Papers by Jasmina Vuksanovic
Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis, 2003
International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 2018
BackgroundConstraint‐induced (language) aphasia therapy (CIAT), based on constraint usage of the ... more BackgroundConstraint‐induced (language) aphasia therapy (CIAT), based on constraint usage of the language channel only, massed practice and shaping through therapeutic language games, has been suggested as a more efficient therapy approach than traditional aphasia therapies.AimsTo examine the comparative efficacy of CIAT and a traditional therapy approach on expressive language ability, with the intensity of therapy controlled and matched, in the treatment of post‐stroke aphasia.Methods & ProceduresTwo successive 4‐week blocks of intense (1 h, 5 days a week) of aphasia therapy programmes were delivered in a randomized within‐subject crossover design: one therapy block consisted of stimulation aphasia therapy (SAT, a common traditional therapy approach), another of CIAT. Twenty consecutive patients, up to 1 year after stroke, were randomly assigned either to have SAT followed by CIAT (S1C2 group) or to have CIAT followed by SAT (C1S2 group). Measurements of naming (Boston Naming Test...
Clinical Neurophysiology, 2013
Background: Post-polio syndrome (PPS) develops about 20-40 years after acute paralytic poliomyeli... more Background: Post-polio syndrome (PPS) develops about 20-40 years after acute paralytic poliomyelitis, and manifests with progressively deteriorating muscle strength and endurance. Objective: Here, we assessed whether frontal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improves central fatigue symptoms in patients with PPS. Materials and methods: We enrolled 32 patients with a definitive diagnosis of PPS; 16 patients received anodal tDCS and the remainder sham tDCS. We evaluated changes induced by tDCS (1.5 mA, 15 min, daily for five days a week) on clinical scales (
Psihijatrija danas, 2010
Apstrakt: Rej-Osteritov test složene figure (ROCF) je osmišljen kao složeni vizuelni dizajn i nam... more Apstrakt: Rej-Osteritov test složene figure (ROCF) je osmišljen kao složeni vizuelni dizajn i namenjen za ispitivanje vizuo-perceptivne organizacije, vizuelne kratkoročne i dugoročne memorije i egzekutivnih funkcija osoba sa različitim kognitivnim smetnjama. Imajući u vidu da se ovaj neuropsihološki test često koristi u praksi za ispitivanje sposobnosti pamćenja vizuelnih informacija, postavili smo sledeće ciljeve: da se utvrdi, na osnovu mera sa Rej-Osteritovog instrumenta, koji su indikatori dugoročnog pamćenja i da li su stabilni tokom razvoja ili su sa uzrastom prisutne izvesne promene. Na ovaj način bi mogli ukazati koje indikatore u kliničkoj praksi treba posmatrati pri proceni dugotrajnog vizuelnog pamćenja. Ispitivanjem je obuhvaćeno ukupno 378 dece mlađeg školskog uzrasta (od 6.09 do 7.11 godina) redovne osnovne škole u Zemunu. Deca su testirana dva puta, na početku školske godine i nakon 9 meseci. Metod: primenjena je uobičajena procedura primene testa, koja se sastoji iz dva dela. U inicijalnom delu testa ispitaniku se daje nalog da što preciznije precrta složeni geometrijski stimulus. Evaluacijom podataka dobijena su četiri skora: skor koji čini ukupan broj poena, skor koji se odnosi na strategiju precrtavanja, skor koji čini ukupno vreme, kao i skor koji se odnosi na to kako je figura postavljena na prostoru papira. Dugoročno vizuelno pamćenje je procenjeno nakon 20 minuta. Meru dugoročnog pamćenja je činio ukupan broj poena tokom crtanja figure po sećanju. Rezultati: dobijeni podaci ukazuju da su strategija precrtavanja, broj kratkoročno zapamćenih elemenata i vreme potrebno za precrtavanje značajni indikatori dugoročnog pamćenja na mlađem uzrastu, odnosno na uzrastu na kome se događa integrisanje figuralnog i motornog koda, dok na starijem uzrastu jedino strategija koju dete koristi pri precrtavanju složene figure ostaje značajan indikator dugoročnog pamćenja. Ovi nalazi sugerišu da na dugotrajno pamćenje ROCF utiču različiti faktori u zavisnosti od uzrasta ispitanika, te da pri interpretaciji rezultata dobijenih na ovom testu u kliničkim uslovima treba biti oprezan i sveobuhvatan.
Medicus, 2003
Oso be sa fo kal nom epi lep si jom, iako uglav nom pro seè ne in te li gen ci je, po ka zu ju os... more Oso be sa fo kal nom epi lep si jom, iako uglav nom pro seè ne in te li gen ci je, po ka zu ju oso be no sti kog ni tiv nog funk ci o nisa nja u od no su na po pu la ci ju zdra vih is pi ta ni ka. Broj na ispi ti va nja po ka zu ju da su le vo stra na epi lep tiè na ža riš ta pove za na sa po re me aea jem ver bal nih funk ci ja (1, 2), a da de sno he mis fer no lo ka li zo va ne epi lep si je re zul tu ju zna èajno ni žim sko ro vi ma na ma ni pu la tiv nom de lu te sta in te ligen ci je (3-6). Re zul ta ti ne u rop si ho loš kog is tra ži va nja dece sa fo kal nom epi lep si jom su po ka za li da se ova gru pa de ce sla bi je ori jen ti še na se bi i dru go me, da je zna èaj no loši ja na te stu imi ta ci je slo že nih po kre ta Ber ges-Le zi ne u odno su na gru pu zdra vih vrš nja ka, kao i èeš aee pri su stvo diskal ku li je (7). U gru pi de ce sa le vo stra nom par ci jal nom epi lep si jom zna èaj no je ve aei broj is pi ta ni ka sa dis lek si jom i do sor to gra fi jom, ne go u gru pi zdra ve de ce i u gru pi dece sa de sno he mis fer nim ža riš tem. De ca sa de sno he misfer no fo ku si ra nom par ci jal nom epi lep si jom su po ka za la slabi ji uspeh pri pre cr ta va nju za da tog mo de la ge o me trijskog te la u od no su na kon trol nu gru pu zdra ve de ce i u odno su na gru pu sa le vo he mis fer no lo ka li zo va nom fo kalnom epi lep si jom.
Lista de Tabelas 2.1 Considerações no desenvolvimento de uma aplicação mHealth gamificada. .. .
Journal of experimental child psychology, 2017
Previous studies with bilingual children have shown that the nature of their second-language inst... more Previous studies with bilingual children have shown that the nature of their second-language instruction has an effect on the development of their cognitive abilities. The aim of this study was to determine whether children who acquire a second language in two different immersion programs for a period of 1year show advantages in executive functions and to examine how the amount of daily exposure affects executive functions. A group of Serbian-speaking second-grade children exposed to the second language for about 5h each day (high exposure group, HEG) and a low-exposure group (LEG) exposed to the second language for about 1.5h each day were compared with an age-matched control group (CG) of monolingual peers on working memory, inhibition, and shifting. Significant group differences were found for working memory, with the HEG performing better than the CG and LEG even after controlling for individual differences in terms of age and intelligence. The three groups did not differ in ter...
Behavior research methods, Jun 13, 2017
Imageability is a psycholinguistic variable that indicates how well a word gives rise to a mental... more Imageability is a psycholinguistic variable that indicates how well a word gives rise to a mental image or sensory experience. Imageability ratings are used extensively in psycholinguistic, neuropsychological, and aphasiological studies. However, little formal knowledge exists about whether and how these ratings are associated between and within languages. Fifteen imageability databases were cross-correlated using nonparametric statistics. Some of these corresponded to unpublished data collected within a European research network-the Collaboration of Aphasia Trialists (COST IS1208). All but four of the correlations were significant. The average strength of the correlations (rho = .68) and the variance explained (R (2) = 46%) were moderate. This implies that factors other than imageability may explain 54% of the results. Imageability ratings often correlate across languages. Different possibly interacting factors may explain the moderate strength and variance explained in the correla...
Clinical linguistics & phonetics, Jan 25, 2017
This article investigates the cross-linguistic comparability of the newly developed lexical asses... more This article investigates the cross-linguistic comparability of the newly developed lexical assessment tool Cross-linguistic Lexical Tasks (LITMUS-CLT). LITMUS-CLT is a part the Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings (LITMUS) battery (Armon-Lotem, de Jong & Meir, 2015). Here we analyse results on receptive and expressive word knowledge tasks for nouns and verbs across 17 languages from eight different language families: Baltic (Lithuanian), Bantu (isiXhosa), Finnic (Finnish), Germanic (Afrikaans, British English, South African English, German, Luxembourgish, Norwegian, Swedish), Romance (Catalan, Italian), Semitic (Hebrew), Slavic (Polish, Serbian, Slovak) and Turkic (Turkish). The participants were 639 monolingual children aged 3;0-6;11 living in 15 different countries. Differences in vocabulary size were small between 16 of the languages; but isiXhosa-speaking children knew significantly fewer words than speakers of the other languages. There was a robust effect of w...
Psihologija, 2008
In the paper we set the aim to determine whether phonological awareness and short-term verbal mem... more In the paper we set the aim to determine whether phonological awareness and short-term verbal memory are indicators of a subsequent reading acquisition. The sample consisted of 194 first graders from two primary schools in Belgrade. The results of our research showed that the most significant indicator of the subsequent (un)successful reading was phonological awareness. The short-term verbal memory is, to a lesser extent, an indicator of the subsequent reading acquisition defined by the time needed for reading the text and by the text comprehension. Our findings offer basis for proposing that the phonological awareness assessment should be implemented into the regular procedure of assessing child's readiness for school. In this way children in need for preventive stimulation within the inclusive programme in primary schools could be identified.
Research in Developmental Disabilities, 2013
The main purpose of language in human interaction is the exchange of thoughts with other people. ... more The main purpose of language in human interaction is the exchange of thoughts with other people. To successfully communicate with others, children must acquire some basic capabilities, such as sharing a joint focus of attention with others (Tomasello, 1995). Joint attention (JA) skills, as part of nonverbal communication, include a child's ability to establish and maintain a shared reference with an interactive partner, as well as to respond to that partner's attention bids (Wilcox & Shannon, 1998). The most prominent feature of these skills is that they are triadic; i.e., the interactions involve both the object and the other person (Tomasello, 2000). Accordingly, JA skills are divided into initiating joint attention (IJA) and responding to joint attention (RJA). RJA refers to the ability to follow the direction of gaze and gestures of others, whereas IJA refers to the ability to use the direction of gaze and gestures to direct the attention of others to spontaneously share experiences (Mundy et al., 2007). Two very important questions on this issue are What aspect of joint focus of attention may be a precursor of language acquisition, and how does language develop from nonverbal communication? Language development can be interpreted within a theoretical framework of language as a semiotic function given by Ivić (1987). We have chosen this theoretical model because it relies on semiotic functions that are applicable to both verbal and nonverbal communication. Ivić (1987) posed three definitions of language. The first states that ''symbolic function is a general ability of acquiring and using, i.e.,
Neurocase, 2014
In chronic non-fluent aphasia patients, inhibition of the intact right hemisphere (RH), by transc... more In chronic non-fluent aphasia patients, inhibition of the intact right hemisphere (RH), by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or similar methods, can induce improvement in language functions. The supposed mechanism behind this improvement is a release of preserved left hemisphere (LH) language networks from RH transcallosal inhibition. Direct stimulation of the damaged LH can sometimes bring similar results too. Therefore, we developed a novel treatment approach that combined direct LH (Broca's area (BA)) stimulation, by intermittent theta burst stimulation (TBS), with homologue RH area's inhibition, by continuous TBS. We present the results of application of 15 daily sessions of the described treatment approach in a right-handed patient with chronic post-stroke non-fluent aphasia. The intervention appeared to improve several language functions, but most notably propositional speech, semantic fluency, short-term verbal memory, and verbal learning. Bilateral TBS modulation of activation of the language-related areas of both hemispheres seems to be a feasible and promising way to induce recovery in chronic aphasic patients. Due to potentially cumulative physiological effects of bilateral stimulation, the improvements may be even greater than following unilateral interventions.
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 2014
A body of research shows that grammatical gender, although an arbitrary category, is viewed as th... more A body of research shows that grammatical gender, although an arbitrary category, is viewed as the system with its own meaning. However, the question remains to what extent does grammatical gender influence shaping our notions about objects when both verbal and visual information are available. Two experiments were conducted. The results obtained in Experiment 1 have shown that grammatical gender as a linguistic property of the pseudonouns used as names for musical instruments significantly affects people's representations about these instruments. The purpose of Experiment 2 was to examine how the representation of musical instruments will be shaped in the presence of both language and visual information. The results indicate that the coexistence of linguistic and visual information results in formation of concepts about selected instruments by all available information from both sources, thus suggesting that grammatical gender influences nonverbal concepts' forming, but has no privileged status in the matter.
Journal of Communication Disorders, 2008
In this study we investigated the recovery patterns of language and cognitive functions in patien... more In this study we investigated the recovery patterns of language and cognitive functions in patients with post-traumatic language processing deficits and in patients with aphasia following a stroke. The correlation of specific language functions and cognitive functions was analyzed in the acute phase and 6 months later. Significant recovery of the tested functions was observed in both groups. However, in patients with post-traumatic language processing deficits the degree of recovery of most language functions and some cognitive functions was higher. A significantly greater correlation was revealed within language and cognitive functions, as well as between language functions and other aspects of cognition in patients with post-traumatic language processing deficits than in patients with aphasia following a stroke. Our results show that patients with post-traumatic language processing deficits have a different recovery pattern and a different pattern of correlation between language and cognitive functions compared to patients with aphasia following a stroke. (1) Better understanding of the differences in recovery of language and cognitive functions in patients who have suffered strokes and those who have experienced traumatic brain injury. (2) Better understanding of the relationship between language and cognitive functions in patients with post-traumatic language processing deficits and in patients with aphasia following a stroke. (3) Better understanding of the factors influencing recovery.
Applied Psycholinguistics, 2012
ABSTRACTThis study examined the comprehension of actional and psychological verbs in both their a... more ABSTRACTThis study examined the comprehension of actional and psychological verbs in both their active and passive (short and long) forms by 99 Serbian-speaking children. The children, whose age ranged between 3 years, 6 months (3;6) and 7 years, 6 months (7;6), were divided into three groups: 3;6–5 (M = 4.3), 5;1–6;1 (M = 5.6), and 6;2–7;6 (M = 7.0). All groups reached ceiling performance on actives of both actional and psychological verbs. They showed a good performance on passives of actional verbs, both short and long, but an exceptionally low performance on passives of psychological verbs: only the oldest group, 7-year-olds, reached 80% correct performance on psychological passives. There were no differences in the children's performance on short versus long passives of either type of the verb. These results are in line with studies reporting delayed passive comprehension in children younger than 5 in a number of languages, suggesting a delay in the comprehension of this st...
Clinical linguistics & phonetics, Jan 27, 2017
Comparative research on aphasia and aphasia rehabilitation is challenged by the lack of comparabl... more Comparative research on aphasia and aphasia rehabilitation is challenged by the lack of comparable assessment tools across different languages. In English, a large array of tools is available, while in most other languages, the selection is more limited. Importantly, assessment tools are often simple translations and do not take into consideration specific linguistic and psycholinguistic parameters of the target languages. As a first step in meeting the needs for comparable assessment tools, the Comprehensive Aphasia Test is currently being adapted into a number of languages spoken in Europe. In this article, some key challenges encountered in the adaptation process and the solutions to ensure that the resulting assessment tools are linguistically and culturally equivalent, are proposed. Specifically, we focus on challenges and solutions related to the use of imageability, frequency, word length, spelling-to-sound regularity and sentence length and complexity as underlying propertie...
This article investigates the cross-linguistic comparability of the newly developed lexical asses... more This article investigates the cross-linguistic comparability of the newly developed lexical assessment tool Cross-linguistic Lexical Tasks (LITMUS-CLT). LITMUS-CLT is a part the Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings (LITMUS) battery (Armon-Lotem, de Jong & Meir, 2015). Here we analyse results on receptive and expressive word knowledge tasks for nouns and verbs across 17 languages from eight different language families: Baltic (Lithuanian), Bantu (isiXhosa), Finnic (Finnish), Germanic (Afrikaans, British English, South African English, German, Luxembourgish, Norwegian, Swedish), Romance (Catalan, Italian), Semitic (Hebrew), Slavic (Polish, Serbian, Slovak) and Turkic (Turkish). The participants were 639 monolingual children aged 3;0–6;11 living in 15 different countries. Differences in vocabulary size were small between 16 of the languages; but isiXhosa-speaking children knew significantly fewer words than speakers of the other languages. There was a robust effect of w...
Previous studies with bilingual children have shown that the nature of their second-language inst... more Previous studies with bilingual children have shown that the nature of their second-language instruction has an effect on the development of their cognitive abilities. The aim of this study was to determine whether children who acquire a second language in two different immersion programs for a period of 1 year show advantages in executive functions and to examine how the amount of daily exposure affects executive functions. A group of Serbian-speaking second-grade children exposed to the second language for about 5 h each day (high exposure group, HEG) and a low-exposure group (LEG) exposed to the second language for about 1.5 h each day were compared with an age-matched control group (CG) of monolingual peers on working memory, inhibition, and shifting. Significant group differences were found for working memory, with the HEG performing better than the CG and LEG even after controlling for individual differences in terms of age and intelligence. The three groups did not differ in ...
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Papers by Jasmina Vuksanovic