Finger agnosia and cognitive deficits in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
The purpose of this study was to examine the presence of finger agnosia in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to determine if level of finger agnosia was related to cognitive impairment. Finger agnosia is a sensitive measure of cerebral impairment and is associated with neurofunctional areas implicated in AD. Using a standardized and norm-referenced approach, results indicated that patients with AD evidenced significantly decreased performance on tests of bilateral finger agnosia compared with healthy age-matched controls. Finger agnosia was predictive of cognitive dysfunction on four of seven domains, including: Crystallized Language, Fluid Processing, Associative Learning, and Processing Speed. Results suggest that measures of finger agnosia, a short and simple test, may be useful in the early detection of AD.
Department of Educational Psychology, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana 47306, USA. davis@bsu.edu
Andrew S
AS
Davis
Jeffrey S
JS
Trotter
Jeremy
J
Hertza
Christopher D
CD
Bell
Raymond S
RS
Dean
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000377:Agnosia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests