Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Activation During Unscripted Discourse in People With Poststroke Aphasia

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Speech and Language Pathology
• Neurology

Background:

• Aphasia, often resulting from stroke, significantly impairs communication.
• Assessing spontaneous speech in individuals with aphasia (PWA) is crucial for understanding recovery.
• Existing neuroimaging methods may not fully capture the complexities of natural discourse.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the feasibility of a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task for capturing brain activation during overt, unscripted discourse in people with aphasia (PWA).
• To develop and validate a continuous scan paradigm for discourse analysis in chronic poststroke aphasia.

Main Methods:

• Seven participants with chronic poststroke aphasia underwent fMRI scanning.
• A discourse fMRI paradigm involved picture description tasks interspersed with control periods.
• Audio was collected during scans, and activation maps were generated comparing speaking to control conditions.

Main Results:

• The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task successfully elicited activation in bilateral regions, including the planum polare, temporal gyri, and cerebellum.
• Activation patterns were observed in areas associated with speech production and language processing.
• Comparison of multi-echo and single-echo analysis demonstrated the utility of the chosen data analysis approach.

Conclusions:

• A novel, feasible fMRI tool was developed for assessing discourse in people with aphasia (PWA).
• This natural language paradigm opens new avenues for research into discourse recovery in chronic poststroke aphasia.
• The findings support the use of fMRI in evaluating communication abilities in neurological conditions.