Relation of Executive Functions and Performance in Conversation Among People with Aphasia

EasyChair Preprint 6578

Abstract

Introduction: Executive functions (EF) have been found to be associated with different levels of language processing and functional communication measure. Its importance in engaging in a conversation has been discussed in a single case report (Frankel et al., 2007). However, empirical evidence is lacking in demonstrating the relation between EF and functional communication in conversation of PWA. The current study aimed to fill this research gap by examining the association of EF and functional communication in a conversational context. It is hypothesized that EF would significantly predict performance of information exchange of PWA during conversation. Method: The performance of 47 PWA on various cognitive tests was analyzed using principal component analysis, resulting in two cognitive factors reflecting PWA’s EF, and attention and memory, as reported in Wong and Law (2020). Their ability in functional communication was estimated by calculating the number of main concepts narrated by the PWA in three story probes. The averaged scores of the story probes across the two assessments served as the predicted variable, and the two cognitive factors and sentence comprehension as predictors. Results: Both sentence comprehension and EF significantly predicted average performance on story probes produced by PWA, together accounting for 68% of the variance. Conclusions: The results confirmed our hypothesis about the role of EF in functional communication of PWA. Further studies to identify effective strategies for both parties to cope with cognitive-linguistic impairments and breakdown in conversation are warranted. Key References: Wong, W. S., & Law, S. P. (November, 2000). Relationship between cognitive functions and language performance of people with aphasia across different linguistic levels. In Abstracts of the 61^st Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society (123). Psychonomic Society.

Keyphrases: aphasia, conversation, executive functions, functional communication

@booklet{EasyChair:6578,
  author    = {Winsy Wing Sze Wong and Sam Po Law},
  title     = {Relation of Executive Functions and Performance in Conversation Among People with Aphasia},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 6578},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2021}}