Category-specific semantic memory: converging evidence from bold fMRI and Alzheimer's disease

Semantic processing in older adults is associated with distributed neural activation which varies by association and abstractness of words

The extent to which the neural systems underlying semantic processes degrade with advanced age remains unresolved, which motivated the current study of neural activation on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during semantic judgments of associated vs. unassociated, semantic vs. rhyme, and abstract vs. rhyme word pairs. Thirty-eight older adults, 55-85 years of age, performed semantic association decision tasks in a mixed event-related block fMRI paradigm involving binary judgments as to whether word pairs were related (i.e., semantically associated). As hypothesized, significantly greater activation was evident during processing of associated (vs. unassociated) word pairs in cortical areas implicated in semantic processing, including the angular gyrus, temporal cortex, and inferior frontal cortex. Cortical areas showed greater activation to unassociated (vs. associated) word pairs, primarily within a large occipital cluster. Greater activation was evident in cortical areas when response to semantic vs. phonemic word pairs. Contrasting activation during abstract vs. concrete semantic processing revealed areas of co-activation to both semantic classes, and areas that had greater response to either abstract or concrete word pairs. Neural activation across conditions did not vary as a function of greater age, indicating only minimal age-associated perturbation in neural activation during semantic processing. Therefore, the response of the semantic hubs, semantic control, and secondary association areas appear to be largely preserved with advanced age among older adults exhibiting successful cognitive aging. These findings may provide a useful clinical contrast if compared to activation among adults experiencing cognitive decline due Alzheimer's, frontal-temporal dementia, and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Bayesian modelling disentangles language versus executive control disruption in stroke

Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability worldwide. Incurred brain damage can disrupt cognition, often with persisting deficits in language and executive capacities. Yet, despite their clinical relevance, the commonalities and differences between language versus executive control impairments remain under-specified. To fill this gap, we tailored a Bayesian hierarchical modelling solution in a largest-of-its-kind cohort (1080 patients with stroke) to deconvolve language and executive control with respect to the stroke topology. Cognitive function was assessed with a rich neuropsychological test battery including global cognitive function (tested with the Mini-Mental State Exam), language (assessed with a picture naming task), executive speech function (tested with verbal fluency tasks), executive control functions (Trail Making Test and Digit Symbol Coding Task), visuospatial functioning (Rey Complex Figure), as well as verbal learning and memory function (Soul Verbal Learning). Bayesian modelling predicted interindividual differences in eight cognitive outcome scores three months after stroke based on specific tissue lesion topologies. A multivariate factor analysis extracted four distinct cognitive factors that distinguish left- and right-hemispheric contributions to ischaemic tissue lesions. These factors were labelled according to the neuropsychological tests that had the strongest factor loadings: One factor delineated language and general cognitive performance and was mainly associated with damage to left-hemispheric brain regions in the frontal and temporal cortex. A factor for executive control summarized mental flexibility, task switching and visual-constructional abilities. This factor was strongly related to right-hemispheric brain damage of posterior regions in the occipital cortex. The interplay of language and executive control was reflected in two distinct factors that were labelled as executive speech functions and verbal memory. Impairments on both factors were mainly linked to left-hemispheric lesions. These findings shed light onto the causal implications of hemispheric specialization for cognition; and make steps towards subgroup-specific treatment protocols after stroke.

Bayesian modeling disentangles language versus executive control disruption in stroke

Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability worldwide. Incurred brain damage disrupts cognition, often with persisting deficits in language and executive capacities. Despite their clinical relevance, the commonalities, and differences of language versus executive control impairments remain under-specified. We tailored a Bayesian hierarchical modeling solution in a largest-of-its-kind cohort (1080 stroke patients) to deconvolve language and executive control in the brain substrates of stroke insults. Four cognitive factors distinguished left- and right-hemispheric contributions to ischemic tissue lesion. One factor delineated language and general cognitive performance and was mainly associated with damage to left-hemispheric brain regions in the frontal and temporal cortex. A factor for executive control summarized control and visual-constructional abilities. This factor was strongly related to right-hemispheric brain damage of posterior regions in the occipital cortex. The interplay of language and executive control was reflected in two factors: executive speech functions and verbal memory. Impairments on both were mainly linked to left-hemispheric lesions. These findings shed light onto the causal implications of hemispheric specialization for cognition; and make steps towards subgroup-specific treatment protocols after stroke.

Bigram semantic distance as an index of continuous semantic flow in natural language: Theory, tools, and applications

Much of our understanding of word meaning has been informed through studies of single words. High-dimensional semantic space models have recently proven instrumental in elucidating connections between words. Here we show how bigram semantic distance can yield novel insights into conceptual cohesion and topic flow when computed over continuous language samples. For example, "Cats drink milk" is comprised of an ordered vector of bigrams (cat-drink, drink-milk). Each of these bigrams has a unique semantic distance. These distances in turn may provide a metric of dispersion or the flow of concepts as language unfolds. We offer an R-package ("semdistflow") that transforms any user-specified language transcript into a vector of ordered bigrams, appending two metrics of semantic distance to each pair. We validated these distance metrics on a continuous stream of simulated verbal fluency data assigning predicted switch markers between alternating semantic clusters (animals, musical instruments, fruit). We then generated bigram distance norms on a large sample of text and demonstrated applications of the technique to a classic work of short fiction, To Build a Fire (London, 1908). In one application, we showed that bigrams spanning sentence boundaries are punctuated by jumps in the semantic distance. We discuss the promise of this technique for characterizing semantic processing in real-world narratives and for bridging findings at the single word level with macroscale discourse analyses. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Current Understanding of Verbal Fluency in Alzheimer's Disease: Evidence to Date

Since their development, verbal fluency tests (VFTs) have been used extensively throughout research and in clinical settings to assess a variety of cognitive functions in diverse populations. In Alzheimer's disease (AD), these tasks have proven particularly valuable in identifying the earliest forms of cognitive decline in semantic processing and have been shown to relate specifically to brain regions associated with the initial stages of pathological change. In recent years, researchers have developed more nuanced techniques to evaluate verbal fluency performance, extracting a wide range of cognitive metrics from these simple neuropsychological tests. Such novel techniques allow for a more detailed exploration of the cognitive processes underlying successful task performance beyond the raw test score. The versatility of VFTs and the richness of data they may provide, in light of their low cost and speed of administration, therefore, highlight their potential value both in future research as outcome measures for clinical trials and in a clinical setting as a screening measure for early detection of neurodegenerative diseases.

Neural correlates of association strength and categorical relatedness in youths with autism spectrum disorder

Impaired language and communication are commonly observed in youths with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). However, the organization of semantic knowledge in youths with ASD remains unclear compared to typically developing (TD) youths. The present study addresses this issue by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the distinction between association strength and categorical relatedness of semantic knowledge. A sample of 31 male youths with ASD (mean age = 12.1 years, SD = 1.2) and 38 TD youths (mean age = 11.9 years, SD = 1.0) was recruited with matched age, gender, and handedness. Participants decided if two visually presented Chinese characters were semantically related during fMRI scanning. For weaker association strength, the ASD group showed greater left cuneus activation, which was positively correlated with the picture completion for visual perception, whereas the TD group showed greater middle temporal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus activation. For higher categorical relatedness, the TD group showed greater activation than the ASD group in the occipitotemporal cortex and left precuneus, which was positively correlated with the similarities for concept formulation. Findings imply that the ASD group may use lower-level visual information for both association strength and categorical relatedness. The TD group showed higher-level controlled processes of more elaborate semantic representations for association strength and more elaborate features of categorical knowledge for semantic selection and integration. Autism Res 2019, 12: 1484-1494. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often present language/communication impairments. Exploring the difference of semantic processing between youths with ASD and typically developing (TD) youths is crucial for understanding the organization of semantic knowledge. We found different neural substrates of semantic knowledge between these two groups. ASD youths may rely more on lower-level visual information during semantic judgments, whereas TD youths showed higher-level controlled processes of more elaborate semantic representations for selection and integration of words, phrases, and sentences.

Spatial source phase: A new feature for identifying spatial differences based on complex-valued resting-state fMRI data

Spatial source phase, the phase information of spatial maps extracted from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data by data-driven methods such as independent component analysis (ICA), has rarely been studied. While the observed phase has been shown to convey unique brain information, the role of spatial source phase in representing the intrinsic activity of the brain is yet not clear. This study explores the spatial source phase for identifying spatial differences between patients with schizophrenia (SZs) and healthy controls (HCs) using complex-valued resting-state fMRI data from 82 individuals. ICA is first applied to preprocess fMRI data, and post-ICA phase de-ambiguity and denoising are then performed. The ability of spatial source phase to characterize spatial differences is examined by the homogeneity of variance test (voxel-wise F-test) with false discovery rate correction. Resampling techniques are performed to ensure that the observations are significant and reliable. We focus on two components of interest widely used in analyzing SZs, including the default mode network (DMN) and auditory cortex. Results show that the spatial source phase exhibits more significant variance changes and higher sensitivity to the spatial differences between SZs and HCs in the anterior areas of DMN and the left auditory cortex, compared to the magnitude of spatial activations. Our findings show that the spatial source phase can potentially serve as a new brain imaging biomarker and provide a novel perspective on differences in SZs compared to HCs, consistent with but extending previous work showing increased variability in patient data.

Developmental changes of association strength and categorical relatedness on semantic processing in the brain

Semantic knowledge has thematic relations of contiguity based on association and taxonomic relations of similarity based on shared features to form categories. It is unknown if there are distinct brain networks between thematic and taxonomic organizations in children and if this distinction is related to changes in specialized brain regions with age and/or skill. We orthogonally manipulated association strength (strong, weak) and categorical relatedness (high, low) to examine 10- to 14-year-old children over a two-year interval. Moreover, we examined whether initial behavioral performance predicted brain activation changes. Weak versus strong association strength produced greater activation over time in left middle temporal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus, and initial accuracy predicted activation changes in the latter. Moreover, high versus low categorical relatedness produced greater activation over time in left occipito-temporal cortex and precuneus, and initial accuracy predicted activation changes in the latter. These developmental findings suggest different organization for thematic and taxonomic relations.

A unified model of human semantic knowledge and its disorders

How is knowledge about the meanings of words and objects represented in the human brain? Current theories embrace two radically different proposals: either distinct cortical systems have evolved to represent different kinds of things, or knowledge for all kinds is encoded within a single domain-general network. Neither view explains the full scope of relevant evidence from neuroimaging and neuropsychology. Here we propose that graded category-specificity emerges in some components of the semantic network through joint effects of learning and network connectivity. We test the proposal by measuring connectivity amongst cortical regions implicated in semantic representation, then simulating healthy and disordered semantic processing in a deep neural network whose architecture mirrors this structure. The resulting neuro-computational model explains the full complement of neuroimaging and patient evidence adduced in support of both domain-specific and domain-general approaches, reconciling long-standing disputes about the nature and origins of this uniquely human cognitive faculty.

The Mental Status Examination in Patients With Suspected Dementia

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This article describes a comprehensive approach to the mental status examination and diagnostic workup of patients suspected of having an emerging neurodegenerative dementia. Key strategies for obtaining a history and bedside examination techniques are highlighted.

RECENT FINDINGS

Classic descriptions of behavioral neurology syndromes were largely based on clinicopathologic correlations of strategic lesions in stroke patients. While still very important, advances in neuroimaging have expanded our armamentarium of cognitive evaluations to include assessments of findings in nonstroke anatomic distributions of disease. These efforts support comprehensive assessments of large-scale cerebral networks in cognitive neurology.

SUMMARY

A thorough and focused mental status examination is essential for the evaluation of patients with cognitive symptoms. Selective use of laboratory testing and neuroimaging can aid in the diagnosis of dementia by excluding non-neurodegenerative etiologies. Neurodegenerative disease-specific tests are in development and will enhance diagnosis and efforts for disease-modifying therapy development.

Category learning in Alzheimer's disease and normal cognitive aging depends on initial experience of feature variability

Semantic category learning is dependent upon several factors, including the nature of the learning task, as well as individual differences in the quality and heterogeneity of exemplars that an individual encounters during learning. We trained healthy older adults (n=39) and individuals with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease or Mild Cognitive Impairment (n=44) to recognize instances of a fictitious animal, a "crutter". Each stimulus item contained 10 visual features (e.g., color, tail shape) which took one of two values for each feature (e.g., yellow/red, curly/straight tails). Participants were presented with a series of items (learning phase) and were either told the items belonged to a semantic category (explicit condition) or were told to think about the appearance of the items (implicit condition). Half of participants saw learning items with higher similarity to an unseen prototype (high typicality learning set), and thus lower between-item variability in their constituent features; the other half learned from items with lower typicality (low typicality learning set) and higher between-item feature variability. After the learning phase, participants were presented with test items one at a time that varied in the number of typical features from 0 (antitype) to 10 (prototype). We examined between-subjects factors of learning set (lower or higher typicality), instruction type (explicit or implicit), and group (patients vs. elderly control). Learning in controls was aided by higher learning set typicality: while controls in both learning set groups demonstrated significant learning, those exposed to a high-typicality learning set appeared to develop a prototype that helped guide their category membership judgments. Overall, patients demonstrated more difficulty with category learning than elderly controls. Patients exposed to the higher-typicality learning set were sensitive to the typical features of the category and discriminated between the most and least typical test items, although less reliably than controls. In contrast, patients exposed to the low-typicality learning set showed no evidence of learning. Analysis of structural imaging data indicated a positive association between left hippocampal grey matter density in elderly controls but a negative association in the patient group, suggesting differential reliance on hippocampal-mediated learning. Contrary to hypotheses, learning did not differ between explicit and implicit conditions for either group. Results demonstrate that category learning is improved when learning materials are highly similar to the prototype.

How concepts are encoded in the human brain: A modality independent, category-based cortical organization of semantic knowledge

How conceptual knowledge is represented in the human brain remains to be determined. To address the differential role of low-level sensory-based and high-level abstract features in semantic processing, we combined behavioral studies of linguistic production and brain activity measures by functional magnetic resonance imaging in sighted and congenitally blind individuals while they performed a property-generation task with concrete nouns from eight categories, presented through visual and/or auditory modalities. Patterns of neural activity within a large semantic cortical network that comprised parahippocampal, lateral occipital, temporo-parieto-occipital and inferior parietal cortices correlated with linguistic production and were independent both from the modality of stimulus presentation (either visual or auditory) and the (lack of) visual experience. In contrast, selected modality-dependent differences were observed only when the analysis was limited to the individual regions within the semantic cortical network. We conclude that conceptual knowledge in the human brain relies on a distributed, modality-independent cortical representation that integrates the partial category and modality specific information retained at a regional level.

Impaired cognitive flexibility in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Up to half of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) may have cognitive difficulty, but most cognitive measures are confounded by a motor component. Studies relating impaired cognition in ALS to disease in gray matter and white matter are rare. Our objective was to assess executive function in patients with ALS using a simple, untimed measure with minimal motor demands, and to relate performance to structural disease.

METHODS

We gave the Visual-Verbal Test to 56 patients with ALS and 29 matched healthy controls. This brief, untimed measure of cognitive flexibility first assesses participants' ability to identify a feature shared by 3 of 4 simple geometric designs. The participants' cognitive flexibility is challenged when they are next asked to identify a different feature shared by another combination of 3 of the same 4 geometric designs. In a subset of 17 patients who underwent magnetic resonance imaging, regression analyses related test performance to gray matter atrophy and reduced white matter fractional anisotropy.

RESULTS

The patients with ALS showed significant impairment in cognitive flexibility (P<0.01), with 48.2% making an error on the test. Regression analyses related impaired cognitive flexibility to gray matter atrophy in inferior frontal and insular regions, and to reduced fractional anisotropy in white matter projections in the inferior fronto-occipital and uncinate fasciculi and corpus callosum.

CONCLUSIONS

Our patients with ALS had impaired cognitive flexibility on an untimed measure with minimal motor demands, a finding related in part to a large-scale frontal network that is degraded in ALS.

Scene categorization in Alzheimer's disease: a saccadic choice task

AIMS

We investigated the performance in scene categorization of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) using a saccadic choice task.

METHOD

24 patients with mild AD, 28 age-matched controls and 26 young people participated in the study. The participants were presented pairs of coloured photographs and were asked to make a saccadic eye movement to the picture corresponding to the target scene (natural vs. urban, indoor vs. outdoor).

RESULTS

The patients' performance did not differ from chance for natural scenes. Differences between young and older controls and patients with AD were found in accuracy but not saccadic latency.

CONCLUSIONS

The results are interpreted in terms of cerebral reorganization in the prefrontal and temporo-occipital cortex of patients with AD, but also in terms of impaired processing of visual global properties of scenes.

Frontotemporal neural systems supporting semantic processing in Alzheimer's disease

We hypothesized that semantic memory for object concepts involves both representations of visual feature knowledge in modality-specific association cortex and heteromodal regions that are important for integrating and organizing this semantic knowledge so that it can be used in a flexible, contextually appropriate manner. We examined this hypothesis in an fMRI study of mild Alzheimer's disease (AD). Participants were presented with pairs of printed words and asked whether the words matched on a given visual-perceptual feature (e.g., guitar, violin: SHAPE). The stimuli probed natural kinds and manufactured objects, and the judgments involved shape or color. We found activation of bilateral ventral temporal cortex and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during semantic judgments, with AD patients showing less activation of these regions than healthy seniors. Moreover, AD patients showed less ventral temporal activation than did healthy seniors for manufactured objects, but not for natural kinds. We also used diffusion-weighted MRI of white matter to examine fractional anisotropy (FA). Patients with AD showed significantly reduced FA in the superior longitudinal fasciculus and inferior frontal-occipital fasciculus, which carry projections linking temporal and frontal regions of this semantic network. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that semantic memory is supported in part by a large-scale neural network involving modality-specific association cortex, heteromodal association cortex, and projections between these regions. The semantic deficit in AD thus arises from gray matter disease that affects the representation of feature knowledge and processing its content, as well as white matter disease that interrupts the integrated functioning of this large-scale network.

Neural substrates of similarity and rule-based strategies in judgment

Making accurate judgments is a core human competence and a prerequisite for success in many areas of life. Plenty of evidence exists that people can employ different judgment strategies to solve identical judgment problems. In categorization, it has been demonstrated that similarity-based and rule-based strategies are associated with activity in different brain regions. Building on this research, the present work tests whether solving two identical judgment problems recruits different neural substrates depending on people's judgment strategies. Combining cognitive modeling of judgment strategies at the behavioral level with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we compare brain activity when using two archetypal judgment strategies: a similarity-based exemplar strategy and a rule-based heuristic strategy. Using an exemplar-based strategy should recruit areas involved in long-term memory processes to a larger extent than a heuristic strategy. In contrast, using a heuristic strategy should recruit areas involved in the application of rules to a larger extent than an exemplar-based strategy. Largely consistent with our hypotheses, we found that using an exemplar-based strategy led to relatively higher BOLD activity in the anterior prefrontal and inferior parietal cortex, presumably related to retrieval and selective attention processes. In contrast, using a heuristic strategy led to relatively higher activity in areas in the dorsolateral prefrontal and the temporal-parietal cortex associated with cognitive control and information integration. Thus, even when people solve identical judgment problems, different neural substrates can be recruited depending on the judgment strategy involved.

ALS-Plus syndrome: non-pyramidal features in a large ALS cohort

OBJECTIVE

Autopsy studies show widespread pathology in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but clinical surveys of multisystem disease in ALS are rare. We investigated ALS-Plus syndrome, an understudied group of patients with clinical features extending beyond pyramidal and neuromuscular systems with or without cognitive/behavioral deficits.

METHODS

In a large, consecutively-ascertained cohort of 550 patients with ALS, we documented atypical clinical manifestations. Genetic screening for C9orf72 hexanucleotide expansions was performed in 343 patients, and SOD1, TARDBP, and VCP were tested in the subgroup of patients with a family history of ALS. Gray matter and white matter imaging was available in a subgroup of 30 patients.

RESULTS

Seventy-five (13.6%) patients were identified with ALS-Plus syndrome. We found disorders of ocular motility, cerebellar, extrapyramidal and autonomic functioning. Relative to those without ALS-Plus, cognitive impairment (8.0% vs 2.9%, p=0.029), bulbar-onset (49.3% vs 23.2%, p<0.001), and pathogenic mutations (20.0% vs 8.4%, p=0.015) were more than twice as common in ALS-Plus. Survival was significantly shorter in ALS-Plus (29.66 months vs 42.50 months, p=0.02), regardless of bulbar-onset or mutation status. Imaging revealed significantly greater cerebellar and cerebral disease in ALS-Plus compared to those without ALS-Plus.

CONCLUSIONS

ALS-Plus syndrome is not uncommon, and the presence of these atypical features is consistent with neuropathological observations that ALS is a multisystem disorder. ALS-Plus syndrome is associated with increased risk for poor survival and the presence of a pathogenic mutation.

Myelin oligodendrocyte basic protein and prognosis in behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia

OBJECTIVE

To determine the prognostic utility of tauopathy-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in sporadic behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD).

METHODS

Eighty-one patients with sporadic bvFTD were genotyped for tauopathy-associated SNPs at rs8070723 (microtubule-associated protein tau [MAPT]) and rs1768208 (myelin-associated oligodendrocyte basic protein [MOBP]). We performed a retrospective case-control study comparing age at onset and disease duration between carriers of ≥1 polymorphism allele and noncarriers for these SNPs. Subanalyses were performed for autopsied subgroups with tauopathy (n = 20) and TDP-43 proteinopathy (n = 12). To identify a potential biological basis for disease duration, neuroimaging measures of white matter integrity were evaluated (n = 37).

RESULTS

Carriers of risk allele (T) in rs1768208 (i.e., MOBP RA+) had a shorter median disease duration (TC/TT = 5.5 years, CC = 9.5 years; p = 0.02). This was also found in the subset of cases with autopsy-confirmed tauopathies (p = 0.04) but not with TDP-43 proteinopathies (p > 0.1). By comparison, polymorphisms at rs8070723 (MAPT) had no effect on disease duration (p > 0.1), although carriers of protective allele (G) in rs8070723 had a younger median age at onset (AG/GG = 54.5 years, AA = 58 years; p < 0.01). MOBP RA+ patients had increased radial diffusivity in the superior corona radiata and midbrain, and reduced fractional anisotropy in the superior corona radiata as well as superior and inferior longitudinal fasciculi compared with noncarriers (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

The rs1768208 risk polymorphism in MOBP may have prognostic value in bvFTD. MOBP RA+ patients have more severe white matter degeneration in bvFTD that may contribute to shorter disease duration. Future studies are needed to help confirm these findings.

Action verb comprehension in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson's disease

Patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have a motor disorder and cognitive difficulties, including difficulty with action verbs. However, the basis for the action verb impairment is unknown. Thirty-six participants with ALS and 22 with Parkinson's disease (PD) were assessed on a simple, two-alternative forced-choice associativity judgment task, where performance was untimed and did not depend on motor functioning. We probed 120 frequency-matched action verbs, cognition verbs, concrete nouns and abstract nouns. Performance was related to T1 MRI imaging of gray matter atrophy. Patients with ALS were significantly impaired relative to healthy senior control participants only for action verbs. Patients with PD did not differ from controls for all word categories. Regression analyses related action verb performance in ALS to motor-associated cortices, but action verb judgments in PD were not related to cortical atrophy. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that action verb difficulty in ALS is related in part to the degradation of action-related conceptual knowledge represented in motor-associated cortex.

Age-related vulnerability in the neural systems supporting semantic processing

Our ability to form abstract representations of objects in semantic memory is crucial to language and thought. The utility of this information relies both on the representations of sensory-motor feature knowledge stored in long-term memory and the executive processes required to retrieve, manipulate, and evaluate this semantic knowledge in a task-relevant manner. These complementary components of semantic memory can be differentially impacted by aging. We investigated semantic processing in normal aging using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Young and older adults were asked to judge whether two printed object names match on a particular feature (for example, whether a tomato and strawberry have the same color). The task thus required both retrieval of relevant visual feature knowledge of object concepts and evaluating this information. Objects were drawn from either natural kinds or manufactured objects, and were queried on either color or shape in a factorial design. Behaviorally, all subjects performed well, but older adults could be divided into those whose performance matched that of young adults (better performers) and those whose performance was worse (poorer performers). All subjects activated several cortical regions while performing this task, including bilateral inferior and lateral temporal cortex and left frontal and prefrontal cortex. Better performing older adults showed increased overall activity in bilateral premotor cortex and left lateral occipital cortex compared to young adults, and increased activity in these brain regions relative to poorer performing older adults who also showed gray matter atrophy in premotor cortex. These findings highlight the contribution of domain-general executive processing brain regions to semantic memory, and illustrate differences in how these regions are recruited in healthy older adults.

Comparative semantic profiles in semantic dementia and Alzheimer's disease

Patients with the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia, also known as semantic dementia, and Alzheimer's disease have deficits in semantic memory. However, few comparative studies have been performed to determine whether these patient groups have distinct semantic memory impairments. We asked 15 patients with semantic variant primary progressive aphasia and 57 patients with Alzheimer's disease to judge semantic category membership of coloured photos and printed words that are members of familiar natural and manufactured categories, and we related performance to grey matter atrophy. We found that both semantic variant primary progressive aphasia and Alzheimer's disease are significantly impaired on this task. Moreover, patients with semantic variant primary progressive aphasia had a significantly more prominent deficit for natural objects than their own deficit judging manufactured objects. Both semantic variant primary progressive aphasia and Alzheimer's disease had atrophy that included portions of the left temporal lobe. Regression analyses related performance in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia to ventral and medial portions of the left temporal lobe, while regression analyses in Alzheimer's disease related performance to these ventral and medial temporal areas as well as lateral temporal-parietal regions in the left hemisphere. We conclude that both semantic variant primary progressive aphasia and Alzheimer's disease are significantly impaired in a simple category membership judgement task and the selective impairment for natural kinds in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia is related in part to disease in visual association cortex in ventral-medial portions of the left temporal lobe. We discuss factors that may contribute to the semantic memory deficit in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia.