Is A Lack Of Primacy Effect Always A Symptom Of Alzheimer's Disease?

Posted on Mon, 19 Oct 2015

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 19 Oct 2015 Answered on

Sat, 7 Nov 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : Is a lack of primacy effect always a symptom of alzheimer's? For example when I did the ravlt test I scored in the 98th percentile but on the first word list I didn't recall the primacy words.

Answered by Dr. Shubham Mehta (50 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
It is not always a symptom of Alzheimer's.

Detailed Answer:
Hello
Welcome to HCM.
I can understand your concerns.

Lack of primacy effect is not always due to Alzheimer's disease.

Stress and anxiety of performing during the test can cause poor retention of words heard earlier in RAVLT.

As you have scored 98th percentile on RAVLT, this is a good score and rules out any chances of Alzheimer's dementia.

Also, dementia at your age of 21 is extremely rare or virtually impossible.
Though, anxiety and depression can cause pseudodementia.

Hope this helps.

Feel free to ask further.
Thanks.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vaishalee Punj