# Speaker-Listener Coupling and Brain Dynamics During Naturalistic Verbal Communication in Alzheimer's Disease

> **NIH NIH R21** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $393,231

## Abstract

Project Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive and severely debilitating disease that negatively affects cognitive
and memory function and is linked to increased disability in everyday functioning and risk of mortality.
Language function is a crucial area of impairment for AD. Individuals with AD show a wide range of language
difficulties which are thought to lead to social isolation in affected individuals, negatively affecting quality of life
and well-being for patients, caregivers, and family members. The major goal of our Administrative Supplement
is to advance our understanding of the brain mechanisms underlying speech comprehension deficits in
patients with AD. To accomplish this goal, we will leverage fMRI task paradigms and neurocognitive models we
have recently developed as part of the parent project and ongoing work in collaboration with the Stanford
Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC). We now propose to extend our original aims with two new
Aims designed to build on these findings by examining anticipatory and integrative components of speech
processing, with a focus on aberrant organization of the default mode network, in patients with early AD.
Critically, to achieve this goal, we will apply the novel experimental and analytic approaches developed by the
parent project at Stanford to AD data collected as part of the proposed supplement and resources provided by
the Stanford ADRC (P30AG066515) Clinical Core and Imaging Core. Specifically, we will investigate (1)
speaker-listener brain coupling during natural speech communication and its relation to narrative
comprehension and functional communication abilities in AD and age-matched healthy controls; and (2) the
integrity of temporal integration windows underlying naturalistic verbal communication and its relation to
narrative comprehension and functional communication abilities in AD and age-matched healthy controls. Our
studies will provide critical information regarding the neurobiological origins of communication impairments in
AD and will inform therapies and strategies aimed at improving language and social function in dementia.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10285917
- **Project number:** 3R21DC017950-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Daniel Arthur Abrams
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $393,231
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10285917

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10285917, Speaker-Listener Coupling and Brain Dynamics During Naturalistic Verbal Communication in Alzheimer's Disease (3R21DC017950-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-01 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10285917. Licensed CC0.

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