Faculty Bibliography

Communication, specifically the elements crucial for typical social interaction, can be significantly affected in psychiatric illness, especially depression. Of specific importance to conversational competence are familiar expressions (prefabricated expressions known to the language community) including formulaic expressions (conversational speech formulas and idioms; these are high in nuance) and lexical bundles (fixed linguistic segments that are prevalent in naturalistic conversation; low in nuance). The goals of this study were to examine familiar language production in the naturalistic, conversational speech of individuals with treatment-resistant depression before and after receiving surgical deep brain stimulation of the subcallosal cingulate white matter pathways and to compare their performance to healthy adults"™ familiar language use. Results revealed fewer conversational speech formulas (typically nuanced) produced by those with depression pre- and post-operatively as compared to healthy controls. There was an increase in the production of non-nuanced familiar expressions (largely lexical bundles) and a decrease in nuanced expressions (formulaic expressions) post-operatively when compared to the pre-operative condition for those with depression. These results conform to a recent model that distinguishes three distinct classes of familiar language, based on linguistic and neurological criteria. This study offers a first look at familiar language in depression and provides a foundation for further study into the pragmatic components of communication to help address the often-reported diminished social connectedness experienced by those with depression.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE:This study examined spontaneous, spoken-to-a-model, and two sung modes in speakers with Parkinson's disease (PD), speakers with cerebellar disease (CD), and healthy controls. Vocal performance was measured by intelligibility scores and listeners' perceptual ratings. METHOD/METHODS:Participants included speakers with hypokinetic dysarthria secondary to PD, those with ataxic dysarthria secondary to CD, and healthy speakers. Participants produced utterances in four vocal modes: spontaneous speech, spoken-to-a-model, sung-to-a-model, and spontaneous singing. For spoken-to-a-model and sung-to-a-model modes, written material was provided the model. For spontaneous singing, participants sang songs that they endorsed as familiar. DEPENDENT VARIABLES/METHODS:In Experiment I, listeners orthographically transcribed the audio samples of the first three vocal modes. In Experiment IIa, raters evaluated the accuracy of the pitch and rhythm of the spontaneous singing of familiar songs. Finally, familiar songs and sung-to-a-model utterances were rated on a competency scale by a second group of raters (Experiment IIb). RESULTS:Results showed increases in intelligibility during the spoken-to-a-model mode compared with the spontaneous mode in both PD and CD groups. Singing enhanced the vocal output of speakers with PD more than in speakers with CD, as measured by percent intelligibility. PD participants' pitch and rhythm accuracy and competency in singing familiar songs was rated more favorably than those produced by CD participants. CONCLUSIONS:The findings reveal a vocal task effect for spoken utterances in both groups. Sung exemplars, more impaired in CD, suggest a significant involvement of the cerebellum in singing. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL/BACKGROUND:https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.21809544.

Background/UNASSIGNED:Functional brain imaging has become the dominant approach to the study of brain-behavior relationships. Unfortunately, the behavior half of the equation has been relegated to second-class status when it is not ignored completely. Different approaches to connectivity, based on temporally correlated physiological events across the brain, have ascended in place of behavior. A performance-based analysis has been developed as a simple, basic approach to incorporating specific performance measures obtained during imaging into the analysis of the imaging data identifying clinically relevant regions. Methods/UNASSIGNED:This paper contrasts performance-based lateralized regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) predictors of speech rate during Positron Emission Tomography with the values of these regions and their opposite hemisphere homologs in which a performance-based model was not applied. Five studies were examined: two that utilized normal speakers, one that utilized ataxic speakers, and two that examined Parkinsonian speakers. Results/UNASSIGNED:In each study, the predictors were lateralized but the blood flow values that contributed to the performance-based analysis were bilateral. The speech-rate predictor regions were consistent with clinical studies on the effects of focal brain damage. Conclusions/UNASSIGNED:This approach has identified a basic, reproducible blood flow network that has predicted speech rate in multiple normal and neurologic groups. While the predictors are lateralized consistent with lesion data, the blood flow values of these regions are neither lateralized nor distinguished from their opposite hemisphere homologs in their magnitudes. The consistent differences between regional blood flow values and their corresponding regression coefficients in predicting performance suggests the presence of functional meta-networks that orchestrate the contributions of specific brain regions in support of mental and behavioral functions.

BACKGROUND:Disordered speech production, dysarthria, is a common characteristic of the spinocerebellar ataxias (SCA). Although dysarthric features differ across SCAs, a previous analysis revealed that a combination of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in the left inferior frontal region and the right caudate predicted syllable rate, a pattern reported in normal speakers. This study examined the relationships between primary predictor brain regions and other areas of the brain in three SCA groups. The regions associated with the primary predictors are considered as elements of secondary networks since they are associated with regional speech predictors rather than directly with speech performance. METHODS:Speech and rCBF data from 9 SCA1, 8 SCA5, and 5 SCA6 individuals were analyzed. Partial correlations were used to identify brain regions associated with the primary predictors. RESULTS:Secondary networks differed across SCA genotypes. SCA1 and SCA6 demonstrated both positive and negative associations between primary and secondary areas while the associations in the SCA5 genotype were only positive. The SCA5 associations were also largely bilaterally symmetrical. Both SCA1 and SCA5 demonstrated secondary associations with the right caudate while the SCA6 group had no such associations. CONCLUSIONS:These results demonstrate that while primary aspects of a brain network may remain functional, pathophysiological processes associated with different SCA genotypes may express themselves in alterations of broader, secondary brain networks. These secondary networks may reflect generic functional associations with the primary predictor regions, compensatory activity in the presence of an SCA, SCA pathology, or some combination of these factors.

The relationship between speech and singing in cerebral function is not fully understood. The effects of focal brain damage on pitch, timing, and rhythm in speech and singing were retrospectively investigated in 2 persons diagnosed with dysprosodic speech following cerebral vascular accidents; both were experienced singers. Participant 1 suffered a large right hemisphere infarct encompassing frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes extending partly into subcortical structures, and Participant 2 sustained a right-sided ischemic subcortical lesion, affecting globus pallidus, caudate and medial putamen. Pitch and timing in lexical contrasts were acoustically analyzed, rhythm and pitch in spontaneous speech were quantified, and accuracies of pitch and rhythm in familiar songs were measured acoustically and rated by listeners. Both participants produced lexical contrasts with disordered pitch but normal timing. Pitch was abnormal in spontaneous speech in both cases, but in singing, pitch was impaired in Participant 1, not in Participant 2. Speech rhythm deviated from normal values for Participant 1 but not for Participant 2, whereas rhythm in singing was accurate for both persons. These studies reveal dissociations between pitch, rhythm, and timing in speech versus singing, suggesting that talking and singing arise from disparate neurological systems. Better understanding of these dissociations may lead to improved models of speaking and singing in cerebral function and may assist in assessment and treatment of dysprosody and amusia. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Background: Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) is an effective treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD) but can have an adverse effect on speech. In normal speakers and in those with spinocerebellar ataxia, an inverse relationship between regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in the left inferior frontal (IFG) region and the right caudate (CAU) is associated with speech rate. This pattern was examined to determine if it was present in PD, and if so, whether it was altered by STN-DBS. Methods: Positron Emission Tomography (PET) measured rCBF during speech in individuals with PD not treated with STN-DBS (n = 7), and those treated with bilateral STN-DBS (n = 7). Previously reported results from non-PD control subjects (n = 16) were reported for comparison. The possible relationships between speech rate during scanning and data from the left and right IFG and CAU head regions were investigated using a step-wise multiple linear regression to identify brain regions that interacted to predict speech rate. Results: The multiple linear regression analysis replicated previously reported predictive coefficients for speech rate involving the left IFG and right CAU regions. However, the relationships between these predictive coefficients and speech rates were abnormal in both PD groups. In PD who had not received STN-DBS, the right CAU coefficient decreased normally with increasing speech rate but the left IFG coefficient abnormally decreased. With STN-DBS, this pattern was partially normalized with the addition of a left IFG coefficient that increased with speech rate, as in normal controls, but the abnormal left IFG decreasing coefficient observed in PD remained. The magnitudes of both cortical predictive coefficients but not the CAU coefficient were exaggerated with STN-DBS. Conclusions: STN-DBS partially corrects the abnormal relationships between rCBF and speech rate found in PD by introducing a left IFG subregion that increases with speech rate, but the conflicting left IFG subregion response remained. Conflicting IFG responses may account for some of the speech problems observed after STN-DBS. Cortical and subcortical regions may be differentially affected by STN-DBS.

Recent studies have demonstrated that details of verbal material are retained in memory. Further, converging evidence points to a memory-enhancing effect of emotion such that memory for emotional events is stronger than memory for neutral events. Building upon this work, it appears likely that verbatim sentence forms will be remembered better when tinged with emotional nuance. Most previous studies have focused on single words. The current study examines the role of emotional nuance in the verbatim retention of longer sentences in written material. In this study, participants silently read transcriptions of spontaneous narratives, half of which had been delivered within a context of emotional expression and the other half with neutral expression. Transcripts were taken from selected narratives that received the highest, most extreme ratings, neutral or emotional. Participants identified written excerpts in a yes/no recognition test. Results revealed that participants' verbatim memory was significantly greater for excerpts from emotionally nuanced narratives than from neutral narratives. It is concluded that the narratives, pre-rated as emotional or neutral, drove this effect of emotion on verbatim retention. These findings expand a growing body of evidence for a role of emotion in memory, and lend support to episodic theories of language and the constructionist account.

: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) has become an effective and widely used tool in the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD). STN-DBS has varied effects on speech. Clinical speech ratings suggest worsening following STN-DBS, but quantitative intelligibility, perceptual, and acoustic studies have produced mixed and inconsistent results. Improvements in phonation and declines in articulation have frequently been reported during different speech tasks under different stimulation conditions. Questions remain about preferred STN-DBS stimulation settings. Seven right-handed, native speakers of English with PD treated with bilateral STN-DBS were studied off medication at three stimulation conditions: stimulators off, 60 Hz (low frequency stimulation-LFS), and the typical clinical setting of 185 Hz (High frequency-HFS). Spontaneous speech was recorded in each condition and excerpts were prepared for transcription (intelligibility) and difficulty judgements. Separate excerpts were prepared for listeners to rate abnormalities in voice, articulation, fluency, and rate. Intelligibility for spontaneous speech was reduced at both HFS and LFS when compared to STN-DBS off. On the average, speech produced at HFS was more intelligible than that produced at LFS, but HFS made the intelligibility task (transcription) subjectively more difficult. Both voice quality and articulation were judged to be more abnormal with DBS on. STN-DBS reduced the intelligibility of spontaneous speech at both LFS and HFS but lowering the frequency did not improve intelligibility. Voice quality ratings with STN-DBS were correlated with the ratings made without stimulation. This was not true for articulation ratings. STN-DBS exacerbated existing voice problems and may have introduced new articulatory abnormalities. The results from individual DBS subjects showed both improved and reduced intelligibility varied as a function of DBS, with perceived changes in voice appearing to be more reflective of intelligibility than perceived changes in articulation.