Exploring the relationship between auditory, written and multi-modality comprehension at discourse level.

语篇理解是指超越句子层次的理解；它涉及语言和更广泛的认知过程（如记忆、注意力）之间的相互作用。失语症患者（中风后的沟通困难）通常在理解口头和书面话语方面都有困难。1+3研究的总体目标是提高对跨模态语篇理解的理解。失语症患者的困难将与年轻人和老年人的表现一起探讨，以了解语言处理和更广泛的认知技能的贡献。最初的硕士项目将考虑20名年轻人（18-25岁）、20名老年人（60-80岁）和10名失语症患者对短文的理解。理解的准确性和效率将在不同的小组和不同的条件下进行比较（只听、只写和听写结合）。和之前对失语症的研究一样，理解能力将被离线评估，参与者在听或读文章后回答问题。语篇理解、注意力和工作记忆技能与客户偏好之间的关系将被考虑。接下来的博士课程将借鉴硕士项目的成果，并对失语症患者和老年人的文献进行更广泛的回顾。对于博士研究，将探索其他在线实验方法，例如眼动追踪。研究的结果将是提高对话语理解过程的理解以及口语和书面理解的相对认知需求。它还将为失语症患者的评估和治疗提供信息。

Discourse comprehension refers to understanding beyond sentence level; it involves interaction between linguistic and wider cognitive processes e.g. memory, attention. People with aphasia (communication difficulties following stroke) often have difficulties understanding both spoken and written discourse. The overall aim of the 1+3 research is to improve understanding of discourse comprehension across modalities. The difficulties of people with aphasia will be explored alongside performance of young adults and older adults to look at the contribution of linguistic processing and wider cognitive skills.The initial Masters project will consider comprehension of short passages in 20 young adults (18-25), 20 older adults (60-80) and 10 people with aphasia. Comprehension accuracy and efficiency will be compared across groups and across condition (auditory only, written only and combined auditory and written). As in previous studies of aphasia, comprehension will be assessed off-line, with participants answering questions after listening to or reading the passage. The relationship between discourse comprehension, attention and working memory skills and client preference will be considered.The following PhD will draw on the results of the Masters project and a wider review of the literature in both people with aphasia and older adults. For the PhD research, other on-line experimental methods e.g. eye-tracking will be explored. The outcome of the research will be an improved understanding of processes involved in discourse comprehension and the relative cognitive demands of spoken and written comprehension. It will also inform the assessment and treatment of people with aphasia.