title: Working memory and the enactment effect in early Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: This study examines the enactment effect in early Alzheimer's disease using a novel working memory task. Free recall of action-object instruction sequences was measured in individuals with Alzheimer's disease (n = 14) and older adult controls (n = 15). Instruction sequences were read out loud by the experimenter (verbal-only task) or read by the experimenter and performed by the participants (subject-performed task). In both groups and for all sequence lengths, recall was superior in the subject-performed condition than the verbal-only condition. Individuals with Alzheimer's disease showed a deficit in free recall of recently learned instruction sequences relative to older adult controls, yet both groups show a significant benefit from performing actions themselves at encoding. The subject-performed task shows promise as a tool to improve working memory in early Alzheimer's disease.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Lara A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Charlesworth
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Suzannah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Morson
authors.affiliation: Towngate House, Towngate Close, Guiseley, West Yorkshire LS20 9PQ, UK.
authors.forename: Wendy K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Burn
authors.affiliation: LEAD UMR CNRS 5022, Pole AAFE, Esplanade Erasme, Universite de Bourgogne, 21065 Dijon, France.
authors.forename: Celine
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1180-6926
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Souchay