Verbal fluency and executive dysfunction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)

Abrahams, Sharon; Leigh, P. Nigel; Harvey, Alexander N.; Vythelingum, Goparlen N.; Grise, D; Goldstein, Laura H.

doi:10.1016/s0028-3932(99)00146-3

Cited by 375 publications

(352 citation statements)

References 39 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

308

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…These findings are consistent with the subclinical frontal lobe dysfunction that has been discovered over recent years in non-demented MND patients [2,4,15,17,21,24,26,35]. Abnormal verbal fluency has been the most consistent finding in neuropsychological analyses of non-demented MND patients reported in the literature [4,7,17,21,24,35]. Functional brain imaging studies have found correlations between reduced uptake or activation of the frontal lobes and cognitive impairment in patients with MND [2,5,6,21].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Abnormal verbal fluency has been the most consistent finding in neuropsychological analyses of non-demented MND patients [4,17,21,24,35]. A test of written (letter) verbal fluency employing the 'Verbal Fluency Index' [7] was administered to test executive functions. Subjects were given five minutes to write down a list of words beginning with the letter 's', followed by four minutes to write down all four letter words beginning with 'c'.…”

Section: ■ Neuropsychological Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After each task each subject was asked to copy down all words that they had written and this was timed. The 'Verbal Fluency Index' (VFI) was designed in particular for patients with MND by accommodating for physical disability [7] and is an estimate of the average time taken to think of each word. Larger values of VFI represent more severe impairment.…”

Section: ■ Neuropsychological Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A particular question within the HADS-Depression questionnaire asks if the person feels 'slowed down'. This would unfairly disadvantage MND patients and so results from all subjects were analysed without this component [7].…”

Section: ■ Neuropsychological Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Ocular fixation instabilities in motor neurone disease

Donaghy

Pinnock²,

Abrahams

et al. 2009

J Neurol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: ■ Neuropsychological Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: ■ Neuropsychological Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: ■ Neuropsychological Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Ocular fixation instabilities in motor neurone disease

Donaghy

Pinnock²,

Abrahams

et al. 2009

J Neurol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…This result may also reflect difficulty with sustained output, concentration, and retrieval. 42 In contrast, the word generation test for certain specified categories, namely animal and supermarket items, showed no difference between the two groups. Most studies with AD patients show that category fluency is more severely affected by the disease than letter fluency.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Effect of Illiteracy on Cognition and Cerebral Morphology in Later Life

Kwon

Yoon

2015

Dement Neurocognitive Disord

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background and Purpose A better developmental environment has positive effects on brain development. The acquisition of literacy during childhood may affect brain functional organization. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of illiteracy on neuropsychological test results and cerebral morphology in later life. Methods We recruited 7 illiterate elderly farmers who had never attended school and had no reading or writing knowledge. These subjects were compared with 9 literate subjects in terms of neuropsychological performance and brain volume. All subjects were over 65-years-old and had the same regional and occupational background. Results Neuropsychological tests indicated that the performance of the illiterate subjects was worse than that of literate subjects in all cognitive domains except forward digit span, tool-use and tool-free gestures, verbal word recognition, and verbal generation of animals and grocery items. The illiterate group also showed significantly decreased cortical volume and surface area in both parietal lobes. However, the illiterate group showed increased cortical thickness in the left cuneus. Conclusions Literacy acquired in childhood may increase the volume of the parietal lobe and improve neuropsychological performance through the process of brain plasticity. The effects can be lifelong.

show abstract

An Observational Study of Cognitive Impairment in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Rippon¹,

Scarmeas²,

Gordon³

et al. 2006

Arch Neurol

137

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Cognitive impairment is increasingly recognized in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Clinical and pathologic features overlap in frontotemporal lobar dementia and ALS. Demographics, respiratory status, bulbar site of onset, and disease severity are potential risk factors for cognitive impairment in ALS. Objectives: To further delineate the frequency, nature, and implications of cognitive impairment in ALS and to assess previously identified risk factors. Design: Case-control and retrospective cohort study. Setting: Academic referral center. Participants: Forty consecutive patients with ALS underwent baseline neurologic and neuropsychologic examinations. Cognitive test performance was compared in patients with ALS and matched controls. An exploratory analysis of the relationship between cognitive performance and ALS survival was performed. Main Outcome Measures: Neuropsychologic test performance, ALS severity, and survival. Results: Twelve patients (30%) showed evidence of cognitive impairment, including 9 (23%) who met the neuropsychologic criteria for dementia. No statistically significant differences were found between demented and nondemented ALS groups regarding demographics, family history, site of onset, bulbar dysfunction, or ALS severity. Only 1 patient with dementia had bulbar-onset disease. An association was observed between increasing ALS severity and declining verbal fluency performance. Demented patients with ALS showed predominant impairment in free recall, executive function, and naming, with relative preservation of attention, psychomotor speed, and visuospatial function. No association was observed between cognition and survival, controlling for ALS severity. Conclusions: Nearly a third of the patients with ALS showed evidence of cognitive impairment in a pattern consistent with frontotemporal lobar dementia. Cognitive performance was not related to site of onset or survival.

show abstract

Verbal fluency and executive dysfunction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)

Cited by 375 publications

References 39 publications

Ocular fixation instabilities in motor neurone disease

Ocular fixation instabilities in motor neurone disease

Effect of Illiteracy on Cognition and Cerebral Morphology in Later Life

An Observational Study of Cognitive Impairment in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About