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Writing difficulties in Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment

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Abstract

The present study addresses the scope of the writing difficulties observed in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Patients with AD, patients with MCI and healthy controls performed a written picture-naming task and a direct copy transcoding task in which phonology-to-orthography (P–O) consistency was manipulated. Written latencies, inter-letter durations, mean word pen pressure and number of errors were measured. Results revealed that there was a significant difference between the control group and both groups of patients in written latencies and number of errors. However, in inter-letter interval or mean pen pressure there were significant differences only between the group with AD and the other groups. P–O consistency and the type of task produced similar effects in the three groups of participants, suggesting a general deficit affecting the ability to access/generate orthographic representations. The relevance of these results for understanding the spelling impairment in AD and MCI are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by Grant PSI2015-64174P and Grant PSI2013-47959-P from the Spanish Government. Olivia Afonso was the recipient of a research Grant AP2007-00065 from the “Canarian Foundation Doctor Manuel Morales”. The authors would like to thank Margaret Gillon Dowens for her helpful comments on earlier drafts. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Olivia Afonso, Department of Psychology, Health and Professional Development, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, OX3 0BP.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK

    Olivia Afonso

  2. Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain

    Carlos J. Álvarez

  3. Hospital de Cabueñes, Gijón, Spain

    Carmen Martínez

  4. Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain

    Fernando Cuetos

Authors
  1. Olivia Afonso
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  2. Carlos J. Álvarez
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  3. Carmen Martínez
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  4. Fernando Cuetos
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Olivia Afonso.

Appendix

Appendix

Experimental stimuli used in the written picture-naming task and in the direct copy transcoding task.

Words

WF

NL

NS

BF

N

AoA

NA (%)

Consistent

Ce_pillo

5.18

7

3

201

1

3.93

89

Galli_na

13.04

7

3

517

0

3.43

95

Le_ón

30

4

2

172

2

5.13

100

Man_zana

11.07

7

3

39

1

3.03

98

Mari_posa

6.25

8

4

26

0

3.43

100

Rue_da

22.86

5

2

39

3

3.93

92

Te_nedor

3.75

7

3

130

1

2.9

100

To_mate

6.79

6

3

140

0

4.13

98

Inconsistent

Ár_bol

35

5

2

35

0

3.2

97

Ca_ballo

63.21

7

3

270

2

3.2

100

Cala_baza

2.5

8

4

24

0

4.27

87

Ce_bolla

9.46

7

3

74

0

3.17

95

Cor_bata

17.14

7

3

72

1

4.67

100

Esco_ba

2.86

6

3

258

0

3.13

97

Glo_bo

10.18

5

2

20

0

3.04

100

Ti_jeras

4.82

7

3

24

0

3.4

94

  1. The underscore symbol (_) marks the position of the critical inter-letter interval
  2. WF word frequency, NL number of letters, NS number of syllables, BF frequency of the critical bigram, N orthographic neighbourhood, AoA age of acquisition, NA name agreement

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Afonso, O., Álvarez, C.J., Martínez, C. et al. Writing difficulties in Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment. Read Writ 32, 217–233 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-017-9813-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-017-9813-6

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