The languages individuals speak have been observed to influence how they perceive and interpret certain aspects of the world, but the conditions that give rise to these effects are not always clearly defined. One way to address the issue is to examine specific task contexts in which language is likely to modulate perception. Building on this, the aim of the present study was to investigate the role that native language (L1) plays in shaping motion processing in functional monolingual Turkish and English speakers (i.e., without intermediate or advanced proficiency in a second language) by using a supervised classification paradigm that involved sorting animated events based on either manner of motion or path. A total of 120 participants, including 60 native English speakers and 60 native Turkish speakers, were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions. The findings revealed a performance advantage for the English speakers in the manner-discrimination condition, in line with specific linguistic distinctions between the two languages. In contrast, overall performance was similar across the two groups when discrimination was based on path, a feature inherently expressed in both languages.

Despite the widely use and multiple validations of the EURO-D scale, its factor structure is still under debate. Exploratory Graph Analysis (EGA), a novel network psychometric method, offers a promising approach to examining dimensionality. Methodology: 45,390 participants (mean age = 71.27, 57.4% women) from 26 European countries. The sample was randomly split into a derivation sample (n = 22,823) and a cross-validation sample (n = 22,567). EGA was applied to the derivation sample to determine the structure of the EURO-D scale, utilizing two estimation methods: Graphical Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (GLASSO) and Triangulated Maximally Filtered Graph (TMFG). The identified factor structures were then tested via Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) in the cross-validation sample for model fit. Results: EGA consistently revealed a two-factor structure with minor differences in the placement of suicidality and fatigue items across estimation methods. CFA results confirmed an adequate model fit for both solutions. Conclusion: This study combines exploratory (EGA) and confirmatory (CFA) approaches, supporting a two-factor structure for the EU-RO-D scale with alternative placements for fatigue and suicidality items. Results are discussed in contrast to previous studies reporting two and three-factor solutions with different assignments of these items.

Efficient language screening methods are needed for older school-age children and adolescents with suspected subclinical English language weaknesses. Twenty-five English-speaking monolingual children and fourteen Spanish-English bilingual children between the ages of 9;0 and 12;9 completed a nonword repetition task, a sentence repetition task, two grammaticality judgement tasks, and a passage comprehension task were examined relative to standard scores on the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-4. When stepwise regression analyses were performed to evaluate the utility of each measure to predict our language outcome measure, the optimal model for monolingual children consisted only of the sentence repetition task. For the group of bilingual children, the optimal model consisted of the sentence repetition task and the passage comprehension task. These results provide support for the use of sentence repetition to gain insight into the English language proficiency of school-age children and adolescents with possible subclinical English language weaknesses.

This study investigates code-switching (CS) within the noun phrase in Portuguese–German bilingual children and adolescents (aged 8–16) in German-speaking Switzerland. Using an elicited imitation task with 49 participants, we examine how linguistic and extralinguistic factors shape CS behaviour. The experiment manipulated matrix language (German vs. Portuguese), insertion type (adjective vs. noun), and adjective position (prenominal vs. postnominal). The results show that CS strategies vary depending on the grammatical properties of the matrix language. In German, prenominal adjective position—regardless of the language of the inserted adjective—was the strongest predictor of repetition accuracy. In Portuguese, the language of the adjective played a central role. We propose the Constraint Integration Model to account for the interaction between matrix-language properties and lexical features. Additionally, older age and more positive attitudes towards German increased the likelihood of producing switched utterances.

Misophonia is a condition characterised by intense emotional reactions to sounds that would not bother most people. Currently, there is no widely accepted and effective treatment for misophonia. Most published studies on treatment have used behavioural therapy, cognitive interventions, or audiological treatments; however, there is no comparison of the effectiveness of these approaches. This 6-week study aimed to compare the effects of brief, self-administered versions of exposure and tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) in 58 adults with misophonia. The participants, randomly assigned to the two treatment groups and a wait-list group, were assessed at three time points (baseline, week 3, and week 6). The exposure group was given self-exposure homework assignments, where the patient was expected to self-expose to the live or recorded misophonic sound that was agreed upon during the week 0 assessment, for 20–40 minutes, three times a week. The patients in the TRT group were given a set of pre-recorded music pieces and asked to listen to any piece of their choosing for 20–40 minutes a day, three times a week. Self-report measures of misophonia severity (Misophonia Checklist), and interference due to symptoms were rated at each time point by the patients. The assessor also rated improvement at each time point. The study is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (registration no. NCT05993286). The Intention to Treat (ITT) analyses revealed no difference between the three groups in terms of self-rated misophonia severity at week 6. The assessor-rated percentage of improvement favoured exposure, although the response rate was very low; only six out of 39 participants were rated as moderately or much improved, five of whom were in the exposure therapy group. The results underscore the need for finding ways to increase treatment response in misophonia.

Diverse information is key for informed and effective policymaking when addressing complex policy issues. Policymakers need to decide what information to process given their limited time and cognitive capacity. This paper presents an online vignette experiment in which 157 civil servants from a Dutch medium-sized municipality participated. We test how civil servants respond to the presence of a social nudge that stimulates more diverse information selection under conditions of low and high complexity. The results show that the effect of a social nudge on information selection is larger in a context characterized by high complexity than by low complexity. This study contributes to understanding how civil servants select information. Moreover, it shows how social nudges can improve the information selection process and provides actionable advice to governmental organizations seeking to improve the information selection process.

Researchers have investigated later language development for more than 80 years. As a result, a great deal of information has been learned about the nature and substance of language development beyond the preschool years. This article highlights topics that were studied each decade, beginning with the 1940s and continuing to the present. Understanding the history of research in this area is essential for current investigators who seek to contribute new information to the discipline and for clinicians and teachers who seek to apply the information that has already been learned in their daily work with school-age children, adolescents, or young adults.

Imagery rescripting (ImRs) is a therapeutic technique that uses mental imagery to update the meanings associated with traumatic memories and reduce re-experiencing and emotional distress (Arntz, 2012). It is commonly used as a therapeutic technique for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The present study evaluates an ImRs intervention specifically developed to target somatic flashbacks. Somatic flashbacks can be understood as re-experiencing somatosensory sensations, such as touch or physical pain. The study aimed to investigate the feasibility, safety, and acceptability of the intervention. The study also explored if the intervention led to any differences in participants’ experiences of somatic flashbacks and their global symptoms of PTSD. A non-randomised feasibility study design was used. Seven participants who reported experiencing somatic flashbacks at assessment were recruited into the study. The ImRs intervention consisted of a pre-intervention session to complete measures, two ImRs intervention sessions, and a 4-week follow-up session. Participants’ experience of the intervention was measured at the end of the second ImRs session. Participants’ somatic flashbacks and global symptoms of PTSD were measured pre- and post-intervention and at follow-up. ImRs was feasible, safe, and acceptable. Frequency, intensity, and distress of somatic flashbacks reduced, and sense of coping increased following the intervention. A brief ImRs intervention for somatic flashbacks is a promising intervention. Future research should explore the prevalence of somatic flashbacks, underlying mechanisms of ImRs, the optimal timing and content of the intervention, and whether this can be integrated into existing trauma therapies.

Key learning aims

1. (1) To assess if imagery rescripting is a feasible intervention for somatic flashbacks.

2. (2) To assess if imagery rescripting is a safe intervention for somatic flashbacks.

3. (3) To assess if imagery rescripting is an acceptable intervention for somatic flashbacks.

4. (4) To assess if the imagery rescripting intervention led to any differences in participants’ experiences of somatic flashbacks and their global symptoms of PTSD

Although children with cochlear implants (CIs) have limited access to pitch information due to the suboptimal device transmission, durational cues are relatively well preserved, allowing for the acquisition of prosodic cues needed for communication. Recent findings show that Mandarin-speaking preschoolers with CIs can produce prosodic cues (e.g., duration and pitch) to disambiguate noun-noun compounds (e.g., xiong-mao “panda”) and lists (e.g., xiong, mao “bear, cat”), with those implanted early (before age 2) demonstrating production patterns similar to their typical hearing (TH) peers. This then raises questions about these children’s ability to perceive prosodic cues, and if early implantation again enhances their performance. These questions were investigated using a two-alternative forced-choice task with 57 Mandarin-speaking preschoolers with CIs and 66 TH peers. The results show that all preschoolers can perceive the prosodic cues needed to identify compounds but not lists, suggesting that, like English, the mapping between prosodic cues and postlexical meaning is also acquired late in children learning a tonal language. In terms of the effect of CIs, those implanted before age 2 performed as well as their TH peers. These findings suggest that preschoolers may rely more on other linguistic information rather than prosodic cues when comprehending compounds and lists, offering cross-linguistic evidence for this tendency. Furthermore, interventions for preschoolers with CIs should support the mapping of prosodic cues to discourse functions rather than just vocabulary training, improving daily communicative abilities.