This is a well-rounded lecture summary of "How does Alzheimer's disease affect psychological functioning?” lecture in the Second Teaching Block in the Brain and Behaviour module, Year 1.
The collection of notes form both the slides provided before the lecture and the actual lecture. It contai...
3. How does Alzheimer's disease affect psychological functioning?
1. Episodic memory (remembering recent events) - Atrophy in medial temporal lobes
o The earliest signs of AD are often forgetfulness and inability to remember recent events. In moderate
AD, people also show disorientation and wandering – might be linked to atrophy of the hippocampus.
o Hippocampus (memory for events) embedded within the temporal lobes, one each hemisphere.
o Memory in Alzheimer’s disease
Recall: you have to find a way of ‘finding’ the relevant memory traces
Recognition: seeing the item again acts as a potent cue
Deficit for both recall and recognition in early AD
AD damages formation of memory traces themselves; it is not just a problem with retrieval (i.e.,
finding the information)
e.g., Greene, Baddeley & Hodges, 1996, Neuropsychologia, 34, 537-551
o Backman et al. (2001) Brain, 124, 96-102
Method: Repeated free recall (FR) and recognition (RN) with >100 older adults
Picked out those who developed dementia
Looked at performance 3 and 6 years before diagnosis of dementia
Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) - Whitwell et al. (2007)
Brain, 130, 1777-86.
- Brain volume differences compared with healthy controls.
- Shrinkage in anterior, inferior, and medial temporal lobes
(including hippocampus) before diagnosis.
- Pattern of atrophy and neuropsychology both suggest
episodic memory deficits at early stages of AD
- The hippocampus is in the medial temporal lobe. What does
“medial” mean? Deep inside the temporal lobe
o Types of memory
Episodic memory for events: e.g., “Megan’s birthday last weekend”
Semantic memory: factual knowledge
2. Semantic memory and language (understanding and producing words) - Atrophy in anterior
temporal and inferior frontal cortex
o The left hemisphere is dominant for most aspects of language processing (in most people).
o Anterior temporal lobe (front part) and the inferior frontal lobe (lower part) are important for
understanding and producing words. Atrophy here produces semantic and language deficits in AD.
o Semantic memory involves processing meanings.
o Which of these tasks is NOT semantic? Knowing which of two numbers is bigger
o Category fluency task
Vocabulary shrinkage, with greater loss of harder words – i.e., words that are used
less often, and that are learned later in life. [Forbes-McKay, K. E., Ellis, A. W.,
Shanks, M. F., & Venneri, A. (2005). Neuropsychologia, 43, 1625-1632.]
Impaired object naming correlates with cortical thinning in the left anterior
temporal lobe in AD.
Same region damaged in semantic dementia
o Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
Inhibitory TMS to the anterior temporal lobes disrupt semantic tasks, in line with the deficits of
patients with dementia – e.g., specific object naming but not reasing numbers (Pobric et al., 2007)
o Why are TMS studies a bit like neuropsychology? Both methods allow causal conclusions
3. Controlling thought and behaviour - Atrophy in frontal cortex - Effects on personality
o The frontal lobes are especially important for controlling thought and behaviour
(“executive function”).
o AD patients have trouble concentrating, making decisions, and planning
complex actions.
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller clinicalpsychologistav. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $7.82. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
