# Exploring the brain basis of rhythm in individuals with aphasia

> **NIH NIH F31** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $31,503

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The goal of this proposal is to characterize the neural substrates underlying rhythm abilities and the
relationship with language profiles in individuals with aphasia. Aphasia is an acquired communication disorder
resulting from damage to language regions of the brain, with stroke as the leading cause. Currently, over 2
million individuals in the United States are living with aphasia. Aphasia is notoriously difficult to treat and
patients exhibit significant individual variability in recovery trajectories and in what therapeutic elements work
best in aiding such recovery. Speech-language pathologists frequently use rhythmic elements (e.g., tapping to
a beat) in the clinic in order to facilitate speech output. However, there is a lack of a deep and systematic
empirical assessment of rhythm in aphasia at both a behavioral and neural level.
Our first aim is to characterize the neural basis of individual differences in rhythm abilities in individuals with
chronic, post-stroke aphasia. To do this, we will administer a comprehensive battery of rhythm perception and
production tasks to a large cohort of individuals with aphasia and age-matched controls. We will then employ
multivariate lesion-symptom mapping, a machine-learning methodology for identifying brain-behavior
relationships, to determine which brain regions are associated with rhythm processing in aphasia. We
hypothesize that individuals who have damage to brain regions important for rhythm, including the basal
ganglia or the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG), will exhibit the greatest impairments in rhythm. Critically, the
LIFG is a core language region typically damaged in post-stroke, non-fluent aphasia.
Motivated by robust evidence for associations between rhythm and language across cognitive, neural, and
behavioral domains, we will assess the relationship between rhythm and language measures in aphasia in our
second aim. We predict that individuals with higher rhythm abilities will have higher language scores,
particularly on measures of connected speech.
This mentored training award will provide the applicant with training in advanced neural and behavioral data
analysis techniques and expertise in large-scale project management with a patient cohort. With significant and
timely clinical relevance, our proposal will address vital gaps in the literature by taking an individual differences
approach to understanding the relationship between rhythm, the brain, and language in aphasia.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10476334
- **Project number:** 5F31DC020112-02
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Anna Victoria Kasdan
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $31,503
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-09-01 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10476334

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10476334, Exploring the brain basis of rhythm in individuals with aphasia (5F31DC020112-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10476334. Licensed CC0.

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