Cited by 649Dementia and Cognitive Impairment ResearchCognitive Abilities and TestingCognitive Functions and Memory

Working Memory and Executive Function Decline across Normal Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer’s Disease

Open access
Kirova, Anna-Mariya, Bays, Rebecca B., Lagalwar, Sarita·2015·BioMed Research International

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease marked by deficits in episodic memory, working memory (WM), and executive function. Examples of executive dysfunction in AD include poor selective and divided attention, failed inhibition of interfering stimuli, and poor manipulation skills. Although episodic deficits during disease progression have been widely studied and are the benchmark of a probable AD diagnosis, more recent research has investigated WM and executive function decline during mild cognitive impairment (MCI), also referred to as the preclinical stage of AD. MCI is a critical period during which cognitive restructuring and neuroplasticity such as compensation still occur; therefore, cognitive therapies could have a beneficial effect on decreasing the likelihood of AD progression during MCI. Monitoring performance on working memory and executive function tasks to track cognitive function may signal progression from normal cognition to MCI to AD. The present review tracks WM decline through normal aging, MCI, and AD to highlight the behavioral and neurological differences that distinguish these three stages in an effort to guide future research on MCI diagnosis, cognitive therapy, and AD prevention.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1155/2015/748212

Cites

63 of 63 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Working memory impairment is prevalent across neuropsychiatric and neurological conditions and is among the most sensitive early indicators of cognitive function decline, with links to everyday functional limitations and reduced quality of life.

    “Working memory impairment is prevalent across neuropsychiatric and neurological conditions and is among the most sensitive early indicators of cognitive function decline, with clear links to everyday functional limitations and reduced quality of life10–13.”

    From Meta-analysis of computerised working memory training: behavioural gains, training parameters, transfer mechanisms, and neural correlates (2026) · cites this paper as [13]

    Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 2 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [23]Baddeley A. D. Working Memory 1986 Oxford, UK Clarendon Press
  2. [24]Baddeley A. Eysenck M. Anderson M. C. Memory 2015 New York, NY, USA Psychology Press

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Kirova, A.-M., Bays, R. B., & Lagalwar, S.
Affiliations
Skidmore College (US)
Corresponding author
Lagalwar, Sarita
Venue
BioMed Research International
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2015
Volume
2015
Pages
1-9
ISSN
  • 1110-7243 (ISSN-L)
  • 2314-6133
  • 2314-6141
OpenAlex
W2127169747
Cited by
649
References
63
Citations by year
2026: 58 · 2025: 92 · 2024: 78 · 2023: 78 · 2022: 78 · 2021: 89 · 2020: 66 · 2019: 35 · 2018: 44 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 14
FWCI
3.44
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • BioMed Research International (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
Keywords
working memory, executive function, Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment, normal aging, cognitive decline, episodic memory, selective attention, divided attention, inhibition, cognitive compensation, neuroplasticity, cognitive therapy, MCI diagnosis, disease progression
MeSH terms
Aging, Alzheimer Disease, Female, Humans, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Models, Neurological, Executive Function, Cognitive Dysfunction

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review