A recent study conducted by a group of researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cornell University, and Massachusetts General Hospital has provided valuable insights into the cognitive changes that precede dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s disease. The study focused on individuals with mild cognitive impairment, especially the “amnestic subtype” (aMCI), who are at a heightened risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. The team’s findings have the potential to serve as a cognitive biomarker for early detection and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, which could be crucial as continued development of treatments draws nearer.
The research has identified a significant impairment in individuals with aMCI, particularly related to their ability to produce complex language. This impairment is independent of the memory deficit typically associated with aMCI. The team hopes that this cognitive biomarker will contribute to the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease, during a period when treatments are more likely to be effective.
The study, detailed in a paper titled “Disintegration at the syntax-semantics interface in prodromal Alzheimer’s disease: New evidence from complex sentence anaphora in amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI),” published in the Journal of Neurolinguistics, is one of the first to address complex syntax and its role in the abstract computation involved in processing linguistic structures. The researchers have highlighted the importance of examining the intricacies of language processing in relation to aMCI and its potential progression to Alzheimer’s disease.
The team conducted experiments comparing the cognitive performance of aMCI patients to that of cognitively healthy individuals from separate younger and older control groups. The results revealed the difficulties that aMCI patients encounter when processing sentences with “anaphoric coreference,” which involve ambiguity about the identity of the person referred to via a pronoun. The study has demonstrated that aMCI patients performed significantly worse than the control groups when producing sentences with such ambiguity.
This research is part of a series of studies aimed at further understanding the progression of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and MCI and their impact on language processing. The findings have implications for directing neuroscience studies towards the brain regions involved in language processing and may also contribute to informing linguistics theory concerning various forms of anaphora.
The team, composed of esteemed researchers from renowned institutions including MIT and Cornell University, is hopeful that the findings will contribute to the development of treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. They aim to expand the scope of their studies to further define the progression of diseases and explore the potential of language as a predictor of such progression.
The study was made possible through the support of various sponsors, including the Cornell University Podell Award and Apple Corporation. The team remains dedicated to their research, driven by the pursuit of understanding and mitigating the impact of diseases like Alzheimer’s on individuals and society.
+ There are no comments
Add yours