Treatment of attention and intention in aphasia

越来越多的证据表明，注意力缺陷(定义为 选择一个外部信息源进行进一步处理)和 意向(定义为准备作出回应，包括选择以下一种方案 与他人相对的行为)伴随着失语症。这些赤字可能会加剧 语言症状，如在某些情况下命名困难，以及语言 当应用注意力/意图操作时，功能可能会得到改善。 具体地说，当一些发病前的右撇子失语症患者在 左半球病变需要注意左半脑空间的刺激 或用左手做手势，他们就能更好地表达和/或 理解语言。在这种情况下，关注刺激似乎很可能是 与完好无损的半球相对的半空间，或用 手在完好的半球的对侧，进行完好的注意或 大脑半球中的意图机制，然后补偿 受损大脑半球的功能失调机制。这样做的目的是 子项目是开发和应用失语症治疗方法，旨在招募 完好大脑半球的注意力或意图机制，并使他们参与 语言处理。治疗将以命名为目标；患有慢性病的患者 将研究命名的困难。除了评估有效性外， 对于个别患者的治疗，将使用功能磁共振成像来探索 效果是通过将注意力和意图需求转移到 非优势半球的机制。更广泛的“功能”方面 语言也将被评估。

Growing evidence indicates that deficits in attention (defined as selection of one external source of information for further processing) and intention (defined as preparation to respond, including choosing one course of action as opposed to others) accompany aphasia. These deficits may exacerbate language symptoms such as naming difficulty in some instances, and language functions may improve when attention/intention manipulations are applied. Specifically, when some premorbidly right-handed patients with aphasia after left-hemisphere lesion are required to attend to stimuli in their left hemispace or gesture with their left hands, they are better able to formulate and/or understand language. In such cases, it seems likely that attending to stimuli in hemispace contralateral to the intact hemisphere or initiating an action with the hand contralateral to the intact hemisphere, engages intact attention or intention mechanisms, respectively, in that hemisphere which then compensate for dysfunctional mechanisms in the damaged hemisphere. The purpose of this subproject is to develop and apply aphasia treatments designed to recruit attention or intention mechanisms in the intact hemisphere and to engage them in language processing. Treatments will target naming; patients who have chronic difficulty in naming will be studied. In addition to assessing the effectiveness of treatments for individual patients, fMRI will be used to explore whether the effects are accomplished by shifting attention and intention demands to the mechanisms in the non-dominant hemisphere. Broader "functional" aspects of language will also be assessed.