Verbal baselining: within-subject consistency of CBCA scores across different truthful and fabricated accounts / La línea base verbal: la congruencia intrasujeto de las puntuaciones del CBCA en diferentes relatos veraces e inventados

Statement Validity Assessment (SVA) proposes that baseline statements on different events can serve as a within-subject measure of a witness' individual verbal capabilities when evaluating scores from Criteria-based Content Analysis (CBCA). This assumes that CBCA scores will generally be consistent across two accounts by the same witness. We present a first pilot study on this assumption. In two sessions, we asked 29 participants to produce one experience-based and one fabricated baseline account as well as one experience-based and one fabricated target account (each on different events), resulting in a total of 116 accounts. We hypothesized at least moderate correlations between target and baseline indicating a consistency across both experience-based and fabricated CBCA scores, and that fabricated CBCA scores would be more consistent because truth-telling has to consider random event characteristics, whereas lies must be constructed completely by the individual witness. Results showed that differences in correlations between experience-based CBCA scores and between fabricated CBCA scores took the predicted direction (cexperience-based = .44 versus cfabricated =.61) but this difference was not statistically significant. As predicted, a subgroup of event-related CBCA criteria were significantly less consistent than CBCA total scores, but only in experience-based accounts. The discussion considers methodological issues regarding the usage of total CBCA scores and whether to measure consistency with correlation coefficients. It is concluded that more studies are needed with larger samples

El Statement Validity Assessment (SVA) propone que las declaraciones sobre diferentes eventos pueden servir como una línea base intrasujeto de la medida de las capacidades verbales individuales de un testigo al evaluar las puntuaciones del Criteria Based Content Analysis (CBCA). Esto implica que las puntuaciones del CBCA serán congruentes en dos relatos del mismo testigo. Presentamos un primer estudio piloto sobre este supuesto. Se pidió a 29 participantes en dos sesiones que elaboraran un relato verdadero (línea base) y otro inventado, además de un relato verdadero y otro inventado (cada uno en situaciones diferentes), arrojando un total de 116 relatos. Se planteó la hipótesis de una correlación al menos moderada entre la declaración fabricada y la verdadera, que indicaría una consistencia entre las puntuaciones en el CBCA de relatos inventados y experimentados y que las puntuaciones en el CBCA inventadas serían más consistentes porque la verdad incluye las características aleatorias de los hechos, mientras que las mentiras las construye totalmente el testigo. Los resultados mostraron que las diferencias en las correlaciones entre las puntuaciones en el CBCA de relatos experimentados y fabricados iban en la dirección predicha (cvivido = .44 frente a cinventado = .61), pero esta diferencia no fue significativa. Como se predijo, un subgrupo de criterios de CBCA relacionados con los hechos fue menos congruente que las puntuaciones totales de CBCA, pero sólo en los relatos de hechos experimentados. Se discuten las implicaciones metodológicas relacionadas con el uso de las puntuaciones totales del CBCA y si se debe medir la consistencia mediante el coeficiente de correlación. Se concluye que se necesitan otros estudios con muestras más grandes

Efectos de un programa de intervención sobre el estilo interpersonal de entrenadores de fútbol base / Effects of an intervention program on the interpersonal style of football coaches / Efeitos de um programa de intervenção sobre o estilo interpessoal dos treinadores de futebol

El objetivo de este estudio era analizar los efectos de un programa de formación sobre la conducta verbal de entrenadores de fútbol base no cualificados. El programa estaba basado en el fomento de estrategias motivacionales y metodológicas para optimizar las necesidades psicológicas básicas de los deportistas, aumentando las conductas relacionadas a un estilo interpersonal de apoyo y, reduciendo las conductas asociadas a un estilo interpersonal controlador. Participaron ocho entrenadores distribuidos intencionadamente en dos grupos: grupo experimental (n = 4) y grupo control (n = 4). Tras la observación del estilo interpersonal de los entrenadores (pre y post) mediante un instrumento creado a propósito para el estudio, no se obtuvieron diferencias significativas entre los dos grupos, aunque los resultados del grupo experimental demostraron una tendencia positiva entre la medida pre-intervención y la post-intervención. Por tanto, el programa resulta eficaz pero no en la medida que se esperaba, por lo que es preciso seguir investigando en esta línea de trabajo

The main objective of this study was to analyze the effects of a training program on the verbal behavior of unskilled youth football coaches without training and academic qualification (related with physical and sport training). The program was based on the promotion of motivational and methodological strategies with the purpose of optimizing the athletes' basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness, through an interpersonal style of support and, in turn, reducing the controlling behaviors. Participated eight coaches intentionally distributed in two groups: experimental group (n = 4) and control group (n = 4). After observing of the interpersonal style of the coaches (pre and post) by an instrument created on purpose for the study, there was not significant differences in the extent post-intervention between groups, regarding the repeated measures analysis of the experimental group there are improvements between pre-intervention and post-intervention measure. Therefore, the program is effective but not to the extent expected, so it is necessary to continue research in this line of work

O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar os efeitos de uma intervenção no comportamento verbal de treinadores sem formação federativa e acadêmica relacionada à atividade física e desporto. O programa foi baseado na promoção de estratégias motivacionais e metodológicas para otimizar as necessidades psicológicas básicas dos atletas de autonomia, competência e relações sociais, através de um estilo de apoio interpessoal e reduzindo os comportamentos controladores. Oito treinadores participaram intencionalmente e foram distribuídos em dois grupos: grupo experimental (n = 4) e grupo de controlo (n = 4). Depois de observar o estilo interpessoal dos treinadores (pré e pós) através de um instrumento criado para o propósito do estudo, não foram encontradas diferenças significativas entre os dois grupos, embora os resultados do grupo experimental tenham mostrado uma tendência positiva entre a medida pré-intervenção e a pós-intervenção. Portanto, o programa é eficaz, mas não na medida esperada, sendo por isso necessária mais investigação neste âmbito

Preliminary evidence that androgen signaling is correlated with men's everyday language.

OBJECTIVES: Testosterone (T) has an integral, albeit complex, relationship with social behavior, especially in the domains of aggression and competition. However, examining this relationship in humans is challenging given the often covert and subtle nature of human aggression and status-seeking. The present study aimed to investigate whether T levels and genetic polymorphisms in the AR gene are associated with social behavior assessed via natural language use. METHODS: We used unobtrusive, behavioral, real-world ambulatory assessments of men in partnered heterosexual relationships to examine the relationship between plasma T levels, variation in the androgen receptor (AR) gene, and spontaneous, everyday language in three interpersonal contexts: with romantic partners, with co-workers, and with their children. RESULTS: Men's T levels were positively correlated with their use of achievement words with their children, and the number of AR CAG trinucleotide repeats was inversely correlated with their use of anger and reward words with their children. T levels were positively correlated with sexual language and with use of swear words in the presence of their partner, but not in the presence of co-workers or children. CONCLUSIONS: Together, these results suggest that T may influence social behavior by increasing the frequency of words related to aggression, sexuality, and status, and that it may alter the quality of interactions with an intimate partner by amplifying emotions via swearing.

Emergent language responses following match-to-sample training among children with autism spectrum disorder

The present study explored the effects of match-to-sample training on emergent responses in the domains of receptive and expressive language among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in an applied setting. A concurrent multiple probe design across six participants was applied, with a follow-up after 10 days. All six children participated in a match-to-sample training procedure. The participants were trained to match a picture card of an item with a word card corresponding to the name of the item, and a word card of an item with a picture card corresponding to the name of the item. After training, three participants developed the emergent responses of receptively identifying and expressively naming both picture cards and word cards. There was a correspondence between acquired matching skills and the development of emergent language responses. Follow-up measures showed that the acquired emergent responses remained somewhat stable over time. The results are discussed in relation to prior research and in terms of implications for teaching children with ASD language skills in applied settings such as preschools. The results are also discussed in relation to the participant’s prior verbal skills and to the retention of emergent language responses (AU)

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Communication of health in experimentally sick men and women: A pilot study.

The way people communicate their ill-health and the factors involved in ill-health communication remain poorly known. In the present study, we tested how men and women communicate their sickness and assessed whether sickness-related variables (i.e., body temperature, immune response, subjective sickness symptoms) predicted communicative behaviors. Twenty-two participants were filmed during experimentally induced sickness, triggered by lipopolysaccharide administration (2ng/kg body weight), and after placebo administration, in presence of female care providers. Two trained raters scored participants' communicative behaviors (verbal complaints, moaning and sighs/deep breaths). The physiological and subjective sickness responses were similar in both sexes. Participants were more likely to moan and complain when sick, although the frequency of these behaviors remained low and no clear sex differences was observed. Nevertheless, frequency of sighs/deep breaths was increased amongst sick men but not in women. Sickness-related variables did not predict sigh/deep breath frequency. In this setting, sick men appear to display a lower threshold of expressing their malaise as compared to similarly sick women.

Phonemic verbal fluency task in adults with high-level literacy.

OBJECTIVE:: To establish normative parameters for the F-A-S form of the phonemic verbal fluency test, in a population of Brazilian Portuguese speaking adults with high-level literacy. METHODS:: The sample comprised 40 male and female volunteers aged 19 to 59 years, and at least 8 years of formal education. Volunteers were first submitted to the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Clock Drawing cognitive screening tests, then to the F-A-S Verbal Phonemic Fluency Test; in this test, examinees were given 60 seconds to generate as many words as possible beginning with each of the three test letters. RESULTS:: The means for number of words beginning the letters F, A and S and for total number of words beginning with either letter generated per minute corresponded to 15.3, 14.4, 13.9 and 43.5, respectively. CONCLUSION:: Reference values obtained from young adults with high levels of literacy submitted to the F-A-S Verbal Phonemic Fluency Test in this study were similar to those reported in the international literature. These reference values can be used for clinical assessment of language disorder and neuropsychological evaluation. OBJETIVO:: Obter parâmetros de normalidade na tarefa de fluência verbal fonêmica, versão F-A-S, em uma população de alto letramento de adultos falantes do português brasileiro. MÉTODOS:: A amostra foi constituída por 40 voluntários, de ambos os sexos, com idade entre 19 e 59 anos, e com mais de 8 anos de estudo. Todos os voluntários foram inicialmente submetidos ao Miniexame do Estado Mental e ao Teste do Desenho do Relógio, para fins de rastreio cognitivo, e, então, ao Teste de Fluência Verbal Fonêmica F-A-S. Neste último, os indivíduos foram orientados a produzirem o maior número de palavras que conseguissem, iniciadas com cada uma das três letras ditas pelo examinador, em um intervalo de 60 segundos cada. RESULTADOS:: As médias das palavras produzidas com as letras F-A-S foram as seguintes: "F" = 15,3 palavras por minuto; "A" = 14,4 palavras por minuto; e "S" = 13,9 palavras por minuto. A média do total de palavras emitidas iniciada com todas as letras do teste foi de 43,5 palavras. CONCLUSÃO:: Foram obtidos valores de referência para o Teste de Fluência Verbal Fonêmica F-A-S para indivíduos adultos jovens de alto grau de letramento semelhantes aos de estudos internacionais. Tais valores podem ser utilizados na avaliação clínica de transtornos da linguagem e na avaliação neuropsicológica.

Phonemic verbal fluency task in adults with high-level literacy / Fluência verbal fonêmica em adultos de alto letramento

ABSTRACT Objective: To establish normative parameters for the F-A-S form of the phonemic verbal fluency test, in a population of Brazilian Portuguese speaking adults with high-level literacy. Methods: The sample comprised 40 male and female volunteers aged 19 to 59 years, and at least 8 years of formal education. Volunteers were first submitted to the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Clock Drawing cognitive screening tests, then to the F-A-S Verbal Phonemic Fluency Test; in this test, examinees were given 60 seconds to generate as many words as possible beginning with each of the three test letters. Results: The means for number of words beginning the letters F, A and S and for total number of words beginning with either letter generated per minute corresponded to 15.3, 14.4, 13.9 and 43.5, respectively. Conclusion: Reference values obtained from young adults with high levels of literacy submitted to the F-A-S Verbal Phonemic Fluency Test in this study were similar to those reported in the international literature. These reference values can be used for clinical assessment of language disorder and neuropsychological evaluation.

RESUMO Objetivo: Obter parâmetros de normalidade na tarefa de fluência verbal fonêmica, versão F-A-S, em uma população de alto letramento de adultos falantes do português brasileiro. Métodos: A amostra foi constituída por 40 voluntários, de ambos os sexos, com idade entre 19 e 59 anos, e com mais de 8 anos de estudo. Todos os voluntários foram inicialmente submetidos ao Miniexame do Estado Mental e ao Teste do Desenho do Relógio, para fins de rastreio cognitivo, e, então, ao Teste de Fluência Verbal Fonêmica F-A-S. Neste último, os indivíduos foram orientados a produzirem o maior número de palavras que conseguissem, iniciadas com cada uma das três letras ditas pelo examinador, em um intervalo de 60 segundos cada. Resultados: As médias das palavras produzidas com as letras F-A-S foram as seguintes: “F” = 15,3 palavras por minuto; “A” = 14,4 palavras por minuto; e “S” = 13,9 palavras por minuto. A média do total de palavras emitidas iniciada com todas as letras do teste foi de 43,5 palavras. Conclusão: Foram obtidos valores de referência para o Teste de Fluência Verbal Fonêmica F-A-S para indivíduos adultos jovens de alto grau de letramento semelhantes aos de estudos internacionais. Tais valores podem ser utilizados na avaliação clínica de transtornos da linguagem e na avaliação neuropsicológica.

Is there a model of expert coach speech during the competition? / ¿Existe un modelo de discurso del entrenador experto en competición?

As a part of a team, coaches need to develop their ability to leadership and exercise it to achieve the motivation of their players, since persons who are motivated in work get a greater performance. Communicate and make athletes communicate effectively is one of the major responsibilities of the coach. There is a number of aspects during the game that makes communication gain some specificities and is shown as an essential element to the performance of the player considering the limitations (Vives, 2011). Performance in critical situations, making tactical decisions in short time and having limited information, interaction with referees, staff and players as well as managing the anticipative communication are other of the tasks for coaches. The aim of this study is to know the differences of the coaches speeches who compose the sample, and check if it exists between the expert coaches common features that could help us to develop a theorical model of effective behavior during the competition. A sample of 6 expert coaches were recording during 4 games (n=24), differentiating in the register the independent variables moment, time, place and result in which the coach could provide information to their players and being developed as a dependent variable system consisting of 17 categories validated by an expert committee. On having compared the content of the speech of the different coaches, the results show that most of the coaches, place in the very nearby analysis of correspondences, which explain than the majority of the relations that are established among the variables should be weak or moderate and that on the other hand most of the content of the speech is common to almost all

Los entrenadores, como parte del equipo, necesitan desarrollar su habilidad para el liderazgo y ejercerlo para conseguir la motivación de sus jugadores, puesto que las personas que están motivadas en y por su trabajo obtienen un mayor rendimiento. Comunicar y hacer que los deportistas se comuniquen eficazmente es una de las obligaciones más importantes del entrenador. Durante la competición, se dan una serie de condicionantes propios que hacen que la comunicación tenga unas especificidades y se muestre como un elemento aún si cabe más importante para el rendimiento del jugador dadas las limitaciones en las que esta se da (Vives, 2011). Así, tener el control del estado emocional propio, relativizar las acciones o esconder ciertas emociones a los jugadores es parte del rendimiento del entrenador. Como manejar situaciones crit́icas, tomar decisiones tać ticas con tiempo e informacioń limitadas asícomo interactuar con aŕbitros, equipo teć nico y jugadores son otros de sus cometidos. Conocer las diferencias y similitudes de contenido en el discurso de los entrenadores que componen la muestra para verificar o no si existe entre los entrenadores expertos, rasgos comunes que podrían ayudar a la elaboración de un modelo teórico de conducta eficaz del entrenador en competición. Se realizó un muestreo de todas las ocurrencias de conducta verbal de una muestra de 6 entrenadores durante 4 partidos (n=24), diferenciando en el registro las variables independientes momento, tiempo, lugar y resultado en los que el entrenador podía aportar información a sus jugadores y elaborando como variable dependiente un sistema compuesto por 17 categorías. A partir de los datos obtenidos, se realizó un análisis de correspondencias múltiples con el propósito de representar en el mismo espacio diferentes variables categóricas de modo que se pudieran ver las asociaciones entre ellas. Al comparar el contenido del discurso de los diferentes entrenadores, los resultados muestran que la práctica totalidad de los entrenadores, se sitúan en el análisis de correspondencias muy cercanos, lo que explica que la mayoría de las relaciones que se establecen entre las variables sean débiles o moderadas y que, por otro lado, gran parte del contenido del discurso sea común a casi todos

A classification of the verbal methods currently used to teach endoscopy.

BACKGROUND: As endoscopy does not lend itself well to assisting or exposure by the teacher, most of the teaching is, by necessity, done verbally. METHODS: The verbal teaching occurring during 19 colonoscopies and 14 gastroscopies was recorded by dictaphone and later transcribed. The resultant 53-page transcript was then analyzed using the Grounded Theory method. Teaching was compared between learners with less than one month versus more than one month of training and between teaching of colonoscopy versus gastroscopy. RESULTS: The process of iterative review and repeated testing yielded 6 types of verbal teaching: demonstration by the teacher, motor instructions, broad tips/tricks/pointers, verbal feedback, questioning, and non-procedural information. Inter-rater agreement was excellent (Fleiss's kappa = 0.76) between resident (DM), the non-medical educator (MP), and the medical teacher (MM). Overall, there was less non-procedural teaching (6.7% vs 23.7%, p = 0.01) and a trend towards more teaching moments per case (13.2 vs 7.9, p = 0.07) in the first month of the rotation compared to the later months. A greater proportion of the teaching for colonoscopy involved demonstration (13.7% vs. 2.7%, p = 0.040) and tips/tricks/pointers (26.6% vs. 12.4%, p = 0.012) compared to gastroscopy. CONCLUSIONS: We describe a means of categorizing verbal teaching in endoscopy that is simple and shows strong inter-rater agreement that will serve as a starting point for further studies aiming to improve how endoscopy is taught.

Do not count on me to imagine how I act: behavior contradicts questionnaire responses in the assessment of finger counting habits.

The directionality of finger counting (i.e., from left to right or right to left) is supposed to compete with the orientation of the mental number line in determining number mental representations. Indeed, Western individuals who count on their fingers from right to left present a weaker SNARC effect than do individuals for whom the directionality of counting is the same as the mental number line. Observations of natural behavior should be the preferred methodology for classifying individuals according to their counting habits. Yet, to perform such classification, researchers usually rely on questionnaires or reports of imagined behaviors. However, we show in a series of three experiments that, on average, 26% of a sample of adults reported the opposite behavior from the one they actually implemented spontaneously when tested with an original ecological task. In a fourth experiment, this new task proved reliable, using a test-retest method. These results suggest that future studies about counting habits could benefit from the use of more ecological and functional tasks, rather than depending on noncontextualized questionnaires.

Speaking more broadly: an examination of the nature, antecedents, and consequences of an expanded set of employee voice behaviors.

Scholarly interest in employee voice behavior has increased dramatically over the past 15 years. Although this research has produced valuable knowledge, it has focused almost exclusively on voice as a positively intended challenge to the status quo, even though some scholars have argued that it need not challenge the status quo or be well intentioned. Thus, in this paper, we create an expanded view of voice; one that extends beyond voice as a positively intended challenge to the status quo to include voice that supports how things are being done in organizations as well as voice that may not be well intentioned. We construct a framework based on this expanded view that identifies 4 different types of voice behavior (supportive, constructive, defensive, and destructive). We then develop and validate survey measures for each of these. Evidence from 5 studies across 4 samples provides strong support for our new measures in that (a) a 4-factor confirmatory factor analysis model fit the data significantly better than 1-, 2-, or 3-factor models; (b) the voice measures converged with and yet remained distinct from conceptually related comparison constructs; (c) personality predictors exhibited unique patterns of relationships with the different types of voice; (d) variations in actual voice behaviors had a direct causal impact on responses to the survey items; and (e) each type of voice significantly impacted important outcomes for voicing employees (e.g., likelihood of relying on a voicing employee's opinions and evaluations of a voicing employee's overall performance). Implications of our findings are discussed.

Estudios normativos españoles en población adulta joven (proyecto NEURONORMA jóvenes): normas para los test de fluencia verbal / Spanish normative studies in young adults (NEURONORMA young adults project): norms for verbal fluency tests

Introducción: Los test de fluencia verbal se utilizan con frecuencia en la práctica clínica con el fin de explorar el lenguaje y las funciones ejecutivas. Objetivo: En el presente estudio, como parte de los estudios normativos españoles del proyecto NEURONORMA jóvenes, se aportan datos normativos ajustados por edad y escolaridad para 3 tareas de fluencia semántica (animales, frutas y verduras, y utensilios de cocina), 3 tareas de fluencia formal (palabras que empiezan por P, M, y R), 3 tareas de fluencia de letra excluida (palabras que no contienen A, E, y S) y una tarea de fluencia de verbos. Material y métodos: La muestra está formada por 179 participantes, cognitivamente normales, de entre 18 y 49 años de edad. Se aportan tablas para convertir las puntuaciones brutas en escalares y tablas para realizar los ajustes pertinentes por edad y escolaridad a partir de regresiones lineales. Resultados: Los resultados obtenidos muestran la influencia de la escolaridad para la mayoría de los test de fluencia verbal, escaso efecto de la edad y mínimo efecto del género. Conclusiones: Las normas obtenidas aportan datos de gran utilidad clínica para la evaluación de población adulta joven española(AU)

Introduction: Lexical fluency tests are frequently used in clinical practice to assess language and executive function. Objective: As part of the Spanish normative studies project in young adults (NEURONORMA young adults project), we provide age- and education-adjusted normative data for 3 semantic fluency tasks (animals, fruits and vegetables, and kitchen tools), three formal lexical fluency tasks (words beginning with P, M and R), three excluded-letter fluency tasks (words excluding A, E and S) and a verb fluency task. Material and methods: The sample consisted of 179 participants who are cognitively normal and range in age from 18 to 49 years. Tables are provided to convert raw scores to scaled scores. Age- and education-adjusted scores are provided by applying linear regression techniques. Results: The results show that education impacted most of the verbal fluency test scores, with no effects related to age and only minimal effects related to sex. Conclusions: The norms obtained will be extremely useful in the clinical evaluation of young Spanish adults(AU)

Conceptual and linguistic representations of kinds and classes.

We investigate the hypothesis that our conceptual systems provide two formally distinct ways of representing categories by investigating the manner in which lexical nominals (e.g., tree, picnic table) and phrasal nominals (e.g., black bird, birds that like rice) are interpreted. Four experiments found that lexical nominals may be mapped onto kind representations, whereas phrasal nominals map onto class representations but not kind representations. Experiment 1 found that phrasal nominals, unlike lexical nominals, are mapped onto categories whose members need not be of a single kind. Experiments 2 and 3 found that categories named by lexical nominals enter into both class inclusion and kind hierarchies and thus support both class inclusion (is a) and kind specification (kind of) relations, whereas phrasal nominals map onto class representations which support only class inclusion relations. Experiment 4 showed that the two types of nominals represent hierarchical relations in different ways. Phrasal nominals (e.g., white bear) are mapped onto classes that have criteria of membership in addition to those specified by the class picked out by the head noun of the phrase (e.g., bear). In contrast, lexical nominals (e.g., polar bear) specify one way to meet the criteria specified by the more general kind concept (e.g., bear). Implications for the language-conceptual system interface, representation of hierarchical relations, lexicalization, and theories of conceptual combination are discussed.

Producing pronouns and definite noun phrases: do speakers use the addressee's discourse model?

We report two experiments that investigated the widely held assumption that speakers use the addressee's discourse model when choosing referring expressions (e.g., Ariel, 1990; Chafe, 1994; Givón, 1983; Prince, 1985), by manipulating whether the addressee could hear the immediately preceding linguistic context. Experiment 1 showed that speakers increased pronoun use (and decreased noun phrase use) when the referent was mentioned in the immediately preceding sentence compared to when it was not, even though the addressee did not hear the preceding sentence, indicating that speakers used their own, privileged discourse model when choosing referring expressions. The same pattern of results was found in Experiment 2. Speakers produced more pronouns when the immediately preceding sentence mentioned the referent than when it mentioned a referential competitor, regardless of whether the sentence was shared with their addressee. Thus, we conclude that choice of referring expression is determined by the referent's accessibility in the speaker's own discourse model rather than the addressee's.

Effects of message, source, and context on evaluations of employee voice behavior.

The article contained a production-related error. In Table 5, the four values in the rows for Study 1 Prosocial motives and Study 1 Constructive voice should have been shifted one column to the right, to the Direct and Total Performance evaluations columns. All versions of this article have been corrected.] Although employee voice behavior is expected to have important organizational benefits, research indicates that employees voicing their recommendations for organizational change may be evaluated either positively or negatively by observers. A review of the literature suggests that the perceived efficacy of voice behaviors may be a function of characteristics associated with the (a) source, (b) message, and (c) context of the voice event. In this study, we manipulated variables from each of these categories based on a model designed to predict when voice will positively or negatively impact raters' evaluations of an employee's performance. To test our model, we conducted 3 laboratory studies in which we manipulated 2 source factors (voicer expertise and trustworthiness), 2 message factors (recommending a solution and positively vs. negatively framing the message), and 2 context factors (timing of the voice event and organizational norms for speaking up vs. keeping quiet). We also examined the mediating effects of liking, prosocial motives, and perceptions that the voice behavior was constructive on the relationships between the source, message, and context factors and performance evaluations. Generally speaking, we found that at least one of the variables from each category had an effect on performance evaluations for the voicer and that most of these effects were indirect, operating through one or more of the mediators. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.

Understanding constricted affect in schizotypy through computerized prosodic analysis.

Constricted affect (CA) is a cardinal negative symptom of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. It is unclear whether behaviorally-defined CA occurs in individuals with schizotypy-those with the personality organization reflective of schizophrenia liability. Moreover, it is unclear whether CA contributes to real world dysfunction in this population. The present study employed computerized prosodic analysis of natural speech procured during a laboratory procedure. Subjects were 89 individuals with psychometrically-defined schizotypy and 26 controls. Groups did not differ in any of the prosody measures examined here. Within the schizotypy group, increased prosodic expression was associated with positive schizotypy traits while decreased prosodic expression was associated with negative schizotypy traits. Prosodic deficits were significantly associated with reduced prosocial behaviors (e.g., talking with friends) but were not associated with subjective social satisfaction. Prosodic deficits characterize a subset of individuals with schizotypy who show a schizoid-like reduction in social behaviors without a concomitant reduction in social satisfaction.

Computerized analysis of speech and language to identify psycholinguistic correlates of frontotemporal lobar degeneration.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the use of a semiautomated computerized system for measuring speech and language characteristics in patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). BACKGROUND: FTLD is a heterogeneous disorder comprising at least 3 variants. Computerized assessment of spontaneous verbal descriptions by patients with FTLD offers a detailed and reproducible view of the underlying cognitive deficits. METHODS: Audiorecorded speech samples of 38 patients from 3 participating medical centers were elicited using the Cookie Theft stimulus. Each patient underwent a battery of neuropsychologic tests. The audio was analyzed by the computerized system to measure 15 speech and language variables. Analysis of variance was used to identify characteristics with significant differences in means between FTLD variants. Factor analysis was used to examine the implicit relations between subsets of the variables. RESULTS: Semiautomated measurements of pause-to-word ratio and pronoun-to-noun ratio were able to discriminate between some of the FTLD variants. Principal component analysis of all 14 variables suggested 4 subjectively defined components (length, hesitancy, empty content, grammaticality) corresponding to the phenomenology of FTLD variants. CONCLUSION: Semiautomated language and speech analysis is a promising novel approach to neuropsychologic assessment that offers a valuable contribution to the toolbox of researchers in dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders.

The logopenic variant of primary progressive aphasia.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The aim is to explore the evolution of the logopenic variant of primary progressive aphasia as a distinct clinical entity and to outline recent advances that have clarified its clinical characteristics, neural underpinnings, and potential genetic and pathological bases. This is particularly relevant as researchers attempt to identify clinico-pathological relationships in subtypes of primary progressive aphasia in hopes of utilizing language phenotype as a marker of underlying disease. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent work has served to refine and expand upon the clinical phenotype of the logopenic variant. Logopenic patients show a unique pattern of spared and impaired language processes that reliably distinguish this syndrome from other variants of progressive aphasia. Specifically, they exhibit deficits in naming and repetition in the context of spared semantic, syntactic, and motor speech abilities. Further, there is a growing body of evidence indicating a possible link between the logopenic phenotype and specific pathological and genetic correlates. SUMMARY: Findings indicate that the logopenic variant is a distinct subtype of progressive aphasia that may hold value as a predictor of underlying pathology. Additional research, however, is warranted in order to further clarify the cognitive-linguistic profile and to confirm its relation to certain pathological and genetic processes.

Articulatory-to-acoustic relations in response to speaking rate and loudness manipulations.

PURPOSE: In this investigation, the authors determined the strength of association between tongue kinematic and speech acoustics changes in response to speaking rate and loudness manipulations. Performance changes in the kinematic and acoustic domains were measured using two aspects of speech production presumably affecting speech clarity: phonetic specification and variability. METHOD: Tongue movements for the vowels /ia/ were recorded in 10 healthy adults during habitual, fast, slow, and loud speech using three-dimensional electromagnetic articulography. To determine articulatory-to-acoustic relations for phonetic specification, the authors correlated changes in lingual displacement with changes in acoustic vowel distance. To determine articulatory-to-acoustic relations for phonetic variability, the authors correlated changes in lingual movement variability with changes in formant movement variability. RESULTS: A significant positive linear association was found for kinematic and acoustic specification but not for kinematic and acoustic variability. Several significant speaking task effects were also observed. CONCLUSION: Lingual displacement is a good predictor of acoustic vowel distance in healthy talkers. The weak association between kinematic and acoustic variability raises questions regarding the effects of articulatory variability on speech clarity and intelligibility, particularly in individuals with motor speech disorders.

Characteristics of disfluency clusters over time in preschool children who stutter.

PURPOSE: Disfluency clusters in preschool children were analyzed to determine whether they occurred at rates above chance, whether they changed over time, and whether they could differentiate children who would later persist in, or recover from, stuttering. METHOD: Thirty-two children recruited near stuttering onset were grouped on the basis of their eventual course of stuttering and matched to 16 normally fluent children. Clusters were classified as stuttering-like disfluencies (SLD), other disfluencies (OD), or mixed (SLD and OD combined). Cluster frequency and length were calculated for all children and again after 6 months for those who stuttered. RESULTS: Clusters occurred at rates greater than chance for both stuttering and normally fluent children. Children who stuttered had significantly more and longer clusters than did normally fluent children. Close to stuttering onset, clusters did not differentiate the course of stuttering. Cluster frequency and length decreased over time for children in the persistent and recovered groups. The proportion of disfluencies in clusters was significantly lower in the recovered group than it was in the persistent group after 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: Clusters are an integral part of disfluent speech in preschool children in general. Although they do not serve as indicators of recovery or persistency at the onset of stuttering, they may have some prognostic value several months later.