Claudia Peñaloza1, Annalisa Benetello2,3, Leena Tuomiranta4, Ida-Maria Heikius4, Sonja Järvinen4, Maria Carmen Majos5, Pedro Cardona6, Montserrat Juncadella6, Matti Laine4, Nadine Martin2, Antoni Rodríguez-Fornells1,7,8. 1. Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute - IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain. 2. Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Eleanor M. Saffran Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA. 3. Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy. 4. Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Abo Akademi University, Turku, Finland. 5. Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge (HUB), Rehabilitation Section, Campus Bellvitge, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. 6. Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge (HUB), Neurology Section, Campus Bellvitge, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. 7. Department of Basic Psychology, Campus Bellvitge, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. 8. Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, ICREA, Barcelona, Spain.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Speech segmentation is one of the initial and mandatory phases of language learning. Although some people with aphasia have shown a preserved ability to learn novel words, their speech segmentation abilities have not been explored. AIMS: We examined the ability of individuals with chronic aphasia to segment words from running speech via statistical learning. We also explored the relationships between speech segmentation and aphasia severity, and short-term memory capacity. We further examined the role of lesion location in speech segmentation and short-term memory performance. METHODS & PROCEDURES: The experimental task was first validated with a group of young adults (n = 120). Participants with chronic aphasia (n = 14) were exposed to an artificial language and were evaluated in their ability to segment words using a speech segmentation test. Their performance was contrasted against chance level and compared to that of a group of elderly matched controls (n = 14) using group and case-by-case analyses. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: As a group, participants with aphasia were significantly above chance level in their ability to segment words from the novel language and did not significantly differ from the group of elderly controls. Speech segmentation ability in the aphasic participants was not associated with aphasia severity although it significantly correlated with word pointing span, a measure of verbal short-term memory. Case-by-case analyses identified four individuals with aphasia who performed above chance level on the speech segmentation task, all with predominantly posterior lesions and mild fluent aphasia. Their short-term memory capacity was also better preserved than in the rest of the group. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that speech segmentation via statistical learning can remain functional in people with chronic aphasia and suggest that this initial language learning mechanism is associated with the functionality of the verbal short-term memory system and the integrity of the left inferior frontal region.
BACKGROUND: Speech segmentation is one of the initial and mandatory phases of language learning. Although some people with aphasia have shown a preserved ability to learn novel words, their speech segmentation abilities have not been explored. AIMS: We examined the ability of individuals with chronic aphasia to segment words from running speech via statistical learning. We also explored the relationships between speech segmentation and aphasia severity, and short-term memory capacity. We further examined the role of lesion location in speech segmentation and short-term memory performance. METHODS & PROCEDURES: The experimental task was first validated with a group of young adults (n = 120). Participants with chronic aphasia (n = 14) were exposed to an artificial language and were evaluated in their ability to segment words using a speech segmentation test. Their performance was contrasted against chance level and compared to that of a group of elderly matched controls (n = 14) using group and case-by-case analyses. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: As a group, participants with aphasia were significantly above chance level in their ability to segment words from the novel language and did not significantly differ from the group of elderly controls. Speech segmentation ability in the aphasic participants was not associated with aphasia severity although it significantly correlated with word pointing span, a measure of verbal short-term memory. Case-by-case analyses identified four individuals with aphasia who performed above chance level on the speech segmentation task, all with predominantly posterior lesions and mild fluent aphasia. Their short-term memory capacity was also better preserved than in the rest of the group. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that speech segmentation via statistical learning can remain functional in people with chronic aphasia and suggest that this initial language learning mechanism is associated with the functionality of the verbal short-term memory system and the integrity of the left inferior frontal region.
Entities:
Keywords:
aphasia; language learning; speech segmentation; statistical learning
Authors: Dorothee Saur; Björn W Kreher; Susanne Schnell; Dorothee Kümmerer; Philipp Kellmeyer; Magnus-Sebastian Vry; Roza Umarova; Mariacristina Musso; Volkmar Glauche; Stefanie Abel; Walter Huber; Michel Rijntjes; Jürgen Hennig; Cornelius Weiller Journal: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Date: 2008-11-12 Impact factor: 11.205
Authors: Claudia Peñaloza; Daniel Mirman; Leena Tuomiranta; Annalisa Benetello; Ida-Maria Heikius; Sonja Järvinen; Maria C Majos; Pedro Cardona; Montserrat Juncadella; Matti Laine; Nadine Martin; Antoni Rodríguez-Fornells Journal: Cortex Date: 2016-03-19 Impact factor: 4.027