Papers by Madhushree chakrabarty
The Indian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2012
Alzheimers & Dementia, Aug 3, 2023
INTRODUCTIONDementia cases are expected to rise to 81.1 million in 2040. Efforts are underway to ... more INTRODUCTIONDementia cases are expected to rise to 81.1 million in 2040. Efforts are underway to develop diagnostic methods to facilitate early detection of the disease. Herein we review research findings focusing on pragmatic dysfunction in patients with dementia and evaluate the usefulness of assessing dementia and its progress with a battery of tests assessing figurative language skills.METHODSA total of 74,778 article titles were identified from EMBASE, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases. After systematic screening, 51 journal articles were selected for the final review.RESULTThe review suggests that impaired figurative language might be a marker for early cognitive decline. Different forms of figurative language may be impaired at different stages of the disease and in different types of dementia involving different neuropathologies.CONCLUSIONThe use of pragmatic tests in combination with the existing diagnostic protocols might increase the probability of early diagnosis.HIGHLIGHTS Pragmatic impairment could be a marker of early cognitive impairment. Figurative language—an important pragmatic aspect—is disrupted in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early Alzheimer's disease (AD). Figurative language impairment might precede literal language impairment. Pragmatic tests could be more sensitive than standard neuropsychological tests. Inclusion of pragmatic tests in diagnostic guidelines might bolster early detection.
medRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Sep 22, 2020
doi: medRxiv preprint NOTE: This preprint reports new research that has not been certified by pee... more doi: medRxiv preprint NOTE: This preprint reports new research that has not been certified by peer review and should not be used to guide clinical practice.
Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translation, Mar 1, 2020
Objectives: To test the hypothesis that quality of life (QOL) is made up of different components,... more Objectives: To test the hypothesis that quality of life (QOL) is made up of different components, and each of these has different anatomic and demographic contributors. Design: Questionnaire-based study.
International Journal on Humanistic Ideology, Apr 1, 2010
ABSTRACT Researches on language cognition has so far concentrated on the contribution of left hem... more ABSTRACT Researches on language cognition has so far concentrated on the contribution of left hemisphere (or dominant hemisphere), grossly neglecting the role of right hemisphere. Very few studies have been made to explore in details the various communication disorders that result from right hemisphere lesion. One reason for this can be obviously traced to the difficulty in assessing or measuring the factors determining pragmatic incompetence (which are usually affected in RH lesion) compared to the structural components concerned with linguistic competence (which are usually impaired in LH lesion). In this paper we have made an attempt to discuss the communication disorders that result from RH lesion and some practical problems associated with such investigations.
Frontiers in Psychology, Feb 25, 2021
Background: Risks to healthcare workers have escalated during the pandemic and they are likely to... more Background: Risks to healthcare workers have escalated during the pandemic and they are likely to experience a greater level of stress. This cross-sectional study investigated mental distress among healthcare workers during the early phase of Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in India. Method: 140 healthcare workers of a tertiary care hospital in India were assessed for perceived stress and insomnia. A factor analysis with principal component method reduced these questions to four components which were categorized as insomnia, stress-related anxiety, stress-related irritability, and stress-related hopelessness. Further statistical analyses were done on these factor scores to identify the predictors and investigate the differences between the different categories of healthcare workers. Result: Doctors had the highest level of anxiety among the healthcare workers. Both doctors and nurses perceived a greater level of irritability than the other HCWs. Compared to doctors and nurses, other HCWs were more likely to experience insomnia. Lower age, higher education, female gender, and urban habitat were associated with greater perception of anxiety. Older age, being quarantined, and single marital status were the significant predictors of irritability. Female gender, single marital-status, and higher number of medical ailments contributed to perceived hopelessness. Quarantine significantly predicted insomnia. Conclusion: Different categories of healthcare workers are experiencing varied mental health problems owing to their heterogeneous socio-demographic backgrounds. Tailored and personalized care, as well as policies, might help in alleviating their problems. Further research is warranted to explore the psychological distress and remedies among these frontline workers during and after the ongoing pandemic crisis.
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, May 31, 2016
Pragmatic competence may be disrupted due to psychological and neurological causes. For appropria... more Pragmatic competence may be disrupted due to psychological and neurological causes. For appropriate remedy and rehabilitation, a precise assessment of pragmatic skills is important. However, there is no test battery in the Bengali language, and consequently, there is no published data on pragmatic ability of Bengali speakers. Due to the vast diversity of the population, it becomes increasingly difficult to assess pragmatic ability of an individual without a proper knowledge of the normal variations. To address this problem we have developed a test battery in Bengali, and to begin with, we have administered it to one hundred and five (105) normal healthy persons having different levels of education. The four groups having 17 years and above, 15 to < 17 years, 12 to < 15 years and 10 to < 12 years of education yielded a normative score of 193, 189, 171 and 150, respectively. These normative scores will allow clinicians to make a proper assessment of patients suffering from pragmatic deficits and help avoid interpreting social differences as neurological deficits.
Asia Pacific journal of speech, language, and hearing, Jun 1, 2012
ABSTRACT The distribution of nasal consonants varies across languages, with English containing ap... more ABSTRACT The distribution of nasal consonants varies across languages, with English containing approximately 11% of nasal phonemes, whereas Bangla consists of approximately 10% nasal phonemes. The purpose of the present study was to compute the normative mean nasalance scores for native Bangla speakers. A total of 100 native Bangla speakers were included in this study. Three Bangla passages were developed: (1) a phonetically balanced passage based on the frequency of occurrence of phonemes in Bangla, (2) an oral passage, and (3) a nasal passage. All passages were analyzed using a nasometer. Results identified a statistically significant difference in the nasalance scores of the three passages, with females exhibiting higher nasalance scores compared to males. A retest of nasalance one week later indicated a high correlation for all three passages. Normative nasalance values can be beneficial to clinicians in the identification of hypernasality in patients with cleft lip and palate, dysarthria, hearing impairment, and other related resonance disorders. Key Words: Bangla, nasalance, nasometer, reading pasage
International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, Sep 8, 2022
Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 2021
This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Comm... more This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
Psychology of Language and Communication, Sep 1, 2013
Aphasia following an acquired neurological insult necessitates an in-depth evaluation of the prim... more Aphasia following an acquired neurological insult necessitates an in-depth evaluation of the primary and secondary language symptoms. Of all the tools available for aphasia diagnosis, the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB; Kertesz, 1982) has proved to be one of the most comprehensive test batteries for describing the aphasia symptom complex. Several authors have pointed out the need for language-specific tools for the assessment of aphasia. But in Bengali, the most prevalent language in eastern India, no formal language assessment tool was available to date. The present study adapted the original WAB in Bengali to give the Bengali WAB (B-WAB). The study was completed in three phases: development, standardization and validation of the B-WAB. The test material was developed preserving the total number of items, however minor changes were made wherever necessary so that it matched the sociolinguistic norms in this part of the country. It was standardized in a group of 150 normal individuals in five different age groups ranging from 18-70 years, and normative values were provided for each subtest for each group. For establishing validity, it was administered to 30 aphasic subjects and the results indicated that the B-WAB was a valid tool for testing individuals with aphasia.
Alzheimer's & Dementia
INTRODUCTIONDementia cases are expected to rise to 81.1 million in 2040. Efforts are underway to ... more INTRODUCTIONDementia cases are expected to rise to 81.1 million in 2040. Efforts are underway to develop diagnostic methods to facilitate early detection of the disease. Herein we review research findings focusing on pragmatic dysfunction in patients with dementia and evaluate the usefulness of assessing dementia and its progress with a battery of tests assessing figurative language skills.METHODSA total of 74,778 article titles were identified from EMBASE, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases. After systematic screening, 51 journal articles were selected for the final review.RESULTThe review suggests that impaired figurative language might be a marker for early cognitive decline. Different forms of figurative language may be impaired at different stages of the disease and in different types of dementia involving different neuropathologies.CONCLUSIONThe use of pragmatic tests in combination with the existing diagnostic protocols might increase the probability of early diagnosis.HIGH...
International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, Sep 8, 2022
ABSTRACT Researches on language cognition has so far concentrated on the contribution of left hem... more ABSTRACT Researches on language cognition has so far concentrated on the contribution of left hemisphere (or dominant hemisphere), grossly neglecting the role of right hemisphere. Very few studies have been made to explore in details the various communication disorders that result from right hemisphere lesion. One reason for this can be obviously traced to the difficulty in assessing or measuring the factors determining pragmatic incompetence (which are usually affected in RH lesion) compared to the structural components concerned with linguistic competence (which are usually impaired in LH lesion). In this paper we have made an attempt to discuss the communication disorders that result from RH lesion and some practical problems associated with such investigations.
Background: Risks to healthcare workers (HCWs) escalate during pandemics and they are likely to e... more Background: Risks to healthcare workers (HCWs) escalate during pandemics and they are likely to experience a greater level of stress. This cross-sectional study investigated mental distress among HCWs during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Method: 140 HCWs of a tertiary care hospital in India were assessed for perceived stress and insomnia. A factor analysis with principal component method reduced these questions to four components which were categorized as insomnia, Stress-related Anxiety, Stress-related Irritability, and Stress-related Hopelessness. Further statistical analyses were done on these factor scores to identify the predictors and investigate the differences between the different categories of HCWs. Result: Doctors were the most anxious among the HCWs. Both doctors and nurses perceived a greater level of irritability than the other HCWs. Compared to the doctors and nurses, other HCWs were more likely to experience insomnia. Lower age, higher e...
Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 2021
Background: Social cognition deficits are common in clinical populations but there is a dearth of... more Background: Social cognition deficits are common in clinical populations but there is a dearth of standardized social cognition assessment tools in India. Theory of mind (ToM) is an important aspect of social cognition which is often assessed with the revised reading the mind in eyes test (RMET-R). However, we do not have a statistically validated version of the test for the Indian population. Aim: This study aims to assess the acceptability, reliability, and validity of the Bengali version of the RMET-R. Materials and Methods: We administered the RMET-R to 23 patients with chronic schizophrenia (SCZ), 22 patients with bipolar disorder, and 104 healthy controls (HCs) to evaluate the reliability and validity of the instrument in the Indian (Bengali) population. Results: We obtained moderate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.6) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.64, P < 0.001). Positive correlations were found between RMET-R and Wechsle...
The Indian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2012
ABSTRACT The present study aims at analyzing speech samples of four Bengali speaking children wit... more ABSTRACT The present study aims at analyzing speech samples of four Bengali speaking children with repaired cleft palates with a view to differentiate between the misarticulations arising out of a deficit in linguistic skills and structural or motoric limitations. Spontaneous speech samples were collected and subjected to a number of linguistic analyses (analysis of phonetic inventory, analysis of substitutions and anaiysis of phonological processes). Linguistic skills were evaluated using Receptive-Expressive Emergent Language Test and Linguistic Profile Test (in Bengali). The results revealed that, out of the four subiects, two had delayed linguistic skills with respect to their age. However, the phonetic inventories of all the four participants were similar to each other with no significant delay. The four children differed in the frequency and type of phonological processes used. This may be due to the variations in their linguistic skills. The data therefore suggests that all the articulatory problems might not be solely attributed to their present or past structural deficits; linguistic deficits may play a crucial role.
Journal of psycholinguistic research, Jan 31, 2016
Pragmatic competence may be disrupted due to psychological and neurological causes. For appropria... more Pragmatic competence may be disrupted due to psychological and neurological causes. For appropriate remedy and rehabilitation, a precise assessment of pragmatic skills is important. However, there is no test battery in the Bengali language, and consequently, there is no published data on pragmatic ability of Bengali speakers. Due to the vast diversity of the population, it becomes increasingly difficult to assess pragmatic ability of an individual without a proper knowledge of the normal variations. To address this problem we have developed a test battery in Bengali, and to begin with, we have administered it to one hundred and five (105) normal healthy persons having different levels of education. The four groups having 17 years and above, 15 to < 17 years, 12 to < 15 years and 10 to < 12 years of education yielded a normative score of 193, 189, 171 and 150, respectively. These normative scores will allow clinicians to make a proper assessment of patients suffering from pr...
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Papers by Madhushree chakrabarty