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Background: We present an anomia treatment study using a modified contextual priming (CP) technique for two anomic participants. The reason for the modification attempt is that the most recent studies have indicated that the CP procedure is less effective in the case of impairment to lexical-semantic processes than in the case of phonological deficits (see Martin, Fink, & Laine, 2004a; Martin, Fink, Laine, & Ayala, 2004b; Renvall, Laine, & Martin, 2005). Aims: Our aim is to study the within- and post-treatment effects of a modified CP procedure and especially whether additional semantic tasks can increase benefits from the CP treatment. Methods & Procedures: The treatment was conducted for two participants with acquired anomia: LV has primarily a semantic component underlying her anomia, while JP suffers primarily from a phoneme-sequencing deficit. The CP procedure encompassed repeated cycles of spontaneous naming attempts and repetition of target names using arrays of multiple pictures where the targets were either semantically related or unrelated. Our modification was to add picture-to-word matching and phonological "rhyming syllable identification" with the targets to the training sequence. The treatment was carried out in a single-subject multiple-baseline design consisting of several baseline measurements, treatment sessions along with within-treatment measurements, and a post-treatment measurement 1.5 months later. Outcomes & Results: Both participants showed short-term facilitation of naming target items in all treatment conditions. For LV, post-treatment improvement of naming was statistically significant in the semantic condition irrespective of additional task type, even though the improvement was strongest when the semantic condition was coupled with the additional semantic tasks. In the case of JP, post-treatment improvement was observed in the semantic condition coupled with additional semantic tasks, and in the unrelated condition with both semantic and phonological tasks. No strong evidence of generalisation to untreated items was observed for either of the participants. Conclusions: The modified CP procedure can provide longer-term improvement of naming target items than the CP training without additional tasks in the face of a lexical-semantic deficit. With lexical-semantic disturbance, the semantic context provided the best results. However, the nature of the additional tasks (semantic vs phonological) appeared to be less important for the treatment of target naming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Repetition priming is often a component of treatments for word-finding disorders. It can facilitate or interfere with naming success depending on a number of factors. Here we investigate the effectiveness of massed priming coupled with semantic or phonological context as a treatment for naming impairments arising from semantic and phono- logical deficits. Aims: We aimed to determine whether (1) this procedure, used previously in a short-term facilitation study, would effectively improve word retrieval in a treatment study, and (2) the pattern of facilitation or interference observed in the facilitation study would carry over to the treatment programme. Methods & Procedures: We used a single subject multiple baseline design. There were two participants: LP with a phonological encoding deficit and AS with both semantic and phonological deficits, Treatment involved identifying and repeating the names of words that were related semantically or phonologically, or unrelated. Pm and post measures of naming were used to assess overall effectiveness of the treatment. Acquisition, maintenance, and generalisation were measured with baseline tests at the start of each session. Correct responses and errors on within-training naming probes were used to measure sensitivity to priming in a particular context. Outcomes & Results: LP benefited from this procedure regardless of the training context AS showed interference in the semantic context during training and only modest short-term gains. These outcomes were predicted by theft performance on an earlier facilitation study. Conclusions: Contextual repetition priming has different effects on naming and these differences appear to be related to the context of training (semantic or phonological) and the primary source of an individual's naming impairment (semantic or phonological). This procedure is most effective when semantic processing of words is relatively spared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]