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Abstract
Background: Language symptoms in multiple sclerosis (MS) are rather common but often subtle and the patients themselves have a subjective experience of an impaired capability although this is difficult to verify in standard examination of language.
Aims: The aim of this study was to explore lexical substitution and retrieval in MS patients in comparison with a matched control group.
Methods & Procedures: A total of 25 MS patients and 25 matched control participants were tested with a picture‐naming test (Boston Naming Test; BNT) and a letter‐word fluency test (FAS). A comprehensive analysis was performed regarding response patterns on the BNT, and of strategies used in the word fluency test. The results of the groups were compared and related to background data.
Outcomes & Results: The analysis of the responses on the BNT showed that the MS patients used more indistinct descriptions as substitutions and responded with significantly more off‐target substitutions than did the control group. In the word fluency test there was a significantly more effective use of strategies for retrieval in the control group. Effective strategic retrieval correlated with effective substitutions for target responses.
Conclusions: The results confirm that language function is impaired in MS and show how naming responses become poor and semantically unspecific, concurrent with less‐effective strategic retrieval in word fluency tests. The impaired language function correlates with a general cognitive decline.