Associate Provost for Research Boston University Medical Campus
NIDCD - National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders	Research Resources

Abstract

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.

Thesaurus Terms:
aphasia, comprehension, language, neural information processing, short term memory, syntax
auditory stimulus, communication behavior, neuropathology, verbal learning
behavioral /social science research tag, clinical research, data collection methodology /evaluation, human subject, predoctoral investigator

Institution:	BOSTON UNIVERSITY
	881 COMMONWEALTH AVENUE
	BOSTON, MA 02215
Fiscal Year:	2007
Department:	COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
Project Start:	01-JAN-2005
Project End:	31-DEC-2007
ICD:	NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
IRG:	CDRC