Artificial Grammar Learning in Aphasia: An Implicit Learning Approach

描述（由申请人提供）：内隐学习程序具有极大地增强语言训练的潜力，但在失语症康复文献中却很少受到关注。失语症患者内隐学习能力的初步证据表明，这种方法可能会导致不那么费力的语言康复策略，这可能与现有的显性语法能力治疗方法相结合。这项工作的长期目标是进一步了解失语症的学习过程，并利用这些知识让患者参与语言学习策略，这将对语言恢复最有益。该项目的具体目标是使用统计学习范式在健康和语法失语症个体中测试人工语法学习的内隐方法。该研究的核心假设是，在失语症患者中，内隐学习机制能够有效地从语言的统计关系中推导出语法结构，而这种机制在失语症患者中保持完整，并且当被动语言接触与主动实践相结合时，语法学习得到加强。这项研究将首次测试在语法失语症患者和年龄匹配的健康成年人中，内隐学习条件下人工短语结构语法的学习和短期记忆。本研究的参与者将连续两天接受被动的语法接触，并通过语法判断测试来评估他们对语法规则的习得和24小时保留。该研究还将对健康的年轻人进行人工语法学习任务，以测试被动接触语法与主动反馈练习以及两种方法相结合的相对效果。这些贡献意义重大，因为它们是评估一种方法的第一步，这种方法可以利用患者保留的学习能力，从而改善失语症患者的生活质量。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Implicit learning procedures have the potential to greatly enhance language training, and yet have received little attention in the aphasia rehabilitation literature. Preliminary evidence of implicit learning ability in individuals with aphasia suggests that this approach could lead to less effortful language rehabilitation strategies, which may be used in combination with established methods of explicit treatment of grammatical ability. The long-term goal of the proposed work is to further the understanding of learning processes in aphasia, and to use that knowledge to engage patients in language learning strategies that will be most beneficial for language recovery. The specific objective of the proposed project is to test an implicit approach to artificial grammar learning in healthy and agrammatic aphasic individuals using a statistical learning paradigm. The central hypothesis is that implicit learning mechanisms, which are effective in deriving grammatical structure from statistical relationships in language, remain intact in individuals with aphasia, and that grammar learning is enhanced when passive language exposure is combined with active practice. The proposed research will be the first to test learning and short-term retention of an artificial phrae structure grammar under implicit learning conditions in individuals with agrammatic aphasia and healthy age-matched adults. Participants in this study will receive repeated passive exposure to the grammar on two consecutive days, and their acquisition and 24-hour retention of the grammatical rules will be evaluated by grammaticality judgment tests. The proposed research will also use the artificial grammar learning task with healthy young adults to test the relative effects of passive exposure to the grammar compared to active practice with feedback and a combination of both approaches. These contributions are significant because they are the first steps toward evaluation of an approach that utilizes patients' retained learning abilities and hence can improve the quality of life of individuals with aphasia.