Distinct Contributions of Working Memory and Attentional Control to Sentence Comprehension in Noise in Persons With Stroke.
Megan C Fitzhugh, Arianna N LaCroix, Corianne Rogalsky
PMID 34284642WHAT IT FOUND
Stroke survivors took longer to match pictures to sentences in noise, but accuracy stayed high.
Those with poorer working memory slowed down in any noise. Those with poorer attentional control slowed down specifically when hearing other people talking.
Key findings
01Reaction times increased in multispeaker noise compared to silence and broadband noise, while accuracy did not significantly differ across conditions.
02Poorer working memory predicted longer reaction times when listening to sentences in both multispeaker and broadband noise.
03Poorer attentional control predicted a greater increase in reaction time specifically for informational masking (the difference between multispeaker and broadband noise).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size was small (20 participants). The study used a cross-sectional design, so it cannot determine causality. Language comprehension abilities likely influenced the working memory test scores, confounding the relationship between cognition and language. Sentence loudness was not individually adjusted for hearing thresholds, though hearing was included as a covariate. The finding for attentional control and energetic masking was driven by a single outlier and disappeared when that participant was removed.
Declared interests
Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association predoctoral fellowship.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that preserved accuracy in noise means the patient is not struggling. The study shows that reaction times lengthen significantly in noise, indicating increased listening effort even when the patient answers correctly.