Aphasia Sufferers’ Displays of Affect in Conversation

Abstract

How do people with aphasia express their emotions? This article uses a sample of video-recorded speech and language therapy sessions to see how patients make use of facial, vocal, and bodily expression. Analysis shows that their affect displays regularly co-occur with linguistic difficulties and efforts to repair them. The most common affect displays consist of frowning, laughing, smiling, and shifts in gaze or body posture. If the difficulties are prolonged, affect displays are intensified with lowered/raised voice quality, sighing, head shaking, and verbal exclamations. Both frowning and laughter display recognition of linguistic difficulties, thus turning the threatening display of linguistic incompetence into a display of competence and active management of the trouble. The therapists are neutral in displaying affect but reciprocate smiles and laughter. The way that patient and therapist manage their displays of affect are part of their management of their larger social identities. Data are in Finnish with English translation.

A multimodal analysis of enactment in everyday interaction in people with aphasia

“…For example, through applying Conversation Analysis, research has demonstrated that PWA use gaze for interaction management, such as turning gaze to the recipient to solicit assistance from the recipient (Damico, Oelschlaeger, & Simmons-Mackie, 1999;Goodwin & Goodwin, 1986;Wilkinson, 2007). Furthermore, PWA have been argued to use shifts in gaze to hold or yield a turn in conversation (Laakso, 2014). Such gaze practices, and also those of withdrawing gaze to display a word search as one's own, self-directed activity, are similar to those used by NBD communicators (e.g., Laakso, 1997).…”

“…Body posture is another topic that has received little attention in aphasia research. An exception to this is a study carried out by Laakso (2014), who examined how PWA display affect in conversation. She argues that shifts in body postures are one of the most common affect displays and that PWA use affect displays in close coordination with shifts in body posture that reflect turn organisation (Laakso, 2014).…”

“…An exception to this is a study carried out by Laakso (2014), who examined how PWA display affect in conversation. She argues that shifts in body postures are one of the most common affect displays and that PWA use affect displays in close coordination with shifts in body posture that reflect turn organisation (Laakso, 2014). This finding resembles an observation by Bloch and Beeke (2008), who described how a PWA used body posturein combination with gaze and gestureto project something of the meaning of a turn not only before and during, but also after its verbal content.…”

“…This could be due to the PWA needing to ensure engagement with their communication partner while undertaking the relatively abstract and potentially "difficult" communicative act of enactment. It could also be due to the PWA ensuring that they hold the turn (see, e.g., Laakso, 2014). Finally, it could be due to the PWA needing to check on the partner's comprehension during this act.…”

The importance of situated language use for aphasia rehabilitation

“…In aphasia, much less research has been done on the influence of face and eye movements in conversation. In production, PWA have been shown to use facial movements in interaction to show emotions (Laakso, 2014a) and to indicate problems in conversation, such as with eyebrow movement, smiling and laughter (Laakso, 2014a;Kaukomaa et al, 2014). Goodwin (1995) (Preisig et al, 2015;Youse et al, 2004;Schmid & Ziegler, 2006).…”