THE RELATION OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TEST-PERFORMANCE TO PERFORMANCE OFFUNCTIONAL TASKS IN DEMENTIA OF THE ALZHEIMER-TYPE

Canonical analysis was used to relate a battery of neuropsychological tests to a set of functional tasks in a sample of 126 healthy older ad ults and individuals with a clinical diagnosis of dementia of the Alzh eimer type. The functional tasks included activities that ranged from relatively simple motoric functions to much more cognitively demanding abilities. In general, functional behavior was substantially correlat ed with neuropsychological rest performance. With the exception of wel l-routinized motor activities that probably represent procedural memor y, both functional tasks and neuropsychological tests appear to assess the same global cognitive deterioration that characterizes Alzheimer' s disease.