INS NYC 2024 Program

Custom Content	Poster Session 06 Program Schedule 02/15/2024 04:00 pm - 05:15 pm Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60) Poster Session 06: Aging \| MCI \| Neurodegenerative Disease - PART 2 Final Abstract #8 Poster Symposium: Barriers in Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease Related Dementias: Bridging the Gap and Advancing Equity in Asian Cohorts — Abstract 2 Decoding the Language of Dementia: Exploring Semantic and Phonological Fluency in Chinese Boon Lead Tee, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Lorinda Li Ying Kwan Chen, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China Ta Fu Chen, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan Joshua Tsoh, Prince of Wales Hospital and ShaTin Hospital, Hong Kong, China Andrew Lung Tat Chan, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong, China Raymond Lo, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, HuaLien, Taiwan YiChen Lee, National Taiwan University Hospital, HsinChu, Taiwan Isabel Allen, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Yu-Chen Chuang, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan Stephanie Hoi Ying Kwan, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Category: Language and Speech Functions/Aphasia Keyword 1: language: aphasia Keyword 2: dementia - Alzheimer's disease Keyword 3: diversity Objective: While there exist over 7,000 living languages worldwide, speech and language studies across neurodegenerative diseases primarily concentrates on fewer than twenty Germanic and Romance languages, with English being the most extensively studied. The applicability of these findings to languages with unique linguistic attributes, such as Chinese languages, remains uncertain. This talk will introduce the Chinese Language Assessment in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) (CLAP) projects, which examined various linguistically specific features in Chinese speaking PPA and AD patients, with special focus on semantic and phonemic fluency performance. In English, AD patients were noted to exhibit greater semantic fluency (SF) impairment compared to phonemic fluency (PF), attributed to ventral language pathway involvement. However, Chinese languages adopt logographic script where all phonetic units inherently carry semantic meanings. Naturally, there is a lack of clarity on accurately assessing and distinguishing PF from SF in Chinese languages. This research aims to elucidate the roles of various Chinese fluency tests in PPA and AD diagnosis. Participants and Methods: This study included seventy-two cognitively normal participants (CN), twenty-nine individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), six AD patient, and sixteen logopenic variant (lv) PPA participants, all of whom are native Cantonese and Mandarin speakers. Participants were assigned three PF and one SF tasks: (1) PF at phoneme level: voice Mandarin/Cantonese sounds with the PinYin consonant of /p/ and /t/, (2) PF at character level: verbally express compound words with the monosyllabic character “心” and “國” (3) PF at syllable level: write characters with the /si/ sound, and (4) SF: produce words that belong to the semantic categories of “four-legged animal” and “vegetable”. ANOVA analysis was employed for group comparison, and Pearson correlations were conducted to explore the association between PF and a semantic association test. Results: In terms of SF test, participants with MCI, AD and lvPPA generated fewer animal and vegetable words than cognitively normal participants (animal: p< .001; vegetable: p< .001). Compared to CN individuals, participants with AD and lvPPA produced significantly fewer words and characters in PF at syllable and character level (Syllable: M_CN =7.3+/- 2.3, M_MCI =5.5+/-2.5, M_AD=5.0+/-1.5, M_lvPPA =4.1+/-1.7, p< .001) (Character “心”: M_CN=12.1+/- 3.5, M_MCI=10.6+/-4.2, M_AD=5.0+/-1.4, M_lvPPA=5.0+/-2.7, p< .001; “國”: M_CN=8.9+/-2.9, M_MCI=6.8+/-2.2, M_AD=4.5+/-2.1, M_lvPPA=5.2+/-2.6, p<.001). Conversely, no significant differences were noted in PF at phoneme level. (/p/: p=0.108; /t/: p=0.531). PF performance at character level were significantly associated with semantic association test (“心”: r=0.243, p=0.042; “國”: r=0.289 p=0.015), whereas no such association was noted for PF at phoneme level. Conclusions: The findings suggest that SF, PF at character and syllable level tests are noticeably affected in patients with AD and lvPPA, whereas PF at the phoneme level appears to be less impacted. The distinct variations observed in various phonological fluency tests likely stem from the semantic involvement in Chinese compound word and character generation. This underscores the role of linguistic typology in dementia symptomatology, emphasizing its significance for equitable care in diverse populations.

Custom Content

02/15/2024
04:00 pm - 05:15 pm
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)

Poster Session 06: Aging | MCI | Neurodegenerative Disease - PART 2

Final Abstract #8

Poster Symposium: Barriers in Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease Related Dementias: Bridging the Gap and Advancing Equity in Asian Cohorts — Abstract 2

Decoding the Language of Dementia: Exploring Semantic and Phonological Fluency in Chinese

Boon Lead Tee, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Lorinda Li Ying Kwan Chen, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Ta Fu Chen, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
Joshua Tsoh, Prince of Wales Hospital and ShaTin Hospital, Hong Kong, China
Andrew Lung Tat Chan, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong, China
Raymond Lo, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, HuaLien, Taiwan
YiChen Lee, National Taiwan University Hospital, HsinChu, Taiwan
Isabel Allen, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Yu-Chen Chuang, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
Stephanie Hoi Ying Kwan, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States

Category: Language and Speech Functions/Aphasia

Keyword 1: language: aphasia
Keyword 2: dementia - Alzheimer's disease
Keyword 3: diversity

Objective:

While there exist over 7,000 living languages worldwide, speech and language studies across neurodegenerative diseases primarily concentrates on fewer than twenty Germanic and Romance languages, with English being the most extensively studied. The applicability of these findings to languages with unique linguistic attributes, such as Chinese languages, remains uncertain. This talk will introduce the Chinese Language Assessment in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) (CLAP) projects, which examined various linguistically specific features in Chinese speaking PPA and AD patients, with special focus on semantic and phonemic fluency performance. In English, AD patients were noted to exhibit greater semantic fluency (SF) impairment compared to phonemic fluency (PF), attributed to ventral language pathway involvement. However, Chinese languages adopt logographic script where all phonetic units inherently carry semantic meanings. Naturally, there is a lack of clarity on accurately assessing and distinguishing PF from SF in Chinese languages. This research aims to elucidate the roles of various Chinese fluency tests in PPA and AD diagnosis.

Participants and Methods:

This study included seventy-two cognitively normal participants (CN), twenty-nine individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), six AD patient, and sixteen logopenic variant (lv) PPA participants, all of whom are native Cantonese and Mandarin speakers. Participants were assigned three PF and one SF tasks: (1) PF at phoneme level: voice Mandarin/Cantonese sounds with the PinYin consonant of /p/ and /t/, (2) PF at character level: verbally express compound words with the monosyllabic character “心” and “國” (3) PF at syllable level: write characters with the /si/ sound, and (4) SF: produce words that belong to the semantic categories of “four-legged animal” and “vegetable”. ANOVA analysis was employed for group comparison, and Pearson correlations were conducted to explore the association between PF and a semantic association test.

Results:

In terms of SF test, participants with MCI, AD and lvPPA generated fewer animal and vegetable words than cognitively normal participants (animal: p< .001; vegetable: p< .001). Compared to CN individuals, participants with AD and lvPPA produced significantly fewer words and characters in PF at syllable and character level (Syllable: M_CN =7.3+/- 2.3, M_MCI =5.5+/-2.5, M_AD=5.0+/-1.5, M_lvPPA =4.1+/-1.7, p< .001) (Character “心”: M_CN=12.1+/- 3.5, M_MCI=10.6+/-4.2, M_AD=5.0+/-1.4, M_lvPPA=5.0+/-2.7, p< .001; “國”: M_CN=8.9+/-2.9, M_MCI=6.8+/-2.2, M_AD=4.5+/-2.1, M_lvPPA=5.2+/-2.6, p<.001). Conversely, no significant differences were noted in PF at phoneme level. (/p/: p=0.108; /t/: p=0.531). PF performance at character level were significantly associated with semantic association test (“心”: r=0.243, p=0.042; “國”: r=0.289 p=0.015), whereas no such association was noted for PF at phoneme level.

Conclusions:

The findings suggest that SF, PF at character and syllable level tests are noticeably affected in patients with AD and lvPPA, whereas PF at the phoneme level appears to be less impacted. The distinct variations observed in various phonological fluency tests likely stem from the semantic involvement in Chinese compound word and character generation. This underscores the role of linguistic typology in dementia symptomatology, emphasizing its significance for equitable care in diverse populations.