title: The Auditory Comprehension of Wh-Questions in Aphasia: Support for the Intervener Hypothesis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study examines 3 hypotheses about the processing of wh-questions in both neurologically healthy adults and adults with Broca's aphasia.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used an eye tracking while listening method with 32 unimpaired participants (Experiment 1) and 8 participants with Broca's aphasia (Experiment 2). Accuracy, response time, and online gaze data were collected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In Experiment 1, we established a baseline for how unimpaired processing and comprehension of 4 types of wh-question (subject- and object-extracted who- and which-questions) manifest. There was no unambiguous support found for any of the 3 hypotheses in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2 with the Broca's participants, however, we found significantly lower accuracy, slower response times, and increased interference in our gaze data in the object-extracted which-questions relative to the other conditions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results provide support for the intervener hypothesis, which states that sentence constructions that contain an intervener (a lexical noun phrase) between a displaced noun phrase and its gap site result in a significant processing disadvantage relative to other constructions. We argue that this hypothesis offers a compelling explanation for the comprehension deficits seen in some participants with Broca's aphasia.
authors: Shannon M
authors: SM
authors: Sheppard
authors: Matthew
authors: M
authors: Walenski
authors: Tracy
authors: T
authors: Love
authors: Lewis P
authors: LP
authors: Shapiro
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001039:Aphasia, Broca / Q000523:psychology*; D032882:Comprehension; D053483:Eye Movement Measurements; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time; D013067:Speech Perception; D055815:Young Adult