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Journal of Neurology

Open Access 07-05-2024 | Alzheimer's Disease | Original Communication

Visuospatial working memory in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia: a comparative analysis with Alzheimer's disease using the box task

Authors: David Foxe, Muireann Irish, James Carrick, Sau Chi Cheung, Her Teng, James R. Burrell, Roy P. C. Kessels, Olivier Piguet

Published in: Journal of Neurology

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Abstract

Objective

This study investigated the visuospatial working memory profiles of behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) using a novel computerised test of visuospatial working memory: the Box Task.

Methods

Twenty-eight bvFTD and 28 AD patients, as well as 32 age-matched control participants were recruited. All participants completed the Box Task and conventional neuropsychological tests of working memory, episodic memory, and visuospatial function.

Results

Both the bvFTD and AD groups exhibited significantly more Box Task between-search errors than the control group across all set sizes. Notably, the AD group demonstrated a significantly higher error rate compared to the bvFTD group. Regression analysis revealed that whilst episodic memory impairment significantly predicted Box Task error performance in AD, this was not the case for bvFTD. Additionally, a noticeable trend was observed for attention in predicting Box Task errors in both bvFTD and AD groups. The Box Task demonstrated high utility in differentiating between bvFTD and AD, with a decision tree correctly classifying 82.1% of bvFTD patients and 75% of AD patients.

Conclusions

Our findings reveal significant visuospatial working memory impairments in bvFTD, albeit of lesser severity compared to disease-matched AD patients. The Box Task, a novel measure of visuospatial working memory, proved effective in differentiating between bvFTD and AD, outperforming many traditional neuropsychological measures. Overall, our findings highlight the utility of assessing visuospatial memory when differentiating between bvFTD and AD in the clinical setting.
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Metadata
Title
Visuospatial working memory in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia: a comparative analysis with Alzheimer's disease using the box task
Authors
David Foxe
Muireann Irish
James Carrick
Sau Chi Cheung
Her Teng
James R. Burrell
Roy P. C. Kessels
Olivier Piguet
Publication date
07-05-2024
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Journal of Neurology
Print ISSN: 0340-5354
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1459
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-024-12406-0