Text level reading is vital for vocational, employment and leisure opportunities. People with aphasia (PWA) have language difficulties after stroke and often present with slow, effortful reading and impaired reading comprehension. Studying reading in PWA can inform our understanding of typical reading processes as well as potentially inform treatment options for such individuals. Some literature on typical readers has suggested that reading may be influenced by context such as familiar topics, semantic constraints and semantic plausibility. There is no evidence about how familiarity influences reading in PWA. Therefore, I will investigate the role of lexical and topic familiarity on reading and the relationship between lexical and paragraph level reading. This study will shed light on the influence of familiarity on reading speed and accuracy and consider the possible origin of any effects, shedding light on the processes involved in reading. The treatment study will clarify the role of lexical processing in text comprehension and will inform the design of assessment and tasks, potentially supporting PWA to be able to read more accurately and efficiently.
