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This review aimed to discuss the influence of literacy and formal education on human brain organization, based on evidence drawn from three sources: (1) results and limitations of a project coordinated by André Roch Lecours on the influence of illiteracy on brain organization and of studies on aphasia in illiterate populations;(2) data on the impact of schooling on the neuropsychological assessment of healthy and brain-damaged individuals, and(3) studies on the effect of schooling on dementia. These findings suggest that schooling and literacy processes influence cerebral organization of healthy individuals, as well as of brain-lesion individuals and those with dementia. Concerning illiteracy, the systematic pioneering studies developed by Lecours and the continuity of his investigations were essential to alert the scientific and clinical communities to take into account the role of educational experience on cognitive processing and its brain substrates.Esta revisão tem por objetivo discutir a influência da alfabetização e da educação formal na organização do cérebro humano, com base em evidências aportadas por três fontes:(1) resultados e limitações de um projeto coordenado por André Roch Lecours sobre a influência do analfabetismo na organização cerebral e de estudos sobre afasia em populações analfabetas;(2) dados sobre o impacto da escolaridade na avaliação neuropsicológica de indivíduos saudáveis e com lesão cerebral, e(3) estudos sobre o efeito da escolaridade na demência.Tais achados sugerem que processos de escolaridade influenciam a organização cerebral de indivíduos saudáveis, bem como a de indivíduos com lesão cerebral e com quadro de demência. Com relação ao analfabetismo, os estudos sistemáticos pioneiros de Lecours, bem como a continuidade de suas investigações, foram essenciais para alertar as comunidades científicas e clínicas quanto à necessidade de considerarem o papel da experiência educacional no processamento cognitivo e em seus substratos cerebrais.

Em face da importante escassez de estudos sobre processamento do discurso no envelhecimento e do conhecimento ainda restrito quanto à relação dos componentes linguísticos envolvidos na leitura de textos e outros componentes cognitivos, como a memória, o presente estudo teve por objetivo comparar o processamento do texto narrativo entre leitores adultos jovens e leitores adultos idosos. igualmente, visou investigar se há relação entre esta habilidade leitora e sistemas de memória (episódica e de trabalho). houve diferenças significativas entre os grupos em termos de acurácia na resolução das tarefas de leitura apenas em uma questão envolvendo coerência extratextual que inclui conhecimento metafórico e cultural, tarefa na qual os adultos jovens apresentaram melhor desempenho. o tempo de resposta dos idosos foi significativamente mais alto nas tarefas de leitura e em alguns testes neuropsicológicos. além disso, o desempenho dos idosos na comparação com o grupo de adultos jovens foi significativamente mais baixo em alguns itens dos testes que mensuraram a memória de trabalho e episódica. Considering the lack of studies on discourse processing in aging and our still restricted knowledge about the relationship between linguistic components involved in text reading andother cognitive components, such as memory, the present studyaimed to compare narrative processing by young adult readersand elderly readers. Moreover it aimed to investigate whetherthere is a relationship between this reading ability and memorysystems (more specifically episodic and working memory). interms of accuracy in the resolution of the reading comprehensiontasks, there was a statistically significant difference betweengroups in only one task, which measured extratextual coherenceincluding metaphorical and cultural knowledge, with theyoung group outperforming the elderly one. Significantlyhigher response time was observed in the elderly group whileanswering the comprehension questions and performing someof the neuropsychological tests. also a lower performance inworking and episodic memory was registered in the elderlygroup as compared to the younger adults group.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the influence of reading habits on cerebral plasticity in the performance of a discourse comprehension task in aging. The main hypothesis was that participants with higher frequency and quality of reading habits should exhibit reduced brain activity because the task should be easier for them. two groups of native French speakers, 16 young adults and 16 elderly adults, participated in a task using the nirS (near-infrared spectroscopy) technique. They read short stories and answered true or false probes after each one. They also completed a questionnaire about their previous reading habits. The results show that the more experienced readers had higher activation in the superior left region of the prefrontal cortex while they were reading the stories but lower activation in the same region when they were retrieving the information to answer the probe. Thus, more effort is required to acquire and maintain the information needed to answer, and this effort makes it easier to give the answer. These results reinforce the hypothesis that brain plasticity is promoted by cognitive activities throughout the lifespan.

Childhood neuropsychology is a growing scientific area in Brazil. Regarding cognitive function in infancy, executive function (EF) has been the main focus of several studies because of its importance for and complexity in human cognition and behavior. Executive functions can be considered a set of cognitive processes related to control and integration devoted to the execution of goal-directed behaviors. Research has shown that these abilities begin in infancy and progressively develop until adulthood. Although some studies on EF development in children have already been conducted, our knowledge on this topic is still incipient. Because of the relevant role of age in cognition and EF development, the present study investigated whether differences exist between children aged 6 to 12 years concerning their performance on the Hayling test-adult version, an instrument that assesses the EF components of initiation and inhibition. Pilot data are presented that verify the applicability of this test to children. Significant differences were found between comparable age groups only in three of the seven main Hayling test scores, suggesting that the adult version may not be appropriate for children, and an adaptation of the test for child assessment is necessary. The study may lead to an initial reflection on the development of these components and thus contribute to improvements in the field of child neuropsychology.

Neuropsychological studies on the processing of some specific cognitive functions throughout aging are essential for the understanding of human cognitive development from ages 19 to 89. Objectives: This study aimed to verify the occurrence of differences in the processing of episodic memory, concentrated attention and speed of attentional processing among four age groups of adults. Methods: A total of 136 neurologically healthy adults, aged 19-89, with 9 or more years of schooling, took part in the study. Participants were divided according to four age groups: young, middle-aged, elderly and oldest old adults. Subtests of the Brief Neuropsychological Evaluation Instrument (NEUPSILIN) were applied for the cognitive assessment. Mean score of corrected answers and of response times were compared between groups by means of a one-way ANOVA test with post-hoc Scheffe procedures and ANCOVA including the co-variables of years of schooling and socio-economical scores. Results: In general, differences in performance were observed from 60 years old on. Only the episodic memory task of delayed recall reflected differences from the age of around 40 onwards and processing speed from around the age of 70 onwards. Thus, differences were found between the age groups regarding their cognitive performance, particularly between young adults and elderly adults, and young adults and oldest old adults. Conclusions: Our research indicates that the middle-aged group should be better analyzed and that comparative cross-sectional studies including only extreme groups such as young and elderly adults are not sufficient. Resumo Os estudos neuropsicológicos sobre o processamento de algumas funções cognitivas específicas no envelhecimento são essenciais para a compreensão do desenvolvimento humano na idade de 19 a 89 anos. Objetivos: Esse estudo teve como objetivo verificar a ocorrência de diferenças no processamento da memória episódica, atenção concentrada e velocidade de processamento entre quatro grupos etários. Métodos: Participaram desse estudo 136 adultos neurologicamente saudáveis de 19 a 89 anos, com 9 anos ou mais de escolaridade, divididos em quatro grupos etários: jovens, de idade intermediária, idosos e longevos. Subtestes do Instrumento de Avaliação Neuropsicológica Breve - NEUPSILIN foram utilizados para a avaliação cognitiva. A média dos escores e o tempo de resposta foram comparados entre os grupos através do teste one-way ANOVA, com o procedimento post-hoc Scheffe e uma ANCOVA com as co-variáveis anos de escolaridade e escore sócio-econômico. Resultados: De maneira geral, foram encontradas diferenças entre os grupos a partir dos 60 anos. Somente na tarefa de memória episódica tardia foram encontradas diferenças aproximadamente a partir dos 40 anos, e na velocidade de processamento, a partir dos 70 anos de idade. Dessa forma, houve diferenças entre os grupos no seu desempenho cognitivo, principalmente entre o grupo de adultos jovens e adultos idosos e adultos jovens e adultos longevos. Conclusões: Os resultados demonstraram, ainda, que o grupo de adultos de idade intermediária deve ser mais bem investigado e, a partir disso, que estudos comparativos incluindo grupos de faixas etárias extremas não são suficientes.

A growing interest in cognition in aging has been observed because of both the epidemiologic factor of an increase in the lifespan of the world's population and the cognitive changes behaviorally and biologically detectable in this population. The most complex of language components and fundamental in social interaction, discourse production and comprehension are among the most scarcely explored cognitive functions in this context. This review presents and discusses discourse processing in healthy aging with regard to theoretical, behavioral, and neuroimaging evidence. Cognitive and neurobiological models are reviewed, such as the Hemispheric Asymmetry Reduction in Older Adults (HAROLD) model and the Posterior-Anterior Shift in Aging (PASA) model. Among the neuropsycholinguistic research developed to characterize discourse processing in aging individuals, which has contributed to the prevention and treatment of language impairment and the maintenance of communicative competence in aging, studies on the relationship between discourse and working memory, attention, and some executive components are discussed. Regarding neuroimaging data, very few studies that have included cognitive tasks and discourse stimuli were found. Such studies suggest that discourse processing requires not only the participation of both brain hemispheres, but also a more prominent activation of frontal regions. Considering the great complexity and usefulness of discourse in elderly adults' daily communication and the emergence of cognitive deficits related to aging in complex information processing, the necessity of further behavioral and neuroimaging studies, including discourse processing tasks, comparing tasks involving executive, attentional, and mnemonic demands becomes evident.

Given the increasing number of bilinguals around the world, bilingual aphasia has become a hot topic in the field of clinical and theoretical research in communication sciences. The aim of this article is to provide data-driven cues for intervention with bilingual aphasia. First, the impact of a number of factors considered to influence second language processing will be discussed with reference to neurolinguistic and neuroimaging data. The discussion will then move to bilingual aphasia. Specifically, we shall describe the recovery patterns following bilingual aphasia, and discuss the issues of pathological mixing and switching. The literature and clinical evidence will provide the framework for a discussion of data-driven cues for intervention with bilingual aphasia.

For more than a century, language has been assumed to be entirely dependent on left-hemisphere-based processing. However, since the early 1960s, evidence for the right hemisphere's involvement in language processing, in particular in the semantic processing of words, has emerged. At least three complementary approaches have provided evidence of this: behavioral data from neurologically intact participants, the study of brain-damaged patients and the use of neuroimaging methods. The goal of this article is to review the major evidence from these three sources concerning the nature of the right hemisphere's contribution to the semantic processing of words. Overall, the data from these studies suggest that both the right hemisphere and the left hemisphere are crucial for semantic processing, with both hemispheres being involved in different ways in the processing of semantic knowledge.

Objective: To translate and adapt to Brazilian Portuguese the Revised Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), in both paper-and-pencil and computerized versions. The RMET is a well-accepted instrument for assessment of Theory of Mind (ToM), an important component of social cognition. Methods: Following a guideline for translation of material for clinical populations, this study had three main phases: 1) formal translation and semantic adaptation to Brazilian Portuguese; 2) an acceptability trial with health professionals as judges evaluating picture-word matching; and 3) a trial using the paper-and-pencil and computerized versions (experiments built in E-Prime 2.0.10 software) with healthy participants to test whether the instrument has similar outputs to those expected in versions in other languages. Results: RMET was adequately adapted to Brazilian Portuguese. This version showed acceptability and outputs similar to versions of the instrument in other languages, including the original one. We kept the same number of images as the original English version. Conclusions: Considering the scarcity of cognitive assessment instruments adequately adapted to Portuguese and the importance of social cognition in many psychiatric disorders, this work adds an important resource to Brazilian research and is administrable in both paper-and-pencil and computerized versions.

Revisou-se a classificacao dos sistemas de memoria enfocando a memoria de trabalho (MT) e sua relacao com a linguagem. A interacao dos niveis de complexidade da linguagem com os sistemas mnemonicos e indubitavel. A principal relacao da MT com a linguagem reside em dois componentes: alca fonologica e buffer episodico. Nessa area, sao necessarios estudos que detalhem as relacoes entre discurso, pragmatica e a MT, principalmente sobre o funcionamento do seu principal componente, o executivo central.

is article presents the results of a study which investigated theperformance of native speakers of English (L1) when reading texts in French(L2), language in which they had intermediate pro" ciency. ! e study investi-gated, in relation to behavioral performance, these readers’ accuracy and re-sponse times when processing the text at three di# erent levels (the macro- andthe micro-structure and the situational model), whereas, with respect to brainactivity, the study analyzed the participation of the two cerebral hemispheresin processing the three levels mentioned above, using the fNIRS (functionalNear-Infrared Spectroscopy) neuroimaging tool. ! e behavioral results showstatistically signi" cant di# erences between the two groups. ! e neuroimag-ing results indicate a statistically signi" cant participation of the two regionsof interest in temporal areas of the right hemisphere during processing at themacro-structure, as well as of temporal and frontal regions in the le$ hemi-sphere in comprehension at the microstructure.

The study of the neural basis of syntactic processing has greatly benefited from neuroimaging techniques. Research on syntactic processing in bilinguals has used a variety of techniques, including mainly functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and event-related potentials (ERP). This paper reports on a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study on syntactic processing in highly proficient young adult speakers of Portuguese (mother tongue) (L1) and French (second language) (L2). They made a syntactic judgment of visually presented sentences, which either did or did not contain noun–verb agreement violations. The results showed that syntactic processing in both languages resulted in significant activation in anterior frontal regions of the left hemisphere and in the temporal superior posterior areas of the right hemisphere, with a more prominent activation for L2 in some areas. These findings corroborate previously reported neuroimaging evidence, showing the suitability of fNIRS for the study of syntactic processing in the bilingual brain.

Relatively few studies have analyzed the mechanisms underlying the cognitive changes that affect language in the elderly, and fewer have done so for narrative discourse. The goal of this study was to explore the neurofunctional changes associated with aging for different components of narrative discourse. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and behavioral data on 10 younger adults and 10 healthy elderly participants were collected. Ten younger adults in a non-proficient second language condition were included to explore the possibility that the age-related neurofunctional reorganization partly expresses demanding resource allocation. Results show within- and across-hemispheric differences in the neurofunctional pattern of activation in the older participants with reference to the younger ones, partially shared with the low-proficiency young adults, providing support for the recognized mechanisms underlying neural reserve and compensation. fNIRS was shown to be appropriate for studying the age-related neurofunctional reorganization of complex cognitive abilities.

has traditionally studied language emphasizing the exclusive control of the left hemisphere of the brain over this process. With the growing development of this area in psychology and the availability of neuroimaging techniques, a critical analysis of the traditional concept of cerebral dominance for language and of the bases of the neurobiological representations of this cognitive function is crucial. In this context, this review aims to investigate evidence brought by neuroimaging studies on the role of the right hemisphere in communicative processing in healthy individuals. Data suggest a co-activation of brain hemispheres in this processing, with an important contribution given by the right hemisphere in discursive, pragmatic-inferential, and prosodic processing.Keywords: communication, pragmatics, discourse, prosody, right hemisphere, cerebral dominance.

This theoretical article aims to discuss the nature of the cognitive changes emerged from healthy aging, searching for answers to the following question “Do the changes in elderly adults’ cognition represent deficits?” Normal aging is accompanied by changes in cognitive functioning. The most frequent changes encompass some memory, attention and visuo-spatial components. These changes are modulated by the cognitive reserves possessed by individuals and by the way these individuals continue to maintain and explore them. Due to brain plasticity, adaptations continue to occur as to maintain the same level of cognitive processing. These adaptations tend to be considered as evidence of cognitive decline, representing a negative connotation brought by chronological development. They may as well be understood as an index of cognitive strategies’ application, which corresponds to a non-pejorative developmental notion. After a critical-reflexive analysis of the literature, the initial question about the adaptive or deficits characteristic of the cognitive changes emerging from aging seems to point to an answer against the notion that all changes in cognition represent a deficit. Thus, the concept of the occurrence of strategies’ adaptations to maintain cognitive processing is reinforced., O presente ensaio teórico visa a discutir a natureza das mudanças cognitivas advindas do envelhecimento saudável, em busca de respostas para o questionamento “As mudanças na cognição de adultos idosos representam déficits”? O envelhecimento normal é acompanhado de modificações no funcionamento cognitivo. As mais freqüentes englobam alguns componentes da memória, da atenção, das habilidades visuo-espaciais. Tais mudanças são moduladas pelas reservas cognitivas de que os indivíduos dispõem e pela maneira como estes continuam a mantê-las e explorá-las. Devido à plasticidade cerebral, seguem havendo adaptações durante o envelhecimento para que um mesmo nível de processamento cognitivo seja mantido. Essas adaptações tendem a ser consideradas como evidências de um declínio cognitivo, caracterizando uma conotação mais negativa do desenvolvimento cronológico. Podem, ainda, ser compreendidas como um indício da aplicação de estratégias cognitivas, o que corresponde a uma noção desenvolvimental não pejorativa. Após uma análise crítico-reflexiva da literatura, o questionamento inicial sobre o caráter deficitário ou adaptativo das mudanças cognitivas com o avançar da idade parece rumar para a resposta contra a noção de que todas as modificações na cognição representam um déficit. Assim sendo, a concepção da ocorrência de uma adaptação de estratégias para a manutenção do processamento cognitivo é reforçada.