Selective Attention and the Three-Process Memory Model for the Interpretation of Verbal Free Recall in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Abstract

The present study investigates selective attention and verbal free recall in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and examines the contribution of selective attention, encoding, consolidation, and retrieval memory processes to patients' verbal free recall. We examined 22 non-demented patients with sporadic ALS and 22 demographically related controls using Stroop Neuropsychological Screening Test (SNST; selective attention) and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT; immediate & delayed verbal free recall). The item-specific deficit approach (ISDA) was applied to RAVLT to evaluate encoding, consolidation, and retrieval difficulties. ALS patients performed worse than controls on SNST (p < .001) and RAVLT immediate and delayed recall (p < .001) and showed deficient encoding (p = .001) and consolidation (p = .002) but not retrieval (p = .405). Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that SNST and ISDA indices accounted for: (a) 91.1% of the variance in RAVLT immediate recall, with encoding (p = .016), consolidation (p < .001), and retrieval (p = .032) significantly contributing to the overall model and the SNST alone accounting for 41.6%; and (b) 85.2% of the variance in RAVLT delayed recall, with consolidation (p < .001) and retrieval (p = .008) significantly contributing to the overall model and the SNST alone accounting for 39.8%. Thus, selective attention, encoding, and consolidation, and to a lesser extent of retrieval, influenced both immediate and delayed verbal free recall. Concluding, selective attention and the memory processes of encoding, consolidation, and retrieval should be considered while interpreting patients' impaired free recall. (JINS, 2012, 18, 1-10).

The Relationship between Depressive Symptoms, Disease State, and Cognition in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

“…Poorer performance in verbal fluency was not confounded by speech production speed. These findings are consistent with the literature, as verbal fluency remains the most sensitive to ALS cognitive dysfunction, and many others have noted impairment in memory and learning (Massman et al, 1996; Strong et al, 1996, 1999; Abrahams et al, 1997, 2004; Hanagasi et al, 2002; Grossman et al, 2007; Christidi et al, 2012). Utilizing neuropsychological tests that measure these cognitive domains would be most beneficial to screen for cognitive decline in a multidisciplinary ALS clinic setting, and have already been implemented in some clinics (Flaherty-Craig et al, 2009, 2011; Woolley et al, 2010).…”

Regional Dynamics of the Resting Brain in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Using Fractional Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations and Regional Homogeneity Analyses

“…Similarly, Tedeschi and colleagues (2012) found functional connectivity decreased in the FPN. Changes in this network could reflect executive dysfunctions often reported in ALS (Christidi et al, 2016;Abrahams et al, 2005).…”

Memory deficits in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are not exclusively caused by executive dysfunction: a comparative neuropsychological study of amnestic mild cognitive impairment

“…Previous studies, that took verbal memory into account, have reported both, impaired and preserved recall performance on word-list learning tests, depicting the inconsistency among observed memory deficits in ALS. One study reported long-delay recall impairment but no impairment on short-term recall or recognition [23], while others report deficits in short recall performance but preserved delayed recall performance [12], or impairment in both, short and delayed recall [18]. Based on the high variability regarding cognitive deficits between patients, recent population-based studies propose a neuropsychological classification into subgroups with focus on executive impairment or non-executive impairment [7] and a novel screening tool has taken into account ALS specific and non-specific tests [15].…”

“…Especially memory impairment has been somewhat neglected and often seen as a failure of encoding as an executive component of memory [8,17,20]. However, there are reports on memory dysfunction in ALS, often tested with picture recall, word list learning, pair association learning or story recall [12,14,18,21-30]. Most of them support an encoding or short recall deficit with relatively sparing of consolidation performance but the findings are inconsistent and have not been related to temporal lobe dysfunction.…”