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The aim of this paper is to examine the learning processes that subjects undertake when they start using gaze as computer input. A 7-day experiment with eight Japanese students was carried out to record novice users' eye movement data during typing of 110 sentences. The experiment revealed that inefficient eye movements was dramatically reduced after only 15-25 sentences of typing, equal to approximately 3-4 h of practice. The performance data fits a general learning model based on the power law of practice. The learning model can be used to estimate further improvements in gaze typing performance. Our experimental results encourage the use of gaze-based interfaces for severely disabled people. This paper provides a taxonomy for gaze actions on dwell time-activated keys and it presents a method by which the learnability of gaze interfaces may be documented. (Contains 8 tables and 5 figures.)

Aims: To capture inter‐shift handoff changes over a 6‐year interval and to verify whether the handoff supporting system and aids (e.g., guidelines, training, and protocols) and environment really affect handoff performance. Design: A non‐experimental cross‐sectional research design. Data from the 2017 and 2011 surveys were used for comparisons. Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted among nursing staff in 31 general hospitals in 2017 and 4,282 staff responses were collected from inpatient wards such as internal medicine and surgery, the intensive care unit, emergency department and operating room. These were compared with the 1,182 responses collected in the previous 2011 survey. Results: Changes in the 6‐year interval included the introduction of handoff guidelines and increased provision of training. The handoff approach changed significantly and relied more on electronic systems, especially in inpatient wards. However, there was no significant improvement in interruptions. Information transfer improvement was limited and only observed in the surgery wards. Significant correlations verified that in hospitals where nursing staff more positively evaluated the effectiveness of the guidelines, faced fewer interruptions and had more time, handoff performance was better overall, and a higher frequency of sufficient information transfer was evident. Conclusion: Although the inter‐shift handoff supporting system had great changes, improvement of information transfer occurred only in the surgery wards and was limited. It was verified that more effective handoff guidelines and a better handoff environment contributed significantly to improving inter‐shift handoff performance. Impact: This study addressed the question as to whether inter‐shift handoffs have really improved. The answer is yes, but in a limited way. Based on the survey results and handoff practices in Japanese hospitals, a mixed approach (verbal, written, technological) is suggested for inter‐shift handoffs. In addition, it is important to improve the current handoff procedures, guidelines and training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Objectives: This study from Japan extracted performance measures for dialysis unit management and investigated their characteristics from professional views. Methods: Two surveys were conducted using self‐administered questionnaires, in which dialysis managers/staff were asked to rate the usefulness of 44 performance indicators. A total of 255 managers and 2,097 staff responded. Results: Eight performance measures were elicited from dialysis manager and staff responses: these were safety, operational efficiency, quality of working life, financial effectiveness, employee development, mortality, patient/employee satisfaction and patient‐centred health care. These performance measures were almost compatible with those extracted in overall healthcare settings in a previous study. Internal reliability, content and construct validity of the performance measures for the dialysis setting were ensured to some extent. As a general trend, both dialysis managers and staff perceived performance measures as highly useful, especially for safety, mortality, operational efficiency and patient/employee satisfaction, but showed relatively low concerns for patient‐centred health care and employee development. However, dialysis managers’ usefulness perceptions were significantly higher than staff. Conclusions: Important guidelines for designing a holistic hospital/clinic management system were yielded. Performance measures must be balanced for outcomes and performance shaping factors (PSF); a common set of performance measures could be applied to all the healthcare settings, although performance indicators of each measure should be composed based on the application field and setting; in addition, sound causal relationships between PSF and outcome measures/indicators should be explored for further improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ConclusionsThe result suggested that mother tongue Japanese and non- mother tongue Japanese differ in their pattern of brain dominance when listening to sounds from the natural world—in particular, insect sounds. These results reveal significant support for previous findings from Tsunoda (in 1970). ObjectivesThis study concentrates on listeners who show clear evidence of a ‘speech’ brain vs a ‘music’ brain and determines which side is most active in the processing of insect sounds, using with near-infrared spectroscopy. MethodsThe present study uses 2-channel Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) to provide a more direct measure of left- and right-brain activity while participants listen to each of three types of sounds: Japanese speech, Western violin music, or insect sounds. Data were obtained from 33 participants who showed laterality on opposite sides for Japanese speech and Western music. ResultsResults showed that a majority (80%) of the MJ participants exhibited dominance for insect sounds on the side that was dominant for language, while a majority (62%) of the non-MJ participants exhibited dominance for insect sounds on the side that was dominant for music. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purposes of the present study were: (1) to investigate the brain activation associated with coordination exercises done by one person and those by two persons and (2) to examine the interrelationships between the brain activation and social abilities. We were interested in testing the hypothesis that viewing two-person coordination exercises evokes more sophisticated brain activation than viewing one-person coordination exercises. Thirty Japanese college students served as subjects. There were two sessions in this study: the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session and the social ability session. In the fMRI session, the subjects were instructed to imagine they were performing coordination exercises. Also, we examined the social abilities from the viewpoint of empathising. Empathising was measured by self-reports on the Systemising, Empathy and Autism Spectrum Quotients (SQ, EQ and AQ). Regarding brain activation, blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) activation was significant in specific areas such as the left cuneus (Brodmann area: BA 17) when the subjects imagined they were performing exercises involving two persons, as compared with the cases when they imagined they were performing exercises involving only one person. The fMRI results showed that exercises done by two persons require more sophisticated communication than those done by one person. Furthermore, the results of this study suggested that those with more autistic traits may undergo difficulties in the exercises done by two persons, especially in the case of playing a role as a follower. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on a study on the elucidation of organic solvents used in enterprises in Japan through a comparison of current solvent types with historical data. It informs that adhesives spreading was relatively common in small-scale enterprises, printing and painting work in middle-scale ones, and solvent use for testing and research purpose in large-scaled enterprises.

Abstract: In the present paper, we report results of surveys in 2003 in Japan and Denmark about patients’ views about adverse events, focusing on the actions of healthcare staff involved in a medical accident. Results show that patients were more likely to indicate negative expectations to a doctor''s reactions after a medical accident when asked in general terms than when asked in relation to concrete case stories. When asked in general terms, 66% (47%) of Japanese (Danish) respondents expected that doctors sometimes hold back on providing information to patients about a medical accident, while 37% (7%) did so when asked about a concrete, mild-outcome case. We examine some possible reasons for the relatively high level of distrust of Japanese patients, and we discuss whether the seemingly lower level of disclosure in Japan than in Denmark and the negative stories in the Japanese press may have an impact. We also suggest some implications for introducing a patient-centred or customer-centred approach to risk management in healthcare and other domains. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In ageing societies, the effective employment of ageing occupational drivers is one of the most important managerial concerns to be addressed to compensate for the lack of younger workers. In this study, the key factors contributing to the safety outcome in trucking transportation were identified using empirical data, including driving accident information, individual attributes, and task-related attributes. For this purpose, 306 driver records from 26 trucking companies in Japan were analysed. The driver sample was dichotomised by age into elderly drivers (age ≥ 50 years, referred to as older; N = 131) and young drivers (age < 50 years, referred to as younger; N = 175). Based on the analysis results, no significant age difference was identified in the likelihood of involvement in accidents for truck drivers. While older drivers who have penalty point records were more likely to be involved in traffic accidents, they were less affected by hard work conditions compared with young drivers. In conclusion, elderly drivers can be effectively employed as occupational drivers. They do not necessarily have a higher risk of accidents than young drivers. In addition, employment policies are proposed from a safety viewpoint, particularly for elderly truck drivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To extract the organizational climate factors that contribute to safe and effective inter-unit patient handoffs, as well as to capture their crucial characteristics in the context of current Japanese hospitals., Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted among nursing staff in 31 general hospitals, collecting a total of 5117 valid responses (69% response rate)., Results: A five-factor model was established to determine the inter-unit handoff climate within hospitals. This comprised information and responsibility-related risk, role understanding, communication, handoff environment, and guidelines and process. Based on nursing staff perceptions, the inter-unit handoff climate in Japanese hospitals were generally found to be moderate or moderate-to-high levels across all five of the factors. Nursing staff's perceptions of all five climate factors differed significantly across hospitals and work units, rather than working conditions (full-time vs. part-time) or professions (nurse vs. nurse assistant). All five handoff factors were verified their significant impacts on patient safety awareness and handoff quality. Furthermore, in hospitals where staff perceptions of handoff climate were more positive, information was transferred more effectively., Conclusions: An inter-unit handoff climate structure was extracted and verified its impact on handoff quality and safety. Due to moderate climate levels in Japanese hospitals, as well as background factors such as low risk awareness among staff and busy situations, promoting a more positive organizational culture is suggested for creating safer and more effective inter-unit handoffs. Improving the current handoff guidelines and processes in hospitals and using non-licensed assistive staff more effectively are also recommended., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: Interstitial pneumonia is common and has high short-term mortality in patients with PM and DM despite glucocorticoid (GC) treatment. Retrospective studies suggested that the early use of immunosuppressive drugs with GCs might improve its short-term mortality., Methods: A multicentre, single-arm, 52-week-long clinical trial was performed to test whether the initial combination treatment with tacrolimus (0.075 mg/kg/day, adjusted for the target whole-blood trough levels between 5 and 10 ng/ml) and GCs (0.6-1.0 mg/kg/day of prednisolone followed by a slow taper) improves short-term mortality of PM/DM-interstitial pneumonia patients. The primary outcome was overall survival. We originally intended to compare, by using propensity-score matching, the outcome data of clinical trial patients with that of historical control patients who were initially treated with GCs alone., Results: The 52-week survival rate with the combination treatment (N = 26) was 88.0% (95% CI, 67.3, 96.0). Safety profiles of the combination treatment were consistent with those known for tacrolimus and high-dose GCs individually. Serious adverse events occurred in 11 patients (44.0%), which included four opportunistic infections. Only 16 patients, including only 1 deceased patient, were registered as historical controls, which precluded meaningful comparative analysis against the clinical trial patients., Conclusion: Our study provided findings which suggest that initial treatment with tacrolimus and GCs may improve short-term mortality of PM/DM-interstitial pneumonia patients with manageable safety profiles. This was the first prospective clinical investigation conducted according to the Good Clinical Practice Guideline of the International Conference on Harmonization for the treatment of this potentially life-threatening disease., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, http://clinicaltrials.gov, NCT00504348., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology.)

Objectives: To explore essential characteristics of healthcare employee satisfaction by comparing Japan and China in terms of job satisfaction model, satisfaction level, and the crucial factors predicting overall job satisfaction., Methods: A questionnaire was developed with 35 facet-specific job-related satisfaction and 10 general satisfaction items. The Japanese survey collected 474 responses (74% response rate). Two additional items were added in the Chinese survey and 429 responses were collected (69%)., Results: The same five-factor satisfaction model was acquired from both countries with an additional factor labelled "relationship with patients" for China. Applying these factors, a moderate satisfaction level was observed for all professional groups in China, whereas it varied in Japan. A moderate-to-high satisfaction was seen for physicians, a moderate level for pharmacists and technologists, and a low level for nurses. Japanese physicians were significantly more satisfied than Chinese physicians, whereas Japanese nurses were less satisfied than Chinese nurses. Both countries shared crucial predictors of overall job satisfaction that were reputation, growth and development, and work demands and workload. Additionally, financial rewards and relationship with patients were critically important for the Chinese., Conclusions: Japanese and Chinese healthcare employees shared the job satisfaction model with an extra factor for Chinese. Satisfaction levels were similar for pharmacists and technologists in the two countries, but largely different for physicians and nurses. Because crucial satisfaction factors differed, it is suggested that strategies to improve job satisfaction should be specific to culture and profession, eg, in Chinese hospitals, management should support more to employees especially physicians for dealing with conflicts and medical disputes with patients., (© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Objectives: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at an increased risk of Mycobacterium avium complex pulmonary disease (MAC-PD). We aimed to identify factors associated with MAC-PD in RA patients, and investigate their clinical significance for diagnosis of this disease., Methods: We examined 396 patients with RA for the presence of MAC-PD, using the criteria of the American Thoracic Society and conducted three years of follow-up on these patients. Multivariate logistic analyses were employed for selecting factors associated with MAC-PD. We developed a point system based on these factors which we call MAC-PD score to improve diagnosis of MAC-PD., Results: During this study, 14 out of 396 patients were newly diagnosed with MAC-PD. Multivariate analyses revealed body mass index (BMI) <18.0 kg/m 2 and lymphocyte count <1500/μl were associated with MAC-PD in RA patients. Points were assigned to them and totalled to provide the MAC-PD score. Among 20 patients with high-resolution computer tomography images consistent with MAC-PD, the scores were significantly higher in 14 patients with MAC-PD than those in six patients without MAC-PD., Conclusion: Using these data, in the forms of the MAC-PD score, could help to identify patients who should be considered for bronchoscopy more selectively.

We developed a construct of dialysis employees' satisfaction as an assessment framework and identified the crucial factors that contribute to overall job satisfaction. We also seek to capture some important characteristics of dialysis professionals' job satisfaction/dissatisfaction in Japan. A questionnaire was developed, including 35 facet-specific job-related satisfaction and 10 general satisfaction items in closed-ended questions. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted between August and October 2013. A total of 799 valid responses (87% of response rate) were collected from 46 physicians, 470 nurses and 251 technologists in the dialysis department of 43 facilities in Japan. Five satisfaction factors were derived by applying principal component analysis with 61% of cumulative variance accounted for. Physicians, nurses and technologists in the dialysis department shared a similar trend of job satisfaction that they were more satisfied with leadership, and communication and teamwork among the five factors, whereas their satisfaction level was relatively low with salary and welfare conditions. Physicians expressed the strongest satisfaction with any factor while nurses were the least satisfied. Nurses' and technologists' overall job satisfaction was mostly determined by satisfaction with self-actualization, and work demands and workload. A five-factor construct of dialysis employee satisfaction was identified. Overall job satisfaction of dialysis nurses and technologists were not overly high in Japan, and this seems to be caused by their relatively low satisfaction with self-actualization and with work demands and workload. Therefore, it is suggested that their work conditions and environment must be improved to support their self-actualization and to reduce their workload., (© 2015 The Authors. Therapeutic Apheresis and Dialysis © 2015 International Society for Apheresis.)

We would establish a construct of dialysis patients' satisfaction and identify their contribution to overall satisfaction. We also seek to identify present satisfaction levels of Japanese dialysis patients and some important characteristics of their satisfaction/dissatisfaction. A self-administered questionnaire for measuring dialysis patient satisfaction was developed, which comprised 32 closed-ended satisfaction question items that were facet-specific, three items on overall satisfaction, four items on respondent's health status and quality of life as well as demographic information. Reliability and validity of the questionnaire was verified. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted between July and September 2013. A total of 807 valid responses (63% of response rate) were collected from dialysis patients in 22 facilities located in most regions of Japan. Seven satisfaction factors were derived with 65% of cumulative variance accounted for by applying principal component analysis to responses to facet-specific satisfaction items. More than 80% of patients expressed positive overall satisfaction and that they wished to continue dialysis therapy in the current facility (they can change dialysis facilities if they wish to). Dialysis patients' overall satisfaction was formulated significantly by five out of seven satisfaction factors by regression analysis. Japanese dialysis patients expressed their high satisfaction with and strong loyalty to the facility where they currently receive dialysis therapy (i.e., patient loyalty). The more satisfied dialysis patients were with the facility, the stronger loyalty they would like to maintain. The overall satisfaction was critically determined by their satisfaction with clinical environment, equipment, treatment and therapy. In addition, patients' quality of life was highly associated with their overall satisfaction., (© 2014 The Authors. Therapeutic Apheresis and Dialysis © 2014 International Society for Apheresis.)

This paper develops a theoretical framework of holistic hospital management based on performance indicators that can be applied to dialysis hospitals, clinics or departments in Japan. Selection of a key indicator set and its validity tests were performed primarily by a questionnaire survey to dialysis experts as well as their statements obtained through interviews. The expert questionnaire asked respondents to rate the degree of "usefulness" for each of 66 indicators on a three-point scale (19 responses collected). Applying the theoretical framework, we selected a minimum set of key performance indicators for dialysis management that can be used in the Japanese context. The indicator set comprised 27 indicators and items that will be collected through three surveys: patient satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and safety culture. The indicators were confirmed by expert judgment from viewpoints of face, content and construct validity as well as their usefulness. This paper established a theoretical framework of performance measurement for holistic dialysis management from primary healthcare stakeholders' perspectives. In this framework, performance indicators were largely divided into healthcare outcomes and performance shaping factors. Indicators of the former type may be applied for the detection of operational problems or weaknesses in a dialysis hospital, clinic or department, while latent causes of each problem can be more effectively addressed by the latter type of indicators in terms of process, structure and culture/climate within the organization., (© 2013 The Authors. Therapeutic Apheresis and Dialysis © 2013 International Society for Apheresis.)

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate vulnerability and long-term influence of traumatic stress caused by the Great East Japan Disaster which occurred on March 11, 2011, in patients with fibromyalgia, which is a chronic pain syndrome probably involving central sensitization., Methods: A total of 60 female patients with fibromyalgia were compared with female patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA, n = 23) as another chronic pain disease, and with female healthy controls (HC, n = 26) in the observational study. To evaluate responses to traumatic stress, the scores of Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) were assessed one month after the disaster and every six months until 19 months after the disaster. We also evaluated levels of depression during the study period. To know the score of IES-R of patients with fibromyalgia during usual living, we assessed IES-R in another population of fibromyalgia patients without exposure to a great disaster., Results: The mean score of IES-R one month after the disaster in the fibromyalgia group (24.6 [SD 18.9]) was significantly higher than that of RA group (13.4 [SD 14.5]) or HC group (9.1 [9.2]) (F = 9.96, p < 0.0001). However, the mean score of IES-R in fibromyalgia patients without exposure to a great disaster was (20.3 [SD 18.7]), which was almost the same value as the fibromyalgia group seven months after the disaster (20.2 [SD 19.5]). Repeated measures analysis of variance showed significant effect of time course in the depression-related symptoms (F = 6.68, P = 0.001), and a post-hoc test revealed that the number of depression-related symptoms one month before the disaster was significantly different from other time points until 19 months after the disaster, respectively., Conclusions: Although response to acute stress induced by the great earthquake was likely to be settled within seven months after the disaster, depression-related symptoms have been increasing for more than one year after the disaster, despite exclusion of patients with major depression at baseline. This long-lasting worsening of depression-related symptoms may have been in response to chronic stress induced by the fear of radiation due to the nuclear power disaster. These findings suggest that patients with fibromyalgia are vulnerable to chronic stress rather than acute stress.

Objectives: Laboratories in research institutions use organic solvents in research and development. Nevertheless, the types of solvents in use have been seldom reported. This study was initiated to elucidate types of organic solvents used in large research institutions in Japan, with a focus on possible different use among research fields., Methods: In 2010-2011, 4517 laboratories in seven large research institutions were visited. In accordance with legal stipulations, air in each laboratory was collected in polyvinyl fluoride bags and analyzed by direct injection into a gas-chromatograph for 47 types of organic solvents. In evaluation, the laboratories were grouped by 5 research fields, i.e., agriculture, biology, medicine, natural science, and technology and engineering., Results: Types of organic solvents commonly used in research activities were not diverse. Those commonly used were chloroform and 1,2-dichloroethane out of 7 Group 1 organic solvents (with high toxicities); 6 organic solvents, i.e., acetone and methyl alcohol in general, ethyl acetate, hexane and toluene in technology and engineering laboratories; and xylenes in medical fields out of 40 Group 2 organic solvents (with relatively low toxicities). Judging from solvent vapor concentrations, work environments in more than 99 % of laboratories were considered adequate. Nevertheless, use of chloroform in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) resulted in inadequate environments in 30 laboratories (0.7 %)., Conclusions: Organic solvents commonly used were not very diverse. Work environments in research laboratories were generally good, but the environment with use of chloroform in HPLC analysis remained yet to be improved.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the modified American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Preliminary Diagnostic Criteria for Fibromyalgia (mACR 2010-J) and the Fibromyalgia Symptom Scale (mFS-J)., Methods: According to the ACR 1990 classification criteria, patients with chronic pain were divided into the fibromyalgia group and nonfibromyalgia group (rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis). Patients in both groups were assessed using mACR 2010-J and mFS-J., Results: 294 of 462 (64 %) patients in the fibromyalgia group met mACR 2010-J, whereas 4 % (9/231) of the nonfibromyalgia group did, with sensitivity of 64 %, specificity of 96 %, positive predictive value of 97 %, negative predictive value of 56 %, and positive likelihood ratio of 16.3. Mean total scores on mFS-J significantly differentiated the fibromyalgia from the nonfibromyalgia group. According to the value of the Youden index, the best cutoff score for the mFS-J was 9/10., Conclusion: Our findings indicate that mACR 2010-J as a positive test and mFS-J as a quantification scale might be suitable for assessing fibromyalgia among Japanese chronic pain populations.

Staff perceptions of risks associated with patient handoffs were investigated in a survey of nurses in 6 Japanese hospitals. A total of 1462 valid responses were collected from nurses with an overall response rate of 74%. Respondents are moderately satisfied with the transfer of information and responsibility during handoffs. However, the handoff system was identified as immature. Hospital, work setting, and work experience affected nurses' views of handoff quality. Strategies for improving patient handoffs in Japan are proposed.

Objectives: The present paper has 2 primary objectives as a pilot study on health-care safety climate in China: to develop its prototypical model well fit to the country's current hospital situations and validated external reliability and to elicit essential characteristics of safety climate for hypothetical general features in Chinese health care., Methods: A safety climate survey was carried out in 2008 at a university hospital in Shanghai, using an Operating Room Management Attitudes Questionnaire. We collected 1056 valid responses from doctors and nurses with 81% of overall response rate., Results: A 9-dimension model of safety climate was developed by applying principal component analysis to the entire sample with 44% of cumulative variance accounted for. Compared with the Japanese sample, safety climate in the Chinese hospital was characterized as strong awareness of own competence, positive attitudes to organization, but large power distance and unrealistic staff recognition of human error. Criterion validity of the construct was in part assured by significant correlations of 4 dimensions with self-reported staff behavior of accident reporting., Conclusions: Safety climate has been not yet mature in the hospital surveyed that might be partly tied with blame culture. Considering health-care policies, procedures, and management styles shared with many other health-care organizations as well as Chinese culture, we would hypothesize that the immature nature is common in Chinese health care as overall characteristics of safety climate. From these results, we would suggest that a nonpunitive health-care culture should be fostered to improve patient safety in China.

In 2008-2009, types of organic solvents used and air-borne vapor concentrations were surveyed in 1909 laboratories in four large research institutions in accordance with current regulations. The results were classified into 5 groups in terms of research fields (agriculture, biology, medicine, natural science, and technology and engineering) and evaluated after the regulatory rules. Laboratory air analyses by gas chromatography identified 5 and 20 solvents out of 7 Group 1 solvents and 40 Group 2 solvents, respectively; 10 solvents were used in more than 10% of the laboratories in each of the 5 research fields. The use of unmixed single solvent appeared to be unique in research laboratories in contrast to use of solvent mixtures in industrial facilities for production. Laboratories of technology and engineering fields used more various organic solvents more frequently, whereas use of xylenes appeared to be more specific to laboratories of bio-medical fields. Among the commonly used solvents, chloroform was the leading solvent to induce poorer results in regulatory classification (i.e., Class 3 in Administrative Control Classes) typically when applied in high pressure liquid chromatography which was too voluminous to be accommodated in a local exhaustion chamber.

Magnetic brain responses were recorded to clarify the cortical representation of vowel processing in Japanese. We investigated the peak latencies and equivalent current dipoles of the auditory N1m responses to the Japanese vowels [a], [i], [o], and [u]. In intraindividual analyses for a single participant, well-replicated results for the dipole parameters supported the existence of phoneme-specific cortical maps for vowels. In the interindividual analyses for the eight participants, [a] and [i] elicited significantly earlier N1m responses than [u], and the dipole for [i] was more posteriorly oriented than [a] in the left hemisphere. The results of the current study suggest left hemispheric predominance in vowel processing and that factors associated with a different language system may modify the cortical map.

Brain activities were compared between semantic and syntactic processing in the Japanese language using event-related potentials with a 58-ch EEG system. We previously found that semantic violations elicited N400 and syntactic violations elicited P600 but not early left anterior negativity (ELAN) or left anterior negativity (LAN) using a relatively long stimulus presentation time (1 s). In the present study, we adopted a shorter stimulus presentation time (0.5 s), which might impose a heavier burden on the working memory system, to test the possible relevance of load on the working memory system to ELAN/LAN. A global field power analysis showed an increased potential field strength at the latency of 320 ms in either type, as well as those at the later latencies reflecting N400 (556 ms) and P600 (712 ms). Statistical analyses revealed a significant negative deflection in the right frontal region for the semantic type, whereas no significant deflection in either specified region was obtained for the syntactic type at the latency of 320 ms. The lack of ELAN/LAN suggested that it was not due to the deactivation of the working memory system. Moreover, scalp current density topographies implied that the processing of the verbal stimuli was mediated by distinct areas within the left temporal region, according to its semantic congruency with the preceding context at a latency as early as 320 ms. These findings are in line with the dual-route hypothesis of reading, which suggests that the reading of verbal stimuli semantically incongruent with the preceding context is dominated by phonological processes rather than lexico-semantic.