Relevant category-specific effect on naming in Alzheimer's disease.
OBJECTIVE
To determine category effect on naming in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and its relation with severity of the disease or naming deficit.


METHODS
A group of 50 patients suffering from probable AD was tested in a naming task involving 99 pictures of items belonging to living and non-living categories. Parameters relating to pictures (percentage of majority responses, familiarity, visual complexity and image agreement) were determined using a control group and parameters relating to words (frequency, age of acquisition, number of letters and syllables) were controlled.


RESULTS
A category-specific effect was demonstrated and individual stepwise logistic regression demonstrated a significant category effect in 9 cases (living items more failed than non-living).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest a categorical effect on naming in favor of the non-living items, especially for mild AD with predominant naming deficit.
Martinaud
Olivier
O
Department of Neurology, Rouen University Hospital, FR-76031 Rouen, France. olivier.martinaud @ chu-rouen.fr
Opolczynski
Gaëlle
G
Gaillard
Marie-José
MJ
Hannequin
Didier
D
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012660:Semantics; D014796:Visual Perception