Preceding syllables are necessary for the accent advantage effect.

The accent advantage effect in phoneme monitoring-faster responses to a target phoneme at the beginning of an L + H*-accented word than to a target phoneme at the beginning of an unaccented word-is viewed as a product of listeners' predictive capabilities [Cutler (1976). Percept. Psychophys. 20(1), 55-60]. However, previous studies have not established what information listeners use to form these predictions [Cutler (1987). Proceedings of the International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, pp. 84-87; Cutler and Darwin (1981). Percept. Psychophys. 29(3), 217-224]. This article presents evidence that at least the information in the syllable immediately preceding a target phoneme is necessary to cue the predictive attention allocation that underlies the accent advantage effect.

Priming Implicit Prosody: Prosodic Boundaries and Individual Differences.

Using the structural priming paradigm, the present study explores predictions made by the implicit prosody hypothesis (IPH) by testing whether an implicit prosodic boundary generated from a silently read sentence influences attachment preference for a novel, subsequently read sentence. Results indicate that such priming does occur, as evidenced by an effect on relative clause attachment. In particular, priming an implicit boundary directly before a relative clause--cued by commas in orthography--encouraged high attachment of that relative clause, although the size of the effect depended somewhat on individual differences in pragmatic/communication skills (as measured by the Autism Spectrum Quotient). Thus, in addition to supporting the basic claims of the IPH, the present study demonstrates the relevance of such individual differences to sentence processing, and that implicit prosodic structure, like syntactic structure, can be primed.

Perception of pitch location within a speaker's range: fundamental frequency, voice quality and speaker sex.

How are listeners able to identify whether the pitch of a brief isolated sample of an unknown voice is high or low in the overall pitch range of that speaker? Does the speaker's voice quality convey crucial information about pitch level? Results and statistical models of two experiments that provide answers to these questions are presented. First, listeners rated the pitch levels of vowels taken over the full pitch ranges of male and female speakers. The absolute f0 of the samples was by far the most important determinant of listeners' ratings, but with some effect of the sex of the speaker. Acoustic measures of voice quality had only a very small effect on these ratings. This result suggests that listeners have expectations about f0s for average speakers of each sex, and judge voice samples against such expectations. Second, listeners judged speaker sex for the same speech samples. Again, absolute f0 was the most important determinant of listeners' judgments, but now voice quality measures also played a role. Thus it seems that pitch level judgments depend on voice quality mostly indirectly, through its information about sex. Absolute f0 is the most important information for deciding both pitch level and speaker sex.

Intergeneration transfer of diet patterns? Parental self-report of diet and their report of their young adult children with ASD.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects two percent of American children and often results in neophobia, hypersensitivity to foods, and firmly set food preferences, leading to higher proportions of individuals suffering from diet-related chronic diseases. Our objective was to conduct an explorative pilot study to examine parents' perception of food intake for themselves and their young adult children with ASD. We employed comparative analysis to discover potential pathways to improve diet quality and lower the risk for chronic disease in individuals with ASD. Data from an online survey in n = 493 parent-child dyads on parentally reported intake patterns, food group, and food consumption was analyzed using kappa statistics to determine the level of agreement between reported parental and child intake patterns, body weight status and activity level. Average age was 48 years for parents and 22 years for their children, respectively. Parent-child agreement for obesity was high. We found very strong agreement between the reported diet variety (kappa = 0.82) and changing daily intake (kappa = 0.63) and strong agreement for some vegetable intake patterns (kappa = 0.61 for orange, white, and starchy vegetables) but not in meat intake (no agreement). Results of this study indicate evidence for perceived intergenerational transfer of dietary intake patterns, which may offer effective approaches to change parental diet, to subsequently improve diet quality in young adults with ASD and prevent diet-related chronic diseases in individuals with ASD.

The prosodic accent advantage in phoneme detection: Importance of local context.

Previous research (e.g., Cutler, Perception & Psychophysics, 20, 55-60, 1976) has shown that detection of the initial phoneme of a word is speeded when the word is pronounced with a focal accent. This "accent advantage" is also observed when the accented word is replaced by a neutrally accented one. The present two experiments were designed to identify what aspect of the context preceding the target word is the source of this advantage. Both indicated that the advantage can be ascribed to the syllable immediately preceding the target word, rather than some possibly global but more distal attribute of the context. The first experiment used the recordings that had been used by Cutler Perception & Psychophysics, 20, 55-60, (1976) with the addition of a between-subjects manipulation of the local context. In one condition, the syllable immediately before the target word was the one that had been recorded in the sentence context (preceding an accented or an unaccented target word). In the other, cross-spliced, condition, the preceding syllable was exchanged between accented and unaccented contexts. The second (pre-registered) experiment used new recordings and a within-subject manipulation of the pre-target syllable. The studies confirmed and extended the observation that the pre-target syllable rather than some other prosodic aspect of the preceding context is the source of the faster phoneme detections.

Determinants of physical activity of transitioning adult children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Many young adults on the autism spectrum do not attain the recommended minimum weekly amount of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) to prevent significant health risks. Autism symptoms as well as environmental factors may play a key role in the physical activity (PA) behaviors of young adults on the autism spectrum. The socioecological model (SEM) has been previously used to identify determinants of PA among people within many disability categories. Aims: Explore the overall relationship between determinants of PA of MVPA among parents and their young adult child with ASD as well as MVPA determinants segmented by caregiver level of support. Methods: 336 parents of adult children with ASD completed the Determinants of Physical Activity and Eating Behaviors for Young Adults with ASD Scale. Results: Children's weekly time spent in MVPA was predicted by parent self-reported MVPA, exercise competency, video game use, social skills, and neighborhood qualities. Parent weekly time spent in MVPA was predicted by their child's weekly MVPA, parent exercise competency, parent discretionary time, available home exercise equipment, and parent attitude towards physical activity. Conclusion: These results support the administration of quality community-based motor development, motor skills, and exercise skills programs focused on increasing physical activity and parent's influential role in their children's weekly MVPA.

Brief Report: Autistic Traits Predict Spectral Correlates of Vowel Intelligibility for Female Speakers.

A growing body of research finds that neurotypical autistic traits are predictive of speech perception and language comprehension patterns, but considerably less is known about the influence of these traits on speech production. In this brief report, we present an analysis of vowel productions from 74 American English speakers who participated in a communicative speaking task. Results show higher autistic trait load to be broadly and inversely related to spectral correlates of vowel intelligibility. However, the statistical significance of this relationship is specific to autistic traits along the pragmatic communication dimension, and limited to female speakers.

Exploring the Similarity Between Implicit and Explicit Prosody: Prosodic Phrasing and Individual Differences.

In recent years, work carried out in the context of the implicit prosody hypothesis (IPH) has called into question the assumption that implicit (i.e., silently generated) prosody and explicit (overtly produced) prosody are similar in form. Focusing on prosodic phrasing, the present study explored this issue using an individual differences approach, and using methods that do not rely on the sentence comprehension tests characteristic of work within the IPH program. A large group of native English speakers participated in a production experiment intended to identify individual differences in average prosodic phrase length, phonologically defined. We then explored whether these (explicit) prosodic differences were related to two other kinds of variation, each with a connection to implicit prosody. First, we tested whether individual differences in explicit prosodic phrase length were predicted by individual differences in working memory capacity, a relationship that has been established for implicit prosody. Second, we explored whether participants' explicit prosodic phrase lengths were predictive of their behavior in a silent-reading task in which they had to identify their own implicit prosodic groupings. In both cases, the findings are argued to be consistent with a similarity between explicit and implicit prosody. First, participants with higher working memory capacity (as estimated by reading spans) were associated with longer prosodic phrases. Second, participants who produced longer explicit prosodic phrases in speech tended to report generating longer prosodic phrases in silent reading. Implications for the nature of implicit prosody, and how it can be studied, are discussed.

Physical activity in young adults with autism spectrum disorder: Parental perceptions of barriers and facilitators.

The importance of physical activity in persons with disabilities is well known, yet the prevalence of inactivity remains high. The physical activity behaviors among adults on the autism spectrum are largely unexplored. It is presumed that sedentary behavior and obesity are a greater health issue among young adults on the autism spectrum who no longer receive Individuals with Disabilities Education Act services and supports such as school-based physical education. Using a phenomenology approach, the parents of eight young adults on the autism spectrum were interviewed about their perceptions of the barriers and facilitators to getting their young adults on the autism spectrum physically active. The purpose of this study was to investigate parent's perspective of physical activity barriers and facilitators of their adult children on the autism spectrum. Common themes of both physical activity barriers and facilitators included parents, behaviors associated with autism spectrum disorder, and access and opportunities.

Motor skills intervention research of children with disabilities.

BACKGROUND: Physical inactivity and obesity among children with physical and cognitive disabilities is an emerging public health issue. Children's motor skill development is a determinant of lifelong physical activity and obesity. AIMS: The purpose of this article is to critically evaluate motor skill intervention literature among children with physical and cognitive disabilities. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Electronic searches were completed to identity research articles published from 1984 to 2014. Major findings were categorized among subtopics including characteristics of intervention studies, research designs, diagnostic method, motor skill interventions and motor skill outcome. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: 21 studies were found and included participants with developmental delay (42.8%), autism (19.0%), cross-disability (19.0%), intellectual disability (4.8%), cerebral palsy (4.8%), developmental coordination disorder (4.8%), and learning disabilities (4.8%). Only one study was a randomized controlled trial. CONCLUSIONS: and implications: The current literature on motor skill intervention research is broad in scope and has limited generalizability within and across disability groups. Future research is needed to develop cross-disability intervention methods adaptable to disability and function-specific needs, including the utilization of rapidly developing technology. Researchers are encouraged to utilize sound methodology with robust theoretical foundations. Family and community engagement is encouraged in intervention delivery.

Knowledge of performance feedback among boys with ADHD.

BACKGROUND: Children with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often experience delays in acquiring competence completing fundamental motor skills. The effects of augmented prescriptive knowledge of performance feedback (PKP) have not been explored as a possible component solution. AIMS: The purpose of this study was to test the motor learning effects of KP among boys with ADHD. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Thirty-one boys with ADHD, randomly selected into either a treatment or a control group, completed a series of cornhole games. It was hypothesized that PKP feedback administered to treatment group participants would increase motor learning. Dependent variables included cornhole scores and quality of performance measures. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Both groups improved in cornhole scores and improvement was not dependent upon KP. Treatment group participants performed significantly better in quality of performance of the underhand toss compared to the control group. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: PKP feedback improves motor skill performance learning among children with ADHD above knowledge of results feedback only. Recreational program directors should consider using KP feedback when teaching motor skills to boys with ADHD.