Affiliations: Istituto di Psicologia, Università di Pavia,
Italy. | Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Università di
Padova, Italy. | Unita di Neurologia, Ospedale Geriatrico, INRCA,
Ancona, Italy.
Abstract: A selective deterioration of working memory functions has been
suggested as an explanation of the cognitive decay occurring in normal ageing
as well as in Alzheimer-type dementia. Recent studies have highlighted that
elderly people's limitations in working memory functions may be better
interpreted when analysing the specific characteristics of the cognitive
process (i.e., passive storage or active manipulation of information). In the
present study, we have adapted a procedure used to investigate age-related
memory modifications, involving both verbal and visuo-spatial material in tasks
tapping passive and active processes, to investigate the deterioration
associated with Alzheimer's disease. A group of Alzheimer patients in the early
stages of the disease were matched to a control group of healthy elderly.
Results show that Alzheimer patients performed less accurately than the control
group in all tasks. However, the deficit was maximised in the case of active
processes, regardless of the type of material used (verbal or visuo-spatial).
These data highlight the importance of considering the amount of active
processing as the key variable when interpreting the decay in cognitive
functions in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.
