Tutorial for Abstract Semantic Associative Network Training (AbSANT): Theoretical Rationale, Step-by-Step Protocol, and Material Resources

Purpose: The availability of evidence-based therapies for abstract words is limited. Abstract Semantic Associative Network Training (AbSANT) is theoretically motivated and has been shown to not only improve directly trained abstract words, such as the word emergency in the category hospital, but also promote generalization to related concrete words, such as the word doctor . Method: This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions, including cueing strategies, and material resources for conducting AbSANT. Importantly, this tutorial also explains the theoretical motivation behind AbSANT, as well as information regarding the population, dose, and environment characteristics of effective trials, to help clinicians make informed decisions regarding the applicability of this approach and to guide decision-making throughout the steps of therapy. Conclusions: AbSANT is an effective, theoretically based treatment for abstract words. This tutorial provides all of the resources needed to conduct AbSANT with clients with aphasia. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.17776211

Analogy as driving force of language change: a usage-based approach to wo and da clauses in 17th and 18th century German

This paper presents a case study conducted on 17th and 18th century German corpora, confirming that both attraction and differentiation are important mechanisms of change, which interact with socio-symbolic properties of constructions. The paper looks at the frequencies and semantics of wo ‘where’ clauses at the beginning of the New High German period, which are compared to the frequencies and semantics of the connector da ‘there, since’ in the same period. The study reveals that the subordinating connectors wo and da overlapped in their functions and were highly polysemous (or semantically vague), establishing spatial, temporal, causal, conditional, and contrast links between clauses. This suggests that the connectors had become functionally similar by means of mutual attraction; however, they differed in that they belonged to different registers. Over the course of the 18th century, the polysemy of wo and da clauses reduced. Being gradually confined to one single meaning, the connectors became less similar. This differentiation occurs because the connectors aligned to distinct high-level schemas in the associative network. The study confirms that analogy is crucial to both attraction and differentiation of functionally overlapping constructions. While attraction involves analogy of specific instances of constructions, differentiation occurs in analogy to high-level abstract constructions in the associative network.

La La Asociación Parque Sí en Chamberí y la participación de los vecinos en la definición y uso del Parque sobre el Tercer Depósito del CYII en Chamberí.

There are not many cases in which an urban movement, rising from the bottom up, manages to achieve its objectives through a continuous, creative and diverse struggle, with the complicity and support of many residents. The decision of illegally changing the use of a public park into a golf course materialized in the creation of the association Parque Sí en Chamberí, which, in time, used all the means at its disposal (legal, participatory, cultural, support in the street) to topple this decision and, in the meantime, created a social associative network which strengthened the district’s social capital.

EPS mid-career prize 2018: Inference within episodic memory reflects pattern completion

Recollection of episodic memories is a process of reconstruction where coherent events are inferred from subsets of remembered associations. Here, we investigated the formation of multielement events from sequential presentation of overlapping pairs of elements (people, places, and objects/animals), interleaved with pairs from other events. Retrievals of paired associations from a fully observed event (e.g., AB, BC, AC) were statistically dependent, indicating a process of pattern completion, but retrievals from a partially observed event (e.g., AB, BC, CD) were not. However, inference for unseen “indirect” associations (i.e., AC, BD or AD) from a partially observed event showed strong dependency with each other and with linking direct associations from that event. In addition, inference of indirect associations correlated with the product of performance on the linking direct associations across events (e.g., AC with ABxBC) but not on the non-linking association (e.g., AC with CD). These results were seen across three experiments, with greater differences in dependency between indirect and direct associations when they were separately tested, but similar results following single and repeated presentations of the direct associations. The results could be accounted for by a simple auto-associative network model of hippocampal memory function. Our findings suggest that pattern completion supports recollection of fully observed multielement events and the inference of indirect associations in partly observed multielement events, mediated via the directly observed linking associations (although the direct associations themselves were retrieved independently). Together with previous work, our results suggest that associative inference plays a key role in reconstructive episodic memory and does so through hippocampal pattern completion.

Abstract Semantic Associative Network Training: A Replication and Update of an Abstract Word Retrieval Therapy Program

Purpose We report on a study that replicates previous treatment studies using Abstract Semantic Associative Network Training (AbSANT), which was developed to help persons with aphasia improve their ability to retrieve abstract words, as well as thematically related concrete words. We hypothesized that previous results would be replicated; that is, when abstract words are trained using this protocol, improvement would be observed for both abstract and concrete words in the same context-category, but when concrete words are trained, no improvement for abstract words would be observed. We then frame the results of this study with the results of previous studies that used AbSANT to provide better evidence for the utility of this therapeutic technique. We also discuss proposed mechanisms of AbSANT. Method Four persons with aphasia completed one phase of concrete word training and one phase of abstract word training using the AbSANT protocol. Effect sizes were calculated for each word type for each phase. Effect sizes for this study are compared with the effect sizes from previous studies. Results As predicted, training abstract words resulted in both direct training and generalization effects, whereas training concrete words resulted in only direct training effects. The reported results are consistent across studies. Furthermore, when the data are compared across studies, there is a distinct pattern of the added benefit of training abstract words using AbSANT. Conclusion Treatment for word retrieval in aphasia is most often aimed at concrete words, despite the usefulness and pervasiveness of abstract words in everyday conversation. We show the utility of AbSANT as a means of improving not only abstract word retrieval but also concrete word retrieval and hope this evidence will help foster its application in clinical practice.

Social representations of the internet for the elderly

Introduction: Increase in Internet access by elderly people is a consequence of population ageing, even though a long way still lies ahead for their digital inclusion. Objective: To describe the social representations of Internet among the elderly and to compare objectification and anchoring processes of elderly people with different levels in Internet usage. Methods: Qualitative and quantitative study, with descriptive and comparative design, involving forty participants. Data collection occurred through different tools as follows: 1) associative network, analyzed by EVOC2000 and calculation of polarity 2) semi-structured interview, analyzed by Descending Hierarchical Classification with IRaMuTeQ and content analysis by Atlas TI and 3) characterization questionnaire and evaluation scale for digital inclusion level, with descriptive statistical analysis by SPSS software. Results: Associative network analyzed 78 words and their polarity was slightly positive. Descending Hierarchical Classification analyzed 89.51% of the corpus, divided into three segments: Internet danger, difficulties in usage v. Internet options and practices; content analysis divided 505 occurrences into three categories: image, attitude and information. Conclusion: Representations of elderly people with the highest use of Internet were undertaken by accessing hardware, apps and sites, anchored on an idea of the Internet as a means of retrieving information, leisure and interaction. Representations of the elderly with the lowest level of experience were undertaken by computer, based on a sociological perspective and marked by unfavorable attitudes.