Roel Jonkers

Verb retrieval in action naming and spontaneous speech in agrammatic and anomic aphasia

Abstract The production of verbs in an action naming test and in spontaneous speech was evaluated in 16 aphasic patients: eight agrammatics and eight anomics. Action naming was also compared to object naming. The action naming test was controlled for factors known to be relevant for verb retrieval (i.e. word frequency, instrumentality, name-relation to a noun, transitivity and argument structure) and the objects were related to the verbs and chosen to match the verbs as precisely as possible on word frequency. For both aphasic subgroups object naming was better than action naming and there was no difference between agrammatics and anomics, neither in object naming, nor in action naming. In spontaneous speech, both agrammatics and anomics differed from normal controls on ‘verb diversity’ furthermore the agrammatics were significantly worse than normal speakers (and the anomics) in verb inflection and the proportion of verbs produced without internal argument was higher than in normal speakers (and in anomi...

How selective are selective word class deficits? Two case studies of action and object naming

Abstract In this article two case studies of fluent aphasic speakers are presented. Both patients performed significantly worse on an action-naming task than on an object-naming task, whereas comprehension of verbs was spared. The items of the action-naming test were controlled not only for the well-known factors that may influence word retrieval (e.g. word-frequency and imageability), but also for other variables that might be of relevance-that is, instrumentality, name relation to a noun and transitivity. Although both patients retrieved nouns better than verbs, word class as such did not seem to be the discriminating factor. In one patient name relation to a noun was particularly helpful in verb retrieval (verbs related in name to nouns were retrieved as easily as nouns in general), whereas in the other patient transitivity demonstrated an effect : he retrieved transitive verbs significantly better than intransitive verbs. It will be argued that the often-made distinction between verbs and nouns may be...

Developmental Foreign Accent Syndrome: Report of a New Case

This paper presents the case of a 17-year-old right-handed Belgian boy with developmental FAS and comorbid developmental apraxia of speech (DAS). Extensive neuropsychological and neurolinguistic investigations demonstrated a normal IQ but impaired planning (visuo-constructional dyspraxia). A Tc-99m-ECD SPECT revealed a significant hypoperfusion in the prefrontal and medial frontal regions, as well as in the lateral temporal regions. Hypoperfusion in the right cerebellum almost reached significance. It is hypothesized that these clinical findings support the view that FAS and DAS are related phenomena following impairment of the cerebro-cerebellar network.

Action Naming in Anomic Aphasic Speakers: Effects of Instrumentality and Name Relation.

Many studies reveal effects of verb type on verb retrieval, mainly in agrammatic aphasic speakers. In the current study, two factors that might play a role in action naming in anomic aphasic speakers were considered: the conceptual factor instrumentality and the lexical factor name relation to a noun. Instrumental verbs were shown to be better preserved than non-instrumental verbs in a group of anomic aphasic speakers but not in a group of Brocas aphasic speakers. Name relation to a noun improved the performance of the anomic aphasic speakers as well. Again, no effect was found in the group of Brocas aphasic speakers. Verbs with a name relation to a noun were better retrieved in action naming than verbs without a name relation. These findings are discussed in terms of the spreading activation theory of Dell. (Dell, G. S. (1986). A spreading activation theory of retrieval in sentence production. Psychological Review 93, 283-321.).

Music in the treatment of neurological language and speech disorders: A systematic review

Background: Acquired brain injury resulting from a stroke can result in impairments in, among other things, communication. Music therapy has been used in rehabilitation to stimulate brain functions involved in speech. The use of elements of music is well known and more often used in the treatment of aphasia and apraxia of speech. Aims: The aim of the study is to synthesise studies on the effect of music parameters in the treatment of neurological language and speech disorders. In addition, possible mechanisms that explain recovery are investigated. Methods & Procedures: Search terms were formulated based on the research question. A systematic search in databases was performed using these search terms. Then inclusion criteria were formulated and articles meeting the criteria were reviewed on patient characteristics, interventions, and methodological quality. Outcomes & Results: A total of 1250 articles have been selected from the databases, of which 15 were included in this study. The Melodic Intonation Therapy was the most studied programme. Melody and rhythm were the music interventions that have been applied the most. Measurable recovery has been reported in all those reviewed studies using music in the treatment of neurological language and speech disorders. In three studies research was also conducted into the mechanisms of explanation of the measured recovery. However, the methodological quality of the investigated studies was rated as “low”, using the ASHA level of evidence indicators for judging research. Conclusions: Although treatment outcomes were reported as positive in all of the 15 reviewed studies, caution should be used relative to conclusions about the effectiveness of treatments that incorporate components of music with neurologically impaired individuals. Methodological quality was rated as low and interpretations of mechanisms of recovery were contradictory. Suggestions for standardising and improving methodological quality drawn from the analysis are presented. A revised version of this article has been published in a Dutch journal (Stem Spraak- en Taalpathologie).

Tense processing in Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia

Background: Brocas aphasic or agrammatic participants are assumed to have problems with the inflection of moved verbs. Recently, Bastiaanse (2008) has shown that verb inflection in base position is also difficult for these participants, especially if reference to the past is involved. However, Bastiaanse only examined the data of Brocas aphasic participants and restricted herself to verb production. In the current study we will examine the existence of a more central deficit in tense marking in production and comprehension in aphasic participants. Aims: The production and comprehension of tensed verbs will be studied in a group of Brocas aphasic participants. The data of a group of participants suffering from Wernickes aphasia will be used for comparison. Methods & Procedures: Seven participants with Brocas aphasia and five with Wernickes aphasia performed a sentence‐to‐picture matching task for comprehension and a sentence completion task for production with present or past tense as the crucial conditions. Both tests contained 40 items. Results on the tests were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Outcomes & Results: Although production was more impaired than comprehension in Brocas aphasic participants, past tense was more difficult to interpret than present tense, especially for those participants who showed comprehension problems. Problems with the interpretation of tense were also found in the group of Wernickes aphasic participants. Furthermore, for these participants past tense forms were also more difficult to produce than present tense forms. Conclusions: The results suggest that past tense in general is difficult to process for aphasic participants. We relate this finding to the semantic notion of past tense.

Gender and case in agrammatic production

Omission and substitution of articles have often been mentioned as characteristics of agrammatic speech. In these descriptions, articles are considered to be so-called function words or closed-class words. These are supposed to be difficult for agrammatic speakers. From a linguistic point of view, the class of function words is far from homogeneous and even within the class of articles different linguistic properties can be distinguished. In many languages--Dutch, German, Italian and Portuguese are used as examples in this paper--the article is specified for gender. In German the article is specified for case as well. Gender and case differ from both a linguistic and a psycholinguistic point of view. Gender information is part of the word form. In some languages, gender can be derived from the word-form (as in Portuguese or Italian), while in other languages, the gender of nouns is stored as part of the word-form (as in Dutch and German). Case is a syntactic notion and relates to a dependency between the constituents in a sentence. Bearing in mind the fact that article production is impaired in agrammatic Brocas aphasia, one may wonder whether gender and/or case information plays a role here. For the present study, article production of nine Dutch and ten German individuals with agrammatic Brocas aphasia has been analyzed and the data show that most substitution errors concern case; the gender of the produced articles is usually correct. This supports the hypothesis that agrammatic speech is the consequence of an underlying deficit in syntactic processing.

The whole is more than the sum of its parts - Audiovisual processing of phonemes investigated with ERPs

In the current ERP study, an active oddball task was carried out, testing pure tones and auditory, visual and audiovisual syllables. For pure tones, an MMN, an N2b, and a P3 were found, confirming traditional findings. Auditory syllables evoked an N2 and a P3. We found that the amplitude of the P3 depended on the distance between standard and deviant. A smaller distance required more attention, which was reflected in a larger amplitude. An analysis of audiovisual material, after correction for visual activity, showed that McGurk type stimuli evoked brain responses that differed from both the standard and the congruent deviants. Finally, we found that congruent audiovisual stimuli elicited an N2 with a shorter latency and a P3 with a smaller amplitude than auditory stimuli. The current ERP study, thus, shows that for audiovisual processing the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

Assessing the treatment effects in apraxia of speech : introduction and evaluation of the Modified Diadochokinesis Test

BACKGROUND The number of reliable and valid instruments to measure the effects of therapy in apraxia of speech (AoS) is limited. AIMS To evaluate the newly developed Modified Diadochokinesis Test (MDT), which is a task to assess the effects of rate and rhythm therapies for AoS in a multiple baseline across behaviours design. METHODS The consistency, accuracy and fluency of speech of 24 adults with AoS and 12 unaffected speakers matched for age, gender and educational level were assessed using the MDT. The reliability and validity of the instrument were considered and outcomes compared with those obtained with existing tests. RESULTS The results revealed that MDT had a strong internal consistency. Scores were influenced by syllable structure complexity, while distinctive features of articulation had no measurable effect. The test-retest and intra- and inter-rater reliabilities were shown to be adequate, and the discriminant validity was good. For convergent validity different outcomes were found: apart from one correlation, the scores on tests assessing functional communication and AoS correlated significantly with the MDT outcome measures. The spontaneous speech phonology measure of the Aachen Aphasia Test (AAT) correlated significantly with the MDT outcome measures, but no correlations were found for the repetition subtest and the spontaneous speech articulation/prosody measure of the AAT. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS The study shows that the MDT has adequate psychometric properties, implying that it can be used to measure changes in speech motor control during treatment for apraxia of speech. The results demonstrate the validity and utility of the instrument as a supplement to speech tasks in assessing speech improvement aimed at the level of planning and programming of speech.

Psychogenic Foreign Accent Syndrome: A New Case

This paper presents the case of a 33-year-old, right-handed, French-speaking Belgian lady who was involved in a car accident as a pedestrian. Six months after the incident she developed a German/Flemish-like accent. The patients medical history, the onset of the FAS and the possible psychological causes of the accent change are analyzed. Relevant neuropsychological, neurolinguistic, and psychodiagnostic test results are presented and discussed. The psychodiagnostic interview and testing will receive special attention, because these have been underreported in previous FAS case reports. Furthermore, an accent rating experiment was carried out in order to assess the foreign quality of the patients speech. Pre- and post-morbid spontaneous speech samples were analyzed phonetically to identify the pronunciation characteristics associated with this type of FAS. Several findings were considered essential in the diagnosis of psychogenic FAS: the psychological assessments as well as the clinical interview confirmed the presence of psychological problems, while neurological damage was excluded by means of repeated neuroimaging and neurological examinations. The type and nature of the speech symptoms and the accent fluctuations associated with the patients psychological state cannot be explained by a neurological disorder. Moreover, the indifference of the patient toward her condition may also suggest a psychogenic etiology, as the opposite is usually observed in neurogenic FAS patients.