Research Article

Mental State Inferences Abilities Contribution to Verbal Irony Comprehension in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Table 1

Mean (SD) and significance levels of demographic and neuropsychological characteristics of participants.

MeasuresMCIHC-test
()() (1, 58)

Participants characteristics
Age (years)73.9 (6.1)71.9 (8.2)1.20.230
Sexa18F/12M19F/11M0.791
Education (years)13.6 (5.3)14.2 (4.0)−0.50.618
Depressive symptoms
GDS (/30)6.8 (4.6)2.6 (2.6)4.30.000
Cognitive complaint
QPC (/10)3.6 (2.3)0.93 (1.4)5.50.000
General cognitive state
MoCA (/30)23.0 (3.2)26.5 (2.4)−4.80.000
Dementia Rating Scale (/144)134.0 (5.7)139.8 (2.8)−5.00.000
Functional autonomy
ACDS-ADL inventory (/45)37.6 (5.6)41.9 (3.4)−3.60.001
Executive functioning
Letter-number sequencing (WAIS-IV; scaled score)8.4 (2.0)9.7 (1.6)−2.60.013
D-KEFS Color-Word Interference Test Condition 3 (sec)86.9 (26.7)64.3 (12.2)4.10.000
D-KEFS Color-Word Interference Test Condition 3 (errors)3.0 (2.7)1.1 (1.6)3.20.003
D-KEFS Color-Word Interference Test Condition 4 (sec)105.6 (39.4)72.4 (21.2)4.00.000
D-KEFS Color-Word Interference Test Condition 4 (errors)5.3 (5.0)1.9 (1.6)3.60.001
D-KEFS Trail Making Test Condition 4 (sec)156.4 (70.3)109.6 (33.6)3.20.002
D-KEFS Trail Making Test Condition 4 (errors)0.9 (2.9)0.0 (0.2)1.60.129
Visuoconstruction
Copy of Rey Figure (/36)28.9 (4.9)31.9 (3.2)−2.70.009
Language
Letter (T-N-P) fluency (number of words in 1 min)29.2 (9.0)35.4 (10.1)−2.50.015
Semantic fluency (number of words in 1 min)14.7 (4.9)17.3 (4.4)−2.20.033
Boston Naming Test (/15)12.6 (1.7)13.4 (1.3)−2.20.033
Semantic memory
Pyramids and Palm Trees Test (/52)48.5 (3.2)49.9 (1.8)−2.10.041
Episodic memory
Recall of the Rey Figure (3 min; /36)12.1 (5.8)17.6 (6.0)−3.60.001
RL-RI free recall (/16)b6.0 (1.8)9.8 (1.2)−9.70.000
RL-RI total recall (/16)c12.2 (2.5)15.5 (0.7)−7.10.000
RL-RI delayed free recall (/16)6.6 (3.7)12.6 (2.1)−7.80.000
RL-RI total delayed total recall (/16)12.7 (2.9)15.7 (0.4)−5.80.000

Note. ACDS-ADL = Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study-Activities of Daily Living; D-KEFS = Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System; GDS = Geriatric Depression Scale; HC = healthy control participants; MCI = elderly person with mild cognitive impairment; MoCA = Montreal Cognitive Assessment; PPTT = Pyramid and Palm Trees Test; QPC = questionnaire de plainte cognitive; RL/RI-16 = Épreuve de rappel libre/rappel indicé à 16 items; SD = standard deviation; WAIS = Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale.
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compared to control participants.
aStatistical differences for distribution of gender in each group were examined using Pearson Chi-Square test.
bThis score was calculated as the mean number of words retrieved over the three free recall trials.
cThis score was calculated as the mean total number of words retrieved on all free plus cued recall trials.