Zabihi, Kim; (1999) A comparative investigation into knowledge of object attributes of name, unique function and category membership, in healthy elders and older people with Alzheimer-type dementia. Masters thesis (M.Phil), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

The progressive lexical-semantic deterioration which accompanies dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) has been highlighted by recent explorations of knowledge of object attributes, object naming, and recognition of object categories. An Experimental Battery for Semantic Processing devised for this research comprised six tests examining these semantic skills in older people with probable Alzheimer-type dementia at very mild to moderate levels of severity. An innovative set of sixty 'unique feature' or distinctive attribute cues were utilised in a recognition test of concrete nouns from fifteen common semantic categories. The recognition test, presented in both picture and written form, verified that specific attributes were more successful than semantic category in facilitating lexical comprehension in older people with DAT. A naming test afforded the opportunity to evaluate the efficacy of the unique feature cues in facilitating name recall for the noun set. The DAT participants utilised the attribute cues to enable object naming, despite measurable deficits in cognitive and linguistic processing abilities. These findings therefore highlight the potential clinical application of semantic cueing techniques in aiding name recall with this client group. A generative naming test further verified a residual 'core' vocabulary, within each of the fifteen semantic categories, which remained resistant to disease progression in the DAT participants. However, the finding that DAT participants were less successful in accessing broader category information contrasts with reports in the recent literature and warrants further investigation. The performance of the Control subjects, representing healthy elders aged from 65 to 85+ years, confirmed the resistance to advancing chronological age of every lexical test in the Experimental Battery for Semantic Processing. The Standard Measures Battery for Cognitive and Language Function, a screening battery of six cognitive and language tests also compiled for the research, verified that the DAT group were performing at levels significantly below the baseline established by the Controls on every measure. Nevertheless, the DAT participants maintained comparative levels of performance on the semantic tests after an interval of mean nine months, demonstrating the resistance of these lexical measures to advancing duration and severity of disease.

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