Is Impaired Recall in Dementia of the Alzheimer Type a Consequence of a Contextual Retrieval Deficit?

Eighty-eight patients with mild to moderate dementia of the Alzheimer type were tested in a word list and a spatial pattern recall task. With increasing degree of dementia severity we found a decline in the initial recall scores while learning curves over five consecutive trials remained normal in the mildly demented patients. Furthermore, there was a loss of the primacy effect in the word list task in our moderately demented patients. These findings are consistent with the pattern that have been reported after medial temporal lobe dysfunction. The data are discussed in the framework of cognitive dual process theories of memory as indicators of a contextual retrieval deficit.