Slowed processing speed is part of normal aging but also a symptom of many diseases, including dementia. A Quick Test of Cognitive Speed (AQT) consists of three conditions: color naming (AQT1), form naming (AQT2) and dual color-form naming (AQT3) and offers a user-friendly assessment of processing speed that is used internationally to identify cognitive impairment in elderly patients. Appropriate age-norms have however been lacking. This study provides regression-based norms derived from a Swedish sample of 158 cognitively healthy 80 to 94-year olds. The results show age effects in all three conditions, a non-linear education effect in AQT1, and age by gender interactions in AQT2 and AQT3: men performed worse with increasing age, but women remained on a par. However, irrespective of age and gender, AQT2 and AQT3 mean raw and predicted scores were slower than the hitherto recommended cutoff criteria for suspected cognitive impairment.

Background: The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is sensitive to cognitive impairment; however, it is also sensitive to demographic and socio-cultural factors. This necessitates reliable sub-population norms, but these are often lacking for older adults. Objective: To present demographically adjusted regression-based MoCA norms for cognitively healthy Swedish older adults. Methods: A pseudo-random sample of community-dwelling 80- to 94-year-olds, stratified by age and gender, was invited to the study. Initial telephone interviews and medical records searches (n = 218) were conducted to screen for cognitive impairment. N= 181 eligible participants were administered a protocol including the Swedish version of the MoCA and assessments of global cognition (Mini-Mental State Examination, MMSE) and depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9, PHQ-9). Individuals scoring in the range of possible cognitive impairment on the MMSE or more than mild depression on the PHQ-9 were excluded (n = 23); three discontinued the test-session. Results: Norms were derived from the remaining n = 158. They were evenly distributed by gender, on average 85 years old, and with a mean education of 11 years. MoCA scores were independently influenced by age and education, together explaining 17.2% of the total variance. Higher age and lower education were associated with lower performance and 46% performed below the original cut-off (< 26/30). Conclusion: The negative impact of increasing age on MoCA performance continues linearly into the nineties in normal aging. Demographic factors should be considered when interpreting MoCA performance and a tool for computing demographically corrected standard scores is provided.

Naming ability and verbal comprehension are cognitive functions that may be affected both by normal aging and by disease. Neuropsychological testing is crucial to evaluate changes in language ability and reliable normative data for all ages are needed. We present clinically useful test norms, together with subsample analysis of longitudinal effects of aging, for two robust and well-known tests that evaluate naming ability and verbal comprehension where the present norms for older adults (aged 85 and older) are sparse or missing. Participants (n = 338) from a Swedish population-based study, the Elderly in Linkoping Screening Assessment, were cognitively evaluated with a cognitive screening battery at the age of 85 years and followed to the age of 93 years. Normative data at age 85 years were calculated from a sample (n = 207) that was determined as cognitively healthy after application of rigorous exclusion criteria. Effects of normal aging were investigated by analyzing follow-up performance at age 90 and 93 years for the subsample of cognitively healthy that completed the entire study. The evaluated tests in this study are Swedish versions of the Boston Naming Test 30-item Odd Version (BNT-30) and a short form of the Token Test, Part V (TokV). Analyzes of effects of aging showed that performance decreased with age for BNT-30, but not for TokV. Higher education was associated with better performance in both tests and men performed better than women on the BNT-30. Results also showed naming ability to be more sensitive to aging than verbal comprehension.

Normative data for evaluating cognitive function in the oldest old, aged 85 years and above, are currently sparse. The normative values used in clinical practice are often derived from younger old persons, from small sample sizes or from broad age spans (e.g. amp;gt;75 years) resulting in a risk of misjudgment in assessments of cognitive decline. This longitudinal study presents normative values for the Trail Making Test A (TMT-A), the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), the Victoria Stroop Test (VST) and the Parallel Serial Mental Operations (PaSMO) from cognitively intact Swedes aged 85 years and above. 207 participants, born in 1922, were tested at 85, 90 (n = 68) and 93 (n = 35) years of age with a cognitive screening test battery. The participants were originally recruited for participation in the Elderly in Linkoping Screening Assessment. Normative values are presented as mean values and standard deviations, with and without adjustment for education. There were no clinically important differences between genders, but education had a significant effect on test results for the 85-year-olds. Age effects emerged in analyses of those participants who completed the entire study and were evident for TMT-A, SDMT, VST1 and PaSMO. When comparisons can be made, our results are in accordance with previous data for TMT-A, SDMT and VST, and we present new normative values for PaSMO.

The perceptual clarity of speech is influenced by more than just the acoustic quality of the sound; it also depends on contextual support. For example, a degraded sentence is perceived to be clearer when the content of the speech signal is provided with matching text (i.e., form-based predictability) before hearing the degraded sentence. Here, we investigate whether sentence-level semantic coherence (i.e., meaning-based predictability), enhances perceptual clarity of degraded sentences, and if so, whether the mechanism is the same as that underlying enhancement by matching text. We also ask whether form- and meaning-based predictability are related to individual differences in cognitive abilities. Twenty participants listened to spoken sentences that were either clear or degraded by noise vocoding and rated the clarity of each item. The sentences had either high or low semantic coherence. Each spoken word was preceded by the homologous printed word (matching text), or by a meaningless letter string (nonmatching text). Cognitive abilities were measured with a working memory test. Results showed that perceptual clarity was significantly enhanced both by matching text and by semantic coherence. Importantly, high coherence enhanced the perceptual clarity of the degraded sentences even when they were preceded by matching text, suggesting that the effects of form- and meaning-based predictions on perceptual clarity are independent and additive. However, when working memory capacity indexed by the Size-Comparison Span Test was controlled for, only form-based predictions enhanced perceptual clarity, and then only at some sound quality levels, suggesting that prediction effects are to a certain extent dependent on cognitive abilities. (PsycINFO Database Record

Objective: The aim of the current study was to assess aided speech-in-noise outcomes and relate those measures to auditory sensitivity and processing, different types of cognitive processing abilities, and signal processing in hearing aids.

Material and method: Participants were 200 hearing-aid wearers, with a mean age of 60.8 years, 43% females, with average hearing thresholds in the better ear of 37.4 dB HL. Tests of auditory functions were hearing thresholds, DPOAEs, tests of fine structure processing, IHC dead regions, spectro-temporal modulation, and speech recognition in quiet (PB words). Tests of cognitive processing function were tests of phonological skills, working memory, executive functions and inference making abilities, and general cognitive tests (e.g., tests of cognitive decline and IQ). The outcome test variables were the Hagerman sentences with 50 and 80% speech recognition levels, using two different noises (stationary speech weighted noise and 4-talker babble), and three types of signal processing (linear gain, fast acting compression, and linear gain plus a non-ideal binary mask). Another sentence test included typical and atypical sentences with contextual cues that were tested both audio-visually and in an auditory mode only. Moreover, HINT and SSQ were administrated.

Analysis: Factor analyses were performed separate for the auditory, cognitive, and outcome tests.

Results: The auditory tests resulted in two factors labeled SENSITIVITY and TEMPORAL FINE STRUCTURE, the cognitive tests in one factor (COGNITION), and the outcome tests in the two factors termed NO CONTEXT and CONTEXT that relates to the level of context in the different outcome tests. When age was partialled out, COGNITION was moderately correlated with the TEMPORAL FINE STRUCTURE and NO CONTEXT factors but only weakly correlated with the CONTEXT factor. SENSITIVITY correlated weakly with TEMPORAL FINE STRUCTURE and CONTEXT, and moderately with NO CONTEXT, while TEMPORAL FINE STRUCTURE showed weak correlation with CONTEXT and moderate correlation with NO CONTEXT. CONTEXT and NO CONTEXT had a  moderate correlation. Moreover, the overall results of the Hagerman sentences showed 0.9 dB worse SNR with fast acting compression compared with linear gain and 5.5 dB better SNR with linear  gain and noise reduction compared with only linear gain.

Conclusions: For hearing aid wearers, the ability to recognize speech in noise is associated with both sensory and cognitive processing abilities when the speech materials have low internal context. These associations are less prominent when the speech material has contextual cues.

Objective: The aims of the current n200 study were to assess the structural relations between three classes of test variables (i.e. HEARING, COGNITION and aided speech-in-noise OUTCOMES) and to describe the theoretical implications of these relations for the Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model. Study sample: Participants were 200 hard-of-hearing hearing-aid users, with a mean age of 60.8 years. Forty-three percent were females and the mean hearing threshold in the better ear was 37.4dB HL. Design: LEVEL1 factor analyses extracted one factor per test and/or cognitive function based on a priori conceptualizations. The more abstract LEVEL 2 factor analyses were performed separately for the three classes of test variables. Results: The HEARING test variables resulted in two LEVEL 2 factors, which we labelled SENSITIVITY and TEMPORAL FINE STRUCTURE; the COGNITIVE variables in one COGNITION factor only, and OUTCOMES in two factors, NO CONTEXT and CONTEXT. COGNITION predicted the NO CONTEXT factor to a stronger extent than the CONTEXT outcome factor. TEMPORAL FINE STRUCTURE and SENSITIVITY were associated with COGNITION and all three contributed significantly and independently to especially the NO CONTEXT outcome scores (R-2 = 0.40). Conclusions: All LEVEL 2 factors are important theoretically as well as for clinical assessment.

Ability to predict and prevent incipient functional decline in older adults may help prolong independence. Cognition is related to everyday function and easily administered, sensitive cognitive tests may help identify at-risk individuals. Factors like depressive symptoms and self-rated health are also associated with functional ability and may be as important as cognition. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between concurrent longitudinal changes in cognition, depression, self-rated health and everyday function in a well-defined cohort of healthy 85 year olds that were followed-up at the age of 90 in the Elderly in Linkoping Screening Assessment 85 study. Regression analyses were used to determine if cognitive decline as assessed by global (the Mini-Mental State Examination) and domain specific (the Cognitive Assessment Battery, CAB) cognitive tests predicted functional decline in the context of changes in depressive symptoms and self-rated health. Results showed deterioration in most variables and as many as 83% of these community-dwelling elders experienced functional difficulties at the age of 90. Slowing-down of processing speed as assessed by the Symbol Digits Modality Test (included in the CAB) accounted for 14% of the variance in functional decline. Worsening self-rated health accounted for an additional 6%, but no other variables reached significance. These results are discussed with an eye to possible preventive interventions that may prolong independence for the steadily growing number of normally aging old-old citizens.

Dagens arbetsliv ställer allt större krav på kognitiva förmågor. Vi arbetar alltmer med information inte bara i traditionellt intellektuella yrken, utan även inom industri, hantverk och sjukvård. Informationsteknologi i form av datorer, avancerad teknisk utrustning och andra komplexa system blir allt viktigare att kunna hantera. Detta ställer nya krav på arbetsmiljöarbetet, något som gäller för alla arbetstagare, men särskilt för de av oss som har en kognitiv funktionsnedsättning.

I denna rapport sammanfattar vi arbetsmiljörelaterade hinder förknippade med nedsatt funktion inom nio kognitiva områden: språk, exekutiva funktioner, minnesfunktioner, visuospatiala funktioner, snabbhet, uppmärksamhet, emotion/social kognition, mental trötthet samt global kognitiv förmåga/intelligens. Vi uppmärksammar även mental trötthet (”fatigue”) som ett viktigt problemområde i  sammanhanget.

Den första delen av rapporten ger en bakgrund till området. Avsnittet ger en kort översikt över neuropsykologi och kognitiv neurovetenskap.

Den andra delen sammanfattar kunskap om omfattningen av problemet: hur vanliga är kognitiva funktionsnedsättningar i arbetslivet? En stor del av de människor som är i yrkesverksam ålder antingen har, eller kommer någon gång under yrkeslivet att drabbas av kognitiva funktionsproblem. Vi uppskattar att detta berör en femtedel till en tredjedel av de yrkesverksamma. Eftersom kognitiv funktionsnivå långt ifrån enbart beror på individens begränsningar till följd av sjukdom eller annan funktionsnedsättning, utan även på miljön och dess krav på individen, är problemen och lösningar på dessa både giltiga och viktiga för alla.

Rapportens andra del visar att kognitiv nedsättning inte begränsas till ett enstaka funktionellt område, exempelvis minnesbesvär, utan kan innefatta flera av de funktionella områden som berörs. Det finns alltså ingen enkel koppling mellan en sjukdom och vilka kognitiva funktionsproblem den medför för den enskilde arbetstagaren. Problemen måste ses i ljuset av både de erfarenheter och begränsningar den enskilde personen har och den aktuella arbetsuppgiften.

Rapportens tredje del diskuterar mer ingående arbetsmiljörelaterade konsekvenser av kognitiva funktionsnedsättningar. Den börjar med att sammanfatta en modell för att analysera funktionsnedsättningar som en produkt av fyra samverkande faktorer: individen (till exempel kognitiva funktionsbegränsningar efter en sjukdom), individens förhållningssätt (till exempel motivation), arbetsuppgiften och miljön. En kognitiv funktionsproblematik finns aldrig enbart i en av dessa faktorer utan i skärningspunkten mellan dessa faktorer. Av detta skäl är kunskap om arbetsmiljömässiga aspekter av kognitiva funktionsnedsättningar giltig för alla. Även de som inte har nedsatt kognitiv funktion hamnar i situationer där faktorer kopplade till miljön eller arbetsuppgiften (eller vår inställning till uppgiften) resulterar i att kognitiva förmågor belastas!

Vidare identifierar och sammanfattar rapportens tredje del praktiska lösningar som stödjer arbetsförmåga vid nedsättning av funktioner inom de nio områden som rapporten omfattar: språk, exekutiva funktioner, minnesfunktioner, visuospatiala funktioner, snabbhet, uppmärksamhet, emotion/social kognition, mental trötthet samt global kognitiv förmåga/intelligens. Särskilt betonas att det idag finns många tillgängliga men sannolikt mindre ofta utnyttjade åtgärder som kan utnyttjas för att mildra eller eliminera arbetsmiljöproblem relaterade till kognitiva funktionsnedsättningar. Rapporten redovisar sju sådana övergripande åtgärder. Därtill diskuteras kognitiva funktionsnedsättningar i samband med arbetstagare som är över 65 år och arbetsgivarens roll. Avslutningsvis identifieras kunskapsbehov för fortsatt arbete inom området.

The present study aimed to investigate the changing relationship between aided speech recognition and cognitive function during the first six months of hearing aid use. Twentyseven first-time hearing aid users with symmetrical mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss were recruited. Aided speech recognition thresholds in noise (SRTs) were obtained in the hearing aid fitting session as well as at three and six months post-fitting. Cognitive abilities were assessed using a reading span test, which is a measure of working memory capacity, and a cognitive test battery. Results showed a significant correlation between reading span and SRT during the hearing aid fitting session. This relation was significantly weakened over the first six months of hearing aid use. Multiple regression analysis showed that reading span was the main predictor of SRT when hearing aids were first fitted, but that pure-tone average hearing threshold (PTA) was the main predictor six months later. This indicates that working memory capacity plays a more important role in speech recognition in noise before than after six months of use. We argue that new hearing aid users engage working memory capacity to recognize unfamiliar processed speech signals but that as familiarization proceeds, engagement of working memory capacity is reduced.

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Postlingually acquired hearing impairment (HI) is associated with changes in the representation of sound in semantic long-term memory. An indication of this is the lower performance on visual rhyme judgment tasks in conditions where phonological and orthographic cues mismatch, requiring high reliance on phonological representations. In this study, event-related potentials (ERPs) were used for the first time to investigate the neural correlates of phonological processing in visual rhyme judgments in participants with acquired HI and normal hearing (NH). Rhyme task word pairs rhymed or not and had matching or mismatching orthography. In addition, the inter-stimulus interval (ISI) was manipulated to be either long (800 ms) or short (50 ms). Long ISIs allow for engagement of explicit, top-down processes, while short ISIs limit the involvement of such mechanisms. We hypothesized lower behavioral performance and N400 and N2 deviations in HI in the mismatching rhyme judgment conditions, particularly in short ISI. However, the results showed a different pattern. As expected, behavioral performance in the mismatch conditions was lower in HI than in NH in short ISI, but ERPs did not differ across groups. In contrast, HI performed on a par with NH in long ISI. Further, HI, but not NH, showed an amplified N2-like response in the non-rhyming, orthographically mismatching condition in long ISI. This was also the rhyme condition in which participants in both groups benefited the most from the possibility to engage top-down processes afforded with the longer ISI. Taken together, these results indicate an early ERP signature of HI in this challenging phonological task, likely reflecting use of a compensatory strategy. This strategy is suggested to involve increased reliance on explicit mechanisms such as articulatory recoding and grapheme-to-phoneme conversion.

Prior knowledge about what is going to be said produces a clearer percept ofunintelligible noise-vocoded (NV) sentences. This is called the pop-out effect andcan be measured using a magnitude-estimation procedure. Sentence coherencesubstantially improves intelligibility of NV sentences, suggesting that semanticcontext may produce a pop-out effect. Moreover, understanding speech in challengingconditions is supported by cognitive skills such as working-memorycapacity and inference-making. In the present study, we investigated whether apop-out effect could be identified for sentence coherence and whether such a popouteffect would be additive to the pop-out effect generated by prior knowledge.Twenty normal-hearing native Swedish-speaking participants listened to SwedishNV (1, 3, 6 and 12 bands) and clear sentences, and rated the clarity on a 7-pointscale. The sentences were semantically coherent (e.g. “his new clothes were fromFrance”) or incoherent (e.g. “his great streets were from Smith”). Each spokenword was preceded (200 ms) by either its text equivalent or a consonant string ofmatched length. We found a pop-out effect due to sentence coherence as well asa pop-out effect due to prior knowledge. These two effects interacted, suggestingthat they are supported by different mechanisms. Lexical access speed predictedthe magnitude of pop-out due to prior knowledge. Further, in participants withslow lexical access speed, working memory capacity predicted pop-out magnitudewhile in participants with high lexical access speed, pop-out magnitude was bestpredicted by inference-making ability.

The Swedish reading span test (Rönnberg, Lyxell, Arlinger, & Kinnefors, 1989) is often used to assess working memory capacity (WMC) in the field of cognitive hearing science. The test has proven useful as a predictor of speech recognition in noise in adverse conditions. It has been used in a wide range of experimental studies and has been translated to several languages. The purpose of this paper was to provide reference data for the Swedish reading span test (Rönnberg et al., 1989) in a large sample of adults with hearing impairment aged 50-89 years that are representative of patients seeking rehabilitation at audiological clinics. Data from finished and ongoing projects were collated and reanalyzed for this purpose. The original full version and a shortened version of the test were compared, in terms of percentage correct. In addition, performance on the full version was compared across two different age-cohorts, 50-69 year olds and 70-89 year olds. Frequency distributions and percentile scores are reported, as well as relations with demographic variables, and speech recognition in noise. Results showed that reading span performance was related to age, but not sex, with lower scores in older participants. Pure tone hearing thresholds accounted for a small but significant amount of the variance such that higher reading span scores were related to better hearing. The frequency distributions of scores did not differ across the two versions of the test, but the long version seemed to be more sensitive to age. Performance in both versions was significantly correlated with speech recognition in noise. Regression analyses however showed that reading span explained additional variance in speech in noise recognition, after the effects of age and pure tone hearing thresholds were accounted for, only in the 50-69 year olds. These findings are discussed in relation to  age-related differences in the ability to recruit cognitive resources in the service of speech communication.

I denna avhandling undersöktes fonologiska processer hos personer med postlingualt förvärvad, måttlig till mycket grav hörselnedsättning (HNS) och om inkoppling av explicit bearbetning av fonologi eller individuell arbetsminneskapacitet kan kompensera för försämrade ljudminnen i denna grupp (studie I-III). Ett andra syfte var att sammanställa referensdata för ett test av arbetsminneskapacitet, lässpann, och undersöka relationen mellan prestation på lässpann ochigenkänning av tal-i-brus i en större grupp av 50-89 åriga personer  med HNS (studie IV). Icke-auditiva test av fonologisk förmåga, episodiskt långtidsminne och arbetsminneskapacitet användes i studie I-III och både beteendedata och elektrofysiologiska data samlades in. Resultaten visade på försämrad fonologisk förmåga i gruppen med HNS men också att explicit bearbetning av fonologi och arbetsminneskapacitet kunde användas för att kompensera för försämrade fonologiska representationer i denna grupp. Denna kompensation kan dock ske på bekostnad av att inkodning i episodiska långtidsminnet störs. Vidare identifierades en elektrofysiologisk markör för HNS i en textbaserad rimuppgift. I studie IV presenterades referensdata i två versioner av lässpanntestet för personer med mild till mycket grav HN och resultat som pekar mot möjliga skillnader mellan olika åldersgrupper i hur väl arbetsminneskapacitet predicerar igenkänning av tal-i-brus. Kliniska implikationer rör den dubbla belastning det innebär att ha både en HN och relativt sänkt arbetsminneskapacitet. En strukturerad bedömning av arbetsminneskapacitet i samband med rehabilitering skulle kunna bidra till att synliggöra dessa personer och anpassa insatser efter deras behov. Lässpanntestet är ett test som i framtiden skulle kunna vara användbart i det sammanhanget.

This study examined verbal retrieval in participants with acquired moderate-to-severe sensorineural hearing impairment (M age = 63, M education level = 13 years) compared to participants with normal hearing thresholds (M age = 62, M education level = 14 years) using the letter and category fluency tasks. Analyses of number of words produced, clustering, and switching, were conducted. There was no significant difference between the groups in category fluency performance. In letter fluency, however, the participants with hearing impairment produced significantly fewer words than the normal hearing participants and their production was characterized by fewer switches. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between demographic, auditory, and cognitive variables and letter fluency performance in the two groups. Phonological skills and auditory acuity predicted letter fluency output only in participants with hearing impairment and a hearing-related link between phonological skills, working memory capacity, and letter fluency switching was found.

Acquired hearing impairment is associated with gradually declining phonological representations. According to the Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model, poorly defined representations lead to mismatch in phonologically challenging tasks. To resolve the mismatch, reliance on working memory capacity (WMC) increases. This study investigated whether WMC modulated performance in a phonological task in individuals with hearing impairment. A visual rhyme judgment task with congruous or incongruous orthography, followed by an incidental episodic recognition memory task, was used. In participants with hearing impairment, WMC modulated both rhyme judgment performance and recognition memory in the orthographically similar non-rhyming condition; those with high WMC performed exceptionally well in the judgment task, but later recognized few of the words. For participants with hearing impairment and low WMC the pattern was reversed; they performed poorly in the judgment task but later recognized a surprisingly large proportion of the words. Results indicate that good WMC can compensate for the negative impact of auditory deprivation on phonological processing abilities by allowing for efficient use of phonological processing skills. They also suggest that individuals with hearing impairment and low WMC may use a non-phonological approach to written words, which can have the beneficial side effect of improving memory encoding. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanLearning outcomes: Readers will be able to: (1) describe cognitive processes involved in rhyme judgment, (2) explain how acquired hearing impairment affects phonological processing and (3) discuss how reading strategies at encoding impact memory performance.

Acquired hearing impairment is associated with gradually declining phonological representations. According to the Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model, poorly defined representations lead to mismatch in phonologically challenging tasks. To resolve the mismatch, reliance on working memory capacity (WMC) increases. This study investigated whether WMC modulated performance in a phonological task in individuals with hearing impairment. A visual rhyme judgment task with congruous or incongruous orthography, followed by an incidental episodic recognition memory task, was used. In participants with hearing impairment, WMC modulated both rhyme judgment performance and recognition memory in the orthographically similar non-rhyming condition; those with high WMC performed exceptionally well in the judgment task, but later recognized few of the words. For participants with hearing impairment and low WMC the pattern was reversed; they performed poorly in the judgment task but later recognized a surprisingly large proportion of the words. Results indicate that good WMC can compensate for the negative impact of auditory deprivation on phonological processing abilities by allowing for efficient use of phonological processing skills. They also suggest that individuals with hearing impairment and low WMC may use a non-phonological approach to written words, which can have the beneficial side effect of improving memory encoding.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Readers will be able to: (1) describe cognitive processes involved in rhyme judgment, (2) explain how acquired hearing impairment affects phonological processing and (3) discuss how reading strategies at encoding impact memory performance.

Giving people an opportunity to hear an unintelligible noise-vocoded (NV) sentence after they know its identity produces pop-out, a clearer percept of the NV sentence (Davis, Johnsrude, Hervais-Adelman, Taylor, & McGettigan, 2005), which can be measured using a magnitude-estimation procedure (Wild, Davis, & Johnsrude, 2012). Pop-out appears to occur when the auditory system is able to match input with top-down predictions that can be used to perceptually organize/’explain’ that input. Semantically coherent sentences (e.g. “his new clothes were from France”) are more predictable than matched anomalous sentences (e.g. “his great streets were from Smith”), raising the possibility that semantic information may also give rise to popout. In the present study we investigated how the magnitude of the pop-out effect produced by prior knowledge in the form of identical text cues (100% predictable) compared to that produced by semantic coherence. Twenty normal-hearing native Swedish-speaking participants listened to Swedish NV (1, 3, 6 and 12 bands) and clear sentences, and rated the clarity on a 7-point Likert scale. The sentences were semantically coherent or anomalous. Each spoken word was preceded (200 ms) by either its text equivalent or a consonant string of matched length. We observed the expected main effects of speech quality and text cues on clarity ratings (Wild et al., 2012). Semantically coherent sentences were rated as clearer than anomalous sentences, even when both types of sentences were preceded by identical text cues, suggesting that the effect of semantic context on perceptual clarity is not entirely due to greater predictability.

Regeringsuppdraget ”Att kartlägga och analysera forskning inom området funktionsnedsättning” (2011-1631) har utförts i samverkan mellan Forskningsrådet för arbetsliv och socialvetenskap (FAS) och en för ändamålet utsedd arbetsgrupp vid Institutet för Handikappvetenskap (IHV), Linköpings universitet. I utredningen ges en bred teoretisk bakgrund till forskning om funktionsnedsättning och funktionshinder.

Den definition som använts baseras på att funktionsnedsättningen skall vara långvarig och medföra inskränkningar i vardagslivet. Dels är funktionsned-sättningen i sig intressant att studera, dels är forskning om samspelet med omgivningens möjligheter och hinder relevant, samt också hur samhälleliga hindrande/stödjande processer påverkar personer/grupper med funktionsnedsättning i samhället.

Datainsamlingen baserades på denna definition och delades in i två steg. Tidsperioden för vilken vi samlade in data var 2002–2010, detta bland annat för att knyta an till tidigare utredningar på området. I STEG 1 inkluderades projekt (n=1411) utifrån de databaser som statliga och icke-statliga finansiärer tillsänt oss. I STEG 2 gjordes publikationsanalyser utifrån namnen på de ovanstående projektägarna samt på namnlistor (n=970) från alla Sveriges centrumbildningar för forskning om funktionsnedsättning och handikapp.

Förutom basinformation om projekten (projektår/medelstilldelning/diagnoskategori, ålderskategori, eller arbetslivsinriktning) klassificerades projekten i STEG 1 utifrån om de betonade individen, samspelet individen-omgivning, eller enbart omgivningsaspekter. Dessutom klassificerades projekten med avseende på perspektiv, dvs. om de tillhörde ett tekniskt/naturvetenskapligt perspektiv, ett medicinskt/vårdvetenskapligt, ett beteendevetenskapligt, eller ett humanistiskt/samhällsvetenskapligt perspektiv, vidare om projektet var tvärvetenskapligt, eller om det rörde det i direktivet utpekade området ”disability studies”, dvs. om fokus är på hindrande eller underlättande mekanismer i samhället.

Resultaten visar entydigt att den totala forskningsfinansieringen under tidsperioden ökat från cirka 35 mnkr år till cirka 150 mnkr. Den statliga reala finansieringen har varit relativt konstant sedan 2008, och stagnerat på en nivå runt 90–95 mnkr/år. De individinriktade, medicinska/vårdvetenskapliga projekten dominerar och har ökat under perioden både till projektantal och monetärt. Få företrädare finns för s.k. ”disability studies” och för det tekniska/naturvetenskapliga perspektivet. Femtio procent av all forskningsfinansiering är tvärvetenskaplig, 48 procent utgörs av forskning om samspelet individ-omgivning, och här dominerar det beteendevetenskapliga perspektivet. Den tvärvetenskapliga forskning som fokuserar olika diagnoser rör internationella excellensområden som hörsel, rörelsehinder, stroke, psykiska funktionshinder och CP-skador. Forskning som jämför olika grupper av personer med funktionsnedsättning finns också väl företrädd.

I STEG 2 gjordes publikationsanalyser både på tidskriftsartiklar för sig och på bokkapitel/böcker och avhandlingar för sig. Närmare analyser visar att cirka 200 författare kan betraktas som ”bärare” av området i den meningen att de aktivt publicerar fler än fem tidskriftsartiklar eller fler än tre bokkapitel/böcker för varje femårsperiod. Nätverksanalyser visar att området integreras över tid, att större kluster av forskare bildats och att publiceringstakten ökat påtagligt mer än riksgenomsnittet. Citeringsanalysen visar dessutom att citeringsgraden är klart över världsgenomsnittet. Innehållsanalyser visar att rehabiliteringsforskning respektive språk, kognition och hörsel existerar som två huvudkluster.