title: Memory Test Performance on Analogous Verbal and Nonverbal Memory Tests in Patients with Frontotemporal Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) typically have initial deficits in language or changes in personality, while the defining characteristic of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is memory impairment. Neuropsychological findings in the two diseases tend to differ, but can be confounded by verbal impairment in FTD impacting performance on memory tests in these patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-seven patients with FTD and 102 patients with AD underwent a neuropsychological assessment before diagnosis. By utilizing analogous versions of a verbal and nonverbal memory test, we demonstrated differences in these two modalities between AD and FTD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Better differentiation between AD and FTD is found in a nonverbal memory test, possibly because it eliminates the confounding variable of language deficits found in patients with FTD. These results highlight the importance of nonverbal learning tests with multiple learning trials in diagnostic testing.
authors.affiliation: Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas, Nev., USA.
authors.forename: Deanna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Baldock
authors.affiliation: Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas, Nev., USA.
authors.forename: Justin B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas, Nev., USA.
authors.forename: Gabriel C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Leger
authors.affiliation: Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas, Nev., USA.
authors.forename: Sarah Jane
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Banks
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Brief Visuospatial Memory Test; Frontotemporal dementia; Nonverbal memory; Verbal memory