Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Claire Gosse, Michael Parmentier, Marie Van Reybroeck
Summary: This study provides a comprehensive investigation into the development and longitudinal relations of spelling, handwriting speed, and handwriting quality in French-speaking children over a 3-year period. The results show that spelling and speed continue to improve until Grade 5, while handwriting quality plateaus early on in Grade 2. The study also highlights the significant influence of graphic complexity on handwriting speed development and the interplay between spelling, handwriting speed, and handwriting quality in primary school students.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Pediatrics
Annalivia Loizzo, Valerio Zaccaria, Barbara Caravale, Carlo Di Brina
Summary: This study validates the Italian adaptation of the Concise Assessment Scale for Children's Handwriting (BHK) in a representative primary school population. The results show that girls have higher handwriting quality and school level influences the handwriting speed. The study confirms that the BHK is a helpful tool for assessing children with handwriting difficulties.
Article
Neurosciences
Quirin Gehmacher, Patrick Reisinger, Thomas Hartmann, Thomas Keintzel, Sebastian Rosch, Konrad Schwarz, Nathan Weisz
Summary: This study found that the auditory nerve in cochlear implant users is sensitive to selective attention, and the relevant neural activity can be decoded from single-trial data. These findings have important implications for the future development of cochlear implant technology and closed-loop systems.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Benjamin Beltzung, Marie Pele, Julien P. Renoult, Masaki Shimada, Cedric Sueur
Summary: This study uses deep learning and artificial intelligence to objectively analyze the drawings of an orangutan, revealing seasonal variations and the influence of color and patterning. The importance of this study lies in providing an objective method for analyzing non-human animal drawings.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Ching-Yi Wang, Zi-Tao Cheng
Summary: Incorrect pencil-holding posture affects children's handwriting and learning in Chinese. This study presents a new pencil holder design for Chinese writing, based on hand curve data obtained from 27 children holding clay. The study also evaluated the writing quality of three types of pencil holders using Apple pencil devices and iPads, with 30 children writing representative Chinese structures. The findings offer guidance to occupational therapists and elementary school teachers in correcting children's pencil holding.
Article
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Celine Hidalgo, Annabelle Zecri, Jacques Pesnot-Lerousseau, Eric Truy, Stephane Roman, Simone Falk, Simone Dalla Bella, Daniele Schon
Summary: The study aimed to assess sensorimotor synchronization abilities in children with HL and explore their relation to speech perception. Results showed that children with HL performed poorly in all synchronization tasks, especially with complex stimuli. In addition, working memory, synchronization to complex rhythms, age, and duration of device use were predictive of the number of correct syllables produced in a sentence repetition task.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Anfal Bin Durayhim, Amani Al-Ajlan, Isra Al-Turaiki, Najwa Altwaijry
Summary: Automatic handwriting recognition has been a topic of interest for the past three decades. Handwriting recognition systems have a wide range of applications. While much research has been done for Latin languages, there is a lack of focus on Arabic handwriting recognition, especially for children. This is important due to the increasing demand for educational applications for practicing Arabic writing and spelling.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Developmental
Yingjia Wan, Liqi Zhu
Summary: The study shows that fine-grained coordination in rhythmic activities increases prosocial behavior in children, making them more willing to help and share. This suggests that coordination is an integral part of the prosocial mechanism and the effects extend beyond just coperformers to influence interactions with unknown strangers.
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Communication
Kiki de Bruin, Yael de Haan, Sanne Kruikemeier, Sophie Lecheler, Nele Goutier
Summary: Major news outlets are using immersive techniques in their productions, but the level of user immersion is limited with little interaction and technical inclusion possibilities, according to this study's analysis of 189 immersive journalistic productions.
Article
Engineering, Civil
Nimmy Mariam Abraham, Genevieve Williams, Stana Zivanovic
Summary: This paper investigates the ability of humans to perform rhythmic jumping on a vertically vibrating platform. The study analyzes the kinetics and kinematics of the jumps and compares the performance on non-vibrating and vibrating platforms. The results show that landing at the trough and mid-up positions on the vibrating platform is preferred, with shorter contact duration compared to the non-vibrating platform.
Article
Anatomy & Morphology
Junjun Li, Zhenglong Lin, Ran Tao, Min Xu, Shihong Kong, Hong-Yan Bi, Yang Yang
Summary: The study found that experienced adult writers tend to overestimate their handwriting quality, with men more prone to this overestimation than women. Individual variations in self-awareness of handwriting quality were positively correlated with gray matter volume in specific brain regions, indicating both domain-specific and domain-general brain mechanisms underlying metacognition for practiced motor skills.
BRAIN STRUCTURE & FUNCTION
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Eivor Finset Spilling, Vibeke Ronneberg, Wenke Mork Rogne, Jens Roeser, Mark Torrance
Summary: In this natural experiment, the development of writing composition skill was compared in five Norwegian first-grade classes. The results showed that both handwriting and typing on a digital tablet were effective in improving students' writing ability over eight months. However, the rate of improvement was not affected by the learning modality. Spelling and spacing improved only in the handwriting condition, while there was no improvement in the digital condition.
COMPUTERS & EDUCATION
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Developmental
Trinh Nguyen, Susanne Reisner, Anja Lueger, Samuel V. Wass, Stefanie Hoehl, Gabriela Markova
Summary: Infant-directed singing has unique acoustic characteristics that allow infants to respond to the rhythms in the caregiver's voice. This study examined neural and movement responses to maternal singing in 7-month-old infants and found that these responses were related to linguistic development. The acoustic features and rhythmic movements of infant-directed singing were found to influence infant's vocabulary at 20 months.
DEVELOPMENTAL COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Valentina Balestra, Rossana Bellopede
Summary: This study investigated microplastic pollution in sediments of a show cave in Italy, using a cave-adapted methodology to detect microplastics. The results showed a high abundance of microplastics, primarily fibers smaller than 1 mm, with a majority being fluorescent under UV light.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2022)
Article
Education & Educational Research
Sarah Sok, Hye Won Shin
Summary: This study examined the dimensions and determinants of narrative writing in Korean-speaking sixth-grade students. The sample consisted of 113 Korean children aged 12.48 years from one elementary school. Two models of narrative writing were supported by confirmatory factor analysis: a one-factor model and a three-factor model. Hierarchical linear modeling analysis revealed that better handwriting and sentence structure and grammar skills significantly predicted higher writing quality. Gender also had a unique contribution to narrative writing quality, with females outperforming males.
Article
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Maria Teresa Guasti, Michelle J. White, Gabriele Bianco, Fabrizio Arosio, Bernard Camilleri, Natalie Hasson
Summary: This study explores the application of clitic production and non-word repetition as clinical markers for identifying Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) in early L2 learners. The results suggest that these markers may be effective in identifying L2 learners of Italian with DLD at the age of 5.
CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS
(2021)
Article
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Beatrice Giustolisi, Maria Teresa Guasti, Maria Nicastri, Patrizia Mancini, Silvia Palma, Elisabetta Genovese, Fabrizio Arosio
Summary: This study found that school-aged children with cochlear implants may have difficulties in producing third-person singular accusative object clitics (3DO clitics), with some children showing poorer performance. Moreover, children with cochlear implants were more prone to agreement errors in case of gender mismatch, highlighting the need to consider this dimension in assessing and rehabilitating clitic production.
CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS
(2021)
Review
Neurosciences
Alessandra Sansavini, Maria Elena Favilla, Maria Teresa Guasti, Andrea Marini, Stefania Millepiedi, Maria Valeria Di Martino, Simona Vecchi, Nadia Battajon, Laura Bertolo, Olga Capirci, Barbara Carretti, Maria Paola Colatei, Cristina Frioni, Luigi Marotta, Sara Massa, Letizia Michelazzo, Chiara Pecini, Silvia Piazzalunga, Manuela Pieretti, Pasquale Rinaldi, Renata Salvadorini, Cristiano Termine, Mariagrazia Zuccarini, Simonetta D'Amico, Anna Giulia De Cagno, Maria Chiara Levorato, Tiziana Rossetto, Maria Luisa Lorusso
Summary: Early indicators of DLD include delays in gesture production, vocabulary, syntactic comprehension, and word combination before 30 months; family history, low socioeconomic status, and environmental factors are risk factors for DLD; screening is recommended between 2 and 3 years old, with diagnosis around age 4.
Article
Psychology, Developmental
Elena Pagliarini, Oana Lungu, Angeliek van Hout, Lilla Pinter, Balazs Suranyi, Stephen Crain, Maria Teresa Guasti
Summary: This study investigated the understanding of sentence meanings and the process of grammar learning in children, revealing differences in interpretation across languages and a blocking effect in children's learning of the "strong interpretation" and "weak interpretation".
LANGUAGE LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Maria Vender, Mirta Vernice, Antonella Sorace
Summary: This paper discusses the relationship between bilingualism and neurodevelopmental disorders, emphasizing the benefits of bilingualism for children with developmental disorders without exacerbating their difficulties. The article also provides recommendations, highlighting the importance of supporting the family language for the complete and harmonious bilingual growth of children.
Editorial Material
Linguistics
Maria Teresa Guasti
LINGUISTIC APPROACHES TO BILINGUALISM
(2022)
Editorial Material
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Mirta Vernice, Barbara Carretti, Daniela Sarti, Daniela Traficante, Maria Luisa Lorusso
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Desire Carioti, Natale Stucchi, Carlo Toneatto, Marta Franca Masia, Martina Broccoli, Sara Carbonari, Simona Travellini, Milena Del Monte, Roberta Riccioni, Antonella Marcelli, Mirta Vernice, Maria Teresa Guasti, Manuela Berlingeri
Summary: Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) is considered a universal marker of developmental dyslexia and can be helpful in identifying reading difficulties in minority-language children. A study using the RAN-Shapes test found that minority-language children performed worse in reading but similarly in RAN tasks compared to other groups. These findings suggest that RAN performance can help identify children at risk of reading disorders.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Experimental
Anna Lorenzoni, Elena Pagliarini, Francesco Vespignani, Eduardo Navarrete
Summary: Foreign-accented speech affects evaluation judgments, regardless of the logic or truthfulness of the statements. Statements made by foreign speakers are more likely to be accepted and perceived as true.
Article
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
N. Biondo, E. Pagliarini, V. Moscati, L. Rizzi, A. Belletti
Summary: This study investigates the role of morphosyntactic features, specifically number and gender, in adult online comprehension of Italian subject relative clauses (SRC) and object relative clauses (ORC). The study is inspired by developmental research showing that children struggle more with ORC than SRC, but comprehension improves when the head and the subject of the RC have a mismatch in relevant morphosyntactic features, such as number but not gender in Italian. The findings indicate that Italian adults read ORC verbs slower than SRC verbs, but ORC verbs are read faster when there is a head-subject number mismatch, supporting developmental studies and the featural Relativized Minimality principle (fRM).
LANGUAGE COGNITION AND NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Maren Eikerling, Marco Andreoletti, Matteo Secco, Bianca Luculli, Giulia Cha, Sofia Castro, Stefania Gazzola, Daniela Sarti, Franca Garzotto, Maria Teresa Guasti, Maria Luisa Lorusso
Summary: Assessing language abilities of bilingual children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is challenging for clinicians due to difficulties in differentiating them from bilingual children with temporary language difficulties. MuLiMi, a web-based platform, automates screening procedures for bilingual children at risk of DLD. A study with 36 Spanish-speaking children in Italy validated the procedure and showed significant associations between screening scores, parental questionnaires, and standardised tests in identifying DLD risk.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Maren Eikerling, Matteo Secco, Gloria Marchesi, Maria Teresa Guasti, Francesco Vona, Franca Garzotto, Maria Luisa Lorusso
Summary: This study presents a novel web-based screening platform for language and reading assessment, which has been preliminarily validated with primary school children. The platform shows potential in accurately identifying the risk of reading disorders and has received positive feedback from both administrators and participants in usability studies.
MULTIMODAL TECHNOLOGIES AND INTERACTION
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Elisabetta Lombardi, Daniela Traficante, Roberta Bettoni, Ilaria Offredi, Mirta Vernice, Daniela Sarti
Summary: Students with specific learning disorder (SLD-group) did not show significant differences in well-being compared to the control group, except for perceived parental support and involvement in school life. On the other hand, students with learning difficulties without diagnosis (LD-group) reported lower sense of mastery and autonomy, interest and engagement in daily activities, and peer social support compared to their peers. This suggests that having a diagnosis can be a protective factor for both psychological and school well-being of students.
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Linguistics
Elena Pagliarini, Marta Andrada Reyess, Maria Teresa Guasti, Stephen Crain, Anna Gavarro
Summary: The study investigates the interpretation of negative sentences with disjunction in Catalan. The findings show that while adults consider disjunction as a Positive Polarity Item (+PPI), children display a bimodal distribution in their interpretations. Some children adhere to the adult perspective, while others follow the predictions of language learnability principles.
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
(2021)
