Evaluation of intellectual and memory function among dementia patients who were intellectually superior

Abstract

The number of older individuals in the population continues to steadily increase, yet many neuropsychological measures fail to include adequate normative standards for the elderly. This lack of normative data tends not to be a serious problem for the interpretation of results that clearly and unequivocally suggest cognitive deterioration. However, individuals who were high functioning premorbidly may present with intellectual and memory abilities in the average range or higher despite some deterioration of function. Diagnosing an incipient dementing process in such patients can prove to be difficult. The interpretation of neuropsychological examination results within the average range presently requires drawing conclusions on the basis of a thorough understanding of the differential rates at which various cognitive functions may be expected to decline with normal aging versus dementing processes. The development of more comprehensive normative databases and the elucidation of neuropsychological correlates of “normal” aging constitute two of the most important and challenging tasks for the field of neuropsychology.