Effects of Argument Structure & Processing Load on Sentence Processing in Aphasia

描述（由申请人提供）：获得性失语症是一种终身残疾，影响功能性沟通，从而影响生活质量。我们将测试一种治疗方法对改善非流利性失语症患者的句子产生障碍的疗效，这种失语症的特征是依赖实词，功能词缺乏，使用简单的句子结构。这种损害部分归因于处理能力的降低，这使得在句子产生或理解过程中难以进入句法结构。处理方法基于句法（或结构）启动，其使用具有特定句法结构的句子的重复（例如，被动传递），以便于在随后的可以用该相同结构描述的图片描述试验中访问该相同结构。启动句的剩余激活使其在短时间内更容易被理解，从而增加了其被提取来描述图片场景的概率。无论句子产生障碍的严重程度如何，都可以使用这种治疗方法。这一点尤其值得注意，因为对于更严重的语法缺失性失语症几乎没有治疗方法。在这个项目中，我们将研究几种方法，以提高句法启动效应的句子生产的人与语法性失语症，进一步增加其价值作为一种治疗方法，这一人口。首先，我们将改变处理刺激的语义和句法论元结构的方式，减少语义元素的数量进行句法编码，但不改变句子的表面形式。在研究1中，我们的目的是表明，动词小品词的句子有三个语义元素（司机正在关闭灯）比句子介词短语和四个语义元素（司机正在关闭道路）显示出更强大的启动效应。在研究二中，动宾短语的连贯性在及物动词中的变化表明，具有更多连贯的动宾短语的及物动词（割草坪）比具有较少连贯的动宾短语的及物动词（煮汤）表现出更强的启动效应。我们将检验相关的假设，即具有连贯的动宾短语的及物动词比没有连贯的动宾短语的及物动词更有效地启动，因为它们更有可能导致启动句的成功产生。在研究3中，我们将操纵启动程序使用增强通信（AAC）设备，允许更多的时间来明确地处理启动句子。这些研究的潜在结果将为短期记忆和句子加工的关系提供理论依据，提供证据表明语法错误的句子产生与加工能力降低有关。他们将提供额外的证据表明，句法启动参与内隐学习过程，并增加外显学习程序增强效果。临床上，这些研究将提供证据表明，句法启动治疗有效地改善句子生产的语法性失语症，甚至在更严重的情况下，生产仅限于1-3个单词的话语。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Acquired aphasia is a lifelong disability that affects functional communication and consequently, quality of life. We will test the efficacy of a treatment to improve sentence production impairment in nonfluent, agrammatic aphasia, which is characterized by a reliance on content words, paucity of function words, and use of simpler sentence structures. The impairment has been attributed in part to reduced processing capacity which makes it difficult to access syntactic structure during sentence production or comprehension. The treatment method is based on syntactic (or structural) priming, which uses repetition of a sentence with a particular syntactic structure (e.g., passive transitive) to facilitate access to that same structure in subsequent picture description trials that could be described with that same structure. Residual activation of the priming sentence makes it more accessible for a short period, and thereby increases the probability of its being retrieved to describe a pictured scene. This treatment approach can be used regardless of the severity of the sentence production impairment. This is especially noteworthy because there are few treatments for more severe agrammatic aphasia. In this project, we will examine several ways to enhance syntactic priming effects on sentence production in persons with agrammatic aphasia, further increasing its value as a treatment method for this population. First, we will vary semantic and syntactic argument structure of the treatment stimuli in ways that reduce the number of semantic elements to be syntactically encoded but without altering the surface form of the sentence. In Study 1, we aim to show that verb-particle sentences with three semantic elements (The driver is turning off the lights) show more robust priming effects than sentences with prepositional phrases and four semantic elements (The driver is turning off the road). In Study 2, the coherence of verb-object phrases in transitive will be varied to show that transitive with more coherent verb- object phrases (mowing the lawn) show more robust priming effects than those with less coherent verb-object phrases (cooking the soup). We will test the related hypothesis that transitive with coherent verb-object phrases are more effective primes of those without coherent verb-object phrases than vice versa because they are more likely to result in successful production of the priming sentence. In Study 3, we will manipulate the priming procedure using an augmentative communication (AAC) device that allows more time to explicitly process the priming sentence. Potential outcomes of these studies will inform theories of the relationship of short-term memory and sentence processing, providing evidence that agrammatic sentence production is related to reduced processing capacity. They will provide additional evidence that syntactic priming engages implicit learning processes and that the addition of explicit learning procedures enhances the effect. Clinically, these studies will provide evidence that syntactic priming treatments effectively improve sentence production in agrammatic aphasia, even in more severe cases when production is limited to 1-3 word utterances.