The corpus of verbal representations is a front-line methodological instrument for studying semantic deterioration in pathologies involving conceptual-semantic-lexical impairment, especially semantic dementia and Alzheimer’s.

This paper presents a corpus of literal definitions for determined semantic categories —of the basic categorization level— referring both to living beings (dog, pine tree and apple) and inanimate objects (chair, car, trousers), then goes on to analyze the attributes, traits or characteristics embedded in such definitions.

The study sample comprised 212 participants: 107 elderly people who were cognitively healthy, serving as a control group, and 105 sufferers of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. Subjects were in the 55 to 93 age range and belonged to two different Spanish-speaking contexts —Spain (N = 69) and Argentina (N = 142)— which despite sharing a language exhibit significant cultural differences.