title: Proper names in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: A short proper name retrieval test was found to discriminate between unselected subjects and age- and education- matched patients affected by Alzheimer's type dementia at a stage where the Mini-Mental State Examination could not detect a difference between these groups. The proper name retrieval task also compared favorably with the 3MS, a more sensitive, modified version of the MMSE. These findings suggest that proper name retrieval could be used to an advantage and become a routine component of short batteries for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Semenza
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Borgo
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mondini
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pasini
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sgaramella
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009275:Names; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index