrologic Information System (HIS) to provide better access to drought-related data in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The CUAHSI HIS is a federated system for sharing hydrologic data. It is comprised of multiple data servers, referred to as HydroServers, that publish data in a standard XML format called Water Markup Language (WaterML), using web services referred to as WaterOneFlow web services. HydroServers can also publish geospatial data using Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) web map, feature and coverage services and are capable of hosting web and map applications that combine geospatial datasets with observational data served via web services. HIS also includes a centralized metadata catalog that indexes data from registered HydroServers and a data access client referred to as HydroDesktop. For NIDIS, we have established a HydroServer to publish drought index values as well as the input data used in drought index calculations. Primary input data required for drought index calculation include streamflow, precipitation, reservoir storages, snow water equivalent, and soil moisture. We have developed procedures to redistribute the input data to the time and space scales chosen for drought index calculation, namely half monthly time intervals for HUC 10 subwatersheds. The spatial redistribution approaches used for each input parameter are dependent on the spatial linkages for that parameter, i.e., the redistribution procedure for streamflow is dependent on the upstream/downstream connectivity of the stream network, and the precipitation redistribution procedure is dependent on elevation to account for orographic effects. A set of drought indices are then calculated from the redistributed data. We have created automated data and metadata harvesters that periodically scan and harvest new data from each of the input databases, and calculates extensions to the resulting derived data sets, ensuring that the data available on the drought server is kept up to date. This paper will describe this system, showing how it facilitates the integration of data from multiple sources to inform the planning and management of water resources during drought. The system may be accessed at http://drought.usu.edu.

Signs of Change: Contemporary Attitudes to Australian Sign Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slegers, Claudia

2010-01-01

This study explores contemporary attitudes to Australian Sign Language (Auslan). Since at least the 1960s, sign languages have been accepted by linguists as natural languages with all of the key ingredients common to spoken languages. However, these visual-spatial languages have historically been subject to ignorance and myth in Australia and…

Individual Differences in Second Language Sentence Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Leah

2012-01-01

As is the case in traditional second language (L2) acquisition research, a major question in the field of L2 real-time sentence processing is the extent to which L2 learners process the input like native speakers. Where differences are observed, the underlying causes could be the influence of the learner's first language and/or differences…

Early-Adolescents' Reading Comprehension and the Stability of the Middle School Classroom-Language Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gámez, Perla B.; Lesaux, Nonie K.

2015-01-01

This study examined teachers' language use across the school year in 6th grade urban middle-school classrooms (n = 24) and investigated the influence of this classroom-based linguistic input on the reading comprehension skills of the students (n = 851; 599 language minority learners and 252 English-only) in the participating classrooms. Analysis…

Individual Differences in Sequence Learning Ability and Second Language Acquisition in Early Childhood and Adulthood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Granena, Gisela

2013-01-01

Language aptitude has been hypothesized as a factor that can compensate for postcritical period effects in language learning capacity. However, previous research has primarily focused on instructed contexts and rarely on acquisition-rich learning environments where there is a potential for massive amounts of input. In addition, the studies…

Defining the Essentials for the Foreign Language Classroom. Selected Papers from the 1989 Central States Conference.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McAlpine, Dave, Ed.; And Others

Selected papers from the 1989 Central State Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages include the following: "From Talk to Action: An Essential for Curricular Change" (June K. Phillips); "Comprehensible Input for Intermediate Foreign Language Students via Video" (Tracy David Terrell); "Developing Extensive Reading Skills: The Transition to…

Natural Language Processing in Game Studies Research: An Overview

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zagal, Jose P.; Tomuro, Noriko; Shepitsen, Andriy

2012-01-01

Natural language processing (NLP) is a field of computer science and linguistics devoted to creating computer systems that use human (natural) language as input and/or output. The authors propose that NLP can also be used for game studies research. In this article, the authors provide an overview of NLP and describe some research possibilities…

Mapping Language to the World: The Role of Iconicity in the Sign Language Input

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perniss, Pamela; Lu, Jenny C.; Morgan, Gary; Vigliocco, Gabriella

2018-01-01

Most research on the mechanisms underlying referential mapping has assumed that learning occurs in ostensive contexts, where label and referent co-occur, and that form and meaning are linked by arbitrary convention alone. In the present study, we focus on "iconicity" in language, that is, resemblance relationships between form and…

Language Policy and Literacy Practices in the Family: The Case of Ethiopian Parental Narrative Input

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stavans, Anat

2012-01-01

The present study analyses the Family Language Policy (FLP) in regards language literacy development of children in Ethiopian immigrant families. Bridging the gap between linguistic literacy at home and at school hinders a smooth societal integration and a normative literacy development. This study describes the home literacy patterns shaped by…

Contemporary Cinema in Language Learning: From Linguistic Input to Intercultural Insight

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pegrum, Mark; Hartley, Linda; Wechtler, Veronique

2005-01-01

Foreign-language cinema has generally been relegated to a minor role in language education. This paper reports on and analyses the results of a survey of attitudes towards foreign film among UK university students of French, German and Spanish. The findings reveal students' limited exposure to and relative lack of familiarity with non-anglophone…

Digital Affordances on WeChat: Learning Chinese as a Second Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jin, Li

2018-01-01

Different from the traditional term language input, affordance, an ecological term, has been deployed to analyze the perceived opportunities for second language (L2) learning an environment provides to L2 learners. L2 learning occurs only when the semiotic resources in the environment resonate with the learner's capacities such as their abilities,…

Investigating Adult Language Input and Young Children's Responses in Naturalistic Environments: An Observational Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marinac, Julie V.; Woodyatt, Gail C.; Ozanne, Anne E.

2008-01-01

This paper reports the design and trial of an original Observational Framework for quantitative investigation of young children's responses to adult language in their typical language learning environments. The Framework permits recording of both the response expectation of the adult utterances, and the degree of compliance in the child's…

The Acculturation and Development of Language in Mexican American Children. Final Grant Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slobin, Dan I.

The spontaneous speech of three Mexican American children (one boy and two girls) and their mothers, siblings, relatives, and neighbors was recorded to investigate the relationships between language and cultural values and beliefs, and between language, input, and cognition and the acquisition of linguistic forms. The children were first-born, 20,…

The Foreign-Language Teacher and Cognitive Psychology or Where Do We Go from Here?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rivers, Wilga M.

Research into the psychology of perception can uncover important discoveries for more efficient learning. There must be increased understanding of the processing of input and the pre-processing of output for improved language instruction. Educators must at the present time be extremely wary of basing what they do in the foreign-language classroom…

Directing Attention to Pronunciation in the Second Language Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Counselman, David

2015-01-01

Motivated by predictions of the theory of Input Processing, this study adds to previous research on second language (L2) Spanish pronunciation learning by investigating the impact of two distinct types of pronunciation assignments on first language (L1) English L2 Spanish students' improvement in pronunciation of the vowels /e, o/. Two sections of…

Linguistic Profiles of Children with CI as Compared with Children with Hearing or Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoog, Brigitte E.; Langereis, Margreet C.; Weerdenburg, Marjolijn; Knoors, Harry E. T.; Verhoeven, Ludo

2016-01-01

Background: The spoken language difficulties of children with moderate or severe to profound hearing loss are mainly related to limited auditory speech perception. However, degraded or filtered auditory input as evidenced in children with cochlear implants (CIs) may result in less efficient or slower language processing as well. To provide insight…

How Involved Are American L2 Learners of Spanish in Lexical Input Processing Tasks during Reading?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pulido, Diana

2009-01-01

This study examines the nature of the involvement load (Laufer & Hulstijn, 2001) in second language (L2) lexical input processing through reading by considering the effects of the reader-based factors of L2 reading proficiency and background knowledge. The lexical input processing aspects investigated were lexical inferencing (search), attentional…

Input Processing: A Study of "Ab Initio" Learners with Multilingual Backgrounds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Han, ZhaoHong; Peverly, Stephen T.

2007-01-01

Research on input processing in the acquisition of a non-primary language has rested largely on the assumption that learners use a meaning-based approach as the "default" when processing input (VanPatten, 1996). The study reported here poses a challenge to this assumption: findings show that participants who were absolute beginners used a…

The Influence of Child-Directed Speech in Early Trilingualism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barnes, Julia

2011-01-01

Contexts of limited input such as trilingual families where a language is not spoken in the wider community but only by a reduced number of speakers in the home provide a unique opportunity to examine closely the relationship between a child's input and what she learns to say. Barnes reported on the relationship between maternal input and a…

Attentional Processing of Input in Explicit and Implicit Conditions: An Eye-Tracking Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Indrarathne, Bimali; Kormos, Judit

2017-01-01

In this study we examined language learners' attentional processing of a target syntactic construction in written L2 input in different input conditions, the change in learners' knowledge of the targeted construction in these conditions, and the relationship between the change in knowledge and attentional processing. One hundred L2 learners of…

Spatial-Temporal Heterogeneity in Regional Watershed Phosphorus Cycles Driven by Changes in Human Activity over the Past Century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hale, R. L.; Grimm, N. B.; Vorosmarty, C. J.

2014-12-01

An ongoing challenge for society is to harness the benefits of phosphorus (P) while minimizing negative effects on downstream ecosystems. To meet this challenge we must understand the controls on the delivery of anthropogenic P from landscapes to downstream ecosystems. We used a model that incorporates P inputs to watersheds, hydrology, and infrastructure (sewers, waste-water treatment plants, and reservoirs) to reconstruct historic P yields for the northeastern U.S. from 1930 to 2002. At the regional scale, increases in P inputs were paralleled by increased fractional retention, thus P loading to the coast did not increase significantly. We found that temporal variation in regional P yield was correlated with P inputs. Spatial patterns of watershed P yields were best predicted by inputs, but the correlation between inputs and yields in space weakened over time, due to infrastructure development. Although the magnitude of infrastructure effect was small, its role changed over time and was important in creating spatial and temporal heterogeneity in input-yield relationships. We then conducted a hierarchical cluster analysis to identify a typology of anthropogenic P cycling, using data on P inputs (fertilizer, livestock feed, and human food), infrastructure (dams, wastewater treatment plants, sewers), and hydrology (runoff coefficient). We identified 6 key types of watersheds that varied significantly in climate, infrastructure, and the types and amounts of P inputs. Annual watershed P yields and retention varied significantly across watershed types. Although land cover varied significantly across typologies, clusters based on land cover alone did not explain P budget patterns, suggesting that this variable is insufficient to understand patterns of P cycling across large spatial scales. Furthermore, clusters varied over time as patterns of climate, P use, and infrastructure changed. Our results demonstrate that the drivers of P cycles are spatially and temporally heterogeneous, yet they also suggest that a relatively simple typology of watersheds can be useful for understanding regional P cycles and may help inform P management approaches.

Can 28-Month-Old Children Learn Spatial Prepositions Robustly from Pictures? Yes, When Narrative Input Is Provided

PubMed Central

Rohlfing, Katharina J.; Nachtigäller, Kerstin

2016-01-01

The learning of spatial prepositions is assumed to be based on experience in space. In a slow mapping study, we investigated whether 31 German 28-month-old children could robustly learn the German spatial prepositions hinter [behind] and neben [next to] from pictures, and whether a narrative input can compensate for a lack of immediate experience in space. One group of children received pictures with a narrative input as a training to understand spatial prepositions. In two further groups, we controlled (a) for the narrative input by providing unconnected speech during the training and (b) for the learning material by training the children on toys rather than pictures. We assessed children’s understanding of spatial prepositions at three different time points: pretest, immediate test, and delayed posttest. Results showed improved word retention in children from the narrative but not the control group receiving unconnected speech. Neither of the trained groups succeeded in generalization to novel referents. Finally, all groups were instructed to deal with untrained material in the test to investigate the robustness of learning across tasks. None of the groups succeeded in this task transfer. PMID:27471479

Language, Perception, and the Schematic Representation of Spatial Relations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amorapanth, Prin; Kranjec, Alexander; Bromberger, Bianca; Lehet, Matthew; Widick, Page; Woods, Adam J.; Kimberg, Daniel Y.; Chatterjee, Anjan

2012-01-01

Schemas are abstract nonverbal representations that parsimoniously depict spatial relations. Despite their ubiquitous use in maps and diagrams, little is known about their neural instantiation. We sought to determine the extent to which schematic representations are neurally distinguished from language on the one hand, and from rich perceptual…

Extraordinary optical transmission inside a waveguide: spatial mode dependence.

PubMed

Reichel, Kimberly S; Lu, Peter Y; Backus, Sterling; Mendis, Rajind; Mittleman, Daniel M

2016-12-12

We study the influence of the input spatial mode on the extraordinary optical transmission (EOT) effect. By placing a metal screen with a 1D array of subwavelength holes inside a terahertz (THz) parallel-plate waveguide (PPWG), we can directly compare the transmission spectra with different input waveguide modes. We observe that the transmitted spectrum depends strongly on the input mode. A conventional description of EOT based on the excitation of surface plasmons is not predictive in all cases. Instead, we utilize a formalism based on impedance matching, which accurately predicts the spectral resonances for both TEM and non-TEM input modes.

Reduced basis ANOVA methods for partial differential equations with high-dimensional random inputs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liao, Qifeng, E-mail: liaoqf@shanghaitech.edu.cn; Lin, Guang, E-mail: guanglin@purdue.edu

2016-07-15

In this paper we present a reduced basis ANOVA approach for partial deferential equations (PDEs) with random inputs. The ANOVA method combined with stochastic collocation methods provides model reduction in high-dimensional parameter space through decomposing high-dimensional inputs into unions of low-dimensional inputs. In this work, to further reduce the computational cost, we investigate spatial low-rank structures in the ANOVA-collocation method, and develop efficient spatial model reduction techniques using hierarchically generated reduced bases. We present a general mathematical framework of the methodology, validate its accuracy and demonstrate its efficiency with numerical experiments.

Ergodic channel capacity of spatial correlated multiple-input multiple-output free space optical links using multipulse pulse-position modulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Huiqin; Wang, Xue; Cao, Minghua

2017-02-01

The spatial correlation extensively exists in the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) free space optical (FSO) communication systems due to the channel fading and the antenna space limitation. Wilkinson's method was utilized to investigate the impact of spatial correlation on the MIMO FSO communication system employing multipulse pulse-position modulation. Simulation results show that the existence of spatial correlation reduces the ergodic channel capacity, and the reception diversity is more competent to resist this kind of performance degradation.

HAL/S programmer's guide. [for space shuttle project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Newbold, P. M.; Hotz, R. L.

1974-01-01

The structure and symbology of the HAL/S programming language are described; this language is to be used among the flight software for the space shuttle project. The data declaration, input/output statements, and replace statements are also discussed.

The Comprehensible Output Hypothesis and Self-directed Learning: A Learner's Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liming, Yu

1990-01-01

Discusses the significance to language acquisition of pushing for comprehensible output. Three issues are examined: (1) comprehensible output and negative input, (2) comprehensible and incomprehensible output, and (3) comprehensible output and comprehensible input. (28 references) (GLR)

IOS: PDP 11/45 formatted input/output task stacker and processer. [In MACRO-II

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Koschik, J.

1974-07-08

IOS allows the programer to perform formated Input/Output at assembly language level to/from any peripheral device. It runs under DOS versions V8-O8 or V9-19, reading and writing DOS-compatible files. Additionally, IOS will run, with total transparency, in an environment with memory management enabled. Minimum hardware required is a 16K PDP 11/45, Keyboard Device, DISK (DK,DF, or DC), and Line Frequency Clock. The source language is MACRO-11 (3.3K Decimal Words).

Integrating natural language processing and web GIS for interactive knowledge domain visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Fangming

Recent years have seen a powerful shift towards data-rich environments throughout society. This has extended to a change in how the artifacts and products of scientific knowledge production can be analyzed and understood. Bottom-up approaches are on the rise that combine access to huge amounts of academic publications with advanced computer graphics and data processing tools, including natural language processing. Knowledge domain visualization is one of those multi-technology approaches, with its aim of turning domain-specific human knowledge into highly visual representations in order to better understand the structure and evolution of domain knowledge. For example, network visualizations built from co-author relations contained in academic publications can provide insight on how scholars collaborate with each other in one or multiple domains, and visualizations built from the text content of articles can help us understand the topical structure of knowledge domains. These knowledge domain visualizations need to support interactive viewing and exploration by users. Such spatialization efforts are increasingly looking to geography and GIS as a source of metaphors and practical technology solutions, even when non-georeferenced information is managed, analyzed, and visualized. When it comes to deploying spatialized representations online, web mapping and web GIS can provide practical technology solutions for interactive viewing of knowledge domain visualizations, from panning and zooming to the overlay of additional information. This thesis presents a novel combination of advanced natural language processing - in the form of topic modeling - with dimensionality reduction through self-organizing maps and the deployment of web mapping/GIS technology towards intuitive, GIS-like, exploration of a knowledge domain visualization. A complete workflow is proposed and implemented that processes any corpus of input text documents into a map form and leverages a web application framework to let users explore knowledge domain maps interactively. This workflow is implemented and demonstrated for a data set of more than 66,000 conference abstracts.

What exactly is Universal Grammar, and has anyone seen it?

PubMed Central

Dąbrowska, Ewa

2015-01-01

Universal Grammar (UG) is a suspect concept. There is little agreement on what exactly is in it; and the empirical evidence for it is very weak. This paper critically examines a variety of arguments that have been put forward as evidence for UG, focussing on the three most powerful ones: universality (all human languages share a number of properties), convergence (all language learners converge on the same grammar in spite of the fact that they are exposed to different input), and poverty of the stimulus (children know things about language which they could not have learned from the input available to them). I argue that these arguments are based on premises which are either false or unsubstantiated. Languages differ from each other in profound ways, and there are very few true universals, so the fundamental crosslinguistic fact that needs explaining is diversity, not universality. A number of recent studies have demonstrated the existence of considerable differences in adult native speakers’ knowledge of the grammar of their language, including aspects of inflectional morphology, passives, quantifiers, and a variety of more complex constructions, so learners do not in fact converge on the same grammar. Finally, the poverty of the stimulus argument presupposes that children acquire linguistic representations of the kind postulated by generative grammarians; constructionist grammars such as those proposed by Tomasello, Goldberg and others can be learned from the input. We are the only species that has language, so there must be something unique about humans that makes language learning possible. The extent of crosslinguistic diversity and the considerable individual differences in the rate, style and outcome of acquisition suggest that it is more promising to think in terms of a language-making capacity, i.e., a set of domain-general abilities, rather than an innate body of knowledge about the structural properties of the target system. PMID:26157406

Spatial Structure of Evolutionary Models of Dialects in Contact

PubMed Central

Murawaki, Yugo

2015-01-01

Phylogenetic models, originally developed to demonstrate evolutionary biology, have been applied to a wide range of cultural data including natural language lexicons, manuscripts, folktales, material cultures, and religions. A fundamental question regarding the application of phylogenetic inference is whether trees are an appropriate approximation of cultural evolutionary history. Their validity in cultural applications has been scrutinized, particularly with respect to the lexicons of dialects in contact. Phylogenetic models organize evolutionary data into a series of branching events through time. However, branching events are typically not included in dialectological studies to interpret the distributions of lexical terms. Instead, dialectologists have offered spatial interpretations to represent lexical data. For example, new lexical items that emerge in a politico-cultural center are likely to spread to peripheries, but not vice versa. To explore the question of the tree model’s validity, we present a simple simulation model in which dialects form a spatial network and share lexical items through contact rather than through common ancestors. We input several network topologies to the model to generate synthetic data. We then analyze the synthesized data using conventional phylogenetic techniques. We found that a group of dialects can be considered tree-like even if it has not evolved in a temporally tree-like manner but has a temporally invariant, spatially tree-like structure. In addition, the simulation experiments appear to reproduce unnatural results observed in reconstructed trees for real data. These results motivate further investigation into the spatial structure of the evolutionary history of dialect lexicons as well as other cultural characteristics. PMID:26221958

Exemplar Variability Facilitates Retention of Word Learning by Children with Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aguilar, Jessica M.; Plante, Elena; Sandoval, Michelle

2018-01-01

Purpose: Variability in the input plays an important role in language learning. The current study examined the role of object variability for new word learning by preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI). Method: Eighteen 4- and 5-year-old children with SLI were taught 8 new words in 3 short activities over the course of 3 sessions.…

Songs vs. Stories: Impact of Input Sources on ESL Vocabulary Acquisition by Preliterate Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lesniewska, Justyna; Pichette, François

2016-01-01

Research in second language acquisition has paid little attention to preliterate children learning a language which is absent from their environment outside the language class. This study examines the acquisition of English words by 24 French-speaking children aged 35-59 months, who were introduced to 57 words, embedded in stories and songs. Four…

Indexical Relations and Sound Motion Pictures in L2 Curricula: The Dynamic Role of the Teacher

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Liang; Oller, John W., Jr.

2005-01-01

Well-chosen sound motion pictures (SMPs) can be excellent language teaching tools for presenting facts and providing comprehensible input in the target language. They give access to content and authentic surface forms in the target language as well as to the associations between them. SMPs also allow repeated exposures, but they are rarely…

The Use of Computer-Based Simulation to Aid Comprehension and Incidental Vocabulary Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mohsen, Mohammed Ali

2016-01-01

One of the main issues in language learning is to find ways to enable learners to interact with the language input in an involved task. Given that computer-based simulation allows learners to interact with visual modes, this article examines how the interaction of students with an online video simulation affects their second language video…

The Acquisition of Relative Clauses: How Do Second Language Learners of Arabic Do It?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Algady, Dola

2013-01-01

The new developments in syntactic theory under Minimalism reconsiders the relation between the language faculty and general cognitive systems whereby language acquisition is accomplished by the interaction of Chomsky (2005)'s three factors: (F1) a minimally specified UG (Genetic endowment); (F2) Primary Linguistic Data (PLD), i.e., input; and (F3)…

Perceptual Decoding Processes for Language in a Visual Mode and for Language in an Auditory Mode.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myerson, Rosemarie Farkas

The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into the nature of the reading process through an understanding of the general nature of sensory processing mechanisms which reorganize and restructure input signals for central recognition, and an understanding of how the grammar of the language functions in defining the set of possible sentences in…

A Comparative Study on the Effects of Negative Evidence and Enriched Input on Learning of Verb-Noun Collocations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Okyar, Hatice; Yangin Eksi, Gonca

2017-01-01

This study compared the effectiveness of negative evidence and enriched input on learning the verb-noun collocations. There were 52 English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners in this research study and they were randomly assigned to the negative evidence or enriched input groups. While the negative evidence group (n = 27) was provided with…

Investigating the Effects of Multimedia Input Modality on L2 Listening Skills of Turkish EFL Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Inceçay, Volkan; Koçoglu, Zeynep

2017-01-01

The present study examined whether or not different input delivery modes have an effect on listening comprehension of Turkish students learning English at the university level. It investigated the effect of one single mode, which is audio-only, and three dual input delivery modes, which were audio-video, audio-video with target language subtitles…

Representing spatial structure through maps and language: Lord of the Rings encodes the spatial structure of middle Earth.

PubMed

Louwerse, Max M; Benesh, Nick

2012-01-01

Spatial mental representations can be derived from linguistic and non-linguistic sources of information. This study tested whether these representations could be formed from statistical linguistic frequencies of city names, and to what extent participants differed in their performance when they estimated spatial locations from language or maps. In a computational linguistic study, we demonstrated that co-occurrences of cities in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit predicted the authentic longitude and latitude of those cities in Middle Earth. In a human study, we showed that human spatial estimates of the location of cities were very similar regardless of whether participants read Tolkien's texts or memorized a map of Middle Earth. However, text-based location estimates obtained from statistical linguistic frequencies better predicted the human text-based estimates than the human map-based estimates. These findings suggest that language encodes spatial structure of cities, and that human cognitive map representations can come from implicit statistical linguistic patterns, from explicit non-linguistic perceptual information, or from both. Copyright © 2012 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Methods used to parameterize the spatially-explicit components of a state-and-transition simulation model

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sleeter, Rachel; Acevedo, William; Soulard, Christopher E.; Sleeter, Benjamin M.

2015-01-01

Spatially-explicit state-and-transition simulation models of land use and land cover (LULC) increase our ability to assess regional landscape characteristics and associated carbon dynamics across multiple scenarios. By characterizing appropriate spatial attributes such as forest age and land-use distribution, a state-and-transition model can more effectively simulate the pattern and spread of LULC changes. This manuscript describes the methods and input parameters of the Land Use and Carbon Scenario Simulator (LUCAS), a customized state-and-transition simulation model utilized to assess the relative impacts of LULC on carbon stocks for the conterminous U.S. The methods and input parameters are spatially explicit and describe initial conditions (strata, state classes and forest age), spatial multipliers, and carbon stock density. Initial conditions were derived from harmonization of multi-temporal data characterizing changes in land use as well as land cover. Harmonization combines numerous national-level datasets through a cell-based data fusion process to generate maps of primary LULC categories. Forest age was parameterized using data from the North American Carbon Program and spatially-explicit maps showing the locations of past disturbances (i.e. wildfire and harvest). Spatial multipliers were developed to spatially constrain the location of future LULC transitions. Based on distance-decay theory, maps were generated to guide the placement of changes related to forest harvest, agricultural intensification/extensification, and urbanization. We analyze the spatially-explicit input parameters with a sensitivity analysis, by showing how LUCAS responds to variations in the model input. This manuscript uses Mediterranean California as a regional subset to highlight local to regional aspects of land change, which demonstrates the utility of LUCAS at many scales and applications.

Frames of Reference in Spatial Memories Acquired From Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mou, Weimin; Zhang, Kan; McNamara, Timothy P.

2004-01-01

Four experiments examined reference systems in spatial memories acquired from language. Participants read narratives that located 4 objects in canonical (front, back, left, right) or noncanonical (left front, right front, left back, right back) positions around them. Participants' focus of attention was first set on each of the 4 objects, and then…

Influences of Indigenous Language on Spatial Frames of Reference in Aboriginal English

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edmonds-Wathen, Cris

2014-01-01

The Aboriginal English spoken by Indigenous children in remote communities in the Northern Territory of Australia is influenced by the home languages spoken by themselves and their families. This affects uses of spatial terms used in mathematics such as "in front" and "behind." Speakers of the endangered Indigenous Australian…

Photonic lantern adaptive spatial mode control in LMA fiber amplifiers.

PubMed

Montoya, Juan; Aleshire, Chris; Hwang, Christopher; Fontaine, Nicolas K; Velázquez-Benítez, Amado; Martz, Dale H; Fan, T Y; Ripin, Dan

2016-02-22

We demonstrate adaptive-spatial mode control (ASMC) in few-moded double-clad large mode area (LMA) fiber amplifiers by using an all-fiber-based photonic lantern. Three single-mode fiber inputs are used to adaptively inject the appropriate superposition of input modes in a multimode gain fiber to achieve the desired mode at the output. By actively adjusting the relative phase of the single-mode inputs, near-unity coherent combination resulting in a single fundamental mode at the output is achieved.

System and Method for Providing Model-Based Alerting of Spatial Disorientation to a Pilot

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Steve (Inventor); Conner, Kevin J (Inventor); Mathan, Santosh (Inventor)

2015-01-01

A system and method monitor aircraft state parameters, for example, aircraft movement and flight parameters, applies those inputs to a spatial disorientation model, and makes a prediction of when pilot may become spatially disoriented. Once the system predicts a potentially disoriented pilot, the sensitivity for alerting the pilot to conditions exceeding a threshold can be increased and allow for an earlier alert to mitigate the possibility of an incorrect control input.

A novel tablet computer platform for advanced language mapping during awake craniotomy procedures.

PubMed

Morrison, Melanie A; Tam, Fred; Garavaglia, Marco M; Golestanirad, Laleh; Hare, Gregory M T; Cusimano, Michael D; Schweizer, Tom A; Das, Sunit; Graham, Simon J

2016-04-01

A computerized platform has been developed to enhance behavioral testing during intraoperative language mapping in awake craniotomy procedures. The system is uniquely compatible with the environmental demands of both the operating room and preoperative functional MRI (fMRI), thus providing standardized testing toward improving spatial agreement between the 2 brain mapping techniques. Details of the platform architecture, its advantages over traditional testing methods, and its use for language mapping are described. Four illustrative cases demonstrate the efficacy of using the testing platform to administer sophisticated language paradigms, and the spatial agreement between intraoperative mapping and preoperative fMRI results. The testing platform substantially improved the ability of the surgeon to detect and characterize language deficits. Use of a written word generation task to assess language production helped confirm areas of speech apraxia and speech arrest that were inadequately characterized or missed with the use of traditional paradigms, respectively. Preoperative fMRI of the analogous writing task was also assistive, displaying excellent spatial agreement with intraoperative mapping in all 4 cases. Sole use of traditional testing paradigms can be limiting during awake craniotomy procedures. Comprehensive assessment of language function will require additional use of more sophisticated and ecologically valid testing paradigms. The platform presented here provides a means to do so.

Impaired hippocampal rate coding after lesions of the lateral entorhinal cortex.

PubMed

Lu, Li; Leutgeb, Jill K; Tsao, Albert; Henriksen, Espen J; Leutgeb, Stefan; Barnes, Carol A; Witter, Menno P; Moser, May-Britt; Moser, Edvard I

2013-08-01

In the hippocampus, spatial and non-spatial parameters may be represented by a dual coding scheme, in which coordinates in space are expressed by the collective firing locations of place cells and the diversity of experience at these locations is encoded by orthogonal variations in firing rates. Although the spatial signal may reflect input from medial entorhinal cortex, the sources of the variations in firing rate have not been identified. We found that rate variations in rat CA3 place cells depended on inputs from the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC). Hippocampal rate remapping, induced by changing the shape or the color configuration of the environment, was impaired by lesions in those parts of the ipsilateral LEC that provided the densest input to the hippocampal recording position. Rate remapping was not observed in LEC itself. The findings suggest that LEC inputs are important for efficient rate coding in the hippocampus.

Cortical feedback signals generalise across different spatial frequencies of feedforward inputs.

PubMed

Revina, Yulia; Petro, Lucy S; Muckli, Lars

2017-09-22

Visual processing in cortex relies on feedback projections contextualising feedforward information flow. Primary visual cortex (V1) has small receptive fields and processes feedforward information at a fine-grained spatial scale, whereas higher visual areas have larger, spatially invariant receptive fields. Therefore, feedback could provide coarse information about the global scene structure or alternatively recover fine-grained structure by targeting small receptive fields in V1. We tested if feedback signals generalise across different spatial frequencies of feedforward inputs, or if they are tuned to the spatial scale of the visual scene. Using a partial occlusion paradigm, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) we investigated whether feedback to V1 contains coarse or fine-grained information by manipulating the spatial frequency of the scene surround outside an occluded image portion. We show that feedback transmits both coarse and fine-grained information as it carries information about both low (LSF) and high spatial frequencies (HSF). Further, feedback signals containing LSF information are similar to feedback signals containing HSF information, even without a large overlap in spatial frequency bands of the HSF and LSF scenes. Lastly, we found that feedback carries similar information about the spatial frequency band across different scenes. We conclude that cortical feedback signals contain information which generalises across different spatial frequencies of feedforward inputs. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The neural correlates of highly iconic structures and topographic discourse in French Sign Language as observed in six hearing native signers.

PubMed

Courtin, C; Hervé, P-Y; Petit, L; Zago, L; Vigneau, M; Beaucousin, V; Jobard, G; Mazoyer, B; Mellet, E; Tzourio-Mazoyer, N

2010-09-01

"Highly iconic" structures in Sign Language enable a narrator to act, switch characters, describe objects, or report actions in four-dimensions. This group of linguistic structures has no real spoken-language equivalent. Topographical descriptions are also achieved in a sign-language specific manner via the use of signing-space and spatial-classifier signs. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare the neural correlates of topographic discourse and highly iconic structures in French Sign Language (LSF) in six hearing native signers, children of deaf adults (CODAs), and six LSF-naïve monolinguals. LSF materials consisted of videos of a lecture excerpt signed without spatially organized discourse or highly iconic structures (Lect LSF), a tale signed using highly iconic structures (Tale LSF), and a topographical description using a diagrammatic format and spatial-classifier signs (Topo LSF). We also presented texts in spoken French (Lect French, Tale French, Topo French) to all participants. With both languages, the Topo texts activated several different regions that are involved in mental navigation and spatial working memory. No specific correlate of LSF spatial discourse was evidenced. The same regions were more activated during Tale LSF than Lect LSF in CODAs, but not in monolinguals, in line with the presence of signing-space structure in both conditions. Motion processing areas and parts of the fusiform gyrus and precuneus were more active during Tale LSF in CODAs; no such effect was observed with French or in LSF-naïve monolinguals. These effects may be associated with perspective-taking and acting during personal transfers. 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of Hearing Status and Sign Language Use on Working Memory

PubMed Central

Sarchet, Thomastine; Trani, Alexandra

2016-01-01

Deaf individuals have been found to score lower than hearing individuals across a variety of memory tasks involving both verbal and nonverbal stimuli, particularly those requiring retention of serial order. Deaf individuals who are native signers, meanwhile, have been found to score higher on visual-spatial memory tasks than on verbal-sequential tasks and higher on some visual-spatial tasks than hearing nonsigners. However, hearing status and preferred language modality (signed or spoken) frequently are confounded in such studies. That situation is resolved in the present study by including deaf students who use spoken language and sign language interpreting students (hearing signers) as well as deaf signers and hearing nonsigners. Three complex memory span tasks revealed overall advantages for hearing signers and nonsigners over both deaf signers and deaf nonsigners on 2 tasks involving memory for verbal stimuli (letters). There were no differences among the groups on the task involving visual-spatial stimuli. The results are consistent with and extend recent findings concerning the effects of hearing status and language on memory and are discussed in terms of language modality, hearing status, and cognitive abilities among deaf and hearing individuals. PMID:26755684

Atypical birdsong and artificial languages provide insights into how communication systems are shaped by learning, use, and transmission.

PubMed

Fehér, Olga

2017-02-01

In this article, I argue that a comparative approach focusing on the cognitive capacities and behavioral mechanisms that underlie vocal learning in songbirds and humans can provide valuable insights into the evolutionary origins of language. The experimental approaches I discuss use abnormal song and atypical linguistic input to study the processes of individual learning, social interaction, and cultural transmission. Atypical input places increased learning and communicative pressure on learners, so exploring how they respond to this type of input provides a particularly clear picture of the biases and constraints at work during learning and use. Furthermore, simulating the cultural transmission of these unnatural communication systems in the laboratory informs us about how learning and social biases influence the structure of communication systems in the long run. Findings based on these methods suggest fundamental similarities in the basic social-cognitive mechanisms underlying vocal learning in birds and humans, and continuing research promises insights into the uniquely human mechanisms and into how human cognition and social behavior interact, and ultimately impact on the evolution of language.

A planning language for activity scheduling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zoch, David R.; Lavallee, David; Weinstein, Stuart; Tong, G. Michael

1991-01-01

Mission planning and scheduling of spacecraft operations are becoming more complex at NASA. Described here are a mission planning process; a robust, flexible planning language for spacecraft and payload operations; and a software scheduling system that generates schedules based on planning language inputs. The mission planning process often involves many people and organizations. Consequently, a planning language is needed to facilitate communication, to provide a standard interface, and to represent flexible requirements. The software scheduling system interprets the planning language and uses the resource, time duration, constraint, and alternative plan flexibilities to resolve scheduling conflicts.

Rapid Prototyping in PVS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Munoz, Cesar A.; Butler, Ricky (Technical Monitor)

2003-01-01

PVSio is a conservative extension to the PVS prelude library that provides basic input/output capabilities to the PVS ground evaluator. It supports rapid prototyping in PVS by enhancing the specification language with built-in constructs for string manipulation, floating point arithmetic, and input/output operations.

Hippocampal-prefrontal input supports spatial encoding in working memory.

PubMed

Spellman, Timothy; Rigotti, Mattia; Ahmari, Susanne E; Fusi, Stefano; Gogos, Joseph A; Gordon, Joshua A

2015-06-18

Spatial working memory, the caching of behaviourally relevant spatial cues on a timescale of seconds, is a fundamental constituent of cognition. Although the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus are known to contribute jointly to successful spatial working memory, the anatomical pathway and temporal window for the interaction of these structures critical to spatial working memory has not yet been established. Here we find that direct hippocampal-prefrontal afferents are critical for encoding, but not for maintenance or retrieval, of spatial cues in mice. These cues are represented by the activity of individual prefrontal units in a manner that is dependent on hippocampal input only during the cue-encoding phase of a spatial working memory task. Successful encoding of these cues appears to be mediated by gamma-frequency synchrony between the two structures. These findings indicate a critical role for the direct hippocampal-prefrontal afferent pathway in the continuous updating of task-related spatial information during spatial working memory.

Frames of reference in spatial language acquisition.

PubMed

Shusterman, Anna; Li, Peggy

2016-08-01

Languages differ in how they encode spatial frames of reference. It is unknown how children acquire the particular frame-of-reference terms in their language (e.g., left/right, north/south). The present paper uses a word-learning paradigm to investigate 4-year-old English-speaking children's acquisition of such terms. In Part I, with five experiments, we contrasted children's acquisition of novel word pairs meaning left-right and north-south to examine their initial hypotheses and the relative ease of learning the meanings of these terms. Children interpreted ambiguous spatial terms as having environment-based meanings akin to north and south, and they readily learned and generalized north-south meanings. These studies provide the first direct evidence that children invoke geocentric representations in spatial language acquisition. However, the studies leave unanswered how children ultimately acquire "left" and "right." In Part II, with three more experiments, we investigated why children struggle to master body-based frame-of-reference words. Children successfully learned "left" and "right" when the novel words were systematically introduced on their own bodies and extended these words to novel (intrinsic and relative) uses; however, they had difficulty learning to talk about the left and right sides of a doll. This difficulty was paralleled in identifying the left and right sides of the doll in a non-linguistic memory task. In contrast, children had no difficulties learning to label the front and back sides of a doll. These studies begin to paint a detailed account of the acquisition of spatial terms in English, and provide insights into the origins of diverse spatial reference frames in the world's languages. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Light adaptation alters the source of inhibition to the mouse retinal OFF pathway

PubMed Central

Mazade, Reece E.

2013-01-01

Sensory systems must avoid saturation to encode a wide range of stimulus intensities. One way the retina accomplishes this is by using both dim-light-sensing rod and bright-light-sensing cone photoreceptor circuits. OFF cone bipolar cells are a key point in this process, as they receive both excitatory input from cones and inhibitory input from AII amacrine cells via the rod pathway. However, in addition to AII amacrine cell input, other inhibitory inputs from cone pathways also modulate OFF cone bipolar cell light signals. It is unknown how these inhibitory inputs to OFF cone bipolar cells change when switching between rod and cone pathways or whether all OFF cone bipolar cells receive rod pathway input. We found that one group of OFF cone bipolar cells (types 1, 2, and 4) receive rod-mediated inhibitory inputs that likely come from the rod-AII amacrine cell pathway, while another group of OFF cone bipolar cells (type 3) do not. In both cases, dark-adapted rod-dominant light responses showed a significant contribution of glycinergic inhibition, which decreased with light adaptation and was, surprisingly, compensated by an increase in GABAergic inhibition. As GABAergic input has distinct timing and spatial spread from glycinergic input, a shift from glycinergic to GABAergic inhibition could significantly alter OFF cone bipolar cell signaling to downstream OFF ganglion cells. Larger GABAergic input could reflect an adjustment of OFF bipolar cell spatial inhibition, which may be one mechanism that contributes to retinal spatial sensitivity in the light. PMID:23926034

Optimizing information flow in small genetic networks. IV. Spatial coupling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sokolowski, Thomas R.; Tkačik, Gašper

2015-06-01

We typically think of cells as responding to external signals independently by regulating their gene expression levels, yet they often locally exchange information and coordinate. Can such spatial coupling be of benefit for conveying signals subject to gene regulatory noise? Here we extend our information-theoretic framework for gene regulation to spatially extended systems. As an example, we consider a lattice of nuclei responding to a concentration field of a transcriptional regulator (the input) by expressing a single diffusible target gene. When input concentrations are low, diffusive coupling markedly improves information transmission; optimal gene activation functions also systematically change. A qualitatively different regulatory strategy emerges where individual cells respond to the input in a nearly steplike fashion that is subsequently averaged out by strong diffusion. While motivated by early patterning events in the Drosophila embryo, our framework is generically applicable to spatially coupled stochastic gene expression models.

The Roles of First Language and Proficiency in L2 Processing of Spanish Clitics: Global Effects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seibert Hanson, Aroline E.; Carlson, Matthew T.

2014-01-01

We assessed the roles of first language (L1) and second language (L2) proficiency in the processing of preverbal clitics in L2 Spanish by considering the predictions of four processing theories--the Input Processing Theory, the Unified Competition Model, the Amalgamation Model, and the Associative-Cognitive CREED. We compared the performance of L1…

Relational Language and the Development of Relational Mapping

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loewenstein, J.; Gentner, D.

2005-01-01

We test the claim that learning and using language for spatial relations can influence spatial representation and reasoning. Preschool children were given a mapping task in which they were asked to find a ''winner'' placed in a three-tiered box after seeing one placed in a virtually identical box. The correct choice was determined by finding the…

Computer programs for computing particle-size statistics of fluvial sediments

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stevens, H.H.; Hubbell, D.W.

1986-01-01

Two versions of computer programs for inputing data and computing particle-size statistics of fluvial sediments are presented. The FORTRAN 77 language versions are for use on the Prime computer, and the BASIC language versions are for use on microcomputers. The size-statistics program compute Inman, Trask , and Folk statistical parameters from phi values and sizes determined for 10 specified percent-finer values from inputed size and percent-finer data. The program also determines the percentage gravel, sand, silt, and clay, and the Meyer-Peter effective diameter. Documentation and listings for both versions of the programs are included. (Author 's abstract)

Interaction and Instructed Second Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loewen, Shawn; Sato, Masatoshi

2018-01-01

Interaction is an indispensable component in second language acquisition (SLA). This review surveys the instructed SLA research, both classroom and laboratory-based, that has been conducted primarily within the interactionist approach, beginning with the core constructs of interaction, namely input, negotiation for meaning, and output. The review…

CITE NLM: Natural-Language Searching in an Online Catalog.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doszkocs, Tamas E.

1983-01-01

The National Library of Medicine's Current Information Transfer in English public access online catalog offers unique subject search capabilities--natural-language query input, automatic medical subject headings display, closest match search strategy, ranked document output, dynamic end user feedback for search refinement. References, description…

DDL:Digital systems design language

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shival, S. G.

1980-01-01

Hardware description languages are valuable tools in such applications as hardware design, system documentation, and logic design training. DDL is convenient medium for inputting design details into hardware-design automation system. It is suitable for describing digital systems at gate, register transfer, and major combinational block level.

MODFLOW 2000 Head Uncertainty, a First-Order Second Moment Method

USGS Publications Warehouse

Glasgow, H.S.; Fortney, M.D.; Lee, J.; Graettinger, A.J.; Reeves, H.W.

2003-01-01

A computationally efficient method to estimate the variance and covariance in piezometric head results computed through MODFLOW 2000 using a first-order second moment (FOSM) approach is presented. This methodology employs a first-order Taylor series expansion to combine model sensitivity with uncertainty in geologic data. MODFLOW 2000 is used to calculate both the ground water head and the sensitivity of head to changes in input data. From a limited number of samples, geologic data are extrapolated and their associated uncertainties are computed through a conditional probability calculation. Combining the spatially related sensitivity and input uncertainty produces the variance-covariance matrix, the diagonal of which is used to yield the standard deviation in MODFLOW 2000 head. The variance in piezometric head can be used for calibrating the model, estimating confidence intervals, directing exploration, and evaluating the reliability of a design. A case study illustrates the approach, where aquifer transmissivity is the spatially related uncertain geologic input data. The FOSM methodology is shown to be applicable for calculating output uncertainty for (1) spatially related input and output data, and (2) multiple input parameters (transmissivity and recharge).

Does hearing two dialects at different times help infants learn dialect-specific rules?

PubMed Central

Gonzales, Kalim; Gerken, LouAnn; Gómez, Rebecca L.

2015-01-01

Infants might be better at teasing apart dialects with different language rules when hearing the dialects at different times, since language learners do not always combine input heard at different times. However, no previous research has independently varied the temporal distribution of conflicting language input. Twelve-month-olds heard two artificial language streams representing different dialects—a “pure stream” whose sentences adhered to abstract grammar rules like aX bY, and a “mixed stream” wherein any a- or b-word could precede any X- or Y-word. Infants were then tested for generalization of the pure stream’s rules to novel sentences. Supporting our hypothesis, infants showed generalization when the two streams’ sentences alternated in minutes-long intervals without any perceptually salient change across streams (Experiment 2), but not when all sentences from these same streams were randomly interleaved (Experiment 3). Results are interpreted in light of temporal context effects in word learning. PMID:25880342

Limits on negative information in language input.

PubMed

Morgan, J L; Travis, L L

1989-10-01

Hirsh-Pasek, Treiman & Schneiderman (1984) and Demetras, Post & Snow (1986) have recently suggested that certain types of parental repetitions and clarification questions may provide children with subtle cues to their grammatical errors. We further investigated this possibility by examining parental responses to inflectional over-regularizations and wh-question auxiliary-verb omission errors in the sets of transcripts from Adam, Eve and Sarah (Brown 1973). These errors were chosen because they are exemplars of overgeneralization, the type of mistake for which negative information is, in theory, most critically needed. Expansions and Clarification Questions occurred more often following ill-formed utterances in Adam's and Eve's input, but not in Sarah's. However, these corrective responses formed only a small proportion of all adult responses following Adam's and Eve's grammatical errors. Moreover, corrective responses appear to drop out of children's input while they continue to make overgeneralization errors. Whereas negative feedback may occasionally be available, in the light of these findings the contention that language input generally incorporates negative information appears to be unfounded.

Status of GDL - GNU Data Language

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coulais, A.; Schellens, M.; Gales, J.; Arabas, S.; Boquien, M.; Chanial, P.; Messmer, P.; Fillmore, D.; Poplawski, O.; Maret, S.; Marchal, G.; Galmiche, N.; Mermet, T.

2010-12-01

Gnu Data Language (GDL) is an open-source interpreted language aimed at numerical data analysis and visualisation. It is a free implementation of the Interactive Data Language (IDL) widely used in Astronomy. GDL has a full syntax compatibility with IDL, and includes a large set of library routines targeting advanced matrix manipulation, plotting, time-series and image analysis, mapping, and data input/output including numerous scientific data formats. We will present the current status of the project, the key accomplishments, and the weaknesses - areas where contributions are welcome!

The grammatical morpheme deficit in moderate hearing impairment.

PubMed

McGuckian, Maria; Henry, Alison

2007-03-01

Much remains unknown about grammatical morpheme (GM) acquisition by children with moderate hearing impairment (HI) acquiring spoken English. To investigate how moderate HI impacts on the use of GMs in speech and to provide an explanation for the pattern of findings. Elicited and spontaneous speech data were collected from children with moderate HI (n = 10; mean age = 7;4 years) and a control group of typically developing children (n = 10; mean age = 3;2 years) with equivalent mean length of utterance (MLU). The data were analysed to determine the use of ten GMs of English. Comparisons were made between the groups for rates of correct GM production, for types and rates of GM errors, and for order of GM accuracy. The findings revealed significant differences between the HI group and the control group for correct production of five GMs. The differences were not all in the same direction. The HI group produced possessive -s and plural -s significantly less frequently than the controls (this is not simply explained by the perceptual saliency of -s) and produced progressive -ing, articles and irregular past tense significantly more frequently than the controls. Moreover, the order of GM accuracy for the HI group did not correlate with that observed for the control group. Various factors were analysed in an attempt to explain order of GM accuracy for the HI group (i.e. perceptual saliency, syntactic category, semantics and frequency of GMs in input). Frequency of GMs in input was the most successful explanation for the overall pattern of GM accuracy. Interestingly, the order of GM accuracy for the HI group (acquiring spoken English as a first language) was characteristic of that reported for individuals learning English as a second language. An explanation for the findings is drawn from a factor that connects these different groups of language learners, i.e. limited access to spoken English input. It is argued that, because of hearing factors, the children with HI are below a threshold for intake of spoken language input (a threshold easily reached by the controls). Thus, the children with HI are more input-dependent at the point in development studied and as such are more sensitive to input frequency effects. The findings suggest that optimizing or indeed increasing auditory input of GMs may have a positive impact on GM development for children with moderate HI.

GSFC Systems Test and Operation Language (STOL) functional requirements and language description

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Desjardins, R.; Hall, G.; Mcguire, J.; Merwarth, P.; Mocarsky, W.; Truszkowski, W.; Villasenor, A.; Brosi, F.; Burch, P.; Carey, D.

1978-01-01

The Systems Tests and Operation Language (STOL) provides the means for user communication with payloads, applications programs, and other ground system elements. It is a systems operation language that enables an operator or user to communicate a command to a computer system. The system interprets each high level language directive from the user and performs the indicated action, such as executing a program, printing out a snapshot, or sending a payload command. This document presents the following: (1) required language features and implementation considerations; (2) basic capabilities; (3) telemetry, command, and input/output directives; (4) procedure definition and control; (5) listing, extension, and STOL nucleus capabilities.

Determining the Effectiveness of Visual Input Enhancement across Multiple Linguistic Cues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Comeaux, Ian; McDonald, Janet L.

2018-01-01

Visual input enhancement (VIE) increases the salience of grammatical forms, potentially facilitating acquisition through attention mechanisms. Native English speakers were exposed to an artificial language containing four linguistic cues (verb agreement, case marking, animacy, word order), with morphological cues either unmarked, marked in the…

Emerge - A Python environment for the modeling of subsurface transfers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lopez, S.; Smai, F.; Sochala, P.

2014-12-01

The simulation of subsurface mass and energy transfers often relies on specific codes that were mainly developed using compiled languages which usually ensure computational efficiency at the expense of relatively long development times and relatively rigid software. Even if a very detailed, possibly graphical, user-interface is developed the core numerical aspects are rarely accessible and the smallest modification will always need a compilation step. Thus, user-defined physical laws or alternative numerical schemes may be relatively difficult to use. Over the last decade, Python has emerged as a popular and widely used language in the scientific community. There already exist several libraries for the pre and post-treatment of input and output files for reservoir simulators (e.g. pytough). Development times in Python are considerably reduced compared to compiled languages, and programs can be easily interfaced with libraries written in compiled languages with several comprehensive numerical libraries that provide sequential and parallel solvers (e.g. PETSc, Trilinos…). The core objective of the Emerge project is to explore the possibility to develop a modeling environment in full Python. Consequently, we are developing an open python package with the classes/objects necessary to express, discretize and solve the physical problems encountered in the modeling of subsurface transfers. We heavily relied on Python to have a convenient and concise way of manipulating potentially complex concepts with a few lines of code and a high level of abstraction. Our result aims to be a friendly numerical environment targeting both numerical engineers and physicist or geoscientists with the possibility to quickly specify and handle geometries, arbitrary meshes, spatially or temporally varying properties, PDE formulations, boundary conditions…

OIL—Output input language for data connectivity between geoscientific software applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amin Khan, Khalid; Akhter, Gulraiz; Ahmad, Zulfiqar

2010-05-01

Geoscientific computing has become so complex that no single software application can perform all the processing steps required to get the desired results. Thus for a given set of analyses, several specialized software applications are required, which must be interconnected for electronic flow of data. In this network of applications the outputs of one application become inputs of other applications. Each of these applications usually involve more than one data type and may have their own data formats, making them incompatible with other applications in terms of data connectivity. Consequently several data format conversion utilities are developed in-house to provide data connectivity between applications. Practically there is no end to this problem as each time a new application is added to the system, a set of new data conversion utilities need to be developed. This paper presents a flexible data format engine, programmable through a platform independent, interpreted language named; Output Input Language (OIL). Its unique architecture allows input and output formats to be defined independent of each other by two separate programs. Thus read and write for each format is coded only once and data connectivity link between two formats is established by a combination of their read and write programs. This results in fewer programs with no redundancy and maximum reuse, enabling rapid application development and easy maintenance of data connectivity links.

Spatial interpolation schemes of daily precipitation for hydrologic modeling

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hwang, Y.; Clark, M.R.; Rajagopalan, B.; Leavesley, G.

2012-01-01

Distributed hydrologic models typically require spatial estimates of precipitation interpolated from sparsely located observational points to the specific grid points. We compare and contrast the performance of regression-based statistical methods for the spatial estimation of precipitation in two hydrologically different basins and confirmed that widely used regression-based estimation schemes fail to describe the realistic spatial variability of daily precipitation field. The methods assessed are: (1) inverse distance weighted average; (2) multiple linear regression (MLR); (3) climatological MLR; and (4) locally weighted polynomial regression (LWP). In order to improve the performance of the interpolations, the authors propose a two-step regression technique for effective daily precipitation estimation. In this simple two-step estimation process, precipitation occurrence is first generated via a logistic regression model before estimate the amount of precipitation separately on wet days. This process generated the precipitation occurrence, amount, and spatial correlation effectively. A distributed hydrologic model (PRMS) was used for the impact analysis in daily time step simulation. Multiple simulations suggested noticeable differences between the input alternatives generated by three different interpolation schemes. Differences are shown in overall simulation error against the observations, degree of explained variability, and seasonal volumes. Simulated streamflows also showed different characteristics in mean, maximum, minimum, and peak flows. Given the same parameter optimization technique, LWP input showed least streamflow error in Alapaha basin and CMLR input showed least error (still very close to LWP) in Animas basin. All of the two-step interpolation inputs resulted in lower streamflow error compared to the directly interpolated inputs. ?? 2011 Springer-Verlag.

Containment and Support: Core and Complexity in Spatial Language Learning.

PubMed

Landau, Barbara; Johannes, Kristen; Skordos, Dimitrios; Papafragou, Anna

2017-04-01

Containment and support have traditionally been assumed to represent universal conceptual foundations for spatial terms. This assumption can be challenged, however: English in and on are applied across a surprisingly broad range of exemplars, and comparable terms in other languages show significant variation in their application. We propose that the broad domains of both containment and support have internal structure that reflects different subtypes, that this structure is reflected in basic spatial term usage across languages, and that it constrains children's spatial term learning. Using a newly developed battery, we asked how adults and 4-year-old children speaking English or Greek distribute basic spatial terms across subtypes of containment and support. We found that containment showed similar distributions of basic terms across subtypes among all groups while support showed such similarity only among adults, with striking differences between children learning English versus Greek. We conclude that the two domains differ considerably in the learning problems they present, and that learning in and on is remarkably complex. Together, our results point to the need for a more nuanced view of spatial term learning. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Space, relations, and the learning of science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roth, Wolff-Michael; Hsu, Pei-Ling

2014-03-01

In the literature on the situated and distributed nature of cognition, the coordination of spatial organization and the structure of human practices and relations is accepted as a fact. To date, science educators have yet to build on such research. Drawing on an ethnographic study of high school students during an internship in a scientific research laboratory, which we understand as a "perspicuous setting" and a "smart setting," in which otherwise invisible dimensions of human practices become evident, we analyze the relationship between spatial configurations of the setting and the nature and temporal organization of knowing and learning in science. Our analyses show that spatial aspects of the laboratory projectively organize how participants act and can serve as resources to help the novices to participate in difficult and unfamiliar tasks. First, existing spatial relations projectively organize the language involving interns and lab members. In particular, spatial relations projectively organize where and when pedagogical language should happen; and there are specific discursive mechanisms that produce cohesion in language across different places in the laboratory. Second, the spatial arrangements projectively organize the temporal dimensions of action. These findings allow science educators to think explicitly about organizing "smart contexts" that help learners participate in and learn complex scientific laboratory practices.

Up, down, and across the Land: Landscape Terms, Place Names, and Spatial Language in Tzeltal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Penelope

2008-01-01

The Tzeltal language is spoken in a mountainous region of southern Mexico by some 280,000 Mayan corn farmers. This paper focuses on landscape and place vocabulary in the Tzeltal municipio of Tenejapa, where speakers use an absolute system of spatial reckoning based on the overall uphill (southward)/downhill (northward) slope of the land. The paper…

Acoustic Salience and Input Frequency in L2 Lexical Tone Learning: Evidence from a Zapotec Revitalization Program in San Pablo Macuiltianguis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riestenberg, Katherine J.

2017-01-01

Second language (L2) learners of tone languages do not perceive and produce the different tones of the target language with equal ease. The most common explanation for these asymmetries is that acoustically salient tones are the easiest to learn. An alternative explanation is that tones are easiest to learn when they are highly frequent in the…

Language Design in the Processing of Non-Restrictive Relative Clauses in French as a Second Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lorente Lapole, Amandine

2012-01-01

Recent years have witnessed a lively debate on the nature of learners' morphological competence and use. Some argue that a breakdown in acquisition of second-language (L2) is expected whenever features required for the analysis of L2 input are not present in the L1. Others argue that features have the same nature and etiology in first…

Development of a Night Vision Goggle Heads-Up Display for Paratrooper Guidance

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-06-01

and GPS data [MIC07]. requiring altitude, position, velocity, acceleration, and angular rates for navigation or control. An internal GPS receiver...Language There are several programming languages that provide the operating capabilities for this program. Languages like JAVA and C# provide an...acceleration, and angular rates. Figure 3.6 illustrates the MIDG hardware’s input and output data. The sensor actually generates the INS data, which is

Transfer and Transition in the SLA of Aspect: A Bidirectional Study of Learners of English and Japanese

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gabriele, Alison

2009-01-01

Previous studies have shown that it is particularly difficult for second language (L2) learners to overcome the effects of transfer when they need to unlearn specific aspects of the native language in the absence of explicit input that indicates which properties of the first language (L1) are ruled out by the L2 grammar (Inagaki, 2001;…

"¿Cómo Estas?" "I'm Good." Conversational Code-Switching Is Related to Profiles of Expressive and Receptive Proficiency in Spanish-English Bilingual Toddlers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ribot, Krystal M.; Hoff, Erika

2014-01-01

Relations between bilingual children's patterns of conversational code-switching (responding to one language with another), the balance of their dual language input, and their expressive and receptive proficiency in two languages were examined in 115 2½-year-old simultaneous Spanish-English bilinguals in the U.S. Children were more likely to…

An on-line system for hand-printed input

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, T. G.; Bebb, J.

1971-01-01

The capability of graphic input/output systems is described. Topics considered are a character recognizer and dictionary building program, an initial flow chart element input program, and a system entitled The Assistant Mathematician, which uses ordinary mathematics to specify numeric computation. All three parts are necessary to allow a user to carry on a mathematical dialogue with the computer in the language and notation of his discipline or problem domain.

Linking Language with Embodied and Teleological Representations of Action for Humanoid Cognition

PubMed Central

Lallee, Stephane; Madden, Carol; Hoen, Michel; Dominey, Peter Ford

2010-01-01

The current research extends our framework for embodied language and action comprehension to include a teleological representation that allows goal-based reasoning for novel actions. The objective of this work is to implement and demonstrate the advantages of a hybrid, embodied-teleological approach to action–language interaction, both from a theoretical perspective, and via results from human–robot interaction experiments with the iCub robot. We first demonstrate how a framework for embodied language comprehension allows the system to develop a baseline set of representations for processing goal-directed actions such as “take,” “cover,” and “give.” Spoken language and visual perception are input modes for these representations, and the generation of spoken language is the output mode. Moving toward a teleological (goal-based reasoning) approach, a crucial component of the new system is the representation of the subcomponents of these actions, which includes relations between initial enabling states, and final resulting states for these actions. We demonstrate how grammatical categories including causal connectives (e.g., because, if–then) can allow spoken language to enrich the learned set of state-action-state (SAS) representations. We then examine how this enriched SAS inventory enhances the robot's ability to represent perceived actions in which the environment inhibits goal achievement. The paper addresses how language comes to reflect the structure of action, and how it can subsequently be used as an input and output vector for embodied and teleological aspects of action. PMID:20577629

Getting it right by getting it wrong: When learners change languages

PubMed Central

Hudson Kam, Carla L.; Newport, Elissa L.

2009-01-01

When natural language input contains grammatical forms that are used probabilistically and inconsistently, learners will sometimes reproduce the inconsistencies; but sometimes they will instead regularize the use of these forms, introducing consistency in the language that was not present in the input. In this paper we ask what produces such regularization. We conducted three artificial language experiments, varying the use of determiners in the types of inconsistency with which they are used, and also comparing adult and child learners. In Experiment 1 we presented adult learners with scattered inconsistency – the use of multiple determiners varying in frequency in the same context – and found that adults will reproduce these inconsistencies at low levels of scatter, but at very high levels of scatter will regularize the determiner system, producing the most frequent determiner form almost all the time. In Experiment 2 we showed that this is not merely the result of frequency: when determiners are used with low frequencies but in consistent contexts, adults will learn all of the determiners veridically. In Experiment 3 we compared adult and child learners, finding that children will almost always regularize inconsistent forms, whereas adult learners will only regularize the most complex inconsistencies. Taken together, these results suggest that regularization processes in natural language learning, such as those seen in the acquisition of language from non-native speakers or in the formation of young languages, may depend crucially on the nature of language learning by young children. PMID:19324332

Internal and External Factors That Support Children's Minority First Language and English.

PubMed

Pham, Giang; Tipton, Timothy

2018-05-22

Sequential bilingual children in the United States often speak 2 languages that have different social statuses (minority-majority) and separate contexts for learning (home-school). Thus, distinct factors may support the development of each language. This study examined which child internal and external factors were related to vocabulary skills in a minority language versus English. Participants included 69 children, aged 5-8 years, who lived in Southern California, spoke Vietnamese as the home language, and received school instruction in English. All participants had at least 1 foreign-born parent, and most mothers reported limited English proficiency. Parents completed a telephone survey, and children completed measures of receptive and expressive vocabulary in each language. Using correlations and stepwise regression, we examined predictors of vocabulary skills in each language that were internal to the child (age, gender, analytical reasoning, phonological memory) or that pertained to the surrounding environment (cumulative exposure, quantity and quality of input/output). Vietnamese vocabulary outcomes were related to multiple external factors, of which input and enrichment activities were the best predictors. In contrast, English vocabulary outcomes were related to internal factors, of which age and phonological memory were the best predictors. Parental use of Vietnamese contributed to children's Vietnamese vocabulary outcomes but was not related to children's English vocabulary outcomes. Vietnamese exposure does not hinder English development. Children from immigrant families are learning English with or without familial support. Rich and frequent exposure and opportunities for practice are essential for the continued development of a minority first language.

NVSIM: UNIX-based thermal imaging system simulator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horger, John D.

1993-08-01

For several years the Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) has been using an internally developed forward looking infrared (FLIR) simulation program. In response to interest in the simulation part of these projects by other organizations, NVESD has been working on a new version of the simulation, NVSIM, that will be made generally available to the FLIR using community. NVSIM uses basic FLIR specification data, high resolution thermal input imagery and spatial domain image processing techniques to produce simulated image outputs from a broad variety of FLIRs. It is being built around modular programming techniques to allow simpler addition of more sensor effects. The modularity also allows selective inclusion and exclusion of individual sensor effects at run time. The simulation has been written in the industry standard ANSI C programming language under the widely used UNIX operating system to make it easily portable to a wide variety of computer platforms.

Physics-Based Modeling of Electric Operation, Heat Transfer, and Scrap Melting in an AC Electric Arc Furnace

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Opitz, Florian; Treffinger, Peter

2016-04-01

Electric arc furnaces (EAF) are complex industrial plants whose actual behavior depends upon numerous factors. Due to its energy intensive operation, the EAF process has always been subject to optimization efforts. For these reasons, several models have been proposed in literature to analyze and predict different modes of operation. Most of these models focused on the processes inside the vessel itself. The present paper introduces a dynamic, physics-based model of a complete EAF plant which consists of the four subsystems vessel, electric system, electrode regulation, and off-gas system. Furthermore the solid phase is not treated to be homogenous but a simple spatial discretization is employed. Hence it is possible to simulate the energy input by electric arcs and fossil fuel burners depending on the state of the melting progress. The model is implemented in object-oriented, equation-based language Modelica. The simulation results are compared to literature data.

Language-specific dysgraphia in Korean patients with right brain stroke: influence of unilateral spatial neglect.

PubMed

Jang, Dae-Hyun; Kim, Min-Wook; Park, Kyoung Ha; Lee, Jae Woo

2015-03-01

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between Korean language-specific dysgraphia and unilateral spatial neglect in 31 right brain stroke patients. All patients were tested for writing errors in spontaneous writing, dictation, and copying tests. The dysgraphia was classified into visuospatial omission, visuospatial destruction, syllabic tilting, stroke omission, stroke addition, and stroke tilting. Twenty-three (77.4%) of the 31 patients made dysgraphia and 18 (58.1%) demonstrated unilateral spatial neglect. The visuospatial omission was the most common dysgraphia followed by stroke addition and omission errors. The highest number of errors was made in the copying and the least was in the spontaneous writing test. Patients with unilateral spatial neglect made a significantly higher number of dysgraphia in the copying test than those without. We identified specific dysgraphia features such as a right side space omission and a vertical stroke addition in Korean right brain stroke patients. In conclusion, unilateral spatial neglect influences copy writing system of Korean language in patients with right brain stroke.

R and Spatial Data

EPA Science Inventory

R is an open source language and environment for statistical computing and graphics that can also be used for both spatial analysis (i.e. geoprocessing and mapping of different types of spatial data) and spatial data analysis (i.e. the application of statistical descriptions and ...

Comic Books: A Learning Tool for Meaningful Acquisition of Written Sign Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guimarães, Cayley; Oliveira Machado, Milton César; Fernandes, Sueli F.

2018-01-01

Deaf people use Sign Language (SL) for intellectual development, communications and other human activities that are mediated by language--such as the expression of complex and abstract thoughts and feelings; and for literature, culture and knowledge. The Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) is a complete linguistic system of visual-spatial manner,…

How to Chat in English and Chinese: Emerging Digital Language Conventions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lotherington, Heather; Xu, Yejun

2004-01-01

Rapid changes in language form and function occurring in digital environments present teachers and students of second languages alike with conundrums as to language and discourse standards. Factors affecting the changes that are emerging in digital English include the spatial and temporal possibilities and constraints of the medium, digital…

Second Language Processing in Reading and Translation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lim, Jung Hyun

2011-01-01

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the processing mechanisms of non-native English speakers at both the sentence level and the morphological level, addressing the issue of whether adult second language (L2) learners qualitatively differ from native speakers in processing linguistic input. Using psycholinguistic on-line techniques…

A Look at Natural Language Retrieval Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Townley, Helen M.

1971-01-01

Natural language systems are seen as falling into two classes - those which process and analyse the input and store it in an ordered fashion, and those which employ controls at the output stage. A variety of systems of both types is reviewed, and their respective features are discussed. (12 references) (Author/NH)

Curriculum Approaches in Language Teaching: Forward, Central, and Backward Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richards, Jack C.

2013-01-01

The development and implementation of language teaching programs can be approached in several different ways, each of which has different implications for curriculum design. Three curriculum approaches are described and compared. Each differs with respect to when issues related to input, process, and outcomes, are addressed. Forward design starts…

Multi-Sensory Input in the Non-Academic ESL Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bassano, Sharron

Teaching approaches for adult English as second language students with little previous formal education or native language literacy cannot rely on the traditional written materials. For students who cannot be reached through the written word, approaches must be devised that engage other channels of perceptions. Classroom activities are suggested…

Exploring Stephen Krashen's "i+1" Acquisition Model in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Payne, Mark

2011-01-01

Stephen Krashen's theories can appear "seductive" to teachers of languages, in that they identify a seemingly clear way forward for language acquisition in the classroom. However, reification of Krashen's theories, in particular the notion of attaining "i+1" through comprehensible input, is demonstrated to be problematic. Based…

Reading: Cognitive Input and Output.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kopp, Harriet Green

Descriptions of language learning and reading behaviors are presented, in this paper, within the context of a model of cognitive processing that reflects a continuum for the logical procession of language skills in human maturation and learning. Portions of the paper differentiate silent and oral reading in terms of cognitive load, which is a…

Linguistically Motivated Features for CCG Realization Ranking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rajkumar, Rajakrishnan

2012-01-01

Natural Language Generation (NLG) is the process of generating natural language text from an input, which is a communicative goal and a database or knowledge base. Informally, the architecture of a standard NLG system consists of the following modules (Reiter and Dale, 2000): content determination, sentence planning (or microplanning) and surface…

Input Generation by Young Second Language Learners.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cathcart-Strong, Ruth L.

1986-01-01

Examined spontaneous communicative acts (requests for information, calls for attention, intention statements, etc.) of a group of young second-language learners and their native-speaker interlocutors in three play situations. Results showed that, while the response rate to some types of utterances was predictable, others did not generate the…

Commentary: Learner-Based Listening and Technological Authenticity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robin, Richard

2007-01-01

Language teachers know that even the best technology cannot provide the high degree of interaction required to acquire meaningful proficiency in a foreign language. Even the most polished packages available today cannot evaluate learner input and provide subtle shades of context-based feedback, except in the narrowest of circumstances. In this…

Processing Instruction: A Review of Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rasuki, Muhlisin

2017-01-01

This paper provides a critical review of Processing Instruction (PI). This type of instructional option was specifically designed to help second/foreign language (L2) learners grasp meaning manifested in the use of particular grammatical forms in a target language effectively through the provision of input. In this way, PI attempts to help…

A New KE-Free Online ICALL System Featuring Error Contingent Feedback

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tokuda, Naoyuki; Chen, Liang

2004-01-01

As a first step towards implementing a human language teacher, we have developed a new template-based on-line ICALL (intelligent computer assisted language learning) system capable of automatically diagnosing learners' free-format translated inputs and returning error contingent feedback. The system architecture we have adopted allows language…

Multimodal Application for Foreign Language Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Magal-Royo, Teresa; Gimenez-Lopez, Jose Luis; Pairy, Blas; Garcia-Laborda, Jesus; Gonzalez-Del Rio, Jimena

2011-01-01

The current development of educational applications for language learning has experienced a qualitative change in the criteria of interaction between users and devices due to the technological advances of input and output data through keyboard, mouse, stylus, tactile screen, etc. The multiple interactions generated in a natural way by humans…

The Tapestry of Language Learning: The Individual in the Communicative Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scarcella, Robin C.; Oxford, Rebecca L.

The analogy of a tapestry is used to provide instructional techniques and practices to help teachers of English as a Second Language (ESL) "weave" together environmental factors (classroom interaction, input) and learner cognitive, affective, and social characteristics (learning styles, strategies, motivation) according to the needs of the…

Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication and Interaction: A Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ziegler, Nicole

2013-01-01

The interaction approach to second language acquisition (SLA) suggests that changes that occur during conversation facilitate second language development by providing learners with opportunities to receive modified comprehensible input and interactional feedback, to produce output, and to notice gaps between their interlanguage and the target…

Effects of DDL Technology on Genre Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cotos, Elena; Link, Stephanie; Huffman, Sarah

2017-01-01

To better understand the promising effects of data-driven learning (DDL) on language learning processes and outcomes, this study explored DDL learning events enabled by the Research Writing Tutor (RWT), a web-based platform containing an English language corpus annotated to enhance rhetorical input, a concordancer that was searchable for…

Teaching Sociolinguistic Variation in the Intermediate Language Classroom: "Voseo" in Latin America

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shenk, Elaine M.

2014-01-01

The acquisition of sociolinguistic variation by second language learners has gained increased attention. Some research highlights the value of naturalistic exposure through study abroad while other studies point out that classroom input can facilitate the acquisition of particular features of variation. Nevertheless, said attention to the…

The Priority of Listening Comprehension over Speaking in the Language Acquisition Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xu, Fang

2011-01-01

By elaborating the definition of listening comprehension, the characteristic of spoken discourse, the relationship between STM and LTM and Krashen's comprehensible input, the paper puts forward the point that the priority of listening comprehension over speaking in the language acquisition process is very necessary.

Input Variability Facilitates Unguided Subcategory Learning in Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eidsvåg, Sunniva Sørhus; Austad, Margit; Plante, Elena; Asbjørnsen, Arve E.

2015-01-01

Purpose: This experiment investigated whether input variability would affect initial learning of noun gender subcategories in an unfamiliar, natural language (Russian), as it is known to assist learning of other grammatical forms. Method: Forty adults (20 men, 20 women) were familiarized with examples of masculine and feminine Russian words. Half…

Distributional Effects and Individual Differences in L2 Morphology Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brooks, Patricia J.; Kwoka, Nicole; Kempe, Vera

2017-01-01

Second language (L2) learning outcomes may depend on the structure of the input and learners' cognitive abilities. This study tested whether less predictable input might facilitate learning and generalization of L2 morphology while evaluating contributions of statistical learning ability, nonverbal intelligence, phonological short-term memory, and…

Surrogate modelling for the prediction of spatial fields based on simultaneous dimensionality reduction of high-dimensional input/output spaces.

PubMed

Crevillén-García, D

2018-04-01

Time-consuming numerical simulators for solving groundwater flow and dissolution models of physico-chemical processes in deep aquifers normally require some of the model inputs to be defined in high-dimensional spaces in order to return realistic results. Sometimes, the outputs of interest are spatial fields leading to high-dimensional output spaces. Although Gaussian process emulation has been satisfactorily used for computing faithful and inexpensive approximations of complex simulators, these have been mostly applied to problems defined in low-dimensional input spaces. In this paper, we propose a method for simultaneously reducing the dimensionality of very high-dimensional input and output spaces in Gaussian process emulators for stochastic partial differential equation models while retaining the qualitative features of the original models. This allows us to build a surrogate model for the prediction of spatial fields in such time-consuming simulators. We apply the methodology to a model of convection and dissolution processes occurring during carbon capture and storage.

Effects of input uncertainty on cross-scale crop modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waha, Katharina; Huth, Neil; Carberry, Peter

2014-05-01

The quality of data on climate, soils and agricultural management in the tropics is in general low or data is scarce leading to uncertainty in process-based modeling of cropping systems. Process-based crop models are common tools for simulating crop yields and crop production in climate change impact studies, studies on mitigation and adaptation options or food security studies. Crop modelers are concerned about input data accuracy as this, together with an adequate representation of plant physiology processes and choice of model parameters, are the key factors for a reliable simulation. For example, assuming an error in measurements of air temperature, radiation and precipitation of ± 0.2°C, ± 2 % and ± 3 % respectively, Fodor & Kovacs (2005) estimate that this translates into an uncertainty of 5-7 % in yield and biomass simulations. In our study we seek to answer the following questions: (1) are there important uncertainties in the spatial variability of simulated crop yields on the grid-cell level displayed on maps, (2) are there important uncertainties in the temporal variability of simulated crop yields on the aggregated, national level displayed in time-series, and (3) how does the accuracy of different soil, climate and management information influence the simulated crop yields in two crop models designed for use at different spatial scales? The study will help to determine whether more detailed information improves the simulations and to advise model users on the uncertainty related to input data. We analyse the performance of the point-scale crop model APSIM (Keating et al., 2003) and the global scale crop model LPJmL (Bondeau et al., 2007) with different climate information (monthly and daily) and soil conditions (global soil map and African soil map) under different agricultural management (uniform and variable sowing dates) for the low-input maize-growing areas in Burkina Faso/West Africa. We test the models' response to different levels of input data from very little to very detailed information, and compare the models' abilities to represent the spatial variability and temporal variability in crop yields. We display the uncertainty in crop yield simulations from different input data and crop models in Taylor diagrams which are a graphical summary of the similarity between simulations and observations (Taylor, 2001). The observed spatial variability can be represented well from both models (R=0.6-0.8) but APSIM predicts higher spatial variability than LPJmL due to its sensitivity to soil parameters. Simulations with the same crop model, climate and sowing dates have similar statistics and therefore similar skill to reproduce the observed spatial variability. Soil data is less important for the skill of a crop model to reproduce the observed spatial variability. However, the uncertainty in simulated spatial variability from the two crop models is larger than from input data settings and APSIM is more sensitive to input data then LPJmL. Even with a detailed, point-scale crop model and detailed input data it is difficult to capture the complexity and diversity in maize cropping systems.

An analysis of the influence of deep neural network (DNN) topology in bottleneck feature based language recognition.

PubMed

Lozano-Diez, Alicia; Zazo, Ruben; Toledano, Doroteo T; Gonzalez-Rodriguez, Joaquin

2017-01-01

Language recognition systems based on bottleneck features have recently become the state-of-the-art in this research field, showing its success in the last Language Recognition Evaluation (LRE 2015) organized by NIST (U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology). This type of system is based on a deep neural network (DNN) trained to discriminate between phonetic units, i.e. trained for the task of automatic speech recognition (ASR). This DNN aims to compress information in one of its layers, known as bottleneck (BN) layer, which is used to obtain a new frame representation of the audio signal. This representation has been proven to be useful for the task of language identification (LID). Thus, bottleneck features are used as input to the language recognition system, instead of a classical parameterization of the signal based on cepstral feature vectors such as MFCCs (Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients). Despite the success of this approach in language recognition, there is a lack of studies analyzing in a systematic way how the topology of the DNN influences the performance of bottleneck feature-based language recognition systems. In this work, we try to fill-in this gap, analyzing language recognition results with different topologies for the DNN used to extract the bottleneck features, comparing them and against a reference system based on a more classical cepstral representation of the input signal with a total variability model. This way, we obtain useful knowledge about how the DNN configuration influences bottleneck feature-based language recognition systems performance.

The Association Between Parental Mean Length of Utterance and Language Outcomes in Children With Disabilities: A Correlational Meta-Analysis.

PubMed

Sandbank, Micheal; Yoder, Paul

2016-05-01

The purpose of this correlational meta-analysis was to examine the association between parental utterance length and language outcomes in children with disabilities and whether this association varies according to other child characteristics, such as age and disability type. This association can serve as a starting point for language intervention practices for children with disabilities. We conducted a systematic search of 42 electronic databases to identify relevant studies. Twelve studies reporting on a total of 13 populations (including 257 participants) were identified. A random-effects model was used to estimate a combined effect size across all studies as well as separate effect sizes across studies in each disability category. The combined effect size across all studies suggests a weak positive association between parental input length and child language outcomes. However, subgroup analyses within disability categories suggest that this association may differ for children with autism. Results of 4 studies including 47 children with autism show that parental input length is strongly associated with positive language outcomes in this population. Present evidence suggests that clinicians should reconsider intervention practices that prescribe shorter, grammatically incomplete utterances, particularly when working with children with autism.

Verbs in Mothers’ Input to Six-Month-Olds: Synchrony between Presentation, Meaning, and Actions Is Related to Later Verb Acquisition

PubMed Central

Nomikou, Iris; Koke, Monique; Rohlfing, Katharina J.

2017-01-01

In embodied theories on language, it is widely accepted that experience in acting generates an expectation of this action when hearing the word for it. However, how this expectation emerges during language acquisition is still not well understood. Assuming that the intermodal presentation of information facilitates perception, prior research had suggested that early in infancy, mothers perform their actions in temporal synchrony with language. Further research revealed that this synchrony is a form of multimodal responsive behavior related to the child’s later language development. Expanding on these findings, this article explores the relationship between action–language synchrony and the acquisition of verbs. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, we analyzed the coordination of verbs and action in mothers’ input to six-month-old infants and related these maternal strategies to the infants’ later production of verbs. We found that the verbs used by mothers in these early interactions were tightly coordinated with the ongoing action and very frequently responsive to infant actions. It is concluded that use of these multimodal strategies could significantly predict the number of spoken verbs in infants’ vocabulary at 24 months. PMID:28468265

Narrative skills in two languages of Mandarin-English bilingual children.

PubMed

Hao, Ying; Bedore, Lisa M; Sheng, Li; Peña, Elizabeth D

2018-03-08

Narrative skills between Mandarin and English in Mandarin-English (ME) bilingual children were compared, exploring cross-linguistic interactions of these skills, and influences of age and current language experience (input and output) on narrative performance. Macrostructure and microstructure in elicited narratives from 21 ME bilingual children were analysed. Language experience was collected by parent report and entered as a covariate. Repeated measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted to compare the two languages. Children demonstrated better narrative performance in English than Mandarin, with a larger cross-linguistic difference in microstructure than macrostructure. Significant cross-linguistic correlations were only found in children with high Mandarin vocabulary. Age, associated with length of English exposure, only significantly correlated with narrative performance in English. Output had stronger correlations with narrative skills than input. Macrostructure may be less variable across languages than microstructure. Children may need to reach a threshold of vocabulary for cross-linguistic interactions of narrative skills to occur. The effect of age in English may be related to increased cumulative English experience. Children may experience a plateau in Mandarin due to insufficient Mandarin exposure. Stronger correlations between output and narrative skills may be attributed to the expressive nature of both.

Can rational models be good accounts of developmental change? The case of language development at two time scales.

PubMed

Dawson, Colin R; Gerken, LouAnn

2012-01-01

Rational models of human perception and cognition have allowed researchers new ways to look at learning and the ability to make inferences from data. But how good are such models at accounting for developmental change? In this chapter, we address this question in the domain of language development, focusing on the speed with which developmental change takes place, and classifying different types of language development as either fast or slow. From the pattern of fast and slow development observed, we hypothesize that rational learning processes are generally well suited for handling fast processes over small amounts of input data. In contrast, we suggest that associative learning processes are generally better suited to slow development, in which learners accumulate information about what is typical of their language over time. Finally, although one system may be dominant for a particular component of language learning, we speculate that both systems frequently interact, with the associative system providing a source of emergent hypotheses to be evaluated by the rational system and the rational system serving to highlight which aspects of the learner's input need to be processed in greater depth by the associative system.

XML-Based Generator of C++ Code for Integration With GUIs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hua, Hook; Oyafuso, Fabiano; Klimeck, Gerhard

2003-01-01

An open source computer program has been developed to satisfy a need for simplified organization of structured input data for scientific simulation programs. Typically, such input data are parsed in from a flat American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) text file into computational data structures. Also typically, when a graphical user interface (GUI) is used, there is a need to completely duplicate the input information while providing it to a user in a more structured form. Heretofore, the duplication of the input information has entailed duplication of software efforts and increases in susceptibility to software errors because of the concomitant need to maintain two independent input-handling mechanisms. The present program implements a method in which the input data for a simulation program are completely specified in an Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based text file. The key benefit for XML is storing input data in a structured manner. More importantly, XML allows not just storing of data but also describing what each of the data items are. That XML file contains information useful for rendering the data by other applications. It also then generates data structures in the C++ language that are to be used in the simulation program. In this method, all input data are specified in one place only, and it is easy to integrate the data structures into both the simulation program and the GUI. XML-to-C is useful in two ways: 1. As an executable, it generates the corresponding C++ classes and 2. As a library, it automatically fills the objects with the input data values.

"Visual" Cortex of Congenitally Blind Adults Responds to Syntactic Movement.

PubMed

Lane, Connor; Kanjlia, Shipra; Omaki, Akira; Bedny, Marina

2015-09-16

Human cortex is comprised of specialized networks that support functions, such as visual motion perception and language processing. How do genes and experience contribute to this specialization? Studies of plasticity offer unique insights into this question. In congenitally blind individuals, "visual" cortex responds to auditory and tactile stimuli. Remarkably, recent evidence suggests that occipital areas participate in language processing. We asked whether in blindness, occipital cortices: (1) develop domain-specific responses to language and (2) respond to a highly specialized aspect of language-syntactic movement. Nineteen congenitally blind and 18 sighted participants took part in two fMRI experiments. We report that in congenitally blind individuals, but not in sighted controls, "visual" cortex is more active during sentence comprehension than during a sequence memory task with nonwords, or a symbolic math task. This suggests that areas of occipital cortex become selective for language, relative to other similar higher-cognitive tasks. Crucially, we find that these occipital areas respond more to sentences with syntactic movement but do not respond to the difficulty of math equations. We conclude that regions within the visual cortex of blind adults are involved in syntactic processing. Our findings suggest that the cognitive function of human cortical areas is largely determined by input during development. Human cortex is made up of specialized regions that perform different functions, such as visual motion perception and language processing. How do genes and experience contribute to this specialization? Studies of plasticity show that cortical areas can change function from one sensory modality to another. Here we demonstrate that input during development can alter cortical function even more dramatically. In blindness a subset of "visual" areas becomes specialized for language processing. Crucially, we find that the same "visual" areas respond to a highly specialized and uniquely human aspect of language-syntactic movement. These data suggest that human cortex has broad functional capacity during development, and input plays a major role in determining functional specialization. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/3512859-10$15.00/0.

Spatial uncertainty analysis: Propagation of interpolation errors in spatially distributed models

USGS Publications Warehouse

Phillips, D.L.; Marks, D.G.

1996-01-01

In simulation modelling, it is desirable to quantify model uncertainties and provide not only point estimates for output variables but confidence intervals as well. Spatially distributed physical and ecological process models are becoming widely used, with runs being made over a grid of points that represent the landscape. This requires input values at each grid point, which often have to be interpolated from irregularly scattered measurement sites, e.g., weather stations. Interpolation introduces spatially varying errors which propagate through the model We extended established uncertainty analysis methods to a spatial domain for quantifying spatial patterns of input variable interpolation errors and how they propagate through a model to affect the uncertainty of the model output. We applied this to a model of potential evapotranspiration (PET) as a demonstration. We modelled PET for three time periods in 1990 as a function of temperature, humidity, and wind on a 10-km grid across the U.S. portion of the Columbia River Basin. Temperature, humidity, and wind speed were interpolated using kriging from 700- 1000 supporting data points. Kriging standard deviations (SD) were used to quantify the spatially varying interpolation uncertainties. For each of 5693 grid points, 100 Monte Carlo simulations were done, using the kriged values of temperature, humidity, and wind, plus random error terms determined by the kriging SDs and the correlations of interpolation errors among the three variables. For the spring season example, kriging SDs averaged 2.6??C for temperature, 8.7% for relative humidity, and 0.38 m s-1 for wind. The resultant PET estimates had coefficients of variation (CVs) ranging from 14% to 27% for the 10-km grid cells. Maps of PET means and CVs showed the spatial patterns of PET with a measure of its uncertainty due to interpolation of the input variables. This methodology should be applicable to a variety of spatially distributed models using interpolated inputs.

Predictors of early person reference development: maternal language input, attachment and neurodevelopmental markers.

PubMed

Lemche, Erwin; Joraschky, Peter; Klann-Delius, Gisela

2013-12-01

In a longitudinal natural language development study in Germany, the acquisition of verbal symbols for present persons, absent persons, inanimate things and the mother-toddler dyad was investigated. Following the notion that verbal referent use is more developed in ostensive contexts, symbolic play situations were coded for verbal person reference by means of noun and pronoun use. Depending on attachment classifications at twelve months of age, effects of attachment classification and maternal language input were studied up to 36 months in four time points. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, except for mother absence, maternal verbal referent input rates at 17 and 36 months were stronger predictors for all referent types than any of the attachment organizations, or any other social or biological predictor variable. Attachment effects accounted for up to 9.8% of unique variance proportions in the person reference variables. Perinatal and familial measures predicted person references dependent on reference type. The results of this investigation indicate that mother-reference, self-reference and thing-reference develop in similar quantities measured from the 17-month time point, but are dependent of attachment quality. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Modelling land use change in the Ganga basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moulds, Simon; Mijic, Ana; Buytaert, Wouter

2014-05-01

Over recent decades the green revolution in India has driven substantial environmental change. Modelling experiments have identified northern India as a "hot spot" of land-atmosphere coupling strength during the boreal summer. However, there is a wide range of sensitivity of atmospheric variables to soil moisture between individual climate models. The lack of a comprehensive land use change dataset to force climate models has been identified as a major contributor to model uncertainty. This work aims to construct a monthly time series dataset of land use change for the period 1966 to 2007 for northern India to improve the quantification of regional hydrometeorological feedbacks. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on board the Aqua and Terra satellites provides near-continuous remotely sensed datasets from 2000 to the present day. However, the quality and availability of satellite products before 2000 is poor. To complete the dataset MODIS images are extrapolated back in time using the Conversion of Land Use and its Effects at Small regional extent (CLUE-S) modelling framework, recoded in the R programming language to overcome limitations of the original interface. Non-spatial estimates of land use area published by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) for the study period, available on an annual, district-wise basis, are used as a direct model input. Land use change is allocated spatially as a function of biophysical and socioeconomic drivers identified using logistic regression. The dataset will provide an essential input to a high-resolution, physically-based land-surface model to generate the lower boundary condition to assess the impact of land use change on regional climate.

Does Environmental Experience Shape Spatial Cognition? Frames of Reference Among Ancash Quechua Speakers (Peru).

PubMed

Shapero, Joshua A

2017-07-01

Previous studies have shown that language contributes to humans' ability to orient using landmarks and shapes their use of frames of reference (FoRs) for memory. However, the role of environmental experience in shaping spatial cognition has not been investigated. This study addresses such a possibility by examining the use of FoRs in a nonverbal spatial memory task among residents of an Andean community in Peru. Participants consisted of 97 individuals from Ancash Quechua-speaking households (8-77 years of age) who spoke Quechua and/or Spanish and varied considerably with respect to the extent of their experience in the surrounding landscape. The results demonstrated that environmental experience was the only factor significantly related to the preference for allocentric FoRs. The study thus shows that environmental experience can play a role alongside language in shaping habits of spatial representation, and it suggests a new direction of inquiry into the relationships among language, thought, and experience. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Why is the sunny side always up? Explaining the spatial mapping of concepts by language use.

PubMed

Goodhew, Stephanie C; McGaw, Bethany; Kidd, Evan

2014-10-01

Humans appear to rely on spatial mappings to represent and describe concepts. The conceptual cuing effect describes the tendency for participants to orient attention to a spatial location following the presentation of an unrelated cue word (e.g., orienting attention upward after reading the word sky). To date, such effects have predominately been explained within the embodied cognition framework, according to which people's attention is oriented on the basis of prior experience (e.g., sky → up via perceptual simulation). However, this does not provide a compelling explanation for how abstract words have the same ability to orient attention. Why, for example, does dream also orient attention upward? We report on an experiment that investigated the role of language use (specifically, collocation between concept words and spatial words for up and down dimensions) and found that it predicted the cuing effect. The results suggest that language usage patterns may be instrumental in explaining conceptual cuing.

Scheme of Optical Image Encryption with Digital Information Input and Dynamic Encryption Key based on Two LC SLMs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bondareva, A. P.; Cheremkhin, P. A.; Evtikhiev, N. N.; Krasnov, V. V.; Starikov, S. N.

Scheme of optical image encryption with digital information input and dynamic encryption key based on two liquid crystal spatial light modulators and operating with spatially-incoherent monochromatic illumination is experimentally implemented. Results of experiments on images optical encryption and numerical decryption are presented. Satisfactory decryption error of 0.20÷0.27 is achieved.

Impact Response Characteristics of Polymeric Materials

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-11-01

amplitude-frequency domain. In the language of signal communications an input signal given by some time dependence FAt) is introduced into a " channel ...fixed and not altered by the signal. The channel can be charac- terized by its own function H(t), called the transfer function. This concept can be...rcpresented schematically as follows: Input Signal - [ Channel ] -- Output Signal At) H(t) G(t) In our case the input signal is the impact event, the output

Dynamic spatial organization of the occipito-temporal word form area for second language processing.

PubMed

Gao, Yue; Sun, Yafeng; Lu, Chunming; Ding, Guosheng; Guo, Taomei; Malins, Jeffrey G; Booth, James R; Peng, Danling; Liu, Li

2017-08-01

Despite the left occipito-temporal region having shown consistent activation in visual word form processing across numerous studies in different languages, the mechanisms by which word forms of second languages are processed in this region remain unclear. To examine this more closely, 16 Chinese-English and 14 English-Chinese late bilinguals were recruited to perform lexical decision tasks to visually presented words in both their native and second languages (L1 and L2) during functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. Here we demonstrate that visual word form processing for L1 versus L2 engaged different spatial areas of the left occipito-temporal region. Namely, the spatial organization of the visual word form processing in the left occipito-temporal region is more medial and posterior for L2 than L1 processing in Chinese-English bilinguals, whereas activation is more lateral and anterior for L2 in English-Chinese bilinguals. In addition, for Chinese-English bilinguals, more lateral recruitment of the occipito-temporal region was correlated with higher L2 proficiency, suggesting higher L2 proficiency is associated with greater involvement of L1-preferred mechanisms. For English-Chinese bilinguals, higher L2 proficiency was correlated with more lateral and anterior activation of the occipito-temporal region, suggesting higher L2 proficiency is associated with greater involvement of L2-preferred mechanisms. Taken together, our results indicate that L1 and L2 recruit spatially different areas of the occipito-temporal region in visual word processing when the two scripts belong to different writing systems, and that the spatial organization of this region for L2 visual word processing is dynamically modulated by L2 proficiency. Specifically, proficiency in L2 in Chinese-English is associated with assimilation to the native language mechanisms, whereas L2 in English-Chinese is associated with accommodation to second language mechanisms. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A users manual for the method of moments Aircraft Modeling Code (AMC), version 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peters, M. E.; Newman, E. H.

1994-01-01

This report serves as a user's manual for Version 2 of the 'Aircraft Modeling Code' or AMC. AMC is a user-oriented computer code, based on the method of moments (MM), for the analysis of the radiation and/or scattering from geometries consisting of a main body or fuselage shape with attached wings and fins. The shape of the main body is described by defining its cross section at several stations along its length. Wings, fins, rotor blades, and radiating monopoles can then be attached to the main body. Although AMC was specifically designed for aircraft or helicopter shapes, it can also be applied to missiles, ships, submarines, jet inlets, automobiles, spacecraft, etc. The problem geometry and run control parameters are specified via a two character command language input format. This report describes the input command language and also includes several examples which illustrate typical code inputs and outputs.

A user's manual for the method of moments Aircraft Modeling Code (AMC)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peters, M. E.; Newman, E. H.

1989-01-01

This report serves as a user's manual for the Aircraft Modeling Code or AMC. AMC is a user-oriented computer code, based on the method of moments (MM), for the analysis of the radiation and/or scattering from geometries consisting of a main body or fuselage shape with attached wings and fins. The shape of the main body is described by defining its cross section at several stations along its length. Wings, fins, rotor blades, and radiating monopoles can then be attached to the main body. Although AMC was specifically designed for aircraft or helicopter shapes, it can also be applied to missiles, ships, submarines, jet inlets, automobiles, spacecraft, etc. The problem geometry and run control parameters are specified via a two character command language input format. The input command language is described and several examples which illustrate typical code inputs and outputs are also included.

Results on the spatial resolution of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for cortical language mapping during object naming in healthy subjects.

PubMed

Sollmann, Nico; Hauck, Theresa; Tussis, Lorena; Ille, Sebastian; Maurer, Stefanie; Boeckh-Behrens, Tobias; Ringel, Florian; Meyer, Bernhard; Krieg, Sandro M

2016-10-24

The spatial resolution of repetitive navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for language mapping is largely unknown. Thus, to determine a minimum spatial resolution of rTMS for language mapping, we evaluated the mapping sessions derived from 19 healthy volunteers for cortical hotspots of no-response errors. Then, the distances between hotspots (stimulation points with a high error rate) and adjacent mapping points (stimulation points with low error rates) were evaluated. Mean distance values of 13.8 ± 6.4 mm (from hotspots to ventral points, range 0.7-30.7 mm), 10.8 ± 4.8 mm (from hotspots to dorsal points, range 2.0-26.5 mm), 16.6 ± 4.8 mm (from hotspots to apical points, range 0.9-27.5 mm), and 13.8 ± 4.3 mm (from hotspots to caudal points, range 2.0-24.2 mm) were measured. According to the results, the minimum spatial resolution of rTMS should principally allow for the identification of a particular gyrus, and according to the literature, it is in good accordance with the spatial resolution of direct cortical stimulation (DCS). Since measurement was performed between hotspots and adjacent mapping points and not on a finer-grained basis, we only refer to a minimum spatial resolution. Furthermore, refinement of our results within the scope of a prospective study combining rTMS and DCS for resolution measurement during language mapping should be the next step.

Grammar, Gesture, and Meaning in American Sign Language.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liddell, Scott K.

In sign languages of the Deaf, now recognized as fully legitimate human languages, some signs can meaningfully point toward things or can be meaningfully placed in the space ahead of the signer. Such spatial uses of sign are an obligatory part of fluent grammatical signing. There is no parallel for this in vocally produced languages. This book…

BaTMAn: Bayesian Technique for Multi-image Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casado, J.; Ascasibar, Y.; García-Benito, R.; Guidi, G.; Choudhury, O. S.; Bellocchi, E.; Sánchez, S. F.; Díaz, A. I.

2016-12-01

Bayesian Technique for Multi-image Analysis (BaTMAn) characterizes any astronomical dataset containing spatial information and performs a tessellation based on the measurements and errors provided as input. The algorithm iteratively merges spatial elements as long as they are statistically consistent with carrying the same information (i.e. identical signal within the errors). The output segmentations successfully adapt to the underlying spatial structure, regardless of its morphology and/or the statistical properties of the noise. BaTMAn identifies (and keeps) all the statistically-significant information contained in the input multi-image (e.g. an IFS datacube). The main aim of the algorithm is to characterize spatially-resolved data prior to their analysis.

Praxis language reference manual

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Walker, J.H.

1981-01-01

This document is a language reference manual for the programming language Praxis. The document contains the specifications that must be met by any compiler for the language. The Praxis language was designed for systems programming in real-time process applications. Goals for the language and its implementations are: (1) highly efficient code generated by the compiler; (2) program portability; (3) completeness, that is, all programming requirements can be met by the language without needing an assembler; and (4) separate compilation to aid in design and management of large systems. The language does not provide any facilities for input/output, stack and queuemore » handling, string operations, parallel processing, or coroutine processing. These features can be implemented as routines in the language, using machine-dependent code to take advantage of facilities in the control environment on different machines.« less

Sentence Comprehension in Children with Specific Language Impairment: Effects of Input Rate and Phonological Working Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montgomery, James W.

2004-01-01

Many children with specific language impairment (SLI) exhibit sentence comprehension difficulties. In some instances, these difficulties appear to be related to poor linguistic knowledge and, in other instances, to inferior general processing abilities. Two processing deficiencies evidenced by these children include reduced linguistic processing…

The Process Genre Writing Approach; An Alternative Option for the Modern Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tudor, Emma

2017-01-01

"Writing involves knowledge about the language, the context in which writing happens and skills in using language. Writing development happens by drawing out the learners' potential and providing input to which learners respond" (Badger & White, 2000.) Taking this in to account, the Process Genre Approach in writing classes can be…

Macroscopic Linguistic Features of the Chinese Writing of Deaf Individuals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Haitao; Jin, Huiyuan

2017-01-01

Deaf individuals usually face more challenges in reading and writing, because they are often deprived of adequate spoken input from their infancy. Research on the language features of deaf individuals' writing is abundant. However, their language structures have as yet been unexplored. In order to address this subject, this article uses the…

How the Size of Our Social Network Influences Our Semantic Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lev-Ari, Shiri

2016-01-01

People differ in the size of their social network, and thus in the properties of the linguistic input they receive. This article examines whether differences in social network size influence individuals' linguistic skills in their native language, focusing on global comprehension of evaluative language. Study 1 exploits the natural variation in…

Using Captioned Television To Improve the Reading Proficiency of Language Minority students. Research Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Captioning Inst., Inc., Falls Church, VA.

This study proposed that captioned television, as a multi-sensory, largely entertaining medium might be an important source of comprehensive input for bilingual students in learning language and literacy. To explore this issue, the study investigated the following questions: (1) can bilingual students acquire vocabulary incidentally through…

Medical Language Processing for Knowledge Representation and Retrievals

PubMed Central

Lyman, Margaret; Sager, Naomi; Chi, Emile C.; Tick, Leo J.; Nhan, Ngo Thanh; Su, Yun; Borst, Francois; Scherrer, Jean-Raoul

1989-01-01

The Linguistic String Project-Medical Language Processor, a system for computer analysis of narrative patient documents in English, is being adapted for French Lettres de Sortie. The system converts the free-text input to a semantic representation which is then mapped into a relational database. Retrievals of clinical data from the database are described.

Listening: You've Got to Be Carefully Taught

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LeLoup, Jean W.; Ponterio, Robert

2007-01-01

Listening is arguably the most important skill required for obtaining comprehensible input in one's first and any subsequent languages. Given the importance of listening, the natural assumption is that listening skills are actively taught to both first (L1) and second (L2) language learners. However, this is not necessarily so in L1 instruction…

Contexts and Pragmatics Learning: Problems and Opportunities of the Study Abroad Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taguchi, Naoko

2018-01-01

Despite different epistemologies and assumptions, all theories in second language (L2) acquisition emphasize the centrality of context in understanding L2 acquisition. Under the assumption that language emerges from use in context, the cognitivist approach focuses on distributions and properties of input to infer both learning objects and process…

Developing Conversational Competence through Language Awareness and Multimodality: The Use of DVDs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jaen, Maria Moreno; Basanta, Perez

2009-01-01

The argument for a pedagogy of input oriented learning for the development of speaking competence (Sharwood-Smith, 1986; Bardovi-Harlig and Salsbury, 2004; Eslami-Rasekh, 2005) has been of increasing interest in Applied Linguistics circles. It has also been argued that multimedia applications, in particular DVDs, provide language learners with…

Does It Really Matter whether Students' Contributions Are Spoken versus Typed in an Intelligent Tutoring System with Natural Language?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

D'Mello, Sidney K.; Dowell, Nia; Graesser, Arthur

2011-01-01

There is the question of whether learning differs when students speak versus type their responses when interacting with intelligent tutoring systems with natural language dialogues. Theoretical bases exist for three contrasting hypotheses. The "speech facilitation" hypothesis predicts that spoken input will "increase" learning,…

One Size Fits All? Learning Conditions and Working Memory Capacity in "Ab Initio" Language Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanz, Cristina; Lin, Hui-Ju; Lado, Beatriz; Stafford, Catherine A.; Bowden, Harriet W.

2016-01-01

The article summarizes results from two experimental studies (N = 23, N = 21) investigating the extent to which working memory capacity (WMC) intervenes in "ab initio" language development under two pedagogical conditions [± grammar lesson + input-based practice + explicit feedback]. The linguistic target is the use of morphosyntax to…

Brain Activations Associated with Sign Production Using Word and Picture Inputs in Deaf Signers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hu, Zhiguo; Wang, Wenjing; Liu, Hongyan; Peng, Danling; Yang, Yanhui; Li, Kuncheng; Zhang, John X.; Ding, Guosheng

2011-01-01

Effective literacy education in deaf students calls for psycholinguistic research revealing the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying their written language processing. When learning a written language, deaf students are often instructed to sign out printed text. The present fMRI study was intended to reveal the neural substrates associated…

Improving EFL Writing through Study of Semantic Concepts in Formulaic Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schenck, Andrew D.; Choi, Wonkyung

2015-01-01

Within Asian EFL contexts such as South Korea, large class sizes, poor sources of input and an overreliance on the Grammar-Translation Method may negatively impact semantic and pragmatic development of writing content. Since formulaic language is imbued with syntactic, semantic and pragmatic linguistic features, it represents an ideal means to…

Beyond Phonotactic Frequency: Presentation Frequency Effects Word Productions in Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plante, Elena; Bahl, Megha; Vance, Rebecca; Gerken, LouAnn

2011-01-01

Phonotactic frequency effects on word production are thought to reflect accumulated experience with a language. Here we demonstrate that frequency effects can also be obtained through short-term manipulations of the input to children. We presented children with nonwords in an experiment that systematically manipulated English phonotactic frequency…

Learning to Look for Language: Development of Joint Attention in Young Deaf Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lieberman, Amy M.; Hatrak, Marla; Mayberry, Rachel I.

2014-01-01

Joint attention between hearing children and their caregivers is typically achieved when the adult provides spoken, auditory linguistic input that relates to the child's current visual focus of attention. Deaf children interacting through sign language must learn to continually switch visual attention between people and objects in order to achieve…

French Interrogative Structures: A New Pedagogical Norm for the 21st-Century Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Antes, Theresa A.

2016-01-01

This study investigated interrogative structures most frequently used by native speakers of French, in an attempt to reconcile differences between language forms taught in the French as a foreign language classroom and those that are encountered in authentic input. Radio, television, and magazine interviews provided multiple examples of…

Are Some Parents' Interaction Styles Associated with Richer Grammatical Input?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fitzgerald, Colleen E.; Hadley, Pamela A.; Rispoli, Matthew

2013-01-01

Purpose: Evidence for tense marking in child-directed speech varies both across languages (Guasti, 2002; Legate & Yang, 2007) and across speakers of a single language (Hadley, Rispoli, Fitzgerald, & Bahnsen, 2011). The purpose of this study was to understand how parent interaction styles and register use overlap with the tense-marking…

Sociolinguistic Variation and Acquisition in Two-Way Language Immersion: Negotiating the Standard

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Starr, Rebecca Lurie

2016-01-01

This book investigates the acquisition of sociolinguistic knowledge in the early elementary school years of a Mandarin-English two-way immersion program in the United States. Using ethnographic observation and quantitative analysis of data, the author explores how input from teachers and classmates shapes students' language acquisition. The book…

Text Characteristics of Task Input and Difficulty in Second Language Listening Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Revesz, Andrea; Brunfaut, Tineke

2013-01-01

This study investigated the effects of a group of task factors on advanced English as a second language learners' actual and perceived listening performance. We examined whether the speed, linguistic complexity, and explicitness of the listening text along with characteristics of the text necessary for task completion influenced comprehension. We…

Plural Acquisition in Children with Specific Language Impairment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oetting, Janna B.; Rice, Mabel L.

1993-01-01

A plural elicitation task and a nominal compounding task were administered to 18 children (age 5-6 years) with specific language impairment (SLI) and 2 control groups. SLI children's performance was affected by input frequency; three explanations within a model of linguistic normalcy are proposed to account for this frequency effect. (Author/DB)

The Use of Humourous Texts in Improving ESL Learners' Vocabulary Comprehension and Retention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zabidin, Nursyafiqah Binti

2015-01-01

Successful language acquisition requires extensive word knowledge. However, learners are reportedly unable to increase their word knowledge due to insufficient meaningful input in the language classrooms. This paper intended to present another tool to encourage learners' vocabulary development. It examined the effect(s) of using short narrative…

Fine-Tuned: Phonology and Semantics Affect First- to Second-Language Zooming In

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elston-Guttler, Kerrie E.; Gunter, Thomas C.

2009-01-01

We investigate how L1 phonology and semantics affect processing of interlingual homographs by manipulating language context before, and auditory input during, a visual experiment in the L2. Three experiments contained German-English homograph primes ("gift" = German "poison") in English sentences and was performed by German (L1) learners of…

Keep Listening: Grammatical Context Reduces but Does Not Eliminate Activation of Unexpected Words

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strand, Julia F.; Brown, Violet A.; Brown, Hunter E.; Berg, Jeffrey J.

2018-01-01

To understand spoken language, listeners combine acoustic-phonetic input with expectations derived from context (Dahan & Magnuson, 2006). Eye-tracking studies on semantic context have demonstrated that the activation levels of competing lexical candidates depend on the relative strengths of the bottom-up input and top-down expectations (cf.…

Maximizing Young Learners' Input: An Intervention Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tragant, Elsa; Muñoz, Carmen; Spada, Nina

2016-01-01

This study reports on a year-long intervention based on comprehension practice of input-rich materials. It was inspired by an innovative program in Canada in which primary school francophone children learned English as a second language (ESL) through simultaneous reading and listening. In our study the participants are a class of 10- to…

The Effects of Input Enhancement and Recasts on the Development of Second Language Pragmatic Competence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nguyen, Minh Thi Thuy; Pham, Hanh Thi; Pham, Tam Minh

2017-01-01

This study investigates the combined effects of input enhancement and recasts on a group of Vietnamese EFL learners' performance of constructive criticism during peer review activities. Particularly, the study attempts to find out whether the instruction works for different aspects of pragmatic learning, including the learners' sociopragmatic and…

Set Theory Applied to Uniquely Define the Inputs to Territorial Systems in Emergy Analyses

EPA Science Inventory

The language of set theory can be utilized to represent the emergy involved in all processes. In this paper we use set theory in an emergy evaluation to ensure an accurate representation of the inputs to territorial systems. We consider a generic territorial system and we describ...

Category Induction via Distributional Analysis: Evidence from a Serial Reaction Time Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunt, Ruskin H.; Aslin, Richard N.

2010-01-01

Category formation lies at the heart of a number of higher-order behaviors, including language. We assessed the ability of human adults to learn, from distributional information alone, categories embedded in a sequence of input stimuli using a serial reaction time task. Artificial grammars generated corpora of input strings containing a…

What's in the input? Frequent frames in child-directed speech offer distributional cues to grammatical categories in Spanish and English

PubMed Central

Weisleder, Adriana; Waxman, Sandra R.

2010-01-01

Recent analyses have revealed that child-directed speech contains distributional regularities that could, in principle, support young children's discovery of distinct grammatical categories (noun, verb, adjective). In particular, a distributional unit known as the frequent frame appears to be especially informative (Mintz, 2003). However, analyses have focused almost exclusively on the distributional information available in English. Because languages differ considerably in how the grammatical forms are marked within utterances, the scarcity of cross-linguistic evidence represents an unfortunate gap. We therefore advance the developmental evidence by analyzing the distributional information available in frequent frames across two languages (Spanish and English), across sentence positions (phrase medial and phrase final), and across grammatical forms (noun, verb, adjective). We selected six parent-child corpora from the CHILDES database (3 English; 3 Spanish), and analyzed the input when children were 2;6 years or younger. In each language, frequent frames did indeed offer systematic cues to grammatical category assignment. We also identify differences in the accuracy of these frames across languages, sentences positions, and grammatical classes. PMID:19698207

What's in the input? Frequent frames in child-directed speech offer distributional cues to grammatical categories in Spanish and English.

PubMed

Weisleder, Adriana; Waxman, Sandra R

2010-11-01

Recent analyses have revealed that child-directed speech contains distributional regularities that could, in principle, support young children's discovery of distinct grammatical categories (noun, verb, adjective). In particular, a distributional unit known as the frequent frame appears to be especially informative (Mintz, 2003). However, analyses have focused almost exclusively on the distributional information available in English. Because languages differ considerably in how the grammatical forms are marked within utterances, the scarcity of cross-linguistic evidence represents an unfortunate gap. We therefore advance the developmental evidence by analyzing the distributional information available in frequent frames across two languages (Spanish and English), across sentence positions (phrase medial and phrase final), and across grammatical forms (noun, verb, adjective). We selected six parent-child corpora from the CHILDES database (three English; three Spanish), and analyzed the input when children were aged 2 ; 6 or younger. In each language, frequent frames did indeed offer systematic cues to grammatical category assignment. We also identify differences in the accuracy of these frames across languages, sentences positions and grammatical classes.

Modeling Soil Carbon Dynamics in Northern Forests: Effects of Spatial and Temporal Aggregation of Climatic Input Data.

PubMed

Dalsgaard, Lise; Astrup, Rasmus; Antón-Fernández, Clara; Borgen, Signe Kynding; Breidenbach, Johannes; Lange, Holger; Lehtonen, Aleksi; Liski, Jari

2016-01-01

Boreal forests contain 30% of the global forest carbon with the majority residing in soils. While challenging to quantify, soil carbon changes comprise a significant, and potentially increasing, part of the terrestrial carbon cycle. Thus, their estimation is important when designing forest-based climate change mitigation strategies and soil carbon change estimates are required for the reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. Organic matter decomposition varies with climate in complex nonlinear ways, rendering data aggregation nontrivial. Here, we explored the effects of temporal and spatial aggregation of climatic and litter input data on regional estimates of soil organic carbon stocks and changes for upland forests. We used the soil carbon and decomposition model Yasso07 with input from the Norwegian National Forest Inventory (11275 plots, 1960-2012). Estimates were produced at three spatial and three temporal scales. Results showed that a national level average soil carbon stock estimate varied by 10% depending on the applied spatial and temporal scale of aggregation. Higher stocks were found when applying plot-level input compared to country-level input and when long-term climate was used as compared to annual or 5-year mean values. A national level estimate for soil carbon change was similar across spatial scales, but was considerably (60-70%) lower when applying annual or 5-year mean climate compared to long-term mean climate reflecting the recent climatic changes in Norway. This was particularly evident for the forest-dominated districts in the southeastern and central parts of Norway and in the far north. We concluded that the sensitivity of model estimates to spatial aggregation will depend on the region of interest. Further, that using long-term climate averages during periods with strong climatic trends results in large differences in soil carbon estimates. The largest differences in this study were observed in central and northern regions with strongly increasing temperatures.

Modeling Soil Carbon Dynamics in Northern Forests: Effects of Spatial and Temporal Aggregation of Climatic Input Data

PubMed Central

Dalsgaard, Lise; Astrup, Rasmus; Antón-Fernández, Clara; Borgen, Signe Kynding; Breidenbach, Johannes; Lange, Holger; Lehtonen, Aleksi; Liski, Jari

2016-01-01

Boreal forests contain 30% of the global forest carbon with the majority residing in soils. While challenging to quantify, soil carbon changes comprise a significant, and potentially increasing, part of the terrestrial carbon cycle. Thus, their estimation is important when designing forest-based climate change mitigation strategies and soil carbon change estimates are required for the reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. Organic matter decomposition varies with climate in complex nonlinear ways, rendering data aggregation nontrivial. Here, we explored the effects of temporal and spatial aggregation of climatic and litter input data on regional estimates of soil organic carbon stocks and changes for upland forests. We used the soil carbon and decomposition model Yasso07 with input from the Norwegian National Forest Inventory (11275 plots, 1960–2012). Estimates were produced at three spatial and three temporal scales. Results showed that a national level average soil carbon stock estimate varied by 10% depending on the applied spatial and temporal scale of aggregation. Higher stocks were found when applying plot-level input compared to country-level input and when long-term climate was used as compared to annual or 5-year mean values. A national level estimate for soil carbon change was similar across spatial scales, but was considerably (60–70%) lower when applying annual or 5-year mean climate compared to long-term mean climate reflecting the recent climatic changes in Norway. This was particularly evident for the forest-dominated districts in the southeastern and central parts of Norway and in the far north. We concluded that the sensitivity of model estimates to spatial aggregation will depend on the region of interest. Further, that using long-term climate averages during periods with strong climatic trends results in large differences in soil carbon estimates. The largest differences in this study were observed in central and northern regions with strongly increasing temperatures. PMID:26901763

Maternal speech to preterm infants during the first 2 years of life: stability and change.

PubMed

Suttora, Chiara; Salerni, Nicoletta

2011-01-01

Studies on typical language development documented that mothers fine-tune their verbal input to children's advancing skills and development. Although premature birth has often been associated with delays in communicative and language development, studies investigating maternal language addressed to these children are still rare. The principal aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate the maternal speech directed at very preterm children by examining its changes across time and the stability of maternal individual styles. A sample of 16 mother-preterm infant dyads participated in semi-structured play sessions when children were 6, 12, 18 and 24 months of corrected age. Maternal speech directed at the children was analysed in terms of lexical and syntactical complexity as well as verbal productivity. Also children's motor, cognitive and communicative skills were assessed. Results highlight an overall increase in the lexical and syntactical complexity and in the amount of maternal speech across the first years of life. At the same time, individual maternal communicative styles seem stable as infants grow older, even if between 12 and 18 months all the indices' predictive values decrease, indicating a noteworthy modification in individual maternal styles. Furthermore, between 12 and 18 months predictive relationships between children's motor and vocal skills and maternal changes in input were found. Verbal input addressed to children born preterm during the first 2 years of life does not seem to differ considerably from the language usually used with full-term infants. Nevertheless, maternal verbal adjustments seem to be predicted by earlier infant achievements in vocal and motor development. This suggests that infants' motor skill maturation may function as a major signal for mothers of preterm babies to adjust aspects of their linguistic interactive style. © 2011 Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists.

Assessing the relationship between computational speed and precision: a case study comparing an interpreted versus compiled programming language using a stochastic simulation model in diabetes care.

PubMed

McEwan, Phil; Bergenheim, Klas; Yuan, Yong; Tetlow, Anthony P; Gordon, Jason P

2010-01-01

Simulation techniques are well suited to modelling diseases yet can be computationally intensive. This study explores the relationship between modelled effect size, statistical precision, and efficiency gains achieved using variance reduction and an executable programming language. A published simulation model designed to model a population with type 2 diabetes mellitus based on the UKPDS 68 outcomes equations was coded in both Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and C++. Efficiency gains due to the programming language were evaluated, as was the impact of antithetic variates to reduce variance, using predicted QALYs over a 40-year time horizon. The use of C++ provided a 75- and 90-fold reduction in simulation run time when using mean and sampled input values, respectively. For a series of 50 one-way sensitivity analyses, this would yield a total run time of 2 minutes when using C++, compared with 155 minutes for VBA when using mean input values. The use of antithetic variates typically resulted in a 53% reduction in the number of simulation replications and run time required. When drawing all input values to the model from distributions, the use of C++ and variance reduction resulted in a 246-fold improvement in computation time compared with VBA - for which the evaluation of 50 scenarios would correspondingly require 3.8 hours (C++) and approximately 14.5 days (VBA). The choice of programming language used in an economic model, as well as the methods for improving precision of model output can have profound effects on computation time. When constructing complex models, more computationally efficient approaches such as C++ and variance reduction should be considered; concerns regarding model transparency using compiled languages are best addressed via thorough documentation and model validation.

Forebrain pathway for auditory space processing in the barn owl.

PubMed

Cohen, Y E; Miller, G L; Knudsen, E I

1998-02-01

The forebrain plays an important role in many aspects of sound localization behavior. Yet, the forebrain pathway that processes auditory spatial information is not known for any species. Using standard anatomic labeling techniques, we used a "top-down" approach to trace the flow of auditory spatial information from an output area of the forebrain sound localization pathway (the auditory archistriatum, AAr), back through the forebrain, and into the auditory midbrain. Previous work has demonstrated that AAr units are specialized for auditory space processing. The results presented here show that the AAr receives afferent input from Field L both directly and indirectly via the caudolateral neostriatum. Afferent input to Field L originates mainly in the auditory thalamus, nucleus ovoidalis, which, in turn, receives input from the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus. In addition, we confirmed previously reported projections of the AAr to the basal ganglia, the external nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICX), the deep layers of the optic tectum, and various brain stem nuclei. A series of inactivation experiments demonstrated that the sharp tuning of AAr sites for binaural spatial cues depends on Field L input but not on input from the auditory space map in the midbrain ICX: pharmacological inactivation of Field L eliminated completely auditory responses in the AAr, whereas bilateral ablation of the midbrain ICX had no appreciable effect on AAr responses. We conclude, therefore, that the forebrain sound localization pathway can process auditory spatial information independently of the midbrain localization pathway.

Experience-dependent shaping of hippocampal CA1 intracellular activity in novel and familiar environments

PubMed Central

Cohen, Jeremy D; Bolstad, Mark; Lee, Albert K

2017-01-01

The hippocampus is critical for producing stable representations of familiar spaces. How these representations arise is poorly understood, largely because changes to hippocampal inputs have not been measured during spatial learning. Here, using intracellular recording, we monitored inputs and plasticity-inducing complex spikes (CSs) in CA1 neurons while mice explored novel and familiar virtual environments. Inputs driving place field spiking increased in amplitude – often suddenly – during novel environment exploration. However, these increases were not sustained in familiar environments. Rather, the spatial tuning of inputs became increasingly similar across repeated traversals of the environment with experience – both within fields and throughout the whole environment. In novel environments, CSs were not necessary for place field formation. Our findings support a model in which initial inhomogeneities in inputs are amplified to produce robust place field activity, then plasticity refines this representation into one with less strongly modulated, but more stable, inputs for long-term storage. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.23040.001 PMID:28742496

Entorhinal-CA3 Dual-Input Control of Spike Timing in the Hippocampus by Theta-Gamma Coupling.

PubMed

Fernández-Ruiz, Antonio; Oliva, Azahara; Nagy, Gergő A; Maurer, Andrew P; Berényi, Antal; Buzsáki, György

2017-03-08

Theta-gamma phase coupling and spike timing within theta oscillations are prominent features of the hippocampus and are often related to navigation and memory. However, the mechanisms that give rise to these relationships are not well understood. Using high spatial resolution electrophysiology, we investigated the influence of CA3 and entorhinal inputs on the timing of CA1 neurons. The theta-phase preference and excitatory strength of the afferent CA3 and entorhinal inputs effectively timed the principal neuron activity, as well as regulated distinct CA1 interneuron populations in multiple tasks and behavioral states. Feedback potentiation of distal dendritic inhibition by CA1 place cells attenuated the excitatory entorhinal input at place field entry, coupled with feedback depression of proximal dendritic and perisomatic inhibition, allowing the CA3 input to gain control toward the exit. Thus, upstream inputs interact with local mechanisms to determine theta-phase timing of hippocampal neurons to support memory and spatial navigation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Orientation selectivity and the functional clustering of synaptic inputs in primary visual cortex

PubMed Central

Wilson, Daniel E.; Whitney, David E.; Scholl, Benjamin; Fitzpatrick, David

2016-01-01

The majority of neurons in primary visual cortex are tuned for stimulus orientation, but the factors that account for the range of orientation selectivities exhibited by cortical neurons remain unclear. To address this issue, we used in vivo 2-photon calcium imaging to characterize the orientation tuning and spatial arrangement of synaptic inputs to the dendritic spines of individual pyramidal neurons in layer 2/3 of ferret visual cortex. The summed synaptic input to individual neurons reliably predicted the neuron’s orientation preference, but did not account for differences in orientation selectivity among neurons. These differences reflected a robust input-output nonlinearity that could not be explained by spike threshold alone, and was strongly correlated with the spatial clustering of co-tuned synaptic inputs within the dendritic field. Dendritic branches with more co-tuned synaptic clusters exhibited greater rates of local dendritic calcium events supporting a prominent role for functional clustering of synaptic inputs in dendritic nonlinearities that shape orientation selectivity. PMID:27294510

Maternal input to children with specific language impairment during shared book reading: is mothers' language in tune with their children's production?

PubMed

Majorano, Marinella; Lavelli, Manuela

2014-01-01

The literature on input addressed to children with specific language impairment (SLI) has shown contrasting results on the role that parents assume during conversational interactions. Some studies have shown that parents compensate for the child's linguistic limitations. In contrast, other studies have indicated that mothers are able to adjust their communication in response to their children's language characteristics. To assess the 'closeness of fit' between maternal input and child language profiles in children with SLI during shared book reading. To achieve this aim, the individual linguistic features of a group of children with SLI and their mothers were compared with those of two typically developing (TD) groups and the 'distances' (i.e., the differences between the mother's and her child's linguistic indices) within each dyad were compared. Three groups of children with their mothers participated in the study: 14 children with expressive SLI, 14 language age-matched TD children (LA-matched group), and 14 chronological age-matched TD children (CA-matched group). Each mother-child dyad was videotaped during two weekly sessions of shared book reading, at home. All sessions were entirely transcribed. For each session, the following indices were then considered: whole-word phonological indices, grammatical categories and lexical indices for types and tokens, and the distance between the mother's and the child's linguistic indices within individual dyads. Analysis of the differences between phonological, lexical and morphosyntactic characteristics of the mothers' and children's language indicated that both children with SLI and their mothers produced adjectives and adverbs with lower phonological complexity and with higher frequency of use compared with the CA-matched group, and nouns with lower frequency of use and higher age of acquisition compared with the LA-matched group. In addition, individual dyads within the SLI group displayed reduced distances between linguistic indices produced by the mother and child compared with dyads within the CA-matched group. On the whole these findings suggest that mothers of children with SLI are able to tune their language to their children's linguistic limitations. These findings may contribute to improving early intervention programmes with children with SLI by focusing on the mother-child interaction during shared book reading. © 2013 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Responsiveness of Child Care Providers in Interactions With Toddlers and Preschoolers.

PubMed

Girolametto, Luigi; Weitzman, Elaine

2002-10-01

This exploratory study investigated the responsive language input of 26 child care providers to young children enrolled in community child care centers. Three subtypes of responsive interaction strategies were rated and compared across two age groups (toddlers, preschoolers) and two naturalistic contexts (book reading, play dough activity). The toddlers were between 17 and 33 months of age and the preschoolers were between 30 and 53 months of age. Caregiver-child interactions were rated using the Teacher Interaction and Language Rating Scale (Girolametto, Weitzman, & Greenberg, 2000) to provide information about the frequency of responsive language strategies. Caregivers used similar levels of child-centered and interaction-promoting strategies with both age groups, but used more labelling with toddlers and more topic extensions with preschoolers. The context of the interaction exerted a systematic influence on the caregivers' use of responsive strategies, with the play dough activity providing the most responsive input overall. There was a strong positive relationship between all three subtypes of caregivers' responsiveness and variation in the preschoolers' language productivity. In contrast, only interaction-promoting strategies were positively related to measures of the toddlers' language productivity. The results of this study suggest that caregivers' responsiveness in group interactions is highly dependent on the context of the interaction and, to a lesser extent, on the language abilities of the children. Future research is required to determine if inservice training can enhance levels of responsiveness and accelerate language learning in young children in group care.

A Cross-Linguistic Study of Sound-Symbolism in Children’s Verb Learning

PubMed Central

Yoshida, Hanako

2012-01-01

A long history of research has considered the role of iconicity in language and the existence and role of non-arbitrary properties in language and the use of language. Previous studies with Japanese-speaking children whose language defines a large grammatical class of words with clear sound symbolism suggest that iconicity properties in Japanese may aid early verb learning, and a recent extended work suggest that such early sensitivity is not limited to children whose language supports such word classes. The present study further considers the use of sounds symbolic words in verb learning context by conducting systematic cross-linguistic comparisons on early exposure to and effect of sound symbolism in verb mapping. Experiment 1 is an observational study of how English- and Japanese-speaking parents talk about verbs. More conventionalized symbolic words were found in Japanese-speaking parental input and more idiosyncratic use of sound symbolism in English-speaking parental input. Despite this different exposure of iconic forms to describe actions, the artificial verb learning task in Experiment 2 revealed that children in both language groups benefit from sound-meaning correspondences for their verb learning. These results together confirm more extensive use of conventionalized sound-symbolism among Japanese-speakers, and also support a cross-linguistic consistency of the effect, which has documented in the recent work. The work also points to the potential value of understanding the contexts in which sound-meaning correspondences matter in language learning. PMID:23807870

Sex and cultural differences in spatial performance between Japanese and North Americans.

PubMed

Sakamoto, Maiko; Spiers, Mary V

2014-04-01

Previous studies have suggested that Asians perform better than North Americans on spatial tasks but show smaller sex differences. In this study, we evaluated the relationship between long-term experience with a pictorial written language and spatial performance. It was hypothesized that native Japanese Kanji (a complex pictorial written language) educated adults would show smaller sex differences on spatial tasks than Japanese Americans or North Americans without Kanji education. A total of 80 young healthy participants (20 native Japanese speakers, 20 Japanese Americans-non Japanese speaking, and 40 North Americans-non Japanese speaking) completed the Rey Complex Figure Test (RCFT), the Mental Rotations Test (MRT), and customized 2D and 3D spatial object location memory tests. As predicted, main effects revealed men performed better on the MRT and RCFT and women performed better on the spatial object location memory tests. Also, as predicted, native Japanese performed better on all tests than the other groups. In contrast to the other groups, native Japanese showed a decreased magnitude of sex differences on aspects of the RCFT (immediate and delayed recall) and no significant sex difference on the efficiency of the strategy used to copy and encode the RCFT figure. This study lends support to the idea that intensive experience over time with a pictorial written language (i.e., Japanese Kanji) may contribute to increased spatial performance on some spatial tasks as well as diminish sex differences in performance on tasks that most resemble Kanji.

Reducing fertilizer-nitrogen losses from rowcrop landscapes: Insights and implications from a spatially explicit watershed model

USGS Publications Warehouse

McLellan, Eileen; Schilling, Keith; Robertson, Dale M.

2015-01-01

We present conceptual and quantitative models that predict changes in fertilizer-derived nitrogen delivery from rowcrop landscapes caused by agricultural conservation efforts implemented to reduce nutrient inputs and transport and increase nutrient retention in the landscape. To evaluate the relative importance of changes in the sources, transport, and sinks of fertilizer-derived nitrogen across a region, we use the spatially explicit SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes watershed model to map the distribution, at the small watershed scale within the Upper Mississippi-Ohio River Basin (UMORB), of: (1) fertilizer inputs; (2) nutrient attenuation during delivery of those inputs to the UMORB outlet; and (3) nitrogen export from the UMORB outlet. Comparing these spatial distributions suggests that the amount of fertilizer input and degree of nutrient attenuation are both important in determining the extent of nitrogen export. From a management perspective, this means that agricultural conservation efforts to reduce nitrogen export would benefit by: (1) expanding their focus to include activities that restore and enhance nutrient processing in these highly altered landscapes; and (2) targeting specific types of best management practices to watersheds where they will be most valuable. Doing so successfully may result in a shift in current approaches to conservation planning, outreach, and funding.

Declining spatial efficiency of global cropland nitrogen allocation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mueller, Nathaniel D.; Lassaletta, Luis; Runck, Bryan C.; Billen, Gilles; Garnier, Josette; Gerber, James S.

2017-02-01

Efficiently allocating nitrogen (N) across space maximizes crop productivity for a given amount of N input and reduces N losses to the environment. Here we quantify changes in the global spatial efficiency of cropland N use by calculating historical trade-off frontiers relating N inputs to possible N yield assuming efficient allocation. Time series cropland N budgets from 1961 to 2009 characterize the evolution of N input-yield response functions across 12 regions and are the basis for constructing trade-off frontiers. Improvements in agronomic technology have substantially increased cropping system yield potentials and expanded N-driven crop production possibilities. However, we find that these gains are compromised by the declining spatial efficiency of N use across regions. Since the start of the Green Revolution, N inputs and yields have moved farther from the optimal frontier over time; in recent years (1994-2009), global N surplus has grown to a value that is 69% greater than what is possible with efficient N allocation between regions. To reflect regional pollution and agricultural development goals, we construct scenarios that restrict reallocation, finding that these changes only slightly decrease potential gains in nitrogen use efficiency. Our results are inherently conservative due to the regional unit of analysis, meaning a larger potential exists than is quantified here for cross-scale policies to promote spatially efficient N use.

Rational integration of noisy evidence and prior semantic expectations in sentence interpretation.

PubMed

Gibson, Edward; Bergen, Leon; Piantadosi, Steven T

2013-05-14

Sentence processing theories typically assume that the input to our language processing mechanisms is an error-free sequence of words. However, this assumption is an oversimplification because noise is present in typical language use (for instance, due to a noisy environment, producer errors, or perceiver errors). A complete theory of human sentence comprehension therefore needs to explain how humans understand language given imperfect input. Indeed, like many cognitive systems, language processing mechanisms may even be "well designed"--in this case for the task of recovering intended meaning from noisy utterances. In particular, comprehension mechanisms may be sensitive to the types of information that an idealized statistical comprehender would be sensitive to. Here, we evaluate four predictions about such a rational (Bayesian) noisy-channel language comprehender in a sentence comprehension task: (i) semantic cues should pull sentence interpretation towards plausible meanings, especially if the wording of the more plausible meaning is close to the observed utterance in terms of the number of edits; (ii) this process should asymmetrically treat insertions and deletions due to the Bayesian "size principle"; such nonliteral interpretation of sentences should (iii) increase with the perceived noise rate of the communicative situation and (iv) decrease if semantically anomalous meanings are more likely to be communicated. These predictions are borne out, strongly suggesting that human language relies on rational statistical inference over a noisy channel.