Presentation
Search Abstracts | Symposia | Slide Sessions | Poster Sessions | Lightning Talks
The role of domain-general abilities in language recovery following acute stroke
Poster A55 in Poster Session A, Tuesday, October 24, 10:15 am - 12:00 pm CEST, Espace Vieux-Port
Karen Arellano-Garcia1,2, Nerea Gorostiola-Oyarzabal1,2, Maria del Mar Freijo3,4, David Soto1, Simona Mancini1; 1Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, 2Universidad del Pais Vasco, Spain, 3Cruces University Hospital, Bilbao, 4Biocruces-Bizkaia Health Research Institute
Current research has suggested that during the main phases of recovery after stroke, the network that supports domain-general abilities might play a role in recovery by compensating for disruptions in the language network. However, behavioral studies evaluating language-specific and domain-general skills after stroke have reported mixed evidence of a significant correlation between domain-general and language functions. The purpose of this study is to analyze the recovery of linguistic and domain-general abilities after stroke with a longitudinal approach, to assess whether the latter are part of the regular machinery supporting linguistic functions and their recovery, or if their implication changes over time. 70 native speakers of Spanish (24 female) with age range 42-89 years old (M=67.75, sd=10.47) that suffered from a first ischemic stroke either in the left (LH: n=33) or right hemisphere (RH: n=37), no more than one week prior (M=2.37 days post-stroke, sd=1.78), accepted to participate. Two batteries are administered: a linguistic (LNG) one to assess production and comprehension of phonology, syntax, and semantics and one to evaluate domain-general mechanisms (DG): attention (alerting, orienting and conflict) is measured with the Attention Network Test; visual memory (short-term: STM and working memory: WM) is assessed with backward and forward visual spans, and abstract visual reasoning abilities with the Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices. Participants are assessed at four time points (TPs): within the first week after stroke (TP1), three to four weeks post-stroke (TP2), three months after stroke (TP3), and six months after stroke (TP4). Here, we present the associations between language skills and DG abilities in TP1. We fit linear models for each linguistic level as a function of each DG ability separately. Statistical significance is assessed with likelihood ratio tests. In the models of attention, only alerting abilities yielded a significant interaction with group in syntax processing (χ2(1)= 4.56, p=.03): lower alerting scores predicted lower scores in syntax for RH- compared to LH-lesioned participants. Abstract visual reasoning predicted phonology (p<.001), syntax (p=0.002) and semantics (p<.001) independent of group. STM predicted phonology (p=.015) and semantics (p=.018) independent of group. WM predicted phonology (p<.001) and syntax (p=0.003) also independent of group. Data from the first week after stroke suggest that DG abilities support language skills levels differentially. Better performance in individual DG skills is associated with better performance in specific language levels. This suggests that DG processing plays a dynamic role in linguistic abilities in the acute phase post-stroke. Ongoing work involves the acquisition of data at subsequent TPs, and analysis of behavioral profiles relative to lesion localization, to provide an in-depth analysis of how stable or dynamic is the relation between language and DG functions during post-stroke recovery.
Topic Areas: Disorders: Acquired, Control, Selection, and Executive Processes