Aphasia
Conditions
Keywords
tDCS, Aphasia, naming
Brief summary
There are two opposing hypotheses, namely the interference and laterality-shift hypotheses, regarding the role of the right hemisphere (RH) in language recovery following a left hemisphere damage. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has received increasing attention as a potential complement to behavioural therapy. This preliminary study aimed to examine the effect of excitatory (anodal) stimulation of right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) on naming abilities of chronic people with aphasia (PWA) to examine the compensatory versus interference role of RH in language recovery, and to confirm the application of tDCS does not induce adverse effects on other cognitive and language functions.
Interventions
DEVICEtDCS stimulation
The study examines the effect of excitatory stimulation of right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) on naming abilities of people with aphasia (PWA) as compared to sham stimulation to examine the compensatory versus interference role of right hemisphere in language recovery after stroke.
Sponsors
The University of Hong Kong
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
TRIPLE (Subject, Caregiver, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
40 Years to 90 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* People with chronic aphasia following the stroke
Exclusion criteria
* history of seizure or epilepsy, * previous adverse reactions to TMS/tDCS, * having a pace-maker or a metal implanted in the brain * being pregnant
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Picture naming task | Immediately after the end of each treatment session and block | One hundred and sixty pictures of concrete nouns from the Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) picture set (colored version) were utilised to measure the percentage of object naming accuracy. In particular, these pictures were divided into Set A (training targets) and Set B (untrained generalization targets), with eighty stimuli in each set. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| language task | Immediately after the end of each treatment block | \* Overall language skills are measured through the overall aphasia scores provided by the Cantonese version of Western Aphasia Battery (short-form). The scale is called Aphasia quotient: Minimum value = 0, maximum value = 100, with higher scores mean a better performance. |
| Cognitive task | Immediately after the end of each treatment block | The cognitive skills are measured through the subtest scores provided by Oxford Cognitive Screening-Cantonese. The test uses different sub-tests including the Picture naming, Semantics, Orientation, Visual field task, Sentence reading , Calculation, Attention, Praxis, Memory, and Executive tasks. The range of values varies across the subtests. For all subtests except the executive task, the higher scores reflect better performance. For executive tasks the lower scores reflect better performance. |
Outcome results
None listed