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This study investigated whether naming difficulties (anomia) in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) reflect language-specific impairment or broader cognitive decline. Across 22 patients spanning the FTD spectrum and 15 healthy controls, naming performance was strongly associated with overall language severity but not with global cognitive screening scores, suggesting it functions primarily as a language marker rather than a general indicator of cognitive deterioration. Notably, naming also correlated with episodic memory across verbal and non-verbal domains, pointing to potential shared mechanisms such as semantic cognition or frontally mediated retrieval processes.
Why it matters
These findings have direct implications for clinical assessment, supporting the targeted use of naming tests as markers of language dysfunction in FTD while cautioning against interpreting naming deficits solely as a reflection of overall cognitive decline. This distinction could improve diagnostic precision and help clinicians better track disease progression across FTD subtypes.
⚠️ Preprint – Noch nicht peer-reviewed
Dieser Artikel wurde noch nicht von unabhängigen Experten begutachtet. Die Ergebnisse sind vorläufig und sollten mit Vorsicht interpretiert werden.
Background: Anomia is common in frontotemporal dementia (FTD), although its clinical prominence varies by subtype, with the most marked impairment typically observed in primary progressive aphasia (PPA). It remains unclear whether naming impairment reflects language-specific impairment or broader cognitive severity, and how it relates to other cognitive domains across FTD syndromes. Methods: Fifteen healthy controls and twenty-two individuals across the FTD spectrum, including variant-specified and unclassifiable (NOS) presentations, completed two confrontation naming tasks (Boston Naming Test and Multilingual Naming Test) and a global cognitive screening measure (Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA). Patient participants additionally completed a standardized language battery (Western Aphasia Battery Revised) and a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment (Uniform Data Set). Naming performance was compared between groups and associations with language severity, global cognition, and domain-specific cognitive functions were examined using regression analyses. Results: Naming was impaired in patients relative to healthy controls but did not differ between patient groups. Naming was strongly associated with language severity, but not global cognition. A significant group-by-MoCA interaction indicated that MoCA was positively associated with naming only in the unclassifiable group. In addition, naming was associated with episodic memory across both verbal and non-verbal domains. Conclusions: Naming in FTD primarily reflects language severity rather than global cognitive impairment. A robust association between naming and episodic memory suggests potential contributions from semantic cognition, shared frontally mediated retrieval processes, or parallel cognitive decline. These findings support the use of naming as a marker of language dysfunction while highlighting its relevance to broader cognitive systems in FTD.