Simple Test To Detect Early Signs of Alzheimer's Disease

Researchers are working on a simple test to detect heightened risk of Alzheimer's.

For the study, researchers asked participants to complete four increasingly demanding visual-spatial and cognitive-motor tasks on dual screen laptop computers. All the tests were aimed at detecting the tendency for Alzheimer's in those who had difficulty with certain cognitive tasks.

"We included a task which involved moving a computer mouse in the opposite direction of a visual target on the screen, requiring the person's brain to think before and during their hand movements," said Sergio in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science, in a news release. "This is where we found the most pronounced difference between those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and family history group and the two control groups."

Hawkins added, "We know that really well-learned, stereotyped motor behaviours are preserved until very late in Alzheimer's disease."

Those involved in the test were divided into three groups-- those diagnosed with MCI or had a family history of Alzheimer's disease, and two control groups, young adults and older adults, without a family history of the disease.

Researchers found that roughly 82 percent of the participants who had a family history of Alzheimer's disease and those with MCI displayed difficulties on the most cognitively demanding visual motor tasks.

"The brain's ability to take in visual and sensory information and transform that into physical movements requires communication between the parietal area at the back of the brain and the frontal regions," added Sergio. "The impairments observed in the participants at increased risk of Alzheimer's disease may reflect inherent brain alteration or early neuropathology, which is disrupting reciprocal brain communication between hippocampal, parietal and frontal brain regions."

Researchers concluded that though the findings don't predict who will develop Alzheimer's disease, they do show there is something different in the brains of most of the participants diagnosed with MCI or who had a family history of the disease.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.