The symptoms of surface dyslexia in Arabic: the impact of orthographic ambiguity on reading abilities of a patient with Alzheimer’s disease

Like other Semitic languages, Arabic is known for its rich morphology and consonantal writing system. In this article, we report the first case of acquired surface dyslexia in an Arabic-speaking patient (HBS). Surface dyslexia is characterised by difficulty reading irregularly spelled words, while performance is better with regular words and nonwords. The purpose of this study was to describe the symptoms of surface dyslexia in Arabic and to investigate how orthographic depth may affect reading in the context of semantic impairment. In HBS, who had Alzheimer’s disease, reading was impaired for both words and nonwords. Her reading performance was affected by orthographic ambiguity and by the presence of diacritics depicting short vowels. In particular, she produced mainly vowel errors, suggesting an overreliance on the sublexical route of reading. On the other hand, HBS was able to distinguish long vowels from consonants represented by the same letters, provided there was a real root. This finding can be taken as evidence that HBS could access the word’s root to decide whether the vowel letter represents a long vowel or a consonant. The results of this study suggest that the characteristics of surface dyslexia appear to be universal: reading regular words is spared compared to irregular words and non-words. However, the error patterns that HBS showed in reading support a language-specific conceptualisation of the processing components of the lexical and sublexical routes of reading.</p

False memory in aging: visual similarity impacts more healthy elderly adults than semantic proximity

<p>Poster presented at the ESCOP (European Society for Cognitive Psychology) in Paphos (Cyprus), the 18th of Septembre 2015.</p

All errors are not the same: Different memory profiles between aging, Alzheimer

<p>Poster presented at the annual congress of the International Neuropsychological Society (INS). Montréal (Qc), Canada, july 2013.</p

Normative data for the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test in the older French-Quebec population

<p><b>Objective</b>: The aim of this study was to establish normative data for the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, a test assessing verbal episodic memory, in the older French-Quebec population. <b>Method</b>: A total of 432 French-speaking participants aged between 55 and 93 years old, from the Province of Quebec (Canada), were included in the study. Using multiple regression analyses, normative data were developed for five variable of interest, namely scores on trial 1, sum of trials 1 to 5, interference list B, immediate recall of list A, and delayed recall of list A. <b>Results</b>: Results showed that age, education, and sex were associated with performance on all variables. Equations to calculate the expected score for a participant based on sex, age, and education level as well as the <i>Z</i> score were developed. <b>Conclusion</b>: This study provides clinicians with normative data that take into account the participants’ sociodemographic characteristics, thus giving a more accurate interpretation of the results.</p

Trail Making Tests A and B: regression-based normative data for Quebec French-speaking mid and older aged adults

<p><b>Objective:</b> The Trail Making Test (TMT) is mainly used to assess visual scanning/processing speed (part A) and executive functions (part B). The test has proven sensitive at detecting cognitive impairment during aging. However, previous studies have shown differences between normative data from different countries and cultures, even when corrected for age and education. Such inconsistencies between normative data may lead to serious diagnostic errors, thus, the development of local norms is warranted. The purpose of this study was to provide regression-based normative data for TMT-A and -B, tailored for a large sample of French-speaking adults from Quebec (Canada).</p> <p><b>Method:</b> The normative sample consisted of 792 participants aged 50–91 years. Based on multiple linear regression, equations to calculate <i>Z</i>-scores were provided for TMT-A and -B, and for a contrast score which compared performance between TMT-A and -B. Percentiles, stratified by age, are presented for the number of recorded errors.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> Age was a significant predictor for TMT-A performance, while age and education were independently associated with performance on TMT-B. Gender did not have any effect on performance, in either condition. Education was the only significant predictor of the contrast score between TMT-B and TMT-A. Examiners should remain vigilant when two or more errors are recorded on the TMT-B since this was uncommon in the normative sample.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> Our TMT normative data improve the accurate detection of visual scanning/processing speed and executive function deficits in Quebec (Canada) French-speaking adults.</p