Cued recall and memory disorders in dementia.

Memory functioning of normal elderly subjects and patients with suspected malignant memory disorders were examined using a cued recall memory assessment procedure. Levels of psychosocial functioning were rated by a multidisciplinary team. Ability to engage in free and cued recall was studied to determine the relationship between problems of acquisition and retrieval. Normal and impaired elderly showed strong differences on free recall and total recall resulting in 90.58% and 79.06% rates of accuracy of prediction of group membership. There were significant multivariate and univariate differences among the memory-impaired groups defined in terms of their psychosocial functioning. These findings indicate that differences in acquisition and retrieval are associated with increasing impairment of psychosocial functioning. Patients whose psychosocial functioning was rated as falling within the questionable range exhibited only deficits in retrieval. Patients whose psychosocial functioning was rated as more severely impaired, exhibited problems of retrieval and acquisition.