You are here

FAU Collections » FAU Research Repository » FAU Theses and Dissertations

Preserved and deficient calculation processes in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment

Download pdf | Full Screen View

Date Issued:
2013
Summary:
Two skills necessary for the execution of proficient calculation, retrieving arithmetic facts from memory and accessing number magnitude information, were studied in a group of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and healthy controls to try to elucidate the locus of impairment in AD-related calculation deficits. This was achieved through the use of an arithmetic production task and a number-matching task as measures of explicit and implicit retrieval of arithmetic facts, and a numerical Stroop task that assesses automatic access to number magnitude representation. AD patients, but not MCI patients, showed high response latencies and a high number of errors when performing multiplications in the production task, and reduced automatic retrieval of arithmetic task in the number-matching task. All participants showed the classic problem-size effect often reported in the mathematical cognition literature. Performance on the numerical Stroop task suggests that access to number magnitude information is relatively resistant to cognitive impairment. ... Results for the AD group are consistent with a pattern of preserved and impaired cognitive processes that might mediate the reported calculation deficits in AD.
Title: Preserved and deficient calculation processes in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment.
120 views
47 downloads
Name(s): Jurado Noboa, Maria Beatriz.
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Department of Psychology
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Issued: 2013
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form: electronic
Extent: x, 153 p. : ill.
Language(s): English
Summary: Two skills necessary for the execution of proficient calculation, retrieving arithmetic facts from memory and accessing number magnitude information, were studied in a group of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and healthy controls to try to elucidate the locus of impairment in AD-related calculation deficits. This was achieved through the use of an arithmetic production task and a number-matching task as measures of explicit and implicit retrieval of arithmetic facts, and a numerical Stroop task that assesses automatic access to number magnitude representation. AD patients, but not MCI patients, showed high response latencies and a high number of errors when performing multiplications in the production task, and reduced automatic retrieval of arithmetic task in the number-matching task. All participants showed the classic problem-size effect often reported in the mathematical cognition literature. Performance on the numerical Stroop task suggests that access to number magnitude information is relatively resistant to cognitive impairment. ... Results for the AD group are consistent with a pattern of preserved and impaired cognitive processes that might mediate the reported calculation deficits in AD.
Identifier: 859865893 (oclc), 3362384 (digitool), FADT3362384 (IID), fau:4190 (fedora)
Note(s): by Marâia Beatriz Jurado Noboa.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.
Includes bibliography.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
System requirements: Adobe Reader.
Subject(s): Aging -- Psychological aspects
Cognitive psychology
Memory disorders in old age
Alzheimer's disease -- Diagnosis
Context effects (Psychology)
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3362384
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU