Working memory impairment in aphasia: The issue of stimulus modality

Publication date: Available online 24 May 2018Source: Journal of NeurolinguisticsAuthor(s): Dimitrios Kasselimis, Georgia Angelopoulou, Panagiotis Simos, Michael Petrides, Christos Peppas, Georgios Velonakis, Antonios Tavernarakis, Ioannis Evdokimidis, Constantin PotagasAbstractThe presence of short-term/working memory deficits in aphasia has been well-established in the relevant literature. Moreover, recent studies have demonstrated such deficits in both the verbal and visuospatial modalities in patients with aphasia following a left hemisphere stroke. The present study aims to investigate the prevalence and possible lesion correlates of modality-dependent and modality-independent short-term/working memory impairment in aphasia. For this purpose, 54 individuals with post-stroke aphasia were recruited. Aphasic disturbances were assessed with the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE) and memory deficits with the digit span and Corsi block-tapping tasks. Structural imaging data were obtained for each patient and lesion sites were identified and coded by two independent neuroradiologists for 16 predetermined left hemisphere areas. Results clearly showed that visuospatial deficits were relatively common, even though verbal deficits are more frequent, and further illustrate the existence of distinct performance patterns within each modality. Analyses revealed comparable lesion extent and locations between patients demonstrating modality-independent and patients demonstratin...
Source: Journal of Neurolinguistics - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Source Type: research