Action Naming Research Articles

Language Styles of Automotive Mechanics in Selected Garages in Dar es Salaam

This study investigates the language styles used by automotive mechanics in Dar es Salaam to communicate mechanical information. It is guided by conceptual metaphor theory and translanguaging. Data was obtained from interviews with 20 participants, observation, and social media, specifically Jamii Forums and Facebook. The findings of the study show that automotive mechanics employ a variety of strategies to communicate messages to their clients when giving instructions, advising, explaining mechanical processes, and recommending spare parts to them. These strategies include using loan words, translanguaging, and assigning the names of body parts and human actions to car parts and mechanical processes respectively. Other strategies include the metaphorical use of body parts and personification. The study shows that automotive mechanics use these strategies not only because of their incompetence in using English or Swahili to communicate technical issues but also as a matter of style.

Speech Activity Research Program in Children with Autistic Disorders of Senior Preschool Age

One of the recent problems of the formation of speech function, which is studied in pedagogical, psychological, linguistic and psycholinguistic aspects is the formation of speech activity, in particular, in children with autistic disorders. The methodology for determining the level of speech activity in children with autistic disorders of older preschool age included examination of the impressive side of speech (finding out the level of understanding of statements containing affectively significant words, the possibility of executing instructions in the context of a spontaneous situation and following instructions outside the context of the situation (examination in a spontaneous situation). Checking the understanding of the names of objects, the names of actions, the names of the qualities and properties of objects and spatio-temporal relations (examination in specially organized conditions). Checking the expressive side of speech (studying the quality of the use in speech of the corresponding linguistic units (words, phrases, phrases, sentences) and vocalizations, onomatopoeia and sound complexes, methods of verbal or non-verbal expression of desires and the presence or absence of one's own statements without provocations to speech activity on the part of the experimenter (examination in a spontaneous situation). Examination of the lexical stock (examination of the dictionary of nouns, the dictionary of verbs and the dictionary of adjectives), examination of the grammatical side of speech (examination of the skills of inflexion, word formation, combining two simple sentences into a complex one) and examination of the state of development of coherent speech (examination in specially organized conditions).

Naming spatial relations across the adult lifespan: At the crossroads of language and perception.

Language abilities in adulthood remain relatively intact with increasing age, while spatial abilities decline. However, much less is known about ageing effects on spatial language (the ability to verbally describe where objects are located in relation to other objects). The primary goal of this study was to examine age-related changes in naming static and dynamic spatial relations across the adult lifespan. Moreover, we examined whether spatial naming is more closely associated with (non-spatial) verbal or (non-linguistic) visuospatial abilities. Healthy adults aged between 18 and 85 years completed a newly developed Spatial Naming Test (SNT), as well as standard object and action naming tests and various visuospatial tasks. The psychometric properties of the novel SNT (inter-rater and test-retest reliability and convergent, divergent, and construct validity) were also examined. The psychometric evaluation confirmed the reliability and validity of the SNT. Striking effects of ageing on naming of both static and dynamic spatial relations were found, as well as on visuospatial abilities, while object and action naming remained age invariant. Moreover, both (non-spatial) verbal and (non-linguistic) visuospatial abilities predicted static spatial naming, but only visuospatial abilities accounted for significant variance in dynamic spatial naming beyond age. These findings provide the first evidence that naming spatial relations declines in ageing as a function of changes in non-linguistic visuospatial abilities, indicating strong connections between linguistic and non-linguistic representations of space. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Developing psycholinguistic norms for action pictures in Cantonese

The purpose of this study was to establish psycholinguistic norms for 249 action pictures in Cantonese, a language with few norms available. We provide normative data for rated visual complexity, rated age of acquisition, name agreement, word frequency and rated familiarity in this study. Forty participants were recruited to participate in both timed picture naming and rating experiments. The linear mixed effect analysis revealed that familiarity, visual complexity, and name agreement were significant predictors of action naming in Cantonese. However, AoA did not show any significant effect on action naming, which is consistently observed in previous studies of action picture naming in Chinese. The possible explanation for null effect of AoA on naming latency are discussed. This set of psycholinguistic norms in Cantonese could serve as a valuable resource for future psycholinguistic, neurolinguistic and clinical studies in Cantonese.

Dual-Task nTMS Mapping to Visualize the Cortico-Subcortical Language Network and Capture Postoperative Outcome-A Patient Series in Neurosurgery.

BackgroundPerioperative assessment of language function in brain tumor patients commonly relies on administration of object naming during stimulation mapping. Ample research, however, points to the benefit of adding verb tasks to the testing paradigm in order to delineate and preserve postoperative language function more comprehensively. This research uses a case series approach to explore the feasibility and added value of a dual-task protocol that includes both a noun task (object naming) and a verb task (action naming) in perioperative delineation of language functions.Materials and MethodsSeven neurosurgical cases underwent perioperative language assessment with both object and action naming. This entailed preoperative baseline testing, preoperative stimulation mapping with navigated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (nTMS) with subsequent white matter visualization, intraoperative mapping with Direct Electrical Stimulation (DES) in 4 cases, and postoperative imaging and examination of language change.ResultsWe observed a divergent pattern of language organization and decline between cases who showed lesions close to the delineated language network and hence underwent DES mapping, and those that did not. The latter displayed no new impairment postoperatively consistent with an unharmed network for the neural circuits of both object and action naming. For the cases who underwent DES, on the other hand, a higher sensitivity was found for action naming over object naming. Firstly, action naming preferentially predicted the overall language state compared to aphasia batteries. Secondly, it more accurately predicted intraoperative positive language areas as revealed by DES. Thirdly, double dissociations between postoperatively unimpaired object naming and impaired action naming and vice versa indicate segregated skills and neural representation for noun versus verb processing, especially in the ventral stream. Overlaying postoperative imaging with object and action naming networks revealed that dual-task nTMS mapping can explain the drop in performance in those cases where the network appeared in proximity to the resection cavity.ConclusionUsing a dual-task protocol for visualization of cortical and subcortical language areas through nTMS mapping proved to be able to capture network-to-deficit relations in our case series. Ultimately, adding action naming to clinical nTMS and DES mapping may help prevent postoperative deficits of this seemingly segregated skill.

Neuronavigated Magnetic Stimulation combined with cognitive training for Alzheimer's patients: an EEG graph study.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder in elderly subjects. Recent studies verified the effects of cognitive training combined with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS-COG) in AD patients. Here, we analyzed neuropsychological and neurophysiological data, derived from electroencephalography (EEG), to evaluate the effects of a 6-week protocol of rTMS-COG in 72 AD. We designed a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled trial to evaluate efficacy of rTMS on 6 brain regions obtained by an individual MRI combined with COG related to brain areas to stimulate (i.e., syntax and grammar tasks, comprehension of lexical meaning and categorization tasks, action naming, object naming, spatial memory, spatial attention). Patients underwent neuropsychological and EEG examination before (T0), after treatment (T1), and after 40weeks (T2), to evaluate the effects of rehabilitation therapy. "Small World" (SW) graph approach was introduced allowing us to model the architecture of brain connectivity in order to correlate it with cognitive improvements. We found that following 6weeks of intensive daily treatment the immediate results showed an improvement in cognitive scales among AD patients. SW present no differences before and after the treatment, whereas a crucial SW modulation emerges at 40-week follow-up, emphasizing the importance of rTMS-COG rehabilitation treatment for AD. Additional results demonstrated that the delta and alpha1 SW seem to be diagnostic biomarkers of AD, whereas alpha2 SW might represent a prognostic biomarker of cognitive recovery. Derived EEG parameters can be awarded the role of diagnostic and predictive biomarkers of AD progression, and rTMS-COG can be regarded as a potentially useful treatment for AD.

Herbal Drugs with Anti-Diabetic Potential

Diabetes mellitus (DM), also known as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), is a common and serious metabolic condition that affects people all over the world. Traditional herbal plants have been utilized to treat diabetes mellitus all throughout the world. Several herbs have been found to treat and control diabetes among numerous medicines and poly herbal plants; they also have no adverse effects. Diabetes mellitus is a horrible disease that affects people all over the world and is becoming a serious danger to humanity's health. Thus, herbal plants may be a possible source of anti-diabetic medicines, with ethno botanical data indicating that around 800 plants may have anti-diabetic potential. Although synthetic oral hypoglycemic agents/insulin are a popular diabetes therapy and are effective in controlling hyperglycemia, they have significant side effects and do not significantly modify the course of diabetic complications. This is the primary reason why an increasing number of individuals are looking for alternative medicines with fewer or no adverse effects. The botanical name, common name, component, and mechanism of action for anti-diabetic activity were provided in this review study, as well as plant-based commercial poly herbal formulations.
 Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Medicinal plants, glucose, poly herbal plants

Benefit of Action Naming Over Object Naming for Visualization of Subcortical Language Pathways in Navigated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation-Based Diffusion Tensor Imaging-Fiber Tracking.

Visualization of functionally significant subcortical white matter fibers is needed in neurosurgical procedures in order to avoid damage to the language network during resection. In an effort to achieve this, positive cortical points revealed during preoperative language mapping with navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) can be employed as regions of interest (ROIs) for diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) fiber tracking. However, the effect that the use of different language tasks has on nTMS mapping and subsequent DTI-fiber tracking remains unexplored. The visualization of ventral stream tracts with an assumed lexico-semantic role may especially benefit from ROIs delivered by the lexico-semantically demanding verb task, Action Naming. In a first step, bihemispheric nTMS language mapping was administered in 18 healthy participants using the standard task Object Naming and the novel task Action Naming to trigger verbs in a small sentence context. Cortical areas in which nTMS induced language errors were identified as language-positive cortical sites. In a second step, nTMS-based DTI-fiber tracking was conducted using solely these language-positive points as ROIs. The ability of the two tasks’ ROIs to visualize the dorsal tracts Arcuate Fascicle and Superior Longitudinal Fascicle, the ventral tracts Inferior Longitudinal Fascicle, Uncinate Fascicle, and Inferior Fronto-Occipital Fascicle, the speech-articulatory Cortico-Nuclear Tract, and interhemispheric commissural fibers was compared in both hemispheres. In the left hemisphere, ROIs of Action Naming led to a significantly higher fraction of overall visualized tracts, specifically in the ventral stream’s Inferior Fronto-Occipital and Inferior Longitudinal Fascicle. No difference was found between tracking with Action Naming vs. Object Naming seeds for dorsal stream tracts, neither for the speech-articulatory tract nor the inter-hemispheric connections. While the two tasks appeared equally demanding for phonological-articulatory processes, ROI seeding through the task Action Naming seemed to better visualize lexico-semantic tracts in the ventral stream. This distinction was not evident in the right hemisphere. However, the distribution of tracts exposed was, overall, mirrored relative to those in the left hemisphere network. In presurgical practice, mapping and tracking of language pathways may profit from these findings and should consider inclusion of the Action Naming task, particularly for lesions in ventral subcortical regions.

Verbal compression as the implementation of universal tendency of compensative processes in the lingual world

The objective of the research is to describe mental and verbal primary and secondary (modern) compressive transformations. Main research methods are represented by the descriptive and structural ones making it possible to demonstrate characteristic aspects of univerb- and composite-formation (including abbreviation) as the processes corresponding to the essence of verbal compression. A tendency to compensative processes in speech and language is represented by the formations capable of complete substituting of the analytical primary names of objects, signs, and actions of the reality. In other words, a compensative process implies, apart from its main task, – balancing of the number of verbal units, – contraction of sounding duration and writing form of those units, i.e., substitution of analytical, multicomponent, nominative formations for the synthetic, monocomponent ones; that means saving time and space as the means of information conveyance. That tendency originates in the Common Slavic period. Univerbs and abbreviations, including telescopisms, are real forms of nominative units of analytical representation (word combinations) and potential alternative forms of synthetic (verbal) nominative units as the same time.

Combination of Verb Network Strengthening Treatment with TMS and tDCS: Preliminary results

Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques combined with behavioral speech/language therapies have recently been suggested as a promising method for language recovery in people with aphasia (PWA). Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) are currently the most common types of NIBS for aphasia rehabilitation. In this study, we combined either rTMS or tDCS with a behavioral therapy approach, Verb Network Strengthening Treatment (VNeST), that has neither been used before in a Russian-speaking post-stroke population nor combined with any type of NIBS. In a case series study, we demonstrate the results of two groups of participants: 1) 4 PWA who received one daily session of VNeST preceded by 20-minutes of rTMS for 8 – 12 days; and 2) 4 PWA who received 2 sessions of VNeST a day, with the first 20 minutes of the first daily session combined with tDCS, for 10 days. We assessed the accuracy of action naming and sentence production and found a significant improvement in sentence production in the tDCS + VNeST group, while the other group did not show a significant improvement in these tasks. Interestingly, we found a correlation between improvement in sentence production and the number of sessions regardless of the stimulation type and another correlation between improvement in action naming and initial aphasia severity. This study is a first attempt to apply the combination of these techniques in Russian. Our preliminary findings prompt larger-scale research to study the potential of this method.

Do Cues Facilitate Retrieval of Verbs in Persons with Bilingual Aphasia?

Word retrieval difficulty is commonly seen in persons with aphasia. The cues would repair word retrieval difficulty. The effect of cues during verb retrieval was gauged via Action Naming Test (ANT) in Kannada and English languages in persons with aphasia (PWAs). A total of eight persons with bilingual Aphasia (Broca's, conduction, and isolation type) were recruited for the study. The participants were expected to have a minimum quantum of verbal output were considered for the study. Specifically, the study used phonemic, semantic, and verbal contextual cues to assess verb retrieval abilities. The result of the study manifested that all participants of the study were able to perform better with phonemic cues followed by semantic and verbal contextual cues in both Kannada and English languages.

Bihemispheric Navigated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Mapping for Action Naming Compared to Object Naming in Sentence Context

Preoperative language mapping with navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) is currently based on the disruption of performance during object naming. The resulting cortical language maps, however, lack accuracy when compared to intraoperative mapping. The question arises whether nTMS results can be improved, when another language task is considered, involving verb retrieval in sentence context. Twenty healthy German speakers were tested with object naming and a novel action naming task during nTMS language mapping. Error rates and categories in both hemispheres were compared. Action naming showed a significantly higher error rate than object naming in both hemispheres. Error category comparison revealed that this discrepancy stems from more lexico-semantic errors during action naming, indicating lexico-semantic retrieval of the verb being more affected than noun retrieval. In an area-wise comparison, higher error rates surfaced in multiple right-hemisphere areas, but only trends in the left ventral postcentral gyrus and middle superior temporal gyrus. Hesitation errors contributed significantly to the error count, but did not dull the mapping results. Inclusion of action naming coupled with a detailed error analysis may be favorable for nTMS mapping and ultimately improve accuracy in preoperative planning. Moreover, the results stress the recruitment of both left- and right-hemispheric areas during naming.

Mapping Verb Retrieval With nTMS: The Role of Transitivity.

Navigated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (nTMS) is used to understand the cortical organization of language in preparation for the surgical removal of a brain tumor. Action naming with finite verbs can be employed for that purpose, providing additional information to object naming. However, little research has focused on the properties of the verbs that are used in action naming tasks, such as their status as transitive (taking an object; e.g., to read) or intransitive (not taking an object; e.g., to wink). Previous neuroimaging data show higher activation for transitive compared to intransitive verbs in posterior perisylvian regions bilaterally. In the present study, we employed nTMS and production of finite verbs to investigate the cortical underpinnings of transitivity. Twenty neurologically healthy native speakers of German participated in the study. They underwent language mapping in both hemispheres with nTMS. The action naming task with finite verbs consisted of transitive (e.g., The man reads the book) and intransitive verbs (e.g., The woman winks) and was controlled for relevant psycholinguistic variables. Errors were classified in four different error categories (i.e., non-linguistic errors, grammatical errors, lexico-semantic errors and, errors at the sound level) and were analyzed quantitatively. We found more nTMS-positive points in the left hemisphere, particularly in the left parietal lobe for the production of transitive compared to intransitive verbs. These positive points most commonly corresponded to lexico-semantic errors. Our findings are in line with previous aphasia and neuroimaging studies, suggesting that a more widespread network is used for the production of verbs with a larger number of arguments (i.e., transitives). The higher number of lexico-semantic errors with transitive compared to intransitive verbs in the left parietal lobe supports previous claims for the role of left posterior areas in the retrieval of argument structure information.

Peculiarities of Heroization of Health Care Workers in the Mass Media Discourse during a Pandemic

The article examines the linguistic features of the heroization of medical workers in the mass media discourse during the pandemic of the novel coronavirus infection. During the fight against the spread of the coronavirus, doctors acquired the status of heroes. The heroic image of a doctor who is at the forefront of the fight against a new threat is fully expressed in various discursive and non-discursive constructs: mass media discourse, creolized texts, photo and video materials, comments from users of the Internet services, etc. The headlines of publications, the names of projects, competitions, and actions indicate the heroization of doctors. The process of heroization is also implemented in creolized texts of social advertising. The main linguistic means of heroization is metaphorization: the doctor is represented as a soldier in war, a superhero, a guardian angel. So, in the studied texts, the fight against the coronavirus is metaphorically represented as a war, medical personnel – as soldiers fighting with weapons in their hands against a terrible enemy – the virus, the walls of a medical institution – as a battlefield. As a result of the study, it is revealed that there is a tendency to local heroization and concretization of the heroic on the examples of real people

Neural regions underlying object and action naming: complementary evidence from acute stroke and primary progressive aphasia

ABSTRACT Background Naming impairment is commonly noted in individuals with aphasia. However, object naming receives more attention than action naming. Furthermore, most studies include participants with aphasia due to only one aetiology, commonly stroke. We developed a new assessment, the Hopkins Action Naming Assessment (HANA), to evaluate action naming impairments. Aims Our aims were to show that the HANA is a useful tool that can (1) identify action naming impairments and (2) be used to investigate the neural substrates underlying naming. We paired the HANA with the Boston Naming Test (BNT) to compare action and object naming. We considered participants with aphasia due to primary progressive aphasia (PPA) or acute left hemisphere stroke to provide a more comprehensive picture of brain–behaviour relationships critical for naming. Behaviourally, we hypothesised that there would be a double dissociation between object and action naming performance. Neuroanatomically, we hypothesised that different neural substrates would be implicated in object vs. action naming and that different lesion-deficit associations would be identified in participants with PPA vs. acute stroke. Methods & Procedures Participants (N = 138 PPA, N = 37 acute stroke) completed the BNT and HANA. Behavioural performance was compared. A subset of participants (N = 31 PPA, N = 37 acute stroke) provided neuroimaging data. The whole brain was automatically segmented into regions of interest (ROIs). For participants with PPA, the image variables were the ROI volumes, normalised by brain volume. For participants with acute stroke, the image variables were the percentage of each ROI that was lesioned. The relationship between ROIs likely to be involved in naming performance was modelled with LASSO regression. Outcomes & Results Behavioural results showed a double dissociation in performance: in each group, some participants displayed intact performance relative to healthy controls on actions but not objects and/or significantly better performance on actions than objects, while others showed the opposite pattern. These results support the need to assess both objects and actions when evaluating naming deficits. Neuroimaging results identified different regions associated with object vs. action naming, implicating overlapping but distinct networks of regions. Furthermore, results differed for participants with PPA vs. acute stroke, indicating that critical information may be missed when only one aetiology is considered. Conclusions Overall, the study provides a more comprehensive picture of the neural bases of naming, underscoring the importance of assessing both objects and actions and considering different aetiologies of damage. It demonstrates the HANA's utility.

비대면 동사 이름대기 검사 도구 개발을 위한 기초 연구: 자극 제시 유형에 따른 비교

목적 : 본 연구의 목적은 동사 이름대기 검사를 개발을 위한 기초 연구로, 검사 문항을 선정하고 비대면 유무 및 자극 제시 유형(애니메이션 vs. 연속 그림)에 따른 동사 논항 별 수행력의 차이를 비교하고자 하였다.<BR>방법 : 검사에 사용될 동사 문항을 선정하기 위하여 국내 동사 관련 논문 및 한국어 어휘 빈도를 참고하여 총 99개의 동사를 1차적으로 선정한 뒤, 검사 문항 일치도 조사를 통해 최종적으로 36개의 문항을 선정하였다. 최종 선정된 동사는 자극 제시 유형에 따라 애니메이션과 연속 그림 자극으로 제작되어 연구에 사용되었다. 총 197명의 정상 청년층 집단은 자극 제시 유형에 따라 100명은 애니메이션 자극, 97명은 연속 그림자극으로 배치되고, 비대면 유무에 따라 대면 및 비대면 집단으로 각각 분류되어 동사 이름대기 검사에 참여하였다.<BR>결과 : 동사 논항에 따른 정반응률의 주효과가 통계적으로 유의하였는데, 2항 동사가 1항과 3항 동사에 비해 유의하게 높은 수행력을 보였다. 그 외의 비대면 유무 및 자극 제시 유형에 따른 주효과가 통계적으로 유의하지 않았다. 또한, 대면 및 비대면 집단 간 자극 제시 유형 및 동사 논항에 따른 이차 및 삼차 상호작용이 통계적으로 유의하지 않았다.<BR>결론 : 비대면 유무 및 자극 제시 유형은 동사 이름대기 검사 수행력에 영향을 미치지 않았다. 즉, 동사 이름대기 검사는 상황에 따라 비대면 유무 및 자극 제시 유형을 상호교환적으로 사용할 수 있으므로 임상에서의 활용도가 매우 높을 것으로 기대된다. 또한, 국내의 비대면 언어 평가 시스템 구축을 위한 기초 발판을 제공했다는데 큰 의의가 있다.

Effects of concurrent action and object naming treatment on naming skills and functional brain activation patterns in primary progressive aphasia: An fMRI study with a case-series design

Individuals with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) exhibit differential impairment patterns in noun and verb naming, but it remains unclear whether anomia treatment results in similar improvements in noun and verb naming. Therefore, we examined the immediate and long-term (3-months post-treatment) behavioral and neural effects of an anomia treatment on object and action naming skills in PPA. A case-series design was utilized involving two individuals with PPA. Object and action words were trained concurrently and probed regularly using word lists matched on a number of lexical characteristics. One participant showed improvements in all word categories with different effect sizes whereas the other participant demonstrated improved naming only on trained object words. Treatment-induced fMRI changes were found in both hemispheres, with distinct patterns observed across participants. Further research is needed to better understand the effects of residual language and cognitive skills on behavioral and neurophysiological outcomes following anomia treatment for PPA.

Development and Psychometric Evaluation of Alternate Short Forms of the Action Naming Test.

The action naming test (ANT) is a confrontation naming task used to assess the ability to name action words. This study aimed to create two short forms of the ANT and assess their equivalence, reliability, and comparability to the long form. In total, 100 healthy adults (31 females and 69 males), aged 34-89years (M=64 and SD=10.4) were recruited. Short forms were developed using a split-half procedure. No significant differences were observed between short forms on mean performance and distribution of scores for correct spontaneous responses, responses after semantic cue and total correct responses after cueing, but a higher number of accurate responses were prompted after phonemic cueing for Form A. Significant strong correlations between short forms and with the full form were encountered, although a weak correlation was found between short forms on performance after semantic cueing. IQ and age were significant predictors of action word retrieval. Whereas IQ also predicted post-cueing performance in all ANT forms, age predicted performance only for Form B. The two ANT short forms are equivalent when considering total spontaneous responses and total correct responses after cueing, but semantic and phonemic cues evoked different responses on the two forms. The two short forms were also affected differently by demographics. When the psychometric equivalence of Forms A and B was examined, the strict conditions for parallel forms were not met for all performance indices. Therefore, these newly developed short versions should be considered as alternate forms.

Object and action naming in a sentence context in people with Parkinson's disease free of dementia

Difficulties in action language processing (e.g. verbs) have been described in Parkinson's disease (PD). The embodied cognition approach links this difficulty to degenerative motor process. It has also been suggested that frontostriatal dysfunction could involve executive problems for lexical selection, which is generally more demanding for verbs. From this point of view, difficulties should diminish in a supportive context. 21 non demented people with PD and 16 control subjects were evaluated in an object and action naming task preceded by a sentence context that could be predictive or not of the target word (e.g. 'When the music started the couple began to…' 'dance'). The mobility of actions and the manipulability of objects were also manipulated. PD patients showed longer response latencies for verbs than the control group. In line with the embodied cognition approach, actions that implied higher mobility were more difficult for the group of people with PD. Moreover, PD patients benefited more from the predictive context for naming objects and actions. Results suggest that both a disruption at the level of action semantics and a subtle executive dysfunction contribute to lexical access difficulties in people with PD, even in the absence of overt cognitive impairment.

Extract Executable Action Sequences from Natural Language Instructions Based on DQN for Medical Service Robots

The emergence and popularization of medical robots bring great convenience to doctors in treating patients. The core of medical robots is the interaction and cooperation between doctors and robots, so it is crucial to design a simple and stable human-robots interaction system for medical robots. Language is the most convenient way for people to communicate with each other, so in this paper, a DQN agent based on long-short term memory (LSTM) and attention mechanism is proposed to enable the robots to extract executable action sequences from doctors’ natural language instructions. For this, our agent should be able to complete two related tasks: 1) extracting action names from instructions. 2) extracting action arguments according to the extracted action names. We evaluate our agent on three datasets composed of texts with an average length of 49.95, 209.34, 417.17 words respectively. The results show that our agent can perform better than similar agents. And our agent has a better ability to handle long texts than previous works.