Research article summary (published 29 Sep 2007):

Selective naming (and comprehension) deficits in Alzheimer's disease?

Full Abstract

The study addresses the issue of the selective preservation of verbs in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Twenty three AD patients and age-matched controls named pictures of objects and actions and took part in a word-picture verification task. The results for picture naming revealed that both patients and controls were faster and produced more target responses for objects than actions. In the comprehension task, accuracy levels were comparable for nouns and verbs, but response times were longer for verbs. Although patients were more error prone and had longer latencies in both tasks than controls, the only qualitative difference in performance between the groups was in response to trials with semantically related foils in the word-picture verification task. Patients were particularly error prone in this condition. We conclude that the results do not provide support for the notion that verbs are selectively preserved in AD. They also do not provide conclusive evidence for claims that depressed naming and comprehension is (always) due to loss of semantic knowledge or inadequate access to semantic knowledge. Finally, we discuss the findings in relation to comparable investigations in patients with semantic dementia.

Author information

Author/s: Masterson, Jackie (J); Druks, Judit (J); Kopelman, Michael (M); Clare, Linda (L); Garley, Claire (C); Hayes, Maureen (M);

Affiliation: Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education, University of London, UK. j.masterson(-atsign-)ioe.ac.uk

Grants: (Agency:Wellcome Trust)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Multicenter Study; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior (Cortex), published in Italy. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Oct; vol 43 (issue 7) : pp 921-34

Dates: Created 2007/10/18; Completed 2007/11/28;

PMID: 17941350, status: MEDLINE (last retrieved date: 2/18/2009)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MeSH Headings (categories) shown below.

Aged Aged, 80 and over Alzheimer Disease - complications Analysis of Variance Case-Control Studies Chi-Square Distribution Humans Language Disorders - complications

Language Disorders - complications Language Tests Matched-Pair Analysis Reaction Time - physiology Recognition (Psychology) - physiology Reference Values Semantics Verbal Behavior - physiology

Note: Bold headings indicate primary MeSH headings or qualifiers.

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