Objective: To investigate verb naming differences in hypokinetic (Parkinson’s disease, PD) and hyperkinetic (primary cervical dystonia, PCD) movement disorders; and to determine whether different effects on action performance affect action related verb naming differently as well.

Background: Motor theory of language, suggesting that action words are associated with motor cortex, has been supported by studies showing an association between verb production and frontostriatal network. PD patients, in fact, perform worse in action (verb naming) fluency (AF) than healthy controls. AF in PCD patients, however, has not been previously investigated.

Methods: 10 PD, 10 PCD patients and 10 healthy controls (HC) performed three different verbal fluency(VF) tasks; phonemic, semantic and action. Disease severity was evaluated by Hoehn and Yahr Scale(HY) in PD and by Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale(TWSTRS)-Severity score in PCD. Patients with dementia were excluded according to MMSE (<25). Statistical analyses were done with nonparametric tests.

Results: The mean disease duration (SD) was 6,3 (1,43) in PD and 9,4 (1,95) years in PCD (p=0,18). All PD patients (100%) were in HY Stage 2 during testing. Mean TWSTRS-Severity score (SD) of PCD group was 12,57 (8,54). Groups did not differ on age, gender, and years of education (p=0,33; p=0,88; p=0,37, respectively). Phonemic fluency results did not differ in between groups (p=0,09); whereas semantic fluency and AF results were significantly different (p=0,02; p=0,03, respectively). Action fluency means of groups were in line with the hypothesis (see Table 1). Pairwise comparisons revealed significant differences between PD and PCD groups in all VF tasks (phonemic fluency p=0,03; semantic fluency p=0,04; AF p=0,02). PD and HC group comparisons only revealed a trend in AF (p=0,06). PCD and HC group comparisons only revealed a significant difference in semantic fluency (p=0,02) (see Table 2).

Conclusions: According to our findings different movement disorders affecting movements differently also affect language differently. This effect is in line with motor theory; as action capability decreases action language is worsened, and as it increases action word production increases. These are only the preliminary results and a further analysis in larger patient samples will be done. Studies with various movement disorders for AF should also be conducted.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/verb-naming-in-hypokinetic-and-hyperkinetic-movement-disorders-preliminary-results/