Processing of emotional words after stroke: An electrophysiological study

Objective: Auditory evoked potentials (EP) were used to examine the neural processing of personal-emotional and neutral words, in a group of 14 people with post-stroke aphasia and an equal sized control group to determine whether the EP differed between groups and word types. Methods: Effects of the emotional value of the words and participant group were assessed on EP. Latencies and amplitudes of EP were analyzed for the two groups (aphasia and control) in response to word type (emotional and neutral). Results: N1 amplitudes were smaller and P2 and P3 were delayed in the aphasia group, for both word types, indicating effects of stroke on processing of both neutral and emotional words. P3 amplitudes were larger for emotional words in both groups. These differences in late cortical responses between word types for both groups suggest distinct neural networks involved in the response to emotional and neutral words, even with post-stroke language impairment. Conclusions: The neurophysiological processing of affective speech in aphasia has been revealed. This opens up the interpretation of these results to the critical assessment and therapeutic identification of emotional language in people with aphasia. Significance: This study has implications not just for aphasia but allows for further exploration of other neurological conditions. (C) 2013 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.