scholarly journals The multiplex structure of the mental lexicon influences picture naming in people with aphasia

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 913-931 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nichol Castro ◽  
Massimo Stella

Abstract An emerging area of research in cognitive science is the utilization of networks to model the structure and processes of the mental lexicon in healthy and clinical populations, like aphasia. Previous research has focused on only one type of word similarity at a time (e.g., semantic relationships), even though words are multi-faceted. Here, we investigate lexical retrieval in a picture naming task from people with Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasia and healthy controls by utilizing a multiplex network structure that accounts for the interplay between multiple semantic and phonological relationships among words in the mental lexicon. Extending upon previous work, we focused on the global network measure of closeness centrality which is known to capture spreading activation, an important process supporting lexical retrieval. We conducted a series of logistic regression models predicting the probability of correct picture naming. We tested whether multiplex closeness centrality was a better predictor of picture naming performance than single-layer closeness centralities, other network measures assessing local and meso-scale structure, psycholinguistic variables and group differences. We also examined production gaps, or the difference between the likelihood of producing a word with the lowest and highest closeness centralities. Our results indicated that multiplex closeness centrality was a significant predictor of picture naming performance, where words with high closeness centrality were more likely to be produced than words with low closeness centrality. Additionally, multiplex closeness centrality outperformed single-layer closeness centralities and other multiplex network measures, and remained a significant predictor after controlling for psycholinguistic variables and group differences. Furthermore, we found that the facilitative effect of closeness centrality was similar for both types of aphasia. Our results underline the importance of integrating multiple measures of word similarities in cognitive language networks for better understanding lexical retrieval in aphasia, with an eye towards future clinical applications.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nichol Castro ◽  
Massimo Stella

An emerging area of research in cognitive science is the utilization of networks to model the structure and processes of the mental lexicon in healthy and clinical populations, like aphasia. Previous research has focused on only one type of word similarity at a time (e.g., semantic relationships), even though words are multi-faceted. Here, we investigate lexical retrieval in a picture naming task from people with Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia and healthy controls by utilizing a multiplex network structure that accounts for the interplay between multiple semantic and phonological relationships among words in the mental lexicon. Extending upon previous work, we focused on the global network measure of closeness centrality which is known to capture spreading activation, an important process supporting lexical retrieval. We conducted a series of logistic regression models predicting the probability of correct picture naming. We tested whether multiplex closeness centrality was a better predictor of picture naming performance than single-layer closeness centralities, other network measures assessing local and meso-scale structure, psycholinguistic variables, and group differences. We also examined production gaps, or the difference between the likelihood of producing a word with the lowest and highest closeness centralities. Our results indicated that multiplex closeness centrality was a significant predictor of picture naming performance, where words with high closeness centrality were more likely to be produced than words with low closeness centrality. Additionally, multiplex closeness centrality outperformed single-layer closeness centralities and other multiplex network measures, and remained a significant predictor after controlling for psycholinguistic variables and group differences. Furthermore, we found that the facilitative effect of closeness centrality was similar for both types of aphasia. Our results underline the importance of integrating multiple measures of word similarities in cognitive language networks for better understanding lexical retrieval in aphasia, with an eye toward future clinical applications.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Massimo Stella

Complex networks recently opened new ways for investigating how language use is influenced by the mental representation of word similarities. This work adopts the framework of multiplex lexical networks for investigating lexical retrieval from memory. The focus is on priming effects, where the processing of couple of words sharing specific features is faster and more accurate. Supported by recent findings of network distance influencing lexical retrieval, the multiplex network approach tests how the layout of hundreds of thousands of word-word similarities in the mental lexicon of words can lead to priming effects on multiple, combined semantic and phonological levels.Results provides quantitative evidence that priming effects are encoded directly in the multiplex structure of the mental representation of words sharing phonemes either in their onsets (cohort priming) or at their ends (rhyme priming). By comparison with randomised null models, both cohort and priming effects are found to be emerging properties of the mental lexicon arising from its multiplexity: These priming effects are absent on individual layers but become prominent on the combined multiplex structure. The emergence of priming effects due to the multiplex nature of the mental lexicon is displayed both in case only semantic layers are considered, an approximated representation of the so-called semantic memory, but also when semantics is enriched with phonological similarities, an approximated representation of the lexical-auditory nature of the mental lexicon. These results indicate that multiplex lexical networks represent an insightful approach for shedding light on the interplay between multiple aspects of language and human cognition, as it can open new paths for the quantification of cognitive patterns in synergy with experimental psycholinguistic data.


2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARGOT D. SULLIVAN ◽  
GREGORY J. POARCH ◽  
ELLEN BIALYSTOK

Proficient bilinguals demonstrate slower lexical retrieval than comparable monolinguals. The present study tested predictions from two main accounts of this effect, the frequency-lag and competition hypotheses. Both make the same prediction for bilinguals but differ for trilinguals and for age differences. 200 younger or older adults who were monolingual, bilingual, or trilingual performed a picture naming task in English that included high and low frequency words. Naming times were faster for high than for low frequency words and, in line with frequency-lag, group differences were larger for low than high frequency items. However, on all other measures, bilinguals and trilinguals performed equivalently, and lexical retrieval differences between language groups did not attenuate with age, consistent with the competition view.


Complexity ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Massimo Stella

Complex networks recently opened new ways for investigating how language use is influenced by the mental representation of word similarities. This work adopts the framework of multiplex lexical networks for investigating lexical retrieval from memory. The focus is on priming, i.e., exposure to a given stimulus facilitating or inhibiting retrieval of a given lexical item. Supported by recent findings of network distance influencing lexical retrieval, the multiplex network approach tests how the layout of hundreds of thousands of word-word similarities in the mental lexicon can lead to priming effects on multiple combined semantic and phonological levels. Results provide quantitative evidence that phonological priming effects are encoded directly in the multiplex structure of the mental representation of words sharing phonemes either in their onsets (cohort priming) or at their ends (rhyme priming). By comparison with randomised null models, both cohort and rhyming effects are found to be emerging properties of the mental lexicon arising from its multiplexity. These priming effects are absent on individual layers but become prominent on the combined multiplex structure. The emergence of priming effects is displayed both when only semantic layers are considered, an approximated representation of the so-called semantic memory, and when semantics is enriched with phonological similarities, an approximated representation of the lexical-auditory nature of the mental lexicon. Multiplex lexical networks can account for connections between semantic and phonological information in the mental lexicon and hence represent a promising modelling route for shedding light on the interplay between multiple aspects of language and human cognition in synergy with experimental psycholinguistic data.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander A. Aabedi ◽  
Sofia Kakaizada ◽  
Jacob S. Young ◽  
Jasleen Kaur ◽  
Olivia Wiese ◽  
...  

AbstractLexical retrieval requires selecting and retrieving the most appropriate word from the lexicon to express a desired concept. Few studies have probed lexical retrieval with tasks other than picture naming, and when non-picture naming lexical retrieval tasks have been applied, both convergent and divergent results emerged. The presence of a single construct for auditory and visual processes of lexical retrieval would influence cognitive rehabilitation strategies for patients with aphasia. In this study, we perform support vector regression lesion-symptom mapping using a brain tumor model to test the hypothesis that brain regions specifically involved in lexical retrieval from visual and auditory stimuli represent overlapping neural systems. We find that principal components analysis of language tasks revealed multicollinearity between picture naming, auditory naming, and a validated measure of word finding, implying the existence of redundant cognitive constructs. Nonparametric, multivariate lesion-symptom mapping across participants was used to model accuracies on each of the four language tasks. Lesions within overlapping clusters of 8,333 voxels and 21,512 voxels in the left lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) were predictive of impaired picture naming and auditory naming, respectively. These data indicate a convergence of heteromodal lexical retrieval within the PFC.


2018 ◽  
Vol In Press (In Press) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Noroozian ◽  
Jafar Masumi ◽  
Ahmad Reza Khatoonabadi ◽  
Masoud Salehi ◽  
Mahmoud Kargar

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (08) ◽  
pp. 1750101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yabing Yao ◽  
Ruisheng Zhang ◽  
Fan Yang ◽  
Yongna Yuan ◽  
Qingshuang Sun ◽  
...  

In complex networks, the existing link prediction methods primarily focus on the internal structural information derived from single-layer networks. However, the role of interlayer information is hardly recognized in multiplex networks, which provide more diverse structural features than single-layer networks. Actually, the structural properties and functions of one layer can affect that of other layers in multiplex networks. In this paper, the effect of interlayer structural properties on the link prediction performance is investigated in multiplex networks. By utilizing the intralayer and interlayer information, we propose a novel “Node Similarity Index” based on “Layer Relevance” (NSILR) of multiplex network for link prediction. The performance of NSILR index is validated on each layer of seven multiplex networks in real-world systems. Experimental results show that the NSILR index can significantly improve the prediction performance compared with the traditional methods, which only consider the intralayer information. Furthermore, the more relevant the layers are, the higher the performance is enhanced.


1994 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 629-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Goulet ◽  
Bernadette Ska ◽  
Helen J. Kahn

This review of 25 studies of the picture-naming accuracy of normal aging individuals shows that an age-related decline in picture naming is an inconsistent finding. Naming performance of older adults varied throughout the studies reviewed in this paper. This variability is attributed to the research methods used and to subject characteristics. To date, there are no studies that have considered all “nuisance factors” (e.g., health status, medication) in such a way that would allow support for a decrease in picture-naming accuracy associated with primary aging.


2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Britt Erman

The study seeks to establish whether pause frequency and pause duration could inform us about the size of linguistic units stored in the mental lexicon. Pauses are seen as a reflection of cognitive effort in lexical retrieval. The basic assumption is that a particular concept starts activating related concepts in a conceptual network via spreading activation. Pausing is assumed to be rare when spreading activation is at work, i.e. in the recall of multiword, or prefabricated, structures. The results show that pausing was significantly more frequent in connection with lexical search in computed as compared to prefabricated structures, thus indicating that prefabricated structures are stored and retrieved as wholes. The most important implication of the study is that the results give further support to John Sinclair’s proposed ‘idiom principle’, according to which strings that would appear to be analyzable into segments nevertheless constitute single choices.


2003 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
INGRID K. CHRISTOFFELS ◽  
ANNETTE M. B. DE GROOT ◽  
LOURENS J. WALDORP

Simultaneous interpreting (SI) is a complex skill, where language comprehension and production take place at the same time in two different languages. In this study we identified some of the basic cognitive skills involved in SI, focusing on the roles of memory and lexical retrieval. We administered a reading span task in two languages and a verbal digit span task in the native language to assess memory capacity, and a picture naming and a word translation task to tap the retrieval time of lexical items in two languages, and we related performance on these four tasks to interpreting skill in untrained bilinguals. The results showed that word translation and picture naming latencies correlate with interpreting performance. Also digit span and reading span were associated with SI performance, only less strongly so. A graphical models analysis indicated that specifically word translation efficiency and working memory form independent subskills of SI performance in untrained bilinguals.


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