Verbal memory errors in Alzheimer's and Huntington's dementias

Abstract

This study examined the nature and extent of verbal recall and recognition errors in patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (PAD) and Huntington's disease (HD). The California Verbal Learning Test was administered to PAD patients, mildly demented HD patients, moderately to severely demented HD (MS‐HD) patients, and normal controls. PAD patients had a significantly higher rate of intrusions on recall tests than any other group. PAD patients also showed a more rapid increase in intrusions on delayed free‐recall and cued‐recall trials. On recognition testing, however, PAD and MS‐HD patients were equally impaired at discriminating between targets and distractors. Results indicate that impaired discrimination contributes to the memory failures of both dementias, but that PAD patients are more likely than HD patients to manifest their dysfunction as intrusion errors on recall trials. Possible explanations for this discrepancy are discussed.