STAR - Sentence Treatment for Aphasia Recovery
Sentences are a core unit of how humans communicate with each other. Producing and understanding sentences is challenging for many persons with aphasia. STAR aims to improve sentence production and comprehension in persons with aphasia through principles of implicit language learning and syntactic priming. We also strive to understand which cognitive-linguistic mechanisms and learning conditions maximize training outcomes across various communication tasks and contexts. This treatment is delivered virtually over Zoom.
Collaborators: Dr. Vic Ferreira at UC San Diego and Dr. Nadine Martin at Temple University
Bilingual Aphasia Recovery
A significant portion of the world’s population speaks more than one language, yet we have limited resources available for bilingual individuals with aphasia. We aim to improve assessment measures and optimize the recovery process in both languages by leveraging shared linguistic features. We are currently recruiting Korean- and Mandarin-speaking people with aphasia to participate in our research.
Additionally, we offer free virtual aphasia support group meetings through the Korean Aphasia Community, along with resources to support Korean-speaking individuals with aphasia and the clinicians who work with them.
Eyetracking in Aphasia
By monitoring eye movements, we gain deeper insights into language processing in aphasia and aphasia recovery beyond traditional measures. Our lab uses in-lab and remote webcam based eyetracking to better understand how persons with with aphasia process information during speaking, listening, and reading, and to assess treatment efficacy. This research helps us to delineate specific cognitive and linguistic challenges in aphasia and develop cost-effective interventions.
Reading Treatments
Reading is an essential part of everyday life—whether you're texting, checking medication labels, or enjoying a good book. Many people with aphasia experience difficulties with reading. Our research focuses on improving reading fluency, enhancing comprehension, and promoting generalization from the reading modality to spoken language. We are currently recruiting participants to explore how reading-based treatments can support broader language recovery. This study is open to both English monolingual speakers and Korean-English bilinguals.
Network Science & Language in Aphasia
Language is a complex system made up of connected parts—like words, sentences, and ideas—that work together as a network. Network science uses math and computer tools to study these connections and uncover patterns in how we use and organize language. Our lab studies how people with aphasia move through these connections when they speak. By looking at how they find words, build sentences, and tell stories, we hope to better understand what causes language difficulties. This research will help us learn more about how aphasia affects language and create better ways to support recovery.
Collaborator: Dr. Nichol Castro at SUNY Buffalo
AI in Aphasia Rehabilitation
Through interdisciplinary collaborations with computational linguistics, engineering, and computer science, our lab is interested in improving aphasia assessment and treatment to be more personalized, cost-effective, and accessible. These projects include:
- Large Language Models in Aphasia Assessment and Recovery in collaboration with Dr. Yan Cong in Computational Linguistics and Dr. Arianna LaCroix in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences.
- ENG-AI: Speech Recognition for Personalized Aphasia Rehabilitation with Artificial-intelligence-assisted nanoengineered Wearable in collaboration with Dr. Wenzhuo Wu in Industrial Engineering
- Communication Improvement in Aphasia with Social Robots in collaboration with Dr. Sooyeon Jeong in Computer Science
