ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the processing characteristics of locative prepositions in patients with Chinese aphasia,and to provide the theoretical evidence for the rehabilitation of aphasia.Methods Twenty aphasic patients caused by left-hemisphere stroke and twenty matched normal controls were studied.Using the locative prepo- sition repeating task(single words,locative preposition phrases and words in sentences),the comprehension task, filling-gap task,the visual-spatial function task and the short-term memory task,we compared the performance be- tween these two groups.Results The aphasic patients had more difficulty in repeating locative prepositions in sen- tences,in comprehension task and filling-gap task,their short term memory was impaired.Both groups did well in re- peating single words and phrases.Conclusion The processing of locative prepositions was impaired in Chinese aphasics.The repetition of locative prepositions was more difficult than that of phrases and single words.The preposi- tions were often omitted.It might be due to the impairment of their short-term memory,or it might have something to do with role they played in the syntactic structure.The latter might also impact the comprehension and filling-gap score.We should make plans before rehabilitation therapy.
ABSTRACT
Objective To provide a theoretical foundation for language rehabilitation by investigating the characteristics of verb impairment in Chinese agrammatism(CA)and exploring its mechanism.Methods Fifteen CA patients and 15 normal subjects(control group)were recruited and evaluated using a standardized aphasia battery in Chinese,the Chinese agrammatism battery,a verb comprehension and production task and a short-term memory task.Results Compared with the control group,verb comprehension and production,as well as working memory were significantly damaged among the CA patients,and it was more difficult for the agrammatic aphasics to produce than to comprehend verbs(P＜0.01).Verbs with a more complex argument structure(in terms of the number and type of arguments)were more difficult for the agrammatie aphasics to produce than those with a less complex argu- ment structure.But the complexity of the argument structure did not influence the agrammatic aphasics'verb compre- hension.Conclusion The semantic entry of a verb,shared by both comprehension and production,was intact,but the verb's grammar entry was impaired.Poor working memory together with the complexity of the argument structure accounted for the impaired verb production of the agrammatic patients.