title: The Semantic Object Retrieval Test (SORT) in normal aging and Alzheimer disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To characterize performance on a test of semantic object retrieval (Semantic Object Retrieval Test-SORT) in healthy, elderly subjects and patients with Alzheimer disease (AD).
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Although the initial presentation of patients with AD often reflects impairment in delayed recall for verbally encoded memory, common complaints of patients with early AD are actually related to semantic memory impairment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-eight AD patients and 121 healthy aging controls enrolled in an Alzheimer's Disease Center received a battery of standard neuropsychologic tests including the SORT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with normal controls, AD patients had SORT memory impairments with significantly more false positive memory errors, fewer correctly produced names, and more substitutions in the name production aspect of the test. SORT had robust test-retest reliability in normals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The SORT task provides a direct, specific assessment of semantic memory, and has now been administered to 121 healthy, aging controls for normative ranges of performance, and to AD patients. The task detected semantic memory deficits in approximately half of patients with mild-moderate AD, which is comparable to other studies assessing semantic deficits in AD with less specific measures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Division of Neuroradiology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kraut
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cherry
authors.forename: Jeffery A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Pitcock
authors.forename: Lindsey
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vestal
authors.forename: Victor W
authors.initials: VW
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hart
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012660:Semantics; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology*