Sentence Training for Aphasia

Recruiting in Palo Alto (17 mi)

Overseen by Jiyeon Lee, PhD

Age: 18+

Sex: Any

Travel: May Be Covered

Time Reimbursement: Varies

Trial Phase: Academic

Recruiting

Sponsor: Purdue University

Disqualifiers: Severe apraxia, Dementia, Uncontrolled psychiatric, others

No Placebo Group

Trial Summary

What is the purpose of this trial?

This trial aims to improve sentence production and comprehension in people with aphasia using a technique that subtly influences the brain to enhance language skills without the person being fully aware of it. The goal is to create lasting improvements in language abilities by frequently exposing the brain to certain language patterns.

Do I need to stop my current medications for the trial?

The trial information does not specify whether you need to stop taking your current medications. It's best to discuss this with the trial coordinators or your doctor.

What data supports the effectiveness of the treatment Sentence Production Training, Sentence Production Training, Implicit Structural Priming Therapy for aphasia?

Research shows that structural priming, a key part of this treatment, helps people with aphasia improve their ability to form sentences. Studies found that this method can lead to lasting improvements in sentence production, even in those with severe language impairments. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

Is Sentence Training for Aphasia safe for humans?

The research articles do not provide specific safety data for Sentence Training for Aphasia, but they focus on its effects on sentence production and comprehension in people with aphasia. ^{1 2 3 4 6}

How is Sentence Production Training different from other treatments for aphasia?

Sentence Production Training is unique because it uses structural priming, a technique that helps people with aphasia improve their ability to form sentences by repeatedly exposing them to certain sentence structures. This method focuses on implicit learning, which means patients can improve their sentence production without needing to consciously think about the rules of grammar. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

Research Team

Jiyeon Lee, PhD

Principal Investigator

Purdue University

Eligibility Criteria

This trial is for English-speaking adults who had a stroke in the left hemisphere of their brain at least 6 months ago, causing aphasia. They should have completed high school and have normal or corrected vision and hearing. Participants must struggle with forming sentences but can use some words independently. Those with uncontrolled mental health issues, substance abuse, severe speech apraxia, or other neurological conditions affecting communication cannot join.

Inclusion Criteria

High-school educated

It's hard for you to talk in full sentences, and you can only say some words by themselves.

It has been over 6 months since I had a stroke affecting my left side.

Exclusion Criteria

You currently have a problem with alcohol or drugs.

I have severe difficulty speaking clearly.

You have other conditions that affect how you communicate, like dementia.

Trial Timeline

Screening

Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial

2-4 weeks

Treatment

Participants undergo structural priming training sessions to improve sentence production and comprehension

Up to 15 sessions

3 sessions for experiments 1-3, up to 15 sessions for experiment 4

Follow-up

Participants are monitored for improvements in sentence production and comprehension post-treatment

Up to 2 months

Treatment Details

Interventions

• Sentence Production Training (Behavioral Intervention)

Trial Overview The study is testing a new method to improve sentence formation and understanding in people with aphasia using 'implicit priming'. Researchers will first identify the most effective priming conditions for learning enhancement before developing and evaluating a novel treatment based on these initial findings.

Participant Groups

Group I: Structural priming training Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

Participants will be enrolled in 3 sessions of structural priming training (for experiment 1-3) or up to 15 treatment sessions (for experiment 4). Each session will be about 2 hour long, consisting of a set of tasks, including repeating, making, and remembering various types of sentences. In experiment 1-3, each participant will receive two different experimental priming conditions that are being compared within each session. In experiment 4, participants will receive a structural priming treatment in a single-subject design.

Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?

Purdue University

Lead Sponsor

Trials

239

Recruited

72,200+

Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr.

Purdue University

Chief Executive Officer since 2013

BS in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University

Dr. Elizabeth Topp

Purdue University

Chief Medical Officer since 2020

MD from Harvard Medical School

Temple University

Collaborator

Trials

321

Recruited

89,100+

Dr. Kumar Budur

Temple University

Chief Medical Officer

MD, MS

Dr. Jeffrey M. Dayno

Temple University

Chief Executive Officer

MD from Temple University School of Medicine

University of California, San Diego

Collaborator

Trials

1,215

Recruited

1,593,000+

Dr. Christopher Longhurst

University of California, San Diego

Chief Medical Officer since 2021

MD and MS in Medical Informatics from UC Davis

Patty Maysent

University of California, San Diego

Chief Executive Officer since 2016

MBA from Stanford University

Findings from Research

In a study involving 11 persons with aphasia (PWA) and 20 healthy older adults (HOA), it was found that lexical priming significantly influenced off-line sentence production in PWA, particularly for those with better-preserved syntactic processing.

While HOA demonstrated immediate word-driven production in both off-line and real-time measures, PWA showed a delay in preferential eye fixations to the primed character, indicating atypical sentence planning despite successful off-line production.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Effect of lexical accessibility on syntactic production in aphasia: An eyetracking study. Lee, J.[2022]

Eighteen individuals with aphasia (PWA) showed preserved structural priming effects during sentence comprehension, indicating that they can benefit from this technique to improve their understanding of syntactically ambiguous sentences.

The study found that PWA and healthy older adults both exhibited structural priming effects even after a delay, suggesting that this form of priming can facilitate longer-lasting improvements in sentence interpretation, although it did not rely on specific verb information.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Priming sentence comprehension in aphasia: Effects of lexically independent and specific structural priming. Lee, J., Hosokawa, E., Meehan, S., et al.[2023]

In a study involving five participants with nonfluent aphasia, it was found that they produced sentences more accurately when starting with high-frequency nouns, indicating that lexical retrieval speed significantly impacts their sentence production.

The nonfluent participants struggled more with sentences containing semantically related nouns, suggesting they rely heavily on activated concepts to form sentences, which supports the 'content drives structure' (COST) hypothesis.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

What's in a sentence? The crucial role of lexical content in sentence production in nonfluent aphasia. Speer, P., Wilshire, CE.[2018]

In a study involving 17 persons with aphasia (PWAs) and 20 healthy older adults, abstract structural priming was found to effectively enhance syntactic production in PWAs both immediately and over time, indicating a potential therapeutic approach for grammatical deficits.

Unlike healthy older adults, PWAs did not benefit from verb-specific (lexical) priming, suggesting that while they can still learn and use abstract structures, their ability to leverage specific verbs for enhanced priming is impaired.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Effects of Verb Overlap on Structural Priming in Dialogue: Implications for Syntactic Learning in Aphasia. Man, G., Meehan, S., Martin, N., et al.[2023]

Agrammatic aphasic speakers can generate structural representations during sentence production, similar to unimpaired speakers, indicating that their ability to form sentence structures is intact despite their language deficits.

Both agrammatic and unimpaired speakers showed lasting effects of structural priming, suggesting that structural priming could be a useful therapeutic approach for improving sentence production in individuals with agrammatic aphasia.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Grammatical Encoding and Learning in Agrammatic Aphasia: Evidence from Structural Priming. Cho-Reyes, S., Mack, JE., Thompson, CK.[2020]

TelePriming, a collaborative structural priming task delivered via videoconferencing, effectively facilitated sentence production in persons with aphasia (PWA) and older adults, showing that they produced more passive sentences after hearing passive primes.

The study found that TelePriming resulted in larger priming effects for PWA and older adults compared to in-person sessions, indicating that remote delivery does not diminish the effectiveness of this treatment method and enhances comfort with technology.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

TelePriming sentence production in aphasia. Lee, J., Keen, AD., Farr, E., et al.[2023]

References

1. England pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Effect of lexical accessibility on syntactic production in aphasia: An eyetracking study. [2022]

2. England pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Priming sentence comprehension in aphasia: Effects of lexically independent and specific structural priming. [2023]

3. England pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

What's in a sentence? The crucial role of lexical content in sentence production in nonfluent aphasia. [2018]

4. United States pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Effects of Verb Overlap on Structural Priming in Dialogue: Implications for Syntactic Learning in Aphasia. [2023]

5. United States pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Grammatical Encoding and Learning in Agrammatic Aphasia: Evidence from Structural Priming. [2020]

6. Switzerland pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

TelePriming sentence production in aphasia. [2023]