Intentional and automatic measures of specific-category effect in the semantic impairment of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Full Abstract

The breakdown of semantic knowledge relative to living and non-living categories was studied in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The same living and non-living items were used in a semantic battery and in a semantic priming paradigm exploring automatic access to the semantic system. Although AD patients showed a semantic deficit on the intentional semantic battery, they demonstrated normal semantic facilitation on the priming task. In the AD group as a whole, the semantic impairment did not preferentially affect the living category either in the intentional or automatic condition. Instead, a prevalent deficit for the living category was found in three AD patients (14% of the group) on the intentional semantic tasks, but not on the automatic one. These findings support the view that the category effect may not be a generalised phenomenon in AD but may be restricted to a limited number of patients. The intentional/automatic dissociation of the semantic breakdown demonstrated by AD patients is discussed in relation to different theories regarding the organisation of semantic memory.

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Author information

Author/s: Perri, Roberta (R); Carlesimo, Giovanni A (GA); Zannino, Gian Daniele (GD); Mauri, Marco (M); Muolo, Barbara (B); Pettenati, Carla (C); Caltagirone, Carlo (C);

Affiliation: IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Via Ardeatina 306, 00179 Rome, Italy. r.perri(-atsign-)hsantalucia.it

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Controlled Clinical Trial; Journal Article

Journal: Neuropsychologia (Neuropsychologia), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-; vol 41 (issue 11) : pp 1509-22

Dates: Created 2003/07/09; Completed 2003/09/24; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 12849769, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Aged
Alzheimer Disease - physiopathology; psychology
Association Learning - physiology
Classification
Female
Humans
Judgment
Logistic Models
Male
Matched-Pair Analysis

Matched-Pair Analysis
Mental Recall - physiology
Middle Aged
Pattern Recognition, Automated
Reaction Time - physiology
Recognition (Psychology) - physiology
Regression Analysis
Semantics
Verbal Behavior - physiology
Verbal Learning - physiology

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