CONTROLLING FOR CONSTRUCTIONAL DYSFUNCTION WITH THE VISUAL REPRODUCTION SUBTEST OF THE WECHSLER MEMORY SCALE-REVISED IN ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

The purpose of the present study was to investigate a method for quant ifying the contribution of constructional skills on the Visual Reprodu ction subtest of-the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised in patients with Al zheimer's disease (AD). To correct for constructional problems, a prop ortion score was created by dividing the subtest raw scores from stand ard administration by the total score obtained for copying the designs . Seventeen patients with probable AD were compared to 17 controls. Us ing the proportion score, one-way analysis of variance demonstrated th at control subjects reproduced significantly more information at both immediate and delayed conditions and retained a greater percentage-of information over the delay. The results of this study indicated that p atients with AD showed greater visual memory impairment on the Visual Reproduction subtest as compared to control subjects independent of co nstructional skills.