The effects of explicit morphological analysis instruction in early elementary Spanish speakers.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of implicit and explicit morphological analysis instruction in Spanish, a language characterized by high morphological complexity and relatively consistent letter-sound correspondences. For 3 days, 94 Grade 3 Spanish monolingual students (43 girls; Mage = 8.9 years) were trained on target words containing experimenter-designed suffixes consistent in form and meaning (e.g., the suffix -isba refers to a factory in words such as "botisba" [a boot factory] and "cajisba" [a box factory]). Explicit and implicit instruction differed in the attention given to the co-occurrence of the suffixes in the target words. One day (immediate posttest) and 1 week (delayed posttest) after training concluded, participants were tested on their learning of the suffixes' form using a suffix identification task and meaning using a word definition and a multiple-choice task. Results of mixed-effects models showed that explicit instruction yielded better results for the learning of the form of the suffixes. Regarding meaning, across-condition differences were detected only in the word definition task; explicit instruction produced better results for both trained and transfer words. We discuss our findings in the context of the grain-size unit theory and examine the interplay between the language's orthographic and morphological characteristics, considering their impact on classroom instruction.

Infants’ early associations between segments of words and referents: Precursors of morphology acquisition / Asociación entre segmentos de palabras y referentes en bebés: precursores de la adquisición de morfología

Antecedents and objective: During morphology acquisition, children must learn to segment and associate the morphemes of a word to its meaning or grammatical function, despite the complex morphological variability children may encounter in their linguistic environment. The present study explores the ability of 9–12-month-old infants to segment a morpheme-like syllable of varying pseudowords and associate it to a novel object. Participants and method: Thirty-nine Spanish-learning infants participated in an experiment involving a preferential looking task. During each of five training trials per category, infants were presented to one of two novel objects while simultaneously heard two instances of pseudowords with a common morpheme-like segment either at the beginning or the end of the pseudoword (e.g., /tabi/, /babi/, for object 1; or /sato/, /same/, for object 2). Children were then tested in five trials per object. The two trained objects were presented side-by-side while infants heard new pseudowords that followed the pattern of the pseudowords that were heard during training. Results: Results show an effective association between a referent and a group of pseudowords with a repeating morpheme-like segment. This association is observed both with beginning and final segments. Conclusions: These findings show infants’ basic abilities for the processing of morphology at an earlier age than it has been suggested. The potential influence of morphologically rich languages such as Spanish is considered.(AU)

Antecedentes y objetivo: Durante la adquisición de la morfología, los niños deben aprender a segmentar y a asociar los morfemas de una palabra a su significado o función gramatical, a pesar de la compleja variabilidad morfológica que los niños pueden encontrar en su entorno lingüístico. El presente estudio explora la capacidad de los bebés de 9 a 12 meses para segmentar una sílaba tipo morfema de varias palabras y asociarla a un objeto novedoso. Participantes y método: Treinta y nueve bebés aprendices del español participaron en un experimento que implicaba una tarea de preferencia de mirada. Se realizaron cinco ensayos de entrenamiento por categoría, en los que se presentaba uno de dos objetos novedosos, mientras que simultáneamente escuchaban dos instancias de palabras con un segmento tipo morfema común (e.g., /tabi/, /babi/, para el objeto 1, o /sato/, /same/, para el objeto 2). Luego, los niños fueron evaluados en cinco ensayos de prueba por categoría. Los dos objetos del entrenamiento aparecían, uno al lado del otro, mientras escuchaban nuevas palabras que seguían el patrón de las palabras escuchadas durante el entrenamiento. Resultados: Los resultados muestran una asociación efectiva entre un referente y un grupo de palabras con un segmento repetitivo similar a un morfema. Conclusiones: Estos hallazgos muestran las habilidades básicas de los bebés para el procesamiento de la morfología a una edad más temprana de lo que se había sugerido. Se considera la potencial influencia de lenguas morfológicamente ricas, como el español.(AU)

An extraordinary wave of SARS-CoV2, the youngest and the least serious.

The second wave of SARS-CoV2 in our health region began at the end of June 2020 coinciding with the widespread decrease in cases in all areas of Catalonia. This resulted in the relaxation of measures that coincided with the end of the school year and the arrival of seasonal workers for the fruit-picking campaign. This led to a rapid increase in cases that culminated in perimeter confinement of the Segrià in July 2020, the only such measure imposed in the whole of Spain that month. This increase in cases was attributed to the influx of agricultural workers with a change of trend in the age of persons affected that had until then consisted mainly of older people. Simultaneously, in other areas of Catalonia the number of cases had dropped dramatically.

How does rapid automatized naming influence orthographic knowledge?

Rapid automatized naming (RAN) is a strong predictor of reading fluency across languages, and some researchers have attributed this to the contribution of RAN to the development of orthographic knowledge, which is predictive of reading fluency. However, to date, it remains unclear whether RAN (alphanumeric and nonalphanumeric) predicts orthographic knowledge (OK) and what skills may mediate their relation. To examine the RAN-OK relations, we assessed 114 Grade 3 Spanish-speaking Mexican children (58 girls; Mage = 7.9 years, SD = 0.3) on RAN (objects and digits), orthographic knowledge (lexical and sublexical; accuracy and response time), speed of processing, multi-element processing, phonemic awareness, and reading fluency. Path analyses showed first that, OK (both lexical and sublexical) partly mediated the effects of RAN on reading fluency. Second, multiple mediation analyses showed an indirect effect of both RAN tasks on lexical and sublexical OK through phonological awareness. In view of Ehri's amalgamation hypothesis and Share's self-teaching hypothesis, our findings suggest that RAN may reflect, in part, the speed with which the phonological representations of letters are accessed and retrieved, which subsequently influences how quickly orthographic representations can be formed and accessed.

Haptic sound-symbolism in young Spanish-speaking children.

Haptic sound symbolism has been found in adults, between ideophones and various textures, between words and shape, and between written words and texture. However, associations between the sound of nonwords and features other than shape and in early stages of development have been less explored. The present study investigates the haptic manifestation of sound symbolism in an early developmental stage. We examined associations between nonwords and the rough-smooth tactile dimension in 3.5-to-4.5-year-old children. Two experiments were conducted: a pointing selection task and a naming task. Sound symbolic associations were found in the naming task, but not in the pointing task. On the other hand an unexpected bias towards smoothness was found in the pointing task. We explain these results by suggesting that the articulation of nonwords may facilitate or intensify sound symbolism, and that hedonic biases are manifested in the pointing task.

[Sleep disorders and quality of life in refractory partial epilepsy: results of the SLEEP study]. / Alteraciones del sueño y calidad de vida en la epilepsia parcial refractaria: resultados del estudio SLEEP.

INTRODUCTION: Sleep disorders are frequent among patients with epilepsy and are correlated with a poorer quality of life. AIMS: To evaluate the prevalence of sleep disorders in patients with refractory and non-refractory focal epilepsy, and to explore the influence of these alterations on the quality of life of these patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: An epidemiological, controlled, cross-sectional study was conducted in 150 outpatient neurology services. Patients who had been treated with two antiepileptic drugs since the onset of the disease (18-55 years) were recruited for the study. RESULTS: The sample included 237 patients with non-refractory focal epilepsy and 264 patients with refractory focal epilepsy. Twenty-two per cent of the non-refractory epilepsy group and 45% of the group with refractory epilepsy (p < 0.0001) suffered from some sleep disorder. The patients with refractory epilepsy had a poorer quality of life (p < 0.001) as measured with the quality of life questionnaire QOLIE-10. A positive significant correlation was observed between quality of life and quality of sleep, in both chronic insomnia (r = 0.65; p < 0.0001) and excessive daytime sleepiness (r = 0.43; p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Sleep disorders are more frequent in refractory than in non-refractory epilepsy, and affect the patients' quality of life.

TITLE: Alteraciones del sueño y calidad de vida en la epilepsia parcial refractaria: resultados del estudio SLEEP.Introduccion. Las alteraciones del sueño son frecuentes en pacientes con epilepsia y se correlacionan con una peor calidad de vida. Objetivos. Evaluar la prevalencia de las alteraciones del sueño en pacientes con epilepsia focal refractaria y no refractaria y explorar la influencia de estas alteraciones en la calidad de vida de los pacientes. Pacientes y metodos. Estudio epidemiologico, controlado, transversal, realizado en 150 consultas ambulatorias de neurologia. Se reclutaron pacientes que habian sido tratados con dos farmacos antiepilepticos desde el inicio de la enfermedad (18-55 años). Resultados. Se incluyeron 237 pacientes con epilepsia focal no refractaria y 264 pacientes con epilepsia focal refractaria. El 22% del grupo con epilepsia no refractaria y el 45% del grupo con epilepsia refractaria (p < 0,0001) padecian alguna altera­cion del sueño. Los pacientes con epilepsia refractaria tenian peor calidad de vida (p < 0,001) medida con el cuestionario de calidad de vida QOLIE-10. Se observo una correlacion positiva y significativa entre la calidad de vida y la calidad del sue­ño, tanto en el insomnio cronico (r = 0,65; p < 0,0001) como en la somnolencia excesiva diurna (r = 0,43; p < 0,0001). Conclusion. Las alteraciones del sueño son mas frecuentes en la epilepsia refractaria que en la no refractaria, y afectan a la calidad de vida de los pacientes.

Alteraciones del sueño y calidad de vida en la epilepsia parcial refractaria: resultados del estudio SLEEP / Sleep disorders and quality of life in refractory partial epilepsy: results of the SLEEP study

Introducción. Las alteraciones del sueño son frecuentes en pacientes con epilepsia y se correlacionan con una peor calidad de vida. Objetivos. Evaluar la prevalencia de las alteraciones del sueño en pacientes con epilepsia focal refractaria y no refractaria y explorar la influencia de estas alteraciones en la calidad de vida de los pacientes. Pacientes y métodos. Estudio epidemiológico, controlado, transversal, realizado en 150 consultas ambulatorias de neurología. Se reclutaron pacientes que habían sido tratados con dos fármacos antiepilépticos desde el inicio de la enfermedad (18-55 años). Resultados. Se incluyeron 237 pacientes con epilepsia focal no refractaria y 264 pacientes con epilepsia local refractaria. El 22% del grupo con epilepsia no refractaria y el 45% del grupo con epilepsia refractaria (p < 0,0001) padecían alguna alteración del sueño. Los pacientes con epilepsia refractaria tenían peor calidad de vida (p < 0,001) medida con el cuestionario de calidad de vida QOLIE-10. Se observó una correlación positiva y significativa entre la calidad de vida y la calidad del sueño, tanto en el insomnio crónico (r = 0,65; p < 0,0001) como en la somnolencia excesiva diurna (r = 0,43; p < 0,0001). Conclusión. Las alteraciones del sueño son más frecuentes en la epilepsia refractaria que en la no refractaria, y afectan a la calidad de vida de los pacientes (AU)

Introduction. Sleep disorders are frequent among patients with epilepsy and are correlated with a poorer quality of life. Aims. To evaluate the prevalence of sleep disorders in patients with refractory and non-refractory focal epilepsy, and to explore the influence of these alterations on the quality of life of these patients. Patients and methods. An epidemiological, controlled, cross-sectional study was conducted in 150 outpatient neurology services. Patients who had been treated with two antiepileptic drugs since the onset of the disease (18-55 years) were recruited for the study. Results. The sample included 237 patients with non-refractory focal epilepsy and 264 patients with refractory focal epilepsy. Twenty-two per cent of the non-refractory epilepsy group and 45% of the group with refractory epilepsy (p < 0.0001) suffered from some sleep disorder. The patients with refractory epilepsy had a poorer quality of life (p < 0.001) as measured with the quality of life questionnaire QOLIE-10. A positive significant correlation was observed between quality of life and quality of sleep, in both chronic insomnia (r = 0.65; p < 0.0001) and excessive daytime sleepiness (r = 0.43; p < 0.0001). Conclusions. Sleep disorders are more frequent in refractory than in non-refractory epilepsy, and affect the patients’ quality of life (AU)

The gender puzzle: Toddlers’ use of articles to access noun information

El género gramatical contenido en los artículos, sustantivos y adjetivos facilita un procesamiento más eficiente de los referentes implicados en los enunciados. Sin embargo, en una lengua como el español, esta información no puede ser extraída de manera confiable de una única fuente. En lugar de ello, el género del sustantivo debe ser determinado a partir claves fono-morfológicas, semánticas, o sintácticas como las combinaciones de artículos y sustantivos. En este trabajo experimental se propuso explorar la habilidad que tienen los infantes para usar los artículos femeninos o masculinos para inferir un referente cuyo nombre está marcado en su género gramatical, terminación ‘a’ u ‘o’, en contraste con un referente cuyo nombre no posee esta marcación. Se empleó el paradigma intermodal de atención preferencial. Se les presentó a niños de 24, 30 y 36 meses de edad pares de imágenes de objetos familiares mientras escuchaban un artículo femenino o masculino, definido (Experimento 1) o indefinido (Experimento 2). La mitad de las imágenes tenían nombres con una terminación indicativa de su género gramatical (con marcación), mientras que en la otra mitad la terminación de sus nombres no era indicativa (sin marcación). Los resultados mostraron que los infantes emplean los artículos para inferir un referente. Asimismo, se observaron diferencias en el uso de artículos definidos versus indefinidos: la habilidad para usar los artículos indefinidos emerge antes que para usar los definidos. En general, se observó que la identificación del referente a partir del artículo está determinada principalmente por las claves fonomorfológicas de los sustantivos. Sin embargo, los niños de 36 meses de edad fueron capaces de asociar los artículos a referentes cuyos nombres no poseían la terminación a/o de género gramatical(AU)

Grammatical gender embedded in determiners, nouns and adjectives allows indirect and more rapid processing of the referents implied in sentences. However in a language such as Spanish, this useful information cannot be reliably retrieved from a single source of information. Instead, noun gender may be extracted either from phono-morphological, semantic or syntactic cues, such as determiner-noun frames. This experimental work sought to explore toddlers’ ability to use feminine and masculine determiners to infer a referent whose name was marked for grammatical gender, ending in ‘o’ or ‘a’, as well as a referent whose name was unmarked. Using the intermodal preferential looking paradigm, 24-, 30- and 36-month-old children were presented with pairs of images, target and distracter, of familiar objects while, at the same time, they heard a feminine or masculine definite (Experiment 1) or indefinite (Experiment 2) article that could only refer to one of the images displayed. Half of the trials presented objects whose target names ended in a final-vowel indicative of grammatical gender and the other half had another ending. The results demonstrated toddlers’ ability to use the determiners to infer a target. Differences between toddlers’ use of definite and indefinite determiners were found. The ability to use indefinite articles preceded the ability to use definite articles. In general, the results showed that anticipation of the noun from the determiner is mostly a function of phono-morphological cues embedded in marked nouns. Nevertheless, 36- month-old children were also able to associate the articles to targets whose names were unmarked for grammatical gender(AU)

[Lennox-Gastaut syndrome in Spain: a descriptive retrospective epidemiological study]. / Síndrome de Lennox-Gastaut en España: estudio epidemiológico retrospectivo y descriptivo.

INTRODUCTION: Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) is one of the most severe epileptic syndromes in childhood. It is characterised by the presence of several types of seizures, a characteristic electroencephalographic trace and its frequent association with mental retardation. There are no accurate data on the epidemiology of LGS in Spain. AIM: To describe the epidemiological profile of LGS in Spain. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective epidemiological study of a series of 331 patients with LGS from 50 Spanish hospitals. Patients were considered to be cases of LGS if they had at least two of the three types of seizures that characterise LGS (axial tonic seizures, atypical absences and atonic seizures) and displayed slow diffuse intercritical spike-wave activity (lower than 3 Hz) in the electroencephalogram in wakefulness. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 18.2 +/- 13.5 years. Of the total sample, 62% were males and 97% had cognitive retardation. And 54% of cases had a symptomatic aetiology. The most frequent types of seizures were axial tonic (89%), followed by the atypical absent type (84%) and atonic seizures (69%). In all, 99% of patients were treated with polytherapy, the most commonly used drugs being valproic acid, lamotrigine and topiramate. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study are in line with those from previous analyses carried out in populations with similar characteristics. The high percentage of LGS patients with cognitive retardation in this epileptic encephalopathy results in important family and social repercussions.

Síndrome de Lennox-Gastaut en España: estudio epidemiológico retrospectivo y descriptivo / Lennox-Gastaut syndrome in Spain: a descriptive retrospective epidemiological study

Introducción. El síndrome de Lennox-Gastaut (SLG) es uno de los síndromes epilépticos más graves de la infancia. Se caracteriza por la presencia de varios tipos de crisis, un trazado electroencefalográfico característico y la frecuente asociación de retraso mental. No existen datos precisos sobre la epidemiología del SLG en España. Objetivo. Describir el perfil epidemiológico del SLG en España. Pacientes y métodos. Estudio epidemiológico retrospectivo de una serie de 331 pacientes con SLG procedentes de 50 hospitales españoles. Se consideraron casos de SLG aquellos pacientes que tenían al menos dos de los tres tipos de crisis características del SLG (crisis tónicas axiales, ausencias atípicas y crisis atónicas) junto con actividad intercrítica difusa de punta-onda lenta (< 3 Hz) en el electroencefalograma en vigilia. Resultados. La edad media de los pacientes fue de de 18,2 ± 13,5 años. El 62% eran varones y el 97% tenía retraso cognitivo. El 54% de los casos fue de etiología sintomática. Los tipos de crisis más frecuentes fueron las tónicas axiales (89%), seguidas de las ausencias atípicas (84%) y las crisis atónicas (69%). El 99% de los pacientes fue tratado con politerapia, siendo los fármacos más frecuentemente empleados el ácido valproico, la lamotrigina y el topiramato. Conclusiones. Los resultados del estudio son consistentes con los de estudios previos realizados en poblaciones de características similares. El elevado porcentaje de pacientes con SLG con retraso cognitivo condiciona en esta encefalopatía epiléptica una gran repercusión, tanto familiar como social (AU)

Introduction. Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) is one of the most severe epileptic syndromes in childhood. It is characterised by the presence of several types of seizures, a characteristic electroencephalographic trace and its frequent association with mental retardation. There are no accurate data on the epidemiology of LGS in Spain. Aim. To describe the epidemiological profile of LGS in Spain. Patients and methods. We conducted a retrospective epidemiological study of a series of 331 patients with LGS from 50 Spanish hospitals. Patients were considered to be cases of LGS if they had at least two of the three types of seizures that characterise LGS (axial tonic seizures, atypical absences and atonic seizures) and displayed slow diffuse intercritical spikewave activity (< 3 Hz) in the electroencephalogram in wakefulness. Results. The mean age of the patients was 18.2 ± 13.5 years. Of the total sample, 62% were males and 97% had cognitive retardation. And 54% of cases had a symptomatic aetiology. The most frequent types of seizures were axial tonic (89%), followed by the atypical absent type (84%) and atonic seizures (69%). In all, 99% of patients were treated with polytherapy, the most commonly used drugs being valproic acid, lamotrigine and topiramate. Conclusions. The results of the study are in line with those from previous analyses carried out in populations with similar characteristics. The high percentage of LGS patients with cognitive retardation in this epileptic encephalopathy results in important family and social repercussions (AU)