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Updated: Jul 18, 2026

The 4 Mountains Test: A Short Test of Spatial Memory with High Sensitivity for the Diagnosis of Pre-dementia Alzheimer's Disease
Published on: October 13, 2016
Alerting and orienting in Alzheimer's disease
Andrea Tales1, Robert J Snowden, Michelle Brown
1Clinical Sciences, Department of Care of the Elderly, University of Bristol, The BRACE Centre, Blackberry Hill Hospital, Bristol, United Kingdom. andrea.tales@nbt.nhs.uk
Abstract:
Recently, researchers (E. Festa-Martino, B. R. Ott, & W. C. Heindel, 2004; A. Tales, J. L. Muir, A. Bayer, R. Jones, & R. J. Snowden, 2002; A. Tales, J. L. Muir, A. Bayer, & R. J. Snowden, 2002 have found significantly abnormal spatial orienting together with the abolishment of the alerting effect in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, these research groups differed in their interpretation of the results. A. Tales, J. L. Muir, A. Bayer, R. Jones, and R. J. Snowden (2002) and A. Tales, J. L. Muir, A. Bayer, and R. J. Snowden (2002) explained their data in terms of two independent processes, whereas E. Festa-Martino et al. (2004) interpreted their findings as indicative of an inverse association, namely that the increased spatial orienting effect in AD was the direct result of the abolition of the phasic alerting effect. In this further study examining exogenous spatial orienting and phasic alerting, the authors present evidence to suggest that the increased spatial orienting effect in AD is not the result of a decreased phasic alerting effect.
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