Short term memory in aphasia: effects of modality and relationship with Western Aphasia Battery-R performance

Abstract

This study investigated three questions about short term memory (STM) performance in post-stroke aphasia. The first question was whether visual STM is impaired in persons with aphasia (PWA) given that a common neural network subserves encoding-recall of both verbal and visual STM. The second question was whether the response modality (verbal vs pointing) impacts STM span measures. The third focus was the relationship between STM and language performance, specifically on a commonly used standardized test battery, the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised (WAB-R). Data from 45 persons whose aphasia resulted from a single left hemisphere stroke were examined at the group and individual level. PWA scored lower than neurotypical controls on verbal but not visual STM tasks. Verbal STM impairments were found in about one-half of PWA. Dissociations among the three verbal STM tasks are found in onethird of PWA. There was a strong association between language performance on the WAB-R, including overall severity and individual test performance, and verbal STM (except for yes/no questions). These findings support an interplay between STM and language such that STM maintains relevant linguistic representations long enough for successful comprehension and production of language.

A reconceptualization of sentence production in post-stroke agrammatic aphasia: the synergistic processing bottleneck model

“…An "articulatory bottleneck" will be evident in the speaking rate and disfluencies of PSA-G. The relationship between nonfluency and constituent assembly will be stronger in PSA-G compared to PSA-LS, as shown in Figure 5 (Faroqi-Shah et al, 2022b). It should be noted that the nonfluency-constituent assembly connection does not preclude agrammatic output from showing up in the written modality.…”

“…Even before intervention is initiated, for example in the acute phase of stroke, there are significant cognitive and fatigue issues that could mask agrammatism (Nys et al, 2007). In fact, stroke results in a variety of cognitive deficits, which can be severe in PSA (Chapman & Hallowell, 2021;Faroqi-Shah et al, 2022b;Murray, 2012). Short-term memory and working memory have been particularly identified as influencing sentence production and comprehension in PSA and neurotypical speakers (Caplan et al, 2013;Fyndanis et al, 2018;Wright et al, 2014;but see Ivanova & Ferreira, 2019).…”

“…This needs to be tested and validated for speech production. Recent studies linking speech timing with morphosyntactic production in aphasia (Faroqi-Shah et al, 2022b;Nozari & Faroqi-Shah, 2017;Salis & DeDe 2022) are the first step forward in empirically showing a connection between syntactic planning and time cost. While processing capacity limitations are demonstrated in individuals with LIFG damage, we lack an understanding of the aphasia deficit profile of these individuals.…”

“…It is important to document non-linguistic mediating and moderating variables, particularly, an oro-motor examination for co-morbid speech conditions (Ziegler et al, 2022). It is also important to provide a cognitive profile with aphasia-friendly assessments that address the verbal limitations of the participant (e.g., Faroqi-Shah et al 2022b;Ivanova and Hallowell, 2014). Sensory screenings should be conducted and reported, depending on the experimental demands (hearing, vision, color vision, field cuts).…”

A reconceptualization of sentence production in post-stroke agrammatic aphasia: the Synergistic Processing Bottleneck model

“…Even before intervention is initiated, for example in the acute phase of stroke, there are significant cognitive and fatigue issues that could mask agrammatism (Adamson et al, 2004;Engelter et al, 2006;Nys et al, 2007;Cumming et al, 2013). In fact, stroke results in a variety of cognitive deficits, which can be severe in PSA (Murray, 2012;Chapman and Hallowell, 2021;Faroqi-Shah et al, 2022b). Short-term memory and working memory have been particularly identified as influencing sentence production and comprehension in PSA and in neurotypical speakers (Caplan et al, 2013;Wright et al, 2014;Fyndanis et al, 2018; but see Ivanova and Ferreira, 2019).…”