Serial position effects in mild cognitive impairment

Abstract

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is often associated with the preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Special scoring of word-list recall data for serial position has been suggested to improve discrimination of normal aging from dementia. We examined serial position effects in word-list recall for MCI participants compared to Alzheimer patients and controls. Individuals with MCI, like Alzheimer patients, had a diminished primacy effect in recalling words from a list. No alternative scoring system was better than standard scoring of word-list recall in distinguishing MCI patients from controls. Retention weighted scoring improved the discrimination of MCI and AD groups.

Keywords:

• Mild cognitive impairment
• Alzheimer's disease
• Serial position effects
• Memory
• Cognitive assessment

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank William R. Shankle for assistance in understanding and computing correspondence analysis. Supported by Department of Veterans Affairs, NIH P30 AG008017, M01 RR000334, UL1 RR024140, NIH P50 AT00066, NIH R01 AG024059, P30 AG024978, NIA K01 AG023014, and Intel Corporation.