This paper concerns two composite Lewis-Skyrms signaling games. Each consists in a base game that evolves a language descriptive of nature and a metagame that coevolves a language descriptive of the base game and its evolving language. The first composite game shows how a pragmatic notion of truth might coevolve with a simple descriptive language. The second shows how a pragmatic notion of prob...

This study reports the results of an investigation of subject properties in the spontaneous speech of 14 4-year old English speaking children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and two control groups (age and MLUm). It is shown that while the children with SLI perform much below their age-level with respect to grammatical properties of subjects (subject-verb agreement, subject case), they ...

BACKGROUND Schizophrenia is associated with pragmatic language impairment (PLI), a reduced ability to communicate intention in a rule-governed fashion. Two explanations for PLI include that PLI is equivalent to thought disorder and that PLI is secondary to generalized cognitive decline. OBJECTIVES The aims of this study were to demonstrate PLI in schizophrenia and to test which of these expla...

BACKGROUND Children with pragmatic language impairment (PLI) show impairments in the use of language in social contexts. Although the issue has been gaining attention in recent literature, not much is known about the developmental trajectories of children who experience pragmatic language problems. Since narrative competence is an important predictor of both academic and social success, evaluat...

UNLABELLED Theme: Complex health care and chronic disease management. INTRODUCTION Congenital heart disease (CHD) may have a very important impact on central nervous system function and neurodevelopment. PURPOSE Critical evaluation of literature concerning the neurodevelopmental outcomes following congenital heart surgery. METHODS Systematic review of 28 articles published after 2000 in P...

BACKGROUND Some childhood speech and language impairments precede psychosis but it is not clear whether they also precede adolescent psychotic experiences and whether this association is specific to psychotic experiences. METHODS Pragmatic language and expressive speech and language (parent-assessed using the Children's Communication Checklist) at age 9 and psychotic experiences and depressio...

PURPOSE Pragmatic language difficulties have been documented as part of the FMR1 premutation phenotype, yet the interplay between these features in mothers and the language outcomes of their children with fragile X syndrome is unknown. This study aimed to determine whether pragmatic language difficulties in mothers with the FMR1 premutation are related to the language development of their child...

BACKGROUND Therapy guidelines recommend speech and language therapy (SLT) as the "gold standard" for aphasia treatment. Treatment intensity (i.e., ≥5 hours of SLT per week) is a key predictor of SLT outcome. The scientific evidence to support the efficacy of SLT is unsatisfactory to date given the lack of randomized controlled trials (RCT), particularly with respect to chronic aphasia (lasting ...

PURPOSE In the present study, the authors explored whether pragmatic language use was associated with, and perhaps accounted for, the social skills problems that children with varying levels of hyperactivity and inattention experience. METHOD A community sample of 54 children aged 9-11 years participated. Pragmatic language use, hyperactivity and inattention, and social skills were examined u...