A culturally grounded Arabic naming task differentiates Saudi Arabic-speaking adults with post-stroke aphasia from neurotypical adults.
Anomia is a common linguistic consequence of post-stroke aphasia. Widely used confrontation-naming measures were developed primarily in English-speaking populations, and item familiarity may not transfer to Arabic speakers. We developed the Arabic Naming Test (ANT) as a culturally grounded picture-naming task and examined its preliminary clinical feasibility in Saudi Arabic-speaking adults.
In this cross-sectional convenience-sample study, 75 neurotypical native Arabic-speaking adults and 30 adults with post-stroke aphasia completed a 90-item picture-confrontation naming task. Accuracy and response latency were recorded; participants with aphasia also completed a sequential semantic-phonemic cueing protocol. Welch tests and age-adjusted sensitivity analyses compared groups.
The aphasia group had lower ANT scores than neurotypical peers (M = 49.50, SD = 31.66 vs. M = 87.55, SD = 3.48; Welch's t(29.3) = -6.57, p < 0.001; Hedges' g = -2.21) and slower mean response latency per item (M = 1.80 s vs. M = 1.06 s; Welch's t(29.8) = 3.77, p < 0.001; Hedges' g = 1.24). These group differences remained statistically significant in age-adjusted sensitivity analyses. Sequential semantic-phonemic cueing analyses of 30 participants showed reductions in description, miscellaneous, no-response, and semantic errors after adjustment for multiple comparisons. On average, 17.17 items (SD = 18.46) were named correctly after phonemic cueing and 2.90 items (SD = 3.32) after semantic cueing alone.
In this preliminary convenience sample, the ANT showed substantial known-groups differences between Saudi Arabic-speaking neurotypical adults and adults with post-stroke aphasia and generated descriptive cueing and error-profile observations. These findings support continued development of a culturally grounded Arabic naming measure; however, larger, demographically balanced multi-site studies are needed before formal reliability, psychometric validation, diagnostic accuracy, or clinically meaningful thresholds can be established.
In this cross-sectional convenience-sample study, 75 neurotypical native Arabic-speaking adults and 30 adults with post-stroke aphasia completed a 90-item picture-confrontation naming task. Accuracy and response latency were recorded; participants with aphasia also completed a sequential semantic-phonemic cueing protocol. Welch tests and age-adjusted sensitivity analyses compared groups.
The aphasia group had lower ANT scores than neurotypical peers (M = 49.50, SD = 31.66 vs. M = 87.55, SD = 3.48; Welch's t(29.3) = -6.57, p < 0.001; Hedges' g = -2.21) and slower mean response latency per item (M = 1.80 s vs. M = 1.06 s; Welch's t(29.8) = 3.77, p < 0.001; Hedges' g = 1.24). These group differences remained statistically significant in age-adjusted sensitivity analyses. Sequential semantic-phonemic cueing analyses of 30 participants showed reductions in description, miscellaneous, no-response, and semantic errors after adjustment for multiple comparisons. On average, 17.17 items (SD = 18.46) were named correctly after phonemic cueing and 2.90 items (SD = 3.32) after semantic cueing alone.
In this preliminary convenience sample, the ANT showed substantial known-groups differences between Saudi Arabic-speaking neurotypical adults and adults with post-stroke aphasia and generated descriptive cueing and error-profile observations. These findings support continued development of a culturally grounded Arabic naming measure; however, larger, demographically balanced multi-site studies are needed before formal reliability, psychometric validation, diagnostic accuracy, or clinically meaningful thresholds can be established.
Authors
Aldera Aldera, AlHarbi AlHarbi, Alduraibi Alduraibi, Almeshal Almeshal, Aldosari Aldosari, Baruqan Baruqan, Alsubaie Alsubaie, Al Awaji Al Awaji
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