Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 30, 2026
11:01
Examining the Characteristics of Episodic Memory using Event-related Potentials in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease
Published on: August 30, 2011
Personality changes in patients with beginning Alzheimer disease
Cornelia Pocnet1, Jérôme Rossier, Jean-Philippe Antonietti
1Service of Old Age Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. Revue Canadienne De Psychiatrie
|August 13, 2011
Summary
Patients with Alzheimer disease show significant personality changes, including increased neuroticism and decreased extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness, compared to healthy individuals. These changes appear specific to Alzheimer disease progression.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Gerontology
Background:
- Personality traits are generally stable throughout adulthood.
- Alzheimer disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting cognition and behavior.
- Understanding personality changes in AD is crucial for patient care and diagnosis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare personality traits in patients with mild Alzheimer disease (AD) and mentally healthy control subjects.
- To assess current and retrospective personality characteristics in AD patients.
- To investigate personality changes over time in individuals with AD.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the Structured Interview for the Five-Factor Model for current personality assessment.
- Employed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) via proxies for retrospective personality evaluation.
- Compared personality profiles of 54 mild AD patients and 64 healthy controls.
Main Results:
- AD patients exhibited higher neuroticism and lower extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness compared to controls.
- Proxy assessments corroborated these findings, though less pronounced.
- Longitudinal analysis revealed significant personality shifts in the AD group, unlike the stable profiles in controls.
Conclusions:
- Personality changes in Alzheimer disease follow a distinct pattern, contrasting with personality stability in healthy aging.
- Retrospective and current personality assessments converge on these findings.
- Further longitudinal studies are needed to determine if these changes are early AD indicators or premorbid differences.
Related Concept Videos
01:29Alzheimer Disease l: Introduction
Alzheimer disease is a chronic, progressive, and irreversible neurodegenerative disorder and the most common cause of dementia in older adults. It leads to gradual neuronal loss, causing cognitive decline, behavioral changes, and loss of functional independence.Risk Factors and EtiologyThe disease is multifactorial. Age is the strongest risk factor, with prevalence doubling every 5 years after age 65. Genetic factors include mutations in genes such as APP, PSEN1, and PSEN2, which are associated...
01:23Alzheimer Disease ll: Pathophysiology
Alzheimer disease involves structural changes in the brain that begin long before symptoms appear. The most distinctive features are extracellular neuritic plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles.Neuritic plaques form in the cerebral cortex and around blood vessels. These plaques contain a dense core of beta-amyloid (Aβ)—a toxic protein fragment that clumps outside neurons. The core is surrounded by damaged neuronal extensions, as well as reactive astrocytes and microglia. Abnormal...
01:26Alzheimer's Disease: Overview
Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a continually advancing neurodegenerative disorder, distinguished by escalating memory loss, cognitive dysfunction, and dementia. The disease unfolds in three stages: preclinical, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and dementia. Its onset is insidious, and the progression gradual, with the cause not well explained by other disorders.
The clinical diagnosis of AD hinges on the presence of memory and other cognitive impairments. Biomarkers, such as changes in Aβ and tau...
The clinical diagnosis of AD hinges on the presence of memory and other cognitive impairments. Biomarkers, such as changes in Aβ and tau...
01:22Dementia l: Introduction
Dementia is an acquired, progressive syndrome characterized by a decline in multiple cognitive domains severe enough to impair daily functioning and reduce independence. Although memory loss is a central feature, the diagnosis requires additional deficits involving language, executive function, visuospatial skills, judgment, calculation, or abstract reasoning. These cognitive impairments reflect underlying neurodegenerative or vascular processes that gradually disrupt neuronal networks...
01:22Alzheimer's Disease: Treatment
Alzheimer's Disease (AD), a neurodegenerative disorder, is pathologically identified by amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles composed of tau protein. AD pharmacotherapy aims to manage cognitive symptoms, delay disease progression, and treat behavioral symptoms. The treatment is primarily symptomatic and palliative, with no definitive disease-modifying therapy available. Cholinesterase inhibitors, including donepezil (Aricept), rivastigmine (Exelon), and galantamine (Razadyne), are...
01:22Personality Disorders: Paranoid and Schizoid
Personality disorders represent enduring cognition, affect, and behavior patterns that significantly deviate from societal norms. These maladaptive traits often lead to difficulties in various domains, including interpersonal relationships, occupational settings, and overall psychological well-being. Paranoid personality disorder and schizoid personality disorder are two distinct conditions marked by odd or eccentric behavior.
Paranoid Personality Disorder
Paranoid personality disorder is...
Paranoid Personality Disorder
Paranoid personality disorder is...