Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T05:05:36.671Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Memory for visuospatial patterns in Alzheimer's disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Dario Grossi ,
James T. Becker ,
Christine Smith  and
Luigi Trojano
Dario Grossi*
Affiliation:
Neurologic Institute, 2nd Medical School, Naples, Italy; Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Fondazione Clinica del Lavoro, Centro Medico di Campoli MT, IRCCS, Campoli, Italy
James T. Becker
Affiliation:
Neurologic Institute, 2nd Medical School, Naples, Italy; Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Fondazione Clinica del Lavoro, Centro Medico di Campoli MT, IRCCS, Campoli, Italy
Christine Smith
Affiliation:
Neurologic Institute, 2nd Medical School, Naples, Italy; Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Fondazione Clinica del Lavoro, Centro Medico di Campoli MT, IRCCS, Campoli, Italy
Luigi Trojano
Affiliation:
Neurologic Institute, 2nd Medical School, Naples, Italy; Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Fondazione Clinica del Lavoro, Centro Medico di Campoli MT, IRCCS, Campoli, Italy
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Dario Grossi, Clinica Neurologica, Ed. 17, Nuovo Policlinico, Via S. Pansini, 80131 Napoli, Italy.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

Immediate memory for visuospatial information was assessed in patients affected by Alzheimer-type dementia but with unimpaired visuo-perceptual functions. Patients were given two tasks: one was a traditional visuospatial memory task (Corsi's block tapping test), the second explored specifically immediate memory for visuospatial patterns. The experiment was conducted in two parallel groups of patients in Italy and the United States, each with its own appropriate sample of normal control subjects. Results showed a specific deficit of visual working memory in demented patients, even in a task in which control subjects achieved error-free performance. These data are interpreted in the light of the Working Memory Model, and suggest that in dementia the functions of the Visuospatial Scratchpad, unlike the functions of the verbal subsystems, may be impaired.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , February 1993 , pp. 65 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Baddeley, A. D. (1986). Working Memory. Oxford University Press: Oxford.Google ScholarPubMed
Baddeley, A. D. & Hitch, G. J. (1974). Working memory. In The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, vol. VIII (ed. Bower, G.), pp. 47–90. Academic Press: New York.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A. D., Logie, R., Bressi, S., Della Sala, S. & Spinnler, H. (1986). Dementia and working memory. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 38A, 603–618.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A. D., Della Sala, S. & Spinnler, H. (1991). The two-component hypothesis of memory deficit in Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology 13, 372–380.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Becker, J. T. (1988). Working memory and secondary memory deficits in Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neurophysiology 10, 739–753.Google ScholarPubMed
Becker, J. T., Bajulaiye, O. I. & Smith, C. (1992). Longitudinal analysis of a two-component model of the memory deficit in Alzheimer's disease. Psychological Medicine 22, 437–445.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E. & McHugh, P. R. (1975). Mini-Mental State: a practical method for grading the mental state of patients for clinicians. Journal of Psychiatric Research 12, 189–198.Google Scholar
Huff, F. J., Becker, J. T., Belle, S. H., Nebes, R. D., Holland, A. L. & Boller, F. (1987). Cognitive deficits and clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Neurology 37, 1119–1124.Google Scholar
Logie, R. H. (1989). Characteristics of visual short-term memory. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology 1, 275–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Logie, R. H. & Marchetti, C. (1991). Visuo-spatial working memory: visual, spatial or central executive? In Mental Images in Human Cognition (ed. Logie, R. and Denin, M.), pp. 106–115. Elsevier: Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Lopez, O. L., Swihart, A. A., Becker, J. T., Reinmuth, O. M., Reynolds, C. F. III, Rezek, D. L. & Daly, F. L. III (1990). Reliability of NINCDS–ADRDA clinical criteria for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Neurology 40, 1517–1522.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKhann, G., Drachmann, D., Folstein, M., Katzman, R., Price, D. & Stadlan, E. M. (1984). Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease: report of the NINCDS–ADRDA Work Group. Neurology 34, 939–944.Google Scholar
Morris, R. G. (1984). Dementia and the functioning of the articulatory loop. Cognitive Neuropsychology 1, 143–157.Google Scholar
Morris, R. G. (1987). Exploring the visuospatial scratch pad. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 39A, 490–530.Google Scholar
Morris, R. G. & Baddeley, A. D. (1988). A review of primary and working memory functioning in Alzheimer-type dementia. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Psychology 10, 279–296.Google Scholar
Orsini, A., Trojano, L., Chiacchio, L. & Grossi, D. (1988). Immediate memory spans in dementia. Perceptual and Motor Skills 67, 267–272.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perez, F. I., Matthew, N. T., Stump, D. A. & Meyer, J. S. (1977). Regional cerebral blood flow statistical patterns and psychological performance in multi-infarct dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences 4, 53–62.Google Scholar
Phillips, W. A. (1983). Short-term visual memory. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B302, 295–309.Google Scholar
Quinn, J. G. & Ralston, G. E. (1986). Movement and attention in visual working memory. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 38A, 689–703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sahakian, B. J., Morris, R. G., Evenden, J. L., Heald, A., Levy, R., Philpot, M. & Robbins, T. W. (1988). A comparative study of visuospatial memory and learning in Alzheimer-type dementia and Parkinson's disease. Brain 111, 695–718.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sahgal, A., Sahakian, B. J., Robbins, T. W., Wray, C. J., Lloyd, S., Cook, J. H., McKeith, I. G., Disley, J. C. A., Eagger, S., Boddington, S. & Edwardson, J. A. (1991). Detection of visual memory and learning deficits in Alzheimer's disease using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery. Dementia 2, 150–158.Google Scholar
Trojano, L., Chiacchio, L., De Luca, G. & Grossi, D. (in preparation) Variables affecting spatial primary memory defect in Alzheimer's Disease.Google Scholar
Vallar, G. & Baddeley, A. D. (1984). Fractionation of working memory: Neuropsychological evidence for a phonological short-term store. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 26, 151–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar