Oral Naming Research Articles

The representation of homophones: Evidence from anomia

Current models of word production provide different accounts of the representations of homophones--words that sound the same but have different meanings (e.g., muscle/mussel; (a) walk/(to) walk). A point of disagreement concerns frequency: While some models assume that homophone processing varies as a function of the frequency of the individual homophonic forms, other models predict that the combined frequency of the homophonic forms (e.g., the frequency of muscle+mussel) determines how homophones are processed. These contrasting views were tested in a series of experiments with AW, an English-speaking brain-damaged woman who showed anomia, a deficit of word phonology retrieval in speech production. AW's semantic processing was intact. In oral naming, we observed a frequency effect: AW was significantly more successful in producing high- as opposed to low-frequency words. Our results consistently demonstrated that AW's successful naming reflected the frequency of the individual homophonic forms, rather than the combined frequency of the homophonic forms. Our results provide support for models of speech production that identify the frequency of the individual homophones as the critical factor in homophone naming.

The roles of the “visual word form area” in reading

Activation of the left midfusiform gyrus in response to reading words and pseudowords is such a reliable finding in functional imaging that this region has been called "the visual word form area" (VWFA). However, this label has recently been challenged, because activation in VWFA is also observed in other lexical tasks. We evaluated whether VWFA is necessary, sufficient, or specialized for reading by examining how frequently acute lesions in VWFA disrupt tasks that require access to written word forms versus other lexical tasks. We administered lexical tasks with spoken and written input and output, and identified damage or dysfunction of VWFA and other regions of interest (ROI) on diffusion- and perfusion-weighted imaging (DWI and PWI) in 80 patients within 24 h of onset of acute left ischemic stroke. Associations between abnormalities in each region of interest and impairment on lexical tasks were evaluated with chi-squared tests. Damage or dysfunction of VWFA was not significantly associated with impairment of written word comprehension or lexical decision, but was significantly associated with impairment on all tasks requiring lexical output: oral reading and oral naming (visual or tactile input), and written naming. We account for these results and results from functional imaging by proposing that the left midfusiform gyrus normally has two roles in reading: (1) computation of location- and modality-independent grapheme sequences from written word stimuli, and (2) a modality-independent stage of lexical processing that links modality-specific input and output representations. VWFA is not necessary for the former because the right homologue of VWFA can immediately assume this role.

A função da nomeação oral sobre comportamentos emergentes de leitura e escrita ensinados por computador

Os métodos de alfabetização utilizados em sala de aula não têm diminuído os índices de repetência nas séries iniciais. Por essa razão, o presente trabalho enfocou o comportamento de leitura e escrita como objeto de estudo. Para isso, utilizou-se o programa Mestre@ (Goyos & Almeida, 1994). Os objetivos foram o ensino de um repertório de leitura e escrita, composto de palavras regularmente utilizadas nas séries iniciais, e o desenvolvimento e sistematização de um procedimento de ensino, via software. O procedimento utilizado foi o de exclusão. Foi solicitada a um grupo de alunos, a nomeação oral do estímulo modelo antes de escolher e/ou montar as palavras que estavam sendo ensinadas. Os resultados indicam uma alta probabilidade da aprendizagem sem erro das relações ensinadas bem como leitura das palavras de generalização, além de mostrar efeitos diferenciais entre os grupos, isto é, facilitação para o grupo sem o procedimento de nomeação oral.

Humour and the expression of conflict in social discourse within communal societies in Southern Africa: A case study of Zulu speaking communities in KwaZulu Natal

In the realm of collective existence, minor divergences serve to confirm and consolidate the underlying cohesion of the group, as a society obviously relies on a certain common consent. It is in this attempt to restore the balance and resolve conflict that humour plays such an important role by articulating critical oral forms of expression in an acceptable and palatable manner which makes the criticism in the message more acceptable. In researching oral strategies and the use of humour in certain sanctioned oral forms of communication among Southern African communities as a means of conflict articulation, the writer views these social conflicts as contextualized events in their specific social setting. This entails taking into account not only the cultural setting, but also the social discourse, the context and a review of events leading up to and surrounding the conflict situation. My study involved an analysis made of the strategies used by Zulu people in particular oral discourses, viz. izibongo (‘praise’ poetry/oral ID's) and naming practices, in which they articulate their frustrations and discontent in various social settings. In some instances this involves not just the disputing party, but the entire social network in which the conflict is situated and it is in such situations that often oblique humour is used to defuse conflict. This way of viewing conflict and its frequent humorous camouflage, as events in the comprehensive continuum of social life, is common in Africa. This is because of the community-based style of living prevalent amongst Africans. In societies such as this, where the oral mode of transmission is favoured, inter-personal communication on a daily basis characterizes social discourse and interaction. It is in this environment of constant human communication and interaction that the energy comes which may not only fuel, but through the use of humour, also defuse conflict.

A cross-linguistic data bank for oral picture naming in Dutch, English, German, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish (PEDOI)

The well established effect of word frequency on adult’s picture naming performance is now called into question. This is particularly true for variables which are correlated with frequency, as is the case of age of word acquisition. Since the work of Carrol and White (1973) there is growing agreement among researchers to confer an important role in lexical access to this variable. Indeed, it has been shown ( Hodgson & Ellis, 1998) that for normal English-speaking adults only the variables ‘age-of-acquisition’ and ‘name agreement’ are independent predictors of naming success among the various variables considered. However, when brain-damaged subjects with and without degenerative pathologies are studied, word frequency and word length as well as concept familiarity all give significant effects ( Hirsh & Funnell, 1995; Lambon Ralph, Graham, Ellis, & Hodges, 1998; Nickels & Howard, 1995). Finally, it has been suggested that the production of specific error types may be related to such variables. According to Nickels and Howard (1994) the production of semantic errors is specifically affected by ‘imageability’ and in the recent study by Kremin et al. (2001) ‘age of acquisition’ predicts (frank) word finding difficulties.

CASE STUDYThe use of computer‐assisted therapy in anomia rehabilitation: A single‐case report

Background: Research has shown there are three different recognised levels of processing involved in spoken word production: the semantic level, the lexical level, and the phonological level. All of these influence the naming performance of anomic patients. However, there is disagreement regarding the most appropriate strategies for the treatment of anomic problems (repetition, lexical‐phonological cueing, semantic cueing, or a combination of all three). The use of computers seems to offer considerable advantages for the daily work of speech therapists, however there is still discussion as to whether or not computers can help patients achieve goals in therapy, and whether computers really can assist therapists in helping their patients to reach their full potential.Aims: This report describes the Computer‐assisted Anomia Rehabilitation Program (CARP) designed to be used by a speech therapist working with anomic patients. The program uses semantic, phonological, written, and semantic/phonological cueing procedures to promote the naming of objects and actions. A single‐case study is described in an attempt to demonstrate the effectiveness of the program. We hoped to increase naming ability and help the patient internalise these strategies and apply them to untreated items in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the treatment.Methods & Procedures: This is a single‐case report using ABA design, in which a pre‐treatment naming baseline was obtained followed by a computer‐assisted intervention procedure over a 12‐day period. Post‐treatment evaluation was conducted a month later to determine the extent of the improvement in the subject's denomination performance. We compare the results to control measurements (PALPA Oral Picture Naming test, Raven's Progressive Matrices, and Yesavage Geriatric Scale).Outcomes & Results: Comparison of pre‐ vs post‐treatment results of the practised words indicated improvement in target naming from 53% to 70% correct responses, when tested 30 days after the end of treatment. In addition, significant improvement was also found in an untrained PALPA Oral Picture Naming test (pre: 13/40; post: 26/40). Results in the generalisation group of stimuli can be related to the patient's internalisation of strategies provided during treatment and its application to untreated items. On the other hand, no significant gains were observed in other areas of cognition taken as control (IQ measured by the Raven's Matrices).Conclusions: This report shows the effectiveness of the Computer‐assisted Anomia Rehabilitation Program (CARP) in this single case. It suggests that computer‐based programmes can be valid in the treatment of anomic disorders, and proposes further study and development of these systems in clinical practice.

Unconstrained oral naming performance in right- and left-hemisphere-damaged individuals: When education overrides the lesion

Background : The nature of the contribution of the right hemisphere to the semantic processing of words is still unclear. Moreover, studies that looked at this question using a production oral naming task offered contradictory results, partly because of differences in production criteria used for this task. Aims : The goal of this study was to investigate the contribution of the right hemisphere to lexico-semantic abilities using an unconstrained oral naming task, looking at both qualitative and qualitative dimensions of the words produced, including a time-course analysis. Methods and Procedure : A total of 30 right-hemisphere-damaged (RHD), 30 left-hemisphere-damaged (LHD) without aphasia or with only a mild aphasia, and 30 control subjects (NC) were submitted to an unconstrained oral naming task. Outcome and Results : Results showed that hemisphere-damaged subjects produced fewer words than NC and that LHD produced fewer semantic categories than NC and RHD. Time-course analysis showed that, for all groups, more words were produced at the beginning of the task. Qualitatively, RHD showed a tendency to produce a lower mean degree of prototypicality than NC. Finally, the cluster analysis identified three clusters according to the overall performance, revealing an interaction between education and the presence of a brain lesion. Conclusion : Altogether, these results indicate that the impairment of the semantic processing of words following a right-hemisphere lesion might be specifically determined by the prototypicality of words, a result that has some convergence with other results in the literature at the discourse or pragmatic levels. However, results also show the existence of an interaction between the ability to look at very mild lexico-semantic impacts of a brain lesion and the influence of degree of education on these abilities. The latter result stresses the importance of a strict control of education in any studies looking at very mild language disorders in brain-lesioned individuals.

Is the acquisition of basic-colour terms in young children constrained?

We investigated whether the learning of colour terms in childhood is constrained by a developmental order of acquisition as predicted by Berlin and Kay [1969 Basic Color Terms (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press)]. Forty-three children, aged between 2 and 5 years and grouped according to language ability, were given two tasks testing colour conceptualisation. Colour comprehension was assessed in a spoken-word-to-colour-matching task in which a target colour was presented in conjunction with two distractor colours. Colour naming was measured in an explicit naming task in which colours were presented individually for oral naming. Results showed that children's knowledge of basic-colour terms varied across tasks and language age, providing little support for a systematic developmental order. In addition, we found only limited support for an advantage for the conceptualisation of primary (red, green, blue, yellow, black, white) compared to non-primary colour terms across tasks and language age. Instead, our data suggest that children acquire reliable knowledge of nine basic colours within a 3-month period (35.6 to 39.5 months) after which there is a considerable lag of up to 9 months before accurate knowledge of the final two colours (brown and grey) is acquired. We propose that children acquire colour term knowledge in two distinct time frames that reflect the establishment of, first, the exterior (yellow, blue, black, green, white, pink, orange, red, and purple) and, second, the interior structure (brown and grey) of conceptual colour space. These results fail to provide significant support for the order predicted by Berlin and Kay, and suggest, instead, that the development of colour term knowledge is largely unconstrained.

Declines in switching underlie verbal fluency changes after unilateral pallidal surgery in Parkinson’s disease

Declines in verbal fluency are consistently reported in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) after pallidal surgery. In the present study, the clustering and switching components of semantic or category fluency (oral naming of items obtainable in supermarkets) were examined at baseline and four months after unilateral deep brain stimulation or pallidotomy in 45 patients with PD (30 left, 15 right pallidal surgery). Post-operative declines were observed for supermarket fluency total score and switching, but not for average cluster size. These findings support the proposal that semantic fluency decrements after pallidal surgery reflect a disruption of frontal-basal ganglia circuits mediating efficient shifting between semantic categories, or perhaps efficient access to categories, rather than a degradation of semantic stores.

The comparative effectiveness of gesture and verbal treatments for a specific phonologic naming impairment

Background: Arm and hand gesture has been considered a potential facilitator of word production (Skelly, Schinsky, Smith, & Fust, 1974), and gesture is often considered as a therapeutic modality for the treatment of aphasia (Rao, 1994), but there is limited empirical evidence of the efficacy of gesture-based treatments. Models of the relationship between word production and gesture production have been developed (Hadar & Butterworth, 1997; Krauss & Hadar, 1999) but they are currently under-specified and provide little guidance as to whether gesture might be an efficacious treatment for word production deficits arising from particular underlying levels of impairment. Aims: This study had two main aims: First, to examine the comparative facilitation effects of gesture production and visualisation processes on object naming skills, and second, to compare the effectiveness of three types of treatment, gesture, verbal, and combined verbal plus gesture, for word production deficits arising from impairment at the level of phonological access and encoding. Methods & Procedures: A 68-year-old female, AB, participated in the study. AB sustained a single, left, frontoparietal, subarachnoid haemorrhage 6 months prior to the study, which resulted in a highly specific, mild, phonologic access and encoding impairment. AB initially participated in a trial comparing the relative effectiveness of gesture and visualisation processes for facilitating oral picture naming. A controlled multiple-baseline single-case experiment was then carried out comparing the three naming treatments. Outcomes & Results: The use of iconic gesture was found to significantly facilitate picture naming. Pointing, visualisation, and cued articulation produced negligible change from baseline rates. Clinically and statistically significant treatment effects were found for all three treatment conditions, with only marginal differences between conditions. Improvements made in picture naming were maintained at 1 and 3 month follow-up assessments and generalisation of enhanced object naming was found with novel stimuli and during spontaneous conversation. Conclusions: The results supported Krauss and Hadar's (1999) model of speech and gesture production, suggesting frank interaction between the kinesic monitor of the gesture production system and the formulator of the word production system. The results caution clinicians to question the long-held axiom of the superiority of multi-modality treatments, and encourage clinicians to consider the underlying knowledge and processes generated by particular treatment protocols, rather than simply the modality in which the treatment is transmitted.

Regions of neural dysfunction associated with impaired naming of actions and objects in acute stroke

The proposal that there are distinct neural regions devoted to the representation or processing of names of objects versus actions has received support from a variety of sources. However, there have been conflicting results regarding the localisation of the postulated mechanisms that are more crucial for one category or the other. There is also controversy as to whether the separation of mechanisms devoted to object versus action naming arises at the level of lexical-semantics or at the level of accessing lexical representations for output. We addressed these issues by testing oral naming and word comprehension of object and action names in 33 right-handed patients with acute left-hemisphere stroke, and by obtaining magnetic resonance (MR) perfusion-weighted and diffusion-weighted imaging of each patient at the same time. We identified regions of abnormal blood flow or infarction associated with impaired naming (with and without impaired word comprehension) of objects, of actions, or of both, using Fisher Exact tests. We found both neural regions shared by networks underlying naming of actions and networks underlying naming of objects, and other neural regions that were crucial to only one network or the other. One of the shared components (in the left superior temporal gyrus) was also essential to comprehension of action and object names (as tested by word/picture verification). These results converge with evidence from chronic lesion studies and functional imaging studies, indicating that some components of the neural networks for accessing lexical representations for output are more important for object names (e.g., left temporal cortex) and others more important for action names (e.g., left posterior frontal cortex).

Parallel or serial activation of word forms in speech production? Neurolinguistic evidence from an aphasic patient

We report the oral picture naming performance of the German aphasic MW who presented with frequent meaning related word substitutions (e.g. tiger⇒lion) and word finding blockings (omissions) while his phonological capacities at the single word level were nearly preserved. Targets were controlled for their ‘semantic competitiveness’, that is, whether there exist closely meaning related lexical competitors or not. Semantic errors were far more numerous with the highly competitive targets than with the low competitive ones. However, omissions were more frequent with the low competitive items so that the sum of the semantic errors and of the omissions was comparable in both conditions. This inverse and compensatory relationship suggests that both error types are not mutually independent. The found pattern is at odds with serial psycholinguistic theories which locate word selection (and misselection) and word form access (and blockings) at different and serially connected stages of word production but supports theories which allow for a parallel architecture in lexical activation and selection involving the word form level.

A Case Study of Acquired Dyslexia and Dysgraphia in Cantonese: Evidence for Nonsemantic Pathways for Reading and Writing Chinese

We report a Cantonese-speaking brain-damaged patient, CML, who demonstrates better oral reading than oral naming and better writing to dictation than written naming. Such dissociations are taken as evidence for nonsemantic routes for the production of spoken and written Chinese words. The occurrence of tonal errors in CML's reading aloud informs us about the structure of phonological representations. We propose that it is a nonlinear structure, similar to that which has been proposed in tonal phonology of Chinese. Specific impairment to these representations may lead to a dissociation between segmental and suprasegmental information. Finally, the similarity of CML's neologistic responses in oral and written naming, and her production of tonal errors in writing to dictation and written naming, favour the mediated version of the nonsemantic pathway for writing more than the unmediated pathway.

Reperfusion of Specific Brain Regions by Raising Blood Pressure Restores Selective Language Functions in Subacute Stroke

We report a series of six single subject studies examining the effects of pharmacological blood pressure elevation on regional brain perfusion and language function. Previous reports indicate that hypoperfusion of specific brain regions, as delineated by magnetic resonance perfusion weighted imaging (PWI), is associated with disruption of selective lexical functions. On this basis, we hypothesized that reperfusion of the same regions, in the absence of infarct in that region, would restore the associated lexical function. We present five patients with impaired lexical-semantics associated with poor perfusion, but not infarction, of Brodmann's area 22 (BA 22), and one patient with impaired lexical-semantics and a superimposed deficit in retrieving the phonological representations of words, associated with poor perfusion Brodmann's area 37 (BA 37) as well as BA 22. Each patient was treated with induced blood pressure elevation to increase perfusion of the ischemic and dysfunctional tissue. Daily testing of naming and comprehension, with stimulus sets matched for frequency, familiarity, and length, showed improved lexical-semantics in the patients who showed reperfusion of BA 22 and improved oral naming (but not lexical-semantics) in the patient who showed reperfusion of BA 37. These cases illustrate that loss of function with hypoperfusion of a circumscribed area of the brain, and recovery of the same function with improved perfusion of that brain region, can reveal brain/language relationships prior to reorganization after brain injury.

Training grapheme to phoneme conversion in patients with oral reading and naming deficits: A model-based approach

A model-based treatment focused on improving grapheme to phoneme conversion as well as phoneme to grapheme conversion was implemented to train oral reading skills in two patients with severe oral reading and naming deficits. Initial assessment based on current cognitive neuropsychological models of naming indicated a deficit in the phonological output lexicon and in grapheme to phoneme conversion. Using a single subject experimental design across subjects, the effects of treatment were evaluated by periodic probing of both trained and untrained regular words across lexical tasks: oral reading, oral naming, written naming, and writing to dictation. Results indicated successful acquisition of trained reading targets for both patients, as well as generalisation to untrained reading items, oral and written naming of trained items, and writing to dictation of trained and untrained items. Irregular words probed across the four lexical tasks did not demonstrate any improvement, as the trained grapheme to phoneme conversion skills were unsuccessful when applied to irregular words. The present experiment provides evidence for incorporating cognitive neuropsychological models in aiding the development of appropriate treatment protocols, and demonstrates the importance of rule-based learning, rather than compensatory strategies, in maximising the effects of generalisation.

Improvement of oral naming by unsupervised computerised rehabilitation

The effects of unsupervised, computerised rehabilitation of anomia in aphasia were investigated with three single-case studies. The training was carried out in the patients' own homes without any supervision. It included semantic and phonemic tasks as well as written naming tasks. The computer was programmed to progress through a preselected set of tasks according to set criteria of performance. The patient could not alter the preselected sequence, but could start and stop a session at any time. The length of the training was determined by the time it took the patient to work through the full set of tasks. Comparison was made of their progress in naming of trained and untrained words. A cross-over design was used, and baselines were established with two patients. All patients improved in their general naming performance, but to different degrees. A relatively specific effect for the trained words was found in two patients, whereas the third showed a somewhat more general effect. The chosen therapy was probably not equally appropriate for all three patients. It is concluded that oral naming can be improved with unsupervised computer rehabilitation in the home even though the patient is not required to speak during the training.

Superior Written Over Spoken Picture Naming in a Case of Frontotemporal Dementia

Two main hypotheses have been proposed regarding the role of phonology in written word production. According to the phonological mediation hypothesis, the retrieval of the lexical phonological representation of a word is an obligatory prerequisite to the retrieval of its spelling. Therefore, deficits to the phonological lexicon should affect both spoken and written picture naming. In contrast, the orthographic autonomy hypothesis posits that the lexical orthographic representations of words can be accessed without any necessary phonological mediation. In support of this view, cases of preserved written naming despite impaired lexical phonology have been reported following brain damage. In this report, we replicate this basic pattern of performance in case YP, a 60-year-old woman with a pattern of frontotemporal dementia. As her disease progressed, YP’s ability to write down the names of pictures remained very good despite a severe decline in oral naming. Further testing indicated that this deficit was not primarily due to an articulatory or post-lexical phonological deficit. YP’s case provides strong additional support for the orthographic autonomy hypothesis. The significance of this case with respect to the characterization of dementia syndromes is discussed.

Unconstrained oral naming abilities of right-hemisphere damaged individuals: a qualitative and time-course analysis

Unconstrained oral naming abilities of right-hemisphere damaged individuals: a qualitative and time-course analysis

Unconstrained oral naming abilities of right-hemisphere damaged individuals: A qualitative and time-course analysis

L'A. propose un exercice de production de denominations orales visant a evaluer les consequences sur la production lexicale lors de lesion a l'hemisphere droit. Il propose une serie d'analyses qualitatives afin de determiner les caracteristiques des mots produits et leur evolution en temps reel

Sparing of country and nationality names in a case of modality-specific oral output impairment: Implications for theories of speech production

This paper describes a patient (BF) with Pick's disease who presented with a modality-specific category preservation. In the oral output modality (oral naming and reading aloud) she presented with a selective sparing of country and nationality names in the context of severe impairment affecting a wide variety of common and proper nouns. In the written output modality (written naming and writing to dictation) her deficits were restricted only to proper nouns (except country names). Her written production of common nouns is virtually intact. Semantic errors were present only in the oral output modality. It is argued that this evidence is seriously problematic for the dual-stage models of lexical production and for the hypothesis of obligatory phonological mediation. It is concluded that: (1) access to words' modality-specific lexical information need not to be mediated by the selection of a modality-neutral level of lexical representation (lemma); (2) orthographical lexical forms can indeed be independently accessed for production without the mediating role of phonology. The possible distinct neuronal structures underpinning country and nationality names categories are discussed.