Aspartame and Energy Essay

Submitted By katwoman132
Words: 1113
Pages: 5
Open Document
Speech Perception
The first research article, titled ‘Developmental Aspects of Cross-Language Speech Perception’ by Werker, Gilbert, Humphrey and Tees (1981), examines infant and adult abilities to discriminate phonemes across languages. This means that minor acoustic differences in speech sounds should be ignored. The study was built on evidence from previous studies that categorization of speech is a built in ability within humans. This study was the first to include both infants and adults as participants (Werker et al., 1981). Four groups were tested in a ‘discrimination paradigm’ on two pairs of Hindi linguistic sounds. Group one was made up of five Hindi-speaking adults. Group two consisted of fifteen infants, with an average age of six months, twenty-eight days. Group three and four each contained ten English-speaking adults with no prior experience with the Hindi language. Group four was given training trials. This was done so the English speaking adults could be compared with the infants. One English stimulus pair and two Hindi stimuli pairs were utilized. Werker et al. (1981), explain that two pairs of Hindi sounds were used to sample two sets of sounds that have different discriminative difficulties. Infants were tested using a ‘visually reinforced infant speech discrimination’ (VRISD) paradigm which involves conditioned head turns when the infant recognizes a change in the speech sound. It was found that six month olds were able to discriminate both Hindi sound pairs. Hindi adults were able to discriminate all sound pairs but English adults could not discriminate one of the Hindi sound pairs and only some English adults could discriminate the other Hindi sound pair. The training given to the fourth group slightly improved their ability to discriminate the less difficult Hindi sound pair but not the difficult Hindi sound pair.
While reading this study, I was truly impressed with the measures that were taken by Werker et al. (1981) to control for many extraneous variables that could have negatively affected the study. There are a few elements of the study that I would change if I were the experimenter. The first and probably most obvious change being the sample size. Although it would be difficult to find a large number of cooperative babies, I think this study deserved a larger sample size. Also, I would have used a more difficult English phoneme to accompany the already existing stimulus pair. It would be interesting to see if the difficulties of the English sounds have an effect on the results, as it was shown that some English speaking adults could actually discriminate between the differences of the ‘easier’ Hindi sound pair. Werker et al. (1981) mentioned that there some studies which found that English infants could not discriminate between some non-English sounds. This would be an interesting aspect to look into. There are many languages in the world and although it would take a while, I think it would be useful.
The second research article, ‘Cross-Language Speech Perception: Evidence for Perceptual Reorganization During the First Year of Life’ by Werker and Tees (1984) consists of two experiments. In the first experiment, Werker and Tees (1984) try determine whether or not the results found in their previous (1981) study are due to developmental changes. The experimental procedure was similar to the other study described, but instead of Hindi, Werker and Tees (1984) used a Canadian Native Indian (Thompson) language. Subjects involved in the study were: twelve infants (average age of six months, twenty-nine days), ten English speaking adults and five Thompson-speaking adults. Thompson adults, English adults and English infants were compared with each other on their ability to discriminate the paired Thompson stimuli. It was found that all the Thompson speaking adults could discriminate the sounds. Three out of ten adult English speakers discriminated the sounds. Eight out of ten of the English infants
Show More

Related Documents: Aspartame and Energy Essay

Aspartame Research Paper

Ayub Ali & Abdullatif Mire Sr. Hala Bazzi 9th Grade Science September 18, 2013 Research paper Aspartame and caffeine can be found in products all over the world, but they are most famous for being in sugar sweeteners and diet sodas. There is much controversy surrounding these two substances, especially aspartame. Aspartame is a low-calorie, intense artificial sweetener. It is a white, odorless powder, approximately 200 times sweeter than sugar and is mainly of 2 amino acids, aspartic…

Words 974 - Pages 4

Artificial Sweeteners

research on this topic because a lot of people are disguised because they hear that artificial sugars help during diets, or health situations. They don’t realize the harm it will cause to your body. You can find artificial sweeteners in diet sodas, energy drinks, varies of snacks, and other drinks and teas. This paper will first focus on the major artificial sweeteners and then the effects they have on your body. When you look…

Words 430 - Pages 2

Health and Why It Matters Essay

this time fluctuated up and down. Healthy lifestyles are important in this part development especially because if one is doing good things for their body, they will also feel good. Sustainable foods such as vegetables and proteins help to sustain energy throughout the day. Sugary foods cause euphoria and then a crash which can directly affect self-esteem. Not only is the body crashing, but so is the brain causing a fluctuation in mood and self-esteem. Lifestyle choices are equally important in development…

Words 1283 - Pages 6

Alternatives to Sugar Essay

of alternative sweeteners; sugar alcohols, artificial sweeteners, and an herbal sweetener. Artificial sweeteners can also be called nonnutritive sweeteners because they provide almost no energy. It is a substitute for the real thing. One example of an artificial sweetener is aspartame. It is digested and absorbed in the body and can be used It is an alternative to sugar, and can be found in drinks, yogurt, gum, and cough syrup. There is no dangerous side effects. Sugar alcohols…

Words 395 - Pages 2

Chemistry: High-fructose Corn Syrup Essay

The Mass of Calories Observation: It’s common practice by bodybuilders to use high calorie diets in order to gain weight, the idea is that an excess of caloric energy would lead to additional energy stores and furthermore increased weight gain. Is this weight gain actually a product of eating higher quantities of dense foods or is there a relationship between calories and density? There are several confounding factors that make this an exceptionally difficult question to answer, the most pressing…

Words 430 - Pages 2

energy dirink lab Essays

Questions: 1. When we say that something gives us “energy,” what does that mean? What is a biological definition of energy? When we say that something gives us “energy” it means that, that drink gave us power to get up and do things. It energizes us so we can accomplish something. The biological definition of energy is the strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity. 2. What is the physiological role of each of the molecules in your table? The role of each of the…

Words 1038 - Pages 5

Diet Soda Research Paper

calories, but also do not have anything useful to the body. What is the best low-calorie drink? This water. Water - is key for life, so water changes to diet soda will have negative effects on your body. Intake of artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, are part of the drink can cause headache. Part of the soda lemon acid destroys tooth enamel. Blending of spirits with diet soda even more speeds up the absorption of alcohol than sugary soda. This happens because our circulatory system quickly…

Words 1138 - Pages 5

Diabetic Teaching Plan Essay

DIABETIC TEACHING PLAN Teaching/learning methods used: * Individual Instruction * Visual aids * Return demonstration * Reinforce teaching * Group discussion * Questions and Answers Topic(s) on Diabetes: (Do not select more than two topics). 1. What is Diabetes? (include Type I and Type II) 2. Oral Anti -Diabetic Medications 3. Insulin administration and Storage 4. Diet instructions…

Words 1784 - Pages 8

Essay Body Fat And Eating Disorders

contribution to obesity and lowered healthy practices and rising health problems. There are also questions and concerns being raised on the added chemicals or artificial sweeteners in sodas, chips, and candies. Different versions of corn syrup and aspartame have been linked to obesity as well. Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge-eating Disorder Anorexia nervosa is essentially self-starvation that is mainly psychological in nature. It has several problems in the long run such as muscle loss…

Words 864 - Pages 4

Food Label Group Project

simple sugars, sugar alcohols and artificial sweeteners • Name the digestible and non-digestible complex carbohydrates from plant and animal sources • Identify sources of carbohydrate, sweeteners and fiber on a food label. • Calculate the proportion of energy supplied by CHO on a food label. CHO from plant source foods 3 Types of Carbohydrate • Digestible vs. Not digestible • Digestible – Simple Sugars • Monosaccharides • Disaccharides – More complex Carbohydrates • Polysaccharides (starches) •…

Words 786 - Pages 4