Sentence Production Training in Aphasia

Purdue University

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Aphasia

Treatments: Behavioral: Sentence training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05415501

IRB-2021-659

Details and patient eligibility

About

This project focuses on developing a novel treatment for sentence production and comprehension in aphasia, using implicit priming. First set of experiments will aim examine which learning conditions are most effective in creating maximal training gains. Then, in a later study, the investigators will develop and test the efficacy of a novel treatment study based on findings from the first set of the studies.

Full description

Over five years, the investigators will conduct a series of studies to develop a novel intervention strategy for improving sentence production and comprehension in persons with aphasia. Specifically, the investigators will use implicit learning of grammar as a novel facilitator for language recovery in aphasia. The planned studies seek to test the hypothesis that implicit learning alters the central language system in PWA, creating lasting and generalized improvements in both sentence production and comprehension. Aim 1 will determine the extent to which different learning conditions modulate immediate and long-term improvement in sentence production. The investigators integrate multiple theories of language learning and apply them to make predictions about the trajectory of priming-induced learning in PWA. In Aim 2, using a set of eyetracking and sentence comprehension tasks, it will be investigated whether the effects of priming in production generalize to off-line (accuracy) and on-line (eye fixations) sentence comprehension and determine which learning conditions result in greater cross-modality generalization. In Aim 3, the investigators will develop and establish Phase I efficacy data of an implicit priming treatment, incorporating the crucial learning conditions supporting maximal retention from Aims 1 and 2. The project will recruit both individuals with aphasia and without aphasia.

Enrollment: 104 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 21 to 85 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Individuals with post-stroke aphasia
• At least 6 months post-onset of eft hemisphere stroke
• Native speaker of English
• Normal or corrected to normal hearing and vision
• High-school educated
• Difficulty communicating in sentences, with some ability to use words independently

Exclusion criteria

• Severe apraxia of speech
• Other neurological conditions affecting communication (e.g., dementia)
• Uncontrolled psychiatric/psychological conditions affecting thinking and communication
• Active alcohol/substance abuse

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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104 participants in 1 patient group

Structural priming training

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will be enrolled in 3 sessions of structural priming training (for experiment 1-3) or up to 15 treatment sessions (for experiment 4). Each session will be about 2 hour long, consisting of a set of tasks, including repeating, making, and remembering various types of sentences. In experiment 1-3, each participant will receive two different experimental priming conditions that are being compared within each session. In experiment 4, participants will receive a structural priming treatment in a single-subject design.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Sentence training