Apathy is not associated with performance in brief executive tests in patients with mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzheimer's disease.

Neuropsychological correlates of apathy in Alzheimer's disease (AD) may shed some light on the neurobiology of this behavioral disorder. Whereas previous research has suggested an association between apathy and executive functions in AD, amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) cohorts point to an association with memory tests. We aimed to further investigate this issue in a sample of low educated, hitherto unexposed to cholinesterase inhibitors, aMCI (n=26) and mild AD (n=28) patients using brief executive tests, namely the Executive Interview (EXIT-25) and the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB).

Normative data for healthy elderly on the phonemic verbal fluency task - FAS.

Unlabelled: Phonemic verbal fluency tests assess the production of words beginning with specific letters. Of these letters, the most frequently used are F, A and S. It is a sensitive test for assessing frontal lobe functions.