Phonological working memory, phonological awareness and language in literacy difficulties in Brazilian children

One of the most usual flaws that lead to literacy disability regards cognitive difficulties and alterations some children present in the literacy process. Many studies have found alterations in phonological processing, more specifically in phonological working memory (PWM) and phonological awareness (PA). Therefore, our aim was to identify alterations in skills of phonological working memory, phonological awareness and language (semantic, syntactic and phonological aspects) of Brazilian children with literacy disabilities (age 7–8). They were divided into two groups: (1) Group of Normal Literacy (NL); and (2) Group With Literacy Disabilities (LD). The evaluation comprised tests that assessed general cognitive functions and the skills at stake. The LD presented a poorer performance than the NL in the skills of PWM, PA and language aspects. The factor analysis showed that these skills prevailed in differentiating the groups. Thus, children with literacy disabilities presented deficits in phonological processing and language. These deficits seem to be a result of alterations of the phonological representations and poor language skills that are prior to the literacy period. Consequently, we believe that the early identification of these alterations can be very useful for the prevention of future literacy problems.     

Reading vocabulary influences in phonological recoding during the development of reading skill: a re-examination of theory and practice

Children’s skill at recoding graphemes to phonemes is widely understood as the driver of their progress in acquiring reading vocabulary. This recoding skill is usually assessed by children’s reading of pseudowords (e.g., yeep) that represent “new words.” This study re-examined the extent to which pseudoword reading is, itself, influenced by orthographic rimes (e.g., eep) of words of the child’s reading vocabulary, during the development of reading skill. In Study 1, children with word reading levels of 6–10 years read matched pseudowords that do and do not share an orthographic rime with words of their reading vocabularies. Study 2 was conducted to further examine such a comparison for children of the 6- to 8-year word reading levels. There was a small and constant advantage of shared lexical orthographic rimes for children with reading levels 6–8 years but from 8 to 10 years that advantage increased significantly, as expected by Ehri’s phase account of word reading development. The pseudoword reading of children learning to read English involves use of lexical orthographic components as well as context-free recoding of graphemes to phonemes. This implies a qualification to the common interpretation of pseudoword reading as a measure of context-free grapheme–phoneme recoding. Such a measure should use selected pseudowords that do not share orthographic rime units or other multigrapheme components with words of the children’s reading vocabularies.     

Early phonological and lexical markers of reading disabilities

Phonological and lexical characteristics of 30-month-old children’s spontaneous language samples were examined as indicators of later reading outcome. Participants were 27 children, 10 children with reading disability and 17 children without reading disability. Of the non-disabled readers, 7 were at high familial risk for reading disability, and 10 came from families with no history of reading difficulties. Children later identified as reading disabled at second grade and beyond demonstrated narrower lexical diversity and simpler phonological forms as compared to the normal reading participants. Implications of reduced phonological complexity in the productive lexicons of reading disabled children are discussed.     

Bilateral deficit in power production during multi-joint leg extensions

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the presence of the bilateral deficit both as a function of overall and individual joint power. Most studies addressing the deficit have assessed force; however, in most sporting events maximal power is more important than maximal force production. To address this, in the current study we assessed the bilateral deficit for multi-joint movements as measured by overall lower extremity and individual joint power. We assessed power production using an isokinetic machine permitting both unilateral and bilateral leg extensions. Several significant effects and interactions between the contraction type (unilateral, bilateral, alternating unilateral), side of the body, lower extremity joint, and percentage of a 1-RM load were revealed. All interactions were between the lower extremity joints (hip, knee, ankle) and involved the contraction protocol (P=0.001), the percentage of 1-RM load (P=0.0002), and the side of the body (P=0.0003). Taken together, the results indicate that the bilateral deficit is manifested using a measure of power, but more importantly, the deficit has differential implications based on the overall resistance, and various joints involved in the movement. In conclusion, a reduction in power generation was evidenced for both simultaneous contractions of the leg extensors as well as reciprocal contractions. With reduced contributions from the knee joint during bilateral and reciprocal contractions, combined with past research demonstrating differential activation of mono-articular knee joint muscles, evidence for reduced contributions from the peripheral nervous system are suggested based on the results of this study.     

The effect of an intermittent,high-intensity warm-up on supramaximal kayak ergometer performance

It has previously been shown that the metabolic acidaemia induced by a continuous warm-up at the 'lactate threshold' is associated with a reduced accumulated oxygen deficit and decreased supramaximal performance. The aim of this study was to determine if an intermittent, high-intensity warm-up could increase oxygen uptake (V02) without reducing the accumulated oxygen deficit, and thus improve supramaximal performance. Seven male 500 m kayak paddlers, who had represented their state, volunteered for this study. Each performed a graded exercise test to determine V02max and threshold parameters. On subsequent days and in a random, counterbalanced order, the participants then performed a continuous or intermittent, high-intensity warm-up followed by a 2 min, all-out kayak ergometer test. The continuous warm-up consisted of 15 min of exercise at approximately 65% V02max. The intermittent, high-intensity warm-up was similar, except that the last 5 min was replaced with five 10 s sprints at 200% V02max, separated by 50 s of recovery at ~55% V02max. Significantly greater (P<0.05) peak power (intermittent vs continuous: 629 ± 199 vs 601 ± 204W) and average power (intermittent vs continuous: 328±39.0 vs 321 ±42.4 W) were recorded after the intermittent warm-up. There was no significant difference between conditions for peak V02, total V02 or the accumulated oxygen deficit. The results of this study indicate that 2 min all-out kayak ergometer performance is significantly better after an intermittent rather than a continuous warm-up.     

Moderate-domain pulmonary oxygen uptake kinetics and endurance running performance

Abstract

The aims of this study were to determine if the primary time constant (τ) for oxygen uptake ([Vdot]O₂) at the onset of moderate-intensity treadmill exercise is related to endurance running performance, and to establish if τ could be considered a determinant of endurance running performance. Thirty-six endurance trained male runners performed a series of laboratory tests, on separate days, to determine maximal oxygen uptake ([Vdot]O_2max), the ventilatory threshold (V_T) and running economy. In addition, runners completed six transitions from walking (4 km · h^?1) to moderate-intensity running (80% V_T) for the determination of the [Vdot]O₂ primary time constant and mean response time. During all tests, pulmonary gas-exchange was measured breath-by-breath. Endurance running performance was determined using a treadmill 5-km time-trial, after which runners were considered as combined performers (n=36) and, using a ranking system, high performers (n=10) and low performers (n=10). Relationships between τ and endurance running performance were quantified using correlation coefficients (r). Stepwise multiple regression was used to determine the primary predictor variables of endurance running performance in combined performers. Moderate correlations were observed between τ, mean response time and endurance running performance, but only for the combined performers (r=?0.55, P=0.001 and r=?0.50, P=0.002, respectively). The regression model for predicting 5-km performance did not include τ or mean response time. The velocity at [Vdot]O_2max was strongly correlated to endurance running performance in all groups (r=0.72 – 0.84, P < 0.01) and contributed substantially to the prediction of performance. In conclusion, the results suggest that despite their role in determining the oxygen deficit and having a moderate relationship with endurance running performance, neither τ nor mean response time is a primary determinant of endurance running performance.     

淮河流域主要农作物全生育期水分盈亏时空变化分析

利用淮河流域171个站点1971年-2010年的气象资料及作物历年生育期资料,通过作物全生育期的需水量和有效降水量计算了主要作物全生育期的水分盈亏指数.结果表明:①淮河流域小麦种植区全生育期水分盈亏指数分区平均值在-0.66～-0.43之间,各分区均呈现水分亏缺,但多年变化趋势不明显,空间分布呈明显的纬向分布特征,越往北水分亏缺越明显;②玉米种植区全生育期水分盈亏指数分区平均值在0.05～0.17之间,各区多年变化均呈增加趋势,其中北部平原夏玉米区和中部平原夏玉米区增加趋势通过了α=0.05显著性检验,分别达到0.099/10a和0.097/10a,空间分布呈西北-东南分布特征,由西北向东南增大;③沿淮及以南一季稻区水分盈亏指数平均为0.05,呈现0.024/10a的增加趋势,空间分布呈中间小两头大的分布特征.     

Word-Decoding Deficits in Norwegian: The Impact of Psycholinguistic Marker Effects

The effects of regularity, frequency, lexicality, and granularity on single word reading in Norwegian children with dyslexia and control children matched for age and reading level were examined. The reading impaired children showed the same pattern of performance as younger children matched for reading level on most tasks except for the fact that they worse at nonword reading. The findings are discussed against different theoretical models of reading.     

The role of phonological and syntactic awareness in second-language reading: The case of Spanish-speaking learners of French

Spanish-speaking learners of French, aged 9 to 11 years old, were tested after approximately 7months of French instruction to explore the contribution of phonological and syntactic awareness in L2 in 4 components of L2 reading, taking oral competence in L2 andreading in L1 into account. Phonological tasksin L2 better explain decoding. Word recognitionthrough the visual route is best explained bythe corresponding ability in L1. Sentencecomprehension is best explained by oralcompetence in L2, although it is stronglycorrelated with syntactic awareness. Finally,text comprehension is explained by thecorresponding ability in L1, althoughcorrelations with syntactic awareness and oralcompetence are strong. Theoretical implicationsare derived from these findings, and questionsrelative to the subjects' age and level ofbilingualism as well as methodological issuesare discussed.     

The role of question type and reading ability in reading comprehension

Performance on a standardized reading comprehension test reflects the number of correct answers readers select from a list of alternate choices, but fails to provide information about how readers cope with the various cognitive demands of the task. The aim of this study was to determine whether three groups of readers: normally achieving (NA), poor comprehenders (CD), with no decoding disability, and reading disabled (RD), poor comprehenders with poor decoding skills, differed in their ability to cope with reading comprehension task demands. Three task variables reflected in the question-answer relations that appear on standardized reading comprehension tests were identified.Passage Independent (PI) question can be answered with reasonable accuracy based on the reader's prior knowledge of the passage content.Inference (INFER) questions required the reader to generate an inference at the local or global test level.Locating (LOCAT) questions require the reader to match the correct answer choice to a detail explicitly stated in the text either verbatim or in paraphrase form. The relations among reader characteristics, cognitive task factors and reading comprehension test scores were analyzed using a structural relations equation with LISREL. It was found that the three reading groups differed with respect to the underlying relationship between their performance on specific question-answer types and their standardized reading comprehension score. For the NA group, a high score on PI was likely to be accompanied by a low score on INFER, whereas in the CD and RD groups, PI and INFER are positively related. The finding of a negative relationship between background knowledge and inference task factors for normally achieving readers suggests that even normal readers may have comprehension difficulties that go undetected on the basis of a standardized scores. This study indicates that current comprehension assessments may not be adequate for assessing specific reading difficulties and that more precise diagnostic tools are needed.