SHORT TERM MEMORY AND SYNTACTIC DEFICITS IN APHASIA

这项拟议研究的目的是确定句法是否 Broca失语症和传导中的理解障碍 失语症可以归因于短期记忆缺陷。的病人 这两种失语症类型都将在一系列旨在 评估与句法处理相关的短期记忆的各个方面。 这些任务包括识别与回忆的测试，通道效应， 项目真实顺序信息的保持，以及记忆的类型 患者可以使用的代码。然而，即使一名或一名患者 两组失语症患者的短期记忆缺陷似乎都与 句法理解缺陷，他们仍然有可能 在句法加工中遭受的和额外的损害 机械装置。因此，患者还将接受携带能力的测试 在句法分析中，他们必须保留的单词数量 分析是有系统的变化的。如果患者可以进行句法分析 在其记忆范围内对字符串进行分析，但将其分解为数字 字数的增加，这将构成他们的有力证据 句法理解困难源于短期记忆 赤字。另一方面，如果患者在所有测试中都受损 句法理解与要保留的单词数量无关， 这将意味着句法处理机制的丧失。 这项研究的结果将对语言理论产生影响 以及大脑以及失语症的诊断和治疗 赤字。因为在布罗卡氏病中大脑的不同区域受损 失语症和传导性失语症，它们之间的任何区别 短期记忆能力或句法方面的患者类型 处理能力将有助于描述这些不同的 大脑区域。对患者治疗的影响更长。 射程。然而，在执行拟议的 研究可能为设计一系列任务提供第一步 这可以有效地评估句子理解缺陷是否 由于短期记忆缺陷。因为给了一位病人治疗 会根据理解的根本原因而有所不同 损伤，电池的结果将指导修复的类型 出价了。

The aim of the proposed research is to determine if the syntactic comprehension dificits noted in both Broca's aphasics and conduction aphasics can be attributed to a short term memory deficit. Patients of both aphasic types will be tested on a wide range of tasks designed to assess aspects of short term memory relevant to syntactic processing. These tasks include tests of recognition versus recall, modality effects, the retention of item verus order information, and the types of memory codes which patients arae able to use. However, even if patients of one or both aphasic group show short term memory deficits plausibly related to syntactic comprehension deficits, it would still be possible that they suffered and additional impairment specifically in syntactic processing mechanisms. Thus, patients will also be tested on their ability to carry out syntactic analyses where the number of words they have to retain for the analysis is varied systematically. If patients can carry out syntactic analyses for strings within their memory span, but break down as the number of words increases, such will constitute strong evidence that their syntactic comprehension difficulties stem from a short term memory deficit. On the other hand, if the patients are impaired on all tests of syntactic comprehension independent of the number of words to be retained, a loss of syntactic processing mechanisms would be implied. The results of this study will have implications for theories of language and the brain as well as for the diagnosis and treatment of aphasic deficits. Since different areas of the brain are damaged in Broca's aphasics and conduction aphasics, any differences noted between these patient types in terms of either short term memory abilities or syntactic processing abilities will help to delineate functions of these different brain regions. The implications for patient treatment are more long range. However, the procedures developed in carrying out the proposed research may provide the first step toward the design of a battery of tasks that could efficiently assess whether a sentence comprehension deficit was due to a short term memory deficit. Since the treatment given a patient would differ depending on the underlying cause of a comprehension impairment, the results of the battery would guide the type of remediation offered.