Scientists find subtle change happens to people’s speech before they get dementia

They speak slower, with more pauses, and tend to use the same words more frequently.

If you notice these habits in your elderly loved one, it could be an early warning sign of dementia.

New research is beginning to shed light on what natural signs of aging may be and whether a serious brain condition may be responsible for the way we speak.

For example, forgetting names of people or places or having trouble finding words is natural and associated with memory retrieval, but this gets worse as we age.

However, this, combined with slowed, slurred, paused speech and a limited vocabulary, may represent a more widespread decline. exhibit dementia-like symptoms Parkinson’s disease.

it is, University of Toronto A February study surveyed more than 100 adults between the ages of 18 and 90. Those who couldn’t immediately put into words what they saw in the photo were more likely to say the wrong thing.

The findings are believed to be timely, as lawmakers and constituents have repeatedly urged the president to do so. Joe Biden Resigning due to concerns about his cognitive health.

The 81-year-old man again Disastrous press conference He’s slipped up a lot this week and lost his train of thought.

At one point he accidentally referred to President Volodymyr. Zelensky of Ukraine As President Putin” He accidentally called the vice president. Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump”

And during last month’s presidential debate with Donald Trump, Biden He found himself becoming increasingly speechless.

“Making sure that every single person gets the same treatment that I’ve been doing with COVID-19… excuse me for saying it… dealing with everything that needs to be done…” he said, then paused for a few seconds.

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… Look, we finally beat Medicare,” he continued.

and, White House was Have been seen by a doctor for Parkinson’s disease eight times There has been much speculation over the past year that Biden’s speech impediment is a sign of brain damage.

To test whether word loss is an accurate indicator of brain health in older adults, researchers at the University of Toronto studied 125 healthy adults.

Patients were divided into three groups: young, middle-aged, and elderly.

The average age of the younger participants was 26 years, the average age of the middle-aged participants was 48 years, and the average age of the older participants was 70 years.

In the first phase, participants were given a “picture-word interference task,” in which the researchers showed participants pictures of everyday objects (e.g., a broom) while playing audio clips of either related words (e.g., “mop”) or similar-sounding words (e.g., “grooming”).

The team found that older adults who naturally spoke faster were also faster at correctly naming pictures, suggesting that slower language processing may be a sign of cognitive decline rather than difficulty remembering words.

This may sound obvious, but people’s communication styles change as they get older, and sometimes there’s no need to worry.

For example, word-finding can be a result of aging, which can also cause subtle changes in speech, such as slower speech rate, more pauses between words, and less variety in the words used.

But researchers warn that these changes in speech, combined with struggling to identify exact words from memory – sometimes known as the “tip of the tongue” phenomenon – could be a warning sign of conditions such as dementia.

Dementia researchers Claire Lancaster and Alice Stanton from the University of Sussex, who were not involved in the study, said: conversation“This study highlights that changes in speech rate may be an important and subtle indicator of cognitive health that may help identify people at risk before more serious symptoms become evident.”

“This study shows that it’s not just what you say, but how quickly you say it that can reveal cognitive changes, opening exciting doors for future research.”

Biden’s cognitive abilities have been widely questioned, with neurologists saying He told DailyMail.com The president is showing signs of Parkinson’s disease, including speech impediments and trouble walking.

But Biden said, Despite growing concerns, he intends to remain in the presidential race..