2024-03-18 23:00:00
news Are you no longer able to find the name of an object or a first name? This is not a sign of cognitive decline. Another indicator would be much more revealing. According to a Canadian study, your brain health could be assessed by the speed at which you speak.
See also the article: Dementia: ten signs that may indicate Alzheimer’s
As we age, many people worry about losing their words. These little speech glitches are very common among older people. And contrary to popular belief, they do not necessarily indicate that you are suffering from cognitive decline or the onset of dementia. On the other hand, the speed at which you speak may be a more reliable indicator.
Researchers from Baycrest Hospital and the University of Toronto examined how speech could be an indicator of adult brain health. The objective was to be able to distinguish between natural cognitive aging and the first signs of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia. Here’s what they discovered.
See also the article: The different forms of dementia
Speech analyzed during three exercises
The researchers recruited 125 healthy volunteers, aged 18 to 90. They put them through three exercises.
First, participants had to answer questions about images while being distracted by noisy words they heard through headphones. The researchers were thus able to test their ability to recognize and name what they saw.
The second test consisted of describing a complex image for 60 seconds. This speech was analyzed by artificial intelligence which then evaluated the linguistic performance of the participants: language speed, number of pauses, duration of pauses, etc.
The third phase of the research involved standard tests to assess cognitive abilities that tend to decline with age and are linked to dementia risk. In particular, executive function, that is to say the set of mental skills that help individuals manage their time, pay attention and juggle several tasks at once.
See also the article: At what age should you stop drinking alcohol to avoid dementia?
Many cognitive abilities decline with age
As expected, the study showed that many cognitive abilities decline with age. Older participants had more difficulty identifying what appeared in the images and remembering the names of objects. But the number and duration of pauses participants took to find words was not linked to severe cognitive decline or risk of dementia.
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Does speaking more slowly reveal the state of health of your brain?
One of the main findings of the study was the distinction between word-finding difficulties and overall speaking speed. How quickly participants were able to name pictures predicted how quickly they spoke in general, and both were linked to executive function (handling conflicting information, concentration). In other words, the fact of stopping to find words did not reveal the state of brain health, but rather the slowed rate of speech outside of pauses.
In conclusion, having vocabulary glitches is not worrying as it is a symptom of natural cognitive aging. On the other hand, when this phenomenon is associated with the general slowing of speech rate, it can indicate changes in brain health and be a sign of a neurodegenerative disease.
See also the article: Dementia among those over 60: a sedentary lifestyle increases the risks
“In future studies, the research team could perform the same tests with a group of participants over several years, to test whether speaking speed is truly predictive of individuals’ brain health as they age. In turn, these findings could support the development of tools to detect cognitive decline as early as possible, allowing clinicians to prescribe interventions to help patients maintain, or even improve, their brain health as they age. they are getting old. »
See also the article: Stress, fat, loneliness…: the 6 enemies of the brain
Sources :
https://www.tandfonline.com
https://www.eurekalert.org
Last updated: March 2024
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