IS IMPAIRED RECALL IN DEMENTIA OF THE ALZHEIMER-TYPE A CONSEQUENCE OFA CONTEXTUAL RETRIEVAL DEFICIT

Eighty-eight patients with mild to moderate dementia of the Alzheimer type were tested in a word list and a spatial pattern recall task. Wit h increasing degree of dementia severity we found a decline in the ini tial recall scores while learning curves over five consecutive trials remained normal in the mildly demented patients. Furthermore, there wa s a loss of the primacy effect in the word list task in our moderately demented patients. These findings are consistent with the pattern tha t have been reported after medial temporal lobe dysfunction. The data are discussed in the framework of cognitive dual process theories of m emory as indicators of a contextual retrieval deficit.