Tambov
All-Russian academic journal
“Issues of Cognitive Linguistics”

SEMANTIC MEMORY LOSS IN ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: A LINGUISTIC APPROACH

SEMANTIC MEMORY LOSS IN ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: A LINGUISTIC APPROACH


Author:  M.B. Pérez-Cabello de Alba

Affiliation:  Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia

Abstract:  The purpose of this study is to explore if there is any pattern in the loss of patients’ semantic memory at different stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
We set from the hypothesis that this loss will be reflected in the number and type of features expressed in the definitions of the categories given in a test of semantic categories definition. For that purpose we utilise a linguistic corpus of oral definitions [Peraita & Grasso 2010] with a sample of semantic categories of both living beings (dog, pine-tree and apple) and non-living beings (car, trousers and chair). We study the category trousers in a sample of the corpus and then we map the features distinguished in the corpus onto the ontology of the lexico-conceptual knowledge base FunGramKB [Periñán & Arcas 2004; 2005; 2006; 2007 and 2010]. This will allow us to identify the information missing in the semantic chain corresponding to the category under study and therefore we will be able to detect where the semantic memory loss is produced.
We believe that Natural Language Processing tools can throw light onto semantic memory loss studies and can also contribute to the early diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment.


Keywords:  semantic memory, FunGramKB, ontologies, NLP, Alzheimer’s disease.

References:  Grasso, L., Díaz, M.C. & Peraita, H. Deterioro de la memoria semántico-conceptual en pacientes con enfermedad de Alzheimer. Análisis cualitativo y cuantitativo de los rasgos semánticos producidos en una tarea verbal de definición categorial. Psicogeriatría 3(4), 2011. 159-165.
FunGramKB. Lexico-conceptual knowledge base for NLP. URL: http://www.fungramkb.com
Peraita, H., Elosúa, R. & Linares, P. Representación de categorías naturales en niños ciegos de nacimiento. Madrid:Trotta, 1992.
Peraita, H. & Grasso, L. Corpus lingüístico de definiciones de categorías semánticas de personas mayores sanas y con la enfermedad de Alzheimer: Una investigación transcultural hispano-argentina, 2010 Documento de Trabajo. Fundación BBVA. URL: www.uned.es/investigacion-corpuslinguistico.
Peraita, H. & Grasso, L. Corpus lingüístico de definiciones de categorías semánticas de sujetos ancianos sanos y con la enfermedad de Alzheimer: Una investigación transcultural hispano-argentina. Ianua. Revista Philologica Romanica Vol. 10, 2010. 203–221.
Pérez Cabello de Alba, M.B. A contribution of Natural Language Processing to the study of semantic memory loss in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. In Revista de lenguas para fines específicos, entitled New Insights into Meaning Construction and Knowledge Representation, 2017.
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Periñán Pascual, C. & Arcas Túnez, F. Ontological commitments in FunGramKB. Procesamiento del Lenguaje Natural 44, 2010. 27-34.

For citation:  Pérez-Cabello de Alba, M. B. (2018). Semantic memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease: a linguistic approach. Voprosy Kognitivnoy Lingvistiki, 3, 62-70.

Pages:  62-70

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