Phonetic clustering characteristics in verbal fluency: A potential marker for differentiating subjective cognitive decline from mild cognitive impairment

Key Points

• This research aims to explore how phonetic clustering in verbal fluency tasks can distinguish between subjective cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment.
• Conducted phonetic clustering analysis during both phonemic and semantic verbal fluency tasks.
• Compared performance patterns between subjective cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment.
• Employed linguistic analysis to assess cognitive functioning beyond mere word count.
• Phonetic clustering exhibited significant differences between groups, indicating varying cognitive profiles.
• More preserved clustering patterns correlated with better cognitive functioning.
• Subtle changes captured in clustering analysis highlighted early dementia risk signs.