Anomia is one of the most frequent manifestations in aphasia. Model-based treatments for anomia usually focus on semantic and/or phonological levels of processing. This study reports treatment of anomia in an individual with chronic aphasia. After baseline testing, she received a training program in which semantic and phonological treatments were contrasted. The semantic treatment resulted in generalization to closely semantically related untreated items. Moreover, this beneficial effect was highly durable and maintained at the immediate posttreatment level for at least 3 months. However, the positive response to the phonological treatment was limited to treated stimuli only. This case study demonstrates that improvement in word-finding abilities may be possible in chronic anomic aphasia, even after a relatively short period of therapy. It also underlines the importance of relying on theoretical models of language processing to adapt treatments to each specific deficit.
BaudotJ. (1992). Fréquences d’utilisation des mots en français écrit contemporain [Frequency of use of words in contemporary written French]. Montréal: Les Presses de l’université de Montréal.
2.
BeauvoisM. F.DerouesnéJ. (1981). Lexical or orthographic agraphia. Brain, 104, 21–49.
3.
BestW.HickinG.HerbertR.HowardD.OsborneF. (2000). Phonological facilitation of aphasic naming and predicting the outcome of treatment for anomia. Brain and Language, 74, 435–438.
4.
BoyleM. (2004). Semantic feature analysis treatment for anomia in two fluent aphasia syndromes. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 13, 236–249.
5.
ButterworthB. (1989). Lexical access in speech production. In Marslen-WilsonW. (Ed.), Lexical representation and process (pp. 108–135). Cambridge: MIT Press.
6.
CaramazzaA.HillisA. E. (1990). Where do semantic errors come from?Cortex, 26, 95–122.
7.
CoelhoC.McHughR.BoyleM. (2000). Semantic feature analysis as a treatment for aphasic dysnomia: A replication. Aphasiology, 14, 133–142.
8.
DellG. S. (1986). A spreading-activation theory of retrieval in sentence production. Psychological Review, 93, 283–321.
9.
DesrochersA.BergeronM. (2000). Valeurs de fréquence subjective et d’imagerie pour un échantillon de 1,916 substantifs de la langue française [Values of subjective frequency and imaging for a sample of 1,916 nouns in French]. Revue Canadienne de Psychologie Expérimentale, 54, 274–325.
10.
DrewR. L.ThompsonC. K. (1999). Model-based semantic treatment for naming deficits in aphasia. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 42, 972–989.
11.
FranklinD. R.ClarkN.HumphreysG. W. (2002). Circumlocution-induced naming (CIN): A treatment for effecting generalization in anomia?Aphasiology, 16, 243–259.
12.
HillisA. E.CaramazzaA. (1995). The compositionality of lexical semantic representations: Clues from semantic errors in object naming. Memory, 3, 333–358.
13.
HowardD.PattersonK. (1992). The Pyramids and Palm Trees Test. Bury St. Edmunds, UK: Thames Valley Test Company.
14.
HowardD.PattersonK.FranklinS.Orchard-LisleV.MortonJ. (1985). The facilitation of picture naming in aphasia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 2, 49–80.
15.
KayJ.EllisA. W. (1985). A cognitive neuropsychological study of anomia: Implications for psychological models of word retrieval. Brain, 100, 613–629.
16.
KiranS.ThompsonC. K. (2003). The role of semantic complexity in treatment of naming deficits: Training semantic categories in fluent aphasia by controlling exemplar typicality. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 46, 773–787.
17.
LeveltW.J.M.RoelofsA.MeyerA. S. (1999). A theory of lexical access in speech production. Brain and Behavioural Sciences, 22, 1–75.
18.
MacoirJ. (2009). Is a plum a memory problem? Longitudinal study of the reversal of concreteness effect in a patient with semantic dementia. Neuropsychologia, 47, 518–535.
19.
MacoirJ.BernierJ. (2002). Is surface dysgraphia tied to semantic impairment? Evidence from a case of semantic dementia. Brain and Cognition, 48, 452–457.
20.
MarshallJ.PoundC.White-ThomsonM.PringT. (1990). The use of picture/word matching tasks to assist word retrieval in aphasic patients. Aphasiology, 4, 167–184.
21.
MiceliG.AmitranoA.CapassoR.CaramazzaA. (1996). The remediation of anomia resulting from output lexical damage: Analysis of two cases. Brain and Language, 52, 150–174.
22.
MiceliG.GiustolisiL.CaramazzaA. (1991). The interaction of lexical and non-lexical processing mechanisms: Evidence from anomia. Cortex, 27, 57–80.
23.
MitchumC. C.RitgertB. A.SandsonJ.BerndtR. S. (1990). The use of response analysis in confrontation naming. Aphasiology, 4, 261–280.
24.
NettletonJ.LesserR. (1991). Therapy for naming difficulties in aphasia: Application of a cognitive neuropsychological model. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 6, 139–157.
25.
NickelsL. A. (2002). Therapy for naming disorders: Revisiting, revising, and reviewing. Aphasiology, 16, 935–979.
26.
NickelsL. A.BestW. (1996a). Therapy for naming disorders (Part I): Principles, puzzles and progress. Aphasiology, 10, 21–47.
27.
NickelsL. A.BestW. (1996b). Therapy for naming disorders (Part II): Specifics, surprises and suggestions. Aphasiology, 10, 109–136.
28.
NickelsL. A.HowardD. (1994). A frequent occurrence: Factors affecting the production of semantic errors in aphasic naming. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 11, 289–320.
29.
PringT.White-ThomsonM.PoundC.MarshallJ.DavisA. (1990). Picture/word matching tasks and word retrieval: Some follow-up data and second thoughts. Aphasiology, 4, 479–483.
30.
RiddochJ.HumphreysG. W. (1993). The Birmingham Object Recognition Battery. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
31.
RobsonJ.MarshallJ.PringT.ChiatS. (1998). Phonological naming therapy in jargon aphasia: Positive but paradoxical effects. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 4, 675–686.
32.
SnodgrassJ. G.VanderwartM. (1980). A standardized set of 260 pictures: Norms for name agreement, image agreement, familiarity, and visual complexity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 6, 174–215.
