Lateralized Affective Word Priming and Gender Effect.

Affective priming research suggests that processing of affective words is a quick and short lived process. Using the divided visual field (DVF) paradigm, investigations of the lateralization of affective word processing have yielded inconsistent results. However, research on semantic processing of words generally suggests that the left hemisphere (LH) is the location where rapid processing occurs.

Narrative Discourse in Young and Older Adults: Behavioral and NIRS Analyses.

Discourse comprehension is at the core of communication capabilities, making it an important component of elderly populations' quality of life. The aim of this study is to evaluate changes in discourse comprehension and the underlying brain activity. Thirty-six participants read short stories and answered related probes in three conditions: micropropositions, macropropositions and situation models.

Verbal fluency in right brain damage: dissociations among production criteria and duration.

This study aimed to verify dissociations in the performance of verbal fluency tasks with different production criteria and duration following vascular right-hemisphere damage. We tested the hypothesis that longer fluency tasks would be more sensitive in identifying deficits in the sample. The relationship between verbal fluency performance and sustained attention was also investigated.

Communicative clusters after a right-hemisphere stroke: are there universal clinical profiles?

Objective: The current research aimed at classifying communication profiles among right-brain-damaged adults with an intercultural perspective, and so begins to fill in a long-standing gap in the literature.

Method: The sample was made up of 112 right-brain-damaged individuals from three nationalities (Canadians, Brazilians and Argentineans). They were assessed using 13 language tasks from the Protocol MEC in Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and French.

The profile of executive functioning in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: disproportionate deficits in inhibitory control.

Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) represents a group of individuals who are highly likely to develop Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although aMCI is typically conceptualized as involving predominantly deficits in episodic memory, recent studies have demonstrated that deficits in executive functioning may also be present, and thorough categorization of cognitive functioning in MCI may improve early diagnosis and treatment of AD. We first provide an extensive review of neuropsychology studies that examined executive functioning in MCI.

Contribution of NIRS to the study of prefrontal cortex for verbal fluency in aging.

Healthy aging is characterized by a number of changes on brain structure and function. Several neuroimaging studies have shown an age-related reduction in hemispheric asymmetry on various cognitive tasks, a phenomenon captured by Cabeza (2002) in the Hemispheric Asymmetry Reduction in Older Adults (HAROLD) model. Although this phenomenon is supported by a range of neuroimaging data on memory and inhibitory processes, there is little evidence concerning changes in hemispheric asymmetry for language processing, and particularly word retrieval, which is assessed with verbal fluency task (VFT).

Clinical Focus on Prosodic, Discursive and Pragmatic Treatment for Right Hemisphere Damaged Adults: What's Right?

Researchers and clinicians acknowledge today that the contribution of both cerebral hemispheres is necessary to a full and adequate verbal communication. Indeed, it is estimated that at least 50% of right brain damaged individuals display impairments of prosodic, discourse, pragmatics and/or lexical semantics dimensions of communication. Since the 1990's, researchers have focused on the description and the assessment of these impairments and it is only recently that authors have shown interest in planning specific intervention approaches.

Neurofunctional (re)organization underlying narrative discourse processing in aging: evidence from fNIRS.

Relatively few studies have analyzed the mechanisms underlying the cognitive changes that affect language in the elderly, and fewer have done so for narrative discourse. The goal of this study was to explore the neurofunctional changes associated with aging for different components of narrative discourse. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and behavioral data on 10 younger adults and 10 healthy elderly participants were collected.

Differences in participation according to specific cognitive deficits following a stroke.

This study compared participation following a stroke according to the presence of specific cognitive deficits. Participation is defined as the involvement of a person in daily activities and social roles. Three weeks after being discharged home, 197 older adults (aged 65 years and older) who had a stroke were evaluated using the Assessment of Life Habits, which includes 12 domains of daily activities and social roles.

Participation after a stroke: changes over time as a function of cognitive deficits.

Participation refers to the engagement of a person in daily activities and social roles. The goal of this study was to compare changes in older adults' participation over time following a stroke as a function of the presence of deficits in memory, visual perception, executive functions, visual attention or language. A total of 197 persons with stroke were assessed 3 weeks, 3 months and 6 months after discharge from an acute care hospital, rehabilitation unit or geriatric day hospital.

Episodic memory, concentrated attention and processing speed in aging: A comparative study of Brazilian age groups.

Unlabelled: Neuropsychological studies on the processing of some specific cognitive functions throughout aging are essential for the understanding of human cognitive development from ages 19 to 89.

Objectives: This study aimed to verify the occurrence of differences in the processing of episodic memory, concentrated attention and speed of attentional processing among four age groups of adults.

Methods: A total of 136 neurologically healthy adults, aged 19-89, with 9 or more years of schooling, took part in the study.

Executive functions in frontotemporal dementia and Lewy body dementia.

Diagnosis of different types of dementia is often based on clinical symptomatology rather than underlying pathology; therefore, accurate diagnosis depends on a thorough description of cognitive functioning in different dementias. Furthermore, direct comparison of cognitive functions between different types of dementia is necessary for differential diagnosis. Executive dysfunction is common in several types of dementia, including frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Lewy body dementia (LBD); however, FTD and LBD patients have never been directly compared on measures of executive functioning.

Partial measurement equivalence of French and English versions of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging neuropsychological battery.

Neuropsychological batteries are often translated for use across populations differing in preferred language. Yet, equivalence in construct measurement across groups cannot be assumed. To address this issue, we examined data from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging, a large study of older adults.

Introducing a communication assessment tool to Brazilian speech therapists: the MAC Battery.

Background: an assessment instrument to evaluate communication impairment after right brain damage: the Montreal Communication Evaluation Battery, an adapted brazilian version of the original canadian instrument--Protocole Montréal d'Evaluation de la Communication. Instruments that evaluate discursive, pragmatic, lexical-semantic and prosodic impairments are important for the diagnosis of communication disorders which are present in approximately 50% of the individuals with right brain damage. Systematic studies of the communication profile after lesions on this side of the brain have been carried out only during the last two decades.

Brazilian version of the Protocole Montréal d'Evaluation de la Communication (Protocole MEC): normative and reliability data.

The lack of standardized instruments to evaluate communication disorders related to the right hemisphere was verified. A new evaluation tool was developed: Protocole Montréal d'Evaluation de la Communication--Protocole MEC, adapted to Brazilian Portuguese--Bateria Montreal de Avaliação da Comunicação--Bateria MAC (Montreal Evaluation of Communication Battery). The purpose was to present stratified normative data by age and educational level, and to verify the reliability parameters of the MEC Battery.

Short-term changes in and predictors of participation of older adults after stroke following acute care or rehabilitation.

Background: Stroke can lead to restrictions in participation in daily activities and social roles. Although considered an important rehabilitation outcome, little is known about participation after stroke and its predictors, and about the differences associated with the types of services provided following stroke.

Objective: The aims of this study were 1) to follow and compare changes in participation of older adults discharged home after stroke from acute care or postacute rehabilitation, and 2) to identify the best predictors of participation after stroke from physical, cognitive, perceptual, and psychological ability measures taken shortly after discharge.

[Text comprehension, cognitive resources and aging].

Aging brings cognitive changes. Language is not immune to these changes. The use of compensation strategies may permit older adults to achieve a performance level identical to the one obtained by younger adults.

Applicability of a toolkit for geriatric rehabilitation outcomes.

Purpose: To field test the applicability of a multidimensional toolkit for geriatric rehabilitation outcomes which includes nine standardized tools. Applicability is defined as context- and population-specific pragmatic qualities of an assessment tool such as respondent and examiner burden, score distribution and format compatibility.

Method: A sample of 48 older adults representing four diagnostic groups, as well as 26 caregivers, were assessed at home in the first month after discharge from intensive rehabilitation (T1) and 2 months later (T2).

[Normal aging and cognition].

It is now well documented that normal aging modifies the cognitive functioning and most observations suggest that cognition evolves in the direction of deterioration. The more frequently impaired functions are memory, attention and visual-spatial abilities. On the other hand, some abilities seem to increase, such as vocabulary.

[Communication, discourse and dementia].

The construction-integration model (Kintsch, 1988) offers a frame for discourse analysis. This model defines four representation levels: the surface level or linguistic form, the base text or semantic level, the situation model built by combining information from the text and personal world knowledge, and the organization level. This study describes discourse produced by 46 Alzheimer patients and 53 normal elderly subjects in two picture-elicited production tasks: a single picture and a sequence of pictures.

Assembling a toolkit to measure geriatric rehabilitation outcomes.

Objective: To gather and assemble relevant patient-based outcome measures with emphasis placed on the older adults' level of functioning and activity performance.

Design: The study was conducted in two phases. First, a set of relevant measurement instruments was identified, and their was value analyzed according to general characteristics and metrologic criteria.

The heterogeneity of picture-supported narratives in Alzheimer's disease.

This study describes discourse patterns produced by 46 Alzheimer disease (AD) patients and 53 normal elderly subjects in two picture-supported narratives. Nine measures derived from a cognitive model of discourse processing were obtained and submitted to cluster analysis. Results indicate that discourse patterns elicited from both stimuli were heterogeneous.

Development of a conceptual framework for the assessment of geriatric rehabilitation outcomes.

The objective of the study was to develop a conceptual framework of key assessment areas for the evaluation of rehabilitation outcomes in older persons. The study was designed in four stages. First, a review of the literature generated a list of 84 potential outcome variables.

Language following functional left hemispherectomy in a bilingual teenager.

A detailed language assessment was conducted with MM, a 17-year-old bilingual teenager with Rasmussen syndrome who had undergone a left functional hemispherectomy. Results revealed important deficits in French and English, affecting expressive and receptive language in both the written and the oral modality. MM's linguistic profile was coherent with previous description of language function following left hemispherectomy, and what is known of the linguistic potential of the right hemisphere (RH).