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By: Amie Dahnke
Say what?
According to a new study, talking faster is linked to better brain health.
The study, conducted by Baycrest, a Canadian academic health sciences center, and the University of Toronto, is one of the first to examine the link between talking speed and brain health. The findings suggest that talking speed is more important than quick word recall when it comes to brain health.
“Our results indicate that changes in general talking speed may reflect changes in the brain,” Jed Meltzer, Baycrest’s Canada research chair in interventional cognitive neuroscience and the lead author of this study, said in a press release. “This suggests that talking speed should be tested as part of standard cognitive assessments to help clinicians detect cognitive decline faster and help older adults support their brain health as they age.”
To determine how talking speed might reflect brain health, the research team had 125 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 90 complete three different assessments. During the first assessment, participants wore headphones and listened to distracting words while they tried to answer questions about pictures being shown to them.
For example, when shown a picture of a bucket, they could be asked, “Does it end in ‘t’?” Meanwhile, they could hear the word “dog” as a distraction. This test assessed the ability to both recognize an image and recall its name.
In the second assessment, participants were recorded while being given one minute to describe a complex picture. Participants performed this activity twice. The research team utilized artificial intelligence software to determine how fast participants spoke and how often they paused.
For the last assessment, participants completed standard tests to establish a baseline of abilities that often decline with age and are linked to a higher risk of dementia. These abilities are basic executive functions used daily to control and coordinate other cognitive abilities, including managing conflicting information, staying focused, and avoiding distractions.
The researchers were not surprised to learn that older participants had more difficulty with word-finding. However, they discovered that, although the ability to recognize and recall an image often worsened with age, it was not associated with a decline in other executive function abilities. For example, the frequency and duration of a person’s pauses to find words were not correlated to brain health. Rather, how quickly participants were able to name pictures and how quickly they spoke were both linked to executive function.
According to the researchers, the slowing of natural speech was a more robust indicator of poorer brain health than pausing to search for words.
Cognitive Changes Are Normal, Dementia Is Not
It’s easy to misinterpret misplaced memories or word slips as a sign of dementia, but these study results indicate that pausing to think about word choice is a normal part of aging.
However, slowing down of everyday speech could indicate that something more is going on with overall brain health.
Dementia affects millions of people but is not considered a normal part of aging, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Common signs and symptoms of dementia include:
- Memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment
- Speaking and understanding difficulties
- Difficulty reading and writing
- Disorientation in familiar places
- Difficulty handling finances
- Asking repetitive questions
- Trouble completing daily tasks
- Impulsivity
- Poor balance and movement problems
- Loss of interest in events or activities
- Hallucinations or paranoia.
