Open AccessAdaptive and maladaptive utilization of color cues by patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's Disease
Author(s) -
Susan M. Wood
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
archives of clinical neuropsychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 1873-5843
pISSN - 0887-6177
DOI - 10.1016/s0887-6177(96)00006-6
Subject(s) - color vision , psychology , audiology , cognition , alzheimer's disease , visual acuity , stimulus (psychology) , disease , medicine , ophthalmology , cognitive psychology , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , pathology , computer science
The ability to utilize color information was investigated in 12 patients with mild to moderate probable Alzheimer's Disease (DAT) and in 12 age- and gender-matched control subjects. All subjects underwent testing of visual acuity and color vision before being tested with a cognitive task consisting of four conditions (no color, color as attention enhancer, color as valid cue, color as distracter). Although the groups did not differ in visual acuity or color vision, patients with DAT were less accurate than controls in all four conditions of the cognitive task. Both groups performed best with color as a valid cue and worst with color as distracter, but condition had a significantly stronger effect on patients than on controls. It is concluded that color is a potent stimulus attribute for patients with DAT.