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Executive function asymmetry in older adults genetically at-risk for Alzheimer's disease: Verbal versus design fluency

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2005

WES S. HOUSTON ,
DEAN C. DELIS ,
AMY LANSING ,
MARK W. JACOBSON ,
KRYSTAL R. COBELL ,
DAVID P. SALMON  and
MARK W. BONDI
WES S. HOUSTON
Affiliation:
University of Iowa, Department of Neurology, Division of Cognitive Neuroscience, Iowa City, Iowa
DEAN C. DELIS
Affiliation:
VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, California University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, San Diego, California
AMY LANSING
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, San Diego, California
MARK W. JACOBSON
Affiliation:
VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, California University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, San Diego, California
KRYSTAL R. COBELL
Affiliation:
VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, California
DAVID P. SALMON
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, Department of Neurosciences, San Diego, California
MARK W. BONDI
Affiliation:
VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, California University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, San Diego, California
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Abstract

Recent studies have reported cognitive asymmetries in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and in individuals with apolipoprotein E ε4 (APOE ε4) genotype who are in the preclinical phase of AD. This increased frequency of cognitive asymmetry, typically defined as a significant discrepancy (in either direction) between verbal and spatial abilities, often occurs despite an absence of differences on traditional measures of central tendency (i.e., mean test scores). We prospectively studied the relationship between APOE genotype and two modality-specific executive-function tasks: The Verbal Fluency and Design Fluency tests of the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) in 52 normal functioning older adult participants who were grouped according to the presence (n = 24) or absence (n = 28) of the APOE ε4 allele. Nondemented older adults with the APOE ε4 allele demonstrated a greater frequency of cognitive asymmetric profile on the new switching conditions of the Verbal and Design Fluency measures than the APOE non-ε4 individuals. This study further supports the utility of assessing cognitive asymmetry for the detection of subtle cognitive differences in individuals at-risk for AD, and suggests that dual-task executive function tests (i.e., fluency plus switching) may serve as a useful preclinical marker of AD. (JINS, 2005, 11, 863–870.)

Keywords

NeuropsychologyAPOECognitive discrepancyAgingPreclinicalNormal
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 11 , Issue 7 , November 2005 , pp. 863 - 870
Copyright
© 2005 The International Neuropsychological Society

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