Emotional prosody recognition enhances and progressively complexifies from childhood to adolescence.

Emotional prosody results from the dynamic variation of language's acoustic non-verbal aspects that allow people to convey and recognize emotions. The goal of this paper is to understand how this recognition develops from childhood to adolescence. We also aim to investigate how the ability to perceive multiple emotions in the voice matures over time. We tested 133 children and adolescents, aged between 6 and 17 years old, exposed to 4 kinds of linguistically meaningless emotional (anger, fear, happiness, and sadness) and neutral stimuli. Participants were asked to judge the type and intensity of perceived emotion on continuous scales, without a forced choice task. As predicted, a general linear mixed model analysis revealed a significant interaction effect between age and emotion. The ability to recognize emotions significantly increased with age for both emotional and neutral vocalizations. Girls recognized anger better than boys, who instead confused fear with neutral prosody more than girls. Across all ages, only marginally significant differences were found between anger, happiness, and neutral compared to sadness, which was more difficult to recognize. Finally, as age increased, participants were significantly more likely to attribute multiple emotions to emotional prosody, showing that the representation of emotional content becomes increasingly complex. The ability to identify basic emotions in prosody from linguistically meaningless stimuli develops from childhood to adolescence. Interestingly, this maturation was not only evidenced in the accuracy of emotion detection, but also in a complexification of emotion attribution in prosody.

Successful neuropsychological rehabilitation in a patient with Cerebellar Cognitive Affective Syndrome.

The objective of this case study was to describe the neuropsychological rehabilitation of a 16-year-old patient who presented a Cerebellar Cognitive Affective Syndrome (CCAS) following a bilateral cerebellar hemorrhage. The patient presented severe and diffuse cognitive deficits, massive behavioral disorders, and emotion regulation difficulties. The cognitive rehabilitation was performed in the chronic phase (one year after the onset of the hemorrhage) using a transdisciplinary neurobehavioral approach based on the patient's favorite interest (soccer). A significant behavioral and cognitive improvement was observed. The patient became progressively independent in all activities of daily living and was discharged home. The Functional Independence Measure at discharge was 124/126 (vs. 37/126 at entry). The patient was able to complete his schooling despite the mild cognitive and behavioral sequelae. This first description of the use of neurobehavioral therapy in a case of chronic CCAS suggests that (a) major clinical improvement can occur more than one year after the onset of the CCAS, showing the importance of long-term and intensive neurorehabilitation; and (b) when the cerebellum cannot properly play its regulator role in cognition, neuropsychological intervention through a behavioral and cognitive approach can be of great help by acting as an external modulator to help the patient regain control over himself.

Neuropsychological outcome in children with optic pathway tumours when first-line treatment is chemotherapy.

Standard treatment of optic pathways gliomas consists of radiotherapy and surgery when feasible. Owing to the toxicity of irradiation, chemotherapy has emerged as an interesting therapeutic option, especially in young children. This study describes the neuropsychological profile of 27 children (aged between 1.5 and 15.7 years) with optic pathways gliomas treated with chemotherapy as first-line treatment. Eight of them also received radiotherapy as salvage treatment. Eight had neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). Intellectual outcome was preserved in children treated with chemotherapy only (mean=107+/-17) compared to children also receiving radiotherapy (mean IQ=88+/-24) or children having NF1 and treated with chemotherapy (mean IQ=80+/-13). Scores for abstract reasoning, mental arithmetic, chessboard/coding, perception, judgement of line orientation were lower in children irradiated than in those treated only by chemotherapy. Children with Nf1 showed subnormal IQ scores with marked impairment of short- and long-term memory. With respect to long-term neuropsychological outcome, our study shows that a chemotherapy-first strategy can preserve the intellectual outcome of these patients either by avoiding the need of radiotherapy or by delaying its use as much as possible.

The reproduction of vertical and oblique orientations in the visual, haptic, and somato-vestibular systems.

This study investigates whether the vertical orientation may be predominantly used as an amodal reference norm by the visual, haptic, and somato-vestibular perceptual systems to define oblique orientations. We examined this question by asking the same sighted adult subjects to reproduce, in the frontal (roll) plane, the vertical (0 degree) and six oblique orientations in three tasks involving different perceptual systems. In the visual task, the subjects adjusted a moveable rod so that it reproduced the orientation of a visual rod seen previously in a dark room. In the haptic task, the blindfolded sighted subjects scanned an oriented rod with one hand and reproduced its orientation, with the same hand, on a moveable response rod. In the somato-vestibular task, the blind-folded sighted subjects, sitting in a rotating chair, adjusted this chair in order to reproduce the tested orientation of their own body. The results showed that similar oblique effects (unsigned angular error difference between six oblique orientations and vertical orientation) were observed across the three tasks. However, there were no positive correlations between the visual, haptic, and somato-vestibular oblique effects. Moreover, in some oblique orientations, there was a tendency to overestimate the angle between the oblique orientation and the vertical orientation. This effect varied according to the orientation value and the modality. Taken together, these findings suggest that although vertical orientation is used as a reference norm in the visual, haptic, and somato-vestibular systems to define oblique orientations, specific processing mechanisms seem to be at work in each perceptual system.

Reference frames and haptic perception of orientation: body and head tilt effects on the oblique effect.

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of body and head tilts on the haptic oblique effect. This effect reflects the more accurate processing of vertical and horizontal orientations, relative to oblique orientations. Body or head tilts lead to a mismatch between egocentric and gravitational axes and indicate whether the haptic oblique effect is defined in an egocentric or a gravitational reference frame. The ability to reproduce principal (vertical and horizontal) and oblique orientations was studied in upright and tilted postures. Moreover, by controlling the deviation of the haptic subjective vertical provoked by postural tilt, the possible role of a subjective gravitational reference frame was tested. Results showed that the haptic reproduction of orientations was strongly affected by both the position of the body (Experiment 1) and the position of the head (Experiment 2). In particular, the classical haptic oblique effect observed in the upright posture disappeared in tilted conditions, mainly because of a decrease in the accuracy of the vertical and horizontal settings. The subjective vertical appeared to be the orientation reproduced the most accurately. These results suggest that the haptic oblique effect is not purely gravitationally or egocentrically defined but, rather, depends on a subjective gravitational reference frame that is tilted in a direction opposite to that of the head in tilted postures (Experiment 3).

Role of memorization conditions in the haptic processing of orientations and the 'oblique effect'.

The haptic processing of vertical, horizontal, 45 degrees and 135 degrees oblique orientations was studied in blindfolded sighted adults in an exploration-reproduction task. The purpose was to determine whether the variations of the memorization conditions between the exploration and reproduction phases would influence the global performance and the oblique effect (lower performance in oblique orientations than in vertical-horizontal orientations). If orientation coding depended on attentional resources, the increase in memory constraints would affect the haptic processing of orientations and the oblique effect. Memory constraints were therefore varied by changing the length and the nature of the delay in two tasks in which previous research has shown that the availability of gravitational cues affected orientation coding. Blindfolded adults were asked to explore haptically a rod with minimal (Expt 1) or natural (Expt 2) gravitational cues and then to reproduce the orientation of this rod ipsilaterally after one of four memorization conditions: with 5 s or 30 s unfilled delays, and 30 s delays filled with verbal or haptic interpolated tasks. When the delay was unfilled, whatever its length (5 s or 30 s), the performance depended on the conditions of manual exploration: the oblique effect was absent when the gravitational cues were minimal (Expt 1) and was present when these cues were natural (Expt 2). By contrast, when the delay was filled with interpolated tasks, the haptic oblique effect was present whatever the conditions of manual exploration. Taken together, these results showed that memorization conditions played a role in the haptic processing of orientations and in the oblique effect when the gravitational cues were minimal during manual exploration.

The haptic oblique effect in the perception of rod orientation by blind adults.

The haptic perception of vertical, horizontal, +45 degrees oblique, and +135 degrees oblique orientations was studied in completely blind adults. The purpose was to determine whether the variations of the gravitational cues provided by the arm-hand system during scanning would affect the manifestation of the oblique effect (lower performance in oblique orientations than in vertical-horizontal ones) as they did in blindfolded sighted people (Gentaz & Hatwell, 1996). In blindfolded sighted adults, the oblique effect was reduced or absent when the magnitude of gravitational cues was decreased. If visual experience participated in the haptic oblique effect, we should observe no oblique effect in early blind subjects in the conditions of manual exploration where late blind and blindfolded sighted manifest this effect. The magnitude of gravitational cues was therefore varied by changing gravity constraints, whereas the variability of these cues was varied by changing the plane in which the task was performed: horizontal (low variability) and frontal (high variability). Early and late blind adults were asked to explore haptically a rod and then to reproduce its orientation ipsilaterally in one of two exploratory conditions in each plane. In the horizontal plane, the oblique effect was absent, whatever the gravity constraints, in both groups (early and late blind subjects). In the frontal plane, the oblique effect was present, whatever the gravity constraints, in both groups. Taken together, these results showed that, in blind people, the variability of gravitational cues played a role in the haptic oblique effect; no effect of previous visual experience was observed.

Role of gravitational cues in the haptic perception of orientation.

The haptic perception of vertical, horizontal, +45 degrees-oblique, and +135 degrees-oblique orientations was studied in adults. The purpose was to establish whether the gravitational cues provided by the scanning arm-hand system were involved in the haptic oblique effect (lower performances in oblique orientations than in vertical-horizontal ones) and more generally in the haptic coding of orientation. The magnitude of these cues was manipulated by changing gravity constraints, and their variability was manipulated by changing the planes in which the task was performed (horizontal, frontal, and sagittal). In Experiment 1, only the horizontal plane was tested, either with the forearm resting on the disk supporting the rod ("supported forearm" condition) or with the forearm unsupported in the air. In the latter case, antigravitational forces were elicited during scanning. The oblique effect was present in the "unsupported" condition and was absent in the "supported" condition. In Experiment 2, the three planes were tested, either in a "natural" or in a "lightened forearm" condition in which the gravitational cues were reduced by lightening the subject's forearm. The magnitude of the oblique effect was lower in the "lightened" condition than in the "natural" one, and there was no plane effect. In Experiment 3, the subject's forearm was loaded with either a 500- or a 1,000-g bracelet, or it was not loaded. The oblique effect was the same in the three conditions, and the plane effect (lower performances in the horizontal plane than in the frontal and sagittal ones) was present only when the forearm was loaded. Taken together, these results suggested that gravitational cues may play a role in haptic coding of orientation, although the effects of decreasing or increasing these cues are not symmetrical.

The haptic 'oblique effect' in children's and adults' perception of orientation.

The haptic perception of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal orientations was studied in children (aged 7 and 9 years) and in adults. The purpose was to test the hypothesis that the haptic oblique effect results from the different scanning movements at work when one hand explores an oblique standard and the other hand sets the response rod. In experiment 1, blindfolded subjects reproduced the orientation of a standard rod presented in either the frontal, the horizontal, or the sagittal plane, and this task was achieved either ipsilaterally (the same hand explored the standard and set the response rod) or contralaterally (one hand explored the standard and the other hand set the response rod). Since, in the sagittal plane, scanning movements are analogous when the left and right hands explore oblique orientations, no oblique effect should be observed in this condition if the hypothesis is valid. Moreover, a development effect should be observed, since young children generally rely more on movement coding than do older children and adults. Results did not support these predictions: the same oblique effect appeared in the frontal and the sagittal planes both in the ipsilateral and in the contralateral condition, and the effect of age was not in the direction predicted by the hypothesis. The results were consistent with the hypothesis in the horizontal plane only. Experiments 2 and 3 provided further tests of this hypothesis but both failed to support it. Taken together, the results of these three experiments did not support the assumption and it is suggested that the haptic oblique effect may be linked to the gravitational cues provided by the arm-hand system when it acts in the three spatial planes.