Effects of Unisensory and Multisensory Presentation of Stimuli Upon Naming By Aphasic Subjects

Eight aphasic subjects participated in a Picture-naming and a Word-reading task. Stimuli were presented in three conditions for each task: (a) Auditory Condition (A), during which the subject was required to repeat the name of a stimulus item spoken by the experimenter; (b) Visual Condition (V), during which the subject was required to name a picture in the Picture-naming task and read a printed word in the Word-reading task; (c) Combined Condition (C), during which auditory and visual stimuli were presented simultaneously and the subject was required to respond by repeating the auditory stimulus or reading the stimulus item. Different stimuli were used in Picture-naming than in Word-reading. The results were as follows: (1) Performance of subjects during Combined Condition was generally superior to performance during Auditory and Visual Conditions; (2) Subjects generally had fewer correct responses during Visual Condition than during Auditory Condition; (3) The naming performance of aphasic subjects between sessions improved more frequently during unisensory conditions than during multisensory conditions, the greatest amount of improvement occurring during Visual Condition; (4) Visual Conditions had a pronounced debilitating effect on naming performance during subsequent Combined Conditions. The study generally supports the conclusion that multisensory presentation of stimuli facilitates the performance of aphasic patients on a naming task. However, single-subject analysis suggests that a multisensory approach would not necessarily best meet the needs of each aphasic patient.