Loading...
Semantic feature disturbance in Alzheimer disease: evidence from an object decision task
Flanagan, Kieran Copland, David Chenery, Helen Byrne, Gerard J.A. Angwin, Anthony
Flanagan, Kieran
Copland, David
Chenery, Helen
Byrne, Gerard J.A.
Angwin, Anthony
Abstract
Background and Objective: It is widely held that semantic disturbance in Alzheimer disease (AD) involves the loss of distinctive features but the relative sparing of nondistinctive features. Many previous studies of semantic feature disturbance have used cognitively challenging tasks with verbal stimuli that allow for potential cognitive confounds. Our objective was to use a task with lower memory demands to investigate distinctive feature disturbance in AD. Methods: We used an object decision task to compare the processing of distinctive and nondistinctive semantic features in people with AD and age-matched controls. The task included six conditions based on the relationship between each prime and target object. We tested the processing of distinctive and nondistinctive features by selectively altering distinctive and nondistinctive semantic features between prime and target pairs. Results: Performance accuracy was significantly lower for participants with AD than for age-matched controls when distinctive features were manipulated, but no difference was found when nondistinctive features were manipulated. Conclusions: Our results provide evidence of semantic content disturbance in AD in the context of a task with low cognitive demands.
Keywords
Date
2017
Type
Journal article
Journal
Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology
Book
Volume
30
Issue
4
Page Range
159-171
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Allied Health
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
File Access
Controlled