Grant: Summer Program in Aging

Picture naming is one's ability to name objects presented in picture form. Tests for picture naming are often used in the clinical diagnosis of a variety of cognitive impairments (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment) and to guide treatment plans. The most used test of picture naming is the Boston Naming Test (BNT), which was developed in English before being translated to other languages. Unfortunately, previous studies have shown that these translated versions are not appropriate for French-speaking and English-French bilingual individuals. Researchers have found that cognitively healthy French-speaking and English-French bilinguals score lower on the BNT than their English-speaking counterparts. Because of this, French-speaking and English-French bilinguals are at greater risk of being diagnosed with dementia when they are in fact cognitively healthy. These low scores are the result of inconsistencies in the BNT, not cognitive impairment. Therefore, the aim of my present research is to develop a new naming task that is appropriate for English-speaking, French-speaking, and English-French bilingual Canadians. The new naming task will differentiate between cognitively healthy and cognitively impaired individuals. This task intends to minimize the misdiagnosis of dementia in Canadian French-speaking older adults.