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Is knowledge of famous people disproportionately impaired in patients with early Alzheimer's disease?
Authors:
Thompson, S.A., GRAHAM, K.S., PATTERSON, K., Sahakian, B.J. & HODGES, J.R.
Reference:
Neuropsychology 16(3), 344-358
Year of publication:
2002
CBU number:
5069
Abstract:
Twenty two patients with early dementia of Alzheimer’s type (DAT) and 31 controls were administered tests of person-specific semantics (Experiment 1). DAT patients were impaired on all test components. In Experiment 2, 31 DAT patients, 28 questionable DAT (QDAT) patients and 42 controls were administered the Graded Naming Test (GNT) and the newly designed Graded Faces Test (GFT), which assesses naming and identification of famous people, matched for difficulty with the GNT. DAT patients were impaired throughout, but showed an advantage for naming objects (GNT) over faces (GFT). The QDAT patients were impaired on the GFT only. Of seven (25%) QDAT patients who evolved to DAT within 1-2 years, six showed initial impairment on the GFT, whereas 17 (81%) of non-converters scored normally on the GFT. These results suggest greater and earlier vulnerability of person than general semantic knowledge in DAT.
