title: Executive functions deficit in mild cognitive impairment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether patients diagnosed with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) have also impairment in attention/executive functions, and therefore to clarify whether all subcomponents of executive control are equally affected in MCI.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  MCI refers to the transitional state between normal aging and dementia. Amnestic MCI is characterized by impaired episodic memory, although subtle impairment of executive functions has been noted on neuropsychologic tests.
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated 20 MCI patients and 20 normal controls using episodic memory, attention/executive functions, language, and praxis tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  MCI patients had significantly lower scores on all measures of the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (P<0.05 to 0.01) than controls. Furthermore, MCI had a greater number of perseverations (P<0.01) on Modified Card Sorting Test and the lowest performance on the Stroop Test (P<0.02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings showed impairment in episodic memory performance in MCI as compared with that of controls. In addition, MCI patients had problems with response inhibition, switching, and cognitive flexibility, which encompass various aspects of executive functions. This suggests that MCI may be identified by using a more detailed procedure for the assessment of cognitive decline than the evaluation of memory alone.
authors: Hôpital Henri Mondor, Department of Neurology, University Paris XII, Créteil, France. traykov_l@yahoo.fr
authors: Latchezar
authors: L
authors: Traykov
authors: Nadine
authors: N
authors: Raoux
authors: Florence
authors: F
authors: Latour
authors: Livia
authors: L
authors: Gallo
authors: Olivier
authors: O
authors: Hanon
authors: Sophie
authors: S
authors: Baudic
authors: Catherine
authors: C
authors: Bayle
authors: Emilie
authors: E
authors: Wenisch
authors: Philippe
authors: P
authors: Remy
authors: Anne-Sophie
authors: AS
authors: Rigaud
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D000647:Amnesia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D000849:Anomia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010700:Phonetics; D011340:Problem Solving; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012660:Semantics