Semantic interference and facilitation in picture naming: The effects of type of impairment and compensatory strategies.

We assessed effects of semantic interference in people with aphasia (PWA). Two naming tasks (continuous naming and cyclic blocking) were contrasted with tasks which required suppression of competitors but minimized lexical access (probe task) or required extra-lexical mechanisms of control (Stroop task). In continuous naming, some PWA showed increased interference compared to control participants, with slower RTs and increased omissions.

Phonological simplifications, apraxia of speech and the interaction between phonological and phonetic processing.

Research on aphasia has struggled to identify apraxia of speech (AoS) as an independent deficit affecting a processing level separate from phonological assembly and motor implementation. This is because AoS is characterized by both phonological and phonetic errors and, therefore, can be interpreted as a combination of deficits at the phonological and the motoric level rather than as an independent impairment. We apply novel psycholinguistic analyses to the perceptually phonological errors made by 24 Italian aphasic patients.

An open-label pilot study of the use of rivastigmine to promote functional recovery in patients with unilateral spatial neglect due to first ischemic stroke.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of rivastigmine as add-on treatment to specific cognitive rehabilitation for unilateral spatial neglect (USN). Twenty patients were randomly assigned either to rehabilitation treatment only (No-RIV) or to rivastigmine (3 mg twice a day, for 8 weeks) add-on treatment (RIV+,). USN and functional status were evaluated by means of specific and validated instruments at baseline, at discharge and at one-month follow up.

Effects of syllable structure in aphasic errors: implications for a new model of speech production.

Current models of word production assume that words are stored as linear sequences of phonemes which are structured into syllables only at the moment of production. This is because syllable structure is always recoverable from the sequence of phonemes. In contrast, we present theoretical and empirical evidence that syllable structure is lexically represented.

Hemispheric contribution to categorical and coordinate representational processes: a study on brain-damaged patients.

According to Kosslyn, two types of spatial relations can be used to arrange parts in mental imagery, i.e., categorical spatial relations and coordinate spatial relations, which are processed respectively by the left and right hemispheres.

Efficacy of visuo-spatial training in right-brain damaged patients with spatial hemineglect and attention disorders.

Several rehabilitative approaches have been used to reduce neglect disorders. Some studies tried to demonstrate that hemineglect can be ameliorated by using tasks promoting attentional activation towards the neglected hemispace (Robertson et al., 1995, 2001).

Rehabilitation of left brain-damaged ischemic stroke patients: the role of comprehension language deficits. A matched comparison.

Background: Aphasia is considered a risk factor for disability after stroke. The aim of this study was to assess the specific influence of aphasia on rehabilitation results.

Method: A case-control study in consecutive left brain-damaged stroke inpatients, enrolled in three homogeneous subgroups [nonaphasic (NA) patients, aphasic with comprehension deficit (CD), and without comprehension deficit (NCD)] matched for age and onset-admission interval.