Confrontation naming has frequently been administered to Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients as a measure of the integrity of semantic memory. Recent evidence, however, suggests that naming may be possible without access to semantic information. A defining task, which requires access to and integrity of semantic knowledge was paired with confrontation naming in a study of AD patients and normal elderly controls. Ninety-nine mild and moderately demented AD patients and 51 elderly controls were asked to both name and define the same stimulus items. Many instances of preservation of the ability to name and not define, or define and not name, were observed. These findings suggest that confrontation naming alone is an inaccurate measure of semantic memory. Further, these results suggest that naming is possible in the absence of the ability to demonstrate semantic knowledge as measured by the defining task.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/277289 |
| Date | January 1990 |
| Creators | Caffrey, Jill Teresa, 1959- |
| Contributors | Kaszniak, Alfred W. |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
Page generated in 0.1296 seconds