Four-legged duck gives new insight into dementia - Times...
Rated • 3 reviews • neuroscience, dementia, semantic processing • timesonline.co.uk
The duck started off well, then became more like
a turkey and finally a four-legged abstraction
"A dementia patient's drawing of a four-legged duck with a smile and a curling eyebrow has helped to lead scientists to the part of the brain that understands words, concepts and meaning.
The experiment is one of several at the University of Manchester that suggest that the meaning of words and concepts is processed by a brain region called the anterior temporal lobe, just in front of the ears.
The findings promise ultimately to improve therapy for a condition known as semantic dementia, a form of fronto-temporal dementia, in which patients lose the ability to recognise and name common objects, and to grasp their significance."
