Longitudinal Verbal Fluency in Normal Aging, Preclinical, and Prevalent Alzheimer’s Disease

Clark, Linda J.; Gatz, Margaret; Zheng, Ling; Chen, Yuling; McCleary, Carol; Mack, Wendy J.

doi:10.1177/1533317509345154

Cited by 230 publications

(193 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Al considerarlas conjuntamente mejoran la capacidad discriminante de las pruebas tal y como se ha encontrado en los modelos multivariantes presentados. Así, los últimos hallazgos indican que la discrepancia entre ambas fluencias como algo característico de la EA en la que la fluencia semántica está más dañada que la fonémica y declina más rápido (Clark, et al, 2009;Henry, Crawford, & Phillips, 2004) podría tratarse de una tendencia que se ha exagerado (Laws, Duncan, & Gale, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

Edad, escolarización y tareas de Fluencia Verbal para el screening de pacientes con Enfermedad de Alzheimer

et al. 2015

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Resumen: Introducción. Las pruebas de Fluencia Verbal (FV) Semántica (FVS) y Fonológica (FVF) son muy empleadas en la práctica clínica. Disponer de diferentes pruebas alternativas que además tengan en cuenta el efecto de variables sociodemográficas mejorarían su uso como tests de cribado, permitiendo diferenciar a personas con y sin Enfermedad de Alzheimer (EA). Objetivos. Comparar la capacidad discriminativa de las tareas de FVS "cosas en una casa" y "alimentos" frente a la tarea "animales" entre pacientes con EA (n = 50) y sujetos sanos (n = 50); comparar el uso de los fonemas "P"-"M"-"R" como tarea alternativa y/o paralela a los fonemas "F"-"A"-"S"; y valorar el uso combinado de ambos tipos de tareas junto con el de variables sociodemográficas para la discriminación de pacientes con EA y sujetos sanos. Resultados. Tanto la categoría semántica como fonológica muestran resultados semejantes, una alta correlación, mantienen la validez de criterio y permiten su utilización de forma paralela. El modelo de predicción que logra discriminar correctamente al 91% de los sujetos evaluados es el que incluye las tareas "cosas en una casa", los fonemas "A" -"S" y las variables edad y años de escolarización. Conclusiones. La utilización paralela de pruebas de FVS y FVF, junto con variables sociodemográ-ficas mejora la capacidad discriminativa de las pruebas de FV. Palabras-clave: Demencia; enfermedad de Alzheimer; cribado; exploración neuropsicológica; fluidez verbal; fluidez semántica; fluencia fonológica.Title: Age, schooling and Verbal Fluency tasks for the screening of Alzheimer´s disease patients. Abstract: Introduction. The Verbal (VF), Semantic (SF) and Phonemic Fluency (PF) tests are commonly used in clinical practice. Having different alternative tests, that could also allow for the effect of demographic variables, would improve their use as screening tests, making it possible to differentiate patients with or without Alzheimer´s disease (AD). Aims. (1) To compare the discriminatory ability of the SF tasks "things in a house" and "food" versus the task "animals" among patients with the AD (n = 50) and healthy subjects (n = 50). (2) To compare the use of the phonemes such as "P", "M" and "R" as an alternative and/or parallel task to the phonemes "F", "A" and "S". (3) To assess the combined use of both tasks with the demographic variables for the screening of AD patients and the healthy ones. Results. Both semantic and phonemic categories indicate similar results, high correlation, support the criteria validity and allow for their use in a parallel way. Among all the different roles assessed, the most successful in screening correctly 91% of the evaluated subjects is the one that includes tasks such as "things in a house", the phonemes "A" and "S" and the age and schooling time variables. Conclusion. The parallel use of VF and PF, plus the demographic variables improve the discriminatory ability of the VF tests.

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Edad, escolarización y tareas de Fluencia Verbal para el screening de pacientes con Enfermedad de Alzheimer

et al. 2015

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“…Verbal fluency performance based on semantic category cues has been shown to index language proficiency in bilinguals (e.g., Gollan et al, 2002;Blumenfeld et al, 2016a). Animal and grocery categories were chosen since animals are a commonly used verbal fluency cue (e.g., Rosselli et al, 2000;Portocarrero et al, 2007;Bialystok et al, 2008) and the grocery cue was used to index participants' everyday language use, where participants were instructed to list anything they could buy at the grocery store (e.g., Clark et al, 2009). Participants were verbally instructed to name as many items within each category as they could within 60 s without repetitions.…”

Section: Verbal Fluencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of Successful Learning in Multilingual Older Adults Acquiring a Majority Language

et al. 2017

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Understanding language learning in later life can elucidate how linguistic experiences and age-specific cognitive skills can be leveraged for language acquisition, providing insight into how lifelong experiences configure our learning capacity. In this study, we examined to what extent acquisition and maintenance of a non-native language (English) is scaffolded by cognitive skills and previous linguistic experiences in older adults; and to what extent these cognitive/linguistic factors predict older learners' success in acquiring novel functional language. We recruited 53 participants who were native speakers of Mandarin, Spanish, Tagalog, and Somali, had continued to learn English as adults, and were currently exposed to majority-English contexts. To identify contributors to participants' English skills, we administered a language history and self-reported proficiency interview, brief cognitive testing, and verbal fluency tasks in L1 and English. We found that digit span and orientation measures were cognitive predictors of English proficiency, while similarity of known languages to English, L1 skills, and English language exposure were linguistic predictors of English skills. To examine participants' ability to maintain language knowledge and to learn new functional English, we also conducted a preliminary longitudinal service-based study in a subset of 19 participants using our Specific-Purpose English Communication System for Seniors (SPECSS) curriculum. In this subset of SPECSS learners, we identified digit span and orientation, but not age, as cognitive predictors of short-term language maintenance. Further, better novel English learning as a result of our curriculum was observed in learners whose other known languages were less similar to English. Findings inform best practices in developing language curricula for older adults, and help generate new hypotheses on preparedness for language learning across the adult lifespan with a possible interaction between cognitive skills and transfer of knowledge from previous languages in multilingual older learners.

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“…Alzheimer's patients' loss of language and so-called "failure" of communication is well documented in the scientific community (Verma and Howard 2012;Minati et al 2009), and has been explored both in terms of verbal fluency and naming (Chan et al 1991;Auriacombe et al 2006;Laws et al 2007;Apostolova et al 2008;Taler and Phillips 2008) as well as semantic fluency (Adlam et al 2006;Clark et al 2009). This literature identifies language impairment, including principal deficits in naming and fluency, as the prognostic marker of early stages of AD.…”

Section: Intertextualizing Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Anamnesis: Intertextual Memory and Alzheimer’s Disease

Wagner

2017

Genealogy

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This essay develops and performs a theory of intertextual memory; and uses this concept as a heuristic to re-conceptualize identity for people suffering from Alzheimer's disease. This work emerges from three key sites of personal and cultural inquiry. At the center is my engagement with my matrilineal ancestry; which is haunted by the specter of memory loss: my mother's mother (my Nanny) was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD) in 2002 when she was 73; and my mother was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's in 2012 when she was 51. By telling stories about my mother and my Nanny which rely on intertextual memory; I hope to broaden the poetic space of remembering and to challenge the Western humanistic conception of identity as inherent; atomistic; and highly dependent on successful memory performance. Secondly; I examine the rhetorical discourse circulating Alzheimer's disease in the popular cultural imaginary; where illness metaphors deleteriously situate the forgetting body within narratives of failure; fear; and loss of personhood. I argue that an intertextual approach to memory performance can help us reimagine Alzheimer's patients outside the stigmatizing parameters of these broader cultural stories. Lastly; I draw on empirical research related to communication failure in AD in order to consider the ways caregivers might approach Alzheimer's patients with the kind of linguistic and interactional flexibility subtended by an intertextual approach to identity; in order to forge improved relationships both with Alzheimer's patients and with the disease itself.

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Longitudinal Verbal Fluency in Normal Aging, Preclinical, and Prevalent Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract: Background-Few longitudinal studies evaluate differences in patterns of change of category compared to letter fluency across the spectrum of cognitive impairment.

Cited by 230 publications

References 24 publications

Edad, escolarización y tareas de Fluencia Verbal para el screening de pacientes con Enfermedad de Alzheimer

Edad, escolarización y tareas de Fluencia Verbal para el screening de pacientes con Enfermedad de Alzheimer

Predictors of Successful Learning in Multilingual Older Adults Acquiring a Majority Language

Anamnesis: Intertextual Memory and Alzheimer’s Disease

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