W.A.I.S. Scores in a Group of Parkinson Patients

Abstract

Parkinsonism is generally considered to be essentially a disturbance of motor function, yet it is frequently accompanied, according to some writers (Hughes, 1961; Macdonald Critchley, 1955; Niehbuhr, 1961), by some degree of intellectual deterioration, especially in the later stages of the illness.

The Contribution of Apraxic Speech to Working Memory Deficits in Parkinson's Disease

“…Using combined forward and backward spans, PD subjects usually have the same WAIS digit span as normal control subjects (e.g., Horn, 1974;Lees & Smith, 1983). One study showed better span (Asso, 1969) but only when compared with a hypothetical group of age-and-sex-matched controls, which lends the study less weight. When forward and backward digit spans are reported separately, again no differences are found (Blonder et al, 1989;Canavan et al, 1989;Stern et al, 1984).…”

Levodopa's awakening effect on patients with Parkinsonism

“…The recall of visual objects. On retest, the Parkinsonism Parkinsonism group performed as well on various group recalled fewer digits backward than the tests of alertness and concentration before levodopa , 1969;Wycis et al, 1970) mentioning the awakening effect specifically refer to the patient's becoming more alert, but no objective test scores were offered to corroborate the statement nor were there any clinical or objective descriptions given on the patients who demonstrated the awakening effect. It is possible that the patients who showed the awakening effect in the previous research studies were not as intellectually alert or well-orientated as the patients described in this study.…”

“…Many of these studies have been based on clinical observations which lack verifiable objective measurements and control groups, thus rendering the extent and nature of the intellectual impairment ambiguous. In a study comparing Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale test scores of Parkinsonism patients with the WAIS standardization group (Asso, 1969), the Parkinsonism group scored below the standardization group on subtests requiring use of the hands. The Parkinsonism group scored higher on subtests relying on verbal ability and reasoning.…”

Differential effect of Huntington's and Parkinson's diseases in programming motor sequences of varied lengths

“…There is no consistent evidence for short-term memory deficits in PD. In most studies, the immediate digit span [17][18] and immediate spatial span [19] have not been found to be impaired. Therefore another possible explanation could be that while the information may be well stored and available, they may have difficulties in accessing it to control attention processes [20][21].…”