Boaz M. Ben-David

Stroop Effects in Persons with Traumatic Brain Injury: Selective Attention, Speed of Processing, or Color-Naming? A Meta-analysis

The color word Stroop test is the most common tool used to assess selective attention in persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI). A larger Stroop effect for TBI patients, as compared to controls, is generally interpreted as reflecting a decrease in selective attention. Alternatively, it has been suggested that this increase in Stroop effects is influenced by group differences in generalized speed of processing (SOP). The current study describes an overview and meta-analysis of 10 studies, where persons with TBI (N = 324) were compared to matched controls (N = 501) on the Stroop task. The findings confirmed that Stroop interference was significantly larger for TBI groups (p = .008). However, these differences may be strongly biased by TBI-related slowdown in generalized SOP (r² = .81 in a Brinley analysis). We also found that TBI-related changes in sensory processing may affect group differences. Mainly, a TBI-related increase in the latency difference between reading and naming the font color of a color-neutral word (r² = .96) was linked to Stroop effects. Our results suggest that, in using Stroop, it seems prudent to control for both sensory factors and SOP to differentiate potential changes in selective attention from other changes following TBI.

A sensory origin for color-word Stroop effects in aging: a meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT An increase in Stroop effects with age is often interpreted as reflecting reductions in selective attention, or alternatively, cognitive slowing with age. In a cross-lab and a cross-sectional analysis, we linked sensory losses to Stroop declines. Specifically, we found that the latency difference, or dimensional imbalance, between reading and naming the font color of color-neutral words increased with age. A cross-sectional analysis revealed that this dimensional imbalance can both mediate the effects of age on Stroop effects, and contribute to Stroop after controlling for age effects. We conclude that age-related changes in color perception contribute to and may mediate age-related changes in Stroop.

A resource of validated affective and neutral sentences to assess identification of emotion in spoken language after a brain injury

Primary objective: The ability to identify emotions in spoken language is an essential component of communication and could be disrupted in persons with brain injury. Current tools to assess this function show important shortcomings. The aim is to present a set of validated and linguistically equated lexical sentences that can be used to separate the impact of lexical content and prosody on the processing of emotion in speech in persons with brain injury. Methods and procedures: Using six-point Likert scales, a set of 125 sentences, carefully matched for linguistic variables, were rated by a group of young adults (n = 48) on their suitability to represent a particular emotion (anger, fear, happiness and sadness) in their lexical content. Main outcomes and results: The findings identified a set of 50 sentences that were reliably associated with one particular emotion only or no emotion at all (neutral). Using less stringent criteria, 94 sentences were also found to be good representatives for these affective categories. Conclusions: The findings generated a robust set of validated lexical stimuli necessary to reliably identify the specific contributions of verbal and prosodic information on difficulties in identifying emotions in speech with persons with brain injury.

A sensory origin for color-word stroop effects in aging: simulating age-related changes in color-vision mimics age-related changes in Stroop.

ABSTRACT An increase in Stroop effects with age can be interpreted as reflecting age-related reductions in selective attention, cognitive slowing, or color-vision. In the present study, 88 younger adults performed a Stroop test with two color-sets, saturated and desaturated, to simulate an age-related decrease in color perception. This color manipulation with younger adults was sufficient to lead to an increase in Stroop effects that mimics age-effects. We conclude that age-related changes in color perception can contribute to the differences in Stroop effects observed in aging. Finally, we suggest that the clinical applications of Stroop take this factor into account.

The impact of threat and cognitive stress on speech motor control in people who stutter

PURPOSE In the present study, an Emotional Stroop and Classical Stroop task were used to separate the effect of threat content and cognitive stress from the phonetic features of words on motor preparation and execution processes. METHOD A group of 10 people who stutter (PWS) and 10 matched people who do not stutter (PNS) repeated colour names for threat content words and neutral words, as well as for traditional Stroop stimuli. Data collection included speech acoustics and movement data from upper lip and lower lip using 3D EMA. RESULTS PWS in both tasks were slower to respond and showed smaller upper lip movement ranges than PNS. For the Emotional Stroop task only, PWS were found to show larger inter-lip phase differences compared to PNS. General threat words were executed with faster lower lip movements (larger range and shorter duration) in both groups, but only PWS showed a change in upper lip movements. For stutter specific threat words, both groups showed a more variable lip coordination pattern, but only PWS showed a delay in reaction time compared to neutral words. Individual stuttered words showed no effects. Both groups showed a classical Stroop interference effect in reaction time but no changes in motor variables. CONCLUSION This study shows differential motor responses in PWS compared to controls for specific threat words. Cognitive stress was not found to affect stuttering individuals differently than controls or that its impact spreads to motor execution processes. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES After reading this article, the reader will be able to: (1) discuss the importance of understanding how threat content influences speech motor control in people who stutter and non-stuttering speakers; (2) discuss the need to use tasks like the Emotional Stroop and Regular Stroop to separate phonetic (word-bound) based impact on fluency from other factors in people who stutter; and (3) describe the role of anxiety and cognitive stress on speech motor processes.

Stroop effects in Alzheimer's disease: selective attention speed of processing, or color-naming? A meta-analysis.

Selective attention, an essential part of daily activity, is often impaired in people with Alzheimers disease (AD). Usually, it is measured by the color-word Stroop test. However, there is no universal agreement whether performance on the Stroop task changes significantly in AD patients; or if so, whether an increase in Stroop effects reflects a decrease in selective attention, a slowing in generalized speed of processing (SOP), or is the result of degraded color-vision. The current study investigated the impact of AD on Stroop performance and its potential sources in a meta-analysis and mathematical modeling of 18 studies, comparing 637 AD patients with 977 healthy age-matched participants. We found a significant increase in Stroop effects for AD patients, across studies. This AD-related change was associated with a slowing in SOP. However, after correcting for a bias in the distribution of latencies, SOP could only explain a moderate portion of the total variance (25%). Moreover, we found strong evidence for an AD-related increase in the latency difference between naming the font-color and reading color-neutral stimuli (r2 = 0.98). This increase in the dimensional imbalance between color-naming and word-reading was found to explain a significant portion of the AD-related increase in Stroop effects (r2 = 0.87), hinting on a possible sensory source. In conclusion, our analysis highlights the importance of controlling for sensory degradation and SOP when testing cognitive performance and, specifically, selective attention in AD patients. We also suggest possible measures and tools to better test for selective attention in AD.

Species of Redundancy in Visual Target Detection.

We report a series of investigations into the effects of common names, physical identity, and physical similarity on visual detection time. The effect of these factors on the capacity of the system processing the signals was also examined. We used a redundant targets design with separate testing of the target-distractor (single target), target-target (redundant targets), and distractor-distractor (no targets) displays. When a target and a distractor share names, detection of the target is slower than it is in a situation in which the two do not go by a common name. Nevertheless, the gain reaped by redundant targets in this situation is larger and signal processing is of increased capacity compared with those in a situation in which the target and the distractor are coded by different names. The results also highlight the role of physical identity of targets: Detection is disproportionately efficient when reproductions of a given signal are presented. Together, the results provide guiding principles for a model of visual detection by a context-sensitive human detector.

Older is always better: Age-related differences in vocabulary scores across 16 years.

Cross-sectional studies of cognitive aging compare age groups at 1 time point. It is unclear from such studies whether age-related cognitive differences remain stable across time. We present a cross-sectional investigation of vocabulary scores of 2,000 younger and older adults collected across 16 years, using the same laboratory and protocol. We found a steady decrease with year of testing and an advantage for older adults. An additive relation between age group and year of testing implied that age-related differences in vocabulary are independent of changes over time, suggesting that younger and older adults are similarly affected by changes in word usage.

Effective Communication as a Fundamental Aspect of Active Aging and Well-Being: Paying Attention to the Challenges Older Adults Face in Noisy Environments

Successful communication is vital to active aging and well-being, yet virtually all older adults find it challenging to communicate effectively in noisy environments. The resulting discomfort and frustration can prompt withdrawal or avoidance of social situations, which, in turn, can severely limit the range of activities available to older adults and lead to a less active and satisfying lifestyle, and, in some cases, depression. Using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health’s (ICF) multifactorial model (WHO, 2001), we review the wider aspects of functioning and disability as they relate to hearing difficulties and communication, placing a particular emphasis on the work we, an international and interdisciplinary group of researchers, have done in the context of the ERA-NET funded interdisciplinary HEARATTN project. The ICF model is particularly fitting because it allows us to consider how physiological changes in hearing and cognition affect listening in various situations, what the consequences of these changes are for communicative abilities and social participation, and how this in turn affects life-space mobility, self-reported well-being, and, ultimately, quality of life. We will discuss how environmental conditions (both physical and social) and personal factors can affect how well older adults can communicate in the situations characteristic of everyday life. In the concluding section we discuss some behaviors, techniques and strategies that can be adopted to maintain or improve effective communication under difficult listening conditions.

A resource of validated digital audio recordings to assess identification of emotion in spoken language after a brain injury.

Communication Aging and Neuropsychology Lab, School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC), Herzliya, Israel, Oral Dynamics Lab, Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Department of Psychology, Centre for Research on Biological Communication Systems, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Graduate Department of Rehabilitation Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada