Qualitative analysis of the drawings of alzheimer patients

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Abstract
The qualitative aspects of drawing errors made on a drawing-from-memory task in 10 AD patients are compared to those made by 10 normal control subjects. In a subgroup of AD patients, we studied the deterioration in drawing performance by retesting them a year later. The pattern of drawing performance was also examined on two other tasks in which the memory component plays a minimal role (copying and tracing of objects). The results of all drawing tasks revealed qualitative differences in drawing disability between AD patients and control subjects. In the longitudinal study, it was found that some types of drawing errors were more susceptible to deterioration than were other error types. The possible mechanisms playing a role in the different types of drawing errors are discussed. It is suggested that some error types may be considered as compensatory strategies for defective components of the drawing task.