College of Behavioral & Social Sciences

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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..

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    A meta-analysis of the relation between hippocampal volume and memory ability in typically developing children and adolescents
    (Wiley, 2022-03-17) Botdorf, Morgan; Canada, Kelsey L.; Riggins, Tracy
    Memory is supported by a network of brain regions, with the hippocampus serving a critical role in this cognitive process. Previous meta-analyses on the association between hippocampal structure and memory have largely focused on adults. Multiple studies have since suggested that hippocampal volume is related to memory performance in children and adolescents; however, the strength and direction of this relation varies across reports, and thus, remains unclear. To further understand this brain–behavior relation, we conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the association between hippocampal volume (assessed as total volume) and memory during typical development. Across 25 studies and 61 memory outcomes with 1357 participants, results showed a small, but significant, positive association between total hippocampal volume and memory performance. Estimates of the variability across studies in the relation between total volume and memory were not explained by differences in memory task type (delayed vs. immediate; relational vs. nonrelational), participant age range, or the method of normalization of hippocampal volumes. Overall, findings suggest that larger total hippocampal volume relates to better memory performance in children and adolescents and that this relation is similar across the memory types and age ranges assessed. To facilitate enhanced generalization across studies in the future, we discuss considerations for the field moving forward.
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    The Role of Age and Bilingualism on Perception of Vocoded Speech
    (2020) Waked, Arifi Noman; Goupell, Matthew J; Ratner, Nan; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This dissertation examines the role of age and bilingualism on perception of vocoded speech in order to determine whether bilingual individuals, children, and bilingual individuals with later ages of second language acquisition show greater difficulties in vocoded speech perception. Measures of language skill and verbal inhibition were also examined in relation to vocoded speech perception. Two studies were conducted, each of which had two participant language groups: Monolingual English speakers and bilingual Spanish-English speakers. The first study also explored the role of age at the time of testing by including both monolingual and bilingual children (8-10 years), and monolingual and bilingual adults (18+ years). As such, this study included four total groups of adult and child language pairs. Participants were tested on vocoded stimuli simulating speech as perceived through an 8-channel CI in conditions of both deep (0-mm shift) and shallow (6-mm shift) insertion of the electrode array. Between testing trials, participants were trained on the more difficult, 6-mm shift condition. The second study explored the role of age of second language acquisition in native speakers of Spanish (18+ years) first exposed to English at ages ranging from 0 to 12 years. This study also included a control group of monolingual English speakers (18+ years). This study examined perception of target lexical items presented either in isolation or at the end of sentences. Stimuli in this study were either unaltered or vocoded to simulate speech as heard through an 8-channel CI at 0-mm shift. Items presented in isolation were divided into differing levels of difficulty based on frequency and neighborhood density. Target items presented at the ends of sentences were divided into differing levels of difficulty based on the degree of semantic context provided by the sentence. No effects of age at testing or age of acquisition were found. In the first study, there was also no effect of language group. All groups improved with training and showed significant improvement between pre- and post-test speech perception scores in both conditions of shift. In the second study, all participants were significantly negatively impacted by vocoding; however, bilingual participants showed greater difficulty in perception of vocoded lexical items presented in isolation relative to their monolingual peers. This group difference was not found in sentence conditions, where all participants significantly benefited from greater semantic context. From this, we can conclude that bilingual individuals can make use of semantic context to perceive vocoded speech similarly to their monolingual peers. Neither language skills nor verbal inhibition, as measured in these studies, were found to significantly impact speech perception scores in any of the tested conditions across groups.
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    The effect of child gender on parental nonverbal communication
    (2019) Booth, Tiara; Newman, Rochelle; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Previous work has studied parental verbal communication and found differences based on child gender. The current study was designed to better understand any differences in maternal nonverbal communication based on child gender. The nonverbal parameters analyzed were eye contact/joint attention, gestures, positive and negative facial expressions, and open and closed body language. Previously recorded mother-child play sessions when the children were 7 months (n=103) and 24 months (n=73) were coded to assess three main questions: a) Does maternal nonverbal communication differ with child gender? b) Does maternal nonverbal communication change over time? c) Does maternal nonverbal communication effect vocabulary outcomes at 24 months? Mothers used more positive facial expressions with girls at 7 months and more gestures with boys at 24 months. Mothers were consistent in their use of positive facial expressions and gestures over time. Finally, there was no apparent relationship between maternal nonverbal communication and vocabulary.
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    Parental Language Input to Children at Stuttering Onset
    (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2001-10) Miles, Stephanie; Ratner, Nan Bernstein
    Many programs for the indirect management of stuttering in early childhood counsel adjustment of parental language models, which are presumed to play an exacerbating influence on vulnerable children’s fluency. We examined the relative levels of linguistic demand in maternal language to stuttering and nonstuttering children, adjusted for each child’s current level of linguistic development. No significant or observable differences were detected in the relative level of linguistic demand posed by parents of stuttering children very close to onset of symptoms. Empirical support for current advisement and potential ramifications are discussed.
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    Basic Psychometric Properties of the Child Social Functioning Inventory (CSFI)
    (2004-08-04) Ferrell, Courtney; Beidel, Deborah C.; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    To date, interventions for childhood social phobia have examined outcome primarily in terms of symptomatic reduction or efficacy. Although more emphasis is being placed on reporting clinically relevant outcome, few studies have provided a systematic assessment of treatment effectiveness, perhaps due to a lack of an appropriate assessment inventory. The current study presents the initial psychometric characteristics of the Child Social Functioning Inventory (CSFI), a self-report inventory designed to assess social functioning of preadolescent children. The CSFI contains 24 items with a 6-factor structure. The results indicate that the CSFI has good internal consistency and adequate test-retest reliability. In addition, assessment of the construct validity, including concurrent, convergent, and discriminant validity suggest that the CSFI is a valid inventory of social functioning for children ages 10 or above. Implications for assessment and treatment outcome are discussed.