The use of visual imagery as a mnemonic device for healthy elderly and Alzheimer's disease patients

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to determine the efficacy of visual inagery as a memory aid for Alzheimer's disease patients. The first experiment showed Alzheimer's disease patients to have equally poor memory for both visual as well as verbal material. Verbal cues presented to aid both learning and retrieval efforts proved to have some beneficial effects on the memory of the Alzheimer's disease patients. The second experiment showed that, when provided with both a visual prompt that is similar to the to-be-remembered material, as well as a verbal cue to direct learning and retrievalprocesses, Alzheimer's patients' recognition and memory approached that of healthy older adults. It was suggested that contextual cues to guide and restrict processing during both learning and retrieval efforts may be used to improve the memory of healthy older adults as well as patients with Alzheimer's disease.