Search

Acquisition of natural language has been shown to fundamentally impact both one's ability to use the first language and the ability to learn subsequent languages later in life. Sign languages offer a unique perspective on this issue because Deaf signers receive access to signed input at varying ages. The majority acquires sign language in (early) childhood, but some learn sign language later--a situation that is drastically different from that of spoken language acquisition. To investigate the effect of age of sign language acquisition and its potential interplay with age in signers, we examined grammatical acceptability ratings and reaction time measures in a group of Deaf signers (age range = 28-58 years) with early (0-3 years) or later (4-7 years) acquisition of sign language in childhood. Behavioral responses to grammatical word order variations (subject-object-verb [SOV] vs. object-subject-verb [OSV]) were examined in sentences that included (1) simple sentences, (2) topicalized sentences, and (3) sentences involving manual classifier constructions, uniquely characteristic of sign languages. Overall, older participants responded more slowly. Age of acquisition had subtle effects on acceptability ratings, whereby the direction of the effect depended on the specific linguistic structure.

Nonsigners viewing sign language are sometimes able to guess the meaning of signs by relying on the overt connection between form and meaning, or iconicity (cf. Ortega, Özyürek, & Peeters, 2020; Strickland et al., 2015). One word class in sign languages that appears to be highly iconic is classifiers: verb-like signs that can refer to location change or handling. Classifier use and meaning are governed by linguistic rules, yet in comparison with lexical verb signs, classifiers are highly variable in their morpho-phonology (variety of potential handshapes and motion direction within the sign). These open-class linguistic items in sign languages prompt a question about the mechanisms of their processing: Are they part of a gestural-semiotic system (processed like the gestures of nonsigners), or are they processed as linguistic verbs? To examine the psychological mechanisms of classifier comprehension, we recorded the electroencephalogram (EEG) activity of signers who watched videos of signed sentences with classifiers. We manipulated the sentence word order of the stimuli (subject-object-verb [SOV] vs. object-subject-verb [OSV]), contrasting the two conditions, which, according to different processing hypotheses, should incur increased processing costs for OSV orders. As previously reported for lexical signs, we observed an N400 effect for OSV compared with SOV, reflecting increased cognitive load for linguistic processing. These findings support the hypothesis that classifiers are a linguistic part of speech in sign language, extending the current understanding of processing mechanisms at the interface of linguistic form and meaning.

Copyright of Quintessenz der Zahntechnik is the property of Quintessenz Verlags GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Recht & Psychiatrie is the property of Psychiatrie Verlag GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction: Self-harming behavior in prisoners is a prevalent phenomenon, with international studies estimating a 4% prevalence rate. However, studies on self-injurious behavior in the German prison system are currently lacking. Therefore, our study aims to conduct an initial assessment. Methods: The Criminological Service for the Berlin Prison System distributed questionnaires on incidents of self-harm to all Berlin prisons, except for juvenile detention centers. The questionnaires were supplemented with medical data, such as psychiatric diagnoses and medication. Results: 62 questionnaires were returned, which could be attributed to 52 inmates. Compared to the average population in the Berlin prison system, the study sample exhibited variations in age, gender distribution and nationality. 94% of the inmates received a psychiatric diagnosis. Two-thirds of the male inmates had substance use disorders, while 83% of the female inmates had emotionally unstable personality resp. borderline disorders. Prior to self-harm, 87% of the inmates were administered psychiatric medication. Discussion: Our study found similarities between the study population and international studies in the distribution of certain characteristics. We assume that many of the postulated risk factors can also apply to Berlin prisoners. However, the study is limited by the small number of cases and the absence of a control group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In unrelated sign languages event structure is reflected in the dynamic form of verbs, and hearing non-signers are known to be able to recognise these visual event structures. This study assessed the time course of neural processing mechanisms in non-signers to examine the pathways for incorporation of physical-perceptual motion features into the linguistic system. In an EEG study, hearing non-signers classified telic/atelic verb signs (two-choice lexical decision task). The ERP effects reflect differences in perceptual processing of verb types (early anterior ERP effects) and integration of perceptual and linguistic processing required by the task (later posterior ERP effects). Non-signers appear to segment signed input into discrete events as they try to map the sign to a linguistic concept. This might indicate the potential pathway for co-optation of perceptual features into the linguistic structure of sign languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Sensory inference and top-down predictive processing, reflected in human neural activity, play a critical role in higher-order cognitive processes, such as language comprehension. However, the neurobiological bases of predictive processing in higher-order cognitive processes are not well-understood. Methods: This study used electroencephalography (EEG) to track participants' cortical dynamics in response to Austrian Sign Language and reversed sign language videos, measuring neural coherence to optical flow in the visual signal. We then used machine learning to assess entropy-based relevance of specific frequencies and regions of interest to brain state classification accuracy. Results: EEG features highly relevant for classification were distributed across language processing-related regions in Deaf signers (frontal cortex and left hemisphere), while in non-signers such features were concentrated in visual and spatial processing regions. Discussion: The results highlight functional significance of predictive processing time windows for sign language comprehension and biological motion processing, and the role of long-term experience (learning) in minimizing prediction error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigated if deficits in processing emotional expression affect facial identity processing and vice versa in children with autism spectrum disorder. Children with autism and IQ and age matched typically developing children classified faces either by emotional expression, thereby ignoring facial identity or by facial identity disregarding emotional expression. Typically developing children processed facial identity independently from facial expressions but processed facial expressions in interaction with identity. Children with autism processed both facial expression and identity independently of each other. They selectively directed their attention to one facial parameter despite variations in the other. Results indicate that there is no interaction in processing facial identity and emotional expression in autism spectrum disorder.

Copyright of Recht & Psychiatrie is the property of Psychiatrie Verlag GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Recht & Psychiatrie is the property of Psychiatrie Verlag GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Recht & Psychiatrie is the property of Psychiatrie Verlag GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The risk of violent behavior is known to be higher for patients who suffer from a severe mental disorder. However, specific prediction tools for clinical work in prison psychiatry are lacking. In this single‐center study, two violence risk assessment tools (Forensic Psychiatry and Violence Tool, "FoVOx," and Mental Illness and Violence Tool, "OxMIV") were applied to a prison hospital population with a primary psychotic or bipolar disorder and subsequently compared. The required information on all items of both tools was obtained retrospectively for a total of 339 patients by evaluation of available patient files. We obtained the median and inter‐quartile range for both FoVOx and OxMIV, and their rank correlation coefficient along with 95% confidence intervals (CIs)—for the full cohort, as well as for cohort subgroups. The two risk assessment tools were strongly positively correlated (Spearman correlation = 0.83; 95% CI = 0.80–0.86). Such a high correlation was independent of nationality, country of origin, type of detention, schizophrenia‐spectrum disorder, previous violent crime and alcohol use disorder, where correlations were above 0.8. A lower correlation was seen with patients who were 30 years old or more, married, with affective disorder and with self‐harm behavior, and also in patients without aggressive behavior and without drug use disorder. Both risk assessment tools are applicable as an adjunct to clinical decision making in prison psychiatry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surveys confirm risk factors for the incarceration of patients with psychosis including homelessness and comorbidity. There is also agreement that severe psychosis can lead to violence. Data describing prisoners with psychosis in Germany are scarce. We aimed to compare patients with psychosis in a prison hospital and patients with psychosis in a community hospital. Demographic data were collected, as well as comorbidity in the form of substance dependence and a psychiatric assessment using the German version of the 18‐item Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). In the prison hospital group more patients were homeless (17 versus 2%) and non‐German (36 versus 4%). There were also more patients with substance dependence or abuse in the prison hospital group. The total scores of BPRS and PANSS were lower in the prison hospital group (BPRS, 43.8 versus 51.2; PANSS, 71.5 versus 83.7). We assume that social disintegration for mentally disturbed offenders prior to incarceration hindered effective treatment. To avoid further social disintegration and possible further deterioration of mental health status of released offenders, which may lead to reoffending after imprisonment, discharge management after release from prison should be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Among people living in detention, substance use is highly prevalent, including opioid dependence. Opioid agonist treatment (OAT) has been established as an evidence-based, first-line treatment for opioid dependence. Despite high prevalence of opioid dependence, conclusive data regarding its prevalence and the OAT practice in German prisons is scarce; rather, the existing data widely diverges concerning the rates of people in detention receiving OAT. Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of all detention facilities in Berlin. On the date of data collection, a full census of the routine records was completed based on the medical documentation system. For each opioid dependent individual, we extracted sociodemographic data (i.e., age, sex, and non-/German nationality, whether people experienced language-related communication barriers), information about OAT, comorbidities (HIV, hepatitis C, schizophrenia), and the detention center, as well as the anticipated imprisonment duration and sentence type. The data was first analyzed descriptively and secondly in an evaluative-analytical manner by analyzing factors that influence the access to OAT of people living in detention. Results: Among the 4,038 people in detention in the Berlin custodial setting under investigation, we identified a 16% prevalence of opioid dependence. Of the opioid-dependent individuals, 42% received OAT; 31% were treated with methadone, 55% were treated with levomethadone, and 14% were treated with buprenorphine. Access to OAT seemed mainly dependent upon initial receipt of OAT at the time of imprisonment, detention duration, the prisons in which individuals were detained, German nationality, and sex. The overall prevalence of HIV was 4–8%, hepatitis C was 31–42%, and schizophrenia was 5%. Conclusions: The prevalence of opioid dependence and access to OAT remains a major health issue in the custodial setting. OAT implementation must be especially intensified among male, non-German, opioid-dependent individuals with a short detention period. Treatment itself must be diversified regarding the substances used for OAT, and institutional treatment differences suggest the need for a consistent treatment approach and the standardized implementation of treatment guidelines within local prison's standard operating procedures. Testing for infectious diseases should be intensified among opioid-dependent people living in detention to address scarcely known infection statuses and high infection rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the distribution of agrm-bc, one of two agreement markers used in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS; Krebs, Julia, Ronnie B. Wilbur & Dietmar Roehm. 2017. Two agreement markers in ÖGS. Sign Language and Linguistics 20(1). 27–54), with respect to different "verb types". Using an online questionnaire, ÖGS signers rated ÖGS sentences involving different verb types that varied in whether they show agreement with their arguments ("agreeing" with two arguments, "plain" with none or only one) and if so, how (movement from subject to object, backwards from object to subject and/or facing towards object). Thus, the verbs differ in the degree and form of expressing agreement. In addition, these verbs either appeared with or without agrm-bc. Data analysis revealed that the combination of inflected agreeing verbs and the agreement marker ("double agreement") is acceptable in ÖGS. If the verb itself does not indicate full agreement (i.e., as in plain verbs) agrm-bc can, but does not have to, be used to indicate the argument structure. Independently, whether the verb showed full agreement marking (movement and facing) or only facing did not influence the acceptability of the occurrence of agrm-bc. The relatively high ratings for the combination of agrm-bc with different verb types suggests that agrm-bc functions as a general agreement marker in ÖGS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preference of the human parser for interpreting syntactically ambiguous sentence-initial arguments as the subject of a clause (i.e. subject preference) has been documented for spoken and sign languages. Recent research (He, 2016) suggests that the subject preference can be eliminated by manipulating information structure (topicalisation). To investigate the effects of interaction between syntax and information structure on language processing, we tested the role of topic marking in sentence processing in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS). We examined whether non-manual topic marking on the sentence-initial argument eliminates the subject preference using event-related brain potentials. We replicated the finding of the subject preference in ÖGS by identifying an N400-family response to object-first sentences. Further, topic marking in ÖGS influenced the processing of the topic argument itself and later processing stages. This suggests that interpretation of topic marking imposes additional processing costs, relative to syntactic reanalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies of Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) word-order variations have demonstrated the human processing system's tendency to interpret a sentence-initial (case-) ambiguous argument as the subject of the clause ("subject preference"). The electroencephalogram study motivating the current report revealed earlier reanalysis effects for object-subject compared to subject-object sentences, in particular, before the start of the movement of the agreement marking sign. The effects were bound to time points prior to when both arguments were referenced in space and/or the transitional hand movement prior to producing the disambiguating sign. Due to the temporal proximity of these time points, it was not clear which visual cues led to disambiguation; that is, whether non-manual markings (body/shoulder/head shift towards the subject position) or the transitional hand movement resolved ambiguity. The present gating study further supports that disambiguation in ÖGS is triggered by cues occurring before the movement of the disambiguating sign. Further, the present study also confirms the presence of the subject preference in ÖGS, showing again that signers and speakers draw on similar strategies during language processing independent of language modality. Although the ultimate role of the visual cues leading to disambiguation (i.e., non-manual markings and transitional movements) requires further investigation, the present study shows that they contribute crucial information about argument structure during online processing. This finding provides strong support for granting these cues some degree of linguistic status (at least in ÖGS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines online processing of transitive argument relations in the case of Austrian Sign Language by deaf signers. A table is given which includes examples of two experimental conditions which are illustrated by a sentence involving an agreeing verb. Results of online questionnaire which evaluates usage and syntax of two agreement markers in the language are also presented.

For many of the sign languages studied to date, different types of agreement markers have been described which express agreement in transitive constructions involving non-inflecting (plain) verbs and sometimes even inflected agreement verbs. Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) belongs to the group of sign languages employing two different agreement markers (AGRM-BC/AGRM-MF), which will be described in this paper. In an online questionnaire, we focused on two questions: (i) whether both forms of agreement markers are rated as equally acceptable by Deaf ÖGS-signers and hearing native signers, and (ii) whether there is a preferred syntactic position (pre- vs. postverbal) for these markers. Data analysis confirmed that both agreement markers are accepted by ÖGSsigners and that both agreement markers are slightly preferred in preverbal position. Further, possible origins of both agreement markers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]