Sentence Comprehension in Aphasia

描述(申请人提供)：本研究的目的是调查词汇语用对失语症患者句子加工的影响，最终目标是开发一个连贯的失语症句子理解模式，为评估和治疗句子理解障碍患者提供一个框架。具体目标是：(1)提高对词汇-语用信息(例如，动词次范畴化和似是而非)如何约束句子加工的知识；(2)表征与失语症相关的此类信息功能的变化。这些目标将通过句法加工的研究来实现，在此研究中，受试者将在几个条件下考察在线和离线对花园小路句子的理解。本研究将提出以下假设：(1)与对照组相比，失语症患者在在线句子理解测试中对词汇语用信息的敏感度降低；(2)在离线理解测试中，失语症患者将受益于词汇语用信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the proposed studies is to investigate lexical-pragmatic influences on sentence processing in aphasic patients, with the eventual goal of developing a coherent model of sentence comprehension in aphasia that will provide a framework for the assessment and treatment of patients with disordered sentence comprehension. The specific aims are: (1) To advance knowledge of how lexical-pragmatic information (e.g., verb subcategorization and plausibility) constrain sentence processing; and (2) To characterize changes in the function of such information associated with aphasia. These aims will be addressed through studies of syntactic processing in which participants' on-line and off-line comprehension of garden path sentences will be examined under several conditions. This study will address the following hypotheses: (1) Relative to controls, aphasic patients will demonstrate reduced sensitivity to lexicalpragmatic information in measures of on-line sentence comprehension; and (2) Aphasic patients will benefit from lexical-pragmatic information in off-line measures of comprehension.