Aphasia is a condition that influences a person’s ability to produce and comprehend language. Individuals may experience aphasia following a stroke, brain injury, or neurodegenerative disease. Aphasia recovery and response to treatments vary greatly from person to person. For some people, aphasia may resolve on its own in a few days. For others, aphasia can become a chronic condition that impacts everyday communication and quality of life.
The following projects investigate how people (and their brains!) communicate, how brain systems change and adapt following damage, and ways we can improve assessments and treatments to support language.
- White-Matter Connectometry of Verb Retrieval Priming in Aphasia
- Semantic and Phonological Abilities Inform Efficacy of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) on Aphasia Treatment Outcomes
- Assessing Neuroplasticity Biomarkers in Post-Stroke Language Disorders
- Effectiveness of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Constraint-Induced Language Therapy in Aphasia
- Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing Improvements to Clinical Aphasia Assessments
- Investigating Iconic Gesture Use During Discourse Production in Persons with Latent Aphasia
- Additional information about current projects and collaborations
White-Matter Connectometry of Verb Retrieval Priming in Aphasia.
Hayley Olson, NeuroLAND’s first PhD student, presents findings on white matter brain networks involved in verb naming following word-related and concept-related cues.
Semantic and Phonological Abilities Inform Efficacy of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) on Aphasia Treatment Outcomes.
NeuroLAND Lab Director, Dr. Haley Dresang (left), visits the poster presentation of Ellie McCreary (right), a speech-language pathology MS student. This project demonstrates how the types of naming errors people make can influence their likelihood of responding to neuromodulation and speech-language aphasia treatments. This project is in partnership with collaborators at the University of Pennsylvania.
Assessing Neuroplasticity Biomarkers in Post-Stroke Language Disorders.
Anthony Imbert, an L&S STEM LASER Program Scholar, presents preliminary results and hypotheses about how language and biological markers of neuroplasticity are associated following brain damage. This project is in partnership with collaborators in the Department of Neuroradiology.
Effectiveness of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Constraint-Induced Language Therapy in Aphasia.
NeuroLAND Lab’s first students were undergraduate research scholars (from left to right), Eva Sakellakis, Laurel Adams, and Sanshray Vallecha. Here they present on individual differences in language improvements following neuromodulation and speech-language therapy. This project is in partnership with collaborators at the University of Pennsylvania.
Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing Improvements to Clinical Aphasia Assessments.
Undergraduate research scholars, Hadeel Manimara and Jeffrey Zou, present our plans to incorporate artificial intelligence and large language models (like ChatGPT) to develop refined clinical assessment tools. This project is in partnership with collaborators at the University of Pittsburgh.
Investigating Iconic Gesture Use During Discourse Production in Persons with Latent Aphasia.
Ellie McCreary (left) and Emma Pittman (right), NeuroLAND’s first MS-SLP students, traveled to ASHA to present findings from AphasiaBank that we examined in collaboration with Drs. Brielle Stark (Indiana University) and Sarah Grace Dalton (University of Georgia).
Additional information about current projects and collaborations: