Conversational repair as a measure of insight in Wernicke's Aphasia
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Conversational repair as a measure of insight in Wernicke's Aphasia
IRAS ID
180805
Contact name
Kezia Lawson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Sheffield
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
146521, University Research Management System (URMS)
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 30 days
Research summary
Wernicke’s aphasia is a language disorder most commonly caused by a stroke. Individuals with Wernicke’s aphasia have difficulties understanding language spoken by others. They frequently produce non-existing words that are either completely unrecognisable, or are related in sound or meaning to the word they are trying to produce. These language difficulties are usually significant enough to interfere with the individual’s ability to participate effectively in conversations and function in everyday life. Yet another feature of the disorder is that individuals frequently lack insight into their difficulties. This creates barriers to providing speech and language therapy since individuals are not motivated to work on their language when they are unaware that it is impaired. Some individuals with Wernicke’s aphasia seem to develop insight over time, which leads to improvements in their language skills and improved therapy outcomes. However it is poorly understood which individuals develop insight, and how this process occurs.
The research aims to ascertain whether analysing the conversations of individuals with Wernicke’s aphasia can provide further understanding into the development of insight. For example, it is expected that individuals lacking insight will not attempt to correct errors that they produce in their speech, and will not respond to their conversation partner’s attempts to acknowledge their errors. Analysing conversations in the first few weeks following a stroke, and again within two months later, will enable any change in the use of conversational repair to be identified.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Leeds West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/YH/0007
Date of REC Opinion
19 Feb 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion