Exciting aphasia studies at iu
Aphasia affects language – that is, our ability to speak, understand, read and write. Aphasia can be the result of an acquired brain injury, like a stroke, or the result of a neurodegenerative disease, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Aphasia affects each person uniquely, with varying impacts on language processes affected and the severity of the impairment. Current estimates suggest that there are two million people living with aphasia in the USA, alone – and the recent publicization of Bruce Willis’ diagnosis has helped to raise awareness about this disorder.
I am an Assistant Professor of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington, and have conducted research in the field of aphasia since 2012. At Indiana University Bloomington, I run the NEURAL (“NEURoscience of Adult Language”) Research Lab (www.neuralresearchlab.com), where our primary focus is to understand brain and behavioral patterns related to aphasia. The lab is currently involved in exciting projects specific to aphasia: (1) FOQUSAphasia, (2) Inner Speech in Aphasia, (3) Brain bases of language, and (4) Visual Interactive Narrative Intervention (VINI) for aphasia education.
FOQUSAphasia (www.foqusaphasia.com) is an international working group that I co-founded, which brings together researchers and clinicians (like speech pathologists) to provide free educational resources about examining language in aphasia and to conduct innovative research to improve what we know about language in aphasia. Anyone is welcome to join, and all of our resources are free!
The Inner Speech in Aphasia project, funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, examines a phenomenon often endorsed by people with aphasia: that they know what they want to say – that they can hear words in their head – but that they can’t speak those words aloud. We are aiming to empirically quantify ‘inner speech’ through two unique projects. In the first project, we have individuals with aphasia document their inner speech throughout random times per day over the course of three weeks, thus identifying their dynamic inner experience. In the second project, we quantify inner speech when naming pictures of things prior to enrolling them in speech therapy, and then identify how inner speech for objects predicts whether naming that object will improve after therapy. We are currently enrolling for this project, so interested individuals with aphasia can reach out to me via my lab website for more information! All procedures are conducted virtually, so there is no need to be geographically located in Indiana.
In the Brain Bases of Language project, my lab is collaborating with Dr. Rick Betzel's lab to collect high resolution MRI data on individuals with stroke (most of which have aphasia) as well as brain data from adults without stroke. The goal is to identify how language maps to the brain, and specifically how brain structure and function (as it relates to language) differs after stroke. We are actively recruiting for this MRI study, so if you're local to Indiana, please check out our recruitment page!
Finally, my lab is collaborating with IU’s Media School (Dr. John Velez, Dr. Rob Potter), and the Ezkenazi School of Art, Architecture and Design (Sarah Martin, MFA), and with Dr. Melinda Corwin of Texas Tech’s Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, to work on the VINI project for aphasia education. The purpose of the VINI app is to use interactivity to help stroke patients with aphasia engage more in their recovery program. We are presently finalizing digital art for the project and hope to pilot the digital app with individuals with aphasia, soon.
Raising awareness about aphasia is critical. We conduct research on aphasia, and also partner with individuals with aphasia to ensure that our research is relevant and addressing concerns of people living with this disorder. Anyone seeking more information about aphasia, studies about aphasia, or involvement in any projects, should feel free to reach out to me!
Background:
Dr. Stark received her BA in Psychology from Bryn Mawr College, and received her PhD in Clinical Neurosciences from Cambridge University (UK), where she was a Gates Cambridge Scholar. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for the Study of Aphasia Recovery at the University of South Carolina and joined IU’s faculty in 2018. She currently directs the NEURAL Research Lab at IU, where they conduct neuroscience and behavior research on aphasia. She also co-founded FOQUSAphasia (www.foqusaphasia.com), an international working group aiming to improve evidence for studying spoken language in aphasia. She is happy to discuss anything related to aphasia, and be reached at bcstark@iu.edu. Her lab is presently recruiting individuals with acquired aphasia to take part in several studies, and more information can be found on the NEURAL Research Lab website (www.neuralresearchlab.com) or by emailing Dr. Stark.
Her publications and recorded talks/podcasts/lectures on Aphasia can be found for free on her website: https://www.neuralresearchlab.com/open-resources
Interested in more?
• https://www.aphasia.org/aphasia-support-indiana/
• https://sphs.indiana.edu/clinics-and-services/speech-language-clinic/clinical-services.html
• https://stories.butler.edu/meet-the-new-butler-aphasia-community/
• https://www.bsu.edu/academics/centersandinstitutes/speechclinic
• https://www.aphasia.org/
• https://aphasiaaccess.libsyn.com/ = great podcasts about aphasia
• www.asha.org
• https://memory.ucsf.edu/dementia/primary-progressive-aphasia
• https://www.theaftd.org/