Signal-detection analysis of the WMS faces subtest: Results in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients

Manuel Pérez, Imanol Amayra, Oscar Martínez, Esther Lázaro, Juan Francisco López-Paz, Maitane García, Sarah Berrocoso, Mohammad Al-Rashaida, Alicia Aurora Rodríguez Bermejo, Paula María Luna, Luis Varona Franco

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

About 30% of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) suffer from cognitive impairment and 10–15% suffer from frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Due to the patients’ reduced motor function, a neuropsychological assessment with a low motor demand can be an advantage when evaluating patients, aiding its application. The present work has studied the usefulness of the Faces subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale in 42 patients with ALS and 42 healthy volunteers applying Holdnack’s Two-High Threshold model. The ALS group performed significantly worse in immediate and delayed discriminability. With respect to the presence of cognitive impairment, it seemed to be independent of the indexes proposed by Holdnack and Delis. On the other hand, motor problems were associated with delayed recognition while behavior alterations were linked to problems with delayed discriminability. ALS patients do not express differences in the bias index, in line with other types of previously studied pathologies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)607-613
Number of pages7
JournalApplied Neuropsychology:Adult
Volume28
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
  • dementia
  • frontotemporal dementia
  • memory

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology

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