title: Semantic profiles in mild cognitive impairment associated with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
abstract: The temporal and the prefrontal cortices have different roles in semantic information processing: the temporal lobe is where knowledge is stored (Graham and Hodges, 1997), whereas the prefrontal cortex is more specifically involved in executive aspects of semantic processing. Relatively little is known about the semantic profiles of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). This observational study investigated naming and semantic questionnaire performances in three groups of subjects: 10 patients with the amnestic-type MCI prodrome of AD (aMCI), 10 patients with early-stage executive-type MCI in PD (MCI-PD), and 10 normal subjects. The MCI-PD subjects demonstrated inferior performances on a semantic questionnaire, whereas the aMCI group displayed modest difficulties in a naming task. These differences may be explained by topographical differences in pathological involvement. Since the frontal areas are more functionally impaired in PD, we hypothesize that the semantic deficit may be a consequence of a deficiency in control of semantic processing. On the other hand, the semantic deficit in aMCI may be related to a lexical-semantic storage dysfunction resulting from pathological involvement of the temporal lobe.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guidi
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Paciaroni
authors.forename: Susy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paolini
authors.forename: Osvaldo
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Scarpino
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Burn
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D012660:Semantics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires