Study of attention function in Alzheimer 's disease and mild cognitive impairment
Abstract：Objective To investigate attention impairment in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods Attention impairment was investigated in 16 patients with AD,in 12 patients with MCI and in 15 normal elderly participants using the modified behavioral attention network test (ANT) paradigm. The ANT was performed to investigate the reaction times for alertness,directional and executive control. Significant group effects of behavioral performance were calculated by analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results The reaction times of the three networks (alertness,directional and executive control) all showed significant differences between the three groups. Post hoc comparisons revealed that the reaction times of all the three networks were longer in AD group than in the normal control group and the MCI group. Compared with patients in the normal control group,patients in the MCI group presented selective attention impairment with preserved alertness effect (P = 0.26) and directional effect (P =0.11) but exhibited a significantly degenerated executive control effect (P<0.01). Conclusion AD and MCI patients show different patterns of behavior deficits,with total performance degeneration in the AD group and selective top-down attention deficits in the MCI group.
Keywords：Alzheimer's diseaseMild cognitive impairmentAttention impairment
Publication Date：2017-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：3( 129-131 )