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The behavioural status and neural bases of concrete and abstract verb processing in aphasia

Reem S. Alyahya1, 2*, Ajay Halai1, Paul Conroy1 and Matthew A. Lambon Ralph1
  • 1 University of Manchester, Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit, United Kingdom
  • 2 King Fahad Medical City, Saudi Arabia

Processing concrete concepts is easier and more efficient than processing abstract ones among healthy adults (e.g., Wiemer-Hastings & Xu, 2005) and people with aphasia following brain damage (e.g., Sandberg & Kiran, 2014). This concreteness effect led some researchers to propose segregated neural bases to process concrete and abstract concepts (e.g., Binder, Westbury, McKiernan, Possing, & Medler, 2005). While, concreteness effects have only been documented in nouns, some studies have shown differences between processing nouns and verbs in aphasia (e.g., Mätzig, Druks, Masterson, & Vigliocco, 2009). The aim of this study was to explore the effect of concreteness in verbs in post-stoke aphasia, and identify the neural bases of concrete and abstract verb processing using lesion-symptom mapping. A review of the available neuropsychological and aphasiological tests suggests that there is a dearth of comprehension tests for abstract verbs. Therefore, we developed a neuropsychological test to assess the comprehension of concrete and abstract verbs. Specifically, we generated a new verb synonym judgement test in which we manipulated imageability and frequency values, yielding four categories: concrete high-frequency verbs, concrete low-frequency verbs, abstract high-frequency verbs and abstract low-frequency verbs. Normative data was collected from 25 elderly healthy participants and the results revealed ceiling effects across all four categories (> 97.2%). The test was then administered to a cohort of 48 individuals with chronic post-stroke aphasia in order to explore the behavioural and neural status of concrete and abstract verb processing. The behavioural results revealed a significant effect of imageability, with better comprehension of concrete verbs compared to abstract verbs. There was no effect of frequency or interaction effect between imageability and frequency on verb processing. This provides evidence that processing concrete verbs is more robust than abstract verbs in chronic post-stroke aphasia, which aligns with existing literature on concrete and abstract noun processing (Sandberg & Kiran, 2014; Wiemer-Hastings & Xu, 2005). Lesion-symptom mapping was conducted using voxel-based correlational methodology (Tyler, Marslen-Wilson, & Stamatakis, 2005). The results revealed a range of common areas that support processing concrete and abstract items in the left anterior temporal lobe and posterior supramarginal gyrus. Further direct contrast between concrete and abstract items revealed significant graded differences between them. Specifically, left frontal regions (inferior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus and pre-central gyrus) were associated with processing abstract over concrete verbs; whereas, left posterior temporal and occipital regions (inferior temporal gyrus, posterior middle temporal gyrus and inferior lateral occipital cortex) were associated with processing concrete over abstract verbs. These findings are consistent with results using other methods, such as functional neuroimaging and neuro-stimulation (Binder et al., 2005; Hoffman, Jefferies, & Lambon Ralph, 2010; Noppeney & Price, 2004), suggesting graded differences between the neural representation of concrete and abstract concepts.

References

Binder, J. R., Westbury, C. F., McKiernan, K. A., Possing, E. T., & Medler, D. A. (2005). Distinct brain systems for processing concrete and abstract concepts. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17, 905-917.
Hoffman, P., Jefferies, E., & Lambon Ralph, M. A. (2010). Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex plays an executive regulation role in comprehension of abstract words: Convergent neuropsychological and rTMS evidence. Journal of Neuroscience, 46, 15450–15456.
Mätzig, S., Druks, J., Masterson, J., & Vigliocco, G. (2009). Noun and verb differences in picture naming: Past studies and new evidence. Cortex, 45, 738 – 758.
Noppeney, U., & Price, C. J. (2004). Retrieval of abstract semantics. Neuroimage, 22, 164-170.
Sandberg, C., & Kiran, S. (2014). Analysis of abstract and concrete word processing in persons with aphasia and age-matched neurologically healthy adults using fMRI. Neurocase, 20, 361-388.
Tyler, L. K., Marslen-Wilson, W., & Stamatakis, E. A. (2005). Dissociating neuro-cognitive component processes: Voxel-based correlational methodology. Neuropsychologia, 43(5), 771-778.
Wiemer-Hastings, K., & Xu, X. (2005). Content differences for abstract and concrete concepts. Cognitive Science, 29, 719-736.

Keywords: Verb processing, Post-stroke aphasia, concreteness, lesion-symptom mapping, semantics

Conference: Academy of Aphasia 55th Annual Meeting , Baltimore, United States, 5 Nov - 7 Nov, 2017.

Presentation Type: poster or oral

Topic: Consider for student award

Citation: Alyahya RS, Halai A, Conroy P and Lambon Ralph MA (2019). The behavioural status and neural bases of concrete and abstract verb processing in aphasia. Conference Abstract: Academy of Aphasia 55th Annual Meeting . doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2017.223.00055

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Received: 20 Apr 2017; Published Online: 25 Jan 2019.

* Correspondence: Ms. Reem S Alyahya, University of Manchester, Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit, Manchester, United Kingdom, reem.alyahya@manchester.ac.uk