Sentence Comprehension in Aphasia

Boston University, Boston MA

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the proposed studies is to investigate lexical-pragmatic influences on sentence processing in aphasic patients, with the eventual goal of developing a coherent model of sentence comprehension in aphasia that will provide a framework for the assessment and treatment of patients with disordered sentence comprehension. The specific aims are: (1) To advance knowledge of how lexical-pragmatic information (e.g., verb subcategorization and plausibility) constrain sentence processing; and (2) To characterize changes in the function of such information associated with aphasia. These aims will be addressed through studies of syntactic processing in which participants' on-line and off-line comprehension of garden path sentences will be examined under several conditions. This study will address the following hypotheses: (1) Relative to controls, aphasic patients will demonstrate reduced sensitivity to lexicalpragmatic information in measures of on-line sentence comprehension; and (2) Aphasic patients will benefit from lexical-pragmatic information in off-line measures of comprehension.