Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 May;18(3):280-92.
doi: 10.1080/13825585.2010.540642. Epub 2011 Feb 22.

Semantic clustering as a neuropsychological predictor for amnestic-MCI

Michael Malek-Ahmadi  1 , Ashok Raj, Brent J Small
Affiliations

Semantic clustering as a neuropsychological predictor for amnestic-MCI

Michael Malek-Ahmadi et al. Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn. 2011 May.

Abstract

Recent research has demonstrated that patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show deficits in semantic processing when compared to cognitively healthy individuals. This difference is thought to be attributed to losses in higher cortical systems that are predominantly associated with executive functioning. The first aim of the study will be to determine if differences in semantic clustering can accurately differentiate patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) from cognitively normal (CN) individuals. The second aim will be to determine the extent to which semantic processing might be associated with executive functions. Data from 202 (134 CN, 68 aMCI) participants were analyzed to quantify differences in semantic clustering ratios on the HVLT-R. Study participants ages ranged from 51 to 87 with education ranging from 6 to 20 years. ANCOVA revealed statistically significant differences on semantic clustering ratios (p < .001). Moderate correlations between semantic clustering Category Fluency Test (r = .45) were also found. Statistically significant group differences were also present on Trails-B and WAIS-R Digit Symbol performance (p < .001). Overall, these data indicate that deficits in semantic clustering are present in aMCI patients.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Semantic Clustering Ratios for aMCI and CN Groups
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Au A, Chan AS, Chiu H. Verbal learning in Alzheimer’s dementia. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. 2003;9:363–375. - PubMed
    1. Baker JT, Sanders AL, Maccotta L, Buckner RL. Neural correlates of verbal memory encoding during semantic and structural processing tasks. Neuro-Report. 2001;12:1251–1256. - PubMed
    1. Balthazar MLF, Martinelli JE, Cendes F, Damasceno BP. Lexical semantic memory in amnestic mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzheimer’s disease. Arqivos de Neuropsiquiatri. 2007;65(3A):619–622. - PubMed
    1. Barde LHF, Thompson-Schill SL. Models of functional organization of the lateral prefrontal cortex in verbal working memory: Evidence in favor of the process model. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 2002;14(7):1054–1063. - PubMed
    1. Becker S, Lim J. A computational model of prefrontal control in free recall: Strategic memory use in the California Verbal Learning Task. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 2003;15(6):821–832. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources