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Semantic relations and Alzheimer's disease: An early and disproportionate deficit in functional knowledge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2009

Marcia K. Johnson  and
Allison M. Hermann
Marcia K. Johnson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 08544
Allison M. Hermann
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 08544
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Abstract

This experiment explored knowledge of four types of semantic relations (superordinate category, part, property, and function) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) subjects and age- and education-matched controls. Moderate AD subjects showed the greatest disruption on functional relations, intermediate disruption on part and property relations, and the least disruption on category relations; mild AD subjects showed a similar pattern but significant deficits only on functions. We suggest that the disproportionate deficit on functions reflects a greater cognitive complexity of functions than other semantic relations that renders them more vulnerable either to disrupted processing or to structural degradation of the network of associations among semantic concepts. (JINS, 1995, 1, 568–574.)

Keywords

Alzheimer's diseaseSemantic memory
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 1 , Issue 6 , November 1995 , pp. 568 - 574
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 1995

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