Citation

Tales A, Snowden RJ, Brown M, Wilcock GK. Neuropsychology 2006; 20(6): 752-756.

Affiliation

Clinical Sciences, Department of Care of the Elderly, University of Bristol, The BRACE Centre, Blackberry Hill Hospital, Bristol, United Kingdom. andrea.tales@nbt.nhs.uk

Comment On:

Neuropsychology 2004;18(2):258-68

Comment In:

Neuropsychology 2006;20(6):757-60; discussion 761-2

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/0894-4105.20.6.752

PMID

17100520

Abstract

Recently, researchers (E. Festa-Martino, B. R. Ott, & W. C. Heindel, 2004; A. Tales, J. L. Muir, A. Bayer, R. Jones, & R. J. Snowden, 2002; A. Tales, J. L. Muir, A. Bayer, & R. J. Snowden, 2002 have found significantly abnormal spatial orienting together with the abolishment of the alerting effect in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, these research groups differed in their interpretation of the results. A. Tales, J. L. Muir, A. Bayer, R. Jones, and R. J. Snowden (2002) and A. Tales, J. L. Muir, A. Bayer, and R. J. Snowden (2002) explained their data in terms of two independent processes, whereas E. Festa-Martino et al. (2004) interpreted their findings as indicative of an inverse association, namely that the increased spatial orienting effect in AD was the direct result of the abolition of the phasic alerting effect. In this further study examining exogenous spatial orienting and phasic alerting, the authors present evidence to suggest that the increased spatial orienting effect in AD is not the result of a decreased phasic alerting effect.

Language: en