Understanding Emotion Word Processing in Aphasia and Language Unimpaired Speakers: A Multiple Methods Approach

Words that describe emotions, such as happiness, surprise, and anxiety, play a crucial role in communication by helping individuals express opinions, build relationships, and construct a sense of self. This thesis investigates how emotion words are processed, which semantic dimensions underlie their processing, and whether they form a distinct subset within abstract words. It tests and extends previous research by addressing an apparent contradiction: studies with language-unimpaired speakers suggest that emotion words may have a processing advantage over other abstract words, whereas studies with people with aphasia suggest that emotion words may be selectively impaired in discourse production.

With this motivation, emotion word processing was explored using different single-word tasks (lexical decision, reading aloud, free recall, and item recognition) and participant groups (people with aphasia and language unimpaired speakers). Findings were interpreted with respect to the cognitive demands of each task and the role played by semantic processing. The findings have implications for theoretical accounts of emotion-label word processing and for clinical understanding of abstract word production and processing in aphasia.