The objective of this study was to identify subgroups in patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD), based on a dissociation in their performance on visuospatial tasks: one subgroup with predominant impairment on object recognition or the "What" system, and another subgroup with predominant impairment in spatial recognition or the "Where" system. Also, an attempt was made to clarify the relationship between attention on these two visuospatial processes. Amongst twenty-four patients with AD, we identified two pairs of patients with dissociated performances. However, except for one case, the dissociations found were mainly based on the prominent impairment of the spatial ability or the "Where" system. Based on the performance of cohort, our results suggested that spatial abilities are more impaired than the object recognition ability. In addition the results showed that AD also affects the central executive system, and that the impairments in visuospatial processes, especially the "What" system, may at least partly be explained by deficits in this system. These findings also indicate that certain sub-components of visuospatial processes can be distinctively affected by AD.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.23924 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Creators | Naidj, Sonia |
| Contributors | Panisset, M. (advisor), Gauthier, S. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Psychiatry.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001495018, proquestno: MM12248, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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