# Neuroanatomic Correlates of Language Production Characteristics After Right Hemisphere Stroke

> **NIH NIH K23** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $64,554

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
For the vast majority of individuals who suffer a right hemisphere stroke, the resulting right hemisphere brain
damage (RHD) causes language production deficits that have a devastating impact on survivors’ quality of life,
making social interactions difficult, straining personal relationships, and jeopardizing employment. Output may
be acceptable at a grammatic and syntactic level, but may considered inappropriate, impolite, self-centered,
verbose, and tangential, and survivors may have difficulty understanding non-literal language and emotional
prosody rules that apply to the communication situations. Yet, despite the substantial communication challenges
faced by RHD patients, the nature of RHD communication differences and their neuroanatomic correlates
remains poorly understood. PI Jamila Minga, PhD’s long-term goal is to improve understanding, assessment,
and treatment of language production deficits in RHD survivors. The current K23 project is supported by her
preliminary work, which demonstrated that utterance-level productions are key to capturing the RHD
communication profile. The central hypothesis—that key characteristics of language production (e.g., question
types, utterance complexity, main concepts etc.) have consistent RH cortical mapping that can be used to
diagnose, measure, and monitor RHD communication impairments – addresses two critical knowledge gaps in
this underexplored scientific domain. These gaps will be evaluated by the following aims: Aim 1) Quantify the
effects of right hemisphere brain damage on language production characteristics, and Aim 2) Identify
relationships between cortical lesions of the right hemisphere and language production characteristics. The
overall objective of this K23 supplement is to support Dr. Minga’s return to full productivity, following serious
personal illness and emergency elder care responsibilities. Within one year of the parent K23 award that supports
her training, mentorship, and research, she has completed nearly 50% of data collection for both aims. The
primary research objective of this administrative supplement is to complete transcription checks, coding (Aim 1)
and lesion drawing (Aim 2) for all collected data. Funds will be used to hire additional support staff (an
undergraduate student, a speech-language pathologist, and a neuroimage analyst) to train students and to
conduct these data analytic steps for continued research progression. The resulting data and analyses will
enable future development of a diagnostic model through an anticipated R01 mechanism and a subsequent R01
to evaluate the model for clinical use. This supplemental support will facilitate the timely completion of the K23
parent project, thus ensuring the continuity of Dr. Minga’s plans to build an independent research program
developing sensitive diagnostic tools and appropriate therapeutic approaches for RHD survivors.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11106846
- **Project number:** 3K23DC020236-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Jamila Minga
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $64,554
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2022-12-01 → 2027-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11106846

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11106846, Neuroanatomic Correlates of Language Production Characteristics After Right Hemisphere Stroke (3K23DC020236-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11106846. Licensed CC0.

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