Motoric Encoding and Retention of Pictures in Alzheimer's Disease

20 patients with Alzheimer's disease were shown line drawings of common objects on two trials. During the second trial they were asked to pantomime an action for the object and then provided a standard motoric cue or were asked to name it and then provided a standard semantic cue. Semantic cueing served as a stimulus-processing control condition. Memory for pictures was assessed at a 48-hr. delay interval using a yes–no recognition-memory procedure. Discrimination of stimulus pictures from distractors at 48 hours was similar for the motoric and control (semantic) encoding condition. These findings suggest that motoric encoding does not enhance long-term retention of episodic memories for pictures in such patients.