Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
Volume 105, Issue 11 , Pages 926-935, 2006

Semantic Memory Deficits in Low-educated Patients with Alzheimer's Disease

  • Chi-Cheng Yang

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Mau-Sun Hua

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
    • Departments of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
    • Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Dr Mau-Sun Hua, Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Ming-Jang Chiu

      Affiliations

    • Departments of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Sien-Tsong Chen

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology, Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
    • Department of Neurology, En Chu Kong Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Ping-Keung Yip

      Affiliations

    • Departments of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Ta-Fu Chen

      Affiliations

    • Departments of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Chih-Hsun Wu

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Ming-Ching Wen

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Huai-Hsuan Tseng

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Yi-Chuan Chu

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology, Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Chia-Yu Wang

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Pei-Chong Tu

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychology, National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan

Received 21 December 2005; received in revised form 23 January 2006; accepted 4 April 2006.

Article Outline

Background/Purpose

Although a deficit of semantic memory is evident in the dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT), the underlying neuropsychologic mechanism remains controversial. Breakdown of the semantic network during the course of DAT and an inability to access semantic information have been postulated as possible explanations, but supporting data are limited, particularly in low-educated patients. This study examined semantic memory in low-educated patients with different degrees of dementia severity.

Methods

In total, 197 adult subjects were recruited, including 165 DAT patients and 32 normal controls. Subjects were divided into four subgroups according to their dementia severity. All subjects completed an episodic memory task, the Six-Object Memory Test, and semantic memory tasks including the Object Naming Test, the Remote Memory Test and the Semantic Association of Verbal Fluency Test. One-way ANOVA and ANCOVA with a post hoc Scheffe's procedure were used to evaluate differences between groups.

Results

All patients, irrespective of the degree of dementia, showed impaired performance on the Six-Object Memory Test [F(4, 163) = 69.95, p< 0.0001 for immediate recall; F(4, 163) = 41.34, p< 0.0001 for delayed recall]. On the semantic memory tasks, patients with moderate to severe dementia showed impaired performances on the Object Naming Test [F(4, 180) =28.25, p<0.0001] and the Remote Memory Test [F(4, 167) = 26.22, p<0.0001 for recall; F(4, 167) =34.80, p<0.0001 for recognition], while all patients performed defectively on the Semantic Association of Verbal Fluency Test [F(4, 194) = 70.43, p< 0.0001].

Conclusion

Our results thus partially support the hypotheses that a loss of semantic structure and an inability to access semantic knowledge occur in the pathogenesis of DAT.

Key Words:  Alzheimer's disease , low education , semantic memory

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PII: S0929-6646(09)60178-9

doi:10.1016/S0929-6646(09)60178-9

Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
Volume 105, Issue 11 , Pages 926-935, 2006

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