Identifying Phonological Planning Deficits Independent of Apraxia of Speech

EasyChair Preprint 6366

Abstract

Apraxia of speech (AoS) is a distinct motor speech deficit which can occur independently or alongside other language disorders such as aphasia (linguistic impairment) and dysarthria (speech motor execution and muscle weakness). It can be difficult to isolate and may mask problems associated with co-occurring disorders such as phonological planning deficits (Stark et al., 2017), making it difficult to identify the root of incorrect or null responses on speech tasks. However, to produce patient-specific impairment-based interventions, we need to have a good understanding of the functional deficits within individuals. Therefore, the aims of this project were to

1. To investigate the neural correlates of AoS and phonological planning deficits
2. To identify if there are individuals with AoS who consistently have phonological planning problems, or if some score well one phonological planning.

Multivariate region-based lesion symptom mapping results initially suggest the role of different underlying neural correlates for each deficit. However, the picture becomes less clear when scrutinized at an individual level, and the distinction between AoS and phonological planning deficits is not predicted by other tasks with phonological aspects. Possible explanations include that there is no true phonological planning deficit, that it often co-occurs with other deficits making it difficult to disentangle, or that PALPA14 is too challenging for individuals with more severe aphasia subtypes. Future studies would benefit from the design and application of tasks which are less reliant on working memory, but still tap into phonological planning deficits without the need for speech production.

Keyphrases: aphasia, apraxia of speech, inner speech, phonology

@booklet{EasyChair:6366,
  author    = {Natalie Busby and Dirk B. den Ouden and Chris Rorden and Leigh Ann Spell and Julius Fridriksson},
  title     = {Identifying Phonological Planning Deficits Independent of Apraxia of Speech},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 6366},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2021}}