Cortical activity during narrative discourse production in individuals with post-stroke aphasia and controls measured via functional near-infrared spectroscopy
- 1University of Cincinnati
Abstract
Introduction: Aphasia is an acquired language disorder with a significant negative functional impact. Much of the research on aphasia has focused on word-level language comprehension and production. Further evaluation of discourse-level tasks, both at behavioral and neural levels, will allow for an ecologically valid understanding of the functional implications of language impairment in this population. Method: This study evaluated bilateral frontal, temporal, and parietal cortical activity during computer-based narrative production in 14 young neurotypical individuals, 17 individuals with post-stroke aphasia, and 15 age-matched neurotypical participants using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO) was measured during narrative production following short video clips and compared to HbO during counting aloud. In addition, behavioral measures quantifying in-task performance were correlated with averaged HbO values. Results: Across primary ROIs (bilateral frontal and temporal), there was greater cortical activity for narrative production than counting aloud. Between group differences were seen in right frontal and left temporal ROIs. In the left temporal ROI, there was a condition-related effect for the young neurotypical group only. In the right frontal ROI, there was a condition-related effect for both the young neurotypical group and the individuals with aphasia. Each group showed different patterns in relationships between cortical activity and discourse performance measures. Conclusion: Overall, young participants showing more consistent condition-related effects for narrative discourse production than individuals with aphasia and age-matched controls. This study shows the potential for fNIRS to evaluate cortical activity for ecologically valid language tasks in individuals with post-stroke aphasia.
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BibTeX
@misc{braun2026cortical,
title = {{Cortical activity during narrative discourse production in individuals with post-stroke aphasia and controls measured via functional near-infrared spectroscopy}},
author = {E. J. Braun and E. A. Carpenter and Y. Gao and M. A. Yucel and D. A. Boas and S. Kiran},
howpublished = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.64898/2026.06.05.26354921},
url = {https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.05.26354921v2},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Cortical activity during narrative discourse production in individuals with post-stroke aphasia and controls measured via functional near-infrared spectroscopy
AU - E. J. Braun
AU - E. A. Carpenter
AU - Y. Gao
AU - M. A. Yucel
AU - D. A. Boas
AU - S. Kiran
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/05
PB - medRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.06.05.26354921
UR - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.05.26354921v2
AB - Introduction: Aphasia is an acquired language disorder with a significant negative functional impact. Much of the research on aphasia has focused on word-level language comprehension and production. Further evaluation of discourse-level tasks, both at behavioral and neural levels, will allow for an ecologically valid understanding of the functional implications of language impairment in this population. Method: This study evaluated bilateral frontal, temporal, and parietal cortical activity during computer-based narrative production in 14 young neurotypical individuals, 17 individuals with post-stroke aphasia, and 15 age-matched neurotypical participants using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO) was measured during narrative production following short video clips and compared to HbO during counting aloud. In addition, behavioral measures quantifying in-task performance were correlated with averaged HbO values. Results: Across primary ROIs (bilateral frontal and temporal), there was greater cortical activity for narrative production than counting aloud. Between group differences were seen in right frontal and left temporal ROIs. In the left temporal ROI, there was a condition-related effect for the young neurotypical group only. In the right frontal ROI, there was a condition-related effect for both the young neurotypical group and the individuals with aphasia. Each group showed different patterns in relationships between cortical activity and discourse performance measures. Conclusion: Overall, young participants showing more consistent condition-related effects for narrative discourse production than individuals with aphasia and age-matched controls. This study shows the potential for fNIRS to evaluate cortical activity for ecologically valid language tasks in individuals with post-stroke aphasia.
ER -