Verb and sentence production and comprehension in aphasia: Northwestern Assessment of Verbs and Sentences (NAVS)

Abstract

Background Verbs and sentences are often impaired in individuals with aphasia, and differential impairment patterns are associated with different types of aphasia. With currently available test batteries, however, it is challenging to provide a comprehensive profile of aphasic language impairments because they do not examine syntactically important properties of verbs and sentences. Aims This study presents data derived from the Northwestern Assessment of Verbs and Sentences (NAVS; Thompson, 2011), a new test battery designed to examine syntactic deficits in aphasia. The NAVS includes tests for verb naming and comprehension, and production of verb argument structure in simple active sentences, with each examining the effects of the number and optionality of arguments. The NAVS also tests production and comprehension of canonical and non-canonical sentences. Methods & Procedures A total of 59 aphasic participants (35 agrammatic and 24 anomic) were tested using a set of action pictures. Participants produced verbs or sentences for the production subtests and identified pictures corresponding to auditorily provided verbs or sentences for the comprehension subtests. Outcomes & Results The agrammatic group, compared to the anomic group, performed significantly more poorly on all subtests except verb comprehension, and for both groups comprehension was less impaired than production. On verb naming and argument structure production tests both groups exhibited difficulty with three-argument verbs, affected by the number and optionality of arguments. However, production of sentences using three-argument verbs was more impaired in the agrammatic, compared to the anomic, group. On sentence production and comprehension tests, the agrammatic group showed impairments in all types of non-canonical sentences, whereas the anomic group exhibited difficulty primarily with the most difficult, object relative, structures. Conclusions Results show that verb and sentence deficits seen in individuals with agrammatic aphasia are largely influenced by syntactic complexity; however, individuals with anomic aphasia appear to exhibit these impairments only for the most complex forms of verbs and sentences. The present data indicate that the NAVS is useful for characterising verb and sentence deficits in people with aphasia.

Gesture production patterns in aphasic discourse: In-depth description and preliminary predictions

“…The database contains video samples of discourse in four genres (personal narrative, picture description, story re-telling, and procedural discourse) obtained using a standardised protocol. In addition, the results of the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) Aphasia Quotient (Kertesz, 2007), short form Boston Naming Test (BNT) (Kaplan, Goodglass, & Weintraub, 2001), Verb Naming Test (VNT) (Cho-Reyes & Thompson, 2012), and the Aphasia Bank repetition test are included for almost all individuals with aphasia. Extensive demographic data is also reported, including gender, age, race, handedness, education, occupation, aphasia etiology and duration, aphasia type, site of lesion, mood, and history of communication disorders.…”

Description of an Intensive Residential Aphasia Treatment Program: Rationale, Clinical Processes, and Outcomes

“…On the basis of these findings, selected supplemental tests are administered at the discretion of the examining SLP. These include, but are not limited to, the Psycholinguistic Assessments of Language Processing in Aphasia (PALPA; Kay, Lesser, & Coltheart, 1992), Pyramids and Palm Trees (Howard & Patterson, 1992), the Northwestern Assessment of Verbs and Sentences (NAVS; Cho-Reyes & Thompson, 2012), and the Philadelphia Naming Test (PNT; Roach, Schwartz, & Martin, 1996). These supplemental assessments are administered to provide additional information regarding the nature and locus of linguistic processing deficits identified by the CAT and to guide the development of individualized treatment plans.…”

Effects of Working Memory Load and Age on the Comprehension of Passive Sentences

“…The sentences were randomized before being presented to participants. The experimental materials used in the present study include forty pictures from the Northwestern Assessment of Verbs and Sentences (Choreyes& Thompson, 2012) coupled with fifty pictures used in other research which is irrelevant to the purpose of this experiment. A sample stimulus is presented in Figure 1.…”