title: The nature of impairments of memory in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD).
abstract: Possible impairments of memory in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) were investigated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, in which stimulus words were presented visually, participants were tested on conceptual or perceptual memory tasks, with retrieval being either explicit or implicit. Compared with healthy controls, ESRD patients were impaired when memory required conceptual but not when it required perceptual processing, regardless of whether retrieval was explicit or implicit. An impairment of conceptual implicit memory (priming) in the ESRD group represented a previously unreported deficit compared to healthy aging. There were no significant differences between pre- and immediate post-dialysis memory performance in ESRD patients on any of the tasks. In Experiment 2, in which presentation was auditory, patients again performed worse than controls on an explicit conceptual memory task. We conclude that the type of processing required by the task (conceptual vs. perceptual) is more important than the type of retrieval (explicit vs. implicit) in memory failures in ESRD patients, perhaps because temporal brain regions are more susceptible to the effects of the illness than are posterior regions.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Whiteknights, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AL, UK. Electronic address: d.jones6@reading.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Daniel J W
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Whiteknights, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AL, UK.
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: Department of Renal Medicine, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, London Road, Reading RG1 5AN, UK.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vaux
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Whiteknights, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AL, UK.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hadid
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Whiteknights, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AL, UK.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kean
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Whiteknights, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AL, UK.
authors.forename: Laurie T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Butler
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology; D003956:Dialysis / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D011939:Mental Recall; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D051436:Renal Insufficiency, Chronic / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Conceptual; End-stage renal disease (ESRD); Explicit; Implicit; Memory; Perceptual