The recency ratio as an index of cognitive performance and decline in elderly individuals.

Individuals with Alzheimer's disease have been found to present a typical serial position curve in immediate recall tests, showing poor primacy performance and exaggerated recency recall. However, the recency advantage is usually lost after a delay. On this basis, we examined whether the recency ratio (Rr), calculated by dividing recency performance in an immediate memory task by recency performance in a delayed task, was a useful risk marker of cognitive decline.