A Linguistic Profile of Narrative Speech in Early and Late-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease

Keywords: linguistic profile, narrative speech, sentence types, Alzheimer’s dementia, early-onset, late-onset.

Abstract

Objective. Alzheimer’s Dementia is defined as multiple impairments in cognitive functions and language impairment is one of the observed problems in this disease. In order to analyse these problems, narrative speech transcriptions of Turkish patients with early and late-onset Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and an age/education-matched control group were examined.

Materials & Methods. By using different language tests, the sentence production of Turkish patients with early (n: 23) and late-onset (n: 39) was examined and the results were compared within groups and within language tests. Our aim was to reveal the differences in sentence processing of Turkish Alzheimer patients.

Results. According to the results, Turkish Alzheimer patients use short and simple sentences composed of fewer words in their speech. It was determined that these patients performed better in Picnic Picture Description test, which is thought to be easy to describe. In Cookie Theft Picture Description test, which is a complex one, and in the Subject-based Narration test, it was found that the speech amounts of AD patients were less. It was revealed that early-onset AD patients used shorter sentences including fewer words compared to late-onset AD patients.

Conclusion. In the light of the data obtained, it can be said that AD patients have different sentence processing than normal individuals because of the problems in the language and memory areas of the disease. The fact that sentence processing is different means that these patients do not prefer the types of sentences that normal individuals prefer in their speeches, and use less words and simpler sentences.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Ahmed, S., de Jager, C.A., Haigh, A.M. F., & Garrard, P. (2012). Logopenic aphasia in Alzheimer’s disease: Clinical variant or clinical feature? Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 83(11), 1056–1062. https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp2012-302798

Akoglu, G., & Acarlar, F. (2014). Relationship Between Syntax Comprehension and Verbal Working Memory in Developmental Language Disorders. Turkish Journal of Psychology. 29(73): 89–103. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12587/5797

Almor, A., MacDonald, M.C., Kempler, D., Anderson, E.S., & Tyler, L.K. (2001). Comprehension of long distance number agreement in probable Alzheimer’s disease. Language and Cognitive Processes. 16(1), 35–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/01690960042000094

Altın, M. (2006). Alzheimer Tipi Demans Hastalarına Bakım Verenlerde Tükenmişlik ve Anksiyete. Haydarpaşa Numune Hastanesi: Uzmanlık Tezi.

Altmann, L.J., & McClung, J.S. (2008). Effects of semantic impairment on language use in Alzheimer’s disease. Seminars in speech and language, 29(1), 18–31. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-2008-1061622

Bakkour, A., Morris, J.C., Wolk, D.A., & Dickerson, B.C. (2013). The effects of aging and Alzheimer’s disease on cerebral cortical anatomy: Specificity and differential relationships with cognition. Neuroimage, 76, 332–344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.02.059

Bayles, K., Kazniak, A., &Tomoeda, C.K. (1987). Communication and cognition in normal aging and dementia. Boston: Little Brown.

Bayles, K.A. (1991). Age at onset of Alzheimer’s disease: Relation to language dysfunction. Archivesof Neurology, 48, 155–159. https://doi.org/10.1001/archneur.1991.00530140047016

Bayles, K.A., Tomoeda, C.K., & Trosset, M.W. (1992). Relation of linguistic communication abilities of Alzheimer’s patients to stage of disease. Brain and Language, 42, 455–473. https://doi.org/10.1016/0093-934X(92)90079-T

Bayles, K.A., Tomoeda, C.K., & Trosset, M.W. (1993). Alzheimer’s disease: Effects on language. Developmental Neuropsychology, 9, 131–160. https://doi.org/10.1080/87565649109540549

Becker, J.T., Huff, F.J., Nebes, R.D., Holland, A.L., & Boller, F. (1988). Neuropsychological function in Alzheimer’s disease: Pattern of impairment and rates of progression. Archives of Neurology, 45, 263–268. https://doi.org/10.1001/archneur.1988.00520270037018

Beeckman, A. E. (2009). Lexico-semantic features in early stage Alzheimer’s disease: Influence of rivastigmine and comparison with elderly controls. Holland: Utrecht University

Bencini, G.M.L., Pozzan, L., Biundo, R., McGeown, W.J., Valian, V.V., Venneri, A., & Semenza, C. (2011). Language-specific Effects in Alzheimer’s Disease: Subject Omission in Italian and English. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 24, 25–40.

Binetti, G., Magni, E., Padovani, A., & Cappa, S.F. (1993). Neuropsychological heterogeneity in mild Alzheimer’s disease. Dementia, 4, 321–326. https://doi.org/10.1159/000107340

Blanken, G., Dittmann, J., Haas, J-C., & Wallesch, C.W. (1987). Spontaneous speech in senile dementia and aphasia: Implications for a neurolinguistic model of language production. Cognition. 27(3), 247–274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2010.07.004

Boyé, M., Grabar, N., & Tran, M.T. (2013). Contrastive conversational analysis of language production by Alzheimer’s and control people, 205, 682–686, e-Health – For Continuity of Care. https://doi.org/10.3233/978-1-61499-432-9-682

Bucks, R.S., Singh, S., Cuerden, J.M., & Wilcock, G.K. (2000). Analysis of spontaneous, conversational speech in dementia of Alzheimer type: Evaluation of an objective technique for analysing lexical performance. Aphasiology, 14(1), 71–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/026870300401603

Burke, D.M. (2002) Language Production and Aging. In S. Kemper, & R. Kliegl (Eds.), Constraints on Language: Aging, Grammar, and Memory (pp. 3–27). Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-46902-2_1

Caloi, I. (2017). The Linguistic Deficit in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease: is There a Syntactic Impairment? (Doctoral dissertation, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main).

Can, E., Kuruoglu, G., Ozsoy, A.S., & Yener, G. (2016). Language use of patients with early- onset Alzheimer’s Disease: An Analysis of Basic Sentences. New Trends and Issues Proceedings on Humanities and Social Sciences, 6(3), 142–150. https://doi.org/10.18844/gjflt.v6i3.1661

Can, E., & Kuruoglu, G. (2017). Sentence Length of Turkish Patients with Early and Late-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Humanities and Social Sciences Review, 06(02), 69–78.

Can, E., & Kuruoglu, G. (2018). A comparison of Sentence Production of Turkish Patients with Early and Late-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease. International Journal of Psycho-Educational Sciences, 7(1), 74–85.

Can, E., Kuruoglu, G., & Ozsoy, A.S. (2018). Geç başlangıçlı Alzheimer tipi demans hastalarının dil kullanımı: Basit tümce açısından inceleme [Language use in patients with late-onset Alzheimer’s type dementia: A review in terms of simple sentences]. In Neslihan Kansu Yetkiner & Mehmet Şahin (Eds.), Dilbilim ve Çevribilim Yazıları – Linguistics and Translation Studies (pp. 36–47). Baskı Ankara: Anı Yayıncılık [in Turkish].

Can, E., & Kuruoglu, G. (2018). Assessment of Syntactic Complexity in Alzheimer’s Disease. Proceedings Book of the 3rd Eurasian Conference on Language and Social Science (ECLSS 2018) (June 27–29, 2018, Antalya, Turkey) (pp. 539–549). Antalya.

Can, E., & Kuruoğlu, G. (2021). Sentence Analysıs of Patıents wıth Dementıa of the Alzheımer’s Type. Language Skills Issues and Teaching Challenges, 83.

Can, E., & Kuruoğlu, G. (2021). A linguistic profile of narrative speech in early and late Alzheimer's disease, Mendeley Data, V1. https://doi.org/10.17632/g7nbf5y4tk.1

Caplan, D., & Waters, G.S. (1999). Verbal working memory and sentence comprehension. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22(01), 77–94 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X99001788

Caramelli, P., Mansur, L.L., & Nitrini, R. (1998). Language and communication disorders in dementia of the Alzheimer type. In Harry A. Whitaker, & Brigitte Stemme (Eds.), Handbook of Neurolinguistics. (Chapter 32: Language and Communication Disorders in Dementia of the Alzheimer Type, pp. 463–473). USA: Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012666055-5/50036-8

Chui, H.C., Teng, E.L., Henderson, V.W., & Moy, A.C. (1985). Clinical subtypes of dementia of the Alzheimer type. Neurology, 35, 1544–1550. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.35.11.1544

Croisile, B., Ska, B., Brabant, M.J., Duchene, A., Lepage, Y., Aimard, G., & Trillet M. (1996). Comparative study of oral and written Picture description in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Brain Language, 53, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1006/brln.1996.0033

Du Bois, J.W., Schuetze-Coburn, S., Cumming, S., & Paolino, D. (1993). Outline of discourse transcription. In Jane A. Edwards, & Martin D. Lampert (Eds.), Talking Data: Transcription and coding in discourse research (p 45–89). New York: Psychology Press.

Duong, A., & Ska, B. (2001). Production of narratives: Picture sequence facilitates organizational but not conceptual processing in less educated subjects. Brain and cognition, 46, 121–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0278-2626(01)80047-6

Ehrlich, J.S., Obler, L.K., & Clark, L. (1997). Ideational and semantic contributions to narrative production in adults with dementia of the Alzheimer’s type. Journal of Communication Disorders, 30, 79–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/0021-9924(95)00053-4

Eker, E. (2008). Alzheimer Hastalığı. In Türkiye’de Sık Karşılaşılan Psikiyatrik Hastalıklar Sempozyum Dizisi (pp. 85–110). Düzenleyen: İstanbul Üniversitesi Cerrahpaşa Tıp Fakültesi Sürekli Tıp Eğitimi Etkinlikleri.

Emery, V.O. (2000). Language impairment in dementia of the Alzheimer type: A hierarchical decline? International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 30, 145–164. https://doi.org/10.2190/X09P-N7AU-UCHA-VW08

Ferris, S. H., & Farlow, M. (2013). Language impairment in Alzheimer’s disease and benefits of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. Clinical Interventions in Aging, 8, 1007–1014. https://doi.org/10.2147/CIA.S39959

Filley, C.M., Kelly, J., & Heaton, R.K. (1986). Neuropsychological features of early and late on set Alzheimer’s disease. Annals of Neurology, 23, 365–370.

Fjell, A.M., Mcevoy, L., Holland, D., Dale, A.M., & Walhovd, K.B. (2014). What is normal in normal aging? Effects of aging, amyloid and Alzheimer’s disease on the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus. Progress in Neurobiology, 117, 20–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pneurobio.2014.02.004

Forbes, K.E., Venneri, A., & Shanks, M.F. (2001). Distinct patterns of spontaneous speech deterioration: an early predictor of Alzheimer’s disease. Brain and Cognition, 48(2–3), 356–361. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-005-0467-9

Gayraud, F., & Barkat-Defradas, M. (2013). Comprehension and Production of Complex Sentences and their relation to Working Memory: A comparative analysis of Alzheimer’s patients and healthy elderly subjects. In 11th International Symposium on Psycholinguistics (March 20th – 23rd, Tenerife (Spain). https://doi.org/10.3109/02699206.2010.521612

Goldblum, M.C., Tzortzis, C., Michot, J.L., Panisset, M., & Boller, F. (1994). Language impairment and rate of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease. Dementia, 5, 334– 338. https://doi.org/10.1159/000106743

Goodglass, H., & Kaplan, E. (1983). Boston diagnostic aphasia examination booklet. Lea & Febiger.

Hier, D.B., Hagenlocker, K., & Shindler, A.G. (1985). Language disintegration in dementia: Effects of etiology and severity. Brain Language, 25, 117–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/0093-934X(85)90124-5

Imamura, T., Takatsuki, Y., Fujimori, M., Hirono, N., Ikejiri, Y., Shimomura, T., Yamashita, Y., & Mori, E. (1998). Age at onset and language disturbances in Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropsychologia, 36(9), 945–949. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0028-3932(98)00010-4

Joubert, S., Gour, N., Guedj, E., Didic, M., Guériot, C., Koric, L., Ranjeva, J., Felician, O., Guye, M., & Ceccaldi, M. (2016). Early-onset and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease are associated with distinct patterns of memory impairment. Cortex, 74, 217–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2015.10.014

Kav’e, G., & Levy, Y. (2003). Morphology in Picture descriptions provided by persons with Alzheimer’s Disease. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 46, 341–352. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2003/027)

Kemper, S., LaBarge, E., Ferraro, R., Cheung, H., & Storandt, M. (1993). On the preservation of syntax in Alzheimer’s disease. Archives of Neurology, 50, 81–86. https://doi.org/10.1001/archneur.1993.00540010075021

Kemper, S., & Lions, K. (1994). The Effects of Alzheimer’s Dementia on Language and Communication. In M.L. Hummert, J.M. Wiemann, & J.F. Nussbaum (Eds.), Interpersonal Communication in Older Adulthood: An Introduction (pp. 58–82). USA: Sage Publications. https://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781483326832.n4

Kemper, S., & Mitzner, T.L. (2001). Language Production and Comprehension. In James E. Birren, & Warner Schaie (Eds.), Handbook of the Psychology of Aging (pp. 378–398). USA: Academic Press.

Kemper, S., Thompson, M., & Marquis, J. (2001a). Longitudinal change in language production: Effects of aging and dementia on grammatical complexity and propositional content. Psychology and Aging, 16, 600–614. https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.16.4.600

Kemper, S., Greiner, L.H., Marquis, J.G., Prenovost, K., & Mitzner, T. (2001b). Language Decline Across the Life Span: Findings from the Nun Study. Psychology and Aging, 16, 227–239. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.16.2.227

Kemper, S., Herman, R., & Lian, C. (2003). Age differences in sentence production. The Journals of Gerontology. Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 58(5), 260–268. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/58.5.P260

Kempler, D., Curtiss, S., & Jackson, C. (1987). Syntactic preservation in Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 30(3), 343–350. https://doi.org/10.1044/jshr.3003.343

Kempler, D. (1995). Language Changes in Dementia of the Alzheimer Type. In Rosemary Lubinski (Ed.), Dementia and Communication (pp. 98–114). San Diego, California: Singular Publishing Group.

Kensinger, E. (1996). Early and Late Onset as Subdivisions of Alzheimer’s Disease. Harvard Brain, 26-36.

Kertesz, A. (2004). Language in Alzheimer’s Disease. In Robin Morris, & James Becker (Eds.), Cognitive Neuropsychology of Alzheimer’s Disease (pp. 199–263). USA: Oxford University Press.

Kertesz, A. (2007). Western Aphasia Battery (Revised) PsychCorp. San Antonio. https://doi.org/10.1037/t15168-000

Koss, E., Edland, S., Fillenbaum, G., Mohs, R., Clark, C., Galasko, D., & Morris, J.C. (1996). Clinical and neuropsychological differences between patients with earlier and later onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Neurology, 46(1), 136–141. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.46.1.136

La Rue, A. (1992). Aging and neuropsychological assessment. New York: Springer Science & Business Media. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9119-8

Lira, J.O., Ortiz, K.Z., Campanha, A.C., Bertolucci, P.H.F., & Minett, T.S.C. (2011). Microlinguistic aspects of the oral narrative in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. International Psychogeriatrics, 23(3), 404–412. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610210001092

Lukic, S., Bonakdarpour, B., Den Ouden, D., Price, C., & Thompson, C. (2013). Neural Mechanisms of Verb and Sentence Production: A Lesion-deficit Study. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 94, 34–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.09.014

Maviş, İ., & Özbabalık, D. (2006). Yaşlılıkta Nörolojik Temelli İletişim Sorunları ve Dil ve Konuşma Terapisi [Neurologically Based Communication Problems and Speech and Language Therapy in Old Age]. Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi – Journal of Social Sciences, 6(1), 1–18 [in Turkish].

Mendez, M.R. (2017). Early-Onset Alzheimer Disease. Neurologic Clinics, 35(2), 263–281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ncl.2017.01.005

Multani, N., Rudzicz, F., & Tartaglia, M.C. (2016). Comparing Neuropsychiatric and Language Features in Early-onset and Late-onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, 12(7), 490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2016.06.968

Orimaye, S.O., Wong, J.S.M., & Golden, K.J. (2014). Learning predictive linguistic features for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias using verbal utterances. In Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Computational Linguistics and Clinical Psychology (CLPsych): From Linguistic Signal to Clinical Reality (June 27, 2014, Baltimore, Maryland, USA) (pp. 78–87). Association for Computational Linguistics.

Özkayar, N, & Arıoğul, S. (2007). Yaşlanma ile meydana gelen fizyolojik değişiklikler [Physiological changes that occur with aging]. İç Hastalıkları Dergisi – Journal of Internal Medicine, 14(1), 18–26 [in Turkish].

Romero, B., & Kurz, A. (1996). Deterioration of spontaneous speech in AD patients during a 1 year follow-up: Homogeneity of profiles and factors associated with progression. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 7(1), 35–40. https://doi.org/10.1159/000106850

Saka, E. (2010). Alzheimer Hastalığı Patofizyolojisi: Deneysel ve Genetik Bulgular [Alzheimer’s Disease Pathophysiology: Experimental and Genetic Findings]. Turkish Journal of Geriatrics – Turkish Journal of Geriatrics, 13, Special Issue, 3, 21–26.

Seines, O.A., Carson, K., Rovner, B., & Gordon, B. (1988). Language dysfunction in early‐and late‐onset possible Alzheimer’s disease. Neurology, 38(7), 1053–1056. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.38.7.1053

Seltzer, B., & Sherwin, I. (1983). A comparison of clinical features in early- and late-onset primary degenerative dementia. Archives of Neurology, 40, 143–146. https://doi.org/10.1001/archneur.1983.04050030037006

Sevush, S., Leve, N., & Brickman, A. (1993). Age at disease onset and pattern of cognitive impairment in probable Alzheimer’s disease. The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 5(1), 66–72. https://doi.org/10.1176/jnp.5.1.66

Shimada, M., Meguro, K., Yamazaki, H., Horikawa, A., Hayasaka, C., Yamaguchi, S., Yamaguchi, K., Katsuyama, N., Nakano, M., & Yamadori, A. (1998). Impaired verbal description ability assessed by the Picture Description Task in Alzheimer’s disease. Archives of gerontology and geriatrics, 27(1), 57–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-4943(98)00099-5

Sung, J.E., Kyung K., J., & Hyang, J.J. (2013). Working Memory Capacity and its Relation to Passive Sentence Comprehension in Persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment. In 43rd Clinical Aphasiology Conference: Clinical Aphasiology Conference (Tucson, AZ: May 28 – June 2, 2013). https://aphasiology.pitt.edu/id/eprint/2513

Sung, J. E. (2015). Age-Related Changes in Sentence Production Abilities and Their Relation to Working-Memory Capacity: Evidence from a Verb-Final Language. PLoS ONE 10(4), Article e0119424. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0119424

Thomas, C., Kešelj, V., Cercone, N., Rockwood, K., & Asp, E. (2005). Automatic detection and rating of dementia of Alzheimer type through lexical analysis of spontaneous speech. In Jason Gu, & Peter X. Liu (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Mechatronics and Automations (2005 IEEE) (July 20 – August 1, 2005, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada). (Vol 3, pp. 1569–1574). Piscataway, NJ: IEEE https://doi.org/10.1109/ICMA.2005.1626789

Tsantali, E., Economidis, D., & Tsolaki, M. (2013). Could language deficits really differentiate Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) from mild Alzheimer’s disease? Archives of gerontology and geriatrics, 57(3), 263–270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2013.03.011

Van der Flier, W.M., Pijnenburg, Y.A., Fox, N.C., & Scheltens, P. (2011). Early-onset versus late-onset Alzheimer’s disease: The case of the missing APOE ɛ4 allele. The Lancet Neurology, 10(3), 280–288. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(10)70306-9

Visch-Brink, E.G., Hagelstein, M., Middelkoop, H.A.M, & Van Der Cammen, T.M.J. (2004). Naming and Semantic Processing in Alzheimer Dementia: A Coherent Picture. Brain and Language, 91, 11–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2004.06.101

Waters, G.S., & Caplan, D. (1997). Working memory and on-line sentence comprehension in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 26(4), 377–400. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025073902269

Waters, G.S., & Caplan, D. (1999). Verbal working memory capacity and on-line sentence processing efficiency in the elderly. In S. Kemper, & R. Kliegel (Eds.), Constraints on language: Aging, grammar and memory (pp. 107–136). Boston: Kluwer.

Waters, G.S., & Caplan, D. (2001). Age, working memory and on-line syntactic processing in sentence comprehension. Psychology and Aging 16, 128–144. https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.16.1.128

Waters, G.S., & Caplan, D. (2002). Working Memory and Online Syntactic Processing in Alzheimer’s Disease: Studies With Auditory Moving Window Presentation. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 57(4), 298–311. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/57.4.P298

Yazıcı, T., & Şahin, H. (2010). Alzheimer Hastalığı [Alzheimer’s Disease]. Klinik Gelişim Dergisi – Journal of Clinical Development, 23(1), 48–52 [in Turkish].

Yener, G.G. (1994). Alzheimer Hastalığı ve Frontal Lob Demansın Ayırt Edilmesinde Kantitatif EEG ve XENON133-SPECT ile İlişkisi [Quantitative EEG and its Relationship with XENON133-SPECT in Differentiating Alzheimer's Disease and Frontal Lobe Dementia]. Uzmanlık Tezi – Specialist thesis. İzmir: Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Enstitüsü [in Turkish].


Abstract views: 552
PDF Downloads: 266
Published
2021-11-09
How to Cite
Can, E., & Kuruoğlu, G. (2021). A Linguistic Profile of Narrative Speech in Early and Late-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease. PSYCHOLINGUISTICS, 30(2), 28-58. https://doi.org/10.31470/2309-1797-2021-30-2-28-58

Most read articles by the same author(s)