EEG reveals brain network alterations in chronic aphasia during natural speech listening
Abstract Aphasia is a common consequence of a stroke which affects language processing. In search of an objective biomarker for aphasia, we used EEG to investigate how functional network patterns in the cortex are affected in persons with post-stroke chronic aphasia (PWA) compared to healthy control...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-86192-8 |
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| author | Ramtin Mehraram Jill Kries Pieter De Clercq Maaike Vandermosten Tom Francart |
| author_facet | Ramtin Mehraram Jill Kries Pieter De Clercq Maaike Vandermosten Tom Francart |
| author_sort | Ramtin Mehraram |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Aphasia is a common consequence of a stroke which affects language processing. In search of an objective biomarker for aphasia, we used EEG to investigate how functional network patterns in the cortex are affected in persons with post-stroke chronic aphasia (PWA) compared to healthy controls (HC) while they are listening to a story. EEG was recorded from 22 HC and 27 PWA while they listened to a 25-min-long story. Functional connectivity between scalp regions was measured with the weighted phase lag index. The Network-Based Statistics toolbox was used to detect altered network patterns and to investigate correlations with behavioural tests within the aphasia group. Differences in network geometry were assessed by means of graph theory and a targeted node-attack approach. Group-classification accuracy was obtained with a support vector machine classifier. PWA showed stronger inter-hemispheric connectivity compared to HC in the theta-band (4.5–7 Hz), whilst a weaker subnetwork emerged in the low-gamma band (30.5–49 Hz). Two subnetworks correlated with semantic fluency in PWA respectively in delta- (1–4 Hz) and low-gamma-bands. In the theta-band network, graph alterations in PWA emerged at both local and global level, whilst only local changes were found in the low-gamma-band network. Network metrics discriminated PWA and HC with AUC = 83%. Overall, we demonstrate the potential of EEG-network metrics for the development of informative biomarkers to assess natural speech processing in chronic aphasia. We hypothesize that the detected alterations reflect compensatory mechanisms associated with recovery. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-afe9eeea3db2482d8731413a1f6672b4 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
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| spelling | doaj-art-afe9eeea3db2482d8731413a1f6672b42025-01-19T12:18:27ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-01-0115111610.1038/s41598-025-86192-8EEG reveals brain network alterations in chronic aphasia during natural speech listeningRamtin Mehraram0Jill Kries1Pieter De Clercq2Maaike Vandermosten3Tom Francart4Experimental Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain InstituteExperimental Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain InstituteExperimental Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain InstituteExperimental Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain InstituteExperimental Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain InstituteAbstract Aphasia is a common consequence of a stroke which affects language processing. In search of an objective biomarker for aphasia, we used EEG to investigate how functional network patterns in the cortex are affected in persons with post-stroke chronic aphasia (PWA) compared to healthy controls (HC) while they are listening to a story. EEG was recorded from 22 HC and 27 PWA while they listened to a 25-min-long story. Functional connectivity between scalp regions was measured with the weighted phase lag index. The Network-Based Statistics toolbox was used to detect altered network patterns and to investigate correlations with behavioural tests within the aphasia group. Differences in network geometry were assessed by means of graph theory and a targeted node-attack approach. Group-classification accuracy was obtained with a support vector machine classifier. PWA showed stronger inter-hemispheric connectivity compared to HC in the theta-band (4.5–7 Hz), whilst a weaker subnetwork emerged in the low-gamma band (30.5–49 Hz). Two subnetworks correlated with semantic fluency in PWA respectively in delta- (1–4 Hz) and low-gamma-bands. In the theta-band network, graph alterations in PWA emerged at both local and global level, whilst only local changes were found in the low-gamma-band network. Network metrics discriminated PWA and HC with AUC = 83%. Overall, we demonstrate the potential of EEG-network metrics for the development of informative biomarkers to assess natural speech processing in chronic aphasia. We hypothesize that the detected alterations reflect compensatory mechanisms associated with recovery.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-86192-8 |
| spellingShingle | Ramtin Mehraram Jill Kries Pieter De Clercq Maaike Vandermosten Tom Francart EEG reveals brain network alterations in chronic aphasia during natural speech listening Scientific Reports |
| title | EEG reveals brain network alterations in chronic aphasia during natural speech listening |
| title_full | EEG reveals brain network alterations in chronic aphasia during natural speech listening |
| title_fullStr | EEG reveals brain network alterations in chronic aphasia during natural speech listening |
| title_full_unstemmed | EEG reveals brain network alterations in chronic aphasia during natural speech listening |
| title_short | EEG reveals brain network alterations in chronic aphasia during natural speech listening |
| title_sort | eeg reveals brain network alterations in chronic aphasia during natural speech listening |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-86192-8 |
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