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Gesture recognition in patients with aphasia
The Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders
|February 1, 1982
Summary
Gestural communication abilities in aphasia patients appear well-preserved. The Amer-Ind Recognition Test (ART) showed aphasic subjects could interpret symbolic gestures, regardless of aphasia severity.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Linguistics
- Speech-Language Pathology
Background:
- Aphasia often impairs verbal communication, raising questions about non-verbal abilities.
- Gestural communication, particularly symbolic gestures, is a potential alternative communication channel for individuals with aphasia.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the integrity of gestural communication abilities in subjects with aphasia.
- To develop and validate a non-verbal test for assessing symbolic gesture recognition.
Main Methods:
- Development of the Amer-Ind Recognition Test (ART), a non-verbal assessment tool.
- Administration of the ART to 15 aphasic subjects, analyzing performance based on aphasia severity, listening/talking abilities, and picture type.
- Evaluation of error patterns, specifically the choice between related and unrelated foils.
Main Results:
- All aphasic subjects performed equally well on the ART, irrespective of aphasia severity.
- Recognition of action pictures correlated with listening abilities.
- Action pictures were identified more easily than object pictures.
- Errors predominantly involved selecting related over unrelated foils.
Conclusions:
- Gestural communication abilities may be relatively preserved in individuals with aphasia, even with significant verbal deficits.
- The ART is a viable tool for assessing symbolic gesture recognition in aphasia.
- Action-based gestures might be more readily understood than object-based gestures.