Cross-linguistic adaptations of The Comprehensive Aphasia Test: Challenges and solutions

Comparative research on aphasia and aphasia rehabilitation is challenged by the lack of comparable assessment tools across different languages. In English, a large array of tools is available, while in most other languages, the selection is more limited. Importantly, assessment tools are often simple translations and do not take into consideration specific linguistic and psycholinguistic parameters of the target languages. As a first step in meeting the needs for comparable assessment tools, the Comprehensive Aphasia Test is currently being adapted into a number of languages spoken in Europe. In this article, some key challenges encountered in the adaptation process and the solutions to ensure that the resulting assessment tools are linguistically and culturally equivalent, are proposed. Specifically, we focus on challenges and solutions related to the use of imageability, frequency, word length, spelling-to-sound regularity and sentence length and complexity as underlying properties in the selection of the testing material

Imageability ratings across languages

Imageability is a psycholinguistic variable that indicates how well a word gives rise to a mental image or sensory experience. Imageability ratings are used extensively in psycholinguistic, neuropsychological, and aphasiological studies. However, little formal knowledge exists about whether and how these ratings are associated between and within languages. Fifteen imageability databases were cross-correlated using nonparametric statistics. Some of these corresponded to unpublished data collected within a European research network-the Collaboration of Aphasia Trialists (COST IS1208). All but four of the correlations were significant. The average strength of the correlations (rho = .68) and the variance explained (R (2) = 46%) were moderate. This implies that factors other than imageability may explain 54% of the results. Imageability ratings often correlate across languages. Different possibly interacting factors may explain the moderate strength and variance explained in the correlations: (1) linguistic and cultural factors; (2) intrinsic differences between the databases; (3) range effects; (4) small numbers of words in each database, equivalent words, and participants; and (5) mean age of the participants. The results suggest that imageability ratings may be used cross-linguistically. However, further understanding of the factors explaining the variance in the correlations will be needed before research and practical recommendations can be made

Erratum: Corrigendum: Sequence and comparative analysis of the chicken genome provide unique perspectives on vertebrate evolution

International Chicken Genome Sequencing Consortium. The Original Article was published on 09 December 2004. Nature432, 695–716 (2004). In Table 5 of this Article, the last four values listed in the ‘Copy number’ column were incorrect. These should be: LTR elements, 30,000; DNA transposons, 20,000; simple repeats, 140,000; and satellites, 4,000. These errors do not affect any of the conclusions in our paper. Additional information. The online version of the original article can be found at 10.1038/nature0315

Argument structure processing in aphasia: A cross-language and cross-population behavioral study. <br />

Verb processing is problematic in many aphasia subtypes, and verb argument structure effects have been observed on both verb lexical retrieval and morphosyntactic processing in different languages. For instance, there is evidence in the aphasia literature that aphasic speakers find verbs with increasing numbers of arguments more difficult to retrieve, and perform poorly compared to controls (Cruice, Pritchard and Dipper, 2014). Recent neuroimaging studies propose that the posterior perisilvian network is responsible for the processing and integration of arguments selected by the verb, while the left inferior frontal gyrus underlies the generation of their syntactic form (Thompson, Bonakpadour & Fix, 2010). In the context of aphasiology, this hypothesis would then predict that Broca’s, but not Wernicke’s aphasic individuals, have spared access to verb complex lexical entries while their syntactic structure implementation will be more difficult. Since verb argument structure is differentially implemented across languages (word-order, case morphology, verb agreement…), it is crucial to develop cross-language and cross-population studies of verb processing if we want to define the nature of "Verb Argument Structure Complexity" in aphasia. A psycholinguistic test was developed to tease apart lexical and inflectional verb processing in both production and comprehension in three languages (Basque, French and Spanish). It includes, for each language, 30 lexical verbs (10 intransitive, 10 transitive and 10 ditransitive), of which 15 (5 intransitive, 5 transitive and 5 ditransitive) have to be encoded and decoded in sentences with different agreement conditions (singular/plural subject; singular/plural direct object; singular/plural indirect object). The same list of verbs was used in 1. action naming, 2. sentence production and 3. sentence comprehension with the aim to determine whether argument structure complexity, defined as the number of arguments associated to a given verb, increases difficulties in lexical access or in morphosyntactic computation. The tool itself will be presented as well as preliminary data collected in French from a case study of agrammatism, and control adults (N=10). I will argue that cross-language behavioral studies are useful to complement neuroimaging data for investigating the nature of argument structure complexity in agrammatic aphasia and other aphasia types

Sequence and comparative analysis of the chicken genome provide unique perspectives on vertebrate evolution

We present here a draft genome sequence of the red jungle fowl, Gallus gallus. Because the chicken is a modern descendant of the dinosaurs and the first non-mammalian amniote to have its genome sequenced, the draft sequence of its genome--composed of approximately one billion base pairs of sequence and an estimated 20,000-23,000 genes--provides a new perspective on vertebrate genome evolution, while also improving the annotation of mammalian genomes. For example, the evolutionary distance between chicken and human provides high specificity in detecting functional elements, both non-coding and coding. Notably, many conserved non-coding sequences are far from genes and cannot be assigned to defined functional classes. In coding regions the evolutionary dynamics of protein domains and orthologous groups illustrate processes that distinguish the lineages leading to birds and mammals. The distinctive properties of avian microchromosomes, together with the inferred patterns of conserved synteny, provide additional insights into vertebrate chromosome architecture