Conflict Resolution and Goal Maintenance Components of Executive Attention are Impaired in Persons With Aphasia

Abstract

Purpose : An understanding of the relationship between attentional deficits and language processing can provide insight into the language disorders in persons with aphasia (PWA). Especially, executive attention is a critical component of the attentional system. However, the relationships among executive attention, language processing and aphasia have not been studied extensively. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of goal maintenance and conflict resolution in word-level processing in persons with aphasia (PWA).<BR>Methods : Picture-Word Interference (PWI) tasks were used whereby written words were superimposed on pictures in congruent, neutral or incongruent conditions. Ten PWA and 20 normal individuals (NI) categorized words into animal or non-animal. Button press response times (RT) and error rates were measured.<BR>Results : The results revealed that PWA took significantly (p<.05) longer RTs than NI for the incongruent and neutral conditions, but there was no significant group difference for the congruent conditions. The NI committed significantly more errors on the lower proportion of the incongruent trial, however, the PWA showed no significant difference between two proportions of the PWI tasks.<BR>Conclusions : The PWA group evidenced impaired conflict resolution and goal maintenance under the PWI tasks. The fact that the PWA group was vulnerable to both demands of conflict resolution and goal maintenance suggests that the PWA group demonstrated impaired executive attention compared to the NI.