# Cognitive and Neural Basis of Functional Communication Deficits in Post-Stroke Aphasia

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM · 2020 · $283,332

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Aphasia is an impairment of language that is a common consequence of stroke and has serious negative
effects on health and well-being. Aphasia diagnosis continues to be organized around a 19th century model of
the neural basis of language, but cognitive neuroscience research over the last 15-20 years has converged to
a very different model of the cognitive and neural organization of spoken language. This contemporary model
provides a precise computational account of the sub-systems that support spoken language, but does not
explain how those sub-systems produce functional communication – the outcome that is most important to
people with aphasia and to clinicians. The long-term goal of this project is to develop theory-informed,
clinically-relevant prognostic tools that combine behavioral and neuroimaging information. The overall objective
of this application is to determine the relationships between spoken functional communication impairments of
language sub-systems, and neuroanatomical disruption in chronic post-stroke aphasia. The overall project is
divided into three specific aims: (1) Determine how spoken functional communication is related to deficits in
language sub-systems. We will test how the three key language sub-systems – semantics, phonology, and
sentence planning – are related to functional communication in a large sample of individuals with post-stroke
aphasia. (2) Identify the lesion correlates of spoken functional communication deficits using lesion-symptom
mapping. We will conduct the first LSM study of spoken functional communication using multimodal
neuroimaging and machine learning tools to discover robust lesion correlates of spoken functional
communication. (3) Develop a prediction model of chronic language sub-system and functional communication
deficits based on acute lesion data. Routine clinical neuroimaging data collected in the acute stage (48-72
hours after stroke) will be used to build and evaluate a prediction model of chronic deficits in language sub-
systems and functional communication. Upon completion of this project, we will have determined how
behavioral deficits and lesion patterns are related to functional communication deficits, and developed a
prediction model of such deficits based on acute-stage clinical neuroimaging. This integration of
psycholinguistics, neuroanatomy, and functional communication will provide theory-informed, clinically-relevant
predictions of communication deficits. This project addresses NIDCD Strategic Priority Area 3 (Improving
Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention) by developing a neural biomarker of objective diagnosis and prognosis
for acquired language impairments.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9997876
- **Project number:** 5R01DC017137-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
- **Principal Investigator:** Daniel Mirman
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $283,332
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-01 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9997876

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9997876, Cognitive and Neural Basis of Functional Communication Deficits in Post-Stroke Aphasia (5R01DC017137-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9997876. Licensed CC0.

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