Processes of verbal memory failure in Alzheimer-type dementia.
Multiple aspects of verbal learning and memory performance in mild as compared to moderate Alzheimer-type dementia (ATD) were studied with the Buschke selective reminding paradigm. Results show that (1) both groups of ATD subjects depend less on long-term memory (LTM) and more on short-term memory (STM) relative to elderly control subjects, (2) mild ATD subjects show less LTM encoding than moderate ATD subjects, (3) moderate ATD subjects retrieve a smaller portion of the items presumed to be encoded into LTM than do mild ATD subjects, and (4) high-imagery words increase LTM encoding and retrieval as compared to low-imagery words for moderate ATD subjects only. These results are explained by the inability of ATD subjects to attend to more than one component of the list-learning task, in conjunction with differences in the deployment of attention between mild and moderate ATD subjects.
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D014706:Verbal Learning