scholarly journals Qualitative Assessment of Verbal Fluency Performance in Frontotemporal Dementia

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 35-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther van den Berg ◽  
Lize C. Jiskoot ◽  
Mariëlle J.H. Grosveld ◽  
John C. van Swieten ◽  
Janne M. Papma
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Frontotemporal Dementia ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Verbal Ability ◽  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Longitudinal Change ◽  
Qualitative Assessment ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
With Memory

Background/Aims: Verbal fluency is impaired in patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and primary progressive aphasia (PPA). This study explored qualitative differences in verbal fluency (clustering of words, switching between strategies) between FTD and PPA variants. Methods: Twenty-nine patients with behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD) and 50 with PPA (13 nonfluent/agrammatic, 14 semantic, and 23 logopenic) performed a semantic and letter fluency task. Clustering (number of multiword strings) and switching (number of transitions between clustered and nonclustered words) were recorded by two independent raters. Between-group differences, associations with memory, language, and executive functioning, and longitudinal change (subsample) in clustering and switching were examined. Results: Interrater reliability was high (median 0.98). PPA patients generated (a) smaller (number of) clusters on semantic and letter fluency than bvFTD patients (p < 0.05). Semantic variant patients used more switches than nonfluent/agrammatic or logopenic variant patients (p < 0.05). Clustering in semantic fluency was significantly associated with memory and language (range standardized regression coefficients 0.24-0.38). Switching in letter fluency was associated with executive functioning (0.32-0.35). Conclusion: Clustering and switching in verbal fluency differed between patients with subtypes of FTD and PPA. Qualitative aspects of verbal fluency provide additional information on verbal ability and executive control which can be used for clinically diagnostic purposes.

A-11 Investigating Gene–Gene Interactions by Cognitive Domain in Healthy Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 1051-1051
Author(s):  
Kendra L Pizzonia ◽  
Andrew M Bryant ◽  
Leatha A Clark ◽  
Brian C Clark ◽  
Julie A Suhr
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Gene Interactions ◽  
Trail Making Test ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Immediate Memory ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
Main Effects

Abstract Objective ApoE is a well-known gene carrying risk for Alzheimer’s disease and is associated with memory performance while the COMT gene is associated with executive functioning but is understudied. The present study investigated these gene interactions across cognitive domains. Method A larger study on gait and aging recruited 89 healthy community-dwelling adults over the age of 60. The primary analyses included 82 participants (67% female, mean age = 74.61, SD = 6.71). The analyses on executive functioning included 72 participants (65% female, mean age = 73.02, SD = 4.99) who completed all measures of interest. ApoE status was defined as presence/absence of Ɛ4. The rs4680 gene on the COMT allele was classified into Val/Met, Val/Val, and Met/Met genotypes. Biological sex was included as a binary term (i.e., male/female). Index variables and age corrected standard scores on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status, verbal fluency, and Trail Making Test were included. Results Gene–gene interactions were found for overall cognitive functioning, immediate memory, and semantic fluency. There were main effects of sex for overall cognitive functioning, immediate memory, delayed memory, and semantic fluency. There were main effects for COMT for delayed memory and a main effect for both COMT and ApoE for visuospatial functioning, coding, and verbal fluency (all p’s &lt; 0.05). There were no ApoE x COMT x Sex interactions and Trail Making Test B was not related to either gene or sex. Conclusion(s) Our findings suggest that both COMT and ApoE (and their interaction) influence cognition. Future research should investigate gene–gene interactions in larger samples with more comprehensive cognitive batteries.

The effect of age and sex on clustering and switching during speeded verbal fluency tasks

2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHAWNDA LANTING ◽  
NICOLE HAUGRUD ◽  
MARGARET CROSSLEY
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Verbal Ability ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Fluency Task ◽  
Age And Sex

AbstractPast research has been inconsistent with regard to the effects of normal aging and sex on strategy use during verbal fluency performance. In the present study, both Troyer et al.’s (1997) and Abwender et al.’s (2001) scoring methods were used to measure switching and clustering strategies in 60 young and 72 older adults, equated on verbal ability. Young adults produced more words overall and switched more often during both phonemic and semantic fluency tasks, but performed similarly to older adults on measures of clustering. Although there were no sex differences in total words produced on either fluency task, males produced larger clusters on both tasks, and females switched more frequently than males on the semantic but not on the phonemic fluency task. Although clustering strategies appear to be relatively age-insensitive, age-related changes in switching strategies resulted in fewer overall words produced by older adults. This study provides evidence of age and sex differences in strategy use during verbal fluency tests, and illustrates the utility of combining Troyer’s and Abwender’s scoring procedures with in-depth categorization of clustering to understand interactions between age and sex during semantic fluency tasks. (JINS, 2009, 15, 196–204.)

scholarly journals Cognitive Processes Underlying Verbal Fluency in Multiple Sclerosis

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfonso Delgado-Álvarez ◽  
Jordi A. Matias-Guiu ◽  
Cristina Delgado-Alonso ◽  
Laura Hernández-Lorenzo ◽  
Ana Cortés-Martínez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Learning Algorithms ◽  
Executive Dysfunction ◽  
Machine Learning Algorithms ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Phonemic Fluency

Background: Verbal fluency (VF) has been associated with several cognitive functions, but the cognitive processes underlying verbal fluency deficits in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) are controversial. Further knowledge about VF could be useful in clinical practice, because these tasks are brief, applicable, and reliable in MS patients. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the cognitive processes related to VF and to develop machine-learning algorithms to predict those patients with cognitive deficits using only VF-derived scores.Methods: Two hundred participants with MS were enrolled and examined using a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, including semantic and phonemic fluencies. Automatic linear modeling was used to identify the neuropsychological test predictors of VF scores. Furthermore, machine-learning algorithms (support vector machines, random forest) were developed to predict those patients with cognitive deficits using only VF-derived scores.Results: Neuropsychological tests associated with attention-executive functioning, memory, and language were the main predictors of the different fluency scores. However, the importance of memory was greater in semantic fluency and clustering scores, and executive functioning in phonemic fluency and switching. Machine learning algorithms predicted general cognitive impairment and executive dysfunction, with F1-scores over 67–71%.Conclusions: VF was influenced by many other cognitive processes, mainly including attention-executive functioning, episodic memory, and language. Semantic fluency and clustering were more explained by memory function, while phonemic fluency and switching were more related to executive functioning. Our study supports that the multiple cognitive components underlying VF tasks in MS could serve for screening purposes and the detection of executive dysfunction.

scholarly journals Semantic, phonologic, and verb fluency in Huntington's disease

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Jardim Azambuja ◽  
Monica Santoro Haddad ◽  
Marcia Radanovic ◽  
Egberto Reis Barbosa ◽  
Letícia Lessa Mansur
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Huntington's Disease ◽  
Huntington’S Disease ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Frontal Lobe Dysfunction ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Verbal Fluency Task ◽  
Usual Evaluation ◽  
Fluency Task

Abstract Verbal fluency tasks have been identified as important indicators of executive functioning impairment in patients with frontal lobe dysfunction. Although the usual evaluation of this ability considers phonologic and semantic criteria, there is some evidence that fluency of verbs would be more sensitive in disclosing frontostriatal physiopathology since frontal regions primarily mediate retrieval of verbs. Huntington's disease usually affects these circuitries. Objective: To compare three types of verbal fluency task in the assessment of frontal-striatal dysfunction in HD subjects. Methods: We studied 26 Huntington's disease subjects, divided into two subgroups: mild (11) and moderate (15) along with 26 normal volunteers matched for age, gender and schooling, for three types of verbal fluency: phonologic fluency (F-A-S), semantic fluency and fluency of verbs. Results: Huntington's disease subjects showed a significant reduction in the number of words correctly generated in the three tasks when compared to the normal group. Both controls and Huntington's disease subjects showed a similar pattern of decreasing task performance with the greatest number of words being generated by semantic elicitation followed by verbs and lastly phonologic criteria. We did not find greater production of verbs compared with F-A-S and semantic conditions. Moreover, the fluency of verbs distinguished only the moderate group from controls. Conclusion: Our results indicated that phonologic and semantic fluency can be used to evaluate executive functioning, proving more sensitive than verb fluency. However, it is important to point out that the diverse presentations of Huntington's disease means that an extended sample is necessary for more consistent analysis of this issue.

A meta-analysis of neuropsychological, social cognitive, and olfactory functioning in the behavioral and language variants of frontotemporal dementia

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (16) ◽  
pp. 2669-2680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vidyulata Kamath ◽  
Grace-Anna S. Chaney ◽  
Jonathan DeRight ◽  
Chiadi U. Onyike
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Frontotemporal Dementia ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Cognitive Effect ◽  
Social Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Meta Analyses

AbstractBackgroundThough meta-analyses of neuropsychological and social cognitive deficits in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) have been conducted, no study has comprehensively characterized and compared the neuropsychological, social cognitive, and olfactory profiles in the behavioral and language variants of FTD.MethodsOur search yielded 470 publications meeting inclusion criteria representing 11 782 FTD patients and 19 451 controls. For each domain, we calculated Hedges’ g effect sizes, which represent the mean difference between the patient and control group divided by the pooled standard deviation. The heterogeneity of these effects was assessed with Cochran's Q-statistic using a random-effects model. Meta-regressions were employed to analyze the influence of demographic and disease characteristics.ResultsThough semantic variant primary progressive aphasia patients showed the greatest impairment across all task types, the three groups showed similar cognitive effect sizes once contributions from the language subdomain were excluded from analysis. Contrary to expectation, the magnitude of deficits in executive functioning, social cognition and olfaction were comparable between the three subgroups. Among indices, a metric of executive errors distinguished the behavioral variant of FTD from the language phenotypes.ConclusionsThese data indicate that social cognitive and traditional executive functioning measures may not capture differences between FTD syndromes. These results have important implications for the interpretation of neuropsychological assessments, particularly when applied to the differential diagnosis of FTD. It is hoped that these findings will guide clinical and research assessments and spur new studies focused on improving the measurement of FTD syndromes.

scholarly journals An Examination of Semantic Impairment in Amnestic MCI and AD: What Can We Learn From Verbal Fluency?

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-30
Author(s):  
M -J Chasles ◽  
A Tremblay ◽  
F Escudier ◽  
A Lajeunesse ◽  
S Benoit ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Memory Impairment ◽  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Amnestic Mci ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Subject Factor ◽  
Study Participants

Abstract Introduction The Verbal Fluency Test (VF) is commonly used in neuropsychology. Some studies have demonstrated a marked impairment of semantic VF compared to phonemic VF in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Since amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) is associated with increased risk of conversion to incident AD, it is relevant to examine whether a similar impairment is observed in this population. The objective of the present empirical study is to compare VF performance of aMCI patients to those of AD and elderly controls matched one-to-one for age and education. Method Ninety-six participants divided into three equal groups (N = 32: AD, aMCI and Controls) were included in this study. Participants in each group were, on average, 76 years of age and had 13 years of education. A repeated measures ANOVA with the Group (AD, aMCI, NC) as between-subject factor and the Fluency condition (“P” and “animals”) as within-subject factor was performed. T-tests and simple ANOVAs were also conducted to examine the interaction. Results There was a significant interaction between the groups and the verbal fluency condition. In AD, significantly fewer words were produced in both conditions. In contrast, participants with aMCI demonstrated a pattern similar to controls in the phonemic condition, but generated significantly fewer words in the semantic condition. Conclusion These results indicate a semantic memory impairment in aMCI revealed by a simple, commonly-used neuropsychological test. Future studies are needed to investigate if semantic fluency deficits can help predict future conversion to AD.

scholarly journals Childhood neuropsychological deficits associated with adult obsessive–compulsive disorder

2009 ◽  
Vol 195 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica R. Grisham ◽  
Tracy M. Anderson ◽  
Richie Poulton ◽  
Terrie E. Moffitt ◽  
Gavin Andrews
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Verbal Ability ◽  
Neuropsychological Deficits ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Developmental Study ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Visuomotor Skills

BackgroundExisting neuropsychological studies of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) are cross-sectional and do not provide evidence of whether deficits are trait-related (antecedent and independent of symptomatology) or state-related (a consequence, dependent on symptomatology).AimsTo investigate whether there are premorbid neuropsychological deficits associated with adult OCD.MethodLongitudinal data were collected from participants of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Developmental study. Neuropsychological data collected at age 13 were linked with age 32 diagnosis of OCD.ResultsThe group who had OCD at age 32 differed significantly from the control group with no OCD on their performance at age 13 on neuropsychological tests of visuospatial, visuoconstructive and visuomotor skills, controlling for gender and socioeconomic status, but did not differ on tests of general IQ or verbal ability. Performance of the group with OCD on tests of executive functioning was mixed.ConclusionsIndividuals with OCD have premorbid impairment in visuospatial abilities and some forms of executive functioning, consistent with biological models of OCD.

scholarly journals C-42The Relation Between Verbal Fluency and Executive Functioning: An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) Approach

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 656.1-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Aita ◽  
A Boettcher ◽  
B Slagel ◽  
J Holcombe ◽  
M Espenan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Exploratory Factor Analysis ◽  
Verbal Fluency

scholarly journals ADHD Endophenotypes in Caribbean Families

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (14) ◽  
pp. 2100-2114 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. L. Cervantes-Henríquez ◽  
J. E. Acosta-López ◽  
M. L. Martínez-Banfi ◽  
J. I. Vélez ◽  
E. Mejía-Segura ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Rate Sensitivity ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Classification Rate ◽  
Mental Control ◽  
Adhd Diagnosis ◽  
Caribbean Community ◽  
Neuropsychological Tasks ◽  
Caribbean Families ◽  
Sensitivity Specificity

Objective: The aim of this study is to contrast the genetics of neuropsychological tasks in individuals from nuclear families clustering ADHD in a Caribbean community. Method: We recruited and clinically characterized 408 individuals using an extensive battery of neuropsychological tasks. The genetic variance underpinning these tasks was estimated by heritability. A predictive framework for ADHD diagnosis was derived using these tasks. Results: We found that individuals with ADHD differed from controls in tasks of mental control, visuospatial ability, visuoverbal memory, phonological and verbal fluency, verbal and semantic fluency, cognitive flexibility, and cognitive ability. Among them, tasks of mental control, visuoverbal memory, phonological fluency, semantic verbal fluency, and intelligence had a significant heritability. A predictive model of ADHD diagnosis using these endophenotypes yields remarkable classification rate, sensitivity, specificity, and precision values (above 80%). Conclusion: We have dissected new cognitive endophenotypes in ADHD that can be suitable to assess the neurobiological and genetic basis of ADHD.

Association of the apolipoprotein E genotype with memory performance and executive functioning in cognitively intact elderly.

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 382-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Luck ◽  
Francisca S. Then ◽  
Melanie Luppa ◽  
Matthias L. Schroeter ◽  
Katrin Arélin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Apolipoprotein E ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Cognitively Intact ◽  
With Memory ◽  
Apolipoprotein E Genotype
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