Memory Training for Severe Memory Loss: Effects on Senile Dementia Patients and Their Families

The study was aimed at estimating the effect size of practice, retention interval and dementia severity on free recall performance in Alzheimer patients. Patients met DSM-III-R criteria for dementia of Alzheimer type. Different picture sets were presented on 4 days. The forgetting curves on different days were compared using ANOVA for repeated measurements. Practice had a minor, but significant negative effect on recall performance explaining 1% of the variance in recall performance. The retention interval varied between zero and 24 h explaining 23% of the total variance. Dementia severity explained 52% of the variance. For the development of memory improvement strategies in Alzheimer patients, the repeated measurement design using intraindividual comparisons seems more powerful than group comparisons.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual Memory in Alzheimer Patients: Effects of Practice, Retention Interval and Severity of Cognitive Decline

Heun

Bierbrauer

Benkert

1995

“…Two small RCTs demonstrated improvement of verbal and visual learning after teaching of memory strategies had been conducted daily [11] or twice weekly [9] . Another small RCT, conducting weekly sessions, was neutral [18] but meta-analysis yielded homogenous and positive results ( table 2 ).…”

Section: Npts To Improve Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonpharmacological Therapies in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Systematic Review of Efficacy

Olazarán¹,

Reisberg

Clare

et al. 2010

777

652

Introduction: Nonpharmacological therapies (NPTs) can improve the quality of life (QoL) of people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and their carers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the best evidence on the effects of NPTs in AD and related disorders (ADRD) by performing a systematic review and meta-analysis of the entire field. Methods: Existing reviews and major electronic databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The deadline for study inclusion was September 15, 2008. Intervention categories and outcome domains were predefined by consensus. Two researchers working together detected 1,313 candidate studies of which 179 RCTs belonging to 26 intervention categories were selected. Cognitive deterioration had to be documented in all participants, and degenerative etiology (indicating dementia) had to be present or presumed in at least 80% of the subjects. Evidence tables, meta-analysis and summaries of results were elaborated by the first author and reviewed by author subgroups. Methods for rating level of evidence and grading practice recommendations were adapted from the Oxford Center for Evidence-Based Medicine. Results: Grade A treatment recommendation was achieved for institutionalization delay (multicomponent interventions for the caregiver, CG). Grade B recommendation was reached for the person with dementia (PWD) for: improvement in cognition (cognitive training, cognitive stimulation, multicomponent interventions for the PWD); activities of daily living (ADL) (ADL training, multicomponent interventions for the PWD); behavior (cognitive stimulation, multicomponent interventions for the PWD, behavioral interventions, professional CG training); mood (multicomponent interventions for the PWD); QoL (multicomponent interventions for PWD and CG) and restraint prevention (professional CG training); for the CG, grade B was also reached for: CG mood (CG education, CG support, multicomponent interventions for the CG); CG psychological well-being (cognitive stimulation, multicomponent interventions for the CG); CG QoL (multicomponent interventions for PWD and CG). Conclusion: NPTs emerge as a useful, versatile and potentially cost-effective approach to improve outcomes and QoL in ADRD for both the PWD and CG.

“…Memory training programs have limited positive effects on memory performance in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) [1][2][3][4][5]. This might be a result of high demands on the patients' working memory in these programs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Presentation Rate on Word List Learning in Patients with Dementia of the Alzheimer Type

Heun

Burkart²,

Wolf³

et al. 1998

The efficacy of simple interventions for the improvement of memory performance in patients with dementia of Alzheimer type (DAT) has rarely been evaluated. Therefore, we examined the effects of presentation duration and task practice on word list learning in this sample: 19 patients with DAT and 21 control subjects (with remitted major depression) repeatedly performed modifications of a word list learning task using five different presentation durations (i.e. 1, 2, 5, 10 or 20 s/word). In agreement with previous observations, prolonged visual presentation of words significantly improved recall and recognition in demented subjects, whereas task practice did not improve memory performance. The performance in the demented sample after long presentation times (20 s/item) does not reach the level of performance of the comparison group after short presentation times (1 s/item). Consequently, it seems unlikely that memory dysfunction is caused by increased item processing times in patients with dementia. To reach comparable performance of demented and controls for intervention or activation studies, presentation times must be shortened below 1 s/item in the control sample.