Masked priming treatment for anomia

描述(由申请人提供)：这个项目调查了一种新的治疗失语症单词提取问题的方法，失语症是一种典型的由大脑左侧中风引起的衰弱语言障碍。在典型的成人系统中，思考单词的能力是由一系列复杂的过程支持的，这些过程自动地、在有意识的控制之外(即，隐含地)运行。先前的研究证据表明，失语症患者的这些自动过程会受到损害，与典型的失语症患者相比，这些过程的运行时间不同。本申请中提出的单对象、多基线设计研究将评估旨在直接处理这些自动过程的治疗方法，以恢复快速、准确的语言处理。这种疗法已经在一项针对两名失语症患者的第一阶段研究中进行了测试。结果表明，对于经过处理的项目，命名变得更准确，但对于同一类别中未经过培训的项目，命名的准确性大大降低。此外，一些跨类别的概括也很明显。这里提出的早期第二阶段研究是开发这种新的治疗方法的下一个关键步骤，评估其在10名失语症患者中的效果。这项研究的目的是评估这种治疗方法的治疗、推广和维持效果。这个项目正在研究的处理方法包括潜意识地呈现图片名称(掩蔽启动)，以鼓励自动加工，而不涉及可能干扰自动反应的显性、有意识的过程。被遮盖的质数将被重复地与它们各自的图片配对，以便在语言处理网络中重建单词与其所指之间的联系。在多次配对蒙面素数和图片后，参与者将被要求说出图片的名字，从而鼓励他们进入由素数-图片对预先刺激的语言网络部分。对于每个正在培训的项目，此程序将在每个课程中重复4次。将对两个语义类别进行培训，每个类别16次。将在治疗前、治疗中和治疗后多次进行命名准确性和反应时间的探头测试，以评估治疗结果对功能的累积变化。此外，类别内和跨类别的泛化将通过对未训练项目的重复命名探测来衡量。这项研究的结果将被用来寻求更大规模的失调症治疗方法的发展，直接针对自动语言处理网络的恢复。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project investigates a novel treatment for word retrieval problems in aphasia, a debilitating language disorder typically resulting from a stroke on the left side of the brain. In the typical adult system, the ability to think of words is suppored by a complex set of processes that operate automatically and outside of conscious control (i.e., implicitly). Prior research evidence suggests that these automatic processes are impaired in aphasia, operating on a different time-course than in the typical system. The single-subject, multiple baseline design study proposed in this application will assess a treatment designed to directly address these automatic processes in order to restore rapid, accurate language processing. This treatment has already been tested in a Phase 1 study with two individuals with aphasia. Results demonstrated that naming became more accurate for treated items but substantially less so for untrained items within the same categories. In addition, some cross- category generalization was evident. The early Phase 2 study proposed here is the next critical step in developing this novel treatment methodology, assessing its effects in 10 individuals with aphasia. The aims of this study are to assess treatment, generalization, and maintenance effects of this treatment approach. The treatment being studied in this project involves presenting picture names subliminally (masked priming), to encourage automatic processing without engaging explicit, conscious processes that could interfere with the automatic response. The masked primes will be repeatedly paired with their respective pictures, in order to rebuild the connections between words and their referents within the language processing network. After multiple pairings of the masked primes and pictures, the participants will be asked to name the picture, encouraging access to the portions of the language network pre-stimulated by the prime-picture pairs. This procedure will be repeated 4 times per session for each item being trained. Two semantic categories will be trained for 16 sessions each. Probe tests of naming accuracy and response time will be conducted multiple times before, during, and after treatment to assess cumulative changes in function as a result of the treatment. In addition, within-category and across-category generalization will be measured by repeated naming probes of untrained items. Findings from this study will be used to pursue larger-scale development of treatment methods for anomia that directly target restoration of automatic language processing networks.