Biomedical subjects

Heather Harris Wright

Publications and source records attributed to Heather Harris Wright.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

CIU and main event analyses of the structured discourse of older and younger adults.

UNLABELLED: Correct information unit (CIU) and main event analyses are quantitative measures for analyzing discourse of individuals with aphasia. Comparative data from healthy younger (YG) and older (OD) adults and an investigation of the influence of stimuli type would considerably extend the usefulness of such analyses. The objectives were (a) to compare discourse ability of younger and older healthy adults, and (b) to investigate influence of stimuli type on performance. Seventeen younger and 17 older healthy adults participated. Language samples obtained were analyzed for CIU and proportion of main events. Results indicated the YG group produced more accurate, relevant, and informative content than the OD group, and participants expressed more main events in response to sequential picture stimuli, regardless of age. We conclude that clinicians should consider stimuli type when measuring discourse ability. Age should also be considered when comparing performance of adults with brain damage to that of healthy adults. LEARNING OUTCOMES: The reader will be able to: (a) recognize the importance of obtaining information about discourse performance in both older and younger healthy adults; (b) identify the purposes of CIU analysis and main event analysis for examining discourse; and (c) appreciate the potential influences of different language elicitation procedures on the discourse obtained from a task.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Working memory in aphasia: theory, measures, and clinical implications.

Recently, researchers have suggested that deficits in working memory capacity contribute to language-processing difficulties observed in individuals with aphasia (e.g., I. Caspari, S. Parkinson, L. LaPointe, & R. Katz, 1998; R. A. Downey et al., 2004; N. Friedmann & A. Gvion, 2003; H. H. Wright, M. Newhoff, R. Downey, & S. Austermann, 2003). A theoretical framework of working memory can aid in our understanding of a disrupted system (e.g., after stroke) and how this relates to language comprehension and production. Additionally, understanding the theoretical basis of working memory is important for the measurement and treatment of working memory. The literature indicates that future investigations of measurement and treatment of working memory are warranted in order to determine the role of working memory in language processing.

Aphasia↗

PubMed2004

Inference revision processing in adults with and without aphasia.

Processing abilities in aphasia, and the nature of processing breakdowns, were the focuses of this investigation. Individuals with either fluent or nonfluent aphasia, plus a control group, participated in a cross-modal lexical priming task designed to elicit priming effects when activation of inference interpretations occurred. Comprehension of inferences was measured by responses to four types of questions that related to the inferences. Results indicated that both the control group, as well as the nonfluent aphasia group, activated the intended meaning of the stimuli whereas the fluent aphasics did not. Comprehension of the inferences was best demonstrated by control participants, nonfluent aphasic participants, and fluent aphasic participants, in that order.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Age-related differences in inference revision processing.

In comparison to younger adults, older adults demonstrate deficiencies in cognitive and linguistic abilities. Such cognitive factors that decline with age include working memory capacity and inhibitory abilities. The purpose of the present investigation was to measure differences in time course processing of inference revision abilities, as well as working memory, as they exist relative to adult age differences. Fifteen neurologically intact older adults and 15 younger adults participated in this study. A cross-modal lexical priming paradigm was chosen as the measure of the inference revision task; the listening span task of Tompkins, Bloise, Timko, and Baumgaertner (1994) was selected as the measure of working memory. Both groups demonstrated normal priming effects. No age-related differences were found on the working memory measure. Age-related differences did emerge on inferencing abilities. A significant correlation emerged between the older group's performance on comprehending inference revisions and their working memory capacity. Generally, inhibitory abilities and working memory capacity appeared to adversely affect older participant's performance.

Age Factors↗