The Multilingual Naming Test (MINT) as a Measure of Picture Naming Ability in Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Objective: The present study investigated the ability of the Multilingual Naming Test (MINT), a picture naming test recently added to the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center’s (NACC) Uniform Data Set neuropsychological test battery, to detect naming impairment (i.e., dysnomia) across stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Method: Data from the initial administration of the MINT were obtained on NACC participants who were cognitively normal (N = 3,981) or diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (N = 852) or dementia (N = 1,148) with presumed etiology of AD. Dementia severity was rated using the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale. Results: Cross-sectional multiple regression analyses revealed significant effects of diagnostic group, sex, education, age, and race on naming scores. Planned comparisons collapsing across age and education groups revealed significant group differences in naming scores across levels of dementia severity. ROC curve analyses showed good diagnostic accuracy of MINT scores for distinguishing cognitively normal controls from AD dementia, but not from MCI. Within the cognitively normal group, there was a robust interaction between age and education such that naming scores exhibited the most precipitous drop across age groups for the least educated participants. Additionally, education effects were stronger in African-Americans than in Whites (a race-by-education interaction), and race effects were stronger in older than in younger age groups (a race-by-age interaction). Conclusions: The MINT successfully detects naming deficits at different levels of cognitive impairment in patients with MCI or AD dementia, but comparison to age, sex, race, and education-corrected norms to determine impairment is essential.

Variability in Cognitive Performance on Mobile Devices Is Sensitive to Mild Cognitive Impairment: Results From the Einstein Aging Study

“…Participants were classified as having MCI or being CU based on the Jak/Bondi algorithmic criteria ( 2 , 39 ) of global neuropsychological test performance in the EAS clinic [see ( 40 ) for additional information]. The following 10 neuropsychological instruments covering five cognitive domains were considered for this classification: (1) Memory: Free recall from the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test ( 41 ), Benson Complex Figure [Delayed ( 42 )]; (2) Executive Function: Trail Making Test Part B [limit time 300 s ( 43 )], Phonemic Verbal Fluency [Letters F, and L for 1 min each ( 44 )]; (3) Attention: Trail Making Test Part A [limit 150 s ( 43 )], Number Span [forward and backward ( 45 )]; (4) Language: Multilingual Naming Test [MINT, total score ( 46 )], Category Fluency [Animals, Vegetables: 1 min each ( 47 )]; (5) Visual-spatial: Benson Complex Figure [Immediate ( 42 )], WAIS III Block Design ( 45 ). The following actuarial formula was used: (1) impaired scores, defined as >1 SD below the age, gender, and education adjusted normative means, on both measures within at least one cognitive domain (i.e., memory, language, or speed/executive function); or (2) one impaired score, defined as >1 SD below the age, gender, and education adjusted normative mean, in each of three of the five cognitive domains measured; or (3) a score of 4 on the Lawton Brody scale, indicating dependency on all four instrumental activities items ( 48 ).…”

Development and application of the International Classification of Cognitive Disorders in Epilepsy (IC-CoDE): Initial results from a multi-center study of adults with temporal lobe epilepsy.

“…COGNITIVE DISORDERS IN EPILEPSY 2012) was included as a test exemplar for naming, because it has been translated for use in a number of languages (e.g., English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Hebrew), has roughly equivalent difficulty across languages, introduces less cultural bias than traditional naming measures, and is increasing in popularity in the aging literature as a measure of dysnomia in bilingual patients (Gollan et al, 2012;Stasenko et al, 2019). Finally, diagnostic modifiers were proposed that included severity of impairment (mild, moderate, and marked), etiology, (epilepsy-related, non-neurological, and iatrogenic [medications, surgery]), and mood (depression, anxiety, and other).…”

“…Although the list of skills and tests presented in Figure 1 is not exhaustive, and some tests necessarily tap multiple skills and could be assigned to multiple domains (e.g., Controlled Oral Word Association could be considered language or executive functioning), we based our test assignment on prior literature and task force member consensus. Although not previously validated within the epilepsy literature, the Multilingual Naming Test (Gollan et al, 2012) was included as a test exemplar for naming, because it has been translated for use in a number of languages (e.g., English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Hebrew), has roughly equivalent difficulty across languages, introduces less cultural bias than traditional naming measures, and is increasing in popularity in the aging literature as a measure of dysnomia in bilingual patients (Gollan et al, 2012; Stasenko et al, 2019). Finally, diagnostic modifiers were proposed that included severity of impairment (mild, moderate, and marked), etiology, (epilepsy-related, non-neurological, and iatrogenic [medications, surgery]), and mood (depression, anxiety, and other).…”

A Modified CAIDE Risk Score as a Screening Tool for Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults

“…The testing dataset included a battery of 11 performance-based cognitive tests modeled on the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center's (NACC) Uniform Data Set [21]: MoCA; Noise Pareidolia Test, a measure of visual perception [22]; Numbers forward and backward tests as measures of attention and working memory [23]; Hopkins Verbal Learning Tests of immediate and delayed recall as measures of episodic memory [24]; Trail Making A and B, as measures of visual attention, processing speed, and executive function [25]; animal naming, a measure of verbal fluency; Multilingual Naming Test (MINT), a measure of semantic memory [26]; and the Number Symbol Coding Task, a measure of executive function [27]. Z-scores for individual cognitive test were derived based on the mean and SD of the entire sample and averaged to create an aggregate standardized composite Z-score which was used as an overall measure of cognitive function [17].…”