The Repetition Maze Task as a possible tool to study memory for sentences in Primary Progressive Aphasia

The maze task is a sequential lexical decision paradigm in which participants are presented with two options at each step: one that forms a grammatically correct continuation of a sentence and a distractor. Participants must choose the grammatically appropriate option (Foster et al., 2009). This task also enables the repeated processing of the same sentence in a non-trivial way, allowing for the development of the Repetition Maze Task. By systematically repeating identical sentences, this method shows promise in providing high signal-to-noise measures of both compositional processes (e.g., word order effects) and lexical access (e.g., word frequency effects across the sentence). The paradigm also holds potential for applied research areas such as language development and language pathology. Specifically, this thesis will develop experimental materials in Italian and establish a paradigm for applying the Repetition Maze Task to individuals with Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). The stimuli will include sentences varying in length and syntactic complexity, with manipulations of grammatical and semantic features. The goal is to assess whether this tool can enhance our understanding of the distinctions among PPA variants.