TY  - JOUR
A1  - Zakariás, Lilla
A1  - Keresztes, Attila
A1  - Marton, Klara
A1  - Wartenburger, Isabell
T1  - Positive effects of a computerised working memory and executive function
JF  - Neuropsychological rehabilitation
N2  - Aphasia, the language disorder following brain damage, is frequently accompanied by deficits of working memory (WM) and executive functions (EFs). Recent studies suggest that WM, together with certain EFs, can play a role in sentence comprehension in individuals with aphasia (IWA), and that WM can be enhanced with intensive practice. Our aim was to investigate whether a combined WM and EF training improves the understanding of spoken sentences in IWA. We used a pre-post-test case control design. Three individuals with chronic aphasia practised an adaptive training task (a modified n-back task) three to four times a week for a month. Their performance was assessed before and after the training on outcome measures related to WM and spoken sentence comprehension. One participant showed significant improvement on the training task, another showed a tendency for improvement, and both of them improved significantly in spoken sentence comprehension. The third participant did not improve on the training task, however, she showed improvement on one measure of spoken sentence comprehension. Compared to controls, two individuals improved at least in one condition of the WM outcome measures. Thus, our results suggest that a combined WM and EF training can be beneficial for IWA.
KW  - Aphasia rehabilitation
KW  - transfer effect
KW  - updating training
KW  - interference control
KW  - sentence comprehension deficit
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1080/09602011.2016.1159579
SN  - 0960-2011
SN  - 1464-0694
VL  - 28
IS  - 3
SP  - 369
EP  - 386
PB  - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
CY  - Abingdon
ER  -