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Sentence processing in frontotemporal dementia
Grossman M, Rhee J, Moore P.. Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior, 2005-12-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) have sentence comprehension difficulty. We examined the hypothesis that both grammatical and resource factors contribute to their impaired sentence comprehension with a traditional, off-line sentence comprehension task, and an on-line sentence processing procedure that minimizes task-related resources. This was investigated in subgroups of FTD patients with Progressive Non-fluent Aphasia (PNFA; n = 5) who have effortful speech; non-aphasic patients with an executive deficit (EXEC; n = 8); and Semantic Dementia (SD; n = 3) patients with poor single word comprehension. The results were correlated with measures of executive resources. We found that PNFA patients are significantly impaired in their off-line sentence comprehension, and that their performance correlated with auditory-verbal short-term memory. PNFA patients also demonstrated a pattern of slowed processing for the on-line sentence measure. This is consistent with the hypothesis that information relevant for constructing sentence representations during comprehension degrades in working memory as it is activated over an abnormally slowed time course. EXEC patients had modest off-line sentence comprehension difficulty, and this correlated with performance on measures of working memory, planning, and inhibitory control. On-line processing in EXEC patients demonstrated their insensitivity to sentence-based information. This raises the possibility that a limitation in material-neutral executive resources not dedicated to grammatical processing may play a role in their sentence comprehension deficit. SD patients' pattern of on-line sentence comprehension paralleled control subjects' performance. We conclude that grammatical and executive components both contribute to sentence comprehension, and that the profile of sentence comprehension difficulty varies across FTD subgroups depending on the sentence processing component that is impaired.
Key findings
- The results were correlated with measures of executive resources.
- We found that PNFA patients are significantly impaired in their off-line sentence comprehension, and that their performance correlated with auditory-verbal short-term memory.
- PNFA patients also demonstrated a pattern of slowed processing for the on-line sentence measure.
- On-line processing in EXEC patients demonstrated their insensitivity to sentence-based information.
- We conclude that grammatical and executive components both contribute to sentence comprehension, and that the profile of sentence comprehension difficulty varies across FTD subgroups depending on the sentence processing component that is impaired.
Why it matters
This study found that patients with frontotemporal dementia have sentence comprehension difficulty related to both grammatical and executive factors, in small subgroups of patients. It concerns understanding language problems in frontotemporal dementia, not treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 40/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | Cortex: journal h-index 202 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2005 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (pubmed indexes it as a clinical or observational study) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 4 / 7 | Cited 72 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 2 / 5 | 3.1 citations a year over 23 year(s) since 2005 |
| Impact for its field and year | 2 / 6 | Cited 2.5× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 2 / 6 | Cited by 7 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 0 / 4 | Cited 2 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 2 / 4 | Last-listed author Peachie Moore: h-index 32 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University of Pennsylvania: institution h-index 1,859 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 0 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 1 institution(s) in 1 country — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete) |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 16353366) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 40 / 100 | — |
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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Grossman, M., Rhee, J., & Moore, P. (2005). Sentence processing in frontotemporal dementia. Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0010-9452(08)70295-8
Vancouver
Grossman M, Rhee J, Moore P. Sentence processing in frontotemporal dementia. Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior. 2005. doi:10.1016/s0010-9452(08)70295-8. PMID: 16353366.
BibTeX
@article{grossman2005-16353366,
author = {Grossman, M. and Rhee, J. and Moore, P.},
title = {{Sentence processing in frontotemporal dementia}},
journal = {Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior},
year = {2005},
doi = {10.1016/s0010-9452(08)70295-8},
pmid = {16353366},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/s0010-9452(08)70295-8}
}
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