We describe the standardization of three new tests of knowledge
of quantity facts, number operations and multiplication facts.
We also report a validation study in which a group of 50 patients
with cortical degenerative disorders were tested on these three
new tests of number processing. Our results show that the quantity
facts and number operations tests are sensitive measures of
number processing abilities. Performance on the three new tests
and the Graded Difficulty Arithmetic (GDA) test were found to
be significantly impaired in the Alzheimer's Disease (AD)
group. The frontotemporal dementia (FTD) group was subdivided
into those with a semantic dementia (SD) and those with prominent
frontal features (Non-SD). The semantic dementia subgroup was
more impaired than both the AD patient group and the nonsemantic
FTD subgroup on the quantity facts test. A more fine grained
analysis reveals several interesting patterns of performance,
including a dissociation between impaired performance on the
quantity facts and number operations tests and preserved
performance on the GDA. The findings attest the value of comparing
performance on the GDA and our new tests in delineating the
nature of an individual's number processing deficits.
Implications for the relation between simple arithmetic fact
knowledge and higher level number processing are discussed.
(JINS, 2001, 7, 825–834.)