Language use of patients with early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease: An analysis of basic sentences
Main Article Content
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD) which is the most common cause of dementia, has two subtypes: early-onset and late-onset AD. Early-onset AD affects people younger than age 65 and memory dysfunction, cognitive impairment, executive dysfunction and language problems are relatively more common on patients with early-onset AD. Based on the language disturbances, the aim of this study is to examine basic sentences of patients with early-onset AD by using four different language tests and to compare all the results with a control group. Considering the power analyses, 23 patients with early-onset AD from Dokuz Eylul University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology and an age/education-matched control group are included in this study. The data were analyzed using t test and Mann-Whitney U test. It was found that patients with early-onset AD used more basic sentences in Random Speech test compared to the control group. The other finding was about the nominal and the verbal sentences. It was revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between the patients with early-onset AD and the control group in terms of nominal sentences in the Picnic Picture description test, Cookie Theft Picture description test and the Story Picture Sequencing test. In terms of verbal sentences, it was found that there was a statistically significant difference between the patients with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease and the control group in all language tests. In conclusion, the syntactic ability is preserved in AD. However, working memory problems can make the syntactic processing worse. Due to this process, patients with early-onset AD tend to use basic sentence structures more frequently
Â
Keywords: alzheimer, early-onset alzheimer’s disease, basic sentences, nominal sentences, verbal sentences.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (SeeThe Effect of Open Access).
References
Bakkour, A., Morris, J. C., Wolk, D. A., & Dickerson, B. C. (2013). The effects of aging and Alzheimer's disease on cerebral cortical anatomy: specificity and differentialrelationships with cognition. Neuroimage, 76, 332-344.
Bayles, K. A., & Kaszniak, A.W. (1987). Communication and Cognition in Normal Aging and Dementia. Boston: Little Brown.
Bayles, K.A. (1991). Age at onset of Alzheimer’s disease: relation to language dysfunction. Archives of Neurology, 48, 155-159.
Bayles, K.A., Tomoeda, C.K., & Trosset, M.W. (1992). Relation of linguistic communication abilities of Alzheimer’s patients to stage of disease. Brain and Language, 42, 455-473.
Bayles, K. A., Tomoeda, C. K., & Trosset, M. W. (1993). Alzheimer’s disease: effects on language. Developmental Neuropsychology, 9, 131-160.
Beber, B.C., Cruz, A.N., & Chaves, M.L. (2015). A behavioral study of the nature of verb production deficits in Alzheimer’s disease. Brain and Language, 149, 128–134.
Becker, J.T., Huff, F. J., Nebes, R. D., Holland, A. L., & Boller, F. (1988). Neuropsychological function in Alzheimer’s disease: pattern of impairment and rates of progression. Archives of Neurology, 45, 263-268.
Binetti, G., Magni, E., Padovani, A., & Cappa, S. F. (1993). Neuropsychological heterogeneity in mild Alzheimer’s disease. Dementia, 4, 321-326.
Caplan, D., & Waters, G. S. (1999). Verbal working memory and sentence comprehension. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22(01), 77-94.
Caramelli, P., Mansur, L.L., & Nitrini, R. (1998). Language and communication disorders in dementia of the Alzheimer type. Handbook of Neurolinguistics. Editors: Harry A. Whitaker and Brigitte Stemme. USA: Academic Press.
Chui, H. C., Teng, E. L., Henderson, V.W., & Moy, A. C. (1985). Clinical subtypes of dementia of the Alzheimer type. Neurology. 35, 1544-50.
Croisile, B., Ska, B., Brabant, M. J., Duchene, A., Lepage, Y., Aimard, G., & Trillet M. (1996). Comparative study of oral and written Picture description in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Brain Language. 53, 1–19.
Du Bois, J. W., Schuetze-Coburn, S., Cumming, S., & Paolino, D. (1993). Outline of discourse transcription. Talking Data: Transcription and coding in discourse research (p 45-89). Editors: Jane A.Edwards and Martin D. Lampert. New York: Psychology Press.
Emery, V. O. B. (2000). Language impairment in dementia of the Alzheimer type: a hierarchical decline?. The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine. 30(2), 145-164.
Ferris, S. H., & Farlow, M. (2013). Language impairment in Alzheimer's disease and benefits of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. Clinical interventions in aging, 8, 1007-1014.
Filley, C. M., Kelly, J., & Heaton, R. K. (1986). Neuropsychological features of early and late-
onset Alzheimer’s disease. Annuals of Neurology, 23, 365-70.
Fjell, A. M., McEvoy, L., Holland, D., Dale, A. M., Walhovd, K. B., & Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. (2014). What is normal in normal aging? Effects of aging, amyloid and Alzheimer's disease on the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus. Progress in neurobiology, 117, 20-40.
Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E., & McHugh, P. R. (1975). Mini-Mental State. A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 12,189-198.
Goldblum, M. C., Tzortzis, C., Michot, J. L., Panisset, M., & Boller, F. (1994), Language impairment and rate of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease. Dementia, 5, 334-338.
Goodglass, H., & Kaplan, E. (1983). Boston diagnostic aphasia examination booklet. Lea & Febiger.
Hier, D.B., Hagenlocker, K., & Shindler, A.G. (1985). Language disintegration in dementia: effects of etiology and severity. Brain Language. 25, 117–133.
Kemper, S., Thompson, M., & Marquis, J. (2001a). Longitudinal change in language production: Effects of aging and dementia on grammatical complexity and propositional content. Psychology and Aging, 16, 600–614.
Kemper, S., Greiner, L. H., Marquis, J. G., Prenovost, K., & Mitzner, T. (2001b). Language Decline Across the Life Span: Findings from the Nun Study. Psychology and Aging. 16, 227-239.
Kemper, S., Herman, R. and Lian, C. (2003). Age differences in sentence production. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 58(5), 260-268.
Kensinger, E. (1996). Early and Late Onset as Subdivisions of Alzheimer's Disease. Harvard Brain. 26-36.
Kertesz, A. (2004). Language in Alzheimer’s Disease. Cognitive Neuropsychology of Alzheimer's Disease (p. 199-263). Editors: Robin Morris and James Becker. USA: Oxford University Press.
Kertesz, A. (2007). Western Aphasia Battery (Revised). PsychCorp. San Antonio.
Koss, E., Edland, S., Fillenbaum, G., Mohs, R., Clark, C., Galasko, D., & Morris, J.C. (1996). Clinical and neuropsychological differences between patients with earlier and later onset of Alzheimer's disease A CERAD analysis, part XII. Neurology, 46(1), 136-141.
Lukic, S., Bonakdarpour, B., Den Ouden, D., Price, C., & Thompson, C. (2013). Neural Mechanisms of Verb and Sentence Production: A Lesion-deficit Study. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 94, 34-35.
Rey, A. (1964). L ‘examen clinique en psychologie [Clinical tests in psychology]. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Romero, B., & Kurz, A. (1996). Deterioration of spontaneous speech in AD patients during a 1- year follow-up: homogeneity of profiles and factors associated with progression. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 7(1), 35-40.
Seines, O. A., Carson, K., Rovner, B., & Gordon, B. (1988). Language dysfunction in earlyâ€and lateâ€onset possible Alzheimer's disease. Neurology. 38(7), 1053-1056.
Seltzer, B., & Sherwin, I. (1983). A comparison of clinical features in early- and late-onset primary degenerative dementia. Archives of Neurology, 40, 143-146.
Sevush, S., Leve, N., & Brickman, A. (1993). Age at disease onset and pattern of cognitive impairment in probable Alzheimer's disease. The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences. 5/1, 66-72.
Sung, J. E., Kyung K.,J., & Hyang, J. J. (2013). Working Memory Capacity and its Relation to Passive Sentence Comprehension in Persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment. In Clinical Aphasiology Conference: Clinical Aphasiology Conference.
Swearer, J. M., O'Donnell, B. F., Drachman, D. A., & Woodward, B. M. (1992). Neuropsychological features of familial Alzheimer's disease. Annuals of neurology. 32(5), 687-694.
Tufan, I. (2012). Geriontolojiye GiriÅŸ. Retrieved from: http://www.itgevakiftr.com/
Waters, G. S., & Caplan, D. (1997). Working memory and on-line sentence comprehension in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 26(4), 377-400.
Waters, G. S., & Caplan, D. (1999). Verbal working memory capacity and on-line sentence processing efficiency in the elderly. Constraints on language: Aging, grammar and memory. Editors: S. Kemper and R. Kliegel. Boston: Kluwer.
Waters, G. S., & Caplan, D. (2001). Age, working memory and on-line syntactic processing in sentence comprehension. Psychology and Aging, 16, 128-144.