Language Science (South Korea)

Setting up a psychedelic study can be a long, arduous, and Kafkaesque process. Researchers are faced with a host of challenges in this rapidly evolving field, necessitating a range of considerations that remain largely unstandardised. Many of the complexities inherent to psychedelic research also challenge existing assumptions around, for example, approaches to psychiatric prescribing, the conceptual framing of the placebo effect, and definitions of selfhood. This review paper aims to formalise these unique considerations by addressing the sociocultural, political, legal, pharmacological, safety, study design and experiential facets inherent to a psychedelic study. We bring together several of the major psychedelic research teams across the United Kingdom, identify continuing areas of debate, and provide a practical, comprehensive, experience-based guide, with recommendations for policymakers and future researchers intending to set up a psychedelic research study or clinical trial.

ABSTRACT This study interrogates the performance and negotiation of digital identity among student influencers on RedNote, a Chinese social media platform. Drawing on a multimodal discourse analysis of 1854 posts produced by 18 English major influencers, we elucidate how identities are discursively fashioned through verbal narratives and visual composing strategies, and how these performances engage broader sociocultural discourses. Three interrelated identities are identified: the relatable peer (cultivating affective closeness and everyday authenticity), the motivated model (performing diligence, authority, and achievement), and the lifestyle‐savvy icon (aestheticizing study and curating consumption). To give a possible account for the amalgamation of these personas, we propose the notion of identity assemblage, one inextricably shaped by the platform's multimodal, relational, and sociotechnical affordances. Such assemblage performs a dual function: it materializes neoliberal discourses of meritocracy and self‐enterprise while also articulating a counter‐discourse of resilience against the prevailing narrative of disciplinary precarity. RedNote, in this light, operates as a third space that enables and sustains this intricate identity work. Our study advances scholarship on student identity and edu‐influencer practices by illuminating digital self‐making at the intersection of platform culture, affective labor, and educational anxiety.

ABSTRACT Sociolinguistic research has long documented the appropriation of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) across media including film, music and advertising. In this article, we add to this body of work by exploring the digital recontextualisation of a subset of AAVE features as ‘TikTok/internet language’. To do this, we analyse metalinguistic discourses of linguistic appropriation in a corpus of 178 TikTok videos. We identify two main competing discourses: On the one hand, a concern regarding the indexical erasure of AAVE as a variety of English spoken by Black Americans; and on the other, claims of a new register of ‘internet language’. Concluding, we argue that, in the participatory context of social media, the circulation of the label ‘TikTok language’ poses an issue for the raciolinguistic enregisterment as a ‘Black variety’ of English.

Following total laryngectomy, surgical voice restoration is considered the optimal modality for re-establishing communication via tracheoesophageal voice. Yet beyond the insertion of a voice prosthesis to elicit voice production, there is suboptimal clinical knowledge of how to rehabilitate the perceptual quality of tracheoesophageal voice. This systematic review will identify and critically evaluate the quality and effectiveness of therapeutic interventions for tracheoesophageal voice. The findings of this review will inform the development of a novel tracheoesophageal voice therapy intervention. Systematic literature review carried out in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. The review protocol was registered with PROSPERO. Eight electronic databases were searched using a prespecified search strategy. Records were independently screened by two reviewers against inclusion and exclusion criteria. Eligible studies were assessed for quality using the PEDro, ROBIN-T, and NHLBI critical appraisal tools. Data was extracted pertaining to participant characteristics and the content, dosage, intensity and outcomes of interventions. 6344 records were identified, of which 38 were included for full-text review. Six studies met the eligibility criteria for inclusion. Voice rehabilitation was not the primary focus in the majority of studies, and the risk of bias was identified across studies. There was significant heterogeneity in the interventions and outcome measures used within studies with insufficient detail provided on intervention content for tracheoesophageal voice. Evidence for the effectiveness of interventions was limited and inconsistent across studies. This review found that tracheoesophageal voice therapy is an under-researched area of clinical practice. Evidence from the small body of existing studies was not sufficiently robust to inform clinical practice at this time. This review highlights the necessity to develop and test interventions aimed at improving the perceptual quality of tracheoesophageal voice.

Abstract Less social participation may cause adverse outcomes for people with dementia, but it remains unclear whether existing interventions are effective. We therefore systematically identified interventions aiming to improve social participation for community‐dwelling people with dementia. Across 15 controlled trials ( n = 1965) comprising nine (60%) full trials and six (40%) feasibility/pilot studies testing six intervention types, we found only one study with any efficacy. It reported that using social robots in a group setting had an immediate effect in reducing loneliness. A single high‐quality rehabilitation study reported no benefits. Interventions incorporating physical activity, cognitive and art‐based therapies showed inconsistent findings, limiting firm conclusions. Feasibility/pilot studies using technology and multicomponent approaches were reported as feasible and acceptable. Overall, further research is required before implementation of any intervention. Future research should prioritize fully powered trials with social participation as the primary outcome, using valid measures, and adequate follow‐up to build robust evidence on clinically, and cost‐effective interventions.

Ketamine assisted psychotherapy is a promising new treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD). The psychoactive effects of repeated intravenous (IV) ketamine infusions in people with AUD and their mechanistic role in treating AUD are largely unknown. This study aimed to (1) quantify the subjective, psychoactive effects of IV ketamine in people with AUD, (2) investigate how these effects change over three dosing sessions and (3) test whether these effects mediate ketamine's therapeutic benefits in reducing alcohol consumption. Secondary analysis of the randomised, parallel-arm, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2 'KARE' clinical trial. Two clinical research facilities in England. 96 adults (35 women) aged 18-64 years with moderate-to-severe AUD. Three weekly infusions of either ketamine (IV 0.8mg/kg over 40 minutes) or placebo (saline solution). Psychoactive drug effects experienced were self-reported pre-, during- and post-infusion, every 20 minutes (eight times/infusion) on Likert scales (1-10), for: Effects of Drug, Liking of Drug, Altered Reality, Out of Body Experiences, Visual Distortion, Sound Distortion and Altered Time Perception. For each scale, we calculated area-under-the-curve (AUC) scores for each infusion and the AUC average across three infusions. The clinical outcome was percentage of days abstinent from alcohol in the 6months after infusions. Ketamine produced strong psychoactive effects on every scale, relative to placebo (all P values < 0.001). Ketamine's psychoactive effects were moderated by infusion number (infusion 2 vs. infusion 1) for: Liking of Drug (P = 0.001), Altered Reality (P = 0.030) and Out of Body Experiences (P = 0.033), with small-to-moderate effect sizes. The remaining four psychoactive effects were not statistically significantly changed by repeated dosing. No psychoactive effect statistically significantly mediated the relationship between drug treatment and percentage days abstinent (all P values = 0.075-0.935). People with alcohol use disorder experience alterations in consciousness from 0.8mg/kg intravenous ketamine administration. Ketamine's effects appear to be broadly consistent across three repeated infusions. Ketamine-related reductions in alcohol consumption do not appear to be mediated by the acute psychoactive effects of ketamine.

Abstract This chapter reviews the effects of iconicity in populations with speech, language, and communication needs. The majority of the work looks at symbol systems used for Augmented and Alternative Communication and iconic gestures used to support communication. The term “iconicity” therefore encompasses form–meaning relationships across different modalities of input and output (spoken word forms, visual stimuli, and gestures), with a focus on improving or achieving effective communication. Two points of interest are highlighted by the literature. First, for individuals to benefit from iconic forms during communication, they need to have relatively good semantic and referential skills. Second, iconic forms present a schematic representation and so they can be ambiguous and difficult to interpret. Therefore, when training individuals to use iconic forms, careful consideration needs to be given to the selection of forms (gestures, symbol sets), the individual’s skills, and the people, places, and situations within which they wish to communicate.

Abstract The firmest evidence in favour of models that posit early high-level influences of cognition on perception comes from electroencephalography (EEG). Enhanced early, pre-attentive processing of light and dark blue feature changes compared to light and dark green changes was reported in Greek speakers, who have two basic terms for ‘blue’ ( ghalazio/ble ). In the present three-experiment study, we systematically re-evaluate this evidence and test an alternative model that the early difference waves in the human EEG instead mainly reflect contrast adaptation phenomena. We use the same classical oddball paradigm presenting alternating standards and deviants that systematically differ in colour and/or luminance and chromatic contrast. We then calculate the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN), a putative index of pre-attentive feature change processing and predictive coding derived from EEG data, by subtracting the activity elicited by standards from that elicited by task-irrelevant deviants. Our experiments demonstrate the following: 1) vMMN is driven by contrast adaptation, being observable only in the presence of contrast differences between the stimuli and not reliably observed for categorically different hues equated in contrast; 2) there is no reliable difference between green- and blue-related difference waves in speakers (Russian) with two basic blue colour categories, the difference waves, again, being driven by contrast rather than their categorical content. Our findings are highly significant for the debate concerning the interface between perception and cognition, as the absence of early categorical effects speaks against models that predict Whorfian-type pre-attentive cognitive influences on perception. Significance statement The Whorfian hypothesis posits that basic language categories alter one’s perception of the world in a fundamental manner. Some of the most compelling evidence in favour of this hypothesis came from electrophysiological responses that indicated early differences between speakers of languages with different number of basic colour categories. The brain response taken as an indicator of these differences was considered to be a robust marker of early, pre-attentive processing and predictive coding. In the current multi-experiment study, we present evidence that early electrophysiological differences to colour reflect signatures of hue, saturation and luminance contrast and adaptation to this contrast, rather than of linguistic categories. This means that evidence in favour of early, pre-attentive categorical colour perception has been significantly eroded.