Prof. David Copland | Testing neurobiological predictors and principles of aphasia recovery

Guest Lecture

  • Date: Dec 13, 2018
  • Time: 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Prof. David Copland
  • The University of Queensland, Australia
  • Location: MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
  • Room: Wilhelm Wundt Room (A400)
Recovery from post-stroke aphasia is highly variable and there is currently no accurate method of predicting individual recovery or response to aphasia treatment. Traditional approaches combining behavioral language measures, demographic and lesion information have often accounted for a limited amount of variance in recovery or have not considered treatment. This presentation will consider the relationship between language impairment, cognitive function and aphasia treatment response and will examine the potential of functional neuroimaging to improve prediction of response to word retrieval treatment. It has been proposed that aphasia recovery will be improved by applying principles of neuroplasticity including intensity of therapy. However, most trials of high versus low intensity aphasia therapy have not controlled for differences in the amount or dosage of treatment. Findings of a dosage-controlled trial of aphasia treatment intensity will be discussed which are at odds with the assumption that increasing intensity of aphasia treatment delivers superior outcomes. These findings suggest the need to re-evaluate the application of these principles of neuroplasticity to aphasia therapy.

Poster
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