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Slowing Speech May Signal Early Dementia Risk
24 Mar
Summary
- Talking speed, not just word recall, may indicate dementia.
- University of Toronto study links slow speech to brain decline.
- Speaking speed is a more sensitive clue than traditional memory tests.
Scientists suggest that a person's speech rate could serve as an early indicator of dementia, potentially signaling underlying brain decline. Researchers at the University of Toronto transformed a word-retrieval task into a game to assess the speed at which 125 adults, aged 18 to 85, could name pictures. Those slower in the game also exhibited slower speech and more hesitations in everyday conversation.
The study highlighted that the speed of word output during natural speech was the strongest indicator of brain health, more so than pauses or filler words. This general slowness in verbalizing, observed in both timed tasks and casual talk, appears linked to the brain's executive function and cognitive processing speed, which can slow with age.
This finding suggests that speaking speed could be incorporated into standard cognitive assessments to facilitate earlier detection of cognitive decline. Unlike traditional tests focusing solely on correct answers, speech rate may provide a more nuanced early clue. Further research, including a study from the Framingham Heart Study, also indicated that sentence structure and pauses could reveal early disease markers, though overall speech slowdown remains a key indicator.
