Publications (36) View all
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Article: Benzodiazepine and dementia: A time for reflection.
Maturitas 03/2013; · 2.77 Impact Factor -
Article: The disconnection syndrome in the Alzheimer's disease: The cross-modal priming example.
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ABSTRACT: Implicit memory is generally supposed to be preserved in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Yet, some implicit priming effects are impaired and others are not. The preserved/impaired priming effects are often interpreted according to the perceptual/conceptual or identification/production distinctions. Perceptual-identification priming paradigms shall be preserved and conceptual-production priming paradigms impaired. A third interpretation is yet possible based on the disconnection syndrome hypothesis which states that patients with AD should fail tasks requiring relatively complex brain communications. In this case, patients with AD should not demonstrated a significant perceptual priming effect in an identification task if this one involved complex brain communications. The present study tests this latter hypothesis with two cross-modal priming experiments using a categorization task. A visual meaningless mask presented with half of the auditory primes tested the nature of the cross-modal priming effect. The control group exhibited significant priming effects for unmasked primes. The interference effect of the mask demonstrated that the priming effect was perceptually driven. Patients with AD did not present any priming effect nor mask interference. The present findings therefore showed that perceptual priming using an identification task could be impaired in AD supporting the disconnection syndrome hypothesis.Cortex 12/2012; · 6.08 Impact Factor -
Article: The Impact of Semantic Dementia on Everyday Actions: Evidence from an Ecological Study.
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ABSTRACT: In theory, semantic memory may trigger and support the execution of everyday activities. This study explored this question by comparing three patients with semantic dementia to 40 normal controls performing different everyday activities. Participants were tested in their home using the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Profile, an ecological measure of everyday functioning. Participants were informed that they had unknowingly invited two guests for lunch and should prepare accordingly. With these instructions, they dress to go outdoors, go to the grocery store, shop for food, prepare a hot meal, have the meal with the guests, and clean up after the meal. Performance was analyzed on the basis of four operations related to problem solving: formulate a goal, plan, execute, and verify attainment of the goal. Results indicate that compared to normal controls, two patients had significant difficulties and needed assistance with all operations of problem-solving, particularly while preparing a meal and cleaning up after the meal. One patient showed no difficulties despite severe semantic deficits. These results suggest that semantic deficits alone cannot explain the difficulties observed, but may contribute to some aspects of everyday actions such as those involved in everyday problem-solving. (JINS, 2012, 18, 1-11).Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society 11/2012; · 2.76 Impact Factor -
Article: Relationship between cortisol level and prevalent/incident cognitive impairment and its moderating factors in older adults.
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ABSTRACT: ABSTRACT Background: The objectives of this study were to examine the factors modifying the relationship between cortisol level and prevalent/incident cognitive impairment in older adults and to verify whether these relationships were non-linear. Methods: Data were collected from 1,226 individuals aged 65 and older by two in-home interviews separated by 12 months. Cortisol level was measured using saliva samples taken at the beginning of the baseline interview before cognitive, mental, and physical health evaluations. Prevalent and incident cognitive impairment were defined using the Mini-Mental State Examination scores according to normative data for age, education level, and sex. Results: High morning cortisol level increased the risk of incident cognitive impairment in participants with anxiety or depressive episode while low cortisol level increased the risk in participants without anxiety or depressive episode. In high educated participants, but not in low educated participants, high morning cortisol level was associated with prevalent cognitive impairment and high afternoon cortisol level increased the risk of incident cognitive impairment. The results also suggested that lower morning cortisol values could increase the risk of incident cognitive impairment in individuals with few chronic diseases. A curvilinear relationship was observed between morning cortisol and the probability of incident cognitive impairment, but further analyses suggested that it was likely explained by anxiety and depressive episode. Conclusions: These results suggest that cognitive impairment in older adults is linked to higher or lower cortisol level depending on characteristics such as anxiety, depressive episode, education level, and physical health.International Psychogeriatrics 10/2012; · 2.24 Impact Factor -
Article: Are verbal fluency and nonliteral language comprehension deficits related to depressive symptoms in Parkinson's disease?
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ABSTRACT: Depression in Parkinson's disease (PD) is frequently associated with executive deficits, which can influence nonliteral comprehension and lexical access. This study explores whether depressive symptoms in PD modulate verbal fluency and nonliteral language comprehension. Twelve individuals with PD without depressive symptoms, 13 with PD and depressive symptoms (PDDSs), and 13 healthy controls completed a semantic and phonemic verbal fluency task and an indirect speech acts comprehension task. All groups had the same performance in the phonemic fluency task while the PDDS group was impaired in the semantic task. For the indirect speech act comprehension task, no difference was observed between the groups. However, the PDDS group had difficulty answering direct speech act questions. As some language impairments in PD become apparent when depressive symptoms are associated with the disease, it would appear to be important to take the presence of depressive symptoms into account when evaluating language abilities in PD.Parkinson's disease. 01/2012; 2012:308501.
