Lexical Retrieval Deficit in Picture Naming: Implications for Word Production Models

doi:10.1006/brln.1996.0050

Brain and Language

Volume 53, Issue 3, June 1996, Pages 283-314

https://doi.org/10.1006/brln.1996.0050 Get rights and content

Abstract

In models of word retrieval, it is common to differentiate lexical-semantic (word meaning) and lexical-phonological (word form) levels. There has been considerable interest in the relationship between these two levels. The so-called discrete two-stage model claims that phonological activation follows selection at the lexical-semantic level and is limited only to the selected item. In contrast, nondiscrete (interactive and cascade) models assume that all activated lexical-semantic candidates are also phonologically activated to some extent. We addressed this issue by studying an anomic patient who suffered from a partial functional disconnection between lexical-semantic and lexical-phonological levels. A multitarget repeated naming task with phonological training was employed. Systematic manipulation of semantic and phonological relatedness between the to-be-named items indicated that our patient's word error patterns were sensitive to both types of lexical relatedness. A delayed repetition task employing the same items failed to show similar effects, suggesting that they were specific to naming. The discrete two-stage model is unable to explain the observed effects of semantic and phonological relatedness. However, they are consistent with assumptions of nondiscrete models of lexical retrieval. In addition to the theoretical implications of this study, the observed effects of lexical context on word retrieval have implications for treatment of anomia.

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Picture naming contains a series of processes. It requires visual processing, retrieving semantics from the seen object and articulating the phonological output (Levelt, 1992; Laine & Martin, 1996). We therefore tailored our theoretical models to capture these key processes by computing visual, semantic and phonological relationship between the stimuli.
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Single phonetic feature substitutions are among the most common types of phonemic paraphasias occurring in aphasic patients in spoken word production in patients clinically diagnosed with Broca's, Conduction, and Wernicke's aphasia (Blumstein, 1973; Lecours, 1969). Finally, these phonological errors made by the patients were more likely to result in a word than a nonword, a finding consistent with the literature examining errors in spoken word production in aphasia (Blanken, 1998; Gagnon, Schwartz, Martin, Dell, & Saffran, 1997; Laine & Martin, 1996; Nickels & Best, 1996). This lexical bias favoring real word responses in such errors supports the interactive functional architecture of the speech/lexical processing system.
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A large number of studies supporting differences in noun/verb processing in aphasia have relied on action/object picture-naming tasks to elicit verbs and nouns, respectively. The process of naming a picture is in itself highly complex and involves multiple stages (Laine & Martin, 1996). A number of researchers describe three major stages to explain this process (Glaser, 1992; Goodglass, 1993; Gordon, 1997; Johnson, Paivio, & Clark, 1996).
In the past verb retrieval problems were associated primarily with agrammatism and noun retrieval difficulties with fluent aphasia. With regards to fluent aphasia, so far in the literature, three distinct patterns of verb/noun dissociations have been described for individuals with fluent anomic aphasia in languages with different underlying forms; better verb retrieval, poorer verb retrieval and equal retrieval difficulties for verbs and nouns.
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The aim of this research was to investigate verb and noun retrieval using a picture-naming task to explore any possible selective noun and/or verb comprehension or retrieval deficits in Greek individuals with anomic aphasia.
The results revealed a significant verb/noun dichotomy with verbs significantly more difficult to retrieve than nouns.
These findings lend support for the growing body of evidence showing a specific verb impairment in fluent anomic individuals as well as Broca's patients. Given the prevailing view, that anomic patients experience difficulty retrieving the morpho-phonological form of the target word, the results show that specific information of the grammatical category is also important during word form retrieval.
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In this study, we use an auditory picture–word interference task to examine an anomic individual, NP. NP produced semantic errors in picture naming, but his comprehension was relatively well preserved. In the task, pictures to be named were accompanied by semantically, phonologically or unrelated distractors, presented at onsets ranging from −200 ms (before target) to +400 ms (after target). Naming latencies were measured. A group of 12 older controls showed semantic interference (slower latencies with semantic than with unrelated distractors), which was significant at −200 ms, and steadily diminished across later onsets. In contrast, at 0 ms, NP showed powerful semantic facilitation. There were no significant semantic effects at other onsets, but the trends, particularly at later onsets, were towards interference. Phonological effects for NP were in the same direction as for controls (facilitation) but were of greater magnitude. Indeed, NP showed a reliable facilitatory effect at 0 ms (and trends at −200 ms and +200 ms), but a similar trend in controls failed to reach significance. Within recent models of this task, in which semantic facilitation effects are attributed to an early, pre-lexical semantic processing stage, NP's pattern indicates that semantic processing is abnormally prolonged. The phonological facilitation effects are also consistent with this interpretation. We discuss their implications and future applications of the task to aphasia.

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Regular ArticleLexical Retrieval Deficit in Picture Naming: Implications for Word Production Models

Abstract

Regular Article
Lexical Retrieval Deficit in Picture Naming: Implications for Word Production Models