title: The role of egocentric and allocentric abilities in Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review.
abstract: A great effort has been made to identify crucial cognitive markers that can be used to characterize the cognitive profile of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Because topographical disorientation is one of the earliest clinical manifestation of AD, an increasing number of studies have investigated the spatial deficits in this clinical population. In this systematic review, we specifically focused on experimental studies investigating allocentric and egocentric deficits to understand which spatial cognitive processes are differentially impaired in the different stages of the disease. First, our results highlighted that spatial deficits appear in the earliest stages of the disease. Second, a need for a more ecological assessment of spatial functions will be presented. Third, our analysis suggested that a prevalence of allocentric impairment exists. Specifically, two selected studies underlined that a more specific impairment is found in the translation between the egocentric and allocentric representations. In this perspective, the implications for future research and neurorehabilitative interventions will be discussed.
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Via Pellizza da Volpedo, 41, 20149 Milan (MI), Italy. Electronic address: s.serino@auxologico.it.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Serino
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Via Pellizza da Volpedo, 41, 20149 Milan (MI), Italy.
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cipresso
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, Piazzale S. Agostino 2, 24129 Bergamo (BG), Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Morganti
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Via Pellizza da Volpedo, 41, 20149 Milan (MI), Italy; Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Gemelli, 1, 20100 Milan (MI), Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Riva
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D003071:Cognition; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D004532:Ego; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D011379:Prognosis; D013037:Spatial Behavior
keywords: Allocentric reference frame; Alzheimer's disease; Egocentric reference frame; PRISMA; Spatial memory; Systematic review