INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 06 Program Schedule 02/15/2024 04:00 pm - 05:15 pm Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120) Poster Session 06: Aging \| MCI \| Neurodegenerative Disease - PART 2 Final Abstract #99 Neuropsycholinguistic Study of Spatial Agnosia in a Moroccan Novel on Alzheimer's Disease Mohamed Taiebine, Euro-Mediterranean University of Fez, FEZ, Morocco Category: Cross Cultural Neuropsychology/ Clinical Cultural Neuroscience Keyword 1: dementia - Alzheimer's disease Keyword 2: agnosia Keyword 3: amnesia Objective: Tahar Ben Jelloun's novel About My Mother (2016) addresses multiple sociocultural issues related to social inequity, gendered hegemony, and women’s health conditions by combining fictional biographical and autobiographical perspectives in a given colonial and post-colonial era of Moroccan history. We studied Lalla Fatma as a prototype displaying amnesia as a marker of Alzheimer’s disease associated with spatial agnosia (called also topographical disorientation, topographical memory disorder or topographagnosia). This study aimed to investigate whether fictional autobiography might be a source for analyzing linguistic features in terms of toponomy and neurocognitive aspects of topographical disorientation in Lalla Fatma. Additionally, we investigated how the toponymy of old, current, and new names overlapped with spatial agnosia in the novel’s corpora. Participants and Methods: A toponymic and onomastic approach was used to develop patterns of themes across the novel corpora. Toponymy is defined as the study of place-names. It can be descriptive or synchronic by limiting itself to a specific place, or historical by describing the diachronic evolution of each name and its etymology. The neurocognitive approach followed the taxonomy described by Aguirre and D’Esposito (1999) to determine the clinical subtype that best described topographical disorientation in Lalla Fatma. Text mining was also used to investigate the relative frequencies of different cities in the corpus. Voyant Tools (Sinclair et al., 2016) is an open-source web-based text and visualization analysis tool. Results: According to the taxonomy by Aguirre and D’Esposito (1999), we found two types of topographical disorientation in the novel (landmark agnosia and anterograde disorientation). In Alzheimer's disease, topographical memory is characterized by disorientation and spatial wandering. Cities are often built on hierarchical topography, from the center to the periphery, especially in the colonial context. It is through the memory of the cities of Fez and Tangier that Lalla Fatma's mnemonic experiences are constructed, for example, in the medina, which designates the ancient part of Moroccan city. In Ben Jelloun's narrative, the superimposition of Tangier and Fez creates a temporal experiment to retrieve memories trapped between the walls, ramparts, and fortresses of the cities. The house of Lalla Fatma in Tangier seems to have been neglected, similar to her dilapidated body and mourning memory. The house involves seeking self and identity in physical space which is subject to spatiotemporal disorientation. It's also a trigger for expressing the present moment of melancholy and nostalgia, aggravated by Lalla Fatma's declining health status. Conclusions: This study provides evidence suggesting that fictional autobiography should be investigated in terms of linguistic and neurocognitive aspects in the context of Alzheimer’s disease. From an aesthetic point of view, Ben Jelloun's writing emphasizes the monumental character of Fez’s ancient architecture, which contrasts with Tangier’s modernity. Urban memory is an extension of the protagonist's self in her mental journey, where the map of these cities is blurred in the present moment. The borders between the cities were abolished and dissipated in terms of confusion, confabulation, and disorientation. The result is an eulogy of the Fassi past, both at spiritual and historical levels.

Poster

Poster Session 06 Program Schedule

02/15/2024
04:00 pm - 05:15 pm
Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120)

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

Final Abstract #99

Neuropsycholinguistic Study of Spatial Agnosia in a Moroccan Novel on Alzheimer's Disease

Mohamed Taiebine, Euro-Mediterranean University of Fez, FEZ, Morocco

Category: Cross Cultural Neuropsychology/ Clinical Cultural Neuroscience

Keyword 1: dementia - Alzheimer's disease
Keyword 2: agnosia
Keyword 3: amnesia

Objective:

Tahar Ben Jelloun's novel About My Mother (2016) addresses multiple sociocultural issues related to social inequity, gendered hegemony, and women’s health conditions by combining fictional biographical and autobiographical perspectives in a given colonial and post-colonial era of Moroccan history. We studied Lalla Fatma as a prototype displaying amnesia as a marker of Alzheimer’s disease associated with spatial agnosia (called also topographical disorientation, topographical memory disorder or topographagnosia).

This study aimed to investigate whether fictional autobiography might be a source for analyzing linguistic features in terms of toponomy and neurocognitive aspects of topographical disorientation in Lalla Fatma. Additionally, we investigated how the toponymy of old, current, and new names overlapped with spatial agnosia in the novel’s corpora.

Participants and Methods:

A toponymic and onomastic approach was used to develop patterns of themes across the novel corpora. Toponymy is defined as the study of place-names. It can be descriptive or synchronic by limiting itself to a specific place, or historical by describing the diachronic evolution of each name and its etymology.

The neurocognitive approach followed the taxonomy described by Aguirre and D’Esposito (1999) to determine the clinical subtype that best described topographical disorientation in Lalla Fatma. Text mining was also used to investigate the relative frequencies of different cities in the corpus. Voyant Tools (Sinclair et al., 2016) is an open-source web-based text and visualization analysis tool.

Results:

According to the taxonomy by Aguirre and D’Esposito (1999), we found two types of topographical disorientation in the novel (landmark agnosia and anterograde disorientation). In Alzheimer's disease, topographical memory is characterized by disorientation and spatial wandering. Cities are often built on hierarchical topography, from the center to the periphery, especially in the colonial context. It is through the memory of the cities of Fez and Tangier that Lalla Fatma's mnemonic experiences are constructed, for example, in the medina, which designates the ancient part of Moroccan city. In Ben Jelloun's narrative, the superimposition of Tangier and Fez creates a temporal experiment to retrieve memories trapped between the walls, ramparts, and fortresses of the cities. The house of Lalla Fatma in Tangier seems to have been neglected, similar to her dilapidated body and mourning memory. The house involves seeking self and identity in physical space which is subject to spatiotemporal disorientation. It's also a trigger for expressing the present moment of melancholy and nostalgia, aggravated by Lalla Fatma's declining health status.

Conclusions:

This study provides evidence suggesting that fictional autobiography should be investigated in terms of linguistic and neurocognitive aspects in the context of Alzheimer’s disease. From an aesthetic point of view, Ben Jelloun's writing emphasizes the monumental character of Fez’s ancient architecture, which contrasts with Tangier’s modernity. Urban memory is an extension of the protagonist's self in her mental journey, where the map of these cities is blurred in the present moment. The borders between the cities were abolished and dissipated in terms of confusion, confabulation, and disorientation. The result is an eulogy of the Fassi past, both at spiritual and historical levels.