Browsing by Subject "ERP"
Now showing items 1-20 of 20
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(2020)Rapid learning or fast mapping reflects the human brain’s ability to form new memory traces to novel words during exposure without the need for a long overnight consolidation period before the word can be used in conversation. This ability to acquire new words almost instantaneously may very well reflect how well-tuned the human language systems are to the phonemes of the native language. However, the neural basis of rapid learning has been largely unknown until recent neuroimaging studies. In this study on adult learners (n = 15), I recorded brain’s event-related potentials elicited by three different types of auditory bi-syllabic stimuli (native words, native pseudowords and pseudowords with unfamiliar phonemes, all acoustically closely matched) in a passive EEG-recording session before and after subjects participated in two types of training conditions. In the attend condition, subjects listened to a flow of stimuli while pressing a button when a target stimulus appeared. In the articulation condition subjects repeated out loud the heard stimuli. An auditory memory recognition test was administered after training to allow the comparison of neural learning effects to observable change in behaviour. Larger evoked responses were expected to correlate with better performance in the recognition task. All analyses were time-locked to the onset of the second syllable (critical disambiguation point/recognition point). A two-peak waveform was observed to all stimuli after both conditions, with the earlier peak appearing circa 40 ms and the later peak circa 140 ms after second syllable onset. Unlike in similar previous studies where responses increased as a result of learning, all responses decreased in magnitude. No statistically significant differences between the conditions were observed. This may have been due to either the small sample size, test subject fatigue or suppression effects due to repetition, masking any possible learning effects. For the late peak, native pseudowords evoked significantly stronger responses than native words or non-native pseudowords. Performance in the memory recognition task was good (above chance for all stimuli in both conditions), and as such learning cannot be excluded even though statistically significant differences in the evoked responses were not found. Further research and re-exploration of the data acquired here utilising source modelling might enable to assess in more detail the effect of attentive listening vs. articulation in rapid learning.
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(2020)Rapid learning or fast mapping reflects the human brain’s ability to form new memory traces to novel words during exposure without the need for a long overnight consolidation period before the word can be used in conversation. This ability to acquire new words almost instantaneously may very well reflect how well-tuned the human language systems are to the phonemes of the native language. However, the neural basis of rapid learning has been largely unknown until recent neuroimaging studies. In this study on adult learners (n = 15), I recorded brain’s event-related potentials elicited by three different types of auditory bi-syllabic stimuli (native words, native pseudowords and pseudowords with unfamiliar phonemes, all acoustically closely matched) in a passive EEG-recording session before and after subjects participated in two types of training conditions. In the attend condition, subjects listened to a flow of stimuli while pressing a button when a target stimulus appeared. In the articulation condition subjects repeated out loud the heard stimuli. An auditory memory recognition test was administered after training to allow the comparison of neural learning effects to observable change in behaviour. Larger evoked responses were expected to correlate with better performance in the recognition task. All analyses were time-locked to the onset of the second syllable (critical disambiguation point/recognition point). A two-peak waveform was observed to all stimuli after both conditions, with the earlier peak appearing circa 40 ms and the later peak circa 140 ms after second syllable onset. Unlike in similar previous studies where responses increased as a result of learning, all responses decreased in magnitude. No statistically significant differences between the conditions were observed. This may have been due to either the small sample size, test subject fatigue or suppression effects due to repetition, masking any possible learning effects. For the late peak, native pseudowords evoked significantly stronger responses than native words or non-native pseudowords. Performance in the memory recognition task was good (above chance for all stimuli in both conditions), and as such learning cannot be excluded even though statistically significant differences in the evoked responses were not found. Further research and re-exploration of the data acquired here utilising source modelling might enable to assess in more detail the effect of attentive listening vs. articulation in rapid learning.
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(2019)Accounting firms need to stay along in the development of financial management digitali-zation. An important part of that is to implement new systems and develop a high-level expertise in them, creating a major competitive advantage. That way the growing demands of modern customers can be fulfilled. One part of the development is ERP expertise and implementations as new service products. The purpose of this research is to find out how those service products could be built to be as functioning as possible for different types of customers of an accounting firm and what are the main challenges to be considered. The research was conducted as a case study in a Finnish accounting office. The case was their own implementation project. Challenges occurred in the project were used to build up a suggestion on how to avoid the same ones in future projects. Based on the results of the research it can be said that the main challenges in an ERP im-plementation, for a company operating in Finland, relate to automation and especially monetary transactions and usage of reference numbers and their automatic allocations, foreign consultant’s understanding of the Finnish business environment, understanding the importance of testing and resourcing, process and system reengineering, change manage-ment, motivation and commitment of the employees and management as well as staying in budget and schedule.
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Digitalization in Action : ERP Implementation in Financial Management : Case Leppävaaran Laskenta Oy (2019)Accounting firms need to stay along in the development of financial management digitali-zation. An important part of that is to implement new systems and develop a high-level expertise in them, creating a major competitive advantage. That way the growing demands of modern customers can be fulfilled. One part of the development is ERP expertise and implementations as new service products. The purpose of this research is to find out how those service products could be built to be as functioning as possible for different types of customers of an accounting firm and what are the main challenges to be considered. The research was conducted as a case study in a Finnish accounting office. The case was their own implementation project. Challenges occurred in the project were used to build up a suggestion on how to avoid the same ones in future projects. Based on the results of the research it can be said that the main challenges in an ERP im-plementation, for a company operating in Finland, relate to automation and especially monetary transactions and usage of reference numbers and their automatic allocations, foreign consultant’s understanding of the Finnish business environment, understanding the importance of testing and resourcing, process and system reengineering, change manage-ment, motivation and commitment of the employees and management as well as staying in budget and schedule.
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(2021)Objectives. Formal musical training has shown promising effects on auditory discrimination in children, but it is not within reach of every family as it is time-consuming and costly. This study aimed to determine whether at-home musical intervention and activities enhance neural auditory speech sound discrimination accuracy in children with or without a familial dyslexia risk. Methods. A follow-up sample of 113 children with or without risk of dyslexia participated. During the first six months of infancy, 57 of the children with a familial risk participated in at-home music listening intervention, including vocal or instrumental music. Musical activities at home were assessed with a questionnaire at 24 months of age. Speech sound discrimination accuracy was assessed at 28 months, with change-elicited responses derived from EEG. Linear mixed-effects (LME) models were applied to study the association between neural responses and musical enrichment. Results. The LME models showed that the association between speech sound discrimination accuracy and musical activities differed between the groups. In post-hoc comparisons, this association differed between the vocal intervention group and the other risk groups. The group without the familial risk did not differ from the risk groups. Conclusions. The observed bidirectional associations of musical activities and vocal listening intervention with change-related cortical processing potentially reflect two separate mechanisms of neural maturation and compensatory activation. Hence, vocal intervention and musical activities might promote specific aspects of auditory neural development. Understanding these associations is relevant in both guiding future research and in preventing language disorders.
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(University of HelsinkiHelsingin yliopistoHelsingfors universitet, 2005)Haimatulehdus eli pankreatiitti on haiman tulehdusprosessi. Pankreatiitin oireet ovat epäspesifisiä ja ei ole olemassa mitään erityistä "pankreatiittioiretta". Oireena esiintyy kuivumista, vatsan tunnustelun aristamista, kuumetta, ikteerisuutta, äkillistä oksentelua, väsymistä ja ruokahalun huonontumista. Tällä hetkellä ei ole olemassa yhtä ainoaa testiä, jolla pankreatiitti voitaisiin diagnostisoida. Tutkimusten mukaan edes haimaentsyymien, seerumin amylaasi- ja lipaasiaktiivisuuden tai trypsiinin pitoisuuden (cTLI), perusteella ei voida tehdä luotettavaa diagnoosia. Röntgen- tai ultraäänitutkimukset eivät nekään ole kovin luotettavia menetelmiä pankreatiitin diagnostisoinnissa. Tutkimuksessa arvioitiin endoskooppisen retrogaadin haimatiehyiden kuvantamismenetelmän (ERP) suoritusmahdollisuuksia terveillä beagle-koirilla, haimanestenäytteiden ottamista ja mahdollisia komplikaatioita. Toimenpiteet suoritettiin kahdesti seitsemälle terveelle beaglerotuiselle koiralle. Ensimmäisellä toimenpidekerralla suoritettiin haimatiehytjärjestelmän varjoainekuvaus. Toisella kerralla otettiin koirilta haimanestenäyte ja uusittiin varjoainekuvaus. Mahdollisia komplikaatiota arvioitiin ennen toimenpidettä ja toimenpiteen jälkeen tehdyin kliinisten perustutkimuksien (lämpötila, hengitys- ja sydänfregvenssi, vatsan palpointi) ja otettujen verinäytteiden perusteella (hkr-, Na-, Ca-, K-, amylaasi-, lipaasi- ja cTLI-arvot). Tutkimuksessa saatiin tehtyä molemmilla tutkimuskerroilla kaikille koirille ERP. Toimenpiteessä oli pieniä ongelmia viidellä suorituskerralla neljästätoista. Ongelmat liittyivät esimerkiksi varjoaineen haimatiehyeen injisoimiseen. Saatujen fluoroskopiakuvien perusteella koirien haimatiehyiden rakenteessa esiintyy vaihtelua. Haimanestenäytteiden ottaminen koiralta osoittautui hyvin vaikeaksi ja kunnollisia näytteitä ei saatu otettua. Kliinisissä perustutkimuksissa sekä verinäytteiden hematokriitti- ja ionipitoisuuksissa ei havaittu ERP:n aiheuttamiin komplikaatioihin viittaavia muutoksia. Haima-arvot kohosivat toimenpiteiden jälkeen tilastollisesti merkitsevästi. Lähes kaikkien koirien entsyymiarvot palautuivat yhden vuorokauden kuluessa perustasolleen. Lasku oli selvästi hitaampaa koirilla, joilla kaikki haima-arvot olivat kohonneet erittäin korkealle. Yhdellä koiralla toisen toimenpidekerran jälkeen haima-arvot laskivat vasta kuuden vuorokauden kuluttua. Tälle koiralle ERP indusoi lievän, itsestään rajoittuvan, akuutin pankreatiitin. Saatu komplikaatioriski (7,1 %) on samaa luokkaa humaanilääketieteen tutkimusten kanssa. Tutkimustulosten perusteella voidaan laatia suositukset ERP:n riskien hallitsemiseksi. Toimenpidettä ennen otetaan verinäyte seerumin amylaasin ja lipaasin aktiivisuuden sekä cTLI:n pitoisuuden lähtötason määrittämiseksi. Toimenpiteen jälkeen koiraa tarkkaillaan vähintään kaksi vuorokautta. Mahdollisten komplikaatioiden havaitsemiseksi otetaan toimenpiteen jälkeen yhden ja kahden vuorokauden kuluttua verinäyte, ja määritetään siitä seerumin amylaasin ja lipaasin aktiivisuus sekä cTLI:n pitoisuus.
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(2017)Objectives. The change in the pitch of musical sounds causes measurable effects in the cortex of newborn infants. Mismatch negativity (MMN), caused by unexpected changes in stimuli, is an event related potential (ERP) component that reflects preconscious differentation ability. In babies, MMN may be of either positive or negative polarity. MMNs to the change of musical intervals or chords have also been detected in babies. This study repeated an earlier study related to musical chords, with an almost identical setup. Additional research questions were set: Does a half-an-hour exposure to chords have any effects? Can infants be grouped into clusters based on sleep stage, gender or cortical reactions in ways that affect measured results? Methods. The ERPs of 0.5-3.5 days old infants were measured while the infants were exposed to various musical chords in an Oddball test setup. Standard stimuli were major triad chords, deviant stimuli were minor, inverted major or dissonant triad chords. Results and conclusions. There was a difference in the ERPs on at least one electrode, caused by the deviant chords, compared to the ERPs caused by standard major chords. The discovered MMR polarities depended on chord types. The polarities differed from the results of an earlier study. Prolonged exposure to chords caused the ERP polarity to switch in the case of dissonant chords. There were some differences between groups formed by gender or the sleep stage, where the effect was seen with minor chords. However, clustering of babies based on their ERP polarity did not expand from one chord type to another. As some results were unexpected of even contrary to earlier results, more research is needed. Despite the remaining open questions, the main conclusions are that the cortices of newborn infants produce different ERPs depending on changing chord type, that there are large individual and small group level differences in this, and that a half an hour long expose to chord stimuli changes these ERPs.
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(2016)This research considers factors affecting customer satisfaction and value perception of ERP maintenance and support service. The research strategy is qualitative and it is carried out as a semi-structured interview study. In the study 12 experts working with maintenance and support services for ERP systems are interviewed. The interviewees represent IT vendor sales organization and service managers and the customer-side IT management, service managers and application experts. The theoretical framework of the research is primarily based on DeLone and McLean (2003) IS Success theory and framework of Critical Success Factors for ERP Maintenance Support by Law, Chen and Wu (2009). The theoretical framework is subsequently converted to ten themes which comprise the core of this research. The purpose of the research is to find out what factors affect the satisfaction and value perception of companies using ERP maintenance and support services and what is the effect of the research themes. The research sample is limited; however it provides in-depth insights into similarities and differences between viewpoints of people working in different roles related maintenance and support service. The study also considers how the viewpoints differ when the interviewee is working for an IT vendor or for a customer company IT organization. The conclusion of the research is that the interviewee viewpoints match with that of their counterpart at the customer or the vendor. To improve customer satisfaction, IT vendors should better involve parties representing customer business and end users in management of the service and in definition of service requirements, and not satisfied to collaborate between IT organizations only. Fulfilling contractual and written obligations is critical for realizing service value. IT vendors should be able to be flexible and adjust their service delivery according to customer requirements, regardless of if these requirements are captured in contracts or service level documents. Customers consider the vendor technical competence to be critical for service quality, in addition to which competence in customer business and processes is essential for realizing added value in the service. The physical location of service delivery does not increase the customer’s willingness to pay. The vendor should use efficient processes to minimize the effect of service delivery location and personnel turnover for service quality.
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(2016)This research considers factors affecting customer satisfaction and value perception of ERP maintenance and support service. The research strategy is qualitative and it is carried out as a semi-structured interview study. In the study 12 experts working with maintenance and support services for ERP systems are interviewed. The interviewees represent IT vendor sales organization and service managers and the customer-side IT management, service managers and application experts. The theoretical framework of the research is primarily based on DeLone and McLean (2003) IS Success theory and framework of Critical Success Factors for ERP Maintenance Support by Law, Chen and Wu (2009). The theoretical framework is subsequently converted to ten themes which comprise the core of this research. The purpose of the research is to find out what factors affect the satisfaction and value perception of companies using ERP maintenance and support services and what is the effect of the research themes. The research sample is limited; however it provides in-depth insights into similarities and differences between viewpoints of people working in different roles related maintenance and support service. The study also considers how the viewpoints differ when the interviewee is working for an IT vendor or for a customer company IT organization. The conclusion of the research is that the interviewee viewpoints match with that of their counterpart at the customer or the vendor. To improve customer satisfaction, IT vendors should better involve parties representing customer business and end users in management of the service and in definition of service requirements, and not satisfied to collaborate between IT organizations only. Fulfilling contractual and written obligations is critical for realizing service value. IT vendors should be able to be flexible and adjust their service delivery according to customer requirements, regardless of if these requirements are captured in contracts or service level documents. Customers consider the vendor technical competence to be critical for service quality, in addition to which competence in customer business and processes is essential for realizing added value in the service. The physical location of service delivery does not increase the customer’s willingness to pay. The vendor should use efficient processes to minimize the effect of service delivery location and personnel turnover for service quality.
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(2016)Aim of study. The aim of this study was to determine how the processing of pitch cues in spoken words is affected by listeners' native language. In previous studies, listeners' have shown a better sensitivity to acoustic features that are linguistically relevant in the native language. It has also been shown that the processing of pitch information is lateralized to the left hemisphere when the information is linguistically distinctive and lateralized to the right hemisphere when it is not carrying linguistically relevant information. The processing of lexical pitch has been shown to be language specific. Pitch is lexically discriminating in Estonian, but not in Finnish. Therefore, native speakers of Estonian were hypothesized to show a better sensitivity to changes in pitch than the native speakers of Finnish. They were also hypothesized to show a lateralization to the left when processing linguistically discriminating changes in pitch. Methods. 12 native speakers of Estonian and 12 native speakers of Finnish participated in the study. Mismatch negativity (MMN) components of event-related potentials (ERP) were measured with electroencephalography (EEG). Stimuli consisted of Estonian words, which showed differences in duration and pitch. Results and conclusions. Scalp maps of neural activation suggested a larger sensitivity for small changes in pitch for the Estonian group, as well as a tendency towards lateralization of the processing of pitch cues to the left hemisphere for the Estonian group, and to the right for the Finnish group. These observations were supported by a significant interaction effect between language group, lateralization, and stimulus type. However, further pairwise comparisons were only marginally significant. Due to large variation in the Estonian group, the group was split based on geographical background information, since the use of pitch cue has been shown to vary regionally in Estonia. This analysis indicated regional variation in the processing of the pitch cue; the western Estonian group showed lateralization to the left hemisphere while processing stimuli with a small change in pitch. The findings of this study are in line with previous studies, showing that the native language affects the processing of pitch. It also suggests that the local language variety has an impact on these processes.
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(2021)Aims. Speech processing has traditionally been studied with simple paradigms that do not take the variety of natural speech perception situations into consideration. Speech processing in everyday situations becomes more difficult if, for example, the auditory quality of speech is poor, there are other distracting voices in the listening environment or if the semantic context of the conversation is not clear. Nevertheless, humans possess an exceptional capability to selectively attend to a specific speech stream even in suboptimal listening conditions. In a recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, participants followed audiovisual dialogues amongst distracting speech. The dialogues were presented in various experimental conditions including two different levels of semantic predictability. The results gave support to the novel notion that high-level semantic information has an impact already at lower levels of auditory processing. The aim of the present study was to examine whether support for this notion would be demonstrated using a method that has a better temporal resolution than fMRI. I examined the effects and interaction of semantic context and selective attention in the processing of naturalistic speech using the same stimuli as the recent fMRI study but collected neurophysiological data with electroencephalography (EEG) as it has a temporal resolution of milliseconds. Methods. Thirty adults selectively attended to audiovisual two-person dialogues with distracting speech in the background during EEG recordings. Half of the dialogues had a coherent narrative and the other half consisted of mixed lines from unrelated dialogues. The participants answered questions on dialogue content. In addition, the participants carried out a visual control task during which they were instructed to ignore all speech. I analyzed behavioral performance and event-related potentials (ERPs) timed to the beginning of dialogue lines in the two tasks. Results and conclusions. Based on the behavioral results, a coherent semantic context enhanced speech intelligibility. The ERP results suggested that semantic contextual coherence modulated the processes of auditory selective attention at around 180 ms after dialogue line onset. This attentional effect was significant only when the dialogues were attended to, and the semantic context was coherent. Furthermore, the beginnings of lines in incoherent dialogues elicited a P300 effect which could be linked to memory-related operations of contextual updating. Alternative interpretations are discussed. In conclusion, the present study provides both behavioral and neural evidence that semantic contextual information enhances the processes of auditory selective attention in compromised listening conditions. A coherent semantic context seems to facilitate the processing of contextually relevant information through semantic priming already at early stages of auditory attentional processing.
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(2021)Aims. Speech processing has traditionally been studied with simple paradigms that do not take the variety of natural speech perception situations into consideration. Speech processing in everyday situations becomes more difficult if, for example, the auditory quality of speech is poor, there are other distracting voices in the listening environment or if the semantic context of the conversation is not clear. Nevertheless, humans possess an exceptional capability to selectively attend to a specific speech stream even in suboptimal listening conditions. In a recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, participants followed audiovisual dialogues amongst distracting speech. The dialogues were presented in various experimental conditions including two different levels of semantic predictability. The results gave support to the novel notion that high-level semantic information has an impact already at lower levels of auditory processing. The aim of the present study was to examine whether support for this notion would be demonstrated using a method that has a better temporal resolution than fMRI. I examined the effects and interaction of semantic context and selective attention in the processing of naturalistic speech using the same stimuli as the recent fMRI study but collected neurophysiological data with electroencephalography (EEG) as it has a temporal resolution of milliseconds. Methods. Thirty adults selectively attended to audiovisual two-person dialogues with distracting speech in the background during EEG recordings. Half of the dialogues had a coherent narrative and the other half consisted of mixed lines from unrelated dialogues. The participants answered questions on dialogue content. In addition, the participants carried out a visual control task during which they were instructed to ignore all speech. I analyzed behavioral performance and event-related potentials (ERPs) timed to the beginning of dialogue lines in the two tasks. Results and conclusions. Based on the behavioral results, a coherent semantic context enhanced speech intelligibility. The ERP results suggested that semantic contextual coherence modulated the processes of auditory selective attention at around 180 ms after dialogue line onset. This attentional effect was significant only when the dialogues were attended to, and the semantic context was coherent. Furthermore, the beginnings of lines in incoherent dialogues elicited a P300 effect which could be linked to memory-related operations of contextual updating. Alternative interpretations are discussed. In conclusion, the present study provides both behavioral and neural evidence that semantic contextual information enhances the processes of auditory selective attention in compromised listening conditions. A coherent semantic context seems to facilitate the processing of contextually relevant information through semantic priming already at early stages of auditory attentional processing.
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(2023)Aim: A number of different and effective medical and psychological treatments have been developed for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, not everybody benefits from these treatments. The Bergen 4-day Treatment is a new and intensive therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder. There have been promising results of its effectiveness in individual studies. The aim of this literature review was to examine the effectiveness of The Bergen 4-day Treatment in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Methods: Literacy search was conducted by searching the PubMed and Web of Sciences databases with the search term “Bergen 4-day treatment”. In addition to this, studies were also searched for in the bibliography of the articles selected for the review. The age group of the studies was limited to adults and nine studies were selected. Results and conclusions: Treatment led to a significant reduction in obsessive- compulsive symptoms and effects were found to persist for up to four years of follow- up. The treatment also reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression and had a positive effect on the ability to work. Treatment discontinuations were low, and patients were generally very satisfied with the treatment. Based on the literature review, The Bergen 4-day Treatment seems like a promising treatment for obsessive- compulsive disorder in adults. However, only one RCT study has been conducted on the treatment, so the results should be viewed with caution in the absence of control groups and randomization of patients.
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(2018)Objective: According to previous studies mood can affect several higher cognitive skills. Positive mood helps performing in several cognitive processes. However, implicit mechanisms of learning have not yet been studied. The current study examined effects of positive and negative mood on neural mechanisms of auditory learning. Event-related potentials (ERPs), especially mismatch negativity (MMN), were recorded in both mood states. MMNs were expected to be more negative in positive mood state which would reflect better learning of auditory similarities in positive mood state. Methods: Positive and negative mood was induced in a counterbalances order to all subjects with self-chosen music and congruent Velten-sentences. Induced mood was measured using POMS-A-questionnaire. Subjects were instructed to direct their attention to a silent movie while musical stream was played through earphones. Responses on deviants appearing on the musical stream were recorded. Subjects were divided into two groups. One group started with positive mood induction followed by negative mood induction and the other group did vice versa. Induced mood was mild and only lasted for a short period of time. Experiment ended up with positive mood induction for both groups. Differences in ERPs between positive and negative mood was analyzed with repeated-measures ANOVA. Results and conclusions: There was a significant difference in ERPs between positive and negative mood. Especially the ERPs for deviants were more negative in the negative mood than in the positive mood in the posterior medial parts of the scalp. Hence, mood affected processing of deviant tones. This refers to effect of mood on learning of similarities in auditory sequencies.
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(2018)Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on selvittää, millaisia haasteita yrityksen tulisi ottaa huomioon ERP-implementoinnissa ja miten näiden haasteiden huomioimisella voidaan vaikuttaa ERP-implementoinnin onnistumiseen. Tutkimuksen teoriaosuudessa käydään läpi aikaisempia tieteellisiä tutkimuksia koskien ERP-projekteja. Tieteellisissä tutkimuksissa viitataan ERP-implementointien erittäin korkeaan epäonnistumisprosenttiin. ERP-implementointien korkea epäonnistumisprosentti kuvastaa tutkimuksen ajankohtaisuutta ja tärkeyttä. Teoriaosuudessa käsitellään myös muutosjohtamista sekä liiketoiminnan uudelleensuunnittelua, jotka ovat keskeisessä roolissa ERP-projekteissa. Tämä tutkimus tehtiin laadullisena tutkimuksena ja haastattelut toteutettiin puolistrukturoidulla menetelmällä. Tutkimuksen tuloksissa nousee esille selkeästi se, että ERP-projektit osoittautuvat lopulta kuviteltua haasteellisemmiksi. Tutkimustuloksissa erityiseen asemaan nousivat implementointiin varatut liian niukat henkilöstöresurssit, ennalta suunnitellun aikataulun venyminen sekä muutoksen tuoman työkuorman epätasainen jakautuminen henkilöstön yksittäisille jäsenille. Erityisen suuria haasteita ERP-implementoinnille loivat projektipäällikön puuttuminen, henkilöstön ylikuormittuminen sekä liiketoimintaprosessien selkeiden kuvausten puuttuminen. Tutkimuksen tuloksien perusteella voidaan sanoa, että kaikki ERP-projektit olivat epäonnistuneita. Tulokset tukevat aikaisempia tutkimuksia, koska myös aikaisemmissa tutkimustuloksissa ERP-projektit on todettu usein epäonnistuneiksi.
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(2018)Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on selvittää, millaisia haasteita yrityksen tulisi ottaa huomioon ERP-implementoinnissa ja miten näiden haasteiden huomioimisella voidaan vaikuttaa ERP-implementoinnin onnistumiseen. Tutkimuksen teoriaosuudessa käydään läpi aikaisempia tieteellisiä tutkimuksia koskien ERP-projekteja. Tieteellisissä tutkimuksissa viitataan ERP-implementointien erittäin korkeaan epäonnistumisprosenttiin. ERP-implementointien korkea epäonnistumisprosentti kuvastaa tutkimuksen ajankohtaisuutta ja tärkeyttä. Teoriaosuudessa käsitellään myös muutosjohtamista sekä liiketoiminnan uudelleensuunnittelua, jotka ovat keskeisessä roolissa ERP-projekteissa. Tämä tutkimus tehtiin laadullisena tutkimuksena ja haastattelut toteutettiin puolistrukturoidulla menetelmällä. Tutkimuksen tuloksissa nousee esille selkeästi se, että ERP-projektit osoittautuvat lopulta kuviteltua haasteellisemmiksi. Tutkimustuloksissa erityiseen asemaan nousivat implementointiin varatut liian niukat henkilöstöresurssit, ennalta suunnitellun aikataulun venyminen sekä muutoksen tuoman työkuorman epätasainen jakautuminen henkilöstön yksittäisille jäsenille. Erityisen suuria haasteita ERP-implementoinnille loivat projektipäällikön puuttuminen, henkilöstön ylikuormittuminen sekä liiketoimintaprosessien selkeiden kuvausten puuttuminen. Tutkimuksen tuloksien perusteella voidaan sanoa, että kaikki ERP-projektit olivat epäonnistuneita. Tulokset tukevat aikaisempia tutkimuksia, koska myös aikaisemmissa tutkimustuloksissa ERP-projektit on todettu usein epäonnistuneiksi.
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(2019)New words are acquired during childhood but also in adulthood, for example by learning neologisms or foreign languages. Known words differ from novel, previously unknown, words in that their phonological forms as well as meanings are stored in neural memory traces. This difference between familiar and novel words can also be seen in the event-related potentials (ERPs) for these stimuli measured by electroencephalogram (EEG). Earlier studies observed that when novel spoken words are presented repeatedly within a short (~14 – 30 min) exposure, the ERP response increases and begins to resemble the response to familiar words. This phenomenon is called rapid word learning, which purportedly reflects cortical memory trace formation for the newly acquired words. The neural memory trace formation for novel words with unfamiliar phonology, on the other hand, has been observed to be weaker. This Master’s thesis investigated the effect of articulatory rehearsal on rapid learning of novel words. Participants (n = 19) listened to familiar Finnish words and two types of novel words: wordforms with familiar phonology and non-native wordforms with unfamiliar phonology. Continuous EEG was recorded in two conditions with different tasks: participants were instructed to either attentively listen to and memorise the spoken word stimuli or repeat the words. aloud. The active training conditions were preceded and followed by passive listening of the same stimuli. Behavioural learning was tested with a word recognition test after both conditions. In this study the focus is on the results of the active training sessions. ERPs were analysed by comparing responses to each word type in the early, middle and late phases of attentive and articulatory training. An ERP response to novel wordforms (~50 ms after the point at which the word could be identified) was modulated by the type of training and word type. During the attentive training the response to novel wordforms with familiar phonology increased, as expected. Responses to novel non-native wordforms and familiar words showed no significant changes during attentive listening. Within the articulatory rehearsal condition, however, responses to novel non-native wordforms but also to familiar words enhanced significantly. A later response ~135 ms after word disambiguation point increased during training irrespective of condition or word type. Behavioural word recognition did not differ between training conditions, and familiar words were recognised with highest precision. The ERP-results of this study suggest that attentive training enhances learning of novel words with native phonology while repeated articulation seems to enhance the formation of neural memory traces for novel non-native words.
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(2020)Musiikilla ja musiikin harrastamisella voidaan tutkimustiedon perusteella tukea lasten kielellistä kehitystä ja kuulotiedon hermostollista käsittelyä. Musiikkia myös hyödynnetään paljon esimerkiksi lukivaikeudesta kärsivien kouluikäisten lasten kuntoutuksessa. Lukivaikeuden fonologisen selitysmallin mukaan häiriön syynä ovat heikosti muodostuneet puheäänne-edustukset kuuloaivokuorella. Nämä äänne-edustukset syntyvät oman äidinkielen puheäänteille jo varhaisessa vauvaiässä, joten lukivaikeuden fonologisen teorian näkökulmasta tukitoimet tulisi aloittaa jo hyvissä ajoin ennen kouluikää. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää, vaikuttaako varhaisen vauvaiän musiikillinen ääniympäristö ja musiikilliset toiminnot kuuden kuukauden ikäisten vauvojen esikielelliseen kehitykseen tai puheäänten hermostolliseen käsittelyyn. Tutkimuksen aineisto kerättiin 34 vauvalta, joista yli puolella oli perinnöllinen alttius lukivaikeuden kehittymiselle. Vauvojen musiikillisia toimintoja ja esikielellistä kehitystä kartoitettiin vanhempien täyttämien kyselylomakkeiden avulla. Lisäksi vauvojen ollessa kuuden kuukauden ikäisiä he osallistuivat ERP-mittaukseen, jonka aikana heille soitettiin toistuvaa epäsanaa /ta-ta/, jonka jälkimmäisessä tavussa esiintyi satunnaisia äänen keston, korkeuden ja vokaalin muutoksia. Tämän jälkeen tarkasteltiin vauvojen viikoittaisen musiikille altistumisen määrän ja musiikillisten toimintojen yhteyttä heidän esikielellisen kehityksensä taitotasoon sekä puheäänten hermostollista käsittelyä heijastaviin ERP-vasteisiin. Tulosten perusteella musiikin hyöty vauvojen varhaiskehityksessä näyttää perustuvan pitkälti aktiivisen musiikillisen toiminnan ja sosiaalisen vuorovaikutuksen yhteisvaikutukseen. Erityisesti rytmin havaitse-miseen perustuvien sosiaalisessa vuorovaikutuksessa toteutettujen musiikillisten toimintojen, kuten tans-simisen ja rummuttelun määrä näyttää olevan yhteydessä vauvojen esikielellisen kehityksen tasoon. Tut-kimus antaa viitteitä siitä, millaisella kodin piirissä toteutettavalla musiikillisella toiminnalla voidaan tukea vauvojen esikielellisten taitojen kehitystä. Tulevaisuudessa musiikin sisällyttäminen osaksi lasten varhaiskasvatusta on mahdollisesti tehokkain kielellisen kehityksen tukitoimi myös lukivaikeuden kohdal-la.
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(2017)Developmental dyslexia is a heritable learning disorder which according to the predominant theories has its core problems in the processing of speech sounds. Auditory processing deficits have been found in dyslexics and in infants with a genetic risk for dyslexia. It has been shown that infants with a genetic risk for dyslexia have attenuated or more right-hemispheric lateralized auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) to changes in speech stimuli compared to infants with no genetic risk. It has been shown that interventions can ameliorate the reading and writing skills of dyslexics and concurrently influence their ERPs. The aim of the present study was to find out if an early musical intervention can ameliorate the auditory processing skills in infants. Altogether 58 infants with a genetic risk for dyslexia were assigned to three groups where one group listened to vocal music, second group listened to instrumental versions of the same music and the third one was a control group with no intervention. After six months of intervention, auditory ERPs of the infants were recorded while the infants were presented with a repetitive pseudoword /tata/ with random infrequent duration, frequency, or vowel changes in the latter syllable. It was also studied if the ERPs were correlated with the amount of music played during the intervention or with the parents’ evaluations of their infant’s degree of prelinguistic development. The groups differed from each other in the auditory processing of the repetitive standard sound so that in the control group the ERPs had a different hemispheric pattern compared to the intervention groups and the repetitive sound was processed faster in the control group than in the instrumental group. It was also found that the hemispheric pattern of the ERPs for the vowel changes was different in the instrumental intervention group compared to the other groups. The parents’ evaluations of the prelinguistic development of their infant were correlated with the ERPs so that the ERPs to the repetitive standard stimuli were enhanced and reached their peak earlier in the infants who were evaluated to be more mature in their prelinguistic development. According to the results, the ERPs for the repetitive sounds are correlated with children’s linguistic development and an early musical intervention can modify the neural network processing speech sounds in infants with a genetic risk for dyslexia. In the future, it should be followed if these intervention effects on brain functions also enhance the linguistic development of the children and it should be also explored how other parts of the auditory environment of the children besides the intervention have possibly affected their auditory skills.
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(2017)Developmental dyslexia is a heritable learning disorder which according to the predominant theories has its core problems in the processing of speech sounds. Auditory processing deficits have been found in dyslexics and in infants with a genetic risk for dyslexia. It has been shown that infants with a genetic risk for dyslexia have attenuated or more right-hemispheric lateralized auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) to changes in speech stimuli compared to infants with no genetic risk. It has been shown that interventions can ameliorate the reading and writing skills of dyslexics and concurrently influence their ERPs. The aim of the present study was to find out if an early musical intervention can ameliorate the auditory processing skills in infants. Altogether 58 infants with a genetic risk for dyslexia were assigned to three groups where one group listened to vocal music, second group listened to instrumental versions of the same music and the third one was a control group with no intervention. After six months of intervention, auditory ERPs of the infants were recorded while the infants were presented with a repetitive pseudoword /tata/ with random infrequent duration, frequency, or vowel changes in the latter syllable. It was also studied if the ERPs were correlated with the amount of music played during the intervention or with the parents' evaluations of their infant's degree of prelinguistic development. The groups differed from each other in the auditory processing of the repetitive standard sound so that in the control group the ERPs had a different hemispheric pattern compared to the intervention groups and the repetitive sound was processed faster in the control group than in the instrumental group. It was also found that the hemispheric pattern of the ERPs for the vowel changes was different in the instrumental intervention group compared to the other groups. The parents' evaluations of the prelinguistic development of their infant were correlated with the ERPs so that the ERPs to the repetitive standard stimuli were enhanced and reached their peak earlier in the infants who were evaluated to be more mature in their prelinguistic development. According to the results, the ERPs for the repetitive sounds are correlated with children's linguistic development and an early musical intervention can modify the neural network processing speech sounds in infants with a genetic risk for dyslexia. In the future, it should be followed if these intervention effects on brain functions also enhance the linguistic development of the children and it should be also explored how other parts of the auditory environment of the children besides the intervention have possibly affected their auditory skills.
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