Abstract
The associate learning subtest from the Wechsler Memory Scale; Benton's Visual Retention test and a Controlled Word Association Task (FAS) were administered to a random sample of normal, healthy individuals whose age ranged from 20 to 79 years, recruited within the Italian peninsula. The neuropsychological examination took place on a mobile unit and the tests were given by the same team of neuropsychologists to reduce variability among examiners. The Research Project was known as progetto Memoria. Corrections to the scores of these tests were calculated for age, sex, and education. These corrected values will allow clinicians to screen for memory impairment with greater precision among normally aging individuals, thus improving differential diagnosis between physiologic and pathologic deterioration of cognitive functions.
Sommario
A un campione casuale di soggetti normali di età compresa tra i 20 e i 79 anni, reclutati su tutto il territorio nazionale nel corso di un progetto di ricerca denominato Progetto Memoria, sono stati somministrati, fra gli altri, tre test neuropsicologici molto frequentemente utilizzati, le coppie di parole della Wechsler Memory Scale, il test di ritenzione visiva di Benton e il test di fluenza verbale controllata FAS. L'esame veniva effettuato a bordo di un laboratorio mobile che si spostava lungo il territorio della nostra penisola per omogeneizzare la metodica testistica e per ridurre al minimo le variabili legate alle modalità di reclutamento dei soggetti. I dati raccolti sono stati analizzati e sottoposti a metodiche statistiche che tenevano in considerazione il sesso, l'età e la scolarità dei soggetti; sono state derivate delle formule logaritmiche per calcolare i valori normativi di prestazione per ciascun test. Tali punteggi corretti consentiranno meglio di definire i limiti entro cui la prestazione di un soggetto di una certa età, sesso e scolarità possa ritenersi ancora entro la norma, migliorando così la discriminazione clinica fra invecchiamento delle funzioni cognitive di tipo fisiologico e/o patologico.
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This research project was scientifically supported by the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) and the American National Institute of Mental Health (N.I.M.H.), and was entirely sponsored and carried out by Centro Ricerche sulla Memoria from Fidia Pharmaceuticals.
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Zappalà, G., Measso, G., Cavarzeran, F. et al. Aging and memory: Corrections for age, sex and education for three widely used memory tests. Ital J Neuro Sci 16, 177–184 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02282985
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02282985