CANTAB Paired Associates Learning test (PAL) involves the ability to associate the stimulus (what) with its spatial location (where).There is some evidence that structures of the medial temporal lobe plays a crucial role in formation of these associations. Evidences from both lesion (in rats, monkeys, humans) and neuroimaging studies suggest that medial temporal lobes structures such as hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus and enthorinal cortex are affected in early stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). These stages can be detected using PAL which is a vulnerable tool for early preclinical detection and assessment of AD. We compared the performance of PAL in 5 patient with AD, 20 Mild Cognitive Impairment patients (MCI) and 19 normal healthy controls (NC). The performance in AD group was signifi cantly lower than those from MCI and NC group. The main difference was in committed errors at more diffi cult, 6-pattern stage, where spatial location of 6 patterns had to be remembered. Moreover, in this situation the learning of pattern location in AD group was slowed down; more trials were needed to complete 6- patterns stage. In summary, these results confi rmed that PAL may be the sensitive tool in clinical diagnosis of AD. Supported by MIND no. WKP_1/1.4.3.1 /2004/11/11/52/2005/U.
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