Morkovina Olga, Manukyan Piruza, Sharapkova Anastasia
Laboratory of Diagnostics and Advancing Cognitive Functions, Research Institute for Brain Development and Peak Performance, RUDN University, Moscow, Russia.
Department of English, Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
Front Psychol. 2024 Mar 19;15:1332391. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1332391. eCollection 2024.
A picture naming test (PNT) has long been regarded as an integral part of neuropsychological assessment. In current research and clinical practice, it serves a variety of purposes. PNTs are used to assess the severity of speech impairment in aphasia, monitor possible cognitive decline in aging patients with or without age-related neurodegenerative disorders, track language development in children and map eloquent brain areas to be spared during surgery. In research settings, picture naming tests provide an insight into the process of lexical retrieval in monolingual and bilingual speakers. However, while numerous advances have occurred in linguistics and neuroscience since the classic, most widespread PNTs were developed, few of them have found their way into test design. Consequently, despite the popularity of PNTs in clinical and research practice, their relevance and objectivity remain questionable. The present study provides an overview of literature where relevant criticisms and concerns have been expressed over the recent decades. It aims to determine whether there is a significant gap between conventional test design and the current understanding of the mechanisms underlying lexical retrieval by focusing on the parameters that have been experimentally proven to influence picture naming. We discuss here the implications of these findings for improving and facilitating test design within the picture naming paradigm. Subsequently, we highlight the importance of designing specialized tests with a particular target group in mind, so that test variables could be selected for cerebellar tumor survivors.
图片命名测试（PNT）长期以来一直被视为神经心理学评估的一个组成部分。在当前的研究和临床实践中，它有多种用途。PNT用于评估失语症患者言语障碍的严重程度，监测患有或未患有与年龄相关神经退行性疾病的老年患者可能出现的认知衰退，追踪儿童的语言发展，并在手术期间绘制需要保留的明确脑区。在研究环境中，图片命名测试有助于深入了解单语和双语者的词汇检索过程。然而，自从经典的、应用最广泛的PNT被开发以来，虽然语言学和神经科学已经取得了许多进展，但其中很少有成果应用于测试设计。因此，尽管PNT在临床和研究实践中很受欢迎，但其相关性和客观性仍然存疑。本研究概述了近几十年来表达了相关批评和担忧的文献。它旨在通过关注已被实验证明会影响图片命名的参数，来确定传统测试设计与当前对词汇检索潜在机制的理解之间是否存在显著差距。我们在此讨论这些发现对改进和促进图片命名范式内测试设计的意义。随后，我们强调了设计针对特定目标群体的专门测试的重要性，以便为小脑肿瘤幸存者选择测试变量。
