Multimodal Communication in Aphasia: Perception and Production of Co-speech Gestures During Face-to-Face Conversation

Preisig, Basil; Eggenberger, Noëmi; Cazzoli, Dario; Nyffeler, Thomas; Gutbrod, Klemens; Annoni, Jean-Marie; Meichtry, Jurka; Nef, Tobias; Müri, René Martin (2018). Multimodal Communication in Aphasia: Perception and Production of Co-speech Gestures During Face-to-Face Conversation. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 12, p. 200. Frontiers Research Foundation 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00200

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The role of nonverbal communication in patients with post-stroke language impairment (aphasia) is not yet fully understood. This study investigated how aphasic patients perceive and produce co-speech gestures during face-to-face interaction, and whether distinct brain lesions would predict the frequency of spontaneous co-speech gesturing. For this purpose, we recorded samples of conversations in patients with aphasia and healthy participants. Gesture perception was assessed by means of a head-mounted eye-tracking system, and the produced co-speech gestures were coded according to a linguistic classification system. The main results are that meaning-laden gestures (e.g., iconic gestures representing object shapes) are more likely to attract visual attention than meaningless hand movements, and that patients with aphasia are more likely to fixate co-speech gestures overall than healthy participants. This implies that patients with aphasia may benefit from the multimodal information provided by co-speech gestures. On the level of co-speech gesture production, we found that patients with damage to the anterior part of the arcuate fasciculus showed a higher frequency of meaning-laden gestures. This area lies in close vicinity to the premotor cortex and is considered to be important for speech production. This may suggest that the use of meaning-laden gestures depends on the integrity of patients’ speech production abilities.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

10 Strategic Research Centers > ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research > ARTORG Center - Gerontechnology and Rehabilitation
04 Faculty of Medicine > University Psychiatric Services > University Hospital of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy > Translational Research Center
04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Head Organs and Neurology (DKNS) > Clinic of Neurology
04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > BioMedical Research (DBMR) > Forschungsbereich Pavillon 52 > Forschungsgruppe Perzeption und Okulomotorik
07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology > Psychological and Behavioral Health
04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > BioMedical Research (DBMR) > DCR Unit Sahli Building > Forschungsgruppe Neurologie

UniBE Contributor:

Preisig, Basil, Eggenberger, Noëmi, Cazzoli, Dario, Nyffeler, Thomas, Gutbrod, Klemens, Meichtry, Jurka, Nef, Tobias, Müri, René Martin

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
100 Philosophy > 150 Psychology

ISSN:

1662-5161

Publisher:

Frontiers Research Foundation

Language:

English

Submitter:

Angela Amira Botros

Date Deposited:

11 Jul 2018 13:16

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:16

Publisher DOI:

10.3389/fnhum.2018.00200

PubMed ID:

29962942

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.118509

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/118509

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