Heterogeneity of verbal and gestural functions in spoken discourse with MCI

Context

Previous research has identified a homogeneous language behavior among women speakers with a progressive mild cognitive impairment (MCI). These speakers primarily utilize verbal and non-verbal pragmatic markers with interactive functions to maintain communication with the interlocutor, and this function significantly increases in time. However, the speakers have observed variations, prompting the development of an individualized analysis of the participants' discursive productions considering neurolinguistic models.

Methods

A multimodal and individualized analysis was conducted on five women over 75, diagnosed with progressive MCI, using longitudinal and natural language corpora. The data were processed using transcription tools (i.e., verbal discourse) and annotation tools (i.e., gestures), then subjected to Principal Component Analyses due to the diverse data set and discursive modalities to analyze for each individual.

Results & conclusion

The results reveal variations, even specialization, in verbal and gestural pragmatic markers based on cognitive and empathic profiles, as well as certain resilience factors among study participants. Three behavioral patterns emerge among the profiles of amnestic MCI with standard progression, multidomain MCI profiles, and MCI profiles occurring at a very advanced age in the context of good cognitive reserve. These findings encourage further research to characterize MCI as a dynamic and variable diagnostic entity from one individual to another. Additionally, corpus analysis could enable clinicians to assess the discourse of individuals with MCI for diagnostic purposes and evaluate treatments' effectiveness, especially speech therapy.