Limb apraxia is evident in approximately 50% of patients after left hemisphere cerebral vascular accident (LCVA) and increases disability and caregiver dependence. Individuals with apraxia exhibit abnormalities in spatio-temporal aspects of gesture production and/or in knowledge of tool-related actions (action semantics). This preliminary study of three LCVA participants aimed to (i) explore the efficacy of a novel Action Network Treatment (ANT) that focused on improving the semantic association between tool actions and other types of tool knowledge, an intervention inspired by successful semantic network treatments in aphasia (e.g., Edmonds et al., 2009), and (ii) explore whether there are individuals with apraxia who benefit from ANT relative to a version of a comparatively well-studied existing apraxia treatment (Smania et al., 2006; Smania et al., 2000) that shapes gesture via focus on practicing the spatio-temporal aspects of gesture production (Tool Use Treatment or TUT). One participant demonstrated treatment benefits from both ANT and TUT, while another only benefited from TUT. These findings indicate that our novel semantic network strengthening approach to gesture training may be efficacious in at least some individuals with apraxia, and provide a foundation for future study of the characteristics of people with apraxia who benefit from each approach.

中文翻译：

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通过动作语义治疗肢体失用症：初步研究

大约 50% 的左半球脑血管意外 (LCVA) 患者会出现明显的肢体失用症，并会增加残疾和对护理人员的依赖。患有失用症的个体在手势产生的时空方面和/或与工具相关的动作（动作语义）的知识方面表现出异常。这项针对三名 LCVA 参与者的初步研究旨在 (i) 探索一种新颖的行动网络治疗 (ANT) 的功效，该治疗侧重于改善工具操作与其他类型工具知识之间的语义关联，这是一种受到成功的语义网络治疗启发的干预措施。失语症（例如，Edmonds 等人，2009），以及（ii）探索是否存在失用症患者相对于现有的失用症治疗方法，相对于研究相对充分的失用症治疗方案，从 ANT 中受益（Smania 等人，2006；Smania 等人） al., 2000）通过专注于练习手势产生的时空方面（工具使用治疗或 TUT）来塑造手势。一名参与者展示了 ANT 和 TUT 的治疗益处，而另一名参与者仅受益于 TUT。这些发现表明，我们新颖的语义网络强化手势训练方法可能至少对某些失用症患者有效，并为未来研究从每种方法中受益的失用症患者的特征奠定了基础。