The Decision Making Process in Patients with Alzheimer Dementia Type

Making decisions is common in our daily lives and contributes to the adaptation to our environment. That is why is relevant to know the decisions-making processes and the possible dysfunctions due to the deterioration of these processes. The patients with Alzheimer dementia (AD) can have alterations in decisions-making in early stages, particularly in situations of uncertainty. These processes have been analyzed from different theories, although the somatic marker hypothesis, as well as the related IGT, is one of the most used. The aim of this study is to analyze the process of making decisions in AD patients, and evaluate the types of choices made under situations of uncertainty using a modified IGT, as well as check if the AD group’s responses are risk trends or not, and the relation between the performance of this group and the cognitive status in each of the areas evaluated with the cognitive mini-exam, the clock drawing test (TRC-TRO), and the Isaacs' Set Test of Verbal Fluency. Our results show that the performance of the AD group is not optimal, nor in the overall score or in the analysis of each sets of the test, and suggest a random strategy in the process of choose cards, suggest a tendency to risk, although the performances show some ability to learn along the sets.