Scientists say the speed of a person’s speech, not just how quickly they can recall<\/a> a word, could be an early warning sign of dementia.<\/p>\n Early signs of Alzheimer’s<\/a> disease \u2014 which affects more than six million Americans \u2014 may include changes in talking speed that reflect underlying brain decline<\/a>.<\/p>\n Researchers at the University of Toronto turned a picture-naming task into a game to measure how quickly 125 adults aged 18 to 85 could retrieve words.<\/p>\n In the study, people who were slow at naming pictures in the game were also the ones who spoke more slowly and used more \u2018ums\u2019 and \u2018uhs\u2019 in everyday conversation, a sign that the brain’s processing speed affects everything from timed tasks to casual conversation.<\/p>\n But the strongest link between speech and brain health was the speed at which the words came out when a person was talking,\u00a0not the hesitations or length of gaps between words.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n How quickly someone could name a picture matched how quickly they spoke in general, and both were tied to executive function, which controls how quickly the brain can take in information, make sense of it and respond.<\/p>\n A general slowness in getting words out, whether in a naming game or natural conversation, appeared to reflect the cognitive processing speed that slows with age and may signal early changes in the brain.<\/p>\n Unlike traditional memory tests that simply track whether someone answers correctly, speaking speed may offer a more sensitive early clue to cognitive decline.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Speaking speed itself \u2014 not the number of ‘uhs’ and ‘ums’ in a person’s sentence \u2014 was the strongest link to brain health.\u00a0How quickly someone named a picture matched how quickly they spoke and both were tied to the brain’s ability to process information and respond (stock)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Speaking](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2026\/03\/23\/19\/107358517-15672425-image-a-21_1774293117437.jpg\")
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