Gestural facilitation of confrontation naming in severe aphasia.
Item
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Title
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Gestural facilitation of confrontation naming in severe aphasia.
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Identifier
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AAI8821088
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identifier
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8821088
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Creator
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Hanlon, Robert E.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Louis J. Gerstman
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Date
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1988
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Clinical | Biology, Neuroscience
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Abstract
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Some degree of naming deficit or word finding difficulty is common to all subtypes of aphasia and characterizes virtually all aphasics. In a number of studies that have examined the gestural disturbance in aphasia and the utility of gestural interventions in aphasia therapy, a variable degree of facilitation of verbalization during gestural activity has been reported. This study involved the examination of the effect of different types of self-generated, gestural activity on oral-verbal expression.;The intention of the study was to determine if certain unilateral gestural movements, produced simultaneously during attempts of naming to confrontation, would differentially affect the oral-verbal expressive capacity of aphasic patients. It was hypothesized that activation of the proximal motor system of the hemiplegic right arm in the execution of a communicative, but nonrepresentational, pointing gesture, would have a facilitatory effect on naming ability.;Twenty-four aphasic patients, representing five aphasic subtypes, including Broca's, Transcortical Motor, Frontal Anomic, Global, and Wernicke's aphasics were assessed on three gesture/naming conditions: right-sided proximally-driven pointing gestures, left-sided proximally-driven pointing gestures, right-sided distal activation (clenching the fist). In the hemiplegic anterior aphasics the elicitation of brainstem reflexes, particularly the asymmetrical tonic neck reflex, served to "break up" the flexor synergy of the spastic hemiplegia, enabling those patients to approximate a directional pointing gesture.;The findings supported the hypothesis, indicating that pointing gestures produced through neuromotor activation of the proximal (shoulder) musculature of the right paralytic limb differentially facilitated naming performance in the collective anterior subgroup, comprised of the four anterior subtypes, but not in the Wernicke's aphasics. However, only the Broca's aphasics differed significantly from the Wernicke's patients, with regard to this differential effect on naming. These findings may be explained on the view that functional activation of the archaic proximal motor system of the hemiplegic limb, in the execution of a communicative gesture permits access to preliminary stages in the formative process of the anterior action microgeny, which ultimately emerges in vocal articulation.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
