Article
Development and standardization of a test for the comprehension of nouns and verbs in Russian: Data from individuals with and without aphasia
Abstract. There is currently a great need for modern, standardized neuropsychological tests for language assessment in Russian speakers with aphasia. Our group is working on the development of the Russian Aphasia Test (RAT). Within the scope of this work, two subtests for single-word comprehension of nouns and verbs were developed considering contemporary models of language processing and principles of psychometrics. The task for both subtests was spoken word-to-picture matching. The subtests were normed on individuals with aphasia (n = 45) and a control group (n = 30). This resulted in the final set of 30 diagnostic trials for nouns and verbs matched on relevant psychometric properties which are sensitive to language impairments for both fluent and non-fluent types of aphasia. This set of trials will be included in the final version of the RAT.
Currently there is a need for standardized language assessment test in Russian. Our group has developed Russian Aphasia Test (RAT) based on modern psycholinguistic models and psychometric principles, taking into account existing standardized tests in other languages. RAT allows to separately assess each level of linguistic processing: from phonemic perception to discourse. Here we present the design of the test and the first results of its approbation in groups of neurologically healthy participants and individuals with aphasia. Preliminary results demonstrated that the test is sensitive to language deficits and their severity. Thus, RAT is a practical instrument for language assessment in aphasia which can be used both in clinical practice and for research purposes. At present test standardization in a large group of participants with and without aphasia is on-going with the goal of developing appropriate clinical and age norms.
Language is viewed as one of the most lateralized human brain functions. Left hemisphere dominance for language has been consistently confirmed in clinical and experimental settings and constitutes one of the main axioms of neurology and neuroscience. However, functional neuroimaging studies are finding that the right hemisphere also plays a role in diverse language functions. Critically, the right hemisphere may also compensate for the loss or degradation of language functions following extensive stroke-induced damage to the left hemisphere. Here, we review studies that focus on our ability to choose words as we speak. Although fluidly performed in people with intact language, this process is routinely compromised in aphasic patients. We suggest that parceling word retrieval into its sub-processes – lexical activation and lexical selection – and examining which of these can be compensated for after left-hemisphere stroke can advance the understanding of the lateralization of word retrieval in speech production. In particular, the domain-general nature of the brain regions associated with each process may be a helpful indicator of the right hemisphere's propensity for compensation.
The present study is aimed at investigating brain activation patterns associated with languageprocessing in patients with fluent and non-fluent aphasia withdifferent localizations of cerebral lesions. Sixteen healthy subjects and eighteen patients with different forms of aphasia participated in this study. The study was conducted using functional MRimaging method. The data obtained in the study revealed normative patterns of neural activation during language processing and specifics of brain reorganization of languagefunction after focal brain damage in patients with fluent and non-fluent aphasia.
There is great need for modern neuropsychological standardized tests for language assessment in aphasia in Russian. Our group is working on the development of the Russian Aphasia Test (RAT), Here we provide data on standardization of the subtests for single-word comprehension of actions and objects. The task for the both subtests was a word-picture matching task. The subtests were normed on people with aphasia and the control group. This resulted in the final set of 30 diagnostic trails for actions and objects matched on relevant psychometric properties that will be included in the final version of the RAT.
The paper is focused on the study of reaction of italian literature critics on the publication of the Boris Pasternak's novel "Doctor Jivago". The analysys of the book ""Doctor Jivago", Pasternak, 1958, Italy" (published in Russian language in "Reka vremen", 2012, in Moscow) is given. The papers of italian writers, critics and historians of literature, who reacted immediately upon the publication of the novel (A. Moravia, I. Calvino, F.Fortini, C. Cassola, C. Salinari ecc.) are studied and analised.
In the article the patterns of the realization of emotional utterances in dialogic and monologic speech are described. The author pays special attention to the characteristic features of the speech of a speaker feeling psychic tension and to the compositional-pragmatic peculiarities of dialogic and monologic text.