The first cluster replicated findings of previous studies on TBI EF profiles. IT is suggested that TBI rehabilitation studies of EF must select participants by their EF profile rather than for clinical or demographical variables.
ABSTRACT. Conversational discourse (CD) is among the most complex tasks in everyday life and relies on multiple cognitive domains (communicative and executive abilities). Alterations in discourse comprehension and production are often present in pathological aging. However, there is still a need to identify changes in healthy aging. Objective: This study aimed to compare young and older adults for the frequency of impaired communicative behaviors on a CD task. Performance was scored according to the Complementary Procedure of Conversational Discourse Analysis (CPCDA), developed based on the CD task from the Montreal Communication Evaluation Battery. Methods: A total of 95 participants (54 young-adults and 41 older adults) were evaluated. The frequency of communicative behaviors was compared between groups using MANCOVA and Chi-square tests. Results: Young adults showed fewer impairments in expression, pragmatics, cohesion, coherence, comprehension and emotional prosody. Older adults showed higher levels of verbal initiative and had fewer word finding difficulties. Communicative behaviors associated with planning and self-monitoring (e.g. repetition of information and syllabic false starts) appear to be common in the speech of healthy individuals in general. Conclusion: Studies which evaluate both discursive and cognitive skills are required to identify age-related changes. This would allow for the development of screening tools for CD assessment and preventive programs.
Lexical-semantic impairments are common consequences of acquired neurological
damage. However, little is known about the benefits of existing treatment
methods for this type of language impairment.ObjectiveTo evaluate current research into lexical-semantic interventions for adults
with dementia, TBI or stroke.MethodsThe PubMed, PsycInfo and SCOPUS databases were searched for studies related
to rehabilitation, neurological conditions, communicative and
lexical-semantic skills published between 2004 and 2014.ResultsTwenty-eight of the 453 abstracts found were selected for the review based on
the PRISMA method. Most of the studies described treatments for anomia.
Semantic tasks were the most commonly used, followed by phonological and
gestural strategies. Interventions were individual and involved formal
tasks, although the number, frequency and duration of sessions varied
between studies.ConclusionAlthough lexical-semantic interventions lead to improvements in language
abilities, they are still poorly described in the literature, and must be
further investigated in terms of their efficacy, effectiveness and long-term
effects.
ObjectiveTo assess the predictive role of education and frequency of reading and
writing habits (FRWH) on the cognitive flexibility, inhibition and planning
abilities of healthy elderly individuals.MethodsFifty-seven healthy adults aged between 60 and 75 years with 2 to 23 years of
formal education were assessed as to the frequency with which they read and
wrote different types of text, as well as their number of years of formal
education. Executive functions were evaluated using the Hayling Test and the
Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (MWCST).ResultsWeak to moderate positive correlations were found between education, FRWH and
the number of categories completed in the MWCST, while negative correlations
were identified between these variables and the number of perseverative and
non-perseverative errors on the task. Only the FRWH was significantly
correlated with the number of failures to maintain set. Speed and accuracy
on the Hayling Test were only correlated with participant education. Both
education and FRWH significantly predicted performance on the MWCST, and the
combination of these two variables had a greater predictive impact on
performance on this task than either of the two variables alone. Variability
in scores on the Hayling Test was best accounted for by participant
education.ConclusionIn this sample of elderly subjects, cognitive flexibility was sufficiently
preserved to allow for adequate performance on verbal tasks, but may have
benefitted from the additional stimulation provided by regular reading and
writing habits and by formal education in the performance of more complex
non-verbal tasks.
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