Ambiguous idiom comprehension in Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Ambiguous idiom comprehension was examined in 15 patients with mild probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) by means of two tasks: a string-to-picture matching task and a string-to-word matching task. In the first, patients had to choose among four pictures, while in the second they chose among four words. For both tasks the alternatives were the picture/word corresponding to the figurative meaning, a semantic associate (picture/word) to the last word of the idiom, and two unrelated alternatives, which were, in the case of words, an unrelated foil preserving the semantic class and a literal continuation foil (a word that can follow the verb in that sentence), while in the case of pictures the first was substituted by an unrealistic foil. The patients were also submitted to three language, one visuo-perceptual, and two executive tasks. Idiom comprehension was poor, particularly when the string-to-picture matching task was used, and correlated with executive tests. We confirm that linguistic and extralinguistic factors must be taken into account to explain ambiguous idiom interpretation, and we underline the role of the testing modality in the case of pathological populations.

The role of the ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex in idiom comprehension: An rTMS study

“…In addition, the findings presented in this study support the notion that cognitive control modulates idiom performance primarily under compromised processing circumstances (Papagno et al, 2003;Rassiga et al, 2009), but not when processing is unimpaired (Columbus et al, 2015).…”

“…This could suggest that clinical deficits in cognitive control render such individuals unable to sufficiently inhibit the activation of literal phrase meanings when processing an idiom. However, some of these studies may be diminished by the fact that they did not consistently include a literal control condition, which makes it difficult to assess if the reported effects were truly idiom-specific (Rassiga et al, 2009). In other studies where a literal control condition was included, the performance of the clinical patient groups was also impaired in this control task (Schettino et al, 2010).…”

“…Previous studies supporting the role of executive functions in idiom processing had primarily addressed clinical patient groups, such as individuals with Alzheimer's disease or schizophrenia (Papagno et al, 2003;Schettino et al, 2010;Rassiga et al, 2009;Titone, Levy & Holzman, 2002). These individuals usually exhibit a range of co-morbid cognitive impairments (for example, memory loss, depression, anxiety or paranoia), making it difficult to attribute any deficits that emerge to reductions in cognitive control.…”

“…Indeed, several studies have shown that this may be the case. For example, Alzheimer's and schizophrenia patients were found to be more likely to associate an idiom with its literal than with its figurative meaning in a sentence-to-picture or sentence-toword matching task (see Papagno, Lucchelli, Muggia et al, 2003;Rassiga, Lucchelli, Crippa et al, 2009;Schettino, Lauro, Crippa et al, 2010). This could suggest that clinical deficits in cognitive control render such individuals unable to sufficiently inhibit the activation of literal phrase meanings when processing an idiom.…”

¿Cómo se procesan las locuciones?: Un debate desde la psicolingüística

“…Así, se consideran rasgos fundamentales de toda locución: la composicionalidad, la fijación sintáctica, la idiomaticidad, el grado de transparencia y la ambigüedad (Gibbs & Nayak, 1989;Corpas Pastor, 2000;Glucksberg, 2001;Ruiz Gurillo, 2001;Horn, 2003;Oliveri, Romero & Papagno, 2004;Rassiga, Luchelli, Crippa & Papagno, 2009).…”