Bárbara Costa Beber

A behavioral study of the nature of verb production deficits in Alzheimer’s disease

Patients with Alzheimers disease (AD) may experience greater difficulty with verb production than with noun production. In this study, we sought to assess the nature of verb production deficits in AD by using verb fluency and verb naming tasks. We designed two hypotheses for this verb deficit: (1) executive impairment drives the deficit; (2) semantic impairment drives the deficit. Thirty-five patients with AD and 35 matched healthy controls participated in the study. Both groups performed a verb naming task composed of 45 pictures (low-, medium-, and high-frequency subsets) and a verb fluency task (scored for total correct words and for mean word frequency). Patients with AD were equally impaired in verb naming and verb fluency, with an effect of disease severity on verb naming. Word frequency influenced verb naming, but not verb fluency, performance. Our results indicate that verb production deficits in AD seem to be driven more by semantic than by executive impairment.

Deep Brain Stimulation Frequency of the Subthalamic Nucleus Affects Phonemic and Action Fluency in Parkinson's Disease.

Introduction. Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) in Parkinsons disease (PD) has been linked to a decline in verbal fluency. The decline can be attributed to surgical effects, but the relative contributions of the stimulation parameters are not well understood. This study aimed to investigate the impact of the frequency of STN-DBS on the performance of verbal fluency tasks in patients with PD. Methods. Twenty individuals with PD who received bilateral STN-DBS were evaluated. Their performances of verbal fluency tasks (semantic, phonemic, action, and unconstrained fluencies) upon receiving low-frequency (60 Hz) and high-frequency (130 Hz) STN-DBS were assessed. Results. The performances of phonemic and action fluencies were significantly different between low- and high-frequency STN-DBS. Patients showed a decrease in these verbal fluencies for high-frequency STN-DBS. Conclusion. Low-frequency STN-DBS may be less harmful to the verbal fluency of PD patients.

Reading and writing habits as a predictor of verbal fluency in elders.

Introduction: Semantic and phonemic verbal fluency tasks are the most used verbal fluency versions to evaluate dementia patients, while unconstrained and action fluencies have been poorly investigated in aging. This study aimed to evaluate if the factors diagnosis, age, and reading and writing habits can predict the performance of four types of verbal fluency in healthy elderly (HE), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) participants. Method: Eighty participants were included in this study (21 mild AD, 32 MCI, and 27 HE). The participants performed a reading and writing habits questionnaire, neuropsychological evaluation, and semantic, phonemic, unconstrained, and action verbal fluency tasks. Diagnosis, age, and reading and writing habits were entered as predictors in a stepwise linear regression model for each of the four verbal fluency tasks. Results: The stepwise procedure eliminated age for all models as being nonsignificant. Unconstrained and semantic verbal fluency were better predicted by the diagnosis followed by reading and writing habits. On the other hand, phonemic and action verbal fluency were better predicted by reading and writing habits followed by diagnosis. Conclusion: Reading and writing habits contributed to the prediction of all verbal fluency tasks, highlighting their role in cognitive function. The sensitivity of these verbal fluency tasks to sociocultural and clinical factors should be considered in the neuropsychological assessment.

A behavioral study of the nature of verb–noun dissociation in the nonfluent variant of primary progressive aphasia

ABSTRACT Background: Patients with nonfluent/agrammatic variant primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA) have more difficulty producing verbs than nouns, but the reason for this discrepancy remains unclear. One possibility is that it results from impaired access to motor programs integral to semantic representations of actions. Another is that the disruption affects specific lexical or grammatical features of verbs. Aims: To use an oral picture naming task to examine the effects of motor associations on verb production in patients with nfvPPA. Methods & Procedures: We administered noun and verb naming tasks to 12 nfvPPA patients and 9 controls. We varied the manipulability of target items across categories as a proxy for the degree to which lexical access depends on motor knowledge. Outcomes & Results: Nonfluent PPA patients were significantly more impaired in both noun and verb naming compared to control participants. However, the nfvPPA patients were significantly more impaired in naming verbs than nouns, but there was no effect of manipulability. Conclusions: The results suggest that the verb naming deficit in nfvPPA is not directly related to impaired motor knowledge and is more likely to be related to other properties that distinguish verbs from nouns.

A warning to the Brazilian Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology community about the importance of scientific and clinical activities in primary progressive aphasia.

This article aims to warn the Brazilian Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology scientific community about the importance and necessity of scientific and clinical activities regarding Primary Progressive Aphasia. This warning is based on a systematic literature review of the scientific production on Primary Progressive Aphasia, from which nine Brazilian articles were selected. It was observed that there is an obvious lack of studies on the subject, as all the retrieved articles were published in medical journals and much of it consisted of small samples; only two articles described the effectiveness of speech-language therapy in patients with Primary Progressive Aphasia. A perspective for the future in the area and characteristics of Speech-Language Therapy for Primary Progressive Aphasia are discussed. As a conclusion, it is evident the need for greater action by Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology on Primary Progressive Aphasia.