Mack Jennifer E, Thompson Cynthia K
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, ILCognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center, Northwestern University, Evanston, ILDepartment of Neurology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2017 May 24;60(5):1299-1315. doi: 10.1044/2016_JSLHR-L-16-0108.
The present study tested whether (and how) language treatment changed online sentence processing in individuals with aphasia.
Participants with aphasia (n = 10) received a 12-week program of Treatment of Underlying Forms (Thompson & Shapiro, 2005) focused on production and comprehension of passive sentences. Before and after treatment, participants performed a sentence-picture matching task with active and passive sentences as eye movements were tracked. Twelve age-matched controls also performed the task once each.
In the age-matched group, eye movements indicated agent-first predictive processing after hearing the subject noun, followed by rapid thematic reanalysis after hearing the verb form. Pretreatment eye movements in the participants with aphasia showed no predictive agent-first processing, and more accurate thematic analysis in active compared to passive sentences. After treatment, which resulted in improved offline passive sentence production and comprehension, participants were more likely to respond correctly when they made agent-first eye movements early in the sentence, showed equally reliable thematic analysis in active and passive sentences, and were less likely to use a spatially based alternative response strategy.
These findings suggest that treatment focused on improving sentence production and comprehension supports the emergence of more normal-like sentence comprehension processes.
本研究测试了语言治疗是否（以及如何）改变了失语症患者的在线句子处理能力。
10名失语症患者参与了一项为期12周的基础形式治疗计划（汤普森和夏皮罗，2005年），该计划侧重于被动句的生成和理解。在治疗前后，参与者进行了句子-图片匹配任务，任务中包含主动句和被动句，同时对他们的眼球运动进行跟踪。12名年龄匹配的对照组人员也各进行了一次该任务。
在年龄匹配组中，眼球运动表明，在听到主语名词后出现了以施事为先的预测性处理，在听到动词形式后进行了快速的主题重新分析。失语症患者治疗前的眼球运动未显示出以施事为先的预测性处理，且主动句的主题分析比被动句更准确。治疗后，患者的离线被动句生成和理解能力得到改善，当他们在句子开头做出以施事为先的眼球运动时，更有可能做出正确反应，在主动句和被动句中表现出同样可靠的主题分析，并且不太可能使用基于空间的替代反应策略。
这些发现表明，专注于提高句子生成和理解能力的治疗有助于更接近正常的句子理解过程的出现。
