Digital Commons Network^™

Determining The Relationship Between Language And Attention In Elders With Nonfluent Aphasia, Amanda Wadams

ETD Archive

Researchers have questioned whether the occurrence of aphasia creates executive function deficiencies that result in cognitive-linguistic deficits. Aphasia is a breakdown in language comprehension and production caused by a focal lesion in the left hemisphere of the brain (Papathanasiou, Coppens, & Potagas, 2013). Executive function refers to a set of "higher order component functions required to control and coordinate performance on complex problem solving tasks" (Dick & Overton, 2010). Researchers have speculated that attention, an important part of executive function, may be compromised in addition to language deficits in persons with aphasia. The purpose of this exploratory multiple case comparison …