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Paradoxical features of word finding difficulty in primary progressive aphasia
Author(s) -
Vandenberghe Rik R.,
Vandenbulcke Mathieu,
Weintraub Sandra,
Johnson Nancy,
Porke Kathleen,
Thompson Cynthia K.,
Mesulam Marsel M.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
annals of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.764
H-Index - 296
eISSN - 1531-8249
pISSN - 0364-5134
DOI - 10.1002/ana.20362
Subject(s) - psychology , primary progressive aphasia , proper noun , aphasia , prime (order theory) , noun , cognition , audiology , subcategory , language disorder , disease , cognitive psychology , dementia , medicine , pathology , natural language processing , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , frontotemporal dementia , computer science , mathematics , combinatorics , pure mathematics
Impaired word retrieval is a main symptom of primary progressive aphasia (PPA). The cognitive features of this impairment in PPA are poorly understood. We studied 12 patients with PPA (6 English‐speaking and 6 Dutch‐speaking), 7 patients with early‐stage clinically probable Alzheimer's disease (PRAD), 5 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 15 age‐matched, cognitively intact, control subjects. Subjects had to name a picture (the probe), which was preceded by a written word (the prime) that could be the correct name of the picture, a noun belonging to the same semantic subcategory (related prime), a semantically unrelated noun (unrelated prime), or a pseudoword (neutral control). Naming latencies were longer in PPA and PRAD patients than in control subjects. Critically, the interaction between group and prime type was highly significant. PPA patients named the probe more slowly after a related compared with an unrelated prime. In contrast, PRAD patients, mild cognitive impairment patients, and healthy control subjects tended to name the probe faster when it was preceded by a related prime. The semantic interference effect in PPA generalized across languages and PPA subtypes. Selection among competing word forms sharing a same semantic field is abnormal in PPA. The semantic interference effect constitutes a positive distinguishing feature between PPA and PRAD. Ann Neurol 2005;57:204–209