Effects of Semantic Impairment on Language Processing in Semantic Dementia

ABSTRACT

Semantic dementia is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive loss of conceptual and lexical knowledge. Cortical atrophy remains relatively isolated to anterior and inferior portions of the temporal lobe early in semantic dementia, later affecting more extensive regions of temporal cortex. Throughout much of the disease course, frontal and parietal lobe structures remain relatively intact. This distribution of cortical damage produces a unique language profile. Patients with semantic dementia typically experience profound deficits in language comprehension and production in the context of relatively well-preserved functioning in domains such as phonology, executive function, visuospatial processing, and speech perception. We discuss the effects of semantic impairment on language processing in semantic dementia within the context of an interactive theory of semantic cognition that assumes the active coordination of modality-neutral and modality-specific components. Finally, we argue the need for an etiology-specific language intervention for this population.

KEYWORDS

Dementia - language - semantic memory - semantic dementia

REFERENCES

• 1 Hebert L E, Scherr P A, Bienias D A, Evans D A. Annual incidence of Alzheimer's disease in the United States projected to the years 2000 through 2050.  Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 2001;  15 169-173
• 2 Gorno-Tempini M L, Dronkers N F, Rankin K P et al.. Cognition and anatomy in three variants of primary progressive aphasia.  Ann Neurol. 2004;  55 335-346
• 3 Hodges J R, Davies R R, Xuereb J H et al.. Clinicopathological correlates in frontotemporal dementia.  Ann Neurol. 2004;  56 399-406
• 4 Hodges J R, Patterson K. Nonfluent progressive aphasia and semantic dementia: a comparative neuropsychological study.  J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 1996;  2 511-524
• 5 Hodges J R, Patterson K, Oxbury S, Funnell E. Semantic dementia: progressive fluent aphasia with temporal lobe atrophy.  Brain. 1992;  115 1783-1806
• 6 Neary D, Snowden J S, Gustafson L et al.. Frontotemporal lobar degeneration: a consensus on clinical diagnostic criteria.  Neurology. 1998;  51 1546-1554
• 7 Peelle J E, Grossman M. Language processing in frontotemporal dementia: a brief review.  Language and Linguistics Compass. 2008;  2 18-35
• 8 Warrington E K. The selective impairment of semantic memory.  Q J Exp Psychol. 1975;  27 635-657
• 9 Mesulam M. Slowly progressive aphasia without generalized dementia.  Ann Neurol. 1982;  11 592-598
• 10 Mesulam M. Primary progressive aphasia: a language-based dementia.  N Engl J Med. 2003;  349 1535-1542
• 11 Snowden J S, Goulding P J, Neary D. Semantic dementia: a form of circumscribed cerebral atrophy.  Behav Neurol. 1989;  2 167-182
• 12 Galton C J, Patterson K, Graham K et al.. Differing patterns of temporal atrophy in Alzheimer's disease and semantic dementia.  Neurology. 2001;  57 216-225
• 13 Mummery C J, Patterson K, Price C J, Ashburner J, Frackowiak R SJ, Hodges J R. A voxel-based morphometry study of semantic dementia: relationship between temporal lobe atrophy and semantic memory.  Ann Neurol. 2000;  47 36-45
• 14 Lambon Ralph M A, McClelland J L, Patterson K, Galton C J, Hodges J R. No right to speak? The relationship between object naming and semantic impairment: neuropsychological evidence and a computational model.  J Cogn Neurosci. 2001;  13 341-356
• 15 Graham K S, Patterson K, Hodges J R. Episodic memory: new insights from the study of semantic dementia.  Curr Opin Neurobiol. 1999;  9 245-250
• 16 Harasty J A, Halliday G M, Kril J J, Code C. Specific temporoparietal gyral atrophy reflects the pattern of language dissolution in Alzheimer's disease.  Brain. 1999;  122 675-686
• 17 van de Pol L A, Hensel A, van der Flier W M et al.. Hippocampal atrophy on MRI in frontotemporal lobar degeneration and Alzheimer's disease.  J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2006;  77 439-442
• 18 Halpern C H, Glosser G, Clark R et al.. Dissociation of numbers and objects in corticobasal degeneration and semantic dementia.  Neurology. 2004;  62 1163-1169
• 19 Jefferies E, Patterson K, Lambon Ralph M A. The natural history of late-stage “pure” semantic dementia.  Neurocase. 2006;  12 1-14
• 20 Reilly J, Cross K, Troiani V, Grossman M. Single word semantic judgments in semantic dementia: do phonology and grammatical class count?.  Aphasiology. 2007;  21 558-569
• 21 Farah M J. The neurological basis of mental imagery: a computational analysis.  Cognition. 1984;  18 245-272
• 22 Humphreys G W, Forde E ME. Hierarchies, similarity, and interactivity in object recognition: “category-specific” neuropsychological deficits.  Behav Brain Sci. 2001;  24 453-509
• 23 Humphreys G W, Riddoch M J. Features, objects, action: the cognitive neuropsychology of visual object processing, 1984-2004.  Cogn Neuropsychol. 2006;  23 156-183
• 24 Caramazza A, Mahon B Z. The organization of conceptual knowledge: the evidence from category-specific semantic deficits.  Trends Cogn Sci. 2003;  7 354-361
• 25 Geschwind N. Disconnexion syndromes in animals and man.  Brain. 1965;  88 237-297
• 26 Farah M J, McClelland J L. A computational model of semantic memory impairment: modality specificity and emergent category specificity.  J Exp Psychol. 1991;  120 339-357
• 27 Humphreys G W, Riddoch M J. A case series analysis of “category-specific” deficits of living things: the HIT account.  Cogn Neuropsychol. 2003;  20 263-306
• 28 Martin A, Chao L L. Semantic memory and the brain: structure and processes.  Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2001;  11 194-201
• 29 Mesulam M. Primary progressive aphasia.  Ann Neurol. 2001;  49 425-432
• 30 Bozeat S, Lambon Ralph M A, Patterson K, Garrard P, Hodges J R. Non-verbal semantic impairment in semantic dementia.  Neuropsychologia. 2000;  38 1207-1215
• 31 Bozeat S, Lambon Ralph M A, Patterson K, Hodges J R. When objects lose their meaning: what happens to their use?.  Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2002;  2 236-251
• 32 Coccia M, Bartolini M, Luzzi S, Provinciali L, Lambon Ralph M A. Semantic memory is an amodal, dynamic system: evidence from the interaction of naming and object use in semantic dementia.  Cogn Neuropsychol. 2004;  21 513-527
• 33 Buxbaum L J, Schwartz M F, Carew T G. The role of semantic memory in object use.  Cogn Neuropsychol. 1997;  14 219-254
• 34 Bussey T J, Saksida L M. The organization of visual object representations: a connectionist model of effects of lesions in perirhinal cortex.  Eur J Neurosci. 2002;  15 355-364
• 35 Tyler L K, Stamatakis E A, Bright P et al.. Processing objects at different levels of specificity.  J Cogn Neurosci. 2004;  16 351-362
• 36 Moss H E, Rodd J M, Stamatakis E A, Bright P, Tyler L K. Anteromedial temporal cortex supports fine-grained differentiation among objects.  Cereb Cortex. 2005;  15 616-627
• 37 Grossman M, Ash S. Primary progressive aphasia: a review.  Neurocase. 2004;  10 3-18
• 38 Hodges J R, Graham N, Patterson K. Charting the progression in semantic dementia: implications for the organisation of semantic memory.  Memory. 1995;  3 463-495
• 39 Hodges J R. Semantic dementia: disorder of semantic memory. In: D'Esposito M Neurological Foundations of Cognitive Neuroscience. Cambridge, MA; MIT Press 2003: 67-87
• 40 Bird H, Lambon Ralph M A, Patterson K, Hodges J R. The rise and fall of frequency and imageability: noun and verb production in semantic dementia.  Brain Lang. 2000;  73 17-49
• 41 Bozeat S, Lambon Ralph M A, Graham K S et al.. A duck with four legs: Investigating the structure of conceptual knowledge using picture drawing in semantic dementia.  Cogn Neuropsychol. 2003;  20 27-47
• 42 Funnell E. Evidence for scripts in semantic dementia: implications for theories of semantic memory.  Cogn Neuropsychol. 2001;  18 323-341
• 43 Cipolotti L, Warrington E K. Semantic memory and reading abilities: a case report.  J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 1995;  1 104-110
• 44 Moss H E, Tyler L K, Hodges J R, Patterson K. Exploring the loss of semantic memory in semantic dementia: evidence from a primed monitoring study.  Neuropsychology. 1995;  9 16-26
• 45 Hodges J R, Bozeat S, Lambon Ralph M A, Patterson K, Spatt J. The role of conceptual knowledge in object use: evidence from semantic dementia.  Brain. 2000;  123 1913-1925
• 46 Graham K S, Simons J S, Pratt K H, Patterson K, Hodges J R. Insights from semantic dementia on the relationship between episodic and semantic memory.  Neuropsychologia. 2000;  38 313-324
• 47 Lambon Ralph M A, Graham K S, Patterson K, Hodges J R. Is a picture worth a thousand words? Evidence from concept definitions by patients with semantic dementia.  Brain Lang. 1999;  70 309-335
• 48 Patterson K. The reign of typicality in semantic memory. Philos Trans Roy Soc B.  Biol Sci. 2007;  362 813-821
• 49 Rogers T T, Hocking J, Noppeney U et al.. Anterior temporal cortex and semantic memory: reconciling findings from neuropsychology and functional imaging.  Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2006;  6 201-213
• 50 Snowden J S, Griffiths H, Neary D. Semantic dementia: autobiographical contribution to preservation of meaning.  Cogn Neuropsychol. 1994;  11 265-292
• 51 Kiran S, Bassetto G. Evaluating the effectiveness of semantic based treatment for naming deficits in aphasia: what works?.  Semin Speech Lang. 2008;  29 71-82
• 52 Barsalou L W, Simmons W K, Barbey A K, Wilson C D. Grounding conceptual knowledge in modality-specific systems.  Trends Cogn Sci. 2003;  7 84-91
• 53 Pecher D, Zeelenberg R, Barsalou L W. Sensorimotor simulations underlie conceptual representations: modality-specific effects of prior activation.  Psychon Bull Rev. 2004;  11 164-167
• 54 Simmons W K, Barsalou L W. The similarity-in-topography principle: reconciling theories of conceptual deficits.  Cogn Neuropsychol. 2003;  20 451-486
• 55 Simmons W K, Martin A, Barsalou L W. Pictures of appetizing foods activate gustatory cortices for taste and reward.  Cereb Cortex. 2005;  15 1602-1608
• 56 Martin A, Wiggs C L, Ungerleider L G, Haxby J V. Neural correlates of category-specific knowledge.  Nature. 1996;  379 649-652
• 57 Pulvermuller F. Brain mechanisms linking language and action.  Nat Rev Neurosci. 2005;  6 576-582
• 58 Jefferies E, Lambon Ralph M A. Semantic impairment in stroke aphasia versus semantic dementia: a case-series comparison.  Brain. 2006;  129 2132-2147
• 59 Rogers T T, Hodges J R, Lambon Ralph M A, Patterson K. Object recognition under semantic impairment: the effects of conceptual regularities on perceptual decisions.  Lang Cogn Process. 2003;  18 625-662
• 60 Rogers T T, Lambon Ralph M A, Garrard P et al.. Structure and deterioration of semantic memory: a neuropsychological and computational investigation.  Psychol Rev. 2004;  111 205-235
• 61 Reilly J, Peelle J, Grossman M. A unitary semantics account of reverse concreteness effects in semantic dementia.  Brain Lang. 2007;  103 86-87
• 62 Kroll J F, Merves J S. Lexical access for concrete and abstract words. J Exp Psychol Learning Memory.  Cognition. 1986;  12 92-107
• 63 Walker I, Hulme C. Concrete words are easier to recall than abstract words: evidence for a semantic contribution to short-term serial recall.  J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 1999;  25 1256-1271
• 64 Reilly J, Chrysikou E, Ramey C H. Support for hybrid models of the age of acquisition of English nouns.  Psychon Bull Rev. 2007;  20(6) 1164-1170
• 65 Sadoski M, Paivio A. Imagery and Text: A Dual Coding Theory of Reading and Writing. Mahwah, NJ; Lawrence Erlbaum 2001
• 66 Paivio A. Mental Representations: A Dual Coding Approach. New York, NY; Oxford University Press 1985
• 67 Breedin S D, Saffran E M, Coslett H B. Reversal of the concreteness effect in a patient with semantic dementia.  Cogn Neuropsychol. 1994;  11 617-660
• 68 Yi H, Moore P, Grossman M. Reversal of the concreteness effect for verbs in semantic dementia.  Cogn Neuropsychol. 2007;  21 1-19
• 69 Grossman M. Frontotemporal dementia: a review.  J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2002;  8 566-583
• 70 Grossman M, McMillan C, Moore P et al.. What's in a name: voxel-based morphometric analyses of MRI and naming difficulty in Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia and corticobasal degeneration.  Brain. 2004;  127 628-649
• 71 Snowden J S, Neary D. Relearning of verbal labels in semantic dementia.  Neuropsychologia. 2002;  40 1715-1728
• 72 Goodglass H, Kaplan E. The Assessment of Aphasia and Related Disorders. 2nd ed. Philadelphia, PA; Lea and Feibiger 1983
• 73 Ash S, Moore P, Antani S, McCawley G, Work M, Grossman M. Trying to tell a tale: discourse impairments in progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia.  Neurology. 2006;  66 1405-1413
• 74 Kwok S, Reilly J, Grossman M. Acoustic-phonetic processing in semantic dementia.  Brain Lang. 2006;  99 145-146
• 75 Reilly J, Grossman M. Language processing in dementia. In: Budson A, Kowell N Alzheimer's Disease and Associated Disorders. Edinburgh, Scotland; Blackwell Synergy Press In press
• 76 Reilly J, Martin N, Grossman M. Effects of semantic impairment on repetition and verbal short-term memory: evidence from semantic dementia.  Brain Lang. 2004;  91 140-141
• 77 Reilly J, Martin N, Grossman M. Verbal learning in semantic dementia: is repetition priming a useful strategy?.  Aphasiology. 2005;  19 329-339
• 78 Kelly M H. Using sound to solve syntactic problems: the role of phonology in grammatical category assignments.  Psychol Rev. 1992;  99 349-364
• 79 Reilly J, Kean J. Formal distinctiveness of high- and low-imageability nouns: analyses and theoretical implications.  Cogn Sci. 2007;  31 1-12
• 80 Patterson K, Lambon Ralph M A, Jefferies E et al.. “Presemantic” cognition in semantic dementia: six deficits in search of an explanation.  J Cogn Neurosci. 2006;  18 169-183
• 81 Patterson K, Lambon Ralph M A. Selective disorders of reading?.  Curr Opin Neurobiol. 1999;  9 235-239
• 82 Blazely A M, Coltheart M, Casey B J. Semantic impairment with and without surface dyslexia: implications for models of reading.  Cogn Neuropsychol. 2005;  22 695-717
• 83 Shallice T, Warrington E K, McCarthy R. Reading without semantics.  Q J Exp Psychol A. 1983;  35A 111-138
• 84 Coltheart M. Deep dyslexia is right-hemisphere reading.  Brain Lang. 2000;  71 299-309
• 85 Coltheart M, Rastle K, Perry C, Langdon R, Ziegler J. DRC: a dual route cascaded model of visual word recognition and reading aloud.  Psychol Rev. 2001;  108 204-256
• 86 Jokel R, Rochon E, Leonard C. Treating anomia in semantic dementia: Improvement, maintenance, or both?.  Neuropsychol Rehabil. 2006;  16 241-256