Older adults with early Alzheimer’s disease may find it especially difficult to not only grasp for the right word, but also to construct complex sentences. The findings may shed light on the mechanisms of language decline and lead to techniques for early diagnosis and interventions for both healthy and cognitively impaired older adults. “There is a distinct gap in the research on language decline in those with clinical and prodromal (early symptom) conditions,” says Barbara Lust, professor of human development at Cornell University.
