Vocabulary Size in Speech May Be an Early Indicator of Cognitive Impairment.
Vocabulary Size in Speech May Be an Early Indicator of Cognitive Impairment.
复制标题
DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0155195
复制
发表时间：
2016
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Kinoshita A
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Aramaki E;Shikata S;Miyabe M;Kinoshita A
人们对轻度认知障碍（MCI）与语言能力变化之间的关系知之甚少。在这里，我们使用修订后的长谷川痴呆量表 (HDS-R) 来识别老年人中的疑似 MCI。然后，我们分析书面和口头叙述，比较患有和不患有 MCI 的研究参与者之间的语言能力，从而探索认知能力和语言能力之间的关系，并确定早期发现 MCI 和痴呆症的可能指标。我们招募了 22 名年龄在 74 岁至 86 岁之间的人（平均年龄：78.32 岁；标准差：3.36）。参与者被要求写下并谈论他们一生中最快乐的事件之一。根据 HDS-R 分数，我们将参与者分为 2 组：MCI 组由 8 名得分为 26 或更低的参与者组成，而健康组由 14 名得分为 27 或更高的参与者组成。每个参与者的书面和口语样本转录均用于测量基于 NLP 的语言能力分数。我们的分析显示，两组之间的写作能力在任何语言能力得分上都没有显着差异。然而，对口语叙述的分析表明，MCI 组的词汇量明显更大。此外，对表示口头叙述和书面叙述内容之间差距的指标的分析也揭示了 MCI 组的词汇量较大。患有早期 MCI 的人可能会采取一些行为来掩盖自己日益恶化的认知能力，从而导致他们的活跃口语词汇量暂时增加。这些结果表明，通过分析口头叙述，可以发现痴呆症发病前早期认知能力下降的阶段。
Little is known about the relationship between mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and changes to language abilities. Here, we used the revised Hasegawa Dementia Scale (HDS-R) to identify suspected MCI in elderly individuals. We then analyzed written and spoken narratives to compare the language abilities between study participants with and without MCI in order to explore the relationship between cognitive and language abilities, and to identify a possible indicator for the early detection of MCI and dementia. We recruited 22 people aged 74 to 86 years (mean: 78.32 years; standard deviation: 3.36). The participants were requested to write and talk about one of the happiest events in their lives. Based on HDS-R scores, we divided the participants into 2 groups: the MCI Group comprised 8 participants with a score of 26 or lower, while the Healthy Group comprised 14 participants with a score of 27 or higher. The transcriptions of both written and spoken samples for each participant were used in the measurement of NLP-based language ability scores. Our analysis showed no significant differences in writing abilities between the 2 groups in any of the language ability scores. However, analysis of the spoken narrative showed that the MCI Group had a significantly larger vocabulary size. In addition, analysis of a metric that signified the gap in content between the spoken and written narratives also revealed a larger vocabulary size in the MCI Group. Individuals with early-stage MCI may be engaging in behavior to conceal their deteriorating cognition, thereby leading to a temporary increase in their active spoken vocabulary. These results indicate the possible detection of early stages of reduced cognition before dementia onset through the analysis of spoken narratives.