In this study, we tested whether inner speech (the little voice in your head) can predict naming treatment outcomes. Some stroke survivors tell us that there are words they can say in their heads (successful inner speech) but cannot say out loud. We tested whether these words would be learned more effectively during treatment, compared to words that the stroke survivors could not say in their heads (or out loud). After two weeks of naming therapy, our results supported our predictions. Treatment helped participants learn words that they could say in their head (successful inner speech), but not words that they could not say in their heads (unsuccessful inner speech). We published these findings in the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology in a paper titled “Inner Speech Can Predict Naming Treatment Outcomes in Aphasia: A Pilot, Single-Subject Design Study”.  

We are now looking at the types of errors participants made during naming and the participants' error awareness. Stay tuned for additional publications from this body of work! 

We are also studying how inner speech supports other cognitive functions, including executive function (for example, decision-making, task-switching, resolving conflict) in people with aphasia. In 2024, we published a paper in Neuropsychologia titled “Evidence from aphasia suggests a bidirectional relationship between inner speech and executive function”. In this paper, we show evidence that inner speech and executive function abilities can be related in people with aphasia.  

In 2025, we received a two-year Clinical Research Grant from the ASHFoundation to ask more questions about inner speech and executive function. We are recruiting healthy older adults and stroke survivors for data collection.  

In this project, we are examining the ways in which adults use inner speech in their everyday lives. We started by administering an online version of the General Inner Speech Questionnaire (Racy et al., 2020) to healthy adults and just published the results in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology in an article titled “Everyday Uses of Inner Speech Among Middle- and Older-Aged Adults".” 

We are now collecting data on everyday uses of inner speech in adults with post-stroke aphasia, as part of our study on inner speech and executive function. Please reach out if you are interested in participating! 

We are also interested in a few other topic areas, including mental health and cultural and linguistic diversity among individuals with aphasia. Stay tuned for updates on these projects! 

In 2020, we partnered with the Stroke Comeback Center to examine the unique experiences of people with aphasia during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Check out our papers in the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology.