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Cited by 72Dementia and Cognitive Impairment ResearchNeurobiology of Language and BilingualismLanguage Development and Disorders

Severity of Alzheimer’s disease and language features in picture descriptions

Kavé, Gitit, Dassa, Ayelet·2018·Aphasiology
DOI 10.1080/02687038.2017.1303441
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Abstract

Background: Studies of connected speech of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) report significant impairments relative to the language of cognitively intact participants. Considerably less research has focused on the association between dementia severity and language features.Aims: The current study examines how scores on a dementia screening test (the Mini-Mental Status Examination, MMSE) correlate with features of connected speech.Methods & Procedures: Thirty-five individuals with AD (range of MMSE scores = 3–25) and 35 cognitively intact participants provided picture descriptions. Ten language features were derived from their descriptions using an automated text analysis tool: total word number, percentage of content words, pronoun ratio, type-token ratio, mean word frequency, percentage of verbs, percentage of verbs in the most common morphological form in Hebrew, percentage of verbs in present tense, percentage of prepositions, and percentage of subordination markers. Information content was also analysed.Outcomes & Results: Group differences emerged in five language features as well as in information content, attesting for substantial lexical impairment in AD. Within the AD group, MMSE scores were correlated with type-token ratio, with mean word frequency, and with the number of information units. No equivalent correlations were found within the control group.Conclusions: Dementia severity associates with decreasing lexical diversity, increasing word frequency, and a reduction in relevant information content, but not with changes in grammatical features of language. A simple automated analysis of connected speech could be used clinically to define and track the decline in language abilities in AD.

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  • Individuals with amnestic AD presentation produce an abundance of generic words, circumlocutions, and few content units.

    “Previous studies have shown that individuals with amnestic AD presentation produce an abundance of generic words, circumlocutions, and few content units.”

    From Automatic classification of AD pathology in FTD phenotypes using natural speech (2024) · cites this paper as [3]

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Authors
Kavé, G., & Dassa, A.
Affiliations
  • Open University of Israel (IL)
  • Bar-Ilan University (IL)
Corresponding author
Kavé, Gitit
ORCID
Venue
Aphasiology
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2017-03-16
Volume
32
Issue
1
Pages
27-40
ISSN
  • 0268-7038 (ISSN-L)
  • 1464-5041
DOI
10.1080/02687038.2017.1303441
OpenAlex
W2595910252
Cited by
72
References
51
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1
FWCI
4.72
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Aphasiology (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute of Gerontology and Human Development
  • ESHEL-The Association for the Planning and Development of Services for the Aged in Israel
  • Paulina and Hans Graubard foundation
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
Keywords
Alzheimer's disease, dementia severity, picture description, connected speech, lexical diversity, type-token ratio, word frequency, information content, grammatical features, Mini-Mental State Examination, computational text analysis, Hebrew language

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