Loewenstein-Acevedo Scales for Semantic Interference and Learning (LASSI-L)

Portuguese version

Maria Salomé Pinho e Vanessa Girão

Original version

Loewenstein, D. A., Acevedo, A., Schram, L., Ownby, R., White, G., Mogosky, B., Barker, W. W., & Duara, R. (2003). Semantic interference in mild Alzheimer’s disease: Preliminary findings. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 11, 252–255. https://doi.org/10.1097/00019442-200303000-00017

Curiel, R. E., Crocco, E., Acevedo, A., Duara, R., Agron, J., & Loewenstein, D. A. (2013). A new scale for the evaluation of proactive and retroactive interference in mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Aging Science, 1(1), 1-5. https://doi.org/10.4172/2329-8847.1000102

Theoretical background

The LASSI-L (Loewenstein et al., 2003) arose in the context of the need for more sensitive cognitive tests to detect pre-symptomatic states of mild neurocognitive disorder, and major or mild neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer’s disease (Crocco et al., 2020; Matías-Guiu et al., 2017). For Loewenstein (n/d) the LASSI-L would be considered a cognitive stress test, alluding to the analogy with the electrocardiogram stress test, since LASSI-L constitutes a challenge to the cognitive system.

Given the high vulnerability to semantic interference in aging, especially in people with mild neurocognitive disorder, and major or mild neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer’s disease, the LASSI-L focuses on the evaluation of retroactive and proactive interference, adding a new dimension: the release of proactive interference (RPI). Studies results (e.g., Curiel Cid et al., 2019; Matías-Guiu et al., 2017) have shown that RPI is a more sensitive measure to amyloid load in the brain than traditional memory measures (e.g., free or guided evocation, retroactive and proactive interference). As the Buschke tests (Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test and Memory Binding Test), these scales include controlled learning – an essential procedure, since memory encoding is the first phase of memory formation and therefore influences the subsequent memory processes (cf., namely, the principle of encoding specificity of Tulving and Thomson, 1973). It should be noted that, as in normative aging, at the onset of major or mild neurocognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease it is also the encoding process that is affected (e.g., Dennis & McCormick‐Huhn, 2018) and, as a consequence, it becomes difficult to differentiate the normative decline from the one that constitutes the onset of a dementia-like pathology.

Description

Assessment domain: Verbal memory.

Type of instrument: Verbal memory test (list of words).

Number of items: Two lists of 15 words each belonging to 3 semantic categories.

Administration: Individual, 20-25 minutes (plus 20 minutes retention interval for delayed recall).

Population: Elderly people.

Dimensions

The LASSI-L evaluates immediate free and cued recall, delayed free and cued recall, semantic proactive and retroactive interference, and release of proactive interference.

Studies

A validity study involving the comparison of the performance on the LASSI-L of a group of younger adults and a group of older adults will soon begin.

Current and Future Research

Conducting validation studies in different populations (e.g., elderly without non normative cognitive decline, people with mild neurocognitive disorder, and major or mild neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer’s disease), and norming the LASSI-L for the Portuguese elderly population.

Contacts

Maria Salomé Pinho (salome@fpce.uc.pt)

References

1. Curiel, R. E., Crocco, E., Acevedo, A., Duara, R., Agron, J., & Loewenstein, D. A. (2013). A new scale for the evaluation of proactive and retroactive interference in mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Aging Science, 1(1), 1-5. https://doi.org/10.4172/2329-8847.1000102
2. Curiel Cid, R.E., Loewenstein, D.A., Rosselli, M., Matias-Guiu, J.A., Piña, D., Adjouadi, M., Cabrerizo, M., Bauer, R.M., Chan, A., DeKosky, S.T., Golde, T., Greig-Custo, M.T., Lizarraga, G., Peñate, A. and Duara, R. (2019). A cognitive stress test for prodromal Alzheimer's disease: Multiethnic generalizability. Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, 11, 550-559. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dadm.2019.05.003
3. Dennis, N. A., & McCormick‐Huhn, J. M. (2018). Item and associative memory decline in healthy aging. In E. A. Phelps, L. Davachi, & J. T. Wixted (Eds.), Stevens’ handbook of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience (vol. 1. Language and Memory, pp. 323-362). Wiley.
4. Loewenstein, D. A. (n.d.). Cognitive stress’ test paradigms, biomarkers, and detection of early Alzheimer’s disease. Florida Health Grand Rounds | Florida Department of Health. https://www.floridahealth.gov/provider-and-partner-resources/research/florida-health-grand-rounds/past-presentations/LoewensteinFHGR.pdf
5. Loewenstein, D. A., Acevedo, A., Schram, L., Ownby, R., White, G., Mogosky, B., Barker, W. W., & Duara, R. (2003). Semantic interference in mild Alzheimer’s disease: Preliminary findings. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 11, 252–255. https://doi.org/10.1097/00019442-200303000-00017
6. Loewenstein, D. A., Curiel, R. E., Wright, C., Sun, X., Alperin, N., Crocco, E., Czaja, S. J., Raffo, A., Penate, A., Melo, J., Capp, K., Gamez, M., & Duara, R. (2017). Recovery from proactive semantic interference in mild cognitive impairment and normal aging: Relationship to atrophy in brain regions vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Alzheimers’ Disease, 59(1), 1119-1126. https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-170276
7. Matías-Guiu, J. A., Curiel, R. E., Rognoni, T., Valles-Salgado, M., Fernández-Matarrubia, M., Hariramani, R., Fernández-Castro, A., Moreno-Ramos, T., Loewenstein, D. A., & Matías-Guiu, J. (2017). Validation of the Spanish version of the LASSI-L for diagnosing mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 56(2), 733–742. https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-160866
8. Tulving, E., & Thomson, D. M. (1973). Encoding specificity and retrieval processes in episodic memory. Psychological Review, 80(5), 352-373. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0020071