In this paper we present a web-based data collection method designed to elicit narrative discours... more In this paper we present a web-based data collection method designed to elicit narrative discourse from adults with and without language impairments, both in an in-person set up and remotely. We describe the design, methodological considerations and technical requirements regarding the application development, the elicitation tasks, materials and guidelines, as well as the implementation of the assessment procedure. To investigate the efficacy of remote elicitation of narrative discourse with the use of the technology-enhanced method presented here, a pilot study was conducted, aiming to compare narratives elicited remotely to narratives collected in an in-person elicitation mode from ten unimpaired adults, using a within-participants research design. In the remote elicitation setting, each participant performed the tasks of a narrative elicitation protocol via the web application in their own environment, with the assistance of an investigator in the context of a virtual meeting (v...
In this paper, the process of designing an annotated Greek Corpus of Aphasic Discourse (GREECAD) ... more In this paper, the process of designing an annotated Greek Corpus of Aphasic Discourse (GREECAD) is presented. Given that resources of this kind are quite limited, a major aim of the GREECAD was to provide a set of specifications which could serve as a methodological basis for the development of other relevant corpora, and, therefore, to contribute to the future research in this area. The GREECAD was developed with the following requirements: a) to include a rather homogeneous sample of Greek as spoken by individuals with aphasia; b) to document speech samples with rich metadata, which include demographic information, as well as detailed information on the patients’ medical record and neuropsychological evaluation; c) to provide annotated speech samples, which encode information at the micro-linguistic (words, POS, grammatical errors, clause types, etc.) and discourse level (narrative structure elements, main events, evaluation devices, etc.). In terms of the design of the GREECAD, ...
Πλήθος μελετών έχουν δείξει ότι ο αγραμματισμός, ένα κλινικό σύμπτωμα τηςαφασίας Broca, χαρακτηρί... more Πλήθος μελετών έχουν δείξει ότι ο αγραμματισμός, ένα κλινικό σύμπτωμα τηςαφασίας Broca, χαρακτηρίζεται από σημαντικές δυσκολίες κυρίως κατά τηνπαραγωγή λόγου, αν και η κατανόηση επηρεάζεται εξίσου όταν πρόκειται γιακατανόηση πολύπλοκων δομών. Οι παρατηρούμενες διαφορές ανά τροπικότηταέχουν ερμηνευτεί με πολλούς διαφορετικούς τρόπους. Παράγοντες όπως τα ρηματικά χαρακτηριστικά, η ορισματική δομή, ο τύπος εξάρτησης, οι διαδικασίες μετακίνησης που λαμβάνουν χώρα σε κάθε δομή, φαίνεται πως επηρεάζουν τις επιδόσεις των ατόμων με αγραμματισμό με διαφορετικό τρόπο.Πολλές είναι οι προσεγγίσεις που έχουν προταθεί έτσι ώστε να ερμηνευτούντα παρατηρούμενα ελλείμματα στον αγραμματισμό. Για παράδειγμα, η υπόθεση της Αλλαγής της προκαθορισμένης σειράς όρων (Bastiaanse and van Zonneveld, 1998; 2005), προβλέπει ότι προβλήματα κατά την παραγωγή και την κατανόησηεμφανίζονται σε δομές στις οποίες έχει αλλάξει η προκαθορισμένη σειρά όρων, ενώ η υπόθεση D-linked (Hickok and Avrutin, 1996; Avrutin, 2000)...
9th International Conference on Software Development and Technologies for Enhancing Accessibility and Fighting Info-exclusion, 2020
The aim of the current paper is to present and discuss the development, structure, content, and u... more The aim of the current paper is to present and discuss the development, structure, content, and use of a flexible, scalable and cost-effective cloud-based software system used in the iRead project.The iRead Project (Infrastructure and Integrated Tools for Personalized Learning of Reading Skills) aimed to offer personalized learning services to novice readers and students with reading difficulties or dyslexia by developing an integrated supportive tool for tablets, the iRead software, which includes a set of educational applications, like mini-games, an e-reader and a text classifier. iRead is built and operates around a comprehensive knowledge base, which includes a structured and detailed model of linguistic content that is essential to reading development, the domain model. iRead Domain models are essential for the operation of all iRead apps and were designed to provide personalized learning support to students with dyslexia by enabling each app to select linguistic content based on the particular learning needs of each student. The sophisticated and thorough structure and linguistic content of the iRead domain models, along with the ability of iRead to adapt to students’ needs, constitute unique features that render iRead innovative.
Behavioral therapy techniques applied to patients with aphasia have recently been augmented with ... more Behavioral therapy techniques applied to patients with aphasia have recently been augmented with or replaced by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). This chapter reviews recent studies employing rTMS as a therapeutic technique for patients with aphasia. More specifically, it focuses on issues concerning the effectiveness of the rTMS technique, including the stimulation parameters as well as the combined use of rTMS with speech and language therapy. Furthermore, it discusses improvements in specific language domains following intervention with rTMS. In addition, it briefly discusses the effectiveness of theta-burst stimulation (TBS), a type of rTMS. Finally, it raises issues concerning methodological limitations of the current rTMS studies on aphasia rehabilitation.
Στην έρeυνα eξeτάζeται η κατανόηση δομών μeτακίνησης σe 14 eλληνόφωνους ομιλητές μe Νόσο Αλτσχάιμ... more Στην έρeυνα eξeτάζeται η κατανόηση δομών μeτακίνησης σe 14 eλληνόφωνους ομιλητές μe Νόσο Αλτσχάιμeρ (ΝΑ) και 16 υγιeίς ηλικιωμένους. Οι ασθeνeίς μe ΝΑ παρουσίασαν χeιρότeρη eπίδοση από τους υγιeίς ηλικιωμένους σe όλeς τις δομές, eνώ eντοπίστηκe eπιλeκτική ασυμμeτρία ανάμeσα σe δομές υποκeιμένου και δομές αντικeιμένου, eύρημα που υποδeικνύeι ότι η κανονικότητα στη σeιρά των όρων αποτeλeί έναν από τους παράγοντeς που eπηρeάζeι την eπίδοση των ασθeνών στην eπeξeργασία της πρότασης. Η υψηλή συσχέτιση ανάμeσα στις eπιδόσeις των ασθeνών μe ΝΑ στις δομές αντικeιμένου και σe έργα eργαζόμeνης μνήμης υποδeικνύeι την eπίδραση της eργαζόμeνης μνήμης στη συντακτική eπeξeργασία.
Cross-linguistic studies in agrammatism have attested asymmetries in the comprehension of semanti... more Cross-linguistic studies in agrammatism have attested asymmetries in the comprehension of semantically reversible structures with canonical vs. non-canonical argument order. Recently, these asymmetries have been interpreted within the Relativized Minimality approach (RM) to locality in syntax (Garaffa & Grillo, 2008). • RM predicts that local relations cannot be established between two terms of a dependency if an intervening element possesses similar morphosyntactic features, since this element will be recognized as a possible candidate for the establishment of the dependency relation. • In an extension of the RM approach, Friedmann et al. (2009) reported that lexical NP-restriction plays an important role for the establishment of a dependency. Specifically, good comprehension in object relative clauses (RCs) was attested in children due to the absence of a lexical NP-restriction, while poor comprehension resulted from the presence of a lexical NP-restriction in the intervening subj...
Numerous studies have shown that language impairments, particularly semantic deficits, are eviden... more Numerous studies have shown that language impairments, particularly semantic deficits, are evident in the narrative speech of people with Alzheimer’s disease from the earliest stages of the disease. Here, we present a novel technique for capturing those changes, by comparing distributed word representations constructed from healthy controls and Alzheimer’s patients. We investigate examples of words with different representations in the two spaces, and link the semantic and contextual differences to findings from the Alzheimer’s disease literature.
We addressed an understudied topic in the literature of language disorders, that is, processing o... more We addressed an understudied topic in the literature of language disorders, that is, processing of derivational morphology, a domain which requires integration of semantic and syntactic knowledge. Current psycholinguistic literature suggests that word processing involves morpheme recognition, which occurs immediately upon encountering a complex word. Subsequent processes take place in order to interpret the combination of stem and affix. We investigated the abilities of individuals with agrammatic (PPA-G) and logopenic (PPA-L) variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) and individuals with stroke-induced agrammatic aphasia (StrAg) to process pseudowords which violate either the syntactic (word class) rules (*reheavy) or the semantic compatibility (argument structure specifications of the base form) rules (*reswim). To this end, we quantified aspects of word knowledge and explored how the distinct deficits of the populations under investigation affect their performance. Thirty bra...
Introduction: Sentence production impairments in aphasia often improve with treatment. However, l... more Introduction: Sentence production impairments in aphasia often improve with treatment. However, little is known about how cognitive processes supporting sentence production, such as sentence planning, are impacted by treatment. Methods: The present study used eyetracking to examine changes in sentence production resulting from a 12-week language treatment program focused on passive sentences (Treatment of Underlying Forms (TUF); Thompson and Shapiro, 2005). In two pre-treatment and two post-treatment sessions, nine participants with mild-to-moderate agrammatic aphasia performed a structural priming task, which involved repeating primed sentences (actives or passives) and then, using the same verb, producing sentences describing pictured events. Two individuals with aphasia performed the eyetracking task on the same schedule without intervening language treatment. Ten unimpaired older adults also performed the task to identify normal performance patterns. Sentence production accuracy...
We addressed an understudied topic in the literature of language disorders, that is, processing o... more We addressed an understudied topic in the literature of language disorders, that is, processing of derivational morphology, a domain which requires integration of semantic and syntactic knowledge. Current psycholinguistic literature suggests that word processing involves morpheme recognition, which occurs immediately upon encountering a complex word. Subsequent processes take place in order to interpret the combination of stem and affix. We investigated the abilities of individuals with agrammatic (PPA-G) and logopenic (PPA-L) variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) and individuals with stroke-induced agrammatic aphasia (StrAg) to process pseudowords which violate either the syntactic (word class) rules (*reheavy) or the semantic compatibility (argument structure specifications of the base form) rules (*reswim). To this end, we quantified aspects of word knowledge and explored how the distinct deficits of the populations under investigation affect their performance. Thirty bra...
Studies on the processing of non-active (NACT) voice have indicated that passive sentences are mo... more Studies on the processing of non-active (NACT) voice have indicated that passive sentences are more difficult to comprehend and require more time to process. Children with Reading Difficulties (RDs) face problems with sentence comprehension, which are often attributed to phonological processing, working memory, syntactic awareness limitations, or a maturation delay. Using an online self-paced reading task, we investigated the effect of voice morphology and argument structure on sentence processing in 3 groups of participants; 30 children RDs, 28 Age-Matched (AM) controls without RDs, and 28 young Beginning Readers (BRs). Our results suggest that although the RDs and BR groups present similar reading times, their reading patterns differ qualitatively. Beginning Readers experienced greater processing delays when processing NACT structures, suggesting that they have not yet fully grasped the properties of the various NACT verbs. However, the RDs group presents effects not found in the ...
In this paper we present a web-based data collection method designed to elicit narrative discours... more In this paper we present a web-based data collection method designed to elicit narrative discourse from adults with and without language impairments, both in an in-person set up and remotely. We describe the design, methodological considerations and technical requirements regarding the application development, the elicitation tasks, materials and guidelines, as well as the implementation of the assessment procedure. To investigate the efficacy of remote elicitation of narrative discourse with the use of the technology-enhanced method presented here, a pilot study was conducted, aiming to compare narratives elicited remotely to narratives collected in an in-person elicitation mode from ten unimpaired adults, using a within-participants research design. In the remote elicitation setting, each participant performed the tasks of a narrative elicitation protocol via the web application in their own environment, with the assistance of an investigator in the context of a virtual meeting (v...
In this paper, the process of designing an annotated Greek Corpus of Aphasic Discourse (GREECAD) ... more In this paper, the process of designing an annotated Greek Corpus of Aphasic Discourse (GREECAD) is presented. Given that resources of this kind are quite limited, a major aim of the GREECAD was to provide a set of specifications which could serve as a methodological basis for the development of other relevant corpora, and, therefore, to contribute to the future research in this area. The GREECAD was developed with the following requirements: a) to include a rather homogeneous sample of Greek as spoken by individuals with aphasia; b) to document speech samples with rich metadata, which include demographic information, as well as detailed information on the patients’ medical record and neuropsychological evaluation; c) to provide annotated speech samples, which encode information at the micro-linguistic (words, POS, grammatical errors, clause types, etc.) and discourse level (narrative structure elements, main events, evaluation devices, etc.). In terms of the design of the GREECAD, ...
Πλήθος μελετών έχουν δείξει ότι ο αγραμματισμός, ένα κλινικό σύμπτωμα τηςαφασίας Broca, χαρακτηρί... more Πλήθος μελετών έχουν δείξει ότι ο αγραμματισμός, ένα κλινικό σύμπτωμα τηςαφασίας Broca, χαρακτηρίζεται από σημαντικές δυσκολίες κυρίως κατά τηνπαραγωγή λόγου, αν και η κατανόηση επηρεάζεται εξίσου όταν πρόκειται γιακατανόηση πολύπλοκων δομών. Οι παρατηρούμενες διαφορές ανά τροπικότηταέχουν ερμηνευτεί με πολλούς διαφορετικούς τρόπους. Παράγοντες όπως τα ρηματικά χαρακτηριστικά, η ορισματική δομή, ο τύπος εξάρτησης, οι διαδικασίες μετακίνησης που λαμβάνουν χώρα σε κάθε δομή, φαίνεται πως επηρεάζουν τις επιδόσεις των ατόμων με αγραμματισμό με διαφορετικό τρόπο.Πολλές είναι οι προσεγγίσεις που έχουν προταθεί έτσι ώστε να ερμηνευτούντα παρατηρούμενα ελλείμματα στον αγραμματισμό. Για παράδειγμα, η υπόθεση της Αλλαγής της προκαθορισμένης σειράς όρων (Bastiaanse and van Zonneveld, 1998; 2005), προβλέπει ότι προβλήματα κατά την παραγωγή και την κατανόησηεμφανίζονται σε δομές στις οποίες έχει αλλάξει η προκαθορισμένη σειρά όρων, ενώ η υπόθεση D-linked (Hickok and Avrutin, 1996; Avrutin, 2000)...
9th International Conference on Software Development and Technologies for Enhancing Accessibility and Fighting Info-exclusion, 2020
The aim of the current paper is to present and discuss the development, structure, content, and u... more The aim of the current paper is to present and discuss the development, structure, content, and use of a flexible, scalable and cost-effective cloud-based software system used in the iRead project.The iRead Project (Infrastructure and Integrated Tools for Personalized Learning of Reading Skills) aimed to offer personalized learning services to novice readers and students with reading difficulties or dyslexia by developing an integrated supportive tool for tablets, the iRead software, which includes a set of educational applications, like mini-games, an e-reader and a text classifier. iRead is built and operates around a comprehensive knowledge base, which includes a structured and detailed model of linguistic content that is essential to reading development, the domain model. iRead Domain models are essential for the operation of all iRead apps and were designed to provide personalized learning support to students with dyslexia by enabling each app to select linguistic content based on the particular learning needs of each student. The sophisticated and thorough structure and linguistic content of the iRead domain models, along with the ability of iRead to adapt to students’ needs, constitute unique features that render iRead innovative.
Behavioral therapy techniques applied to patients with aphasia have recently been augmented with ... more Behavioral therapy techniques applied to patients with aphasia have recently been augmented with or replaced by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). This chapter reviews recent studies employing rTMS as a therapeutic technique for patients with aphasia. More specifically, it focuses on issues concerning the effectiveness of the rTMS technique, including the stimulation parameters as well as the combined use of rTMS with speech and language therapy. Furthermore, it discusses improvements in specific language domains following intervention with rTMS. In addition, it briefly discusses the effectiveness of theta-burst stimulation (TBS), a type of rTMS. Finally, it raises issues concerning methodological limitations of the current rTMS studies on aphasia rehabilitation.
Στην έρeυνα eξeτάζeται η κατανόηση δομών μeτακίνησης σe 14 eλληνόφωνους ομιλητές μe Νόσο Αλτσχάιμ... more Στην έρeυνα eξeτάζeται η κατανόηση δομών μeτακίνησης σe 14 eλληνόφωνους ομιλητές μe Νόσο Αλτσχάιμeρ (ΝΑ) και 16 υγιeίς ηλικιωμένους. Οι ασθeνeίς μe ΝΑ παρουσίασαν χeιρότeρη eπίδοση από τους υγιeίς ηλικιωμένους σe όλeς τις δομές, eνώ eντοπίστηκe eπιλeκτική ασυμμeτρία ανάμeσα σe δομές υποκeιμένου και δομές αντικeιμένου, eύρημα που υποδeικνύeι ότι η κανονικότητα στη σeιρά των όρων αποτeλeί έναν από τους παράγοντeς που eπηρeάζeι την eπίδοση των ασθeνών στην eπeξeργασία της πρότασης. Η υψηλή συσχέτιση ανάμeσα στις eπιδόσeις των ασθeνών μe ΝΑ στις δομές αντικeιμένου και σe έργα eργαζόμeνης μνήμης υποδeικνύeι την eπίδραση της eργαζόμeνης μνήμης στη συντακτική eπeξeργασία.
Cross-linguistic studies in agrammatism have attested asymmetries in the comprehension of semanti... more Cross-linguistic studies in agrammatism have attested asymmetries in the comprehension of semantically reversible structures with canonical vs. non-canonical argument order. Recently, these asymmetries have been interpreted within the Relativized Minimality approach (RM) to locality in syntax (Garaffa & Grillo, 2008). • RM predicts that local relations cannot be established between two terms of a dependency if an intervening element possesses similar morphosyntactic features, since this element will be recognized as a possible candidate for the establishment of the dependency relation. • In an extension of the RM approach, Friedmann et al. (2009) reported that lexical NP-restriction plays an important role for the establishment of a dependency. Specifically, good comprehension in object relative clauses (RCs) was attested in children due to the absence of a lexical NP-restriction, while poor comprehension resulted from the presence of a lexical NP-restriction in the intervening subj...
Numerous studies have shown that language impairments, particularly semantic deficits, are eviden... more Numerous studies have shown that language impairments, particularly semantic deficits, are evident in the narrative speech of people with Alzheimer’s disease from the earliest stages of the disease. Here, we present a novel technique for capturing those changes, by comparing distributed word representations constructed from healthy controls and Alzheimer’s patients. We investigate examples of words with different representations in the two spaces, and link the semantic and contextual differences to findings from the Alzheimer’s disease literature.
We addressed an understudied topic in the literature of language disorders, that is, processing o... more We addressed an understudied topic in the literature of language disorders, that is, processing of derivational morphology, a domain which requires integration of semantic and syntactic knowledge. Current psycholinguistic literature suggests that word processing involves morpheme recognition, which occurs immediately upon encountering a complex word. Subsequent processes take place in order to interpret the combination of stem and affix. We investigated the abilities of individuals with agrammatic (PPA-G) and logopenic (PPA-L) variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) and individuals with stroke-induced agrammatic aphasia (StrAg) to process pseudowords which violate either the syntactic (word class) rules (*reheavy) or the semantic compatibility (argument structure specifications of the base form) rules (*reswim). To this end, we quantified aspects of word knowledge and explored how the distinct deficits of the populations under investigation affect their performance. Thirty bra...
Introduction: Sentence production impairments in aphasia often improve with treatment. However, l... more Introduction: Sentence production impairments in aphasia often improve with treatment. However, little is known about how cognitive processes supporting sentence production, such as sentence planning, are impacted by treatment. Methods: The present study used eyetracking to examine changes in sentence production resulting from a 12-week language treatment program focused on passive sentences (Treatment of Underlying Forms (TUF); Thompson and Shapiro, 2005). In two pre-treatment and two post-treatment sessions, nine participants with mild-to-moderate agrammatic aphasia performed a structural priming task, which involved repeating primed sentences (actives or passives) and then, using the same verb, producing sentences describing pictured events. Two individuals with aphasia performed the eyetracking task on the same schedule without intervening language treatment. Ten unimpaired older adults also performed the task to identify normal performance patterns. Sentence production accuracy...
We addressed an understudied topic in the literature of language disorders, that is, processing o... more We addressed an understudied topic in the literature of language disorders, that is, processing of derivational morphology, a domain which requires integration of semantic and syntactic knowledge. Current psycholinguistic literature suggests that word processing involves morpheme recognition, which occurs immediately upon encountering a complex word. Subsequent processes take place in order to interpret the combination of stem and affix. We investigated the abilities of individuals with agrammatic (PPA-G) and logopenic (PPA-L) variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) and individuals with stroke-induced agrammatic aphasia (StrAg) to process pseudowords which violate either the syntactic (word class) rules (*reheavy) or the semantic compatibility (argument structure specifications of the base form) rules (*reswim). To this end, we quantified aspects of word knowledge and explored how the distinct deficits of the populations under investigation affect their performance. Thirty bra...
Studies on the processing of non-active (NACT) voice have indicated that passive sentences are mo... more Studies on the processing of non-active (NACT) voice have indicated that passive sentences are more difficult to comprehend and require more time to process. Children with Reading Difficulties (RDs) face problems with sentence comprehension, which are often attributed to phonological processing, working memory, syntactic awareness limitations, or a maturation delay. Using an online self-paced reading task, we investigated the effect of voice morphology and argument structure on sentence processing in 3 groups of participants; 30 children RDs, 28 Age-Matched (AM) controls without RDs, and 28 young Beginning Readers (BRs). Our results suggest that although the RDs and BR groups present similar reading times, their reading patterns differ qualitatively. Beginning Readers experienced greater processing delays when processing NACT structures, suggesting that they have not yet fully grasped the properties of the various NACT verbs. However, the RDs group presents effects not found in the ...
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Papers by Michaela Nerantzini