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Aphasia research has traditionally been considered a (unidisciplinary) niche topic in medical science. The international Collaboration of Aphasia Trialists (CATs) is a global collaboration of multidisciplinary aphasia researchers. Over the past 10 years, CATs has collectively taken a rigorous approach to systematically address persistent challenges to aphasia research quality. This article summarizes the achievements over the past decade. CATs’ achievements include: standardizing terminology, advancing aphasia research design by aphasia expert consensus recommendations, developing a core data set and intervention descriptors, facilitating the involvement of people with the language impairment aphasia in the research process, translating, and adapting assessment tools into global languages, encouraging data sharing, developing innovative secondary data analysis methodologies and promoting the transparency and accessibility of high quality aphasia research reports. CATs’ educational and scientific achievements over the past 10 years far exceed what individual researchers in the field could have ever achieved.

Human learners can resolve referential ambiguity and discover the relationships between words and meanings through a cross-situational learning (CSL) strategy. Some people with aphasia (PWA) can learn word-referent pairings under referential uncertainty supported by online feedback. However, it remains unknown whether PWA can learn new words cross-situationally and if such learning ability is supported by statistical learning (SL) mechanisms. The present study examined whether PWA can learn novel word-referent mappings in a CSL task without feedback. We also studied whether CSL is related to SL in PWA and neurologically healthy individuals. We further examined whether aphasia severity, phonological processing and verbal short-term memory (STM) predict CSL in aphasia, and also whether individual differences in verbal STM modulate CSL in healthy older adults. Sixteen people with chronic aphasia underwent a CSL task that involved exposure to a series of individually ambiguous learning trials and a SL task that taps speech segmentation. Their learning ability was compared to 18 older controls and 39 young adults recruited for task validation. CSL in the aphasia group was below the older controls and young adults and took place at a slower rate. Importantly, we found a strong association between SL and CSL performance in all three groups. CSL was modulated by aphasia severity in the aphasia group, and by verbal STM capacity in the older controls. Our findings indicate that some PWA can preserve the ability to learn new word-referent associations cross-situationally. We suggest that both PWA and neurologically intact individuals may rely on SL mechanisms to achieve CSL and that verbal STM also influences CSL. These findings contribute to the ongoing debate on the cognitive mechanisms underlying this learning ability.

Recovery in bilingual adults with aphasia (BAA) following treatment is a dynamic process that is accompanied by changes in the functional organization of language in the brain. Lesion data and functional imaging methods can improve our understanding of language deficit and recovery in BAA. This review article aims to inform clinicians about the neuroimaging methods employed to examine the neural correlates of language treatment in BAA and the evidence of the functional changes that occur within and across the language processing and the language control systems as a function of language treatment.

Recent research suggests that some people with aphasia preserve some ability to learn novel words and to retain them in the long-term. However, this novel word learning ability has been studied only in the context of single word-picture pairings. We examined the ability of people with chronic aphasia to learn novel words using a paradigm that presents new word forms together with a limited set of different possible visual referents and requires the identification of the correct word-object associations on the basis of online feedback. We also studied the relationship between word learning ability and aphasia severity, word processing abilities, and verbal short-term memory (STM). We further examined the influence of gross lesion location on new word learning. The word learning task was first validated with a group of forty-five young adults. Fourteen participants with chronic aphasia were administered the task and underwent tests of immediate and long-term recognition memory at 1 week. Their performance was compared to that of a group of fourteen matched controls using growth curve analysis. The learning curve and recognition performance of the aphasia group was significantly below the matched control group, although above-chance recognition performance and case-by-case analyses indicated that some participants with aphasia had learned the correct word-referent mappings. Verbal STM but not word processing abilities predicted word learning ability after controlling for aphasia severity. Importantly, participants with lesions in the left frontal cortex performed significantly worse than participants with lesions that spared the left frontal region both during word learning and on the recognition tests. Our findings indicate that some people with aphasia can preserve the ability to learn a small novel lexicon in an ambiguous word-referent context. This learning and recognition memory ability was associated with verbal STM capacity, aphasia severity and the integrity of the left inferior frontal region.

Of the 3 species comprising the genus LeptonycterisMiller, L. curasoaehas been the least studied with respect to its long-distance flights and potential for seasonal migrations. We studied long-distance movements between islands and between islands and the mainland in the Curaçaoan long-nosed bat. We used mark–recapture with periodic sampling and marking of bats in Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, and 1 location (Butare) in Falcón State, on the Venezuelan coastline. Between October 2008 and April 2014, we captured a total of 7,518 individuals at 11 sites (Aruba: n= 1,827, Curaçao: 778, Bonaire: 4,128, and Butare: 785). Between 78.3% and 98.0% of the bats captured at each island and mainland were marked, and the overall percentage of recaptured animals across all sampling sites was 8.31% (n= 529). L. curasoaeinhabits the 3 islands year-round. On each island, it roosts in several caves, which can be used alternatively by the same individuals. Despite being a resident species, L. curasoaecan perform long-distance oversea flights between islands and between islands and the South American mainland. A total of 11 long-distance flights were recorded (2 Bonaire–Aruba, 4 Bonaire–Curaçao, 1 Curaçao–Bonaire, 1 Bonaire–Venezuela, and 3 Aruba–Venezuela). We propose that populations of this species in Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, and Falcón State, Venezuela, exchange individuals, and part of the insular populations migrate seasonally southward as a response to cyclical changes in local resource availability and the yearly reproductive regime.De las 3 especies que comprenden al género LeptonycterisMiller, L. curasoaeha sido la menos estudiada con respecto a sus vuelos de larga distancia y potencial para migraciones estacionales. Estudiamos los movimientos de larga distancia entre islas, y entre islas y tierra firme en esta especie, usando marcado y recaptura con muestreos periódicos y anillado de murciélagos en Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, y una localidad (Butare) en el estado Falcón, en la costa venezolana. Capturamos un total de 7518 individuos en 11 sitios (Aruba: n= 1827, Curaçao: 778, Bonaire: 4128, Butare: 785). Entre 78,3 % y 98,0 % de los murciélagos capturados en cada isla y tierra firme fueron marcados, y el porcentaje total de animales recapturados en todos los sitios de muestreo fue de 8,31 % (n= 529). L. curasoaehabita las 3 islas durante todo el año. En cada isla, se refugia en varias cuevas, las cuales pueden ser usadas alternativamente por los mismos individuos. A pesar de ser una especie residente, L. curasoaepuede realizar vuelos de larga distancia sobre el mar entre islas, y entre islas y tierra firme de América del Sur. Un total de 11 vuelos de larga distancia fueron registrados (2 Bonaire-Aruba, 4 Bonaire-Curaçao, 1 Curaçao-Bonaire, 1 Bonaire-Venezuela, y 3 Aruba-Venezuela). Proponemos que las poblaciones de esta especie en Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, y el estado Falcón, Venezuela, intercambian individuos y parte de las poblaciones insulares migran estacionalmente hacia el sur, como una respuesta a cambios cíclicos en la disponibilidad de recursos a nivel local y al régimen reproductivo anual.