Executive Attention deficits in aphasia: case studies

Evans, William S (2014) Executive Attention deficits in aphasia: case studies. [Clinical Aphasiology Paper]

HTML 558-1098-1-RV(Evans).pdf Download (48kB)

Abstract

Many features of language impairments in people with aphasia (PWA) suggest that they have problems with executive functions that control language use (Hula and McNeil, 2008). An outstanding question is the extent to which the executive functions affected in PWA apply in other cognitive domains (Murray, 2012) or are specific to language (Jefferies and Lambon Ralph, 2006; Hoffman et al., 2013). The Executive Attention model (Engle and Kane, 2004) provides a framework for examining this question. It claims the central executive consists of two interacting components: task maintenance, the ability to use task goals to exert proactive control that reduces interference, and conflict resolution, the ability to resolve conflicts generated by interference during goal-directed processing. It is proposed that task maintenance is a domain-general capacity, and that conflict resolution is at least partially encapsulated, with specialized functions responsible for modality-specific interference. Therefore, PWA with task maintenance deficits should be affected in all cognitive areas, whereas PWA with conflict resolution impairments should be affected only in language functions, where they should show increased interference effects even in contexts of minimal task maintenance demand. Hypotheses were tested in two case studies.

Actions (login required)

View Item