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Original Article
Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders 2010: 9: 3: 93-99

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알츠하이머 치매환자의 유명인이름대기 능력 손상 연구
김미정·권미선·이준영*·심현섭†
서울아산병원 신경과
서울특별시 보라매병원 신경정신과*
이화여자대학교 언어병리학과†
Impaired Naming Ability of Famous People in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease
Mijung Kim, M.S., Miseon Kwon, Ph.D., Jun-Young Lee, M.D.*, Hyun-Sub Sim, Ph.D.†
Department of Neurology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul;
Department of Psychiatry*, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Boramae Medical Center, Seoul;
Department of Communication Disorders†, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea
Background: Naming deficit is a common problem in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the ability of naming and recognition of famous people in patients with AD are different depending on the disease severity. Methods: Ten patients with MCI (CDR=0.5) and twenty patients with AD (ten for each group of CDR=1, and CDR=2) were included for this study. For normal controls (NC), ten healthy adults who were matched for age, gender, and education participated. Thirty picture stimuli were selected among people presenting three decades (1970-1990) in six specific areas such as president, actor, enterpriser, and so on. The confrontation naming test of objects (Korean-Boston Naming Test, K-BNT) and face recognition of famous people were also performed to find out the relations with the naming ability of famous people. Results: The abilities of famous people naming showed gradual decrease according to the severity of dementia, and there were significant differences among all the groups. The score of the recognition test of famous faces showed gradual decrease as the severity increased. Significant group differences were found in all comparisons except for the two group comparisons: between NC and CDR=0.5, and between CDR=0.5 and CDR=1. The ability of object naming (K-BNT) also decreased gradually as severity progressed. Significant group differences were found in all comparisons except between NC and CDR=0.5. Conclusions: The decreased naming ability of famous people may be the prodromal symptoms of AD. Clinical assessment of naming famous people can contribute to early detection of AD which may provide better sensitivity than object naming test. This finding also support that the neural substrates to process human face is different from those for object processing.
Key Words: Alzheimer’s disease, Face naming, Face recognition, Mild cognitive impairment