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Assessing everyday action in dementia: A response to de Jonghe (2006)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2006

TANIA GIOVANNETTI
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Extract

The Cognitive Neuropsychology Laboratory at Temple University applies neuropsychological models of action processes to the study of everyday action (EA) in dementia. Our ultimate goals are to develop models of EA impairment and inform interventions that promote EA in the home. Our recent paper (Giovannetti et al., 2006b) was an initial step in this overarching plan. We examined differences in EA between participants with Alzheimer's disease (AD) versus Vascular dementia (VaD), two distinct neurocognitive syndromes (see Libon et al., 2004). The groups obtained comparable overall accomplishment scores, but VaD participants made more commissions and accomplished fewer steps when distractor objects were in the workspace. Thus, VaD participants demonstrated a different pattern of EA impairment than AD participants.

Type
RESPONSE TO LETTER
Copyright
© 2006 The International Neuropsychological Society

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References

REFERENCES

Giovannetti, T., Libon, D.J., Brennan, L., Magourick Bettcher, B., Sestito, N., & Kessler, R. (2006a). Strategic Object Placement Improves Everyday Action in Individuals with Alzheimer's Disease. Unpublished Manuscript.
Giovannetti, T., Libon, D.J., Buxbaum, L.J., & Schwartz, M.F. (2002). Naturalistic action impairment in dementia. Neuropsychologia, 40, 12201232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giovannetti, T., Schmidt, K., Sestito, N., Libon, D.J., & Gallo, J. (2006b). Everyday Action in Dementia: Evidence for Differential Deficits in Alzheimer's Disease versus Subcortical Vascular Dementia. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 12, 4553.Google Scholar
Libon, D.J., Price, C.C., Garrett, K.D., & Giovannetti, T. (2004). From Binswanger's disease to leukoaraiosis: What we have learned about subcortical vascular dementia. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 18, 83100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, M.F., Buxbaum, L.J., Ferarro, M., Veramonti, T., & Segal, M. (2003). The Naturalistic Action Test. Bury St. Edmunds, UK: Thames Valley Test Company.