Artificial Grammar Learning in Aphasia: An Implicit Learning Approach

描述（由申请人提供）：内隐学习程序有可能大大提高语言训练，但在失语症康复文献中很少受到关注。失语症患者的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，这可能会与语法能力的显式治疗方法相结合。拟议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对语言恢复最有益的语言学习策略。该项目的具体目标是使用统计学习范式测试健康和无语法失语症个体的人工语法学习的内隐方法。核心假设是，内隐学习机制，这是有效的，从语言中的统计关系推导出语法结构，保持完整的失语症患者，语法学习增强时，被动的语言接触结合主动练习。这项研究将是第一个测试学习和短期保留的人工phorm结构语法下隐式学习条件下的个人与语法性失语症和健康的年龄匹配的成年人。参与者将连续两天接受重复的被动语法接触，并通过语法判断测试评估他们对语法规则的习得和24小时保持情况。拟议的研究还将使用健康年轻人的人工语法学习任务来测试被动接触语法与主动练习反馈以及两种方法相结合的相对效果。这些贡献是重要的，因为它们是评估利用患者保留的学习能力的方法的第一步，因此可以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.