Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Working Memory and Learning in Early Alzheimer’s Disease

  • Published:
Neuropsychology Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Cognitive deficits associated with early Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have been recently operationalised in terms of an acquisition deficit and the research supporting this view is presented. However, there is still debate concerning the nature of this deficit and how underlying cognitive processes may be detrimentally affecting the ability to acquire new information in early AD. This review argues that the pattern of cognitive deficits contributing to the acquisition impairment in early AD patients may be readily interpreted within the context of a working memory model. Isolating the component processes of working memory that underlie the acquisition deficit in early AD patients will aid in the design of clinical applications that are focussed at enhancing the ability to acquire new information in everyday life.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edn. Washington, DC.

  • Albert, M. S., Moss, M. B., Tanzi, R., and Jones, K. (2001). Preclinical prediction of AD using neuropsychological tests. J. Int. Neuropsychol. Soc. 7: 631–639.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bäckman, L., and Small, B. J. (1998). Influences of cognitive support on episodic remembering: Tracing the process of loss from normal aging to Alzheimer’s disease. Psychol. Aging 13: 267–276.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. (1996a). Working memory. Science 255: 556–559.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. (1996b). Exploring the central executive. Quart. J. Exper. Psychol. 49A: 5–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. (2000). The episodic buffer: A new component of working memory? Trends Cog. Sci. 4: 417–423.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. D. (2001). Is working memory still working? Am. Psychol. 56: 851–864.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. D., and Andrade, J. (2000) Working memory and the vividness of imagery. J. Exper. Psychol. General 129: 126–145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. D., Baddeley, H. A., Bucks, R. S., and Wilcock, G. K. (2001). Attentional control in Alzheimer’s disease. Brain 124: 1492–1508.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. D., Bressi, S., Della Sala, S., Logie, R. H., and Spinnler, H. (1991). The decline of working memory in Alzheimer’s disease. Brain 114: 1521–2542.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A., Della Sala, S., Gray, C., Papagno, C., and Spinnler, H. (1997). Testing central executive functioning with a paper-and-pencil test. In: Conway, M. A. (ed.), Cognitive Models of Memory, MIT Press, Cambridge, pp. 61–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. D., and Hitch, G. J. (1974). Working memory. In: Bower, G. A. (ed.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, Academic, Press New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. D., and Hitch, G. J. (2000). Development of working memory: Should the Pascual-Leone and the Baddeley and Hitch models be merged? J. Exper. Child Psychol. 77: 128–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A., Lewis, V., Eldridge, M., and Thomson, N. (1984). Attention and retrieval from long-term memory. J. Exper. Psychol. General 113: 518–540.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. D., and Logie, R. H. (1999). Working memory: The multiple-component model. In: Miyake, A., and Shah, P. (eds.), Models of Working Memory: Mechanisms of Active Maintenance and Executive Control Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 28–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. D., and Wilson, B. A. (2002). Prose recall and amnesia: Implications for the structure of working memory. Neuropsychologia 40: 1737–1743.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, J. T., Boller, F., Saxton, J., and McGonigle-Gibson, K. L. (1987). Normal rates of forgetting of verbal and non-verbal material in Alzheimer’s disease. Cortex 23: 59–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belleville, S., Peretz, I., and Malenfant, D. (1996). Examination of the working memory components in normal aging and in dementia of the Alzheimer type. Neuropsychologia 34: 195–207.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bird, M. (2001). Behavioural difficulties and cued recall of adaptive behaviour in dementia: Experimental and clinical evidence. Neuropsychol. Rehab. 11: 357–375.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, S. C., and Craik, F. I. M. (2000). Encoding and retrieval of information. In: Tulving, E., and Craik, F. I. M. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Memory, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 93–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cahn, D. A., Salmon, D. P., Bondi, M. W., Butters, N., Johnson, S. A., Wiederhold, W. C., and Barrett-Connor, E. (1997). A population-based analysis of qualitative features of the neuropsychological test performance of individuals with dementia of the Alzheimer type: Implications for individuals with questionable dementia. J. Inte. Neuropsychol. Soc. 3: 387–393.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cannata, A. P., Alberoni, M., Franceschi, M., and Mariani, C. (2002). Frontal impairment in subcortical ischemic vascular dementia in comparison to Alzheimer’s disease. Dementia Geriatric Cognitive Disorders 13: 101–111.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlesimo, G. A., Mauri, M., Graceffa, A. M., Fadda, L., Loasses, A., Lorusso, S., and Caltagirone, C. (1998). Memory performances in young, elderly, and very old healthy individuals versus patients with Alzheimer’s disease: Evidence for discontinuity between normal and pathological aging. J. Clin. Exper. Neuropsychol. 20: 14–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cherry, K. E., Simmons, S. S., and Camp, C. J. (1999). Spaced retrieval enhances memory in older adults with probable Alzheimer’s disease. J. Clin. Geropsychol. 5: 159–175.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collette, F., Van der Linden, M., Bechet, S., and Salmon, E. (1999a). Phonological loop and central executive functioning in Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropsychologia 37: 905–918.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collette, F., Van der Linden, M., and Salmon, E. (1999b). Executive dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease. Cortex 35: 57–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cronin-Golomb, A., Keane, M. M., Kokodis, A., Corkin, S., and Growdon, J. H. (1992). Category knowledge in Alzheimer’s disease: Normal organisation and a general retrieval deficit. Psychol. Aging 7: 359–366.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crowell, T. A., Luis, C. A., Vanderploeg, R. D., Schinka, J. A., and Mullan, M. (2002). Memory Patterns and Executive Functioning in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease. Aging, Neuropsychol. Cog. 9: 288–297.

    Google Scholar 

  • Curtiss, G., Vanderploeg, R. D., Spencer, J., and Salazar, A. M. (2001). Patterns of verbal learning and memory in traumatic brain injury. J. Inte. Neuropsychol. Soc. 7: 574–585.

    Google Scholar 

  • Della Sala, S., and Logie, R. H. (1993). When working memory does not work: The role of working memory in neuropsychology. In: Boller, F., and Grafman, J. (eds.), Elsevier Science Publishers B. V, Amsterdam, pp. 1–53.

  • Dorrego, M. F., Sabe, L., Cuerva, A. G., Kuzis, G., Tiberti, C., Boller, F., and Starkstein, S. E. (1999). Remote memory in Alzheimer’s disease. J. Neuropsychiat. Clin. Neurosci. 11: 490–497.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engle, R. W. (2002). Working memory capacity as executive attention. Curr. Direc. Psychol. Sci. 11: 18–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fernandes, M. A., and Moscovitch, M. (2000). Divided attention and memory: Evidence of substantial interference effects at retrieval and encoding. J. Exper. Psychol. General 129: 155–176.

    Google Scholar 

  • Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E., and McHugh, P. R. (1975). “Mini-Mental State”: A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinicians. J. Psychiat. Res. 12: 189–198.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox, N. C., and Rossor, M. N. (1999). Diagnosis of early Alzheimer’s disease. Revue Neurologique 155: S33–S37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gathercole, S. E. (1994). Neuropsychology and working memory: A review. Neuropsychology 8: 494–505.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glosser, G., Gallo, J. L., Clark, C. M., and Grossman, M. (2002). Memory encoding and retrieval in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropsychology 16: 190–196.

    Google Scholar 

  • Granholm, E., and Butters, N. (1988). Associative encoding and retrieval in Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease. Brain. Cog. 7: 335–347.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greene, J. D. W., Hodges, J. R., and Baddeley, A. D. (1995). Autobiographical memory and executive function in early dementia of Alzheimer type. Neuropsychologia 33: 1647–1670.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greene, J. D. W., Baddeley, A. D., and Hodges, J. R. (1996). Analysis of the episodic memory deficit in early Alzheimer’s disease: Evidence from the doors and people test. Neuropsychologia 34: 537–551.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grober, E., Buschke, H., Kawas, C., and Fuld, P. (1985). Impaired ranking of semantic attributes in dementia. Brain Language 26: 276–286.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grober, E., and Sliwinski, M. J. (1991). Dual-task performance in demented and nondemented elderly. J. Clin. Exper. Neuropsychol. 13: 667–676.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grober, E., and Kawas, C. (1997). Learning and retention in preclinical and early Alzheimer’s disease. Psychol. Aging 12: 183–188.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haxby, J. V., Grady, C. L., Koss, E., Horowitz, B., Shapiro, M., Friedland, R. P., and Rapoport, S. I. (1988). Heterogeneous anterior-posterior metabolic patterns in dementia of the Alzheimer type. Neurology 38: 1853–1863.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, R. D., and Bäckman, L. (2000). Theoretical and methodological issues in memory training. In: Hill, R. D., Bäckman, L., and Stigsdotter Neely, A. (eds.), Cognitive Rehabilitation in Old Age, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 23–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodges, J. R. (2000). Memory in the dementias. In: Tulving, E., and Craik, F. I. M. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Memory, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 441–459.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kellogg, R. T., Newcombe, C., Kammer, D., and Schmitt, K. (1996). Attention in direct and indirect memory tasks with short- and long-term probes. Am. J. Psychol. 109: 205–217.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kopelman, M. D. (1985). Rates of forgetting in Alzheimer-type dementia and Korsakoff’s syndrome. Neuropsychologia 23: 623–638.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lafleche, G., and Albert, M. S. (1995). Executive function deficits in mild Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropsychology 9: 313–320.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipinska, B., and Bäckman, L. (1997). Encoding-retrieval interactions in mild Alzheimer’s disease: The role of access to categorical information. Brain Cognition 34: 274–286.

    Google Scholar 

  • Logie, R. H. (1996). The seven ages of working memory. In: Richardson, J. T. E., Engle, R. W., Hasher, L., Logie, R. H., Stoltzfus, E. R., and Zacks, R. T. (eds.), Working Memory and Human Cognition, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 31–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marsh, R. L., and Hicks, J. L. (1998). Event-based prospective memory and executive control of working memory. J. Exper. Psychol. Learning, Memory, Cognition 24: 336–349.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKhann, G., Drachman, D., Folstein, M., Katzman, R., Price, D., and Stadlan, E. M. (1984). Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease: Report of the NINCDS-ADRDA Work Group under the auspices of Department of Health and Human Services Task Force on Alzheimer’s disease. Neurology 34: 939–944.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Rettinger, D. A., Shah, P., and Hegarty, M. (2001). How are visuospatial working memory, executive functioning, and spatial abilities related? A latent-variable analysis. J. Exper. Psychol. General 130: 621–640.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, R. G. (1984). Dementia and the functioning of the articulatory loop system. Cog. Neuropsychol. 1: 147–157.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moscovitch, M. (1992). Memory and working-with-memory: A component process model based on modules and central systems. J. Cognitive Neurosci. 4: 257–268.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moscovitch, M. (1994). Cognitive resources and dual-task interference effects at retrieval in normal people: The role of the frontal lobes and medial temporal cortex. Neuropsychology 8: 524–534.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moscovitch, M., and Umilta, C. (1991). Conscious and nonconscious aspects of memory: A neuropsychological framework of modules and central systems. In: Lister, R. L., and Weingartner, H. J. (eds.), Perspectives on Cognitive Neuroscience, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 229–266.

    Google Scholar 

  • Naveh-Benjamin, M., Craik, F. I. M., Perretta, J. G., and Tonev, S. T. (2000). The effects of divided attention on encoding and retrieval processes: The resiliency of retrieval processes. Quart. J. Exper. Psychol. 53A: 609–625.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Hara, R., Mumenthaler, M. S., and Yesaveage, J. A. (2000). Update on Alzheimer’s disease: Recent findings and treatments. Best Practice 172: 115–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parasuraman, R., Greenwood, P. M., Haxby, J. V., and Grady, C. L. (1992). Visuospatial attention in dementia of the Alzheimer type. Brain 115: 711–733.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parkin, A. J. (1997). Aging and dementia. In: Parkin, A. J. (ed.), Memory and Amnesia: An Introduction, 2nd edn., Blackwell, Cambridge, pp. 124–145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pasquier, F., Grymonprez, L., Lebert, F., and Van der Linden, M. (2001). Memory impairment differs in Frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Neurocase 7: 161–171.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perry, R. J., and Hodges, J. R. (1999). Attention and executive deficits in Alzheimer’s disease: A critical review. Brain 122: 383–404.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perry, R. J., and Hodges, J. R. (2000). Differentiating frontal and temporal variant frontotemporal dementia from Alzheimer’s disease. Neurology 54: 2277–2284.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perry, R. J., Watson, P., and Hodges, J. R. (2000). The nature and staging of attention dysfunction in early (minimal and mild) Alzheimer’s disease: Relationship to episodic and semantic memory impairment. Neuropsychologia 38: 252–271.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reid, W., Broe, G., Creasey, H., Grayson, D., McCusker, E., Bennett, H., Longley, W., and Sulway, M. R. (1996). Age at onset and pattern of neuropsychological impairment in mild early-stage Alzheimer disease. Archives Neurol. 53: 1056–1061.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rochon, E., Waters, G. S., and Caplan, D. (2000). The relationship between measures of working memory and sentence comprehension in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. J. Speech, Lang. Hearing Res. 43: 395–413.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosen, V. M., Bergeson, J. L., Putnam, K., Harwell, A., and Sunderland, T. (2002). Working memory and apolipoprotein E: What’s the connection? Neuropsychologia 40: 2226–2233.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmitter-Edgecombe, M. (1999). Effects of divided attention on perceptual and conceptual memory tests: An analysis using a process-dissociation approach. Memory Cognition 27: 512–525.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sgaramella, T. M., Borgo, F., Mondini, S., Pasini, M., Toso, V., and Semenza, C. (2001). Executive deficits appearing in the initial stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Tennet XI 264–268.

  • Simon, E., Leach, L., Winocur, G., and Moscovitch, M. (1994). Intact primary memory in mild to moderate Alzheimer disease: Indices from the California Verbal Learning Test. J. Clin. Exper. Neuropsychol. 16: 414–422.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spinnler, H., Della Sala, S., Bandera, R., and Baddeley, A. (1988). Dementia, ageing, and the structure of human memory. Cognitive Neuropsychology 5: 193–211.

    Google Scholar 

  • Storey, E., Kinsella, G. J., and Slavin, M. J. (2001). The neuropsychological diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. J. Alzheimer’s Dis. 3: 261–285.

    Google Scholar 

  • Storey, E., Slavin, M. J., and Kinsella, G. J. (2002). Patterns of cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s disease: Assessment and differential diagnosis. Front. Biosci. Special Edn. 7: 155–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tierney, M. C., Szalai, J. P., Snow, W. G., Fisher, R. H., Nores, A., Nadon, G., Dunn, E., and St. George-Hyslop, P. H. (1996). Prediction of probable Alzheimer’s disease in memory-impaired patients: A prospective longitudinal study. Neurology 46: 661–665.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tombaugh, T. N., and McIntyre, N. J. (1992). The Mini-Mental State Examination: A comprehensive review. J. Am. Geriatric Soc. 40: 922–935.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanderploeg, R. D., Crowell, T. A., and Curtiss, G. (2001). Verbal learning and memory deficits in Traumatic Brain Injury: Encoding, consolidation, and retrieval. J. Clin. Exper. Neuropsychol. 23: 185–195.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weingartner, H., Kaye, W., Smallberg, S. A., Ebert, M. H., Gillin, J. C., and Sitaram, N. (1981). Memory failures in progressive idiopathic dementia. J. Abnormal Psychol. 90: 187–196.

    Google Scholar 

  • Welsh, K., Butters, N., Hughes, J., Mohs, R., and Heyman, A. (1991). Detection of abnormal memory decline in mild cases of Alzheimer’s disease using CERAD neuropsychological measures. Archives Neurol. 48: 278–281.

    Google Scholar 

  • Welsh, K. A., Butters, N., Hughes, J. P., Mohs, R. C., and Heyman, A. (1992). Detection and staging of dementia in Alzheimer’s disease: Use of the neuropsychological measures developed for the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease. Archives Neurol. 49: 448–452.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wenger, J. L., and Carlson, R. A. (1995). Learning and the coordination of sequential information. J. Exper. Psychol. Human Percep. Perfor. 21: 170–182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, R. S., Bacon, L. D., and Fox, J. H. (1983). Primary memory and secondary memory in dementia of the Alzheimer type. J. Clin. Neuropsychol. 5: 337–344.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3086, Australia

    Carmela Germano & Glynda J. Kinsella

Authors
  1. Carmela Germano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Glynda J. Kinsella
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Glynda J. Kinsella.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Germano, C., Kinsella, G.J. Working Memory and Learning in Early Alzheimer’s Disease. Neuropsychol Rev 15, 1–10 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-005-3583-7

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-005-3583-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation