For Cristina Roda Rivera placeholder image. February 12, 2018
As one of the most controversial and difficult aspects to discern is how memory is affected in each of these two dementias, it is good to know what it does. that one and the other differ, attending to a series of aspects that will help and guide the professionals who are in charge of the diagnosis and evaluation of these patients.
In this PsychologyOnline article, we are going to detail what are the main differences between Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
Alzheimer's disease is the prototype of the cortical dementias, and is characterized by a early deterioration of episodic memory that does not improve with recognition tests, later appearing cortical cognitive dysfunctions such as agnosia, apraxia and aphasia.
Process learning is remarkably preserved, and motor disorders are late-onset. The neurotransmitter primarily involved is acetylcholine.
Parkinson's disease is the prototype of subcortical dementia. Subcortical dementias are characterized by the predominance of more behavioral disorders, such as apathy, bradyphrenia, inattention, a tendency to depression, memory deficit in which a disorder in the recovery of learned material predominates, impaired processual learning and tests sensitive to frontal damage.
The motor deterioration is early. Higher cortical functions such as language, praxia, and gnosia are preserved. The preferentially committed neurotransmitters are GABA and dopamine.
Therefore, let's see what the fundamental differences regarding memory between Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease:
- Recognition memory is more impaired in Alzheimer's than in Parkinson's or other subcortical dementias.
- In Alzheimer's, forgetfulness rates are high in the first minutes after presenting a material, while they are normal or slightly higher in subcortical dementias such as Parkinson's
- In Alzheimer's the capacity for semantic coding of information seems impaired, while in Parkinson's it is preserved.
- In Parkinson's, retrograde amnesia is just as severe throughout the different stages of the subject's life, while in Alzheimer's it is temporarily graduated.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
