Linking aberrant pauses during object naming to letter and word decoding speed in elderly with attention complaints

Abstract Attention deficit and reading difficulty are often comorbid in neuropsychiatric disorders of childhood and adolescence. Although recent research has shown how these two domains may interact in children, knowledge about such interaction in elderly is lacking. The present study tested whether this association is also present in healthy elderly with undiagnosed attention problems. Thirty-two subjects (65+ years) with life-long complaints of attention and with a Mini Mental (MMSE) cutoff of 27 points were tested with MapCog Spectra (MCS), with a word recognition test (Word Chains test) and CANTAB subtests of attention. All tests were presented on a tablet, except for the Word Chains test. The participants mean MMSE score was 29 points and their mean age was 71.5 years. Strong correlations were seen between the Word Chains test and the MCS, suggesting that a high number of aberrantly long pauses during serial naming was associated with fewer identifications of letters, words and sentences. The number of aberrant pauses was also associated with slower Reaction Time and a lower score on the Attention Shifting task of the CANTAB. The results were not associated with either gender or general intelligence. This study shows that attention is linked to decoding speed irrespective of intelligence and gender. We therefore suggest that a clinical assessment of attention deficit should also include an assessment of decoding ability, and vice versa, as these cognitive functions are strongly interdependent.