TY - JOUR
T1 - Information content and efficiency in the spoken discourse of individuals with parkinson’s disease
AU - Roberts, Angela
AU - Post, Danielle
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by grants to the first author from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Canadian Institutes Health Research Fellowship Award, Canadian Institutes of Health Research Prize in Aging, CIHR 201202MFE-278501-181687) and Parkinson Society Canada (Graduate Student Award). The researchers gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Shalane Basque, Bracia Eaton, and Hannah Hinkle for their contributions in the transcription, coding, and reliability procedures. The researchers extend gratitude to Heather Harris Wright, who graciously provided access to the scoring and training materials for the main event portion of the protocol.
PY - 2018/9
Y1 - 2018/9
N2 - Purpose: This study compared the information content and information efficiency of spoken language in individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) to a healthy comparator group. Method: Nineteen participants with PD and 19 healthy older adults completed the prospective, cross-sectional study. In the primary analysis, 2 language samples elicited by standardized protocols were analyzed for group differences using standard discourse informativeness measures including main events (MEs; Wright, Capilouto, Wagovich, Cranfill, & Davis, 2005) analyzed as %MEs and correct information units (CIUs; Nicholas & Brookshire, 1993) analyzed as %CIUs and CIUs/min. In exploratory analyses, the following were examined: (a) associations among conceptual (%MEs) and lexical (%CIUs and CIUs/min) measures and (b) associations among informativeness measures and age, education, disease severity/duration, global cognition, speech intelligibility, and a verb confrontation naming measure. Results: In the primary analysis, the PD group differed significantly from the control group on conceptual (%MEs) and lexical measures of content (%CIUs) and efficiency (CIUs/min). In exploratory analyses, for the control group %MEs were significantly correlated with CIUs/min. Significant associations among conceptual and lexical measures of informativeness were not found in the PD group. For controls, there were no significant correlations between informativeness measures and any of the demographic or speech/cognitive/ language variables. In the PD group, there was a significant and positive association between CIUs/min and Dementia Rating Scale–Second Edition scores (Mattis, 2001). A significant but negative correlation was found between CIUs/min and motor severity scores. However, %MEs and verb naming were significantly and positively correlated. Conclusions: Individuals with PD without dementia demonstrated reduced discourse informativeness that reflects disruptions to both conceptual and lexical discourse processes. In exploratory analyses, reduced efficiency of information content was associated with global cognition and motor severity. Clinical and research implications are discussed within a Cognitivist framework of discourse production (Sheratt, 2007).
AB - Purpose: This study compared the information content and information efficiency of spoken language in individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) to a healthy comparator group. Method: Nineteen participants with PD and 19 healthy older adults completed the prospective, cross-sectional study. In the primary analysis, 2 language samples elicited by standardized protocols were analyzed for group differences using standard discourse informativeness measures including main events (MEs; Wright, Capilouto, Wagovich, Cranfill, & Davis, 2005) analyzed as %MEs and correct information units (CIUs; Nicholas & Brookshire, 1993) analyzed as %CIUs and CIUs/min. In exploratory analyses, the following were examined: (a) associations among conceptual (%MEs) and lexical (%CIUs and CIUs/min) measures and (b) associations among informativeness measures and age, education, disease severity/duration, global cognition, speech intelligibility, and a verb confrontation naming measure. Results: In the primary analysis, the PD group differed significantly from the control group on conceptual (%MEs) and lexical measures of content (%CIUs) and efficiency (CIUs/min). In exploratory analyses, for the control group %MEs were significantly correlated with CIUs/min. Significant associations among conceptual and lexical measures of informativeness were not found in the PD group. For controls, there were no significant correlations between informativeness measures and any of the demographic or speech/cognitive/ language variables. In the PD group, there was a significant and positive association between CIUs/min and Dementia Rating Scale–Second Edition scores (Mattis, 2001). A significant but negative correlation was found between CIUs/min and motor severity scores. However, %MEs and verb naming were significantly and positively correlated. Conclusions: Individuals with PD without dementia demonstrated reduced discourse informativeness that reflects disruptions to both conceptual and lexical discourse processes. In exploratory analyses, reduced efficiency of information content was associated with global cognition and motor severity. Clinical and research implications are discussed within a Cognitivist framework of discourse production (Sheratt, 2007).
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U2 - 10.1044/2018_JSLHR-L-17-0338
DO - 10.1044/2018_JSLHR-L-17-0338
M3 - Article
C2 - 30208482
AN - SCOPUS:85053679422
VL - 61
SP - 2259
EP - 2274
JO - Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
JF - Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
SN - 1092-4388
IS - 9
ER -