SPHS Colloquium - Laura Murray

You are cordially invited to attend a Colloquium presented by the SPHS Department and the SPHS PhD Organization.

Monday, March 1
4:00-5:00 p.m.
Speech and Hearing Building, Room C141

Laura Murray, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Indiana University
Professor of Speech and Hearing Sciences Core Faculty member of the Program in Neuroscience and the Cognitive Science Program Affiliated Scientist for the Indiana University Center for Aging Research

“To be or not to be syntactically complex? Issues and data pertaining to that aphasia treatment question”

Abstract:
Animal research suggests that greater functional outcomes and positive neuroplastic changes can be achieved if training targets complex/skilled behaviors or exploits complex/enriched environments. Accordingly, aphasiologists have begun exploring whether manipulating such training principles influences outcomes following treatment for impaired syntactic processing. The purpose of this presentation is to review critically the relevant aphasia treatment research in terms of (a) generalization effects associated with training complex syntactic structures within complex contexts and (b) how patient characteristics may moderate complexity manipulation effects.

Previous aphasia treatment studies that targeted syntactic impairments and manipulated the complexity of treatment stimuli or contexts will be reviewed. A set of single-subject treatment studies completed via collaboration of my lab and the IU Speech Clinic (Murray, Ballard, & Karcher, 2004; Murray, Timberlake, & Eberle, 2007; Murray & Karcher, 2008) will be examined in greater detail to exemplify theoretical and methodological issues associated with this line of aphasia research. Collectively these findings underscore complexity as a potent training variable that can be manipulated to enhance generalization. Future aphasia research, however, must delineate how complexity interacts with other neuroscience principles (e.g., is complexity more germane in acute vs. chronic treatments?) and identify further patient characteristics that might mediate the effects of these influential principles.