title: Nonverbal memory tasks in early differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and unipolar depression.
abstract: We examined whether there are selective deficits in early-stage Alzheimer's disease (AD; n = 27) and in unipolar depression (UD; n = 17) patients on recall and recognition of spatial and visual components of nonverbal memory (NVM) and whether the two groups can be differentiated based on their performance on such tasks. We also investigated which NVM measures had the best discrimination power. We tested spatial, visuospatial, and visuoconstructive abilities in AD and UD patients. AD patients' scores on NVM tasks were significantly lower than those of healthy subjects (HS; n = 30) and consistently lower than those of the UD group. Z-scores suggested that AD patients suffered from a generalized impairment. Clear differences between AD and UD patients were found on abstract design tasks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Psychology, Psychobiology, and Methodology of Behavioral Sciences, University of Salamanca, Spain. icontador@usal.es
authors.forename: Israel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Contador
authors.forename: Bernardino
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fernandez-Calvo
authors.forename: Jesus
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cacho
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lopez-Rolon
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D021641:Recognition, Psychology