Influence of the stimulus on verbal and nonverbal responses by individuals with and without aphasia

This investigation examined the influence of stimulus mode on speaking, writing, pantomime, and drawing performance by individuals with and without aphasia. Moreover, it examined the relationships between performance on language, drawing, and praxis measures and performance in verbal and nonverbal response modalities. Twelve aphasic and twelve non-aphasic participants were administered seven speech, language, and apraxia measures and twelve experimental tasks. In each task, the participants were presented with one type of stimuli—pictorial, auditory, or printed—and responded in one response modality—speaking, writing, pantomime, or drawing.; Results indicated that aphasic participants performed more poorly in each response modality than the non-aphasic participants. Within the aphasic group, pantomime performance was better to pictorial stimuli than to auditory and printed stimuli and speaking performance was better to pictorial stimuli than to printed stimuli. Moreover, participants performed better in pantomime and speaking than in writing and drawing when presented with pictorial or auditory stimuli.{09}The non-aphasic individuals, in general, performed better in speaking, writing, and pantomime than drawing. In the aphasic group, significant relationships were found between picture comprehension and pantomime performance in the pictorial condition; auditory comprehension and writing and drawing performance in the auditory condition; and reading comprehension and performance in each printed condition. In the non-aphasic group, significant relationships were found between auditory comprehension and drawing performance in the auditory condition and reading comprehension and writing performance in the printed condition. In the aphasic group, significant relationships were found between spoken naming, writing, and drawing measures and performance in the verbal and nonverbal response modalities. And, significant relationships were found between the limb apraxia measure and pantomime and drawing performance. In the non-aphasic group, significant relationships were found between the writing measure and writing and drawing performance, and between the limb apraxia measure and drawing performance. Finally, the patterns of performance among response modalities differed in individuals of varying severities, and it appears that individuals with a similar site of lesion and aphasia type may demonstrate similar patterns of performance among the four response modalities. The results have clinical implications for the management of individuals with aphasia.