Abstract
Patients with alcohol use disorders (AUD) have difficulties with certain aspects of higher-order language functions (HOLF) but there is no data on a wide range of these functions in this group. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare different aspects of HOLF in patients with AUD and healthy controls (HC). A total of 31 patients with AUD and 44 HC took part in the study. We assessed HOLF with the Right Hemisphere Language Battery (RHLB) and measured control variables: depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) as well as the speed of processing and executive functions with the Color Trails Test (CTT). Patients with AUD had lower results on nine RHLB tests. Moreover, AUD patients had higher scores on PHQ and longer reaction times on CTT. The differences in most RHLB results remained significant after co-varying the control variables. Patients with AUD have difficulties with making inferences from the text, understanding the meaning of individual words, metaphorical content, and prosody, which may impede the comprehension and production of discourse in which linguistic elements must be integrated with non-verbal cues and contextual information. These disturbances may impact various spheres of everyday life and negatively influence social, private, and professional functioning.
Highlights
Language and communication abilities related to higher-level processing refer to the use of language in particular contexts, the communication of intentions, goals, thoughts and emotions, as well as the use of symbols to communicate
Patients with alcohol use disorders (AUD) were selected based on medical history, consultation with psychiatrists, and a clinical interview based on the ICD-10 (WHO [45]) with the patient, which was performed before the neuropsychological assessment
The results revealed disturbances in the ability to infer from context and understanding of lexical-semantic information in patients with AUD
Summary
Language and communication abilities related to higher-level processing refer to the use of language in particular contexts, the communication of intentions, goals, thoughts and emotions, as well as the use of symbols to communicate. A given utterance may be interpreted in any number of ways, depending on, for example, the identity of the speaker, physical context, or the preceding conversation [1]. Among these abilities, we can distinguish lexical-semantic processes, prosody, discourse understanding, and production, as well as comprehension of indirect speech such as metaphors, irony, and humor. We can distinguish lexical-semantic processes, prosody, discourse understanding, and production, as well as comprehension of indirect speech such as metaphors, irony, and humor These can be described/defined as higher-order language functions (HOLF). One of the batteries, which assesses aspects of communications and language skills, is the Right Hemisphere Language Battery (RHLB [2])
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