Understanding discourse-linked elements in aphasia: a threefold study in Russian

Sergey Avrutin; L.S. Bos; O. Dragoy; E. Iskra; R. Bastiaanse

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.02.017

Understanding discourse-linked elements in aphasia: a threefold study in Russian

Sergey Avrutin
, L.S. Bos
, O. Dragoy
, E. Iskra
, R. Bastiaanse

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Background: Agrammatic speakershaveproblemswithgrammaticalencodinganddecoding.However,
not allsyntacticprocessesareequallyproblematic:presenttimereference, who questions,andreflexives
can beprocessedbynarrowsyntaxaloneandarerelativelysparedcomparedtopasttimereference,
which questions,andpersonalpronouns,respectively.Thelatterneedadditionalaccesstodiscourseand
information structurestolinktotheirreferentoutsidetheclause(Avrutin,2006).Linguisticprocessing
that requiresdiscourse-linkingisdifficult foragrammaticindividuals:verbmorphologywithreferenceto
the pastismoredifficult thanwithreferencetothepresent(Bastiaanseetal.,2011).Thesameholdsfor
which questionscomparedto who questionsandforpronounscomparedtoreflexives(Avrutin,2006).
These resultshavebeenreportedindependentlyfordifferentpopulationsindifferentlanguages.
The currentstudy,forthe first time,testedallconditionswithinthesamepopulation.
Aims: Wehadtwoaimswiththecurrentstudy.First,wewantedtoinvestigatewhetherdiscourse-
linking isthecommondenominatorofthedeficits intimereference, wh questions,andobjectpronouns.
Second, weaimedtocomparethecomprehensionofdiscourse-linkedelementsinpeoplewith
agrammatic and fluent aphasia.
Methods andprocedures: Threesentence-picture-matchingtaskswereadministeredto10agrammatic,
10 fluent aphasic,and10non-brain-damagedRussianspeakers(NBDs):(1)theTestforAssessing
ReferenceofTime(TART)forpresentimperfective(referencetopresent)andpastperfective(referenceto
past), (2)theWhExtractionAssessmentTool(WHEAT)for which and who subject questions,and(3)the
Reflexive-PronounTest(RePro)forreflexiveandpronominalreference.
Outcomes andresults: NBDs scoredatceilingandsignificantly higherthantheaphasicparticipants.We
found anoveralleffectofdiscourse-linkingintheTARTandWHEATfortheagrammaticspeakers,andin
all threetestsforthe fluent speakers.ScoresontheReProwereatceiling.
Conclusions: The resultsareinlinewiththepredictionthatproblemsthatindividualswithagrammatic
and fluent aphasiaexperiencewhencomprehendingsentencesthatcontainverbswithpasttime
reference, which questionwordsandpronounsarecausedbythefactthattheseelementsinvolve
discourse linking.Theeffectisnotspecific toagrammatism,althoughitmayresultfromdifferent
underlyingdisordersinagrammaticand fluent aphasia.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	20-28
Number of pages	9
Journal	Neuropsychologia
Volume	57
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.02.017
Publication status	Published - 2014

Keywords

Aphasia
Sentence comprehension
Discourse-linking
Tense
Time reference
wh Questions
Pronouns

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10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.02.017

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Cite this

@article{04a8ec518b1c4dbdb57384bfc9b23ed9,

title = "Understanding discourse-linked elements in aphasia: a threefold study in Russian",

abstract = "Background: Agrammatic speakershaveproblemswithgrammaticalencodinganddecoding.However, not allsyntacticprocessesareequallyproblematic:presenttimereference, who questions,andreflexives can beprocessedbynarrowsyntaxaloneandarerelativelysparedcomparedtopasttimereference, which questions,andpersonalpronouns,respectively.Thelatterneedadditionalaccesstodiscourseand information structurestolinktotheirreferentoutsidetheclause(Avrutin,2006).Linguisticprocessing that requiresdiscourse-linkingisdifficult foragrammaticindividuals:verbmorphologywithreferenceto the pastismoredifficult thanwithreferencetothepresent(Bastiaanseetal.,2011).Thesameholdsfor which questionscomparedto who questionsandforpronounscomparedtoreflexives(Avrutin,2006). These resultshavebeenreportedindependentlyfordifferentpopulationsindifferentlanguages. The currentstudy,forthe first time,testedallconditionswithinthesamepopulation. Aims: Wehadtwoaimswiththecurrentstudy.First,wewantedtoinvestigatewhetherdiscourse- linking isthecommondenominatorofthedeficits intimereference, wh questions,andobjectpronouns. Second, weaimedtocomparethecomprehensionofdiscourse-linkedelementsinpeoplewith agrammatic and fluent aphasia. Methods andprocedures: Threesentence-picture-matchingtaskswereadministeredto10agrammatic, 10 fluent aphasic,and10non-brain-damagedRussianspeakers(NBDs):(1)theTestforAssessing ReferenceofTime(TART)forpresentimperfective(referencetopresent)andpastperfective(referenceto past), (2)theWhExtractionAssessmentTool(WHEAT)for which and who subject questions,and(3)the Reflexive-PronounTest(RePro)forreflexiveandpronominalreference. Outcomes andresults: NBDs scoredatceilingandsignificantly higherthantheaphasicparticipants.We found anoveralleffectofdiscourse-linkingintheTARTandWHEATfortheagrammaticspeakers,andin all threetestsforthe fluent speakers.ScoresontheReProwereatceiling. Conclusions: The resultsareinlinewiththepredictionthatproblemsthatindividualswithagrammatic and fluent aphasiaexperiencewhencomprehendingsentencesthatcontainverbswithpasttime reference, which questionwordsandpronounsarecausedbythefactthattheseelementsinvolve discourse linking.Theeffectisnotspecific toagrammatism,althoughitmayresultfromdifferent underlyingdisordersinagrammaticand fluent aphasia.",

keywords = "Aphasia, Sentence comprehension, Discourse-linking, Tense, Time reference, wh Questions, Pronouns",

author = "Sergey Avrutin and L.S. Bos and O. Dragoy and E. Iskra and R. Bastiaanse",

year = "2014",

doi = "10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.02.017",

language = "English",

volume = "57",

pages = "20--28",

journal = "Neuropsychologia",

issn = "0028-3932",

publisher = "Elsevier Ltd",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Understanding discourse-linked elements in aphasia: a threefold study in Russian

AU - Avrutin, Sergey

AU - Bos, L.S.

AU - Dragoy, O.

AU - Iskra, E.

AU - Bastiaanse, R.

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - Background: Agrammatic speakershaveproblemswithgrammaticalencodinganddecoding.However, not allsyntacticprocessesareequallyproblematic:presenttimereference, who questions,andreflexives can beprocessedbynarrowsyntaxaloneandarerelativelysparedcomparedtopasttimereference, which questions,andpersonalpronouns,respectively.Thelatterneedadditionalaccesstodiscourseand information structurestolinktotheirreferentoutsidetheclause(Avrutin,2006).Linguisticprocessing that requiresdiscourse-linkingisdifficult foragrammaticindividuals:verbmorphologywithreferenceto the pastismoredifficult thanwithreferencetothepresent(Bastiaanseetal.,2011).Thesameholdsfor which questionscomparedto who questionsandforpronounscomparedtoreflexives(Avrutin,2006). These resultshavebeenreportedindependentlyfordifferentpopulationsindifferentlanguages. The currentstudy,forthe first time,testedallconditionswithinthesamepopulation. Aims: Wehadtwoaimswiththecurrentstudy.First,wewantedtoinvestigatewhetherdiscourse- linking isthecommondenominatorofthedeficits intimereference, wh questions,andobjectpronouns. Second, weaimedtocomparethecomprehensionofdiscourse-linkedelementsinpeoplewith agrammatic and fluent aphasia. Methods andprocedures: Threesentence-picture-matchingtaskswereadministeredto10agrammatic, 10 fluent aphasic,and10non-brain-damagedRussianspeakers(NBDs):(1)theTestforAssessing ReferenceofTime(TART)forpresentimperfective(referencetopresent)andpastperfective(referenceto past), (2)theWhExtractionAssessmentTool(WHEAT)for which and who subject questions,and(3)the Reflexive-PronounTest(RePro)forreflexiveandpronominalreference. Outcomes andresults: NBDs scoredatceilingandsignificantly higherthantheaphasicparticipants.We found anoveralleffectofdiscourse-linkingintheTARTandWHEATfortheagrammaticspeakers,andin all threetestsforthe fluent speakers.ScoresontheReProwereatceiling. Conclusions: The resultsareinlinewiththepredictionthatproblemsthatindividualswithagrammatic and fluent aphasiaexperiencewhencomprehendingsentencesthatcontainverbswithpasttime reference, which questionwordsandpronounsarecausedbythefactthattheseelementsinvolve discourse linking.Theeffectisnotspecific toagrammatism,althoughitmayresultfromdifferent underlyingdisordersinagrammaticand fluent aphasia.

AB - Background: Agrammatic speakershaveproblemswithgrammaticalencodinganddecoding.However, not allsyntacticprocessesareequallyproblematic:presenttimereference, who questions,andreflexives can beprocessedbynarrowsyntaxaloneandarerelativelysparedcomparedtopasttimereference, which questions,andpersonalpronouns,respectively.Thelatterneedadditionalaccesstodiscourseand information structurestolinktotheirreferentoutsidetheclause(Avrutin,2006).Linguisticprocessing that requiresdiscourse-linkingisdifficult foragrammaticindividuals:verbmorphologywithreferenceto the pastismoredifficult thanwithreferencetothepresent(Bastiaanseetal.,2011).Thesameholdsfor which questionscomparedto who questionsandforpronounscomparedtoreflexives(Avrutin,2006). These resultshavebeenreportedindependentlyfordifferentpopulationsindifferentlanguages. The currentstudy,forthe first time,testedallconditionswithinthesamepopulation. Aims: Wehadtwoaimswiththecurrentstudy.First,wewantedtoinvestigatewhetherdiscourse- linking isthecommondenominatorofthedeficits intimereference, wh questions,andobjectpronouns. Second, weaimedtocomparethecomprehensionofdiscourse-linkedelementsinpeoplewith agrammatic and fluent aphasia. Methods andprocedures: Threesentence-picture-matchingtaskswereadministeredto10agrammatic, 10 fluent aphasic,and10non-brain-damagedRussianspeakers(NBDs):(1)theTestforAssessing ReferenceofTime(TART)forpresentimperfective(referencetopresent)andpastperfective(referenceto past), (2)theWhExtractionAssessmentTool(WHEAT)for which and who subject questions,and(3)the Reflexive-PronounTest(RePro)forreflexiveandpronominalreference. Outcomes andresults: NBDs scoredatceilingandsignificantly higherthantheaphasicparticipants.We found anoveralleffectofdiscourse-linkingintheTARTandWHEATfortheagrammaticspeakers,andin all threetestsforthe fluent speakers.ScoresontheReProwereatceiling. Conclusions: The resultsareinlinewiththepredictionthatproblemsthatindividualswithagrammatic and fluent aphasiaexperiencewhencomprehendingsentencesthatcontainverbswithpasttime reference, which questionwordsandpronounsarecausedbythefactthattheseelementsinvolve discourse linking.Theeffectisnotspecific toagrammatism,althoughitmayresultfromdifferent underlyingdisordersinagrammaticand fluent aphasia.

KW - Aphasia

KW - Sentence comprehension

KW - Discourse-linking

KW - Tense

KW - Time reference

KW - wh Questions

KW - Pronouns

U2 - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.02.017

DO - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.02.017

M3 - Article

SN - 0028-3932

VL - 57

SP - 20

EP - 28

JO - Neuropsychologia

JF - Neuropsychologia

ER -

Understanding discourse-linked elements in aphasia: a threefold study in Russian

Abstract

Keywords

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