The lexical access and retrieval difficulty in Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis 

Sara Yazdani (Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran), Mohsen Foroughipour and Reza Bohlouri (Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran)

Background:  Despite the growing incidence of MS among youth and middle-aged individuals and its adverse impact on their personal and social life [1], semantic memory evaluation has received scant attention in this population.

Objective:To evaluate the lexical access and retrieval in Iranian Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis patients and their healthy counterparts.

Methods:In this cross-sectional study, 54 patients, diagnosed with definite relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS), selected from those visiting the neurology department of Ghaem Hospital in Mashhad, Iran. The patients were aged 22 to 60 years, had degrees ranging from high school diploma to master’s degree in different fields of study, and their Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores were ≤ 6. The patients were divided into two groups based on their total disease duration and location of the brain lesion. The control subjects comprised of 54 healthy age, handedness, gender, and education-matched individuals (P> 0.05). The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test [2] was used to screen the participants’ cognitive function. The Semantic Object Retrieval Test (SORT) [3] was used to assess participants’ semantic memory performance.

Results:The results of the ANOVA test showed that there was a significant difference between MS patient groups and healthy controls in object retrieval decision (memory part) (F (2,105) = 626.65, p= 0.000 < 0.05). The result of the Tukey post hoc test revealed that the performance of second MS patient group in memory part and the healthy controls differed significantly at p < 0.05. In addition, the second group of MS patient performance was significantly different from the first group of patient. Furthermore, the results also yielded a significant difference between these three groups in lexical access (naming part) (F (2,105) = 3821.24, p= 0.000 < 0.05). The result of the Tukey post hoc indicated that the second group of patient had significant problems with naming, and the first MS patient group had less significant problems with this part, whereas the healthy controls answered this part correctly (p < 0.05).

Conclusion:Accordingly, lexical access and retrieval might see a decline due to Multiple sclerosis progression.

Keywords:  semantic memory, lexical access, lexical retrieval, MS, adults

References

Daltrozzo, Tanja, Hapfelmeier, Alexnder, Donnachie, Ewan, Schneider, Antonius & Bernhard Hemmer. 2018. A systematic assessment of prevalence, incidence and regional distribution of Multiple Sclerosis in Bavaria from 2006 to 2015. Frontiers in neurology 9. 871.

Nasreddine, Ziad S., Phillips, Natalie A., Bédirian, Valérie, Charbonneau, Simon, Whitehead, Victor, Collin, Isabelle,Cummings, JeffreyL. & Howard Chertkow. 2005. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA: A brief screening tool for mild cognitive impairment. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 53(4). 695–699. 

Kraut, Michael A., Cherry, Barbara, Pitcock, Jeffery A., Anand, Raksha, Li, Juan, Vestal, Lindsey, Henderson, Victor W. & John Hart. 2007. The Semantic Object Retrieval Test   (SORT) in amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology 20(1). 62–67.

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