title: Deficient symbol processing in Alzheimer disease.
abstract: Symbols and signs have been suggested to improve the orientation of patients suffering from Alzheimer disease (AD). However, there are hardly any studies that confirm whether AD patients benefit from signs or symbols and which symbol characteristics might improve or impede their symbol comprehension. To address these issues, 30 AD patients and 30 matched healthy controls performed a symbol processing task (SPT) with 4 different item categories. A repeated-measures analysis of variance was run to identify impact of different item categories on performance accuracy in both the experimental groups. Moreover, SPT scores were correlated with neuropsychological test scores in a broad range of other cognitive domains. Finally, diagnostic accuracy of the SPT was calculated by a receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis. Results revealed a global symbol processing dysfunction in AD that was associated with semantic memory and executive deficits. Moreover, AD patients showed a disproportional performance decline at SPT items with visual distraction. Finally, the SPT total score showed high sensitivity and specificity in differentiating between AD patients and healthy controls. The present findings suggest that specific symbol features impede symbol processing in AD and argue for a diagnostic benefit of the SPT in neuropsychological assessment.
authors.affiliation: Departments of *Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bethel, Research Department ‡Geriatric Psychiatry, Evangelic Hospital Bielefeld (EvKB), Bethesdaweg §Department of Psychology, University of Bielefeld ∥Cognitive Interaction Technology, Center of Excellence (CITEC), University of Bielefeld, Universitätsstraße 25, Bielefeld †Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen, Cognitive Neuroscience at Centre for Psychiatry, Giessen, Germany.
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Toepper
authors.forename: Carolin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Steuwe
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Beblo
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Boedeker
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Hans J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Markowitsch
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Driessen
authors.forename: Gebhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sammer
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D014796:Visual Perception