Action verbal fluency in Parkinson’s patients

Abstract

We compared the performance of 31 non-demented Parkinson´s disease (PD) patients to 61 healthy controls in an action verbal fluency task. Semantic and phonemic fluencies, cognitive impairment and behavioural dysfunction were also assessed. The mean disease duration of PD was 9.8 years (standard deviation (SD) = 6.13). There were no age (U = 899.5, p = 0.616), gender(chi-square = 0.00, p = 1.00) or literacy (U = 956, p = 0.96) differences between the two groups. A significant difference was observed between the two groups in the action verbal fluency task (U = 406.5, p < 0.01) that was not found in the other fluency tasks. The education level was the only biographical variable that influenced the action (verb) fluency outcomes, irrespective of disease duration. Our findings suggest a correlation between the disease mechanisms in PD and a specific verb deficit, support the validity of the action (verb) fluency as an executive function measure and suggest that this task provides unique information not captured with traditional executive function tasks.

Combining a Cognitive Concurrent Task with a Motor or Motor-Cognitive Task: Which Is Better to Differentiate Levels of Affectation in Parkinson’s Disease?

“…Among the concurrent cognitive tasks used in PD patients, verbal fluency tasks have been extensively studied [23,24]. Unlike action fluency [25][26][27][28], phonemic fluency seems to be relatively unimpaired in PD [23,24]. Regarding motor tasks, automated motor activities such as cycling or pedaling are good candidates for concurrent tasks since they provide purer motor measures and prevent cognitive interference in motor performance.…”

Verbal fluency in relation to reading ability in students with and without dyslexia

“…Letter fluency and action fluency correlated weakly with each other ( r = .41, p = .007), while semantic fluency did not correlate with letter fluency or action fluency. These results are possibly explained by letter and action fluency being more frontally demanding than semantic fluency; that is, they are suggested to activate frontal and frontostriatal cortical areas, respectively (Baldo et al, 2006; Henry et al, 2004; Mummery et al, 1996; Piatt, Fields, Paolo, & Tröster, 1999; Rodrigues et al, 2015).…”

“…Studies on individuals with impairments in left temporal areas (e.g., Alzheimer disease) and frontal areas, as well as healthy adults, indicate that letter fluency relies relatively more on left frontal areas, and semantic fluency on left temporal areas (Baldo et al, 2006; Henry, Crawford, & Phillips, 2004; Mummery et al, 1996; Rosser & Hodges, 1994). Action fluency appears to be relatively more impaired in clinical populations with frontostriatal pathology, including populations with Parkinson disease (Piatt, Fields, Paolo, & Tröster, 1999; Rodrigues, Ferreira, Coelho, Rosa, & Castro-Caldas, 2015; Signorini & Volpato, 2006), HIV-1 (Iudicello et al, 2007; Woods et al, 2006), and dementia with Lewy bodies (Delbeuck, Debachy, Pasquier, & Moroni, 2012). The findings that action fluency activates the frontostriatal network have been supported by neuroimaging studies in both clinical groups and healthy adults (Beber & Chavez, 2014; Sanjuán et al, 2010).…”

“…Seeing that action fluency is particularly sensitive to impairments in frontostriatal structures, it has also been proposed to rely less on temporal structures compared to letter fluency and semantic fluency (Piatt, Fields, Paolo, & Tröster, 1999; Rodrigues et al, 2015; Signorini & Volpato, 2006). Action fluency has further been suggested to tap unique aspects of executive functioning compared to other, traditional executive functioning tasks (e.g., Piatt, Fields, Paolo, & Tröster, 1999).…”

Neural Foundations of Action-related Language: Studies in Parkinson’s Disease

“…Rodrigues et al (53) investigated action-related language impairment in PD using verbal fluency tests. There was no difference between patients with PD and healthy controls in terms of cognitive tests and phonemic and semantic fluency tests.…”