wordfinding problems

Higher aerobic fitness levels linked to fewer word failures in older adults

A small UK study involving 28 healthy older adults (20 women with average age 70; 8 men with average age 67), has found that those with higher levels of aerobic fitness experienced fewer language failures such as 'tip-of-the-tongue' states.

The association between the frequency of tip-of-the-tongue occurrences (TOTs) and aerobic fitness levels existed even when age and vocabulary size was accounted for. Education level didn't affect TOTs, but only a few of the participants hadn't gone to university, so the study wasn't really in a position to test this out.

Daily crosswords linked to sharper brain in later life

Data from more than 17,000 healthy people aged 50 and over has revealed that the more regularly participants engaged with word puzzles, the better they performed on tasks assessing attention, reasoning and memory.

Study participants took part in online cognitive tests, as well as being asked how frequently they did word puzzles such as crosswords. There was a direct relationship between the frequency of word puzzle use and the speed and accuracy of performance on nine cognitive tasks.

Word-finding Problems

Older news items (pre-2010) brought over from the old website

Genetic cause for word-finding disease

Primary Progressive Aphasia is a little-known form of dementia in which people lose the ability to express themselves and understand speech. People can begin to show symptoms of PPA as early as in their 40's and 50's. A new study has found has discovered a gene mutation in two unrelated families in which nearly all the siblings suffered from PPA. The mutations were not observed in the healthy siblings or in more than 200 controls.

Hutton, M. L., Graff-Radford, N. R., Mesulam, M.-M., Johnson, N., Krefft, T. A., Gass, J. M., … Dickson, D. W. (2007). Progranulin Mutations in Primary Progressive Aphasia: The PPA1 and PPA3 Families. Arch Neurol, 64(1), 43-47. Retrieved from http://archneur.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/64/1/43

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-01/nu-rdg011507.php

Word substitution mistakes have more to do with speech planning than with thought or attention problems

Why is it that we can look at something, know what it is and still call it by the wrong name? A new study suggests that the problem doesn’t lie in haste or a lack of attention, but rather in a fault in speech planning.

Griffin, Z.M. 2004. The eyes are right when the mouth is wrong. Psychological Science, 15 (12), 814-820.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-12/aps-sot120804.php

What causes word finding failures in young and older adults

Intensive training helps seniors with long-term aphasia

Here’s an encouraging study for all those who think that, because of age or physical damage, they must resign themselves to whatever cognitive impairment or decline they have suffered. In this study, older adults who had suffered from aphasia for a long time nevertheless improved their language function after six weeks of intensive training.

What causes word finding failures in young and older adults

Journal Article

Burke, D.M., MacKay, D.G., Worthley, J.S. & Wade, E. (1991). On the tip of the tongue: What causes word finding failures in young and older adults. Journal of Memory and Language, 30, 542-579.

Failing to immediately retrieve well-known information does become more common with age.
An increase in "tips of the tongue" is evident as early as the mid-thirties.
The increase in memory failures applies to names of people and things; abstract words do not get harder to recall.
The length of time before the missing word is recalled also increases with age.
Older people tend to be less likely than younger people to actively pursue a missing word.

It is common for people to feel as they get older that they more frequently experience occasions when they cannot immediately retrieve a word they know perfectly well ("it's on the tip of my tongue").

Tips of the tongue (TOTs) do indeed increase with age, and this increase is evident as early as the mid-thirties. There are other differences however, in the TOT experiences as people age. For example, older adults are much more likely to "go blank" than either young or mid-age (35-45) adults. That is, younger adults are more likely to be able to retrieve some information about the target word.

At all ages, the most common type of word involved in TOTs is proper names. But while forgetting proper names and object names becomes more common as we get older, interestingly, abstract words are forgotten less.

The most common means of resolution at all ages is that the forgotten word simply "pops up", but as we get older, it takes longer before this happens. "Pop-ups" are relatively more common for older adults. It is suggested that this may be because they are less likely to actively attempt to retrieve the information. According to a questionnaire, older adults are more likely to simply relax and think about something else.

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