The Effects of Phonemic Cueing on Confrontation Naming in Frontotemporal Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease: Evidence from the Polish Version of the Boston Naming Test

Confrontation naming of objects, as measured by the Boston Naming Test (BNT), is impaired in both fronto-temporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the profile of naming disturbances seems to be different in these two neurodegenerative conditions, which could provide clues for differential diagnosis. This study aimed to characterize the naming performance in FTD and AD as well as to test if the ability to benefit from phonemic cueing may be differentially impaired in FTD and AD. We examined 28 patients who met the clinical criteria for FTD (16 men, 12 women) and 30 subjects with probable AD (22 women, 8 men). Naming was assessed twice in both groups, with the mean time between examinations ranging from 6 to 8 months. At each testing session, the patient’s ability to name pictures from the Boston Naming Test (authorized Polish version) was assessed, with phonemic cueing whenever the patient failed to name the picture correctly The overall quantitative differences between the FTD and the AD groups on the BNT were not statistically significant. Nevertheless, in comparison to subjects with FTD, whose naming scores improved with phonemic cueing, the performance of patients with AD was characterized by perceptual/associative errors and did not benefit from phonemic cueing. The preserved ability of patients with FTD to benefit from phonemic cueing, together with the qualitative analysis of performance on the BNT, might be useful in the differential diagnosis of FTD and AD.