Steffie Bruehl

Model-based therapy in aphasia – behavioural and neural effecs


02/2007-07/2010               Model-based therapy: Behavioural modulation in the language network

The project at RWTH Aachen University was funded by the BMBF (grant 01GW0662 to Walter Huber) as part of a larger collaborative project with the Universities of Kiel and Freiburg (Mechanisms of brain reorganisation of the language network, PI Cornelius Weiller, Neurocenter at Freiburg University).
Persons with aphasia after stroke and due to dementia received intensive lexical therapy of their word finding disorders. Therapy-induced changes of brain activation were determined considering fMRI-measurements before versus after therapy, and these were again compared to according activation changes in healthy participants.

The habilitation thesis offers an overview of the publications of this and other projects 2007-2011.

Important publications/cooperators:

  • Saur, D., Kreher, B., Schnell, S., Kümmerer, D., Kellmeyer, P., Vry, M.-S., Umarova, R., Musso, M., Glauche, V., Abel, S., Huber, W., Rijntjes, M., Hennig, J., & Weiller, C. (2008). A ventral and a dorsal pathway for language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), 105, 18035-18040. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0805234105
  • Abel, S., Dressel, K., Kümmerer, D., Saur, D., Mader, I., Weiller, C., & Huber, W. (2009). Correct and erroneous picture naming responses in healthy subjects. Neuroscience letters, 463, 167-171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2009.07.077
  • Dressel, K., Huber, W., Frings, L., Kümmerer, D., Saur, D., Mader, I., Hüll, M., Weiller, C., & Abel, S. (2010). Model-oriented naming therapy in semantic dementia: a single case study. Aphasiology, 24 (12), 1537-1558. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2010.500567
  • Abel, S., Huber, W., Weiller, C., Amunts, K., Eickhoff, S., & Heim, S. (2011). The influence of handedness on hemispheric interaction during word production: Insights from effective connectivity. Brain Connectivity, 1(3), 219-231. https://doi.org/10.1089/brain.2011.0024
  • Abel, S. (2011). Normale und gestörte Wortverarbeitung. Psycholinguistische, neurolinguistische und sprachtherapeutische Aspekte. Cumulative habilitation, RWTH Aachen. (Request HERE)
  • Abel, S., Weiller, C., Huber, W., & Willmes, K. (2014). Neural underpinnings for model-oriented therapy of aphasic word production. Neuropsychologia, 57, 154-165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.03.010
  • Abel, S., Weiller, C., Huber, W., Willmes, K., & Specht, K. (2015). Therapy-induced brain reorganisation patterns in aphasia. Brain, 138, 1097-1112. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awv02