NeuroBel: Spanish screening test for oral psycholinguistics disabilities in elderly people with mild cognitive impairment and early-stage Alzheimer's disease.

INTRODUCTION: The NeuroBel is a short test that allows for psycholinguistic assessment of basic processes of oral comprehension and language production deterioration in the elderly. The objective is to carry out a pilot study of the initial reference values and cut-off points of this battery using a sample of Spanish elderly adults, with and without cognitive impairment, and detecting performance differences among them. METHOD: NeuroBel consists of 8 tasks that analyze oral language functioning from the theoretical model proposed by the Psycholinguistic approach. Seventy-five Spanish monolingual adult-elderly participants of both genders. Of those, 25 with Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the initial phase, 25 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 25 participants without cognitive impairment (Controls). All subjects were evaluated using NeuroBel. RESULTS: There are significant differences between the three groups. The participants with AD are significantly worse in the total score of NeuroBel. A discriminant analysis shows that 86.7% of the cases appear correctly classified in the groups originally selected. Likewise, participants with MCI obtained results that are statistically significantly worse than the control group. NeuroBel shows a high correlation with the MMSE (.89) and Sensitivity (.96) in the determination of AD and cognitive deterioration (AD + MCI vs. Controls). The area under the ROC curve is .97 in the contrast of AD vs. Controls and .98 in the determination of cognitive deterioration (AD + MCI vs. Controls). The canonical discriminant functions and the precision cut-offs from the ROC analyses are also shown in the results. CONCLUSIONS: NeuroBel is shown as a "very good" test in the detection of cognitive-linguistic impairment in elderly-adults.

Development of orthographic representations in Spanish children with dyslexia: the influence of previous semantic and phonological knowledge.

In transparent orthographic systems, the main characteristic of developmental dyslexia is poor reading fluency. Several studies have reported that children with dyslexia have difficulties forming orthographic representations of words, which hampers good reading fluency. This study aimed at evaluating whether the semantic-phonological training prior to word reading could facilitate the formation of orthographic representations and leading an improvement in reading fluency. Twenty-four native Spanish-speaking children with developmental dyslexia carried out two different reading tasks. In one of them, participants previously received semantic and phonological information about stimuli whereas in the other task no previous information was provided. Eight different unfamiliar words (four short and four long) were used in each reading task and the reduction of the length effect across reading blocks was taken as a formation index of new orthographic representations. Results showed low accuracy, slow speed reading, and difficulties in developing orthographic representations despite of repeated reading, probably due to the instability in decoding processes. However, the previous phonological and semantic training had a facilitator effect in the formation of orthographic representations, as indicated by the decrease in the length effect.

Validación del test para la detección temprana de las dificultades en el aprendizaje de la lectura y escritura / Validation of the test for the early detection of learning difficulties in reading and writing

Introducción: la detección temprana de las dificultades en el aprendizaje de la lectoescritura es clave para iniciar cuanto antes programas de intervención. Pero para detectar esas dificultades es necesario disponer de herramientas con probada eficacia. Objetivos: el objetivo de este estudio fue validar un test elaborado con tareas lingüísticas relacionadas con la lectura, aplicado hace tres años a 298 niños prelectores, con el que se pretendía detectar posibles dificultades antes de iniciar el aprendizaje de la lectura. Material y método: un total de 190 niños de aquella muestra inicial fueron evaluados cuando tenían siete años con dos tareas de lectura, una de palabras reales y otra de palabras inventadas. De cada niño se recogieron datos de precisión, velocidad y eficiencia lectora. Resultados: aunque habían pasado tres años, se encontró una correlación altamente significativa, medida mediante el coeficiente de correlación de Pearson, entre las puntuaciones en el test de detección temprana y las puntuaciones en la prueba de lectura. Además, la mitad de los niños que habían sido clasificados como niños de riesgo por haber obtenido bajas puntuaciones en ese test presentaban serios problemas de lectura (AU)

Introduction: early detection of difficulties in learning to read and write is key to starting intervention programs as soon as possible. But to detect these difficulties it is necessary to have tools with proven efficiency. Aims: the objective of this study was to validate a test developed with linguistic tasks related to reading, applied three years ago to 298 children with the aim of detecting possible difficulties before learning to read. Material and method: a total of 190 children from that initial sample were evaluated when they were 7 years old with two reading tasks, one with real words and other with invented words. From each child, accuracy, speed and reading efficiency data were collected. Results: despite the three years elapsed, a highly significant correlation, using the Pearson coefficient, was found between the early detection battery scores and the reading test scores. In addition, half of the children who had been classified as at-risk children because of low scores on that battery had serious reading problems. Conclusions: the early detection of reading difficulties test, which is being widely used both by pediatricians and by nursery school teachers, due to its quick and easy application, has a strong empirical support. Although it is not a diagnostic test of dyslexia, it is capable of alerting about possible future difficulties in learning to read (AU)

¿Un déficit nuclear en la enfermedad de Parkinson? / A core deficit in Parkinson disease?

Introducción: La enfermedad de Parkinson es un trastorno neurodegenerativo que lleva aparejados déficits motores, cognitivos y lingüísticos. Es importante esclarecer las causas de esta comorbilidad. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo determinar si dichos déficits pueden interpretarse como el resultado de la disfunción selectiva de capacidades computacionales primitivas, en particular, de una capacidad computacional sensible al contexto o de tipo 1 en la Jerarquía de Chomsky (una herramienta usada habitualmente en estudios de cognición comparada). Pacientes y métodos: Se seleccionó a 15 sujetos con enfermedad de Parkinson medicados y a 15 controles emparejados en edad y en años de escolarización. Se diseñó una batería de pruebas específicas para el experimento que evaluaban 3 dominios diferentes (motor, lingüístico y visuoespacial) y 2 tipos de capacidades computacionales distintas (sensible e insensible al contexto). Resultados: Se obtuvieron diferencias significativas entre ambos grupos solo en la prueba de tipo lingüístico que evaluaba la capacidad de computación sensible al contexto. Conclusiones: Los déficits de diferente naturaleza que caracterizan a la enfermedad de Parkinson no parecen explicarse por la afectación selectiva de una capacidad computacional básica que sería funcionalmente inespecífica. Resta por ver si las diferencias entre afectados y no afectados son significativas cuando se trata de sujetos no medicados y cuando las pruebas empleadas en la evaluación se ciñen a aspectos puramente formales. Idealmente, este tipo de primitivos computacionales podría ayudar a diagnosticar precozmente el trastorno

Introduction: Parkinson disease is a neurodegenerative condition involving motor, cognitive, and linguistic deficits. It is important to know why all these different deficits co-occur in the affected people. This paper aims to clarify whether these comorbid deficits result from the selective impairment of a computational primitive, namely, a context-sensitive computational ability according to Chomsky's Hierarchy (a well-established research tool in comparative neuroscience). Patients and methods: A total of 15 medicated subjects with Parkinson disease and 15 controls were selected. They were matched in age and education. A battery of tasks was designed to test 3 different domains (motor capacities, cognition, and language) and 2 different computational abilities (context-free and context-sensitive operations). Results: Significant differences between groups were observed only regarding the linguistic task involving context-sensitive computations (correferences). Conclusions: The observed deficits in our patients with Parkinson disease cannot be explained in terms of the selective impairment of one only unspecific, low-level computational process. At the same time, differences between patients and controls are expected to be greater if the former are not medicated. Moreover, we should pursue in the search of (this kind of) computational primitives than can be selectively impaired in people with Parkinson disease, because they may help to achieve an earlier diagnosis of this condition

Mitochondrial Alterations in Peripheral Mononuclear Blood Cells from Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment Patients.

It is well recognized that mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to neurodegeneration occurring in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, evidences of mitochondrial defects in AD peripheral cells are still inconclusive. Here, some mitochondrial-encoded and nuclear-encoded proteins, involved in maintaining the correct mitochondria machine, were investigated in terms of protein expression and enzymatic activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from AD and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) patients and healthy subjects. In addition mitochondrial DNA copy number was measured by real time PCR. We found some differences and some similarities between AD and MCI patients when compared with healthy subjects. For example, cytochrome C and cytochrome B were decreased in AD, while MCI showed only a statistical reduction of cytochrome C. On the other hand, both AD and MCI blood cells exhibited highly nitrated MnSOD, index of a prooxidant environment inside the mitochondria. TFAM, a regulator of mitochondrial genome replication and transcription, was decreased in both AD and MCI patients' blood cells. Moreover also the mitochondrial DNA amount was reduced in PBMCs from both patient groups. In conclusion these data confirmed peripheral mitochondria impairment in AD and demonstrated that TFAM and mtDNA amount reduction could be two features of early events occurring in AD pathogenesis.

[A core deficit in Parkinson disease?]. / ¿Un déficit nuclear en la enfermedad de Parkinson?

INTRODUCTION: Parkinson disease is a neurodegenerative condition involving motor, cognitive, and linguistic deficits. It is important to know why all these different deficits co-occur in the affected people. This paper aims to clarify whether these comorbid deficits result from the selective impairment of a computational primitive, namely, a context-sensitive computational ability according to Chomsky's Hierarchy (a well-established research tool in comparative neuroscience). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 15 medicated subjects with Parkinson disease and 15 controls were selected. They were matched in age and education. A battery of tasks was designed to test 3 different domains (motor capacities, cognition, and language) and 2 different computational abilities (context-free and context-sensitive operations). RESULTS: Significant differences between groups were observed only regarding the linguistic task involving context-sensitive computations (correferences). CONCLUSIONS: The observed deficits in our patients with Parkinson disease cannot be explained in terms of the selective impairment of one only unspecific, low-level computational process. At the same time, differences between patients and controls are expected to be greater if the former are not medicated. Moreover, we should pursue in the search of (this kind of) computational primitives than can be selectively impaired in people with Parkinson disease, because they may help to achieve an earlier diagnosis of this condition.

Test para la detección temprana de las dificultades en el aprendizaje de la lectura y escritura / Test for the early detection of learning difficulties in reading and writing

Introducción: el diagnóstico de la dislexia se suele producir varios años después de que se inicie el aprendizaje de la lectoescritura. Para entonces muchos niños disléxicos ya saben lo que es el fracaso escolar y la pérdida de autoestima. Con un diagnóstico temprano se pueden evitar muchos de esos problemas. Además los programas de intervención son mucho más eficaces cuanto más tempranamente se apliquen. Objetivos: el objetivo de este estudio fue elaborar una prueba de diagnóstico precoz de la dislexia, basada en los déficits de procesamiento fonológico que presentan estos niños, aplicable a los cuatro años de edad, antes de que se enfrenten a la lectura. Material y métodos: la prueba consta de seis subtareas con cinco ítems cada una que se puede pasar entre seis y diez minutos. Las seis subtareas evalúan los principales componentes del procesamiento fonológico: discriminación de fonemas, segmentación de sílabas, identificación de fonemas, repetición de pseudopalabras, memoria verbal a corto plazo y fluidez verbal. Resultados: los datos obtenidos de una muestra de 298 niños de cuatro años muestran una buena fiabilidad y una alta validez de constructo de la prueba. Se proporcionan valores normativos en percentiles y puntos de corte por debajo de los cuales se consideran niños de riesgo de sufrir una dislexia. Conclusiones: la aplicación de esta sencilla prueba en las consultas pediátricas y en las clases de Educación infantil a los niños de cuatro años de edad permitirá detectar aquellos con riesgo de sufrir dislexia para poder intervenir lo más tempranamente posible, antes de se enfrenten al aprendizaje de la lectorescritura (AU)

Introduction: the diagnosis of dyslexia usually occurs several years after the literacy learning begins. By then, many dyslexic children have faced academic failure and loss of self-esteem. An early diagnosis could avoid many of these problems. Furthermore, intervention programs are more effective when applied early. Objectives: the aim of this study was to develop a test for the early diagnosis of dyslexia, based on phonological processing deficits presented by these children, and applicable to four years old children, before they face reading. Material and methods: the test consists of six subtasks with five items each, which can be passed between six and ten minutes. The six subtasks evaluate the main components of phonological processing: discrimination of phonemes, syllable segmentation, phoneme identification, repetition of pseudowords, verbal short-term memory and verbal fluency. Results: the data, obtained from a sample of 298 four years old children, show a good reliability and high construct validity of the test. Normative values are given in percentiles and cutoffs, below of which children are considered at risk of suffering dyslexia. Conclusions: the application of this simple test to children in pediatric clinics and early childhood education schools, will allow the detection of children at risk for dyslexia, in order to intervene as early as possible, before they face the literacy learning (AU)

Procesamiento de sílabas que son prefijos / Processing of syllables that are prefixes

Se revisan los datos obtenidos a través de dos tipos de procedimientos experimentales, tiempos de reacción y potenciales relacionados con el evento, en relación con dos unidades lingüísticas, la sílaba y el prefijo. Mientras que las sílabas se utilizan en español como un mecanismo de preactivación de palabras en la memoria léxica y requieren de un procedimiento inhibitorio de selección léxica, los prefijos, como entidad morfológica, aun siendo también sílabas, producen un efecto facilitador del significado de la palabra libre de procesos de inhibición. Se concluye que ambas unidades utilizan vías diferentes y actúan con distinta secuencia temporal. Aunque de manera tentativa, tratamos de avanzar algunas hipótesis que relacionen estos descubrimientos básicos realizados en adultos con la población infantil, en tanto que ambas unidades, sílabas y morfemas, constituyen unidades preléxicas fundamentales en el aprendizaje de la lectura (AU)

The present article reviews experimental data obtained with behavioral methods (reaction times) and event-related potentials on the processing of syllables and prefixes. Syllables are used in Spanish as a mechanism of word pre-activation in the lexical memory and require inhibition of lexical selection. In contrast, prefixes, as a morphological unit - although they are also syllables - produce a facilitating effect on word meaning, this process being free of inhibitory processes. We conclude that the two units employ dissimilar routes and activate a different time-course process. Hypotheses relating these basic discoveries in adults with the child population are tentatively proposed, since these units - syllables and morphemes - constitute basic prelexical units in the acquisition of reading abilities (AU)

Tipos de trastornos anómicos en las afasias / Types of anomic disorders in aphasia

Los trastornos anómicos están presentes en todos los síndromes afásicos, pero son muy heterogéneos ya que las causas que los producen son muy variadas al ser muchos los procesos cognitivos que intervienen en la producción oral. En este estudio se analizó una muestra de 28 pacientes afásicos pertenecientes a diferentes síndromes (afasias de Broca, de Wernicke, etc.), pero todos con trastornos anómicos. El objetivo era comprobar las variedades de anomias existentes y si esas variedades están ligadas a los síndromes clásicos. A esos pacientes se le aplicaron ocho tareas lexicosemánticas, fundamentalmente de denominación de dibujos (objetos y acciones), semánticas (emparejamiento palabra-dibujo, asociación semántica, etc.) y fonológicas (repetición de palabras y seudopalabras). En base a los resultados en esas tareas se clasificó a los pacientes mediante análisis discriminante en cuatro grupos (anomia pura, semántica, fonológica y mixta) y se analizaron las principales disociaciones (p. ej. denominación de objetos frente a denominación de acciones) existentes entre ellos. También se hicieron correlaciones entre los resultados de las tareas para comprobar la capacidad de las pruebas de predecir los distintos tipos de anomias. Los resultados muestran la existencia de una gran variedad de trastornos anómicos, que además son independientes de los síndromes a los que pertenezcan los pacientes (AU)

The anomic disorders are present in all the aphasic syndromes, but they are very heterogeneous because of their multiple causes, as there are many cognitive processes involved in the oral production. A sample of 28 aphasic patients belonging to different syndromes (Broca’s aphasia, Wernicke’s, etc.) but all with anomic disorders was analyzed in this study. The goal was to check the variety of anomias and their connection with the classical syndromes. Eight lexical-semantic tasks were applied to those patients, especially picture naming (objects and actions) and semantic (word-picture matching, semantic association, etc.) and phonological tasks (words and pseudowords repetition). On the basis of their results on those tasks the patients were classified in four groups through a discriminant analysis (pure, semantic, phonological and mixed anomia) and the main dissociations between the groups were analyzed (e.g, objects vs. actions naming). Other analysis were also carried out, specifically the correlations between the results in the tasks to check the capacity of the tasks to predict the different types of anomia. The results show the existence of a great variety of anomic disorders, which are besides independent of the syndromes to which the patients belong (AU)

Dislexias evolutivas: un puzzle por resolver / Developmental dyslexia: a puzzle to solve

Existe un gran número de hipótesis sobre las causas de las dislexias evolutivas. Algunos autores sostienen que el origen de las dislexias se encuentra en un déficit auditivo, otros en un déficit visual y otros lo atribuyen a una mayor lentitud en el procesamiento. Aunque la hipótesis más defendida es, sin duda, la hipótesis del déficit fonológico. Por otra parte, se han encontrado alteraciones neurológicas muy variadas en los disléxicos como ausencia de asimetría cerebral, alteraciones en el cuerpo calloso o alteraciones en el cerebelo. Sin embargo, no existe una teoría que sea capaz de integrar las alteraciones neurológicas con la sintomatología. En este artículo se exponen de forma breve las principales teorías sobre las dislexias y las alteraciones neurológicas que caracterizan este síndrome y se sugieren algunas posibles conexiones entre las disfunciones neuronales y las alteraciones cognitivas. Se concluye que existen perfiles muy variados de dislexias en función de las alteraciones neurológicas específicas y de las experiencias personales de aprendizaje

There are a large number of hypotheses about the causes of developmental dyslexia. Where as some authors argue that this impairment has its originin auditory or visual deficits, other authors attribute it to slower processing. Nevertheless, the most defended hypothesis is undoubtedly the hypothesis of the phonological deficit. On the other hand, diverse neurological disorders have been associated to dyslexia such as absence of cerebral asymmetry, alterations in the corpus callosum or abnormalities in the cerebellum. However, there is not yet a hypothesis that integrates the cognitive symptoms with the neurological disorders. This paper presents a brief summary of the main theories about dyslexia and the neurological abnormalities that characterize this syndrome, and suggests some possible connections between neuronal dysfunction and cognitive impairment. We conclude that there are different profiles of dyslexia on the basis of neurological disorders and specific personal experiences of learning

Deterioro de la información conceptual en la enfermedad de Alzheimer / Conceptual decline in Alzheimer’s disease

Introducción. Es bien sabido que en la enfermedad de Alzheimer se produce una pérdida gradual y progresiva de la información semántica. Una pregunta de gran interés tanto teórico como práctico es qué conceptos son los primeros que se pierden y cuáles son los más resistentes al deterioro. Algunas teorías sostienen que en el inicio de la enfermedad las pérdidas afectan más a los estímulos pertenecientes a determinadas categorías conceptuales. Método. Un grupo de 22 pacientes con enfermedad de Alzheimer fue contrastado con otro grupo de 22 personas sanas de similares características en cuanto a edad, sexo y escolaridad en la denominación de dibujos de objetos pertenecientes a ocho categorías semánticas, cuatro del dominio de los seres vivos y cuatro del de los objetos inanimados. En cada grupo había 16 mujeres y 6 hombres y en ambos grupos la edad media era de 74 años. Análisis estadístico. Con el fin de comprobar si las diferencias entre pacientes con enfermedad de Alzheimer y sujetos control son mayores en determinadas categorías se realizaron ANOVA tomando como factores el grupo (pacientes/ controles) y la categoría de estímulo. Resultados. Los pacientes con enfermedad de Alzheimer puntúan significativamente menos que los controles en todas las categorías de estímulos, pero las diferencias dependen de las características de cada estímulo (familiaridad, frecuencia, edad de adquisición, etc.) más que de la categoría semántica a la que pertenece. Discusión. Más importante que la pertenencia a una determinada categoría, lo que determina la pérdida conceptual son las características específicas de cada estímulo, fundamentalmente la frecuencia de uso del nombre y la edad en la que se aprende

Introduction. In Alzheimer’s disease a gradual and progressive loss of semantic information takes place. A question of great importance on both the theoretical and practical levels is which concepts are the first to be lost and which are the most resistant to deterioration. Some theories maintain that the beginning of the disease stimuli belonging to certain conceptual categories are most affected by loss. Method. A group of twenty-two patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease was compared with a group of healthy people of similar age, gender, and educational level, in naming pictures of objects from eight semantic categories: four in the domain of living things and four in the domain of inanimate objects. In each group 16 were women and 6 men. The mean age was 74 in both groups. Statistical analysis. In order to know if differences between Alzheimer patients and control subjects are determined by the semantic categories, ANOVAS were performed taking the group (patients vs control) and the type of stimulus as factors. Results. The scores of the Alzheimer patients are statistically lower than those of the control subjects, but differences are determined by the features of each stimulus (familiarity, frequency, age of acquisition) more than, belonging to a specific category. Discussion. The results indicate that the specific characteristics of each stimulus contribute more to concept loss than does belonging to a certain category, especially the frequency of use and the age of acquisition

[Conceptual decline in Alzheimer's disease]. / Deterioro de la información conceptual en la enfermedad de Alzheimer.

INTRODUCTION: In Alzheimer's disease a gradual and progressive loss of semantic information takes place. A question of great importance on both the theoretical and practical levels is which concepts are the first to be lost and which are the most resistant to deterioration. Some theories maintain that the beginning of the disease stimuli belonging to certain conceptual categories are most affected by loss. METHOD: A group of twenty-two patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease was compared with a group of healthy people of similar age, gender, and educational level, in naming pictures of objects from eight semantic categories: four in the domain of living things and four in the domain of inanimate objects. In each group 16 were women and 6 men. The mean age was 74 in both groups. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: In order to know if differences between Alzheimer patients and control subjects are determined by the semantic categories, ANOVAS were performed taking the group (patients vs control) and the type of stimulus as factors. RESULTS: The scores of the Alzheimer patients are statistically lower than those of the control subjects, but differences are determined by the features of each stimulus (familiarity, frequency, age of acquisition) more than, belonging to a specific category. DISCUSSION: The results indicate that the specific characteristics of each stimulus contribute more to concept loss than does belonging to a certain category, especially the frequency of use and the age of acquisition.

La comprensión escrita de preposiciones y partículas interrogativas: un estudio en sujetos sordos / No disponible

El objetivo de este estudio fue profundizar en los problemas de comprensión lectora que padecen los sujetos sordos. Para ello fueron elegidos dos tipos de palabras: preposiciones y partículas interrogativas, ambas muy frecuentes en los textos y decisivas para la correcta comprensión de las frases. Cada categoría fue evaluada a través de 55 items. La muestra estuvo formada por 40 personas sordas de entre 13 y 58 años, utilizándose para establecer los diferentes subgrupos los siguientes factores: edad, momento de la pérdida auditiva, grado de la misma y sistema de comunicación utilizado. Un grupo de niños oyentes de 7 y 8 años sirvió de grupo de control. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto los problemas que los sordos tienen para comprender ambos tipos de palabras, así como diferencias entre los distintos subgrupos de sordos (AU)

The aim of this study was to examine the reading comprehension problems in deaf people. Two kind of words were chosen to analyse these problems: prepositions and interrogative particles, both being very frequently found in texts and essential in the correct understanding of a sentence. Each category was evaluated with 55 items. 40 deaf people between 13 and 58 years old took part in this research. Age, moment in which hearing loss took place, degree of hearing loss and communication system were used as independent variables, and used to classify them. A group of non-deaf children aged 7 and 8 acted as control. The results show the existence of significant differences between the different subgroups indicating the difficulties that deaf people has in understanding both, prepositions and interrogative particles (AU)

The effects of scrambling on Spanish and Korean agrammatic interpretation: why linear models fail and structural models survive.

Several models of comprehension deficits in agrammatic aphasia rely heavily on linear considerations in the assignment of thematic roles to structural positions (e.g., the Trace-Deletion Hypothesis, the Mapping Hypothesis, and the Argument-Linking Hypothesis). These accounts predict that constructions in languages with rules that affect syntactic structure but preserve relative linear order should be unimpaired. Other models [e.g., the Double-Dependency Hypothesis, (DDH)] do not resort to linearity but are purely structural in conception and therefore should be immune to word-order effects. We tested linear and nonlinear accounts with scrambling structures in Korean and topicalization structures in Spanish. The results are very clear. The (nonlinear) DDH is entirely compatible with the evidence, but the linear accounts are not.

Dissociation of semantic and phonological errors in naming.

We report the naming performance of a fluent aphasic, DP, who shows a striking dissociation between semantic and phonological (nonword) errors: he produced numerous semantic errors but virtually no phonological errors. DP's pattern of performance is the reverse of that reported for patient DM (Caramazza, Papagno, & Ruml, 2000), who only made phonological errors in a naming task. These patterns of performance are inconsistent with the proposal by Dell, Schwartz, Martin, Saffran, and Gagnon (1997) that the naming deficit in fluent aphasia is the result of global damage to all levels of the lexical access system and support instead the hypothesis that brain damage can selectively disrupt distinct subcomponents of the lexical processing system.

Naming times for the Snodgrass and Vanderwart pictures in Spanish.

We present new Spanish norms for object familiarity and rated age of acquisition for 140 pictures taken from Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980), together with data on visual complexity, image agreement, name agreement, word length (in syllables and phonemes), and five measures of word frequency. The pictures were presented to a group of 64 Spanish subjects, and oral naming latencies were recorded. In a multiple regression analysis, age of acquisition, object familiarity, name agreement, word frequency, and word length made significant independent contributions to predicting naming latency.

Visual paralexias in a Spanish-speaking patient with acquired dyslexia: a consequence of visual and semantic impairments?

We report the case of a Spanish patient SC who misread 55 per cent of the single words shown to her. SC's reading accuracy was affected by word imageability and frequency. Nonword reading was very poor. The majority of SC's errors to real-word targets bore a close visual similarity to the items that elicited them, but there was no indication of an effect of serial position on the probability that a letter from a target word would be incorporated into the error made to that word. SC made some visual errors in object naming and also showed evidence of a general semantic impairment. We consider the similarity between SC and patient AB reported by Lambon Ralph and Ellis (1997), and suggest that the very high levels of visual errors shown by these two patients may reflect a combination of visual and semantic impairments.

Understanding disorders in agrammatic patients: capacity or structural deficits?

Several hypotheses have been advanced in recent years to understand difficulties in agrammatic patients. Some of them are of a structural kind, as the deficiency is said to lie in some of the linguistic system components. Others are of a functional type, as it is stated that the problem of these patients lies in the loss of processing capacity. Using the existence of a syntactic type of structure in Spanish, that active sentences do not follow the canonical S-V-O order, we will try to prove in this article whether agrammatic patients' problems are due to memory span loss or to one of the syntactic process mechanisms. To this end, the performances of three groups of patients are contrasted. Agrammatic, anomic, and normal Spanish speakers are given several tasks of sentence-picture matching and tests of memory span. Results show that agrammatic patients have specific difficulties processing certain syntactical structures; however, their memory deficiencies are not more pronounced than in other patients. It can be concluded, therefore, that the deficiencies of agrammatic patients are of a structural character rather than due to memory span loss.