Visuomotor figure construction and visual figure delayed recall and recognition in primary progressive aphasia. Issue 12 (1st December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tippett, Donna C.; Breining, Bonnie; Goldberg, Emily; Meier, Erin; Sheppard, Shannon M.; Sherry, Emily; Stockbridge, Melissa; Suarez, Adrian; Wright, Amy E.; Hillis, Argye E.
• Is Part Of: Aphasiology. Volume 34:Issue 12(2020)
• Page Start: 1456
• Page End: 1470
• Publication Date: 2020-12-01
• Subjects: Primary progressive aphasia -- nonfluent agrammatic primary progressive aphasia -- semantic variant primary progressive aphasia -- logopenic variant primary progressive aphasia -- visuospatial memory; Aphasia -- Periodicals; Aphasia; 616.8552
• DOI: 10.1080/02687038.2019.1670330
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0268-7038

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Background: Individuals with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) develop visuospatial deficits over time, and those with logopenic variant (lvPPA) are at greatest risk of developing such deficits. However, not all previous studies of visuospatial deficits in PPA have ensured equivalent duration of disease across variants and few have measured deficits longitudinally. Aims: The aims of our study were to 1) investigate differences in baseline visuomotor figure construction, visual figure delayed recall, and figure recognition in PPA variants with similar symptom duration at baseline, and 2) explore patterns of decline in these areas. Methods & Procedures: 93 individuals with PPA [39 lvPPA, 24 nonfluent agrammatic PPA (nfaPPA), and 30 semantic variant PPA (svPPA)] were administered the Benson Complex Figure Copy, Benson Complex Figure Delay (Recall), and Benson Figure Recognition. Thirty individuals completed this testing 3 to 47 months post-baseline. Outcome & Results: Participants with lvPPA and svPPA showed lower mean scores than those with nfaPPA on visual figure delayed recall at baseline, even though there were no differences in estimated time from disease onset or correlation with disease severity as reflected by naming performance, F (2, 90) = 5.78, p < .004. Those with nfaPPA performed significantly better than those with lvPPA, Tukey HSD p < .05, and those with svPPA, Tukey HSD p < .01. There were no differences between variants in rate of decline in visuomotor figure construction, visual figure delayed recall, and figure recognition. Conclusions: These findings revealed relatively spared visuospatial memory in nfaPPA, which may aid in the differential diagnosis of PPA and contribute to designing therapy or compensatory strategies.