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Brainwaves correlate with senior moments in preclinical older adults: Towards a cognitive screening protocol using a wireless device
Author(s) -
Jiang Yang,
Wang Baoxi,
Borhani Soheil,
Gottschalk Karah E.,
Kelly Margaret,
Zhao Xiaopeng,
Jicha Gregory A.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1002/alz.055792
Subject(s) - headset , audiology , cognition , electroencephalography , psychology , medicine , neuroscience , computer science , telecommunications
Background We recently reported longitudinal findings that specific frontal memory‐related signatures in cognitively intact older adults, who later (on average 5 years after baseline) were diagnosed as mild cognitively impaired (MCI), had already shown left‐frontal patterns of MCI patients. Older adults who did not show the MCI‐patterns remained normal ten years post baseline testing (Jiang et al. 2021). Here we test the hypothesis that left frontal MCI‐like brainwaves are associated with online poor and slowed memory retrievals (senior moments). Method Traditional scalp electroencephalogram (EEG) headsets (64‐ or 32 channels), typically used in the research laboratory, are limited for large‐scale clinical and community screening. Using a clinical‐friendly protocol (15‐min) with a wireless headset (eMotiv), we recorded (EEG) during both resting state (eyes‐closed and eyes‐open) and during a working memory task in 43 healthy older adults (median age 68; 23 females) in a clinical setting in central Kentucky. Result “Senior moments” were time intervals of 1‐2 seconds, during which participants’ memory performance dipped, with slower reaction times and less accuracy. Even for trials with accurate memory retrieval, we found that longer reaction times were associated with MCI‐like signatures in left‐frontal sites, compared to trials for which retrieval was both accurate and fast. We divided the memory‐related brainwaves of individuals who were normal cognition (NC) into NC‐like and MCI‐like patterns. We found that trials with MCI‐like patterns were associated with moments of poorer memory performance. Conclusion Our results suggest that the "senior moments" are MCI‐like brain moments. MCI‐like brainwave patterns are mixed with normal brain patterns in a cognitively normal older individual. Our short protocol using a wearable and wireless headset during resting‐state and a working memory task is a real‐time, sensitive, noninvasive, quick, and affordable pre‐screening tool for predicting cognitive decline in a clinical setting.