Binetti G, Cappa S F, Magni E, Padovani A, Bianchetti A, Trabucchi M
Alzheimer's Disease Unit, Istituto S. Cuore Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1996 Jan 17;777:221-5. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1996.tb34422.x.
A battery of visual and spatial perception tests (VOSP) has been administered to a sample of 25 mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and 25 age- and education-matched controls in order to assess visuospatial skills in the early phase of the disease. Among visual object perception tests, AD patients were impaired only in the task where they had to name the stimulus (Silhouettes task). The score in this task significantly correlated with the Boston Naming Test score (r = .73; p < 0.0001). The performance on the Object decision task (which does not require naming), figure-ground analysis, and identification of degraded stimuli was unimpaired. Similarly there were no significant differences for any of the spatial perception tests. The results showing that the performances on most measures of visual and spatial perception is unimpaired, indicate that the "early" perceptual processes, as well as the access to structural knowledge, are not defective in early AD. On the other hand, AD patients are impaired at the level of semantic access and name retrieval. The finding of an highly significant correlation among tests requiring visual access to structural and semantic knowledge suggests that a rigid separation between perceptual and semantic mechanisms may be unwarranted.
对25名轻度阿尔茨海默病（AD）患者以及25名年龄和教育程度相匹配的对照者进行了一系列视觉和空间感知测试（VOSP），以评估该疾病早期阶段的视觉空间技能。在视觉物体感知测试中，AD患者仅在必须说出刺激物名称的任务（轮廓任务）中表现受损。该任务的得分与波士顿命名测试得分显著相关（r = 0.73；p < 0.0001）。在物体决策任务（不需要命名）、图形背景分析以及识别退化刺激方面的表现未受损。同样，在任何空间感知测试中都没有显著差异。结果表明，大多数视觉和空间感知测量指标的表现未受损，这表明“早期”感知过程以及对结构知识的获取在早期AD中并无缺陷。另一方面，AD患者在语义获取和名称检索层面存在受损。在需要视觉获取结构和语义知识的测试之间发现高度显著的相关性，这表明在感知和语义机制之间进行严格区分可能没有必要。
