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Preserved priming but insensitivity to perceptual fluency on recognition judgments in Alzheimer's disease
Author(s) -
YANO Madoka,
UMEDA Satoshi,
MIMURA Masaru
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
psychogeriatrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.647
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1479-8301
pISSN - 1346-3500
DOI - 10.1111/j.1479-8301.2008.00241.x
Subject(s) - implicit memory , priming (agriculture) , psychology , explicit memory , cognitive psychology , fluency , perception , task (project management) , recall , verbal fluency test , impaired memory , dementia , recognition memory , word (group theory) , episodic memory , cognition , neuropsychology , disease , neuroscience , medicine , linguistics , philosophy , botany , germination , mathematics education , management , pathology , economics , biology
Background: Previous research on Alzheimer's disease (AD) has not yielded a consensus regarding the preservation of automatic memory processes, although there is a consensus that conscious recollection processes are impaired in AD. Methods: In the present study, we examined perceptual specificity effects (PSEs) in word recognition judgments (explicit memory task; Experiment 1) and word fragment completion (implicit memory task; Experiment 2) performed by individuals with mild AD and elderly adults without dementia (controls). Results: In recognition judgments, control subjects, but not individuals with AD, demonstrated PSEs (Experiment 1). In contrast, neither group showed PSEs on word fragment completion and their priming magnitudes were comparable (Experiment 2). Conclusions: The findings suggest that perceptually automatic processes in explicit memory judgments and implicit memory processes are different and that the former are specifically impaired in AD.