Chronometric analysis: Clinical applications in aging and dementia

Abstract

Reaction time (RT) measurement offers increased clinical precision in the neuropsychological assessment of age‐related dementia. Chronometric procedures are generally well accepted and reliable and demonstrate both diagnostic and functional sensitivity to cognitive decline. This review focuses on the use of RT for the evaluation of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and introduces the timed card‐sorting task as a convenient measure of response time for use in the clinical setting. Methodological issues and hypothesized attentional mechanisms underlying RT slowing in AD are discussed.