Emotional Working Memory in Alzheimer’s Disease Patients

• Main Authors: Corina Satler, Carlos Tomaz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Karger Publishers 2011-06-01
• Series: Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra
• Subjects: Alzheimer’s disease; Emotions; Executive functions; Visuospatial abilities; Working memory
• Online Access: http://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/329155

Background: Few studies have assessed whether emotional content affects processes supporting working memory in Alzheimer disease (AD) patients. Methods: We assessed 22 AD patients and 40 elderly controls (EC) with a delayed matching and non-matching to sample task (DMST/DNMST), and a spatial-delayed recognition span task (SRST; unique/varied) using emotional stimuli. Results: AD patients showed decreased performance on both tasks compared with EC. With regard to the valence of the stimuli, we did not observe significant performance differences between groups in the DMST/DNMST. However, both groups remembered a larger number of negative than positive or neutral pictures on unique SRST. Conclusion: The results suggest that AD patients show a relative preservation of working memory for emotional information, particularly for negative stimuli.