Cognitive account of working memory impairment in Alzheimer's disease
Abstract
The aim of this article is to discuss the nature of working memory impairment in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We summarize the progress that has been made in the research on dementia-related deficits of selected components of working memory: central executive system, phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad. It is concluded that impairments in working memory (on span tests) are a common problem in course of AD. Specifically, patients with mild AD have an abnormality in attentional rather than linguistic aspect of memory processing. Nevertheless, much more disturbances of phonological processes at later stages of the disease may underlie comprehension deficits. It is also possible that impairments in AD patients' long-term semantic memory is the primary deficit underpinning the reduced contribution of language to remembering. Memory problems can be treated as reliable indicator or contributor to the severity of dementia. Finally, we emphasize the need to differentiate AD into “sub-types” based on the presentation of short-term forgetting and its neuroanatomical correlates.
References
Allain, P., Etcharry-Bouyx, F., Le Gall, D. (2001). A case study of selective impairment of the central executive component of working memory after a focal frontal lobe damage. Brain and Cognition, 45, 21-43.
Baddeley, A. (1992). Working memory. Science, 255, 556-559.
Baddeley, A. (1998). Pamięć – poradnik użytkownika. Warszawa: Prószyński i S-ka.
Baddeley, A., Wilson, B. A. (2002). Prose recall and amnesia: Implications for the structure of working memory. Neuropsychologia, 40, 1737-1743.
Belleville, S., Peretz, I., Malenfant, D. (1996). Examination of the working memory components in normal aging and in dementia of the Alzheimer type. Neuropsychologia, 34, 195-207.
Benson, D. F. (1988). Posterior cortical atrophy. Archives of Neurology, 45, 789-793.
Caplan, D., Waters, G. S. (1999). Verbal working memory and sentence comprehension. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 77-126.
Collette, F., Van der Linden, M., Bechet, S., Salmon, E. (1999). Phonological loop and central executive functioning in Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychologia, 37, 905-918.
Croot, K., Hodges, J. R., Patterson, K. (1999). Evidence for impaired sentence comprehension in early Alzheimer's disease. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 5, 393-404.
Ericsson, K. A., Kintsch, W. (1995). Long-term working memory. Psychological Review, 102, 211-245.
Gathercole, S. E., Baddeley, A. D. (1993). Working memory and language. Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
Grossman, M., Rhee, J. (2001). Cognitive resources during sentence processing in Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychologia, 39, 1419-1431.
Hodges, J. R., Patterson, K., Ward, R., Garrard, P., Bak, T., Perry, R., Gregory, C. (1999). The differentiation of semantic dementia and frontal lobe dementia (temporal and frontal variants of frontotemporal dementia) from early Alzheimer's disease: A comparative neuropsychological study. Neuropsychology, 13, 31-40.
Hulme, Ch., Lee, G., Brown, G. D. A. (1993). Short-term memory impairments in Alzheimer-type dementia: Evidence for separable impairments of articulatory rehearsal and long-term memory. Neuropsychologia, 31, 161-172.
Jodzio, K. (1999). Afazja pierwotna postępująca. Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego.
Jodzio, K. (2003). Pamięć, mowa a mózg. Podejście afazjologiczne. Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego.
Jodzio, K., Lindfield, K. C., MacQueen, B. D., Drumm, D. A. (2002). Short-term memory, language, and aphasia: A review. Polish Journal of Applied Psychology, 2, 71-94.
Kimberg, D. Y., D'Esposito, M., Farah, M. J. (1997). Cognitive functions in the prefrontal cortex – working memory and executive control. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 6, 185-192.
Kopelman, M. D. (2002). Disorders of memory. Brain, 125, 2152-2190.
Kotapka-Minc, S. (1996). Czy istnieje potrzeba rozpoznawania zespołów otępiennych pochodzenia czołowego? Postępy Psychiatrii i Neurologii, 5, suplement 1, 33-40.
Kurcz, I. (1995). Pamięć. Uczenie się. Język. W: T. Tomaszewski (red.), Psychologia ogólna. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, s. 44-62.
La Rue, A. (1992). Aging and neuropsychological assessment. New York: Plenum Press.
Levine, D. N., Lee, J. M., Fisher, C. M. (1993). The visual variant of Alzheimer's disease: A clinicopathologic case study. Neurology, 43, 305-313.
Lezak, M. D. (1995). Neuropsychological assessment. New York: Oxford University Press.
Łuczywek, Ł. (1995). Hipokamp, pamięć, choroba Alzheimera. W: A. Grabowska, A. Kowalska, D. M. Kowalska (red.), Płaty skroniowe – morfologia, funkcje i ich zaburzenia. Warszawa: Polskie Towarzystwo Badań Układu Nerwowego.
MacDonald, M. C., Almor, A., Henderson, V. W., Kempler, D., Andersen, E. S. (2001). Assessing working memory and language comprehension in Alzheimer's disease. Brain and Language, 78, 17-42.
Marczewska, H., Osiejuk, E. (1994). Nie tylko afazja... O zaburzeniach językowych w demencji Alzheimera, demencji wielozawałowej i przy uszkodzeniach prawej półkuli mózgu. Warszawa: Energeia.
Martin, R. C., Shelton, J. R., Yaffee, L. S. (1994). Language processing and working memory: Neuropsychological evidence for separate phonological and semantic capacities. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, 83-111.
Mecklinger, A., Meinshausen, R. M. (1998). Recognition memory for object form and object location: An event-related potential study. Memory & Cognition, 26, 1068-1088.
Morris, R. G. (1987). Articulatory rehearsal in Alzheimer type dementia. Brain and Language, 30, 351-362.
Morris, R. G. (1994). Working memory in Alzheimer-type dementia. Neuropsychology, 8, 544-554.
Moss, M. B., Albert, M. S. (1992). Neuropsychology of Alzheimer's disease. W: R. F. White (red.), Clinical syndromes in adult neuropsychology: The practitioner's handbook. Amsterdam: Esevier Science Publishers.
Pachana, N. A., Boone, K. B., Miller, B. L., Cummings, J. L., Berman, N. (1996). Comparison of neuropsychological functioning in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 2, 505-510.
Perry, R. J., Hodges, J. R. (1999). Attention and executive deficits in Alzheimer's disease: A critical review. Brain, 122, 383-404.
Posner, M. J. (1999). Uwaga. Mechanizmy świadomości. W: Z. Chlewiński (wybór i red. naukowa), Modele umysłu (zbiór tekstów). Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
Potter, M. C. (1993). Very short-term conceptual memory. Memory & Cognition, 21, 156-161.
Sala, J. B., Rämä, P., Courtney, S. M. (2003). Functional topography of a distributed neural system for spatial and nonspatial information maintenance in working memory. Neuropsychologia, 41, 341-356.
Small, J. A., Andersen, E. S., Kempler, D. (1997). Effects of working memory capacity on understanding rate-altered speech. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 4, 126-139.
Small, J. A., Kemper, S., Lyons, K. (1997). Sentence comprehension in Alzheimer's disease: Effects of grammatical complexity, speech rate, and repetition. Psychology and Aging, 12, 3-11.
Smith, J. A., Knight, R. G. (2002). Memory processing in Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychologia, 40, 666-682.
Szatkowska, I. (1999). Pamięć operacyjna: integracyjna rola kory przedczołowej. Przegląd Psychologiczny, 42, 151-165.
Tales, A., Muir, J. L., Bayer, A., Snowden, R. J. (2002). Spatial shifts in visual attention in normal ageing and dementia of the Alzheimer type. Neuropsychologia, 40, 2000-2012.
Walsh, K. (1998). Neuropsychologia kliniczna. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
Baddeley, A. (1992). Working memory. Science, 255, 556-559.
Baddeley, A. (1998). Pamięć – poradnik użytkownika. Warszawa: Prószyński i S-ka.
Baddeley, A., Wilson, B. A. (2002). Prose recall and amnesia: Implications for the structure of working memory. Neuropsychologia, 40, 1737-1743.
Belleville, S., Peretz, I., Malenfant, D. (1996). Examination of the working memory components in normal aging and in dementia of the Alzheimer type. Neuropsychologia, 34, 195-207.
Benson, D. F. (1988). Posterior cortical atrophy. Archives of Neurology, 45, 789-793.
Caplan, D., Waters, G. S. (1999). Verbal working memory and sentence comprehension. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 77-126.
Collette, F., Van der Linden, M., Bechet, S., Salmon, E. (1999). Phonological loop and central executive functioning in Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychologia, 37, 905-918.
Croot, K., Hodges, J. R., Patterson, K. (1999). Evidence for impaired sentence comprehension in early Alzheimer's disease. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 5, 393-404.
Ericsson, K. A., Kintsch, W. (1995). Long-term working memory. Psychological Review, 102, 211-245.
Gathercole, S. E., Baddeley, A. D. (1993). Working memory and language. Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
Grossman, M., Rhee, J. (2001). Cognitive resources during sentence processing in Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychologia, 39, 1419-1431.
Hodges, J. R., Patterson, K., Ward, R., Garrard, P., Bak, T., Perry, R., Gregory, C. (1999). The differentiation of semantic dementia and frontal lobe dementia (temporal and frontal variants of frontotemporal dementia) from early Alzheimer's disease: A comparative neuropsychological study. Neuropsychology, 13, 31-40.
Hulme, Ch., Lee, G., Brown, G. D. A. (1993). Short-term memory impairments in Alzheimer-type dementia: Evidence for separable impairments of articulatory rehearsal and long-term memory. Neuropsychologia, 31, 161-172.
Jodzio, K. (1999). Afazja pierwotna postępująca. Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego.
Jodzio, K. (2003). Pamięć, mowa a mózg. Podejście afazjologiczne. Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego.
Jodzio, K., Lindfield, K. C., MacQueen, B. D., Drumm, D. A. (2002). Short-term memory, language, and aphasia: A review. Polish Journal of Applied Psychology, 2, 71-94.
Kimberg, D. Y., D'Esposito, M., Farah, M. J. (1997). Cognitive functions in the prefrontal cortex – working memory and executive control. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 6, 185-192.
Kopelman, M. D. (2002). Disorders of memory. Brain, 125, 2152-2190.
Kotapka-Minc, S. (1996). Czy istnieje potrzeba rozpoznawania zespołów otępiennych pochodzenia czołowego? Postępy Psychiatrii i Neurologii, 5, suplement 1, 33-40.
Kurcz, I. (1995). Pamięć. Uczenie się. Język. W: T. Tomaszewski (red.), Psychologia ogólna. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, s. 44-62.
La Rue, A. (1992). Aging and neuropsychological assessment. New York: Plenum Press.
Levine, D. N., Lee, J. M., Fisher, C. M. (1993). The visual variant of Alzheimer's disease: A clinicopathologic case study. Neurology, 43, 305-313.
Lezak, M. D. (1995). Neuropsychological assessment. New York: Oxford University Press.
Łuczywek, Ł. (1995). Hipokamp, pamięć, choroba Alzheimera. W: A. Grabowska, A. Kowalska, D. M. Kowalska (red.), Płaty skroniowe – morfologia, funkcje i ich zaburzenia. Warszawa: Polskie Towarzystwo Badań Układu Nerwowego.
MacDonald, M. C., Almor, A., Henderson, V. W., Kempler, D., Andersen, E. S. (2001). Assessing working memory and language comprehension in Alzheimer's disease. Brain and Language, 78, 17-42.
Marczewska, H., Osiejuk, E. (1994). Nie tylko afazja... O zaburzeniach językowych w demencji Alzheimera, demencji wielozawałowej i przy uszkodzeniach prawej półkuli mózgu. Warszawa: Energeia.
Martin, R. C., Shelton, J. R., Yaffee, L. S. (1994). Language processing and working memory: Neuropsychological evidence for separate phonological and semantic capacities. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, 83-111.
Mecklinger, A., Meinshausen, R. M. (1998). Recognition memory for object form and object location: An event-related potential study. Memory & Cognition, 26, 1068-1088.
Morris, R. G. (1987). Articulatory rehearsal in Alzheimer type dementia. Brain and Language, 30, 351-362.
Morris, R. G. (1994). Working memory in Alzheimer-type dementia. Neuropsychology, 8, 544-554.
Moss, M. B., Albert, M. S. (1992). Neuropsychology of Alzheimer's disease. W: R. F. White (red.), Clinical syndromes in adult neuropsychology: The practitioner's handbook. Amsterdam: Esevier Science Publishers.
Pachana, N. A., Boone, K. B., Miller, B. L., Cummings, J. L., Berman, N. (1996). Comparison of neuropsychological functioning in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 2, 505-510.
Perry, R. J., Hodges, J. R. (1999). Attention and executive deficits in Alzheimer's disease: A critical review. Brain, 122, 383-404.
Posner, M. J. (1999). Uwaga. Mechanizmy świadomości. W: Z. Chlewiński (wybór i red. naukowa), Modele umysłu (zbiór tekstów). Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
Potter, M. C. (1993). Very short-term conceptual memory. Memory & Cognition, 21, 156-161.
Sala, J. B., Rämä, P., Courtney, S. M. (2003). Functional topography of a distributed neural system for spatial and nonspatial information maintenance in working memory. Neuropsychologia, 41, 341-356.
Small, J. A., Andersen, E. S., Kempler, D. (1997). Effects of working memory capacity on understanding rate-altered speech. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 4, 126-139.
Small, J. A., Kemper, S., Lyons, K. (1997). Sentence comprehension in Alzheimer's disease: Effects of grammatical complexity, speech rate, and repetition. Psychology and Aging, 12, 3-11.
Smith, J. A., Knight, R. G. (2002). Memory processing in Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychologia, 40, 666-682.
Szatkowska, I. (1999). Pamięć operacyjna: integracyjna rola kory przedczołowej. Przegląd Psychologiczny, 42, 151-165.
Tales, A., Muir, J. L., Bayer, A., Snowden, R. J. (2002). Spatial shifts in visual attention in normal ageing and dementia of the Alzheimer type. Neuropsychologia, 40, 2000-2012.
Walsh, K. (1998). Neuropsychologia kliniczna. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
Published
2019-03-26
Issue
Section
Articles
Copyright (c) 2003 Roczniki Psychologiczne
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
