Showing papers in "Aphasiology in 2011"
TL;DR: People with aphasia in this study were able to articulate a wide range of goals post-stroke that encompassed all of the ICF components but had a particular focus on the Activity and Participation components.
Abstract: Background: The goals of people with aphasia should guide service delivery. Services are increasingly influenced by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) (WHO, 2001), but little is yet known about whether the goals of people with aphasia span the full spectrum of the ICF. Aims: The purpose of this study was to describe the goals of people with aphasia and to code the goals according to the ICF. Methods & Procedures: A qualitative descriptive research approach was used involving semi-structured in-depth interviews with 50 participants with aphasia post-stroke. Interviews were videotaped and transcribed verbatim and then analysed using qualitative content analysis. The goals of a 30% consecutive subsample were then coded using the ICF. Outcomes & Results: Nine broad categories of goals were identified. Participants with aphasia wanted to return to their pre-stroke life and to communicate not only their basic needs but also their opinions. They also wanted information a...
328 citations
TL;DR: AphasiaBank will provide researchers with an important new tool in the study of aphasia and will allow researchers access to a large, shared database that can facilitate hypothesis testing and increase methodological replicability, precision, and transparency.
Abstract: Background: AphasiaBank is a computerised database of interviews between persons with aphasia (PWAs) and clinicians. By February 2011 the database had grown to include 145 PWAs and 126 controls from 12 sites across the United States. The data and related analysis programs are available free over the web. Aims: The overall goal of AphasiaBank is the construction of a system for accumulating and sharing data on language usage by PWAs. To achieve this goal we have developed a standard elicitation protocol, and systematic automatic and manual methods for transcription, coding, and analysis. Methods & Procedures: We present sample analyses of transcripts from the retelling of the Cinderella story. These analyses illustrate the application of our methods for the study of phonological, lexical, semantic, morphological, syntactic, temporal, prosodic, gestural, and discourse features. Outcomes & Results: AphasiaBank will allow researchers access to a large, shared database that can facilitate hypothesis testing an...
305 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a multi-level procedure for both structural and functional analysis of narrative discourse produced by speakers with brain damage is presented. But the analysis of connected language samples elicited on single picture and cartoon story description tasks is not considered.
Abstract: Background: Several studies have shown that traditional standardised aphasia tests may not be sensitive enough to adequately assess linguistic deficits and recovery patterns in persons with aphasia. As a result, both functional and structural methods for the analysis of connected language samples from people with aphasia have been devised (see Armstrong, 2000; Prins & Bastiaanse, 2004). Aims: The present article focuses on our attempt to provide a comprehensive, multi-level procedure for both structural and functional analysis of narrative discourse produced by speakers with brain damage. Accordingly, we will describe a method for analysis of connected language samples elicited on single picture and cartoon story description tasks. This method has proven sensitive in the assessment of language deficits in many neurogenic populations. Methods & Procedures: A comprehensive description of the language production system, a thorough discussion of the different approaches to discourse analysis in persons with a...
166 citations
TL;DR: Results indicated that LD is one of the microlinguistic indices that is influenced by elicitation task and the presence of aphasia, which has important implications for modelling lexical diversity and selecting and interpreting results from different discourse elicitation tasks.
Abstract: Background: Differences in lexical diversity (LD) across different discourse elicitation tasks have been found in neurologically intact adults (NIA) (Fergadiotis, Wright, & Capilouto, 2010) but have not been investigated systematically in people with aphasia (PWA). Measuring lexical diversity in PWA may serve as a useful clinical tool for evaluating the impact of word retrieval difficulties at the discourse level. Aims: The study aims were (a) to explore the differences between the oral language samples of PWA and NIA in terms of LD as measured by dedicated computer software (voc-D), (b) to determine whether PWA are sensitive to discourse elicitation task in terms of LD, and (c) to identify whether differences between PWA and NIA vary in magnitude as a function of discourse task. Method & Procedures: Oral language samples from 25 PWA and 27 NIA were analysed. Participants completed three commonly used discourse elicitation tasks (single pictures, sequential pictures, story telling) and voc-D was used to ...
100 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of repetition, semantic, and combined semantic and gesture treatments for verb retrieval and use in individuals with chronic Broca's aphasia were evaluated in a single-participant, multiple-baseline across conditions design.
Abstract: Background: Verb production difficulties are well documented in individuals with aphasia. Yet there remains limited evidence regarding the efficacy of treatments for verb retrieval in these individuals. While previous studies have generally demonstrated positive treatment outcomes in improving single-verb production on confrontation naming tasks, few studies have attempted to examine therapy outcomes in more natural communicative contexts. Aims: This study aimed to evaluate and compare the effects of repetition, semantic, and combined semantic and gesture treatments for verb retrieval and use in individuals with chronic Broca's aphasia. Methods & Procedures: Two individuals with severe and moderate Broca's aphasia participated in this single-participant, multiple-baseline across conditions design. Participant GF presented with mixed levels of verb retrieval deficits and significant apraxia of speech. Participant PF evidenced verb retrieval impairment arising primarily from the output phonological level. A...
76 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors re-examine the relationship between story grammar and executive functions in a large group of participants with severe TBI secondary to diverse penetrating head wounds, and find that participants with TBI would have significantly lower story grammar scores than a comparison group without TBI.
Abstract: Background: Story grammar is a super-structural measure of discourse performance that has shown to be sensitive to the deficits seen following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Narrative organisation and identification of logical relationships between events and characters are key components of story grammar. Reports of significant correlations for measures of story grammar and scores from various tests of executive functioning for individuals with TBI are thought to reflect executive control of cognitive and linguistic organisational processes. Aims: The purpose of the present study was to re-examine the relationship between story grammar and executive functions (EF) in a large group of participants with severe TBI secondary to diverse penetrating head wounds. It was hypothesised that participants with TBI would have significantly lower story grammar scores than a comparison group without TBI, and that story grammar performance of the group with TBI would be significantly correlated with their EF scores. Met...
75 citations
TL;DR: This study reports data from the second phase of the project in which the Communication Confidence Rating Scale for Aphasia was revised to include 10 items, suggesting that the CCRSA is a psychometrically sound tool for assessing participants' self-report of communication confidence.
Abstract: Background: The construct of communication confidence was introduced by participants and family members during qualitative post-treatment interviews as part of a research study using a computer programme to deliver language therapy. However, there was no standardised method of evaluating communication confidence. Therefore the Communication Confidence Rating Scale for Aphasia (CCRSA) was developed, asking persons to self-rate communication confidence. Aims: This study reports data from the second phase of the project in which the CCRSA was revised to include 10 items. This revised 10-item self-rating scale of communication confidence (CCRSA) was evaluated psychometrically. Methods & Procedures: The revised 10-item questionnaire was administered 94 times to 47 participants with aphasia from a variety of settings. Psychometric properties of the 10-item CCRSA were investigated using rating scale (Rasch) analysis. Outcomes & Results: Person reliability of the 10-item CCRSA was .81. The four-category rating sc...
74 citations
TL;DR: More recent developments in data acquisition and analysis foster better understanding and more realistic modelling of the neural substrates of language recovery after stroke, which can provide converging evidence for neuroplastic brain remodelling during spontaneous and treatment-induced recovery.
Abstract: Background: Functional and structural neuroimaging techniques can increase our knowledge about the neural processes underlying recovery from post-stroke language impairments (aphasia). Aims: In the present review we highlight recent developments in neuroimaging research of aphasia recovery. Main Contribution: We review (a) cross-sectional findings in aphasia with regard to local brain functions and functional connectivity, (b) structural and functional imaging findings using longitudinal (intervention) paradigms, (c) new adjunct treatments that are guided by functional imaging techniques (e.g., electrical brain stimulation) and (d) studies related to the prognosis of language recovery and treatment responsiveness after stroke. Conclusions: More recent developments in data acquisition and analysis foster better understanding and more realistic modelling of the neural substrates of language recovery after stroke. Moreover, the combination of different neuroimaging protocols can provide converging e...
70 citations
TL;DR: The results are consistent with previous studies suggesting that DB span is shorter than DF span in other populations and that there are differences in performance on digit span tasks between the two groups.
Abstract: Background: Working memory (WM) limitations have been suggested as a significant source of the linguistic processing deficits observed in individuals with aphasia (IWA). Digits forward (DF) and digits backward (DB) span tasks are frequently used to study WM in both healthy and clinical populations. Unfortunately only a handful of studies have explored digit span in IWA. Aims: The purpose of the current study is to measure the DF and DB spans of IWA and compare their digit spans to a group with right brain damage, but no aphasia (RBD). Additionally, DF and DB span is compared within each group to determine if there is indeed a performance differential that may support the idea that DB is a more difficult WM task in these populations. Methods & Procedures: A total of 17 IWA and 14 individuals with RBD participated in a DF and DB span task. Modifications to the span tasks were implemented to accommodate language deficits. A series of two digits were orally presented to each participant continuing to a maximu...
66 citations
TL;DR: Exploring the putative relationship between anxiety and language in aphasia, through the study of physiologic stress responses, could establish a platform for investigating language changes in the brain in other clinical populations, such as in individuals with Alzheimer's disease or persons with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Abstract: Background: Persons with aphasia often report feeling anxious when using language while communicating. While many patients, caregivers, clinicians, and researchers would agree that language might be a stressor for persons with aphasia, systematic empirical studies of stress and/or anxiety in aphasia remain scarce. Aim: The aim of this paper is to review the existing literature discussing language as a stressor in aphasia, identify key issues, highlight important gaps, and propose a programme for future study. In doing so we hope to underscore the importance of understanding aspects of the emotional aftermath of aphasia, which plays a critical role in the process of recovery and rehabilitation. Main Contribution: Post stroke emotional changes in persons with chronic aphasia clearly has adverse effects for language performance and prospects of recovery. However, the specific role anxiety might play in aphasia has yet to be determined. As a starting point, we propose to view language in aphasia as a stressor...
65 citations
TL;DR: Results indicated that lexical diversity is one of the microlinguistic indices that are influenced by discourse type and age, a finding that carries important methodological implications.
Abstract: One of the most illuminative predictors of oral performance, lexical diversity (LD), is often neglected or, when used, it is often estimated incorrectly. In this study, we used dedicated software that combines an algebraic transformation model and curve fitting to explore whether there are differences in LD among four types of discourse (procedural discourse, single picture descriptions, story telling, and recounts) and to assess to what extent age influences LD when using each of the aforementioned types of discourse. A LD hierarchy was found with discourse. However, age influenced LD for specific types of discourse. Clinical implications will be discussed.
TL;DR: This review reports the rate of successful return to work (RTW) for younger stroke survivors with aphasia, and concludes that strategies to reduce this disparity should be made available to this population.
Abstract: Background: Younger stroke patients (i.e., typically those between 18 and 65 years of age) experience fewer stokes than older patients. However, younger stroke survivors are more likely to live longer with disability, have dependants, and be engaged in full- or part-time employment. Aphasia post stroke occurs in 10% of younger survivors, and can significantly impact the ability to resume previous activities of daily living. Unfortunately traditional rehabilitation often does not account for language impairments that impact vocational status. Aims: This review reports the rate of successful return to work (RTW) for younger stroke survivors with aphasia. Aphasia is consistently regarded as a barrier to an individual's ability to RTW post stroke. However, the degree to which working-age stroke survivors with aphasia successfully RTW remains unknown. In addition, conflicting evidence has been found as to the predictive nature of communication impairments on RTW. Main Contribution: The primary outcome in which...
TL;DR: The authors reviewed seven investigations that applied treatments during structured discourse production to improve word retrieval in participants with aphasia and identified variables that emerge as being important considerations in clinical practice and continued research.
Abstract: Background: Impairment-focused aphasia treatment has an ultimate goal of improving language production in connected speech and communication in daily life. Although impairment-based treatment has typically been carried out in words or sentences, investigations have begun to explore the efficacy of treatment during discourse production. Focusing treatment on an impaired linguistic process during discourse production is a complex and challenging endeavour. Aims: This paper aims to review investigations of discourse treatment for word retrieval impairment in aphasia in order to identify and discuss variables that emerge as being important considerations in clinical practice and continued research. Main Contribution: Seven investigations that applied treatments during structured discourse production to improve word retrieval in participants with aphasia were reviewed. Treatment methods used in the investigations included phonologic and orthographic cues, semantic feature analysis, contingency-based cueing hie...
TL;DR: This article explored the impact of demographic variables on three such tests and found that education effects were generally stronger than age effects, and were strongest on the WASI, while age effects (independent of educational level) were highest for the BNT, and lowest for the WasI Vocabulary.
Abstract: Background: Assessment of lexical/semantic knowledge—the ability to retrieve phonological, lexical, and general (semantic) information from long term memory—can be performed with a variety of tests varying in response requirements. Aims: The present study explores the impact of demographic variables on three such tests. Methods & Procedures: The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R), the Vocabulary subtest from the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI), and the Boston Naming Test (BNT) were used in a representative sample of 500 Greek community-dwelling adults aged 50–84 years. Outcomes & Results: Education effects were generally stronger than age effects, and were strongest on the WASI. Age effects (independent of educational level) were highest for the BNT and lowest for the WASI Vocabulary. Relationships among tests and also between each vocabulary test and an index of non-verbal intelligence are also discussed.
TL;DR: The authors found divergences exist in IWAs' sentence-processing routines depending on whether they comprehended non-canonical sentences correctly or not, pointing rather to a processing deficit explanation.
Abstract: Background: In addition to the canonical subject-verb-object (SVO) word order, German also allows for non-canonical order (OVS), and the case-marking system supports thematic role interpretation. Previous eye-tracking studies (Kamide et al., 2003; Knoeferle, 2007) have shown that unambiguous case information in non-canonical sentences is processed incrementally. For individuals with agrammatic aphasia, comprehension of non-canonical sentences is at chance level (Burchert et al., 2003). The trace deletion hypothesis (Grodzinsky 1995, 2000) claims that this is due to structural impairments in syntactic representations, which force the individual with aphasia (IWA) to apply a guessing strategy. However, recent studies investigating online sentence processing in aphasia (Caplan et al., 2007; Dickey et al., 2007) found that divergences exist in IWAs' sentence-processing routines depending on whether they comprehended non-canonical sentences correctly or not, pointing rather to a processing deficit explanation....
TL;DR: Findings suggest that declarative memory may contribute to the discursive use of cohesion and coherence in discourse.
Abstract: Background: Discourse cohesion and coherence gives our communication continuity. Deficits in cohesion and coherence have been reported in patients with cognitive-communication disorders (e.g., TBI, dementia). However, the diffuse nature of pathology and widespread cognitive deficits of these disorders have made identification of specific neural substrates and cognitive systems critical for cohesion and coherence challenging. Aims: Taking advantage of a rare patient group with selective and severe declarative memory impairments, the current study attempts to isolate the contribution of declarative memory to the successful use of cohesion and coherence in discourse. Methods & Procedures: Cohesion and coherence were examined in the discourse of six participants with hippocampal amnesia and six demographically matched comparison participants. Specifically, this study (1) documents the frequency, type, and completeness of cohesive ties; (2) evaluates discourse for local and global coherence; and (3) compares u...
TL;DR: For most patients, performance levels of inner and overt speech were similar, however, some patients had relatively better-preserved inner speech with a marked deficit in overt speech, while in others the opposite pattern was observed.
Abstract: Background: Patients with aphasia often complain that there is a poor correlation between the words they think (inner speech) and the words they say (overt speech). Aims: This study tried to characterise the relation between inner speech and overt speech in post-stroke aphasia. Methods & Procedures: We tested language abilities, speech apraxia, and performance on inner speech tasks, including homophone and rhyme judgements, of 27 patients with chronic post-stroke aphasia. Outcomes & Results: The patients with aphasia were distributed across the entire spectrum of abilities related to both inner and overt speech. For most patients, performance levels of inner and overt speech were similar. However, some patients had relatively better-preserved inner speech with a marked deficit in overt speech, while in others the opposite pattern was observed. Conclusions: The results are discussed within the framework of current models of language, and their implications for language therapy and aphasia diagnosis are out...
TL;DR: Findings suggest that the human sentence production system differentially processes unaccusatives vs unergatives, which is preserved in individuals with agrammatism; however, the time course of sentence planning appears to differ from healthy speakers.
Abstract: Background: Speakers with agrammatic aphasia have greater difficulty producing unaccusative (float) compared to unergative (bark) verbs (Kegl, 1995; Lee & Thompson, 2004; Thompson, 2003), putatively because the former involve movement of the theme to the subject position from the post-verbal position, and are therefore more complex than the latter (Burzio, 1986; Perlmutter, 1978). However, it is unclear if and how sentence production processes are affected by the linguistic distinction between these two types of verbs in normal and impaired speakers. Aims: This study examined real-time production of sentences with unergative (the black dog is barking) vs unaccusative (the black tube is floating) verbs in healthy young speakers and individuals with agrammatic aphasia, using eyetracking. Methods & Procedures: Participants' eye movements and speech were recorded while they produced a sentence using computer displayed written stimuli (e.g., black, dog, is barking). Outcomes & Results: Both groups of speakers ...
TL;DR: The efficacy of a treatment for language impairment that targets two language support processes: verbal short-term memory (STM) and executive processing, in the context of a language task (repetition) was investigated, hypothesised that treatment of these abilities would improve repetition abilities and performance on other language tasks that require STM.
Abstract: Background: Verbal short-term memory (STM) impairments are invariably present in aphasia. Word processing involves a minimal form of verbal STM, i.e., the time course over which semantic and phonological representations are activated and maintained until they are comprehended, produced, or repeated. Thus it is reasonable that impairments of word processing and verbal STM may co-occur. The co-occurrence of language and STM impairments in aphasia has motivated an active area of research that has revealed much about the relationship of these two systems and the effect of their impairment on language function and verbal learning (Freedman & Martin, 2001; Martin & Saffran, 1999; Trojano & Grossi, 1995). In keeping with this view a number of researchers have developed treatment protocols to improve verbal STM in order to improve language function (e.g., Koenig-Bruhin & Studer-Eichenberger, 2007). This account of aphasia predicts that treatment of a fundamental ability, such as STM, which supports language funct...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the way people with severe or moderate aphasia perceive they communicate, and if they and their partners perceive changes in the use of different means of communication during an intervention where the aphasic participants are stimulated to use total communication and the communication partners are guided to support the interaction and to facilitate the use.
Abstract: Background: Many people with severe or moderate aphasia begin to use nonverbal methods of communication spontaneously, but some need special training to do so. Use of total communication, including different nonverbal techniques, is often recommended to enable communication and participation in social interaction. Emphasis has also been placed on the importance of a communication partner in facilitating interaction and co-constructing the meaning in a discussion. Aims: The aim of the present study was to examine the way people with severe or moderate aphasia perceive they communicate, and if they and their partners perceive changes in the use of different means of communication during an intervention where the aphasic participants are stimulated to use total communication and the communication partners are guided to support the interaction and to facilitate the use of different means of communication. Methods & Procedures: The data were collected during a regular rehabilitation course. The course...
TL;DR: It is suggested that this type of communication-based constraint-induced therapy works to reduce learned non-use patterns of language production and can be structured to improve production of verbs in sentences.
Abstract: Background: Traditional aphasia therapy is based primarily on repetition and drill Recent treatment studies have suggested that communication-based interactions may be at least as effective if not more so in achieving positive outcomes Aims: This study was undertaken to directly compare the outcomes of drill-based vs communication-based interactions in modified Constraint-Induced Aphasia Therapy Methods & Procedures: Two women with chronic non-fluent aphasia participated sequentially in two distinct treatment protocols designed to improve verb production in sentences Both treatment protocols were provided in an intensive schedule, 30 hours over four weeks each The treatments contrasted drill-based vs communication-based interactions between the client and the clinician Outcome measures included verb naming and production of personal narratives Outcomes & Results: Drill-based but not communication-based treatment had a small positive effect on participants' verb naming accuracy The communication-
TL;DR: This article examined all articles on aphasia published between 2000 and 2009 in four leading aphasiological journals: Aphasiology, Brain and Language, Journal of Neurolinguistics and Language and Cognitive Processes, determining the language(s) spoken by the patients.
Abstract: Background: It is widely believed that the vast majority of articles on aphasia published in international journals are based on observations of English-speaking patients, with a possible more general bias towards western European languages. However, to the best of our knowledge no systematic study has tried to quantify linguistic biases in aphasia research. Aims: To examine the current (first decade of the twenty-first century) representation of different languages in aphasia literature. Methods & Procedures: We examined all articles on aphasia published between 2000 and 2009 in four leading aphasiological journals: Aphasiology, Brain and Language, Journal of Neurolinguistics, and Language and Cognitive Processes, determining the language(s) spoken by the patients. We compared the proportion of articles in a given language with the estimated number of its speakers worldwide. We further analysed the relationship between the language and the methodology, content, and number of citations as well as trends a...
TL;DR: This paper examined non-linguistic, cognitive function and its potential influence on word retrieval in individuals with mild anomia following stroke, and found that participants with mild aphasia showed significantly slower responses on COVAT alone and with linguistic interference, at two interstimulus intervals representing automatic and controlled processing.
Abstract: Background: People who report mild anomia following stroke often score near or within normal limits on traditional assessments of language. Based on evidence of cognitive influences on linguistic production in people with aphasia, this study examined non-linguistic, cognitive function and its potential influence on word retrieval in individuals with mild anomia. Aims: This study explored the following research questions: Do people with mild anomia have impaired performance on tasks which require (a) automatic vs controlled processing and/or (b) selective attention relative to neurologically typical controls? Methods & Procedures: A total of 14 participants with mild anomia and 9 neurologically typical controls were tested using Covert Orienting of Visuospatial Attention Test (COVAT), alone and with linguistic interference, at two interstimulus intervals (ISI) representing automatic and controlled processing. Outcomes & Results: Participants with anomia showed significantly slower responses on COVAT alone ...
TL;DR: This article investigated the influence of word order and case morphology on the comprehension of semantically reversible sentences in Turkish Broca's aphasia and found that case does not improve comprehension of derived-order sentences.
Abstract: Background: Comprehension of semantically reversible sentences is often impaired in Broca's aphasia. When the arguments in such sentences are in derived order, they are more difficult to comprehend than when they are not. Most studies on this topic are of English, a morphologically poor language; only a few experiments have examined sentence comprehension in case-marking languages. These studies tested sentences in which word order was varied while case was kept constant. Their results suggest that case does not improve comprehension of derived order sentences. The present study is on the comprehension of semantically reversible sentences in Turkish Broca's aphasia. Turkish, with its flexible word order and rich case morphology, is well suited to this investigation because there is an interaction between word order and case, which is known to influence sentence production in this aphasia type (Yarbay Duman, Aygen, & Bastiaanse, 2008). Aims: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of wor...
TL;DR: The results of this study support the clinical usefulness of this new approach to treating communication deficits associated with RHD due to stroke, even years post-onset.
Abstract: Aims: This investigation sought to determine whether a structured intervention focused on improving use of semantic associations could improve patients' ability to provide oral interpretations of metaphors following right hemisphere damage (RHD). Methods & Procedures: Principles of single participant experimental design provided the basis for the study. Five patients received either 10 or 20 baseline assessments of oral metaphor interpretation and, as a control, assessments of line orientation skill. They then received approximately 10 one-hour sessions of structured intervention to improve oral metaphor interpretation followed by post-training assessments and a 3-month follow up. Outcomes & Results: Patients' performances revealed evidence of good response to training as shown by patients' ability to reach criterion on all intervention tasks and by their significant improvement on oral metaphor interpretation. There was relatively little improvement on the line orientation task. Conclusions: The results ...
TL;DR: Video-based script training was found to be an effective treatment for chronic aphasia and three positive themes were identified: increased verbal communication skills, improvement in communication skills evident in various everyday situations, and increased confidence.
Abstract: Background: Chronic aphasia is a lifelong handicap that often leads to social isolation, loss of autonomy, and restricted social activities. Hence it is essential to develop cost-effective therapeutic approaches that enable people with aphasia to practise language skills in real-life contexts. Over the last several years there has been a shift from impairment-oriented language therapy to functional approaches that train language skills in more realistic contexts. Studies performed in the cognitive neurosciences have produced evidence that massed practice and forced use are essential for achieving sustained learning success in patients with aphasia. Conversational script training is based on the theory that massed practice of a whole task is likely to result in automatic and effortless language output that may facilitate participation in everyday life activities. To enhance automatisation of script use cue-based massed drilling is required. Computers are an ideal and cost-effective medium for the implement...
TL;DR: The authors investigated whether noun-verb dissociation also emerged in connected speech, and whether the analysis of patients' narratives could shed light on the functional damage underlying their grammatical-class-specific impairment.
Abstract: Background: Although disproportionate impairment of noun or verb retrieval has been described on the basis of the evidence from several aphasic cases since the mid 1980s, with different theoretical frames being proposed to account for noun–verb dissociation, very few studies have dealt with this dissociation in spontaneous speech. Aims: The objectives of this study were to investigate (i) whether the dissociation also emerged in connected speech, and (ii) whether the analysis of patients' narratives could shed light on the functional damage underlying their grammatical-class-specific impairment. Methods & Procedures: Two non-fluent verb-impaired patients, two fluent verb-impaired patients, and three fluent noun-impaired patients participated in this study. Their noun–verb dissociation was preliminarily assessed through a picture-naming task, following which their spontaneous speech was collected and analysed using a single-case approach, taking into consideration both lexical productivity (as indicated by...
TL;DR: The authors explored learning and long-term maintenance of novel words in persons with aphasia by using visual confrontation to test explicit learning of the new names through visual confrontation with two English-speaking males and two age-matched controls.
Abstract: Background: Novel word learning of persons with aphasia is little studied, even though a better understanding of learning processes would inform development of effective treatment strategies. Recent evidence suggests some remaining verbal learning capacity in persons with aphasia. Long-term maintenance of newly learned active vocabulary has not been reported previously in persons with aphasia. Aims: To explore learning and long-term maintenance of novel words in persons with aphasia. Methods & Procedures: Two English-speaking males with chronic anomic aphasia and two age-matched controls were taught novel names of 20 unfamiliar objects. Half of the words were taught with semantic information (definition) and half without. Participants were instructed to learn the names. The experiment included four training sessions, one post-training test and four follow-up tests administered 1 week, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 6 months post-training. We tested explicit learning of the new names through visual confrontation na...
TL;DR: In this paper, the speech motor learning (SML) approach was used to address the underlying inability to plan and program the production of different speech motor targets (SMTs) in changing phonetic contexts and utterances exceeding a single word/nonword in length.
Abstract: Background: In this paper the rationale for a treatment of apraxia of speech, the speech motor learning (SML) approach, is described and the effects of its application explored. The SML approach endeavours to address the underlying inability to plan and program the production of different speech motor targets (SMTs) in changing phonetic contexts and in utterances exceeding a single word/nonword in length. Aims: The aims of the study were to determine (1) if treatment effects generalised to untreated nonwords and untreated real words with trained vowels and consonants, (2) if a learning effect was maintained, (3) if the treatment task hierarchy of the SML approach could be confirmed, and (4) if the number of speech errors judged perceptually declined across the treatment period on treated and untreated stages. Methods & Procedures: A multiple baseline single-participant design across behaviours and contexts was used to assess the effects of treatment with a speaker with chronic pure AOS. The first six stag...
TL;DR: The results of this study demonstrate that recovery is task, lesion site, and size specific and indicate a role for both activation of homologous contralesional cortex and activity of left hemisphere regions (perilesional and ipsilesional) as efficient mechanisms for supporting language functions in chronic stroke patients.
Abstract: Background: Neuroimaging research on language recovery in patients with aphasia due to left hemisphere damage has generated some intriguing results. However, it is still not clear what role the right hemisphere plays in supporting recovered language functions in the chronic phase for patients with different site and size of lesion when different tasks are used. Aims: The present study aimed at exploring the role of perilesional, ipsilesional, and contralesional activation in participants with aphasia with different site and size of lesion using two different language tasks. All participants were in the chronic stage with well- recovered or significant improvements in language functions. Methods & Procedures: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to characterise brain activations in eight stroke patients and eight age/gender-matched controls during semantic judgement and oral picture naming. An event-related design using jittered interstimulus intervals (ISIs) was employed to present the st...