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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Aphasia--Diagnosis; Token Test;

Abstract

A controversy exists in the literature concerning the nature of aphasia. Some authorities believe that aphasia involves a loss of the linguistic elements of language. Other investigators maintain that aphasia is a performance deficit founded in a reduced ability to use essentially-preserved linguistic competence. This study addressed aspects of the above controversy. Asked specifically was the question of whether the mechanism underlying aphasia involves a neurolinguistic loss and thus, is specific to language, or alternately, involves a non-language specific interference with the accessing of retained capacity. This investigation examined the following issues: whether there are one or several patterns of auditory dysfunction in aphasia, whether internal state factors can account for all of the errors made by aphasic listeners, and whether the performance of aphasic persons on a visual test of memory is similar to their performance on a comparable auditory task. A heterogeneous sample of seven aphasic listeners was tested. Data analysis involved quantitative/qualitative examination of the item scores and reaction times obtained on three versions of the Revised Token Test, an instrument assessing auditory language comprehension. The three versions were as follows: a shortened but standard administration of the test, RTT Subtest IV expanded instrument and severity as indicated on the standard RTT administration was also nonsignificant. The expanded auditory test yielded significantly lower scores than did the visual-manual version. Thus, one cannot theorize that the mechanism underlying aphasia influences visual tasks as well as auditory-verbal tasks. However, the visual memory task presented did not require processing beyond maintenance of the stimulus' visual trace. In summary this investigation showed that the intermittent pattern of auditory processing is the only one to emerge over a reasonably long task; tuning-out (fatigue) and tuning-in do not occur. Visual-manual information processing results in three possible patterns: intermittent, flat, and tuning-in. However, the latter two may be artifacts. Reaction times for both manners of presentation assume an intermittent pattern. Additionally, it was determined that internal state factors contribute greatly to the performance deficits displayed by aphasic listeners.

Year of Submission

1984

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Communicative Disorders

First Advisor

Carlin F. Hageman

Second Advisor

Cliff Highnam

Third Advisor

Jack Yates

Comments

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Date Original

1984

Object Description

1 PDF file (54 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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