RT Journal Article T1 Animals in multidimensional space: Interpreting coordinates throughout lexical-semantic features in mild cognitive impairment and control subjects A1 López Sánchez, Ramón A1 Rubio Valdehita, Susana A1 Llorente Morales, Cristina A1 Sánchez-Beato, Andrea A1 Delgado-Lima, Alice Helena A1 Delgado Losada, María Luisa AB Introduction: Semantic verbal fluency is a useful neuropsychological tool since it involves language and executive abilities that can be impaired in patients with neurodegenerative diseases in comparison to healthy controls. The present study explores retrieve and executive control processes using traditional quantitative and qualitative raw scores and examines the utility of multidimensional scaling combined with linear regression to provide new insights about the underlying semantic network in mild cognitive impairment and in healthy older adults. Method: A total of 165 Spanish older adults, 81 patients and 84 controls, were assessed in different cognitive domains and evoked animal names in one minute. Group differences on fluency raw scores were first explored. Regressions using tests to predict groups’ fluency scores were also performed. The 12 animals that had been produced more frequently were selected to perform a multidimensional scaling analysis for each group. Four features related to animal names were extracted from normative studies and then were used as predictors in linear regression to provide an interpretation of the resulting dimensions’ coordinates. Results: Patients performed worse on memory and naming and produced a shorter list of animals than controls. In controls, naming and visual memory explained a small part of variance related to the total of animals produced and to the number of switches. Both groups exhibited similar semantic maps. Conclusions: Results suggest that patients’ map is influenced by words with a dense associative neighborhood that were acquired at an early age, whereas in controls none of the predictors explained dimensions. PB Taylor & Francis SN 1380-3395 SN 1744-411X YR 2021 FD 2021-11-26 LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/102341 UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/102341 LA eng NO López-Higes, R., Rubio-Valdehita, S., Llorente-Morales, C., Sánchez-Beato, A., Delgado-Lima, A. H., & Delgado-Losada, M. L. (2021). Animals in multidimensional space: Interpreting coordinates throughout lexical-semantic features in mild cognitive impairment and control subjects. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 43(10), 1018-1031. DS Docta Complutense RD 8 abr 2025