Visual short-term memory impairments in presymptomatic familial Alzheimer's disease: A longitudinal observational study

Ivanna M. Pavisic; Jennifer M. Nicholas; Yoni Pertzov; Antoinette O'Connor; Yuying Liang; Jessica D. Collins; Kirsty Lu; Philip S.J. Weston; Natalie S. Ryan; Masud Husain; Nick C. Fox; Sebastian J. Crutch

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108028

Visual short-term memory impairments in presymptomatic familial Alzheimer's disease: A longitudinal observational study

Ivanna M. Pavisic^*, Jennifer M. Nicholas, Yoni Pertzov, Antoinette O'Connor, Yuying Liang, Jessica D. Collins, Kirsty Lu, Philip S.J. Weston, Natalie S. Ryan, Masud Husain, Nick C. Fox, Sebastian J. Crutch

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Visual short-term memory (VSTM) deficits including VSTM binding have been associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) from preclinical to dementia stages, cross-sectionally. Yet, longitudinal investigations are lacking. The objective of this study was to evaluate VSTM function longitudinally and in relation to expected symptom onset in a cohort of familial Alzheimer's disease. Ninety-nine individuals (23 presymptomatic; 9 symptomatic and 67 controls) were included in an extension cross-sectional study and a sub-sample of 48 (23 presymptomatic carriers, 6 symptomatic and 19 controls), attending two to five visits with a median interval of 1.3 years, included in the longitudinal study. Participants completed the “What was where?” relational binding task (which measures memory for object identification, localisation and object-location binding under different conditions of memory load and delay), neuropsychology assessments and genetic testing. Compared to controls, presymptomatic carriers within 8.5 years of estimated symptom onset showed a faster rate of decline in localisation performance in long-delay conditions (4s) and in traditional neuropsychology measures of verbal episodic memory. This study represents the first longitudinal VSTM investigation and shows that changes in memory resolution may be sensitive to tracking cognitive decline in preclinical AD at least as early as changes in the more traditional verbal episodic memory tasks.

Original language	American English
Article number	108028
Journal	Neuropsychologia
Volume	162
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108028
State	Published - 12 Nov 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank participants and their families for their generous support throughout the course of the study. Y. Pertzov was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) grant ( 1747/14 ); A. O'Connor is supported by an Alzheimer's Society Clinical Research Training Fellowship; P.S.J Weston was supported by an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship; N.S. Ryan is supported by a University of London Chadburn Academic Clinical Lectureship (548951), and held a Clinical Research Training Fellowship (G0 900421) from the Medical Research Council; M. Husain is supported by the Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship ( 206330/Z/17/Z ). This work was supported by the NIHR UCLH Biomedical Research Centre ( 540602 ) and UK Dementia Research Institute which receives its funding from DRI Ltd, funded by the UK Medical Research Council , Alzheimer's Society and Alzheimer's Research UK . The funders of the study had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the report.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s)

Keywords

Alzheimer's disease
Estimated symptom onset
Familial Alzheimer's disease
Preclinical Alzheimer's disease
Visual short-term memory

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10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108028

Cite this

Pavisic, I. M., Nicholas, J. M., Pertzov, Y., O'Connor, A., Liang, Y., Collins, J. D., Lu, K., Weston, P. S. J., Ryan, N. S., Husain, M., Fox, N. C., & Crutch, S. J. (2021). Visual short-term memory impairments in presymptomatic familial Alzheimer's disease: A longitudinal observational study. Neuropsychologia, 162, Article 108028. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108028

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title = "Visual short-term memory impairments in presymptomatic familial Alzheimer's disease: A longitudinal observational study",

abstract = "Visual short-term memory (VSTM) deficits including VSTM binding have been associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) from preclinical to dementia stages, cross-sectionally. Yet, longitudinal investigations are lacking. The objective of this study was to evaluate VSTM function longitudinally and in relation to expected symptom onset in a cohort of familial Alzheimer's disease. Ninety-nine individuals (23 presymptomatic; 9 symptomatic and 67 controls) were included in an extension cross-sectional study and a sub-sample of 48 (23 presymptomatic carriers, 6 symptomatic and 19 controls), attending two to five visits with a median interval of 1.3 years, included in the longitudinal study. Participants completed the “What was where?” relational binding task (which measures memory for object identification, localisation and object-location binding under different conditions of memory load and delay), neuropsychology assessments and genetic testing. Compared to controls, presymptomatic carriers within 8.5 years of estimated symptom onset showed a faster rate of decline in localisation performance in long-delay conditions (4s) and in traditional neuropsychology measures of verbal episodic memory. This study represents the first longitudinal VSTM investigation and shows that changes in memory resolution may be sensitive to tracking cognitive decline in preclinical AD at least as early as changes in the more traditional verbal episodic memory tasks.",

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author = "Pavisic, {Ivanna M.} and Nicholas, {Jennifer M.} and Yoni Pertzov and Antoinette O'Connor and Yuying Liang and Collins, {Jessica D.} and Kirsty Lu and Weston, {Philip S.J.} and Ryan, {Natalie S.} and Masud Husain and Fox, {Nick C.} and Crutch, {Sebastian J.}",

note = "Funding Information: We thank participants and their families for their generous support throughout the course of the study. Y. Pertzov was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) grant ( 1747/14 ); A. O'Connor is supported by an Alzheimer's Society Clinical Research Training Fellowship; P.S.J Weston was supported by an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship; N.S. Ryan is supported by a University of London Chadburn Academic Clinical Lectureship (548951), and held a Clinical Research Training Fellowship (G0 900421) from the Medical Research Council; M. Husain is supported by the Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship ( 206330/Z/17/Z ). This work was supported by the NIHR UCLH Biomedical Research Centre ( 540602 ) and UK Dementia Research Institute which receives its funding from DRI Ltd, funded by the UK Medical Research Council , Alzheimer's Society and Alzheimer's Research UK . The funders of the study had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the report. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Author(s)",

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AU - O'Connor, Antoinette

AU - Liang, Yuying

AU - Collins, Jessica D.

AU - Lu, Kirsty

AU - Weston, Philip S.J.

AU - Ryan, Natalie S.

AU - Husain, Masud

AU - Fox, Nick C.

AU - Crutch, Sebastian J.

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N2 - Visual short-term memory (VSTM) deficits including VSTM binding have been associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) from preclinical to dementia stages, cross-sectionally. Yet, longitudinal investigations are lacking. The objective of this study was to evaluate VSTM function longitudinally and in relation to expected symptom onset in a cohort of familial Alzheimer's disease. Ninety-nine individuals (23 presymptomatic; 9 symptomatic and 67 controls) were included in an extension cross-sectional study and a sub-sample of 48 (23 presymptomatic carriers, 6 symptomatic and 19 controls), attending two to five visits with a median interval of 1.3 years, included in the longitudinal study. Participants completed the “What was where?” relational binding task (which measures memory for object identification, localisation and object-location binding under different conditions of memory load and delay), neuropsychology assessments and genetic testing. Compared to controls, presymptomatic carriers within 8.5 years of estimated symptom onset showed a faster rate of decline in localisation performance in long-delay conditions (4s) and in traditional neuropsychology measures of verbal episodic memory. This study represents the first longitudinal VSTM investigation and shows that changes in memory resolution may be sensitive to tracking cognitive decline in preclinical AD at least as early as changes in the more traditional verbal episodic memory tasks.

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ER -

Visual short-term memory impairments in presymptomatic familial Alzheimer's disease: A longitudinal observational study

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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