Compreensão da imagética convencional em sentenças gramaticais por pessoas com alzheimer

Abstract

The present research entitled “The comprehension of the conventional imagery in gramatical sentences by people suffering from Alzheimer”, aimed at identifying if there is any compromise regarding the comprehension of conventional imagery in grammatical sentences at the level of specificity, prominence and perspective, through the self-paced reading technique, produced by people suffering from Alzheimer. With the objective of reaching our goals and finding answers to our hypotheses, three experiments were carried out to analyse: the time of reaction while reading the sentence, the time of reaction for reading the comprehension questions and choosing the best answer, and the score of right answers given by young adults (YA) and healthy old (HO) taken as groups of control and the old with likely Alzheimer (OLA) as case group, considering sentences: at the level of schematicity and specificity, of proeminence in the active and passive voice and of perspective with spacial domain in the front/at the back and on the right/on the left. 10 YA, 10 HO and 10 OLA took part in the experiments, totalling thirty participants. Results show that, when compared to the old without cognitive decline, people suffering from Alzheimer present inferior performance in comprehending conventional imagery when it comes to the rate of right answers and the time of response. As the result of the first experiment, in relation to the level of specificity, people with Alzheimer need more time to read and give answers before schematic sentences, in which is also noticed the highest rate of wrong anwers. The second experiment shows that, regarding the prominent sentences, the time of reading and answering to comprehension questions by people with Alzheimer was superior to the group of control, not only in the passive voice but also in the active voice. They had lower rate of right answers before the active voice. Finally, as for the third experiment, before the perspective sentences, the time for reading and responding to a comprehension question by people with Alzheimer was superior to the group of control before sentences with spacial domain in the front and at the back and on the right and on the left. There was also an average of 60% in the rate of right answers in both domains. The hypothesis that the comprehension of conventional imagery in grammatical sentences at the level of specificity, prominence and perspective is affected since the early stages of the Alzheimer disease was confirmed. We believe that this is influenced by the progressive cognitive decline of the working memory, by the speed of processing, by the decision making and also by the spacial and temporal orientation.