Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vfjqv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T05:34:17.594Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The contribution of list length to the absence of the primacy effect in word recall in dementia of the Alzheimer type

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

K. J. Bemelmans  and
J. G. Goekoop
K. J. Bemelmans*
Affiliation:
Department of Neuropsychology, Psychiatric Hospital Endegeest, Oegstgeest; Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University, The Netherlands
J. G. Goekoop
Affiliation:
Department of Neuropsychology, Psychiatric Hospital Endegeest, Oegstgeest; Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University, The Netherlands
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr K. J. Bemelmans, Department of Neuropsychology, Psychiatric Hospital Endegeest, PO 1250, 2340 BG Oegstgeest, The Netherlands.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

It has repeatedly been demonstrated that patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) show an absence of the primacy effect when asked to recall a list of items. The results of the present study show that the absence of the primacy effect in DAT patients is related to list length but probably in a way that is qualitatively not specific since it follows the same pattern as in normal ageing. It is also demonstrated that DAT patients differ in learning style. It is suggested that this indicates a reduced capacity to maintain controlled processing.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , November 1991 , pp. 1047 - 1050
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1987). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 3rd edn. Revised American Psychiatric Association: Washington DC.Google Scholar
Atkinson, R. C. & Shiffrin, R. M. (1971). The control of short-term memory. Scientific American 08, 82–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deese, J. & Kaufman, R. A. (1957). Serial effects in recall of unorganized and sequentially organized verbal material. Journal of Experimental Psychology 54, 180–187.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Diesfeldt, H. F. A. (1978). The distinction between long-term and short-term memory in senile dementia: an analysis of free recall and delayed recognition. Neuropsychologia 16, 115–119.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gibson, A. J. (1981). A further analysis of memory loss in dementia and depression in the elderly. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 20, 179–185.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harris, S. J. & Downson, J. H. (1982). Recall of a 10-word list in the assessment of dementia in the elderly. British Journal of Psychiatry 141, 524–527.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hasher, L. & Zacks, R. T. (1979). Automatic and effortful processes in memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology 108, 356–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jorm, A. F. (1986). Controlled and automatic information processing in senile dementia: review. Psychological Medicine 16, 77–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kesner, R. P., Measom, M. O., Forsman, S. L. & Holbrook, T. H. (1984). Serial position curves in rats: Order memory for episodic spatial events. Animal Learning and Behavior 12, 378–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, A., Brouwer, P., Cox, C. & Fedio, P. (1985). On the nature of the verbal memory deficit in Alzheimer's disease. Brain and Language 25, 323–341.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, E. (1971). On the nature of the memory disorder in presenile dementia. Neuropsychologia 21, 75–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ornstein, P. A., Naus, M. J. & Liberty, C. (1975). Rehearsal and organizational processes in children's memory. Child Development 26, 818–830.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pepin, E. P. & Eslinger, P. J. (1989). Verbal memory decline in Alzheimer's disease: a multiple-processes deficit. Neurology 39, 1477–1482.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Poitrenaud, J., Moy, F., Girousse, A., Wolmark, Y. & Piette, F. (1989). Psychometric procedures for analysis of memory losses in the elderly. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 8 (suppl. 1), 173–183.Google Scholar
Rey, A. (1964). L'Examen Clinique en Psychologie, Presses Universitaires de France: Paris.Google Scholar
Rundus, D. & Atkinson, R. C. (1970). Rehearsal processes in free recall: a procedure for direct observation. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 9, 99–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, W., Dumais, S. T. & Shiffrin, R. M. (1984). Automatic and control processing and attention. In Varieties of Attention (ed. Parasuraman, R. and Davies, D. R.), pp. 1–24. Academic Press: New York.Google Scholar
Spinnler, H., Della Salla, S., Bandera, R. & Baddeley, A. (1988). Dementia, ageing, and the structure of human memory. Cognitive Neuropsychology 5, 193–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar