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A cancellation test: its reliability in assessing attentional deficits in Alzheimer's disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Sergio Della Sala ,
Marcella Laiacona ,
Hans Spinnler  and
Chiara Ubezio
Sergio Della Sala
Affiliation:
Neuropsychology Unit, Neurology Department, Clinica del Lavoro Foundation, Veruno Rehabilitation Centre; First Neurological Department of the University of Milan, Italy
Marcella Laiacona
Affiliation:
Neuropsychology Unit, Neurology Department, Clinica del Lavoro Foundation, Veruno Rehabilitation Centre; First Neurological Department of the University of Milan, Italy
Hans Spinnler*
Affiliation:
Neuropsychology Unit, Neurology Department, Clinica del Lavoro Foundation, Veruno Rehabilitation Centre; First Neurological Department of the University of Milan, Italy
Chiara Ubezio
Affiliation:
Neuropsychology Unit, Neurology Department, Clinica del Lavoro Foundation, Veruno Rehabilitation Centre; First Neurological Department of the University of Milan, Italy
*
1 Address for correspondence: Dr Hans Spinnler, First Neurological Department of the University, Ospedale San Paolo alla Barona, Via di Rudini, 8–20142 Milano, Italy.
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Synopsis

The aim of the study is to provide (i) a standardized procedure for a Cancellation Test of Digits, designed to assess in the visual modality selective attention deficits in patients with Alzheimer's disease, and (ii) a detailed analysis of how patients cope with it.

Age-, education-, and sex-adjusted normative scores earned by 352 healthy controls are set forth, as well as data yielded by the Digit Cancellation Test in 74 Alzheimer patients, in 26 patients with a CT-assessed frontal lobe lesion and in a group of 24 healthy subjects urged to perform the task with a shortened time-constraint. Findings include discriminant power of Alzheimer patients versus healthy controls, sensitivity to cognitive evolution of the dementing process and analysis of errors. Attention data failed to supply psychometric support for the posterior-to-anterior algorithm of progressive cortical encroachment of Alzheimer's disease suggested by PET-findings.

Emphasis is put on methodological aspects of neuropsychological research on Alzheimer patients and on the analysis of processing components of the tests employed. Results are discussed in the light of the relationships between psychometric assessments and related functions, and underlying neuronal degeneration.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , November 1992 , pp. 885 - 901
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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