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Everyday action in dementia: Evidence for differential deficits in Alzheimer's disease versus subcortical vascular dementia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2006

TANIA GIOVANNETTI ,
KARA S. SCHMIDT ,
JENNIFER L. GALLO ,
NICOLE SESTITO  and
DAVID J. LIBON
TANIA GIOVANNETTI
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
KARA S. SCHMIDT
Affiliation:
Center for Aging, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, Stratford, New Jersey
JENNIFER L. GALLO
Affiliation:
Center for Aging, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, Stratford, New Jersey
NICOLE SESTITO
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Center for Aging, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, Stratford, New Jersey
DAVID J. LIBON
Affiliation:
Center for Aging, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, Stratford, New Jersey
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Abstract

The relationship between dementia diagnosis and everyday action (e.g., meal preparation, grooming) is not well understood. This study examines differences between individuals diagnosed with vascular dementia (VaD; n = 25) versus Alzheimer's disease (AD; n = 23) on the Naturalistic Action Test (NAT; Schwartz et al., 2003), a performance-based measure that includes three tasks of increasing complexity. The percentage of task steps accomplished, number of errors, and performance times were recorded for each task. While the groups did not differ in dementia severity or overall impairment on the NAT, the VaD group committed more errors (3.3 vs. 1.6, p = 02). The VaD group also accomplished significantly fewer steps when salient distractor objects were present (74.0% vs. 91.3%, p < .01). Correlations between NAT variables and neuropsychological tests suggest the executive control deficits associated with VaD may contribute to specific action difficulties, such as distractor interference and inefficient, error-prone action on complex tasks. In AD, everyday action may be negatively influenced by episodic memory failures. Thus, dementia diagnosis has relevance to everyday function. (JINS, 2006, 12, 45–53.)

Keywords

Naturalistic actionActivities of daily living (ADL)Instrumental activities of daily living (IADL)Functional abilitiesErrors of actionCortical dementiaSubcortical dementia
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , January 2006 , pp. 45 - 53
Copyright
© 2006 The International Neuropsychological Society

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