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Aphasia severity mediates the relationship between attention and sentence comprehension
Emily J Lenz1, Arianna N LaCroix1
1Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.
Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|November 19, 2025
Summary
Attention deficits, specifically orienting and executive control, are linked to aphasia severity in stroke survivors. Understanding these attention types can improve sentence comprehension and rehabilitation for people with aphasia.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Speech-Language Pathology
Background:
- Attention deficits are prevalent post-stroke, complicating communication for individuals with aphasia (PWA).
- Previous research shows inconsistent links between attention and language, possibly influenced by aphasia severity.
- This study investigates how different attention networks (alerting, orienting, executive control) vary with aphasia severity and impact sentence comprehension.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if alerting, orienting, and executive control attention differ based on aphasia severity.
- To examine if aphasia severity mediates the relationship between attention networks and sentence comprehension efficiency.
- To explore the potential of attentional profiling for personalized rehabilitation in PWA.
Main Methods:
- Fifty-eight PWA across severity levels (latent, mild, moderate, severe) and 21 controls completed attention, language, and comprehension assessments.
- The Attention Network Test (ANT) measured alerting, orienting, and executive control.
- Statistical analyses included ANOVA, linear mixed-effects models, correlation, and structural equation modeling to assess relationships.
Main Results:
- Orienting and executive control attention significantly differed by aphasia severity, with severe aphasia groups showing poorer performance.
- Alerting attention did not vary across severity levels.
- Stronger orienting and executive control correlated with milder aphasia and improved sentence comprehension efficiency, with mediation effects observed.
Conclusions:
- Orienting and executive control attention are strongly associated with aphasia severity and indirectly facilitate sentence comprehension.
- Alerting attention is not significantly related to aphasia severity or comprehension.
- Assessing specific attention networks can inform tailored rehabilitation strategies for individuals with aphasia.
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