A contribution of Natural Language Processing to the study of semantic memory loss in patients with Alzheimer’s disease

Authors

  • Beatriz Pérez Cabello de ALba National University for Distance Learning, Madrid

Keywords:

Natural Language Processing, FunGramKB, Semantic memory loss, Alzheimer’s dis-ease

Abstract

This paper addresses semantic memory loss from the perspective of Natural Language Processing. Dementia disorders and, in particular, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) present a loss of cognitive functions, being one of them semantic memory impairment. We set from a study conducted by Grasso, Díaz & Peraita (2011) where they analysed the production of features of four semantic categories (2 Living Beings and 2 Non Living Beings) of healthy subjects and patients with different levels of Alzheimer’s disease, taken from the Linguistic corpus of semantic categories definitions elaborated by Peraita & Grasso (2010). The aim of this work is to enhance the protocol of semantic features employed in that study by using Natural Language Processing systems such as FunGramKB (Periñán-Pascual & Arcas Túnez 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010). This lexical-conceptual knowledge base incorporates a series of feature descriptors for the definition of semantic knowledge which, together with the inheritance and inference relations established among concepts in the ontology, will enrich the collection of semantic features used in the test of semantic attributes production for the detection of semantic memory impairment (Grasso, Díaz & Peraita, 2011).

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Author Biography

Beatriz Pérez Cabello de ALba, National University for Distance Learning, Madrid

Dr Beatriz Pérez Cabello de Alba is Associate Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the UNED in Madrid (National University for Distance Learning), where she teaches Linguistics, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and Translation (legal, scientific-technical and economic-commercial). She also teaches several courses in the UNED European Masters of English Applied Linguistics. Her research interests cover lexicology, lexicography, ontological semantics, natural language processing, neurolinguistics and clinical linguistics. She has collaborated in several competitive research projects and is currently working in a project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness FFI2014-53788-C3-1P working on FunGramKB’s virtual laboratory (www.fungramkb.com). She has been a visiting scholar at the Universities of Amsterdam and Verona. She has also been visiting professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, and lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Kingston University.

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Published

2017-12-05

How to Cite

Pérez Cabello de ALba, B. (2017). A contribution of Natural Language Processing to the study of semantic memory loss in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Revista De Lenguas Para Fines Específicos, 23(2), 133–156. Retrieved from https://ojsspdc.ulpgc.es/ojs/index.php/LFE/article/view/922

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 2 (2017): Revista de lenguas para fines específicos

Section

Sección Monográfica/Special Issue

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