An information society demands peoples abilities be quite different from the previous machine age, including self-directed learning, information literacy, cultural literacy (understanding different cultures), effective communication, and collaborative, creative and systemic problem solving. Rapid development of computer and information technologies brought about new approaches of developing suc...

Functional communication is crucial for independent and efficient communicative behavior in response to every day activities. In the course of dementia progression, cognitive losses may impair these abilities. For this reason, functional communication assessment should be part of a formal assessment to quantify and qualify the impact of deficiency on patients' lives. Objective To compare func...

The intelligence of multiagent systems is known to depend on the communication and observation abilities of its agents. However it is not clear which factor has the greater influence. By following an information-theoretical approach, this study quantifies and analyzes the impact of these two factors on the intelligence of multiagent systems. Using machine intelligence tests, we evaluate and com...

BACKGROUND Semantic and inferencing abilities have not been fully examined in children with communication difficulties. AIMS To investigate the inferential and semantic abilities of children with communication difficulties using newly designed tasks. METHODS & PROCEDURES Children with different types of communication disorder were compared with each other and with three groups of typically ...

The human capacity to communicate has been hypothesized to be causally dependent upon language. Intuitively this seems plausible since most communication relies on language. Moreover, intention recognition abilities (as a necessary prerequisite for communication) and language development seem to co-develop. Here we review evidence from neuroimaging as well as from neuropsychology to evaluate th...

Purpose: Verify the association between the time spent at school per week and the performance of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders in non-verbal intelligence test and communicative and behavioral abilities. Methods: Participants were 44 children and adolescents aged 6 to 12 years. All participants were enrolled in regular schools. Results: Of the 44 participants, 20 did no...

In this study, the language abilities of 30 children with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) aged 4-6 years were examined using a standardized measure of language. Relations of language to multiple parental report measures of functional communication, social skills, and attention problems were investigated. Difficulties in core language skills were observed, and more than 1/3 of the children strugg...

The human brain is distinguished by its remarkable size, high energy consumption, and cognitive abilities compared to all other mammals and non-human primates. However, little is known about what has accelerated brain evolution in the human lineage. One possible explanation is that the appearance of advanced communication skills and language has been a driving force of human brain development. ...

The goal of this clinical case study is to investigate the possibility of training communication abilities in people with Rett Syndrome (RS). Usually, girls with RS never exceed the sensorimotor stage of development, but the inter-individual variability typical of RS may lead us to doubt the irrevocability of that developmental limit, especially for those girls who are engaged in cognitive reha...