Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Clustering and switching analyses have characterized semantic memory deficits in Alzheimer's disease (AD) using fluency tasks, where participants list category members within time constraints. We applied these analyses to the property listing task (PLT). The PLT differs fundamentally from fluency tasks: it is non-timed, involves an open-ended rather than a finite set of responses, and includes varied property types (perceptual, functional, taxonomic). Using temporal slope difference clustering on data from 24 AD and 35 control participants, we found that AD participants generated fewer properties and exhibited reduced switch rates between temporal clusters, even when controlling for task duration. Cluster size and within-cluster timing were preserved, but AD participants showed longer switch times and reduced within-cluster semantic variability. These findings reveal how clustering and switching manifest in property generation, suggesting that AD affects strategic exploration while preserving local retrieval within temporal clusters.