This study investigated a theoretically challenging dissociation between good production and poor perception of tones among neurologically unimpaired native speakers of Cantonese. The dissociation is referred to as the near-merger phenomenon in sociolinguistic studies of sound change. In a passive oddball paradigm, lexical and nonlexical syllables of the T1/T6 and T4/T6 contrasts were presented...

Properties of cognitive change scores were compared in adults over age 70, for whom longitudinal changes are often negative, and in adults in two age groups under age 70, for whom the changes are often close to zero. Longitudinal assessments of three measures of memory and three measures of speed across an average interval of 2.4 years were obtained from a sample of 1,282 healthy adults between...

BACKGROUND Cognitive function and physical performance are associated, but the common sequence of cognitive and physical decline remains unclear. METHODS In the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS) clinical trial, we examined associations at baseline and over a 6-year follow-up period between the Modified Mini-Mental State (3MS) Examination and three physical performance measures (P...

Dementia in its many forms is a leading cause of functional limitation among older adults worldwide and will continue to ascend in global health importance as populations continue to age and effective cures remain elusive (Mathers & Loncar, 2006). Plassman et al. (2007) estimated that over 2.5 million Americans suffered from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and that nearly 4 million had that and other ...

Understanding how and when cognitive change occurs over the life span is a prerequisite for understanding normal and abnormal development and aging. Most studies of cognitive change are constrained, however, in their ability to detect subtle, but theoretically informative life-span changes, as they rely on either comparing broad age groups or sparse sampling across the age range. Here, we prese...

died within a short period of admission to hospital, the tumours being verified post-mortem. In summarizing these findings it would appear that abnormal mental phenomena may be present in certain cases of cerebral tumour without definite localizing signs. In this series no physical signs were apparent in seventeen per cent., and in an additional forty per cent. these signs were vague and indefi...

OBJECTIVES This study examined whether perceived social support predicted adaptive personality change in older adulthood, focusing on the trait of conscientiousness. We tested this hypothesis both at the broad domain level and with respect to the specific lower order facets that comprise conscientiousness: order, self-control, industriousness, responsibility, and traditionalism. METHODS A sam...

The recent development of magnetic resonance (MR) axonography, which uses three-dimensional anisotropy contrast (3DAC), a new algorithm for the treatment of an apparent diffusion tensor, has provided an unprecedented opportunity for visualizing the anatomical details of the spinal cord in live animals. In this study, the authors investigated the sensitivity of the 3DAC method in detecting patho...

A Father/Dad/Husband story of a 13 year Eating Disorder (AN) experience, pre-diagnosis, post diagnosis/pre/ post major relapse, into recovery. A father’s story of what is it like to experience a 13 year old caring, loving, bubbly, confident, talented, high/achieving & intelligent girl starting her teenage years transform into a 16 year old, struggling with feelings & thoughts, becoming a teenag...

BACKGROUND Evidence relating to the potentially protective effect of smoking and alcohol consumption in relation to senescent cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease is inconclusive. METHODS The relationship between wine and tobacco consumption and cognitive change was assessed within a longitudinal study of normal elderly people showing recent instability in cognitive functioning using an ...