Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T13:26:28.833Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Does tip-of-the-tongue for proper names discriminate amnestic mild cognitive impairment?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2012

Onésimo Juncos-Rabadán*
Affiliation:
Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
David Facal
Affiliation:
Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Cristina Lojo-Seoane
Affiliation:
Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Arturo X. Pereiro
Affiliation:
Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Onésimo Juncos-Rabadán, Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Campus Sur, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Phone: +34 981563100; Fax: +34 981528071. Email: [email protected].

Abstract

Background: Difficulty in retrieving people's names is very common in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment. Such difficulty is often observed as the tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon. The main aim of this study was to explore whether a famous people's naming task that elicited the TOT state can be used to discriminate between amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) patients and normal controls.

Methods: Eighty-four patients with aMCI and 106 normal controls aged over 50 years performed a task involving naming 50 famous people shown in pictures. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were used to study the relationships between aMCI and semantic and phonological measures in the TOT paradigm.

Results: Univariate regression analyses revealed that all TOT measures significantly predicted aMCI. Multivariate analysis of all these measures correctly classified 70% of controls (specificity) and 71.6% of aMCI patients (sensitivity), with an AUC (area under curve ROC) value of 0.74, but only the phonological measure remained significant. This classification value was similar to that obtained with the Semantic verbal fluency test.

Conclusions: TOTs for proper names may effectively discriminate aMCI patients from normal controls through measures that represent one of the naming processes affected, that is, phonological access.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albert, M. S.et al. (2011). The diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease: recommendations from the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer's Association workgroups on diagnostic guidelines for Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 7, 270279.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ahmed, S., Arnold, R., Thompson, S. A., Graham, K. S. and Hodges, J. R. (2008). Naming of objects, faces and buildings in mild cognitive impairment. Cortex, 44, 746752.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benedet, M. J. and Alejandre, M. A. (1998). TAVEC: Test de Aprendizaje Verbal España-Complutense. Madrid: Tea Ediciones.Google Scholar
Brouillette, R. M.et al. (2011). Memory for names test provides a useful confrontational naming task for aging and continuum of dementia. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 23, 665671.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, R. and McNeill, D. (1966). The “tip of the tongue” phenomenon. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 5, 325337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burke, D. M., MacKay, D. G., Worthley, J. S. and Wade, E. (1991). On the tip of the tongue: what causes word finding failures in young and older adults? Journal of Memory and Language, 30, 542579.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clague, F., Graham, K. S., Thompson, S. A. and Hodges, J. R. (2011). Is knowledge of famous people compromised in mild cognitive impairment? Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, 24, 124134.Google Scholar
Cunje, A., Molloy, W., Standish, T. I. and Lewis, D. L. (2007). Alternate forms of logical memory and verbal fluency tasks for repeated testing in early cognitive changes. International Psychogeriatrics, 19, 6575.Google Scholar
De Jager, C. A. and Budge, M. M. (2005). Stability and predictability of the classification of mild cognitive impairment as assessed by episodic memory test performance over time. Neurocase, 11, 7279.Google Scholar
Delis, D. C., Kramer, J. H., Kaplen, E. and Ober, B. A. (1987). California Verbal Learning Test. Manual-research edition. San Diego: The Psychological Corporation. (Spanish version: Benedet, M. J. and Alexander, J. (2004). TAVEC. Madrid: TEA).Google Scholar
Dubois, B.et al. (2007). Research criteria for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease: revising the NINCDS–ADRDA criteria. Lancet Neurology, 6, 246248.Google Scholar
Estevez-Gonzalez, A.et al. (2004). Semantic knowledge of famous people in mild cognitive impairment and progression to Alzheimer's disease. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 17, 188195.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Facal, D., Juncos-Rabadán, O., Rodriguez, M. S. and Pereiro, A. X. (2012). Tip-of-the-tongue in aging: Influence of vocabulary, working memory and processing speed. Aging Clinical & Experimental Research, doi:10.3275/8586.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E. and McHogh, P. R. (1975). Mini-Mental State: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 12, 189198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, D.et al. (2010). Detecting prodromal Alzheimer's disease in mild cognitive impairment: utility of the CAMCOG and other neuropsychological predictors. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 25, 12801287.Google Scholar
Gollan, T. H. and Brown, A. S. (2006). From tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) data to theoretical implications in two steps: when more TOTs means better retrieval. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 135, 462483.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huppert, F.et al. (1996). Psychometric properties of the CAMCOG and its efficacy in the diagnosis of dementia. Aging, Neuropychology and Cognition, 3, 114.Google Scholar
Joubert, S.et al. (2010). The cognitive and neural expression of semantic memory impairment in mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychologia, 48, 978988.Google Scholar
Juncos-Rabadán, O., Facal, D., Rodríguez, M. S. and Pereiro, A. X. (2010). Lexical knowledge and lexical retrieval in aging. Insights from a Tip-of-the-Tongue (TOT) study. Language and Cognitive Processes, 25, 13011334.Google Scholar
Juncos-Rabadán, O., Rodríguez, N., Facal, D., Cuba, J. and Pereiro, A. X. (2011). Tip-of-the-tongue for proper names in mild cognitive impairment: semantic or post-semantic impairments? Journal of Neurolinguistics, 24, 636651.Google Scholar
Levelt, W. J. M., Roelofs, A. and Meyer, A. S. (1999). A theory of lexical access in speech production. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 175.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lezak, M. D. (2004). Neuropsychological Assessment, 4th edn. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Petersen, R. C. (2004). Mild cognitive impairment as a diagnostic entity. Journal of Internal Medicine, 256, 183194.Google Scholar
Press, J. and Wilson, S. (1978). Choosing between logistic regression and discriminant analysis. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 73, 699705.Google Scholar
Radanovic, M.et al. (2009). Verbal fluency in the detection of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease among Brazilian Portuguese speakers: the influence of education. International Psychogeriatrics, 21, 10811087.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schwartz, B. L. (2002). Tip-of-the-Tongue States: Phenomenology, Mechanism, and Lexical Retrieval. Mahwah, NJ: ErlbaumGoogle Scholar
Semenza, C., Mondini, S., Borgo, F., Pasini, M. and Sgaramella, M. T. (2003). Proper names in patients with early Alzheimer's disease. Neurocase, 9, 6369.Google Scholar
Taler, V. and Phillips, N. A. (2009). Language performance in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment: a comparative review. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 30, 501556.Google Scholar
Thompson, S. A., Graham, K. S., Patterson, K., Sahakian, B. J. and Hodges, J. R. (2002). Is knowledge of famous people disproportionately impaired in patients with early and questionable Alzheimer's disease? Neuropsychology, 16, 344358.Google Scholar
Yesavage, J. A.et al. (1983). Development and validation of a geriatric depression rating scale: a preliminary report. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 17, 3749.Google Scholar