Title: Performances of mild and moderate traumatic brain injured patients versus probable malingerers on measures of neuropsychological functioning
Abstract:Empirical verification of neuropsychological changes distinguishing Alzheimer's disease (AD) from fronto-temporal dementia (FTD) is lacking. Archival data on 15 FTD patients, 16 AD patients, and 16 ma...Empirical verification of neuropsychological changes distinguishing Alzheimer's disease (AD) from fronto-temporal dementia (FTD) is lacking. Archival data on 15 FTD patients, 16 AD patients, and 16 matched controls were compared. Controls outperformed patient groups on verbal and nonverbal memory, executive ability, and constructional skill, with AD patients showing more widespread memory decline. No group differences were found on word retrieval, recognition memory, or basic attention. Profile of relative strengths and weaknesses on neuropsychological tests showed AD patients having greater impairment on memory and construction tasks, with executive tasks relatively spared; the opposite pattern characterized FTD patients. Findings suggest that examination of relative rankings of scores across cognitive domains may be more useful in differential diagnosis than analysis of individual neuropsychological scores.Read More