Search results

Sort By:

Limit search:

MOSAICS FALL APART IN DIFFERENT WAYS: EXPLORING VARIATION IN COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN PATTERNS IN THREE APHASIC PATIENTS

100%

Chatzopoulos G., Loutrari A., Díaz–Martínez F., Kouki E.-P., Proios H.

Acta Neuropsychologica

2018

vol. 16(4)

391-404

In addition to linguistic impairments, the cognitive underpinnings of pragmatic abilities in aphasic individuals can be severely compromised. Impairments include incoherent discourse and other speech organization deficits. At the same time, preserved pragmatic patterns reveal communicative abilities that can go unnoticed if only standardized screening tests are used. Conversational Partners also appear to play a role in mitigating compromised linguistic ability. Although some tools assessing the communicative abilities of neurological patients have been recently employed, the question of whether pragmatic performance declines in consistent patterns remains poorly understood. We applied the Pragmatic Evaluation Protocol – Revised (PREP-R) to video-recorded interviews of Greek individuals with aphasia, presented here as separate case studies. The tool offers a detailed account of pragmatic ability across 29 distinct categories and consists of three distinct subcomponents, namely enunciative pragmatics, textual pragmatics, and interactional pragmatics. Our results showed considerable variation in the performance of each patient and across our three aphasic patients. We also found that the role of the Key Conversational Partner was critical to effective communication, in line with previous research. As the communication repertoire of each of our participants was found to be highly idiosyncratic, we propose that further research should shift away from the mere evaluation of isolated verbal abilities.

When lack of sleep takes its toll on communication: an assessment of pragmatic abilities in two children following sleep deprivation

73%

Chatzopoulos G., Kouki E.-P., Evangeliou A., Malegiannaki A. C., Loutrari A., Díaz–Martínez F., Tsakpounidou K., Proios H.

Acta Neuropsychologica

2020

vol. 18(1)

77-96

Sleep deprivation affects numerous cognitive processes. Children populations have not been studied thoroughly, with regard to the effect of sleep deprivation on communication abilities. In this study, we investigate the pragmatic competence following acute sleep deprivation. Two eleven-year-old boys were evaluated on their pragmatic ability before and following sleep deprivation. The conversations were video-recorded, transcribed and analyzed using the CHAT conventions. The Pragmatic Evaluation Protocol Revised (PREP-R) was administered for the investigation of pragmatic ability. Both children demonstrated a significantly lower performance following acute sleep deprivation. Their specific pragmatic ability and grammatically-based pragmatic ability were impaired. The subjects were unable to use lexical, morphological and syntactic cohesion, and encountered difficulties in the interaction and the managing of pauses. Acute sleep deprivation affects pragmatic competence, mainly due to difficulties in alertness, attention, working memory, and executive dysfunction in general. Variability in the pragmatic ability of the two subjects implies that more studies, focused on the cognitive deficits after sleep deprivation can cast more light on the evaluation of pragmatic ability.

Refine search results

2 Acta Neuropsychologica

1 2020

1 2018

2 Chatzopoulos G.

2 Díaz–Martínez F.

2 Kouki E.-P.

2 Loutrari A.

2 Proios H.

1 Evangeliou A.

1 Malegiannaki A. C.

1 Tsakpounidou K.

Search results

MOSAICS FALL APART IN DIFFERENT WAYS: EXPLORING VARIATION IN COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN PATTERNS IN THREE APHASIC PATIENTS

When lack of sleep takes its toll on communication: an assessment of pragmatic abilities in two children following sleep deprivation