Comprehension of before and after in frontotemporal degeneration.
Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is a dementia syndrome with behavioural problems and deterioration of language functions. The other cognitive domains are relatively preserved for at least the first two years of the disease. We studied the ability of patients with FTLD to understand before and after constructions expressed in Finnish. Ten patients and eight controls were presented eight sentences with different relations and asked questions to test their comprehension. The results showed that the patients generally found after constructions more difficult. The difficulty was not, however, related to normal ageing, as was shown by the performance of the control group.
Karjalainen
Merja
M
Department of Finnish, Information Studies and Logopedics, University of Oulu, Finland. merja.karjalainen@oulu.fi
Rantala
Leena
L
Jäntti
Pirkko
P
Remes
Anne M
AM
D000368:Aged; D001037:Aphasia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013028:Space Perception; D013067:Speech Perception; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*; D013997:Time Factors