Relevant category-specific effect on naming in Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Aim: 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).

Conclusion: Our results suggest a categorical effect on naming in favor of the non-living items, especially for mild AD with predominant naming deficit.