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Temporal lobe factor in verb fluency

Background

This study evaluated whether decreased word fluency in Mild Cognitive Impairment and related disorders is related to hypoperfusion in particular brain regions.

Materials and methods

93 subjects referred for memory trouble participated in the study. Subjects had either Subjective (non-objective) Cognitive Impairment, Mild (Objective) Cognitive) Impairment, or Alzheimers dementia. Hypoperfusion quotes from 38 brain regions were obtained from SPECT, plus temporally resolved verb and noun fluency scores. Factor analysis was used to assess hypoperfusion in larger anatomical regions. Regression analysis was applied to the hypoperfusion factor scores and word fluency data.

Results

Impaired verb fluency was predicted by a temporal lobe hypoperfusion factor and years of education, whereas impaired noun fluency was predicted by age and hypoperfusion in the parietooccipital-parietotemporal region. Hypoperfusion in anteromedial temporal areas were more strongly associated with decreased verb fluency.

Discussion

Impaired verb fluency was predicted by a temporal lobe hypoperfusion factor and years of education, whereas impaired noun fluency was predicted by age and hypoperfusion in the parietooccipital-parietotemporal region. Hypoperfusion in anteromedial temporal areas were more strongly associated with decreased verb fluency.

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Open Access This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Öckinger, R. Temporal lobe factor in verb fluency. Ann Gen Psychiatry 5 (Suppl 1), S111 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-859X-5-S1-S111

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-859X-5-S1-S111

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