Kimberly D. Mueller|Rebecca L. Koscik|Bruce P. Hermann|Sterling C. Johnson|Lyn S. Turkstra
Declines in Connected Language Are Associated with Very Early Mild Cognitive Impairment: Results from the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention
University of Wisconsin–Madison|University of Wisconsin–Madison|University of Wisconsin–Madison|University of Wisconsin–Madison|William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital|Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center|University of Wisconsin–Madison
changes everyday spoken language connected language evident persons ad dementia yet little known changes first detectable continuum cognitive decline aim study determine participants early subclinical memory declines also showing declines connected language analyzed connected language samples obtained simple picture description task two time points 264 participants wisconsin registry alzheimers prevention wrap parallel participants classified either cognitively healthy early mild cognitive impairment based longitudinal neuropsychological test performance linear mixed effects models used analyze language parameters extracted connected language samples using automated feature extraction participants emci status declined faster features speech fluency semantic content cognitively stable measures lexical diversity grammatical complexity associated emci status group findings provide novel insights relationship cognitive decline everyday language using quick inexpensive performancebased method