Picture Description Discourse of the Western Aphasia Battery: Preliminary Reference Data From Mandarin Speakers and Comparison With Anomic Aphasia.

Background: Discourse impairment significantly affects communication effectiveness. For a comprehensive understanding of pathological discourse behaviour, documentation of typical discourse production is essential. However, reference data from Mandarin speakers have not been previously available. Ai...

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Publicado en:International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) Vol. 60; no. 6; pp. 1 - 15
Autores principales: Deng, Bao‐Mei, Liang, Li‐Si, Zheng, Hai‐Qing, Hu, Xi‐Quan, Zhao, Jia‐Xin
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Nov/Dec2025
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Nov/Dec2025
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      pub: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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        10.1111/1460-6984.70126
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        atl: Picture Description Discourse of the Western Aphasia Battery: Preliminary Reference Data From Mandarin Speakers and Comparison With Anomic Aphasia.
      aug:
        au:
          Deng, Bao‐Mei
          Liang, Li‐Si
          Zheng, Hai‐Qing
          Hu, Xi‐Quan
          Zhao, Jia‐Xin
        affil:
          Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat‐sen University, Guangzhou Guangdong,, China
          Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Rehabilitation Medicine, Guangzhou Guangdong,, China
      su:
        Reference values
        Language & languages
        Task performance
        Anomia
        Computer software
        Statistical hypothesis testing
        Data analysis
        Research funding
        Multiple regression analysis
        Questionnaires
        Research evaluation
        Age distribution
        Descriptive statistics
        Mann Whitney U Test
        Discourse analysis
        Mean length of utterance
        Communication
        Statistics
        Self-report inventories
        Intraclass correlation
        Sociodemographic factors
        Visual perception
        Vocabulary
        Data analysis software
        Educational attainment
        Mental depression
        Inter-observer reliability
      sug:
        subj:
          Reference values
          Language & languages
          Task performance
          Anomia
          Computer software
          Statistical hypothesis testing
          Data analysis
          Research funding
          Multiple regression analysis
          Questionnaires
          Research evaluation
          Age distribution
          Descriptive statistics
          Mann Whitney U Test
          Discourse analysis
          Mean length of utterance
          Communication
          Statistics
          Self-report inventories
          Intraclass correlation
          Sociodemographic factors
          Visual perception
          Vocabulary
          Data analysis software
          Educational attainment
          Mental depression
          Inter-observer reliability
      keyword:
        Chinese
        discourse
        picture description
        reference data
        Western Aphasia Battery (WAB)
      ab: Background: Discourse impairment significantly affects communication effectiveness. For a comprehensive understanding of pathological discourse behaviour, documentation of typical discourse production is essential. However, reference data from Mandarin speakers have not been previously available. Aims: This study sought to: (1) develop preliminary reference data for the Mandarin‐speaking population to characterise discourse performance elicited by the picnic scene picture description task from the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) and explore the relationship between demographic variables (i.e., age, education, gender) and discourse performance; (2) examine how persons with anomic aphasia differ from healthy adults on discourse measures. Method and Procedure: We recruited 207 healthy Mandarin‐speaking adults to establish the reference data. The picture description task of the WAB was administered to all participants. Effects of age, gender, and years of education on discourse performance were examined. Additionally, the microstructural discourse variables of 11 individuals with anomic aphasia were compared with those of 11 age‐, gender‐, and education‐matched healthy adults. Outcomes and Results: Preliminary reference data were obtained. Findings in healthy controls revealed statistically significant effects of age and education on syntactic complexity (mean length of utterance) and communication efficiency (correct information units per minute). Age significantly impacted transmission effectiveness (percentage of correct information units). Education level significantly influenced lexical diversity (the moving‐average type‐token ratio). Individuals with anomic aphasia performed more poorly than healthy controls on most discourse measures. Conclusions and Implications: To our knowledge, this study provides the first reference data for analysing discourse production in the WAB picture description task among the Mandarin‐speaking population. Persons with anomic aphasia underperformed healthy controls on most of the discourse measures. The findings contribute to improving microstructural evaluation of discourse impairment in clinical settings, particularly for persons anomic with aphasia. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subjectDiscourse analysis is becoming an area of growing interest. Microstructural measures reveal discourse deficits in aphasia that standardised tests may fail to detect. However, the absence of reference data in Mandarin for healthy adults presents a notable constraint that prevents the in‐depth assessment of discourse in clinical settings. What this paper adds to the existing knowledgeThis study established preliminary reference data for the Mandarin‐speaking population using the WAB picnic scene description task while examining the influence of demographic factors (age, education, gender) on discourse performance. The study compared discourse measures between healthy controls and persons with anomic aphasia. Findings demonstrated that age and education significantly influenced discourse performance in healthy participants. Significant differences were observed in most discourse measures between the control and anomic aphasia groups. What are the potential or actual clinical implications for this work?The reference data from this study enables clinicians to better understand and interpret the discourse abilities of persons with aphasia by identifying both specific measures and the extent to which these individuals exhibit discourse impairments compared to healthy controls. Microstructural discourse measures can be employed to compare the discourse abilities of healthy controls and individuals with aphasia.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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