Effect of Semantic Cueing for Verbs and its Thematic Role Approach on Priming of Verbs and its Thematic Roles in Persons with Aphasia

Abstract

Introduction: SCVTr stands for: semantic cueing for verbs and its thematic role. (SCVTr) is a therapy approach that aims to improve word retrieval in persons with aphasia (PWAs). It uses verbs and thematic roles (agent and patient) to facilitate word retrieval in PWA. Aim: The present study was conducted to analyze the effect of priming of verbs and their thematic roles in PWA. Methods: A total of five PWAs were recruited for the study, and the participants in the study initially received SCVTr therapy (Phase 1). Further, the study comprised two experiments (phase 2). In experiment 1, verb (prime) and agent (target) were presented. In experiment 2, verb (prime) and patient (target) were presented using PsychoPy software. These experiments were presented to glean reaction time and accuracy scores, during pre‑ and posttherapy measures, across the trained related, untrained related, and untrained unrelated conditions. Results: Researchers discerned improved reaction time and increased accuracy scores at posttherapy compare pretherapy conditions in four PWAs. In addition, researchers noted no difference in reaction time and accuracy scores across all the participants between experiment 1 versus experiment 2. Conclusions: This study throws light on the importance of thematic role during sentence processing and its relationship with verbs. Thus, this, in turn, might aid PWAs to retrieve the words with ease.