Language Imaging Lab Aphasia Battery

(~10 minutes)

Speech-Text Matching

Example trial from the speech-text matching test. This display is presented simultaneously with the spoken sample “slawn”.

This test assesses the relative integrity of phonologic and semantic pathways linking speech sound and orthographic inputs. In particular, it measures the extent to which semantic “mediation” has compensated for phonologic damage in printed word recognition. Each trial consists of a sample word or nonword presented auditorily, with four printed word or nonword choice items presented on the screen (see figure). The patient's task is to select the visual item that matches the sample. The non-matching choices (foils) are constructed such that their correct pronunciation differs by 1, 2, or 3 phonemes from the target (e.g., target = drum, foils = drug, drip, frog).

The availability of a semantic representation provides an additional pathway for task performance in the case of words (phoneme perception -> semantics -> orthography). Patients with phonologic damage typically show much better performance on words compared to nonwords, and little sensitivity to phonologic similarity for words. Patients with additional semantic system damage show little or no lexicality effect and strong sensitivity to phonologic similarity for words and nonwords. Patients with pure semantic deficits show high accuracy in all conditions.

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