Word Association Ability in Persons with Aphasia and Dementia

Abstract

Introduction

Word association is a linguistic ability which occurs as a result of neural links between several concepts. These concepts could be semantic i.e. paradigmatic or syntactic i.e. syntagmatic in nature. These associations are intact and faster in neuro-typical individuals. Several studies have reported deficits in this association ability in brain-damage individuals. Thus the present study focuses on comparing the word association ability in persons with dementia and aphasia.

Material & Methods

26 persons with aphasia (PWA) and 29 persons with dementia (PWD) were considered as the clinical groups for the study. The control groups included 98 neuro-typical participants who were age matched to the clinical groups. The participants were grouped according to severity and type of disorder. A set of ten paradigmatic and syntagmatic stimuli each were presented to the participants and there were instructed to complete the task appropriately. Cues were provided in a hierarchy and the responses were appropriately scored. The data was then statistically treated.

Results

The results of the study revealed that the word association scores are reduced in individuals with aphasia and dementia when compared to the neuro-typical participants. The paradigmatic responses were significantly more affected than the syntagmatic associations in persons with dementia and aphasia. The findings of the study support the assumptions that the paradigmatic associations tend to be damaged earlier to the syntactic associations.

Conclusion

Word association ability proves to be a behavioural assessment measure to detect the linguistic impairments in persons with brain damage. The variations in syntagmatic and paradigmatic responses in PWA and PWD are of clinical importance in future research studies.