An information-theoretic analysis of agrammatism in Broca’s aphasia

Abstract

Recently we proposed and tested a novel framework based on information theory about the features of agrammatism in patients with the nonfluent variant of primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA). These features include short sentences, simplified structures, the omission of function words, reduced use of verbs, and increased use of heavy verbs. After distinguishing the syntactic and lexical features of agrammatism, we proposed that the lexical features are not defects but rather a compensatory response to structural deficits. We showed that although patients with nfvPPA have difficulty using complex structures, they use more informative words to facilitate the transfer of their intended message. In this work, we demonstrated the generalizability of our findings to patients with Broca's aphasia who share similar neuroanatomical involvements with patients with nfvPPA. We found that patients with Broca's aphasia use simpler syntactic structures as measured by higher syntax frequency. We also found that the use of simpler syntax predicts the use of lower-frequency words. Furthermore, our study showed that producing sentences of lower word frequency is likely achieved through the canonical features of agrammatism, i.e., higher proportions of content words over function words, nouns over verbs, and heavy verbs over light verbs.

Impaired language in Alzheimer’s disease: A comparison between English and Persian implicates content-word frequency rather than the noun-verb distinction

“…17,18 The verbs that nonfluent patients produce can be even heavier than those produced by healthy individuals, indicating that a simple verb class cannot provide a comprehensive account of the linguistic characteristics observed in the disease. 47–49 Another notable discrepancy is language production in pwAD. The traditional understanding of word processing across separate neural networks predicts that pwAD would struggle more with noun production than verb production, given the predominance of posterior temporal and parietal neurodegeneration and the relative sparing of frontal areas, particularly in the early stages of the disease.…”