Management of Topic in the Spoken Discourse of Persons Living with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Dementia
Abstract
Analyses of elicited spoken discourse can identify mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s dementia (AD). Topic management, one feature of discourse defined as acts that maintain or terminate an established topic, can be measured via global coherence measures. Little is known, however, about whether analyses of topic management can distinguish spoken discourse performances of persons living with MCI (PLwMCI) vs. persons living with AD (PLwAD). The current study investigated whether there are differences in topic management in the spoken discourse performances of PLwMCI vs. PLwAD. Analyses were conducted on 120 transcripts of spoken sequenced story picture descriptions of PLwMCI (n=83) and PLwAD (n=37). Diagnostic group performances were analyzed using average global coherence ratings. No significant group differences were found. Average global coherence ratings were not a predictor of diagnostic group membership. Findings highlight the need for further investigation of topic management in PLwMCI and PLwAD.