Priming sentence comprehension in aphasia: effects of lexically independent and specific structural priming

Background & Aims: Impaired message-structure mapping results in deficits in both sentence production and comprehension in aphasia. Structural priming has been shown to facilitate syntactic production for persons with aphasia (PWA). However, it remains unknown if structural priming is also effective in sentence comprehension. We examined if PWA show preserved and lasting structural priming effects during interpretation of syntactically ambiguous sentences and if the priming effects occur independently of or in conjunction with lexical (verb) information.

Methods & Procedures: Eighteen PWA and 20 healthy older adults (HOA) completed a written sentence-picture matching task involving the interpretation of prepositional phrases (PP; the chef is poking the solider with an umbrella) that were ambiguous between high (verb modifier) and low attachment (object noun modifier). Only one interpretation was possible for prime sentences, while both interpretations were possible for target sentences. In Experiment 1, the target was presented immediately after the prime (0-lag). In Experiment 2, two filler items intervened between the prime and the target (2-lag). Within each experiment, the verb was repeated for half of the prime-target pairs, while different verbs were used for the other half. Participants’ off-line picture matching choices and response times were measured.

Results: After reading a prime sentence with a particular interpretation, HOA and PWA tended to interpret an ambiguous PP in a target sentence in the same way and with faster response times. Importantly, both groups continued to show this priming effect over a lag (Experiment 2), although the effect was not as reliable in response times. However, neither group showed lexical (verb-specific) boost on priming, deviating from robust lexical boost seen in the young adults of prior studies.

Conclusions: PWA demonstrate abstract (lexically-independent) structural priming in the absence of a lexically-specific boost. Abstract priming is preserved in aphasia, effectively facilitating not only immediate but also longer-lasting structure-message mapping during sentence comprehension.     

当代失语症语篇学研究思潮刍议

本文简要介绍了失语症语篇学研究的内容、研究视角和重要发现，分析了其特点、存在的问题，以及研究方法的潮流走向。结构主义注重话语微观层面，功能主义关注总体的结构和意义，话语的宏观和微观层面的对接将成为研究的新趋势。     

Speech — A key function of man reflexions of a neurosurgeon Budapest,February 23, 1991

Summary Man is distinguished and differentiated from other living creatures by possessing less genetically determined characteristics, behaviour and reactions, with fewer features fitting him for a special environment. For this reason he enjoys greater freedom and adaptability.In order to be able to pass on the necessarry lessons for survival, man must have command of his speech, and as a species can only exist within communities. This presupposes an instinctive drive to make rules and regulations for ordered living in society.Speech is not only a means of communication but also the basis and precondition of abstract thinking. Complete aphasia implies the loss of this ability. It would deprive man from the most important of his key functions. Therefore it is inhuman.These reflections have convinced me absolutely, that neurosurgical interventions, which would have the predictable result of total aphasia, must not be performed, even though prolongation of life, but without speech, might thus be bought.     

Deposition of amyloid β protein in non-Alzheimer dementias: evidence for a neuronal origin of parenchymal deposits of β protein in neurodegenerative disease

Summary In two elderly patients with frontal lobe dementia and in two others with progressive aphasia an inverse relationship between the severity of protein deposition and the principal pathology of these disorders was noted. Deposition of protein occurred only in areas of cortex where functional (viable) neurones were still present and was absent where neuronal decimation had taken place. Such findings suggest that the presence of functional neurones is necessary for protein deposition to occur and, therefore, that neurones may be the source of the amyloid protein that is deposited within brain parenchyma not only in these disorders but also in other conditions, particularly Alzheimer's disease.Supported by a grant from the North Western Regional Health Authority (DJ) and a B.Sc Intercalated Studentship from the MRC (PWS)     

Speech suppression without aphasia after bilateral perisylvian softenings (bilateral rolandic operculum damage)

The authors describe a patient who suffered two successive, right and left, strokes that caused bilateral rolandic operculum damage. The clinical picture was characterized by selective impairment of volitional facio-pharyngo-glosso-masticatory movements with sparing of automatic and reflex motor activity (Foix-Chavany-Marie syndrome). Though completely speechless, the patient was not aphasic. This dissociation is discussed in the light of the peculiar localization of lesions evidenced by CT-scan.

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Sommario Viene descritta una paziente portatrice di due lesioni ischemiche coinvolgenti l'opercolo rolandico in entrambi gli emisferi. Il quadro clinico era caratterizzato da una compromissione selettiva dei movimenti volontari (con integrità di quelli automatici e riflessi) bilateralmente a livello facio-faringo-glosso-masticatorio (sindrome di Foix-Chavany-Marie). La paziente, del tutto incapace di articolazione e fonazione, non risultava afasica ad una valutazione neuropsicologica. Questa dissociazione viene discussa in riferimento alla particolare localizzazione delle lesioni alla T.A.C. cerebrale.

     

肖少卿教授针灸验案3则

从中风失语、鼻渊哮喘、顽固性呃递三验案,介绍了肖少卿教授檀长经穴透刺、针药并角、针灸手法独特的经验。     

Crossed aphasia. An update

The aim of this article is to present an update of a rare but interesting problem: crossed aphasia. This term indicates the presence of aphasia after unilateral cerebral lesion of the hemisphere ipsilateral to the patient's dominant hand. We report two cases, review the most relevant literature, and analyze clinical, neuroanatomical, and neurophysiological aspects, taking in consideration the various interpretations proposed to explain this unusual language disorder.     

How modality-specific is morphology?

Writing has long been considered to be dependent on speaking. However, modality-specific dissociations between written and spoken word production imply that word production is supported by distinct neural mechanisms in writing, which can be impaired or spared regardless of the intactness of spoken word production. Rapp et al. (2015). Modality and morphology: What we write may not be what we say. Psychological Science, 26, 892–902 documented a double dissociation where problems with regular inflections were selectively restricted to writing or speaking. We report on two English-speaking aphasic individuals who exhibit this same modality-specific dissociation of inflectional processing, replicating the original findings. We expand on Rapp et al.’s study by examining whether the dissociations observed with regular inflections extend to other morphological forms, such as derivation and irregular inflection. Results showed that the dissociation holds for derivation; however, both participants were impaired with irregular inflections in both output modalities. Implications of these findings for morphological processing and the independence of the orthographic system are discussed.     

Brain atrophy in primary progressive aphasia involves the cholinergic basal forebrain and Ayala's nucleus

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is characterized by left hemispheric frontotemporal cortical atrophy. Evidence from anatomical studies suggests that the nucleus subputaminalis (NSP), a subnucleus of the cholinergic basal forebrain, may be involved in the pathological process of PPA. Therefore, we studied the pattern of cortical and basal forebrain atrophy in 10 patients with a clinical diagnosis of PPA and 18 healthy age-matched controls using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We determined the cholinergic basal forebrain nuclei according to Mesulam's nomenclature and the NSP in MRI reference space based on histological sections and the MRI scan of a post-mortem brain in cranio. Using voxel-based analysis, we found left hemispheric cortical atrophy in PPA patients compared with controls, including prefrontal, lateral temporal and medial temporal lobe areas. We detected cholinergic basal forebrain atrophy in left predominant localizations of Ch4p, Ch4am, Ch4al, Ch3 and NSP. For the first time, we have described the pattern of basal forebrain atrophy in PPA and confirmed the involvement of NSP that had been predicted based on theoretical considerations. Our findings may enhance understanding of the role of cholinergic degeneration for the regional specificity of the cortical destruction leading to the syndrome of PPA.