Effect of prestimulation on sentence comprehension by aphasic subjects

Aphasic subjects and controls were tested to determine whether comprehension of spoken sentences was enhanced by prestimulation concerning their contents. For each of the 20 test points, the subject listened to the test sentence and selected the corresponding picture from among four pictures presented simultaneously. The preparatory suggestions were given in one test condition and withheld in the other. Each prestimulation consisted of one or two sentences that indicated the persons, objects, or general situation to be presented in the test sentence. Analysis of variance indicated that the effect of the prestimulation was not significant.