The pattern of reading deterioration in dementia of the Alzheimer type: Observations and implications

Cummings, Jeffrey L.; Houlihan, John P.; Hill, Mary Ann

doi:10.1016/0093-934x(86)90051-9

Cited by 117 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Our results provide evidence for an additional mechanism underlying breakdowns in language comprehension in DAT (Cummings et al, 1986). We found evidence of a specific breakdown in retrieval processes during sentence comprehension in DAT such that inappropriate information is not suppressed as efficiently and is allowed to drive comprehension of the goal path a greater proportion of the time.…”

Section: Dat and Comprehensionmentioning

confidence: 58%

“…While word naming abilities are relatively well preserved during the early stages of DAT, reading comprehension declines with dementia severity (Cummings, Houlihan, & Hill, 1986). The decline of language comprehension in DAT may be, in part, due to a disruption of retrieval from semantic memory (e.g., Nebes, Boller, & Holland, 1986;Nebes, Brady, & Huff, 1989) or to a degradation of the representations of concepts Copyright © 1997 and words in semantic memory (e.g., Martin & Fedio, 1983;Chertkow, Bub, & Seidenberg, 1989;Gewirth &Shindler, 1984;Flicker,Ferris, Crook,&Bartus, 1987), or possibly, both (see Nebes, 1989, for a recent review).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inhibitory Control during Sentence Comprehension in Individuals with Dementia of the Alzheimer Type

Faust

Balota²,

Duchek³

et al. 1997

Brain and Language

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In two experiments we investigated the extent to which individuals with dementia of the Alzheimer type (OAT) manage the activation of contextually appropriate and inappropriate meanings of ambiguous words during sentence comprehension. OAT individuals and healthy older individuals read sentences that ended in ambiguous words and then determined if a test word fit the overall meaning of the sentence. Analysis of response latencies indicated that OAT individuals were less efficient than healthy older individuals at suppressing inappropriate meanings of ambiguous words not implied by sentence context, but enhanced appropriate meanings to the same extent, if not more, than healthy older adults. DAT individuals were also more likely to allow inappropriate information to actually drive responses (i.e., increased intrusion errors). Overall, the results are consistent with a growing number of studies demonstrating impairments in inhibitory control, with relative preservation offacilitatory processes, in DAT.A decline in the ability of individuals with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) to comprehend written and spoken language is one of severallanguage deficits documented in studies of language ability (e.g., Murdoch, Chenery, Wilks, & Boyle, 1987;Appell, Kertesz, & Fisman, 1982). While word naming abilities are relatively well preserved during the early stages of DAT, reading comprehension declines with dementia severity (Cummings, Houlihan, & Hill, 1986). The decline of language comprehension in DAT may be, in part, due to a disruption of retrieval from semantic memory (e.g., Nebes, Boller, & Holland, 1986;Nebes, Brady, & Huff, 1989) or to a degradation of the representations of concepts Copyright © 1997 and words in semantic memory (e.g., Martin & Fedio, 1983;Chertkow, Bub, & Seidenberg, 1989;Gewirth &Shindler, 1984;Flicker,Ferris, Crook,&Bartus, 1987), or possibly, both (see Nebes, 1989, for a recent review). However, evidence is accumulating to suggest that individuals in the early stages of DAT also suffer from a loss in the efficiency of cognitive mechanisms responsible for the management of the activation of or accessibility to information on-line during comprehension. For example, Morris and Baddeley (1988; see also Helkala, Laulumaa, Soininen, & Riekkinen, 1989) argued that the memory impairment found in early DAT may in part be due to a deficit in working memory. More specifically, Morris and Baddeley argued that the Central Executive portion of working memory (Baddeley and Hitch, 1974) is "responsible for initiating and modulating the different mental processes associated with working memory and has a high degree of complexity which might make it especially vulnerable to the effects of dementia" (Morris & Baddeley, 1988, p. 284).Several models of language comprehension have stressed the importance of the ability to manage information on-line during the comprehension process (e.g., Gernsbacher, 1990Gernsbacher, , 1991 Carpenter & Just, 1988;Hasher & Zacks, 1988;Kintsch, 1988). Gernsbache...

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Section: Dat and Comprehensionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inhibitory Control during Sentence Comprehension in Individuals with Dementia of the Alzheimer Type

Faust

Balota²,

Duchek³

et al. 1997

Brain and Language

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“…The first involved word reading. Based on previous studies, it was expected that word reading ability should be more or less intact in AD and represents a highly automatized ability (Cummings et al, 1986;Diesfeldt, 1992;Nebes et al, 1984;Nelson and O'Connell, 1978;O'Carroll and Gilleard, 1986;Schwartz et al, 1980;Sharpe and O'Carroll, 1991). The second task was word comprehension.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A longitudinal study of semantic memory impairment in patients with Alzheimer’s disease

Mårdh

Nägga

Samuelsson

2013

Cortex

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Introduction The present study explored the nature of the semantic deterioration normally displayed in the course of Alzheimer's disease. The aim was to disentangle the extent to which semantic memory problems in patients with Alzheimer's disease are best characterized as loss of semantic knowledge rather than difficulties in accessing semantic knowledge.Method A longitudinal approach was applied. The same semantic tests as well as same items were used across three test occasions a year apart. Twelve Alzheimer patients and 20 matched control subjects, out of a total of 25 cases in each group, remained at the final test occasion. Results and ConclusionsAlzheimer patients were impaired in all the semantic tasks as compared to the matched comparison group. A progressing deterioration was evident during the study period. Our findings suggest that semantic impairment is mainly due to loss of information rather than problems in accessing semantic information.

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“…Little research regarding comprehension of linguistic information in DAT patients has been conducted (Cummings, Houlihan & Hill, 1986). Linguistic comprehension can be broken down into two components, factual and inferential.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies on the reading performance of patients with DAT have shown that their ability to read aloud remains intact until the symptoms of dementia become severe, while reading comprehension ability begins to deteriorate in the early stages (Cummings et al, 1986).…”

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confidence: 99%

Reading comprehension in dementia of the Alzheimer's type : factual versus inferential

Graville¹

2000

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1 Leonard CainThe purpose of this study was to investigate the reading comprehension abilities of those with mild and moderate dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) and compare their performance to that of a sample of non-demented elderly. Thirty-eight male subjects were used, 20 nondemented elderly, nine mild DAT and nine moderate DA1'. All were administered level B of the NRST. This test contains questions requiring three levels of inference:literal, translational, and high-level inference.Results indicated that the non-demented elderly subjects consistently performed significantly better than either of the demented groups in all areas of performance.The mildly demented performed consistently better than the moderately demented across all levels of performance. The exception was that no significant difference was seen between the demented groups in translational scores. The results did not indicate the predicted pattern of best performance on literal questions and worst performance on high level inference questions for all subjects. This raised questions about the validity of the NRST and its ability to differentiate between levels of inference.

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The pattern of reading deterioration in dementia of the Alzheimer type: Observations and implications

Cited by 117 publications

References 18 publications

Inhibitory Control during Sentence Comprehension in Individuals with Dementia of the Alzheimer Type

Inhibitory Control during Sentence Comprehension in Individuals with Dementia of the Alzheimer Type

A longitudinal study of semantic memory impairment in patients with Alzheimer’s disease

Reading comprehension in dementia of the Alzheimer's type : factual versus inferential

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