The accuracy and duration measurements of responses by left hemisphere brain damaged adults to three sets of pictorial stimuli

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there were significant differences in the accuracy and duration of adult aphasics' responses to three sets of pictorial stimuli. Ten left hemisphere brain damaged adults were presented with three groups of visual stimuli. The first stimulus set contained ten written instructions accompanied by static pictorial representations. The second stimulus set contained ten written instructions accompanied by diagrammatic pictorial representations. The third stimulus set contained ten written instructions accompanied by concrete pictorial representations. The subject responded to each stimulus by completing the required instruction using five small objects. The responses were judged for both accuracy and the amount of time needed for completion. The accuracy and duration scores were evaluated by means of a treatments-by-subjects analysis of variance to determine whether any of the pictorial representations influenced the subjects' responses.

The major findings of this study indicated that there were no significant differences in accuracy or duration among the subjects' responses to three pictorial stimulus sets. Furthermore, the data indicated that individual subjects tended to perform similarly for the accuracy and durational measures across three stimulus sets. Hence, those subjects who exhibited low accuracy scores on one stimulus set tended to perform equally poorly on the remaining two stimulus sets.

From the results of this study, it may be concluded that changing the pictorial stimuli according to the dimensions outlined in this study does not significantly affect the accuracy and duration of responses of adult aphasics on an object manipulation task. Further research is needed to determine how pictorial stimuli in isolation and in combination with other presentation modalities alter the communicative capabilities of the communicatively impaired.