We describe the use of the Apple-Psych system to conduct language comprehension experiments. Using this system, we have implemented several tasks commonly used to assess the cognitive processes involved in language comprehension. These include segment-by-segment reading tasks in which the stimuli are presented visually, and divided-attention and crossmodal tasks in which the stimuli are present...

Fedorenko (2014) examines “the relationship between high-level language processing and domain-general cognitive control, with a focus on the brain systems that support these cognitive capacities (ital hers).” She addresses two questions –“(i) when (i.e., under what circumstances) the cognitive control mechanisms get engaged during language understanding; and (ii) whether this engagement is nece...

We present a meta-analysis of cross-linguistic transfer of oral language (vocabulary and listening comprehension), phonology (decoding and phonological awareness) and reading comprehension. Our findings show a small meta-correlation between first (L1) and second (L2) oral language and a moderate to large correlation between L1 and L2 phonological awareness and decoding. This is interpreted in t...

When bilinguals process written language, they show delays in accessing lexical items relative to monolinguals. The present study investigated whether this effect extended to spoken language comprehension, examining the processing of sentences with either low or high semantic constraint in both first and second languages. English-German bilinguals, German-English bilinguals and English monoling...

ABSTRACT---Previous psycholinguistic studies on the processing of relative clauses delineate the importance of working memory in sentence comprehension. This study further investigates the role of working memory in the comprehension of Chinese relative clauses by dyslexic children who have reading and writing difficulties in Chinese. In this study, a computerized sentence listening and reading ...

When bilinguals process written language, they show delays in accessing lexical items relative to monolinguals. The present study investigated whether this effect extended to spoken language comprehension, examining the processing of sentences with either low or high semantic constraint in both first and second languages. English-German bilinguals, German-English bilinguals and English monoling...

OBJECTIVE To investigate changes in brain activation related to tone and speech sound processing during aphasia rehabilitation. DESIGN Longitudinal study investigating patients with stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage and traumatic brain injury 3 and 7 months post-injury. SUBJECTS Eight patients with aphasia, reflecting a wide range of auditory comprehension impairment. METHODS Token test and...

Of all the signals human auditory cortex has to process, the one with the most compelling relevance to the listener is arguably speech. Parsing and decoding speech—the conspecifi c signal affording the most rapid and most precise transmission of information—must be considered one of the principal challenges of the auditory system. This chapter concentrates on what speech perception entails and ...

In typical school classrooms, children are required to listen in environments with poor acoustics and to process and comprehend complex messages from the teacher and from peers in order to achieve academic success. To predict children’s listening abilities in the classroom, research is warranted to begin to examine the specifi c aspects of comprehension that are most affected when listening in ...

Comprehension is closely related not only to the knowledge of words and syntax, but also the pragmatic concerns of the discourse. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of the intonational clues selection of Iranian teenagers’ and young adults’ Persian listening comprehension ability on their English learning as a second language. According to Buck (2003), in listening c...