Reassessing the role of language dominance in n-2 language repetition costs as a marker of inhibition in multilingual language switching.

Speaking two or more languages shows bilingual flexibility, but flexible switching requires language control and often incurs performance costs. We examined inhibitory control assessing n-2 repetition costs when switching three languages (L1 [German], L2 [English], L3 [French]). These costs denote worse performance in n-2 repetitions (e.g., L2-L3-L2) than in n-2 nonrepetitions (e.g., L1-L3-L2), indicating persisting inhibition. In two experiments (n = 28 in Experiment 1; n = 44 in Experiment 2), n-2 repetition costs were observed, but only for L2. Looking into L2 trials specifically, we found n-2 repetition costs when switching back to L2 from the still weaker L3 but not when returning from the stronger L1, suggesting that L2 is a strong competitor for L3 (requiring L2 inhibition) but less so for L1. Finding n-2 repetition costs supports an inhibitory account of language control in general, but our study shows only partial evidence for the theoretically assumed more specific relation between language dominance and language inhibition (i.e., only for dominance relations with respect to L1 and L3 when switching back to L2). Taken together, the findings thus suggest the need for further refinement of the concept of language dominance and its relation to inhibition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Multimodal hyperscanning reveals that synchrony of body and mind are distinct in mother-child dyads.

Hyperscanning studies have begun to unravel the brain mechanisms underlying social interaction, indicating a functional role for interpersonal neural synchronization (INS), yet the mechanisms that drive INS are poorly understood. The current study, thus, addresses whether INS is functionally-distinct from synchrony in other systems - specifically the autonomic nervous system and motor behavior. To test this, we used concurrent functional near-infrared spectroscopy - electrocardiography recordings, while N = 34 mother-child and stranger-child dyads engaged in cooperative and competitive tasks. Only in the neural domain was a higher synchrony for mother-child compared to stranger-child dyads observed. Further, autonomic nervous system and neural synchrony were positively related during competition but not during cooperation. These results suggest that synchrony in different behavioral and biological systems may reflect distinct processes. Furthermore, they show that increased mother-child INS is unlikely to be explained solely by shared arousal and behavioral similarities, supporting recent theories that postulate that INS is higher in close relationships.

Differentiating brain function of punishment versus reward processing in conduct disorder with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

OBJECTIVES: Conduct disorder (CD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are reported to co-occur in about 30-50% of affected individuals. Research suggests that poor reinforcement-based decision-making may contribute to impaired social functioning in both youths with CD and ADHD. Considering its frequent co-occurrence this raises the question whether decision-making deficits in both disorders have a disorder-specific and/or shared neurobiological basis. METHODS: 138 participants with CD, ADHD, or CD + ADHD, and typically developing controls (TDCs) aged 9-18 years (48% girls) were included in the study. Participants completed a reinforcement-based decision-making task in the fMRI scanner, investigating decision-making capabilities under different reinforcement contingencies (i.e. punishment vs. reward). Whole-brain and ROI analyses were used to test for potential group differences. RESULTS: For punishment versus reward contingencies, relative to TDCs, youths with CD + ADHD displayed lower brain activity in dorsal striatum (incl. caudate), middle temporal gyrus (MTG), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and lateral occipital cortex, and they showed lower activity in dorsal striatum (incl. putamen), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and IFG relative to participants with ADHD. All other group comparisons were found to be non-significant. CONCLUSIONS: Participants with comorbid CD + ADHD are neurobiologically the most severely impaired group regarding reinforcement-based decision-making, particularly in response to punishment.

Sex differences in psychiatric comorbidity and clinical presentation in youths with conduct disorder.

BACKGROUND: Conduct disorder (CD) rarely occurs alone but is typically accompanied by comorbid psychiatric disorders, which complicates the clinical presentation and treatment of affected youths. The aim of this study was to investigate sex differences in comorbidity pattern in CD and to systematically explore the 'gender paradox' and 'delayed-onset pathway' hypotheses of female CD. METHODS: As part of the FemNAT-CD multisite study, semistructured clinical interviews and rating scales were used to perform a comprehensive phenotypic characterization of 454 girls and 295 boys with CD (9-18 years), compared to 864 sex- and age-matched typically developing controls. RESULTS: Girls with CD exhibited higher rates of current major depression, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder, whereas boys with CD had higher rates of current attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. In line with the 'gender paradox' hypothesis, relative to boys, girls with CD showed significantly more lifetime psychiatric comorbidities (incl. Alcohol Use Disorder), which were accompanied by more severe CD symptoms. Female and male youths with CD also differed significantly in their CD symptom profiles and distribution of age-of-onset subtypes of CD (i.e. fewer girls with childhood-onset CD). In line with the 'delayed-onset pathway' hypothesis, girls with adolescent-onset CD showed similar levels of dimensional psychopathology like boys with childhood-onset CD, while boys with adolescent-onset CD had the lowest levels of internalizing psychopathology. CONCLUSIONS: Within the largest study of CD in girls performed to date, we found compelling evidence for sex differences in comorbidity patterns and clinical presentation of CD. Our findings further support aspects of the 'gender paradox' and 'delayed-onset pathway' hypotheses by showing that girls with CD had higher rates of comorbid lifetime mental disorders and functional impairments, and they usually developed CD during adolescence. These novel data on sex-specific clinical profiles of CD will be critical in informing intervention and prevention programmes.

BDNF levels in adolescent patients with anorexia nervosa increase continuously to supranormal levels 2.5 years after first hospitalization.

BACKGROUND: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) influences brain plasticity and feeding behaviour, and it has been linked to anorexia nervosa in numerous studies. Findings in mostly adult patients point to reduced serum BDNF levels in the acute stage of anorexia nervosa and rising levels with weight recovery. However, it is unclear whether this increase leads to normalization or supranormal levels, a difference that is potentially important for the etiology of anorexia nervosa and relapse. METHODS: We measured serum BDNF at admission (n = 149), discharge (n = 130), 1-year follow-up (n = 116) and 2.5-year follow-up (n = 76) in adolescent female patients with anorexia nervosa hospitalized for the first time, and in healthy controls (n = 79). We analyzed associations with body mass index, eating disorder psychopathology and comorbidities. RESULTS: Serum BDNF was only nominally lower at admission in patients with anorexia nervosa compared to healthy controls, but it increased continuously and reached supranormal levels at 2.5-year follow-up. BDNF was inversely associated with eating disorder psychopathology at discharge and positively associated with previous weight gain at 1-year follow-up. LIMITATIONS: We compensated for attrition and batch effects using statistical measures. CONCLUSION: In this largest longitudinal study to date, we found only nonsignificant reductions in BDNF in the acute stage of anorexia nervosa, possibly because of a shorter illness duration in adolescent patients. Supranormal levels of BDNF at 2.5-year follow-up could represent a pre-existing trait or a consequence of the illness. Because of the anorexigenic effect of BDNF, it might play an important predisposing role for relapse and should be explored further in studies that test causality.

Auditory and Visual Response Inhibition in Children with Bilateral Hearing Aids and Children with ADHD.

Children fitted with hearing aids (HAs) and children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often have marked difficulties concentrating in noisy environments. However, little is known about the underlying neural mechanism of auditory and visual attention deficits in a direct comparison of both groups. The current functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study was the first to investigate the behavioral performance and neural activation during an auditory and a visual go/nogo paradigm in children fitted with bilateral HAs, children with ADHD and typically developing children (TDC). All children reacted faster, but less accurately, to visual than auditory stimuli, indicating a sensory-specific response inhibition efficiency. Independent of modality, children with ADHD and children with HAs reacted faster and tended to show more false alarms than TDC. On a neural level, however, children with ADHD showed supra-modal neural alterations, particularly in frontal regions. On the contrary, children with HAs exhibited modality-dependent alterations in the right temporopolar cortex. Higher activation was observed in the auditory than in the visual condition. Thus, while children with ADHD and children with HAs showed similar behavioral alterations, different neural mechanisms might underlie these behavioral changes. Future studies are warranted to confirm the current findings with larger samples. To this end, fNIRS provided a promising tool to differentiate the neural mechanisms underlying response inhibition deficits between groups and modalities.

Investigating Sex Differences in Emotion Recognition, Learning, and Regulation Among Youths With Conduct Disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Conduct disorder (CD) is a serious neurodevelopmental disorder marked by notably higher prevalence rates for boys than girls. Converging evidence suggests that CD is associated with impairments in emotion recognition, learning, and regulation. However, it is not known whether there are sex differences in the relationship between CD and emotion dysfunction. Prior studies on emotion functioning in CD have so far been underpowered for investigating sex differences. Therefore, our primary aim was to characterize emotion processing skills in a large sample of girls and boys with CD compared to typically developing controls (TDCs) using a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery. METHOD: We included 542 youths with CD (317 girls) and 710 TDCs (479 girls), 9 to 18 years of age, from a European multisite study (FemNAT-CD). Participants completed three experimental tasks assessing emotion recognition, learning, and regulation, respectively. Data were analyzed to test for effects of group and sex, and group-by-sex interactions, while controlling for potentially confounding factors. RESULTS: Relative to TDCs, youths with CD showed impaired emotion recognition (that was related to more physical and proactive aggression, and higher CU traits), emotional learning (specifically from punishment), and emotion regulation. Boys and girls with CD, however, displayed similar impairments in emotion processing. CONCLUSION: This study provides compelling evidence for a relationship between CD and deficient neurocognitive functioning across three emotional domains that have previously been linked to CD etiology. However, there was no support for sex-specific profiles of emotion dysfunction, suggesting that current neurocognitive models of CD apply equally to both sexes.

Like mother, like child? Maternal determinants of children's early social-emotional development.

Social-Emotional competencies evolve early in life. For example, early emotion regulation is learned primarily in the context of mother-child interaction, which may allow for maternal influences to shape children's social-emotional development. The aim of the current study was to longitudinally examine maternal determinants of children's early social-emotional development in a community-based sample of first-time mothers (N = 61, aged 22-39 years). Specifically, we used structural equation modeling to examine how maternal emotion regulation difficulties and subclinical depression directly and indirectly, through sensitivity and postnatal bonding, assessed at 6 to 8 months predicted child outcomes at 12 to 16 months. We found that mothers' sensitivity predicted fewer social-emotional and behavioral problems and that stronger bonding predicted fewer problems and more social-emotional competencies. Emotion regulation difficulties were significantly associated with depressive symptoms; yet, when accounting for shared variances, both factors differentially predicted less positive child outcomes such that more difficulties indirectly, through poorer bonding, predicted greater delay in competencies, and more symptoms indirectly, through less sensitivity, predicted more problems. Current findings underline the significance of maternal factors impacting the quality of mother-child interaction for children's positive development. Potential implications for early prevention programs to support children who are otherwise at risk for negative emotional outcomes due to mothers' emotional state postpartum are discussed.

Las competencias sociales-emocionales evolucionan temprano en la vida. Por ejemplo, la temprana regulación de la emoción se aprende primariamente en el contexto de la interacción madre-niño, lo cual pudiera permitir que las influencias maternas den forma al desarrollo socio-emocional de los niños. El objetivo del presente estudio fue examinar longitudinalmente los determinantes maternos del temprano desarrollo socio-emocional de los niños en un grupo muestra con base comunitaria de madres primerizas (N = 61, edad 22-39 años). Específicamente, usamos modelos de ecuaciones estructurales para examinar cómo las dificultades de la regulación emocional materna y la depresión subclínica directa e indirectamente, a través de la sensibilidad y la vinculación posnatal, evaluada a los 6-8 meses predijeron los resultados en el niño a los 12-16 meses. (i) La sensibilidad de las mamás predijo menos problemas socio-emocionales y de conducta. (ii) Una más fuerte vinculación predijo menos problemas y más competencias socio-emocionales. (iii) Las dificultades de la regulación de la emoción estuvieron significativamente asociadas con síntomas depresivos, aunque cuando se toma en cuenta las variaciones compartidas, ambos factores diferencialmente predijeron menos positivos resultados en el niño de manera que más dificultades indirectamente, a través de una más pobre vinculación, predijeron mayor demora en las competencias y más síntomas indirectamente, a través de menos sensibilidad, predijeron más problemas. Los presentes resultados subrayan lo significativo de los factores maternos que impactan la calidad de la interacción madre-niño para el desarrollo positivo de los niños. Se discuten las posibles implicaciones para programas de temprana intervención para dar apoyo a los niños que de otra manera están bajo riesgo de resultados emocionales negativos debido al estado emocional de las madres después del parto.

Les compétences socio-émotionnelles évoluent tôt dans la vie. Par exemple, la régulation précoce de l'émotion est apprise principalement dans le contexte de l'interaction mère-enfant, ce qui pourrait permettre aux influences maternelles de former le développement socio-émotionnel des enfants. Le but de cette étude était d'examiner longitudinalement les déterminants maternels du développement socio-émotionnel précoce des enfants dans un échantillon à l'échelle communautaire de mères primipares (N = 61, âgées de 22 à 39 ans). Plus spécifiquement, nous avons utilisé une modélisation d'équation structurelle afin d'examiner la manière dont les difficultés de régulation de l'émotion maternelle et la dépression sub-clinique directement et indirectement, à travers la sensibilité et le lien postnatal, évalués à 6-8 mois, a prédit les résultats de l'enfant à 12-16 mois. (i) La sensibilité des mères a prédit moins de problèmes socio-émotionnels et de problèmes de comportement. (ii) Un lien plus fort a prédit moins de problèmes et plus de compétences socio-émotionnelles. (iii) Les difficultés de régulation de l'émotion ont été fortement liées aux symptômes dépressifs, cependant, en tenant compte de la variance communie, les deux facteurs ont prédit différentiellement moins de résultats positifs pour l'enfant, de telle façon que plus de difficultés indirectement, à travers un lien plus appauvri, ont prédit un plus grand délai dans les compétences et plus de symptômes indirectement, à travers moins de sensibilité, ont prédit plus de problèmes. Les résultats présents soulignent l'importance des facteurs maternels qui impactent la qualité de l'interaction mère-enfant pour le développement positif des enfants. Les implications potentielles pour les programmes précoces de prévention pour soutenir les enfants qui sans eux sont à risque de résultats émotionnels négatifs du fait de l'état émotionnel postpartum des mères sont discutées.

Conducting Hyperscanning Experiments with Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy.

Concurrent brain recordings of two or more interacting persons, an approach termed hyperscanning, are gaining increasing importance for our understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of social interactions, and possibly interpersonal relationships. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is well suited for conducting hyperscanning experiments because it measures local hemodynamic effects with a high sampling rate and, importantly, it can be applied in natural settings, not requiring strict motion restrictions. In this article, we present a protocol for conducting fNIRS hyperscanning experiments with parent-child dyads and for analyzing brain-to-brain synchrony. Furthermore, we discuss critical issues and future directions, regarding the experimental design, spatial registration of the fNIRS channels, physiological influences and data analysis methods. The described protocol is not specific to parent-child dyads, but can be applied to a variety of different dyadic constellations, such as adult strangers, romantic partners or siblings. To conclude, fNIRS hyperscanning has the potential to yield new insights into the dynamics of the ongoing social interaction, which possibly go beyond what can be studied by examining the activities of individual brains.

Performance in Sound-Symbol Learning Predicts Reading Performance 3 Years Later.

To master the task of reading, children need to acquire a coding system representing speech as a sequence of visual symbols. Recent research suggested that performance in the processing of artificial script that relies on the association of sound and symbol may be associated with reading skill. The current longitudinal study examined the predictive value of a preschool sound-symbol paradigm (SSP) of reading performance 3 years later. The Morse-like SSP, IQ, and letter knowledge (LK) was assessed in young preschool children. Reading outcome measures were examined 3 years later. Word reading, pseudoword reading, and reading comprehension were predicted with age, IQ, LK, and SSP. The results showed that SSP substantially predicted reading fluency and reading comprehension 3 years later. For reading fluency measures, the influence of further predictor variables was not significant and SSP served as a sole predictor. Reading comprehension was best explained by SSP and age. The amount of variance SSP explained in reading 3 years later was remarkably high, with an explained variance between 63 and 82%, depending on the outcome reading variable. SSP turned out to be a substantial predictor of later reading performance in a language with statistically reliable spelling-to-sound relations. As LK is highly dependent on educational support, we assume that children in our socioeconomically diverse sample did not have much opportunity to acquire LK in their home environment. In contrast, the SSP challenges students to acquire new spelling-to-sound relations, simulating a core aspect of natural reading acquisition. Future work will test this paradigm in less transparent languages like English and explore its potential as a future standard assessment in the study of early reading development.

Brain-to-brain synchrony in parent-child dyads and the relationship with emotion regulation revealed by fNIRS-based hyperscanning.

Parent-child synchrony, the coupling of behavioral and biological signals during social contact, may fine-tune the child's brain circuitries associated with emotional bond formation and the child's development of emotion regulation. Here, we examined the neurobiological underpinnings of these processes by measuring parent's and child's prefrontal neural activity concurrently with functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning. Each child played both a cooperative and a competitive game with the parent, mostly the mother, as well as an adult stranger. During cooperation, parent's and child's brain activities synchronized in the dorsolateral prefrontal and frontopolar cortex (FPC), which was predictive for their cooperative performance in subsequent trials. No significant brain-to-brain synchrony was observed in the conditions parent-child competition, stranger-child cooperation and stranger-child competition. Furthermore, parent-child compared to stranger-child brain-to-brain synchrony during cooperation in the FPC mediated the association between the parent's and the child's emotion regulation, as assessed by questionnaires. Thus, we conclude that brain-to-brain synchrony may represent an underlying neural mechanism of the emotional connection between parent and child, which is linked to the child's development of adaptive emotion regulation. Future studies may uncover whether brain-to-brain synchrony can serve as a neurobiological marker of the dyad's socio-emotional interaction, which is sensitive to risk conditions, and can be modified by interventions.

Cognitive development in children of adolescent mothers: The impact of socioeconomic risk and maternal sensitivity.

BACKGROUND: Adolescent motherhood is accompanied by a constellation of risk factors that translate into developmental risk for the off-spring. Socioeconomic risk that is associated with adolescent motherhood as well as maternal interactive behaviors may contribute to the impact of adolescent motherhood on children's developmental outcome. OBJECTIVE: Therefore, the aim of the current study was to investigate differences in children's cognitive development between children of adolescent and adult mothers in their first two years of life and to examine whether socioeconomic risk (e.g. such as educational and financial problems) and/or maternal sensitivity mediate developmental differences between children of adolescent and adult mothers. METHODS: Adolescent mothers (<21 years; N = 64) and adult mothers (>25 years; N = 34) and their infants were included in the current study. Child cognitive development and maternal sensitivity were assessed at three different time points (T1: mean child age 5.26 months; T2: mean child age 14.69 months; T3: mean child age 21.16 months). RESULTS: Children of adult mothers showed better cognitive performance at T3 compared to children of adolescent mothers but not at T1 and T2. A multiple mediation model including socioeconomic risk and maternal sensitivity as serial mediators demonstrated that the effect of adolescent motherhood on cognitive development was mediated in a causal effect chain with socioeconomic risk negatively affecting maternal sensitivity and maternal sensitivity affecting children's cognitive development. DISCUSSION: The present findings demonstrate that maternal interactive behaviors are not only a simple predictor of cognitive development but may also act as a mediator of the association between more distal variables such as socioeconomic risk and cognitive development in adolescent mothers. This supports the need to promote prevention and intervention programs for adolescent mothers during the early postpartum period to reduce socioeconomic problems and enhance maternal interactive behaviors.

Effects of Early-Life Adversity on Hippocampal Structures and Associated HPA Axis Functions.

Early-life adversity (ELA) is one of the major risk factors for serious mental and physical health risks later in life. ELA has been associated with dysfunctional neurodevelopment, especially in brain structures such as the hippocampus, and with dysfunction of the stress system, including the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Children who have experienced ELA are also more likely to suffer from mental health disorders such as depression later in life. The exact interplay of aberrant neurodevelopment and HPA axis dysfunction as risks for psychopathology is not yet clear. We investigated volume differences in the bilateral hippocampus and in stress-sensitive hippocampal subfields, behavior problems, and diurnal cortisol activity in 24 children who had experienced documented ELA (including out-of-home placement) in a circumscribed duration of adversity only in their first 3 years of life in comparison to data on 25 control children raised by their biological parents. Hippocampal volumes and stress-sensitive hippocampal subfields (Cornu ammonis [CA]1, CA3, and the granule-cell layer of the dentate gyrus [GCL-DG]) were significantly smaller in children who had experienced ELA, taking psychiatric diagnoses and dimensional psychopathological symptoms into account. ELA moderated the relationship between left hippocampal volume and cortisol: in the control group, hippocampal volumes were not related to diurnal cortisol, while in ELA children, a positive linear relationship between left hippocampal volume and diurnal cortisol was present. Our findings show that ELA is associated with altered development of the hippocampus, and an altered relationship between hippocampal volume and HPA axis activity in youth in care, even after they have lived in stable and caring foster family environments for years. Altered hippocampal development after ELA could thus be associated with a risk phenotype for the development of psychiatric disorders later in life.

[Attention and reading performance in children with ADHD, reading disorder and the combined condition]. / Aufmerksamkeit und Leseleistungen bei Kindern mit ADHS, Lese- und Rechtschreibstörung und der komorbiden Störung.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Dyslexia co-occur more often than expected by chance. Both disorders can have severe negative impact on children's development. The aim of the present study was to compare attention and reading performance in children with ADHD, dyslexia and the comorbid condition. Ninety-nine German children in 3rd and 4th grade with ADHD (n = 26), dyslexia (n = 22) and the comorbid condition (n = 24) compared to a healthy control group (n = 27) were assessed with a model oriented assessment battery for reading and attention. Additionally, comorbid problems were examined. Children with ADHD were characterized by difficulties in decoding and reading comprehension, while children with dyslexia showed impairments in their attentional performance. Psychometric data revealed that children with dyslexia showed both externalizing and internalizing symptoms, while children with the comorbid condition scored the highest on all psychopathological dimensions. The results suggest, that reading problems in children with ADHD might be an epiphenomenon of the task used dependent on time constraints inherent to the task. Impairments of attentional functions in children with dyslexia emphasize the importance of a sufficient diagnostic procedure for subclinical ADHD symptoms as possible comorbid disorder. Future studies should focus the impact of early treatment of attentional deficits on reading acquisition.

Multidimensional assessment of neuroendocrine and psychopathological profiles in maltreated youth.

It has been debated whether children who have experienced early life stress (ELS), such as early caregiver separation show elevated risk for stress-related psychiatric disorders and a multi-symptom psychopathological profile that is not fully reflected in categorical assessments. In this study, we investigated dimensional measures of stress-related psychopathology in children in permanent out-of-home care, taking into account potential neuroendocrine interactions. In the current study, 25 children who had been placed in permanent out-of-home care before age 3 (years) and 26 controls (aged 10.6 ± 1.75 years) were investigated with categorical (DSM-IV) and dimensional assessments (CBCL) of psychopathology and diurnal salivary cortisol levels were assessed. Semi-structured interviews (K-DIPS) revealed no significant group differences in full-scale psychiatric diagnoses, whereas dimensional assessment (CBCL) revealed significant group differences in externalizing and total problem behaviours within the clinical range for children with ELS. Only children with ELS showed a combined symptom profile of clinical-range internalizing and externalizing problems. Lower morning cortisol values and subsequent flatter decline was found in subjects with ELS children compared to controls, showing group differences in diurnal cortisol secretion. Lower morning cortisol values were associated with more problem behaviour in the ELS group. Results show that ELS children exhibited increased psychopathological symptom severity and complexity associated with lower morning cortisol levels, which was not fully reflected in categorical assessments. This highlights the importance of incorporating dimensional assessments and neurobiological factors into psychopathological evaluations of children in out-of-home care in order to facilitate early identification of children at high risk for stress-related disorders.

Developmental refinement of cortical systems for speech and voice processing.

Development typically leads to optimized and adaptive neural mechanisms for the processing of voice and speech. In this fMRI study we investigated how this adaptive processing reaches its mature efficiency by examining the effects of task, age and phonological skills on cortical responses to voice and speech in children (8-9years), adolescents (14-15years) and adults. Participants listened to vowels (/a/, /i/, /u/) spoken by different speakers (boy, girl, man) and performed delayed-match-to-sample tasks on vowel and speaker identity. Across age groups, similar behavioral accuracy and comparable sound evoked auditory cortical fMRI responses were observed. Analysis of task-related modulations indicated a developmental enhancement of responses in the (right) superior temporal cortex during the processing of speaker information. This effect was most evident through an analysis based on individually determined voice sensitive regions. Analysis of age effects indicated that the recruitment of regions in the temporal-parietal cortex and posterior cingulate/cingulate gyrus decreased with development. Beyond age-related changes, the strength of speech-evoked activity in left posterior and right middle superior temporal regions significantly scaled with individual differences in phonological skills. Together, these findings suggest a prolonged development of the cortical functional network for speech and voice processing. This development includes a progressive refinement of the neural mechanisms for the selection and analysis of auditory information relevant to the ongoing behavioral task.

Kindergarteners' performance in a sound-symbol paradigm predicts early reading.

The current study examined the role of serial processing of newly learned sound-symbol associations in early reading acquisition. A computer-based sound-symbol paradigm (SSP) was administered to 243 children during their last year of kindergarten (T1), and their reading performance was assessed 1 year later in first grade (T2). Results showed that performance on the SSP measured before formal reading instruction was associated with later reading development. At T1, early readers performed significantly better than nonreaders in learning correspondences between sounds and symbols as well as in applying those correspondences in a serial manner. At T2, SSP performance measured at T1 was positively associated with reading performance. Importantly, serial application of newly learned correspondences at T1 explained unique variance in first-grade reading performance in nonreaders over and above other verbal predictors, including phonological awareness, verbal short-term memory, and rapid automatized naming. Consequently, the SSP provides a promising way to study aspects of reading in preliterate children.

Sustained selective attention to competing amplitude-modulations in human auditory cortex.

Auditory selective attention plays an essential role for identifying sounds of interest in a scene, but the neural underpinnings are still incompletely understood. Recent findings demonstrate that neural activity that is time-locked to a particular amplitude-modulation (AM) is enhanced in the auditory cortex when the modulated stream of sounds is selectively attended to under sensory competition with other streams. However, the target sounds used in the previous studies differed not only in their AM, but also in other sound features, such as carrier frequency or location. Thus, it remains uncertain whether the observed enhancements reflect AM-selective attention. The present study aims at dissociating the effect of AM frequency on response enhancement in auditory cortex by using an ongoing auditory stimulus that contains two competing targets differing exclusively in their AM frequency. Electroencephalography results showed a sustained response enhancement for auditory attention compared to visual attention, but not for AM-selective attention (attended AM frequency vs. ignored AM frequency). In contrast, the response to the ignored AM frequency was enhanced, although a brief trend toward response enhancement occurred during the initial 15 s. Together with the previous findings, these observations indicate that selective enhancement of attended AMs in auditory cortex is adaptive under sustained AM-selective attention. This finding has implications for our understanding of cortical mechanisms for feature-based attentional gain control.

Task-dependent decoding of speaker and vowel identity from auditory cortical response patterns.

Selective attention to relevant sound properties is essential for everyday listening situations. It enables the formation of different perceptual representations of the same acoustic input and is at the basis of flexible and goal-dependent behavior. Here, we investigated the role of the human auditory cortex in forming behavior-dependent representations of sounds. We used single-trial fMRI and analyzed cortical responses collected while subjects listened to the same speech sounds (vowels /a/, /i/, and /u/) spoken by different speakers (boy, girl, male) and performed a delayed-match-to-sample task on either speech sound or speaker identity. Univariate analyses showed a task-specific activation increase in the right superior temporal gyrus/sulcus (STG/STS) during speaker categorization and in the right posterior temporal cortex during vowel categorization. Beyond regional differences in activation levels, multivariate classification of single trial responses demonstrated that the success with which single speakers and vowels can be decoded from auditory cortical activation patterns depends on task demands and subject's behavioral performance. Speaker/vowel classification relied on distinct but overlapping regions across the (right) mid-anterior STG/STS (speakers) and bilateral mid-posterior STG/STS (vowels), as well as the superior temporal plane including Heschl's gyrus/sulcus. The task dependency of speaker/vowel classification demonstrates that the informative fMRI response patterns reflect the top-down enhancement of behaviorally relevant sound representations. Furthermore, our findings suggest that successful selection, processing, and retention of task-relevant sound properties relies on the joint encoding of information across early and higher-order regions of the auditory cortex.

Nonword reading and Stroop interference: what differentiates attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and reading disability?

BACKGROUND: Attention deficits and impaired reading performance co-occur more often than expected by chance; however, the underlying mechanism of this association still remains rather unexplored. METHOD: In two consecutive studies, children aged 8 to 12 years with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and children with reading disability (RD) were examined using a 2 (ADHD versus no ADHD) × 2 (RD versus no RD) factorial design. To further delineate deficient interference control from reading processes, we used a newly developed self-paced word/nonword reading task (Experiment 1, n = 68) and a modified computerized Stroop paradigm, including an orthographic phonological neighbor (OPN) condition (Experiment 2, n = 84). RESULTS: RD (compared to non-RD groups) was associated with impairments in both word and nonword reading, while children with ADHD also showed impaired nonword reading. In the Stroop task, RD, but not ADHD, had a significant impact on task performance. Interestingly, a significant interaction between ADHD, RD, and task condition emerged, which was due to particularly slower reaction times to nonwords in children with RD only, while task performance in children with comorbid ADHD and RD resembled that of ADHD only. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, our results demonstrate that impairments in nonword reading were not specific to RD but were also present in children with ADHD. In addition, RD and not ADHD was characterized by poor interference control in the Stroop task. These findings question whether unique cognitive deficits are specific to either ADHD or RD.