Differences In Response Accuracy Research Articles

The time course of stimulus-specific perceptual learning.

Practice on perceptual tasks can lead to long-lasting, stimulus-specific improvements. Rapid stimulus-specific learning, assessed 24hours after practice, has been found with just 105 practice trials in a face identification task. However, a much longer time course for stimulus-specific learning has been found in other tasks. Here, we examined 1) whether rapid stimulus-specific learning occurs for unfamiliar, non-face stimuli in a texture identification task; 2) the effects of varying practice across a range from just 21 trials up to 840 trials; and 3) if rapid, stimulus-specific learning persists over a 1-week, as well as a 1-day, interval. Observers performed a texture identification task in two sessions separated by one day (Experiment 1) or 1 week (Experiment 2). Observers received varying amounts of practice (21, 63, 105, or 840 training trials) in session 1 and completed 840 trials in session 2. In session 2, one-half of the observers in each group performed the task with the same textures as in session 1, and one-half switched to novel textures (same vs.novel conditions). In both experiments we found that stimulus-specific learning - defined as the difference in response accuracy in the same and novel conditions - increased as a linear function of the log number of session 1 training trials and was statistically significant after approximately 100 training trials. The effects of stimulus novelty did not differ across experiments. These results support the idea that stimulus-specific learning in our task arises gradually and continuously through practice, perhaps concurrently with general learning.

Performance of large language models on benign prostatic hyperplasia frequently asked questions.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common condition, yet it is challenging for the average BPH patient to find credible and accurate information about BPH. Our goal is to evaluate and compare the accuracy and reproducibility of large language models (LLMs), including ChatGPT-3.5, ChatGPT-4, and the New Bing Chat in responding to a BPH frequently asked questions (FAQs) questionnaire. A total of 45 questions related to BPH were categorized into basic and professional knowledge. Three LLM-ChatGPT-3.5, ChatGPT-4, and New Bing Chat-were utilized to generate responses to these questions. Responses were graded as comprehensive, correct but inadequate, mixed with incorrect/outdated data, or completely incorrect. Reproducibility was assessed by generating two responses for each question. All responses were reviewed and judged by experienced urologists. All three LLMs exhibited high accuracy in generating responses to questions, with accuracy rates ranging from 86.7% to 100%. However, there was no statistically significant difference in response accuracy among the three (p > 0.017 for all comparisons). Additionally, the accuracy of the LLMs' responses to the basic knowledge questions was roughly equivalent to that of the specialized knowledge questions, showing a difference of less than 3.5% (GPT-3.5: 90% vs. 86.7%; GPT-4: 96.7% vs. 95.6%; New Bing: 96.7% vs. 93.3%). Furthermore, all three LLMs demonstrated high reproducibility, with rates ranging from 93.3% to 97.8%. ChatGPT-3.5, ChatGPT-4, and New Bing Chat offer accurate and reproducible responses to BPH-related questions, establishing them as valuable resources for enhancing health literacy and supporting BPH patients in conjunction with healthcare professionals.

Distinct Effects of Anxiety and Depression on Updating Emotional Information in Working Memory

Anxiety and depression have been shown to negatively influence the processing of emotional information in working memory. However, most studies have examined anxiety-related or depression-related working memory deficits independently, without considering their high co-morbidity. We tested the effects of emotional valence on working memory performance among healthy young adults with varying levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Ninety young adults aged between 18-24 (51 female) completed an emotional 2-back task in which positive, negative, and neutral images were presented. Multi-level modeling was used to examine anxiety and depressive symptoms as predictors of response accuracy and latency across the three emotional valence conditions. The results showed that participants responded to negative images with the highest accuracy and to positive images with the lowest accuracy. Both negative and positive images elicited slower responses than neutral images. Importantly, we found that more severe anxiety symptoms predicted a smaller difference in response accuracy between negative and neutral stimuli, whereas more severe depressive symptoms predicted a larger updating reaction time difference between positive and neutral stimuli. These findings demonstrated the uniquely anxiety-related deficits in processing negative contents and the uniquely depression-related deficits in updating positive contents in working memory, thus highlighting the necessity of novel cognitive bias modification interventions targeting the anxiety-specific and depression-specific deficits in working memory.

How Do People Perform an Inspection Time Task? An Examination of Visual Illusions, Task Experience, and Blinking.

In the inspection time (IT) paradigm, participants view two lines of unequal length (called the Pi-figure) for a short exposure time, and then judge which of the two lines was longer. Early research has interpreted IT as a simple index of mental speed, which does not involve motor activity. However, more recent studies have associated IT with higher-level cognitive mechanisms, including focused attention, task experience, and the strategic use of visual illusions. The extent to which these factors affect IT is still a source of debate. We used an eye-tracker to capture participants’ (N = 147) visual attention while performing IT trials. Results showed that blinking was time-dependent, with participants blinking less when the Pi-figure was visible as compared to before and after. Blinking during the presentation of the Pi-figure correlated negatively with response accuracy. Also, participants who reported seeing a brightness illusion had a higher response accuracy than those who did not. The first experiment was repeated with new participants (N = 159), enhanced task instructions, and the inclusion of practice trials. Results showed substantially improved response accuracy compared to the first experiment, and no significant difference in response accuracy between those who did and did not report illusions. IT response accuracy correlated modestly (r = 0.18) with performance on a short Raven’s advanced progressive matrices task. In conclusion, performance at the IT task is affected by task familiarity and involves motor activity in the form of blinking. Visual illusions may be an epiphenomenon of understanding the IT task.

Transient Effects Of Acute Aerobic Physical Activity On The Pupillary Response And Inhibitory Control

PURPOSE: Acute bouts of aerobic exercise have been found to transiently improve executive function and its neural underpinnings. Moderate activation of the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system increases attention toward goal-directed behaviors, yet non-optimal activation may promote distractibility. Pupillary responses are believed to be a marker of the LC-NE system, and tasks requiring greater amounts of inhibitory control modulate baseline (tonic) and task-evoked (phasic) pupil dilation. The purpose of this study was to examine the pupillary response as a LC-NE biomarker to understand the mechanisms underlying the effect of acute exercise on inhibitory control. METHODS: Twenty-six participants (19.7 ± 1.8 yr, 17 female) performed 20 min interventions (seated rest/moderate intensity exercise) followed by Simon and modified flanker tasks. Participants’ eyes were tracked during the tasks using a tabletop eye imaging camera at a 500hz sampling rate. RESULTS: RM-ANOVAs assessed intervention and inhibitory control (congruency/compatibility) effects on behavior and pupillary outcomes. Incongruent flanker trials resulted in longer reaction times and lower response accuracy, p’s ≤ 0.001. While incompatible Simon trials also resulted in longer reaction times, p = 0.01, there was no difference in response accuracy across compatibility conditions, p = 0.11. Peak phasic pupil dilation was also greater in incongruent flanker trials as well as incompatible Simon trials, p=0.003. While behavior and phasic pupil dilation in both tasks did not differ across the exercise vs. rest interventions, p’s ≥ 0.18, Tonic pupil diameter was larger for the exercise intervention in the flanker task, p = 0.04, and at trend level in the Simon task , p = 0.09. CONCLUSION: The tonic pupillary response may be a sensitive biomarker for examining transient changes in LC-NE activity as a function of acute exercise bouts. Moderate intensity exercise did not significantly affect phasic pupillary response. These findings indicate that the pupillary response can be manipulated by aspects of inhibitory control and physical activity, which suggests it may be a sensitive biomarker for examining changes in LC-NE activity.

The Characteristic of Semantic Priming in School-age Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

본 연구는 학령기 고기능 자폐 스펙트럼 장애 아동과 일반 아동을 대상으로 의미연관성에 따른 ‘의미점화’(semantic priming)특성을 비교하였다. 이를 위해 고기능 자폐 스펙트럼 장애 아동 15명과 생활연령 및 표현어휘능력을 일치시킨 일반 아동 15명에게 의미점화과 제를 실시한 후, 반응정확도 및 반응속도 그리고 오류유형을 분석하였다. 연구결과, 범주 관계, 기능관계에서 반응정확도 및 반응속도는 의미관련 조건과 의미 무관련 조건 모두두 집단 간에 차이가 없었다. 또한 오류유형 분석에서 범주관계에서는 두 집단 간 오류 유형에 차이가 없었으며, 점화조건에도 영향을 받지 않은 것으로 나타났으나, 기능관계에 서는 의미관련 여부에 따른 의미점화 조건에 따라 오류유형에 차이가 있는 것으로 나타 났다.This study investigate the characteristics of semantic priming between children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder(HFASD) and typically developing children(TD). HFASD(n=15) and TD(n=15) matched on chronological age(CA), expressive vocabulary ability, perceptual reasoning index participated. The semantic priming task examines the lexical processing ability by dividing it into category coordinate relations and function relations. There is no difference in response accuracy and reaction time. The results showed that lexical processing was similar to children with HFASD and TD, who were matched on age, expressive vocabulary and perceptual reasoning index. These results can be interpreted as having no difficulty in the basic ability of word level for HFASD with normal language and cognitive abilities. There were significant interactions error type and prime condition in function relations.

Vection Attenuates N400 Event-Related Potentials in a Change-Detection Task.

The illusion of self-motion (vection) can affect human cognitive functioning, but little is known about the attentional mechanisms of this influence. In this study, event-related potentials were recorded, while participants ( N = 23) performed a visual change-detection task in the S1–S2 matching paradigm, which was embedded in a visual stimulation pattern (VSP) that was static or moving. In the condition of moving VSP, participants had additionally to indicate whether they were sensing the illusion of self-motion (vection) or perceiving object-motion (no vection). For moving VSP, there were no differences in response accuracy or reaction times between conditions with vection and conditions without vection. Both for static and moving VSP, a series of event-related potentials time-locked to the onset of S2 was observed. N400 amplitudes from anterior–frontal electrodes were attenuated in conditions with vection as compared with conditions without vection. P3a and P3b amplitudes were also attenuated by vection but only in the subgroup of participants who had a high frequency of reporting vection. This shows that the illusion of self-motion disrupted the magnitude of an electrophysiological correlate of complex conflict detection. The potentials reflecting the direction of attention were not affected, unless individual differences in vection frequency were considered.

N-back training and transfer effects revealed by behavioral responses and EEG.

IntroductionCognitive function performance decreases in older individuals compared to young adults. To curb this decline, cognitive training is applied, but it is not clear whether it improves only the trained task or also other cognitive functions. To investigate this, we considered an N‐back working memory (WM) training task and verified whether it improves both trained WM and untrained cognitive functions.MethodsAs EEG studies have noted task difficulty and age‐related changes in time‐locked EEG responses, called event‐related potentials (ERPs), we focused on the relation between the P300 ERP component, task difficulty level, and behavior response accuracy and reaction time (RT) in young and older healthy adults. We used two groups of young and older healthy participants to assess the effect of N‐back training: cognitive training group (CTG) and passive control group (PCG). Before and after training, cognitive tests were administered to both groups to evaluate transfer effects.ResultsDespite the observed age‐related differences in the P300 ERP component and in terms of RT and accuracy, our findings demonstrate a stronger improvement in the trained task for older CTGs compared to younger CTGs, larger near‐ and far‐transfer effect to WM and fluid intelligence for both younger and older CTGs, and a far‐transfer effect to attention but only for older adults. Significant differences in response accuracy were shown between young and older subjects in spatial memory and attention tests.ConclusionThe application of a WM training is a promising tool for both healthy adults, and in particular for older subjects, as it showed physiological and behavioral differences in cognitive plasticity across life span and evidence of benefits in the trained task and near‐/far‐transfer effects to other cognitive functions.

Divided Visual Attention Performance of Ice Hockey Players with History of Concussion

Background: A significant part of successful athletic performance is the use of peripheral vision. A divide visual attention task with a central and peripheral target was used to assess athletes with and without a history of concussion. The research suggests that both groups had the same response accuracy in the task performance. The purpose of this research was to determine if peripheral visual attention is impacted in ice hockey players who have had a history of one or more self reported concussion. Methods: Orientation discrimination accuracy of a pair of Landolt type block “C” targets was measured using a divided covert attention task on 22 collegiate level men’s ice hockey players. Stimuli were presented simultaneously at central fixation and at one of 40 peripheral locations against a bright white background for two stimulus durations (150ms and 15ms). Block “C” targets were presented at one of 4 orientations (up, down, left and right) and randomized for central and peripheral locations. Results: Overall there was a statistically significant difference in the performance at 150ms and 15ms stimuli durations; athletes had a larger area of correct responses with the 150ms stimulus duration. Athletes performed better in the horizontal meridian compared to the vertical meridian for both stimulus durations. Conclusion: The divided visual attention test results for a cohort of university level men’s ice hockey players shows a decline in area of correct responses with shorter stimulus durations. There was no difference in response accuracy between those with a history of a concussion compared to those without a previous concussion.

Behavioral and electrophysiological investigation of speech perception deficits in silence, noise and envelope conditions in developmental dyslexia

The present study investigated whether children with developmental dyslexia showed specific deficits in the perception of three phonetic features (voicing, place, and manner of articulation) in optimal (silence) and degraded listening conditions (envelope-coded speech versus noise), using both standard behavioral and electrophysiological measures. Performance of children with dyslexia was compared to that of younger typically developing children who were matched in terms of reading age. Results showed no significant group differences in response accuracy except for the reception of place-of-articulation in noise. However, dyslexic children responded more slowly than typically developing children across all conditions with larger deficits in noise than in envelope than in silence. At the neural level, dyslexic children exhibited reduced N1 components in silence and the reduction of N1 amplitude was more pronounced for voicing than for the other phonetic features. In the envelope condition, the N1 was localized over the right hemisphere and it was larger for typically developing readers than for dyslexic children. Finally, in stationary noise, the N1 to place of articulation was clearly delayed in children with dyslexia, which suggests a temporal de-organization in the most adverse listening conditions. The results clearly show abnormal neural processing to speech sounds in all conditions. They are discussed in the context of recent theories on perceptual noise exclusion, neural noise and temporal sampling.

Dietary nitrate supplementation improves sprint and high-intensity intermittent running performance

The influence of dietary nitrate (NO3−) supplementation on indices of maximal sprint and intermittent exercise performance is unclear. PurposeTo investigate the effects of NO3− supplementation on sprint running performance, and cognitive function and exercise performance during the sport-specific Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery level 1 test (IR1). MethodsIn a double-blind, randomized, crossover study, 36 male team-sport players received NO3−-rich (BR; 70 mL·day−1; 6.4 mmol of NO3−), and NO3−-depleted (PL; 70 mL·day−1; 0.04 mmol NO3−) beetroot juice for 5 days. On day 5 of supplementation, subjects completed a series of maximal 20-m sprints followed by the Yo-Yo IR1. Cognitive tasks were completed prior to, during and immediately following the Yo-Yo IR1. ResultsBR improved sprint split times relative to PL at 20 m (1.2%; BR 3.98 ± 0.18 vs. PL 4.03 ± 0.19 s; P < 0.05), 10 m (1.6%; BR 2.53 ± 0.12 vs. PL 2.57 ± 0.19 s; P < 0.05) and 5 m (2.3%; BR 1.73 ± 0.09 vs. PL 1.77 ± 0.09 s; P < 0.05). The distance covered in the Yo-Yo IR1 test improved by 3.9% (BR 1422 ± 502 vs. PL 1369 ± 505 m; P < 0.05). The reaction time to the cognitive tasks was shorter in BR (615 ± 98 ms) than PL (645 ± 120 ms; P < 0.05) at rest but not during the Yo-Yo IR1. There was no difference in response accuracy. ConclusionsDietary NO3− supplementation enhances maximal sprint and high-intensity intermittent running performance in competitive team sport players. Our findings suggest that NO3− supplementation has the potential to improve performance in single-sprint or multiple-sprint (team) sports.

Anxiety, anticipation and contextual information: A test of attentional control theory

We tested the assumptions of Attentional Control Theory (ACT) by examining the impact of anxiety on anticipation using a dynamic, time-constrained task. Moreover, we examined the involvement of high- and low-level cognitive processes in anticipation and how their importance may interact with anxiety. Skilled and less-skilled tennis players anticipated the shots of opponents under low- and high-anxiety conditions. Participants viewed three types of video stimuli, each depicting different levels of contextual information. Performance effectiveness (response accuracy) and processing efficiency (response accuracy divided by corresponding mental effort) were measured. Skilled players recorded higher levels of response accuracy and processing efficiency compared to less-skilled counterparts. Processing efficiency significantly decreased under high- compared to low-anxiety conditions. No difference in response accuracy was observed. When reviewing directional errors, anxiety was most detrimental to performance in the condition conveying only contextual information, suggesting that anxiety may have a greater impact on high-level (top-down) cognitive processes, potentially due to a shift in attentional control. Our findings provide partial support for ACT; anxiety elicited greater decrements in processing efficiency than performance effectiveness, possibly due to predominance of the stimulus-driven attentional system.

P120 – 2610: Comparison of eye movement correlates for complex subtraction in healthy young adults and those with hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE)

Objectives We tested hypothesis that healthy young adults differ from those with neonatal HIE in arithmetic processing which was inferred from analysing eye movement correlates for complex subtraction. Methods HIE group of 11 young adults (7 males), mean 22.1 years, defined by perinatal hypoxia graded by Sarnat and Sarnat criteria, was compared to healthy cohort of 13 young adults (9 males) of mean 22.0 years. We used EyeLink 1000 DeskTop Mount with SR Research Experiment Builder program with monocular recording, calibration HV9, camera 500 Hz, head stable. Subtraction tasks were separated into 4 groups of 10 calculations, depending on numbers' distance and borrow–no borrow problem. We investigated the reaction time (RT)-time spent for calculation, eye fixations, blinks, and saccadic movements. Results We found no significant difference in response accuracy with healthy solving 88.4% of tasks correctly and in HIE 89.5% (p=0.586). Borrow and no-borrow trials in healthy differed significantly (p Conclusion Young adults with HIE solved the subtraction tasks well compared to the healthy. We expected more troubles with arithmetic in HIE group due to perinatal brain lesions. There were some significant differences in time spent, fixations, blinks and saccades.

Dietary nitrate improves sprint performance and cognitive function during prolonged intermittent exercise.

It is possible that dietary nitrate (NO3 (-)) supplementation may improve both physical and cognitive performance via its influence on blood flow and cellular energetics. To investigate the effects of dietary NO3 (-) supplementation on exercise performance and cognitive function during a prolonged intermittent sprint test (IST) protocol, which was designed to reflect typical work patterns during team sports. In a double-blind randomised crossover study, 16 male team-sport players received NO3 (-)-rich (BR; 140 mL day(-1); 12.8 mmol of NO3 (-)), and NO3 (-)-depleted (PL; 140 mL day(-1); 0.08 mmol NO3 (-)) beetroot juice for 7 days. On day 7 of supplementation, subjects completed the IST (two 40-min "halves" of repeated 2-min blocks consisting of a 6-s "all-out" sprint, 100-s active recovery and 20 s of rest), on a cycle ergometer during which cognitive tasks were simultaneously performed. Total work done during the sprints of the IST was greater in BR (123 ± 19 kJ) compared to PL (119 ± 17 kJ; P < 0.05). Reaction time of response to the cognitive tasks in the second half of the IST was improved in BR compared to PL (BR first half: 820 ± 96 vs. second half: 817 ± 86 ms; PL first half: 824 ± 114 vs. second half: 847 ± 118 ms; P < 0.05). There was no difference in response accuracy. These findings suggest that dietary NO3 (-) enhances repeated sprint performance and may attenuate the decline in cognitive function (and specifically reaction time) that may occur during prolonged intermittent exercise.

The Role of Episodic Buffer in Episodic Future Thinking

Present research attempted to see the role performed by episodic buffer in the generation of future thinking by making episodic buffer engage in dual task while generating future thoughts. Hypothesis anticipated differences in response accuracy and required time of response. Participants performed episodic buffer task of verbal-spatial binding while retrieving events of past and constructing events of future. While comparing past and future retrieval, variances in response accuracy and reaction time was not evident but memory specificity appeared noteworthy. In addition, participants' observer or third person perspective facilitated to generate more specific memory which is inconsistent with previous researches [20] [21] [23] that lead to the necessity of more extensive enquiries. As concerns episodic buffer, present study suggests no further significant contribution of buffer in future thinking than thinking about the past.

Differences in cognitive flexibility between healthy weight and obese children: an ERP study (629.6)

Obesity is associated with cognitive decline in later adulthood; however, the implication of obesity on childhood cognitive and brain health remains controversial. Accordingly, this study investigated the effect of weight status (healthy weight [HW] or obese [OB]) on behavioral and neuroelectric measures of cognitive control among 80 prepubertal children (8‐9‐years). HW (n=40) and OB (n=40) children completed a switch (cognitive flexibility) task while event‐related brain potentials were concurrently measured. Adiposity and aerobic fitness were assessed using DXA and VO2max, respectively. Groups were matched on key covariates including age, sex, IQ, SES, fat‐free VO2max, and ADHD. There were no differences in response accuracy or reaction time between groups on both the homogenous and heterogeneous trials. However, obese children exhibited greater global switch costs related to response accuracy. In addition, obese children displayed smaller central‐parietal P3 amplitude during heterogeneous trials, signifying decreased allocation of attentional resources. Given that global switch costs reflect efficiency of maintaining task sets in working memory as well as the selection of subsequent tasks, our findings indicate that obese children may exhibit lower cognitive flexibility when faced with greater executive function demands.Grant Funding Source: Supported by NIH HD055352

Attention, predictive learning, and the inverse base-rate effect: Evidence from event-related potentials

We report the first electrophysiological investigation of the inverse base-rate effect (IBRE), a robust non-rational bias in predictive learning. In the IBRE, participants learn that one pair of symptoms (AB) predicts a frequently occurring disease, whilst an overlapping pair of symptoms (AC) predicts a rarely occurring disease. Participants subsequently infer that BC predicts the rare disease, a non-rational decision made in opposition to the underlying base rates of the two diseases. Error-driven attention theories of learning state that the IBRE occurs because C attracts more attention than B. On the basis of this account we predicted and observed the occurrence of brain potentials associated with visual attention: a posterior Selection Negativity, and a concurrent anterior Selection Positivity, for C vs. B in a post-training test phase. Error-driven attention theories further predict no Selection Negativity, Selection Positivity or IBRE, for control symptoms matched on frequency to B and C, but for which there was no shared symptom (A) during training. These predictions were also confirmed, and this confirmation discounts alternative explanations of the IBRE based on the relative novelty of B and C. Further, we observed higher response accuracy for B alone than for C alone; this dissociation of response accuracy (B>C) from attentional allocation (C>B) discounts the possibility that the observed attentional difference was caused by the difference in response accuracy.

Conflict monitoring and adaptation in individuals at familial risk for developing bipolar disorder

To examine conflict monitoring and conflict-driven adaptation in individuals at familial risk for developing bipolar disorder. We recruited 24 adolescents who had a parent with bipolar disorder and 23 adolescents with healthy parents. Participants completed an arrow version of the Eriksen Flanker Task that included trials with three levels of conflict: neutral, congruent, and incongruent flanks. Differences in performance were explored based upon the level of conflict in the current and previous trials. Individuals at risk for developing bipolar disorder performed more slowly than youth with healthy parents in all trials. Analyses evaluating sequential effects revealed that at-risk subjects responded more slowly than youth of healthy parents for all trial types when preceded by an incongruent trial, for incongruent trials preceded by congruent trials, and for neutral and congruent trials when preceded by neutral trials. In contrast to the comparison group, at-risk adolescents failed to display a response time advantage for incongruent trials preceded by an incongruent trial. When removing subjects with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), differences between groups in response time fell below significant level, but a difference in sequence modulation remained significant. Subjects at risk for bipolar disorder also displayed greater intra-subject response time variability for incongruent and congruent trials compared with the comparison adolescents. No differences in response accuracy were observed between groups. Adolescents at risk for developing bipolar disorder displayed specific deficits in cognitive flexibility, which might be useful as a potential marker related to the development of bipolar disorder.

Effects of L1 definitions and cognate status of test items on the Vocabulary Size Test

This study examines the development and evaluation of a bilingual Vocabulary Size Test (VST, Nation, 2006). A bilingual (English–Russian) test was developed and administered to 121 intermediate proficiency EFL learners (native speakers of Russian), alongside the original monolingual (English-only) version of the test. A comparison of the bilingual and monolingual test scores showed that participants achieved significantly higher scores on the bilingual version of the test. Accuracy of responses to individual test items was reliably higher when the meanings of test items were presented in the L1 (Russian) and when these items were cognates. The findings also revealed that the bilingual version is likely to be a more sensitive measure of written receptive vocabulary knowledge. Finally, analyses showed that the effect of using L1 for multiple-choice options is likely to be larger for low-proficiency learners and that the difference in response accuracy to cognates and non-cognates decreases as item frequency increases. The paper concludes with recommendations on developing and using bilingual vocabulary size tests.

Augmented input: The effect of visuographic supports on the auditory comprehension of people with chronic aphasia

Background: Augmented input (AI), or the use of visuographic images and linguistic supports, is a strategy for facilitating the auditory comprehension of people with chronic aphasia. To date, researchers have not systematically evaluated the effects of various types of AI strategies on auditory comprehension. Aims: The purpose of the study was to perform an initial evaluation of the changes in auditory comprehension accuracy experienced by people with aphasia when they received one type of AI. Specifically, the authors examined the effect four types of non-personalised visuographic image conditions on the comprehension of people with aphasia when listening to narratives. Methods & Procedures: A total of 21 people with chronic aphasia listened to four stories, one in each of four conditions (i.e., no-context photographs, low-context drawings with embedded no-context photographs, high-context photographs, and no visuographic support). Auditory comprehension was measured by assessing participants' accuracy in responding to 15 multiple-choice sentence completion statements related to each story. Outcomes & Results: Results showed no significant differences in response accuracy across the four visuographic conditions. Conclusions: The type of visuographic image provided as AI in this study did not influence participants' response accuracy for sentence completion comprehension tasks. However, the authors only examined non-personalised visuographic images as a type of AI support. Future researchers should systematically examine the benefits provided to people with aphasia by other types of visuographic and linguistic AI supports.