Effects of working memory intervention on language production by individuals with dementia

Lee, Mi Sook; Kim, Bo-Seon

doi:10.1080/09602011.2020.1789479

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…A plausible explanation for syntactic changes in AD can be related to the decline in working memory, which is consistently reported in the literature (cf. Kirova et al, 2015), and the interaction of working memory decline and language problems themselves (Lee and Kim, 2019;Nasiri et al, 2022). The same argument could potentially explain the few changes observed between HC and MCI, relative to the decline in the length and the complexity of utterances.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Defying syntactic preservation in Alzheimer's disease: what type of impairment predicts syntactic change in dementia (if it does) and why?

Ivanova,

Martínez-Nicolás,

García-Piñuela

et al. 2023

Front. Lang. Sci.

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IntroductionMany studies on syntax in dementia suggest that, despite syntactic simplification, speakers with Alzheimer's disease (AD) retain their basic grammatical abilities, being mainly affected in their comprehension and production of complex syntax. Moreover, there is no single position on the origin of syntactic decline in AD, which, according to some authors, can be linked to a lexical-semantic deficit or, according to others, to either cognitive or autonomous dysfunction.MethodsIn this study, we apply the model of syntactic maturity to the analysis of oral speech production elicited by the Cookie-Theft description task. We assess a sample of 60 older adults (21 HC, 19 MCI, and 20 AD) through three indexes of syntactic maturity, measuring the proportion of sentences and clauses in discourse, their mean length, and the rate of their complexity.ResultsOur results show two important tendencies in AD: the preservation of general syntactic ability, as measured by the basic syntactic organization of speech, and the disturbance of the indexes of syntactic complexity, as measured by the overall length of utterances and their indexes of complexity.DiscussionAlthough speakers with AD maintain the ability to construct grammatically acceptable sentences and produce a similar number of utterances to healthy aging speakers and speakers with MCI, the syntactic complexity of their discourse significantly changes. Importantly, such significant changes are already present at the MCI stage and are not conditioned by the lexical-semantic deficit itself. Our results may be particularly relevant to improving the detection of cognitive impairment and to theoretically discussing the relationships between language levels in aging speakers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Defying syntactic preservation in Alzheimer's disease: what type of impairment predicts syntactic change in dementia (if it does) and why?

Ivanova,

Martínez-Nicolás,

García-Piñuela

et al. 2023

Front. Lang. Sci.

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“…The activities are categorized according to the complexity of components based on Baddeley's WM model, activities based on Lee and Kim's study and Zimmermann et al's study. 14,16 The activities are divided into groups: Group 1, the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad, and Group 2, the central executive and episodic buffer. The program uses vocabulary from primary school word lists (grades 1-6) and adapted passages from a youth-oriented Thai encyclopedia for older adults with mild NCD.…”

Section: Phase 1: Development Of a Working Memory Program For Improvi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These activities were adapted from previous studies which adopted similar guidelines for training. 14,16 Alongside this, the study by von Bastian and Oberauer suggested that training focused on a single paradigm or specific skill might be more effective than multiple paradigms or diverse skills. 25 Furthermore, the program's activities were designed to gradually increase complexity, including expanding vocabulary, longer sentences, and complex tasks to enhance the WM capacity.…”

Section: Barthel Adl Index Tgds-15mentioning

confidence: 99%

Working memory program for improving language skills in older adults with mild neurocognitive disorders: A pilot study

Sutthiphan,

Rattakorn,

Chinchai

et al. 2024

JAMS

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Background: Older adults with mild neurocognitive disorders (mild NCD) have a higher risk of major NCD. Cognitive deterioration can cause a deficit in working memory and language. Recent studies have shown some involvement overlapping the brain structure of working memory and language skills. Therefore, working memory intervention effectively enhances language skills in mild NCD. However, more research on this topic in Thailand is required. Objectives: This study aimed to develop and implement a pilot study on a working memory program for improving language skills in older adults with mild NCD. Materials and methods: This study was a developmental research design with two phases. Phase one involved the development and examination of the content validity of the working memory program for improving language skills by five experts. Phase two involved piloting the program with three older adults with mild NCD. The participants were asked to provide suggestions about the clarity of content and images, language usage, font size, the comprehensibility of instructions in each activity, and the quality of audio files used to complement the program activities through semi-structured interviews. Descriptive statistics were employed to analyze the collected data. Results: The program comprised nine activities associated with the phonological loop, visual-spatial sketchpad, episodic buffer, and central executive tasks. The program’s content validity was evaluated by five experts, resulting in a content validity index of 0.94, meeting the established criteria. Among the pilot users, three participants meeting the specified criteria indicated their ability to use and practice the program at home effectively. While most participants agreed that the images were clear and the font size was appropriate, there were concerns regarding the clarity of the training process steps and instructions. Additionally, some participants encountered challenges in accessing audio files through quick response (QR) codes. Conclusion: In summary, the pilot study of the working memory program for improving language skills in older adults with mild NCD passed the content validity test and underwent revisions based on suggestions from the pilot users. Consequently, the program could enhance the language abilities of older adults with mild NCD. The next phase will investigate its effectiveness in improving language skills in older adults with mild NCD.

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“…It has also been shown that the use of working memory interventions in Alzheimer’s patients leads to an increase the ability to produce language [ 39 ]. On the other hand, the results of some studies indicate that working memory deficit in Alzheimer’s patients occurs at the mild stage of the disease and also the syntax and comprehension of complex sentences are damaged in the moderate stages of the disease.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating sentence processing and working memory in patients with mild Alzheimer and elderly people

Nasiri

Moayedfar²,

Purmohammad³

et al. 2022

PLoS ONE

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Introduction Linguistic disorders are one of the common problems in Alzheimer’s disease, which in recent years has been considered as one of the key parameters in the diagnosis of Alzheimer (AD). Given that changes in sentence processing and working memory and the relationship between these two activities may be a diagnostic parameter in the early and preclinical stages of AD, the present study examines the comprehension and production of sentences and working memory in AD patients and healthy aged people. Methods Twenty-five people with mild Alzheimer’s and 25 healthy elderly people participated in the study. In this study, we used the digit span to evaluate working memory. Syntactic priming and sentence completion tasks in canonical and non-canonical conditions were used for evaluating sentence production. We administered sentence picture matching and cross-modal naming tasks to assess sentence comprehension. Results The results of the present study revealed that healthy elderly people and patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease have a significant difference in comprehension of relative clause sentences (P <0.05). There was no significant difference between the two groups in comprehension of simple active, simple active with noun phrase and passive sentences (P> 0.05). They had a significant difference in auditory and visual reaction time (P <0.05). Also there was a significant difference between the two groups in syntactic priming and sentence completion tasks. However, in non-canonical condition of sentence completion, the difference between the two groups was not significant (P> 0.05). Conclusion The results of the present study showed that the mean scores related to comprehension, production and working memory in people with mild Alzheimer’s were lower than healthy aged people, which indicate sentence processing problems at this level of the disease. People with Alzheimer have difficulty comprehending and producing complex syntactic structures and have poorer performance in tasks that required more memory demands. It seems that the processing problems of these people are due to both working memory and language problems, which are not separate from each other and both are involved in.

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Effects of working memory intervention on language production by individuals with dementia

Cited by 9 publications

References 70 publications

Defying syntactic preservation in Alzheimer's disease: what type of impairment predicts syntactic change in dementia (if it does) and why?

Defying syntactic preservation in Alzheimer's disease: what type of impairment predicts syntactic change in dementia (if it does) and why?

Working memory program for improving language skills in older adults with mild neurocognitive disorders: A pilot study

Investigating sentence processing and working memory in patients with mild Alzheimer and elderly people

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