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Sound naming in neurodegenerative disease
Maggie L Chow1, Simona M Brambati, Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini
1Department of Neuroscience, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States.
Brain and Cognition
|January 22, 2010
Summary
Patients with corticobasal degeneration (CBD) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) showed impaired naming of sounds from manipulable objects. This suggests a link between action-related semantic knowledge and the brain's motor system, specifically the pre-motor cortex.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Neurodegenerative Diseases
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- Cognitive neuroscientific theories propose a link between motor system brain structures and action-related semantic knowledge.
- Corticobasal degeneration (CBD) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) are neurodegenerative diseases causing cognitive and motor deficits.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between motor deficits and action-related semantic knowledge retrieval in CBD/PSP patients.
- To examine environmental sound naming performance in patients with CBD/PSP compared to other dementia groups and controls.
- To explore the neural correlates of environmental sound naming using voxel-based morphometry (VBM).
Main Methods:
- 33 subjects across four groups: CBD/PSP, Alzheimer disease, frontotemporal dementia, and normal controls.
- Presentation of 56 environmental sounds (28 manipulable, 28 non-manipulable objects).
- Assessment of object naming and sound-picture matching; VBM analysis of brain MRI.
Main Results:
- CBD/PSP patients demonstrated significantly lower overall environmental sound naming performance compared to controls.
- CBD/PSP patients showed the most significant impairment in naming sounds of manipulable objects, but not non-manipulable objects.
- VBM analysis revealed a correlation between naming manipulable object sounds and atrophy in the left pre-motor cortex (area six, middle/superior frontal gyrus).
Conclusions:
- Impairment in retrieving action-related names is associated with the motor system in CBD/PSP patients.
- Difficulties in naming sounds of manipulable objects may stem from pre-motor cortex atrophy.
- The findings support the hypothesis that motor regions are involved in retrieving action-related semantic knowledge.
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