RESUMEN
Purpose Aphasia is a language disorder caused by acquired brain injury, which generally involves difficulty naming objects. Naming ability is assessed by measuring picture naming, and models of naming performance have mostly focused on accuracy and excluded valuable response time (RT) information. Previous approaches have therefore ignored the issue of processing efficiency, defined here in terms of optimal RT cutoff, that is, the shortest deadline at which individual people with aphasia produce their best possible naming accuracy performance. The goals of this study were therefore to (a) develop a novel model of aphasia picture naming that could accurately account for RT distributions across response types; (b) use this model to estimate the optimal RT cutoff for individual people with aphasia; and (c) explore the relationships between optimal RT cutoff, accuracy, naming ability, and aphasia severity. Method A total of 4,021 naming trials across 10 people with aphasia were scored for accuracy and RT onset. Data were fit using a novel ex-Gaussian multinomial RT model, which was then used to characterize individual optimal RT cutoffs. Results Overall, the model fitted the empirical data well and provided reliable individual estimates of optimal RT cutoff in picture naming. Optimal cutoffs ranged between approximately 5 and 10 s, which has important implications for assessment and treatment. There was no direct relationship between aphasia severity, naming RT, and optimal RT cutoff. Conclusion The multinomial ex-Gaussian modeling approach appears to be a promising and straightforward way to estimate optimal RT cutoffs in picture naming in aphasia. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
Asunto(s)
Afasia/psicología , Pruebas del Lenguaje/normas , Modelos Estadísticos , Tiempo de Reacción , Anciano , Anomia/psicología , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Distribución Normal , Estándares de ReferenciaRESUMEN
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine how 2 methods known to improve naming impairment in aphasia (i.e., retrieval practice and errorless learning) affect lexical access. We hypothesized that instances of naming during retrieval practice use and strengthen item-specific connections in each of 2 stages of lexical access: Stage 1, meaning-to-word connections, and Stage 2, word-to-phonology connections. In contrast, errorless learning prioritizes opportunities for repeating words, which we expect to primarily strengthen item-specific connections in Stage 2 because repetition circumvents the need for semantically driven word retrieval. Method: We tested the outcomes of retrieval practice versus errorless learning training for items that were selected because the naming errors they elicited suggested weakened connections at Stage 1 or at Stage 2 of lexical access for each of 10 individuals with chronic aphasia. Each participant's Stage 1 items and Stage 2 items were divided evenly between the 2 training conditions. Naming tests were administered 1 day and 1 week after training to assess retention of training gains. We also examined whether the participants' pretraining naming error profiles were associated with the relative efficacy of retrieval practice versus errorless learning. Results: The posttraining naming tests showed an advantage of retrieval practice over errorless learning for Stage 1 items and an advantage of errorless learning over retrieval practice for Stage 2 items. In addition, greater percentages of phonological error naming responses prior to training were associated with greater posttraining accuracy in the errorless learning condition relative to the retrieval practice condition. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the advantage of retrieval practice for naming impairment in aphasia largely results from greater strengthening of practiced semantic-lexical connections compared with errorless learning, which prioritizes repetition and, therefore, mainly confers strengthening of practiced lexical-phonological connections. Understanding how specific training conditions improve naming can help predict the relative efficacy of each method for individuals with aphasia.
Asunto(s)
Anomia/rehabilitación , Afasia/rehabilitación , Terapia del Lenguaje/métodos , Aprendizaje , Recuerdo Mental , Anciano , Anomia/psicología , Afasia/psicología , Enfermedad Crónica , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Semántica , Resultado del TratamientoRESUMEN
Purpose: This study explored the relationship between anomia and verbal short-term memory (STM) in the context of an interactive activation language processing model. Method: Twenty-four individuals with aphasia and reduced STM spans (i.e., impaired immediate serial recall of words) completed a picture-naming task and a word pair repetition task (a measure of verbal STM). Correlations between verbal STM and word retrieval errors made on the picture-naming task were examined. Results: A significant positive correlation between naming accuracy and verbal span length was found. More intricate verbal STM analyses examined the relationship between picture-naming error types (i.e., semantic vs. phonological) and 2 measures of verbal STM: (a) location of errors on the word pair repetition task and (b) imageability and frequency effects on the word pair repetition task. Results indicated that, as phonological word retrieval errors (relative to semantic) increase, bias toward correct repetition of high-imageability words increases. Conclusions: Results suggest that word retrieval and verbal STM tasks likely rely on a partially shared temporary linguistic activation process.
Asunto(s)
Anomia/psicología , Memoria a Corto Plazo , Fonética , Semántica , Conducta Verbal , Anciano , Anomia/diagnóstico , Comprensión , Femenino , Humanos , Pruebas del Lenguaje , Masculino , Persona de Mediana EdadRESUMEN
PURPOSE: This study examined discourse characteristics of individuals with aphasia who scored at or above the 93.8 cutoff on the Aphasia Quotient subtests of the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised (WAB-R; Kertesz, 2007). They were compared with participants without aphasia and those with anomic aphasia. METHOD: Participants were from the AphasiaBank database and included 28 participants who were not aphasic by WAB-R score (NABW), 92 participants with anomic aphasia, and 177 controls. Cinderella narratives were analyzed using the Computerized Language Analysis programs (MacWhinney, 2000). Outcome measures were words per minute, percent word errors, lexical diversity using the moving average type-token ratio (Covington, 2007b), main concept production, number of utterances, mean length of utterance, and proposition density. RESULTS: Results showed that the NABW group was significantly different from the controls on all measures except MLU and proposition density. These individuals were compared to participants without aphasia and those with anomic aphasia. CONCLUSION: Individuals with aphasia who score above the WAB-R Aphasia Quotient cutoff demonstrate discourse impairments that warrant both treatment and special attention in the research literature.
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Anomia/diagnóstico , Afasia/diagnóstico , Pruebas del Lenguaje , Medición de la Producción del Habla/métodos , Patología del Habla y Lenguaje/métodos , Habla , Calidad de la Voz , Anomia/fisiopatología , Anomia/psicología , Anomia/rehabilitación , Afasia/fisiopatología , Afasia/psicología , Afasia/rehabilitación , Estudios de Casos y Controles , Bases de Datos Factuales , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Fonética , Valor Predictivo de las Pruebas , SemánticaRESUMEN
Purpose: The relationship between cognitive abilities and aphasia rehabilitation outcomes is complex and remains poorly understood. This study investigated the influence of language and cognitive abilities on anomia therapy outcomes in adults with aphasia. Method: Thirty-four adults with chronic aphasia participated in Aphasia Language Impairment and Functioning Therapy. A language and cognitive assessment battery, including 3 baseline naming probes, was administered prior to therapy. Naming accuracy for 30 treated and 30 untreated items was collected at posttherapy and 1-month follow-up. Multiple regression models were computed to evaluate the relationship between language and cognitive abilities at baseline and anomia therapy outcomes. Results: Both language and cognitive variables significantly influenced anomia therapy gains. Verbal short-term memory ability significantly predicted naming gains for treated items at posttherapy (ß = -.551, p = .002) and for untreated items at posttherapy (ß = .456, p = .014) and 1-month follow-up (ß = .455, p = .021). Furthermore, lexical-semantic processing significantly predicted naming gains for treated items at posttherapy (ß = -.496, p = .004) and 1-month follow-up (ß = .545, p = .012). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that individuals' cognitive ability, specifically verbal short-term memory, affects anomia treatment success. Further research into the relationship between cognitive ability and anomia therapy outcomes may help to optimize treatment techniques.
Asunto(s)
Anomia/psicología , Anomia/rehabilitación , Afasia/rehabilitación , Cognición , Terapia del Lenguaje , Accidente Cerebrovascular/complicaciones , Anomia/etiología , Afasia/etiología , Afasia/psicología , Atención , Enfermedad Crónica , Función Ejecutiva , Femenino , Estudios de Seguimiento , Humanos , Lenguaje , Masculino , Memoria a Corto Plazo , Persona de Mediana Edad , Patrones de Reconocimiento Fisiológico , Análisis de Regresión , Percepción del Habla , Accidente Cerebrovascular/psicología , Rehabilitación de Accidente Cerebrovascular , Resultado del Tratamiento , Percepción VisualRESUMEN
O artigo apresenta uma das obras do filósofo Sõren Kierkegaard assinada pelo personagem Anti-Climacus. Inicia com uma crítica à especulação dos saberes afastados da realidade concreta e semimplicação com a vida. Descreve, em seguida, a doença que dá título à obra e suas personificações. Aopsicólogo, segundo Anti-Climacus, caberia detectar o desespero, assim como o médico detecta a presençada doença orgânica no paciente que afirma estar bem. Encontram-se descritos na obra 'modos desubjetivação', seja na consciência ou inconsciência de se ter um eu, no aprisionamento ao temporal emdetrimento do eterno, no esquecimento dos necessários em favor dos possíveis ou vice-versa. Pretende-semostrar a atualidade do estudo da obra para o psicólogo
Asunto(s)
Humanos , Anomia/psicologíaRESUMEN
O artigo apresenta uma das obras do filósofo Sören Kierkegaard assinada pelo personagem Anti-Climacus. Inicia com uma crítica à especulação dos saberes afastados da realidade concreta e semimplicação com a vida. Descreve, em seguida, a doença que dá título à obra e suas personificações. Aopsicólogo, segundo Anti-Climacus, caberia detectar o desespero, assim como o médico detecta a presençada doença orgânica no paciente que afirma estar bem. Encontram-se descritos na obra modos desubjetivação, seja na consciência ou inconsciência de se ter um eu, no aprisionamento ao temporal emdetrimento do eterno, no esquecimento dos necessários em favor dos possíveis ou vice-versa. Pretende-semostrar a atualidade do estudo da obra para o psicólogo(AU)
Asunto(s)
Anomia/psicologíaRESUMEN
Naming difficulty is common in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the nature of this problem is not well established. The authors investigated the presence of semantic breakdown and the pattern of general and semantic errors in patients with mild AD, patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), and normal controls by examining their spontaneous answers on the Boston Naming Test (BNT) and verifying whether they needed or were benefited by semantic and phonemic cues. The errors in spontaneous answers were classified in four mutually exclusive categories (semantic errors, visual paragnosia, phonological errors, and omission errors), and the semantic errors were further subclassified as coordinate, superordinate, and circumlocutory. Patients with aMCI performed normally on the BNT and needed fewer semantic and phonemic cues than patients with mild AD. After semantic cues, subjects with aMCI and control subjects gave more correct answers than patients with mild AD, but after phonemic cues, there was no difference between the three groups, suggesting that the low performance of patients with AD cannot be completely explained by semantic breakdown. Patterns of spontaneous naming errors and subtypes of semantic errors were similar in the three groups, with decreasing error frequency from coordinate to superordinate to circumlocutory subtypes.
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Envejecimiento/psicología , Enfermedad de Alzheimer/psicología , Amnesia/psicología , Anomia/psicología , Trastornos del Conocimiento/psicología , Semántica , Anciano , Enfermedad de Alzheimer/fisiopatología , Amnesia/diagnóstico , Amnesia/fisiopatología , Análisis de Varianza , Anomia/diagnóstico , Anomia/fisiopatología , Trastornos del Conocimiento/fisiopatología , Señales (Psicología) , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Memoria/fisiología , Procesos Mentales/fisiología , Persona de Mediana Edad , Pruebas Neuropsicológicas/estadística & datos numéricos , Índice de Severidad de la Enfermedad , Aprendizaje Verbal/fisiología , Percepción Visual/fisiología , Pruebas de Asociación de Palabras/estadística & datos numéricosRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Neurocognitive impairment is known to occur in euthymic bipolar patients, but language alterations have not been thoroughly investigated. The aim of this study is to examine the performance in language tests of a sample of elderly patients with bipolar disorder. METHODS: We studied 33 euthymic elderly patients with bipolar disorder but no dementia and 33 healthy individuals, matched for age and education, who were compared in terms of their CAMCOG global score and its subitems. RESULTS: The scores obtained in language-related abilities for patients and controls, respectively, were: language (total): 27.3 (1) and 28.5 (1), p < 0.0001; comprehension: 8.6 (0.5) and 8.9 (0.3), p = 0.006; production: 18.7 (1) and 19.6 (0.9), p = <0.0001; abstraction: 6.8 (1.1) and 7.3 (0.7), p = 0.016; verbal fluency: 16.3 (4.3) and 19.6 (4.1), p = 0.003. CONCLUSION: A mild but significant impairment in language-related ability scores was detected when comparing patients and controls.
Asunto(s)
Afecto , Trastorno Bipolar/diagnóstico , Trastornos del Lenguaje/diagnóstico , Anciano , Anomia/diagnóstico , Anomia/epidemiología , Anomia/psicología , Trastorno Bipolar/epidemiología , Trastorno Bipolar/psicología , Brasil , Trastornos del Conocimiento/diagnóstico , Trastornos del Conocimiento/epidemiología , Trastornos del Conocimiento/psicología , Comorbilidad , Comprensión , Estudios Transversales , Femenino , Humanos , Trastornos del Lenguaje/epidemiología , Trastornos del Lenguaje/psicología , Pruebas del Lenguaje , Estudios Longitudinales , Masculino , Trastornos de la Memoria/diagnóstico , Trastornos de la Memoria/epidemiología , Trastornos de la Memoria/psicología , Persona de Mediana Edad , Pruebas Neuropsicológicas , Escalas de Valoración Psiquiátrica , Factores de Riesgo , Semántica , Medición de la Producción del HablaRESUMEN
We describe a patient whose anomia is disproportionately severe for fruits and vegetables when familiarity and name frequency are taken into account. His fruit and vegetable naming impairment was evident in a variety of different tasks. In contrast, he retained good general knowledge of fruits and vegetables, and he could access their names when given a phonemic cue. We discuss the phenomenon of semantically-bounded anomia in relation to the issues of local vs distributed representation, the existence of semantic "maps" in the brain, and the implementation of arbitrary associations in neural networks.
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Anomia/fisiopatología , Recuerdo Mental/fisiología , Semántica , Anomia/diagnóstico , Anomia/psicología , Mapeo Encefálico , Corteza Cerebral/fisiopatología , Humanos , Malformaciones Arteriovenosas Intracraneales/cirugía , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Pruebas Neuropsicológicas , Fonética , Complicaciones Posoperatorias/diagnóstico , Complicaciones Posoperatorias/fisiopatología , Complicaciones Posoperatorias/psicología , Hemorragia Subaracnoidea/cirugíaRESUMEN
O autor revisa os estudos recentes mais relevantes que buscam definir a utilidade do critério lingüístico para a delimitaçäo do fenômeno das afasias, abarcando a fonologia, a sintaxe, a semântica e a metalinguagem. Cabe salientar que recentemente, com Goodglass, dado o fracasso da "navalha de Occam" lingüística, valoriza-se o critério de "salientitude" lingüística, um critério, em realidade, psicológico e näo lingüístico, retomando os conceitos tradicionais da teoria da "gestalt" de Golstein
Asunto(s)
Anomia/psicología , Afasia/psicología , Semántica , Lingüística , Percepción del HablaRESUMEN
Previous studies using a word-naming task have suggested that in demented patients, semantic priming results only from automatic spreading activation and not from attention-dependent processes. If this is true, then on a lexical-decision task where attention-dependent processes are a major source of the semantic-priming effect, demented patients should show little or no priming. To test this prediction, three groups of 16 subjects (young and normal-old individuals and patients with Alzheimer's disease) were given a Word-Naming and a Lexical-Decision task. In both tasks, the amount of semantic priming (the difference in response time to a word preceded by a semantically unassociated vs. a semantically associated word) was determined. Demented patients showed significantly greater semantic priming than either normal group on both tasks. This result argues against the hypothesis that the semantic priming found in demented patients is due solely to automatic processes.