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Published on: August 30, 2011
Impaired verbal description ability assessed by the Picture Description Task in Alzheimer's disease
M Shimada1, K Meguro, H Yamazaki
1Section of Neuropsychology, Division of Disability Science, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1, Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, 980-8575 Sendai, Japan.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients show reduced information content and description efficiency in verbal tasks. These language deficits correlate with reduced cerebral blood flow in the visual cortex and thalamus, aiding in AD diagnosis.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Neurology
- Psycholinguistics
Background:
- Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by language impairments, particularly in lexical-semantic processing.
- Verbal picture description is a sensitive tool for detecting language deficits in AD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess verbal description ability in AD patients.
- To investigate the relationship between verbal description and regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) in AD.
Main Methods:
- 23 AD patients and 17 controls performed a Picture Description Task assessing information amount, efficiency, and relevance.
- Regional CBF was measured in 14 AD patients using SPECT with N-isopropyl-p-[(123)I]iodoamphetamine.
Main Results:
- AD patients provided significantly less information and were less efficient in descriptions compared to controls.
- Reduced information content correlated with lower CBF in bilateral occipital lobes and the left thalamus.
- Description efficiency and information amount effectively discriminated between AD patients and controls.
Conclusions:
- Verbal description variables, especially information amount, are valuable for AD diagnosis.
- Reduced information content in AD language may be linked to impaired function in the left thalamus and bilateral visual cortex.
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