Validating Four Hmong Word Recognition Tests With Normal-Hearing Bilingual Hmong Individuals.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to validate four digitally recorded and phonetically balanced 50-word recognition lists in the White Hmong dialect with normal-hearing bilingual Hmong adults. METHOD: Using a randomized, incomplete-block design, each participant listened to and repeated four unique Hmong lists delivered by a female and a male talker. Participants were also tested with an English word list-List 1A of the Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6. Participants' correct pronunciation of each word was scored. A nonparametric Mann-Whitney U Location Difference Test for Equivalence using two one-sided tests equivalence hypothesis: -0.02 < [(List_1) - (List_2)] < 0.02 was conducted to assess equivalence among all four Hmong and the English lists. RESULTS: Seventy Hmong speakers participated in this study (35 women, 35 men; M age = 29.5 years, SD = 7.1). In all four Hmong lists, 93.5% (187/200) words met the validation criteria for ≥ 92% correct pronunciation. The 13 difficult words were deemed adequate by a Hmong panel and, therefore, were included to maintain four unique, balanced word lists. The test revealed that the Hmong and English word lists were considered equivalent at the 2% bound. CONCLUSION: The four Hmong word lists were validated to ensure an equal range of word difficulty across the lists.

An fMRI investigation of the impact of withdrawal on regional brain activity during nicotine anticipation.

Previous research indicates that drug motivational systems are instantiated in structures that process information related to incentive, motivational drive, memorial, motor/habit, craving, and cognitive control processing. The present research tests the hypothesis that activity in such systems will be powerfully affected by the combination of drug anticipation and drug withdrawal. Event-related fMRI was used to examine activation in response to a preinfusion warning cue in two experimental sessions that manipulated withdrawal status. Significant cue-induced effects were seen in the caudate, ventral anterior nucleus of the thalamus, the insula, subcallosal gyrus, nucleus accumbens, and anterior cingulate. These results suggest that withdrawal and nicotine anticipation produce (1) different motor preparatory and inhibitory response processing and (2) different craving related processing.