PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Reading comprehension is supported by a hierarchy of cognitive-linguistic processes such as
recognizing words, mapping semantics onto words and phrases, and integrating information across units. In
bilingual individuals, successful reading comprehension must also include some mechanism of language
selection to enable reading in the target language given that both languages are active during linguistic
processing. Due to stroke, bilinguals with aphasia (BWA) routinely demonstrate impairments in reading
comprehension and language selection—in addition to other cognitive-linguistic deficits—which may severely
compromise their ability to access and select appropriate lexical representations in one or both languages
while reading. Previous studies in healthy bilinguals have used eye-tracking-while-reading to determine the
effect of contextual information on real-time sentence comprehension; however, it is currently unknown
whether BWA are sensitive to the same types of information or whether they demonstrate similar patterns of
language co-activation post-stroke.
The overall goal of this proposal is to address this gap in the literature through a series of eye-tracking-
while-reading experiments to measure the effects of semantic and lexical variables on real-time sentence
processing in BWA. Eye-tracking-while-reading designs are ideal for examining real-time reading because they
permit subjects to i) view all words in a sentence throughout the trial (i.e., without pressing a button to uncover
them) and ii) return to earlier words or phrases for rereading which is especially important for BWA who will
require more time to retrieve lexical representations and process the meaning of a sentence. In the current
proposal, Aim 1 will examine the effects of reading cognates, which share overlapping orthographic and
semantic representations (e.g., piano in English and Spanish), and semantically constrained sentences on
real-time sentence processing. Aim 2 will examine the effects of reading interlingual homograph words, which
overlap in orthography but diverge in meaning (e.g., fin, animal part in English, end in Spanish), and
semantically constrained sentences on real-time sentence processing. Aim 3 will examine the relationship
between eye tracking outcomes and offline measures of language proficiency, linguistic impairment, and
nonlinguistic cognition to investigate the effects of individual variability in BWA reading behaviors post-stroke.
By achieving these aims, this project will advance our understanding of reading comprehension
impairment in BWA. Ultimately, such findings can be used to enhance clinical outcomes for this population and
will represent an important first step in improving quality of life and access to literacy post-stroke.