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aphasia

·May 17, 2025·5 min read

AI Chatbots Mirror a Human Brain Disorder

Researchers have found a surprising similarity between the way large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT process information and how the brains of people with Wernicke’s aphasia function. In both cases, fluent but often incoherent output is produced, suggesting rigid internal processing patterns that can distort meaning.

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·May 16, 2024·4 min read

Singing Improves Language Skills in Stroke-Damaged Brains

Singing can improve language recovery in stroke patients by repairing the brain's language network. This positive effect is attributed to increased grey matter volume in language regions and improved connectivity within the network. The study suggests that singing can be a cost-effective addition to traditional rehabilitation methods.

This shows a woman with a head made of books.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 24, 2023·4 min read

The Brain’s Reading Riddle: Dual Brain Regions Unlock Language’s Depths

New research illuminates the brain's role in semantic integration during reading, providing insights into the challenges faced by aphasia patients. The study found that the posterior temporal cortex activates early during semantic processing, while the inferior frontal cortex plays a broader role in understanding meaning.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·October 29, 2022·6 min read

Fetterman’s Struggles With Language Highlight the Challenges After a Stroke: Understanding Aphasia and the Path to Recovery

US Senate candidate, John Fetterman, who suffered a stroke earlier this year, has been criticized by the opposition for his performance in recent broadcasts and in this week's debate. Following his stroke, Fetterman developed aphasia, auditory processing, and speech issues which have led some to question his fitness for office. While aphasia and auditory processing disorders can make the speech of sufferers difficult to understand, they do not imply cognitive impairments. Researchers shed light on aphasia and stroke recovery, reporting auditory processing symptoms as a result of stroke do not alter one's intelligence, behavior, or other executive abilities.

This shows images from the study of a man gesturing while talking

Featured Neuroscience

·July 10, 2022·4 min read

Gestures Can Improve Understanding in Language Disorders

When people with language disorders such as aphasia speak, their communication partners are more likely to pay attention to the speaker's hand movements and gestures. Gestures, researchers say, may help supplement understanding of what is being verbally communicated.

This shows a finger touching a picture of a brain

Featured Neuroscience

·June 21, 2022·5 min read

Study Reveals Trade-off Between Complex Words and Complex Grammar in Sentences

People with primary progressive aphasia who have difficulty producing complex words as a result of their condition, compensate by stringing together a sequence of simpler words to convey the idea they wish to express.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 28, 2022·6 min read

Boosting Brain Function in Later Life Through Singing

Singing in a social group such as a choir may help protect cognitive function and treat aphasia in older adults.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·April 19, 2022·3 min read

Five Diseases Attack Language Areas in Brain

Study identified five different neurological disorders that attack the brain's language network, resulting in primary progressive aphasia.

This shows the location of the brain networks

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·September 2, 2019·3 min read

Map of broken brain networks shows why people lose speech in language-based dementia

Researchers have identified the location of dysfunctional brain networks that lead to impaired sentence production and word-finding in primary progressive aphasia (PPA). PPA can occur in those with neurodegenerative diseases, such as frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Mapping the networks allows clinicians to apply non-invasive brain stimulation to potentially improve speech in those with PPA.

Featured Neuroscience

·August 19, 2019·5 min read

A map of the brain can tell what you’re reading

fMRI brain scans reveal semantic tuning during both reading and listening to words are highly correlated in selective areas of the cerebral cortex. The new brain maps enabled researchers to accurately predict which words would active specific regions of the cortex.

This is a brain scan of someone with PPA

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·May 13, 2019·4 min read

Detecting dementia’s damaging effects before it’s too late

Using MEG neuroimaging, researchers identify abnormalities in functional activity in brain regions which look structurally normal on conventional MRI scans. The findings could help with early detection of primary progressive aphasia.