Visuomotor tracking abilities of speakers with apraxia of speech or conduction aphasia

Donald A. Robin, Adam Jacks, Carlin Hageman, Heather M. Clark, George Woodworth

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

This investigation examined the visuomotor tracking abilities of persons with apraxia of speech (AOS) or conduction aphasia (CA). In addition, tracking performance was correlated with perceptual judgments of speech accuracy. Five individuals with AOS and four with CA served as participants, as well as an equal number of healthy controls matched by age and gender. Participants tracked predictable (sinusoidal) and unpredictable signals using jaw and lip movements transduced with strain gauges. Tracking performance in participants with AOS was poorest for predictable signals, with decreased kinematic measures of cross-correlation and gain ratio and increased target-tracker difference. In contrast, tracking of the unpredictable signal by participants with AOS was performed as well as for other groups (e.g. participants with CA, healthy controls). Performance of the subjects with AOS on the predictable tracking task was found to strongly correlate with perceptual judgments of speech. These findings suggest that motor control capabilities are impaired in AOS, but not in CA. Results suggest that AOS has its basis in motor programming deficits, not impaired motor execution.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)98-106
Number of pages9
JournalBrain and Language
Volume106
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2008

Keywords

  • Apraxia of speech
  • Conduction aphasia
  • Motor programming
  • Motor speech disorders
  • Speech motor control
  • Visuomotor tracking

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
  • Speech and Hearing
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Language and Linguistics
  • Linguistics and Language

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