The nomination of figures and the lexical access in the Alzheimer’s disease: a case report

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the semantic memory in a patient with Alzheimer's Disease through nomination of figures and lexical access. Methods: A single case of a 72 years old feminine sex patient with Alzheimer's Disease was studied through a test of nomination of figures (Scheuer et al., 2004) and another one of lexical access from semantic describers (Grober et al., 1988). The answers to these tests have been analyzed following the criteria of Kohn and Goodglass (1985). Results: In accordance with the raised data, semantic memory deficit was observed with low income in both tests. There was predominance of semantic and perceptual errors and non-assignments. Conclusion: A deficit in the nomination of figures and in the lexical access was found, data consonant with literature. The accomplished qualitative analysis of the errors allowed to observe the communicative strategies used to compensate language and memory alterations, besides allowing guidance for the family.