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Scientists Identify A Speech Trait That Foreshadows Cognitive Decline
Can you pass me the whatchamacallit? It's right over there next to the thingamajig.
Many of us will experience "lethologica", or difficulty finding words, in everyday life. And it usually becomes more prominent with age.
Frequent difficulty finding the right word can signal changes in the brain consistent with the early ("preclinical") stages of Alzheimer's disease – before more obvious symptoms emerge.
However, a recent study from the University of Toronto suggests that it's the speed of speech, rather than the difficulty in finding words that is a more accurate indicator of brain health in older adults.
The researchers asked 125 healthy adults, aged 18 to 90, to describe a scene in detail. Recordings of these descriptions were subsequently analysed by artificial intelligence (AI) software to extract features such as speed of talking, duration of pauses between words, and the variety of words used.
Participants also completed a standard set of tests that measure concentration, thinking speed, and the ability to plan and carry out tasks. Age-related decline in these "executive" abilities was closely linked to the pace of a person's everyday speech, suggesting a broader decline than just difficulty in finding the right word.
A novel aspect of this study was the use of a "picture-word interference task", a clever task designed to separate the two steps of naming an object: finding the right word and instructing the mouth on how to say it out loud.
During this task, participants were shown pictures of everyday objects (such as a broom) while being played an audio clip of a word that is either related in meaning (such as "mop" – which makes it harder to think of the picture's name) or which sounds similar (such as "groom" – which can make it easier).
Interestingly, the study found that the natural speech speed of older adults was related to their quickness in naming pictures. This highlights that a general slowdown in processing might underlie broader cognitive and linguistic changes with age, rather than a specific challenge in memory retrieval for words.
Alzheimer's explained. How to make the findings more powerfulWhile the findings from this study are interesting, finding words in response to picture-based cues may not reflect the complexity of vocabulary in unconstrained everyday conversation.
Verbal fluency tasks, which require participants to generate as many words as possible from a given category (for example, animals or fruits) or starting with a specific letter within a time limit, may be used with picture-naming to better capture the "tip-of-the-tongue" phenomenon.
The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon refers to the temporary inability to retrieve a word from memory, despite partial recall and the feeling that the word is known.
These tasks are considered a better test of everyday conversations than the picture-word interference task because they involve the active retrieval and production of words from one's vocabulary, similar to the processes involved in natural speech.
While verbal fluency performance does not significantly decline with normal ageing (as shown in a 2022 study), poor performance on these tasks can indicate neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.
The tests are useful because they account for the typical changes in word retrieval ability as people get older, allowing doctors to identify impairments beyond what is expected from normal ageing and potentially detect neurodegenerative conditions.
The verbal fluency test engages various brain regions involved in language, memory, and executive functioning, and hence can offer insights into which regions of the brain are affected by cognitive decline.
The authors of the University of Toronto study could have investigated participants' subjective experiences of word-finding difficulties alongside objective measures like speech pauses. This would provide a more comprehensive understanding of the cognitive processes involved.
Personal reports of the "feeling" of struggling to retrieve words could offer valuable insights complementing the behavioural data, potentially leading to more powerful tools for quantifying and detecting early cognitive decline.
Opening doorsNevertheless, this study has opened exciting doors for future research, showing that it's not just what we say but how fast we say it that can reveal cognitive changes.
By harnessing natural language processing technologies (a type of AI), which use computational techniques to analyse and understand human language data, this work advances previous studies that noticed subtle changes in the spoken and written language of public figures like Ronald Reagan and Iris Murdoch in the years before their dementia diagnoses.
While those opportunistic reports were based on looking back after a dementia diagnosis, this study provides a more systematic, data-driven and forward-looking approach.
Using rapid advancements in natural language processing will allow for automatic, detection of language changes, such as slowed speech rate.
This study underscores the potential of speech rate changes as a significant yet subtle marker of cognitive health that could aid in identifying people at risk before more severe symptoms become apparent.
Claire Lancaster, Lecturer, Dementia, University of Sussex and Alice Stanton, PhD Candidate, Dementia, University of Sussex
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
An earlier version of this article was published in March 2024.
Piaget's Stages Of Cognitive Development
Piaget's stages of development describe how children learn as they grow up. There are four distinct stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.
Jean Piaget was a renowned psychologist and cognitive theorist in the 20th century who focused on child development. His theories came from observing children and recording their development.
He brought attention to the idea that children are not just small adults. He believed that children act as "little scientists," exploring their environment to gain understanding. He thought that children do this naturally, without any adult intervention.
Piaget also put forth the idea of distinct developmental stages through which children learn language, memory, and reasoning. Each stage has different milestones and skills.
This article explains Piaget's four stages of cognitive development, key concepts, and how people can use them to help children learn and develop.
Babies from birth to 2 years of age use their senses and bodily movements to understand the world around them.
A newborn's first method of communication is through basic reflex actions such as sucking, flailing their arms, or shaking their head. They use their five senses of sight, touch, smell, taste, and hearing to explore their surroundings and their body.
Infants gather information about these experiences, learning how different things make them feel. They also learn to tell the difference between people, objects, textures, and sights.
During this stage, children also start to understand the concept of cause and effect. They begin to remember that certain actions will have a specific outcome and use this to plan their actions in advance.
At around 6 months, they will begin to understand object permanence. This means the child knows that objects continue to exist even if they can no longer see, hear, or feel them.
When a child has object permanence, it means they can now form a mental image, or representation, of an object instead of only reacting to experiences in their immediate environment.
ExamplesCertain behaviors can indicate that a child has developed some of the key skills from this stage. For example, a child who understands cause and effect may intentionally shake a rattle to make a noise or cry in order to gain attention.
A child who understands object permanence will:
During this stage, children build on object permanence and continue to develop abstract mental processes. This means they can think about things beyond the physical world, such as things that happened in the past.
They also imagine and think symbolically, and they begin to display this ability through their language and behavior.
The five key behaviors children display during this period are:
The primary function of speech at this age is to externalize thinking, rather than for communication. Children may talk in a stream of consciousness and develop more sophisticated language skills as they move through this stage.
Piaget believed that children remain egocentric throughout the preoperational stage. This means they cannot understand that other people think in different ways to them or that events that take place are not always related to them.
ExamplesSome examples a child is at the preoperational stage include:
Piaget theorized that at this stage, children further develop and master abstract thought and become less egocentric. They can now understand that events do not always relate to them and that others have different points of view.
Children also become able to apply logical, concrete rules to physical objects. However, they cannot yet do the same thing for abstract concepts.
The concrete operational phase centers around three elements:
Some signs a child has learned the skills from this stage include:
In this final stage of cognitive development, children learn more sophisticated rules of logic. They then use these rules to understand how abstract concepts work and to solve problems.
The child can analyze their environment and make deductions. They can create theories about what is possible and what might happen in the future, based on their existing knowledge.
This is known as hypothetical-deductive reasoning. It is an essential part of the formal operational stage. It allows someone to consider "What if?" A person with this skill can imagine multiple solutions and potential outcomes in a given situation.
ExamplesA child at the formal operational stage can think of numerous ways of solving a single problem, then choose the best option based on how logical or successful it is likely to be.
For example, if a child has to create a model of the solar system using materials they have at home, there are a number of ways they could use them. Thinking of several possibilities and then using the one that is the most logical or effective shows they have hypothetical-deductive reasoning skills.
Children at this stage can also examine and evaluate their own thoughts and actions. For example, if they argue with a friend, they can consider how their opinions or behavior might have contributed. They can then decide how to approach the situation.
The following sections explain several important aspects of cognitive development that Piaget proposes in his theory.
SchemaPiaget included the idea of a schema into his theory of cognitive development.
A schema is a category of knowledge, or mental template, that a person develops to understand the world. It is a product of experience.
For example, a child can develop a schema of a dog. Initially, the word "dog" only refers to the first dog they meet. However, over time, the word comes to represent and include all dogs. When a child puts this schema together, they may call every similar animal a dog before they master the category.
Schemas constantly grow and adapt as children gain new experiences, giving them the structure to acquire knowledge. Piaget suggested this occurs in two ways: assimilation and accommodation.
Assimilation and accommodationAssimilation means a child uses a preexisting schema to understand a new situation. For example, if they meet a new breed of dog, they may include it in their schema for "dog," even if it looks different to dogs they have previously encountered.
Accommodation means a child adapts a pre-existing schema to fit a new experience or object. For example, if a child encounters a cat, they may add it to their schema for "dog" until someone explains that dogs and cats are different. They will then adapt their schema to this new information.
EquilibrationAccording to the theory, equilibration is what motivates children to continue through the stages of cognitive development.
When a child assimilates new knowledge, their worldview is inaccurate, so they are in a state of disequilibrium. This state motivates the child to accommodate new information and reach a state of equilibrium.
Piaget made many significant contributions to theories about child development, and many are still influential today. However, others have criticisms of his ideas.
Firstly, the way Piaget conducted his research would not meet the standard of research academics adhere to today. He tended to observe and interview small numbers of children in natural settings, rather than in study conditions. This meant that it was possible for the small sample size or the environment to create bias.
Additionally, he carried out his research in Western Europe and did not take into account the impact that different social and cultural practices might have on child development.
While some academics agree that there are developmental stages, they may not be as distinct or concrete as in Piaget's theory.
Research has demonstrated that some skills develop earlier than he believed. For example, a 2023 article notes that egocentrism appears to resolve much earlier than Piaget believed, at 4 to 5 years of age rather than 7 to 11.
Piaget's theory centers on the concept that children need to explore, interact, and experiment to gain information and understand their world. Based on this idea, educators and caregivers can help children learn by allowing them to:
In later stages, word puzzles, problem-solving tasks, and logic puzzles help a child's cognitive development.
If a child is not exhibiting the behaviors or skills set out in Piaget's theory at the exact ages he predicts, it is not necessarily cause for concern. However, parents and caregivers should speak with a pediatrician if they have any worries.
Piaget's stages of development is a theory that children go through distinct stages from birth to adulthood, with each stage bringing new skills and milestones as they develop their knowledge of the world.
Piaget believed that children develop through a continuous drive to learn and adapt schemas, which are mental templates that help them understand things. His ideas still have a considerable impact on child psychology and approaches to education.
However, there are criticisms of Piaget's theory, such as that the skills and milestones he outlined may happen at different ages than he suggested.
19th International Criticism Conference Opens At Yarmouk University
AMMAN — The 19th International Criticism Conference titled "Contemporary Literary, Critical and Linguistic Studies in Light of Cognitive and Perceptual Transformations" kicked off on Tuesday at Yarmouk University.
During the inauguration, Vice President for Academic Affairs Mousa Rababah underscored the university's commitment to the continuity and sustainability of the conference.
He also highlighted its achievements, which align with the university's dedication to advancing human knowledge and fostering leadership and innovation.
Rababah noted that the conference activities, organised by the Faculty of Arts, reflect the university's vision for excellence, which is evident in the university's recent rankings.
He also praised the efforts of the pioneering professors in the Arabic Language Department who established this conference.
Dean of the Faculty of Arts Mohammad Anagreh said that the conference began in 1987 and has since become a biennial event that brings together Arabic critics and scholars to engage in research, discussion, and dialogue on critical and literary issues pertinent to Arabic language scholars, researchers and students.
Head of the Arabic Language and Literature Department and Chairman of the Conference's Preparatory Committee Bassam Quttous affirmed that the conference has made significant contributions on the Arab, regional and international levels and that it has successfully bridged Western critical theories to the Arab reader both theoretically and practically.
He emphasised that the conference provides a broad platform for exploring contemporary literary, critical and linguistic studies, adding that it addresses challenges in the research field, urging researchers to develop their tools and renew their knowledge.
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