Neural Networks and Language Recovery in Aphasia From Stroke: fMRI Studies

Inclusion Criteria: * Aphasia patients with a single, unilateral, left hemisphere stroke. * Patients must be native speakers of English * Patients must be at least 6 months poststroke and produce mild-severe nonfluent speech. Minimum Language requirements: 2-4 word phrase length on elicited propositional speech * Auditory Comprehension a the 25th percentile or higher on the BDAE subtests for Word Comprehension and Commands, sufficient to cooperate during testing * The ability to name a minimum of 3 items on the Boston Naming Test at entry into study. * Patients must understand the nature of the study and give informed consent. * Normal right-handed controls with no history of neurological disease or substance abuse; age, education and gender-matched to the Aphasia cases. Exclusion Criteria: * Patients with more than one stroke in the left hemisphere or patients with bilateral strokes. * Each participant must be able to have an MRI scan. * MRI is contraindicated for pregnant women. * Patients will be excluded if they have the following: * Intracranial metallic bodies from prior neurosurgical procedure, implanted pacemaker, medication pump, vagal stimulator, deep brain stimulator, TENS unit or ventriculoperitoneal shunt * Past history of seizures within one year or unexplained loss of consciousness Family history of epilepsy * Acute, unstable medical conditions * History of substance abuse (within last 6 months) * Abnormal neurological exam, other than as signs of the condit…