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Brown-Schmidt S, Cho SJ, Nozari N, Klooster N, Duff M. The limited role of hippocampal declarative memory in transient semantic activation during online language processing. Neuropsychologia 2021; 152:107730. [PMID: 33346044 PMCID: PMC7882034 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107730] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2020] [Revised: 09/13/2020] [Accepted: 12/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Recent findings point to a role for hippocampus in the moment-by-moment processing of language, including the use and generation of semantic features in certain contexts. What role the hippocampus might play in the processing of semantic relations in spoken language comprehension, however, is unknown. Here we test patients with bilateral hippocampal damage and dense amnesia in order to examine the necessity of hippocampus for lexico-semantic mapping processes in spoken language understanding. In two visual-world eye-tracking experiments, we monitor eye movements to images that are semantically related to spoken words and sentences. We find no impairment in amnesia, relative to matched healthy comparison participants. These findings suggest, at least for close semantic links and simple language comprehension tasks, a lack of necessity for hippocampus in lexico-semantic mapping between spoken words and simple pictures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Brown-Schmidt
- Vanderbilt University, Department of Psychology and Human Development, United States.
| | - Sun-Joo Cho
- Vanderbilt University, Department of Psychology and Human Development, United States
| | - Nazbanou Nozari
- Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Psychology, United States
| | | | - Melissa Duff
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Department of Hearing and Speech Science, United States
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2
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Minto-García A, Arias-Trejo N, Vargas-García EM. Lexical Relations in Spanish-Speaking Older Adults. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2020; 49:663-716. [PMID: 32519228 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-020-09708-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
This study analyzed the types of lexical relations produced by Spanish-speaking older adults with typical aging. A total of 120 older adults completed a word association norms task with 117 stimulus words, which allowed us to explore differences in associations by sex, age, and years of education. We employed two classifications to code the lexical relations: a traditional classification (paradigmatic versus syntagmatic) and a second classification categorizing responses into 17 types of associations (e.g., categorial versus non-categorial). Our results show that participants have a preference for paradigmatic responses (e.g., dog-animal), as well as associations with thematic-contextual co-occurrence plus semantic relations (e.g., cradle-baby). These findings suggest that older adults tend to establish lexical relations based on a combined link, one that is semantic and contextual.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aline Minto-García
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Universidad 3004, Ciudad Universitaria Del. Coyoacán, C. P. 04510, Mexico, Mexico
| | - Natalia Arias-Trejo
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Universidad 3004, Ciudad Universitaria Del. Coyoacán, C. P. 04510, Mexico, Mexico.
| | - Elsa M Vargas-García
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Universidad 3004, Ciudad Universitaria Del. Coyoacán, C. P. 04510, Mexico, Mexico
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Gao AF, Keith JL, Gao FQ, Black SE, Moscovitch M, Rosenbaum RS. Neuropathology of a remarkable case of memory impairment informs human memory. Neuropsychologia 2020; 140:107342. [PMID: 31972232 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107342] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2019] [Revised: 01/03/2020] [Accepted: 01/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Kent Cochrane (K.C.) has been investigated by researchers for nearly three decades after intracranial trauma from a motorcycle accident at age 30 resulted in a striking profile of amnesia. K.C. suffered severe anterograde amnesia in both verbal and non-verbal domains which was accompanied by selective retrograde amnesia for personal events experienced prior to the time of his injury (episodic memory), with relative preservation of memory for personal and world facts (semantic memory), and of implicit memory. This pattern of spared and impaired memory extended to spatial memory for large-scale environments and beyond memory to future imagining and decision-making. Post-mortem brain findings at age 62 included moderate diffuse atrophy, left orbitofrontal contusion, left posterior cerebral artery infarct, and left anterior frontal watershed infarct. Notably, there was severe neuronal loss and gliosis of the hippocampi bilaterally. The left hippocampus was severely affected anteriorly and posteriorly, but CA2, CA4, and the dentate gyrus (DG) were focally spared. There was associated degeneration of the left fornix. The right hippocampus showed near complete destruction anteriorly, with relative preservation posteriorly, mainly of CA4 and DG. Bilateral parahippocampal gyri and left anterior thalamus also showed neuron loss and gliosis. There was no evidence of co-existing neurodegenerative phenomena on beta-amyloid, phosphorylated tau, or TDP-43 immunostaining. The extent of damage to medial temporal lobe structures is in keeping with K.C.'s profound anterograde and retrograde amnesia, with the exception of the unexpected finding of preserved CA2/CA4 and DG. K.C.'s case demonstrates that relatively clean functional dissociations are still possible following widespread brain damage, with structurally compromised brain regions unlikely to be critical to cognitive functions found to be intact. In this way, the findings presented here add to K.C.'s significant contributions to our understanding of clinical-anatomical relationships in memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew F Gao
- Department of Anatomic Pathology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Julia L Keith
- Department of Anatomic Pathology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Fu-Qiang Gao
- L.C. Campbell Cognitive Neurology Research Group, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Sandra E Black
- L.C. Campbell Cognitive Neurology Research Group, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Morris Moscovitch
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - R Shayna Rosenbaum
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Psychology and Vision: Science to Applications (VISTA) Program, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada.
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Yoon JH, Jeong HY, Lee Y, Kim YS, Choi J, Kim J. Lifespan Development of Syntactic Ability from Early Childhood to Old Age. COMMUNICATION SCIENCES & DISORDERS 2018. [DOI: 10.12963/csd.18552] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
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Kavé G, Goral M. Do age-related word retrieval difficulties appear (or disappear) in connected speech? AGING NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2016; 24:508-527. [PMID: 27583986 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2016.1226249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
We conducted a comprehensive literature review of studies of word retrieval in connected speech in healthy aging and reviewed relevant aphasia research that could shed light on the aging literature. Four main hypotheses guided the review: (1) Significant retrieval difficulties would lead to reduced output in connected speech. (2) Significant retrieval difficulties would lead to a more limited lexical variety in connected speech. (3) Significant retrieval difficulties would lead to an increase in word substitution errors and in pronoun use as well as to greater dysfluency and hesitation in connected speech. (4) Retrieval difficulties on tests of single-word production would be associated with measures of word retrieval in connected speech. Studies on aging did not confirm these four hypotheses, unlike studies on aphasia that generally did. The review suggests that future research should investigate how context facilitates word production in old age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gitit Kavé
- a Department of Education and Psychology , The Open University , Ra'anana , Israel
| | - Mira Goral
- b Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences , Lehman College , CUNY, Bronx , NY , USA
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Physical exercise-induced adult neurogenesis: a good strategy to prevent cognitive decline in neurodegenerative diseases? BIOMED RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2014; 2014:403120. [PMID: 24818140 PMCID: PMC4000963 DOI: 10.1155/2014/403120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2013] [Revised: 02/16/2014] [Accepted: 02/16/2014] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Cumulative evidence has indicated that there is an important role for adult hippocampal neurogenesis in cognitive function. With the increasing prevalence of cognitive decline associated with neurodegenerative diseases among the ageing population, physical exercise, a potent enhancer of adult hippocampal neurogenesis, has emerged as a potential preventative strategy/treatment to reduce cognitive decline. Here we review the functional role of adult hippocampal neurogenesis in learning and memory, and how this form of structural plasticity is altered in neurodegenerative diseases known to involve cognitive impairment. We further discuss how physical exercise may contribute to cognitive improvement in the ageing brain by preserving adult neurogenesis, and review the recent approaches for measuring changes in neurogenesis in the live human brain.
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Hippocampal neurogenesis levels predict WATERMAZE search strategies in the aging brain. PLoS One 2013; 8:e75125. [PMID: 24086453 PMCID: PMC3781090 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0075125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2013] [Accepted: 08/07/2013] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The hippocampus plays a crucial role in the formation of spatial memories, and it is thought that adult hippocampal neurogenesis may participate in this form of learning. To better elucidate the relationship between neurogenesis and spatial learning, we examined both across the entire life span of mice. We found that cell proliferation, neuronal differentiation, and neurogenesis significantly decrease with age, and that there is an abrupt reduction in these processes early on, between 1.5-3 months of age. After this, the neurogenic capacity continues to decline steadily. The initial abrupt decline in adult neurogenesis was paralleled by a significant reduction in Morris Water Maze performance, however overall learning and memory remained constant thereafter. Further analysis of the search strategies employed revealed that reductions in neurogenesis in the aging brain were strongly correlated with the adoption of spatially imprecise search strategies. Overall, performance measures of learning and memory in the Morris Water Maze were maintained at relatively constant levels in aging animals due to an increase in the use of spatially imprecise search strategies.
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MacKay DG, Johnson LW, Fazel V, James LE. Compensating for Language Deficits in Amnesia I: H.M.'s Spared Retrieval Categories. Brain Sci 2013; 3:262-93. [PMID: 24961315 PMCID: PMC4061832 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci3010262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2012] [Revised: 02/28/2013] [Accepted: 03/05/2013] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Three studies examined amnesic H.M.’s use of words, phrases, and propositions on the Test of Language Competence (TLC). In Study 1, H.M. used 19 lexical categories (e.g., common nouns, verbs) and one syntactic category (noun phrases) with the same relative frequency as memory-normal controls, he used no lexical or syntactic category with less-than-normal frequency, and he used proper names (e.g., Melanie) and coordinative conjunctions (e.g., and) with reliably greater-than-normal frequency. In Study 2, H.M. overused proper names relative to controls when answering episodic memory questions about childhood experiences in speech and writing, replicating and extending Study 1 results for proper names. Based on detailed analyses of the use (and misuse) of coordinating conjunctions on the TLC, Study 3 developed a syntax-level “compensation hypothesis” for explaining why H.M. overused coordinating conjunctions relative to controls in Study 1. Present results suggested that (a) frontal mechanisms for retrieving word-, phrase-, and propositional-categories are intact in H.M., unlike in category-specific aphasia, (b) using his intact retrieval mechanisms, H.M. has developed a never-previously-observed proposition-level free association strategy to compensate for the hippocampal region damage that has impaired his mechanisms for encoding novel linguistic structures, and (c) H.M.’s overuse of proper names warrants further research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donald G MacKay
- Psychology Department, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
| | - Laura W Johnson
- Psychology Department, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
| | - Vedad Fazel
- Psychology Department, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
| | - Lori E James
- PsycholoPsychology Department, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO 80918, USA.
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L’apprentissage de nouvelles informations sémantiques par les patients amnésiques : une revue de la littérature. ANNEE PSYCHOLOGIQUE 2011. [DOI: 10.4074/s0003503311003071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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MacKay DG, James LE, Hadley CB, Fogler KA. Speech errors of amnesic H.M.: Unlike everyday slips-of-the-tongue. Cortex 2011; 47:377-408. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2010.05.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2009] [Revised: 03/01/2010] [Accepted: 05/15/2010] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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Graham KS, Barense MD, Lee ACH. Going beyond LTM in the MTL: a synthesis of neuropsychological and neuroimaging findings on the role of the medial temporal lobe in memory and perception. Neuropsychologia 2010; 48:831-53. [PMID: 20074580 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 269] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2007] [Revised: 12/08/2009] [Accepted: 01/01/2010] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Studies in rats and non-human primates suggest that medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures play a role in perceptual processing, with the hippocampus necessary for spatial discrimination, and the perirhinal cortex for object discrimination. Until recently, there was little convergent evidence for analogous functional specialisation in humans, or for a role of the MTL in processes beyond long-term memory. A recent series of novel human neuropsychological studies, however, in which paradigms from the animal literature were adapted and extended, have revealed findings remarkably similar to those seen in rats and monkeys. These experiments have demonstrated differential effects of distinct stimulus categories on performance in tasks for which there was no explicit requirement to remember information across trials. There is also accruing complementary evidence from functional neuroimaging that MTL structures show differential patterns of activation for scenes and objects, even on simple visual discrimination tasks. This article reviews some of these key studies and discusses the implications of these new findings for existing accounts of memory. A non-modular view of memory is proposed in which memory and perception depend upon the same anatomically distributed representations (emergent memory account). The limitations and criticisms of this theory are discussed and a number of outstanding questions proposed, including key predictions that can be tested by future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kim S Graham
- Wales Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Tower Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK.
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MacKay DG, Hadley C. Supra-normal age-linked retrograde amnesia: Lessons from an older amnesic (H.M.). Hippocampus 2009; 19:424-45. [DOI: 10.1002/hipo.20531] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
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MacKay DG, James LE, Hadley CB. Amnesic H.M.'s performance on the language competence test: Parallel deficits in memory and sentence production. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 2008; 30:280-300. [PMID: 17852614 DOI: 10.1080/13803390701380609] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
To test conflicting hypotheses regarding amnesic H.M.'s language abilities, this study examined H.M.'s sentence production on the Language Competence Test (Wiig & Secord, 1988). The task for H.M. and 8 education-, age-, and IQ-matched controls was to describe pictures using a single grammatical sentence containing prespecified target words. The results indicated selective deficits in H.M.'s picture descriptions: H.M. produced fewer single grammatical sentences, included fewer target words, and described the pictures less completely and accurately than did the controls. However, H.M.'s deficits diminished with repeated processing of unfamiliar stimuli and disappeared for familiar stimuli-effects that help explain why other researchers have concluded that H.M.'s language production is intact. Besides resolving the conflicting hypotheses, present results replicated other well-controlled sentence production results and indicated that H.M.'s language and memory exhibit parallel deficits and sparing. Present results comport in detail with binding theory but pose problems for current systems theories of H.M.'s condition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donald G MacKay
- Psychology Dept., University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563, USA.
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MacKay DG, James LE, Taylor JK, Marian DE. Amnesic H.M. exhibits parallel deficits and sparing in language and memory: Systems versus binding theory accounts. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2007. [DOI: 10.1080/01690960600652596] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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MacKay DG. A tale of two paradigms or metatheoretical approaches to cognitive neuropsychology: did Schmolck, Stefanacci, and Squire (2000) show that hippocampal lesions only impair memory, whereas adjacent (extrahippocampal) lesions impair detection and explanation of sentence ambiguity? BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2001; 78:265-275. [PMID: 11500077 DOI: 10.1006/brln.2001.2470] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
This note discusses two fundamentally different paradigms or metatheoretical approaches that currently guide cognitive neuropsychology: the Theoretical- vs. Anatomical-paradigms. To illustrate these paradigms, we compare a Theoretical-paradigm paper (MacKay & James, 2001) with an Anatomical-paradigm paper (Schmolck, Stefanacci, & Squire, 2000): These papers report virtually identical experiments on relations between language, memory, and hippocampal systems, using the same task (the detection and explanation of ambiguities in sentences that participants know are ambiguous), virtually identical ambiguous sentences, and at least one identical participant (the amnesic HM). However, MacKay and James made strikingly different claims from Schmolck et al., and we show that the Schmolck et al. claims comport not with their data but with an unstated theory to which they are implicitly committed within the Anatomical-paradigm.
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Affiliation(s)
- D G MacKay
- Psychology Dept, University of California, Los Angeles 90095-1563, USA
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