The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) is increasing rapidly. Early detection of these disorders is critical, particularly now that significant progress has been made regarding diagnosis and treatment. The beginning stages of AD are characterized by atrophy to medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures, and consequently, episodic memory loss is a defining feature. In VaD, cognitive deficits arise from vascular damage to frontal lobe (FL) brain regions, and as a result, executive functioning deficits prevail. Current diagnostic criteria include memory loss as the primary neuropsychological symptom for both diseases. However, given the distinct cognitive and neuroanatomical characteristics, it is likely that the underlying memory disorders for AD and VaD are distinctive as well. In order to more clearly elucidate memory functioning in individuals at risk for developing AD and VaD, we propose two experiments which will investigate MTL and FL memory functioning in individuals at risk for AD and VaD. Performance on these tasks will be correlated with anatomical data gathered from sophisticated neuroimaging techniques designed to capture the underlying neuronal integrity of MTL and FL brain areas. Collectively, this data will provide invaluable clinical and theoretical contributions to the current literature on dementia risk. ? ?
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