Reading and Spelling Development Across Languages Varying in Orthographic Consistency: Do Their Paths Cross?

We examined the cross-lagged relations between reading and spelling in five alphabetic orthographies varying in consistency (English, French, Dutch, German, and Greek). Nine hundred and forty-one children were followed from Grade 1 to Grade 2 and were tested on word and pseudoword reading fluency and on spelling to dictation. Results indicated that the relations across languages were unidirectional: Earlier reading predicted subsequent spelling. However, we also found significant differences between languages in the strength of the effects of earlier reading on subsequent spelling. These findings suggest that, once children master decoding, the observed differences between languages are not related to the direction of the effects but to the strength of the effects from reading to spelling. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Subjective frequency norms for 330 Spanish simple and compound words.

Ratings were collected from 102 native speakers of Spanish on the subjective frequency of occurrence of 330 Spanish words, including 120 deverbal compounds and their constituents. These ratings were found to be highly reliable, whether items were analyzed together or separately by type (i.e., compounds, nouns, verbs), as evidenced by indexes of internal consistency and test-retest reliability that were equal to or greater than .98. The validity of the normative ratings was attested to by statistically significant correlations with objective frequency, estimated at .63 for all items together, and .41, .51, and .78 for compounds, nouns, and verbs, respectively. Among the substantive issues addressed was the potential dependency in ratings for compounds and their associated verb-noun constituents. No relationship was discerned, supporting the idea that compound and constituent ratings are statistically independent in this experimental task. The theoretical and methodological implications of the findings are discussed. The ratings can be downloaded from http://brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.

Frame loads accuracy assessment of semianalytical multibody dynamic simulation methods of a recreational vehicle.

The design of a vehicle frame is largely dependent on the loads applied on the suspension and heavy parts mounting points. These loads can either be estimated through full analytical multibody dynamic simulations, or from semi-analytical simulations in which tire and road sub-models are not included and external vehicle loads, recorded during field testing, are used as inputs to the wheel hubs. Several semi-analytical methods exist, with various modeling architectures, yet, it is unclear how one method over another improves frame loads prediction accuracy. This study shows that a semi-analytical method that constrains the vehicle frame center of gravity movement along a recorded trajectory, using a control algorithm, leads to an accuracy within 1% for predicting frame loads, when compared to reference loads from a full analytical model. The control algorithm computes six degrees of freedom forces and moments applied at the vehicle center of gravity to closely follow the recorded vehicle trajectory. It is also shown that modeling the flexibility of the suspension arms and controlling wheel hub angular velocity both contribute in improving frame loads accuracy, while an acquisition frequency of 200 Hz appears to be sufficient to capture load dynamics for several maneuvers. Knowledge of these loads helps engineers perform appropriate dimensioning of vehicle structural components therefore ensuring their reliability under various driving conditions.

[Imagery norms and subjective frequency of 1,760 monosyllabic words in the French language]. / Normes d'imagerie et de fréquence subjective pour 1,760 mots monosyllabiques de la langue française.

This study aimed at providing subjective frequency and imageability norms for a sample of 1,760 monosyllabic French words and thereby, increasing the pool of normative data available for research in cognitive science and language processing. The results indicate that the reliability of the estimates is high, with coefficients ranging between .93 and .99 for the frequency and imageability ratings. External validity was investigated by calculating correlations with ratings drawn from all similar studies and for which the number of shared items was sufficient. These coefficients vary between .73 and .88 for subjective frequency and between .64 and .97 for imageability. The correlation between subjective frequency and imageability in the present study was significant and relatively high (r = .64). The implications of these results for the selection of experimental stimuli for research are discussed.

Effect of age and glucoregulation on cognitive performance.

Non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) has been associated with a number of physiological consequences including neuropathy, retinopathy and incidence of vascular disease. Recently, several authors reviewed studies that suggested that NIDDM is associated with cognitive impairments leading to a higher incidence of dementia. In the present experiment, we measured cognitive function in 57 healthy male and female non-diabetic older participants who ranged in age from 55 to 84. Various biological measures were obtained including a glucose tolerance test during which glucose and insulin were measured. Participants were separated into better and poorer glucoregulatory groups on the basis of their blood glucose levels during the tolerance test. Participants were evaluated twice, once after drinking a saccharin solution and on another occasion after drinking a glucose solution (50 g). Older participants (72 years and over) with poorer glucoregulation had the worse performance in tests evaluating working memory, verbal declarative memory and executive functions. Glucose administration appeared to only attenuate the decrements observed in the saccharin condition in the older participants for some of the tests. These results suggest that cognitive functions may be impaired before glucoregulatory impairment reaches levels consistent with a type II diabetes diagnosis.

Impact of peripheral glucoregulation on memory.

Impaired glucoregulation is associated with neuropsychological deficits, particularly for tests that measure verbal declarative memory performance in older diabetic patients. The performances of 74 undergraduate students (mean age = 21 years) on several verbal declarative measures, including immediate and delayed paragraph recall, verbal free recall, and order reconstruction tasks, were correlated with glucoregulatory indices. The indices were obtained from glucose and insulin levels after a 75-g glucose load. In general, higher blood glucose levels were associated with poorer performance on all memory tests. Glucose ingestion did not interact with performance except on the most difficult task. Subjects with poorer glucoregulation showed higher evoked glucose and insulin, suggestive of a mild glucose intolerance accompanied by mild insulin insensitivity. Results suggest that poor peripheral glucoregulation has an impact on central nervous system functions.

Glucose regulation is associated with cognitive performance in young nondiabetic adults.

Several studies have documented an increased incidence of dementia among diabetic patients. In addition, impaired glucose regulation in both, younger and older adults, has been shown to be associated with neuropsychological deficits, particularly of episodic memory. The main purpose of this study was to examine this association in a large sample of young nondiabetic adults. All participants underwent a glucose tolerance test together with measures of insulin levels and lipids. Regression analyses revealed that glucoregulatory indices based on evoked glucose levels were significantly associated with the verbal memory performance of 122 young adults, independent of demographic and vascular risk factors. Participants were assessed after drinking glucose or saccharin, using a repeated-measures design. There was no effect of glucose on cognitive performance. Glucoregulatory indices calculated on the basis of insulin levels or fasting glucose levels explained less cognitive variability compared to indices based on evoked glucose levels. Cardiovascular risk factors were associated with hyperinsulinemia but these factors were not associated with cognitive performance in this young adult group. These findings suggest that cognitive decrements are observable in young, nondiabetic adults, prior to the onset of impaired glucose regulation and diabetes.

Effect of age and glucoregulation on cognitive performance.

Type 2 diabetes has been associated with a number of physiological consequences including neuropathy, retinopathy, and incidence of vascular disease. Less is known about the effect on cognition of prediabetes, a period when glucose regulation is abnormal. It is not clear which aspect of impaired glucoregulation is most predictive of cognitive deterioration. In the present experiment, we measured cognitive function in 93 healthy male and female nondiabetic older participants who ranged in age from 55 to 88 years. Various biological measures were obtained including a glucose tolerance test during which glucose and insulin were measured. Participants were evaluated twice, once after drinking a saccharin solution and on another occasion after drinking a glucose solution (50 g). The analysis of the correlations between the biological measures and the results of the cognitive tasks revealed that evoked glucose measures such as peak glucose and glucose at 1 hour were most often correlated with cognitive performance. We observed that progressively worse glucose regulation predicted poorer performance on measures of working memory and executive function-that is, on the Arithmetic, Digit Span Backward, Letter-Number Sequencing, Spatial Span Forward, Spatial Span Backward (trend), and Modified Brown-Peterson tasks. Although, there was no significant facilitative effect of glucose on cognitive performance, it reduced the association between glucose regulation and cognition, apparently by slightly improving performance. These results suggest that cognitive functions may be impaired before glucoregulatory impairment reaches levels consistent with a type 2 diabetes diagnosis.

Corroborating biased indicators: global and local agreement among objective and subjective estimates of printed word frequency.

The internal validity of several types of experiments in experimental psychology and neuroscience depends in part on the possibility of controlling or manipulating critical lexical variables such as word frequency of occurrence. Two ways of estimating this variable are (1) objective frequency counts and (2) subjective ratings of word frequency. Each method produces estimates that generally agree (i.e., they are highly correlated) but that disagree substantially concerning the relative frequency of a number of words. To investigate this issue more closely, the global and local agreement of subjective frequency estimates was examined in detail for a pool of 6,202 words drawn from the OMNILEX database of French words (Desrochers, 2006; www.omnilex.uottawa.ca). The results indicated that objective and subjective frequencies are strongly correlated, subjective frequencies share a significant amount of bias variance with other lexical characteristics (e.g., imageability), and the codeterminants of subjective frequency are in an antagonistic relationship with one another. The implications of these results for the selection of lexical stimuli are discussed, and multiple variables to aid in item selection are reported. Supplemental materials for this study may be downloaded from brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.

Subjective frequency and imageability ratings for 3,600 French nouns.

Subjective frequency and imageability estimates for a sample of 3,600 French nouns were collected from two independent groups of 72 young adults each. Both groups received standard instructions and provided their ratings on a 7-point scale. The timing, sequencing, presentation of lexical stimuli, and recording of responses were controlled by a computer. All estimates of internal consistency and test-retest reliability (> or =.98) confirm the high level of precision and reliability of the ratings. Correlations with ratings drawn from similar studies were found to be positive and significant for subjective frequency (r > or = .85) and for imageability (r > or = .69). Subjective frequency was positively and significantly correlated with objective frequency estimates drawn from 10 different sources (r > or = .42). Subjective frequency and imageability were significantly correlated (r = .26), a relationship that was driven primarily by a sudden drop in imageability ratings for words with a subjective frequency rating below 2.5. The methodological implications of these findings are discussed. The ratings can be downloaded as supplemental materials from brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.