Non-literal language and semantic dementia

Abstract

Semantic dementia is characterized by fluent, phonologically adequate speech with various anomias and semantic paraphasias. Performance on semantic tasks is well documented in these patients, although little is known regarding performance on more complex language tasks, such as those involving non-literal language (interpretation of metaphors and proverbs and recognition of irony).OBJECTIVETo report the investigation of non-literal language in cases of semantic dementia.METHODSTwo cases of semantic dementia were investigated for the presence of deficits in non-literal language abilities using the screening test for Alzheimer's disease with proverbs, metaphor test and irony test.RESULTSBoth patients were found to have low performance on the tests applied, particularly for interpretation of proverbs.CONCLUSIONThis poor performance was attributed largely to the characteristic semantic changes of the disease, but some frontal symptoms inherent to other forms of frontotemporal lobar degeneration were also observed which interfered in the testing, such as negativism, reduced attention span, concretism and perseverations.

The scope of using pragmatic language tests for early detection of dementia: A systematic review of investigations using figurative language

“…In their seminal work, Winner and Gardner 59 found that AD patients were impaired in the metaphor comprehension task. Since then, several studies 20,42,43,45,47,54,[60][61][62][63][64] have investigated metaphorcomprehension deficits in patients with dementia. Most of these studies, except some recent ones 44,45,47,60,63 focused only on people with AD.…”

“…Since then, several studies 20,42,43,45,47,54,[60][61][62][63][64] have investigated metaphorcomprehension deficits in patients with dementia. Most of these studies, except some recent ones 44,45,47,60,63 focused only on people with AD. However, despite using different testing tools with different types of metaphors (conventional and novel) and different techniques for response elicitation (verbal explanation and multiple choice), these studies report a metaphor-comprehension deficit in patients with dementia.…”

“…[74][75][76] Thus irony processing overlaps with the neural bases of the ToMright and left temporo-praietal junction (TPJ), MPFC, and posterior cingulate (PC). 77 We found 10 studies 44,63,[78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85] investigating irony/sarcasm in patients with dementia/MCI. The results of these studies seem inconclusive, owing to the variability in the subjects studied and the tools used to study them.…”

“…Gaudreau et al 79 however, reported that patients with aMCI are deficient in processing the second-order ToM but not the first-order ToM. Moreover, apart from the ToM impairment, disruption of executive functions, 63 neuropsychiatric disturbances, 82,83 and semantic-processing deficits 63 can also lead to sarcasm-comprehension impairment. Gaudreau et al 79 found a positive correlation between free, total, immediate recall, composite executive scores, and story comprehension scores (sincere and ironic), as well as mentalizing scores.…”

“…We reviewed 34 studies on proverbs and idiom comprehension. 47,61,63,64, Most studies found proverb and idiom comprehension deficits in patients with dementia. However, Lafleche and Albert 96 found patients with AD to be impaired in executive functions that required simultaneous processing of multiple pieces of information but not on the proverb comprehension test.…”