Action and object naming tasks adaptation to assess motor semantics in Mexican elderly population; Adaptación de un paradigma de denominación para evaluar semántica motora en población mayor mexicana

Abstract

Background: Visual naming tests have wide use in neuropsychological evaluation. Particularly, action naming tasks depend on sensorimotor circuits, as a result, they are sensitive are sensitive to frontostriatal damage. In addition, motor semantics parameters such as motor content and instrumentality of actions influence the naming performance. Currently, there is no action naming test for Spanish speakers that accounts for motor semantic parameters such as motor content and instrumentality. Objective: To adapt visual stimuli of International Picture Naming Project (IPNP) to design a naming task considering motor semantic parameters. Method: First, motor content and instrumentality norms were generated to 80 items of IPNP. Second, the norms were used to organize the stimuli orthogonally in order to design the action naming task. Alongside, an equivalent task with objects was designed. Results: Both tasks were administered to 74 cognitively normal subjects aged 51 to 70. Psychometric properties of both tasks are provided, the effect of age, education and gender on performance was analyzed. Conclusion: This is the first proposal of an orthogonally designed visual naming test to assess motor content and instrumentality of actions for Spanish speakers.