Functional network and structural connections involved in picture naming.

We mapped the left hemisphere cortical regions and fiber bundles involved in picture naming in adults by integrating task-based fMRI with dMRI tractography. We showed that a ventral pathway that "maps image and sound to meaning" involves the middle occipital, inferior temporal, superior temporal, inferior frontal gyri, and the temporal pole where a signal exchange is made possible by the inferior fronto-occipital, inferior longitudinal, middle longitudinal, uncinate fasciculi, and the extreme capsule. A dorsal pathway that "maps sound to speech" implicates the inferior temporal, superior temporal, inferior frontal, precentral gyri, and the supplementary motor area where the arcuate fasciculus and the frontal aslant ensure intercommunication. This study provides a neurocognitive model of picture naming and supports the hypothesis that the ventral indirect route passes through the temporal pole. This further supports the idea that the inferior and superior temporal gyri may play pivotal roles within the dual-stream framework of language.

Functional Connectivity of Successful Picture-Naming: Age-Specific Organization and the Effect of Engaging in Stimulating Activities.

Aging is a lifelong process that starts at birth. Throughout the course of their life, individuals are exposed to various levels of stimulating activities. A higher level of engagement in such activities is suspected to protect against the normal course of cognitive aging or the cognitive manifestations of age-related brain diseases. However, the exact mechanism underlying such protective action remains unclear. The concept of the neurocognitive reserve was introduced to refer to the hypothesis that engagement in stimulating activities shapes brain structure and function, thus indirectly allowing for better preserved cognitive abilities. Although it is known that word production is among the best-preserved cognitive abilities in aging, the underlying neurofunctional mechanisms that allow this relative preservation are still unknown, and it is still unclear how engagement in stimulating activities affects these processes. The objective of this study is to describe the brain functional connectivity patterns associated with picture-naming abilities in younger and older adults with varying levels of engagement in stimulating activities, as a proxy for neurocognitive reserve. A mediation analysis was applied to determine whether the association between reserve proxies and naming accuracy is dependent on task FC. Results show that naming accuracy depends on the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) functional decoupling in both younger and older adults but through different pathways. While high-performing older adults rely on the asynchronization of this area from motor speech regions' activity, the best-performing younger adults rely on the functional decoupling with language-related regions. Mediation analysis reveals that the PCC decoupling mediates the relationship between the level of engagement in stimulating activities and naming accuracy in younger adults, but not in older adults. These findings suggest that reserve-related mechanisms may be more critical for naming in early adult life, while older adults' neurofunctional organization may benefit more from a lifetime of acquired knowledge.

Montreal Communication Evaluation Brief Battery - MEC B: reliability and validity / Bateria Montreal de Avaliação da Comunicação Breve - MAC B: fidedignidade e validade

ABSTRACT Purpose Search for reliability and validity evidence for the Montreal Communication Evaluation Brief Battery (MEC B) for adults with right brain damage. Methods Three hundred twenty-four healthy adults and 26 adults with right brain damage, aged 19-75 years, with two or more years of education were evaluated with MEC B. The MEC B Battery contains nine tasks that aim to evaluate communicative abilities as discourse, prosody, lexical-semantic and pragmatic process. Two sources of reliability evidence were used: internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) and interrater reliability. Construct validity was evaluated comparing the Montreal Communication Evaluation Battery (MEC), expanded version and MEC B tasks. Results Internal consistence was satisfactory and the interrater reliability was considered excellent, as were correlations between MEC Battery and MEC B Battery tasks. Conclusion The MEC B Battery showed satisfactory reliability and validity evidences. It can be used as outcome measure of intervention programs and assist speech therapists to plan rehabilitation programs.

RESUMO Objetivo Buscar evidências de validade e fidedignidade da Bateria Montreal de Avaliação da Comunicação Breve (MAC B) para adultos com lesão do hemisfério direito. Método Trezentos e vinte e quatro adultos saudáveis e 26 adultos com lesão cerebral direita, com idades de 19 a 75 anos, com dois ou mais anos de escolaridade, foram avaliados com a Bateria MAC B. Essa bateria contém nove tarefas que visam avaliar habilidades comunicativas, como: discurso prosódia; processo léxico-semântico e pragmática. Duas fontes de evidências de fidedignidade foram utilizadas, ou seja, a consistência interna (alfa de Cronbach) e a concordância entre avaliadores. A validade foi avaliada comparando as tarefas da Bateria MAC na versão expandida e da MAC B. Resultados Em relação à fidedignidade, a consistência interna foi satisfatória e as taxas de concordância entre os avaliadores foram consideradas excelentes, assim como as correlações entre as tarefas da Bateria MAC e Bateria MAC B. Conclusão A Bateria MAC B apresentou evidências de fidedignidade e validade satisfatórias, podendo ser usada como medida para resultado de programas de intervenção, e também auxiliar o fonoaudiólogo a planejar o programa de reabilitação.

Montreal Communication Evaluation Brief Battery - MEC B: reliability and validity.

PURPOSE: Search for reliability and validity evidence for the Montreal Communication Evaluation Brief Battery (MEC B) for adults with right brain damage. METHODS: Three hundred twenty-four healthy adults and 26 adults with right brain damage, aged 19-75 years, with two or more years of education were evaluated with MEC B. The MEC B Battery contains nine tasks that aim to evaluate communicative abilities as discourse, prosody, lexical-semantic and pragmatic process. Two sources of reliability evidence were used: internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) and interrater reliability. Construct validity was evaluated comparing the Montreal Communication Evaluation Battery (MEC), expanded version and MEC B tasks. RESULTS: Internal consistence was satisfactory and the interrater reliability was considered excellent, as were correlations between MEC Battery and MEC B Battery tasks. CONCLUSION: The MEC B Battery showed satisfactory reliability and validity evidences. It can be used as outcome measure of intervention programs and assist speech therapists to plan rehabilitation programs.

Resting-state and Vocabulary Tasks Distinctively Inform On Age-Related Differences in the Functional Brain Connectome.

Most of the current knowledge about age-related differences in brain neurofunctional organization stems from neuroimaging studies using either a "resting state" paradigm, or cognitive tasks for which performance decreases with age. However, it remains to be known if comparable age-related differences are found when participants engage in cognitive activities for which performance is maintained with age, such as vocabulary knowledge tasks. A functional connectivity analysis was performed on 286 adults ranging from 18 to 80 years old, based either on a resting state paradigm or when engaged in vocabulary tasks. Notable increases in connectivity of regions of the language network were observed during task completion. Conversely, only age-related decreases were observed across the whole connectome during resting-state. While vocabulary accuracy increased with age, no interaction was found between functional connectivity, age and task accuracy or proxies of cognitive reserve, suggesting that older individuals typically benefits from semantic knowledge accumulated throughout one's life trajectory, without the need for compensatory mechanisms.

Executive functions assessment in patients with language impairment A systematic review.

Acquired language impairments may accompany different conditions. Most recent studies have shown that there is an important relationship between language and cognitive functions, such as executive functions (EF). Therefore, we aimed to investigate which main EF components appear to have the greatest impact in the most prevalent acquired communication disorders in adults, and which neuropsychological tests are being used to evaluate them. In addition, we sought to characterize the relationship between the executive functions and language in these conditions. Working memory (WM) was the most frequently chosen cognitive measure, being evaluated by different span tasks. A relationship between WM and narrative and conversational discourse, writing abilities and grammatical comprehension was found. Other currently used cognitive tests included the Trail Making, Wisconsin, Stroop and Verbal Fluency tests. Language and EF have a complex relationship; hence, a complete assessment should reflect the dynamic processing of cognitive brain functions.

Distúrbios de linguagem adquiridas podem acompanhar diferentes quadros. Estudos recentes mostram que existe uma relação importante entre linguagem e funções cognitivas, como as funções executivas (FE). Portanto, visou-se investigar quais os principais componentes das FE parecem ter um maior impacto nos quadros com transtornos de comunicação adquiridos mais prevalentes em adultos e quais testes neuropsicológicos estão sendo mais utilizados para avaliá-los. Além disso, buscamos caracterizar qual a relação entre as funções executivas e a linguagem nesses quadros. A memória de trabalho (MT) foi a medida cognitiva mais frequentemente citada, sendo avaliada por diferentes tarefas de Span. Encontrou-se relação entre MT e discurso narrativo e conversacional, habilidades de escrita e compreensão gramatical. Outros testes cognitivos usados incluem os testes Trail Making, Wisconsin, Stroop e Verbal Fluency. Linguagem e EF têm uma relação complexa e, portanto, uma avaliação completa desses pacientes deve refletir o dinâmico processamento do funcionamento cognitivo.

Executive functions assessment in patients with language impairment: a systematic review / Avaliação das funções executivas em pacientes com comprometimento de linguagem: uma revisão sistemática

Abstract Acquired language impairments may accompany different conditions. Most recent studies have shown that there is an important relationship between language and cognitive functions, such as executive functions (EF). Therefore, we aimed to investigate which main EF components appear to have the greatest impact in the most prevalent acquired communication disorders in adults, and which neuropsychological tests are being used to evaluate them. In addition, we sought to characterize the relationship between the executive functions and language in these conditions. Working memory (WM) was the most frequently chosen cognitive measure, being evaluated by different span tasks. A relationship between WM and narrative and conversational discourse, writing abilities and grammatical comprehension was found. Other currently used cognitive tests included the Trail Making, Wisconsin, Stroop and Verbal Fluency tests. Language and EF have a complex relationship; hence, a complete assessment should reflect the dynamic processing of cognitive brain functions.

Resumo Distúrbios de linguagem adquiridas podem acompanhar diferentes quadros. Estudos recentes mostram que existe uma relação importante entre linguagem e funções cognitivas, como as funções executivas (FE). Portanto, visou-se investigar quais os principais componentes das FE parecem ter um maior impacto nos quadros com transtornos de comunicação adquiridos mais prevalentes em adultos e quais testes neuropsicológicos estão sendo mais utilizados para avaliá-los. Além disso, buscamos caracterizar qual a relação entre as funções executivas e a linguagem nesses quadros. A memória de trabalho (MT) foi a medida cognitiva mais frequentemente citada, sendo avaliada por diferentes tarefas de Span. Encontrou-se relação entre MT e discurso narrativo e conversacional, habilidades de escrita e compreensão gramatical. Outros testes cognitivos usados incluem os testes Trail Making, Wisconsin, Stroop e Verbal Fluency. Linguagem e EF têm uma relação complexa e, portanto, uma avaliação completa desses pacientes deve refletir o dinâmico processamento do funcionamento cognitivo.

Montreal Communication Evaluation Battery--Portuguese version: age and education effects.

PURPOSE: To verify age and education effects on communication performance of healthy adults in the Montreal Communication Evaluation Battery, Portuguese version (MAC-PT). METHODS: The sample comprised 90 healthy adults from Portugal, European Portuguese speakers, divided into nine groups according to educational level (4-9, 10-13, and > 13 years of formal schooling) and age (19-40, 41-64, and 65-80 years). The influence of age and education was assessed by comparing mean scores between groups, using a two-way analysis of variance followed by Bonferroni post hoc tests (p ≤ 0.05). RESULTS: The results showed that participants' performance was influenced by age in pragmatic-inferential, discursive, and prosodic tasks. Education had the greatest influence on the performance in all processes evaluated by the MAC-PT. CONCLUSION: Age and education seem to influence the communicative performance and should be considered in the assessment of neurological patients.

Bateria Montreal de Avaliação da Comunicação - versão portuguesa: efeito da idade e escolaridade / Montreal Communication Evaluation Battery - Portuguese version: age and education effects

RESUMO Objetivos: Verificar o efeito das variáveis idade e escolaridade no desempenho de adultos saudáveis na Bateria Montreal de Avaliação da Comunicação, versão portuguesa (MAC-PT). Métodos: A amostra foi composta por 90 indivíduos portugueses, falantes do Portugês Europeu, distribuídos em 9 grupos de acordo com a escolaridade (4 a 9; 10 a 13; e mais de 13 anos de ensino formal) e com a idade (19 a 40; 41 a 64; e 65 a 80 anos). Para análise de comparação entre grupos, utilizou-se o testetwo-way ANOVA, com post-hoc Bonferroni (p≤0,05). Resultados: Verificou-se que o desempenho dos indivíduos foi influenciado pela variável idade nas tarefas pragmático-inferencial, discursiva e prosódica. Já a escolaridade influenciou o desempenho em todos os processamentos avaliados pela MAC-PT. Conclusão: As variáveis idade e escolaridade influenciaram o desempenho comunicativo e devem ser consideradas no processo de avaliação de pacientes neurológicos.

ABSTRACT Purpose: To verify age and education effects on communication performance of healthy adults in the Montreal Communication Evaluation Battery, Portuguese version (MAC-PT). Methods: The sample comprised 90 healthy adults from Portugal, European Portuguese speakers, divided into nine groups according to educational level (4-9, 10-13, and >13 years of formal schooling) and age (19-40, 41-64, and 65-80 years). The influence of age and education was assessed by comparing mean scores between groups, using a two-way analysis of variance followed by Bonferroni post hoc tests (p ≤0.05). Results: The results showed that participants' performance was influenced by age in pragmatic-inferential, discursive, and prosodic tasks. Education had the greatest influence on the performance in all processes evaluated by the MAC-PT. Conclusion: Age and education seem to influence the communicative performance and should be considered in the assessment of neurological patients.

Adaptação da Bateria Montreal de Avaliação da Comunicação para o Português Europeu / Adaptation of the Montreal Communication Evaluation Battery to European Portuguese

Objetivo Realizar a adaptação neuropsicolinguística da Bateria Montreal de Avaliação da Comunicação - versão brasileira (Bateria MAC-BR) - à realidade sociocultural portuguesa – Bateria MAC versão Portugal (Bateria MAC-PT).Métodos O processo de adaptação envolveu seis etapas: 1) análise comparativa da Bateria MAC-BR com sua versão original canadense; 2) adaptação e desenvolvimento de novos estímulos por especialistas; 3) análise de juízes não especialistas; 4) análise de juízes especialistas; 5) estudo piloto 1 (n=10); 6) estudo piloto 2 (n=30) e concordância entre avaliadores.Resultados O cumprimento das etapas levou a mudanças importantes na Bateria MAC, que permitiram a adaptação adequada para realidade sociocultural e linguística portuguesa.Conclusão A bateria MAC-PT é uma ferramenta clínica útil para a avaliação da comunicação de pacientes com lesão neurológica.

Purpose To present the adaptation of the Bateria Montreal de Avaliação de Comunicação (Bateria MAC-BR) -to the Portuguese social cultural reality - Bateria MACportuguese version (MAC-PT Battery).Methods The adaptation process involved six steps: 1) comparative analyses ofBateria MAC-BR to its original Canadian version; 2) adaptation and development of new stimuli by specialists; 3) analysis by non-specialist judges, 4) analysis by expert judges; 5) pilot Study 1 (n=10); e 6) pilot Study 2 (n=30) as well as inter-rater agreement.Results The completion of steps permited significant changes in the MAC Battery, which allowed a proper adaptation to the socio-cultural and linguistic Portuguese reality.Conclusion The MAC-PT battery is a useful clinical tool for the communication evaluation of patients with neurological lesion.

False memories to emotional stimuli are not equally affected in right- and left-brain-damaged stroke patients.

Previous research has attributed to the right hemisphere (RH) a key role in eliciting false memories to visual emotional stimuli. These results have been explained in terms of two right-hemisphere properties: (i) that emotional stimuli are preferentially processed in the RH and (ii) that visual stimuli are represented more coarsely in the RH. According to this account, false emotional memories are preferentially produced in the RH because emotional stimuli are both more strongly and more diffusely activated during encoding, leaving a memory trace that can be erroneously reactivated by similar but unstudied emotional items at test. If this right-hemisphere hypothesis is correct, then RH damage should result in a reduction in false memories to emotional stimuli relative to left-hemisphere lesions. To investigate this possibility, groups of right-brain-damaged (RBD, N=15), left-brain-damaged (LBD, N=15) and healthy (HC, N=30) participants took part in a recognition memory experiment with emotional (negative and positive) and non-emotional pictures. False memories were operationalized as incorrect responses to unstudied pictures that were similar to studied ones. Both RBD and LBD participants showed similar reductions in false memories for negative pictures relative to controls. For positive pictures, however, false memories were reduced only in RBD patients. The results provide only partial support for the right-hemisphere hypothesis and suggest that inter-hemispheric cooperation models may be necessary to fully account for false emotional memories.

Rehabilitation of discourse impairments after acquired brain injury / Reabilitação de dificuldades comunicativas discursivas pós-lesão cerebral adquirida

The Action Fluency (AF) and Action Naming (AN) are different tasks involving verb generation. Evidence indicates that verb tasks yield different information from that obtained with nouns. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to analyze the information available in the scientific literature on the mechanism and clinical application of these tasks. METHODS: We carried out a systematic review of the literature and the findings were presented according to clinical studies and neuroimaging studies, and to the task in question. RESULTS: The literature contained a variety of relevant studies with different objectives, methodologies and populations. After the analysis (exclusion criteria) of the studies obtained by the search terms, only 40 studies were included in this review. CONCLUSION: It was possible to conclude that AF and AN involve different brain processes, and although recruiting frontal areas and circuits, other areas are also critical. These tasks may be useful for differentiating Primary Progressive Aphasias; AF might represent a new measure of executive function; finally, both these tests can be used to provide a better understanding of cognitive processes and certain diseases.

Os prejuízos de linguagem observados em pacientes com lesões cerebrais adquiridas podem ocasionar impacto negativo na vida social do indivíduo assim como em outros domínios cognitivos. Prejuízos em habilidades discursivas estão entre os déficits comunicativos mais comumente reportados em pacientes com lesão cerebral adquirida. Apesar do avanço dos estudos sobre instrumentos para diagnosticar tais déficits, ainda são escassas as investigações que proponham um programa de intervenção para sequelas discursivas. OBJETIVO: Assim, esta revisão sistemática visou a caracterizar estudos de reabilitação do processamento comunicativo discursivo em casos pós-lesão cerebral adquirida. MÉTODOS: Na base de dados PubMed utilizaram-se palavras-chave dos construtos "reabilitação", "lesão neurológica", "comunicação" e "habilidades discursivas". RESULTADOS: Foram encontrados 162 abstracts, mas apenas sete apresentaram os critérios de inclusão para esta revisão. Quatro estudos envolveram amostras com indivíduos afásicos e três com indivíduos com traumatismo cranioencefálico. CONCLUSÃO: Todos, com exceção de um artigo, verificaram evolução dos pacientes após intervenção baseada no discurso.

Rehabilitation of discourse impairments after acquired brain injury.

Language impairments in patients with acquired brain injury can have a negative impact on social life as well as on other cognitive domains. Discourse impairments are among the most commonly reported communication deficits among patients with acquired brain damage. Despite advances in the development of diagnostic tools for detecting such impairments, few studies have investigated interventions to rehabilitate patients presenting with these conditions. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to present a systematic review of the methods used in the rehabilitation of discourse following acquired brain injury. METHODS: The PubMed database was searched for articles using the following keywords: "rehabilitation", "neurological injury", "communication" and "discursive abilities". RESULTS: A total of 162 abstracts were found, but only seven of these met criteria for inclusion in the review. Four studies involved samples of individuals with aphasia whereas three studies recruited samples of individuals with traumatic brain injury. CONCLUSION: All but one article found that patient performance improved following participation in a discourse rehabilitation program.

Os prejuízos de linguagem observados em pacientes com lesões cerebrais adquiridas podem ocasionar impacto negativo na vida social do indivíduo assim como em outros domínios cognitivos. Prejuízos em habilidades discursivas estão entre os déficits comunicativos mais comumente reportados em pacientes com lesão cerebral adquirida. Apesar do avanço dos estudos sobre instrumentos para diagnosticar tais déficits, ainda são escassas as investigações que proponham um programa de intervenção para sequelas discursivas. OBJETIVO: Assim, esta revisão sistemática visou a caracterizar estudos de reabilitação do processamento comunicativo discursivo em casos pós-lesão cerebral adquirida. MÉTODOS: Na base de dados PubMed utilizaram-se palavras-chave dos construtos "reabilitação", "lesão neurológica", "comunicação" e "habilidades discursivas". RESULTADOS: Foram encontrados 162 abstracts, mas apenas sete apresentaram os critérios de inclusão para esta revisão. Quatro estudos envolveram amostras com indivíduos afásicos e três com indivíduos com traumatismo cranioencefálico. CONCLUSÃO: Todos, com exceção de um artigo, verificaram evolução dos pacientes após intervenção baseada no discurso.

Adaptação do Protocole MEC de Poche e da Bateria Mac Expandida: Bateria Mac Breve / Adaptation of Protocole MEC de Poche and of the Extended MAC Battery: Brief MAC Battery / Adaptación del protocole MEC Poche y de la Batería MAC Ampliada: Batería MAC Breve

Este estudo apresenta procedimentos teóricos e empíricos da adaptação da versão expandida da Bateria MAC e do Protocole MEC de Poche para uma versão breve brasileira – Bateria MAC Breve. Participaram quatro tradutores, 308 juízes não especialistas, 14 juízes especialistas e 36 adultos saudáveis. Seis etapas foram conduzidas: (1) comparação entre MAC expandida e MEC de Poche, (2) tradução, (3) desenvolvimento de novos estímulos, (4) análise de critérios psicolinguísticos por juízes não especialistas e (5) especialistas e (6) estudos pilotos. A versão adaptada mostrou-se adequada e apresentou evidência de validade de conteúdo para avaliar processamentos comunicativos discursivo, pragmático-inferencial, léxico¬semântico e prosódico. Estudos futuros com populações clínicas tornam-se necessários para que se possa utilizá-la para o diagnóstico funcional de dificuldades comunicativas.(AU)

This study presents the theoretical and empirical procedures involved in the process of adaptating the extended version of the MAC Battery and of Protocole MEC de Poche to a brief Brazilian version – Brief MAC Battery. The sample was comprised of four translators, 308 non-expert judges, 14 expert judges and 36 healthy adults. Six phases were conducted: (1) comparison between expanded MAC Battery and MEC de Poche, (2) translation, (3) development of new stimuli, (4) psycholinguistic analysis by non-experts and (5) by experts and (6) pilot studies. The adapted version appeared valid to assess communication processes such as discursive, inferential-pragmatic, lexical-semantic and prosodic, and was able to contribute to the functional diagnosis of patients with cerebrovascular disease, brain injury, dementia and schizophrenia.(AU)

Este estudio presenta los procedimientos empíricos y teóricos de adaptación de la versión extendida de la bateria MAC y del Protocole MEC de Poche, para lograr una versión breve brasileña , la Batería MACbreve. Participaron cuatro traductores, 308 jueces no especializados, 14 jueces expertos y 36 adultos sanos. El trabajo se llevó a cabo en seis pasos: (1) comparación entre la Batería MAC ampliada y la MEC de Poche, (2) traducción (3) desarrollo de nuevos estímulos, (4) análisis psicolinguísticos de jueces no expertos y (5) expertos y (6) estudios piloto. La versión adaptada parece ser adecuada y válida para evaluar procesos comunicacionales como el discursivo, pragmático-inferencial , léxico-semántico y prosódico. Este instrumento podrá contribuir al diagnóstico funcional de pacientes con enfermedad cerebrovascular , traumatismo de cráneo, demencia y esquizofrenia.(AU)

Adaptação do Protocole MEC de Poche e da Bateria Mac Expandida: Bateria Mac Breve / Adaptation of Protocole MEC de Poche and of the Extended MAC Battery: Brief MAC Battery / Adaptación del protocole MEC Poche y de la Batería MAC Ampliada: Batería MAC Breve

Este estudo apresenta procedimentos teóricos e empíricos da adaptação da versão expandida da Bateria MAC e do Protocole MEC de Poche para uma versão breve brasileira – Bateria MAC Breve. Participaram quatro tradutores, 308 juízes não especialistas, 14 juízes especialistas e 36 adultos saudáveis. Seis etapas foram conduzidas: (1) comparação entre MAC expandida e MEC de Poche, (2) tradução, (3) desenvolvimento de novos estímulos, (4) análise de critérios psicolinguísticos por juízes não especialistas e (5) especialistas e (6) estudos pilotos. A versão adaptada mostrou-se adequada e apresentou evidência de validade de conteúdo para avaliar processamentos comunicativos discursivo, pragmático-inferencial, léxico¬semântico e prosódico. Estudos futuros com populações clínicas tornam-se necessários para que se possa utilizá-la para o diagnóstico funcional de dificuldades comunicativas...

This study presents the theoretical and empirical procedures involved in the process of adaptating the extended version of the MAC Battery and of Protocole MEC de Poche to a brief Brazilian version – Brief MAC Battery. The sample was comprised of four translators, 308 non-expert judges, 14 expert judges and 36 healthy adults. Six phases were conducted: (1) comparison between expanded MAC Battery and MEC de Poche, (2) translation, (3) development of new stimuli, (4) psycholinguistic analysis by non-experts and (5) by experts and (6) pilot studies. The adapted version appeared valid to assess communication processes such as discursive, inferential-pragmatic, lexical-semantic and prosodic, and was able to contribute to the functional diagnosis of patients with cerebrovascular disease, brain injury, dementia and schizophrenia...

Este estudio presenta los procedimientos empíricos y teóricos de adaptación de la versión extendida de la bateria MAC y del Protocole MEC de Poche, para lograr una versión breve brasileña , la Batería MACbreve. Participaron cuatro traductores, 308 jueces no especializados, 14 jueces expertos y 36 adultos sanos. El trabajo se llevó a cabo en seis pasos: (1) comparación entre la Batería MAC ampliada y la MEC de Poche, (2) traducción (3) desarrollo de nuevos estímulos, (4) análisis psicolinguísticos de jueces no expertos y (5) expertos y (6) estudios piloto. La versión adaptada parece ser adecuada y válida para evaluar procesos comunicacionales como el discursivo, pragmático-inferencial , léxico-semántico y prosódico. Este instrumento podrá contribuir al diagnóstico funcional de pacientes con enfermedad cerebrovascular , traumatismo de cráneo, demencia y esquizofrenia...

Communicative clusters after a right-hemisphere stroke: are there universal clinical profiles?.

OBJECTIVE: The current research aimed at classifying communication profiles among right-brain-damaged adults with an intercultural perspective, and so begins to fill in a long-standing gap in the literature. METHOD: The sample was made up of 112 right-brain-damaged individuals from three nationalities (Canadians, Brazilians and Argentineans). They were assessed using 13 language tasks from the Protocol MEC in Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and French. RESULTS: A hierarchical cluster analysis led to four distinct clinical profiles of communication. Since only a few distinctions between nationalities were observed, the results suggest that there probably is a partial universality of clinical profiles of communication impairments after a right brain damage. CONCLUSIONS: This study proposes a preliminary taxonomy of communication disorders among right-brain-damaged individuals with cross-cultural implications. The exploration of associated stroke sites and neuropsychological concomitant deficits would contribute to the eventual development of a more accurate clinical intervention.

The role of the left anterior temporal lobe in exception word reading: reconciling patient and neuroimaging findings.

Semantic dementia (SD) is a neurodegenerative disease that occurs following the atrophy of the anterior temporal lobes (ATLs). It is characterised by the degradation of semantic knowledge and difficulties in reading exception words (surface dyslexia). This disease has highlighted the role of the ATLs in the process of exception word reading. However, imaging studies in healthy subjects have failed to detect activation of the ATLs during exception word reading. The aim of the present study was to test whether the functional brain regions that mediate exception word reading in normal readers overlap those brain regions atrophied in SD. In Study One, we map the brain regions of grey matter atrophy in AF, a patient with mild SD and surface dyslexia profile. In Study Two, we map the activation pattern associated with exception word compared to pseudoword reading in young, healthy participants using fMRI. The results revealed areas of significant activation in healthy subjects engaged in the exception word reading task in the left anterior middle temporal gyrus, in a region observed to be atrophic in the patient AF. These results reconcile neuropsychological and functional imaging data, revealing the critical role of the left ATL in exception word reading.

Clinical Focus on Prosodic, Discursive and Pragmatic Treatment for Right Hemisphere Damaged Adults: What's Right?

Researchers and clinicians acknowledge today that the contribution of both cerebral hemispheres is necessary to a full and adequate verbal communication. Indeed, it is estimated that at least 50% of right brain damaged individuals display impairments of prosodic, discourse, pragmatics and/or lexical semantics dimensions of communication. Since the 1990's, researchers have focused on the description and the assessment of these impairments and it is only recently that authors have shown interest in planning specific intervention approaches. However, therapists in rehabilitation settings still have very few available tools. This review of recent literature demonstrates that, even though theoretical knowledge needs further methodological investigation, intervention guidelines can be identified to target right hemisphere damage communication impairments in clinical practice. These principles can be incorporated by speech and language pathologists, in a structured intervention framework, aiming at fully addressing prosodic, discursive and pragmatic components of communication.

Impaired L1 and executive control after left basal ganglia damage in a bilingual Basque-Spanish person with aphasia.

Bilinguals must focus their attention to control competing languages. In bilingual aphasia, damage to the fronto-subcortical loop may lead to pathological language switching and mixing and the attrition of the more automatic language (usually L1). We present the case of JZ, a bilingual Basque-Spanish 53-year-old man who, after haematoma in the left basal ganglia, presented with executive deficits and aphasia, characterised by more impaired language processing in Basque, his L1. Assessment with the Bilingual Aphasia Test revealed impaired spontaneous and automatic speech production and speech rate in L1, as well as impaired L2-to-L1 sentence translation. Later observation led to the assessment of verbal and non-verbal executive control, which allowed JZ's impaired performance on language tasks to be related to executive dysfunction. In line with previous research, we report the significant attrition of L1 following damage to the left basal ganglia, reported for the first time in a Basque-Spanish bilingual. Implications for models of declarative and procedural memory are discussed.