scholarly journals Phonological Processing in Primary Progressive Aphasia

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya L. Henry ◽  
Stephen M. Wilson ◽  
Miranda C. Babiak ◽  
Maria Luisa Mandelli ◽  
Pelagie M. Beeson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Dorsal Stream ◽  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Binary Logistic Regression ◽  
Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Primary Progressive ◽  
Dorsal Pathway ◽  
High Degree

Individuals with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) show selective breakdown in regions within the proposed dorsal (articulatory–phonological) and ventral (lexical–semantic) pathways involved in language processing. Phonological STM impairment, which has been attributed to selective damage to dorsal pathway structures, is considered to be a distinctive feature of the logopenic variant of PPA. By contrast, phonological abilities are considered to be relatively spared in the semantic variant and are largely unexplored in the nonfluent/agrammatic variant. Comprehensive assessment of phonological ability in the three variants of PPA has not been undertaken. We investigated phonological processing skills in a group of participants with PPA as well as healthy controls, with the goal of identifying whether patterns of performance support the dorsal versus ventral functional–anatomical framework and to discern whether phonological ability differs among PPA subtypes. We also explored the neural bases of phonological performance using voxel-based morphometry. Phonological performance was impaired in patients with damage to dorsal pathway structures (nonfluent/agrammatic and logopenic variants), with logopenic participants demonstrating particular difficulty on tasks involving nonwords. Binary logistic regression revealed that select phonological tasks predicted diagnostic group membership in the less fluent variants of PPA with a high degree of accuracy, particularly in conjunction with a motor speech measure. Brain–behavior correlations indicated a significant association between the integrity of gray matter in frontal and temporoparietal regions of the left hemisphere and phonological skill. Findings confirm the critical role of dorsal stream structures in phonological processing and demonstrate unique patterns of impaired phonological processing in logopenic and nonfluent/agrammatic variants of PPA.

Considerations in Subtyping and Monitoring of Symptom Progression in Primary Progressive Aphasia

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 122-127
Author(s):  
Daisy Sapolsky ◽  
Kimiko Domoto-Reilly ◽  
Bradford C. Dickerson
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Family Counseling ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Language Preservation ◽  
Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Primary Progressive ◽  
Speech Language Pathologist ◽  
Initial Symptoms ◽  
Symptom Progression

A speech-language pathologist (SLP) may be one of the initial clinical providers for a patient with primary progressive aphasia (PPA), a group of neurodegenerative diseases involving the selective, progressive deterioration of speech and/or language abilities. While the three primary subtypes of PPA have distinct profiles of language preservation and impairment, the process of identifying the subtype can be challenging for many reasons, including subtle initial symptoms which can be difficult to detect on standard testing batteries. Early and accurate subtyping is important for clinical and research applications, which we will discuss here. The SLP plays a critical role in the initial subtyping process, as well as in helping to confirm that the course and presentation are consistent with a root diagnosis of PPA, as opposed to normal aging or other etiologies. The involvement of the SLP over time then focuses on monitoring symptom severity and progression, which is a particularly relevant issue for this population. The SLP can apply this information to inform treatment planning and patient/family counseling, and to assess potential benefits from interventions including conventional and novel speech therapies, and pharmaceutical treatments as they become available.

scholarly journals Written Language Impairments in Primary Progressive Aphasia: A Reflection of Damage to Central Semantic and Phonological Processes

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya L. Henry ◽  
Pélagie M. Beeson ◽  
Gene E. Alexander ◽  
Steven Z. Rapcsak
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Cortical Atrophy ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Primary Progressive

Connectionist theories of language propose that written language deficits arise as a result of damage to semantic and phonological systems that also support spoken language production and comprehension, a view referred to as the “primary systems” hypothesis. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the primary systems account in a mixed group of individuals with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) by investigating the relation between measures of nonorthographic semantic and phonological processing and written language performance and by examining whether common patterns of cortical atrophy underlie impairments in spoken versus written language domains. Individuals with PPA and healthy controls were administered a language battery, including assessments of semantics, phonology, reading, and spelling. Voxel-based morphometry was used to examine the relation between gray matter volumes and language measures within brain regions previously implicated in semantic and phonological processing. In accordance with the primary systems account, our findings indicate that spoken language performance is strongly predictive of reading/spelling profile in individuals with PPA and suggest that common networks of critical left hemisphere regions support central semantic and phonological processes recruited for spoken and written language.

P2-396: NEURAL ACTIVITY PATTERNS UNDERLYING ABNORMAL PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSING IN PATIENTS WITH LOGOPENIC VARIANT PRIMARY PROGRESSIVE APHASIA

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. P757-P757
Author(s):  
Kamalini G. Ranasinghe ◽  
Alexander J. Beagle ◽  
Danielle Mizuiri ◽  
Susanne Honma ◽  
Ariane E. Welch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Primary Progressive

scholarly journals Gesture Discrimination in Primary Progressive Aphasia: The Intersection between Gesture and Language Processing Pathways

2010 ◽  
Vol 30 (18) ◽  
pp. 6334-6341 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Nelissen ◽  
M. Pazzaglia ◽  
M. Vandenbulcke ◽  
S. Sunaert ◽  
K. Fannes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Primary Progressive ◽  
Processing Pathways

scholarly journals Neural Correlates of Letter and Semantic Fluency in Primary Progressive Aphasia

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Marianna Riello ◽  
Constantine E. Frangakis ◽  
Bronte Ficek ◽  
Kimberly T. Webster ◽  
John E. Desmond ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Demographic Factors ◽  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Volumetric Analysis ◽  
Clinical Severity ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Primary Progressive

Verbal fluency (VF) is an informative cognitive task. Lesion and functional imaging studies implicate distinct cerebral areas that support letter versus semantic fluency and the understanding of neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying task performance. Most lesion studies include chronic stroke patients. People with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) provide complementary evidence for lesion-deficit associations, as different brain areas are affected in stroke versus PPA. In the present study we sought to determine imaging, clinical and demographic correlates of VF in PPA. Thirty-five patients with PPA underwent an assessment with letter and category VF tasks, evaluation of clinical features and an MRI scan for volumetric analysis. We used stepwise regression models to determine which brain areas are associated with VF performance while acknowledging the independent contribution of clinical and demographic factors. Letter fluency was predominantly associated with language severity (R2 = 38%), and correlated with the volume of the left superior temporal regions (R2 = 12%) and the right dorsolateral prefrontal area (R2 = 5%). Semantic fluency was predominantly associated with dementia severity (R2 = 47%) and correlated with the volume of the left inferior temporal gyrus (R2 = 7%). No other variables were significantly associated with performance in the two VF tasks. We concluded that, independently of disease severity, letter fluency is significantly associated with the volume of frontal and temporal areas whereas semantic fluency is associated mainly with the volume of temporal areas. Furthermore, our findings indicated that clinical severity plays a critical role in explaining VF performance in PPA, compared to the other clinical and demographic factors.

scholarly journals Cortical Tracking of the Speech Envelope in Logopenic Variant Primary Progressive Aphasia

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather R. Dial ◽  
G. Nike Gnanateja ◽  
Rachel S. Tessmer ◽  
Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini ◽  
Bharath Chandrasekaran ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Neural Encoding ◽  
Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Primary Progressive ◽  
Speech Encoding ◽  
Speech Cues ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Speech Envelope

Logopenic variant primary progressive aphasia (lvPPA) is a neurodegenerative language disorder primarily characterized by impaired phonological processing. Sentence repetition and comprehension deficits are observed in lvPPA and linked to impaired phonological working memory, but recent evidence also implicates impaired speech perception. Currently, neural encoding of the speech envelope, which forms the scaffolding for perception, is not clearly understood in lvPPA. We leveraged recent analytical advances in electrophysiology to examine speech envelope encoding in lvPPA. We assessed cortical tracking of the speech envelope and in-task comprehension of two spoken narratives in individuals with lvPPA (n = 10) and age-matched (n = 10) controls. Despite markedly reduced narrative comprehension relative to controls, individuals with lvPPA had increased cortical tracking of the speech envelope in theta oscillations, which track low-level features (e.g., syllables), but not delta oscillations, which track speech units that unfold across a longer time scale (e.g., words, phrases, prosody). This neural signature was highly correlated across narratives. Results indicate an increased reliance on acoustic cues during speech encoding. This may reflect inefficient encoding of bottom-up speech cues, likely as a consequence of dysfunctional temporoparietal cortex.

scholarly journals Describing Phonological Paraphasias in Three Variants of Primary Progressive Aphasia

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1S) ◽  
pp. 336-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Grace Hudspeth Dalton ◽  
Christine Shultz ◽  
Maya L. Henry ◽  
Argye E. Hillis ◽  
Jessica D. Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Target Word ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Word Target ◽  
Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Primary Progressive ◽  
Sequencing Errors ◽  
Part Of Speech

Purpose The purpose of this study was to describe the linguistic environment of phonological paraphasias in 3 variants of primary progressive aphasia (semantic, logopenic, and nonfluent) and to describe the profiles of paraphasia production for each of these variants. Method Discourse samples of 26 individuals diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia were investigated for phonological paraphasias using the criteria established for the Philadelphia Naming Test (Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, 2013). Phonological paraphasias were coded for paraphasia type, part of speech of the target word, target word frequency, type of segment in error, word position of consonant errors, type of error, and degree of change in consonant errors. Results Eighteen individuals across the 3 variants produced phonological paraphasias. Most paraphasias were nonword, followed by formal, and then mixed, with errors primarily occurring on nouns and verbs, with relatively few on function words. Most errors were substitutions, followed by addition and deletion errors, and few sequencing errors. Errors were evenly distributed across vowels, consonant singletons, and clusters, with more errors occurring in initial and medial positions of words than in the final position of words. Most consonant errors consisted of only a single-feature change, with few 2- or 3-feature changes. Importantly, paraphasia productions by variant differed from these aggregate results, with unique production patterns for each variant. Conclusions These results suggest that a system where paraphasias are coded as present versus absent may be insufficient to adequately distinguish between the 3 subtypes of PPA. The 3 variants demonstrate patterns that may be used to improve phenotyping and diagnostic sensitivity. These results should be integrated with recent findings on phonological processing and speech rate. Future research should attempt to replicate these results in a larger sample of participants with longer speech samples and varied elicitation tasks. Supplemental Materials https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.5558107

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