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Biomedical subjects

R S Pierce

Publications and source records attributed to R S Pierce.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Contextual influences in reading comprehension in aphasia.

Aphasic subjects' auditory comprehension of reversible passive sentences is facilitated by preceding predictive and nonpredictive narratives (Hough, Pierce, & Cannito, 1989, Brain and Language, 36, 325-334). The present study found that aphasic subjects also comprehended written reversible passive sentences significantly more accurately when they were preceded by either predictive or nonpredictive five-sentence narratives than when they were presented in isolation. Also tested was the contention that predictive narratives do not improve aphasic subjects' ability to process target sentences but simply allow these sentences to be ignored. This contention was not supported. The aphasic subjects did not comprehend predictive narratives presented without the subsequent target sentences more accurately than they comprehended the target sentences presented in isolation. For comprehension to be enhanced, both the contextual narratives and the target sentences must be present.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Contextual influences in aphasia: effects of predictive versus nonpredictive narratives.

The influence of prior linguistic predictive and nonpredictive context on the comprehension of reversible passive sentences was investigated in 16 adults with aphasia. Eight subjects were classified as fluent and 8 as nonfluent. Subjects were presented with the sentences in isolation and preceded by nonpredictive and predictive contextual paragraphs. The overall results indicated that the subjects benefited significantly from the prior contextual narratives regardless of whether the paragraphs were predictive or nonpredictive. There were no significant differences between the two subject groups. The significant facilitation generated by the nonpredictive context suggests that redundancy of information may play a role in comprehension.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

The interactive nature of auditory comprehension in aphasia.

This study assessed the interaction between information derived from context and the auditory signal as it related to comprehension of specific words in narratives. Contextual influences were manipulated by varying the degree to which the narratives predicted the target words. The auditory influences were manipulated by varying the amount of auditory signal available, either all of the target word or only the initial sound sequence. The results indicated that aphasic subjects use information from both sources but that the contextual information, in its strong form, may take precedence over the auditory information.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1986

Effects of thematic structure on syntactic comprehension in aphasia.

This study assessed aphasic subjects' sensitivity to the given-new structure within simple paragraphs and the extent to which narrative discourse is facilitative of syntactic processing in the absence of semantic constraints. Subjects were divided into four groups along the dimensions of comprehension level and fluency. Stimulus items consisted of reversible active and passive sentences that were presented in the following three conditions: isolation, at the end of paragraphs such that the given-new structure was respected, and at the end of paragraphs such that the given-new structure was violated. Fluency did not significantly influence performance but comprehension level did. The high-comprehension group presented no significant differences between contextual conditions. The low-comprehension group, however, favored both paragraph contexts over isolation with no difference occurring between contextual conditions. These results suggest that lower level aphasic subjects are able to utilize thematic, antecedent verbal information for comprehending sentences in connected discourse even when the discourse is not semantically predictive of the underlying meaning of these sentences. Whether the narrative respects or violates the given-new relationship may not be an important factor. The reasons for these findings are explored.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

The role of context in facilitating syntactic decoding in aphasia.

This study assessed the ability of aphasic listeners to use linguistic context to facilitate the comprehension of complex syntactic structures. Fourteen aphasic subjects were presented with reversible active and reversible passive sentences in each of three conditions: isolation; a semantically neutral prior-sentence context; and a semantically supportive prior-sentence context. Following presentation of the contextual and target sentences the subjects were asked a question that assessed their appreciation of the subject/object relationship in the target sentence. A forced-choice-response paradigm was employed. The results indicated that those subjects who had the most difficulty comprehending reversible passive sentences in isolation were able to benefit from the supportive contexts. The comprehension of active sentences was not facilitated by the contexts. These results were interpreted with respect to the comprehension strategies used by aphasic listeners to integrate information from different sources.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Effects of linguistic and extralinguistic context on semantic and syntactic processing in aphasia.

This study assessed whether the comprehension of specific lexical items (a semantic judgment) and reversible passive sentences (a syntactic judgment) would be facilitated by preceding them with either linguistic or extralinguistic context. Twenty aphasic subjects were compared for their ability to comprehend semantic and syntactic components of target sentences presented in isolation and when the sentences were preceded by either a single sentence or a picture that predicted the target information. The results revealed that the subjects who demonstrated low comprehension skills on standard tests of auditory comprehension performed better when the target information was preceded by the contextual information than when it was presented in isolation. A similar effect was not seen for those subjects with higher level auditory comprehension skills. These results support the effective use of linguistic and extralinguistic context by some aphasic subjects during the decoding of literal meanings.

Aphasia↗
PubMed1984

Comprehending homographs in aphasia.

This study assessed 13 aphasic subjects' knowledge of the multiple meanings of homographs. The results indicated that the various meanings were less available to aphasic subjects than to normal subjects. In addition, specific meanings became less available as they became less typical although the number of meanings associated with a homograph did not influence performance. Aphasia type also did not influence performance. Performance on the experimental test was significantly correlated with auditory comprehension level and picture naming ability. The results were related to recent findings on semantic organization in aphasia.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Decoding syntax during reading in aphasia.

Aphasic subjects' syntactic-based comprehension strategies during reading were investigated. Syntactic distinctions involving tense, word order, and relativization were tested. The results were compared to those previously obtained in the auditory modality (Pierce, 1981; in press). The results indicate that aphasics apply a strategy based on a subject-verb object present tense construction during both reading and listening. Their comprehension improves when additional surface-structure markers are available to indicate the exceptions to this strategy. This is evident for tense judgments during reading and listening but only during listening for word-order judgments.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Facilitating the comprehension of syntax in aphasia.

This study represents the third in a series designed to assess aphasic listeners' ability to comprehend syntax. It addressed the issue of whether the presence of additional surface structure markers would facilitate the comprehension of syntactic distinctions based on tense, word order, ad relativization. The results indicate that the additional markers did significantly improve comprehension of tense and word-order distinctions for those aphasic subjects who achieved relatively low scores on the stimulus sentences not containing the additional markers. Those subjects who had relatively high scores on the sentences without the additional markers also benefited from the extra markers, but this improvement failed to reach statistical significance. These results are discussed in relationship to the concept of knowledge-based processing.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Facilitating the comprehension of tense related sentences in aphasia.

Aphasic individuals have a tendency to decode past tense and future tense sentences as if the sentences were in the present tense. This study assessed the influence of additional surface structure markers of past or future tense this comprehension process. The results indicated that additional markers significantly facilitate the comprehension of tense related sentences by aphasic subjects. Implications for sentence decoding strategies and clinical management are discussed.

Aphasia↗