Open AccessExecutive deficits detected in mild Alzheimer's disease using the antisaccade task
Author(s) -
Kaufman Liam D.,
Pratt Jay,
Levine Brian,
Black Sandra E.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
brain and behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 41
ISSN - 2162-3279
DOI - 10.1002/brb3.28
Subject(s) - antisaccade task , audiology , dorsolateral prefrontal cortex , psychology , dementia , disease , medicine , prefrontal cortex , neuroscience , cognition , saccade , eye movement
The antisaccade task, a hands‐ and language‐free metric, may provide a functional index of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a region damaged in the later stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Our objective was to determine if patients with mild AD made more errors relative to age‐matched controls. Thirty patients with mild AD (Mini Mental Status Exam [MMSE] ≥ 17) and 31 age‐matched controls completed a laptop version of the prosaccades and antisaccades tasks. Patients with AD made more antisaccade errors, and corrected fewer errors, than age‐matched controls. Error rates, corrected or uncorrected, were not correlated with AD MMSE or Dementia Rating Scale scores. Our findings indicate that antisaccade impairments exist in mild AD, suggesting clinically detectable DLPFC pathology may be present earlier than suggested by previous studies.