Het belang van een dynamische weergave van acties voor personen met afasie

Abstract

In naming and comprehension studies on verb processing mostly pictures or photographs depicting actions are used, although the meaning of verbs regularly involves movement. Several studies have shown that in verb comprehension and retrieval persons with aphasia (PWA) profit from a dynamic display of actions (video clips) in comparison to a static depiction (pictures). However, other studies provide contradictory outcomes. In the current study three experiments were conducted examining the influence of a static or dynamic display of actions in verb comprehension and action naming. In addition, a distinction was made in three semantic verb categories, namely arm-related, leg-related and face-related actions. Furthermore, the role of the underlying type of aphasia was considered for comprehension. The results show that people with aphasia perform significantly better on both naming and understanding actions in isolation and in sentences after a dynamic than after a static display. The underlying type of aphasia had no influence for the verb comprehension. In addition, it was found that a dynamic display of specifically arm- and leg-related actions improves the understanding of these actions compared to a static depiction. For the production of these actions this only holds for the arm-related actions. These results are partially in line with recent theories about the mental storage of verbs. Given the advantage of a dynamic display of actions for naming and understanding actions for PMA, it is recommended to take this into account in aphasia diagnosis and treatment.