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Obrig H, Regenbrecht F, Pino D, Krause CD. Verbal short term memory contribution to sentence comprehension decreases with increasing syntactic complexity in people with aphasia. Neuroimage 2024:120730. [PMID: 39009249 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120730] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2024] [Revised: 06/20/2024] [Accepted: 07/10/2024] [Indexed: 07/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Sentence comprehension requires the integration of linguistic units presented in a temporal sequence based on a non-linear underlying syntactic structure. While it is uncontroversial that storage is mandatory for this process, there are opposing views regarding the relevance of general short-term-/working-memory capacities (STM/WM) versus language specific resources. Here we report results from 43 participants with an acquired brain lesion in the extended left hemispheric language network and resulting language deficits, who performed a sentence-to-picture matching task and an experimental task assessing phonological short-term memory. The sentence task systematically varied syntactic complexity (embedding depth and argument order) while lengths, number of propositions and plausibility were kept constant. Clinical data including digit-/ block-spans and lesion size and site were additionally used in the analyses. Correlational analyses confirm that performance on STM/WM-tasks (experimental task and digit-span) are the only two relevant predictors for correct sentence-picture-matching, while reaction times only depended on age and lesion size. Notably increasing syntactic complexity reduced the correlational strength speaking for the additional recruitment of language specific resources independent of more general verbal STM/WM capacities, when resolving complex syntactic structure. The complementary lesion-behaviour analysis yielded different lesion volumes correlating with either the sentence-task or the STM-task. Factoring out STM measures lesions in the anterior temporal lobe correlated a larger decrease in accuracy with increasing syntactic complexity. We conclude that overall sentence comprehension depends on STM/WM capacity, while increases in syntactic complexity tax another independent cognitive resource.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hellmuth Obrig
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Neuropsychology & Department of Neurology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital & Faculty of Medicine, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Frank Regenbrecht
- Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital & Faculty of Medicine, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Danièle Pino
- Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital & Faculty of Medicine, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Carina D Krause
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Neuropsychology & Department of Neurology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication: Function, Structure, and Plasticity IMPRS NeuroComm https://imprs-neurocom.mpg.de/home
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Matchin W, Mollasaraei ZK, Bonilha L, Rorden C, Hickok G, den Ouden D, Fridriksson J. Verbal working memory and syntactic comprehension segregate into the dorsal and ventral streams. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.05.592577. [PMID: 38746328 PMCID: PMC11092776 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.05.592577] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Syntactic processing and verbal working memory are both essential components to sentence comprehension. Nonetheless, the separability of these systems in the brain remains unclear. To address this issue, we performed causal-inference analyses based on lesion and connectome network mapping using MRI and behavioral testing in 103 individuals with chronic post-stroke aphasia. We employed a rhyme judgment task with heavy working memory load without articulatory confounds, controlling for the overall ability to match auditory words to pictures and to perform a metalinguistic rhyme judgment, isolating the effect of working memory load. We assessed noncanonical sentence comprehension, isolating syntactic processing by incorporating residual rhyme judgment performance as a covariate for working memory load. Voxel-based lesion analyses and structural connectome-based lesion symptom mapping controlling for total lesion volume were performed, with permutation testing to correct for multiple comparisons (4,000 permutations). We observed that effects of working memory load localized to dorsal stream damage: posterior temporal-parietal lesions and frontal-parietal white matter disconnections. These effects were differentiated from syntactic comprehension deficits, which were primarily associated with ventral stream damage: lesions to temporal lobe and temporal-parietal white matter disconnections, particularly when incorporating the residual measure of working memory load as a covariate. Our results support the conclusion that working memory and syntactic processing are associated with distinct brain networks, largely loading onto dorsal and ventral streams, respectively.
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Illán-Gala I, Lorca-Puls DL, Tee BL, Ezzes Z, de Leon J, Miller ZA, Rubio-Guerra S, Santos-Santos M, Gómez-Andrés D, Grinberg LT, Spina S, Kramer JH, Wauters LD, Henry ML, Boxer AL, Rosen HJ, Miller BL, Seeley WW, Mandelli ML, Gorno-Tempini ML. Clinical dimensions along the non-fluent variant primary progressive aphasia spectrum. Brain 2024; 147:1511-1525. [PMID: 37988272 PMCID: PMC10994525 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awad396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2023] [Revised: 10/21/2023] [Accepted: 11/05/2023] [Indexed: 11/23/2023] Open
Abstract
It is debated whether primary progressive apraxia of speech (PPAOS) and progressive agrammatic aphasia (PAA) belong to the same clinical spectrum, traditionally termed non-fluent/agrammatic variant primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA), or exist as two completely distinct syndromic entities with specific pathologic/prognostic correlates. We analysed speech, language and disease severity features in a comprehensive cohort of patients with progressive motor speech impairment and/or agrammatism to ascertain evidence of naturally occurring, clinically meaningful non-overlapping syndromic entities (e.g. PPAOS and PAA) in our data. We also assessed if data-driven latent clinical dimensions with aetiologic/prognostic value could be identified. We included 98 participants, 43 of whom had an autopsy-confirmed neuropathological diagnosis. Speech pathologists assessed motor speech features indicative of dysarthria and apraxia of speech (AOS). Quantitative expressive/receptive agrammatism measures were obtained and compared with healthy controls. Baseline and longitudinal disease severity was evaluated using the Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB). We investigated the data's clustering tendency and cluster stability to form robust symptom clusters and employed principal component analysis to extract data-driven latent clinical dimensions (LCD). The longitudinal CDR-SB change was estimated using linear mixed-effects models. Of the participants included in this study, 93 conformed to previously reported clinical profiles (75 with AOS and agrammatism, 12 PPAOS and six PAA). The remaining five participants were characterized by non-fluent speech, executive dysfunction and dysarthria without apraxia of speech or frank agrammatism. No baseline clinical features differentiated between frontotemporal lobar degeneration neuropathological subgroups. The Hopkins statistic demonstrated a low cluster tendency in the entire sample (0.45 with values near 0.5 indicating random data). Cluster stability analyses showed that only two robust subgroups (differing in agrammatism, executive dysfunction and overall disease severity) could be identified. Three data-driven components accounted for 71% of the variance [(i) severity-agrammatism; (ii) prominent AOS; and (iii) prominent dysarthria]. None of these data-driven LCDs allowed an accurate prediction of neuropathology. The severity-agrammatism component was an independent predictor of a faster CDR-SB increase in all the participants. Higher dysarthria severity, reduced words per minute and expressive and receptive agrammatism severity at baseline independently predicted accelerated disease progression. Our findings indicate that PPAOS and PAA, rather than exist as completely distinct syndromic entities, constitute a clinical continuum. In our cohort, splitting the nfvPPA spectrum into separate clinical phenotypes did not improve clinical-pathological correlations, stressing the need for new biological markers and consensus regarding updated terminology and clinical classification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ignacio Illán-Gala
- Sant Pau Memory Unit, Department of Neurology, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Biomedical Research Institute Sant Pau, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08025, Barcelona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Madrid, 28029, Spain
- Global Brain Health Institute, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Diego L Lorca-Puls
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
- Sección de Neurología, Departamento de Especialidades, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, 4070001, Chile
| | - Boon Lead Tee
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Zoe Ezzes
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Jessica de Leon
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Zachary A Miller
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Sara Rubio-Guerra
- Sant Pau Memory Unit, Department of Neurology, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Biomedical Research Institute Sant Pau, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08025, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Miguel Santos-Santos
- Sant Pau Memory Unit, Department of Neurology, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Biomedical Research Institute Sant Pau, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08025, Barcelona, Spain
| | - David Gómez-Andrés
- Vall d'Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR), Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, 08035, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Lea T Grinberg
- Global Brain Health Institute, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
- Department of Pathology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Salvatore Spina
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Joel H Kramer
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Lisa D Wauters
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712-0114, USA
| | - Maya L Henry
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712-0114, USA
| | - Adam L Boxer
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Howard J Rosen
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Bruce L Miller
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - William W Seeley
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Maria Luisa Mandelli
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
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Jiang Y, Gong G. Common and distinct patterns underlying different linguistic tasks: multivariate disconnectome symptom mapping in poststroke patients. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae008. [PMID: 38265297 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2023] [Revised: 01/04/2023] [Accepted: 01/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Numerous studies have been devoted to neural mechanisms of a variety of linguistic tasks (e.g. speech comprehension and production). To date, however, whether and how the neural patterns underlying different linguistic tasks are similar or differ remains elusive. In this study, we compared the neural patterns underlying 3 linguistic tasks mainly concerning speech comprehension and production. To address this, multivariate regression approaches with lesion/disconnection symptom mapping were applied to data from 216 stroke patients with damage to the left hemisphere. The results showed that lesion/disconnection patterns could predict both poststroke scores of speech comprehension and production tasks; these patterns exhibited shared regions on the temporal pole of the left hemisphere as well as unique regions contributing to the prediction for each domain. Lower scores in speech comprehension tasks were associated with lesions/abnormalities in the superior temporal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus, while lower scores in speech production tasks were associated with lesions/abnormalities in the left inferior parietal lobe and frontal lobe. These results suggested an important role of the ventral and dorsal stream pathways in speech comprehension and production (i.e. supporting the dual stream model) and highlighted the applicability of the novel multivariate disconnectome-based symptom mapping in cognitive neuroscience research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaya Jiang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Gaolang Gong
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing 102206, China
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