Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T07:00:22.925Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Subjective cognitive impairment: Functional MRI during a divided attention task

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

J. Rodda ,
T. Dannhauser ,
D.J. Cutinha ,
S.S. Shergill  and
Z. Walker
J. Rodda*
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health Sciences, University College London, Windeyer Building, 46, Cleveland Street, LondonW1T 4JF, UK North Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, UK
T. Dannhauser
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health Sciences, University College London, Windeyer Building, 46, Cleveland Street, LondonW1T 4JF, UK North Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, UK
D.J. Cutinha
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health Sciences, University College London, Windeyer Building, 46, Cleveland Street, LondonW1T 4JF, UK North Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, UK
S.S. Shergill
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, Box P096, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, UK Wellcome Department of Imaging Sciences, Institute of Neurology, University CollegeLondon, UK
Z. Walker
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health Sciences, University College London, Windeyer Building, 46, Cleveland Street, LondonW1T 4JF, UK North Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 0 1279 827893; fax: +01992 571089. E-mail address: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Background

Individuals with subjective cognitive impairment (SCI) have persistent memory complaints but normal neurocognitive performance. For some, this may represent a pre-mild cognitive impairment (MCI) stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Given that attentional deficits and associated brain activation changes are present early in the course of AD, we aimed to determine whether SCI is associated with brain activation changes during attentional processing.

Methods

Eleven SCI subjects and 10 controls completed a divided attention task during functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Results

SCI and control groups did not differ in sociodemographic, neurocognitive or behavioural measures. When group activation during the divided attention task was compared, the SCI group demonstrated increased activation in left medial temporal lobe, bilateral thalamus, posterior cingulate and caudate.

Conclusion

This pattern of increased activation is similar to the pattern of decreased activation reported during divided attention in AD and may indicate compensatory changes. These findings suggest the presence of early functional changes in SCI; longitudinal studies will help to further elucidate the relationship between SCI and AD.

Keywords

Mild cognitive impairmentfMRISubjective memory complaintsAttentionAging and cognitionSubjective cognitive impairment
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 26 , Issue 7 , October 2011 , pp. 457 - 462
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adler, C.M.Sax, K.W.Holland, S.K.Schmithorst, V.Rosenberg, L.Strakowski, S.M.Changes in neuronal activation with increasing attention demand in healthy volunteers: an fMRI study. Synapse 2001; 42(4): 266–272CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arend, I.Machado, L.Ward, R.McGrath, M.Ro, T.Rafal, R.D.The role of the human pulvinar in visual attention and action: evidence from temporal-order judgment, saccade decision, and antisaccade tasks. Prog Brain Res 2008; 171: 475–483CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baddeley, A.D.Baddeley, H.A.Bucks, R.S.Wilcock, G.K.Attentional control in Alzheimer's disease. Brain 124Pt 82001 1492–1508CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barnes, L.L.Schneider, J.A.Boyle, P.A.Bienias, J.L.Bennett, D.A.Memory complaints are related to Alzheimer disease pathology in older persons. Neurology 2006; 67(9): 1581–1585CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bassett, S.S.Yousem, D.M.Cristinzio, C.Kusevic, I.Yassa, M.A.Caffo, B.S.et al.Familial risk for Alzheimer's disease alters fMRI activation patterns. Brain 129Pt 52006 1229–1239CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Belleville, S.Chertkow, H.Gauthier, S.Working memory and control of attention in persons with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment. Neuropsychology 2007; 21(4): 458–469CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Belleville, S.Rouleau, N.Van der, L.M.Use of the Hayling task to measure inhibition of prepotent responses in normal aging and Alzheimer's disease. Brain Cogn 2006; 62(2): 113–119CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bench, C.J.Frith, C.D.Grasby, P.M.Friston, K.J.Paulesu, E.Frackowiak, R.S.et al.Investigations of the functional anatomy of attention using the Stroop test. Neuropsychologia 1993; 31(9): 907–922CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benton, A.Differential behavioural effects in frontal lobe disease. Neuropsychologia 6 1968 53–58[Ref Type: Generic]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bookheimer, S.Y.Strojwas, M.H.Cohen, M.S.Saunders, A.M.Pericak-Vance, M.A.Mazziotta, J.C.et al.Patterns of brain activation in people at risk for Alzheimer's disease. N Engl J Med 2000; 343(7): 450–456CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Braak, H.Braak, E.Neuropathological stageing of Alzheimer-related changes. Acta Neuropathol 1991; 82(4): 239–259CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brammer, M.J.Bullmore, E.T.Simmons, A.Williams, S.C.Grasby, P.M.Howard, R.J.et al.Generic brain activation mapping in functional magnetic resonance imaging: a nonparametric approach. Magn Reson Imaging 1997; 15(7): 763–770CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Breakspear, M.Brammer, M.Robinson, P.Construction of multivariate surrogate sets from lonlinear data using the wavelet transform. Physica D: Non-linear Phenomena 1821–22003 1–22[Ref Type: Generic]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bullmore, E.Long, C.Suckling, J.Fadili, J.Calvert, G.Zelaya, F.et al.Colored noise and computational inference in neurophysiological (fMRI) time series analysis: resampling methods in time and wavelet domains. Hum Brain Mapp 2001; 12(2): 61–783.0.CO;2-W>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bullmore, E.T.Suckling, J.Overmeyer, S.Rabe-Hesketh, S.Taylor, E.Brammer, M.J.Global, voxel, and cluster tests, by theory and permutation, for a difference between two groups of structural MR images of the brain. IEEE Trans Med Imaging 1999; 18(1): 32–42CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cabeza, R.Dolcos, F.Prince, S.E.Rice, H.J.Weissman, D.H.Nyberg, L.Attention-related activity during episodic memory retrieval: a cross-function fMRI study. Neuropsychologia 2003; 41(3): 390–399CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Celone, K.A.Calhoun, V.D.Dickerson, B.C.Atri, A.Chua, E.F.Miller, S.L.et al.Alterations in memory networks in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease: an independent component analysis. J Neurosci 2006; 26(40): 10222–10231CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coull, J.T.Frith, C.D.Frackowiak, R.S.Grasby, P.M.A fronto-parietal network for rapid visual information processing: a PET study of sustained attention and working memory. Neuropsychologia 1996; 34(11): 1085–1095CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dai, W.Lopez, O.L.Carmichael, O.T.Becker, J.T.Kuller, L.H.Gach, H.M.Mild cognitive impairment and alzheimer disease: patterns of altered cerebral blood flow at MR imaging. Radiology 2009; 250(3): 856–866CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dannhauser, T.M.Walker, Z.Stevens, T.Lee, L.Seal, M.Shergill, S.S.The functional anatomy of divided attention in amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Brain 128Pt 62005 1418–1427CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davies, A.D.The influence of age on trail making test performance. J Clin Psychol 1968; 24(1): 96–983.0.CO;2-U>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dik, M.G.Jonker, C.Comijs, H.C.Bouter, L.M.Twisk, J.W.van Kamp, G.J.et al.Memory complaints and APOE-epsilon4 accelerate cognitive decline in cognitively normal elderly. Neurology 2001; 57(12): 2217–2222CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edwards, E.R.Lindquist, K.Yaffe, K.Clinical profile and course of cognitively normal patients evaluated in memory disorders clinics. Neurology 2004; 62(9): 1639–1642CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fernandez-Duque, D.Black, S.E.Selective attention in early Dementia of Alzheimer Type. Brain Cogn 2008; 66(3): 221–231CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
First, M.Gibbon, M.Spitzer, R.Williams, J.Structured clinical interview for DSM-IV axis I disorders (SCID-I): clinician version. Arlington:American Psychiatric Press; 1996[Ref Type: Generic]Google Scholar
First, M.B.Gibbon, M.Spitzer, R.L.Williams, J.B.Benjamin, L.Structured clinical interview for DSM IV axis II personality disorders (SCID-II). Washington DC:American Psychiatric Press; 1997[Ref Type: Generic]Google Scholar
Folstein, M.F.Folstein, S.E.McHugh, P.R.“Mini-mental state”. A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J Psychiatr Res 1975; 12(3): 189–198CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenwood, P.M.Sunderland, T.Friz, J.L.Parasuraman, R.Genetics and visual attention: selective deficits in healthy adult carriers of the epsilon 4 allele of the apolipoprotein E gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2000; 97(21): 11661–11666CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jessen, F.Feyen, L.Freymann, K.Tepest, R.Maier, W.Heun, R.et al.Volume reduction of the entorhinal cortex in subjective memory impairment. Neurobiol Aging 2006; 27(12): 1751–1756CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jessen, F.Wiese, B.Cvetanovska, G.Fuchs, A.Kaduszkiewicz, H.Kolsch, H.et al.Patterns of subjective memory impairment in the elderly: association with memory performance. Psychol Med 2007; 37(12): 1753–1756CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johannsen, P.Jakobsen, J.Bruhn, P.Gjedde, A.Cortical responses to sustained and divided attention in Alzheimer's disease. Neuroimage 103 Pt 11999 269–281CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kastner, S.Pinsk, M.A.Visual attention as a multilevel selection process. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 2004; 4(4): 483–500CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Laine, M.Tuokkola, T.Hiltunen, J.Vorobyev, V.Bliss, I.Baddeley, A.et al.Central executive function in mild cognitive impairment: a PET activation study. Scand J Psychol 2009; 50(1): 33–40CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Minoshima, S.Giordani, B.Berent, S.Frey, K.A.Foster, N.L.Kuhl, D.E.Metabolic reduction in the posterior cingulate cortex in very early Alzheimer's disease. Ann Neurol 1997; 42(1): 85–94CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mosconi, L.De, S.S.Brys, M.Tsui, W.H.Pirraglia, E.Glodzik-Sobanska, L.et al.Hypometabolism and altered cerebrospinal fluid markers in normal apolipoprotein E E4 carriers with subjective memory complaints. Biol Psychiatry 2007; 63(6): 609–618moCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mosconi, L.De, S.S.Li, J.Tsui, W.H.Li, Y.Boppana, M.et al.Hippocampal hypometabolism predicts cognitive decline from normal aging. Neurobiol Aging 2008; 29(5): 676–692CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nelson, H.Willison, J.National adult reading test. Windsor:NFER-Nelson; 1991[Ref Type: Generic]Google Scholar
Nobre, A.C.Sebestyen, G.N.Gitelman, D.R.Mesulam, M.M.Frackowiak, R.S.Frith, C.D.Functional localization of the system for visuospatial attention using positron emission tomography. Brain 120Pt 31997 515–533CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olson, B.L.Holshouser, B.A.Britt, W. IIIMueller, C.Baqai, W.Patra, S.et al.Longitudinal metabolic and cognitive changes in mild cognitive impairment patients. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord 2008; 22(3): 269–277CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olson, I.R.Chun, M.M.Allison, T.Contextual guidance of attention: human intracranial event-related potential evidence for feedback modulation in anatomically early temporally late stages of visual processing. Brain 124Pt 72001 1417–1425CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pepin, E.P.uray-Pepin, L.Selective dorsolateral frontal lobe dysfunction associated with diencephalic amnesia. Neurology 1993; 43(4): 733–741CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perry, R.J.Hodges, J.R.Attention and executive deficits in Alzheimer's disease. A critical review. Brain 122Pt 31999 383–404CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perry, R.J.Watson, P.Hodges, J.R.The nature and staging of attention dysfunction in early (minimal and mild) Alzheimer's disease: relationship to episodic and semantic memory impairment. Neuropsychologia 2000; 38(3): 252–271CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Petersen, R.C.Doody, R.Kurz, A.Mohs, R.C.Morris, J.C.Rabins, P.V.et al.Current concepts in mild cognitive impairment. Arch Neurol 2001; 58(12): 1985–1992CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Petersen, R.C.Smith, G.E.Waring, S.C.Ivnik, R.J.Tangalos, E.G.Kokmen, E.Mild cognitive impairment: clinical characterization and outcome. Arch Neurol 1999; 56(3): 303–308CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reisberg, B.Gauthier, S.Current evidence for subjective cognitive impairment (SCI) as the pre-mild cognitive impairment (MCI) stage of subsequently manifest Alzheimer's disease. Int Psychogeriatr 2008; 20(1): 1–16CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rodda, J.E.Dannhauser, T.M.Cutinha, D.J.Shergill, S.S.Walker, Z.Subjective cognitive impairment: Increased prefrontal cortex activation compared to controls during an encoding task. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 2009; 24(8): 865–874CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roth, M.Tym, E.Mountjoy, C.Q.Huppert, F.A.Hendrie, H.Verma, S.et al.CAMDEX. A standardised instrument for the diagnosis of mental disorder in the elderly with special reference to the early detection of dementia. Br J Psychiatry 1986; 149: 698–709CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saykin, A.J.Wishart, H.A.Rabin, L.A.Santulli, R.B.Flashman, L.A.West, J.D.et al.Older adults with cognitive complaints show brain atrophy similar to that of amnestic MCI. Neurology 2006; 67(5): 834–842CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sherman, S.M.Thalamic relays and cortical functioning. Prog Brain Res 2005; 149: 107–126CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Summerfield, J.J.Lepsien, J.Gitelman, D.R.Mesulam, M.M.Nobre, A.C.Orienting attention based on long-term memory experience. Neuron 2006; 49(6): 905–916CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tobiansky, R.Blizard, R.Livingston, G.Mann, A.The Gospel Oak Study stage IV: the clinical relevance of subjective memory impairment in older people. Psychol Med 1995; 25(4): 779–786CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van der Flier, W.M.van Buchem, M.A.Weverling-Rijnsburger, A.W.Mutsaers, E.R.Bollen, E.L.dmiraal-Behloul, F.et al.Memory complaints in patients with normal cognition are associated with smaller hippocampal volumes. J Neurol 2004; 251(6): 671–675Google ScholarPubMed
van Oijen, M.de Jong, F.J.Hofman, A.Koudstaal, P.J.Breteler, M.M.B.Subjective memory complaints, education, and risk of Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's Demen 2007; 3(2): 92–97CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vohn, R.Fimm, B.Weber, J.Schnitker, R.Thron, A.Spijkers, W.et al.Management of attentional resources in within-modal and cross-modal divided attention tasks: an fMRI study. Hum Brain Mapp 2007; 28(12): 1267–1275CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wechsler, D. Wechsler Memory Scale. 3rd UK edition (WMS-III UK). 1999. Ref Type: Generic.Google Scholar
Wishart, H.A.Saykin, A.J.Rabin, L.A.Santulli, R.B.Flashman, L.A.Guerin, S.J.et al.Increased brain activation during working memory in cognitively intact adults with the APOE epsilon4 allele. Am J Psychiatry 2006; 163(9): 1603–1610CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.