LINGUISTIC AND ATTENTIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANOMIA IN ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

Twelve patients meeting strict criteria for probable Alzheimer's disea se were asked to name pictures of 20 familiar objects twice over a 2-w eek period. These patients were also administered standard tests of at tention. We postulated that naming errors on the same drawings on both occasions (consistent errors) reflect a disruption of lexical semanti c representations, while inconsistent errors reflect difficulties in l exical access. The results revealed highly variable naming consistency across the subject group. The less consistent subjects were significa ntly more impaired on tasks of attention. Neither disease severity nor severity of anomia could be used to explain the naming patterns. We c onclude that both deficits in lexical knowledge and impaired attention cause anomia in AD, and these two different underlying problems have distinct effects on naming performance.