Article
Neurosciences
Neelima Wagley, James R. Booth
Summary: This study examines the relationship between connectivity during phonological and semantic processing in the brain and word reading and reading comprehension skills. The findings suggest that connectivity in the dorsal inferior frontal gyrus to posterior superior temporal gyrus pathway is positively correlated with word reading skill, while connectivity in the ventral inferior frontal gyrus to posterior middle temporal gyrus pathway is not related to reading comprehension skill. The study also found no evidence to support the differentiation between the dorsal pathway's relation to word reading and the ventral pathway's relation to reading comprehension skills.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Sara B. Pillay, William L. Gross, Joseph Heffernan, Diane S. Book, Jeffrey R. Binder
Summary: People with aphasia often have partial impairments in specific tasks, which provides insights into how damaged language networks function. A study found that stroke participants with phonological damage recruited the semantic system for successful word reading. In contrast, residual phonological networks showed no difference in activation between correct and incorrect trials on the word reading task.
BRAIN AND LANGUAGE
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Davide Giampiccolo, Sylvie Moritz-Gasser, Sam Ng, Anne-Laure Lemaitre, Hugues Duffau
Summary: The study reveals that jargonaphasia is caused by white matter stimulation, suggesting disconnection as a significant factor. The involvement of white matter pathways in different forms of jargonaphasia indicates a continuum of disorders distinguished by semantic impairment.
Article
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Shakila Dada, Jacqueline Schoeman, Rajinder Koul, Sarah E. Wallace
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the impact of augmented input on auditory comprehension accuracy in individuals with Wernicke's aphasia. The results showed that augmented input can improve auditory comprehension of narratives for some patients and specifically affect comprehension of inferential questions. Thus, providing appropriate augmented input is crucial for the rehabilitation of individuals with aphasia.
Review
Clinical Neurology
M-Marsel Mesulam
Summary: This article reviews the temporopolar region, which was once considered unknown territory but has now emerged as a crucial intersection for the development of word meaning, object recognition, and social conduct. The function of the temporopolar region is closely related to cognition and behavior, but its function is impaired in neurodegenerative diseases. The left temporopolar region is crucial for language comprehension, while behavioral control and non-verbal object recognition show bilateral representation. The temporopolar region is also associated with auditory, visual, and limbic processing. The neural matrix in this region supports the transformation of object and word representations from unimodal percepts to multimodal concepts. Dysfunction in the temporopolar region can lead to category blurring and comprehension impairments.
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Miet De Letter, Elissa-Marie Cocquyt, Oona Cromheecke, Yana Criel, Elien De Cock, Veerle De Herdt, Arnaud Szmalec, Wouter Duyck
Summary: Language-related potentials are increasingly being used to assess neuroplasticity in stroke-related aphasia recovery. The study found differences in sensory memory and cognitive functioning underlying phonological processing in aphasic patients, with a potential for improvement during early rehabilitation. Bilingual aphasic patients have a higher probability of improving processing speed, leading to a shortening of latency in phonological discrimination abilities over time.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2021)
Editorial Material
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Holly Robson, Harriet Thomasson, Matthew H. Davis
Summary: The use of telepractice in aphasia research and therapy is increasing, but language comprehension assessments are not always easily translated to an online environment. This project aimed to develop teleassessments for individuals with language comprehension impairments, and found that people with aphasia can engage in teleassessment with limited carer support.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Myzoon Ali, Kathryn VandenBerg, Linda J. Williams, Louise R. Williams, Masahiro Abo, Frank Becker, Audrey Bowen, Caitlin Brandenburg, Caterina Breitenstein, Stefanie Bruehl, David A. Copland, Tamara B. Cranfill, Marie Di Pietro-Bachmann, Pamela Enderby, Joanne Fillingham, Federica Lucia Galli, Marialuisa Gandolfi, Bertrand Glize, Erin Godecke, Neil Hawkins, Katerina Hilari, Jacqueline Hinckley, Simon Horton, David Howard, Petra Jaecks, Elizabeth Jefferies, Luis M. T. Jesus, Maria Kambanaros, Eun Kyoung Kang, Eman M. Khedr, Anthony Pak-Hin Kong, Tarja Kukkonen, Marina Laganaro, Matthew A. Lambon Ralph, Ann Charlotte Laska, Beatrice Leemann, Alexander P. Leff, Roxele R. Lima, Antje Lorenz, Brian Mac Whinney, Rebecca Shisler Marshall, Marcus Meinzer, Reza Nilipour, Enrique Noe, Nam-Jong Paik, Rebecca Palmer, Ilias Papathanasiou, Brigida F. Patricio, Isabel Pavao Martins, Cathy Price, Tatjana Prizl Jakovac, Elizabeth Rochon, Miranda L. Rose, Charlotte Rosso, Ilona Rubi-Fessen, Marina B. Ruiter, Claerwen Snell, Benjamin Stahl, Jerzy P. Szaflarski, Shirley A. Thomas, Mieke Van De Sandt-Koenderman, Ineke van der Meulen, Evy Visch-Brink, Linda Worrall, Heather Harris Wright, Marian C. Brady
Summary: This study utilized a large, multilingual, international aphasia dataset to investigate the factors influencing recovery of language domains after stroke. Younger age and earlier intervention post-onset were associated with greater improvements in language abilities across various domains, while improvements diminished with increasing age and chronicity of aphasia.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Neguine Rezaii, James Michaelov, Sylvia Josephy-Hernandez, Boyu Ren, Daisy Hochberg, Megan Quimby, Bradford C. Dickerson
Summary: Nonfluent aphasia is characterized by simplified sentence structures and word-level abnormalities. The prevailing belief is that a core deficit in syntax processing causes these abnormalities. However, an alternative view based on information theory suggests that the word-level features of nonfluency are actually a compensatory process called lexical condensation.
ANNALS OF NEUROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Sarah Villard, Isabelle Yap, Gerald Kidd
Summary: This study examined the impact of impaired linguistic-semantic processing on listening tasks in individuals with aphasia. The results showed that individuals with aphasia performed worse than controls in speech masking and experienced difficulties in adapting to the masking conditions. The study contributes to the understanding of auditory masking in aphasia and the barriers to social engagement and community participation for individuals with aphasia.
Article
Linguistics
Samuel Suh, Elizabeth DeLuque, Catherine Kelly, Xander Lee, Rachel Fabian Mace, Kristina Ruch, Massoud Sharif, Melissa D. Stockbridge, Emilia Vitti, Donna C. Tippett
Summary: Word/picture verification is a sensitive measure of lexical-semantic abilities in post-stroke aphasia and reveals disruptions in semantic and phonological processing. However, its application in primary progressive aphasia (PPA) has not been replicated. In this study, we tested PPA patients on spoken word/pictures tasks and found that spoken word/picture verification was more sensitive in identifying auditory comprehension deficits compared to word/picture matching. The error pattern in verification tasks suggests degradation of semantic representations in lvPPA, which can help distinguish different PPA variants and guide treatment for anomia.
JOURNAL OF NEUROLINGUISTICS
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Linlin Zhang, Hongbing Xing
Summary: Theories of connectionism focus on the mappings between orthography, phonology, and semantics in word recognition and production. This study investigated how these factors contribute to Chinese character production in Chinese as a second language learners. The results showed that successful learners' character production was influenced by the connections between orthography, semantics, and phonology. Semantics, particularly the orthography-semantics connection, played a crucial role in production skills. Furthermore, connectionist models of languages, rather than language distance, affected production.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Psychology
Sabrina Turker, Philipp Kuhnke, Simon B. Eickhoff, Svenja Caspers, Gesa Hartwigsen
Summary: This study conducted a large-scale coordinate-based meta-analysis to investigate the brain networks involved in language processing and the subdomain-specific functions of different brain areas. The results showed that language processing primarily engaged bilateral fronto-temporal cortices, with specific regions being activated for semantics, phonology, and prosody. Furthermore, subcortical and cerebellar areas were found to play an important role in different language operations.
PSYCHOLOGICAL BULLETIN
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Nina Unger, Stefan Heim, Dominique I. Hilger, Sebastian Bludau, Peter Pieperhoff, Sven Cichon, Katrin Amunts, Thomas W. Muehleisen
Summary: Impaired phonological processing is a common symptom in language and learning disorders, with shared risk genes found in Broca's and Wernicke's regions. Multiple genes related to learning and neuronal development showed above-average expression in these cortical regions, indicating potential regional specializations in genes like ATP2C2, DNAAF4, and FOXP2. This suggests that genetic and transcriptional variation in these genes may play a role in physiological and pathological aspects of phonological processing.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Anna Krason, Gabriella Vigliocco, Marja-Liisa Mailend, Harrison Stoll, Rosemary Varley, Laurel J. Buxbaum
Summary: Aphasia is a language disorder that affects speech comprehension and communication. This study investigated the benefit of visual information accompanying speech for word comprehension in people with aphasia and identified the neuroanatomic substrates associated with this benefit. The findings demonstrated that visual speech information was more beneficial for typical individuals than those with aphasia, and the benefit was greater when speech was degraded. Lesion-symptom mapping analysis showed that damage to certain brain regions was associated with reduced benefit of audiovisual speech, suggesting the importance of these regions in cross-modal mapping.
Article
Neurosciences
Rocco Chiou, Christopher R. Cox, Matthew A. Lambon Ralph
Summary: Research in social neuroscience has shown that the default-mode network (DN) and semantic network (SN) in the brain play a significant role in socio-cognitive tasks. The study integrates these two areas of research and investigates how these networks encode social concepts, using self versus other as a test case. The findings reveal differences between DN and SN in encoding social categories and highlight the DN's role in representing the distinction between self and other.
Article
Neurosciences
JeYoung Jung, Matthew A. Lambon Ralph
Summary: Semantic cognition is a complex brain function involving multiple processes. This study used independent component analysis to investigate the brain networks that support semantic cognition. The results revealed task-specific and domain-general networks that are crucial for effective semantic cognition.
Article
Neurosciences
Rocco Chiou, Elizabeth Jefferies, John Duncan, Gina F. Humphreys, Matthew A. Lambon Ralph
Summary: This study investigates the topographical relationship between semantic control areas and the default-mode network and multiple-demand network. The results show that semantic control regions are located in between the default-mode and multi-demand networks, and exhibit hybrid functional responses, indicating a specific preference for difficult operation on meaningful representations.
Article
Neurosciences
Victoria J. Hodgson, Matthew A. Lambon Ralph, Rebecca L. Jackson
Summary: The posterior lateral temporal cortex is involved in various verbal, nonverbal, and social cognitive domains. Through comparing different domains, it is found that some processes engage distinct subregions while others may engage shared neural correlates and processes.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Ying Zhao, Christopher R. Cox, Matthew A. Lambon Ralph, Ajay D. Halai
Summary: Zhao et al. used in vivo structural and functional connectivity to predict various cognitive functions in patients with aphasia. While both types of connectivity can predict these functions, they do not provide additional information beyond the model using lesion information. The results suggest that network-level disorder predicted by lesion alone is sufficient in explaining language impairment.
Letter
Clinical Neurology
Matthew A. Lambon Ralph, James D. Stefaniak, Ajay D. Halai, Fatemeh Geranmayeh
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Amalie H. Munk, Elisabeth B. Starup, Matthew A. Lambon Ralph, Alex P. Leff, Randi Starrfelt, Ro J. Robotham
Summary: Cerebral achromatopsia is a rare acquired color perception impairment caused by brain injury, with most cases involving bilateral or right hemisphere lesions. It differs from congenital color blindness by affecting perception of all colors. A study on stroke patients with posterior cerebral artery involvement found that 22% of patients showed significant color discrimination problems, with bilateral lesions associated with more severe impairments.
Article
Neurosciences
Ya-Ning Chang, Ajay D. D. Halai, Matthew A. A. Lambon Ralph
Summary: Tractography is widely used in studying human brain connectivity, but the issue of systematically thresholding and comparing connectivity values for different track lengths across studies remains unsolved. This study utilized Monte Carlo derived distance-dependent distributions (DDDs) to generate thresholds for connections of varying lengths. The approach was applied to generate a language connectome, which showed expected structural connectivity. The findings demonstrate the feasibility and applicability of the DDD approach for thresholding probabilistic tracking datasets.
HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING
(2023)
Article
Linguistics
Toms Voits, Jason Rothman, Marco Calabria, Holly Robson, Naiara Aguirre, Gabriele Cattaneo, Victor Costumero, Mireia Hernandez, Montserrat Juncadella Puig, Lidon Marin-Marin, Anna Suades, Albert Costa, Christos Pliatsikas
Summary: Bilingualism has been found to increase resilience against cognitive aging, but its effects on neurocognitive outcomes in individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) are still unclear. This study examines the impact of bilingual language experience on structural brain data in a cohort of bilinguals diagnosed with MCI. The results indicate a non-linear relationship between bilingual language entropy and hippocampal volume, although no significant effect on episodic memory performance or age of MCI diagnosis was found.
BILINGUALISM-LANGUAGE AND COGNITION
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Shalom K. Henderson, Katie A. Peterson, Karalyn Patterson, Matthew A. Lambon Ralph, James B. Rowe
Summary: Verbal fluency is widely used as a clinical test, but its utility in differentiating between different types of dementia and primary progressive aphasia remains unclear. This study found that total word count was the strongest discriminator between patient groups and controls, while word frequency was the strongest discriminator for semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia. Overall, verbal fluency is an efficient test for assessing global brain-cognitive health but has limited utility in differentiating between cognitively and anatomically disparate patient groups.
BRAIN COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Editorial Material
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Holly Robson, Harriet Thomasson, Matthew H. Davis
Summary: The use of telepractice in aphasia research and therapy is increasing, but language comprehension assessments are not always easily translated to an online environment. This project aimed to develop teleassessments for individuals with language comprehension impairments, and found that people with aphasia can engage in teleassessment with limited carer support.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Reem S. W. Alyahya, Matthew A. Lambon Ralph, Ajay Halai, Paul Hoffman
Summary: This study investigated the cognitive and neural processes involved in discourse coherence in post-stroke aphasia patients. The results showed that impairment in core language components, such as phonological production, fluency, and semantic processing, was related to reduced discourse coherence. The voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping revealed the contribution of the left prefrontal cortex, particularly the inferior frontal gyrus (pars triangularis), to maintaining discourse coherence.
BRAIN COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Rahel Schumacher, Ajay D. Halai, Matthew A. Lambon Ralph
Summary: It is increasingly acknowledged that patients with post-stroke aphasia not only have language impairments, but also deficits in other cognitive domains. This study aimed to explore the performance of patients with aphasia in verbal executive tests, and its relationship with language tests and nonverbal cognitive functions. The study found that the performance in verbal executive tests was related not only to the severity of language impairment, but also to independent behavioral principal components. Additionally, different components were associated with separate neural correlates.
BRAIN COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Nikil Patel, Katie A. Peterson, Ruth U. Ingram, Ian Storey, Stefano F. Cappa, Eleonora Catricala, Ajay Halai, Karalyn E. Patterson, Matthew A. Lambon Ralph, James B. Rowe, Peter Garrard
Summary: Patel et al. present a new cognitive test called the Mini Linguistic State Examination for classifying primary progressive aphasia and characterizing language deficits in other brain disorders. The test is brief, accurate, and reproducible, and can be used in various clinical settings to profile language disorders. By adopting a novel assessment method, the test enables clinicians to assess and subclassify different presentations of primary progressive aphasia. The test has high diagnostic accuracy and will have a decisive impact on clinical descriptions of patients and screening for future therapeutic trials.
BRAIN COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Mathematical
Paul Hoffman, Matthew A. Lambon Ralph, Timothy T. Rogers
Summary: The article discusses the measurement and results of semantic diversity, suggesting that using unscaled vectors can better fit human semantic judgments compared to scaled ones. The authors argue that the original semantic diversity measure should be preferred over other versions.
BEHAVIOR RESEARCH METHODS
(2022)
