1 / 61

Ann Cralidis, Ph.D., CCC/SLP Assistant Professor

A quantitative and qualitative analysis of verbal fluency performance following traumatic brain injury. Ann Cralidis, Ph.D., CCC/SLP Assistant Professor Department of Social Work and Communication Sciences and Disorders Longwood University. INTRODUCTION. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

mead
Télécharger la présentation

Ann Cralidis, Ph.D., CCC/SLP Assistant Professor

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of verbal fluency performance following traumatic brain injury Ann Cralidis, Ph.D., CCC/SLP Assistant Professor Department of Social Work and Communication Sciences and Disorders Longwood University

  2. INTRODUCTION

  3. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a disorder of major public health concern secondary to its high prevalence and proclivity for life-long disability, as well as the deleterious impact it may have upon the resumption of daily living activities, including educational and vocational pursuits. An estimated 1.7 million traumatic brain injuries occur annually in the United States, of which 1.4 million seek medical attention at an emergency department. Cicerone et al., 2004; Faul et al., 2010; Langlois et al., 2006; McNett, 2007; Rutland-Brown et al., 2006; Selassie et al., 2008

  4. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Within this population, males are 1.4 times more likely than females to incur TBI. Furthermore, males between 25 and 44 years of age and who are in the most productive years of their lives account for approximately 36 percent of TBIs that result in hospitalization, with motor vehicle accidents cited as the primary cause of injury. Faul et al., 2010

  5. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Moreover, TBI is a costly public health concern, with an estimated 76.5 billion spent annually in the United States for the direct and indirect costs associated with medical care and loss of productivity. TBI is commonly denoted as a silent epidemic as the cognitive-linguistic impairments are often invisible, and as such, the general public is largely unaware of its existence. Coronado et al., 2012; Finkelstein et al., 2006; Langlois et al., 2006; Rutland-Brown et al., 2006

  6. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Within this context, a significant number of individuals with TBI often report some degree of cognitive-linguistic impairment, particularly in the areas of attention, memory, and executive function. One cognitive-linguistic function that appears vulnerable to the effects of TBI is verbal fluency. Capitani et al., 2009; Finkelstein et al., 2006; Levin et al., 1982; Raskin & Rearick, 1996; Ruff et al., 1986; Selassie et al., 2008

  7. Verbal Fluency Phonemic Verbal Fluency Semantic Verbal Fluency Requires the generation of words that belong to a specific category, such as animals or boys’ names. Participants are given 60 seconds to generate as many words as possible for each category. Requires the generation of words that begin with a specific letter of the alphabet, such as F, A, or S. Participants are given 60 seconds to generate as many words as possible for each of the letters. Benton, 1968; Borkowski et al., 1967; Newcombe, 1969

  8. Theories of Verbal Fluency Performance Spreading Activation Account Two-Stage Search Process A cyclical process of search and retrieval wherein individuals first search for a relevant subcategory, then retrieve words from the subcategory. A new search is initiated once the subcategory is exhausted. May account for the manner in which words are organized. One word may prime a network of highly related words. The word dog may prime the retrieval of other pets, and words that share similar features with dog, such as wolf and coyote. Anderson & Pirolli , 1984; Collins & Loftus, 1975 Gruenewald & Lockhead, 1980

  9. Neural Correlates of Verbal Fluency Frontal Cortices Temporal Lobes Mediate semantic verbal fluency performance via the use of semantic knowledge. Performance on semantic verbal fluency tasks, compared to phonemic verbal fluency, is diminished in those with temporal lobe dysfunction. Mediate phonemic verbal fluency performance via the use of phonemic or lexical cues. Performance on phonemic verbal fluency tasks, compared to semantic verbal fluency, is diminished in those with frontal lobe dysfunction. Birn et al., 2010; Ho et al., 2002; Troyer, 2000; Troyer et al., 1998a Birn et al., 2010; Troyer et al., 1998a, 1998b

  10. Verbal Fluency Following TBI Verbal fluency performance has been extensively investigated in participants with diffuse cerebral damage, such as with TBI. The results of some of these studies have indicated that both phonemic and semantic verbal fluency are equally disturbed following TBI. To illustrate, Raskin and colleague (1996) found that participants with mild TBI were significantly different from those with no brain damage (NBD) relative to the total number of words generated on both types of verbal fluency tasks. Bittner & Crowe, 2006, 2007; Capitani et al., 2009; Goldstein et al., 1996; Gruen et al., 1990; Jurado et al., 2000; Kavé et al., 2011; Raskin & Rearick, 1996; Ruff et al., 1986; Zakzanis et al., 2011

  11. Verbal Fluency Following TBI Some investigations have found greater impairment in phonemic verbal fluency performance, when compared to semantic verbal fluency performance, in individuals with TBI. To date, only one study has found that individuals with TBI are differentially impaired on semantic verbal fluency, in comparison to performance on phonemic verbal fluency, when compared to participants with NBD. Capitani et al., 2009; Goldstein et al., 1996; Levin & Goldstein, 1986

  12. Verbal Fluency and TBI While disturbances in verbal fluency may be most apparent immediately following injury, there is emerging evidence that these difficulties may persist for many years following injury, particularly in individuals with moderate to severe TBI (MOD/S TBI) Henry & Crawford, 2004; Kinnunen et al., 2010; Kraus et al., 2007; Ruff et al., 1986; Whitnall et al., 2006

  13. The Relevance of Verbal Fluency to Everyday Living Verbal fluency performance, as indicated by the total number of words produced, has been associated with greater independence in completing functional activities. Fortin and colleagues (2003) noted a significant association between the number of errors made on a meal preparation task and performance on a semantic verbal fluency task in participants with mild to severe TBI, when compared to a group of participants with no brain damage (NBD).

  14. The Relevance of Verbal Fluency to Everyday Living More recently, Chevignard and colleagues (2008) investigated the relationship between meal preparation and phonemic and semantic verbal fluency performance in participants with severe TBI and a group of participants with NBD. They found that the TBI group produced a significantly greater number of errors (i.e., omissions, additions) during the cooking task when compared to the NBD group.

  15. The Relevance of Verbal Fluency to Everyday Living Moreover, participants with TBI were significantly less likely to complete the task within the allotted time frame and to finish preparing both an entrée and dessert in comparison to the NBD group. Chevignard et al., 2008

  16. THE PRESENT INVESTIGATION

  17. Primary Objective The present investigation sought to determine whether participants with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (MOD/S TBI) would differ both quantitatively and qualitatively from participants with no brain damage (NBD).

  18. METHODS

  19. Participants Moderate to Severe TBI (MOD/S TBI): n = 25 No Brain Damage (NBD): n = 25 12 Females, 38 Males All participants were paired so that they did not significantly differ relative to age, education, or gender.

  20. Test Measures Verbal Fluency Subtest from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS: Delis et al., 2001) to assess phonemic and semantic verbal fluency.

  21. Analyzing Verbal Fluency Performance Quantitative Qualitative Types of words produced Clustering of semantic features How frequently subcategories are exhausted and switched in favor of a new subcategory. The most common measure employed. Defined as the total number of words generated within 60-seconds on each type of fluency task. Raskin et al., 1992; Troyer, 2000; Troyer et al., 1997

  22. An Example of Qualitative Analyses Phonemic Verbal Fluency Semantic Verbal Fluency African Animals: Lion Tiger Elephant Giraffe Ostrich First Letters: Stun, Stick First/Last Sounds: Seat, Set Homonyms: Sum, Some Rhymes: Sand, Stand Troyer, 2000; Troyer et al., 1997

  23. RESULTS

  24. QUANTITATIVE RESULTS

  25. Phonemic Verbal Fluency Semantic Verbal Fluency MOD/S TBI: Generated significantly fewer total correct words (M = 33.79, SD = 10.40) for both semantic categories than NBD (M = 45.60, SD = 9.56; t(48) = -4.19, p = .001). MOD/S TBI: Generated significantly fewer total correct words (M = 29.80, SD = 12.89) than NBD (M = 38.88, SD = 13.16; t(48) = -2.46, p = .017).

  26. QUALITATIVE RESULTS: NUMBER OF SWITCHES

  27. SWITCHING PHONEMIC VERBAL FLUENCY SEMANTIC VERBAL FLUENCY MOD/S TBI: Produced significantly fewer switches for the semantic category of animals (M = 8.20, SD = 3.16) than did NBD (M = 10.48, SD = 4.13; t(48) = -2.19, p = .017) MOD/S TBI: Produced significantly fewer switches on the letter S(M = 8.44, SD = 3.43) than did NBD (M = 10.32, SD = 3.73; t(48) = -1.86, p = .034). No significant differences between the groups for the letters F and A.

  28. QUALITATIVE RESULTS: MEAN CLUSTER SIZE

  29. MEAN CLUSTER SIZE PHONEMIC VERBAL FLUENCY SEMANTIC VERBAL FLUENCY MOD/S TBI: No significant group differences for the semantic category of animals. MOD/S TBI: Produced significantly smaller mean cluster sizes only for the letter A (M = .22, SD = .21) compared to NBD (M = .48, SD = .44, t(48) = -2.69, p = .005). No significant group differences for the letters F or S.

  30. PEARSON CORRELATIONS BETWEEN VERBAL FLUENCY, NUMBER OF SWITCHES, AND MEAN CLUSTER SIZE

  31. QUALITATIVE RESULTS: NUMBER OF SUBCATEGORIES

  32. SUBCATEGORIES PHONEMIC VERBAL FLUENCY SEMANTIC VERBAL FLUENCY MOD/S TBI: Generated significantly fewer total subcategories (M = 5.44, SD = 1.94) for animals, compared to NBD (M = 6.56, SD = 2.18; t(48) = -1.92, p = .030). MOD/S TBI: Generated significantly fewertotal subcategories (M = 1.96; SD = 1.02) compared to NBD (M = 2.52, SD = .96; t(48) = -2.00, p = .026). Troyer et al. 1997

  33. QUALITATIVE RESULTS: TYPES OF SUBCATEGORIES

  34. SUBCATEGORIES PHONEMIC VERBAL FLUENCY SEMANTIC VERBAL FLUENCY Both groups generated the greatest number of words by drawing from the major category of LivingEnvironment, and then, from the subcategory of African animals. Participants, regardless of group, generated words using the characteristics first letters, followed by first and last sounds. Troyer et al., 1997

  35. QUALITATIVE Previously, Cralidis and Lundgren (2009) explored the types of subcategories produced by a group of participants with MOD/S TBI. We found that the types of subcategories differed from those originally identified by Troyer and colleagues (1997). THE MODIFIED VERSION FOR ANALYZING SUBCATEGORIES IN VERBAL FLUENCY Troyer et al., 1997

  36. QUALITATIVE When we applied the modified version for analyzing subcategories to the present investigation, we found that the majority of subcategories we identified failed to describe a sufficient number of the subcategories given by all participants for both tasks of verbal fluency. THE MODIFIED VERSION FOR ANALYZING SUBCATEGORIES IN VERBAL FLUENCY Troyer et al., 1997

  37. DISCUSSION

  38. PHONEMIC & SEMANTIC VERBAL FLUENCY • As predicted, the MOD/S TBI group performed more poorly than the NBD group on both verbal fluency tasks, as indicated by the total number of words generated, a finding that is supported by previous research. • The MOD/S TBI group was disproportionately impaired on the phonemic verbal fluency task, when compared to the semantic verbal fluency task.  Some studies have observed greater impairment in phonemic verbal fluency, when compared to semantic verbal fluency, in participants with TBI, although support is not unequivocal. Capitani et al., 2009; Jurado et al., 2000; Kavé et al., 2011; Levin & Goldstein, 1986

  39. CLUSTERING Troyer et al. (1997) have posited that participants with pervasive brain damage, as is often observed in TBI, may be equally impaired on clustering and switching in verbal fluency tasks, although one tends to predominate.  The present investigation confirmed this notion by the observed absence of a correlation between clustering on the letters F and S, the category of animals, and the total number of words produced on both verbal fluency tasks.  The findings suggest a deficit in the ability to effectively cluster words, as words are thought to form a structured semantic network that when primed, may further activate a number of related words. Anderson & Pirolli, 1984; Collins & Loftus, 1975

  40. SWITCHING The findings in the present investigation suggest that the ability to generate a large number of words on both verbal fluency tasks is associated with a greater number of switches on both fluency tasks.  In contrast, Troyer et al. (1997) observed a significant relationship only between the number of switches made and the total number of words produced on a task of phonemic verbal fluency in an NBD group.  The results of the present investigation suggest that participants exhibited greater difficulty in the ability to cluster, when compared to the ability to switch, on both tasks of verbal fluency.

  41. SUBCATEGORIES The MOD/S TBI group produced significantly fewer total subcategories on both verbal fluency tasks when compared to the NBD group. • When the scoring method of Troyer et al. (1997) was applied, both groups drew primarily from the major category of LivingEnvironment, and from the subcategory of African Animals, when generating words for the semantic category of animals.  On the phonemic verbal fluency task, both groups generated subcategories by primarily grouping words by First Letters, in accordance with the scoring method set forth by Troyer et al. (1997).

  42. LIMITATIONS

  43. Limited ability to generalize the results to the TBI population at large.  Small sample sizes.  Etiological variation of the MOD/S TBI group.

  44. CONCLUSION

  45. The MOD/S TBI group generated significantly fewer total words on both verbal fluency tasks when compared to the NBD group. • The MOD/S TBI group was impaired relative to the NBD group in the ability to cluster and switch, and to generate subcategories, on both verbal fluency tasks, a finding that may have contributed to the reduction in the total number of words generated on these tasks.

  46. FUTURE DIRECTIONS

  47. Develop and pilot a comprehensive protocol to measure strategy use on tasks of verbal fluency. • Explore the relevance of working memory, information processing speed, and other executive functions for their potential contribution to efficacious performance on tasks of verbal fluency. • Investigate the relationship between verbal fluency performance and completion of a functional activity in a population with MOD/S TBI. • Develop and pilot a training program for survivors of TBI who exhibit verbal fluency deficits.

  48. REFERENCES

  49. Anderson, J. R., & Pirolli, P. L. (1984). Spread of activation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 10, 791 – 798. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.10.4.791 Benton, A. L. (1968). Differential behavioral effects in frontal lobe disease. Neuropsychologia, 6, 53–60. doi: 10.1016/0028-3932(68)90038-9 Birn, R. M., Kenworthy, L., Case, L., Carvella, R., Jones, T. B., Bandettini, P. A., & Martin, A. (2010). Neural systems supporting lexical search guided by letter and semantic category cues: A self-paced overt response fMRI study of verbal fluency. Neuroimage, 49, 1099–1107. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.07.036 Bittner, R. M., & Crowe, S. F. (2006). The relationship between naming difficulty and FAS performance following traumatic brain injury. Brain Injury, 20, 971–980. doi: 10.1080/02699050600909763

More Related