EXAMINATION OF THE WORKING-MEMORY COMPONENTS IN NORMAL AGING AND IN DEMENTIA OF THE ALZHEIMER-TYPE

The verbal and attentional components of working memory were examined in patients with Alzheimer's disease, normal elderlies, and young cont rols. Patients with Alzheimer's disease, showed a reduced span but wer e sensitive to word length. This is indicative of a functional rehears al procedure. However, the effect of phonological similarity on immedi ate recall was smaller in patients with Alzheimer's disease and these patients showed a depressed performance in tasks of phonological analy sis. There was also a significant decrement in a task that assessed th e attentional component of working memory. Examination of individual p atterns of performance showed that the phonological deficiency was sev ere in a subgroup of patients while the attentional deficit was more g eneral.