A cartographic approach to sentence production in aphasia

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haiyan Wang ◽  
Xinmiao Liu ◽  
Xin Li

Abstract There is much evidence that individuals with aphasia (IWA) are impaired in tense or aspectual inflections and the production of non-canonical sentences like passives. On the Cartographic Approach (CA), passives are represented at the lower node in the syntactic tree, with tense or aspectual elements at the higher node. This hierarchical structure can be used to account for the selective impairments in aphasic production. The present study reports the empirical findings from Chinese agrammatism using the theory of cartography. It is found that the performance of IWA with different degrees of severity is associated with different nodes (CP, TP, and vP) in the syntactic tree. Notably, the Chinese-speaking IWA are severely impaired in vP-related elements. Finally, the present study highlights the significance of adopting a cartographic approach to aphasia studies.

Author(s):  
E. Baer

The most advanced macromolecular materials are found in plants and animals, and certainly the connective tissues in mammals are amongst the most advanced macromolecular composites known to mankind. The efficient use of collagen, a fibrous protein, in the design of both soft and hard connective tissues is worthy of comment. Very crudely, in bone collagen serves as a highly efficient binder for the inorganic hydroxyappatite which stiffens the structure. The interactions between the organic fiber of collagen and the inorganic material seem to occur at the nano (scale) level of organization. Epitatic crystallization of the inorganic phase on the fibers has been reported to give a highly anisotropic, stress responsive, structure. Soft connective tissues also have sophisticated oriented hierarchical structures. The collagen fibers are “glued” together by a highly hydrated gel-like proteoglycan matrix. One of the simplest structures of this type is tendon which functions primarily in uniaxial tension as a reinforced elastomeric cable between muscle and bone.


2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 1258-1277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan K. MacPherson

PurposeThe aim of this study was to determine the impact of cognitive load imposed by a speech production task on the speech motor performance of healthy older and younger adults. Response inhibition, selective attention, and working memory were the primary cognitive processes of interest.MethodTwelve healthy older and 12 healthy younger adults produced multiple repetitions of 4 sentences containing an embedded Stroop task in 2 cognitive load conditions: congruent and incongruent. The incongruent condition, which required participants to suppress orthographic information to say the font colors in which color words were written, represented an increase in cognitive load relative to the congruent condition in which word text and font color matched. Kinematic measures of articulatory coordination variability and movement duration as well as a behavioral measure of sentence production accuracy were compared between groups and conditions and across 3 sentence segments (pre-, during-, and post-Stroop).ResultsIncreased cognitive load in the incongruent condition was associated with increased articulatory coordination variability and movement duration, compared to the congruent Stroop condition, for both age groups. Overall, the effect of increased cognitive load was greater for older adults than younger adults and was greatest in the portion of the sentence in which cognitive load was manipulated (during-Stroop), followed by the pre-Stroop segment. Sentence production accuracy was reduced for older adults in the incongruent condition.ConclusionsIncreased cognitive load involving response inhibition, selective attention, and working memory processes within a speech production task disrupted both the stability and timing with which speech was produced by both age groups. Older adults' speech motor performance may have been more affected due to age-related changes in cognitive and motoric functions that result in altered motor cognition.


Author(s):  
Maya Henry

Abstract Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a relatively new diagnostic entity, for which few behavioral treatments have been investigated. Recent work has helped to clarify the nature of distinct PPA variants, including a nonfluent variant (NFV-PPA), a logopenic variant (LV-PPA), and a semantic variant (SV-PPA). This paper reviews treatment research to date in each subtype of PPA, including restitutive, augmentative, and functional approaches. The evidence suggests that restitutive behavioral treatment can result in improved or stabilized language performance within treated domains. Specifically, sentence production and lexical retrieval have been addressed in NFV-PPA, whereas lexical retrieval has been the primary object of treatment in LV and SV-PPA. Use of augmentative communication techniques, as well as implementation of functional communication approaches, also may result in improved communication skills in individuals with PPA. The ideal treatment approach may be one that combines restitutive, augmentative, and functional approaches to treatment, in order to maximize residual cognitive-linguistic skills in patients. Additional research is warranted to determine which modes of treatment are most beneficial in each type of PPA at various stages of severity.


1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig N. Sawchuk ◽  
David F. Tolin ◽  
Suzanne A. Meunier ◽  
Scott O. Lilienfeld ◽  
Jeffrey M. Lohr ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Jescheniak ◽  
F. Oppermann ◽  
H. Schriefers ◽  
J. Klaus ◽  
M. Berwig

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorg D. Jescheniak ◽  
Frank Oppermann ◽  
Herbert Schriefers

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorg D. Jescheniak ◽  
Frank Oppermann ◽  
Herbert Schriefers ◽  
Jana Klaus ◽  
Martin Berwig

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