Masked priming treatment for anomia

描述（由申请人提供）：该项目研究了一种新的治疗失语症的单词检索问题的方法，失语症是一种通常由左脑中风引起的衰弱性语言障碍。在典型的成人系统中，思考单词的能力是由一组复杂的过程支持的，这些过程自动运行，不受意识控制（即，隐含地）。先前的研究证据表明，失语症患者的这些自动化过程受损，与典型系统相比，它们在不同的时间过程中运作。本申请中提出的单受试者、多基线设计研究将评估旨在直接解决这些自动过程的治疗，以恢复快速、准确的语言处理。这种治疗已经在一项1期研究中对两名失语症患者进行了测试。结果表明，命名变得更准确的治疗项目，但大大低于未经训练的项目在同一类别。此外，一些跨类别的泛化是明显的。本文提出的早期2期研究是开发这种新型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。本研究的目的是评估这种治疗方法的治疗、推广和维持效果。在这个项目中正在研究的治疗涉及呈现图片名称潜意识（掩蔽启动），以鼓励自动处理，而不从事明确的，有意识的过程，可能会干扰自动反应。被屏蔽的素数将与它们各自的图片反复配对，以便在语言处理网络中重建单词与其所指对象之间的联系。在掩蔽的启动和图片的多次配对之后，参与者将被要求命名图片，鼓励访问由启动图片对预先刺激的语言网络部分。对于每个培训项目，每个阶段将重复该程序4次。两个语义类别将分别训练16次。在治疗前、治疗期间和治疗后，将多次进行命名准确性和反应时间的探测测试，以评估治疗导致的功能累积变化。此外，类别内和跨类别的泛化将通过重复的未训练项目的命名探测来测量。这项研究的结果将用于更大规模地开发直接针对自动语言处理网络恢复的失名症治疗方法。

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.