Sentence Production Training in Aphasia

Aphasia Clinical Trial

Official title:

Structural Priming as a Treatment Component in Aphasia

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05415501
• Other study ID #: IRB-2021-659
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: August 1, 2021
• Est. completion date: May 30, 2026

Study information

• Verified date: May 2023
• Source: Purdue University
• Contact: Jiyeon Lee, PhD
• Phone: 7654943810
• Email: lee1704[@]purdue.edu
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study focuses on developing a novel treatment for sentence production and comprehension in aphasia, using implicit priming. First set of experiments will aim examine which priming conditions are most effective in creating maximal learning effects. Then, in a later experiment, the investigators will develop and test the efficacy of a novel treatment study based on findings from the first set of the experiments.

Description:

Over five years, the investigators will conduct a series of studies to develop a novel intervention strategy for improving sentence production and comprehension in persons with aphasia. Specifically, the investigators will use implicit priming as a novel facilitator for language recovery in aphasia. The planned studies seek to test the hypothesis that implicit priming alters the central language system in PWA, creating lasting and generalized improvements in both sentence production and comprehension. Aim 1 will determine the extent to which different manipulations of priming conditions modulate immediate and long-term improvement in sentence production. The investigators integrate multiple theories of language learning and apply them to make predictions about the trajectory of priming-induced learning in PWA. In Aim 2, using a set of eyetracking sentence comprehension tasks, it will be investigated whether the effects of priming in production generalize to off-line (accuracy) and on-line (eye fixations) sentence comprehension and determine what learning conditions result in greater cross-modality generalization. In Aim 3, the investigators will develop and establish Phase I efficacy data of an implicit priming treatment, incorporating the crucial learning conditions supporting maximal retention from Aims 1 and 2. The project will recruit both individuals with aphasia and without aphasia.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 104
• Est. completion date: May 30, 2026
• Est. primary completion date: May 30, 2026
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 21 Years to 85 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Individuals with post-stroke aphasia

• At least 6 months post-onset of eft hemisphere stroke

• Native speaker of English

• Normal or corrected to normal hearing and vision

• High-school educated

• Difficulty communicating in sentences, with some ability to use words independently

Exclusion Criteria:

• Severe apraxia of speech

• Other neurological conditions affecting communication (e.g., dementia)

• Uncontrolled psychiatric/psychological conditions affecting thinking and communication

• Active alcohol/substance abuse

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Aphasia

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Sentence training
Participants will be trained to read, make, and recall sentences during each session.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Purdue University	West Lafayette	Indiana

Sponsors (3)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Purdue University	Temple University, University of California, San Diego

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Production of target sentences on action description pictures	Production accuracy (percent correct)	From baseline up to 1-week post training or 2-month post treatment
Primary	Comprehension of target sentences in a sentence-to-picture matching task	Comprehension accuracy (percent correct)	From baseline up to 1-week post training or 2-month post treatment
Primary	Real-time comprehension of target sentences in a sentence-to-picture matching task	Changes in eye fixations to the target picture	From baseline up to 1-week post training or 2-month post treatment
Secondary	Production of untrained sentences on action describing pictures	Production accuracy (percent correct)	From baseline up to 2-month post treatment
Secondary	Connected speech production - story retell	Increased production of complex utterances as measured by proportion of sentence-level utterances out of all utterances	From baseline up to 2-month post treatment
Secondary	Connected speech production - picture description	Increased production of complex utterances as measured by proportion of sentence-level utterances out of all utterances	From baseline up to 2-month post treatment