4,068 posters, 219 videos, 101 topics, 69 sessions, 14,365 authors, 6,128 institutions

Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2026

July 12-15, 2026 | London, United Kingdom, and Online

681

Connected Speech And Proper Name Recall Are Associated With Gray And White Matter Microstructure In Adults At Risk For Alzheimer’s Disease

Preview of Connected Speech And Proper Name Recall Are Associated With Gray And White Matter Microstructure In Adults At Risk For Alzheimer’s Disease

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Poster Presenter

Madeline Hale

Authors

Madeline Hale, Jason Moody, Kristin Basche, Davide Bruno, Sterling Johnson, Barbara Bendlin, Kimberly Mueller

Affiliations

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Liverpool John Moores University

Part of Topic

BACKGROUND: Connected speech and language (CSL) changes in preclinical and early Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are ecologically valid and clinically meaningful measures that are closely associated with core AD biomarkers (e.g., PET amyloid, CSF, plasma p-tau217). 1-5 However, their neural correlates, particularly the underlying patterns of brain degeneration, remain poorly understood. Multi-shell diffusion weighted-imaging (DWI)–derived microstructural markers in white and gray matter are associated with AD biomarkers and cognition,6-8 making DWI models well suited to test potential associations between sensitive CSL markers and early neurodegenerative patterns in AD.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate associations between CSL, including metrics derived from picture description tasks and proper names from delayed story recall, and DWI measures of white matter microstructure from a priori white matter and cortical gray matter regions of interest.

METHODS

•Participants from WRAP and ADRC cohorts with a processed DWI scan and CSL recordings from neuropsychological testing.

•The neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) model was applied to DWI scans to obtain two measures used in analyses: neurite density index (NDI) and orientation dispersion index (ODI)

•Cookie Theft picture description samples were transcribed and automated feature extraction applied to derive 4 metrics of interest.

•Proper names score from delayed story recall was obtained using item-level analysis from test administration forms.

•Linear regressions with NODDI as outcome & CSL as predictor

•Benjamini-Hochberg correction for multiple corrections

•Partial R2 quantified effect sizes

•Repeated analyses in cognitively unimpaired (CU) participants only

RESULTS

•Significant CSL-DWI associations were found between white matter and gray matter regions (Table 2).

•Two survived correction: (1) in the mixed cognitive status sample, greater parahippocampal gyrus NDI was associated with more PNs recalled; (2) in the CU only sample, lower anterior inferior temporal gyrus ODI was associated with higher use of content words (Figure 1).

CONCLUSIONS

•We demonstrated differences in CSL and proper name recall were associated with gray matter microstructural metrics in regions vulnerable to early AD.

•Our results support that CSL metrics are associated with early AD-related neurodegeneration, warranting further evaluation of CSL as an outcome measure for use in AD clinical trials.

Limitations: homogeneity of sample

Future directions: evaluate additional DWI metrics, associations with AD biomarkers & hemispheric effects

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