Determinants of Multilevel Discourse Outcomes in Anomia Treatment for Aphasia.

Purpose: Individuals with aphasia identify discourse-level communication (i.e., language in use) as a high priority for treatment.

Response Latencies During Confrontation Picture Naming in Aphasia: Are Proxy Measurements Sufficient?

Purpose: Anomia, or word-finding difficulty, is a prevalent and persistent feature of aphasia, a neurogenic language disorder affecting millions of people in the United States. Anomia assessments are essential for measuring performance and monitoring outcomes in clinical settings. This study aims to evaluate the reliability of response time (RT) annotation based on spectrograms and assess the predictive utility of proxy RTs collected during computerized naming tests.

Automating Intended Target Identification for Paraphasias in Discourse Using a Large Language Model.

Purpose: To date, there are no automated tools for the identification and fine-grained classification of paraphasias within discourse, the production of which is the hallmark characteristic of most people with aphasia (PWA). In this work, we fine-tune a large language model (LLM) to automatically predict paraphasia targets in Cinderella story retellings.

Method: Data consisted of 332 Cinderella story retellings containing 2,489 paraphasias from PWA, for which research assistants identified their intended targets.

Accuracy of Naming Error Profiles Elicited From Adaptive Short Forms of the Philadelphia Naming Test.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a short-form computerized adaptive testing (CAT) version of the Philadelphia Naming Test (PNT) provides error profiles and model-based estimates of semantic and phonological processing that agree with the full test.

Method: Twenty-four persons with aphasia took the PNT-CAT and the full version of the PNT (hereinafter referred to as the "full PNT") at least 2 weeks apart. The PNT-CAT proceeded in two stages: (a) the PNT-CAT30, in which 30 items were selected to match the evolving ability estimate with the goal of producing a 50% error rate, and (b) the PNT-CAT60, in which an additional 30 items were selected to produce a 75% error rate.

Item Response Theory Modeling of the Verb Naming Test.

Purpose: Item response theory (IRT) is a modern psychometric framework with several advantageous properties as compared with classical test theory. IRT has been successfully used to model performance on anomia tests in individuals with aphasia; however, all efforts to date have focused on noun production accuracy. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether the Verb Naming Test (VNT), a prominent test of action naming, can be successfully modeled under IRT and evaluate its reliability.

ParAlg: A Paraphasia Algorithm for Multinomial Classification of Picture Naming Errors.

Purpose: A preliminary version of a paraphasia classification algorithm (henceforth called ParAlg) has previously been shown to be a viable method for coding picture naming errors. The purpose of this study is to present an updated version of ParAlg, which uses multinomial classification, and comprehensively evaluate its performance when using two different forms of transcribed input.

Method: A subset of 11,999 archival responses produced on the Philadelphia Naming Test were classified into six cardinal paraphasia types using ParAlg under two transcription configurations: (a) using phonemic transcriptions for responses exclusively () and (b) using phonemic transcriptions for nonlexical responses and orthographic transcriptions for lexical responses ().

Refining Semantic Similarity of Paraphasias Using a Contextual Language Model.

Purpose: ParAlg (Paraphasia Algorithms) is a software that automatically categorizes a person with aphasia's naming error (paraphasia) in relation to its intended target on a picture-naming test. These classifications (based on lexicality as well as semantic, phonological, and morphological similarity to the target) are important for characterizing an individual's word-finding deficits or anomia. In this study, we applied a modern language model called BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) as a semantic classifier and evaluated its performance against ParAlg's original word2vec model.

Computer Adaptive Testing for the Assessment of Anomia Severity.

Anomia assessment is a fundamental component of clinical practice and research inquiries involving individuals with aphasia, and confrontation naming tasks are among the most commonly used tools for quantifying anomia severity. While currently available confrontation naming tests possess many ideal properties, they are ultimately limited by the overarching psychometric framework they were developed within. Here, we discuss the challenges inherent to confrontation naming tests and present a modern alternative to test development called item response theory (IRT).

Code-Switching and Language Proficiency in Bilingual Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder.

Purpose This study examined the frequency of code-switching by Spanish-English-speaking children as a function of language proficiency in each language and diagnosis (developmental language disorder [DLD] or typical language development [TLD]). Method Sixty-two Spanish-English-speaking children, 5-7 years of age, participated in this study (24 with DLD and 38 with TLD). Language samples were used to determine the level of language proficiency in each language as a continuum of performance.

Effects of Phonomotor Therapy and Semantic Feature Analysis on Discourse Production.

Background Anomia treatments typically focus on single word retrieval, although the ultimate goal of treatment is to improve functional communication at the level of discourse in daily situations. Aims The focus of this study was to investigate the impact of two effective anomia treatments on discourse production as measured by a story retell task. Method and Procedure Fifty-seven people with aphasia were randomized to receive either a phoneme-based treatment, Phonomotor Therapy (PMT; 28 participants), or a lexical-semantic treatment, Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA; 29 participants).

Empirical Evaluation of Computer-Adaptive Alternate Short Forms for the Assessment of Anomia Severity.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to verify the equivalence of 2 alternate test forms with nonoverlapping content generated by an item response theory (IRT)-based computer-adaptive test (CAT). The Philadelphia Naming Test (PNT; Roach, Schwartz, Martin, Grewal, & Brecher, 1996)was utilized as an item bank in a prospective, independent sample of persons with aphasia. Method Two alternate CAT short forms of the PNT were administered to a sample of 25 persons with aphasia who were at least 6 months postonset and received no treatment for 2 weeks before or during the study.

Predicting confrontation naming item difficulty.

Background: Item response theory (IRT; Lord & Novick, 1968) is a psychometric framework that can be used to model the likelihood that an individual will respond correctly to an item. Using archival data (Mirman et al., 2010), Fergadiotis, Kellough, and Hula (2015) estimated difficulty parameters for the Philadelphia Naming Test (PNT; Roach, Schwartz, Martin, Grewal, & Brecher, 1996) using the 1-parameter logistic IRT model.

Enhancing the Efficiency of Confrontation Naming Assessment for Aphasia Using Computer Adaptive Testing.

Purpose In this study, we investigated the agreement between the 175-item Philadelphia Naming Test (PNT; Roach, Schwartz, Martin, Grewal, & Brecher, 1996 ) and a 30-item computer adaptive PNT (PNT-CAT; Fergadiotis, Kellough, & Hula, 2015 ; Hula, Kellough, & Fergadiotis, 2015 ) created using item response theory (IRT) methods. Method The full PNT and the PNT-CAT were administered to 47 participants with aphasia in counterbalanced order. Latent trait-naming ability estimates for the 2 PNT versions were analyzed in a Bayesian framework, and the agreement between them was evaluated using correlation and measures of constant, variable, and total error.

Effects of Phonomotor Treatment on discourse production.

Background: Aphasia is an acquired language disorder that makes it difficult for people to produce and comprehend language, with every person with aphasia (PWA) demonstrating difficulty accessing and selecting words (anomia). While aphasia treatments typically focus on a single aspect of language, such as word retrieval, the ultimate goal of aphasia therapy is to improve communication, which is best seen at the level of discourse.

Aims: This retrospective study investigated the effects of one effective anomia therapy, Phonomotor Treatment, on discourse production.

Psychometric Evaluation of Lexical Diversity Indices in Spanish Narrative Samples From Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder.

Purpose The purpose of the current study was to examine construct validity evidence for the following 4 lexical diversity measures for use in Spanish narrative samples of children with developmental language disorder and typical language development (TLD): (a) type-token ratio (TTR; Chotlos, 1944 ; Templin, 1957 ), (b) hypergeometric distribution D ( McCarthy & Jarvis, 2010 ), (c) measure of textual lexical diversity (MTLD; McCarthy, 2005 ), and (d) moving-average TTR (MATTR; Covington & McFall, 2010 ). Method A multiple-group, confirmatory factor analytic stepwise procedure was applied to examine factorial invariance in a sample of 435 monolingual Spanish-speaking children (335 with TLD and 100 with specific language impairment). Results MATTR was the strongest indicator of the lexical diversity of a sample and demonstrated measurement invariance across children with TLD and specific language impairment.

Language Sample Analysis and Elicitation Technique Effects in Bilingual Children With and Without Language Impairment.

Purpose: This study examined whether the language sample elicitation technique (i.e., storytelling and story-retelling tasks with pictorial support) affects lexical diversity (D), grammaticality (grammatical errors per communication unit [GE/CU]), sentence length (mean length of utterance in words [MLUw]), and sentence complexity (subordination index [SI]), which are commonly used indices for diagnosing primary language impairment in Spanish-English-speaking children in the United States.

Algorithmic Classification of Five Characteristic Types of Paraphasias.

Purpose: This study was intended to evaluate a series of algorithms developed to perform automatic classification of paraphasic errors (formal, semantic, mixed, neologistic, and unrelated errors).

Method: We analyzed 7,111 paraphasias from the Moss Aphasia Psycholinguistics Project Database (Mirman et al., 2010) and evaluated the classification accuracy of 3 automated tools.

Semantic Knowledge Use in Discourse Produced by Individuals with Anomic Aphasia.

Background: Researchers have demonstrated that people with aphasia (PWA) have preserved semantic knowledge (Dell et al., 1997; Jefferies & Lambon Ralph, 2006). However, Antonucci (2014) demonstrated that some PWA have impaired access to certain types of knowledge more than others.

Development and Simulation Testing of a Computerized Adaptive Version of the Philadelphia Naming Test.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a computerized adaptive test (CAT) version of the Philadelphia Naming Test (PNT; Roach, Schwartz, Martin, Grewal, & Brecher, 1996), to reduce test length while maximizing measurement precision. This article is a direct extension of a companion article (Fergadiotis, Kellough, & Hula, 2015), in which we fitted the PNT to a 1-parameter logistic item-response-theory model and examined the validity and precision of the resulting item parameter and ability score estimates.

Method: Using archival data collected from participants with aphasia, we simulated two PNT-CAT versions and two previously published static PNT short forms, and compared the resulting ability score estimates to estimates obtained from the full 175-item PNT.

Item Response Theory Modeling of the Philadelphia Naming Test.

Purpose: In this study, we investigated the fit of the Philadelphia Naming Test (PNT; Roach, Schwartz, Martin, Grewal, & Brecher, 1996) to an item-response-theory measurement model, estimated the precision of the resulting scores and item parameters, and provided a theoretical rationale for the interpretation of PNT overall scores by relating explanatory variables to item difficulty. This article describes the statistical model underlying the computer adaptive PNT presented in a companion article (Hula, Kellough, & Fergadiotis, 2015).

Method: Using archival data, we evaluated the fit of the PNT to 1- and 2-parameter logistic models and examined the precision of the resulting parameter estimates.

Psychometric Evaluation of Lexical Diversity Indices: Assessing Length Effects.

Purpose: Several novel techniques have been developed recently to assess the breadth of a speaker's vocabulary exhibited in a language sample. The specific aim of this study was to increase our understanding of the validity of the scores generated by different lexical diversity (LD) estimation techniques. Four techniques were explored: D, Maas, measure of textual lexical diversity, and moving-average type-token ratio.

Measuring lexical diversity in narrative discourse of people with aphasia.

Purpose: A microlinguistic content analysis for assessing lexical semantics in people with aphasia (PWA) is lexical diversity (LD). Sophisticated techniques have been developed to measure LD. However, validity evidence for these methodologies when applied to the discourse of PWA is lacking.

Global coherence in younger and older adults: Influence of cognitive processes and discourse type.

The purpose of the present research was to examine the influence of cognitive processes on discourse global coherence ability measured across different discourse tasks and collected from younger (n = 40; 20-39 years) and older (n = 40; 70-87 years) cognitively healthy adults. Study participants produced oral language samples in response to five commonly used discourse elicitation tasks and they were analyzed for maintenance of global coherence. Participants also completed memory and attention measures.

Conceptualizing and Measuring Working Memory and its Relationship to Aphasia.

BACKGROUND: General agreement exists in the literature that individuals with aphasia can exhibit a working memory deficit that contributes to their language processing impairments. Though conceptualized within different working memory frameworks, researchers have suggested that individuals with aphasia have limited working memory capacity, impaired attention-control processes as well as impaired inhibitory mechanisms. However, across studies investigating working memory ability in individuals with aphasia, different measures have been used to quantify their working memory ability and identify the relationship between working memory and language performance.