Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T18:58:21.008Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Strengthening the semantic verb network in multilingual people with aphasia: within- and cross-language treatment effects*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2022

Aviva Lerman ,
Mira Goral ,
Lisa A. Edmonds  and
Loraine K. Obler
Aviva Lerman*
Affiliation:
Program in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA Program of Communication Disorders, Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem, Israel
Mira Goral
Affiliation:
Program in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Lehman College, City University of New York, Bronx, NY, USA MultiLing Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Lisa A. Edmonds
Affiliation:
Program of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Loraine K. Obler
Affiliation:
Program in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA
*
Address for correspondence: Aviva Lerman, Program in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, 365 Fifth Ave, New York City, New York E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In multilingual people, semantic knowledge is predominantly shared across languages. Providing semantic-focused treatment to people with aphasia has been posited to strengthen connectivity within association cortices that subserve semantic knowledge. In multilingual people, such treatment should result in within- and cross-language generalisation to all languages, although not equally. We investigated treatment effects in two multilingual participants with aphasia who received verb-based semantic treatment in two pre-stroke highly proficient languages. We compared within- and cross-language generalisation patterns across languages, finding within- and cross-language generalisation after treatment in the less-impaired, pre-morbidly more-proficient first-acquired language (L1). This observation supports the theory that connectivity is greater between the lexicon of a pre-morbidly more-proficient L1 and the shared semantic system than the lexicon of a pre-morbidly less-proficient later-acquired language. Our findings of within- and cross-language generalisation patterns could also be explained by both the Competing Mechanisms Theory and the theory of lingering suppression.

Keywords

spreading activationinterferencesemantic verb networkmultilingualcross-language generalisation
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 25 , Issue 4 , August 2022 , pp. 645 - 659
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abutalebi, J, Cappa, SF and Perani, D (2001) The bilingual brain as revealed by functional neuroimaging. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 4(02), 179–190. https://doi.org/10.1017/S136672890100027XGoogle Scholar
Abutalebi, J and Green, D (2007) Bilingual language production: The neurocognition of language representation and control. Journal of Neurolinguistics 20(3), 242–275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2006.10.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abutalebi, J, Rosa, PAD, Tettamanti, M, Green, DW and Cappa, SF (2009) Bilingual aphasia and language control: A follow-up fMRI and intrinsic connectivity study. Brain and Language 109(2–3), 141–156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2009.03.003CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Albert, ML and Obler, LK (1978) The bilingual brain: Neuropsychological and neurolinguistic aspects of bilingualism. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Alferink, I and Gullberg, M (2014) French-Dutch bilinguals do not maintain obligatory semantic distinctions: Evidence from placement verbs. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 17, 22–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ansaldo, AI and Saidi, LG (2014) Aphasia therapy in the age of globalization: Cross-linguistic therapy effects in bilingual aphasia. Behavioural Neurology 2014, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/603085CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benjamini, Y and Hochberg, Y (1995) Controlling the false discovery rate: A practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series B (Methodological), 289–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biegler, KA, Crowther, JE and Martin, RC (2008) Consequences of an inhibition deficit for word production and comprehension: Evidence from the semantic blocking paradigm. Cognitive Neuropsychology 25(4), 493–527. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643290701862316CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boyle, M (2004) Semantic Feature Analysis treatment for anomia in two fluent aphasia syndromes. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 13, 236–249.Google ScholarPubMed
Cavanaugh, R, Terhorst, L, Swiderski, AM, Hula, WD and Evans, WS (2020, October). A systematic appraisal of individual effect size estimates in aphasia single-case designs via simulation [Poster presentation]. Academy of Aphasia, Online conference.Google Scholar
Conner, PS, Goral, M, Anema, I, Borodkin, K, Haendler, Y, Knoph, M, Mustelier, C, Paluska, E, Melnikova, Y and Moeyaert, M (2018) The role of language proficiency and linguistic distance in cross-linguistic treatment effects in aphasia. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2018.1435723Google ScholarPubMed
Croft, S, Marshall, J, Pring, T and Hardwick, M (2011) Therapy for naming difficulties in bilingual aphasia: Which language benefits? International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders 46(1), 48–62. https://doi.org/10.3109/13682822.2010.484845Google ScholarPubMed
Edmonds, LA (2014) Tutorial for Verb Network Strengthening Treatment (VNeST): Detailed description of the treatment protocol with corresponding theoretical rationale. Perspectives on Neurophysiology and Neurogenic Speech and Language Disorders 24(3), 78. https://doi.org/10.1044/nnsld24.3.78CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edmonds, LA (2016) A review of Verb Network Strengthening Treatment: Theory, methods, results, and clinical implications. Topics in Language Disorders 36(2), 123–135. https://doi.org/10.1097/TLD.0000000000000088CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edmonds, LA and Babb, M (2011) Effect of Verb Network Strengthening Treatment in moderate-to-severe aphasia. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 20(2), 131. https://doi.org/10.1044/1058-0360(2011/10-0036)Google ScholarPubMed
Edmonds, LA and Kiran, S (2006) Effect of semantic naming treatment on crosslinguistic generalization in bilingual aphasia. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research 49(4), 729–748. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2006/053)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edmonds, LA, Mammino, K and Ojeda, J (2014) Effect of Verb Network Strengthening Treatment (VNeST) in persons with aphasia: Extension and replication of previous findings. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 23(2), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1044/2014_AJSLP-13-0098CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edmonds, LA, Nadeau, SE and Kiran, S (2009) Effect of Verb Network Strengthening Treatment (VNeST) on lexical retrieval of content words in sentences in persons with aphasia. Aphasiology 23(3), 402–424. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687030802291339CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edmonds, LA, Obermeyer, J and Kernan, B (2015) Investigation of pretreatment sentence production impairments in individuals with aphasia: Towards understanding the linguistic variables that impact generalisation in Verb Network Strengthening Treatment. Aphasiology 29(11), 1312–1344. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2014.975180CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, S, Tucker, K and McCann, C (2004) The contribution of verb retrieval to sentence production: A clinical study. Brain and Language 91, 78–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faroqi-Shah, Y, Frymark, T, Mullen, R and Wang, B (2010) Effect of treatment for bilingual individuals with aphasia: A systematic review of the evidence. Journal of Neurolinguistics 23(4), 319–341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2010.01.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faroqi-Shah, Y, Kevas, Y and Li, R (2021) Lexical category differences in bilingual picture naming: Implications for models of lexical representation. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1–15.Google Scholar
Fedorenko, E and Thompson-Schill, SL (2014) Reworking the language network. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 18(3), 120–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2013.12.006CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferretti, TR, McRae, K and Hatherell, A (2001) Integrating verbs, situation schemas, and thematic role concepts. Journal of Memory and Language 44(4), 516–547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, K and Stryker, M (2017) Integrating Hebbian and homeostatic plasticity: Introduction. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 372(1715), 20160413. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0413CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goral, M (2012) Cross language treatment effects in multilingual aphasia. In Gitterman, MR, Goral, M and Obler, LK (eds), Aspects of multicultural aphasia. Multilingual Matters, pp. 275–291.Google Scholar
Goral, M and Lerman, A (2020) Variables and mechanisms affecting response to language treatment in multilingual people with aphasia. Behavioral Sciences 10(9), 144. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs10090144Google ScholarPubMed
Goral, M, Levy, ES and Kastl, R (2010) Cross-language treatment generalisation: A case of trilingual aphasia. Aphasiology 24(2), 170–187. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687030902958308Google Scholar
Goral, M, Naghibolhosseini, M and Conner, PS (2013) Asymmetric inhibitory treatment effects in multilingual aphasia. Cognitive Neuropsychology 30(7–8), 564–577. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643294.2013.878692CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goral, M, Rosas, J, Conner, PS, Maul, KK and Obler, LK (2012) Effects of language proficiency and language of the environment on aphasia therapy in a multilingual. Journal of Neurolinguistics 25(6), 538–551. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2011.06.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, DW (1998) Mental control of the bilingual lexico-semantic system. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 1(2), 67–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, DW and Abutalebi, J (2008) Understanding the link between bilingual aphasia and language control. Journal of Neurolinguistics 21(6), 558–576. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2008.01.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenwald, ML, Raymer, AM, Richardson, ME and Rothi, LJG (1995) Contrasting treatments for severe impairments of picture naming. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation 5(1–2), 17–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/09602019508520174CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartsuiker, R and Bernolet, S (2017) The development of shared syntax in second language learning. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 20(2), 219–234. doi:10.1017/S1366728915000164CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, AF and Krippendorff, K (2007) Answering the call for a standard reliability measure for coding data. Communication Methods and Measures 1(1), 77–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helm-Estabrooks, N (2001) Cognitive Linguistic Quick Test. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Higby, E, Kim, J and Obler, LK (2013) Multilingualism and the brain. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33, 68–101. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190513000081CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffmann, M and Chen, R (2013) The spectrum of aphasia subtypes and etiology in subacute stroke. Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases 22(8), 1385–1392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2013.04.017CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Howard, D, Patterson, K, Franklin, S, Orchard-Lisle, V and Morton, J (1985) Treatment of word retrieval deficits in aphasia: A comparison of two therapy methods. Brain 108(4), 817–829. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/108.4.817Google ScholarPubMed
Keane, C and Kiran, S (2015) The nature of facilitation and interference in the multilingual language system: Insights from treatment in a case of trilingual aphasia. Cognitive Neuropsychology 32(3–4), 169–194. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643294.2015.1061982CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kertesz, A (2006) Western Aphasia Battery—Revised. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.Google Scholar
Khachatryan, E, Vanhoof, G, Beyens, H, Goeleven, A, Thijs, V and Van Hulle, MM (2016) Language processing in bilingual aphasia: A new insight into the problem. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science 7(3), 180–196. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1384Google ScholarPubMed
Kiran, S and Roberts, PM (2010) Semantic Feature Analysis treatment in Spanish–English and French–English bilingual aphasia. Aphasiology 24(2), 231–261. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687030902958365CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiran, S, Sandberg, C, Gray, T, Ascenso, E and Kester, E (2013) Rehabilitation in bilingual aphasia: Evidence for within- and between-language generalization. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 22(2), S298. https://doi.org/10.1044/1058-0360(2013/12-0085)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kiran, S and Thompson, CK (2019) Neuroplasticity of language networks in aphasia: Advances, updates, and future challenges. Frontiers in Neurology 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2019.00295CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knoph, MIN, Lind, M and Simonsen, HG (2015) Semantic feature analysis targeting verbs in a quadrilingual speaker with aphasia. Aphasiology 29(12), 1473–1496. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2015.1049583CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knoph, MIN, Simonsen, HG and Lind, M (2017) Cross-linguistic transfer effects of verb-production therapy in two cases of multilingual aphasia. Aphasiology 31(12), 1482–1509. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2017.1358447CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroll, JF and Stewart, E (1994) Category interference in translation and picture naming: Evidence for asymmetric connections between bilingual memory representations. Journal of Memory and Language 33(2), 149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroll, JF and Tokowicz, N (2005) Models of bilingual representation and processing: Looking back and to the future. In Kroll, JF and de Groot, AMB (eds), Handbook of bilingualism: Psycholinguistic approaches. Oxford University Press, pp. 531–554.Google Scholar
Kroll, JF, Van Hell, JG, Tokowicz, N and Green, DW (2010) The Revised Hierarchical Model: A critical review and assessment. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 13(03), 373–381. https://doi.org/10.1017/S136672891000009XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurland, J and Falcon, M (2011) Effects of cognate status and language of therapy during intensive semantic naming treatment in a case of severe nonfluent bilingual aphasia. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 25(6–7), 584–600. https://doi.org/10.3109/02699206.2011.565398CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuzmina, E, Goral, M, Norvik, MI and Weekes, B (2019) What influences language impairment in bilingual aphasia? A meta-analytic review. Frontiers in Psychology., 10, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00445CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Law, S.-P., Wong, W, Sung, F and Hon, J (2006) A study of semantic treatment of three Chinese anomic patients. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation 16(6), 601–629. https://doi.org/10.1080/09602010543000046CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lerman, A, Edmonds, LA and Goral, M (2018) Cross-language generalisation in bilingual aphasia: What are we missing when we do not analyse discourse? Aphasiology, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2018.1538493Google Scholar
Lerman, A and Goral, M (n.d.) Revised English-Hebrew Aphasia Battery (REHAB).Google Scholar
Lerman, A, Goral, M, Edmonds, LA and Obler, LK (2020) Measuring treatment outcome in severe Wernicke's aphasia. Aphasiology, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2020.1787729Google Scholar
Li, R, Li, W and Kiran, S (2020) Effect of Mandarin Verb Network Strengthening Treatment (VNeST) in Mandarin-English bilinguals with aphasia: A single-case experimental design. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/09602011.2020.1773278Google ScholarPubMed
Marian, V, Blumenfeld, HK and Kaushanskaya, M (2007) The language experience and proficiency questionnaire (LEAP-Q): Assessing language profiles in bilinguals and multilinguals. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research 50, 940–967.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marshall, J, Pound, C, White-Thomson, M and Pring, T (1990) The use of picture/word matching tasks to assist word retrieval in aphasic patients. Aphasiology 4(2), 167–184. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687039008249068CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miertsch, B, Meisel, JM and Isel, F (2009) Non-treated languages in aphasia therapy of polyglots benefit from improvement in the treated language. Journal of Neurolinguistics 22(2), 135–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2008.07.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadeau, SE (2012) The neural architecture of grammar. MIT press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadeau, SE (2019) Bilingual aphasia: Explanations in population encoding. Journal of Neurolinguistics 49, 117–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2018.10.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nickels, L and Best, W (1996) Therapy for naming disorders (Part I): Principles, puzzles and progress. Aphasiology 10(1), 21–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687039608248397CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paradis, M (1977) Bilingualism and aphasia. Studies in Neurolinguistics 3, 65–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paradis, M (1993) Bilingual aphasia rehabilitation. In Paradis, M (ed.), Foundations of aphasia rehabilitation (pp. 413–419). Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Paradis, M (1998) Language and communication in multilinguals. In Stemmer, B and Whitaker, H (eds), Handbook of neurolinguistics. Academic Press, pp. 418–429.Google Scholar
Parker, RI and Vannest, K (2009) An improved effect size for single-case research: Nonoverlap of All Pairs. Behavior Therapy 40(4), 357–367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2008.10.006CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peach, RK and Reuter, KA (2010) A discourse-based approach to Semantic Feature Analysis for the treatment of aphasic word retrieval failures. Aphasiology 24(9), 971–990. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687030903058629CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perani, D, Paulesu, E, Galles, NS, Dupoux, E, Dehaene, S, Bettinardi, V, Cappa, SF, Fazio, F and Mehler, J (1998) The bilingual brain. Proficiency and age of acquisition of the second language. Brain: A Journal of Neurology 121(10), 1841–1852.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pickering, MJ and Branigan, HP (1998) The representation of verbs: Evidence from syntactic priming in language production. Journal of Memory and Language 39, 633–651CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitres, A (1895) Etude sur l'aphasie chez les polyglottes. Rev Med;15:873–899. Translated in: Paradis, M (ed.), Readings on Aphasia in Bilinguals and Polyglots. Marcel-Didier, pp. 26–49.Google Scholar
Prior, A, Kroll, JF and MacWhinney, B (2013) Translation ambiguity but not word class predicts translation performance. Bilingualism 16(2), 458–474.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raymer, AM and Ellsworth, TA (2002) Response to contrasting verb retrieval treatments: A case study. Aphasiology 16(10–11), 1031–1045. https://doi.org/10.1080/026870401430000609CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ribot, T (1882) Diseases of memory: An essay in the positive psychology (Vol. 43). D. Appleton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salamoura, A and Williams, JN (2007) Processing verb argument structure across languages: Evidence for shared representations in the bilingual lexicon. Applied Psycholinguistics 28(04). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716407070348CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, S and Thompson, C (2003) Verb production in agrammatic aphasia: The influence of semantic class and argument structure properties on generalisation. Aphasiology 17(3), 213–241. https://doi.org/10.1080/729255456CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schoonbaert, S, Hartsuiker, RJ and Pickering, MJ (2007) The representation of lexical and syntactic information in bilinguals: Evidence from syntactic priming. Journal of Memory and Language 56(2), 153–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2006.10.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Gompel, RP and Arai, M (2018) Structural priming in bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 21(3), 448–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wambaugh, JL, Mauszycki, S and Wright, S (2014) Semantic Feature Analysis: Application to confrontation naming of actions in aphasia. Aphasiology 28(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2013.845739CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webster, J, Morris, J and Franklin, S (2005) Effects of therapy targeted at verb retrieval and the realisation of the predicate argument structure: A case study. Aphasiology 19(8), 748–764. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687030500166957CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webster, J and Whitworth, A (2012) Treating verbs in aphasia: Exploring the impact of therapy at the single word and sentence levels. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders 47(6), 619–636. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-6984.2012.00174.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whitworth, A, Webster, J and Howard, D (2015) Argument structure deficit in aphasia: It's not all about verbs. Aphasiology 29(12), 1426–1447. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2015.1037823CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wong, B, Yin, B and O'Brien, B (2016) Neurolinguistics: Structure, function, and connectivity in the bilingual brain. BioMed Research International 2016, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/7069274CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: PDF

Lerman et al. supplementary material

Lerman et al. supplementary material

Download Lerman et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 350.9 KB