This paper describes the motivation, methodology and findings of a collaborative project that led to the production of the first two versions of the Mini Linguistic State Examination (MLSE).　Chief among the motivations for the work was the need for a quick, simple and quantitative clinical test of linguistic cognition that could capture the varied phenotypes of progressive aphasia and improve the consistency with which individual patients are classified by clinicians.　We were also fascinated by the possibility of comparing the performance of such an instrument by speakers of two different languages (English and Italian) which, although typologically close, present a number of important contrasts.　Researchers interested in PPA have since created parallel versions of the instrument in 12 further languages, including Japanese.　Comparison of the final forms taken by each of these versions and the ways in which the individual subtests are varied to exploit the idiosyncracies of the language they are testing may itself yield new insights into both the clinical spectrum of primary progressive aphasia and the biological basis of language itself.

This paper will introduce the process of translating and adapting to Japanese the Mini Linguistic State Examination （MLSE） which is a simple screening test for primary progressive aphasia （PPA）.　The version was adapted from the MLSE-British English with partial reference to the Italian version.　The procedure followed the basic guidelines for translating measurements by Inada （2015）.　As a first step, the translator created a Japanese translation, and an independent individual verified the English-Japanese translation.　Discussions were held for all translations which the translator and the verifier had differing opinions.　In order to meet the cultural and language specific considerations, changes were added to the stimuli such as the illustrations, choice of the vocabularies, and sentence orders.　An illustrator was hired to draw all illustrations in the translated version.　The first Japanese version was administered to 94 healthy individuals.　Based on the result, one word in each in the repetition and the reading task were replaced, and modified sections were administered to 10 healthy individuals.　After this process, MLSE-Japanese ver. 1 including the MLSE test booklet, the scoring sheet, and the test manual was finalized.　In the process, nine out of the eleven tasks were modified to be meet the cultural and linguistic specificities.

I have reviewed the historical viewpoint of aphasia and related language systems.　We need integrate the hypothesis which seem to have been contradictory.　Development of imaging methods has brought us useful and interesting findings about elementary language symptoms and the related brain regions, and neural network in the brain.　However, it remains unclear why fluctuation of language function including dissociation automatico voluntaire occurs, and the relationship between catagorry specific impairment and modality specific impairment.　We expect these unresolved issues to be elucidated in this century.

In 1900, Liepmann reported a case of apraxia, and later, proposed a classical theory of apraxia. This article explains the outline of Liepmann’s theory.　Based on the theory, various theories for underlying mechanisms of apraxia were proposed, though they are still controversial until the last decade of 20^th century.　At this period, task condition for ideational and Ideomotor apraxia have been gradually clarified.

Classical aphasia studies were developed based on clinical studies of patients with focal brain injuries, primarily cerebrovascular disease.　Meanwhile, Mesulam proposed progressive aphasia in 1982 as slowly progressive aphasia without generalized dementia due to neurodegenerative diseases.　The “without generalized dementia” part was later revised, defining the group of neurodegenerative diseases presenting with slowly progressive aphasia as primary progressive aphasia （PPA）.　In 2011, clinical diagnostic criteria were established for three types of PPA:nonfluent/agrammatic variant, semantic variant, and logopenic variant.　Furthermore, neuropsychological studies played a crucial role in both aphasia in cerebrovascular disease and PPA.　This article first reviews neuropsychological approaches conducted on logopenic variant PPA.　Afterwards, it discusses new perspectives that PPA brings to aphasia in terms of progression and background disease/pathology.　The progression of aphasia is illustrated through a case that began with word-finding difficulty and agraphia of Kanji characters, showing the progression of language symptoms from the initial symptoms to severe stages and the onset of new symptoms.　This article further discusses the progression of aphasia in terms of semantic memory, based on an examination of semantic dementia, which presented symptoms beyond aphasia.

Lexical process of reading is complex and requires interdisciplinary approaches and various methodologies to understand it.　This paper reviews what model-theoretic approaches have revealed in cognitive neuropsychology and explores future perspectives.　The dual-route model, in which lexical and sublexical procedures are used to convert letter sequences into phonological sequences, has been proposed and extensively explored in interpreting both reading processes of normal adults and patients with different types of acquired dyslexia. In recent years, computer simulations have been used to explain the various characteristics of reading errors in dyslexics.　This advances in computer simulation research, especially from the perspective of connectionist approaches, raises various issues regarding conventional single-case methodology, the principle of double-dissociation, and relationship between brain and mind.　Computational models play an important role in understanding the structure of the normal cognitive system and the mechanisms of reading disorders.　It is expected that computational models make rapid progress in our understanding of language functions related to meaning.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation （rTMS） can modulate neural activity of the brain non-invasively and focally. For example, low-frequency rTMS of ≤1 herz decreases local neural activity of the brain.　For post-stroke aphasia （PSA）, low-frequency rTMS is therapeutically applied to the non-lesional hemisphere. Some meta-analyses have already confirmed the beneficial effect of low-frequency rTMS for PSA.　Nowadays, rTMS for post-stroke patients is considered to be one of the interventions which can enhance neural plasticity of the brain, bringing about increased responsiveness of the brain to rehabilitative training.　Therefore, we can say that rTMS for PSA is a neural plasticity enhancer to maximize the efficacy of languate training provided by speech therapists.　As an ideal therapeutic approach for PSA, it is desired to combine rTMS and language therapy.　Novel concept to facilitate functional recovery in PSA patients includes clinical introduction of spaced application, application of more potent TMS modality such as theta burst stimulation, functional neuroimaging-based therapeutic rTMS strategy and so on.　It is expected that rTMS for PSA would be therapeutically introduced more broadly in the future, although only a few institutions can provide rTMS for PSA patients in Japan currently.

While numerous studies have investigated the caregiving burden in dementia and mild cognitive impairment patients and their families, several issues persist, including the limited cognitive function measurement scope and insufficient analysis combining psychiatric symptoms.　This study aimed to assess the cognitive and psychological functions of outpatients with memory loss and the corresponding burden experienced by their caregivers.　Test data from 63 outpatient-caregiver pairs were analyzed, utilizing the SDS, Raven Color Matrix Test, and WMS-R for caregivers, and the J-ZBI and DBD for primary caregivers.　The results of the analysis revealed that:1） many care recipients exhibited a high tendency toward depression, 2） many care recipients had lower cognitive function compared to their age group, and 3） primary caregivers experienced a significant caregiving burden.　Thus, it was suggested that even for patients and caregivers at the forgetfulness outpatient clinic, who are presumed to have mild cognitive impairment, there is a strong sense of maladaptation similar to that observed in dementia patients and their caregivers.　These findings emphasize the need for psychological support for individuals with mild cognitive impairment and social support for caregivers, even when cognitive function impairment is mild.