Papers by Elzbieta Szelag
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2020
Aphasia is an acquired impairment of language functions resulting from a brain lesion. It is usua... more Aphasia is an acquired impairment of language functions resulting from a brain lesion. It is usually accompanied by deficits in non-linguistic cognitive processes. This study aimed to investigate in patients with aphasia the complex interrelationships between selected cognitive functions: auditory speech comprehension, working memory (WM), and temporal information processing (TIP) in the millisecond time range. Thirty right-handed subjects (20 males) aged from 27 to 82 years suffering from post-stroke aphasia participated in the study. Verbal working memory (VWM) and spatial working memory (SWM) were assessed with: (1) a receptive verbal test and (2) the Corsi Block-Tapping Test, respectively. Both these WM tests used the forward tasks (mainly engaging maintenance processes, i.e., storing, monitoring, and matching information) and backward tasks (engaging both maintenance and manipulation processes, i.e., reordering and updating information). Auditory comprehension was assessed by r...
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2018
Frontiers in Psychology, 2015
A number of evidence revealed a link between temporal information processing (TIP) and language. ... more A number of evidence revealed a link between temporal information processing (TIP) and language. Both literature data and results of our studies indicated an overlapping of deficient TIP and disordered language, pointing to the existence of an association between these two functions. On this background the new approach is to apply such knowledge in therapy of patients suffering from language disorders. In two studies we asked the following questions: (1) can the temporal training reduce language deficits in aphasic patients (Study 1) or in children with specific language impairment (SLI, Study 2)? (2) can such training ameliorate also the other cognitive functions? Each of these studies employed pre-training assessment, training application, post-training and followup assessment. In Study 1 we tested 28 patients suffering from post-stroke aphasia. They were assigned either to the temporal training (Group A, n = 15) in milliseconds range, or to the non-temporal training (Group B, n = 13). Following the training we found only in Group A improved TIP, accompanied by a transfer of improvement to language and working memory functions. In Study 2 we tested 32 children aged from 5 to 8 years, affected by SLI who were classified into the temporal training (Group A, n = 17) or non-temporal training (Group B, n = 15). Group A underwent the multileveled audiovisual computer training Dr. Neuronowski R , recently developed in our laboratory. Group B performed the computer speech therapy exercises extended by playing computer games. Similarly as in Study 1, in Group A we found significant improvements of TIP, auditory comprehension and working memory. These results indicated benefits of temporal training for amelioration of language and other cognitive functions in both aphasic patients and children with SLI. The novel powerful therapy tools provide evidence for future promising clinical applications.
Cognitive Neuropsychology, 2009
Temporal-order judgements in the time range of some milliseconds were assessed by using two audit... more Temporal-order judgements in the time range of some milliseconds were assessed by using two auditory tasks in 86 participants, aged from 20 to 69 years. Two stimulus presentation modes, binaural versus monaural, were compared. Elderly participants performed worse than the younger participants; however, different patterns of age-related declines were observed, depending on the presentation mode. In the monaural mode considerable deterioration was observed beyond 60 years of age, whereas in the binaural mode declines were found much earlier, from 40 years of age. Performance of the monaural task correlated with cognitive competences and provided important insight into neuronal timing mechanisms. In contrast, the binaural mode reflected a bias towards an integrated perception of sequential stimuli and was less related to cognitive resources. These findings provide evidence that age-related declines in human sequencing abilities involve, besides temporal mechanisms, also a mode-specific processing, presumably associated with different neuronal mechanisms.
Cognition, 2013
The close relationship between temporal perception and speech processing is well established. The... more The close relationship between temporal perception and speech processing is well established. The present study focused on the specific question whether the speech environment could influence temporal order perception in subjects whose language backgrounds are distinctively different, i.e., Chinese (tonal language) vs. Polish (non-tonal language). Temporal order thresholds were measured for both monaurally presented clicks and binaurally presented tone pairs. Whereas the click experiment showed similar order thresholds for the two language groups, the experiment with tone pairs resulted in different observations: while Chinese demonstrated better performance in discriminating the temporal order of two ''close frequency'' tone pairs (600 Hz and 1200 Hz), Polish subjects showed a reversed pattern, i.e., better performance for ''distant frequency'' tone pairs (400 Hz and 3000 Hz). These results indicate on the one hand a common temporal mechanism for perceiving the order of two monaurally presented stimuli, and on the other hand neuronal plasticity for perceiving the order of frequency-related auditory stimuli. We conclude that the auditory brain is modified with respect to temporal processing by long-term exposure to a tonal or a non-tonal language. As a consequence of such an exposure different cognitive modes of operation (analytic vs. holistic) are selected: the analytic mode is adopted for ''distant frequency'' tone pairs in Chinese and for ''close frequency'' tone pairs in Polish subjects, whereas the holistic mode is selected for ''close frequency'' tone pairs in Chinese and for ''distant frequency'' tone pairs in Polish subjects, reflecting a double dissociation of function.
British Journal of Psychology, 2004
Behavioural Brain Research, 2011
This study focuses on age-related differences concerning two kinds of spatial memory assessed by:... more This study focuses on age-related differences concerning two kinds of spatial memory assessed by: (1) Paired Associates Learning (PAL) test from the CANTAB and (2) a test of Real Idiothetic Memory (RIM) using real-life settings. Despite a clear age-related drop in PAL that is reported in existing studies, age-related differences in idiothetic navigation still remain unclear. In our study we tested 80 healthy volunteers classified according to their age into two groups, i.e. young (aged from 20 to 29 years of life; n=40; 20M/20F) and elderly (from 64 to 77 years; n=40; 20M/20F) healthy volunteers. They were asked in the PAL test to remember the spatial location of visual patterns presented on a computer screen, and in the RIM test to walk on the arena in darkness in order to find a cue place and then to return to the start/exit point. A white noise was switched on at entering the cue place and switched off at leaving this place. Elderly subjects indicated poorer performance than their younger counterparts on the PAL test, as evidenced by all tested outcome measures. In contrast, for the RIM test no clear age effect was evidenced. In both tests no gender effect was observed. A dissociation in age-related changes for these two tests indicates that visuo-spatial associative learning and idiothetic navigation may have different cognitive control which is probably rooted in an interplay of different brain structures.
Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2000
Although Grodzinsky's target article has merit, it neglects the importance of neural mechanisms u... more Although Grodzinsky's target article has merit, it neglects the importance of neural mechanisms underlying language functions. We present results from our clinical studies on different levels of temporal information processing in aphasic patients and briefly review the existing data on neurobiology of language to cast new light on the main thesis of the target article.
Acta Neurobiologiae …, 2004
The temporal reproduction of standard durations ranging from 1 to 9 seconds was investigated in m... more The temporal reproduction of standard durations ranging from 1 to 9 seconds was investigated in monochannel cochlear implant (CI) users and in normally hearing subjects for the auditory and visual modality. The results showed that the pattern of performance in patients depended on their level of auditory comprehension. Results for CI users, who displayed relatively good auditory comprehension, did not differ from that of normally hearing subjects for both modalities. Patients with poor auditory comprehension significantly overestimated shorter auditory standards (1, 1.5 and 2.5 s), compared to both patients with good comprehension and controls. For the visual modality the between-group comparisons were not significant. These deficits in the reproduction of auditory standards were explained in accordance with both the attentional-gate model and the role of working memory in prospective time judgment. The impairments described above can influence the functioning of the temporal integration mechanism that is crucial for auditory speech comprehension on the level of words and phrases. We postulate that the deficits in time reproduction of short standards may be one of the possible reasons for poor speech understanding in monochannel CI users.
Acta Psychologica, 2002
From research carried out over recent years using different experimental paradigms, it has become... more From research carried out over recent years using different experimental paradigms, it has become apparent that central information processing is temporally segmented into sequential units of a few seconds. This segmentation presumably reflects a neuronal process of temporal integration (TI) which automatically binds successive events into temporal units. Support for such TI comes, for example, from studies on temporal reproduction where standards up to approximately 2-3 s are reproduced veridically. Using this paradigm of temporal reproduction, we investigated the effect of normal cognitive development of sensory modality and of the range of presented standards on TI. Sixty children aged 6-7, 9-10 and 13-14 years reproduced visual or auditory standard durations ranged from 1 to 5.5 s or from 1 to 3 s. The results showed that durations of approximately 2 s were reproduced correctly, whereas those longer than 2.5 s were under-reproduced in the three age groups. For standards shorter than 2 s substantial age-related differences were revealed: the youngest group displayed significant over-reproduction comparing to older subjects. These observations indicate that the upper limit for TI is a stable feature across the different age groups. Furthermore an age-related modulation within the temporal window of the operating TI seems to be linked to cognitive development.
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 2009
Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 2014
Experimental studies have often reported close associations between rapid auditory processing and... more Experimental studies have often reported close associations between rapid auditory processing and language competency. The present study was aimed at improving auditory comprehension in aphasic patients following specific training in the perception of temporal order (TO) of events. We tested 18 aphasic patients showing both comprehension and TO perception deficits. Auditory comprehension was assessed by the Token Test, phonemic awareness and Voice-Onset-Time Test. The TO perception was assessed using auditory Temporal-Order-Threshold, defined as the shortest interval between two consecutive stimuli, necessary to report correctly their before-after relation. Aphasic patients participated in eight 45-minute sessions of either specific temporal training (TT, n = 11) aimed to improve sequencing abilities, or control nontemporal training (NT, n = 7) focussed on volume discrimination. The TT yielded improved TO perception; moreover, a transfer of improvement was observed from the time domain to the language domain, which was untrained during the training. The NT did not improve either the TO perception or comprehension in any language test. These results are in agreement with previous literature studies which proved ameliorated language competency following the TT in language-learning-impaired or dyslexic children. Our results indicated for the first time such benefits also in aphasic patients.
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 2010
We have discovered changes in brain activation during difficult and easy milliseconds timing. Str... more We have discovered changes in brain activation during difficult and easy milliseconds timing. Structures engaged in difficult and easier auditory temporal-order judgment were identified in 17 young healthy listeners presented with paired-white-noises of different durations. Within each pair, a short (10 ms) and a long (50 ms) noise was separated by a silent gap of 10, 60 or 160 ms, corresponding to three levels of task difficulty, i.e. difficult, moderate and easy conditions, respectively. A block design paradigm was applied. In temporal-order judgment task subjects were required to define the order of noises within each pair, i.e. short-long or long-short. In the control task they only detected the presentation of the stimulus pair. A multiple regression with 'task difficulty' as a regressor ('difficult', 'moderate', 'easy') showed dynamic changes in neural activity. Increasing activations accompanying increased task difficulty were found in both bilateral inferior parietal lobuli and inferior frontal gyri, thus, in classic regions related to attentional and working memory processes. Conversely, decreased task difficulty was accompanied by increasing involvement of more specific timing areas, namely bilateral medial frontal gyri and left cerebellum. These findings strongly suggest engagement of different neural networks in difficult or easier timing and indicate a framework for understanding timing representation in the brain.
Neuroscience Letters, 2006
The temporal order (TO) of two auditory stimuli can be reported correctly when they are separated... more The temporal order (TO) of two auditory stimuli can be reported correctly when they are separated by a gap of approximate 30 ms. Since no clear evidence on individual differences in human sequencing abilities exists, we tested the effect of subjects' age and gender, as well as physical properties of presented stimuli and listener practice on the perception of TO. In two experiments, young and elderly listeners reported the TO of two clicks or tones. The TO threshold (i.e. the minimum temporal gap required to report the stimulus order at 75% correctness) was lower in young than elderly listeners, in men than women and for tones than clicks. Age-related deterioration depended on the physical properties of presented stimuli, remaining resistant to both gender and practice.
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 2010
We have discovered changes in brain activation during difficult and easy milliseconds timing. Str... more We have discovered changes in brain activation during difficult and easy milliseconds timing. Structures engaged in difficult and easier auditory temporal-order judgment were identified in 17 young healthy listeners presented with paired-white-noises of different durations. Within each pair, a short (10 ms) and a long (50 ms) noise was separated by a silent gap of 10, 60 or 160 ms, corresponding to three levels of task difficulty, i.e. difficult, moderate and easy conditions, respectively. A block design paradigm was applied. In temporal-order judgment task subjects were required to define the order of noises within each pair, i.e. short-long or long-short. In the control task they only detected the presentation of the stimulus pair. A multiple regression with 'task difficulty' as a regressor ('difficult', 'moderate', 'easy') showed dynamic changes in neural activity. Increasing activations accompanying increased task difficulty were found in both bilateral inferior parietal lobuli and inferior frontal gyri, thus, in classic regions related to attentional and working memory processes. Conversely, decreased task difficulty was accompanied by increasing involvement of more specific timing areas, namely bilateral medial frontal gyri and left cerebellum. These findings strongly suggest engagement of different neural networks in difficult or easier timing and indicate a framework for understanding timing representation in the brain.
Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 2014
Experimental studies have often reported close associations between rapid auditory processing and... more Experimental studies have often reported close associations between rapid auditory processing and language competency. The present study was aimed at improving auditory comprehension in aphasic patients following specific training in the perception of temporal order (TO) of events. We tested 18 aphasic patients showing both comprehension and TO perception deficits. Auditory comprehension was assessed by the Token Test, phonemic awareness and Voice-Onset-Time Test. The TO perception was assessed using auditory Temporal-Order-Threshold, defined as the shortest interval between two consecutive stimuli, necessary to report correctly their before-after relation. Aphasic patients participated in eight 45-minute sessions of either specific temporal training (TT, n = 11) aimed to improve sequencing abilities, or control nontemporal training (NT, n = 7) focussed on volume discrimination. The TT yielded improved TO perception; moreover, a transfer of improvement was observed from the time domain to the language domain, which was untrained during the training. The NT did not improve either the TO perception or comprehension in any language test. These results are in agreement with previous literature studies which proved ameliorated language competency following the TT in language-learning-impaired or dyslexic children. Our results indicated for the first time such benefits also in aphasic patients.
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Papers by Elzbieta Szelag