Fig. 3. Semantic network of all items to TLC backbone.

The network obtained by linking each item from the seven FTD scales to its single most similar TLC item, revealing four distinct clusters of semantically related symptoms. In the bottom-left cluster (Group 1), items reflect muddled communication with incomprehensible elements, meaning distortion, and word substitution that heighten confusion. The middle-top cluster (Group 2) highlights abrupt topic shifts, repeated words or subjects, speech interruptions, and lapses in recalling previous statements. The top-right cluster (Group 3) centers on unfounded conclusions, irrelevant replies, lack of thought continuity, and disjointed ideas, resulting in inconsistent narrative structure. Finally, the bottom-right cluster (Group 4) illustrates off-topic wandering, weak context association, and minimal connecting “cementing words,” exacerbating difficulties in word sequencing. Items are color-coded by the rating scale prefix (e.g., TALD, TLC, CLANG, BIT, SAPS-SANS, PANSS, TLI), illustrating how conceptually similar symptoms from different scales co-locate in the same region of the network. For a full description of these four groups and the corresponding items, see Table 1. For a version of this division where edges represent similarity, see supplemental Fig. 1.