The simple language tests that highlight your risk of disease

IF YOU were having problems with your memory, would you want to take a test that could tell if you were going to develop dementia? I would, so having not known the cause of my own problems for many years, I agreed to take part in a trial being developed by my doctor, Professor Peter Garrard.

The study involves two groups – those with a memory problem and those without – to see if there are differences in the way we use language, and if this changes over the course of a year. Researchers are looking at the breakdown in cognitive function – a term encompassing all mental abilities, such as reasoning and memory.

Participants are asked to complete a number of tasks while their speech is recorded. Once a month, Prof Garrard (pictured with me below) shows me images of common objects and I have to say what I see. It’s as simple as that.

Others tests rely on more natural uses of speech such as narrative story-telling or conversation. I’ll be asked to look at a children’s book with pictures but no words and tell the story out loud. Alternatively, I describe how to make a cup of tea.

It is thought that people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s show a speech pattern that is ‘empty’ – although they may be telling the story, their speech will contain a high number of words that don’t actually add very much information.

Prof Garrard says: ‘Understandably, people are nervous of memory assessments, and many become mentally frozen when faced with even simple questions like what day of the week it is. Something that is enjoyable and natural, like talking, should take the element of dread out of a memory clinic appointment and encourage more people to come forward.’