Early Alzheimer's, think less efficiently

ST. LOUIS, May 5 (UPI) -- Alzheimer's patients sift the important from less important less efficiently early on, U.S. researchers say.

The researchers also found older adults might not remember as much as younger adults, but when healthy, they remain able to distinguish what's important.

The study, published in the journal Neuropsychology, suggests the potential of remembering important information better by learning to be more strategic and selective when encoding high-value information -- even at the expense of neglecting less-important information.

The researchers asked study participants to learn and later recall -- with a view to maximize total points -- neutral words randomly assigned different point values. All participants, even those with Alzheimer's, recalled more high-value than low-value items, but those with Alzheimer's were significantly less efficient than their healthy age peers at remembering items according to their value.

Participants in the study, recruited from Missouri's Washington University in St. Louis, included 109 healthy older adults with an average age of almost 75; 41 people with very early Alzheimer's disease with an average age of almost 76; 13 people with early Alzheimer's with an average age of almost 77; and 35 younger adults under the age of 25.