Affective facial and lexical expression in aprosodic versus aphasic stroke patients

Abstract

Past research has shown that lesions in the left cerebral hemisphere often result in aphasia, while lesions in the right hemisphere frequently impair the production of emotional prosody and facial expression. At least 3 processing deficits might account for these affective symptoms: (1) failure to understand the conditions that evoke emotional response; (2) inability to experience emotions; (3) disruption in the capacity to encode non-verbal signals. To better understand these disorders and their underlying mechanisms, we investigated spontaneous affective communication in right hemisphere damaged (RHD) stroke patients with aprosody and left hemisphere damaged (LHD) stroke patients with aphasia. Nine aprosodic RHD patients and 14 aphasic LHD patients participated in a videotaped interview within a larger treatment protocol. Two naïve raters viewed segments of videotape and rated facial expressivity. Verbal affect production was tabulated using specialized software. Results indicated that RHD patients smiled and laughed significantly less than LHD patients. In contrast, RHD patients produced a greater percentage of emotion words relative to total words than did LHD patients. These findings suggest that impairments in emotional prosodic production and facial expressivity associated with RHD are not induced by affective-conceptual deficits or an inability to experience emotions. Rather, they likely represent channel-specific nonverbal encoding abnormalities.

Language and affective facial expression in children with perinatal stroke

“…The production of increased negative affect expressed through language in children with RHI again reflects the earlier identified profile, but in a newly acquired communicative system, language. Such a profile is also consonant with that of the adult stroke literature where negative affect is expressed more frequently by those with RHI as compared to LHI and TD groups (Blonder et al, 1993, 2005). …”

Language and affective facial expression in children with perinatal stroke

“…The production of increased negative affect expressed through language in children with RHI again reflects the earlier identified profile, but in a newly acquired communicative system, language. Such a profile is also consonant with that of the adult stroke literature where negative affect is expressed more frequently by those with RHI as compared to LHI and TD groups (Blonder et al, 1993, 2005). …”

Language and syntactic impairment following stroke in late bilingual aphasics

“…Likewise, Vilarino (1997, 49 early bilinguals) and Roberts (1998, 16 aphasic bilinguals) did not find selective loss of either language. Only Junqué, Vendrell, and Vendrell's (1995, 50 aphasic bilinguals) data reported a trend towards a better preservation of L1, possibly due to higher exposure to L1 (Blonder et al, 2005).…”

Left Hemisphere Bias of NIH Stroke Scale Is Most Severe for Middle Cerebral Artery Strokes

“…It is important to recognize that the NIHSS does not capture right cortical dysfunction. Other right, mostly MCA, cortical functions include empathy ( 20 , 21 ), recognition and expression of affective prosody [tone of voice to convey emotions ( 22 , 23 ), recognition of facial expression ( 24 ), awareness of deficits ( 25 ), integration of information (getting the “big picture”) ( 26 , 27 ), understanding humor, and metaphor ( 28 , 29 ), etc.]. However, these cortical functions are more difficult to assess reliably at bedside.…”

Language and affective facial expression in children with perinatal stroke

“…The production of increased negative affect expressed through language in children with RHI again reflects the earlier identified profile, but in a newly acquired communicative system, language. Such a profile is also consonant with that of the adult stroke literature where negative affect is expressed more frequently by those with RHI as compared to LHI and TD groups (Blonder et al, 1993, 2005). …”

Language and syntactic impairment following stroke in late bilingual aphasics

“…Likewise, Vilarino (1997, 49 early bilinguals) and Roberts (1998, 16 aphasic bilinguals) did not find selective loss of either language. Only Junqué, Vendrell, and Vendrell's (1995, 50 aphasic bilinguals) data reported a trend towards a better preservation of L1, possibly due to higher exposure to L1 (Blonder et al, 2005).…”

Left Hemisphere Bias of NIH Stroke Scale Is Most Severe for Middle Cerebral Artery Strokes

“…It is important to recognize that the NIHSS does not capture right cortical dysfunction. Other right, mostly MCA, cortical functions include empathy ( 20 , 21 ), recognition and expression of affective prosody [tone of voice to convey emotions ( 22 , 23 ), recognition of facial expression ( 24 ), awareness of deficits ( 25 ), integration of information (getting the “big picture”) ( 26 , 27 ), understanding humor, and metaphor ( 28 , 29 ), etc.]. However, these cortical functions are more difficult to assess reliably at bedside.…”

Language and affective facial expression in children with perinatal stroke

“…The production of increased negative affect expressed through language in children with RHI again reflects the earlier identified profile, but in a newly acquired communicative system, language. Such a profile is also consonant with that of the adult stroke literature where negative affect is expressed more frequently by those with RHI as compared to LHI and TD groups (Blonder et al, 1993, 2005). …”

Language and syntactic impairment following stroke in late bilingual aphasics

“…Likewise, Vilarino (1997, 49 early bilinguals) and Roberts (1998, 16 aphasic bilinguals) did not find selective loss of either language. Only Junqué, Vendrell, and Vendrell's (1995, 50 aphasic bilinguals) data reported a trend towards a better preservation of L1, possibly due to higher exposure to L1 (Blonder et al, 2005).…”

Left Hemisphere Bias of NIH Stroke Scale Is Most Severe for Middle Cerebral Artery Strokes

“…It is important to recognize that the NIHSS does not capture right cortical dysfunction. Other right, mostly MCA, cortical functions include empathy ( 20 , 21 ), recognition and expression of affective prosody [tone of voice to convey emotions ( 22 , 23 ), recognition of facial expression ( 24 ), awareness of deficits ( 25 ), integration of information (getting the “big picture”) ( 26 , 27 ), understanding humor, and metaphor ( 28 , 29 ), etc.]. However, these cortical functions are more difficult to assess reliably at bedside.…”