Protocol Number: 00-CC-0096

Title:

Investigations in Discourse Processes

Number:

00-CC-0096

Summary:

This research trial will study discourse processing-that is, how the brain processes the meaning of language. It will examine, for example, how words and sentences are interpreted in cases where more than one meaning is possible. The study will include two parts:

1. An investigation of the role of the prefrontal cortex of the brain in discourse processing will compare test performance of patients with prefrontal cortex damage with that of healthy age-matched normal volunteers.

2. An investigation of the role of aging in discourse processing will compare test performance of young healthy subjects (18 to 40 years old) with older healthy subjects (41 to 80 years old).

All study candidates-both normal volunteers and patients with brain damage-must be at least 18 years old, speak English as their native language, have a high school degree or equivalent (GED), read on a minimum fourth grade level and be right-handed.

Study candidates who have central nervous system disease, dysfunction or trauma will have a routine history and neurological examination. They will also undergo neuropsychological testing if they have not already done so. Patients with neurological damage who have not had a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan within six months or a year will be asked to undergo this procedure.

Study participants will take verbal or written tests; sit in front of a computer screen and press computer keys in response to what they are shown; answer questions from an examiner, which may be tape-recorded; and fill out questionnaires. There will be rest breaks between tasks. The studies will be spread over three to four days, with sessions lasting from 30 minutes to three hours.

Sponsoring Institute:

Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center (CC)

Recruitment Detail

Type: Active Accrual Of New Subjects

Gender: Male & Female

Referral Letter Required: No

Population Exclusion(s): None

Eligibility Criteria:

Inclusion Criteria:

All subjects will be between the ages of 18-80, fluent English speakers, premorbidly right handed, and literate for stimulus sentences that are written at a minimum of a 4th grade reading level. In addition, all subjects will have a minimum high school or GED education, sufficient hearing acuity (aided or unaided) and auditory comprehension to follow task instructions, adequate visual acuity (aided or unaided) to read at least 14 pt. print on a computer screen, and adequate dexterity to press keyboard keys in response to stimuli.

Healthy subjects will have no history of mental, cognitive or other neurological deficits, adequate hearing and visual acuity (corrected or uncorrected) to follow task instructions and read at least 14 pt. print on a computer screen, and adequate dexterity to press keyboard keys to response stimuli. As with BD subjects, healthy subjects will be right handed, native English speakers, and literate for stimulus sentences. The Mini-Mental State Examination (Folstein et al., 1975) will be administered as a cognitive screen for healthy subjects, using a cut-off score of 27 (of total 30) for inclusion on the protocol.

For prefrontal BD subjects, only adult patients with focal damage confined to the prefrontal lateral or orbitomedial areas of either or both hemispheres will be included in the study. Cortical damage will be determined on the bases of neurological and neuropsychological examinations and confirmed by MRI or CT studies. All patients with stroke and penetrating head injury will be tested at least 3 months post-onset of neurological damage to ensure a stable medical condition. All patients with resected brain tumor will have completed radiation therapy and regimen of steroid medication. Dates and course of radiation therapy will be documented.

It should be emphasized that the BD subjects to be included on this protocol will have selective deficits (on the basis of neuropsychological test findings and screening to determine candidacy) and will be able to understand the purpose of our studies, the instructions for our tasks, and response demands. Patients who cannot understand the purpose of our studies, or the instructions or response demands of the tasks would not meet entry criteria. Only those subjects who pass the screening will be accepted on the protocol.

Exclusion Criteria:

Healthy subjects will have no history of mental, cognitive or other neurological deficits.

Special Instructions: Currently Not Provided

Keywords:

Cognitive Processes

Inferential Ambiguities

Language Processes

Lexical Ambiguities

Suppression Mechanism

Discourse Processes

Discourse Production Analysis

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Prefrontal Cortex Function

Aging Effects

Garden Path Phenomena

Text Integration

Recruitment Keywords:

None

Conditions:

Central Nervous System Disease

Cerebrovascular Accident

Craniocerebral Trauma

Head Injury

Healthy

Stroke

Investigational Drug(s):

None

Investigational Device(s):

None

Contacts:

Patient Recruitment and Public Liaison Office
Building 61
10 Cloister Court
Bethesda, Maryland 20892-4754
Toll Free: 1-800-411-1222
TTY: 301-594-9774 (local),1-866-411-1010 (toll free)
Fax: 301-480-9793

Electronic Mail:prpl@mail.cc.nih.gov

Citations:

Cerebral mechanisms for suppression of inappropriate information during sentence comprehension

The mental representation of spatial descriptions

Story processing in right-hemisphere brain-damaged patients

• Questions about participating in a study, please contact the Patient Recruitment and Public Liaison Office, CC.
• Technical questions regarding the Clinical Center web site, please contact the Department of Networks and Applications, CC.

Search The Studies | Help | Questions |
Clinical Center Home | NIH Home

Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center (CC)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Bethesda, Maryland 20892. Last update: 10/19/2004