Affiliation:
1. Centre for Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Psychology, Department of Life Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Brunel University London, London UB8 3PH, UK
2. Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
3. Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, 43125 Parma, Italy
Abstract
We explored the methodological value of an item-level scoring procedure applied to the Boston Naming Test (BNT), and the extent to which this scoring approach predicts grey matter (GM) variability in regions that sustain semantic memory. Twenty-seven BNT items administered as part of the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative were scored according to their “sensorimotor interaction” (SMI) value. Quantitative scores (i.e., the count of correctly named items) and qualitative scores (i.e., the average of SMI scores for correctly named items) were used as independent predictors of neuroanatomical GM maps in two sub-cohorts of 197 healthy adults and 350 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) participants. Quantitative scores predicted clusters of temporal and mediotemporal GM in both sub-cohorts. After accounting for quantitative scores, the qualitative scores predicted mediotemporal GM clusters in the MCI sub-cohort; clusters extended to the anterior parahippocampal gyrus and encompassed the perirhinal cortex. This was confirmed by a significant yet modest association between qualitative scores and region-of-interest-informed perirhinal volumes extracted post hoc. Item-level scoring of BNT performance provides complementary information to standard quantitative scores. The concurrent use of quantitative and qualitative scores may help profile lexical–semantic access more precisely, and might help detect changes in semantic memory that are typical of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.
Funder
Alzheimer’s Association Research
Alzheimer’s Society, UK
European Union
National Institutes of Health
Department of Defense
National Institute on Aging
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
AbbVie, Alzheimer’s Association
Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation
Araclon Biotech
BioClinica, Inc.
Biogen
Bristol Myers Squibb Company
CereSpir, Inc.
Cogstate
Eisai Inc.
Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Eli Lilly and Company
EuroImmun
F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.
Genentech, Inc.
Fujirebio
GE Healthcare
IXICO Ltd.
Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy Research & Development, LLC.
Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development LLC.
Lumosity
Lundbeck
Merck & Co., Inc.
Meso Scale Diagnostics, LLC.
NeuroRx Research
Neurotrack Technologies
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
Pfizer Inc.
Piramal Imaging
Servier
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company
Transition Therapeutics
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Foundation for the National Institutes of Health