Regional Cerebral Volume Loss Associated With Verbal Learning and Memory in Dementia of the Alzheimer Type

Twenty-seven research participants with dementia of the Alzheimer type were studied with the California Verbal Learning Test ( D. C. Delis, J. H. Kramer, E. Kaplan, & B. A. Ober, 1987 ) and standardized volume measures of the mesial temporal cortical gray matter, neocortical gray matter, thalamu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuropsychology 1999-04, Vol.13 (2), p.188-197
Main Authors: Stout, Julie C, Bondi, Mark W, Jernigan, Terry L, Archibald, Sarah L, Delis, Dean C, Salmon, David P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Alzheimer Disease - diagnosis
Alzheimer Disease - pathology
Alzheimer Disease - physiopathology
Alzheimer's Disease
Atrophy
Biological and medical sciences
Caudate Nucleus
Cerebral Atrophy
Cerebral Cortex
Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases
Female
Geriatrics
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Medical sciences
Memory
Middle Aged
Neocortex - pathology
Nerve Net - physiopathology
Neurology
Neuropsychological Tests
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Regression Analysis
Temporal Lobe - pathology
Thalamus
Thalamus - pathology
Verbal Learning
Verbal Memory
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Summary:Twenty-seven research participants with dementia of the Alzheimer type were studied with the California Verbal Learning Test ( D. C. Delis, J. H. Kramer, E. Kaplan, & B. A. Ober, 1987 ) and standardized volume measures of the mesial temporal cortical gray matter, neocortical gray matter, thalamus, and caudate nuclei, from magnetic resonance imaging. A pattern of atrophic brain changes in the mesial temporal lobes (MTL) and the thalamus, with relatively less severe atrophy in the neocortical gray matter, was associated with poorer learning of the word list. Similar patterns of brain atrophy were observed for measures of delayed recall and recognition hits. However, for delayed recall, neither contribution was statistically significant, and for recognition hits, MTL was only at the trend level for significance. These results provide evidence that the verbal memory deficit of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated not only with the mesial temporal limbic cortex, thought to be the site of earliest and most severe pathology in AD, but also with damage in the thalamus.
ISSN:0894-4105
1931-1559
DOI:10.1037/0894-4105.13.2.188