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Kintz S, Kim H, Wright HH. A preliminary investigation on core lexicon analysis in dementia of the Alzheimer's type. Int J Lang Commun Disord 2024. [PMID: 38165595 DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984.12999] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2022] [Accepted: 12/01/2023] [Indexed: 01/04/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Core lexicon (CL) analysis is a time efficient and possibly reliable measure that captures discourse production abilities. For people with aphasia, CL scores have demonstrated correlations with aphasia severity, as well as other discourse and linguistic measures. It was also found to be clinician-friendly and clinically sensitive enough to capture longitudinal changes in aphasia. To our knowledge, CL has never been investigated in individuals with neurologically progressive disease. AIMS As a preliminary investigation, we sought to investigate (1) whether CL scores correlate with dementia severity, (2) whether CL scores correlate with measures of discourse quality, and (3) whether CL scores correlate with other measures of lexical/semantic access. METHODS & PROCEDURES Twelve participants with a cognitive impairment associated with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) completed several measures of language and cognitive ability, as well as provide a language sample from the wordless picture book, Picnic. RESULTS & CONCLUSION Results are informative, as they provide insight into characteristics of CL and provide support for potential use of CL in individuals with neurologically progressive disease. The results indicated that CL scores do correlate with dementia severity and several measures of language ability, indicating they may provide a useful measure of language abilities in DAT, but more research is needed. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS What is already known on the subject Core lexicon (CL) analysis is an assessment measure of discourse ability, most closely related to informativeness or productivity, used in aphasiology that is easier to use and less time consuming than previous measures of informativeness, such as correct information units or type-token ratio (TTR). For people with aphasia, CL analysis correlates with aphasia severity, measures of informativeness, as well as other measures of discourse quality. It has also been shown to be faster and more reliable between scorers than other informativeness measures. What this study adds Core lexicon analysis is a new simple and online method for assessing the informativeness of a discourse sample without the need to record or transcribe the language sample. CL is receiving a lot of attention in aphasia, correlating with everything from aphasia severity to measures of productivity and lexical access, as well as measures of informativeness. Unfortunately, no one has investigated CL analysis in dementia. The study demonstrates the first evidence that CL analysis may be a useful measure for determining dementia severity and language quality in people with dementia. What are the clinical implications of this work? Core lexicon analysis may provide clinicians and researchers with an easy method for assessing the discourse of people with a cognitive impairment associated with dementia of the Alzheimer's type. This will improve initial assessment, as well as improve ongoing language assessment that may provide clues into their functional ability to communicate effectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen Kintz
- Department of Speech Language Pathology, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
| | - Hana Kim
- Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of South Florida, Tampa Bay, Florida, USA
| | - Heather Harris Wright
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA
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Burke E, Gunstad J, Hamrick P. Comparing global and local semantic coherence of spontaneous speech in persons with Alzheimer's disease and healthy controls. Appl Corpus Linguistics 2023; 3:100064. [PMID: 37476646 PMCID: PMC10354704 DOI: 10.1016/j.acorp.2023.100064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/22/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Erin Burke
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Kent State University
| | - John Gunstad
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Kent State University
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Kong APH, Cheung RTH, Wong GHY, Choy JCP, Dai R, Spector A. Spoken discourse in episodic autobiographical and verbal short-term memory in Chinese people with dementia: the roles of global coherence and informativeness. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1124477. [PMID: 38022958 PMCID: PMC10643863 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1124477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2022] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Memory and discourse production are closely related in healthy populations. A few studies in people with amnestic mild cognitive impairment and people with dementia (PWD) suggested similar links, although empirical evidence is insufficient to inform emerging intervention design and natural language processing research. Fine-grained discourse assessment is needed to understand their complex relationship in PWD. Methods Spoken samples from 104 PWD were elicited using personal narrative and sequential picture description and assessed using Main Concept Analysis and other content-based analytic methods. Discourse and memory performance data were analyzed in bivariate correlation and linear multiple regression models to determine the relationship between discourse production and episodic autobiographical memory and verbal short-term memory (vSTM). Results Global coherence was a significant predictor of episodic autobiographical memory, explaining over half of the variance. Both episodic autobiographical memory and vSTM were positively correlated with global coherence and informativeness, and negatively with empty speech indices. Discussion Coherence in personal narrative may be supported by episodic autobiographical memory and vice versa, suggesting potential mechanism of interventions targeting personhood through conversation. Indices of global coherence, informativeness, and empty speech can be used as markers of memory functions in PWD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony Pak-Hin Kong
- Academic Unit of Human Communication, Development, and Information Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Aphasia Research and Therapy (ART) Laboratory, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Ryan Tsz Him Cheung
- Academic Unit of Human Communication, Development, and Information Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Gloria H. Y. Wong
- Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Health Service and Population Research, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jacky C. P. Choy
- Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Ruizhi Dai
- Department of Psychology, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Aimee Spector
- Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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Bueno-Cayo AM, del Rio Carmona M, Castell-Enguix R, Iborra-Marmolejo I, Murphy M, Irigaray TQ, Cervera JF, Moret-Tatay C. Predicting Scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) from Spontaneous Speech. Behav Sci (Basel) 2022; 12:bs12090339. [PMID: 36135143 PMCID: PMC9495889 DOI: 10.3390/bs12090339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2022] [Revised: 09/11/2022] [Accepted: 09/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between language components, such as lexical density, length, and content in terms of “Time, Space and Action”, with MMSE scores. For this reason, a group of 33 older participants, without a diagnosis of dementia, was examined, providing information regarding recent and future events. Participants with higher MMSE scores showed higher lexical density, speech length, as well as number of tokens related to Time, Place and Action in their speech. However, these differences only reach the statistical level for lexical density when participants were divided into two groups (MCI and healthy controls). Word frequency was lower for participants with MCI but this difference was not statistically significant. Lastly, lexical density was positively correlated with MMSE scores and predicted MMSE scores. These results could be of interest at the applied level in the screening of MCI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alma M. Bueno-Cayo
- Escuela de Doctorado, Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir, San Agustín 3, Esc. A, Entresuelo 1, 46002 Valencia, Spain
- Correspondence: (A.M.B.-C.); (C.M.-T.)
| | - Minerva del Rio Carmona
- Faculty of Psychology, Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir, Sede Padre Jofré, Av., Ilustración nº2, 46100 Valencia, Spain
| | - Rosa Castell-Enguix
- Faculty of Psychology, Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir, Sede Padre Jofré, Av., Ilustración nº2, 46100 Valencia, Spain
| | - Isabel Iborra-Marmolejo
- Faculty of Psychology, Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir, Sede Padre Jofré, Av., Ilustración nº2, 46100 Valencia, Spain
| | - Mike Murphy
- School of Applied Psychology, University College Cork, N Mall, Kilbarry Enterprise Centre, T12 YN60 Cork, Ireland
| | - Tatiana Quarti Irigaray
- Pós-Graduate Program in Psychology, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre 91215-330, Brazil
| | - José Francisco Cervera
- Faculty of Psychology, Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir, Sede Padre Jofré, Av., Ilustración nº2, 46100 Valencia, Spain
| | - Carmen Moret-Tatay
- Faculty of Psychology, Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir, Sede Padre Jofré, Av., Ilustración nº2, 46100 Valencia, Spain
- Correspondence: (A.M.B.-C.); (C.M.-T.)
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Guan CQ, Meng W, Morett LM, Fraundorf SH. Mapping Pitch Accents to Memory Representations in Spoken Discourse Among Chinese Learners of English: Effects of L2 Proficiency and Working Memory. Front Psychol 2022; 13:870152. [PMID: 35664143 PMCID: PMC9161639 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.870152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2022] [Accepted: 03/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
We examined L2 learners' interpretation of pitch accent cues in discourse memory and how these effects vary with proficiency and working memory (WM). One hundred sixty-eight L1-Chinese participants learning L2-English listened to recorded discourses containing pairs of contrastive alternatives and then took a later recognition memory test. Their language proficiency and WM were measured through standard tests and the participants were categorized into low, medium, advanced, and high advanced language proficiency groups. We analyzed recognition memory task performance using signal detection theory to tease apart response bias (an overall tendency to affirm memory probes) from sensitivity (the ability to discern whether a specific probe statement is true). The results showed a benefit of contrastive L + H* pitch accents in rejecting probes referring to items unmentioned in a discourse, but not contrastive alternatives themselves. More proficient participants also showed more accurate memory for the discourses overall, as well as a reduced overall bias to affirm the presented statements as true. Meanwhile, that the benefit of L + H* accents in rejecting either contrast probes or unmentioned probes was modulated for people with greater working memory. Participants with higher WM were quite sure that it did not exist in the memory trace as this part of discourse wasn't mentioned. The results support a contrast-uncertainty hypothesis, in which comprehenders recall the contrast set but fail to distinguish which is the correct item. Further, these effects were influenced by proficiency and by working memory, suggesting they reflect incomplete mapping between pitch accent and discourse representation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Connie Qun Guan
- School of Foreign Studies, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Wanjin Meng
- China National Institute of Education Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Laura M. Morett
- Department of Educational Studies in Psychology, Research Methodology, and Counseling, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, United States
| | - Scott H. Fraundorf
- Department of Psychology and Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
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Margot-Cattin I, Berchtold A, Gaber S, Kuhne N, Nygård L, Malinowsky C. Associations between community participation and types of places visited among persons living with and without dementia: risks perception and socio-demographic aspects. BMC Geriatr 2022; 22:309. [PMID: 35397532 PMCID: PMC8994370 DOI: 10.1186/s12877-022-03015-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2022] [Accepted: 03/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Introduction
Increasingly, literature has focused on community participation in places visited by persons living with and without dementia. Earlier research indicates that multiple factors, including socio-demographic aspects and risk perception may influence community participation.
Aim and methods
This cross-sectional, explorative study aims to inquire into how places visited, socio-demographic aspects and risks perception are associated with self-rated community participation for persons living with and without dementia (n = 70) in Switzerland. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews with questionnaires (ACT-OUT, MoCA, sociodemographic). First, we investigated whether the number of places visited was correlated with self-rated participation; then we added socio-demographic and risks perception factors with a bivariate analysis; and searched for a model using multinomial logistic regressions.
Results
For the group of participants living with dementia, risks of falling (p = .014) and of getting lost (p = .037) were significantly associated with self-rated participation. For the group of participants living without dementia, visiting places outside the home was significantly associated with self-rated participation, especially visiting places in domain D/places for recreational and physical activities (p = .005).
Discussion and conclusions
The results of exploring multiple factors and searching for a model highlights the complexity of community participation as a construct. Risks and visiting places for recreational and physical activities seem to play a role in self-rated participation. Mobile interviews might be better suited to gain in-depth understanding on community participation for persons living with dementia.
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Yeung A, Iaboni A, Rochon E, Lavoie M, Santiago C, Yancheva M, Novikova J, Xu M, Robin J, Kaufman LD, Mostafa F. Correlating natural language processing and automated speech analysis with clinician assessment to quantify speech-language changes in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's dementia. Alzheimers Res Ther 2021; 13:109. [PMID: 34088354 PMCID: PMC8178861 DOI: 10.1186/s13195-021-00848-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2020] [Accepted: 05/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Language impairment is an important marker of neurodegenerative disorders. Despite this, there is no universal system of terminology used to describe these impairments and large inter-rater variability can exist between clinicians assessing language. The use of natural language processing (NLP) and automated speech analysis (ASA) is emerging as a novel and potentially more objective method to assess language in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's dementia (AD). No studies have analyzed how variables extracted through NLP and ASA might also be correlated to language impairments identified by a clinician. METHODS Audio recordings (n=30) from participants with AD, MCI, and controls were rated by clinicians for word-finding difficulty, incoherence, perseveration, and errors in speech. Speech recordings were also transcribed, and linguistic and acoustic variables were extracted through NLP and ASA. Correlations between clinician-rated speech characteristics and the variables were compared using Spearman's correlation. Exploratory factor analysis was applied to find common factors between variables for each speech characteristic. RESULTS Clinician agreement was high in three of the four speech characteristics: word-finding difficulty (ICC = 0.92, p<0.001), incoherence (ICC = 0.91, p<0.001), and perseveration (ICC = 0.88, p<0.001). Word-finding difficulty and incoherence were useful constructs at distinguishing MCI and AD from controls, while perseveration and speech errors were less relevant. Word-finding difficulty as a construct was explained by three factors, including number and duration of pauses, word duration, and syntactic complexity. Incoherence was explained by two factors, including increased average word duration, use of past tense, and changes in age of acquisition, and more negative valence. CONCLUSIONS Variables extracted through automated acoustic and linguistic analysis of MCI and AD speech were significantly correlated with clinician ratings of speech and language characteristics. Our results suggest that correlating NLP and ASA with clinician observations is an objective and novel approach to measuring speech and language changes in neurodegenerative disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony Yeung
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON, M5T 1R8, Canada.
| | - Andrea Iaboni
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON, M5T 1R8, Canada.,KITE Research Institute, Toronto Rehab, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada
| | - Elizabeth Rochon
- KITE Research Institute, Toronto Rehab, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada.,Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Monica Lavoie
- Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Calvin Santiago
- Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
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Schneider F, Marcotte K, Brisebois A, Townsend SAM, Smidarle AD, Loureiro F, da Rosa Franco A, Soder RB, Nikolaev A, Marrone LCP, Hübner LC. Neuroanatomical Correlates of Macrolinguistic Aspects in Narrative Discourse in Unilateral Left and Right Hemisphere Stroke: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2021; 64:1650-1665. [PMID: 33844609 DOI: 10.1044/2020_jslhr-20-00500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Background A growing body of literature has demonstrated the importance of discourse assessment in patients who suffered from brain injury, both in the left and right hemispheres, as discourse represents a key component of functional communication. However, little is known about the relationship between gray matter density and macrolinguistic processing. Purpose This study aimed to investigate this relationship in a group of participants with middle-low to low socioeconomic status. Method Twenty adults with unilateral left hemisphere (n = 10) or right hemisphere (n = 10) chronic ischemic stroke and 10 matched (age, education, and socioeconomic status) healthy controls produced three oral narratives based on sequential scenes. Voxel-based morphometry analysis was conducted using structural magnetic resonance imaging. Results Compared to healthy controls, the left hemisphere group showed cohesion impairments, whereas the right hemisphere group showed impairments in coherence and in producing macropropositions. Cohesion positively correlated with gray matter density in the right primary sensory area (PSA)/precentral gyrus and the pars opercularis. Coherence, narrativity, and index of lexical informativeness were positively associated with the left PSA/insula and the superior temporal gyrus. Macropropositions were mostly related to the left PSA/insula and superior temporal gyrus, left cingulate, and right primary motor area/insula. Discussion Overall, the present results suggest that both hemispheres are implicated in macrolinguistic processes in narrative discourse. Further studies including larger samples and with various socioeconomic status should be conducted. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14347550.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fernanda Schneider
- Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rio Grande do Sul, Ibirubá, Brazil
- Linguistics Department, School of Humanities, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Karine Marcotte
- Centre de recherche du Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Nord-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, Québec, Canada
- École d'orthophonie et d'audiologie, Faculté de médecine, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
| | - Amelie Brisebois
- Centre de recherche du Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Nord-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, Québec, Canada
- École d'orthophonie et d'audiologie, Faculté de médecine, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
| | - Sabrine Amaral Martins Townsend
- Linguistics Department, School of Humanities, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
- Postdoctoral Program in Linguistics, University of Santa Cruz do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | - Anderson Dick Smidarle
- Linguistics Department, School of Humanities, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Fernanda Loureiro
- São Lucas Hospital (Speech and Language Service), Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Alexandre da Rosa Franco
- Department of Psychiatry, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY
- Center for Biomedical Imaging and Neuromodulation, The Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY
- Center for the Developing Brain, Child Mind Institute, New York, NY
| | - Ricardo Bernardi Soder
- Brain Institute (InsCer), Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
- School of Medicine, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Alexandre Nikolaev
- School of Languages and Cultures, The University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | | | - Lilian Cristine Hübner
- Linguistics Department, School of Humanities, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
- National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, Brasília, Federal District, Brazil
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