Cognitive estimation impairment in Alzheimer disease and mild cognitive impairment.
Intact executive functioning is believed to be required for performance on tasks requiring cognitive estimations. This study used a revised version of a cognitive estimations test (CET) to investigate whether patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) were impaired on the CET compared with normal elderly controls (NECs). Neuropsychological tests were administered to determine the relationship between CET performance and other cognitive domains. AD patients displayed impaired CET performance when compared with NECs but MCI patients did not. Negative correlations between tests of working memory (WM) and semantic memory and the CET were found in NECs and AD patients, indicating that these cognitive domains were important for CET performance. Regression analysis suggests that AD patients were unable to maintain semantic information in WM to perform the task. The authors conclude that AD patients display deficits in working memory, semantic memory, and executive function, which are required for adequate CET performance.
Levinoff
Elise J
EJ
Bloomfield Centre for Research in Aging, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Montreal, PQ, Canada.
Phillips
Natalie A
NA
Verret
Louis
L
Babins
Lennie
L
Kelner
Nora
N
Akerib
Vivian
V
Chertkow
Howard
H
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003210:Concept Formation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011340:Problem Solving; D011594:Psychometrics; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014706:Verbal Learning