ABSTRACT

Background

According to the lexical retrieval hypothesis (LRH), the primary function of gestures is to facilitate word retrieval. Thus, individuals with aphasia (IWA) might benefit from gestures in case of word retrieval impairments. However, the facilitative effect of gestures on word finding is still unclear since most facilitation/treatment studies combined gesture with linguistic cues. The LRH claims that the semantic content of a gesture is decisive for a facilitation effect on word retrieval. However, it remains unclear if and how IWA can perform adequate iconic gestures, especially in the presence of hemiparesis or limb apraxia. Thus, in the present study, we systematically studied the effect of iconic and non-iconic gesture production on oral verb naming in IWA and analysed the iconicity of gestures produced by IWA and healthy controls.

Aims

In the present study, we aimed (1) to investigate the potential facilitation effect of iconic and non-iconic gestures on verb retrieval in IWA and (2) to examine the IWA’s ability to produce adequate iconic gestures.

Methods & Procedures

Six IWA with impairments in naming verbs arising from a phonological, a lexical-semantic, or a combined deficit participated in a multiple single-case study targeting oral verb production. In the first experiment, IWA were asked to name pictures and to simultaneously perform either a relevant iconic gesture, a non-iconic gesture, or no gesture at all. In the second experiment, the video-recorded gestures produced during verb naming in the iconic gesture condition were rated for iconicity and compared to the iconicity of iconic gestures produced by 12 language-unimpaired controls.

Results

The accuracy in oral naming of verbs (Experiment 1) did not differ significantly between all conditions. Most IWA (n = 5) were able to produce iconic gestures, irrespective of hemiparesis or limb apraxia, since the iconicity ratings did not differ significantly from language-unimpaired controls (Experiment 2).

Conclusions

In contrast to the general assumption of the LRH, no gesture facilitation effect was observed in the verb naming performance of IWA. Moreover, the majority of the IWA could perform iconic gestures in a similar way as language-unimpaired participants despite the presence of a hemiparesis or limb apraxia. Hence, the absence of a facilitation effect in the iconic gesture condition seems not to originate from an inability to produce adequate iconic gestures. Further research with more IWA is required in order to replicate our results.

中文翻译：

---

手势在动词检索中有帮助吗？失语症标志性和非标志性手势的调查

摘要

背景

根据词汇检索假设（LRH），手势的主要功能是促进单词检索。因此，在单词检索障碍的情况下，失语症 (IWA) 的人可能会从手势中受益。然而，由于大多数促进/治疗研究将手势与语言线索相结合，手势对单词发现的促进作用仍不清楚。LRH 声称手势的语义内容对于单词检索的促进作用是决定性的。然而，目前尚不清楚 IWA 是否以及如何执行足够的标志性手势，尤其是在存在偏瘫或肢体失用的情况下。因此，在本研究中，我们系统地研究了标志性和非标志性手势产生对 IWA 中口语动词命名的影响，并分析了 IWA 和健康控制产生的手势的象似性。

目标

在本研究中，我们旨在 (1) 研究标志性和非标志性手势对 IWA 中动词检索的潜在促进作用，以及 (2) 检验 IWA 产生足够标志性手势的能力。

方法和程序

六名因语音、词汇语义或综合缺陷而导致动词命名受损的 IWA 参与了一项针对口头动词产生的多个单一案例研究。在第一个实验中，IWA 被要求为图片命名并同时执行相关的标志性手势、非标志性手势或根本不执行任何手势。在第二个实验中，在标志性手势条件下动词命名过程中产生的视频记录手势被评定为标志性，并与 12 种语言未受损控件产生的标志性手势的标志性进行比较。

结果

动词口头命名的准确性（实验 1）在所有条件下没有显着差异。大多数 IWA ( n = 5) 能够产生标志性手势，无论偏瘫或肢体失用如何，因为标志性评级与语言未受损的对照组没有显着差异（实验 2）。

结论

与 LRH 的一般假设相反，在 IWA 的动词命名性能中没有观察到手势促进效应。此外，尽管存在偏瘫或肢体失用症，大多数 IWA 可以以与没有语言障碍的参与者类似的方式执行标志性手势。因此，在标志性手势条件下缺乏促进效应似乎并非源于无法产生足够的标志性手势。为了复制我们的结果，需要对更多 IWA 进行进一步研究。